South African bullying
Sir: An oblique example of what your Leader labelled the South African school of bullying is contained in Mr Stanworth's letter in the same issue (24 August) from the Cape. When he writes pejoratively of the rout rather than the defeat of the 17th Lancers, he is clearly inspired not by any genuine concern for poor Brinsley Sher- idan, but by the triumphalism that infects the entire outlook of white South Africa, and that does much to explain the mess they are in. Not long ago, for instance, foreign minister Pik Botha alluded to the Second Boer War as though his side had won. May I suggest that the next time the Queenstown Historical Society want an old battlefield to poke around they betake themselves to, say, Elandslaagte, Diamond Hill, Paardeberg, Kimberley, Wepener, or Pieter's Hill where inter aids the Boers did not beat anybody. If these places are not within easy reach, the journey will never- theless be worth while to bring our histo- rians into closer touch with historical reali- ties.
R. J. Robson
Mill Cottage, Blacksmiths Road, Alderton, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
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