The Daily News. MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1900. BOER FORESIGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue XXXXII, 29 January 1900, Page 2

The Daily News. MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1900. BOER FORESIGHT.

The following extracts from a letter written by General Joubert on October 27tb, and published in the Berlin Gazette, are quoted by a contemporary to 6how what the Boer expectations were at the time the war broke out. Dr. Leyds having failed to enlist the active or moral support of Holland and Germany, the Boers soon recognised the"futility of expecting European intervention on their behalf. General Joubert, affc<r mentioning this, says:— " We were equally sure that we would have to depend on our own resource*, for, although we know that this war would meet with the unanimous condemnation of all European Powers, we did not anticipate that any »f them <vould summon strength to come to our rescue. England's arrogance and her strong navy have so cowed European Powers that they dare not bid stop her in her despicable land-grabbing, not even where their own interests are involved. Knowing these circumstances, we depended on ourselves, improved our means of defence, and tried to keep England ill the dark as to our real preparations." Then the Boer commandant makes some sarcastic but evidently well-deserved reflections on the Intelligence Department of the War Office, and how the officials of this department were hoodwinked by the 'cuteness of the Boers. " To this purpose we gave their disguised spies access to our antiquated guns and artillery, but we were careful to conceal from them our modern artillery parks. Our calculations proved correct. Tie English public credited these misleading reports. 'Their cry, 'To Pretoria,' is on a level with the Parisian cry of 1870, 'A Berlin.'" After some remarkably shrewd predictions as to the numbers and movements of the British troops that would be sent to the scene of war, and to the fighting effectiveness of this force, the General has something to say about the Boer advantages :—" The scene of war will cover Natal and Cape Colony, an area of, say, 700 kilometres. Our own camp is protected by three mountain ranges, and 500 men are amply sufficient for its protection. Our communication is excellent. Outposts have command of and facilities for destroying provisions in case their position becomes untenable. If the war should be carried into our own country, for which there are no prospects at present, our advantages would become greater yet, for, while facing unknown conditions in Natal and in the south, we are quite able to mike use of the splendid opportunities of defence which our own country offers." Even allowing the possibility of his forces being pushed back on to their own territory, General Joubert says " The enemy will meet a stubborn resistance in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, and every inch of ground will cost them dear. You correctly suggest that we most likely would resort to guerrilla tactics. A few months will bo sufficient to show to England the impossibility of the task she has undertaken. Her losses will be tremendous." Oa this point the Bo?r Commandant's opinion is borne out by the report of [ M. du Lii'g, the mainof the dynamite factoiy ;\t Modderfoutoin, in the I Transvaal, who bus just returned lo France, aiid has beei: interviewed by the representatives of teveral of the Paris journal?, lis says that the 1 British Government can have had no idea of the vast extent of the preparations that the Boers have bean quietly making for years, with the realisation ■ tint another stiuggle with tbe full force of Great Britain was inevitable. Even I should the Bjers be driven out of i Natal, he point* out no British army couid ever hop.-) to enter the Transvaal ; and curvive. S n;o the war, he says, heavy artillery that hid besHi car. fu'lv sUred away has boon brought forth. He assorts that the forts at Pretoria and Johannesburg are as strong as any fortresses in thu world, and have within the last month bean rendered absolutely impregnable, while Eidi-lterg alone could hold its own, with 2o against 1000 assailants, particularly it. the rainy season, which has just begun, causing unl'ordable streams i-uiUeriiy to spiing into existence. M. de Lor,* sla'ois that there ara about COOO wclltiaii.el German volunteers in the B.uii anoy who l».vd noS yot been allowed t: go to the front. He adds that th* ijovei nrncnts of the Boer Republicare showing a great economy o! strength, and have not jet tj

third of their military resoutcep. The inference is that England knows little or nothing of the Boer resources or movements, while on the other hand what the Boers do not know about us is a vfflry minor quantity. This may or may not be the case, but appearances certainly tend to support M. Da Long's statements; and if the case is as bad for the British as his reports would make it out to be, nothing short of operations on a gigantic scale and carried out with heroic vigour and determination will save the campaign from becoming the most disastrous that the British Empire has ever been involved in.