German Officer's Testimony._]

On August the 24th General Pole Carew with the Guards' Brigade
occupied Belfast, and a few days later Roberts and Buller combined to
drive Botha from the last position along the Delagoa Line that he made
any serious attempt to defend; and among those taken prisoners by us
at Dalmanutha was a German officer, who in due time was sent to
Ceylon, and there acquired enough knowledge of English to express in
it his views concerning the Boers he served, and the British he
opposed. He says among other things that he was wounded five times and
received no pay for all his pains. He declares concerning the Boers
that "they often ran away from commando and kept quiet, and said to
the English that they would not fight any more; but when the district
was pacified they took up arms again and looted. They don't know
anything about word of honour or oath. They put white flags upon their
houses, and fired in the neighbourhood of them. The English were far
too lenient at the beginning, and therefore they are now at the
opposite extreme.

"You should have seen the flourishing Natal, how it was laid waste by
the Boers. This looting instinct in them is far stronger than the
fighting one. There were also lots of Boers who were praying the whole
day instead of fighting; and their officers were perhaps the best
prayers and preachers, but certainly the worst fighters; whereas I
must confess that the English, although they were headed by very bad
generals, very often behaved like good soldiers and finally defeated
the greatest difficulties.

"The English infantry is splendidly brave and rather skilful; they are
good shots too. Tommy Atkins is a wonderful, merry, good-hearted chap,
always full of fun and good spirits, and he behaves very kind towards
the prisoners.

"When I was captured, an English colonel who was rather haughty, asked
me which English general I thought the best; whereupon I instantly
answered 'Tommy Atkins!'"

That clever German critic merely put an old long ago discovered truth
in new form! "If I blundered," said Wellington, "I could always rely
on my soldiers to pull me through." General Pole Carew when, near the
close of the war, he was presented with a sword of honour by my native
city, Truro, repeated the remark of a distinguished continental
soldier attached to his division, who said after seeing British
soldiers marching bootless and fighting foodless, he placed the
British army "fore