A SPIRITED DEFENCE OF THE WAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2505, 26 March 1902, Page 28

A SPIRITED DEFENCE OF THE WAR.

At the present stage of the ffir it shoiild not be necessary to review the whole situation for the benefit of intelligent aucl unbiassed English readers ; but. unfortunately, the campaign of lies, commenced by traitors at home and conducted with every degree of baseness abroad, compels reply. The vindication of the British cause and of the British Army i-i the task Dr Doyle has accepted, and an who read his latest brochure on the war must adjnit that his vindication is complete^ Not only has lie replied 'to vague generalisations . in a spirited manner, but specific cfiarges have been met by the stern logic of facts. The vilest calumnies, when placed beneath the .searchlight of truth, vanish in ths mi=ts of the calumniators' prurient minds, .and the honour of the British Army stands out clear-cut against the blue firmament of enlightened public opinion. In the opening paragraph of his preface Dr Doyle says : " For some reason, which may be either arrogance or apathy, the British are very slow to state their case to the world. At present the reasons for our actions and the methods we have used are set forth in many Blue Books. tracts, and leaflets, • but has never, so far as I know, been collected into one small volume. In view of the persistent slanders to which our politicians and our soldiers have been equally exposed, it becomes a duty which we owe to our national honour to lay the facts before the world." Such, in short, is the task Dr Doyle has essayed ; and that he has admirably succeeded, a careful perusal of his little book (published at the modest price of 6d) will amply prove. No unprejudiced reader can turn from a perusal of its pages without the conviction that the gross slanders against our statesmen and the base calumnies against our soldiers have been alike trie machinations of enemies of the vilest type — from YV. T. Stead, with his gutter-rake, downwards. The men who, for journalistic notoriety or political vandalism, besmirch the honour of the flag that permits libertj- to descend to licence are traitors of a particularly contemptible kind. And when such are permitted without let or hindrance to pour forth their streams of moral sewage, not only to contaminate the wellsprings of national life at home, but also to render odious the name of Britons abroad, we need hardly wonder that Continental foes pour out upon our devoted heads the vials of thelv apparently justifiable wrath. The simple fact that there are journalists at the present time in South Africa suffering the pains and penalties of imprisonment and fine for repnbli^hing the calumnies Mr Stead is permitted to pour forth in a turgid stream of indescribable foulness in England is an anachronism that shows", if anything was required to show, the magnanimity of our statesmen. If Stead and others of like kidney had been dealt with in England as their dupes have been treated in the British colonies in South Africa the Continental press might not have accepted their foul lies in such good faith as they appear to have done. Dr Doyle deals with two aspects of the war — its cause and its conduct. And in order that the truth on both these issues may be as widely known as possible, it is intended to translate the little book under review into all the European languages, and to send a free cony to every deputy and every newspaper on the Continent and in America. J3y thL means he hopes to mako the truth clear to all who desire to know the truth, and to allay the embittered fooling engendered against the British people throughout the Continent by the widespread dissemination of baseless and vile fabrication". Dr Doyle meets nearly every charge by giving chapter and ver-e ; and ivlion subjected to thi-, method of iuvestigution, in nearly every case the conduct of our army romps out garnished with honour, and the rightoou-ue^s of our cause app< aiN unassailable. Dr Doylo says : '■ There never vra^ a war in history in which the right was absolutely on one side, or in which no incidents of the campaign were open to criticism." And in a war conducted against a foe that often disregarded all the recognised canons of civilised warfare it is" marvellous that our so-called ''methods of barbarism" have been tempered with so great self-restraint on the part of the soldiers and such magnanimous complacency by the commanders. After reading Dr Doyle's chapter on the Boer -people, the reader will be in a better position to understand the innate character of the foe that so ruthlessly called down upon its own head * " The War in South Afric»: Its Cause and Conduct. 1 ' By A. Conan Doyle. London. Smith, Elder, and Co. G. Bell and Sons. Dun-

a war of annihilation, as far as its national existence is concerned, and issued a challenge to the First Power in Europe that the pettiest Stato could not have replied to but by the arbitrament of the sword. The Dutch first obtained a footing at the Cape in 1632, and " for a hundred more years the history of the colony was a record of the gradual spreading of the Africanders over the huge expanse of veldt which lay to the north of them."' And. "' after 20 years, during which tho world wjis shaken by the Titanic struggle iv the final counting up of tho game and paying of the stakes, the Cape Colony was added in 1814 to the British Empire In all the vast collection of British States there is probably not one the title-deeds of which are more incontestable than to this. Britain h;td it by two rights — the right of con-quo<-t and the right of purchase." We need not further follow the growth of the Bjeiti-h colony at the Cape and the gradual spread of the Dutch Boers to the hinterland, a« the war has led t«,-

