The More Things Change ($13.27)

I am reading an older biography of Winston Churchill, by a lifelong friend of his, Violet Bonham Carter. It was published in 1965.

Although I am not yet very far along in the book, I was taken by surprise in her discussion of the period of the English war against the Boers in South Africa, almost 100 years ago to the day.

Look at these two excerpts:

On politics: "the tone of the General Election of 1900 was set by Mr. Chamberlain with the slogan 'Every seat lost to the Government is a seat gained to the Boers....'....All the LIberals, even those who had most loyally supported the war measures, including some who had lost their sons, were lapped in a general condemnation as 'Pro-Boers'. Posters presented pictures of eminent Liberals offering tribute to [Boer] President Kruger, helping him to shoot British soldiers and haul down the Union Jack."

On war: "Lord Kitchener....had the difficult task of dealing with a mobile and elusive enemy scattered in small groups over the wide spaces of the veldt, an enemy who fought without a uniform, who was a farmer at one moment, a guerilla fighter the next, and then a farmer again..."

The more things change........