The Irish standard., 1901-01-26
CRUELTY TOWARDS soER wonsN.

| ltlS UCCu CuOSCu.
CRUELTY TOWARDS DOER WOHlN.
| Some of our Anglo-Saxon exchanges
naturally try to conceal the cruelties
inflicted upon Boer women and chill
dren by order of the British comman-
der in South Africa. An esteemed con-
temporary, the Economist, of Nelson,
B. c., attempts to deny the outrages
by means of what the logicians call
'the converse fallacy of accident
which consists in arguing from spe-
cial case to general one. In recent
issue it says: "NIr. Kruger says the
British were cruel towards the Boer
women, yet he leaves his wife at Pre-
toria under the protection of the Brit
ish forces.''
The editor of the Economist, being a
man of humane instincts, is undoubt-
eddy unconscious of using material
fallacy in his paragraph, but if he re-
fleets for moment he will agree with
us that Dom Paul has no reference to
Boer women in the cities occupied by
the British. He has reference only to
Boer women on the farms, whose hus-
bands, sons and fathers were out
fighting for the preservation of the in
dependence Of their country which the
invaders are attempting to destroy
Even the English war correspondents
in South Africa make no denial of the
cruelties that are being perpetrated by
the British marauders on the unpro-
tected Boer women and children Oh the
farms and in the villages.
The burning of a Boer farm on the
African veldt and the turning out of
the family is an act of the greatest
cruelty. Wherever the Beers, in the
course of legitimate war operations,
have destroyed portions of the railway
lines, the British troops. have burned
down all the adjoining villages and
farms occupied by the women and
CAS WIN AAC SdoL W1CuOuL
food or shelter. The British officers
in their inhumanity compel the evicted
family to travel long distances afoot
to be reconcentradoed after the style Of
Weyler in Cuba, and a recent report
states that they will be placed on
short rations.
Therefore, when Mr.. Kruger said the
Boer women were cruelty treated he
said only what is true, as we will fur
ther show by the testimony of an eye
witness. OF course, he did not include
his own wife among them, because she
is in the Transvaal capital under the
protection of the British forces and
not on farm nor in a village. The
fact that she is not molested by the
magnanimous Britishers occupying
Pretoria does not lessen the validity Of
his statement regarding Boer women
in general who reside in the country
and small towns. It is an unwarrant-
able conclusion for the Canadian edi-
tor to insinuate that the Boer women
are not cruelty treated because one of
them, the wife of President Kruger,
has not been molested in Pretoria.
In order to convince him of his mis-
take we shall quote paragraph or two
from letter of Lieut.. Morrison, editor
of the ottawa Citizen, Ont, who is
or was With the Canadian troops III
South Africa. In the course of his
epistle, which we publish elsewhere at
length, he says:
bright and early we marched off.
The Canadians, as usual. were in the
advanced guard. with the Fifth Ian
GERS and two polnpoms. Col. King
commanded the advance and Gen.
Smith-Dorien the main body. During
the trek, which lasted four days, our
progress was like the old-time forays
in the highlands of Scotland, and we
moved on from valley to valley lift
ing cattle and sheep, burning, looting
and turning out the women and chill
dren to sit and weep in despair and
utter misery beside the ruins of their
once beautiful farmsteads. 1t was
the first touch of Kitchener's iron
hand-a terrible thing to witness, and
don't know that l want to see an
other trip of the sort. 1t rather
revolted the most of us. We burned
track about six miles wide through
these fertile valleys, and completely
destroyed the village of Wilpoort
and the tiourishing town of Dull
stroom. The column left trail of
fire and smoke behind it that could be
seen at Belfast. Many of the houses
We're surrounded by beautiful gardens
abloom with roses. lilies and holly
hooks. and cmbowcred in fruit trees.
and with my glasses I could see the