The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-11-17
SOUTH AFRICAN WAR.

SOUTH AFRICAN WAR.
ne Eaglish Troops burning the Beers
Homes.
The following letter from Arthur
Lynch, lately colonel of the Second
Irish brigade of the Boer army, recent
" appeared in the New York Tribune
Sir: The kilograms from I4ondo1
4 and South Africa in this morning..
journals have brought to head m,
) growing feelings of establishment ant
evaporation since have landed il
New York-exasperation ut the man
ner in which England, by the arts OF
suppressio veri and suggestio falsi
hoodwinks the American public; aston
ishment that nation whose very his
tory is wrapped up in the principle OF
human liberty remains apparently in
different to the stories which the Brit
lsh censor permits to leak out from
South Africa, and which furnish direct
evidence of n system of warfare not
less cruel and barbarous than that of
Weyler, which reused the American
people to overwhelming indignation.
The Transvaal is annexed without
protest from America, at period
when, according to the estimation of
the lingo "Daily Mall" of London,
the Beers have $4,000 men in the field,
with as many guns as they had at the
beginning of the war, and when a bril-
liant guerilla campaign is being car
ried on in districts separated by hun
dreds of miles under the direction of
the most capable of the Boer leaders
made famous during the war. Peace
ts announced to the world when, nc.
cording to the Daily Mail, noted for the
bitterness of its hostility to the Beers,
complaints are made in Cape Town
regarding the premature disbanding
and dispensing with the services of the
various volunteer forces" and when
the journal itself comments on the
astonishing outburst of Boer actiy-
lty," and when General Brabant is
publishing appeals to men to come
forward in the Cape to swell the ranks
Of the British irregular forces.
We are Informed that at BothavilIe
one church remains us the only edifice
to mark where the town stood; but
Bothaville is no exception. We are in
formed by the English press that wher-
ever the Beers, in course of their legiti-
mate operations, have destroyed por-
lions Of the railway lines, the English
troops have burned down all the adj
jacent villages and farms. We read
from the same sources that Boer wo-
men have been deported from Jagers-
fontein and imprisoned few miles
out of the city, and that all Beers
over fourteen years of age living be-
yond limit of ten miles from Bloem-
fontein are being surrounded and
brought into the city.
Remember that on, the African veldt
the burning of Boer farm means not
merely that extent Of material loss to
the owner-it means absolute ruin and
prospective starvation to the whole
family; it means the alternative to
the Boer Of betraying his country or
facing death by the bullet for himself,
disgrace for his women folk, hunger
leading to death for his children. And,
remember, also, that it is from the
English press, which has been feeding
the public for the last two years on
falsehoods and calumnies against the
Beers, that we are permitted to gain
even this glimpse OF the horrors of
South Africa. What must the reality
be?
read also that the report is denied
that Lord Salisbury has consented to
the release of the American prisoners
of war who fought for the Beers. This
is doubly regrettable, as, according to
a letter which 1 have received from
Ceylon, several prisoners have died
there.
The question of American interven-
ton has again and again been mooted.
1t is quite feasible for the government
Of the United States to take action in
this matter on the basis of the resolu-
tions Of The Hague conference, and hu-
mainly calls for something more than
q mere perfunctory fulfillment Of the
form Of proffered mediation. The OBJ
lection that the United States has no
concern in South Africa Is both COW.
ardly and unjust. I have pointed out
In various quarters the great and
growing trade which existed between
America and the republics Of South
Africa, and while the Stars and Stripes
now floats in so many parts of the
world remote from America, it is not
consistent with the dignity of this
country to allow her Industries to be
ousted from South Africa us the conse-
quence of war of British conquest.
The American people should rise up
and make their voices heard in ind1g-
nant protest. They should arm their
representatives with the necessary au-
thority to speak in their name in de-
manding the cessation of these Weyler-