The Irish standard., 1901-10-05
1Hs CRIME OF THE CENTURY.

THH CRIMH OF THE CENTURY.
When Kitchener succeeded Roberts
as commander-in-chief of the British
forces in South Africa 1t was with the
understanding that he could have a
free hand to do as he pleased without
any dictation from the war office. 1t
appears that he has been checked in
his career of cruelty and that he has
threatened to resign if nterfered with
in his barbarous operations. He now
demands the plenary power not only to-
perpetually Danish prisoners captured
after Sept. 15, but to hang 'rebels,
traitors and murderers'' at his sweet
will. In other words, he wants to hang
prisoners of war and show no quarter
to the brave men whom he is unable to
conquer according to the usages of civ
ilized warfare.
1t Is probable that the Tory ministry
will command Secretary Brodrick to let
Kitchener have full swing. But the
Beers will retaliate and then there will
be weeping ami wailing throughout the
British islands. Up to date, the Beers
have treated British prisoners with
Kindness; they cannot be expected to
do so if Kitchener hangs Boer prison.
ers who fall into his hands, The fact
is that no prisoners will be taken at all
by the Beers If Il war of determination
begins.
There is one English paper which
boldly condemns Kitdhener's brutality
in South Africa. 1t is Reynolds News
paper. In recent issue it says:
Sept Is will he memorable in Eng
lish history as the crownillg day of the
degradation Of our country. We have
been at war for two years, the first wal
OF amy Importance which we have
fought for centuries unaided by for
rign ally. Our enemy has been small
number of undrilled peasants. From
first to last we have put in the field
against them some 100000 troops, in
cluding the regular army and volun-
tcers, Colonial contingents, Indian sol
diers and African Kaffirs. We have
suffered an unparalleled number of
defeats. The surrenders of British
troops have been so frequent as to be-
come national disgrace. The Beers
have taken more prisoners, and lost in
finitely fewer men than ourselves. Yet,
all told, they have numbered about
$4,000, inclusive of boys and old men,
and few thousand foreigners.
Today, US our weekly comparisons
with Kitchener's lists show, we are los
ing more in killed and wounded than
the Beers. Despairing of defeating so
heroic an enemy, the laundering and
criminal government which rules in
this country by the property vote, have
commissioned the butcher of Omdur-
man to eXtcrminate the Dutch fighting
farmers from this date.
That Is game ut which two can
play. So, If citizens of the two repub-
lies, fighting for their Liberty against
piratical gold-grabbers, are slaughtered
in this way, the numerous British SOL
diers who are being continually cap
tured, may expect to meet similar
fate
The government lie factory will i'm
fnoc cno, I,, ty> n,il,,,
reprisals, which are justified by every
rule Of war. They have almost eX-
hausted their fabrications. The public
are sick of their lies, and evasions, and
coloring Of the truth. They have been
deceived too often by these despairing
efforts to mislead opinion and conceal
the TERRIBLE truth, to treat the daily
budget Of deception with other than
cold contempt
The government have been making
great fuss over small victories, where
the enemy was vastly outnumbered,
just rs Sept. Is approached. This will
deceive nobody, when we find that one
Boer commando has carried out the
threat of two years ago, and has been
actually in sight of the sea in Cape
Colony. Moreover, we continue to
hurry out men to the front, and we are
keeping the great army of 25O,OOO men
in South Africa, most of whom are
cursing the war and its authors, as the
letters which we publish from soldiers
show.
If our government Of the classes,
maddened with their defeats. humilia-
tions, and failure to end the war, now
lapse into mere barbarity, there can
he no doubt the Beers will retaliate,
and as they have always been able to
capture more prisoners than ourselves,
we lament, by anticipation, the terrible
fate which the Tories and jingoes are
preparing for our fellow-countrymen