THE N.Z. CONTINGENT

New Zealand Times, Volume LXX, Issue 3883, 28 October 1899, Page 7

THE N.Z. CONTINGENT

, . SATISFACTION IN ENGLAND.' (Received October' 28,: 12;30: a.m.) .■ /' LONDON, Friday. The English, newspapers endorse . the Goye£rnraent’& great; gratification; at . the . despatch .of ai New .Zealand: contingent which sailed for the front amidst so ranch enthusiasm. V' , ; . GRATIFICATION OF- THE '' , ; /GOVERNOR. With) reference' to the expressions of thanks from the .'.CiNifp'and'the British (Government received by cable- tijs the Governor; respecting the: despatch of - the New Zealand contingent, his Excellency has telegraphed to the Premier from the : Sduth as : follows '■ ;. “The desires to express _gratification at the approval of her Majesty’s .Government in tho .conduct of this mat*, fe ,by his Ministers. Personally, he desires to add his keen appreciation of their' determination, despite, all difficulties, to despatch; the; contingent without any delay. , Their departure to due date amid the enthusiasm and hearty good wishes of an enormous mass of people, representing probably every part of this colony, proved the inseparable bond of love ‘which unites us all with our revered Sov.ereign and with the interests of tlie_ Empire, and showed that the colony, is se r bond to none; in her Majesty’s dominions in this respect-—a fact the Governor has fully acknowledged, having felt that this was undoubted during his visits to every .portion of- these; islands.-■ ; .; i i . (Signed) “'Ranfurly.” . ■.' "a WANGANUI PROTEST. ‘ i At a meeting of .the Wanganui Noncommissioned Officers’ Club, to-night, , a .resolution was'passcd regretting.the officers killed in action in (South Africa, and suggesting, that a fe t- ' commendation should be .fotwarded to. the general in'comihamd respectfully asking him,to protest,against officers unnecessarily ; exposing th erase! ves■ when'ico vey is available, •... , iEx-Constable Murdoch, -formerly of ■Wellington, is one of the garrison now under siege at Kimberley. He is a member of the De Beer Guard. ; ‘ , :: ' THE; WAR; ITS MORAL ASPECT., ;

“E.J.F.” writes- as follows:—I observe that a- correspondent:signing hintself. “J. A.” has just woke up to the fact ■that-'“a few weak people still express a faint doubt as to whether England is entirely right in the Transvaal war”—and lie' proceeds, in thirteen carefully-numb-j- ---, ered paragraphs, to throw more gloom on-the subject than any other writer that it has been my misfortune to come across. -“ J.A.” seems toi have a more plentiful lack of knowledge as to whatj. the •' whole trouble is about than usual] for in'-his laborious “summary of -thfe position ’’ there is pot a single reason fiijwar, of anything else. “J.A.”;should i wako tip. Ho will some day,no doubt,- and will of course be astonished'to find that-the “ honest and able,statesman,” Mr Joseph Chamberlain, has,! after adopting, ' the, methods of a professional pdkeivplayer in his T diploma.tic negotiations,-been guilty of -.dragging his'countrymen' -into a' war which the great bulk of them’ view , with' .'abhorrence or gloomy disapproval. Th'q large mass of the Liberal, party: in England has no- taste for the, undertaking] and to call that party a ; conglomeration of weaklings is painfully stupid. “Weak people,” indeed P. Wl ie y/there are hun-j dreds of men- in this city.' who . know, iff .their inmost'hearts that the war is the! result of an!■ unholy and malignant intrigue ; : there are scores of world-famous; honourable; men. in England who do not helitate to say so. ■ Was it weakness’, or a' detestation of disgracing his unnorm that made Sir, William Butler resign his post as Commander-in-Ghief of the Brit] ish forces in Cape Colony? Let thehalfenlightened braggarts read the life of Sir George Colley, written by his friend, Sir-William Butler, and they will find out wbat the, views of that distinguished officer are on the question.- “ Weak people!” The most bloodthirsty people I know in i connection with this matter —■ the individuals ’whose mouths are full of expressions l ‘concerning, “wiping out,” “Empire,”. “ paramountcy,” ; “ flag,” and so forth—are in every case about thirty! ■inches round the chest, and weigh about eight" stone. But they are badly afflicted. with! hysteria, and seek, with excited laboriou'snessj to let everybody else know! all-about it. The Boers will, of course, be bludgeoned into sullen - submission in this war, but for what result and with what consequences ?»,To the glory of dear! old England, :or to ; her everlasting shame as an international garrotter—regardless alike of moral right, justice and equity? Will the happiness of the Cape people he promoted, and their welfare increased by this hideous/encounter of races? Not much. Kruger’s grim appeal to “ God and the Mauser rifle ” will not end with this campaign. Its memory will-: linger for,generations in every Afrikander home —a watchword of hatred and vengeance.

