Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-26
THE BoERs AT PRAYER.
Their Army Its Knees Before
Going Into Action.

An Englshman who accompanied the
Boer army under General Joubert in the
recent campaign against M'Pefu, chief of
the Makatese, in the northeastern part OF
the Transvaal, gives some interesting de-
tails in the New York Sun Of the BoeT mil
itary organization and other matters. The
commando under General Joubert was the
largest ever assembled in the Transvaal,
numbering with the native allies nearly
10000 men. This force was divided into five
laagers, each under its commandant The
first impression of Boer army, the writer
says, is not flattering. There is no appear
ance of order and the men are not uni
formed, which is in striking contrast with
the regular armies of other countries. But
the apparent absence of discipline is only
on the surface. Commands are made up
of burghers drawn from various districts,
each man considering himself on an equal
ity with any other. They are only subject
to orders from their own district command
ants, who in turn are responsible to the
general. In the field all fare alike, the COM
missariat knowing no distinctions. The only
regulars are the state artillery, drawn from
the sons Of burghers, and paid about 81 a
day.
One of the principal features of the Boer
laagers in the campaign was the religious
exercises each evening, when the men would
assemble under their leaders for prayer
concluding with the singing of their battle
hymn, Rust myn ziel new God Is Kon-
ing" (Rest my soul, your God is King.)
War with the Beers is considered a relig-
ious duty and enforced by the state only in
self-defense. The night before the storming
of M'Pefus stronghold in the Magato
mountains a united prayer meeting was
1naperS ha nj
leadership of General Joubert, and the
scene is described as sngularly impressive
The day following the Makatese position
was carried with only trifling loss after
the kraals had been subjected to a heavy
artillery fire, and the remainder of the
campaign was pushed with such vigor that
several Of the chiefs. with their men, sur
rendered and NJ 'Pefu, with about 10000 fol-
lowers, took refuge in Mashonaland, in
Rhodesia, across the Limpopo river. The
victory of the Beers was complete and was
a signal triumph for General Joubert, the
Magato mountains having been considered
impregnable and the strongest natural fast
nesses in South Africa.
OF General Joubert himself, known among
his men as Slim Piet, the writer says he
has been uniformly successful, notwithstand-
ing that his detractors have proved to their
oNh sdliSidCIlou, tllDeS WlIllOuI HutlDeT, Ilat
he has neither military talents, courage, nor
backbone. That may be, he says, because of
his appearance on the field Of battle, which
is not impressive, his costume during the
'Magato campaign having been a tweed suit
with tailor coat. But neither the general
nor his men care for externals and, although
their clothes would hardly excite the envy
of self-respecting tramp, they do excel
lent work in them.
The writer says 1t Is a great mistake to
suppose that the Beers hate individual
Englishmen. 1t Is only against the govern
ment that they entertain hatred. Through
out the campaign he describes himself as
having been the recipient of nothing but
kindness from the general down and that
without any sacrifice of his own opinions.
The only question on which he had to be a
little circumspect was as to what would
happen If war broke out between the two
countries. Discussions on this subject were
hot and frequent the general conclusion be-
ing that the conflict would be the greatest
disaster which could befall South Africa
From what he saw the writer says he could
well believe this would be the case, for
while England must eventually win, the
obstinate resistance of CO., 900 burghers fight
ing for their hearths and homes and with
thorough knowledge of the country, would
mean that England could only assert her
sovereignty over the republic after great
bloodshed and then would have to face after
even more serious