The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-12-02
DE- NETS VAR BOOK
South African Hero Brings
Strange Facts to Light.
DEFENDS BULERS WORK
And Seems to Regard Knox
as Best English General.

London. Dec. Had not so many OF
our burghers proved false to their own
colors. England as the great Bismarck
foretold. would have found her grave in
South Africa" That is the keynote OF
the Boer General De wets book. entitled
Three Years War. published by Archi-
bald Constable & Co. in London. and
/ dedicated by the Boer general TO Ny
Fellow Subjects OF the British Empire.
IT IS perhaps the most remarkable book
/ By the most remarkable leader that any
/ recent war has produced. The concise.
! simply told tale OF the extraordinary
campaign Is marked throughout with the
stamp Of truth. The badness OF the
nara tive only serves 10 bring into strong
relief the fiery passages IA o which a
/ strong man literally blurts out his soul
in pathetic regret or bitter deunciation.
! IN thus taking the public into his con-
/ fdence. De Wet loses nothing OF his glsI1-
our with which his exploits IL the field
surround hin. In criticising. be spares
no one; Boer and Briton come equally
under the lash. De Wet declares thai
whatever the English people may have
TO say in discredit OF General Butler. he
had 10 operate against stronger positions
than any other British general. Through
out the work the Boer general has but
slight praise for Lord Roberts. and lit
tie more for Lord Kitchener General
Knox is almost the only British general
who seems to have struck De Wet IS
a commander of real military genius
4 Il !, 49, II
" words TO say, and declares: The Brit
ish were far from being bad shots.
The comparative immunity Of Beers
from harm. De Wet constantly and most
fervenuy attributes to the interposition
Of God. IT any reader is eager to know.
ne says, how it was I kept out OF the
enemy's hands, I can only answer. al
though I may not be understood. that ]
ascribed it to nothing else than this.
II was not Gods VIII that l should fan
into the enemy's hands. Let those who
rejoice at my miraculous escapes give all
the praise to God. Nevertheless. the
book teens with accounts OF military and
other suategies by which De Wet out
witted his pursuers.
Frequently he recounts cases Of deser-
ton and panic among his own men when
lis entraties and "sjamboking were all
OF no avail. De wet pays a tribute to
General Cronje for his bravery, but de-
clares he lost at Paardeburg only on ac-
count of his fatal obstinacy in refusing
TO leave the laager as he was advised
to do by General Botha and by the
writer himself. Regarding his own
forces. De Wet writes;
1T was far easier to fight against the
great English army than against treach-
cry among my own people, and an iron
will was required TO fight against both
Once lf only our orders had been carried
out a little more strictly and II only the
most elementary rules Of strategy had
been observed in our efforts TO break the
British lines Of Communication. Lord
Roberts and his thousands of troops
would have found themselves shut up
in Pretoria. where they would have per
ished OF hunger. II was not the skill
Of their commander-in-chief that saved
them"
Of the block houses. De Wet is frankly
contemptuous THE block house policy"
he says. might equally well have been
called the policy of the block head
The writer emphadcslly defends the
right 10 blow up railroad lines and trains
as the usage Of war. and he declares he
never missed an opportunity 70 do so.
The so-calIcd war against women and
the misuse Of the white flag by the Brit
ish is denounced by the Boer general
who says.
That such direct and indirect murder
should have been comuAttcd against de-
ienseiess women and children is thing
should have staked my head could
never have happened in a war waEcd
by the civilized English nation. and set
il happened
His last word IS an Injunction 70 his
fellow countryment 20 be loyal TO the
new government Loyalty De SAYS
pays best I'm the end. and loyalty alone
IS worthy of nation which has shed is
blood for freedom.
The book contains magnificent por-
trait of the author by the American
painter John 5. Sargent