The Evening Star SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1901.

Evening Star, Issue 11511, 30 March 1901, Page 4

The Evening Star SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1901.

The Federal elections so' far are resulting', very much in accordance with The Kciieral . anticipations. - In New South ; blcct'ons., Wales the Freetraders'would

seein to be assured of a sn6-' stantial preponderance in the .representation of the State, Both in the House,-;and- the Senate;, whilst the enormous majority (4,445) polled by Mr Reid in the most populous constituency (East Sydney) points unmistakeably to a very strong-feeling'against the declared policy'of Mr Barton and his colleagues on the part of the trading and mercantile classes. Mr Wood, the Minister of Justice, was defeated at Eden-Monaro; and Sir W. J. Lyne had a somewhat close fight for Hume' which had 'bsenregarded as a-safe thing, and was run hard by Mr Goddard, a prohounccd advocate’ of Freetrader It i Stt of able that thro n gh out the Commonwealth there are very <^dj«!ates,' one of whom,, however, it would.seehi likely, has succeeded in.beating. Mr Wise for Caiibbias. • In Victoiia fhe Pfdtectibnists. haye : scooped the pool.,and the retufns r show that. SirF., Sargoou, in the Senate, and the: Hon. Mr’KnoxV in House; ire'the."only! prominent' ,'Freefra(ier^. l whohave, been returned. Complete returns of tho elections, throughout the States cannot well be at hand before'Kesday,.sihfcom,Western Australia. and Queensland the polling only lakes place to-day. ■ > A : Much' : interest -. will" no ‘ doubt' be Telt throughout Australasia as to the final result, upon which will; dypendrwhether Mrrßarton or Mr Reid will lead in the fiat Parliament of the Commonwealth.— If the event were a sporting one we should beinclined to back Mr Reid , but the votes'll! the several States 'are' very' miicn 1 3uiniSy, ! and Mr Barton has decidedly conducted the campaign with co'nshmradte 1 skilll s 1 The 'latest’ manifesto,, by the Ministerial party,, isspeyl immediatelybefore’the;eleetiofis, yyas in theC form,of a;i to The; ejectors of,. New- , -Wales by .-the six candidates selected; to contest'-the seats , inn the 'Senate. i. : This-, puts thc’Bartbn policy in a'nutshells .The financi'al-re.quui-ements’ : qf the’:CbmmdtiwealtlL' will, it is stated, necessitate the obtaining. of 'ft.rpTßnue of.about £8.500,000, a year. ~ The raising of this sum will make compulsory the .imposition of Customs duties,' "‘‘ which will necessarily: be 'protective' in', their incipience, and: willy. asi;a- cdnseqifencc, en‘‘courage the establishment bf’local indns- “ tries. ’’, Such : a : ; pnlidyV, candidates statfr.their .assurance, will cpmmend, itself to the' acceptance of the-inodevato men of all parties.' The' Constitution prbvideE, they proceed to. say, fqr upifprpi pustoms duties throughout:; the' Commonwealth,!; with Freetrade 'tetween - the ; , States-j'C'an'd l in their ,'c'pns'unfinS^tioft ; should ■be Mtqincd itb -as delay im possible. They advocate, > further, . the abolition of Colored alien labor, .so; as to ..secure a White l Australia;;-Sthe! s :lQrtiiAtloa:-;of an adequate idefence>force,- on theSbasis of a citizen soldiery; the adoption of adult suffrage throughout l the wdaJJ Ir.f a jjd! ; a uniform' gystem'rbf,old..age ; pcpsimf!,:q|;Tius, it must be Emitted, is . rather artaking programme, the' only!^weak^pointrirf 1 which, according tp,,opr. views, (f is, protectionist faUacy.-pr sjr Rejd f takes pu-Freetrade. r -He declares that a protective policV-as-'a means of raising" revenue is ‘a’ fraud,'’ beta use," ak - ’'ProtecS&nJsts' themselves have affirmedy it killed th'd-tevcliub'by

