GENERAL BOTHA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 113, 6 October 1914, Page 7

GENERAL BOTHA.

•A PICTURESQUE FUTURE.

General Botha, though still a comparatively young man, has p.ayeil many parts and has accomplished nmcli, out perhaps Ins latest action, his decision to .ead the country's forces against the Uerman enemy, will make him much more of a popular hero among the Eng-lish-speaking races than anything lie has previously dono during his meteoric j career, while our Allies will now rightly : regard him as something more, than an ordinary friend. In some ways General Botha's master move in South Africa can be compared with that of Mr Asquith a few weeks ago, when the Prime Minister delighted his friends and dumbfounded his opponents by assuming the i duties of Secretary of State for War at a very critical time. General Botha wa» born in Natal in 1863, and is consequently but 51 years of age. And. how much has been crowded into that life! When lie grew up he served with Lucas Meyer, an old man, but his lifeiong friend, in winning from the Zulus the corner of land which they called _[ New Republic. Soon afterwards this ter- * ritory came under the away of the Transvaal, and as a Transvaal burgher Botha was enrolled as a member of that State's forces, and was elected to the first Volksraad in Pretoria. At the opening of the war in October 11, 181)9, lie crossed the - Natal frontier with the Vyrheid commando simply as an ordinary burgher, under Lucas Meyer. At Talana Hill, he so distinguished 'himself by his gallantry that he was at once elected assistant-General under Lucas ! Meyer, and it is certain that if these | two had been in command instead of. Joubert, the veteran hero of Majuba, |

.juuueri,, me vereiuu ™iu u» «i»|«»», i the British brigade would never have accomplished those terrible fifty miles of retreat to Ladysniith. Had Botha and de Wet been in command not a mun of that brigade would have joined Sir Ueorge White, and Ladysmith would 1 liavp been untenable. Later Botha was granted a small independent command lor the incursion into South Natal, but he was checked at Chievley, and returned without loss to a portion north of Tugela, and that line, instead of the aea, became the frontier of attack and defence. When the aged Joubert succumbed from a fall from his horse, and Meyer fell ill, Louis Botha was at once selected to fill their places, and thus within six weeks of the opening of the war he rose from the position of a bur- . gher in tho ranks to the command of the Boer Army in the field. And he 'soon justified the confidence reposed in him. The first, and on the whole most striking, proof of an unborn genius for war was given on the black day of Colenso, but it is unnecessary to recall this and the many incidents which followed, since the hatchet has been buried and the two people are now living in amity. And when it came to the very end, when the Boers realised that they couid no longer hope for victory, it was Botha's counsel perhaps more than that of anyone that induced the Boer leaders to accept the British conditions of peace. From that to the Premiership of his beloved country was but a step towards

the greater position which he was destined to fill at'no very distant date—the Premiership of United South Africa. | The events Bince then are still fresh in : the memory of all. Although some of .' his actions cannot meet with our ap- j proval, as for instance the deportation ( of the Labour leaders in defiance, of and ( contrary to the law of the land, it must i be admitted that only a strong man | only a man of courage, could have acted as he did. Mentally, General Botha , is a great man; he is a man of manysided genius, and whether in the Held, in the Cabinet, or representing his country at the Coronation of the King, . he is always master of himself, always a big man in every sense of the word. I, His latest act of determination is entirely worthy of the man and his past. 'Under his leadership the Boor and Briton will fight side by side, and under such inspiring guidance wo can look forward to the disappearance of the hated 'Hag from German South-West Africa, l — Ohristehurch Star. ( i