The Boer.

Otago Witness, Issue 2390, 21 December 1899, Page 47

The Boer.

He shall tnkc his tribute toll of all our ware, He shall change our gold for arms, arms wff" may not bear ; He shall break his judges, if they cross his word ; He shall rule above the law, calling on' the Lord. We shall take our station, dirt beneath his feat, While his hired captains jeer us in the street. Cruel in the shadow, crafty in the sun, Far beyond his borders shall his teaching run. Sloven, sullen, savage, secret, uncontrolled, Laying on a new land evils of the old. Step by step and word by word who is ruledt may read — Suffer not the old kings, for we know the breed; All the right they promise, all the wrong they. bring, Stewards of the judgments, suffei not this King. —KIPLING-. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — The low, contracted forehead invariably found in the Boer tribe indicates but a moderate intelligence, and although some have evinced a considerable mental capacity? or, rather, craft, these instances are very rare, which leaves little doubt of the inferiority of the Boers. In the early sixties of this colony it used to be a current saying that so and so will happen, "or I'm v, Dutchman,'' which was always taken t> mean that to mean that a Dutchman was a low, silly fool, and if I mistake not, these Boers are tha descendants of the Anabaptists of Amsterdam, who walked about nude in honour of- Almighty" God and of our first parents. Of course tho municipal authorities had to put a stop to such abominable fanaticism, and yet, after all our experience of the cruel, unprincipled scoundrels in the Transvaal, we find some of the "Bunion" stamp praising the Boer as an industrious, peaceable, and religious man. If I had the power, all those who so praise the Boer should go to the Transvaal and live with him. Ido not for one moment mean in the same house, for if he was at all sensitive as to smell he could not endure it one hour; but what I mean is, that he should be compelled, to work with natives under a Boer boss, and if the Boer know, him to be a Britisher tho Kaffir would get • the most respect. I have met the Boer in several parts, and have wrought with them. When in the minority the Boers are very plausible, but when in the majority they are cruel and overbearing, and, as Kipling says, will jeer you in the street. I have aleo mingled with most of tho nationalities, and it 1 wero called upon to express an opinion it would be that the Eoer is the lowest specimen of humanity in this world, not excepting tho unspeakable Turk, for I deny that the Turk would fire on a Red Cross waggon ; neither would ho be so low and mean as to hoist a flag of tmce to get his enemy nearer to shoot at, and I am sure no one but a Boer in warfare would cringe and cry to his enemy for mercy. If I should happen to be in the Transvaal I would counsel the Boers not to put up a white flag before me, because I should continue shooting nil the same, and as it is their own fault if they get wounded, I would advise them not to rely upon mo coming to tend them, and if the British have any scruples as to firing tho lyddite shells they may send a wire to me. It was a happy day to me when I read of the appointment of Geueral Buller to the command in South Africa. I saw his portrait some yeara ' ago. His facial expression was that of an ol<fr boxer, with"'a bulldog determination in the eye.' Kruger says" that he and the whole of tha Transvaal are in the hands of the Lord. I know' it won't be very long before they are in the handf ' ' of Buller. and all the Mauser rifles into tho barv gain. Kruger won't have Colley at Majuba Hill again; neither will he have tho silly 0.0. M. to deal with, and I believe ho has rea/? Used at this moment that England will sec it through, and that he is face to faco with the bravest troops in the world. — I am, etc., ARCHIMEDES. Kokonga, December 8.