The San Francisco call., 1899-10-19
MORE RESTRICTION.
with it.

HE Providence (R. ~ Journal, in commenting
upon the British policy in South Africa re
Dukes the expression of American sympathy
with the Beers. 1t says: Whatever may be the
final issue between Great Britain and the Transvaal
there can be no doubt of the duty of the United
States in the matter That duty is to preserve abso
lutte neutrality. The expressions of sympathy with
the Beers which some injudcious persons are put
ting forth will breed rather than avert trouble. AS
for the petitions sent to Victoria and Lord Sails
bury, they at once futile and impertnent 1t is
very good rule to mind ones own business" Other
organs Of American imperialism hold forth in the
same strain and treat all expressions of American
sympathy with the Dutch republic as unpatriotcl
They refer with contempt to the ibertyloving Boers
brand them as unfit for se-government and rep
resenting the civilization of the seventeenth century
and therefore with rights deserving the respect OF
the civilization OF the nineteenth century.
The Army and Navy Journal, the organ Of the two
of military service in the United States says:
The best interests of South Africa require the sue
cess OF the English in the present controversy and
should put ourselves in the false position of
aiding the cause Of people who whatever may be
their abstract rights OF independence, have claim
upon our sympathies as liberal and progressive
people" All this means that Americans must accept
the British view OF the controversy and must give
expression to their sympathy with brave people
only two hundred thousand strong, who under
arms in defense OF their independence and right to
se1f-government in a territory which their courage
conquered from the wilderness, and their love OF
liberty dedicated to freedom.
James G. Blaine said: Nothing is more danger
Gus than the forced transfer Of territory carrying with
it an indignant and hostile population and nothing
but a necessity proven before the world can Justify
it. 1t is not case in which the power desiring the
territory be accepted a safe or impartial
Judge" England has always claimed to be the sole
judge of the propriety of her aggressions She
stood in that attitude to our Revolutionary fore
fathers whom she forced into revolt by denying to
them the rights of Englishmen under the British
constitution. Her feeling at that time was long
after expressed by Robert Southey in his Life Of
Nelson" Southey was lad of ten when our
Revolution closed, yet in his maturity he wrote in
the life OF the hero OF Trafalgar that "The Ameri
colonsts had broken the ties OF blood and Ian
guage and acquired the independence which they had
been provoked to claim, unhappily for themselves,
before they fit for it" Now the organs of
American Imperialism, in a spirit that may be called
nsolent demand that American citizens concur in
the British view of the issue with young republic
though it is exactly the same that England held
toward our ancestors Contrary to the wise rule es-
tabshed by Mr.. Blaine, she sets herself up the sole
judge in the matter But what dsquets and sad
dens an American is the order issued to Our people
to hush their expressions of sympathy with their
fellow republicans, the Beers.
Heretofore we were the only nation on earth to
which the weak could turn for sympathy in their
battle against the strong When the United Irish
men," the combined force of Catholic and Protestant
Ireland which Grattan had joined to fight for liberty
in the midst of the struggle of 1898, Thomas
Jefferson at official dinner gave the toast "Suc-
to the United Irishmen" That toast expressed
American sentiment for all struggling people willing
to offer their lives for independence and self govern
ment Hitherto its expression has been unchecked
and unrebuked. 1t has been the cause Of the ad-
of republican institutions everywhere In its
light absolutism has been transformed into constu-
tional monarchy in every country in Europe except
Russia and Turkey and in them all the people have
acquired elective voice in legislation Since Eng
land resisted our foreathers and denounced them
unfit for the independence to which they aspired
thirty republics have arisen in the world in which, in
the language of Mr. Blaine, 'the right of the people
to govern themselves the fundamental basis of re-
publican institutions is recognized.
England is in battle array, ready to her
mighty power to eface two of these republics, and
we, in whose example they were founded, are COM
manded to give sympathy to the oppressor and
withhold it from the oppressed
Surely we have sadly changed since we gave to the
world reasons for declaring the Spanish war
The shortest and surest road to municipal progress