All the intelligence of a trained army is centred in the officers; in the
Boer army there was much practical military sense and alertness of mind
distributed throughout the entire force.
Mr. Disraeli once said: "Doubtless to think with vigour, with clearness,
and with depth in the recess of a cabinet is a fine intellectual
demonstration; but to think with equal vigour, clearness, and depth among
bullets, appears the loftiest exercise and the most complete triumph of
the human faculties." Without attempting to insinuate that every Boer
burgher was a man of the high mental attainments referred to by the
eminent British statesman, it must be acknowledged that the fighting Boer
was a man of more than ordinary calibre.
In battle the Boer burgher was practically his own general. He had an eye
which quickly grasped a situation, and he never waited for an order from
an officer to take advantage of it. When he saw that he could with safety
approach the enemy more closely he did so on his own responsibility, and
when it became evident to him that it would be advantageous to occupy a
different position in order that he might stem the advance of the enemy he
acted entirely on his own initiative. He remained in one position just as
long as he considered it safe to do so, and if conditions warranted he
went forward, and if they were adverse he retreated, whether there was an
order from an officer or not. When he saw that the burghers in another
part of the field were hard pressed by the enemy he deserted his own
position and went to their assistance, and when his own position became
untenable, in his own opinion, he simply vacated it and went to another
spot where bullets and shells were less thick.
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