BOER ALLIES OF THE BRITISH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7292, 3 January 1902, Page 1

BOER ALLIES OF THE BRITISH.

i • — ' — ~- I THE NATIONAL BURGHER SCOUTS. » The- Pretoria-correspondent of the " Cape I tTimes," writing on Nov. 23, says: — A- movement which was set afoot some little time since among .-tibe surrendered ■ Boers for the purpose of assisting in bring- , injf tbe resistance of the irreconcilables to an end has taken practical shape, and is \ being organised on a large scale. Among th» more influential \ of those who surrenf dered prior ito Sep.. 15 last aire several who • t- lave come forward voluntarily and offered 'io secure a corps of their own people for tihe purpose of taking th© field. ThY offer : las been accepted after a good deal of consideration, and the result is an established corps called the National Scouts, who have ! already enrolled! iv suuh numbers, that their services will help in <no small degree to- '' -wards bringing the present state of affaire; ito an end. The idea of employing men to P serve against tiheir own kith and kin is fe y one that undter most circumstances would |i be repugnant to all ethics that pertain to tv .tjie bearing of membeira of a: race., to, eaoh >■' But. ithe argument . *which the sury rendered burghers are using in justification: I .of the -step they are taking are strong ones. F>They maintain thafc as those still in the j; 'field are only a small minority of the Whole _■*' people, and as the majority .are long con--vinced of the uitter 'hopelessness of any ' further resistance, andi moreover as ifc is A the great majority who are being made to h suffer by the conduct of the minority, being v kept from returning to their peaceful occu- • -pations, with- nothing but ruin staring them A. ia the face, tiheir wives and children living jas exiles and on charity in their owh country, all because a few obstinate men refuse ■to see itbe inevitable, then it is time that , they also should do something towards end- ■ ing this misery and ruth being brought upon : -them by iiheir niuisguidied : countrymen. The question to them is a humanitarian one. As an. independent race their day is • done. They fought as long as there was the sKg'h.test Hope to fight ifor. Ait last ! they recognised : total defeat and desire to ' live peaceably Tini-!er the new order, and cave -what they can of the wreck of their • possessions ; but above all they are acting -js.' lor the sake of their wives and little ones, y -wiho are now ithe .greatest sufferers. A fc , certain* minority seems determined to seek [:•) not- only its own self-destruction, but to V.\ jeopaxd-se the highest interests of the „ whale rape in its paad' resistance. The \^-peopje constituting this minority ha,ve become outlaws against society, and leaders of this movement urge that it SIS as much their duty to assist in subduing jr^theirymisguided country-men as it would 'be duty of an Englishman to : assist) in I -maintaining law and l order dn ordinary V "limes in .'* his ;qwn country. The Boers A who are forming the National Scoiite ret fused to be classed, as traitors or as unpatriotic, but -justify themselves on -.. the t»^round of the interests- of the greater >^ number, for the sake of common humanity y and in the .name of- ordinary' commonA* tenser They are brave men who are taking K -this step, brave because of all the conK eequenceg they are prepared to face, and r brave . because tJjeir courage has been fe'. 'proved in qnaay a harS-fougiht field againsfc r-;y-t_ie English. Comananidant Celliere, the fchief leader, hadi the ireputafcion- of being a fearless man in a fight long before this

.war broke out — a reputation he has maintained right through to his sur-remdter. Nofc so many. month© ago, when lying wounded, 'he expressed his disgust ab the methods to which his countrymen had degenerated, '.. and' his intention of surrendering, and defied anyone to touoh him when threatened with death by the Boers if he did not come with them. Another prominent leader of the National Scouts is Andreas Cronje, own brother to the redoubtable Piet, who resisted at Paardeberg until all hope was gone. These men and others witth them are all typical Boers, and who know the, wishes and desires of their countrymen, and in taking the step they have done only represent the very general feeling- of the majority, and this being the case, it . may be confidently expected that the formation of a corps like the National Scouts will exercise an active as well as a great moral influence in bringing resistance to an end.