THE BOER WAR.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 48, 30 November 1899, Page 4

THE BOER WAR.

LADYSMITH. The following description of Ladyemith will be of interest at the present time. Ladyemith is situated on the eastern side of a range of low hills which run in a northerly direction towards Glencoe and' the northerly towns. This range does not carry any other vegetation than grass and low thorn bushes ; excellent Cover, however, is afforded skirmishers by large boulders of W kind of ironstone which are liberally strewn about the hillsides and: crests. A gorge through the hills just above Ladysmith gives passage to the Klip River, which flows between the town and the hills in a southward direction, until it oroeses the road which leads from Ladysmith south and west, when it turns sharply and runs n'ort^. to a point about opposite the gorge before mentioned, whence 'its course is eastward. This has the effect of giving the town a horses shoe form, the railway line passing on the east* side of the river,J and the station being situated at the N.E. end of the town, immediately beyond the bridge by which the river is crossed. > ' 1 The town is laid off in squares, but there iffreaUy-onte street only of any importance, running north and' south, and' this crosses the river at the bend of the horseshoe, and the road then trends westward and crosses the hills, after' which it branches southward towards Dolenso and westward towards Van Reenan's and otter passes. After crossing the hills, which are three-quarters of W mjile to a mile across, the country to the westward, extending towards the Drakenberg mountains, is of a rolling nature, the isolated hills (found all over South Africa), termed 'kopjes,' being dotted ahnnf.. ' ' '• lJ - I ' l

The road north from Ladysmithto Elands Laagte (which, by the way, means the slaughtering place of elands, a kind of deer) and beyond, follows the hills along their eastern slopes, and the country JsMs eastward is of the rolling nature before referred to, till low hffis are met again at a distance of from three to Bix miles. From this' aocount it will appear that the crest of the range above Ladysmith overlooks the country east and west for a considerable distance. The Tugela river, which, being in flood, has been mentioned as a barrier to the passage of the Free Staters south, is rapid and runs between high banks, but does not long remain swollen, arid at other times may be easily crossed. There are excellent roads leading from Van Reenan's and Bezuindenhout's passes towards Coleneo and Estcourt, and the country is open, so that the Free Staters should have little trouble in advancing within striking range of these towns. However, by doing so, they would be a long way from their base, and in the event of reinforcements arriving quiokly would be in danger of being nipped between General White's troops and the new arrivals. Colenso is situated on a flat on the south bank of the Tugela, and is entirely dominated by higher ground on the northern bank, which is precipitous. PRESIDENT KBUGEB. Mr. Lecky's appreciation of President Kruger at the opening meeting of the College Historical Society in the University of Dublin, three years ago, is of interest at the present moment. He said of the President of the Transvaal Republic : ' I can speak of him with some personal knowledge. He has been more than once in my house, and I have come in contact with several men who have known him well. In many respects he resembles strikingly the stern Puritan warrior of the Commonwealth — a strong, stubborn man, with indomitable courage and resolution, with very little tinge of cultivation, but with a rare and natural shrewdness in judging men and events, he impresses all who come in contact with him with the extraordinary force of his nature. He is the father of no less than seventeen children. He belongs to a sect called the Doppers, which is derived from a Dutch word for an extinguisher, because they are desirous of extinguishing all novelties since the Synod of Dorp. Ardently religious, he is said to believe as strongly as Wesley in a direct personal inspiration guiding him in his acts. He is a great hunter of the most savage wild beasts. One finger is wanting on one of his hands : it was broken in a hunting expedition, and it is a characteristic trait that he then and there amputated it himself. In a semi-regal position, and with even more than regal power, he lives the life of a peasant, and although, I believe, an essentially just, wise, and strong man, he has all his countrymen's dread of an immigration of an alien element, and all their dislike and suspicion of an industrial and mining community.' A SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ON THE CAUSE OP THE WAB. From time to time we have given the opinions of persons holding diametrically opposite views on the Transvaal question. We now place before our readers the opinion of Mr. Brenton, a son of ex- Alderman Brenton, of Broken Hill, South Australia, who has just returned from the Transvaal, which he left about the end of September. He is positive that war was brought about by the capitalists and Jingoes. Of the 40,000 or so white men employed on the Rand — there are sixty miles of reef, he says — a vote would show that the majority are as emphatic and of the same opinion as himself. ' The franchise,' he added ; ' that was all nonsense. You remember that petition with twenty-one thousand odd signatures sent to Queen Victoria, asking her to intervene on behalf of the Uitlanders. Most of those signatures were bought at a shilling a piece. I suppose my name is on that petition, but I never placed it there. I knew, say, 500 men on the field, buc I never met a man who had signed it. Canvassers were sent round by some capitalists, and a shilling was the price of a signature. I knew of a case where a man sat down and wrote twelve signatures of men whose names he knew. The men don't want the franchise. If they had it they would not use it. Those who have been on the field seven years aud can get it don't trouble themselves to get it. They are quite satisfied with things as they are. I tell you,' he added, • the Transvaal is all right for the miner. See how independent he can be ! Sixty miles of reef, and companies all along the reef. If a miner leaves one company, all he has to do is to go to the next one.' Asked why the mining companies and capitalists detired war when so many of the workers were opposed to it, Mr. Brenton replied : * There are about 100,000 Kaffirs employed on the Rand mines, but under Boer laws. These Kaffir workmen will never be a serious menace to white workmen, but under English rule it is fearsd that things will be different. A few miles from Pretoria there is another goldfield said to be as extensive and fully as rich as the Rand. Kruger was requested to proclaim a goldfield. He refused, saying he had already one— Johannesburg — and that had caused enough agitation for him.' The newspaper accounts of Boer brutality and incivility to the Uitlanders were scouted by Mr. Brenton. It was admitted that they treat their Kaffir servants barbarously ; but some of the Englishmen were jußt as bad, and it was no uncommon thing to see Englishmen belting the Kaffirs with drills. Hundreds of refugees were leaving Johannesburg at the same time as he did ; and these, according to tt^cables, were cruelly ill-used by the Boers. He was there, yet saw none of the ill-usage. Even at the time of the Jameson raid the Boers were quite civil to the English. They knew that the workers were not re«ponsible for the trouble. When a Boer entered a saloon he usually raised his hat in salutation to any Englishman who might be present. An incident illustrating the feelings of the Boers towards the various personages who are at present looming large in the eyes of the world was related by Mr. Brenton. Two Hollanders entered a saloon. A drunken cousin Jack called for three cheers for the Queen. The Hollanders lifted their hats. Another cousin Jack called for three cheers for Joe Chamberlain, and there was trouble on the instant. Cecil Rhodes and Chamberlain, Mr. Brenton asserts, are blamed for the whole of the present trouble.

VABIOUS.

The Rev. John Ferguson, preaching recently at St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Sydney, said the Transvaal war had to a great extent been brought about by a false sense of pride through the assertion that the prestige of Great Britain was at stake ; by the lust of gold and territory ; by the spirit of revenge, and the uncharitable construction put upon the actions of the Boers. All these motives were entirely opposed to the teachings of Christ He urged that it would have been better if the British colonies had sent memorials in favour of universal peace to the late Peace Congress, or devoted the money now being spent in sending troops to a fund for the relief of all the widows and children who lost breadwinners through the war.

Major-General Sir Francis Clery, who has been appointed to command one of the divisions against the Boers, is a Catholic. The gallant soldier is the author of several excellent works on military tactics.