" He is to deliver the land from the Kafirs.
"The Lord has given you the heart of a warrior, arise and drive them," a
bit of advice quite suited to his well-known character. But this chosen
vessel was not to get all the loaves and fishes; on the contrary, as
soon as he had fulfilled his mission of "driving" the Kafirs, he was to
hand over his office to a "good" president. The article ends thus: "If
the Lord wills to use you now to deliver this land from its enemies, and
a day of peace and prosperity arises again, and you see that you are not
exactly the statesman to further govern the Republic, then it will be
your greatest honour to say, 'Citizens, I have delivered you from the
enemy, I am no statesman, but now you have peace and time to choose and
elect a _good_ President.'"
An article such as the above is instructive reading as showing the low
calibre of the minds that are influenced by it. Yet such writings
and sermons have more power among the Boers than any other arguments,
appealing as they do to the fanaticism and vanity of their nature, which
causes them to believe that the Divinity is continually interfering on
their behalf at the cost of other people.
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