The Hawaiian gazette., 1888-10-16
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 ItI will be well If things
take that turn, for both Beers and Zulus
are stubborn fighters, and could, if 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 of the
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 it.
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 opin-
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. He
showed that the country was so rugged
and impracticable that very few deter
mined men could hold an immensely
superior attacking force completely at
bay, and to take the ordinary baggage of
an army, or even any baggage by such
route was practical impossibility. 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 a 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 as
predicted by the officer.
DIR. Livingstone, the great missionary
and explorer, spent some time in the
Boer country attempting to Christianize
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 raid on his station, |
killing 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
fish 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 Auckland Star.