A Times correspondent sends a most interesting account of the
great manceuvres which have recently been held in South Africa under the direction of General Lyttelton. The most striking feature, according to the correspondent, was the great friendliness of the Boers. "Large numbers of them came in from all the surrounding districts to look on at the great 1Wapenschouw,' as they called it, rode with the columns, chaffed Tommy Atkins,' and, without any consideration of pay, made themselves most useful in helping to push guns and transport through the drifts." We are glad to note that the obvious moral is not lost on the writer, who believes that if companies of Boer mounted infantry were formed and affiliated to our troops on some Militia service system, by which they would only be called out for a few weeks' training ending in the annual manceuvres, large numbers would be available. We have always in these columns insisted on the desirability of acting on the precedent of Chatham after the '45, and the experience of these manceuvres, to say nothing of the Somaliland Campaign, only confirms us in our view.
Previous page
