Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-11-16
JOUBERT is A FIGHTER.
Boer General Led Onslaught at
Majuba Hill.
INCIDENTS IN Els CAREER.

| How His Terrible Consistency Near
| Iy Cost DIR. Jameson and His Fellow
| Raiders Their Lives-He Is Now Six
ty-eight Years Old - Mrs. Joubert
Accompanies Him In His Cam
pnIGns.
1t Is fitting that the man who won
| back independence for the Beers
should lead them in their last fight for
that which they prize so dearly. Gen
eral Joubert. in many ways typical
Boer-tall, burly, brave, profoundly at
tached to his country-has none of the
obstinacy which usually marks the
Boer character. He is CS. 1t is thrill
ing TO think of this brave old warrior
leading the little Boer army against the
might of England. He is probably
wiser than Kruger. who earnestly be-
lievcs that the Beers can beat England
again as they did in 1881. Joubert is
under no such delusion, says the Chica-
20 Tribune. He knows the power of
England. Il leave it now to God" he
said the other day. 1T may be his Will
that the Trausvaal shall perish. l can
only do my best" More than his best,
of course. he cannot do. But the fear
that this may be the last war he will
lead Will not deter General Joubert
from entering into the fray with 4
great hope that God may be on the side
of the little battaliOns.
But, though General Joubert is rea-
sonable and even progressive in
peace he is fearful in war. L well re-
member talking of war with Verestcha-
gin. the great war painter, who has
taken part in the wars he has painted,
writes n Pretoria correspondent of Il
London paper. War" said Verescha-
gin, makes beasts of us all. The sol
der forgets he is q man when he is
cutting his fellow men to pieces and
shooting them down like dogs. He for
gets. when he is killing Il man. that
somewhere there is little child crying
for its father. What has he to do with
that? 1t is like killing game. l never
remember feeling sorry that had kill
ed n man. That was what | was there
for. 1t is so absurd to be human in
war. The savages are the only logical
fighters l ever knew; they kill their
men and eat them Joubert does not
kill British soldiers and eat them, but
for pity and humanitarianism. How can
you murder man gently? he would
probably ask, if attacked on the point.
1t was this terrible consistency Of
General Joubert which nearly cost Dr.
jameson and his fellow raiders their
lives.
The story is worth retelling. Every
body remembers how cleverly Joubert
trapped the raiders. But for his
prornptness that page of history might
have been written in n different way.
Bu- the BOer general can DO what no
other general in the world can do.
mobilize the whole of his army within |
4S hours. 1t was this which enabled |
him to meet the raiders ut KrUgerS- |
dorp and march them off to prison. |
He would have liked to shoot them |
down. He has no sympathy with re- |
volt against law and order. |
Outside the prison walls were TO- |
600 Beers. eXcitedly discussing the |
fate of those within. Joubert would |
have satisfied the crowd by imme- |
diately executing the raiders, but |
Kruger's Judgment was wiser this |
time. All night the two sat up to- |
gcther, and when dawn broke Dom |
Paul had triumphed. Joubert went to
speak to the crowd.
Fellow burghers.' said lie, eff you |
had n beautiful flock of sheep. and 4
neighbours dogs got into the pasture
and killed them. what would you do? /
Would you pick up your rifle and
proceed to shoot those
dogs. thus making yourself liable to
greater damage than the sheep de-
or would you lay hold on
those dogs and carry them to your
ncighbor. saying: Now, here are your
dogs. l caught them in the act. Pay
me for the damage done, and they
shall he returned to you?''
There was pause, and when the
crowd seemed to have grasped the sit
uation the general drove his argument
home. We have the neighbours doc-