y and in the Somers Tracts.

DE WET, CHRISTIAN (1854- ), Boer general and politician, was born on the
7th of October 1854 at Leeuwkop, Smithfield district (Orange Free
State), and later resided at Dewetsdorp. He served in the first
Anglo-Boer War of 1880-81 as a field cornet, and from 1881 to 1896 he
lived on his farm, becoming in 1897 member of the Volksraad. He took
part in the earlier battles of the Boer War of 1899 in Natal as a
commandant and later, as a general, he went to serve under Cronje in the
west. His first successful action was the surprise of Sanna's Post near
Bloemfontein, which was followed by the victory of Reddersburg a little
later. Thenceforward he came to be regarded more and more as the most
formidable leader of the Boers in their guerrilla warfare. Sometimes
severely handled by the British, sometimes escaping only by the
narrowest margin of safety from the columns which attempted to surround
him, and falling upon and annihilating isolated British posts, De Wet
continued to the end of the war his successful career, striking heavily
where he could do so and skilfully evading every attempt to bring him to
bay. He took an active part in the peace negotiations of 1902, and at
the conclusion of the war he visited Europe with the other Boer
generals. While in England the generals sought, unavailingly, a
modification of the terms of peace concluded at Pretoria. De Wet wrote
an account of his campaigns, an English version of which appeared in
November 1902 under the title _Three Years' War_. In November, 1907 he
was elected a member of the first parliament of the Orange River Colony
and was appointed minister of agriculture. In 1908-9 he was a delegate
to the Closer Union Convention.

DE WETTE, WILHELM MARTIN LEBERECHT (1780-1849), German theologian, was
born on the 12th of January 1780, at Ulla, near Weimar, where his father
was pastor. He was sent to the gymnasium at Weimar, then at the height
of its literary glory. Here he was much influenced by intercourse with
Johann Gottfried Herder, who frequently examined at the school. In 1799
he entered on his theological studies at Jena, his principal teachers
being J. J. Griesbach and H. E. G. Paulus, from the latter of whom he
derived his tendency to free critical inquiry. Both in methods and in
results, however, he occupied an almost solitary position among German
theologians. Having taken his doctor's degree, he became _privat-docent_
at Jena; in 1807