The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-12-13
GENERAL DE VETS STORY.


| - pages, embracing tbs events al whoa
| nc tOoA part, or winch feu under his
immediate observation. WITHIN these linz
s 1t IS attractive by reason OF ne entire
-tsence Of arr. Ike the earlier chapters
Il Gen. Grant -,lcm0irs. What could
CO more picturesque than the opening
.eges which tell how he and his fellow
9urshe-s we're pTec.pitated into var with
ne Of the greatest powers in the world /,
he BOer army was perhaps the most
| acmCcratic organization that ever Wen1
| 20 the field not excepting that OF ancient
| Athens. or Cromwell $ Independents. or
/ the minure-men OF our own revolution
Every man between the ages OF sixteen
| and sixty was required By law 20 &c pre-
! pared 10 move AT the word OF command.
| with riding horse, a rife. thirty cart
ridges, and eighty days provisions.
! The summons came TO the Orange Free
/ State men On the % OF October. 1889 De
! Wet and his neighbors started at once.
| went into camp. elected their command
ant (SteenekampI and consumed their
| eight days provisions before war became
/ fragrant Then the government began 10
| supply them with -four ana cattle on
! the hoOf The former was converted in
/ to a kind OF d0ughnuts by boiling In fat
ispCpulaTly called stomach bowhs. The
/ cattle were 1utchereG. and the meat d.
vided into chunks. which were handed
/ AHth dl4 10 TIC S0lG4EAs bA t4Ar FAr-eLl4-
| kOrpoTal (aesh corporal. so that he might
not see who got the choice bits. thus fore
! stalling any suspicion Of favoritism- This
was the subsistence department.
! De Wet was sent with a small chscrva-
/ ton corps to :he Natal frontier a few
/ days before war was declared, and was
/ elected vice-commandant during his abb
! senee. and as it happened. the command
/ ant fell seriously III the same day, 50
that the command Of the men al that
place devolved en- De Wet. Thus the
! private soldier of yesterday. wholly with
out experience in military affairs. was
today the leader Of six hundred men as
inexperienced as himself The command
er-in-chief of the Beer forces was General
Joubert-
War was declared on the nth, and De
Wet had his first fight on the oath a Brit
ish force came out of the fortified post
OF Ladysnirh ana attacked the Beers
with artillery and infantry. This was
the battle OF Rietfontein. one wing Of
the Boer army was commanded by Dc
Wet. the other bv Cornmandant Nef.
The only point which interests US here
j. that although the Beers had never
been under fire before. and although j.
% their comrades on De Wets wing
feg dead, NOT a man showed any
symptom Of fear.
At the close of this engagement General
Cronje arrived and took command Of the
Free State men around Ladysmith. being
subordinate. however. to the authority Of
General Joubert
On the eth OF December De Wet re-
ceived from President Steyn an appoint
ment of Vecht-General. which We judge
is equivalent to that of bTiga1ierg gen
eral in our army. This was pretty rapid
promotion for g man who had entered
the service as q private soldier only two
4rTHa h..-
tated To accept the appointment, and
THAI ne would have much preferred 20
20 through the campaign as q private
burgher." The urgency Of affairs did not
permit him To spend much time i'm de-
Gliding. He accepted the Office, and. as
everybody knows. he became before the
end of the year 1890. the man whom the
English were most anxious 20 capture
and the one who occupied the chief part
OF the attention of foreign Observers un-
I'll the end of the war. This distinction
was won in competition with able men
on his own side and in conflict with ia
nous soldiers backed by unlimited re-
sources on the English side. The narra-
tive Of his exploits is marked by rare
mCdesty and by uniform kindness to his
comrades. even in cases where the lat
ter, by failure 10 obey his orders prompt
~, caused his best laid plans 70 fail lie
las not even a harsh word for Cronie. a
brave man, whose ohstinacy and wrong
headednsss caused the surrender. ~
critical moment. Of an army which the
Roer government could not afford 20 lose.
The impression which the book makes
upon the reader is that De Wet takes
high rank among those men. rare in the
worlds history. who have risen TO great
ness in the profession of arms without
previous military training and without
desiring such distinction. The most illus
trious of all self-cducated mmand-
ers was Oliver Cromwell. and he was
past forty when he first drew the sword.
The resem blanoes of these two men are
so marked that II a modern Plutarch
were now writing Parallel Lives he would
probabla group them together Cromwell
accomplished more than De Wet. lie WAS
victorious 70 the end Of his career. and
ne left his mark OF the worlds progress.
hut he always had a government az his
back to keep him supplied with the en-
ginery Of war. IN this way he was bet
ter provided than the royal forces op-
posed 10 him De Wet seldom knew
where his next weeks subsistence was 10
come from. he was frequently short *
ammunition. and his artillery Eas mostly
what he took from the enemy re was
obliged 10 release the prisoners whom he
took In battle. bee. use he could not feed
them. whereas the British Transported the /
Peers whom they captured 10 Ceylon. st /
Helena. and Bermuda. SO that they might I
not be available feE exchange.
De Wet did not rise to SO high IN emil 4
uence as Cromwell. but the fame which
10 wen WAS gained IN a shorter time and
with smaller resources 30 one can read
or his career without believing than II he
Lad CromwelTs opDo-tunities be would
have equailed The Lord Protector beth
IS warrior I'D as Statesman They were
alike in other ways. Both we're strongly
lverse 10 war per So. and both were
moved by deep religious feeling-CrornH ~
more SO than De Wet since religion was
q greater motive power in the Seven
tenth century than ln The N'Deteenth.
Both were men OF extreme naoaesty. rot
ir the least gwen % vauntlng their own
deeds. Cromwell ascrtbed ail ~ bis VIC
tories to the Lord ~ Hosts. De WEE at-
trihutes Dis 10 she v1igr and self-sacriic-
lrs spirit of the men who served with
hu1 ard under En.
The Ias- hundred pages ~ De Wees
beok embrace tha oziclal deruueeta
which rrcccse5 aai esrah shed peace
IuclIdad are ths leaetes * The l5oer e..-
erals an6 thar - ee-tati-n mfr auerr
themselves and 1hiE - peTha~s fhe mott
Interesting pert 81 the EoTf From 81
rve learn f'ar when the rfeeurceF ~ tha
TWO republics h1i hr@r 81 red - -hst
TO hone ne ererffuf success remained
ne Wet was p supporter - tte policy -
reace under BRUSH severe gntv why
send ai ~ nur women and children ~
the crare9 T-hv otl1te-atc che Afrt~sr-
fer race, saoh yves his th1Eeht sni us
ere corls utrs- such fhorrf- ritn t~t-e-
2 gf- o- greater force IN ere r-r rr-t
TO 81 Fellow Subjects az tho HrriFh
Empire
where 70 Begin.