“If the publication of the truth will in some measure cause Australians, as a people, to take less on trust where their honour is concerned, and in future to demand the most searching enquiries and obtain definite proof before accepting the misdeeds of others as their own, then this record of an eventful experience will not have been written in vain.”
These words were penned by George Witton in 1904 in the introduction to his book, “Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers”. Witton was a lieutenant in the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Boer War in South Africa. He was sentenced to death for murder after the shooting of nine Boer prisoners. He was subsequently reprieved by Lieutenant-General Viscount Kitchener on the grounds that he was following the orders of his higher-ranking officers – Lieutenants Peter Handcock and Harry "Breaker" Morant, who were court martialled with him. Morant and Handcock, were both executed by firing squad on 27 February 1902, Witton’s sentence was commuted to life in prison.
Witton was one of four Australian officers charged by the British Army. The case of Witton, Handcock and Morant eventually provoked controversy in Australia and sparked a diplomatic incident. Witton’s main assertion, from prison and later in his book, was that the British authorities in South Africa charged, court-martialled and convicted he and the others for political reasons. Their trial was a kangaroo court with a predetermined expedient outcome. The swift execution of Handcock and Morant was to cover up a controversial and very secret “no prisoners” policy that was instituted by Kitchener, himself. The murder of Boers under this “policy” was leaked by disaffected members of Witton’s regiment, and it blew up in the faces of the British who were trying to broker a peace treaty with the Boers. This obviously complicated things. And so, throwing Witton, Handcock and Morant under the proverbial bus, Lord Kitchener chose ruthless expediency and appeasement that enabled him to secure the Treaty of Vereeniging on May 31, 1902.
Witton was embittered over the way he and his fellows were betrayed by Kitchener and the British Government. They were scapegoats for an illegal policy carried out regularly by British soldiers every week at the behest of high command, but which was publicly and embarrassingly exposed. But Witton was even more angry with the print media of the day who colluded with the British and Australian governments to suppress the truth. Witton got his book written back in Australia after he was released from prison (without pardon) and it was published in 1907. But it was virtually unobtainable because of sustained pressure by the British Government on the Australian Government to suppress its distribution. Only seven or so copies were rescued by Witton’s family. It eventually made the light of day with a new publisher in 1982 – forty years after Witton’s death.
This is context for the quotation above from the introduction to Witton’s book. Witton’s anger and frustration towards the media stemmed from the fact that the evidence and truth were glaringly there for all to see at the time, but the press chose to publish the government’s official line. They failed in their duty as the fourth estate (the free press) to search out the truth and make it available to everyone without fear or favour. With that magnificently accurate analytical instrument called the “retrospectoscope” the facts and the truth can now be seen and adjudged objectively.
The issue of truthful, factual reporting raised by Witton in his introduction is timely. Well, actually, it is kind of prophetic. What was true in his day is (still) true in ours. Today in our nation we do not have a media – print or digital – that is prepared to fiercely and objectively chase down and search out the truth based on facts. Something that was, perhaps, beginning to change in Witton’s experience of the press, let’s call it bias, has now become a complete torrent of blatant indoctrination a lot of the time. The media (with few exceptions) continue to push what their owners, political friends and elites want pushed regardless of whether it is true, or not. The issue is influence that shapes society. Now, I’m not confusing this with opinion. I have no objection to someone’s “opinion piece” especially when they clearly communicate that “this is my opinion”. But what is dangerous and unacceptable today in our nation is a media industry that continues to publish opinion and deception as factual reporting. Whether this is about climate change, gender ideologies, the war in Gaza or politics, facts and truth are now blatantly ignored or creatively omitted – and there is no right of reply for the dissenter, only career destroying cancellation.
To be a bit fair, the media don’t create all the stories and all of the opinions, but they do aid and abet those whose very socialist left, neo-Marxist, anti-Christian, or woke ideologies are the steady diet of consumers. And consumers have a hard time knowing what’s what.
What of the future? How do we live in a world like this? Well, several things. First, we need to be very, very discerning – in a spiritual way. We need to be able to spot at 50 metres any kind of deception or false ideology being pushed our way as truth. The spiritual person knows how to do this, more and more. It is a spiritual skill, an art, that we need to work at, and we can do this because we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16 (NLT)
For, “Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach Him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
Yes, we have the capacity to sense and know God’s perspective on anything – through the Word and His Spirit indwelling us. We have not been left defenceless! Second, we must test everything we hear and take captive anything that refuses to bow the knee to Jesus. Both apostles John and Paul speak of this.
1 John 4:1 (NLT)
“Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.”
And this is not limited to discerning false Gospels and prophets, either. It’s about any message and any messenger. We need to get better at this! Paul warned about uncritical acceptance of anything that tries to come into our minds and lodge there:
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Folks, we have tools and capacities the unregenerate person does not have. God’s people should be the wisest, most discerning people on the planet. And we need to speak up - and to those in leadership - when that is necessary. If we don’t do this, who will? We should, in grace and truth, be prepared to ask searching questions – and keep doing so - and insist on accountability from those in authority. As Witton wrote, we must in future be prepared to
“… demand the most searching enquiries and obtain definite proof before accepting the misdeeds of others as their (our) own …”
This is a major responsibility for God’s people. And so, we write letters to our local members of parliament, and we call them. If we don’t they assume we’re happy with the status quo. That is not what priests do. Think on these things. Someone could become a scapegoat, or corruption will continue unchecked and become normal, and truth will be allowed to be whatever whomever is in charge wants it to be – if we don’t act.
Ps Milton
[Sources: “Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers” by George Witton (1982); Wikipedia; Australian War Memorial website (https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/A04434)]