The Irish standard., 1900-09-15

ten last April in Bloemfontein, and the
later screeds Of this writer, contain
Ing structures upon the British army,
We're written since his return, and
since he began to realize that even the
Englishman didn't really love "a yal-
Ter dog" and was apt to be nauseated
by the spectacle of free-b born Amer
lean doing the work usually left for
secret service creatures.
Those who recall that characteristic
piece of British brutality and savage
~ called the ''pig-sticling of Elands-
laagte," when the English lancers muir
dered the wounded and defenceless
Beers on the battlefield, after Kitche-
ners Soudan fashion, will appreciate
the allusion to General French as
"The cavalry leader who had done
SO splendidly at Elandslaagte." Such
expression of opinion from some Eng
lish officer, or Chamberlain underling,
might merely evoke an outbreak Of
disgust, but coming from an American
1t is difficult to stigmatize, for langu-
> age has its limitations.
Mr.. Ralph lays down the theory,
with the; air of a man enunciating n
brand-new principle, that in this war
the enemy was inferior to the country
by the enemy meaning the forces of
the republics. This is one of the tritest
truisms of military science. and the
soldier who knows his business acts
upon this theory. The Boer recog-
nized the fact that the peculiar phys
ical conditions of the country were his
most potent ally, and acted upon this
recognition; the Briton didn't, thereby
proving the fact that he was inferior
to both enemy and country In it's
last analysis the brain of the sober.
determined Afriknnder was of a quail
ity immeasurably superior to that of
his thickheaded adversary. Mr.. Ralph
also adopts the British plaint that the
Boer refused to surrender his adyan-
tages by reversing conditions and
coming out into the open, where he
could be handily slaughtered by a foe
outnumbering him ten to one in mon
and materials. The Boer is Il very
inferior creature, no doubt, but he has
given John Bull a few lessons in the
military art that he will not very
READILY forget.
AS illustrative of the statement that
it was the country and not the Beers
which was Staying the Briton, he tells
us that "a handful of our ever valor-
GUS, recklessly brave men got across
the river, and cheered with an Anglo
Saxon Hip, hip, lurrah,'" when the
Beers fled. This dramatic incident
must have occurred at one of the MI
merous battles at which MIR. Ralph
was not present and which was so
beautifully reported by the Capetown
Censor.
Another legend has been dissipated
by Mr.. Ralph the idea that the Bocrs
can shoot. He assures lis that the
Beers are very poor shots, and the in
ference is that the British dead either
committed suicide or died from concus-
sion. This is very Important. In
other respects Mr.. Ralph disagrccs
With all observers in South Africa
and appears to have derived all his
knowledge of the Afrikanders from
those intellectual giants, the officers of
the British line regiments and the
editors of the Rhodcsian newspapers.
Here are some of his gems: The Beers
are universal liars; they invited Brit
ish soldiers into their gardens and
treacherously murdered them; treach-
cry and lying are regarded by the
Beers as virtues; they hate their for
eign allies;they despise their own poor
and refuse to bury them after a bat
tie, but they carry off the rich dead;
they are dirty creatures with matted
boards and wolflsh eyes. The men,
ory of some of these dreadful Great
ures with cunning little eyes will cling
to Mr.. Ralph until death.
How very familiar these things
sound; but the world has refused to
believe them; possibly because other
and more truthful persons have de-
clared them to be wretched falsehoods.
In fact, Mr.. Ralph, in the light Of new
events and more knowledge of public
opinion, ought to have had an OPP
portunity to revise the meanly con-
temptible stuff written under the eye
and for the ear Of his British military
friends, before it was published
Here is an extract that is the acme
Of impertinence-an attempt by this
fellow to patronize and pity that
splendid soldier of France, Villebois:
"Poor gallant Villebois who, though
misguided, was sincere, suffered con-
tinued rudeness Mt the hands of his
comrades. When at Jacobstlal, he
warned Cronje.... and Villebois per-
sisted, Cronje said to him in coarse
language, what can be clumsily re-
fined in this sentence: Shut up! was
soldier when you We're q baby"
Mr.. Ralph forgot to say that he was
present at this interview and he has
not thought it necessary to add that