Correspondence. Correspondents' opinions are not neces sarily ours. THE SITUATION IN THE TRANSVAAL.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 108, 13 February 1900, Page 2

Correspondence. Correspondents' opinions are not neces sarily ours. THE SITUATION IN THE TRANSVAAL.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — A calm survey of the events of the war and the position at present leads to reflections none too pleasant and none too flattering to our self-esteem as a nation. I do not propose to saj anything as to the origin of the strife. Opinioiis seem to diffei widely on that point, and though Mr Chamberlain got a majority in the recent division in the House of Commons, the dissentients were many in number and included men of the very highest standing. A very significant incident was the declaration, during the debate, of Commander G. K. Bethell — a military man himself, and a Conservative— that the war was "unjust, a racial conflict, and that it would be impossible to settle it by the sword at such a distance." Nor could the division have been very satisfactory to the Government. Out of a House of son?e C7O members, only 350 could be got to vote against Mr Fitzmaurice's motion of censure — and you may be sure that no effort was spared to have every vote recordeo that could possibly be secured. It is of course true that only 139 voted in favour of the motion, but it must be remembered that the Irish party — tiQ in number — did not vote at all, and that many Liberals probably voted on the Government side for fear of being considered unpatriotic, while almost all who abstained from voting, in all likelihood disapproved of the Government policy, though at the present juncture disinclined to embarass the Ministry from patriotic motives. It would seem then that the political world in England at all events is anything but united on the question of the war. Turning to the European countries, it seems perfectly certatn that the people are dead against England. In. political circles, however, things seem quiet, and likely to be so. Russia, in the face of the Peace Conference lately promoted by the Czar, can hardly decently interfere. Besides, Russia has not much interest in South Africa. France is busy with her great Exhibition, and will allow nothing of war to interfere with that. Germany has apparently been squared by the cession to her of Samoa, and possibly there are understandings arrived at as to various other matters, of which we have not yet got the details, but in which iwe may take it for granted Germany has got most oi: the advan- : tage — if she keeps quiet. Spain ! and Italy need hardly be reckoned with, nor can Austria — without a nayy — do very much. In America, we have given up our say in the Nicaragua canal — as a quid PRO QUO. The dominant political party in America at present is friendly with England, but it is very doubtful if this will last long. The Democratic party, with which the Germans and Irish will vote solidly at the next Presidential Election, is a very powerful one, and they have declared frankly against England in the matter of this war. Signs of what may come can be seen in tLie almost unanimous, votes of the New York and Boston Town Councils, condemning, unreservedly, the English war policy, should Bryan defeat McKinle^ in ihe corning fight for the Presi-dentship,-America's attitude will instantly, become strongly hostile to ErigWd, aud I must say that the signs of the times seem to point to the likelihood of Bryans return. The infamous policy of England toward Ireland is now, as it has often done before, stirring to bitter hostility the hearts of Irishmen all pyer the world, not less those who ' have been expatriated, than those who still exist in that country. We read that in the late debate the speeches of the Irish party, which " wet c mainly on the question, of Home Eule, were received with, gibes and jeers," and Baden - Powell has taken to shooting them on the ground that they are Fenians. Turning to the -war itself, our reflections must indeed be bitter. After all the boast and brag about the " mighty British Empire," upon which " the sun never sets," etc., etc, wlien. we