a critical examination jpf the British, title by n host of wi-iterp. When the English flag was hoisted at- the Cape, the Dutch, French, and German colonkt<> were slave-owners, and the British Government iv South Africa has always played the unpopular part of friend and protector of the native races. It was in defence of the natives that the first feud between Boer md Briton took place, and the seeds were then sown of the resentment of British interfei-enc© which has ever since embittered the Dutch people against v.«. A Dutch. rising was suppressed, and five of the ringleaders were hanged at Slagter's Nek. " A brave race can forget the victims of the field of battle, but never those of the scaffold." It hhows how deeply the incident sank into the heart of the Dutch people when we are told that when, after the raid, there was the pro«pect of Dr Jameson being hanged, the very beam from which the Dutchmen had died in 1816 was bi-ought to Pretoria for the proposed execution. Says Dr Doyle : " Slagter's Nek marked the dividing of tho ways betweeii the British Government and the Africanders." The same spirit of resentment against the strong arm that e.-sayed to restrain tho lawlessness of a people that accounted might right* pnd nought to extend its borders by exterminating the native tribes it found in occupation lies at the bottom of all the troubles that have occasioned the shedding of so much blood and the outpouring of no end of treasure. As for the cause of the present quarrel, Dr Doyle is very explicit, and marshals his facts in orderly array. It has been laid to our charge that tho discovery of gold in the Transvaal was the real cause of the war, and it was because we coveted the rich mines that we forced the war upon the Boers. The boot is on the other foot. The gold mines are, no doubt, a contributing factor, but from the Boer side, not ours. The rapid influx of the Fit lander population merely hastened the Boer programme ; it did not; materially alter the plan of campaign promulgated by the Africander Bond during at least 18 years preceding tho war. Tho enormous accession of wealth due to the taxation of the Uitlanders and their enterprise was eagerly seized upon to make the fullest preparation for the tremendous struggle for Africander stipremacy that had been determined upon years before. The franchise question wa<= merely a side issue, yet it constituted a convenient bone of contention. The disabilities under which the I'itlanders of every nationality laboured were in marked contrastto the equality of rights enjoyed by the Dutch in the British African colonies, and when at last the British Uitlanders petitioned their Sovereign, it was impossible for the suzerain Power not to take action of some kind. The position was defined by convention, and although the suzerain Power had agreed not to interfere in the internal affairs of the South. African Republic, it was acting fully within its rights in negotiating for the franchise for its subjects, seeing a liko privilege was extended to the Dutch in the British colonies. There are many people who affect to believe that the war was fought on the difference between a five and a seven years' qualification for the franchise, ignorant of the fact thnt the franchise was hedged about by such conditions that even if the terms stated by the Transvaal Government had been agreed to by Britain there was no guarantee that any TJitlander would ever have been enfranchised. Under the circumstances ifc mattered little whether the residential qualification -.vas five years or fifty. Kruger and his n«ociates, with characteristic '" Plimnesfy' varied the terms of the negotiations with the view to gaining time. The rains were not duo and there was no grass on the veldt, anil without grass the Boer army of mounted riflemen could not with advantage take the field. Surreptitiously preparations were being hurried foi-ward, and the Boer leaders were only biding their lime to let loose tho bolt from the blue that was destined, they thought, to deluge the land in English blood and to drivo the hated race into the sea. Krugei?. turned a deaf ear to every overture that made for peace, and as the rainy reason approached began to show his hand more plainly. The Transvaal was now certain of the. alliance of the Orange. Free State.

