The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-10-13
THE SOUTH AFRICAN TROUBLE.

Apparently the British Government
have made short work of the rising In
Zululand, and there seems little danger
of the Beers causing trouble as was at
first feared. 1t will be we'll if things
take that turn, for both Beers and Zulus
are stubborn fighters, and could, II they
like, cause great annoyance TO the Brit
ish forces. English people everywhere
retain fresh memories OF the disasters
which befell the British arms some
eight or ten years ago at the hands of
these warlike aborigines and the scarcely
less truculent Dutch cOlOnists OF South
Africa, but the fact that the present
trouble has been so easily disposed OF
goes to prove that the English Power
had made itself feared and respected,
and that those who snatChed chance
victory on former occasions have no
heart to try conclusions once more with
the British forces.
The peace that was made with the
Beers after last war gave great satisfac-
ton, and caused much uneasiness to the
colonists of South Africa. They were
not led away by the glamor which IN
England and elsewhere surrounds
that peculiar people. They, being
on the spot, know something or tile
Boer characteristics, and what they
knew was the reverse of the favorable to
those people When the terms OF the
peace were concluded, large public
meetings were held in different parts of
South Africa, in which coming disaster
was anticipated as the consequence OF 1t.
In some quarters great credit was given
to the Beers for the stand they made and
the reverses they gave to the British
troops, but since the war ended certain
matters have come to light which are
calculated to entirely alter peoples opiE-
ions on this matter. 1t appears that
early in January, 1881, an officer then
in London, who had served IN the Zulu
war, and who was intimately acquainted
with the Transvaal, communicated with
! Sir Archibald Allison, the Chief OF the
| Intelligence Department, placing before
| him, to the minuteSt detail, the difficult
| ties Sir George COlley would have to
encounter if he attempted, as was pro-
| posed, to force passage into the Trans
vaal in the vicinity OF Newcastle. lie
! showed that the country was SO rugged
| and impracticable that a very few deter
mined men could hold an immensely
| superior attacking force com pletely at
| bay, and to take the ordinary baggage Of
an army, or even any baggage by such a
route was practical impossibiity. Sir
Archibald Allison having made further
! inquiries was satisfied this officer knew
what he was talking about, and accepted
| the alternative route suggested by him.
| This route lay through an easy country,
| and had it been adopted there would
| have been very different ending to that
| campaign. Unfortunately, although the
! chief of the Intelligence Department. &C
cepted and strongly urged it, the Gov
| eminent were overruled by Sir Garnet
| Wolseley, and the result was exactly &c
predicted by the officer.
! DR.. Livingstone, the great missionary
and explorer, spent some time In the
! Boer country attempting to Chrlstianize
the natives, and in his Life and Dis
| coveries" the Beers are exhibited in an
unpleasant light. They make slaves OF
! the native population, and hunt and cap
| ture them in the most cruel manner.
| The Beers love of slavery and Living
! stones anti-slavery teachings soon
brought them to loggerheads, and event
ually they made a raid on his station,
killing u number of men, and carrying
| off two hundred school children into
slavery. They sacked Livingstone s
house, destroying all his books and
papers, together with his medicines,
and they also destroyed a store which
was used by English travellers who
frequently passed that way on shoot
ing expeditions, and who took adj
vantage of this supposed safe place
to deposit their supplies, etc. Such are
the people who are the rivals of the Eng
lish in the colonization of South Africa.
While it is matter for congratulation
that their President has given peaceful
assurances at the present time, it must
be evident that there can never be real
amity between the English and Dutch
| in South Africa until the latter change
! their methods of colonization, and espe-
! cially modify their brutal treatment Of
the native races Star.