England and the Transvaal.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3939, 13 August 1881, Page 2

England and the Transvaal.

Letter feom Ms Deeckeb, a settleb

IN THE TbANSYAAL

Mr C. W. Deecker, a journalist who was successful in starting the Transvaal Argus and Government Gazette, and took a prominent part in the affairs of that country, writes to England: —" I scarcely know how to express the disgust I feel at the humiliating peace which has just been concluded with our enemies the Boers. After holding out for over one hundred days we did expect better treatment at the hands of the Home Government. We oue and all feel ashamed to call ourselves Englishmen, and are thunderstruck at the objections of the mother country. A handful of stupid and ignorant farmers have in four distinct engagements thoroughly beaten the trained soldiers of England, and after losing a thousand men and officers, among them some of the best in the British army, the General in command has to stop and arrange one of the most ignominious agreements of peace ever heard of in the history of the world. When we heard of the reinforcements being on the road we did hope for speedy relief, but we would rather have had to wait till the last bit of our old boots had been consumed than have to submit under such painfully humiliating circumstances. Had not the peace been arranged by Sir Evelyn Wood without consultation with the Government or the people here, it would never have been brought about unless the Boers had given in and acknowledged the Transvaal to be a conquered country. The British residents iv Pretoria would never have given in, but, as martial law had been proclaimed, the town abandoned, and every man, loilly nitty, made a soldier of, the military authorities had matters pretty much their own way, and one could scarcely express an opinion without being called upon to give a satisfactory reason for its utterance. We fully expected that England would have blotted out the Bronkhurst Spruit disaster and the defeats in the Drakenburg before entering into peace negotiations, but 'No,' says Mr Gladstone, ' let the Boers alone; give them the Transvaal, they have whipped us sadly, and now, with our tails betwixt our legs, we must run away.' All the the solace we have is in the British resident, which does not mean much more than an ordinary Consularship. The country to all intents and purposes goes back to the Boers, and with the act go all its chances of future wealth and prosperity. The Home Government does not seem to attach much importance to the late vote in the House of Commons re the annexation, but, in the face of a decided defeat of the advanced guard of Colley's relief, cries peccavi, and gives back what they have over aud over again stated their intention of keeping. Is it nothing to the Government that the people of Pretoria and their friends own upwards of one-half of the whole country, and that on the faith of annexation, hundreds of influential men have interested themselves in the purchase if not the actual occupation of land ? Yet these people, idyaTtf) the backbone, have not been recognised in the slightest degree in the settlement, and now they are thrown over by the authorities aud not given the slightest encouragement in the matter of compensation for the heavy losses they sustained by the war. Hundreds of men are ruined, and will have to start life afresh elsewhere. The Boers are a kind of banditti, and fight according to the guerilla style- They are plucky enough as long as they are hidden safely behind a stone, but they are scarcely ever seen fighting in the open. During the time of the investment, we couldnot go more than a mile or so from camp without a pass. The total number of Boers under arms was from 10,000 to 12,000. The natives are in a greatly excited state, and it is quite on the cards that some of the more numerous and powerful among the tribes will make raids into the country and lay waste all the property of the Boers, our conquerors. All the troops leave immediately. It would be a satire if they had to come back again to assist in quelling a native rising. I believe in such a case hundreds of men would lay down their arms, and I should commend them for it, .too. Gladstone was burned in effigy here last evening. I hope soon to cease to witness the outcome of humiliating peace-atany-price policy of Gladstone. "Mr Deecher intends seeking fresh fields and pastures new."