Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-10
THE TR.ANSVAAL.

Affairs look ugly as to the Boer repub- lie. Our foreign dispatches announce that President Kruger demands that the British suzerainty over the republic shall be abandoned as condition precedent 10 settlement of the disputes with the Uitlanders and their packers, the British company. The German em- peror has clearly recognized the inde- pendence of the Transvaal republic, and Great Britain will not consent to yield her proprietary rights Great Britain is evidently preparing to enforce her as- serted claims. The London Chronicle reveals the fact that war with Germany is believed to be close at hand, and also discloses the fact that the government has decided to apprise the English nation that 1t is facing a crisis. No such words have been read and no such tone used in English newspapers in many day. England and Germany, Serious Cri- sis" such is the bold head line. Then follows a Berlin dispatch asserting that the Transvaal is to throw off English suzerainty and declare her independence.
 Also" says the correspondent, "the step already taken in changing the Ger man consulate at Pretoria to consulate general will be followed, the Boersen Courier states, by the appointment of resident German minister there."
 The editor of the Chronicle, under the inspiration of the colonial office, starts his leader thus:
 'The patience and good sense of the English people stand today in need of re-enforcement We desire hasty, not to say a panic-strieken, call for the inn mediate summoning of the defensive forces of the empire. We assume that they will be ready. We expect they will be adequate. We hope that their em- ployment will not be advertised in the spirit of vulgar and timorous haste. Peace is one of the greatest of British interests, and,--ab0Ve all, peace with Amerieat- is not merely an interest, it is d first condition of honorable life for both peoples
 The editorial goes on to say that no dispute between England and America, however embittered, should be allowed to proceed to the extremity of war The leader is a column long and all of it di- rected to America.
 Then comes the treatment of the Ger man situation in second editorial. It begins:
 "The tension is so extreme at the pres ent moment that every man in these islands should feel resting upon him heavy responsibility"
 The editor quotes the vital clause of the convention with the Transvaal of 1884 in forcing suzerainty over the coun- try, and adds "No language can be plainer, and we have simply to inform the German emperor we oblde by that language as completely as we do by our intention to respect the internal liberty and independence of the South African republic"
 All of this is very serious. It lets the United States and Venezuela out of the case, but it suggests general European war with Germany and her allies on one hand and Great Britain alone on the oth- CT. It is very evident that the British lion must relinqush his sovereignty over MT. Kruger's little republic or have a struggle with Germany. The puzzle is to know what in the world Germany eX- poets to gain by taking up the quarrel for the Boers, who have long since for gotten that their ancestors came from Germany.