The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and Echo. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1899. MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S VINDICATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 277, 22 November 1899, Page 4

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

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1899.

MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S VINDICATION.

For the cause that lads assistance, For the ■wrong that needs rosistanca, For the fatnro in the distance, And ttte good that we can do.

The time when the ethics of the Boer war might be profitably discussed has passed. When the gage of battle has been thrown down argument is profitless — a new issue is created which involves not only the honour, but the very existence of the nations concerned. In connection with the Boer war,'however, the Colonial Secretary (Mr Chamberlain) has been subjected to so much odium that attention should be given to the explanation and vindication of his policy which he. has offered to the public from 'his place in the British Parliament. No doubt Mr Chamberlain's position was considerably prejudiced by the suspicions which associated him with the insane and criminal foray conducted by Dr. Jamieson a few years ago. The childish stupidity of that wild expedition 'has become abundantly apparent, during the present war, in which we have seen a well-equipped army, under veteran generals, placed on the defensive by the intrepid farmers, and a body of British troops considerably larger than Jamieson's entire force captured within three or four miles from the head-quarters of the British forces. -But the evidence upon which Mr Chamberlain was accused of complicity in the Jamieson raid was of the flimsiest description. And as against any accusations of anti-Boer proclivities we ought to set the fact that the Colonial Secretary was a member of the Gladstone Ministry when the Convention of 1884 was framed, and he then and afterwards appeared as an active champion of the policy which led to Britain's with- ■ drawn! from the -Transvaal and recogI nition of the Boer Government. If |he subsequently became an advocate \of war it is fair to assume that events j must have shown him that there was jno other alternative. This is really what Mr Chamberlain, in the course of a brilliant speech, the text, of which came to hand by i yesterday's mail, practically declared. He contended that in framing the Convention of 1884, which revised that of 1881, there was never any idea t-hat the suzerainty should be surrendered. Propositions of this nature had been put forward by the Boers repeatedly and been absolutely rejected. Nevertheless, the Transvaal Government had deliberately and systematically set- themselves to abrogate the essential provisions of the Convention. Equality of the two white races "was i the foundation or negotiations. li: was, promised by President Kritgci/

and guaranteed by Mr Gladstone to British subjects then residing in the Transvaal. But these obligations the loci's had broken, and placed lirilish ■ subjects in a position of distinct inferiority. They had also directly chaiieJige.d the suzerainty, and, by inl.'igiu-s^Htliin Cape Colony and in Em-ope, had proclaimed their independence of suzerain obligations. In l:-,97 they sent- a dispatch to the British Government formulating- the demand which had been rejected by Lord Derby in 18.4 that all disputes with Great Britain should lie submitted to the arbitration of a foreign State. Mr Chamberlain forcibly pointed out i that the. grievances of the Citlancle.s 'were much more than a personal mat--, ter. That .lones in the Transvaal, who is a British subject, suffers some inconvenience, pecuniary loss, or pergonal degredation would be important ; enough: but there is more involved than that, for, after all, we do not forget the hackneyed phrase that it is something still to be a British citizen. What, he asked, was to be Britain's 'position in the world, and her position [in Africa if she submitted to this inferiority. "If we are to maintain our position with regard to other nations, if we are to maintain our position as; a great Power in South Africa, we are bound to show that we are botih willing and able to protect British . subjects everywhere when they are made to suffer from oppression and injustice;" Mr Chamberlain went on to trace the prolonged neg.tiaiti.njs which took place with President Krug-er for the purpose of showing, that !he. had strenuously striven for peace and hoped almost until the last that it would be achieved. He analysed the President's offers and showed. that his seven years' franchise proposals were so hedged with conditions as to make tihem a veritable sham. He quoted a. legal authority for the assertion that probably there were not two or three hundred Uitlanders who could have fulfilled these conditions. Having considered all the circumstances in the light of the most recent events, in the j light of the ultimatum, and iii the I light- of •;. recent, speeches- of ..President. ' Krtiger and others." Mr Chamberlain pde'clat'ed .that ;iie*' {had rnsNv come to ITVe- cpnolrtSTcn' Yh:';! war war; always

Eeferring to this cpiestion our London correspondent states that although the little. Englanders of the Radical Party have convinced themselves aud have tried. hard to convince others that the blood of the victims of the Transvaal war will be upon Mr Chamberlain's head, it has been stated on the authority of one of the most prominent Cabinet Ministers that Mr Chamberlain, so far from being the "firebrand" of the Ministry, had been one of the most earnest seekers for a peaceful solution of the Transvaal trouble, and had steadily opposed the despatch of troops to South Africa, as being calculated to render the diplo-

matic negotiations in progress abortive by raising Boer suspicions as to their genuineness. Mr Chamberlain believed that a peaceful solution was possible, but the opinion of the majority of the Cabinet was against this view, and the gradual strengthening of our fighting force in South Africa during the negotiations was carried on not on the advice of the Colonial Sec v retary, but against his wishes.

f hose who are inclined to criticise in a hostile spirit the action of the men upon whom in the discharge of the duties of an exalted public position devolves the solemn responsibility of entering upon a war, do little credit to their own judgment if they suppose that even the most careless of states-

men commits his country to such a step willingly or without the mostanxious deliberation. It is a matter of history that thoughts of the terrible suffering entailed by the Crimean war clouded the later life of Lord Aberdeen, who stood at the head of the Government when that war was declared. And apart from the horrors of war—the carnage and ruin and enormous financial loss—there is the imminent peril of an Empire'® existence in these days when nations stand armed to the teeth ready to fly at each other's throats should a favourable occasion arise. We may depend upon it that neither Mr Chamberlain nor any other member of the Cabinet desired war with the Transvaal, but weak submission under wrong is not the best way even to avert strife. Britain could not have held her place in South Africa or retained the respect of the world if she had allowed her subjects to be continuously treated with contempt and contumely by any Power—much, less by an insignificant Republic which mistook the magnanimity that made peace in the face of a defeat for cowardice and regarded their own minor victories over small bodies of British troops as proving their ability to cope successfully against the combined forces of the Empire.. -.-...