The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-09-29
FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 20. 1899.
THE BOEKs AND BRITISH.

dispute between the Beers II Brltlsl
in South Africa. which il about I,
cause a war that will give England nj
little trouble to suppress. Eventually
Of course, England will win il a war j
precipitated. but the Beers are eallanr
fighters and are we'll prepared for {
conflict. One of them. in fact, il sale
to be equal to two British soldiers il
fighting qualities aud the wal bids TAI,
to be a remarkably fierce and bloody
one.
The word Boer is the dutch TO,
farmer. They live in the Transvaal
republic, which they conquered of the
savage African tribes. and Of which
Dom Paul Kruger, now all old man, il
president. The first Beers settled il
Cape Colony. Trouble with the Eng.
lish led them to move farther inland
and farther north. They would build
their kraals in one place and stay there
until the encroachments Of the English
made 1t necessary for them to fight or
trek. Sometimes they fought; some.
times they trekked. When they finally
moved beyond the Vaal river, they
Thought they were safe from the Eng
lish The country was n %savage.infest.
ed wilderness. But somebody discov-
cred gold and diamonds in the Boer ter.
ritory. Then the English moved in
and began to work the mines. The
Beers are not miners. The golden
rocks Of the Rand would remain un-
crushed forever if they had their way.
They wish only to till their farms.
raise their stock and read their bibles.
Tho Beers call all foreigners in their
country u%itlanders, or outlanders, who
now number about 24b, 900 whites. OF
this number moro than 100, 900 are En-.
glish. Besides these, there are 30 900
Germans, 10000 Americans and a few
hundreds Of almost every other race Oh
the globe. So the Beers are actually
in a minority il their land. The
remainder Of their 1000, 900 popula-
ton Is composed Of blacks, chiefly
Kafirs. But this little handful of, say
80. 900 Beers. has retained absolute
sway in the territory which was wrest.
ed from the savages. For all PRACTICAL
purposes only native Beers have full
rights Of franchise. They make the
laws, levy the taxes and grip with jeal.
Gus hands the reins Of government.
Briefly stated. the Beers claim that
the country is theirs; that they snatch.
ed it from the savages and made farm
land OF the wilderness that the British
want 1t because Of the gold and dia-
monds; that they demand equal fran
ehise, which would mean the political
extinction Of the Beers. BY the
tions Of 1884, the Beers contend. Eng
land promised never to interfere with
the internal government. which promis
has been ignored, They say that they
want no Englisl, IN their country, who
are immoral and vicious; that IL the
British do not like the laws they can
leave; that they will fight to the death
to drive the British away.
The English contention is that they
helped fight the Kafirs, developed the
mines, built the cities and made the
Beers rich; that they seek only to pro-
teot the British subjects, who pay nine.
tenths of the taxes; that they deserve
not only "A vote, but that the majority
should rule; that no half civilized ma
ton has II right to isolate itself in a
land full Of gold and diamonds; that
the Beers are religious bigots, are
tyranical and that the British residents
are constantly robbed.
Including the blacks, who will help
them, the Beers can probably muster
an army of 80, 900 men, all mounted,
splendidly armed and composing the
best sharpsh0oters in the world, In
their war with England in 1880 that
country lost nearly 1000 killed and
wounded to ll8 Beers, who 1t IL said
"reoeived scratches, Although IN
1854 England definitely and specifically
Iehouneed all right to interfere IN tho
internal government Of the Transyaal
she now makes q very distinct demand,
She says tho y0!ksraad must pass u law
which will make any white man eligi-
bic 10 full rights Of citizenship after
Ave years' residence without forswear,