Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-27
Correspondent of the Herald States
Their Position.
IT is INDISPENSABLE
EngIands Attitude Like This Coun-
try's in l776.
ESrION OF TAXATION

The New York Heralds European edition
publishes the following letter:
To the Editor Of the Herald:
History is repeating itself strangely. and
there is curious Irony In the repetition.
The closing years Of the last century saw
England at war with her North American
colonies; the end or the present century
finds her engaged IN a struggle with a
South African republic over which sh,
claims suzerain rights
The motives OF bo,h wars are Identical
but England is fighting today to obtain
| that which she refused to accord little over
a hundred years ago. Opposition to taxa
ton without political representation ana To
the oppressive tea and other trusts pro-
vcked the Americans TO appeal to arms
against Great Britain; opposition to taxa
ton without political representation and to
the oppressive dynamite trust has provoked
the CitlandeT population to appeal to Great
Britain against the Boer government. and
Great Britain has listened to the appeal.
Britain's Fight Was Ours.
She has taken the field to teach the south
African republic the lesson that she learned
at the price Of her wide American colonies;
namely, that while a sovereign power may
impose duties fer the regulation Of trade,
direct taxation without direct representa-
ton is iniquitous, a doctrine against which
the rea. On Of enlightened peoples viii
sooner or later rebel
The principle she is defending now is the
principle that America fought for in tho
war for independence.
The right OF those who pay taxes to a
voice in the government Of the country that
taxes them Is enc that America purchased
with the blood Of her gallant sons. ana 1t
is that sane right which Great Britain
claims for the Uitanders today.
Spain's Claim as to Cuba.
Spain might and did claim that her rule
in Cuba concerned herself alone The United
States listened to the nobler voice II hu-
nanity and decided that Spain had not the
right TO govern as she chose. and that tho
rule which kept Cuba in chronic revolt
could not be tolerated any longer
When the Beers made the great trek
more than sixty years ago they made Il for
the distinct purpose of making 1t an iso-
! lated community. To accomplish this pur-
pose they voluntarily faced an exile fun Of
Danger the same danger from the savage
and hostile tribes, possibly far more and
certain hardships than the American from
tier settlers braved.
They treked with the hope Of finding a
country where they could govern them
selves they chose, where they could live
the untrammeled life they love, where they
would be free to farm their lands, shoot
game. with which the yeldts abounded. and
make the Kafflrs they subjugated do all
the hardest work, under the lash.
Beers Great Mistake.
They were a sturdy people, they were
brave people. Their ideas were narrow, but
they were ready To fight nature in all its
terrifying savagery in defense of them, and
if fate had not betrayed them 10y bringing
them into land fabulously rich with dia-
nonds and gold: If they had not succumhed
to the temptation of realizing wealth from
the sale of their apparently ineXhaustible
mines to the eager, active and enterprising
Uitlander capitalist. they might yet have
been pleading the pastoral, pa1TiarCh hal life
they had sought in the wilderness. and they
might have had before them years of free
dom to govern themselves as they chose.
But when the Beers entered into a con-
tract with the stranger for the development
OF their mines the case was altered and
from that time they were bound To govern.
not as they chose. but according To the
customs Of civilized people They owed
protection to people within their borders;
they were bound not to press them; they
virtually and morally guaranteed them JUS
tice. commercial freedom and civic priNi-
lcges.
Our own Boer Parties.
If civic duties were performed this right
to govern alien population as they chose is
the very one Americans denied to England.
The power to tax those to whom citizen
ship is refused is one that the United States
has never ventured to claim, yet some
years ago the equivalent of the Bocr party
existed IN the | nlted States. II Narl-
ouslY named at different periods OF its eN-
iStence. Its sObriquets ranged from the
know-nothing party to the American party,
and when religion had been married 10 pol
| ilics TO the \. p. A
No matter, however, what the members
of this party might call themselves they
correspondent in America to what the Beers
are in the Transvaal They also diSIiked
the Citlander; they also thought h., should
not be allowed to vote. They also said.
We were born here. and have lived TWEEN
ty-one years before We have had the pIiyi-
lege of voting. and why should men whose
whole life, education, preiudIces habits Of
thought ana mode of Judgment are absO-
( lutely contrary, if not antagonistic. To our
own be entitled to vote after five years
residence"
1t is a question quite as reasonable as the
one asked by "A Diplomat" The argu-
ments of the American party were as log
Teal as those Of the Beers. Yet the AmerI-
| can representatives of Boer principles
never even dreamed Of demanding that the
tax be paid by the people who they refused
to admit as citizens. Nor did they appeal
to arms in support OF their theories
Bowed TO Popular Will.
On the contrary. they went to the polls
upon the question. and the opinion Of the
country was overwhelmingly against them.
They were outvoted. and, like loyal citi-
zens. accepted the verdict of the majority.
The South African republic might have
learned a lesson from this incident in
American public life. 1t ought TO have re
Elected upon the origin Of United States
history.
Had the Beers been able to read it Alright
il would have taught them that when the
Egyptian government could not protect Ut
lander capital foreign Intervention became
| inevitable, and brooding over the past
would have prepared them for the future.
for, in spite of "A Diplomat" that nation,
that people, is doomed which makes the
inquitous claim that ii has the right to
govern itself as il chooses.
Oct. 20 30. AN ONLOOKER IN PARIS.
Printed Millinery.
From the Millinery Trade Review.