SELBORNE, THE CONCILIATOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2714, 21 March 1906, Page 12

SELBORNE, THE CONCILIATOR.

THE BOER AND EMPIRE. I (From Obh Johannesburg Coebespondent.) 1 'When the appointment of Lord Selborne to succeed Lird Mjlner as High Commisiioner of South Africa was first announced ;here were misgivings in certain quarters is to the fitness of " a statesman who had ao previous close connection with colonial , 'affairs to fill the difficult cost to which ' ac had been called. Any such doubts irere very speedily dispelled. From the/ lime .of his initial utterance on landing j »t Capetown to take up his duties Lord Selborne has -been steadily gaining in ■ 1.1-oiie esteem. The breadth of view ex- j pressed in his speeches has exhibited him as a discerning and wise ruler; but it | -is his transparent sympathy with the best j ideas of the people that has established a i drin bond between them and him. Lord ' Selborne has been on an extended visit to the. Western T, ran<sV ? a -. and is new visiting the Grange River Colony and [ Natal, (he latter colony for the first time. ; •Wherever he has gone his Excellency j aa's been mo^t cordially, enthusiastically, j „ welcomed, for the demeanour and qaulities J ' »F- the 'noble lord •, had preceded him. It : was something new to the farmers in the . , aut-disf riots to find tho chief man in the land coming- to them, and discarding the ( »rts of diplomacy, seeking to learn first j land the needs and requirements of those ' .car .distant from the oentres of population j and with small mt?.ns of communication. Telling" them. 100. with perfect honesty what things it was impossible for the Government to dc and what things he n'ould strive ro obtain. Bui if the Hisrh Commissioner's tour in the Wes-tern Tran=sraal was for the most part consumed in somcl.v laiks, he made his entry into the Drange River Colony the occasion of an eloquent deliverance. Thi> was at a oanquet tendered to him at Havrismitri. ft was a notable speech, nncl no excuse is needed for giving the full text. Lord Selbonre, who was receivpd with great enthusisam. said: The name o£ Hamsmith suggests to us the story of a great war, sugerests to us the great romance of a great war. War is nc'.hin? bat a black ferment of soirow. lightened only and "relieved only by the gJcr-'ous stars of self--sacrifice, and across -it somehrnes flashes the meteor %of romance. Such was that romance which "brought together the man and the woman* who eventually became Sir Harry and Lady Smith. Fresh from the smoke of Badaioz, this. Spanish girl And English subaltern fell desperately in love. They were married, and afterwards came to South Africa to give their names to these two towns, joined at one time under the form of government, separated in peace, and joined toppiher after another war. Now, I should like to say a few words about that war and its results. . I read to-day in the papers of a manifesto which has beep i?->«ed in Holland. Jthe pith of which that the South African oucsnoa wa= r.oi settled, for the

Boer was not going to part with his nationality. The Boer has lost neither nationality, nor language, nor race, nor land, nor history. He has lost his separate existence ; he lias not lost his nationality. Am I less an Englishman because I am here and care for South Africa? Am I less an Englishman because I glory in the British Empire? I hope the day will come when the Boer will love England as I love the Orange River Coony — that he will glory in the British Empire as I 1 glory in 'Tt. but whethsr he dees so or does j ! not, he will no more lose his nationality \ than I have lost mine. And is there any ! , gain? Many of our Boer fellow-subjects, j j whom we are proud to know as our fiiends, • ' crossed the vast tracts of water east and , ', west, honourable prisoners of war, always j j and everywhere to find themselves undc j the British flag. If any of tbpse again visit I what was their temporary prison 'they will j visjt -their own possession — for there is no j hsresy. which I more resolutely deny than > that which says that the Boer has been : annexed to the British. It is the British ! Empire which lias been annexed to the 1 Boer, because the whole Fpirit of the I British Empire is. not the spirit of posses- . I sion. The Boer pays no tribute to Eng- | j land. Canada pays no tribute to Scotland; ( 1 Austialia pays no tribute to Ireland. They ' are in oartnershin under one glorious re- . j spon«ibility — a responsibility such as no col- ' ! kction of nations ever enjoyed before ; a respcnsihilitv that is going' to mould and ' ■ frame the futu^» of the world. Bwfc- the i Bo°r niav say. * r I nrefer my «jr>arat-e •oxist- ' once." That is quite intelHcible. but ask him not to think only of himself, but of , ', bis sons and of hi« fops' sous. Is tb.p Boor j les.s gifted than the Scotsman or Enclis-h-I man? Ts he less capable of b?ing cvx 1 of +he 1 in-°n who maVp md movs t'"e world? No: he is a« papablp. but hitherto he has lacked ' cpnortiinitv. Tt i« +his pf.= c " : s'on on liis • I part of tb° British. Emnir=> which en^s his 'oni and lii= sen?' sons thp opportunity to b? rbe lead°r.s of tho world in action and in • mind. j KF.r.IT\GF, j Ti'-e Bo^r, I am glad to s?v, bplones to a vigorous i-sop that h«s p.o ap.vieiv of cVrline. but while the man. tho vir'i" sp'f'ii di<i man. will ipcr«a=e. th° land remains 1 tho sam-e. p.nd c?n tiicrp n-cver b? an end • ro ihi subdivision of farm= which ha« gore on to snch an exfent. not rerhaps in this colony, l"ut in tho Caryp Colon y :md th-" Transvaal, ns to produce a la-co da«s of poor whites? For them at t! o present moment, owinw to 'ark of oducfition and [•oppor. unity, there are none of t:iof> five1 nups" \vhieh are onfjn to Scoismen a"_d Englishmen, bui; this vo=sss=s;on on his part of tli<» British Empire will leave it ooen to the Boers to %o out to t^e heritage whirli is theii^s and to siv. "This is minp. T v i'l m»b? the mo«t of it." Th?-ofcrc. I would ' ask the old Beer, who is sorrowful in "I having lo«i; his isolation, to remombsr that i ho has gained th° world. After the "Rish Commissioror h?--l resumfd b;.s sent a wpll-knrwn Dlltfh fa-rr.er

