God Save the Boer: Irish American Catholics and the South African War, 1899-1902

They tell us the Boers must be defeated in the interests of civilization, that they are an uncivilized race. Why is that said of them? Is it because they carry on an effective government at the lowest rate of taxation known? Is it because in their country, education is universal; drunkedness is unknown; divorce doesn't exist; and every man lives with his own wife? I can understand a country owning a smart set thinking that nation uncivilized which doesn't support a divorce court. I would not deny to that set the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of smartness; but I would have them see that though the Boers have not evening dress, they have evening prayers, and though they fear God, the fear of man is not in them.(1)