Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-10-10
A B0ER'S FIRM HOPES.
A. D. Wolmarans' Account of
South African Struggle.
SAYS HIS OoUNTRYMEN MUST WIN.

The Peace Delegate When Inter
viewed on the Prospect For Ulti-
mate Peace Claims That England
Is Bound to F~ail-Says Our Neutral
atty Is of 81 Queer Sort.
A. d. .W%olnarans of the Boer lega-
tion in the Netherlands gave this most
graphic account OF the situation of the
South African war as it exists today,
says Walter Wellman, ! he Hague cor
respondent Of the Chicago Record-Her-
aid. writing under the date of Aug. &c:
Never before anywhere in tie
world, in modern times at least. was
there such a struggle as that which
our people are now maintaining in
South Africa.
After two years of fighting, the
greatest empire in the world against
two puny countries, what do we see?'
asked Mr.. Wolmarans. 'The two lit
tie republics have been almost depopu-
lated; they are wastes; the farms are
ruined; weeds grow in the fields; the
live stock has all been driven away;
the houses and kraals are empty; the
only activity is that of the soldiers
flying to and fro. Where are the 25O.-.
600 Boer people who lived in these
two happy little countries? Perhaps
10000 remain in the cities and towns,
nearly all of them being women and
children, Possibly $4,000 more are Iiv-
ing on their farms. The remainder of
the women and children are in British
camps. What has become of the
10000 men and large boys who were
the industrial backbone of the South
African Republic and Orange Free
State? More than 10000. according to
British reports, are in captivity at st.
Helena. Ceylon and other prison pens.
Five thousand are dead or incapaci-
tated from wounds and disease. Per-
haps 5000 more may be found in the
towns or pom the few farms that are
still occupied by human beings. And
the remaining 10000? In the field,
still fighting against the invader.
"a people who will keep up a war
under such circumstances, the men
fighting and living off the enemy while
their wives and children are virtually
prisoners in b hands of the foe, are
an unconquerable people. We are not
conquered. We never can be
ed. AS President Kruger has said, it
must be independence or DEATH"
"How long can you people keep up
the struggle?'
"For a long, long time. 1 have just
been talking about that with President
Kruger" replied Mr.. Wolmarans, 'and
we agree that our men are able to go
on for years. We believe we can con-
tinuet the fight Indefinitely or until Eng
land is forced to yield us al honorable
place. l will tell you why.
1.-The English now have in South At
rica 100000 soldiers. They are scat
tered over a great eNpanse of country.
They hold the towns, but canno patrol
all the veldt and valleys. AS they have
found it necessary to divide their forces
into such a large number of small COM
mands. garrisons and scouting and raid
ing parties. SO we have found it ad-
visabIe to do the same thing. Our
forces row consist of perhaps twenty
commands Of an average of 400 or
500 men each. They move rapidly.
They keep the 100000 English pretty
busy. According TO the British reports,
they have taken $4,000 of our men prfs-
oners. But we cannot believe in the
accuracy of this statement. We never
q A-C-S IA6lh SC-OOO Il al lOIds L wv
or three thousand have been killed or
disabled by wounds. If the British
have $4,000 prisoners only 5000 can be
left in the field. Our own reports show
that there are 10000 or 1900 Beers
in the various commands. Whatever
the number, it is apparent that they
are a match for the 100000 English, for
we do not hear that General Kitchener
is actually sending home any but his
wounded and sick.
after the fall of Bloemfontein and
Pretoria" continued Mr.. Wolmarans,
Il confess that l vas much discour-
aged. / did not see how we could keep
up the fight much longer. For one
thing. | could not see where we were
to get ammunition. But that problem
has been solved. When our men rrn
out of ammunition. they get new sup
plies from the enemy. If they run short
Of rifles, they capture some from the
English; If they need food. coffee,
clothing, they know where to get more.
Practically everything our
dos now nave they tax from the enc
my. Perhaps that is one reason why
the war costs England such enormous
sums and why the taxpayer is begin
ming to grumble. The English have to
support both sides. It is not surprising
that Chamberlain and Kitchener should
try to have US hung as robbers.
1.-THE truth is that our forces are now
getting along very WELL. They are not
complaining about their commissariat.
The English are good purveyors. My
SOL is serving in one of the
dos and 7 have q letter from him dotod
May "a, in which he says. Have no
fear about anything here, father By
that he must have meant the troops
were getting along all right. He prob
/ably put it that way so the censor