articles t o'be locally mader j a^fiS.cijljjpamer8 A qpabler any;.ccl<mial into live watratOluimission that it #as |not a p o^^b]piid^iif;- '•{„"Ytfe,.psperii “ ! to .show that it would be better to pay ! " ey ff, a’ War | t0 do Protectionist^poUcy>”;• (OHe 'felt .’sure, he ieaid, ;that'*ilLh|i^t^;^u r put her ! " l.ffeel apm.“'>r ; -Bh&.^as i‘‘going side:with the ifiiis|‘Hrious^mbfcHei,; o’uir'-yrach,'-and the people, “ being" pb!idcal'!figte, ‘.would i“ be free in all the other relatiphs pf liumati j‘‘hijSt will thus' be seen that the main |i|®u e ,fo, bp, determined by the Federal. e,lec-~ itipna.is.so clear that "he who nins may ;read.”„ r , :.. . . . ~ j as they would;have I; > ~ ,_. r 'done unto 'you ’’ is the'text j <A ol 1 letter addressed td the i j ~ —~a- Boer and native of Cape ■Colony, who; 1 it wilFbe recollected, wrote Ito that journal at the outbreak of hostilities •aj.-yciy. saddling letter, which we repubdished, hi which-he compared our vices and ■ sins to those" of Sodom and Gomorrah;' and' , prophesied the" defeat of our arms in South ; Africa and ‘ the- destruction of the British ; Empire. Hehas since been on the Contiinent' and seeh ; how vaS'n is the hope of arbii traticmin favor, of; the Boers; and therefore • now deems st> his duty to ‘tell the bitter truth to his" compatriots and to “ those i “-fatal, friends who have helped us to our , “ present ruin,’’ The loyalty of so many Liberals to the British Empire has, he -pro- ; cepdg.';tb. Say,’; bi&n’» fatal blow to all the Boers’, hopes, >nd if Lord Kimberley’s recent speech had only been made nine months ago the war 1 might- have been honorably concluded. Fifty years ago, “ 1».g.” tells us, a large .number 7 of the African Dutch dreamed of a great Anglo-Dutch African Eihpire, bnf the England of that day would hot annex Soptb-west Africa, Neither would England purchase the Portuguese territory when she' might have - bought it for a song, while she evacuated Abyssinia after conquering it in a marvellous manner. , England , next ; contemplated giving up her West African possessions; she fumbled and faltered in Ashanti, in Zululand, in ;tbe; Transvaal, in Egypt,: and in Zanzibar. Vast areas of Africa were allowed by the’ British to pass hut of the heritage, the birthright, of the Afrikanders,into the bands 'of the French; the Belgians, the Germans, and the Chartered Company. The Boers’ dream of an Anglo-Dutch Empire, with its hundreds of millions of united white men, thus collapsed because of the mean, shifty, ‘and policy of a parcel of mere ; counting-house clerks, who, occupying the position of Cabinet .Ministers in London, refused to listen to the colonists and to those ; Englishmen who knew Africa and its many ‘peoples, and its vast wealth in minerals i and other resources. That dream being ended, the Dutch' United their fate with ■ that, of their Boer; relatives to found an exclusively Dutch Empire in Africa. They would haye taken Portuguese East Africa and obtained a seaboard, but a war with Portugal would have been a war with England. They . then determined to fight England for supremacy in South Africa, and through long years of trouble, toil, selfdenial, and self-repression had made preparation for war, but the seeds of this war were planted by the English, and brought to fruition by that miserable and cowardly weakness of the British national will, which is more deadly than tyranny or injustice. “ P. 5.,” recognising that “ new life has been “breathed into the dead bones in the val- “ leys of Great Britain,” warns us most solemnly against clemency, conciliation, or soft measures.- “If we Dutch had won,” he say in this game of war we would “have claimed and taken every penny of “ the stakes. You have won; then take the “ stakes ‘as we should have done. South “Africa’s yours now by right of purchase, by occupation and colonisation, by war “ and conquest, and by the will of God. “ (a) Every British subject or other enemy . “who did not surrender by a given date “ would have been outlawed and all his pro- >“ perty confiscated; (b) all persons who had :“ been guilty of rebellion or assisting our “ enemies would have had all their property '“confiscated, and would have been expelled ■“from South Africa, with the death pen- “ alty .for return. - (c) All other British “people in South, Africa, except those who “had fought on onr side and possessed “ certificates to that effect, would have been “disfranchised for life, (d) The use of the “British language in all.cases would have “been strictly forbidden under penalty of “‘fine or. imprisonment. All foreign or alien “ newspapers would have been suppressed.” P.SI” further says'that “so long as two “ languages are pennittsd to be used there “ can be no peace, hb harmony, and no “fusion for the people of South Africa. 1, - Our language is but a dialect, cf. | “no use in the great world; the English “is the ever-growing language, which, if “we adopt,, -will soon, place our sons in “ the seats of the mighty. The descendants “of'our brave commandants in this war “may then in the future command the “armies of Great Britain-—one may hold “ the office 1 now occupied by Lord Roberts, and another;be iGoyemor-General of India. .“‘The universal loyalty shown by all your colonies should certainly be a good lesson '“ to*us Dutch,’ if we are not so blinded by “ Providence 'that' 'we' niay " be 1 destroyed altogether. I join yath P. Botha and the “other sane.men in South Africa in calling “on Mr Kruger, C. Botha, and De Wet to

stop this murderous work, and to seize that i‘‘ double-tongued inan' Steyn and to give him. His deserts. There are other Dutchi'* men and Half-bred Englishmen in the Cape “ Colony who should be treated in the same “manner as Steyn. .. The settlement of “Africa can be effected, only hy strict and “ rigid justice, administered with strength :'!,and tourdge unflinchingly. No more “must we see-colonials and; others, who “worked for the unity and 1 honor of the “‘British Empire ignored, snubbed, or cle- : “ graded, while ' disloyalty .and barefaced-. “ treachery or treason were rewarded or “ condoned. With honest ,administration “ South Africa will very speedily recover “from the effects of. this and a more ‘‘prosperous and-a happier future will come “ quickly for both Dutch and English than “.could.ever have come if the, war had rot and tlie colonies and the States “ had. remained separated.”' This letter of A: Dutchman; i who wan >Tirulent. in his ' oiprcssddii of hatred to us at the outbreak of the. warj is 'a regular knock-out b}ow ; to ;thA' party; |wild-would'Have us tnrm the'other cheek to; ithe-smiter.