"ALIENATED SYMPATHIES."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 98, 26 May 1900, Page 2

"ALIENATED SYMPATHIES."

TO THE EDITOR, I Sir, —I was rather sorry to see your ; leader of this morning (Friday) ; with reference to the Boers. As a i matter of fact, I believe opinion has changed in the other way towards the tioers. Englishmen have already prided themselves on doing honour to a brave foe. No one can deny that the Boers have behaved with magnifieient bravery. We cannot contemplate withi out admiration the sight of 40,000 men struggling for what they believe to be the right against a disciplined , army of 250,000 men. It is, of course, : lamentable that women and children were killed during the bombardment of Kimberley. But while there is war, .such things must happen. Will the Boer women escape scathless if Pretoria is beseiged? If not too long, I might ask you to publish the following extract from a leading article of the Sydney Morning Llercdd, which is certainly not a pro-Boer paper. The treatment of wounded and prisoners by the Boers amply disproves the idea that they deliberately outrage the laws of war: —" There was a disposition after the war began to credit the worst of the Boers as foemen. Their bitter hostility and contempt prejudiced us. Reminiscences of the former war were revised by stories of abuse of the white flag, explosive bullets, rigorous commandeering, and wilful damage to the property of British colonists. Later, much was said of the treatment of prisoners and wounded in the hands of the Boers. Under the influence of these reports the opinion began to be formed that brave as the Boers were and skillful as soldiers, they were hardly a civilised foe, or else they were not fighting not as warriors but as fanatics, as in a Moslem holy war upon the infidel; By degree that notion is being disproved. Our woui;ded upon release acknowledge the humanity of their captors, their readiness to releave suffering by all the aid at their command, and their disposition to make the yoke as light as possible. Our men in South Africa even fraternise to some extent with the enemy in the Sunday or other truces of the campaign, and they find these stout and ready enemies very good fellows apart from the bitter business that brings t.iem together. So it was in the Napoleonic wars and in the Crimea. While the people at home abhorred the name of frenchman or ltussian, the troops in the field struck up a rough fellowship with the foe and learned each other's human side. The truth about the Boers may bo that some of the abuses which have been declared arise from their independent style of warfare. The commandoes, even the individual burghers, iight much ' for their own hand,' and employ the arms and ammunition which they are most familar with. In such circumstances there is more scope for the misbehaviour of a few '■ desparadoes or fanatics than in our more disciplined ranks. Be it as it may, the legend of the Boer as a sour, harsh, relentless foe is disappearing, and we shall soon do justice to the better personal qualities of our enemy, as well as to his splendid courage and constancy in a desperate cause."— < I am, etc. Settler. Stratford, May 25th. {