War Matters. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2429, 3 October 1900, Page 17

War Matters. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — I am- not an old man yet, and- while I toil along the path of life I am always ready to pick up any grains of knowledge that are scattered in my ' way. I sometimes write poetry, and prose also, and although I do not often trouble the Witness with the result of my lucubration, I am still not afraid to occasionally strike a match and hold it up to the public of a small province, while those two great literary luminaries, "Civis" and "The Week," shed theii gorgeous glare all over the loyal and patriotic- country of MaorilancJ. I have lately picked up one grain which I deem of sc much value that I should like to see it placed in your pictorial supplement. I was long ago taught that there is only ons

thing in the world that is sacred, and must not be touched critically, but I have had a Hide awakening concerning that matter of- late. I have found that the Transvaal war is even more sacred in the N British Empire than the Bible. " Anyone may possibly get off with a term of imprisonment for daring to say that the Bible is only a fiction, "but if found guilty of declaring in a* public place that the Transvaal war is both barbarous and unjust, there is no hope of a reprieve. He is immediately condemned and executed. When this glorious war is over, and the history i written, it will be found in ihe homes of true patriots and take its place beside the other sacred volume, and on Sunday evening a chapter will be read by the master of each house to elevate the minds of the youngsters, and clergymen will get texts out of it upon which to manufacture their sermons. It is all very well for "Civis" and his brother Christians, who have been deliberately breaking the firat commandment for the last year, to l?y all the responsibility on the shoulders of President Kiuger, and it is well that they can reap satisfaction by so doing; but when the das' of judgment arrives, and the earth gives up her dead, as is prophesied in Scripture, ''Civis," who has with impunity hurled "crank'^ and "faddist" "at-all lovers of peace, may become aware of the error of his present position, and ba raeted out a share of the brimstone which he thinks the divine Judge will heap upon Kruger. Yet, M-- ''Civis," you who are old and greyheaded ought to know without being told that -when two dogs quarrel one is generally as guilty of the other. The letter by "'Peaceful Progress" is certainly the offspring of truth, reason, and mercy, but these qualities do not save him. He is at once brnaded. as. a reviler of his countrymen and country in the editorial office, and his head rolls quietly off the block of the patriotic headsman, and liss buried without ceremony beside those of the other "cranks" and "faddists." — I am, etc., BEN. WARD. Fairfax, Wallace County.