Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1901-03-27
THE BoEas ARE FIGHTERS.
They Will Combat with the English Until there
are No Boers Left.

- "A diSPatch from London TO The
New York Herald gives an inter
view alth D. Erasmus, son of Gen.
Erasmus, of Pretoria, on the proba-
BILE consequences of General Botha's
refusal to accept the terms of peace.
He said
"The English public, for some
unknown reason, has looked upon
the war all along as mere child's
play, notwithstanding the lessons
which it received in the commence.
ment of the war. Four hundred
Boers are quite sufficient to barass
the entire army for an indefinite
period in the district north Of Pre-.
toria.
Irregular cavalry cannot operate
there. 1t is deep sand, which gives
the poorest foothold. Owing to the
fever, the British can operate but
six months in the year. The Beers
from childhood have accustomed
themselves to this climate and can
stop there without much harm.
Gin foreign countries people who
are trying to make mischief out Of
the English reverses read in them a
disgrace to the British army. But
can assure those pretended friends
of my people that if they had to do
what the British are now trying to
accomplish they might have done
very much worse on, succeeded less
well in fighting"
The Beers, he said, can get plenty
of food, horses and ammunition.
AS an alternative for Sir Alfred
Miner, as negotiator with the
Beers, Mr.. Erasmus suggests that
England should send some impartial
Englishman, free from all party
feeling. Lord Kitchener's name
will not go either. He has been too
much associated with Mr.. Cecil
Rhodes. You remember how their
names were connected together
when Lord Kitchener was in Lon.
don; how they were coupled and
how they took doctors degrees
together.
"The end," said Erasmus, evil be
that the Boers remaining must be
either caught and exterminatcd or
given independence. There was a
time, after Pretoria was taken, when
many Beers deserted or surrendered,
in the belief that they would find
their houses and families as they left
them, if they were allowed to 90
free, promising not to fight again.
The end of he war was then more
than possible. My people were
ready to give in
"But when the Beers returned to
their homestead and found their
farms burned and their families
gone, they knew not where, they
were ruined men. From that day
out, it should be well understood,
the war BECAME one of revenge, and
no longer one of patriotism. Pic
turc to yourself the situation. 1t is
perfectly simple to understand the
bitterness Of the Beers.
"The only terms satisfactory
would be restocking the farms and
making good that which has been
destroyed. Otherwise why should
the men not continue to fight ?
They have lost everything, and
therefore, have nothing to lose and
everything to gain.
"Mr. Kruger is still absolutely
President of the Transvaal republic.
People say he ran away. That is
untrue. He was forced to leave by
the Executive. 1t took five thous.
and men to guard him. We needed
those men elsewhere.
cit is perfect nonsense to say he
is worth millions. At most he may
be worth a million, which he made
from the purchase and sale of lands,
| just as any other man might. But
much money has been intrusted to
him for State purposes. That money
he spends in the manner which is
indicated to him and as intended by
the Bocr Executive.
"Mr. Kruger may have lost some
weight with a certain number of
people of the extreme section. But,
remember this--it is important-Mr.
Kruger is the one man who could, if
he liked, bring the war to an end.
He could finish it at once if he
willed. When peace comes it will
be made by the people appointed to
make it, Mr.. Kruger and the extra
ordinary commission sent over here
by the Beers, Mcssrs. Wolmcrans,
Vessels, and Fisher. They have
full power to act"
"And the Bocr forces to-day? ?"
81 estimate them to number from
ten to twelve thousand," concluded
| Mr. Erostpnc