THE BOER WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11604, 19 March 1901, Page 5

THE BOER WAR.

THE PEACE MOVEMENT.

BOERS DISCUSSING SUR-

RENDER.

A MORE HOPEFUL FEELING.

THE IRRECONGTLABLES.

THREAT TO MURDER BRITISH

•■OFFICERS. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright.

(Received March 18,; 10.46 p.m.)

" London, March 18. The Boers in the Transvaal and the , Orange River colonies are openly discussing surrender without the former dread of reprisals by the Boer leaders. This has caused a more hopeful feeling at Pretoria.

Commandant Kruitzinger, who is operating in the Cape Colony, has threatened to shoot- any captured British officers.

THE CAPE RAIDERS.

GERMAN LOYALISTS ENROLLED.

London, March 18. Boer raiders at Uitkomst burnt out the family of Meredith, a Cape scout. • "''-• ; r Commandant Fouries' force is hard pressed by the British. Colonel Schoembrueker, M.L.A., has enlisted a thousand Germans, mostly loyalist farmers, for the defence of the Cape.

DE WET l MEN SCATTERING. London, March 18. De Wet's commando is scattering.

BOER LOSSES.

London, March 18.

One hundred and sixty Boers were killed in February, 400 'were wounded and there were 1000 prisoners and surrenderee.

BOERS SURRENDERING. London, March 17. Many Boers are daily surrendering at Bremersdorp.

MANUFACTURING AMMUNI- ... TION.

London, March 17.

The Boers are manufacturing ammunition at Pietersburg, the terminus of the railway north of Pretoria. ■' ■ " ■*- ————- ■'■■■~': REINFORCEMENTS FOR SOUTH AFRICA. London, March 17, Three thousand : ., four hundred troops sailed for South Africa on Saturday.

FIRST CONTINGENT ASSOCIATION. [•BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION-.] £ ' - Wee.mkotost,- Monday.■■•-.. The members of the First Contingent have formed an association, with the view of keeping in touch with one another. They will celebrate the departure for Africa by a, dinner in Wellington on October 21 next, and will thereafter hold annual reunions at the chief provincial towns in rotation.

RETURNED INVALIDS.

. [BY TELEGRAPH.PRESS ASSOCIATION-.] Wellington, Monday. The Medical Board appointed to examine returned invalids has advised the Government that men who have suffered' from enteric fever must not be allowed to return to the front.

NEW ZEALAND WILL SEE THE WAR

THROUGH.

[by telegraph.— association.] Wellington, Monday. The Premier, speaking at an entertainment to returned troopers on Saturday night, said, as the head of the Government, he had made up his mind that no matter what happened he was prepared to back up the Motherland by sending the necessary number of troops to maintain the prestige of the colony, and support the Empire.

A BOER ON BOER INDEPENDENCE.

A WORD TO PRO-BOERS.

A Free State burgher, signing "V.M.," who has fought and bled for his country in obedience to its laws, addresses a few words to pro-Boers in a recent issue of the Cape Times. He writes : —

We had more than enough talkers and coffee-kettle men of our own, without the least help from outside in that quarter. Your pro-Boers in the Cape Colony, Mr. Editor, have proved themselves just what we Federals always knew them, as empty vessels made of the most sounding metal—that is all, as far as our good was concerned. They speak of our independence; but if they .anything about the meaning of the word independence, then they would know that we never had such a thing. ' In the Transvaal we had a nepotism of Krugers, Eloffs, Wolmara'ns, Schottes, and Koks, with a sprinkling of minor names. If any man does not know this, then let him never open his mouth about Transvaal affairs, as I can assure him he knows less than nothing, and although he may find fools to listen to him, our most ignorant burgher would ticket him at once. In the free State we bad model laws, but they were also subject to the same almighty nepotism, just as in the Transvaal, reaching from the President to the pettiest " vrederechter" and Government road-maker. It is true we had a strong opposition party—in fact, a majority, as proved by the 1892 Presidential election in the Transvaal, and well known in the Free State as had the Closer Union question ever gone to the people, according to the Constitution, 80 per cent, of the burghers would have voted "against it. INDOLENCE AinD VACILLATION. You may ask why we did not move. I reply : because of our innate indolence and vacillation—the curse of the Afrikander— and if anyone knows us, they know that these were, and are, our curse, arid have brought us losses and shame in every walk of life. Too lazy to take the proper interest in politics, too lazy to question our j leaders, too lazy to even think of trying to break the strong family combinations, knowing ourselves too lazy to exert ourselves when the tug would come vacillating in putting the day for the struggle off, yet certain it had to be done. Some said : " Wait till Paul Kruger dies ; then we will ehowl them." Others put their trust in our great President Brand's well-known Utterance, " Alles recht komen;" but bow, or when, or through whose endeavours, were questions not worth considering. Oom Jan said so ; that was enough. BOEReAGAINST BOER. ; There were two parties in the Republics. Two parties with far more pronounced feelings than were even dreamt of outside, even by our great pro-Boer friends. Yet we gave ; them signs now and then. r Do they remember that only one hasty shot at I Trichardtsfontein in 1891, re the Church question, would have plunged the Transvaal into ; a bloody civil war ; one shot in Pretoria, when it was known. that Joubert had the majority of votes for President in 1892 ? Men were armed, and a shot was nothing. Dp they remember hearing. v of the £»s,e'.fitthV.

