WHERE GENERAL BOTHA STANDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 October 1915, Page 12 (Supplement)

WHERE GENERAL BOTHA STANDS.

HIS GREAT TRIUMPH. Dr. F. W. Ward, once of New Zealand, late editor of, tlie Sydney Daily Telegraph, now retired in London, writes to his old paper:—

London, July 15. It is a rare and delightful experience to see the United Kingdom and the United Empire in a glowing mood of appreciation. There is only one British feeling aroused by General Botha's magnificent triumph in South Africa. A search anywhere and everywhere within the British lines on the map would fail to discover the faintest trace of disappointment or indifference. Even the pacificists can rejoice over a bit of the war ended. A British victory of the positive kind is itself very welcome in these days. The adding of a big province to the Empire, and particularly to the South African Union, it a very notable event. What is \-ery earnestly hoped for is that this victory will be a powerful factor in the permanent reconciliation of Boer and Briton in South Africa. Both races are high-spirited lovers of justice and liberty, and it ought to be possible for them to live side by side in amity, and perhaps ultimately blend into one inseparable people. But for the moment it is the personal aspect of the Botha campaign that is evoking fervid congratulations. For the moment, General Botha is the most popular personage in the British Empire. He was never hated, even as an enemy, and it is a long time since distrust vanished in the recognition of his fine quality. A year ago I spent a day or two in Durban, where I heard much more than I had expected to hear about the still unextinguished bitterness between the two races. But from one and all camo the cheering testimony that there was one man, one leader, in whom both races reposed absolute confidence— General Botha. This belief, as one afterwards learned, went beyond the fact, for General Botha had his enemies, and on the outbreak of war they disclosed themselves, to their own shame and hurt. But broadly, the belief, was justified. In England I found that General Botha's popularity was as assured as it was in South Africa. All through the war England has felt that British interests were in hands at once the most loyal and the most capable. And now,the.complete success has heartened all Britons, and perhaps most of all the armed Britons who, on sea and land, are personally carrying on the war. In France and Flanders our men lost no time in conveying the news to the enemy. When the promised South African contingent arrives at the front it will get a wonderful cheer. Of course, the Liberals in England are not forgetful of the remarkable justification events have supplied to the policy of "magnanimity." ,