Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-03-07
Boer Charges Denied.

IN the Editor OF The Evening star:
1t is difficult to keep silence when one
reads such statements as those reported
to have been made by the Rev. Herman
Van BrOckhlnzen OF Pretoria, TranSvaal
and printed In your issue of Wednesday, In
which. on the authority OF his mother. he
accuses the British authorities with trying
to reach their object by letting the sick in
the camps die without medical attention.
and on his own authority says, The Brit
ish war office insists on keeping them uhe
B"ers) under guard where disease Is prev
alent."
Ii would be hard to imagine a more seri
Gus accusation. Therefore. may / ask you
to print the following extract from A.
Conan Doyle's recent book. entitled THE
page 49, and 1 presume relates to the same
person:
There was lull In the campaign of cal
umny which was made up for by the whole
hearted effort of Nj. Van Broci1hinZen. This
man was minister in Pretoria. and like
most of the Dutch ministers, red-hot pol
itician. Having given his parole to re-
strain his sentiments. he was found to be
still preaching inf1ammatory political ser
mons: so he was advised to leave and given
q passage gratis to Europe. He signaliZed
his arrival by an article printed In the In
dependence Beige, declaring, among other
statements, that 30 per cent of the Boel
women had been ruined by the British
troops. The letter was forwarded to Pre-
toria for investigation. and elected the fol
lowing unofficial comments from M. Con
stancOn the former Swiss consul In that
city. who had been present during the
whole British occupation:
IL am more than astonished," he says
Il Disguised, that Lausanne paper
should print such abominable and filthy
lies. The whole article from the beginning
to the end is nothing but pack Of lies.
and the writer. a minister Of the gospel OF
all men, ought to know better than to per-
Jure himself and his Office in the way he
does. / have lived for the last eighteen
years in or around Pretoria land know al
mcst every BOer family in the district
The two names mentioned by Broclhinzer
of women assaulted by the troops are
quite unknown to me. and are certainly not
Boer names. Many may have sym.
pathies with the Beers but In all justice
they will always give credit to the British
troops and their officers for the humane
way this war Is carried on.
With this was printed In the Gazette de
Lausanne. which instituted the inquiry. a
letter from Mr.. Gray. Presbyterian minis.
ter in Pretoria. which says: "A few days
ago / received an extract from your issue
OF November II last, entitled La Ciyiliza-
ton Angiaise en- Antique. 1t consisted
mainly of letter over the signature OF IL
d. Van Brockhinzen. Boer pastor of Pre-
toria. Allow me. sir to assure you that the
wholesale statements with regard to the
atrocities OF British soldiers contained In
that letter are a tissue Of falsehoods and
constitute an unfounded calumny which II
of warfare. 1t Is difficult to conceive the
motives that actuate the writer, but that
they have been violent enough to make him
absolutely reckless as to facts. is evil
dent"
In view of these statements leave II
TO your readers to decide on the value OF
such q witness and the yeracity Of the fore
mentioned statements. I. ID. L,