A MURDEROUS BOER GENERAL.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 5 March 1901, Page 4

A MURDEROUS BOER GENERAL.

De Wet's Yow To Shoot Paul Botha.

A Chapter From The Offending Pamphlet.

A cablegram in a lite issue mentions that General Christian De Wet has vowed to shoot Paul Botha, a Free State burgher and member of the Volksraad, for publishing a pamphlet relating to the war. We have already in our leading columns reviewed this pamphlet, a little publication of some thirty pages, but brimful of facts and arguments which must make very unpleasant reading to the Boer leaders. The last chapter consists of an appeal by Botha to his countrymen, and we publish it below, as it gives an excellent idea of how an intelligent Free Stater views the position of affairs in South Africa, and is a forceful appeal to the good sense of his people to end the war.

Appeal to my own People W hat had we Free Staters to gain by ;his war?

"What quarrel had we with England?

How were we threatened?

Were we suffering from any grievous wrong which alone justifies a small country to risk all in an attack on the mighty Empire? Was the friendship of tho Transvaal worth the risk?

Could we have become more independent than we were?

Has the war yet tat.ght us that the Transvaal merely wished to make use of us as soldiers in its cause?

Supposing for one moment that we could have been victorious how would that have benefitted us?

I tell you, and I believe you realise it yourselves now, that victory would have meant for us a worse defeat. We may be unhappy now, but we should then have been doubly unhappy. For the Transvaal would have bullied us and made us a dependency.

Do you think that the Transvaal was strong enough to maintain peace in South Africa ?

Could you have crushed England and made yourselves entirely independent of the protector of our sea coast ? Instead of chasing the English into the sea, you have drawn Englishmen from all parts of the world into the country. I tell you we have and had as littlo chance of driving the English out of South Africa as they have of getting rid of us. We muse get rid of the idea of one nation preponderating in South Africa _to the exclusion of the other. Recognition of this fact on both sides is the first preliminary to a peaceful life, and it must be the keynote to all our future relations with one another.

We have fought for the maggot in the brains of a few unscrupulous politicians, and now we can surrender with honor, because we have fought gallantly, I am convinced that the people of Eng. land recognise this and bear us no ill-will They aro willing to settle down alongside of us as friends; they hold out their hands as in the prize ring after the fight is over, and it is our duty to shake the outstretched hand and let bye-gone be bye-gones. Have any of tho things that Stejn promised, prophesied, and foretold come true? Where are* the thousands of Colonial sympathisers who were going to rise up as one man? What has the bond done for you ? Where is the promised foreigh interveni tion ?

We have had a rude awakening 1

Where are your leaders to-day, and where are you, the Boers, who have borne the brunt of the war? Our leaders have played the game with you of heads I win, tails you lose. Paul Kruger, rich and comfortable, has "retired from business," and is being borne to Europe and safety in a dutch man-of-war.

Leyds, the wise man, long ago saw the storm brewing, and, after realising his assets berb, continued the partnership from a safe distance in a comfortable home on tho Continent of Europe. Esselen, the man who would not wash until ho had conquered Durban, after living in safety under the Red Cross during tho war, in now living in safety in Scotland.

Fisher, Wolinarans, and Wessels have been spending youk money in delightful trips from one country to another. Surely their business in Europe was completed long ago. Why did they not come back to fight side by side with you ? I do not know where the rest o* Kruger's fire-eating gang is at the present moment, but I strongly suspect that they keep themselves well out of danger and hardships. Have any of our political leaders who have pushed you forward into the fight been killed or wounded fighting gallantly on the battlefield, or are they in any way Injured by the war ? Steyn, Hertzog and others still fulminate fire and sword in proclamations, but has Steyn or his gang ever been heard of on the battlefield ? I firmly believe that these brave 3 will also retire at the convenient moment to villas in Sicily. But YOO, where are you ? youa blood has been spent like water, youe homes have been destroyed, you have been deported to strange countries, and you and your women and children have been huddled together in refugee camps, and reduced to live on the charity of your enemy. Because you are uneliglitened these men have played upon your weaknesses and prejudices, and you had to pick the chestnuts out of the fire, and now, after ruining you, they save themselves and abandon you to your fate. Do you now realise that the Hollanders, Germans, and French egged yon on to light, not because they loved you so much, but that they hated England more? What do they want in South Africa ? They merely want to create dissension between you and the English to give themselves a chance of deriving benefit from your quarrels. Don't let them confuse you any longer

as to what your real interests are. Turn this intriguing foreign element out of the country. There can be no real prosperity where there is continual strife.

I repeat, Boer and Briton must live side by side in South Africa. We must both realise this, and make it the keynote of our future. Let us work together to create a peaceful, united, self-governing South Africa, under the British flag, because, as I have explained, peace and prosperity is not possible under another flag. If every one of vis does his best towards this end, we shall still see the words of our beloved old President Brand fulfilled in this unhappy country :

" Alles zal recht komen."