THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1902.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11870, 23 January 1902, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1902.

Mr. Chamberlain's able and exhaustive vindication of our South African policy, contained in his speech on the Address-in-Reply, will be read this morning with eagerness and appreciation. It contains little that is new, much that has long been known to us all, but as an official review of the position and an official declaration of the. intentions of the Imperial Government, it is as assuring as it is authoritative. We have been so accustomed in the past to weakness and vacillation in the Foreign and Colonial Offices, so unfortunately accustomed to seeing Imperial Ministries hesitate and falter in moments of crisis, that the cool courage and unflinching adherence "to principle of our present Colonial Secretary awakens the gratitude as it strengthens the faith of the colonial world. Largely owing, as we believe, to Mr. Chamberlain, the policy of Westminster stands absolutely unshaken by the tremendous pressure which has been brought to beai against it. For he has risen, with unexcelled insight and capacity, to the duty which has confronted him. Undaunted by foreign and domestic slander and calumny, his voice rings to-day through the whole British world like a bugle-call. He repeats, what he has said from the beginning, that our colonial loyalty and our colonial faith shall not be shattered, that we shall not say when the war is aver that our sacrifices have been in vain. There is satisfaction in straining every nerve- to support the Imperial Government in such a resolute determination. This colony, a any rate, would, send out not two but ten more Thousands rather /than accept an un- ' certain peace, rather than allow the kudos of having forced a compromise to be treasured by the irreconcilables and to be used in the future to rekindle the flames of civil war.

That Mr. Chamberlain's plain and unmistakable statements are not mere Parliamentary rhetoric, are not a mist of words that cover retreat, is most opportunely shown by the official statement of M. Delcasse in the French Chamber. The French Minister for Foreign Affairs justified the non-mediation of his Government in South Africa by pointing out that "any attempt to enforce mediation inevitably meant war." This has been said before by the Dutch Premier, but there is a wide difference between the open recognition of the inflexibility of our Imperial policy by a petty State which only exists in Europe on sufferance and by a great State whose 'Government is freely accused of having encouraged the Beers to declare war and whose people received the refugee Kruger with such hysterical enthusiasm. France and Germany equally realise that Britain has made up her mind to fight either or both of them if they attempt to prevent her from rooting out of South Africa these Boer States which menaced our colonial peace. Anything short of a complete rooting-out is valueless. Any settlement which would leave the Boer organisation in any way intact and British occupation in any way doub!;ful cannot and wil 1 not be entertainednot even though all Europe combined against us. This is a policy for which the colonies can fight hard and venture all and a policy which foils the councils of our enemies. But what is remarkable is that this fixity of policy is recognised in a.'l tRe European capitals and is only doubted by the ProBoers of the United Kingdom and the irrecoacilables whose actions they influence. The result is that the Boers can no longer expect and will not receive the generous terms offered them last year, terms which they utterly refused and which are no longer possible. This is Mr. Chamberlain's position. It is one which will reassure the colonies, whose sympathies are with the ruined loyalists, not with enemies who have imposed continuously upon our forbearance. Equally reassuring is his repetition in Parliament of the promise made outside, that no peace will be arranged the terms of which have not previously been submitted to our. colonial representatives. -'

We need not refer to Mi. Chamberlain's exposure of the hollowness of the charges of inhumanity made against our troops and against the Imperial authorities. Nor need we do more than point out how clearly he shows that our extremest measures and penalties only emphasise the amazing moderation and toleration by which our policy is actuated. In passing, it would appear that the landed property of Mr. Kruger and other- expatriated enemies still remains in their possession. Surely this is the reductio ad absurdum of chivalry. We are fighting a people without a State-organi-sation and yet we leave'them unchallenged those individual rights which depend altogether upon law and

order. At the' present time we are actually improving Mr. Kruger's property, and we should not be surprised to bear at any time that our Imperial Courts are collecting hfe rents. But a noteworthy point ; h Mr.. Chamberlain's speech is that lie calls attention to the absence of ai|y unquestionably accredited Boer ■.■ representatives with whom to negotiate. Two thousand Boers are carolled in the 'National Scouts arid fighting loyally for the Kiag in tie interests of peaceare they not ts much to be considered as any similii j number with De Wet or Botha 1 As a matter of fact the Boer Gover»-| ment has melted. ;Leyds; represents j himself and a handful of refugees) Steyn«has nothing like the influence oi; : be Wet, i. and even 'I De Wet has,' but little influence when deprived of his sjambok, ; That there is really nothing to discuss is shown by the persistence ' with which f, the Kruger coterie cling to the stupid refrain 'that only independence for the Boers and * amnesty for the rebels will satisfy them. On this line alone can resistance be' maintained, by deluding the ignorant burghers with the wicked pretence that victory is still possible. If the folly of; this were once realised, resistance would break down a great deal faster, but not less surely than iit is now breaking down. But if the prolongation of Boer resistance is madness it would be still greater madness for Britain to make any terms whatever. It may be years before self-government can safely be granted. It may be found necessary to deport many turbulent returned prisoners and others in order to maintain peace. r It may be found unwise to abide strictly by intentions which now seem inevitable. Surrender must be "unconditional" in, the sense that the Empire cannot tie its hands in any way, but must be trusted to act justly and humanely to its beaten foe. ' " This is the settlement demanded by the colonies. We are all completely in accord with the utterances of the Colonial Secretary. '