"and it knew that with 60,000 cavalry and 100 guns it was infinitely the strongest military power in Africa." Dr Doyle Bays : " One cannot read the negotiations without being convinced that they were never meant to succeed, and the party which did not mean them to succeed was; the party which prepared all the time for war." A prominent .^Africander, Blignant by name, wrote : i " The only thing that we afe afraid of is that Chamberlain should cheat us of our war and consequently the opportunity of annexing the Cape Colony and •Natal, and forming the^ Republican United States of South Africa." Early in September the negotiations came to a deadlock. The answer of the Transvaal was as .short as it was uncompromising. The offer of the franchise was .withdrawn, and the suzerainty repudiated. The burghers were openly arming, in view of the gravity of the situation the garrison troops in Natal •were- despatched to take up positions covering the frontier. A Cabinet meeting held on September 8 resolved .'-strengthen the garrisons in Natal and the Cape, and accordingly small detachments of troops were sent from India and ; England. A'liother attempt was made by the British Government to arrive at a peaceful settlement, intimating at the same time that the status of the Transvaal was settled by certain conventions agreed to by both Governments, and nothing had occurred to cause the British Government to agree to a radical change in that status. On September 21 a meeting of the Raad - of the Orange Free State removed all doubts a« to, the attitude of that Hepublie, which had decided to throw in its lot with the Transvaal in the straggle to oust the British from South Africa. The tone of President Steyn on that occasion was as uncompromising as his conduct lias been ever since. So the hand on the dial moved forward until it should touch the fateful hour that was to sound the knell of the South African Republics and bring down the heavy hand of Fate upon a misguided people. "It was on October 9 that the somewhat leisurely proceedings of the British Colonial Office were brought to a head by the arrival of an unexpected and audacious ultimatuai from the Boer Government. In contests of wit, as of arms, it must be confessed that the laugh has up to now been usually upon the - side of our simple and pa,storal South Africaw neighbours. The present instance was no exception to the rule. The document was very firm and explicit, but the terms iv which it was drawn were so impossible that it was evidently framed with the deliberate purpose of forcing an immediate war. It demanded that the troops upon the borders of the Republic should be instantly withdrawn, and al! reinforcements which had arrived within the last year should leave South Africa, and that those who were now upon the sea should - be* sent back without being lauded. Failing a satisfactory answer within 48 hours, ' the Transvaal Government will with great regret be compelled +o regard the action of her Maiesty's Government as a formal declaration of war- for the consequences of which it •will not hold -itself responsible.' The audacious message was received throughout the Empire, with a mixture of derision and anger." The answer was despatched next day through Sir Alfred Milner, as follows: — "Her Majesty's Government have received with great regret the peremptory demands of the Government of the South African Republic, conveyed in your telegram of the 9th October. You will inform the Government of the South African Republic in reply that the conditions demauded by the Government of the Soutli African Republic are such as her Majesty's Government deem it impossible to discuss." So the curtain was lifted upon the South African drama, and the pen was set' aside for the sword. How the Boer commandos were let loose within British ' territory in Natal and Cape Colony and how the slender British forces were shut up in besieged towns is so recent history that details are superfluous here. The best evidence that Britain did not force on the war is the state of total unpreparedness in which the Boers found the British in South Africa ; and but for the dogged determination *>f the belea- I guered garrisons in Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking, the Boer victorious army might have performed their contemplated triumphal march to the sea, aud have compelled our reinforcements to land under cover of the guns of our warships. Anyone who entertains any doubts as to the cause of the war after reading Dr Doyle's book must be worse than purblind. The evidence he collates to prove the true condition of affairs is singulai-ly conclusive. There is only one other point that may be considered by us, and that is the conduct of the war, upon which the British Ax-my has been bitterly assailed by the Continental press and covered with obloquy by pro-Boer partisans at Home. It is in besmirching the honour of our soldiers that that notorious chief of pro-Boers, W. T. Stead, wades in moral sewage to the neck and pours out the vilenei=s of his own peculiar idiosyncrasies, withont a tittle of evidence in support of his base assertion*. Narrowed down to logical conclusions, Stead's accusations amount to this : English soldiers in barracks at Home have a. reoutation amoi&st well-con-

