Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-01-12
sOER PLANS FOR SUCCESS.
Strategy Employed to Deceive Eng
land DisclOsed nv General JOuberf.


land Disclosed by General JOubert.
To Pretoria the British cry, is on
level with the Partisan cry of 1870.
a Berlin"
This is an extract from letter writ
ten by General Joubert from Lady
smith under date of Oct. % TO con-
tributOr TO the Berlin Gazette, in which
paper it was published in full. Other
passages which at this juncture will
be read with peculiar interest follow:
Ever since the infamous Jameson
raid of 1896 our government was con-
WINGED that some disreputabIe charac-
tiers would urge England TO war. Its
meaning could not be mistaken. 1t
could have for its sole object only the
humiliation of the BOer republic. We
were equally sure that we would have
to depend on our own resources, for,
although we knew that this war would
meet with the unanimous condemna-
ton of all European powers, we did
not anticipate that any of them would
summon strength to come to our res
cue. England's arrogance and her
strong navy have so cowed the Euro
pean powers that they dare not bid her
stop in her deSpicable land grabbing
not even where their own interests
are involved. Knowing these circum-
stances. we depended solely on our
selves, improved our means of defense
and tried TO keep the English in the
dark as TO our real preparations. To
this purpose we gave their disguised
spies access to our antiquated guns
and artillery, but were very careful TO
conceal from them our modern artil-
lery parks. Our calculations proved
correct. The English public credited
these misleading reports. Their cry.
To Pretoria" is on level with the
Partisan cry of 1870. a Berlin"
Your letter lays much stress on the
numerical superiority of the English;
but, in my opinion. the example is
different one. England cannot send
more than $1,000 soldiers to the Trans
vaal without withdrawing all her
troops from the colonies. This in it
self is an imposing army, but only half
of them will be available. Granting
that England will have effected the
landing of her troops by the middle of
December, she will have lost in the
meantime at least 10000 through
deaths. casualties. assertions and cap
ly be reduced to 10000. We will Try
to prevent the junction of the English
forces under Butler, but even if we
should not succeed the English willib
unable to put more than $4,000 men, in
the field against us. The rest will he
needed for garrisons and protectionjOf
their bases of operations.
The scene of the war will Govern Ma
tai and Cape Colony, an area of, SAY,
200 kilometers. Our own camp isipro-
tectcd by three mountain ranges. and
500 men are amply sufficient for its
protection. our manner of communi-
cation is excellent. The Outposts have
command of and facilities for destroy
ing provisions i'll case their position be
comes untcnable., If the war should he
carried into our own country. of which
there are no prospects ut present, our
would become greater yet.
for. while facing unknown conditions
in Natal and in the south. we are quite
able TO make use of the splendid OPP
pOrtunities of defense which our own
country offers.
The enemy will meet n very Stub
born resistance in the Transvaal and
Orange Free State. and every inch OF
ground will cost them dear. You COR
rectly suggest that we most likely
would resort to guerrilla tactics. a.
to England the impossibility of the
task she has undertaken. Her losses
will be tremendous