THE BRITISH JUSTIFIED

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7084, 27 April 1901, Page 4

THE BRITISH JUSTIFIED

A SWITZER'S TRIBUTE TO TOMMY. A striking letter on the conduct of the British troops in South Africa 'has- appeared in the- " Gazette de Lausanne '^from M. Constancon, the Swiss Consul at Pretoria. Charges of ill-treatment of Boer women by British troops having been circulated in French, Dutch, and Swiss papers >by M. Brcckihuizen, a Dutch clergyman at Pretoria, M. Constancon, who has lived: 18 years in that town, and knows personally' all the Boer families in the district, declares that after searching enquiries : he has' been unable to discover the women, named.

He further adds that since the entry of the- British troops he lhas travelled widely in the Transvaal, and never (heard from the women on farms- a, single word in blame of the English troops, and tnafc he has only seen two cases of drunkenness in six months. "I cannot express my indignation," he concludes, in strong^ enough terms when I see such base calumnies put into circulation in my country, and I consider it my duty to make known the facts. Although we sympathise with the Boers, we must in all justice render 'homage to English officers and men for the humane manner in which they -have conducted, and are still carrying on, this war." The signed testimony of a sympathiser with the Boers outweighs the anonymous calumnies circulated by certain English journalists. — " Spectator^ _^