Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-11-15
SOUTH AFRICAN NOTES.
Interesting Information About
the Beers and Their Country.
ARTILLERY OF THE TRANsVAAL

Volunteer Force.
Very vague ideas exist in the Unit
ed States as to the relative number of
Dutch and English in South Africa.
Olive Schreiner in one of her recent
articles says that the Dutch outnum
Der the English two to one, but this
statement seems not to be carried out
by facts, says the New York CONNER
cial Advertiser. According to the pres
ident of the United Chambers of Com
merce, J. w. Jaggers, the total white
population of South Africa Is today at
least $4,000, divided in the following
manner: Cape Colony with Bechuana-
land has a total white population of
100000, of which 26J,200 are Dutch
and 49,, 500 English; Basutoland has
total white population of 600, of which
800 are Dutch and 800 English; Orange
Free State has as, 100 Dutch and $4,000
English; Natal with Zululand, $500
Dutch and $500 English; the Trans
vaal, $4,000 Dutch and 123, go English,
and Rhodesia, 100 Dutch and $500
English, nearly all the English in the
last two states being adult males. Thus
it will be seen that in the whole of
which are supposedly correct, the
Dutch outnumber the English only by
1920, and the only states in which
they are in n majority are Cape Colony
and the Orange Free State, the differ
ence being 70,4O0 in the former and
$500 in the latter.
English" of course, means non-Eu-
ropeans, but elements other than Eng
lish speaking are so small that they
may almost be called insignificant. 1t
will be seen from this that only in one
state will England be confronted with
the problem of governing a majority
by minority, and that, as the Orange
Free State on account of it's being an
agricultural country is of comparative
ly small Importance, will not present
many great difficulties. In the Trans
vaal, where the greatest opposition
may be looked for. the non-Europeans
already outnumber the Dutch three to
two.
While the Transvaal artillery, as to
it's equipment and its rank and file, is
highly spoken of by the English ex-
perts, it is said on all sides that the
officers of the force are lamentably
weak in technical knowledge of this
most eXacting branch of the service.
The whole artillery corps is under the
nominal command of Colonel Tri-
chaardt. He lis simply an ordinary
Boer, who obtained his command on
what they call in the Transvaal the
family principle-that is to say, the
practice is to keep the main commands
within the limits of the principal Boer
families. Once only, and when he was
n subordinate officer, has Trichaardt
been called on to act-at DOrnkopf-
where he had the distinction of coming
up too late with his gun and was much
jeered at for it. Next in command
comes Lieutenant Colonel Erasmus,
who also is without scientific training.
In the Mapoch war he allowed a small
body of Kaffirs to take his gun away
from him. Major Wolmarans, the
third officer, had some training in HOl-
land, and should know something of
his work, for the standard of artillery
in that country is very high.
The Boer volunteer force has an in
teresting history. 1t was established
in 1894 in the face of the strong oppo-
sition of General Joubert. but the prof.
ect had the equally strong support of
President Kruger. There We're sep
arate corps for Johannesburg, Preto-
ria, Krugersdorp and Ermelo. The
Johannesburg corps, which was natu-
rally very unpopular among the uit-
landers, was disbanded late and has
now been called out again. 1t was I'M
til quite recently under the command
of Lieutenant Colonel van Diggelen,
Field Cornet Melt Marays being in
command of the Pretoria corps and
Field Cornet Ben Viljoen, who is now
on the frontier with the Johannesburg
burghers, being in command of the
Krugersdorp corps. The name of the
Ermelo commandant is forgotten. The
Pretoria corps consisted of one squad
ron, or perhaps 1t would be more cor
rect to say one body of cavalry, one
company of infantry, a detachment of
field telegraph men and an ambulance
detachment. Its constitution and that
Of the johannesburg corps remain as
they were. The Johannesburg corps was
and no doubt is again divided.
into about 200 cavalry, 500 infantry
and ambulance and telegraph sections.
OF the cavalry the majority were Az
but the infantry was a
polyglot collection indeed. There were
one company of Hollanders. two COM |
panies of Germans. one Latin compa- |
ny, including Frenchmen, Italians and |
Spaniards, and one mixed company. |
of a few English, some AZ |
rikanders, some Russians and some |
The words of general |
command were the same all round, |
but the German and Latin companies |
We're permitted to use their own lam
guages and drills. How this can have
worked out IL is not quite easy to see.
The discipline of all ranks is describ-
ed as having been good. and 1t was
tried in the field in Swaziland. True.
the test was not severe, but still the
volunteers managed the whole bust
ness, such as it was, very effectively.
In command of the cavalry Was an