THE BOER POLICY.

Thames Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 9617, 20 April 1900, Page 2

THE BOER POLICY.

Writing to the Siecle on February 22, M. Yvea Guyot says: The policy pursued by President Kruger and Dr. Leyds in destroying- the independence of the Transvaal will have one advantageous result for the Boers in that by bringing them into South African federation it will transform their rude and brutal civilisation." THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING. . Reuters special telegraphed to the t Capo Times under date February 12 : "Yesterday the garrison, was officially informed that the; field marsh'nl commanding in South Africa has issued instructions tha.t we were to make ar. rangements for holding out until the 24th May. Had this announoemen 1 been made at the beginning of th( siege it is difficult, to tell how seriously it might hay affected the defend ! ere of Mafelung. but yesterday the information was received with curiouf -resignation. The general tendency on the part of everybody was to make themselves as safe and comfortable as possible under the circumstances. ~"UP-HILL FIGHTING. A trooper ' in the South Africai Light Hors,©, with the Ladysmith re lief column, wrote on February 28: "What wonderful men our infantry arel Any distinctions would be invidious—they have all fought magni fioently. They have been fighting nov. for ten days and nights almost without cessation; in the face of shell? and pom-poms and terrible rifle fire they have gone on advancing without a waver, taking kopje after kopje This is marvellous. If you could set how the kopjes, naturally fortified, are defended by rifle pits six feet deep, protected by sandbags and earthworks —a regular ramification o' them—and further, a, for* built for .i disappearing gun, you would wonder how the Boers were driven out cA these positions. Of course we have lost pretty heavily, but so have the Boers, and we have taken a gooc 1 number of prisoners. . . . One can't help admiring the way the Boers undisciplined as they are—stand our shell fire. One could admire, them more if it were not for some of their dastardly tricks."