s admirably conducted; Snyman, the old
Marico farmer, who besieged Mafeking; Hendrik Schoeman, who operated in
Cape Colony; Jan Kock, killed at the Elandslaagte battle early in the
campaign; and the three generals, Lemmer, Grobler, and Olivier, whose
greatest success was their retreat from Cape Colony.

The Boer generals and officers, almost without exception, were admirable
men, personally. Some of them were rough, hardy men, who would have felt
ill at ease in a drawing-room, but they had much of the milk of human
kindness in them, and there was none who loved to see or partake of
bloodshed. There may have been instances when white or Red Cross flags
were fired upon, but when such a breach of the rules of war occurred it
was not intentional. The foreigners who accompanied the various Boer
armies--the correspondents, military attaches, and the volunteers--will
testify that the officers, from Commandant-General Botha down to the
corporals, were always zealous in their endeavours to conduct an
honourable warfare, and that the farmer-generals were as gentlemanly as
they were valorous.

CHAPTER VIII

THE WAR PRESIDENTS

The real leader of the Boers of the two Republics was Paul Kruger, their
man of peace. His opinions on the momentous questions that agitated the
country and his long political supremacy caused him many and bitter
enemies, but the war healed all animosities and he was the one man in the
Republics who had the respect, love, and admiration of all the burghers.
Wherever one might be, whether in the houses on the veld or in the
battlefield's trenches, every one spoke of "Oom Paul" in a manner which
indicated that he was the Boer of all Boers. There was not one burgher who
would not declare that Kruger was a greater man than he was before he
despatched his famous ultimatum to Great Britain. His old-time friends
supported him even more faithfully than before hostilities began, and his
political energies of other days became the might of his right arm. Those
who opposed him most bitterly and unremittingly when it was a campaign
between the Progressive and Conservative parties were most eager to listen
to his counsels and to stand by his side when their country's hour of
darkness had arrived. Not a word of censure for him was heard anywhere; on
the contrary, every one praised him for opposing Great Britain so firmly,
and prayed that his life might be spared until their dream of absolute
independence was r