NEWS OF THE WAR.

Waikato Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 627, 21 April 1900, Page 2

NEWS OF THE WAR.

BOERS IN SWAZILAND. PREPARING FOR A FINAL RESISTANCE. SWAZIS UNWILLING TO AS* SIST. LORD ROBERTS’ CRITICISMS. CONSTERNATION IN MILITARY CLUBS. GOVERNMENT BLAMED FOR PUBLISHING DAMAGING DOCUMENTS. WHY HAS METHUEN BEEN SHIELDED 2 (Received April 20, 10.5 a.m.) London, April 19. Many of the Boers in Swaziland are preparing for a final resistance. The Swazis are reluctant to afford the slightest help. Lord Roberts’ criticisms of Spion Kop has caused consternation in the military clubs. Many blame the Government for publishing the damaging documents, and others are asking why Methuen has been shielded. SPEECH BY SIR HENRY FOWLER. THE FIRST CONDITION OF PEACE. BRITISH SUPREMACY IN SOUTH AFRICA. THE* TIMES AND THE CENSURES. BULLER’S AND WARREN’S AUTHORITY IMPAIRED. (Received April 21, 12,42 a.m.) London, April 20. _ Sir Henry Fowler, addressing his constituents at Wolverhampton, said the first condition of peace was the establishment of British supremacy in South Africa, implying the safety of India and the right to hold, preserve and protect our colonies. The Times declares that after Roberts’ censures Buller’s and Warren’s authority with the troops must be impaired. THE BOERS AT BIGGARSBERG. A FEIGNED RETIREMENT TO DRAW BULLER. FIFTEEN THOUSAND BOERS STRONGLY POSTED. THEIR LINE OF RETREAT CLEVERLY FORTIFIED. ROBERTS’ REMOUNTS ARRIVED HE IS READY TO ADVANCE. (Received April 21, 1.34 a.m.). London, April 20. It is reported that the Boors at Biggarsherg retired as a feint to draw Buller prematurely. Fifteen thousand Boers occupy a succession of ridges between Sunday River and Dundee. They expect the British to follow the line of railway along the Waseh Bank Valley, and their fortifications have been so arranged as to enable a gradual retreat under cover. Two hundred Boer cattle were captured and brought to Boshof. Tho Daily Chronicle states that remounts have arrived, and Lord Roberts is ready to advance.

WAR AGAINST WAR

A publication under this heading by Mr W. T. Stead has been extensively citculated of late, and read in connection with the following will show how completely he has changed his coat : The above gentleman, who has lately made himself a rather pitiable exhibition to the world, is fond of drawing “ the deadly parallel ’’ unon Mr Chamberlain and Mr Cecil Rhodes. These gentlemen can afford to treat his hysterical effusions with that silence which is more effective than even contemptuous recognition, but (he smaller fry are tempted to answer back, and they at times do it very neatly. For example, a correspondent ol the Daily Nows calls attention to what he describes as the hopeless inconsistency of Mr W. T. Stead on the Transvaal question. In the Review of Reviews for August, 1895,

Mr Stead said : “ Of course the situation in the Transvaal cannot last. The Republic is dominated by a majority of Boers, who constitute an oligarchy, whose domination is obnoxious to an immense majority of the white population. These aliens or Uitlanders have formed themselves into a National League for the purpose of demanding a franchise under certain conditions (which are set out). There is no intention on the part of the Boers to yield to this demand. There is, however, one Uitlander who.is persona gratissima to the Boers, and that is the Hollander, who appears to run the Republic in the interest of Amsterdam, and who is the rallying centre of Boer resistance to the enfranchisement of the Uitlander.’’ In the issue of February, 1896 (just after the the Jameson Raid), he puts the question : “ What was the situ ition in which the Johannesburgers found themselves ?” and remarks that that question ‘'was very effectively answered by Mr Garrett, whose conduct on the Gape Times during this critical time has been simply superb, and worthy of the best traditions of British journalism.” Mr Uarrett says: “ For weeks it (the Government of President Kruger) has been ostentatiously bringing offen--1 sive arms to bear on Johannesburg. The Uitlander has seen contracts entered into for building with his money forts on the latest pattern of scientific destructiveness, which can he aimed at no one hut himself ; a fort at Pretoria at £*2 so 000, and one at £IOO,OOO, openly commanding Johannesburg. „ . Nay, more, a battery of quick-firers has been established on the Hospital Hill, directly overlooking the streets of Johannesburg. Why, the town has been living under a perfect grinning arsenal of fhreats of bloodshed. Such action may terrify men into submission, but it may also madden them into an outbreak." In the same issue Mr Stead describes President Kruger as the “ official patron of the red-handed filibusters of 1884.’ In the issue of October, 18'6, Mr Stead says : President Kruger is as little amenable to reason as Abdul Hamid to the representations of the friends of freedom. He keeps his two captives under lock and key, he has spent nearly a million sterling over arms and munitions ot war, and he is securing laws from the Raad which will enable him to gag the Press, to banish every Englishman whom he distrusts, and to confiscate to an indefinite extent the property of the gold miners of the Rind. For ihe present we must just grin and bear it We have made sufficient mistakes to deter us from action. It is now the turn of the Boer to make the inevitable blunder, which will enable us to recover lost ground. The more he oppresses the Uitlander the more chance there is of the interesting settler asserting his right with resolution and, if need he, by revolution.” We can imagine what would now be said by Mr Stead, in his present campaign of whitewashing the Boers, if Mr Chamberlain had used such language in 1896.

Those who think tint the war will soon lie over and that the present state of affairs is the beginning of the end, do not view matters in the same light as Lord Kitchener. A resident of Melbourne received a private letter from the Chief of Staff a short while since, an I in it the writer stated that he expected it would bo fully two years before the end of the war aud even then affairs would be unsettled for some time.

The nephew of a Melbourne citizen, who has done a deal of fighting in the vicinity of Kimberley, sends an interesting incidc .t in a letter to his rekr lives:—“We all take cover when we can now, having learnt that much from ■he Boers. Next to me was a young fellow of about twenty who had never been under fire before. He took it very coolly, lying on bis stomach, with his rifle on a chunk of wood, watching his opportunity. The lead was falling fast; a bullet, glancing from the surface of a boulder, tore the heel from my boot, and lodged in another fellow’s calf. Scraps of bullets were doing all sorts of unexpected things, and we found it pretty lively. I don’t think my wits ever spent such a busy half hour before in the whole course of my life. When 1 came to notice the youngster again he was lying as before, but his face had fallen on his arms and lie was quite still. I thought the poor beggar was done for, and crept to him, and turned his body over. He was asleep peacefully beautifully, asleep!” In a recent pastoral letter wh'ch B'sbop Turner had read in the Roman Catholic churches in the diocese of Dumfries aud Calloway, Scotland, he said “ Our country is at this moment engaged in a war in which dignity and the integrity of the EHke have been invaded, aud whatever we may entertain regarding the train of events which has led up to such a deplorable state of things, there can be no hesitation in deciding our course of action. As gcod Catholics we are loyal aud patriotic citizens, and are determined to keep the national flag unfurled, and to defend the honour and integrity of the Empire in which our church enjoys a greater measure of liberty, independence, and fair treatment than is allowed to her in any other country. Our hearts go out to the thousands of our co-religionists who at this moment, in every department of the public service, and in every rank of dignity and responsibility, are bearing themselves with the traditional valour and fearless courage which shed fresh lustre on their name aud race, and our heaitfeit prayer is that, the peace of God prevailing, they aud their brave comrades may soon he restored to their native shores.’’