The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-03-11
NEW BOOKS.

THE GREAT BoER WAR. By Arthur Conan
Doyle, Author of THE Hound of tbe Basker-
yilles,' etc. New York: Mcclure Phillips
d Co, l4l-lo5 d Iwenty-ffth street. Mime
apolis: N. Mccarthy. ~
This is a revised and enlarged edition
of an uncommonly good, fair and impartial
history of war, which stirred UP a deal
Of bad blood among outsiders. Writing
from an IInglishmarss standpoint, Sir Al
thur is unusually fair in his account of
the three years conflict which ended by
the signing of terms of peace by. Boer and
British representatives at Vereeniging in
May, 1902, terms which were practically
the same which General Botha. the Boer
general, had; refused thirteen months be-
fore. Counting the3cost, the, British lost
10000 men and IA hundred thousand
wounded and by disease physically disa
bled, and a round, billion of dollars in
money, with, the net result, Oh the other
side, of securing. peace in South, Africa
with a large addition of territory to the
empire and, as is claimed by Great Brit
ain. resuscitation Of the national spirit
and closer. union with the great British
colonies The Beers came out with the
loss of their independence and with the
grleVOuS desolatonS Of a fierce war to
contemplate, but in the enjoyment of bet
ter terms under the British flag than they
could have obtained from any other gov
eminent The Beers had yea lousy pro-
longed the conflict. with diminishing re-
sources, largely because the fugitive Kru-
ger and the other, .Boer refugees in Hol-
land had deceived them with hopes Of
european recognition, which were base
less. Sir Arthur declares the Boer to be
the most formidable antagonist who ever
crossed the path of imperial Britain" and
that Napoleon and all his veterans have
neEer~treated us SO roughly as these hard
bitten farmers with their ancient theology
and their inconveniently modern rifles
He suggests that the initial bl,nder of
the British government was the attempt
to change the habits of the Dutch colo
n1sts after their transfer to the British
crown in 1914 The punishment of a
Dutch farmer who; had punished his slave
and the abolition of slavery in Cape Col
ony and insufficient payment by the gov
eminent Tor the freed slaves engendered
bitterness, and the northward trek and
settlement began which resulted in the
founding of the Dutch republics: the
IransVaal and the Orange Free State.
British C1ain1s o @ssIznrainty TO lowe to
gether. with Numbering British interfer-
renee, until the uit1alider question and the
gold mines brought about the ultimate
Fcol1ls10n Of Boer and Briton. The aboli-
ton of slavery began the trouble, for it
was not honorably accomplished, as Sir
| Arthur admits His whole account of the
events leading UP to Krugers ultinlaturn
| is very interesting and fair to both par
ties and based Oh solid fact. His account
| of the war is a most agreeable kind OF
historical writing. Sherlock Holmes does
not appear but it reads like a novel, al
though dealing and rooted in fact The
strategic plumbers of the British in Nata
are adequately exposed and due and gen
| erous credit is given to the fighting quail
ties and strategy of the Beers and theil
generals: There are good maps of Natal
Orange River republic and colony, and the
Transvaal with a sketch map of South
Africa. H.: