IS THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA ONLY A WHITE MAN ' S
WAR P [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sia,—Mr. Schreiner has been trying to make out that the South African native is as well treated by the Boer as by the Englishman, if not better. I am indeed fully convinced that the coloured man is worse treated in British South Africa than in our West Indies,—precisely because of the prevalence of the Dutch spirit. In the West Indies the coloured man is admitted to local representative bodies (it will be remem- bered that Gordon, whom Governor Eyre put to death, was a coloured Member of the Jamaica Assembly); marriages between white and coloured are not altogether infrequent,—I know a worthy coloured lady whose white husband was the highest official under the Governor in one of the smaller islands, and who, when he replaced the Governor in case of the latter's absence, has presided with him at Government House for months at a time. But the Dutch spirit towards the black man is essentially that of the slaveholder, and finds its full expression in the 9th article of the Transvaal Grondwet or fundamental law. "The people shall not permit any equality of coloured persons with white inhabitants, neither in the Church nor in the State,"—a provision which should from the first have forbidden all recognition by England of this narrow white oligarchy, masquerading under the name of Republic. It is because we have pandered to this slave- holding spirit that the present war has come upon us, and therefore it makes me shudder when I see this war treated openly as being only " a white man's war," as if its only aim were the establishment of "equality amongst white men." If it be that—if it be only a straggle between Englishmen and Dutch as to who shall lord it over the coloured races—who- ever wins, the day of retribution will surely await the victor. If it be on our side one for the sake of humanity, for the gradual raising of "all sorts and conditions of men " in South Africa to the fall rights of self-governing manhood, then God's blessing will be upon us. You say that the refusal to place in South Africa "a dark army more numerous than the white adults of the two Boer Republics, and as obedient and orderly as any soldiers born within these islands," is "right." But if the war be not one merely for the supremacy of one white race over another, I cannot conceive why the aid of men of all races and colours should not have been accepted and:encouraged; why the blood of men of European race alone should have been allowed to be shed; why Sikhs and Ghoorkas, Indians in South Africa, Maoris, Jamaica and Trinidad negroes, should not have stood shoulder to shoulder with our own countrymen in the fight for humanity ; above all, why the most civilised among the South African natives—Basutos, Bechuanas, Zulus, as well as those "Cape Boys," of whom the Rev. Mr. Bovill writes that their " intelligence and education is equal to that of the average Boer "—should not have been disciplined to join in the struggle, just as in the American Civil War—with which our present warfare in South Africa has so many analogies— the emancipated slaves were disciplined and sent to battle, earning an excellent record by their bravery. To let loose African savages upon the Boer would be as criminal as was the employment of Red Indians in our American war of the last century ; but to spare English blood by giving arms, under proper conditions, to those who are far more vitally interested in the struggle than Englishmen appears to me a duty. And the bringing together on South African soil of men of as many races as possible, living under the sway of out• Queen, who offer their services on its behalf, would, it seems to me, be the grandest moral triumph that our country has ever achieved. And it would be far better to take this step voluntarily now than to wait till we are forced to it which we may be yet. Let it be observed, on the one hand, that the Boers have not scrupled to arm unfortunate natives and put them in the forefront as buffers; on the other, that the true hero of the war, Baden-Powell, has been com- pelled to accept the armed aid of the Barotse—if I mistake not, a race far inferior in point of civilisation to those which I have before named—whilst it has become a question how much longer we shall be able to restrain the Basutos from avenging themselves upon Boer plunderers. For myself, I consider that the coloured man of South Africa has a rigid to fight those who come into his country to declare as a funda- mental principle of their policy in the land whioh they have taken from him the inequality of coloured persons with white inhabitants " in Church and State," and that our only right over him in this war is so to discipline and train him as to prevent him from misusing his own.—I am, Sir, &c., J. M. LUDLOW.
[We agree with our correspondent that the attitude of the Dutch towards the natives of South Africa has not only been bad per se, but has had a bad influence on British South Africans. We also agree with him in desiring to see the black population fairly, humanely, and kindly treated. We do not, however, think that good results can be obtained by letting the natives share in the work of government—look at the results in the Southern States — and we most strongly deprecate the use of natives in the present war.— E D. Spectator.]
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