The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-28


of revolt far and wide. Kimberly, itself.
was threatened.
Whatever may be said about the Brit
ish, they cannot be accused nc lack of
appreciation of the dashing Dewet.
The conservative London Times edi-
terially declares that ''it would be un-
worthy of the British name to refuse to
credit this (he Orange river escaped as
being due to a feat Of arms so brilliant
as to rank with any achiev cement Of mil
itary history"
So speak all the British newspapers.
They recognize in Christian Dewet the
revivication of the war spirit of the Boer
and they realize that until he is captured
or killed the war is not ended.
One of the most noted correspondents.
in telling of his impressions upon meet
ing Dewet says:
when l was first introduced to Gen.
Dewet it was not under very pleasant
circumstances, and / was. perhaps,
tempted to criticise rather severely the
man who had made me his prisoner of
war But he assured me. with such ex-
cellent grace, that the honors of war
would be extended to us prisoners that
I concluded that after all had been mis-
taken in my man. | had vague idea
of this daring Boer guerrilla as a man
devoid of principle, and one to whom
the shooting of an Englishman was no
but when | came in contact with the nan
l was agreeably surprised. His striking
appearance and dominating personality
struck me Immediately l saw him. and he
impressed me forcibly. He was riding
rough looking pony. Of diminutive size.
and issuing orders to his burghers, and
1 had a particularly good chance Of stud
ying his appearance.
LOOKS UNDISTINGUISHED.
''He was dressed like the average Boer.
and only for the fact that he carried a
revolver slung across his shoulder and
was riding at the head of his men one
would never have picked him out as
probably the cleverest mounted infantry
leader in either of the two armies. He
wore a broad brimmed sombrero, we'll
pulled down over his sharp, piercing eyes.
His heavy, iron-gTay beard and mus
tache, under which [ could perceive IL
large, frm-set mouth, gave me the i'm
preston of man of great determ1na-
ton and one who did not know fear.
Rather a sharp nose and high cheek
bones portrayed the cuteneSs and stealth
of the man as a tracker.
at was at Lindley, in the Orange Riv-
er colony. that 1 met De Wet, when the
Imperial Yeomanry were forced to sur
render. After he had accomplished his
object, namely, surprising and capturing
the force-he followed up his victory by
several other victories of equal import
ance, for during the following week he
attacked a convoy which was escorted
by 100 Highlanders on its way to He'll
bron.
This he captured without firing a shot.
so well did he lay his plans. But even
this did not satisfy the ubiquitous gen
eral, for soon as he had destroyed the
major portion of the convoy and sent the
escort to Nooitgedacht he narshaled his
burghers and rode straight for Roodeval.
We heard a couple of days later Of the
capture of an entire battalion of the
Derbyshire regiment.
''Is it any wonder. therefore, that this
man mas come to be recognized as the
greatest guerrilla chief since the time OF
Phil Sheridan?"
That's from an English viewpoint
Here's what one of the Boer leaders.
Commandant w. D. Snyman, says:
When L babe good-by to Gen. De Wet
in the Free State he said to me: If you
hear that [ have surrendered, deny it.
will never surrender; 1 will fight as
long as one man stands by me- Presl-
dent Steyn said to me as | left him near
komatpoort: You may tell the Aneri-
lean friends of our cause that as long as
l live | shall defend. the cause. We will
continue this fight unit we VIM
That is the spirit which anmates the
entire army, from the youngest boy In
the ranks to the oldest grandfather who
carries rifle.
GREATER STRATEGIST THAN
KITCHENER.
'I know that you will say that Dewet
! and his small army cannot cont nd much
! longer against the vast forces of Lord
! Kitchener. Dewet is as far superior
! to Kitchener in military strategy as Ma
| poleOn was to the most ignorant soldier
in, &c.
! but peWet has proved it several times
| to the great modification of the hero
! Of Omdurman.
For three months Kitchener, with an
army of almost 40,00C men. tried to cap
! ture us, and Dewet laughed al his efforts,
! and incidentally captured from him at
! Rooidal sufficient winter clothing for eV-
cry bursher in the army, $500 shells and
| enough small arms ammunition to last
his forces for three years And Dewet
| did this with less than 5000 men,
| Since June the entire Boer army has
been supported by the British taxpayer
Almost every single rifle in the Boer ar
my was captured from the British in
battles; every cartridge and shell used
| in our fights since June was taken from
| the British; all of our commissairat sup
| plies for man and horse were taken from
the British Whenever there is a lack
| of anything in our camp we sally forth
and lake it from the British
1.-THE English taxpayers are furnishing
the sinews for both armies in South Afri-
| ca, and so long as the Beers can secure
| the necessaries of war so cheaply and
! easily they need have no fear that the
national treasury must issue bonds to
carry on the struggle.
''The Beers will continue the war OF
| harassing their enemy continually for
| years if need be. They will make it nee
essary to keep a nightly force in the
country, and sooner Or later England VIII
realize that she cannot afford to spend
$500, 100000 year, year after year when
none of her citizens except a clique of
mining men can expect to gain anything
| by the vast expenditure
Such is the man who holds the British
empire in check, the man whose opera
lions have made it necessary for the
government to order $4,000 more horses to
equip the force employed in the task ii
rounding" him up. BY the power Of MS
military genius he has made the Boer
war recrudescent; he has brought upon
| Great Britain a continuation of a strug.
gle that has been tremendously costly
in blood and treasure. and he has re-
vived and spirit of freedom in a land tina;
was overrun by the invader.
History may put Christian De Wet
upon a par with some Of the greatest
of men.