TWO OPINIONS OF THE BOER WAR.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 126, 7 June 1901, Page 3

TWO OPINIONS OF THE BOER WAR.

WHAT OPPOSITION WRITERS STATE,

IN FAVOR.

England at war knows who are her friends and who are her enemies, and it is an immense gain that this Boer revolt, which at one time looked merely like a little piece of dirty work that had to be done, has proclaimed to all the world, first, that the British Empire is solid, and secondly, that it is strong. 'lt is useless to regard the other great Powers of. the world otherwise than as competitors, and the spectacle of the whole of Europe snarling at us.from a safe distance shoald at least convince us that there is abroad a very respectful estimate of the might of England. There can be no doubt that Messrs Kroger and Sfceyn never dreamed that they were going to fight us by themselves. They had l firm hope 3of European alliance; and although they knew that the two Republics were no match for the British Empire, they were not aware that there was no combination of Powers bold enough to join them. Again, we have shown that in future our fighting power on land will be far greater than it was two years ago. Happily, our defective organisation was tested in a war with Boers, and not in a war with Europeans, so that we have had time given us to strengthen our army. What sort of a show Lord Lansdowne and Lord Wolseley could have made in Europe against another Napoleon, I tremble to think. Who knows now how soon we may have reason to call down blessings on the Boers for teaching us to have ready a really formidable and well-organised army ? With our power at sea, with our awarms of transports, and our hundreds, of thousands of soldiers, we can now rapidly place a quarter of a million of the best fighting men on almost any coast in the world. What other Power can compete with us in that respect ? T t his we know and this the world knows, and this we owe to the Boer war. I will not add that the chance of invasion is lessened; but so long as we keep our invincible navy, the boundaries of England are the coasts of her enemies, and we shall never need to dig trenches in Kent or

jejsscx. - ... Then there is the gain of a rich province for the Empire 4 which under liberal administration will pour out gold and stimulate trade for many years to come. The Boers were utterly out of place as masters of a mineral district, and now that one flag flies from Cape Town to the Zambesi, the development of this enormous tract of country will go ahead swiftly and prosperously. Lastly, there is the very important sentimental aspect. We have passed through a time of anxiety. We have learned once more to sustain reverses with proud fortitude, and to celebrate victory with dignity and temperance. The blood of a nation has been stirred; the tears of a nation have been shed. We are the stronger and the purer for our trial, and we can turn to the labors of peace which lie before us with renewed energy and conquering spirit. We have seen our brothers from Canada and Australia, New Zealand and the Cape rush to rally round the flag, and we realise more than ever, before the British Empire is only at its beginning, and not nearing its end. Who is going to count the cost and haggle over the bill at such a time ? Tha latter stages of the war are undoubtedly wearisome and vexatious, but even now you will not meet one man in twenty who questions whether it was worth doing. For my own part I am constrained to make a humble apology. I did not think there was in the British people at the end of the nineteenth century so much stalwart nobility and firmness of character as have been revealed by the manner in which they have supported the war policy of the present Cabinet through thick and thin.

We have passed through a term of most wholesale and valuable discipline; of which we shall feel the benefit for many years to come. We have spent so many millions; we have lost, alas 1 many bright and brave young Britons; but we have at the same time braced up the neryea of the nation. In 1901 the English are a more powerful people than they were two years ago, and to their friends a more lovable people. And all this we owe to the Boer war ! *

AGAINST.

Was it necessary? Has it been worth while? These are questions which are much more commonly asked nowadays than they were in the autumn of 1899. ‘ At that time one thought dominated the public mind—we were going to avenge Majuba and drag down King Kruger of the Transvaal, who had for so many years defeated our diplomats and oppressed the poor mining^capitalists. Well, Kruger was a nuisance, and if it could be done without much trouble and expense, let Majuba be avenged by all means. But £lso,ooo,ooo—and so many thousands of our strongest and bravest—was it worth all that?

A commercial country only fights for commercial reasons, and it should be able to present an intelligible profit and loss account at the close of a war. Let us run over the items.

1. Peestige. —This may be termed the advertisement department of a nation. Wo have shown that wo oan beat the Boers. JBut I have not observed that Russia is any lobs audacious in consequence. Tho fact is that our Continental neighbors still only regard us as a naval power, and the sending of 250,000 men over peaceful seas to crush 40,000 Boers in a two years' war, does not alter the situation. If our navy had not been so strong, Europe would never have permitted our transports to reach the Cape. But the number of our battleships and the calibre of our guns were known and dreaded before. So that the war has not increased our prestige, while, on the other hand, it has created extraordinary popular hatred of England on the Continent. Tho advertisement has "not been worth the money, and the goodwill of the business has not increased in value.

2. Territory. —Many of our soldier letterwriters have expressed their opinion of the wilderness of South Afriaa in terms of emphatic disgust. This is no land flowing with milk and honey, and the reputation of Joshua will not be repeated by Joseph. The Transvaal, is, however, teeming with gold, and would be a rich prize of a despotic monarch. But as the British Government does not take possession of the mines, which will "be worked in pretty muoh the same way as before, the taxpayer in this country will receive no return of his increased burden. 3. Subjects. —Assuming, then, that the people of England can gain little or no material advantage from the war for which they have paid so dearly, we may next ask which section of the South African population will benefit. We know that there was a deal of traitorous sentiment amongst the Dutoh. Has that been removed ? Has all this period of martial law reconciled these rebels and made them unfeignedly loyal ? Why should it ? Taxation must be heavy to repair the ravages of war, and it is probable that for somo years to come gold mining will be not a whit more profitable than if was under Kruger. The prices of the leading companies owning the richest mines are much lower than they were in years gone by when there was no prospect of the early overthrow of Kruger. Without space to enter upon long argumentsj have merely been able to suggest, rather than prove, that the war has been of small value to (X) Britain, as a world power; (2) the British tax-payer; (3) the population of South Africa; and (4) the mining shareholders, amongst whom, by the way, are a good many foreign capitalists. There is.no question of Party politics, and I certainly do not claim that Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Sir William Haroourt would manage such affairs better than Lord Salisbury and Mr Chamberlain. But the truth is that the Cabinet muddled the business all along. What would France or Germany or Russia. have done with the Transvaal? Do you suppose the Kaiser or the Czar would have asked how Mrs Kruger was? Not they. They would have insisted on reforms immediately after the Jameson Raid, and got them. If we had borrowed the mailed fist five years ago what w, e should have saved ! As it .was, five years of blunder-

ing diplomacy only led to two years of blundering war.

Cca - sioa has now the wireless telegraph along her coast. A good many years ago she furnished a certain little corporal who sent his lightning over all Europe also without wires. . Some idea of the • immense area of ttie United States and its as yet undeveloped capacity for supporting human life is gained from the fact thai if it as densely populated as Belgium or England it would havo 1,034,000,000 inhabitants, >

%■ Others besides doctors sometimes.differ, says the Jost. At the Salvdtion Army meeting in Wellington, on Sunday afternoon, Colonel Peart spont the greater part of his time in ■ describing, how Naaman dipped himself in the Jordan, six times without the Water taking any. effect upon his leprosy. He wont on to describe, amid a chorus of “Hallelujahs,” how, after great persuasion, Naaman went into the river a seventh time, and was made suddenly whole. In the evening, the Commandant, who was not present at the! afternoon meeting, also referred to the same story, but ho explained that Naaman was cured littla by little, and each time ho took a dip so;ne more of his leprosy disappeared,