ducted people that makes their women folk careful of intercourse with the

troops ; hence it follows that when we ( let loose 250,000 soldiers in South Africa ' wholesale outrage upon Boer women is ' inevitable. With nothing more tangible to seize hold of, Stead depicts in his well-known style all the horrors of what he terms "Hell let loose" upon the defenceless Boer women. It is easy to conceive that 200,000 characters such as Stead evolves from the mysterious crypts of his own prurient mind might do all .that he asserts against our army ; but, fortunately, our soldiers at-e cast in a- better mould than their perverted detract or <. In such a war as that j waging in South Africa, where our , troops have been often exasperated beyond endurance by Boer treachery, and where the women have been active , participants in sniping and cold-bloodedj murder, retaliation that might exceed i the usage of civilised warfare might, in isolated cases, ha^e been looked for. | But, instead, what are the fapts ? \ Under the most trying circumstances " Tommy Atkins " has .been an angel of mercy, compared with, the enemy he is so ruthlessly accused of ill-using. Spe- , cine charges have been made and have constituted the texts for the spilling of much ink and the expenditure of much righteous indignation ; but -w hen these came charges have been sifted to the bottom they ha\e been found *s baseless as the shadow of a dream. Dr Doyle gives chapter and verse in every case accredited authentic by our detractors, and nails the lie to the counter. We ! need not reproduce the evidence here. Much has beev made of the farm-burn-ing, and harrowing pictures have been drawn of tho weeping Boer women and children ruthlessly torn from their homes and massed in concentration camps! Farm-burning was only resorted' to when the farmhouses were found to be the rendezvous of snipers and trainwreckers, and in the interests of our soldiers-, as well as Chilians who<=e lives were thereby endangered, it was ab?o- ( lutely necessary to destroy the^e farmhouses. The dictates of both common j tense and humanity compelled such a course. Where our generals erred was in not hanging the snipers and trainwreckers when caught red-handed, pour encourage les outres as the French say. And had the British authorities left the Boe: women and children unprotected on their farms at the mercy of the maraud- ( ing bands of Kaffirs roving about at will, they would, indeed, have mei'ited the execration of humanity. As for the cop}- ) centration camps, even Miss Hobhou^? , admits that the British Administration J did their best uuder the circumstances. , To be exact, she said, "They are, I believe, doing their he*A with very limited metms." Since then a good deal more has been done to improve the conditions of the camps, and the British Government have shown far more consideration for "our friends the enemy" than for j their own loyal subjects — refugees drive)i j from their "homes by the Boers in the ; earlier stages of the war. While the , Boers are allowed supplies costing Is 3d per head per diem, our own people are only allowed 8d! Further comment is needle.sp. The Boers live in comfortablo, clean camps, and enjoy luxuries such a'e were foreign to most of them in their J own homes. They have abundance of substantial food, and medical attendanoe free. The mortality among the children, concerning which we have heard so much, was due to an epidemic of measles of a very severe type, coupled with thf^ignorance of tho Boer mothers in caring for the children when ill. The portrait of an emaciated child whir-h has been widely circulated throughout the Continent and America to prove the horrors of the concentration camps was taken by the j British authorities "on the occasion of j the criminal trial of the mother for the ill-usage of her child " ! Dr Doyle adds, " The incident is characteristic of the unscrupulous tactics which have been u«ed from the beginning to poi«on the mind of the world against Great Britain." How incomparably different was the treatment of the British prisoner-* at Walen.**.. The callous neglect of the enteric patients there and the barbarous treatment of the British colonial prisoners give some indication of what was in f-tore for our troop's had victory been on the side of the 800r 1 -. And as for thf British soldier in the field, I>U actions will stand the clo < -e^t -crutiny . and the instances in which .any individual soldier lias done discredit to his training or to the best , traditions of the British Army are few | and far between. Of authenticated ■ cases there are absolutely none. But what can we say for the Boer^ ? They began by abusing the white flag, and i have during the course of the war committed many murders under its cover. They have outraged the Geneva Convention by firing upon ambulances covered by the red-cross flag, and disregarded the -Hague Convention by the employment of explosive and expanding bullets. They have gone from bad to worse, and have ' reduced warfare on their side to brigandage of the veiy worst type. KaiErs are invariably murdered in cold blood wherever found, if it is thought they have been employed by the British generals in any capacity whatsoever, and , some of the instances of the murder of j Kaffir boys are specially revolting, and in that day when the final settlement . comes about civilisation will demand that the perpetrators of these relentlefcs :

crimes will be brought to account. Con- * cerning the use of British uniforms by ! the Boers, Dr Doyle says, " Had tho first six khaki-clad burghers been shot, the ' lives of many of our soldiers would have been saved." All precedent establishes , the practice Dr Doyle recommends, and s the Hague Convention denies belligerent ] rights to an enemy so masquerading ; yet | the British, with a magnanimity that is j wasted upon " those peaceful farmers," , have condoned an offence that any other nation under tho sun would have punished by hanging. On the battlefield, in the hour of victory, our soldiers have share their cigarettes and the content"; of their water bottles with the Boer prisoners and wounded ; but, on the other hand, the Boers nave been known to gloat over the sufferings of our wounded, whom they allowed ro die begging for a drop of water to cool their parched tongues. These are not mere figments of the imagination, but stern facts attested by reliable witne=se«, and had the Boers been victorious throughout, the burghers^ would have fulfilled Kruger's boast, and would certainly have staggered humanity by theif barbarity aud excesses. At least every indication pointed in that direc- " turn. Dr Doylfr deserves well of his countrymen, and should earn the gratitude of every loyal Briton for bringing the faots of the war under general notice. A^ careful perusal of the book ought to cure all well-meaning pro-Beers of their madness.