GENERAL PIET JOUBERT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 273, 17 November 1899, Page 5

GENERAL PIET JOUBERT.

General Piet Joubert (Sliem Piet) was perhaps the second most prominent figure among the Boers. Longheaded, shrewd, cold, and calculating1, he was also by no means a typical Boer. He had paid two or three visits to England, and perhaps was one of the three or four in the inner Government circles in Pretoria who realised what war with England would mean. Still, he in no way lacked physical courage; he had shown that time and again; He was essentially a 'timeserver, a trimmer,' a sitter-on-the-ienee. When 'he contested the Presidential election against Kruger, no one took his candidature very seriously.' He was so obvioxisly put up as. a vote-splitter to ensure'Kruger's return. His religious' tenets were not obtrusive, and he has never been found

out in any very bad financial transactions. As a general in the field he was cool and clever, and a thoroughly expert exponent of Boer fighting tactics, which are mainly of the "sniping" order. He was, in fact, admitted to be the best soldier in the. Boer army, and was chief in command not only before Ladysmith but of the whole of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, forces.

The General was 68 years old and scarred by many a wound from English bullet and native assegai. Vet-he was sturdy-.of frame and keen of eye, and withal crafty as a North American Indian. He led the Boers at' Majuba Hill, where 280 British soldiers gave up their lives, General Joubert losing but five men. He fought in the native wars when Paul • Kruger was commander, and these two became bosom friends, though they had grown apart somewhat in -recent years.