The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-17

The Boer War.
1.-THE Settlement After the War in South
Africa" by NJ J. Farrelly. advocate OF
the Supreme Court at Cape Colony, has
the tnteres; which is to be found in any
book written about vexed question by a
man who is on the ground. The author
came to South Africa nearly four years
ago. with the intention Of studying its
problems, and he now presents to the
world the results of his observation. He
claims to have collected his material from
all available sources, and says in his pre-
face:
In pursuance Of my original design,
] collected their views on the eXpioita-
ton of minerals from directors of De
Beers in Kimberley. as well as from
Socialists in Pretoria. from Johannes
burg millionaires, and from workmen
in the gold mines On land tenure
have conversed with Boer command
ants holding cattle runs of twelve thou
sand acres as wei with the BIZ
woner, living OC an overlords land
with a less certain than the most pre-
carious of feudal tenures. / have en-
Quired into the prospects of missionary
enterprise, visiting the chief missions
of all the churches in Basutoland (the
greatest of the armed Kafiir reserves,
and have compared, later on, the
methods of civflizing the Kaffir adopt
ed by the Societe Evangelque de Paris
in Morija. with those followed at the
monastery Of the German Trappists in
Natal ! have noted the doubts as to
native adaptability to Christianity pre-
scented to me by white trader and KAT
fir chief. On the momentous problem
for the European race of the right way
10 deal with the kafflr-the origo ma
lorum between British and Dutch
kaffir reserve or Kaffir dispersion-the
land for the black or for the white
and generally the relation of the kaffir
TO the dominant race, in the towns and
on the veldt, on the farm and in the
mine, / have ascertained the theories
of European mine owners, of Boer
stock farmers, of British agriculturists.
of missionaries who champion the kaf-
fir almost to the verge of claiming for
him social and political equality. as
well as of home-born and Colonial
British, who approve of the kaffir's ex-
clusion from the foot-path in johann
nesburg. As far as possible | have
contrasted with these theories what the
Zulu and the Basuto. the Swat and
the Matabele. have TO say 10 one on
those matters, and on the incompre-
hensible ways of Boer and Briton and
white men in general; although the
task Of penetrating into the recesses of
the hafffr mind. | am assured by life
long observers. is one which no Euro
pean can ever feel even hopeful of hav-
Ing achieved. On the utility of permit
ton, have been favored with views so
widely divergent as. in Rhodesia those
OF the Chamber of Commerce of Bulu-
wayo. and in Durham. those of the As
sociation Of Indians CMohammedan and
Hindoo) Of Natal
The author. as may be inferred from
this paragraph of introduction, endeavors
to show not only what has happened, but
the reasons why it happened, and the
ways in which trouble might have been
and may be averted. One of the inter
esting chapters is the second, in which
the necessity of finality in the settlement
of the South African problem is consid-
cred. 1t contains some remarkably frank
statements on the subject, and at the
very beginning there is recognition of
the fact. more and more generally real
lied by the leading thinkers of the British
Empire, that the stability of that Empire
depends absolutely for its permanence
upon the righteousness and justice with
which II is governed. The author says:
THE integrity of the British Empire.
il is a truism TO say, rests on its
moral as much as or ecen more than
on its material foundation. 1t may be
thought essary-but il is MOTTO
recall truth falling in the category
OF those so well known that people
think they may be safely neglected.
It's moral foundation centres in its
prestige; its material foundation in the
extent Of its territory. IN its strength
in ornaments. in its numbers Of men
trained TO arms, in its possession OF
gold. in the dimensions of its trade.
Prestige is a word not in very good
repute IN England; a foreign word not
perfectly acclimatized. Nevertheless,
1t deserves naturalization, for, dispas-
sionately considered. il represents the
n g f'rpniTp and of IFS
governing classes within as well as
without its own borders for, primarily,
military power in men and munitions
OF war in valor and tactical skill, but
quite as much for sanity, for intelli-
Relce. for q sense Of justice in admin
istration, and for gratitude to its pub
lie servants. Macaulay points out most
truly how the chief foundation in In
dia of the permanence Of British rule
is due TO the conviction in the mind
of every Indian, OF Rajput, of Sikh,
Of Gurkha. of Bengal, of the absolute
reliance which they can place on the
plighted British word Every sworderF
OF John Company knew that his daily
ration Of rice would be paid TO him
as his veterans pension as safely as
the salary of the viceroy, al
though the veteran warrior We're
lying helpless in the most for
gotten of remote villages. Whereas,
notwithstanding the promise of noun
tains of gold from the native ruler,
no longer fit to WELD his weapon was
to be thrown out on the roadside TO
furnish n meal to the vultures. In the
word prestige must be included
reputation for qualities such as this,
the Empires gratitude and its sense
OF Justice
and all the preceding race strife be-
tween British and Dutch is attrfbut-
able 10 the fact that the reputation Of
the imperial Government not alone
with the Dutch, but with the British
descended colonist. with the Kaffir and
with the Indian immigrant, has been
precisely the reverse of its reputation
in India. No firmness. no consistency;
alternately negrophilist and anti-Kaf-
fir; alternately expansionist and Man
chester school Nothing more fixed
than the certainty of imperial change,
unless, indeed, il were the cruelty of
imperial gratitude"
In the work Of a writer who takes these
radical views and so frankly expresses
them. one may expect TO find interesting
thugs; and one does. Moreover. this
chapter is worth the reading of any
American for reasons Of patriotic and
political nature. The principle holds just
as well in the Philippines as in South
Africa. that prestige must be moral
prestige.
The author is just to the Boer without
being partial, and without failing to rec
pgliize the fact that when a small nation
with sixtcenth-cenJury views attempts TO
stop nineteenth-century civilization from
advancing, with a large nation behind It,
Ii IS most likely 10 come to grief His
picture Of President Kruger is an interest
Ing one. JIG says in part:
The President is a Lowland Hnl-
lander Of the seventeenth century in
mind, whatever may be one side his
High German descent Stubborn,