Scapegoats of the Empire

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Scapegoats of the Empire is the title of a book by Australian Second Boer War soldier Lieutenant George Witton. Originally published in 1907, it is the only surviving eyewitness account of the events of the famous Breaker Morant case, in which members of a British irregular unit, the Bushveldt Carbineers were arrested and court-martialed by the British Army for allegedly murdering Boer prisoners of war. Three Australian soldiers, Harry 'Breaker' Morant, Peter Handcock, and Witton himself were sentenced to death; Morant and Handcock were subsequently shot by firing squad but Witton's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he was later pardoned.

Witton's book was long unavailable and prior to its reprint in 1982 by the Australian publishing house Angus & Robertson, it is believed that only seven copies of the book survived in various Australian state libraries and in the possession of Witton's family. Although unsubstantiated, it has long been claimed that the book was suppressed by the Australian government and most copies were destroyed; another explanation is that most of the copies were destroyed by an accidental fire at the publisher's warehouse.

Witton's main assertion, as indicated by the book's provocative title, is that he, Morant, and Handcock were scapegoated by the British authorities in South Africa—that they were made to take the blame for widespread British war crimes against the Boers, and that the trial and executions were carried out by the British for political reasons, partly to cover up a controversial and secret "no prisoners" policy promulgated by Lord Kitchener, and partly to appease the Boer government over the killing of Boer prisoners, in order to facilitate a peace treaty.

Witton also claims that many of the accusations about them, which led to their arrest and trial, were made by disaffected members of their regiment whose rebellious behaviour had been suppressed by Morant and Handcock.