The age-herald., 1899-08-17
Boers and EnqIish in the Trar syaaI.


 Twenty-one thousand English male resi- dents of Johannesburg have, in formal petition. asked the queen to take cogniz- ance of their many grievances, and secure for them redress. This petition Is the basis of MT. Chamberlains present action against the Transvaal. It should howev- CT, be remembered that the little republic is not an independent country; it's foreign affairs are placed by treaty in the hands of England; it has no outlet to the sea, and a majority of it's home people are Eng lishmen; for the great mining city of Johannesberg is located near Pretoria. the capital of the republic. President Kruger asks England to make inquiry as to the source and handspring of the Uitlanders' mammoth petition, and also as to the cap- italistic nature of the current press agita- tion of the Uitlander community.
 It is becoming every day plainer that MT. Chamberlain will do nothing of the kind. He demands franchise reforms that will give the UHlanders a proportionate voice in the management of the affairs of the republic, particularly of their own local affairs. He does this because it is the suzerains duty to correct wrongs, and al- so because the present condition of the Transvaal is a menace to all South Africa. He said in his place in parliament just be- fore it was prorouged, We have put our hands to the blow and won't draw back" Practically, Englishmen are denied the franchise and representation. although they pay nine-tenths of the taxes of the country In round numbers there are 90,- 900 Englishmen in the republic, and about SO,0O0 Boers. Citizenship was, in 1894. re- stricted to Boers born in the Transvaal. MT. Chamberlain says citizenship must be extended to all after a reasonable period of residence-presumably, five years If Pres ident Kruger refuses this there must be war, and MT. Chamberlain seems to prefer war, or at least to believe 1t is inevitable.
 There is good reason, despite the war ru- mors and war preparations on both sides,
 
 without war. President Kruger has al- ready said he would grant a seven years residential qualification for citizenship and would enfranchise all who resided in the republic before 1890. MT. Chamberlain still holds out for five years qualification, and the volksraad is becoming stubborn, and has withdrawn all conciliatory propo- stions. All propositions looking to inquiry commissions have been abandoned. But as war would call for an army of 5000 British troops, and as the valuable mines in the gold district would be imperilled, it is still believed that both sides will accept the best terms they can get. This, however, is not wholly sure. The Boers are as stubborn as their Dutch | ancestors were when they threatened to | accept inundation in preference to the | Spaniards, and MT. Chamberlain may have 1 decided that the present is the proper time | to reduce the republic to a colony in the l fullest senso of the word. Dutch stub ! bornness and British ambition. in other | words, stand in the way of a reasonable compromise and the avoidance of war. But l neither side desires war, and so it is req l sonable to believe that it will not come | pearences may be.