Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-27
THE ARMY OF THE Beers
Fighting Men Who Offer Prayer Before
Going Into Battle.
The First View of Gen. JOubert's
Forces is Not in the Least
Impressive.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun
An Englishman who accompanied the
Boer army under Gen. Joubert in the re-
cent campaign against M'Pefu. chief of the
Makatese, in the northeastern part of the
Transvaal. gives some interesting details
of the Boer military organization and other
matters. The comma ndo under Gen. Jou-
bert was the largest ever assembled in the
Transvaal. numbering, with the native al
lies, nearly 10000 men. This force was di-
vided into five laagers. each under its COM
mandant. The first impression of a Boer
army, the writer says. is not fattering.
There is no appearance of order and the
men are not uniformed which is in striking
contrast with the regular armies of other
countries. But the apparent absence of dis
cipline is only ON the surface. Commands
are made up of burgherS drawn from va
riouS districts, each man considering HIM
self on an equality with any other. They
are only subject to orders from their own
district commandments, who in turn are re-
sponsible to the general. In the field all
fare alike, the commissariat knowing no
distinctions. The only regulars are the
state artillery, drawn from the sons of
bIIghers, and paid about 81 day.
One of the priacipai features of the Boer
laagers in the campaign was the religious
exercises each evening. when the men
would assemble unCer their leaders for
prayer, concluding with the singing of their
battle hymn, Rust myn ziel, new God is
koning' Crest, my soul. your God is
King. War with the Beers is considered a
religious duty, and enforced by the state
only in self-defense The night before the
storming of M'Pefus stronghold In the Ma
cato mountains a united prayer meeting
was held of all the laagers under the per-
sonal leadership of Gen. Joubert and the
scene is described as singularly impressive.
The day following the Makatese position
was carried, with only trifing loss. after
the kraals had been subjected to heavy
nd he itoHa Of he
campaign was pushed with such vigor that
several of the chiefs with their men, sur
rendered. and MPefu. with about 10000
follow ers, took refuge in Mashonaland in
victory of the Beers was complete and
was signal triumph for Gen. Joubert the
Magato mountains having been considered
impregnable and the strongest natural fast
nesses in South Africa.
OF Gen. Joubert himself known among
his men as Slim Pet, the writer says he
has been uniformly successful, notwith-
standing that mis- detractors have proved to
their own satisfaction, times without num-
Der, that 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 cos
tune during the Magato campaign having
been tweed suit with tail coat. But
neither the general nor his men care for ex-
ternals; and although their clothes would
hardly excite the envy of a self-respecting
tramp, they do excellent work in them
The writer says it is a great mistake to
suppose that the Beers hate individual Eng
lishmen- 1t is only against the government
that they entertain hatred. Throughout
the campaign he describes himself as hav-
ing been the recipient of nothing but kind
ness from the general down, and that with
out any sacrifice of his own opinions. The
only question on which he had to be 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 being 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 Cocoon burghers fighting for
their hearths and homes and with a thor
ough 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 consequences even more serious.