Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-12-01
BOER WAR
LITERATURE.
A Very Remarkable Book by a Very
Remarkable Leader.
GEN. DEWET TELLS A TALE.
Easier to Fight English Army Than
Treachery Among His own People
Thinks Little Of Roberts.

London, Nov. S0.--'Had not so many
of our burghers proved false TO their
own colors, England, as the great Bis
marek foretold, would have found her
grave In South Africa" This is the
keynote Of the Boer general, Dewet's,
book. entitled Three Years War"
published by Archibald Constable &
Co.. in London, and dedicated by the
boer general ITO My Fellow-subjects Of
the British Empire"
1t is perhaps the most remarkable
book by the most remarkable leader
that any recent war 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 strong relief the
fiery passages over which strong man
literally pours out his soul In pathetic
regret or bitter denunciation.
In thus taking the public into his
confidence, Dewet loses nothing of the
glamor with which his exploits in the
Held surround him. In criticlsing he
spares no one: Boer and Briton come
equally under the lash. Dewet declares
that. whatever the English people may
have to say in discredt of Gen. Butler,
he mad TO operate against stronger po-
sitions than any other British general.
Throughout the work the Boer general
has but slight praise for Lord Roberts
and little more for Lord Kitchener
Gen. Knox is almost the only British
general who seems to have struck Dew
4 ct as commander with real military
genius.
OF Tommy Atkins" he has many
kindly words to say. and he declares:
The British were far from being bad
shots"
The comparative immunity of the
Beers from harm Dewet constantly and
most fervently attributes TO the inter-
position of God
If any reader" he says, "is eager to
Know how II was | kept out of the
enemy's hands, | can instantly answer.
although | may not be understood that
] aseribed 1t to nothing else that this
1T was not Gods will that | should
fall into the enemys hands. Let those
VINO rejoice at my miraculous escapes
give all the praise to Cod"
Nevertheless, the book teens with ac-
by which Dewet outwitted his pursuers.
Frequently he recounts cases OF deser-
ton and panic among his own men, to
whom his entreaties and "sjamboking'
& We're all of no avail. Dewet pays q
\ tribute to Gen. Cronje for his bravery,
but declares he lost at Paardeburg only
on account Of his fatal obstinacy not
10 leave the lager as he was advised |
10 DO by Gen. Botha and by the writer |
himself.
Regarding his own forces, Dewet
writes:
1t was far easier to fight against the |
great English army than against |
treachery among my own people, and |
an iron will was required TO fight |
| against both once II only our orders |
had been carried out a little more
strictly, and If only the most element
airy rules of strategy had been observed
In our efforts TO break the British lines
OF communication, Lord Roberts and |
MS 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
rommander-in-chief that saved them"
OF the blockhouses, Dewet Is frankly
eontemptuous "The blockhouse policy"
be says, might equally we'll have been
called the policy of the blockhead"
The writer emnhatlcally defends the
hight to blow up railroad lines and
trains as the usage Of war, and he de-
clares he never missed an opportunity
10 do so. The so-called war against
( women and the misuse OF the white flag
by the British Is denounced by the Boer
+ general who says: THAT such direct
tn1t IL.
mitted against defenseless women and
children is thing I should have staked
my head could never have happened In
a war waged by the civilized English
3natlon, and yet II happened
4 His last word is an injunction to his
& fellow countrymen to be loyal TO the
= new government. Loyalty" he says.
4 pays best in the end, and loyalty alone
rs worthy Of nation which has shed
&its blood for freedom"
II The book contains magnificent por-
IRA, OF the author by the American
spainter, John s. Sargent.
RIETz IS BITTER.
q New York. Nov. S0.-F. w. Reitz.
'fformer secretary OF state OF the South
8Airlcan republic, was one OF the speak,
Hers at a meeting tonight neld under the
auspices OF the Clan-Na-Gael in COM
nemoration Of the Manchester martyrs.
tiis remarks were confined principally
20 the late war in South Africa. which
Pc characterized as brutal and inhu-
man. He declared that the Beers, like
the Irish. had been martyred. The
9nly reason peace terms were signed,
he said. lay in the fear that the race
would be extermlnated through the
peath OF the women and children in the
concentration camps, where 5000 had
1erlshed.
4 BoER GOLD MISSING.
a Berlin, Nov. 30.-The British govern
t1nent is telegraphing TO all the German
ports making Inquiries concerning Boer
fold bars worth s650,0O0. which It Is