The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. FRIDAY, JULY 7, 1899. THE THREATENED WAR IN THE TRANSVAAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 159, 7 July 1899, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

FRIDAY, JULY 7, 1899. THE THREATENED WAR IN THE TRANSVAAL.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For tho ■wrong that ncais resistance, For the futnro in the distance, And tha good that wo can do.

The position of affairs in South Africa with regard to the Transvaal difficulty must be the cause of grave anxiety to the British Government. Whether the decision of Her Majesty's Ministers be to take immediate and vigorous action to compel that embodiment of obstinacy and ci-aft — President Krugev— to deal fairly by British subjects in the Boer Republic, upon whom he chiefly depends for the revenue which enables him to bully and oppress them, or to rely for some time longer upon less drastic means of' pressure, they are equally confronted by a serious public danger. 111. the former ease, action by force of arms may, in the opinion of many, precipitate a racial struggle between the English and Dutch populations throughout the whole of South Africa, thereby destroying for many years all hopes of a united South Africa as an integral portion of the British Empire, which should be the ultimate object of British policy.

On 'the other hand, a continuance of the policy of non-intervention, except of the diplomatic kind, is equivalent to maintaining the existing conditions of seething discontent and racial ill-feeling which, if allowed to increase in intensity much longer,

are almost as likely to create a permanent antagonism between the races as war itself. The just grievances of the Outlanders cannot, indeed, remain nnredressed for any lengthened period without grave risk of civil conflict arising between the contending parties at Johannesburg, in which case •nothing1 could probably prevent the surrounding communities, including Cape Colony, from being drawn into the struggle, whether the Imperial authorities desired it or not. This would, of course, lead in the end to tiro British Government having- to settle affairs by ; force of arms. jAs the suzerain power, even if Britain's own colonists'were" not actually involved in the fray at first, the Imperial Government could not, with a due respect for Imperial responsibilities, permit a condition of political anarchy and commercial disorganisation to prevail in the Transvaal, which ■would be a menace to the welfare and good government of the whole of South Africa,

- If,. therefore,/whether the Imperial I Government adopts immediate coercive measures' with the Boers or not, in the end circumstances are almost certain—unless within a short period Kruger grants a reasonable measure of reform —to force England into, war in this quarrel, it is perhaps better for all concerned that she should draw the sword at once and have done with it. At the same time, if so deplorable a step becomes inevitable it will not have been taken without an honest and painstaking effort on the part of the Imperial Government to avoid it. Sir Alfred Milner's scheme of concessions to the Uitlanders was an extremely moderate one, but Kruger practically refused to make any concession at all. The deputation representing the Africander party jin Cape Colony and the representatives I.of the Orange Free State, now at Pretoria, have succeeded no better with the pig-headed President. The Government of the Free State, who have always been on friendly terms with the British, realise that a serious mistake was made in entering into defensive alliance with the Transvaal. Public opinion within the State does not endorse Kruger's attitude, and it is pretty certain that if war ensues the rally to arms in the Orange Free State entailed by the terms of the Treaty will be very reluctantly responded to. President Steyne states that another effort will be made to save the Transvaal Government from exposing itself to the charge of having provoked war. He proceeds to Pretoria for the purpose of interceding personally with President Kruger. There is no doubt that but for that stupendous blunder — the Jamieson Eaid —the feeling towards England among the Dutch colonists of South. Africa would have been much more friendly than it is. The raid had the natural effect of: arousing the hostility of the Boers to a while heat, and also of exciting amongst British subjects of Dutch origin throughout the whole of our South African territories well-founded suspicions of the designs of Englishmen against their kith and kin in the Transvaal. The general result was a .hostile attitude

of mind and feeling against British dominance, which deprived us of the certain moral support we should otherwise have had from Dutch and English alike outside the Transvaal in any just and fair measures taken by Great Britain towards compelling the Boer Government to treat the Outlanders according- to the universally accepted principles of civilised Government.

After the Raid legitimate action was to a large extent 'paralysed. At the some time, the sins of those responsible for "Dr. Jim's" disastrous expedition cannot be allowed for ever to give President Kruger a free hand in carrying out his exclusive policy of jealousy and repression against the larger half of the population in the L'oer Republic. These people, mostly English, 'have, by their enterprise, industry, and capita], made the present financial strength of the Boer Government, and they cannot with justice, or in the interests of order and good government in South Africa, be denied a voice in the, management of the country whose natural resources they have so wondrously developed. President Kruger has it in his power by proper and reasonable concessions, such as Sir Alfred Milner has asked for, to avert the calamities that war with England would bring upon his country and race, and at the same time to prevent the utter extinction oE Boer rule in South Africa. If he persists in opposing the British demands any longer, he and his obsolete ideas of government by a tyrannical oligarchy'will be "brushed out of the road of enlightened progress, and modern requirements. The struggle will no doubt be a tough one, for the Boers are a brave and stubborn people like ourselves, but, as Mr Chamberlain said the other day, England had made up her mind "to see the thing through," and the final result under the circumstances is inevitable and obvious. The worst of it is that Kruger. under a mistaken sense of his patriotic duty, may not bow to the inevitable. Instead of granting full political, rights to the resident people of the Transvaal, whether Boer or Outlander, and thus enlisting their pride and interest in the maintenance, of the independence of the Republic, he is, we fear, only too likely to offer a dogged resistance to a full and sufficient surrender of his untenable position, and thus court the blow that will crush the Republic and bring about a state of affairs which cannot but prove calamitous, and for some time disastrous to the material advancement and happiness of South Africa. The Raid episode has done its share of evil; let us hope that the stubborn recklessness of Oom Paul may yet be prevented from completing the bad work of setting alight the flames of a racial war between two brave and determined peoples. Verily it is given to Koiue men to hold human issues of desperate moment in their fallible hands.