South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2606, 28 July 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1881.

It is to bo feared that the trouble with the Dutch settlers of South Africa is not at an end. Recent events lead to an inevitable conclusion that England will have to enter upon a war of conquest. It will be the only way of settling the difficulty. The Boers are intensely opposed even to the semblance of British rule. They regard Her Majesty’s soldiers as the most contemptible of enemies. At one time the intensely patriotic used to boast that one Englishman was a match for two Frenchmen. A Boer leader gave it as his opinion the other day that a score of the Dutch settlers could rout a hundred British troops. The English army has suffered immense loss of prestige by the reverses in. Bouth Africa. That glorious infantry which had proved its valour on a hundred battlefields, had fied in terror before an equal number of Dutch settlers, whose only discipline was that they had been trained to shoot true, and especially at moving bodies. As “ Atlas ” in the London “ World ” stated, Her Majesty’s troops invariably gave them them the kind of shooting they wanted. The .war with the Boers was a sad affair. It was very foolishly entered upon, and the withdrawal in the face of repeated defeats was more foolish still. The British people all over the world must read with mingled feelings of shame and sorrow the criticisms of foreigners upon the English army. Briefly stated, those criticisms are to the effect that there was no generalship displayed, that the troops had neither the nerve to shoot nor the bravery to stand and be shot at. In Afghanistan it was said that on several occasions “ General Panic ” was the chief in command. He did not cease to prevail in the Transvaal. It is well that the British people should know what is thought of the army. The Transvaal war was a small affair, but it has done a great deal to lower the prestige of the English army. In Holland, a

nation, which has for generations been regarded as friendly to the Mother Country, the latest cartoon represents a number of English soldiers running like hares before a single Boer with a rifle in his band. The Boers are Dutchmen, and Hollanders exhibited the sympathy of race, though they bare taken a most offensive way of doing so. There is no question that England displayed a great amount of moral couiage in making peace with the Boers under the circumstances. It is only a strong nation which could have done so. But the Dutch settlers are unable to appreciate the true motives of the British Government. They believe that they gained their independence by their prowess. The Boers are a dull plain people, and they fail to understand that when two parties go to war, that one should give way without being beaten or entertained the dread of being beaten. The Dutch settlers regard themselves as masters of the situation. They are now acting according to their own stubborn will. A cablegram recently to hand informs us that the wretches who murdered a British officer in cold blood have been acquitted by a jury of their countrymen. That is an ominous circumstance. We arc also informed by cable that a hitch has occurred in the negotiation between the British Commissioners and the Boer leaders, which will delay the settlement of the dispute. There is no use trying to tinker up a peace in South Africa in the face of the ill-feeling which exists on the part of the Boers against everything British. Either the English or the Dutch must be masters in South Africa. There is no help for it. The only way to establish British ascendency in the Transvaal will he at the point of the bayonet. The war will he a sanguinary and brief one, and the result cannot fail to end in the obliteration of the Dutch in the Transvaal. That country must he given up entirely by England, or she must effectually crush the Boers. The latter will not remain under British rule, and will doubtless clear out to other regions. They have done so before on account of the encroachments of the hat’ed Briton. It would, indeed, have been well if England had had nothing whatever to do with the Transvaal, but once having embarked she cannot retreat. A peace was patched up in a time of disaster to the British army. Everything was yielded to the Boers. If ever there was a “ peace without honor,” it was the one effected after the English army had been defeated at Majuba Hill. It was a one-sided peace. The Boers got nearly everything they demanded. They arc tiie conquerers, and not the conquered. Considering that they are, with hardly any exception, one of the most ignorant white races on the face of the earth, is it any wonder that their arrogance is unbounded. They are quite ready and willing at any time to appeal to the arbitrament of the rifle. We notice that the Boer leaders have agreed that the sum of half a million sterling he paid to British subjects who had suffered losses during the late rebellion. Does anyone expect that the Dutch settlers of South Africa will ever pay a half-penny of compensation. When they formed an independent State they would not contribute taxes to pay for the ordinary purposes of Government. The Boers intensely hate the British, and their next greatest aversion is taxation. They will never stand taxation, the proceeds of which will go into the pockets of their enemies. It will be found that they will prefer fighting to contributing money for such an object.