Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-28

commanded the garrison which defended
I.adysmith. in a speech at Cape Town yes
terday evening. declared that Joubert was
a soldier and gentleman, and brave and
honorable opponent.
LONDON. March 2S The afternoon
newspapers today publish long biographies
of Gen. JOubert. Generally, they are in
kindly tone
The Pail Mall Gazette says:
"Piet Joubert was the one contemporary
Transvaal Boer, except ex-Chief Justice
Kotze. whose death could call forth sin
cere tribute of respect from Englshmen of
all parties He was the antipodes in the
Transvaal world of Leyds, and personally
was honest, straight and clean-handed,'
sketch of His Career.
General PIetrus Jacobus Joubert, comman-
dant general of the Transvaal forces. bet
ter known as Piet Joubert, or "Slien Piet''
tslim Peter was born about sixty-eight years
ago He was descended from an old French
Huguenoc family, which settled In South
Africa many years ago. He was born in
Cape Colony, but was taken by his parents,
when seven years old, 10 the Orange Free
State, where he was taught from early
q childhood to shoot straight and hate the
British. He is described having been
utterly fearless. OF schooling he had but
little, and he never saw q newspaper until
he was nineteen years old In spite Of
this his ambition prompted him to read the
few books he could obtain, and he sue
ceeded in obtaining a fair knowledge Of
history and languages
In consequence of the acquisition OF Natal
by the British. his family moved from Natal
and settled in the Transvaal- Soon after
ward he became burghcr of the South
African republic and daring fighter. 1t
claimed in his behalf that he could
lead a body of men more successfully
against hostile natives than any other man
n the Transvaal He came to be so feared
by the natives that the knowledge that he
was at the head of a punitive expedition
usually resulted in their surrender.
First Meeting With Kruger.
1t was during these wars with the natives
shat Joubert became acquainted with Paul
Kruger and the two men became bosom
friends He was elected vice president of
the Transvaal IN 1896. defeated Sir George
Colley at Majuba Hill in 1881, and acted as
president of the republic IN 1sS3-S4, during
kruser's absence In Europe.
Gen Joubert was always in favor Of the
use of force instead Of diplomacy, and
President Kruger on several occasions had
great difficulty in represSing his hot-headed
colleague, notably in 1879. when Joubert
with Kruger and Pretorius, was planning
the rebellion TO overthrow British rule in
the Transvaai. The result was Maiuba
Hill and the practical independence of the
Transvaai
II Joubert who organized the army
of the South African republic later on,
dividing the country into seventeen mill
tary departments and each of these de-
partments into smaller divisions, with COM
man6ants, field cornets and heutenants OF
various ranks In charge. According to the
generals plans, every man became a
trained soldier without leaving his fam
and had his equipment ready al hand &c
such point of perfection was the syste n
carried that within forty eight hours after
the present war was declared the Boer ma
zion was under arms.
II was also due to Gen Joubert that t1e
South African republics succeeded In
amassirg the immense stores of war muni.
tons and provisions which have stood
them in such good stead during the con.
fict now In progress.
Would Have Killed Jameson.
When the Jameson raiders were locked
up In Pretoria jail Joubert was stronpf,
In favor Of their immediate execution Il
was not until Joubert and Kruger had beer
closeted together for a whole night tha
the more merciful counsels of Kruger pre-
vailed
In spite of these characteristics. Jouber
on some occasions showed considerable re
gard for the usages of civilization. WheI
the Beers raided British territory. Bech
OaLaland, In 1874, JOubert was proba bl
the only prominent Boer who refused I
support the movement. and his oppositio
resulted In the withdrawal of the Roer
from the territory seized, as he threatene
to resign unless he had his way, saying: -
positively refuse to hold Office under
government that deliberately breaks II
covenants. and We have made covenan,
with England"
In November last it was reported tha
General Joubert had been killed in actor
and later reports said he was dangerousl
wounded and had to use a cart in order
follow The operations in the field.
The circumstances Of the death of Gel
eral Joubert are not explained in the di!
patch from Lorenzo Marques, which recall
the fact that William Cox, newspaper CO
respondent. who was recently released fro
IMPRISONMENT at Pretoria and who has a