Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-12-04
AS SEEN THROUGH BoRR EYES.
The Three Years War" by Geh. Dewst
Dedicated ITO My Fellow Subjects
of the British Empire.

London, Nov. 30.-"Had not so many
of burghers proved false to their
own colors, England, as the great Bis.
marck foretold, would have found her
grave in South Africa" That is the
keynote of the Boer general De Vets
book, entitled "Three Years War;"
published in London and dedicated by
the Boer general, ITO my FELLOWSHIP
jects of the British empire"
1t is perhaps the most remarkable
book by the most remarkable leader
that any recent wal has produced.
The concise, simply-told tale Of the ex.
%traordinary campaign is marked
throughout with the stamp of truth.
The badness Of the narrative only
serves to bring into relief the fiery
passages in which a strong man liter
ally blurts out his soul in pathetic re-
greet or bitter denunciation.
In thus taking the public into his
confidence De Wet loses nothing of
the glamour with which his exploits
in the field surround him. In CRITICS.
Ing he spares nc one; Boer and Brit
on come equally under the lash. De
Wet declares that whatever the En-
glish people may have to say in dis
credit of Gen. Butler, he had to op-
crate 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. Gen.
Knox is almost the only British gen.
eral who seems to have struck De Wet
as a commander with real military
genius.
Of "Tommy Atkins" he has many
kindly words to say, and declares "the
British were far from being bad
Shots"
The comparative immunity of the
Beers from harm, De Wet constantly
and most fervently attributes to the
interposition of God.
IF any reader" he says, sis eager
to know how it was 1 kept out of the
enemy's hands l can only answer, al
though l may not be understood, that
l e scribed it to nothing else than this
1T was not Gods will that l should
fall into their 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 strate-
uiac hyy xyhioh 10 Wat o,I;++oJ L.,
pursuers.
Frequently he %recounts cases of de-
sertion and panic among his own men
when his entreaties and "sjamboking"
were all of no avail. De Wet pays a
tribute to Gen. Cronje for his bravery,
but declares he lost at Paardeburg
only on account of his fatal obstinacy
to leave the lager, as he was advised
to do by Gen. Botha and by the writer
himself.
Regarding his w forces, De Wet
writes: at was far easier to fight
against the great English army than
against treachery among my own peo-
pie, and an iron will was required to
fight against both. Once, if 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 persisted of hunger. 1t was not
the skill of their commander-in-chief
that saved them"
Of the blockhouses De Wet is frank
ly contemptuous. ""The blockhouse
policy" he says, might equally well
have been called the policy of the
blockhead."
The writer emphatically defends the
right to blow up railroad lines and
trains as the usage of war, and he de-
clares he never missed an opportunity
to do so. The so-called wal against
women and the misuse of the white
flag by the British is denounced by
the Boer general, who says: "That
such direct and indirect murder should
have been committed against defense
less women and children is a thing
l should have staked my head could
never have happened in a war engaged
in by the civilized English nation, and
yet it happened"
His last word is an injunction to his
fellow countrymen to be loyal to the
new government. Loyalty" he says.
pays best in the end, and loyalty
alone is worthy of a nation which has
shed it's blood for freedom"