The record-union., 1897-05-30
SHREWD "OOM PAUL.
He Appreciates England and Knows When
to Yield.
His Remark About the Queen-its
1isinterpretation South African
States and Great Britain.

Two years ago the average Aiiei iooii
citizen could not have found the trans
vaal in the big atlas, and coulo not
have told whether Dom Paul WAS
split in the Mugwump party or a kopJe
on the Great Karoo. And lhen the
Grand Old Man of South Africa got op-
streperous and Leander jameson burn-
ed to be a second Give, and Wllilam
of Hohenzollern became telegraphlcaily
yociferous, and in a twinkllng Pretoria
was more familiar than Hobokeh, ana
as a theme of polite conversation
Johannesb burg was considerably ahead
of Hunters Point Even down 10
this day. though the jameson RAD mas
passed into the muSty ancient history
of more than a year ago, there is no
more fascinating figure on the boards
than that of the venerable Dutch uncle.
One gets provoked with him, of course,
for his cOntumaciOuS conservatism. But
it is impossible not to admire MS cleV-
erness in diplomacy and his singleness
of purpose in making everything else
bend to the profit of his own land and
people For that is what he IS DONG.
For a couple of years he has been in
triguing with Germany against Great
Britain and the German Emperor has
imagined that the Transvaal was eager
to be included in the German colonial
empire, to be ruled by such gentry as
Karl Peters, the woman butcher. This
is far from true. "Oom Paul. was SIM
ply using Germany as pawn In MS
game with Great Britain; that was all.
To him there are only two important
Powers in the world the TransVaal and
Great Britain. All the rest are minor
provinces And if ever the Transvaal
has to yield up its independence he
would a thousand times rather it would
be to Great Britain than to any other.
AN ADMIRER OF GREAT BRITAIN.
For. he appreciates Great Britain,
does this phlegmatic Dutchman, ana
admires her. even though he now and
then abuses her. She is a foeman Wof-
thy of his steel, and no one else ls
The Queen" he said one day not long
ago. is a difficult woman to deal with.
That raised a great fuss in England,
some tranSlating the word tractiouS
or "cantankerous, or even vicious,
and constituting it as gross insult MOI
so; the Boer President merely meant
that she was a strong and commanding
figure. and must be regarded seriously;
she was not to be shifted at or wrap
ped around ones little finger, as was
the German Emperor, for example
And so. referring to the interesting in
ternational episode when Germany be-
gan sending ships and troops to Della
goa Bay and Great Britain, without
disturbing it's regular navy at all, in
twinkling sent out a flying squadron
that was sufficient to send the entire
German navy TO Davy Jones locker,
ard then the German Government sud
denly discovered that it really had
nothing TO do or the slightest interest
to look after in that quarter of the
world-referring to that episode, Dom
Paul" observed with grim humor, not
unmingled with exultation, The Old
Lady at Windsor just sneezed, and the
rest of them scastered-'
There is no one who knows better
than "Oom Paul. in the language of
the West, not ito bite off more than he
can chew" He makes big claims, of
course, far beyond hope of realization,
and he stands up for them stiffly But
when the time comes he can yield as
gracefully as an elephant can walk
backward Thus he had his Volks-
raad a few months ago, enact an inn
migration law which was, as everybody
could see. in fragrant violation of the
London Convention, and he made
show of enforcing it. But when it had
served its purpose as a bluff and the
peremptory demand for it's repeal came
from Great Britain, repealed it was, if
report be true without demur. So, in
all probability will be repealed all the
other acts which violate the London
Convention without the firing of
shot. Abandoned also VIII be the
somewhat lofty demand for arbitration.
Only. in so doing. loom Paul" viii
manage to secure a handsome quid pro
QUO. He will get some compensation
for the outrage of the Jameson raid,
and he will have the TranSvaal stocked
with such a supply of arms and am
munition as il never had before and as
it never could have got save in just
such circumstances as these. Then he
will settle down into all friendliness
with Great Britain, and be we'll pleased
to have the Transvaal remain and au-
tonomous republic within the limits and
beneath the suzeranty of that British
Empire which he himself regards as the
greatest Power on earth.
GREAT BRITAIN'S AFRICAN SOW
EREIGNTY.
And we'll he may regard it as such.
For in what is broadly termed South
Africa" the sovereignty Of Great Bri-
tain. as against that of all other Eu-
ropean nations. is exclusive and su-
preme The demarcation of the coast
line, as a writer in THE Birmingham
Post" observes. is a rough but still an
approximate index of the general po-
SifiOn The SpabCarl from the r10lIf n
of the Orange River on the west to
within a short distance of Delagoa Bay
on the east is entirely in British hands
The next northern neighbors on the
west are the Germans, and on the east
the Portuguese. and between them
stretches an enormous English Hinter-
land. in which the sphere of British in
huence extends in an unbroken line
from the Cape of Good Hope to the
shores of Lake Nyassa and Lake Tan
eanyika. embracing the upper basin of
the Zambesi and all but reaching the
sources of the Congo.
The leading and the oldest settlement
In South Africa is that of the Cape Col
ony. which, having gradually extended
its boundaries, now includes the regions
known as Griqualand West and Pondo-
land and since last year the formerly
separate colony of British Bechuana-
land which is bounded on the north by
the Molopo River This area reaches
nearly 100000 square miles, or almost
two and half times the size of Great
Britain and Ireland. The population is
approximately 100000, of which less
than 100000 are whites. The affairs of
the colony are controlled by legisla-