New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-19
THE ROER REPUBLICS.

A considerable ripple was created In South
African politics the other day by the announce
ment that some sort of union had been formed
between the South African Republic-otherwise
the Transvaal-and the Orange Free State
There were notions eXtant that the two Boer
republics had been merged into one for better
resistance TO British aggression. These, 1t Is
scarcely necessary to say, were quite unbound
ed The TranSvaal doubtless is, and long has
BEEN eager for such union; a sort Of lying down
Of the lion and the lamb together, the Orange
lamb snugly tucked away inside the Transvaal
lion But the Orange Free State has never con-
sented and probably never will consent, to such
an arrangement In fact, the present compiled
tjon of affairs between the Transvaal and Great
Britain greatly increases the improba blity Of
such consolidation. What has really happened
appears to be simply this: The two Presidents
have had a meeting after the fashion of Euro
pean Emperors have talked matters over be-
tween whiffs on big Dutch pipes, and have
agreed that more intimate commercial and po-
lnical relations between their States will be
good for both. That is all Probably their
plans will be executed; provided the Transvaal
steers clear of trouble with England. But there
will be nothing like organic union, nor even fed
Grafton.
For Mr. Martin Teunis Steyn, now and for
some time President Of the Orange Free State.
is entirely too clever a man to be thus en-
trapped He is one of the finest products Of the
African Dutch race in its best estate. He haS
all of loom Pauls" shrewdness and rugged in
dependence. and lie has in addition n generous
culture and a progressive spirit utterly beyond
the ken Of the Transvaal autocrat. He sees
Co nina
independent i. will have an honorable rank
among South African commonwealth. 1t may
never become great and powerful but it will be
prosperous and respectable. But joined to the
1ransvaal it would be swallowed up and lost
forever, a mere province Of what may continue
to be a half-cvized republic, or may become
itself mere province of the British Empire.
For the Transvaa! has nearly three times the
area and four times the population of the Or
ange Free State and, since the latter let the
diamond region go to Cape Colony, hundred
or thousand times the mineral wealth. Where
fore the union would mean that the Orange Free
State would be governed at Pretoria by the
1ransvaal Beers. and Bloemfontein would be-
come a mere provincial town and the Orange
burghers would have mo influence with the
administration
Moreover, TIE tuISultucu pIoSlCoSlNc
Afrikanders of the Orange Free State have no
mind TO be driven into Paul Kriiger's quarrel
with Great Britain They realize that the latter
is, and will probably remain, the dominant
power in South Africa, and they see that their
best policy Is to cultivate amcable relations
with it. Indeed they have every reason TO do So
Their State was founded by a British officer.
Their independence was given to them by the
British Government. When, forty-three years
ago, they wanted to come under the British
flag as q British colony, the British Government
declined to take them, but insisted upon their re-
tanning their Independent sovereignty. And to-
day they know that Great Britain, whose terri
tory so largely encompasses theirs, respects
their independence and will do nothing to i'm
pair It. So 1t may be taken as assured that they
Will not make themselves a mere appendix to the
Transvaal in its vain hostility to British pre-
dominance in Africa and TO the advance of civil
ization in their own land