The record-union., 1896-01-08
THE STORY OF THE BOERS.
Their Settlement in South Africa
The Oppression by England.
Gallant Resistance and Triumph-The
Freebooter Jameson-The Part
England May Have Played.


history of the Beers in Africa are hours
well and Interestingly spent by Rec
ord Union readers who undertake it..
The story reads like a romance and
awakens the liveliest sympathy for that
sturdy and hardy people. They have
not always been wholly wise or wholly
right in their contention with African
tribes, nor for the matter of that with
England. But on the whole, they have
never been radically or frequently
wrong in any position they have taken
against Great Britain and in resistance
! to its grasping and aggressive spirit
In fact, the record of the contention of
that people with the English is one to
| their credit and rejecting no honor
upon the English nation.
The Beers predecessors, the Hol-
| landers, were the original settlers in
South Africa. These sturdy Dutchmen
really conquered the Cape country and
opened it up to commerce and the trade
cf the world. Their African entry was
made early in the seventeenth century,
and they were much later followed by
the English. From the very first the
latter began to crowd them, and ever
since the history of the Cape country
has been one of crowding and pushing
by English and stubborn resistance by
! the Dutch.
The latter under the influence of a
new environment, the necessity of de-
Tending themselves against savage
tribes, and by reason of pioneer hard
ships, and the morality and temperance
of their lives, developed a, race of men
stalwart, courageous, of wonderful pow
ers of endurance and remarkable PROV
ess in battle. AS sharpshooters they
are not surpassed in the world, and
their capacity for endurance in the field
/ is matched by the warriors of no peo-
pie.
Under pressure of the envy and ag-
gressiveness of the English, they went
northward and re-established them
selves, but with bitter feelings towards
the British. Scarcely had they begun
to develop a new section before
English covetousness again sought to
dominate them. They resisted, but
| finally went into the Transvaal com
try and upon its salubrious table lands
| founded a republic, but enjoyed only
a brief period of peace, for English
greed soon involved them under one
pretense or another in not only con-
tention, but war.
In 1877 England annexed Transvaal
under the plea that the Beers were not
able to resist the savage tribes on the
east and north, nor to afford the Eng
lish subjects among them adequate pro-
lection, and for one or two other in
sufficient reasons. There were some of
the Beers, however, who sided with the
English, but never very heartily. States
manship has not been able to excuse
this absorption of the Transvaal coun-
| try satisfactorily, and it is to be said
to the credit of the English that con-
| siderable home party roundly scored
| their Government for It's action.
The result of the annexation was a
war for independence by the Beers, in
which they did battle with the usurper
| in so gallant a manner as to win from
| the world loud acclaim and to excite the
admiration Of all nations. The story of
that war is a thrilling romance of pio-
neer, devout, puritanical people ear
nestly protesting against wars neces-
sity, rudely armed, with limited re-
sources and but a handful of warriors,
successfully opposing the first nation of
earth and finally whipping the very
flower of the British army and compell-
| ing the enemy to submit to terms of
| peace. The cheeks of the English peo-
pie ought to redden with shame as they
read the accounts of that indefensible
assault upon the Beers and the sound
| drubbing they gave the most brilliant
commanders of the English forces.
The outcome was the recognition of
! the independence of the Transvaal re-
| public, and a solemn promise on the
part of the British to stand by their late
enemies against all others, and never
again seek to extend their Government
over them, or strip them of any of their
| lands, promises made only to be early
violated. There were exactions, how
ever, to which the Beers submitted,
such as consent that in all foreign inter
course of a political character the me-
dunn of communication should be the
Africo-E English offices; the adjudication
by the English of all issues between the
Beers and African tribes, the establish
ment o6 an English Resident at the
TransvaaI capital, and a few other
things that gave the British a shadowy
suzerainty over the republic.
In 1884, however, the Beers succeeded
in having England waive this claim of
suzerainty and acknowledge the com
plete independence of the republic on
the latter assuming a certain indebted
ness and compensating the English for
certain losses in the war of 1877 But
| English promise was not adhered to,
and several unsuccessful attempts
were made by claims of boundary ex-
tension to encroach upon their territory
In recent years the discovery of valua-
| BILE mines of gold, silver, coal, and of
diamond deposits brought into the
Transvaal a large population, mainly
English-speaking, but with a mixture
of Germans and Portuguese. This new
| element has in it a large class of ad-
venturers and men of the world ready
| for conquest or political theft, with
others whose sole aim is acquisition of
wealth in the mines or in commerce
| These strangers are called other
| landmen, or Uitlanders. They have
come to be so strong in the community
as to demand political privileges, which.
under the Beers laws, cannot be ac-
corded them until after fifteen years
residence and admission to citizenship.
which is difficult to bring about, and is
granted only under terms that seem
harsh to the aliens. The foreign ele-
ment is not in sympathy with Boer pol
icy, simplicity and agricultural follow
ing, which discourage mineral develop
ment, and, indeed, went so far at one
time as to prohibit by legislation the
working of gold mines and diamond
placers. The Beers are a strictly moral
people, rigid in religious observance, not
seekers after great wealth, and insist
ent upon their code being observed by
/ all who dwell with them They levy