‘Well, I do not believe England will try such a trick. Firstly, because I believe England as a power and Englishmen as a nation have yet some honour left. Secondly, even if England did wish to forget honour and treaty obligations, not to speak of right, justice and the right of nations. I say, even if England did wish to do so, I believe she dare not do so. She dares not, because the glaring injustice would arouse the world against her. It would be an injustice more glaring than the Armenian atrocities even, for from the Turks everybody expects injustice, oppression and cruelty, while from England one would expect at least common justice. From England one would expect that she would recognise her own treaties, for England is supposed to be, and has always been believed to be, a highly civilised power. England is a Christian country, and England is governed on Christian principles. Should England forget her old traditions of fairplay, justice and honour, the rest of the world would pull her up much sharper than they would Turkey.
‘Then leaving out the rest of the world, England would have her hands fairly full in South Africa alone, should she enter upon such an unjust war. If she fights the Transvaal under present circumstances, she would have to fight the Free State, which has already called out a portion of her Burghers to be ready in case of emergency. She would have to fight the entire Afrikander nation in South Africa, including many Uitlanders, or people of foreign birth, and even many Englishman of long residence in South Africa who have learned to value self-government and deprecate Downing Street Government.’
‘Why, do you believe for a moment that the whole Afrikander nation could beat England?’
‘I believe that if England were Free, and willing to put out her full strength against the Afrikander nation, that she would conquer in the end, for every Afrikander Burgher killed would leave a vacancy in their ranks; while, if one British soldier is killed, two could always be found to take his place. But even if England is able to put out her full might against us, it would be a long and bloody struggle. For every Burgher killed three or four British soldiers would bite the dust. In his native land, and amongst his native hills and mountains, the Boer can take long odds against himself. Then the fight will be on land and not on the sea, where England is supreme. Then again the Boers will always choose their own battlefield, and you ought to know by this time that a Boer knows how to choose a battlefield to his own advantage. The British forces would only be attacked where their superior numbers and arms would be of no advantage. In short, it would be a warfare on the guerrilla system, in which the Boers excel all other nations, and by the time England had conquered the Afrikanders (if she did conquer them), which will only be when at least half of them have been killed; by the time she had conquered them, I say, thousands, if not tens of thousands, of English soldiers will have perished in the South African veld by the bullet or by starvation. Now, I come to the chief reason why England does not dare to undertake such an unjust war, or rather I should say, why the English Government does not dare to do so: And that is because the British people, being a free people, with a voice in their own Government, would never allow their Government to undertake such a cruel—to both sides—and unjust war, and have thousands of their soldiers and relatives killed, all to please a few grasping millionaires such as Rhodes and Beit, or a few conspiring, speculating attorneys, etc., who wish to obtain power as well as riches.’
Steve became quite eloquent in his earnestness.
‘Do you think, then, that England will leave everything to the Boers to do as they think fit? Will she, do you think, allow your Government to shoot down her subjects in Johannesburg, without giving them aid? or if Johannesburg surrenders to the ultimatum, unconditionally, would England allow the Boers to shoot the Reform Committee as rebels, which would probably be done if nothing was done to prevent it?’
‘If it were done, it would only be what they deserve. But it will not be done, at least, not without a fair trial. You may be sure the Government is not going to do anything rash, and sacrifice all the advantages they have obtained. Everything will be done legally and according to the laws of the country.’
‘It remains to be seen,’ said Hastings, walking out whistling, giving Steve to understand that he had had enough argument for once.