r Great Britain to effect the
landing in various places of these troops by the middle of
December. I estimate, however, that the losses in prisoners,
killed, sick, and wounded will amount in the meantime to some
10,000. There will thus remain 75,000 men.

"Even should we fail to prevent the junction of the British
troops under Sir Redvers Buller and be compelled to retreat,
the British army would become from natural causes so
debilitated that it would represent a force for operative
purposes not exceeding 35,000. The remainder would have to be
employed in protecting lines of communication extending some
700 miles.

"Our lines of depots, on the contrary, are in home territory.
They are constructed at regular distances in three directions,
and barely 500 men are necessary to cover them.
Excellently-organised communications have been established
between them, and if any one of them be seriously threatened,
the stores--if rescue be impossible--will be destroyed.

"Moreover, defensive warfare--to which we need not think,
however, of resorting for a long time to come--is fraught with
far greater advantages to us than offensive operations. With a
change of _terrain_ there will be a change of tactics. In Natal
and the south we have to deal with unfamiliar conditions. On
the high plains of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State we
shall be at home, and the British will meet opposition from us
and from Nature at every step of the way, and at all times be
prepared for action on two or three fronts. In this way will be
developed a guerilla warfare of a most inconceivably bloody
character, such as the British will be unable to endure for
more than a few months."

General Joubert then protested that the Boers were fighting merely for
the freedom of their own "narrower" Fatherland, and not with a view to
the destruction of British preponderancy in South Africa. He
acknowledged the bravery of the British soldiers, but imagined that
hardships and deprivations would so demoralise them that they would be
unable to hold out against an enemy superior in numbers.

"In these circumstances," he continued, "do not accuse me of
boasting when I frankly say that victory will be ours. Every
one of us is filled with the same conviction and unshakeable
faith in God, that He will r