United States or Marshall Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
But there is great movement among the Boers, who are apparently holding a great council of war at General Joubert's headquarters. This may account for rumours of dissensions between the Free State and Transvaal commandos. December 6. Now we know what the firing of Boer guns all round Ladysmith at midnight of 19th November meant.
Ladysmith's most representative men were dead against the acceptance of conditions which seemed to them all in favour of one side. They expressed freely, and without reserve, doubts as to General Joubert's good faith, and saw in his proposals only fresh instances of Boer cunning.
This morning Sir George White sent Joubert a letter by Major Bateson, asking leave for the non-combatants, women and children to go down to Maritzburg. The morning was quiet, most people packing up in hopes of going. But Joubert's answer put an end to that.
Every day, every day, it was the same overture in Madame Joubert's room in the Institute St. Denis; the strident: "Mesdemoiselles;
He made a strong reference to those sins in the oration he delivered over Joubert's body, and never neglected to tell the foreign volunteers that they had come into the country for fighting and not for looting.
Indeed, it would have been a most startling unreality to have ever entered Madame Joubert's room and not seen Pupasse in that corner, on that stool, her tall figure shooting up like a post, until her tall, pointed bonnet d' âne came within an inch or two of the ceiling. It was her hoop-skirt that best testified to her height.
General Joubert's force in Natal is so strong that while keeping his grip upon Ladysmith, where Sir George White has not less than ten thousand men, he has been able to move south with a considerable force, perhaps fifteen thousand men, to oppose Sir C.F. Clery's advance.
But I can still say that if my wife and children were here, I would rather they should trust to protection under the Union Jack with British soldiers than under the white flag at Joubert's mercy." There were men in that crowd who had to speak for those near and dear to them.
"What do you think of affairs, Chris?" "I think that the officer at Ladysmith was right, and that it was a frightful mistake to divide the force and send four thousand men up here. They have thrashed the Boers today, but they may be back again on the top of that hill tomorrow. Besides, we know that Joubert's force was not engaged to-day, and they and the Free Staters will be gathering round.
"General," replied Moreau, smiling courteously, while all present made a circle around them to see how this new Caesar would meet the new Pompey, "you come from Egypt, victorious, while I come, defeated, from Italy." "A defeat which was not yours, and for which you are not responsible, general. It was Joubert's fault.
Word Of The Day