We trust that the Government, in spite of the pre-
occupations of the war, are turning their attention to the question of the Boer prisoners, of whom, including the surrendered burghers, according to the answer given by Lord Stanley on Monday in the House of Commons, we now hold some 33,000. It is most important to know what is the real feeling of those prisoners towards the British in order to determine how best to deal with them. No doubt they do not all think alike. Some are absolutely irreconcilable. Some, again, are in all probability open to friendly influences. Of course, with a secretive people like the Boers it is very difficult to determine their attitude exactly, but by taking trouble a good deal might be done towards obtaining knowledge of the kind required for solving the problem of their future. We still adhere to the belief, and we are sustained in this view by the opinion of those who know the Boers. best, that it would be possible to raise a considerable number of mounted riflemen out of the prisoners and surrendered men who could be used in various parts of the Empire. But if that is to be done it must be done carefully and without hurry, and on well-thought-out lines.
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