th them these are not, and cannot be, predominant.
Their skill is not so much to contrive success by deceiving an enemy
as to command it by local superiority of force, either exerted in
violence, or imposing submission by mere evidence of overpowerment.
Circumvention with them aims at permanent results which it alone
cannot obtain. It {p.200} is but a means to the end, which is the
crushing, the military annihilation, of the enemy. That can be
accomplished only by force, not by mere guile. In his temperament, as
shown by his action, Joubert reflected the fighting characteristics of
his people, of whom he has been the most conspicuous military
representative, honoured by friend and foe alike for his fearlessness,
his intelligence, and his humanity. Courage of the highest proof as
regards personal danger, but not the courage that throws away the
scabbard, much less that which burns its ships. The hunter, meeting
superior strength with superior cunning, without even the very least
willingness to lose his life in order to carry his end, may be brave
even to recklessness; but he rejects habitually the tone of mind
distinctive of the soldier, who counts life naught if only by its
sacrifice the end may be attained, or honour preserved. In so far,
that element of stupidity which has been somewhat lavishly attributed
to the British officers' too single-minded attention to their end, to
the exclusion of care for their own persons and those of their men,
has a military value not only great, but decisive. The {p.201}
quality needs direction and control, certainly; but, having been
reproached for now two centuries, the question is apt--Where has it
placed Great Britain among the nations of the earth?

The assault of November 9 began, as is usual in such cases, with a
heavy artillery fire, intended to shake the endurance of those
subjected to it. The Boer guns opened at 4 A.M., and under their cover
the assailants moved forward. The attack was made from all sides, but
the principal effort came from the northward, between the railroads
leading north-east to Glencoe and north-west to the Free State. As
before said, particulars are wanting; but the British had only to hold
their own, except when by a rush, after a repulse of the enemy, they
gained ground over which the latter had passed; whereas the Boers,
having to break cover frequently in order to advance, underwent
necessarily the greater burden of exposure and of loss. How large th