The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1896-01-13
ENGLAND, GERMBNY AND THE
TRANS V.4AL.


bune. The Boer government easily met,
defeated and captured Jameson and his
band of freeh ooters. But although the
report that foreign settlers of Johannes
burg have risen against the Beers, and
have rescued Jameson from his ca pto
is discredited, civil war, and a civil We
between two particularly resolute and
and militant factions, is still not i'm
probable. The Beers are fighters b.
birth and training, and they have a b.
ter hatred for the foreigners, and e7pe-
cially for the British, whom they we
long regarded as troublers and enemic-
of their state. The settlers, on the othe
hand, are bold and adventurous men,
gathered from every land on earth, but
mostly from the British Empire, who
have for years been restive under what
they consider the oppression OF the
Beers, and who are eager-the British
majority of them-to ayenge the disaster
of Majuba Hill, In point Of numbers
the latter doubtless have the advantage.
They form a majority of the white pop
ulation of the country. Other advan-
tages are on the side of the government.
Left to themselves to fight it out, there
fore, it might well be reckoned doubtful
which side would win.
That they will b. left alone is, how
ever, scarcely to be expected. The
British governs lent has emphatically
disavowed responsibility for and even
sympathy with Jameson's raid. So has
the Cape Colony government. So has
the British South Africa company. But
the disclaimers of the company are
scarcely credible. That corporation
must have known what was going on,
whether it sanctioned it or not. As for
the Cape government, its real head. the
prime minister, was the founder and is
still the chief spirit of the company;
and it is said he has now resigned his
portfolio, an act which will be generally
regarded as proof of his completely with
Jameson's raid. If the trouble ends
with the capture of Jameson interve =
tion may be avoided. But with PFC
longed and desperate struggle between
the Beers and the British settlers In a
country almost surrounded by British
territory, it is useless to hope that out
siders will keep their hands off. No
governmental 0mms IDS will serve to
restrain parties from focking in to the
aid of the settlers, from Zululand, from
Bechuanaland, and from the Cape itself.
In that way the sturdy Beers may be
hopelesslv outnumbered and robbed OF
the state which they founded and have
maintained at cost of SO much labor ard
blood.
Most ominous of all are the attitudes
of Great Britain herself and of Germany.
The former may be guiltless OF what has
already been done. But she would un-
questionabiy like to undo the work of
1880 and reincorporate the Transvaal
into her African Empire. She evidently
is resolved, moreover, to maintain to the
fullest extent her somewhat vague
H'suzerain rights" over tie Boer repub-
lie. The troops she is now hurrying to
Cape Town may not be intended to wage
war against President Kruger. But they
will certainly arouse suspicion of in
tended intervention, and they will be
ready at hand in case of an emergency.
Nor is it imT ssible that an eme. gen cy
calling for their use will coon arise.
The German emperor has spoken with
no uncert in sound. He promptly con-
graduated President Kruger upon his
victory over Jameson, and has since
given audience at Berlin to a represen-
tatiYe of the Boer government. He has
shown in the strongest and most direct
possible manner his sympathy with the
Beers and his disapproval of British ag-
gressions upon them. How much fur
ther he is prepared to go in the matter
it would be hazardous to conjecture
But it is evident that the British think
armed intervention by German force
within the range of possibilities.
At any rate, there is a vigorous pro-
test against British landgrabbing in
South Africa as well as in South America
1t cannot be said that German interests
are closely concerned in the Transvaal
certainly not as closely as, American in
terests in Venezuela. The nearest Ger.
man possessions are hundreds of miles
away, and German settlers in the Trans.
Vaal itself are not numerous. The Ger
man emperor, however, has made up his