Evening star., 1901-07-15
ENUMERATION OF THE BOERs.
The British Intelligence Department
Reports to the War Office.

Cape Town Correspondence London Express.
After months of hard work, careful In
quiry among the government arcnlVes OF
Pretoria and Bloemfonte1n, to say nothing
of secondary centers such as kronstad,
Johannesburg, Standerton and the lately
captured Petersburg, our Intelligence de-
partment here at last got at the number
of men who from first to last have fought
for Krugerism in this war The papers
have been sent to the war office, and Will
doubtless soon be available for the first In
quisitve NJ P. who wishes to make pubic
the solution of what has for SO long proved
a puZzling problem.
1t is certain that even the Boer leaders
themselves never knew within 10000 men
how many they actually had in the field.
Authentic records Of such commanders as
those of Pretoria, Standerton and Hefdel-
berg have been found to vary as much as
10 per cent, while the identification cards.
which it was resolved that all Beers should
carry, have been issued with such dis
regard for accuracy and method that in
compiling the estimate this means of get
ting at the numbers was long ago dis
carded. During the tenure of Earl Roberts
as n-chtef rough estimate
was prepared of the Boer forces, which
showed 1900 the maximum number of
fighting men, but since then more accurate
information has been obtained, and, a
result, the number is now put down at
*, 600 of all ranks.
Is,
and in finally estimating it the responsible
officers have added a foot note to the effect
that this number represents the maximum
force Of the enemy from the outbreak Of
hostities until February 2S, 1901 No ac-
count is taken of the men left behind to po-
lice the towns because frequently, in
| the case of Johannesburg, the guardians of
law and order were often Britishers and
| foreigners who refused actually to take
their places in the firing line.
The employees of the z. S. NJ Ghe Neither
lands Railway Company are for the most
part placed under the head Of foreign as
sistants," but no account is taken of am
bulance parties, local or foreign, although,
says the report, there is good reason to
Cross Brigade with the Boers especially
the American and Russian corps more fire.
quently carried arms than stretchers and
bandages."
| the names of some 1,760 men and $50 women
are in the possession of our intelligence de-
| partment who, at one time or other. formed
| the Boer Red Cross Brigade. That the
| number largely exceeded this there is no
! room for doubt and among them are Brit
| ish, or colonial British, who were former
residents of Johannesburg. One Cape men,
| ber of parliament, DR.. Hoffman, is among
| the list but in justice to him 1t is stated
that careful inquiry has failed to show that
| he ever carried an offensive weapon
| In solid and dry figures the forces of the
Beers are set down as follows
Free Staters s : - 90 90 900 90
Foreigners Qncluding those made burghers --0''
| Just prior to just after the outbreak of
cane Go1any and Natal rebels. sooo sooo
Total. 65, coo
| At the end of February it was estimated
| that II 600 of this force had been slain or
had died of disease, 10000 were prisoners
| in our hands, 1900 rebels were awaiting
trial in Cape Colony and Natal 5,4OO men
were on parole or had taken the oath Of
allegiance (mostiy IN the Free State), $500
| foreigners had been sent out of the coun-
| try at the expense of the British govern
ment, 500 foreigners escaped, and certainly
5000 were in hiding as incapacitated or
| wounded men unfit for further hghting
This left at the date mentioned "A, 400 of
the 81, 600 Beers accounted for, and the
| report ends by estimating the total Boer
| forces still in the field at 20, 600.
| Now let us see what has occurred during
the three months which have elapsed since
| February Is Our prisoners now. accord
ing to the Cape colonial official report is
| sued yesterday, number just 2,000, or 5000
| more than on the date when the intelli-
| gence departments document ended. Of
| fetal reports record the Boer casualties at
| 112O for the period-say 1OOO--but the
probability is that 1t is much nearer 20OO
/ as only the dead and the wounded picked
| up by our innumerable columns have been
| included Surrenders under the allegiance
| oath, which does not carry deportation, ac-
| count for another $500. so that today there
| cannot be more than 1900 men carrying
arms against north of the Orange river
| OF course, since February many rebels in
| Capy Colony have taken up arms. but Cen
| eral Brabant thinks that not more than 100
| have rebelled since the Invasion of uccem-
Der last, and. estimating them at double
that number, 1t follows that the total num-
| Der still in the field and scattered over
100000 miles of territory cannot be more
| than 1900 at the highest computation.
| 1t must not be forgotten in considering
| the foregoing figures that during the war
the Beers have had the services of GER
! tainly 100000 aboriginals. who have per-
| formed laborious work, such as digging of
trenches, the handling of transport ind
care of horses and cattle.
While not Is per cent Of the British army