an American. The struggle is one which was brought about by the
politicians, but it will probably be ended by the layman who wields a
sword, and who knows nothing of the intricacies of diplomacy. The Boers
desire to gain nothing but their countries' independence; the British have
naught to lose except thousands of valuable lives if they continue in
their determination to erase the two nations. Unless the Boers soon decide
to end the war voluntarily, the real struggle will only begin when the
Imperial forces enter the mountainous region in the north-eastern part of
the Transvaal, and then General Lucas Meyer's prophecy that the bones of
one hundred thousand British soldiers will lay bleaching on the South
African veld before the British are victorious may be more than realised.

One word more. The English public is generous, and will not forget that
the Boers are fighting in the noblest of all causes--the independence of
their country. If Englishmen will for a moment place themselves in the
position of the Boers, if they will imagine their own country overrun by
hordes of foreign soldiers, their own inferior forces gradually driven
back to the wilds of Wales and Scotland, they will be able to picture to
themselves the feelings of the men whom they are hunting to death. Would
Englishmen in these circumstances give up the struggle? They would not;
they would fight to the end.

HOWARD C. HILLEGAS.
NEW YORK CITY,
August 1, 1900.




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