boil down the naked facts wliat ' do we find ? To our amazement and disgust we find that at the : very least the total available * military force of the Empire is { required to tackle, at the outside, i some 70,000 or 80,000 farmers, } whose numbers can only be i raised so high by including every 5 male between the age of ] 6 and f60 I A nation of some 50 odd 'i millions of -people is at war with ra country of some 250,000 in- j habitants at the outside— not one J third the population of New Zea* 4 land — and lo ! it is driven to I guard its Queen with volunteers, | and to ask assistance frem xm-4 trained and undisciplined colo-J nists ! Truly a sight to make the I world stare ! Nor does a glance | it the events of the war reassure J us. The great British army with| us lordly gonerals does not seem ] to make very great progress. I ; say nothing about the War Office. \ "Their offence smells rank to| Heaven." It is patent to the! world. I leave them to endure 1 ! the contempt they deserve. But. in the actual field what, so far, is, the result 2 It is sickening to* contemplate. White hemmed up \ in the twinkling of an eye" iur< Ladysmith with 10,000 troops,^ Kimberly and Mateking sui-1 rounded and helpless, Methuen> reduced to helpless inactivity <V the Modder, aiul Buller struggling! desperately but resnltlessly on the! Tugela — we say nothing of the, series of reverses, calamities andj defeats so far invariably experi- ■ enced by the unfortunate British, a of the capture of the 1000 Fusi-M liers, the massacre of the Black' *■ watch, the .slaughter of the 9 Sufrolks, the disaster of Spion-I Kop, the defeats of Methven and;! Buller. The net results seem toi! be that so far we have lost aboufc^B 10,000 men in killed, wounded 1 ! and prisouers, the Boer loss at thejl [ outside, according to our o\viiiB estimates, is not more 'than 5OO0.|! They must have some 3000J1 British prisoners in Pretoria ; we|B have comparatively few Boers.-JH So far, I believe I urn stating thelH fact, we have not succeeded injS wresting from the Boers oneiH single position that they hav&lß ever held. Even Colenso andfl Colesberg are still in their hands, ]■ and to cap all we have not got so A far as the enemy's territory, un-jB less, indeed, perhaps a fewJß troops in the South of the FreejM State. Great things were ex*]M pec ted when Buller crossed tke^M Tugela, practically unopposed. It! was thought that he had effeciedjM a great surprise. It now turnJM out that it was merely a BoerfM ruse to lead him on to Spion KopJM Buller is now across the rivenH again, but far to the West offl Ladysmith. He is now actually™ farther from that place than whenjM he was on the South of theH Tugela, before Colenso ! ThereM are over 20 miles of most hlllylH country to travel before Lo'.H reaches White, and every hillJ^B seems to be trenched and fortifiedJM The advance began oil Monday,^H sth inst, and from the cables that]H have reached us, seems, so far, toj^H have been unsuccessful. A£^M Lord » Salisbury himself admits,^B the position in humiliating — ib^^H would hardly be much more so-|^M and though of course it musfc^H work out alright in the end, for^H the Boers are few and poor, while^H we are many and rich, the eventl^H of the last few months wiUsurel/j^M be a lesson to us for a long tim'e^H to indulge a little less in brag and^B boast, Much has been made of^H late of Mr Kipling's eleemosynary^H verses — his appeal to the chari^B table to " pay-pay-pay "—but pro'^H bably the best lines he has evei^H written are, 3^H "For frantic boast and foolishj^B Thy pardon, Lord 1* Thy pardouj^H I may conclude by observin^^H that there is a strange conflict ofj^H testimony from various quarter^^M as to the habits, manners, ' and^^| customs of the Boers. Soxng^H people make them out everythin^^H that is bad — cruelly vindictivej^M treacherous, infamous in everj^^H way. In -strange contrast to this^H is the following account given b)>^H Lieutenant C. E. Kinahan, of thJ^H Eoyal Irish Fubiliers, who waiHfl taken prisoner by the Boers. Ths^H account is published in th^^H Dunedin Evening Star of th|^H 10th inst., and is no doubt copie^^H from an English paper, thougl^H we are . not told which. Thij^^B lieutenant says : All you rcaJ^H about the Boers* in England i^^| absolutely untrue. They "i'|^H most kind to the wounded ao^^H prisoners, looking after them well as their own wounded, anfflß anything they've got they give you if you ask them,?even §^X they deprive themselves. came up to Pretoria in first clal^^H sleeping carriages, and the w^^H they treated us -was most coq^^H siderate, feeding us and giying

Hfee every time we stopped. Hie day we arrived we took up Kkrters on the racecourse, but ■c have been moved into a fine B-ick building with baths, electric Kht, etc. They provide us with Kerything from clothes down to ft thbrushes. They also teed us Hd we are constantly getting lorn private people. In tac t, *c ■n have everything we like ■Sept our liberty; for some ftson or other they won't at ■Sent give us parole, and we X surrounded by sentries. Kero are close upon fifty officers ■ this building, and they nave ft any amount of wounded ones ■ different places. They say Hey won't exchange tiie officers ■ any price." It must be conftsed, too, that the attitude of the ■ape Dutch is not nice. We have Been accustomed to talk loudly ■f the supreme happiness we Ejoy living under th P British lag, the inestimable blessings ol British civilisation, and we find X difficult to conceive how any ■eople who have ever lived under Bur paternal care, enjoying the ■bertV we give, could ever pos■ibly think of living in any other ■pay. Yet the Cape Dutch have ■njoyod these great blessings for ■ long time and nevertheless they ■eem to be quite unappreciative, ■or they seem to side with tne ■mgeutlemanly Boors almost to a , Kian ! How is this uncomfortable fact to be explained? I will leave it to some who is able to Ixplaw. A favourite argument Ef the war party is that it will be ■ever so much bettei for the boers themselves to be put under foritish rtile— it is really for their ■good this war. We shall put a ■stop to all their nasty habits, ftvach them to wash themselvcF, land generally make them niio [people arid very happy and comfortable under our hoavon-born rule and gui<Vmce. It is disagreeable to reflect that the Cape people, after having had ample ■ opportunity of enjoying all th<^e wonderful privileges, actually seem entirely unconvinced. It f seems almost unbelievable, bin I these people have the bad tasfce not ' only to decline to assist us, but in addition to entirely throw therc■vaelves into the opposite scale, which seems to point to a flaw somewhere "in the much used "blessings of British rule " argument. — I am, *efce.,

Disgusted. [With our usual fairness, wo publish our correspondent's letter, lack of space compelling us to hold over our corainents for a future issue. It will be seen that a very good case can be made by showing only one side of the question as " Disgusted " -decidedly does. — Ed. W.A.]