The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1901.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 11648, 4 January 1902, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1901.

Having read a day or two ago, in the " open column" of the " Otago Daily Times," a letter signed "Anti-Boer," in which Mr A. R. Barclay, M.H.R., was considerably scarified on account of opinions which he was charged with having expressed in the newspapers concerning the struggle in South Africa, we looked up what the junior member for Dunedin ri.ally had said, and were repaid for our trouble. It appears that Mr Barclay was one of those members who had | been invited to give his views concerning ■ the supposed' negotiations between the Im- I perial authorities and the Premier for bring- J

ing a thousand Boers jsssoners to New Zealand. He replied, at length, and went a good deal beyond the scope of tlis question which had been put to him. He subsequently sent to the " Otago Daily Times" a copy of his answer, which that journal published. We have no objection to raise to his first sentence, but his reply might very well have ended at that point. He said:—"l shall oppose by every possible means the proposal to bring any Boers to this country." We may mention in passing that the " Otago Daily Times " is rather in favour of the proposal, but that fact is not relevant to the' issue. What we are at present concerned about are the views put forward by Mr Barclay in the remainder of his letter. They certainly do not strengthen his position, because he appears to entertain a very favourable opinion of the Boers, and holds that they have throughout been treated -in a scandalous manner by the British 'Government. He is. a Pro-Boer of a very malignant type, and indulges in' unlimited slander of the party now in power at Home, and of all who support the policy which is being carried out in South Africa. His misrepresentation of facts is simply appalling, and we think it may be said that he goes beyond such men as Messrs Stead and .Labouchere in vilifying the great mass of the British nation and of residents in the British colonies. Mr Barclay commences by giving his account of how the war began. He says :—" It began in a conspiracy by a few unscrupulous schemers, whose names ar.e now well knttwn, to seize the Transvaal and the mineral wealth it contained. Mr Chamberlain became a willing tool in those persons' hands, though the British Government which then and since have unfortunately been in power could not, for very shame's sake, appear in it at first. However, there is no doubt now that they sympathised with the scheme. The result was the scandalous Jameson raid. This war is nothing but a continuation of that raid. . Practically the nation has been simply dragged into this unholy war—which, amongst other things, is responsible for the death of the late Queen—by Mr "Chamberlain and the financial sharks with whom he is in alliance. There is now no doubt at all in thei w6rld about this. It is exposed to all who choose to read, in spite of the unscrupulous efforts of politicians and papers to conceal the fact." This is all a tissue of misrepresentations, and it matters not whether Mr Barclay is self-deceived or whether he departs from the truth of malice aforethought. We do not defend the raid, which, to say the least of it, was a very foolish proceeding, and of course thoroughly illegal; but it was not the work of the British Government, and was not connived at by anjj individual Minister. There was, moreover, some excuse for it in the shameful manner in which the Outlanders were being treated by the Transvaal authorities—treatment which was entirely contrary to the agreement under which the British Government had recognised the independence of the Transvaal, subject to British suzerainty. As we demonstrated only a few days ago, the grand object of the Transvaal Government for years before the outbreak of the war was to complete preparations for totally overturning British rule in South Africa. There was to be a great Dutch Republic in South Africa, embracing the existing British'colonies. Mr Barclay says that the conscience of the British people is. now becoming thoroughly aroused. " They know," he says; " that a frightful mistake has been made, and they are clamouring for the removal of Mr Chamberlain and Lord Milner from office." Mr Barclay mistakes a comparatively insignificant minority for the overwhelming majority of the British people. They long for the- termination of the costly and sanguinary struggle, and so do their brethren in the colonies, but they have no intention of yielding in the smallest degree to the Boers. Here is another choice bit from Mr Barclay's effusion:—"The honour of England has been deeply stained by this war. It is" a scandalous and infamous war. It has excited the horror of the civilised world. Who would ever have expected to see Britain in South Africa copying the methods of warfare adopted by General Weyler in Cuba? What, then, is to be done? The. flag of Britain can only be cleansed from the foul blot with which it has been stained by an honest attempt in the end to do justice, and I believe that Britain is going, to make that attempt. I believe that generous terms of peace will be offered to the Boers. I believe that they will be given back their, farms, in the words of Lord Rosebery, ' lavishly restocked'; and, in short, that everything will be' done that a great and noble nation can do, when it recognises it has made a mistake, to repair the evil that has been inflicted, and to cleanse, its honour from the foul stain, with which it has been besmirched." Surely the man must be mad; he is at all events utterly unable to read the signs of the times. If the British people and British colonists have found out that they have made a vast mistake, r and have been drawn by treacherous leaders into an unholy struggle, how' comes it that there are still plenty of volunteers for South African service ? How comes it that Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, are sending fresh Contingents, and expressing their willingness to supply more men than ernment are at present ready to accept? But there is no necessity to pursue the subject further. MrTSarclay is quite out of v touch with the general public opinion of the colony, and with the public opinion of his constituency. He should resign, and test the question by another election. If he were to do so, he would soon find that his proffered services would be contemptuously rejected.