of the
fighting power of a force which can march three or four times as fast
as its opponent, can anticipate him at every point, dictating the hour
and place of the conflict, can keep him under constant surveillance,
can leave its communications without misgivings, and finally, which
can dispense with reserves in action, so quickly can it reinforce from
the furthest portions of its line of battle. Yet in this particular
again, the Boers' constitutional antipathy to the offensive robbed
them of half their power. They employed their mobility, their peculiar
strength, chiefly on the defensive and on tactics of evasion, often,
indeed, resigning it altogether, to undertake a prolonged and
half-hearted investment of some place of arms. Amongst their leaders
there appeared some who did all that was possible, and much more than
had seemed possible, with a few hundreds of devoted followers. But the
Republics possessed no Sheridan. Men who foresaw that in this mobility
might lie the making of a successful campaign, that the feats of the
raider might be achieved tenfold by large well-mounted armies, were
missing from their councils.

[Sidenote: Organisation.]

The Boer forces which took the field in 1899 were composed of two
divisions:--

(I.) The Burgher Commandos.
(II.) The Regular Forces.

Of the former the whole male population, black and white, between the
ages of sixteen and sixty, formed the material,[66] the "Wyk" or Ward,
the lowest electoral unit, the recruiting basis. Upon the Field
Cornet, the chief officer of a Ward, elected by its votes for a term
of three years, devolved many responsibilities besides the civil
duties of collecting the taxes, administering the law, and maintaining
order in his small satrapy. He was also the sole representative of
Army Headquarters. One of the most important of his functions was that
of compiling the registers of burghers liable to war service.[67]

[Footnote 66: Exemptions similar to those which obtain in
European schemes of universal service were sanctioned by the
military law of the Boer Republics.]

[Footnote 67: These lists were of three kinds, comprising:--

(I.) Youths under 18 and men over 50.
(II.) Men between 18 and 34.
(III.) Men between 34 and 50.

In the event of war, Class II. was first liable to service,
then Class III., and, as a last resort, Class I.]

[Sidenote: F