BOER PRISONERS.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10538, 27 December 1899, Page 6

BOER PRISONERS.

SOME MORE VIEWS OF THE WAR. A Transvaal burgher, who fled from the I Republic rather than go on commando, has been visiting several of his friend* amongst the Boer prisoners at Maritzbnrg. His account of their sentiments (says a -Natal paper) does not at all agree with the expressions of cock-a-hoop confidence which are published in Pretoria. "I foufld all the prisoners," he told an "Advertiser man, "in a state of chagrin they did not even attempt to conceal, 'liie inure ignorant ainougst them were especially, nabbergasied (a e*u unnK. oi no better , woru} success oitfae juritiao arms, lfaey went out to war witu tne expectation ojl shooting down recr-coatea soluutn without any to tutmseives. . lue u&note tuxniracy ol the Untisu artillery tire* tna apoearaace ot tne enemy in .tlie uncott": spicuuae khaki, and, above wl, tfte storming taeo- poeiUonsrtJy the despised ilntisui lniautry, came"ae so many treuiehdoua suirr* prißss w taem. lheyeDote jwivh .bit«i ufeatu of tne Gordons. Aueir iury- in tM otutrge, and contempt ior deatn tiiby desenb»xl ««i simply diaDuueai. ' : . •'; ;■ -• "One oi my iriends amongst prisoners is a man oi some utandmg ia oirioial circies' in^PretOTia. , Hβ- wasj oi course,. more xIS-"* strained in his comments otainaJry. burgoers, but his doappomunent -was nyt lees deep. "iftese tutee reverses at the beginning of tne war, , he said, •contradict all our tueories of tne campaign:' We Had to admit to ourselves that England could beat us eventually by mere overwhelming strength of numbers. But we were conndent of over-running botn Natal and the Cape Colony while we had only a moderate enemy to beat, and of bringing about a general rising that would wake.bngiand eager for peace. Then we believed One of the great x'owers would have intervened in our iavour, and secured us the abolition ot the Suzerainty. Thus, it we did not actually achieve " absolute -Africander independence, we should put it on a footing that -would make its coming secure, in the near future. Instead of this, we have been beaten out of positions we regarded as impregnable. I have seen enough of this campaign to see that we are no longer the army we were in 1881. Instead of a solid and united phalanx of Uod-fearing men, we are now a crowd composed of all sorts of elements. The looting which went on after we entered Newcastle was disgraceful. Not only was there wholesale pillage, but the most wanton destruction took place. The men seized every available bottle of intoxicant, and drank themselves insensible. The younger burghers and the foreigners treated the officers' remonstrances with contempt. ' Perhaps ' these early repulses, , concluded the prisoner, ' will serve as a lesson; but I was so disgusted with what I saw that I assure you 1 was quite relieved to be captured."" "