The Boer Generals.

Manawatu Herald, 27 September 1902, Page 2

The Boer Generals.

General Botha, speaking at Rotterdam, asserted that 20,000 Boer woman and children were dead, and that 40,000 men had been killed and 16,000 wounded. The majority of the latter were incapable of working, and for these unfortunates he pleaded. The General acknowledged receipt from Mr Arthur White, an American, of a gift of a hundred thousand dollars (4120,000), and asked others to follow the example. He thanked the Dutch for the way in which they had received “ dear President Kruger." Genera! De la Rey spoke on behalf of the losers of farms and animals. The Berlin Post and Pester Lloyd (Buda-Pesth) discourage the idea of a European tour, lest the Boer Generals, by appealing for foreign sympathy, irritate the British and injure their cause in Great Britain. MR KRUGER’S MEMOIRS. The Brussels correspondent of the Daily telegraph states that Mr Kruger has received from M. Lehmann, the publisher of hi? memoirs, £30,000, which he is devoting entirely to the aid of the Boers. The first edition will appear in German and English in November. AN APPEAL FOR FUNDS. In a manifesto which they have issued to the civilised world appealing for funds in aid of the education of Boer children and the relief of distress in the late Republics, the Boar Generals state they were obliged to accept the terms of surrender imposed. Further assistance had hitherto been refused, and they would now be thankful for the world’s sympathy. The Republics had been ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of their independence, and now that the struggle was over the people were utterly ruined. Thirty thousand houses and Boer farms and a number of villages had been burned and destroyed by the British. Orchards had been ruined, implements broken, mills destroyed and every living animal killed. “ Oar orphans and widows have been abandoned," the Generals say. “We appeal to the world for the sake of the maimed and other needy, and for the satisfactory education of the children. The sword is now sheathed, and our differences are silenced in the presence of such great misery. The small amount Great Britain is giving, in accordance with the terms of surrender, even if increased ten-fold, would be wholly insufficient.”

The consensus of opinion among the newspapers is that the manifesto reveals ths influence of Dr Leyds and Mr R ; itz, arid that the Generals are not imnre-sed by the rebuff of the Colonial Office, which was of their own seeking. The Times regards the manifesto as covert and insidious hostility to the Empire to which allegiance had been solemnly pledged. The majority of the newspapers are very angry, and warn the Generals

chat the ultilisation of pro-Boer committees in various countries for the purpose of organising a general fund distributable at the Generals’ sole discretion will not bo tolerated. Germany received the manifesto with coolness and caution.