Show 7 t. t C r t r 1 I 0 I 0 9 4 I I THE THE BOER CONFERENCE E II n nI I 1 6 lit 4 44 4 I r. r 1 1 61 9 4 d y in far off South Africa on he bl bleak ak veldt o of the he Tl Transvaal where winter is beginning just as s summer i is is' about to J come here a brave 1 1 j lI Spartan p b band band- are in conference to decide whether T they shall s lb submit it to the British ter terms s of surrender H J dr or r continue a hopeless struggle which l only end in their ruin and in misery to their their- families families' What the result nay may be n no one can tell Th The pendulum of public op opinion n oll at the Cape and in n Lo Lon London Lori Jon don don has swung from confident nope of to the peace the darkest predictions and back again within the past t few fw w days Yesterday information from private Boer sources appeared to tobe be encouraging and it is probable that there is more than an in n even Jance 1 that the act action on of the Ver meeting will ling baring the war to an end fc It has been a lamentable affair from fram the begin- begin IL Such courage devotion and abil abil- the Boers ha hate liace e displayed in the course of the t war has S been been seldom equalled and n never ver excell excelled d in military hl history tory The repeated de defeats ats and dl disasters dias- dias S- S a which a small force of herder herders farmers and nd Ik frontiersmen have ha been able to inflict inflict upon the flower ower of f. f the British army all th the thay way way ay from the theof J e eck k of Natal to a 3 I t. t wonder for wonder generations to come But all this genius and heroism has been wast wast- t led The Boers never had a chance from the day dav t fliey y sent their theix- ultimatum to Great Britain In Bother circumstances it is not unlikely that their theire e t fierce defence e and the staggering co cost t in blood and money of subduing them m might have ha led the British t A Y eIJi t on e th i. i i d pe s and aban abandon p don the fight The Boers erred in iii not recognizing p I I ii the factor r dominating the British position It was the imperial need of keeping the Cape of Good Hope and ana its hinterland absolutely and reliably under British control as a ba base bas of operations for India In the tile e that event that Great Britain ever should lose control of the Suez Canal Canal Canal-a a thing not ot impossible impossible- the Cape route would be he the only one to John Bulls Bull's Indian possessions and anda loyal laral S South uth Africa would b become a vital and imperative necessity Hostile states or ot communities would impair or perhaps destroy destroy de de- de- de stroy the usefulness of South Africa a as a source of supply and a t place of mobilization and organization for operations which might be undertaken in defence defence defence de de- de- de fence of the Indian Empire On that account it has been evident to the minds of f sh statesmen esmen and professional professional professional soldiers everywhere m that k at t any cost the tue British government and people would persevere until every vestige of re t the imperial lI sovereignty sov soy had been crushed o ott ite There is not the slightest doubt that such a determination is still alive in Eng England and and should the Boers decide to keep on fighting the inevitable will result just the same A futile p postponement of fate might be s se secured cured but ultimately the fact of of 1 subjugation would be accomplished and the consequences of prolonged rol rol resistance would be far worse worse for the surviving sur sur- burghers burghers' and their wives and children than any they would now now suffer under conditions of hon honorable Ion Ion- ora le surrender We e sincerely hope that today they ther may may see this and make peace on the terms offered them I |