The Irish standard., 1901-11-30
was sent away

anu oCOACSs VNOWs 1900 WIS Sent away
from -, not in disgrace, out to
high post elsewhere! Truly the ways
Of the army are wonderful. The press
of London should insist on disasters be-
ing reported. We have heard, on the
authority of men and traders who were
near the sites Of the disasters, that
within the last month 70 of one regi-
ment have surrendered in the Colony in
a batch, GO Of another in batch, and
80 Of third, and another in batch
in the Free State, and hundreds Of in
dividual men, and no mention has been
made in our papers here. Why saw
in one place that under martial law
the commandant had notified that, If
anyone was heard openly talking of or
writing about war news which was not
certified and posted up by the military
authorities he would be fined and i'm
prisoned. OF course, we say nothing
in public, but in private we all talk
freely.
1 have talks with many Beers, for
under martial law we are all in adver-
sity alike, and adversely makes stran-
gers and enemies friends for the mo-
ment. A Boer told me that martial
law would not be bad if it were admin
istered by reasonable men, but 'syour
officers are SO stupid, they annoy us all
because they do not think." They are
not bad, but stupid. Along the line as
we travel we are advised, saying,
Don't get down at -, at -,
and other places, as the commandments
there are fools, whose one idea Of mar
tial law is harassing friends and foes
alike" Driving, walking about the dis
trict, you have to show your pass to
any armed man you see, and they are
sometimes nuisance. Once a man al
most refused to return my pass because
would not give him whisky. On, an
other occasion sentry made me write
down all about my wife and children,
and horse, etc., because I would not
give him sixpence. Any unarmed man
moving about the country full of armed
soldiers and sentries is helpless. The
soldiers are good and reasonable as a
rule, but there are blackguards among
them, especially as we have recruited
rum fellows in our irregular corps.
When we were going from to
- we had gone half way when a
man met us who said: "Stop here and
return; there are 12O Beers in -,
about ten miles ahead of you" l ask
ed him what they looked like. He said:
''The most ragged lot you ever saw, all
of them but two. Colonial rebels, of
whom about 40 were riding donkeys,
40 foals, and 40 were we'll mounted.
The well-mounted men did the rear
guard work, and they Dragged that they
had evaded, and could evade a whole
British column anywhere. They said:
The English columns are funked to
rush us, and they will never overtake
us, they are so careful of themselves 4"
mentioned this to a colonel, and he
said it was not fair at this stage of
the war to rush a lot Of Beers and
sacrifice many men. told him that it
would mean less loss of life in the end,
hut he said: "Well, I'd never risk it."
| met very smart intelligence officer
the other day and he said the war could
not be finished for year yet, as it was
such difficult war, the country so
large, and the kopjes so impregnable,
etc. Indeed, if for kopje you write a
bare, easy hill, for kloof a bare glen,
for krantz an easy cliff, and get rid of
all the jargon Of drifts and poorts
(Which are fords and ferries), and dom
gas and SHUTS (Which are simple ravines
which a child could see), you will see
that the men have been counting on the
English press being stagestruck with
their words, which mean nothing. If
our men got rid Of fhair 1uooops ond