We are glad to note the reissue in book form
of the remarkable series of articles on the war in South Africa contributed by M. Tallichet and M. Villarais to the Bibliothique Universelle of Lausanne. We have commented from time to time on the articles as they have appeared, and can only repeat that we know of no more philosophical or dispassionate statement of the British case than that which they embody. In a brief preface M. Talli- chet comments on the unprecedented character of the struggle, and of the misrepresentations of which it was made the subject on the Continent. The Boers, whose aspirations could only be gratified by war, and who declared war, have been commonly regarded as acting entirely on the defensive. They were com- pared to Leonidas and his three hundred, though for a consider- able period of the war their military force was manifestly sdperior. And finally, while fighting for the maintenance of slavery, they were commonly regarded as the champions of freedoni. • The Times correspondent in Paris lately paid a well-deserved tribute to M. Tallichet and his collaborator for the moral courage which inspired them to brave public obloquy in the defence of an unpopular cause. But he is hardly correct in saying that M. Tallichet and M. Yves Guyot were "practically the only well- known writers in the French language who consistently defended the British standpoint throughout the war." That is to overlook the admirable services also rendered by another distinguished Swiss man of letters, M. Naville.
Previous page