.... ———«H, State v. Gibson and'others, for "lese'ma« esteifc," in Senek.il a few years back? Had fudge Hcrtzog given any other ; judgment ;here would have been a sure revolution and' probable bloodshed in the Free State. . Boer, fought Boer in 1864.* The Boers. only needS, awakening, and. you get the stubbornness of all the mixed breeds. This war has proved! that conclusively. Once awakened, whether!' right or wrong, they reason no more. This is apparently a well-known fact to our friends the pro-Boers: or can it be in ignorance that;' they are playing on that'string to our destruction 'i !

THE PRICE OF INDEPENDENCE. I can assure them that, were the British troops withdrawn from the Republics to-mor-row, we would hare civil war there within." six mouths. A war of bitterest hatred and' direst results. That is what our friends are agitating for. Ido not care what they say. to the contrary. I fear no criticism, as I know what I write, and have yet to meet, the man who knows South Africa better than I. do. I have met many -who think they do,, bnt only the real Boer knows the Boer. No one else. Our real fighting burgher went to' war with the British, even as I did, knowing little of the loot of the question; hut wo soon found out, and our hearts wore filled! . with bitterness against our leaders, who had! forced the war on lis through Hollander! bungling and false pride, and then left us to' be maimed and killed, while they feasted audi pocketed our money when they saw the caused was lost. The Free Staters and the high-' veldt Transvaaler are the men who ttavai suffered, and they were not Krager men.Suppose for a moment' that we' got our; States back, is there anyone so insane as to-' , think that these fighters would bo ruled by. • the Kruger nepotism again ?

; TO FIGHT KRUGEMSM. , . .By our laws we must vote. Well, knowning how the Krugerites behaved in the winy I know they would outvote- us on every point., Their votes are living, while ours are lying J in their graves—killed in a bad cause--and their poor widows and children - have . na; vote. I assure you, Mr. Editor, and I as- 1 sure the world, there would be an appeal—■ the only appeal we would have—to fchef* Mauser. Kruger and Steyn and their sateli, lites would never give up their hold; on us without a struggle, and we men who have fought, and are still fighting, would not have,' them at my price. C<mld our burghers still, in the field know this. 1 a speedy settlement' would vbo arranged. We : knew soon after the war began that we were practically fight-" ing for Kruger and his Hollanders, and we also knew that we intended putting an end to them as soon as peace- was proclaimed, after all the promised' interventions from other Powers had come to pass, and every sensible man who knows us at alii arid' gi ea. the matter his earnest considerations, knows that we were fighting; and are still fighting, for a certain return of; the hated corruption, ■ with a certain civil war within a short period of the peace proclamations, if we attain the States. r'

: " SAVE US FROM JOUR FRIENDS." j{ This is whafour friends and their press are advising for our ! good. God, protect us, from such good ! They know nothing about us or our country beyond our cart-an dr r waggon-buying capabilities, and perhaps our gullibility in that line. i I tell them that enough of our blood; is on their heads, and if they will really wish us well, let; them ; first know more or what they say and write, or leave the matter- severely alone. ;It /p*y be a sporting matter for seditious conversa- *. tion for them who' live in every: comfort, but for us who suffer ! the privations ;of commando, and who die leaving wives and children to mourn in poverty and misery, it' is the most vital matter.

Sympathetic and bombastic I rot, < collections and bazaar funds will not waken our dead or heal broken hearts. ' Let them desist, for God's sakel