a period of grave moment and responsibilities, but Botha was the man for the occasion.  Although the British succeeded in entering Pretoria, the capital of the country, the Boers lost little in prestige or men, and Botha and his burghers were as confident of the final success of their cause as they were when they crossed the Natal border seven months before.  Even after all the successive defeats of his army, Commandant-General Botha continued to say, “We will fight—­fight until not a single British soldier remains on South African soil.”  A general who can express such a firm faith in his cause when he sees nothing but disaster surrounding him is great even if he is not always victorious.

The military godfather of Commandant-General Botha was General Lucas Meyer, one of the best leaders in the Boer army.  The work of the two men was cast in almost the same lines during the greater part of the campaign, and many of the Commandant-General’s burdens were shared by his old-time tutor and neighbour in the Vryheid district.  Botha seldom undertook a project unless he first consulted with Meyer, and the two constantly worked hand-in-hand.  Their friends frequently referred to them as Damon and Pythias, and the parallel was most appropriate, for they were as nearly the counterparts of those old Grecian warriors as modern limitations would allow.  Botha attained the post of Commandant-General through the illness of Meyer, who would undoubtedly have been Joubert’s successor if he had not fallen ill at an important period of the campaign, but the fact that the pupil became the superior officer of the instructor never strained the amicable relations of the two men.

General Meyer received his fundamental military education from the famous Zulu chieftain, Dinizulu, in 1884, when he and eight hundred other Boers assisted the natives in a war against the chieftains of other tribes.  In a battle at Labombo mountain, June 6th of that year, Meyer and Dinizulu vanquished the enemy, and as payment for their services the Boers each received a large farm in the district now known as Vryheid.  A Government named the New Republic was organised by the farmers, and Meyer was elected President, a post which he held for four years, when the Transvaal annexed the republic to its own territory.  In the war of 1881 Meyer took part in several battles, and at Ingogo he was struck on the head by a piece of shell, which caused him to be unconscious for forty-two days.  In the later days of the republic General Meyer held various military and civil positions in the Vryheid district, where his large farm, “Anhouwen,” is located, and was the chairman of the Volksraad which decided to send the ultimatum to Great Britain.