MR, PERRY'S SHORT METHOD WITH SPIES AND TRAITORS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11280, 25 January 1900, Page 7

MR, PERRY'S SHORT METHOD WITH SPIES AND TRAITORS.

TO THE EI'ITOH. Sir,—The New South Wales Minister for Education is reported to have advised the volunteers for South Africa, if they ' smc across a spy or a traitor not to shoot, hut to drown him. It in not surprising to anyone who knows the main facts of the ftoei conspiracy—ls selfishness, its cruelty, its craft, and its despotism, and who shares the resolute purpose and enthusiasm of the Empire to overthrow this aggressive oligarchy, and establish as best and as quickly as may bo a just and free Government and who is making personal sacrifice for this great end —to feel that to spies and traitors short shrift can bo allowed. It if, too, in this direful crisis on v of the most exasperating feature that our soldiers have suffered more from craft and subtlety than from open and fair fighting: that thev are. and liavo been, botrayed, misled, ambushed, by falso euirles and lying pretentious friends, until " treacherous as a Boer" has become proverbial and historical.

And yst we cannot renrl Mr. Perry's words without a shudder, nnd without asking whether they were wiso nnd npeessarv. For Mr. Perrv doss not definn "npies" and " traitors"—what constitutes one or the other. A spy—a man or woman who voluntarily or by contract gathers in disguiso information, and affords assistance to the sworn enemies of the peoplo among whom he or she mingles; who intercepts dispatches, seeks to poison water or horsefeo' , , or to tamper with artillery; who swears allegiance to the frown he hate«, and enlists with the diabolical purpose of betrayal and murdersuch a man or woman knows and accepts tho risk—thnt it is death on detection.

If Mr. Perrv h- ' irii' "' ■■■_ thfl same as by "spy," then the same risk is incurred; but it is undeniable that sympathy with the Boers, whether from kinship or from superficial opinion nnd unthinking inclination to help a so-called "handful" against " overwhelming odds," may r id does lead to language that is nothing less than traitorous, although it may not be actually supposed or intendod to be; and evidently langguage may become so intolerablv offensive that restraint breaks away, and two erstwhile peaceful citizens illu«trate to onlookers how necessary, how unavoidable, and maybe how deadly, the present 800. wsir. This is in truth a" real danger, that passion may silence reason, nnd wholesome discussion dogenerate into rt'holesale abuse, and a hatred tho mother of "treason, stratagems, and spoils." In no nation may dissent from popular feeling find suoh liberty as in tho British Empire; nowhere olse would unpatriotic thought and speeoh be allowed so much expression, least of all in the Transvaal, where Englishmen against thoir mt\\ and will r.ro "commandeered," nnd compelled to hVI-.t against their kith and kin; but it ought not to be necessary to remind ourselves that English forbearanco is not interminable, and that the uprise of a mighty self sacrifice will brook no insult; or tha/ it is meet nnd right and our bounden duty to strivo to be mutually tolerant; to give each other the credit, as we cannot touch the right; to think and let think, and to beb'evo in each other's claim to sincerity and conscientiousness. Within the bounds of this reasonable charity and mutual respect, discussion is possible—without, impossible.-I am. etc January 24, 1900. Edwin Cox.