12 DECEMBER 1914, Page 3

General Beyers, who was the ringleader of the South African

rebellion, was drowned in the Vaal on Tuesday. He tried with some of his followers to swim across the river, which was in flood. His horse was shot. He then supported himself by the tail of another horse, and tried to reach the opposite bank, but he disappeared, and his body was not recovered for two days. The rebellion is now almost at an end. Maritz is a wounded fugitive in German territory, and De Wet is a prisoner at Johannesburg. In war and sport Beyers was a dashing figure, and in politics (as Speaker of the Transvaal Parliament) he was a courteous and tolerant umpire. The tragic misery of his end, in base rebellion against the country to which he bad sworn allegiance and in which he had held the highest military position, needs no emphasis.