The Timaru herald. MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1900.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 3237, 16 April 1900, Page 2

The Timaru herald. MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1900.

In another column will be found a short letter signed by " Empire," who expresses surprise at our recent publication of a paragraph commenting somewhat favourably on the Review of Reviews, " a periodical which," says our correspondent, " has expressed during the last six months, such decided pro-Boer sympathies (not to mention its Russian proclivities and general spirit of disloyalty to the Empire) that many public libraries and private subscribers have discontinued their subscriptions." The paragraph m question found a place m our columns through inadvertence, and that is all we need say about it. We do not, however, regret its insertion, as it and 1 Empire's " letter give us the opportunity of restating our views on the struggle now m progress m South Africa, views which are altogether antagonistic to those expressed by the gang of whom Messrs Stead and Labouchere may be regarded as leading representatives. Truth and the Review of Reviews are about the last sources to which we should go for information and inspiration concerning the war and what led to it, and what will be its outcome. Our opinions are based upon innumerable facts, some of them well known long before the outbreak of hostilities, and others which have been brought to light more recently but quite as surely. It would require a volume, and a j pretty thick one, to set out those facts, but they are within the reach of anyone who desires to get at the truth. A few of the more important conclusions at which we have arrived are that the war is not "Mr Chamberlain's war," m the sense that he either purposely shaped his course towards it, or that his diplomacy was so clumsy that it naturally led to hostilities. We are sure that Mr Chamberlain honestly did his best to avert the struggle. The war was inevitable, because the Boers of the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and the Afrikander Bond, had determined on it ; had for years been making the most elaborate preparations for it ; and because the Government of the Transvaal would not adhere to the terms of the Conventions of 1881 and 1884, and would not consent to such reasonable reforms m favour of the Outlanders as would have given effect both to the spirit and letter of the Conventions. The undoubted object of the Boer combination was to get rid of British supremacy m the wholeof South Africa, and to set up a "Dutch Eepublic. Our final conclusion is that it would be j&g-lpwest depth of folly for Britain to^-ftfc»-ntfon tbq^gtru^le until she has thoroughly beaTeTTtfrgBoers, absorbed the two Eepublics into the Empire, and utterly exploded the idea that Dutch supremacy m South Africa is within the range of possibility. From first to last Britain has been m the right, and that is the opinion of an overwhelming majority of the people throughout the Empire. We should add, as firm articles of our belief, that Britain can fully accomplish the work to which she has set her hand, that she will accomplish it, and that it is a consummation devoutly to be wished not merely m the interests of the British Empire but .m the interests of right and justice and the progress of the human race. It was quite to be expected that almost all the European nations should take sides against Britain m the present struggle. The several Governments maintain friendly relations with her (it would be dangerous to attack her), but m Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and) St. Petersburg, the people are hostile to Britain. They.enyy her greatness, her liberty, her commercial success, her superabundant energy and aptitude m the work of colonisation. They envy even her rectitude and plainspeaking. They detest her because ' they have to look up to her, without much hope of approaching the heights to which she has attained. Such hatred is a poor return for all that Britain did at the close of last century and the beginning of this to secure for the Continent a measure of liberty as great as the circumstances of the time would permit. She can afford to look with j composure on this widely diffused hostility, though she would gladly welcome^ more friendly spirit. But with deep regret be it said, she also has enemies — not many of them, it is true — within her own borders ; men of British birth and up-bring-ing, who, whether m the Old Country itself or m her colonies, witness and enjoy the full benefits of the liberal institutions and the pure administration of justice which are the sure heritage of the Queen's subjects. Why these men should be false to their allegiance we do not know, nor do we care to enquire. That they are false is absolutely certain, for their own mouths convict them; and there are afew, a very few, of them to be found even m such a small centre as Timaru. They profess to believe that the Boer is | entirely m the right and the British entirely m the wrong ; they make | the most of every little British reverse and depreciate anything m the shape of British success ; they put ! the worst construction upon the words and actions of British statesmen and British soldiers ; they twist everything to the advantage of the Boer ; they predict certain and final disaster to the British arms, and they make no secret of their ardent hope that such will be the outcome of the conflict. These are the men who speak disrespectfully of the Queen, and even make light of the almost successful attempt to murder the Prince of Wales. It is bad enough when a foreigner, who has lived inaßritish community and thriven under its institutions, repays the benefit by wishing ill-fortune to the soldiers of the Queen ; but it seems to us to be infinitely worse when any of Her Majesty's own subjects display the same spirit. Fortunately they can do little or no harm, for their numbers are infinitesimally small m comparison with the whole community, whose members are genuinely loyal and patriotic, who are sending their sons to fight m the cause of the Empire, and who have full faith m the prowess and perseverance which will secure a final triumph to the British arms. A recent writer m the Pall Mall concludes an article on "The Causes of the War" with the fol- \ lowing sentences :— • " It is obvious

that the sole choice for Great Britain lay between war and the surrender of her Imperial position m South Africa, The only question was whether the war should come sooner or later. Under these circumstances there has seldom been a war m whose inception Great Britain has been more amply justified than that now being waged for the defence of our fellowcountrymen m South Africa, and for the maintenance of the British Empire."