of the district rose, and in a voice full of, emotion said: "I am one of the few Boers in the room, and I thank you, my I/ord, for your speech. You are the only man T ever heard speak like that." It is pleasing to find the sentiments of the High Commissioner re-echoed in quarters which, to say the least, have been pin-pricking the Dutch for the past three years. Referring to' the speech, this is what the Transvaal Leader says: — " Loss of independence is a sore blow to a proud people. It becomes still more intolerable if there bo any suspicion that it involves loss of nationality. It cannot be denied but that the Boers have been imbued with that ultimate and most dreadful fear. If we consider the histor.y of the Dutch in Europe — their long and g-allant fiffbt for political and reliprious liberty, their terrible trials, and their national character: if we remember the story of the Dutch in Africa, their struggles, their •position as a dominant race, and, not least, their isolation. — we can understand (i\f we did not know it from cur* own feelings) and admire and svmp-ithise with that tenacity of honour which dines to nationality* n^ to a creed and article of existence. And we haw to rcoosjnise. as a foundation of this fearful suspicion, that the principle is assailed, that there a*-c nations which have followed up the conquest of territory by ar Httrmnted romiuest of the national spirit. by rssaults uron faith, by a crusade against the ooople's mother tongue. It TH*eds a kr.owWgo of history, which I perhaps we have no right to oxpect from „ rac-0 9O isnlat^cl and sw>lf-r«»ntred as the "Rocs, to anproei.it-o the fact that Britain has n-ever relied unon. nor '"•en attoirolod, p f'ch methods of ISmniiv-lniiWinsr. She his ! r rop^ed-ci by Trip-Tin*;^", not Tprep-ion. ' c<)- c has loarnt tha-t "sta'oilitv i= Ivrn not of fppr Sut of rrouie-conco ; "hnt Ic-ral patriotism is t'^o source of Tmn-erhl : that nn'on vs a n'sttt^** of thoup-ht, ! la'iyinfe. TVli»»v>vr>r she 'ns "irp aho has <?""»tP'l lov»l sul") ; *>r* I1 ''- md s*-o"t pl"rs not *>v st-ifi'ni- I^eal »-atT : o*i c m nor by iscror'nsr , lop->) pr.' > iu'' ; f«. Wil by re^Dprh'ncr a^d ">•'"•- : *»r^rq; f 'ar'iti r ns of -—c, and crr-od. ''"his ;it ; - wh : <"h w 'vciW ha^'p ou* fcll"»vi i'-i f-'oi;i'< * Crira !"-ar" frrm tbf h'^'or*- of o'ir iir-or'.'" and from mir """i •"•t* Lord P" 1 )— r,u* it i" word's v Mo'i n» *-n» an r1 -'-h'f'i in" X t t" nrovp' 1 to t-~ *m" — ' Tlip Vjrt^r lias lest p^ithpr '•"id no- hN+rr-'- ' Ti-^w nrp sn/-T'»t'">«:b'"' '■!'■• f o 'mvo opri to K-'d ff *~ ->vo>-. nirho-.i^b Vo lias I'Ht his pol'tiral "xist^nco

I It i= st=t«l th»t Mr R Keo-m. v.<-c?=<> c"«afh was r-ppo-ro-d from the West C"-asf ov- a v : ek -5:0. b' r : "d no fo-..c- than 1 2Pno n?T-or!= r^Ym<r Hx> ?.*■ yoars "ho n-s? 1 civt.-in. j ITo Mai-nw nt'i Q .t;"~'!r>rvj tVinr in pr"i,rc|(pnf> rf t! p 'i'ph prico -of liviie. and pa r t'fM ! .nily of vi't*. ' n Pa'p^o- <;t-on >-any l vo"l'!i" n ">n aio ka\ li •* thp d 'trict. Th°V fip^i tl'o nl .->lv'= HIV 1 * lipal>!n f 1 co : ..ry» ' iour-i '>op n f > d •'! 'vnc"t-, pt ti ••->"■ l-ko ''■>» r^ntql= th^>iv s.r.<all earnings will enable them to ra?.