weight-reducing preparations.

[Page Heading: AN INDEPENDENT THINKER]

French's mind, however, is original as well as tireless. Just there
lies the unique quality of his gifts. The art of war is necessarily
one of the most highly systematised and therefore the most hide-bound
in the world. No man is more perilously in danger of having his mind
swathed in red tape and numbed by discipline than the soldier. In
modern times the tendency to employ masses has not lessened the
tendency to stereotype habits of thought. The danger of the mechanical
soldier is stressed by no one more forcibly than by General von
Bernhardi. He holds that a self-reliant personality is as essential as
a profound knowledge of generalship to the modern commander. French
possesses both. Although profoundly versed in all the doctrines of the
schoolmen, he is never afraid to jump over the traces where they would
lead to a precipice. He has never been hampered, as so many soldiers
are, by his studies. Knowledge he has always used as a means to an
end, which is its proper vocation. To this independence of mind, as to
nothing else, may be attributed his phenomenal success amid the
abnormal conditions of Boer warfare. Where the books end, French's
active mind begins to construct its own "way out" of the corner.

The Boers were indeed the first to admit his superiority to the other
English officers, if not to themselves. De Wet was once asked in the
early stages of the war how long he expected to avoid capture. He
replied, with a smile, that it all depended on which General was
dispatched to run him down. When a certain name was mentioned, the
reply was "Till eternity." General B---- was next mentioned. "About
two years," was the verdict. "And General French?" "Two weeks,"