14th October.
THERE are some who still believe that the Boers were forced into the late war by the -action of Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Milner. To them we recommend the perusal of an article in the September "Nineteenth Century" by an impartial witness, Baron A, von Maltzan, a German: by birth, and formerly an \uficer in the German army, who fought with the Boers on the north of the Tugela, and whose criticisms of the British Generals and the British Inte'ligence Department are somewhat severe. In treating of the war he says:—Undoubtedly the Boers were led into their disastrous undertaking by the following inducements, and not least by that which I have placed No. 4 in the list.
"(1) Their overmastering desire to establish & United Dutch Commonwealth in Soa'h Africa, from the Cape to the Zambesi.
"(2) Their belief that only so could they put an end to the intrigues of the Rand capitalists, "(B) The positive assurance they received chat they would be j ined in their enterprise by at least, 40,000 to 50,000 of the Cape Dutch, "(4) Their reliance on European intervention in case of war. The certainty of this had been.constantly insisted on by their envoy, Dr. Leyds, who was purposely misled: by more astute diplomatists than himself. For instance, that. very clever man, the French Minister for. Foreign Affiirs, assured him of help. This gentleman thought it, highly probable that the force of public opinion in Germany, which ran very high, would compel the Government to intervene on, behalf of the Boers, Once Germany and England. were embroiled, France would back out, and in conjunction with Russia, be free to deal with Germany. But the German Gavernment was too clever to walk into such a tray "(5) The last point, which I believe weighed very heavily in the scale of war, was the Boers' long acquaintance with the vacillating policy of England in South Africa, None of them believed—and I know I am stating the fact—that if they made a. big fight for independence, England would see it out to the bitter end.
"Besides all this, they never dreamed, any more than the English themselves, that the British Colonies would rally so enthusiastically to the aid of the Mother Country. Possibly, had they known, it might have given them pause. I confess frankly that I believed in the justice of the Boer cause, and X joined i their fight for freedom ans independence, as ib seemed to me then. Perhaps one's views are somewhat uiodified now, by filler knowledge." In many respects Jit was a gallant fight against long odds, though the Boers of course were greatly helped by the nature of their country, and still more the astoutiding blunders of their opponents."
The Boer, says Baron von Maltzan, is, superb on the defensive, but from want of courage to attack, discipline, and military organisation he is an absolute failure on the offensive. Otherwise, he would hive swept the English out of Natal long before the reinforcements arrived; while: if the English Generals "had" known anything of their enemy and' his country, they would have ended the war two years earlier. "The whole number of fighting men, boys included, in the two Republics, was only '60,000, of whom: there were never more than 35,000 under arms at the same time. This iyeluded the ape. Datch, of whom only 12,000 of the promised 40,000 came up to the scratch. This weakness was never realised by the English. Generals, Buller at'Colenso wired home that he was faced by 20,000 men. "As a matter of fact, no more than', 5,000 Boers 'Were -on, the Coléngo' position
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.