THE CAPTURE OF DE WET.
By P. J. SAMPSON.
With Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.
The rebellion in South Africa is one of the very few chapters in the history of the war which are already completed. It is a story in itself, somewhat apart from the main current of events, and even, curiously enough, from the story of the conquest of German South-West Africa to which it formed a preliminary. To people in England reading of it at the time in disconnected fragments in the newspapers, the whole thing was not only distressing but perplexing and unintelligible. It is well that they should be given a consecutive narrative of it, in its true perspective, by one who was on the spot, and familiar with the strangely diverse currents of feeling that animate the heterogeneous population of South Africa. The tale of the fighting—brisk, and full of movement—forms a striking contrast to the trench warfare of Western Europe, but it is the psychological rather than the military interest which predominates throughout the book. The protagonists reveal themselves with extraordinary vividness: on the one ride are the “slim” Germanized Beyers, and Christian de Wet, fanatical and irreconcilable to the last, a pitiful, tragic figure; on the other Botha plays the fine part with which we are already familiar; but probably few of us have realized, as this book enables us to realize, all that we owe to the hard-headed efficiency and clear-sighted sense of honour of General Smuts.