The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-11-16

gers war. Success for the Transvaal
forces meant narrowness in politics,
narrowness in religion. and narrow
and hating development of South At
RIGA. For the thriving and enterprising
communities along the coast this would
have been a going backward The cry
! that Kruger stood in the way of civili-
zation has force when his possible rule
of all South Africa is considered. He
and his Trapsvaal Beers had tile right
to live and worship and to run a little
government as they chose. But outside
of the Transvaal there is another type
of civilization With which the Boer
system would certainly clash in the
event of political union.
kruger's war was we'll fought on the
field of battle just as long as his armies
took positions where the British must
| make frontal attacks. His command
| ers were geniuses too, in the matter of
rounding up British detachments. But
when it came to fighting on long lines,
| where it was essential to shift troops
| to sustain reverses without fiinching,
to push things once point had been
! gained, in al. of this the Beers had had
no discipline and showed no clever
| ness. The Beers seemed to settle down
upon their kopjes or under good cover
| and cry Let them Gomez And for
time they took good care of all Corners.
| But there had to be an end to this
| calm defense when the enemy mus
tered in odds of 5 to and more. With
line stretching across the Free State
and Natal manned by a few thousand
| Transvaal Beers and burghers there
was little chance of stopping Lord
Roberts immense army. So when the
British came on the flank and vital
| points in the Boer line We're broken the
defense fell to pieces. The commands
didn't rally, or if they did rally there
was confusion in councils and no unity
of action.
Memories of Laingsnek and Maju-
ba Hill were evidently bad for the Boer
! cause They looked for run of good
| luck, and the first weeks of the cam
| paign confirmed the fatal optimism. A
| fight to the death with defeat will stir
the blood of any people having fighting
blood to stir. The Alamo in Texas,
where the heroism of handful of men
was rewarded by humiliation, was an
awful. a bloodcurdling tragedy of war.
But the news of it. the thought of it,
quickened the pulse of every man in
| Texas. The quivering was not stilled,
the fires cf Indignation were not
| quenched, the mad passions of the hour
were not appeased, until the Alamo
was avenged in Mexican blood. And
| the end was free Texas.
| Victories may be dearly bought even
when they come cheap. The British be-
/ gan by despising the Boer forces. The
Beers ended by Understanding Brit
| ish solidity. There are indications that
the Beers Individually did not become
! fighting mad until after Roberts begar
| to Cypress and distress them. Then it
was too late. Kruger and Steyn held
the forces together for a time with po-
Itical magnetism and Joubert inspired
| martial enthusiasm. But Joubert died.
and Kruger and Steyn had to hunt FOR
cover, so to speak, after the first line of
defense went to pieces.
Apparently the Beers, after Paarde-
burg, We're in the condition common to
troops who have been routed in most
| stubborn defense of a strong position
If they could get into another position
of like strength, they hoped to do still
better. They failed to make position
strong by fighting and trusting to the
usual luck of war to help them out.
Perhaps pitched battles would have
been useless waste of blood for the
Beers once they We're forced back to
| the borders of the Transvaal. Without
the active and prompt aid Of the At
rikanders in the lower colonies they
We're as good as defeated when the war
began. But more stubborn fighting at
|