There were extenuating circumstances in connection with Joubert’s failure in the campaign—­his age, an illness, and an accident while he was in laager—­and it is but charitable to grant that these were fundamentally responsible for his shortcomings, but it is undoubted that he was primarily responsible for the failure of the Natal campaign.  The army which he commanded in Natal, although only twelve or thirteen thousand men in strength, was the equal in fighting ability of seventy-five thousand British troops, and the only thing it lacked was a man who would fight with them and lead them after a fleeing enemy.  If the Commandant-General had pursued the British forces after all their defeats and had drawn the burghers out of their laagers by the force of his own example, the major part of the history of the Natal campaign would have been made near the Indian Ocean instead of on the banks of the Tugela.  The majority of the Boers in Natal needed a commander-in-chief who would say to them “Come,” but Joubert only said “Go.”

The death of General Joubert in Pretoria, on March 26th, was sincerely regretted by all South Africans, for he undoubtedly was one of the most distinguished men in the country.  During his long public career he made many friends who held him in high honour for his sterling qualities, his integrity, and his devotion to his country’s cause.  He made mistakes—­and there are few men who are invulnerable to them—­but he died while striving to do that which he regarded the best for his country and its cause.  If dying for one’s country is patriotism, then Joubert’s death was sweet.

When war-clouds were gathering and the storm was about to burst over the Transvaal Piet Cronje sat on the stoep of his farmhouse in Potchefstroom, evolving in his mind a system of tactics which he would follow when the conflict began.  He was certain that he would be chosen to lead his people, for he had led them in numerous native wars, in the conflict in 1881, and later when Jameson made his ill-starred entry into the Transvaal.  Cronje was a man who loved to be amid the quietude of his farm, but he was in the cities often enough to realise that war was the only probable solution of the differences between the Uitlanders and the Boers, and he made preparations for the conflict.  He studied foreign military methods and their application to the Boer warfare; he evolved new ideas and improved old ones; he planned battles and the evolutions necessary to win them; he had a natural taste for things military.

Before all the world had heard the blast of the war-trumpet, Cronje had deserted the peaceful stoep and was attacking the enemy on the veld at Mafeking.  A victory there, and he was riding at the head of his men toward Kimberley.  A skirmish here, a hard-fought battle there, and he had the Diamond City in a state of siege.  Victories urged him on, and he led the way southward.  A Magersfontein to his wreath, a Belmont and a Graspan—­and