Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1890-03-28
NO. ID.
TIfE DETCH BOERN.
The Life mud Characteristic Of mn In
trrestiuR peoDIe

The Life nnd Characteristic Of mn In-
tcresiinE People.
Rev. Lewis Grout Of West Brattleboro
contributes TO the March number of IN.
Missionary Review an article ON ,'Tbe
Beers and Missions in which much infor.
nation Of general interest is given in re
gard to the sturdy and liberty loving race
OF Dutch farmers who inhabit the south of
Africa and have built up there nationali-
ty OF their own. The cape of Good Hone
was discovered in 1856 and thus named by
the king Of Portugal because. as he said il
gave promise of finding a good way to In
dia. In 1852 the Dutch East India com
pany established colony on the cape. made
up Of sturdy Hollanders and Huguenots
and from this beginning the race and ma
tionality of Beers has grown up. Mr..
Grout says
In their general appearance, domestic
me and common pursuits, the Beers are
tall, stout, strong, hospitable and kind.
frank and courteous sometimes surlv aud
phlegmatic. Their farms and their fami.
lies are large, the former numbering from
six to ten thousand acres of land. the lat.
ter from six to dozen children. to saw
nothing of servants Their wealth con
slsts OF their lands, cattle, sheep and horses.
Where they have been able to settle down
to live undisturbed for few generations.
they are not unlike the average New Eng
land farmer IN the general ordering of their
AFFAIRS. When they are given or driven
10 constant change, the wide open field is
their home, and the large tented wagon.
usually drawn by twelve or fourteen oxen.
Is their house, where they sleep at night.
and in which the women and children rid.
by day, while the men in their saddles are
out with their rifles for the game they need
for the larder. IL one thinks his stay in a
place may be for "a few months or wears.
he builds cheap waffle and dab house
and covers it with thatch for himself and
family, hovel for his horses, and pen
Tor his cattle encloses few acres of land
for a garden, and plants out a few fruit
trees, and eventually, if not too much an
noyed by the natives, or forcibv ousted by
the English, he comes to find he has per
manent home
But the civil and political career and ex
perlences OF the Beers have been full of
variety and trial. The original settlement
went on to grow till it came to number fftv
thousand square miles of territory. when.
i'll 1893, the English came in and took nos
session, held it till 1906, then gave it back
but recovered it again in 1878 since which
time it has continued to be All English col
ony, much to the disgust and grief of the
Dutch. The peculiar views of the Beers
IN respect 10 the natural rights Of the ma
tives, the frequent encrouchments of the
former upon the territory of the latter.
and the consequent strife between the two
races, all went 10 make the life of each for
many years one of almost constant fear
and unrest The Beers could never for
give the English for taking from them
what they claimed as their own country :
and, being accustomed to take and hold
many of the natives as slaves or. as the
Dutch said as apprentices. hen. in 1885 7.
the English abolished the system. the al
ready disgusted Dutch became highly in
dignant. But the more considerate still re-
malned in the colony and made the best of
1t, while great numbers of them withdrew
for good. Not less than five or six thou
sand of them, heads of families, gave up
their big farms, gathered up their more
valuable and portable effects, took their
families, cattle, sheep and horses, their Bi.
hles and their guns, inspanned their big
wagons, called the ugliest OK in the team
by the opprobious name of England. - set
their faces toward the North Pole. and
Journeyed on till they crossed the Orange
river, the northern limit of English rule.
and there took up an abode wherever they
could find green grass and good water.
From this, in year or two 1887, thou
sand of them inspanned their wagons
again, took their families, cattle and
other effects, followed up the Orange river
and came down into Natal, hoping to make
that beautiful country a new Netherlands,
and there find rest and peace. But after
two years of war with Zulus, and then two
more of war with the English the land of
their delight became British colony.
Again, a few of the more considerate of
them remained and tried to make the best
of 1t but great numbers of them with
drew, went back over the mountain re-
joined their fellows, and established the
Orange River Free State and the Transyaal
Republic, with an alleged promise from the
English that they should not be disturbed.
But, under the So called Lingo policy" of
the British government a few wears since.
this promise, which the Dutch declare to
have been plain and positive, seems to have
been forgotten and an attempt was made,
or at least conceived, to deprive the Dutch
of their independence and establish a grand
Anglo African confederacv which should
embrace all South Africa. This led to a
war between the English and the Dutch,
and also with the Zulus. But in this the
Dutch had the best of it, and are still pre-
serving their independence.
The Free State embraces about 80. 900
square miles, and has population of about
l3O, 900, of whom the whites number about
$4,000. The Transvaal now called the
South African Republic embraces about
81, 900 square miles and has a population
OF about 800, 900, of whom about one-sixth
are white, and of these about three fourths
are Dutch. The eastern frontier of the
state is about forty miles from Delogoa
bay. A railway to connect the capital,
Pretoria, with the bay is nearly completed.
Between this state and St Lucia bay the
Beers have formed what they call the New
Republic" of about 10000 square miles.
This new state has already negotiated a
treaty with the Transvaal, by the terms of
which the two are TO form themselves into
one state, to be incorporated under the
name of the District of Vryheid. Many
of the English. both at home aud in South
Africa, especially in Natal, have been urg-
ing and hoping that British rule might he
pushed northward, so as TO take in Zulu
land, and what was otherwise soon likely
to be known as the New Republic :" or
even that the scheme of grand Anglo Af-
rican republic might yet be realized at an
early date. But the latest utterance and
phase of the imperial policy ON these points
are that Mr.. Gladstone emphatically repu-
dates any intention TO interfere in Zulu af-
fairs that the home government is not
TO adopt toward the Boer settlers
in the New Republic district hostile or
aggressive attitude and that England es-
pecially desires TO maintain friendly and
cordial relations with the Transvaal aud
the Orange Free State. The more consid-
crate and humane course of the Boer
towards the native is taking away one con
pretext Of the British govern
ment in former years for interfering with
Dutch rule.
An encouraging account is given of the
improved relations which are growing to
exist between the Beers and the native At
rican tribes and of the missionary work
which is being carried on by means of the
Boer Farm Missions"
He Wanted Tive Doses,
A New York correspondent tells how