THE SOUTH AFRICAN POSITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11643, 3 May 1901, Page 4

THE SOUTH AFRICAN POSITION.

The statement of Piet De Wet that the Dutch Reformed Church ministers refuse to exert their influence to secure peace and still hope for the independence of the defunct Boer States, is very typical of the difficulties with which the Imperial Government has to contend in South Africa. These ministers doubtless followed Mr. lunger in proclaiming the Afrikander movement as under Divine guidance and protection. They were so cage, to see the English driven into the sea that they became false prophets. Under their exhortations many were induced to fling aside the proverbial Dutch caution and became rebels. For them to yield and confess that their visions were earth-born, their prophecies the creations of their own desires, is too great a sacrifice Britain's willingness to make fair and honourable conditions of surrender is eagerly seized upon by such men as a sign of weakness. The only way to end the war is to wear out resistance by the gradual capture of all in the field. But while the irreconcilables stubbornly refuse to end the useless bloodshed and to stop the unavoidable desolation of the annexed provinces, the verdict of the world upon the war has already been pronounced. The Boer Republics have ceased to exist. The firs'; official recognition of this is accorded by the American State Department, which in its Annual Review of Commerce between the United States and foreign countries speaks of the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, aid explains in a footnote that the former republics have oeon annexed by Great Britain and are now only colonies of an Empire. The example of the United States will soon be followed by all commercial nations, for though official notification of the annexation has not been given by the British Foreign Office, it is a matter of common knowledge and recognised everywhere as unalterable.