The Irish standard., 1900-08-25
THE LYDD1TE SHELLS
Not So Destructive as the British
Imagined.

imagined.
Tn 4 letter to the Dublin Freeman's
Journal, Michael Davitt says:
After breakfast General Botha
touched upon the question of the en-
ploymcnt of lylslitc shells by the Eng
lish. He held that 1t was as contrary
to his IDEAS of civilized warfare to
poison the air with the fumes of lyd-
dite shells as to put poison in the
wells. 1t was cowar1ly fighting. But
lyddite has done little or no injury to
the Bocrs since they recovered from
the first shock of it's use. He con.
fessed that it had frightened himself
in the first instance. lie feared it's
effects upon the nerves of the mon;
that their shooting would become un-
steady, and the power of the mauscr
would therefore be materially les
scncd. That fear has long since van
shcd. At the battle of Colenso his
brother. now Commandant- G encral
had ordered an officer to count all the
shells fired by the lyddite guns and to
note the effect "Nnctccn hundred
and sixty such shells had been fired
at us during the three days fighting,
and not single man on our side was
killed by the terrible lyddite!
During my pleasant stay with Gen
cral Rotha and his hurghcrs bundle
OF newspapers arrived. was anx-
ious to note how the farmer-soldiers
would, as l expected, rush to learn the
news. The papers were dcvourcd by
myself and by the members of the
Generals staff, but though the fact of
their arrival was known in the whole
camp, only one solitary man came to
have n look ut them! 1 had Il talk
with him as an unique example Of the
human curiosity which makes people
devote so much of their time to the
daily paper. He was a typical Boer,
strong, roughbearded, and handbook
ing. He came to the tent in his bare
feet, rs 'thc wet grass injured his
Shoes" He told me he had just come
back from Il visit to his home and
farm. Il got eight days leave of
absence" he said, "but Mt the end Of
four days my wife told me that my
right place was i'll front of the Brit
ish, and not Mt home Mt my ease. She
said she could manage the farm well
without me. The women, sir, are
more bitter against the English than
we are. They think that their daugh-
ters will be made servants for the
Red Necks, and be ruined, and that
their sous will have to join the Brit
ish army and wear it's uniform"
One of General Botha's young Off
GERS told me of q lady friend of his
in Harrismith, whose husband and four
sons are fighting in the Federal army,
and who declared in the hearing of
several people she would rather see
them buried rs. dead soldiers fighting
for their country's independence than
have them live under the English flag.
All testimony one hears or learns of
in travelling through these two coun-
tries agrees in this respect, that the
women, young and old alike, are I'M
compromising in their patriotism, and
will urge the men to fight to the death
against the enemies of republican
freedom in this war. This spirit will
not be crushed out of these people
| even if Pretoria falls before the COM
ing march of Lord Roberts. The
Mauser of the Boer may slacken it's
| deadly fire, and the kopjes of the
Transvaal may cease for time to be
the ramparts of its liberties, but If
the spirit of independence lives and