THE IRISH EXTREMISTS AND THE BOERS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—There is a curious sidelight on the history of South Africa in Major Le Caron's " Twenty-five Years in the Secret Service" (p. 169) :— " About this time a demand was being made for a public audit of the accounts of the League (the Irish Land League). A public audit, he (Patrick Egan) said, would be the very thing
Dublin Castle would like to have, but this was out of the question He stated explicitly, in a very significant
way, that the money had been used for other purposes than those of constitutional agitation. Amongst these sources of outlay were the expenses of the Dutch officers from Amsterdam to assist the Boers in their revolt against British control in South Africa."
The italics are mine. The explanation was made evidently in the beginning of 1881, for he speaks shortly after of sitting beside General Roberts and pointing out to him various members on the night of the Government vote thanking him for the relief of Candahar. The book was published in 1892, before the Jameson Raid.—I am, Sir, &c., G. G.
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