The South-African crisis - pagina 59

!

THE SOUTH-ArRICAN

think,

the

kind

oi

CRISIS.

civilization

whose

blessings

a the morahsts of London wish to spread amongst in people whom Mr. Gibson Bowles described, even the English

Parliament, as

Godfearing people."

"A

sturdy, brave, simple,

0-

Certainly the civiUzation which one meets with in that the better circles of London is very superior to

Boers of the Boers, but in respect of national morals the Again, how yield the palm to no European nation.

can the

disregard the connection always existing between form of civilization and climate, nature of the

we

country,

and habitual occupations which everywhere

exercise

their

influence?

What

a difference there

is

Montenegro and Italy, and even in Italy between the great cities and the valleys of the Alps The Boers have already made astonishing progress and they will still advance. Who then has the right to between

impose upon them methods of enUgUened development? Hothouse xjlants do not thrive on mountain ranges; and what would the Boers have gained if a forced process

of

evolution

had endowed

them with

vices

which their character would not have been strong enough to resist? I do not apprehend that their development has by any means been too slow: I fear, on the contrary, that it is going on too quickly. But, in any case, to win over a people to your

must preach to them by example and that is precisely what England has not done, either in her diplomatic struggle at Pretoria and Bloemfontein

civiUzation you

1)

Acts of Parliament

189'J p. 776.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen