A Bishop’s Views.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 244, 23 October 1901, Page 1

A Bishop’s Views.

The following letter, addressed by Dr Ckavasse, Bishop of Liverpool, to the Swiss branch of the Evangelical Alliance, in answer to a pro-Boer appeal issued by )• that body to " the Christians ox Great Britain,” appeared in the Kecord : ? The Palace, Liverpool, August 19, 1901. Dear and reverend brethren in Christ, — As one who greatly values the sympathy of the Evangelical Church in Switzerland I have read your “ Appeal ” with distress and dismay. If the charges you have brought against Great Britain were true - she would deserve the condemnation of the civilised world. That our Government has made mistakes we admit; but that we have been inhuman, oppressive, and unrighteous we emphatically and indignantly deny. 1. We have not conducted the war. It was forced upon us by men who, whatever may have been their pretext, really aimed, as is now beyond douot, at the overthrow of British power in South Africa, and at the setting up of a South African Kepublic. They deliberately invaded British territory and publicly annexed it. We have not conducted the war unrighteously.and cruelly. War at its best is an awful curse, and brings with it untold loss of blood 1 treasure, and the inevitable suffering if the innocent. The exigencies of war will always require the burning of farms, and even of villages, which are used by the enemy to harass the opposing army and to harbor combatants and ammunition. Terrible as the farm-burning has been, it was only ordered when absolutely necessary by a British general whose character for humanity and godliness is beyond dispute. - o. The Boor women and children were crowded into camps because they could not be kept alive in any other way, Their own friends could not help them, and starvation stared them in the face. No doubt they have suffered hardships, but so have our own soldiers and civilians. No doubt the death-rate in the concentra- , tion camps has been lamentably high, especially amongst children, but so has it been in our own eamps amongst strong and seasoned men. It is no easy matter to provide perfect sanitation and transport at a moment's notice for such large masses of men and women, and in such a vast stretch of country. The best answer ■ to your unhappy charge of cruelty to women and children is that the Boers themselves sont their families for protection to British territory, and that Mr Kruger left his wife behind in Pretoria under British rule. The great mass of Evangelical Christians in Great Britain, of all shades of political opinion, support, and will continue to support, the policy of the Government, because it involves the integrity of the British Empire, the complete civilisation of South Africa, and the evangelisation of the native races. I am sure, my dear and reverend brethren, that you have sent us your appeal from the highest motives and with the noblest aims, but I must be forgiven for saying that you have acted on seriously defective information, and that you have formulated charges against your Christian brethren which must touch to the very quick those who are as jealous as you are for the cause of humanity, righteousness, and of God ; and this step, in my opinion, is calculated to bring about the very result you deplore, and to do “ serious spiritual harm to the cause of the Evangelical Christianity throughout the world.” j Believe me, my dear and reverend brethren, ever yours faithfully, F. J, Liverpool.