The Washington times., 1902-02-23
The Boer War.

! Dr.. Conan Doyle, author of THE Great
| Boer War" has supplemented that work,
which is far and away the best yet pub
lished on the subject, with another en-
titled "The War in South Africa: It,
Cause and Conduct"
This is a sort of pendant to the more
elaborate history. DR.. Doyle begins with
a brief statement of the causes leading
to the South African difficulty. He frank
ly admits that mistakes were made by
the British Government in dealing witt,
the Beers. particularly in the tragedy of
Slagter's Mex, to which he refers in
these terms:
The making OF political martyrs is
the last insanity of Governments"
He explains, however. that much of tho
unpoprlarlty of The British Government
with the Boers was due to the fact that it
assumed the thankless role of protecting
the nation, as when a people in close con-
tact with savage race has already set
tied its relations with that race it pre-
fers to see the higher duty for itself
rather than have it pointed out by a
foreign state.
One of the characteristics OF DR.. Conan
Doyle is his comparative impartiality o:
attitude. He showed this in his history
published last year and he shows it now
In the first chapter of his present work
he says:
at is difficult to reach that height of
rhilosophic detachment which enables the
historian to deal absolutely impartially
where his own country is party to the
quarrel But at least We may allow that
there is a case for our adversary. Our
annexation of Natal had been by nc
we who first broke that bloodthirsty Zulu
power which threw its shadow across the
country. 1t was hard, after such trials
and such exploits, to turn their backs
upon the fertile land which they had con-
quered. and to return TO the bare pas
lures of the upland veldt. They carried
out of Natal a heavy sense of Injury,
with them ever since"
The points taken up by DR.. Doyle are,
first, the cause of quarrel and the begin
ming of hostilities, which are already IA
miliar to the public through repeated dis
cussions; then the negotiations for peace.
and finally. several matters which. to the
American mind are still unsettled, name
ly, the burning of farms. the concentra-
ton camps. the alleged brutality OF Brit;
ish soldiers. and the general conduct of
the war. In regard to the farm burning,
which has aroused such widespread in
dignation among the Boer sympathizers,
DR.. Doyle quotes Lord Roberts cor
respondence on the subject. His message
to De Wet, August 3, 1900, explains itself
'Lattcrly many of my soldiers have
been shot from farm houses over which
the white flag has been flying. the railway
and telegraph lines have been cut. and
trains wrecked. | have therefore found it
necessary, after warning your honors. to
customs of war to put an end to these and
similar acts, and have burned down the
farm houses at or near which such deeds
have been perpetrated. This shall con-
tinue to do whenever l consider the coca
sion demands it,"
As to the concentration camps which
have aroused still more Indignation, DR..
Doyle has some rather newer things to
say. He makes the following statement OF
the problem:
When considerable districts of the
country were cleaned of food in order to