The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-02
THE BoERs' FRENCH sTRATEGIsT

1 Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil, and How | He Took Service in Africa
 The Boer authorities perslstently re-
 present Colonel De Villebois-Mareuil,
 late of the French army, as the accredit-
 ed attache of the French Republic. As
 matter of facta however, Colonel De Villebois- Mareui1 has unquestionably
 entered the Boer army as an active off,
 cer, with the rank of a general and with the heavy responsibility of revising and, | if necessary, improving upon the plan of campaign already worked out by General Joubert for the present ccasion.
 Indeed, he has been intrusted with the
 plans for defending Pretoria when the
 bombardment of the Transvaal capital takes place.
 Colonel De Villebois- Mareuil was en-
 gagged by Dr. Leyds early in Septem-
 Der, the negotiations having taken place at De Villebois- Mareuips castle, Bois-
 Corbeau in Brittany, It should be not
 ed that he had severed his connection
 with the French army in 1896, and was
 at liberty to enter the service of any
 army he chose. His reasons for send- ing in his resignation to the French War Office were because he had been refused
 the command of the Madagascar expe
 dition, and because the state of affairs which predominated in the French army and the petty jealousies and intrigues
 which obtained in the Etat Major were not to his taste
 Tn accepting the high post in the army of the South African Republic he was actuated by none of those sentiments which characterize the French Anglo
 phobe On the contrary, Colonel De Villebois- -Mareuil's tastes are, in many respects, essentially English. He speaks English 1uently his daughter was un- der the tutelage of an English govern ess, and his tailor lives in street off Hanover Square; while during his resi- dence in Algiers where he held the conn., mand division, he used to enter tain all the prominent members of the English colony.
 Being, however, only fifty--and a fsol- dier at that age is in the prime of life-- and essentially fighting man with great talents for strategy and tactics, he eagerly jumped at the offer and the tempting remuneration held out to him by Kruger's representative. At the same time he thought it advisable to keep his engagement secret in order to elude the inquisitiveness of French ofticialdom, with which every Gaul, be he in the military or civil service, whether active or retired. remains to some entent in touch, With the eX- ception of his friend Comte de Rothays and his daughter, nobody was aware Of the new career Colonel De Villebois-Ma- reul was about to embark upon.
 A curious fact in connection with this Cfficer is that the important role he was and is about to play has been hith- erto obstinately ignored by those whose ambitions it is to be informed on all matters, And yet it was Colonel De -Mareuil who was responsible for the tactics displayed by the Beers at Colenso on the memorable December l5, and to whom alone were due the of the plan of fighting and the distribution of the troops along and -SInd 4IeuoS IeAEI BIe5nL eql punolu sr was merely a figurehead, nominal | substitute for the absent General Jou , pert,
 The French press follows the move | nents of Colonel De Villehois Nareuil ] very closely, for which doubtless the Colonl is far from being grateful The 1 papers attribute to him all kinds of ab- 1 urd statements, of which the following $ fair sample. It is alleged to be an | account in the Colonel's own words of | he loss of the squadron of Hussars liter the battle of Glencoe:
 "A regiment of Lancers (sic) disap )eared completely in the course of a battle, and this is what happened to hem. The English Lancers, after harging Boer detachment, threw themselves upon the wounded, whom hey maasacred and despoied. They