The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-02-11
JoUBERT AND THE BoERs.
The Trnnsvaal General and His DEM
OcrRtic Army.
from the London Chronicle.)

(From the London Chronicle)
1t must have been the next evening, as
we were waiting three or four hours. as
usual, for the line to clear, that General
Joubert came up in special train. A
few young men and boys in ordinary
clothes formed his staff. The general
himself wore the usual brown SLOUGH hat,
with Grape band and a blue frosk coat,
not luxuriously new. His beard is now
quite white, but his long, straight hair is
still more black than grey. The brown,
sallow face is deeply wrinkled and marked.
but the dark brown eyes are still bright.
and look out upon the world with kind
of simplicity mingled with shrewdness, or
perhaps some subtler quality. He speaks
English with a piquant lack OF grammar
and misuse of words
When | travelled with him next day. al
most the first thing he said to me was:
THE heart of my soul is bloody with sor-
cow His moderating influence on the Kru
ger Government is well known, and he de-
scribed to me how he had done his ut
most for peace. But he also described how,
bit by bit, England had pushed the Beers
out OF their inheritance and taken advan-
tage of them in every conference and ma
tive war.
AS / telegraphed, he was particularly
hurt that the Queen had taken no notice
OF Int lOUS VI NlOtt
10 her on the situation. And, by the way.
| often observed what regard most Beers
appear to feel for the Queen personally.
They constantly couple her name with
Gladstone's when they wish to say any
thing nice about English politics. As to
the generals views on the crisis. there
would be little new to say. Till the pres
emit war. his hope has been for South
African Confederacy under English pro-
tection-the Cape, Natal, Free State. and
the Transvaal all having equal rights and
local self government. He knows well
enough the inner causes OF the present
evils. But now" he said. we can only
leave it TO God. II it is His will. that the
Transvaal perish, we can only do our best"
At Zandspruit the scene Of the old Sand
River Convention. the whole Boer camp
crowded to the station TO greet the nation
al hero, and he was at once surrounded
by herd of farmers. shaking his hands
and patting him warmly on the back. IL
was a respectful but a democratic greet
ing. The Boer Army-if for a moment We
may give that name TO an unorganized col
lection OF vClunteers-is entirely demo.
cratic The men are nominally under heid
comets commanders and the general. but
they openly boast that on tne neiu tnc
authority and direction or off.cers 10 not
count for much. and they go pretty uluCn
as they please. The camp. thouEh NOT III
the least disorderly. was confused anu "
reg,,lar--siores. tirewood. horses. cattle
md tents strewn about the enormous veldt
almost aim haphazard. though the districts
were kept fairly well separate. Proyis-
IONS we're plenty. but the cooking was bad.
II took three days TO get bread made. and
some attachments had to eat their meat
raw think there were not more than
Ten thousand or less than seven thousand
mon in the camp at that time, but the
Communicated trains crawled up every
two or three hours with their new loads.