A Sad Disillusionment

Southland Times, Issue 14785, 31 October 1900, Page 4

A Sad Disillusionment

Although some of the best work of the war in Sonth Africa has been done by Irish soldiers, and although, in that case, it might have been expected that an honest Irishman would have found some difficulty in associating himself with his country's •enemies, Mr Michael Davitt left Pretoria on May 15 " broken and sick at heart." The Boer nations had bitterly disappointed him. They would not fight against his countrymen. The Orange Free State had been conquered ; Lord Roberts was preparing an irresistible advance upon Pretoria, which Mr Davitt was leaving. He had advised the Transvaal Government, " if they would commend themselves in the eyes of the world and obtain the sympathy of European nations," to telegraph to Lord Roberts their willingness to surrender. And Mr Davitt was disgusted with what they did instead. The Transvaal Government, he said, "purpose prolonging the business, without seriously meaning to fight, for the object of heaping up the bars of gold they are taking from the mines and of accumulating and holding them in obedience to the dictation of that old man Paul Kruger.'' - Here indeed was a pretty state of things. Mr Davitt had gone out to the Transvaal ' * full of enthusiasm . " It had cost hi m £300. He had hoped to see his country beaten to her knees, humiliated in the sight of Europe, forced in abject terms to ask for peace. And for a time things went well enough. Even after Bloemfontein had surrendered, and when Cronje was on his way to St. Helena, matters were not so bad after all. There was to be a great stand at Kroonstad. Thus far Lord Roberts was to come, but no farther Mr Davitt even went down to see the positions at this place. They were excellent. Mr Davitt was delighted. He wrote to his papers (we do not know which or how many journals were so admirably fortunate as to secure Mr Davitt as a correspondent) describing this stand, how it was to be made, and the wonderful things that would happen, and what fine fellows the Boers were, and so on, and so on, with the most remarkable enthusiasm. And then — nothing happened, and Mr Davitt would give a hundred pounds not to have written such rubbish. His friends ran away, and they have gone on running away ever since. And so Mr Davitt left the country, "thoroughly disillusioned," and, in fact, it is altogether very sad. What especially seems to have called forth Mr Davitt's sorrow is that the Boers would not trust him. They knew him, and they knew his feelings, and yet — indeed, it is almost inexplicable. For some occult reason, even the Boers, who did not tell Mr Davitt the truth, were not able to place confidence in an Irishman who wished to see the British nation beaten. In truth, we are coming to a pretty pass when our enemies will not trust an Irishman who is .full of enthusiasm for them. But we hope Mr Davitt will not let his grievance rest. No doubt he will tell the Nationalist electors all about it. — St. James's Budget. [The foregoing was almost certainly written after the publication of Mr Davitt's alleged remarks to some person on the' voyage home which he has since repudiated.]