The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-02-12
BoER AND BRITISH IGNORANCE.
An Englishman's Comparison With the
 Basis of the Boers' Hopes

Basis of the Boers' Hopes.
 people and the general public have been kept in profound ignorance concerning the Boer as a fighter The Boer has been underestimated individually and collectively, both as man and as food for powder, and the sooner this is real ized by Great Britain the better. The
 Boer is not kind of white savage, full
 of foolish ideas concerning Great Britain
 and her power. The average Boer, with whom have come in contact, knows a
 great deal more about us and the forces at our disposal than the best-informed
 staff officer on our eide knows about the
 Boers. The Boer knows all about our
 navy and what that navy can do. He
 knows the gigantic proportions of our
 national wealth, and is very well as-
 sured that Great Britain will spend the
 last shilling in the Treasury before re-
 tiring from the contest He knows, too,
 that we have myriads of men, drilled
 and undrilled, to fall back upon. He
 knows that we can, and will, roll these
 legions over the African veldts, as
 waves roll over the seaside sl1ingle. He
 knows all this, and good deal more,
 and he knew it perfectly well, before he
 commenced to fight, It has been part
 of the programme for the Boers to sham
 ignorance, and they have fooled our
 clever officials and globe-trotters as
 men surely were never fooled before.
 Now. what do we know about them?
 Nothing except what we learn when
 we march up to drive them out of position; and how dearly we are paying for each lesson We pay for it in blood, in money, and in loss of prestige; for If the Boers are such clowns as they have so long been represented to be , how Is it that such men as Butler, Gatacre, and Methuen, backed by the grandest
 fighting troops in the world, can make no headway against them? The Boers themselves are firmly convinced that they can win in the long run.
 They know that their country teens with natural fortresses, which skilled engineers have made well-night impreg- nable; they know that not only have they a far greater number of native born white fighting men than we dream- ed of before the war commenced, but they are also aware that for a long time past foreign mercenaries, disguised as settlers, have been quietly but per- pouring into the country, ready and willing to fight against England. They do not hope, and they never did | hope, to conquer their great foe by all they hope to do is to put up a long and bloody war, in the ex- pectation that complications will arise which will draw some of the great pow CTS into the struggle Should they suc- ceed In embroiling Britain with some first -class power they imagine that ulti' mately We shall be compelled to with draw our troops and recognize the two republics as sovereign State, under the style and title of Federated Africa That is the Boers dream, and that is what he is fighting for. He is in no hurry to force matters He is almost secure while playing the defensive game, At present Kimberley and Lady, smith, for strategic purposes, are al- most Indispensable to the enemy, there- 'ore they depart from their general plan of campaign and act on the offensive, put as a general rule they are well con- ent to allow us to dash our men up against rocky heights loopholed for rifle .