PEACE PROSPECTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 4636, 15 April 1902, Page 4

PEACE PROSPECTS.

In South Africa there is naturally some distrust about the terms of peace, which, it is now quite clear, are being discussed by the Boer commanders in the field and by the British Cabinet in London, j About the discussions there can be no doubt. There is official silence and Ministerial assemblage, and his Majesty the King has hastened back to the capital. These things make up between them a combination which points unmistakably to the crisis in the situation which precedes the final settlement of the question peace or war. On one side the Government must be regarded as anxious for neace, for reasons that are as obvious as they are numerous. To begin with, the Coronation approaches, and it is desirable that his Majesty’s sword should bo sheathed when the Crown is placed upon his head. Then the war is wasteful of blood, and is, besides, very expensive. In addition, the nation, though determined to persevere to substantial and decisive victory, is not in love with the war. Peace would, therefore, most certainly be popular, provided, ef course, it be brought about without loss of the national honour." On the other side, the Boers are palpably anxious to secure some remnant of independence, even if only enough to form a basis for the acquisition of independence in the future. Their hopes of outside intervention, as the lever to help their project, are by this time over; but that they rely on the help of the pro-Boer element in Great Britain is not to be denied. There is on that side enough sentimental nonsense, and enough of almost treasonable talk, to give less acute people than the Boers, and less desperate, large assurance of success. This has assisted the memories of South African loyalists, who have really never forgotten their abandonment by the Government of Mr Gladstone after they had settled in the Transvaal on the faith of Gladstonian promises, and borne the heat and burden of the Boer rebellion in a manner that made them marked men. The sufferings of the past, and the improper utterances of the present, combine to keep alive in South Africa that feeling of distrust so passionately voiced by Rudyard Kipling in that letter -hich wo published yesterday with our London correspondence.

It is possible that the Cabinet of Lord Salisbury will not give way one jot in this matter. The Prime Minister, the Colonial Secretary and the First Lord of the Treasury are all strong men, with perceptions clear enough to let them see the lines along which their strength ought to be exerted—lines that must both prevent a recurrence of such wars as the present, and must be in accordance with public opinion at Home and abroad. In all probability the heads of the Government are aware that whatever the strength of the pro-Boer minority at Home may be, the majority of the nation is for unconditional surrender. That the opinion of the colonies which have done such substantial service is unanimous in insisting upon surrender by the Boers as the only possible solution of the difficulty on permanent lines they must know by this *hne with tolerable ’ certainty. Without doubt, the vapourings; of the Boers in captivity, or of such of them as are irreconcilable, have been reported to Ministers. There are, for example, the utterances of the Boer Commandant Ollivier, a typical Free Stater of the present time, who never makes any secret of his hope to renew the fight, who boasted that, hidden away in various parts of the Transvaal, there are arms and ammunition enough to support another great war—the various hiding-places being known to trusty men, who will divulge them only in + he event of a Boer rising en masse. The Government knows also that, in the event of such a rising, the Cape rebels, who now form the bulk of the Boer commandoes, would again take the field, besides arranging for supplies and regular information. They know, in fact, that Boer autonomy is about the most dangerous element in the whole situation. It may therefore bo regarded as very unlikely that the British Government will give way on this point.

Nevertheless, it will be well for the colonies to speak their mind with no uncertain sound in the matter. What the mind of this colony is has been voiced many times during the past few

enceg ever assembled inside any building in the colony. When he insisted on the broad basis of loyalty as the only basis on which the Boer could be admitted to citizenship, he was applauded to the echo. On Saturday the Premier voiced the sentiment again, declaring that rather than see any portion of the Transvaal, small or otherwise, set apart for Boer autonomy, wc ought to send ten more contingents. Ho insisted that there must be no half-measures; ho declared that the Boer flag and the British flag cannot fly side by side anywhere in South Africa; and in both these sentiments he doubtless has public opinion behind him. This view of the matter is, we believe, also the view of the Australians. The. banquet to be given to tho Premier in Sydney will afford an opportunity for that view to be stated loudly and firmly. “No amnesty for rebels, no autpnomy for irreconcilables,” should bo the motto of Australasia, most familiar in tho cars of Downing street. It should also ring there with tho accent of Canada, making a consensus of pleading for the Ipyal South Africans so vast as to remove for ever all danger of any further neglect of their interests, or ingratitude for their patriotic services. In tho very unlikely event of peace being concluded on any other terms before they arrive in London, tho trio of Prime Ministers representing throe great and growing groups of colonies, Mr Seddon, Mr Barton and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, ought to have some very strong words to say.