SIR GEORGE* GREY ON THE BOERS

; Mr Arthur Oallcott : —Perhaps some, of the readers of the “Times” would like to hear the late Sir George Grey’s version of r the . Boers. , The “Humanitarian”, publishes an interview with the lately deceased Nestor of New -Zealand, who was Governor of .Cape Colony from 1854 to 1861. , The paper is one long eulogy of - the Boers. Rarely, I should imagine, has any foreign State received so generous a meed of praise from a British statesman. . At the outset Sir George Grey said: —“I have great sympathy with the Boers. It is perhaps only natural that I should have, for, like them, I;claim Huguenot descent on'my mother’s side. The Boers, asi you may be aware, are largely descended from Huguenot settlers in South Africa, Dutch and French refugees ,who< migrated thither in considerable numbers about the time of . the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. It was, in fact, a great ’ religious emigration which peopled South Africa 4 with the Boers,* closely allied 1 in’ many' respects to the emigration which peopled the American ' colonies 1 ini the days of the Mayflower and the Pilgrim Fathers ;i and ■ the, Boers, as they, are called, have preserved 'their religion' ih -a'; very perfect form to the present day.” ,■ Rumours of cruelty; .on-the part" of the'Boers Sir George refuses to credit. “They are now a very humane and merciful race.” .In the early days ' of slavery, wrong things were doubtless done, as in other lands, but the religion, of the Boers kept them from any great cruelty. ... . “Speaking of the people as a whole : ~ .’ ~ I believe there is no people among whom actual, practical religipn abounds 1 ' more than the Boers. 1 ' It Is not only on their lips, batyin -fh^ir

liyes. a Neither.,.; 4re \ they aggressive.

. . The. Boer .women are yirtuous, hardworking-and-cleanly. The primitive and pastoral conditions under which they live recalls vividly the patriarchal system as •* sfet. forth in the Old Testament.” " ' -- --- ■--- -'- From what Sir George goes on to say it would seem that the Boers have realised .some leading ideals, of the, New Testament vakab a— v - i -- “It is-something more than patriotism • which animate -them :'- patriotism itdlwe of one’s countrybut _• the -Boer -unity is - founded'bnlbve r bf brio’s-family. .They are bh brie great: family. They' hate realised the. truth that ‘if one ‘mbihher suffer, all the other membefLsuffer !wjth it-/ .;Any. difficulty. or i dauger .alfaeking any; part ; oft mis >great 'jhiimaii; machine throbs through the wholO'mass." There is intense-sympathy‘-amirng-t-he Boers all' over South' Africa.; '-Wlretiier' they be . the JBoefs of,'the .Transvaal' ‘the Orange Free '''State, or! of maket nb,,ldiffejeribe! ai.klL ' This feeling of bloodoand ~ race :iij veryi strong ; nothing -the-world has . ever seen has been-precisely like it.’-’ • ... - , . Asked "what he ; thbught/of; 'companies,: Sir George replle'd,'; ;,-a!I .wilhubt-rgo-ihtbthe/wide question of oharters;in:.igeneral,;c!but.ias regards the charter- of-tlie'-British South African Company; in; particulayd'l ‘ljayfeimy own idea' that •. it* is'-uncmistitititiorial. It hak, never been, approved 1 or* ratified by. a. formal Act of Parliamelrt'/bp far as Tknow, "and X hold that'Parliamentary sanction-.‘lis;;necessary....to establish its .validity.”.' ,i : cAr./.s b-c This 1 is the' charaetoristie close of the panegyric-;—“i.hhye-;livecl- : among many ■iiatioris./iud' , hv''nianj( bbuntribs,” said tlfb yencrplilb,, statcsiriarf,' /and I may hyilh/./truth : “ ; I/Jinow no people richer in' public arid.yln private i:ml r-,-i..- ■■ iTr-r*.!