SOUTH AFRICA

Thames Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 9877, 23 February 1901, Page 4

SOUTH AFRICA

ONLY PEACE WITH HONOUR

Though it was well known that Piefc de Wet Schrierier (brother of the exs* Premier of Cape Colony , Paul Botha, and other prominent burghers of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony opposed the con tinuan cc of the war after the capitulation of Johannesburg and Pretoria, it was also understood that they were not in the confidence "or favour of the Boer generals or their commandos, and that their advice would have bui; little effect upon the enemy. • When the British, troops entered Kroonstadt and made preparation for the sudden and sensational dash on the golden city of the Transvaal and the capital, Louis Botha's brother, who is identified more with political movements than military operations, published a lengthy appeal which the British military authorities endeavoured to circulate among the Boer . commandos. This, however, proved a difficult undertaking. The Boer generals, the commandants, field cornets' and subordinate officers seized the emissaries of peace, destroyed tha pamphlets, and promised Botha and his comrades that any further attempt to wean the Boers from their faith and their commandos would be severely punished, Paul Botha re> turned to the British camp and initis mated that the Boers were determined to tight to the bitter end. Onward marched the British army, and after the i fights at Klip River, near Johannesburg, and Germi9ton, south east of the city, the town was taken, and the valuable mines of'theWitwatersrand were placed under British protection The Boer generals who were encamped at Irede, midway between Pretoria and Johannesburg, were again approached and peace overtures submitted These, as before, were courteously but firmly declined. Pretoria was taken, and another endeavour made to conciliate the burghers and to endeavour to induce them to relinquish what would assuredly prove a hope'ess struggle. Of the Boer leaders General Erasmus was the only one who displayed any inclination to even listen to the British terms. Louis Botha expressed his intention of arranging a temporary cessation of hostilities, but while his own commando rested at Lydenburg considerable activity was displayed by Generals De Wet, De la Rey, and Grobler. Even General Lucas Meyer, who was supposed to be. acting as Kruger's political representative, after the ignominious flight of the wily. exPresident, was reported to have contemptuously said that " the British Government wished to end the war by offering premiums to their enemy to desert." Erasmus and Botha sub> mitted terms on which they would entertain. peace proposals, but these were too absurd, to; merit, seriouei consideration. Their surrender would be on condition that they were not deported, that in effect they and their followors would" be granted facilities for adding fuel to the smouldering fire of unrest and sedition that has> rendered so difficult the task of our leaders; that, in fact, they should be taken to. our bosoms and treated as misguided mortals whose ignorance had induced them to continue a war to which there was but one ending, But fortunately the military authorities had experienced something of the duplicity of the Boers, and they j declined to be bound by such conditions " Unconditional surrender" was the mandate .issued, and immediately the Boers saw that their ?• slimness" would not prevail they took fiilt advantage of the positions they had been allowed to occupy while the farcical peace negotiations were proceeding, and hastily mobilising their forces succeeded in surprising some of the British garrisons Though they were ultimately repulsed another addition had been made to our list of killed and wounded, and as before the peace propos Is were rejected with scorn. But the harm did not end there, The unscrupulous Boer leaders pointed to the apparent anxiety of the British Govtrnment to. bring about an honourable peace a3 an indication of weakness, and were thus enabled to instil fresh courage into the hearts of their adherents. . The subsequent shooting of the Peace envoys, the imprisonment of their leaders who favoured peace, and the brutal treat-

ment of other Peace advocates, should surely be sufficient to prove that the Boers will have to be beaten,'defeated decisively, before they relinquish the struggle. Without being vindictive the Briti3h leaders must be determined —fair, but.firm; resolute, but withal mindful of the pernicious influence of the Peace-at>any-*price party which has placed so many obstacles in the way of British progress in South .Africa The Boers have frequently said that despite occasional reverses they will only be conquered when they are overpowered. Can, by any stretch of imagination, it be said that they are yet a defeated and conquered nation, and that the British are in complete possession of the Transvaal 1 ,A vast tertitory yet remains,to be cleared of the enemy, and when the Boer commandos are swept northwards out of Cape Colony and the Orange Kiver, driven from Swaziland, and dislodged from the rocky fastnesses of Zoutpansberg, then, and not till then, will it be politic or safe to cry: "Hold, enough!"