The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-11-21

their pounds. shillings and pence lie
idle.
That is the secret OF Great Britain's
Imperialism. She points out that IL Is
the handspring Of her colonial activity.
Unlike Rome, unlike Madrid, unlike
Paris as we'll London asks little of her
colonies. There is no C@sarian inn
periousness in her domination. nc Cas-
tilian rapaciousness i'm her conquests.
ana no Gallic mismanagement in her ag
gressions. All she demands is the open
door. the unrestricted market and the
welcoming port. Commerce. she knows,
is king. Cannon can be spiked and
flags hauled down and governments
overthrown. but where once the insid-
ious tentacles of trade have closed
about colony there need be no further
subjugation. Paper bonds in home
bank make surer chains than encircling
tortresses, and those restless shuttles,
the eeeaft-ffffer- and the locomotive
weave together an empire more closely
than miltarism and Maxims.
In this, perhaps lies the secret of Eng
lands success as a colonizer. While the
end OF the century sees France a colo
NAL dyspeptic, Great Britain stands an
opulent. well rounded and self satisfied
territorial gourmet. ready to lean back
and pick her teeth over her next AZ
rican meal
This is the way the Englishman ex-
plains the present condition in the
Transvaal. lie says;
Many things have been said and
written about England's present war Of
aggression against two South African
republics. This war. 1t has been stated
again and again. is a war for gold-for
hn sci. q
the Transvaal. Nothing could be further
from the truth. 1t is war for a mar
ket place. for a counting house that has
been turned into Boer- filled coffee
room.
In the first place it must he remem-
bered that the gold mines Of the Trans
Naal for which Great Britain is now
supposed to be fighting so mercenarily
are already operated and practically
owned by Anglo-Saxons What Eng
land wants is not gold nor gold mines,
but the right to do business. TO 20 min
ing along with the Beers. side by side
with them IL need be. but. after all. the
very human desire simply TO do busi-
ness at the old stand. Bonaparte was
right when he called Britain q nation
or shopkeepers. What she is struggling
Tor in South Africa is precisely what
open door, the ordinary decencies and
amenities Of trade. fair field and no
favors' IN the commercial world.
These things the Beers have long de- |
MED the uitlanders. and by so doing
have brought upon themselves n war
that can have but one ultimate conolu-
sion. Looking at such things super-
hcially. II seems cruel. perhaps. that
blood should be spilled over them. hut
IL is all reducible to that inevitable and |
relentless spirit OF commercalism which !
drives one business man to the wall
and at the same time enriches his |
brother. To sentimentalize over such |
things Is as foolish as IL is futile"
There is one great and startling truth |
that is here worth noticing. That truth |
is undeniable Its~ the fact that all OF |
the dark continent that is inhabitable |
and all that pays its way. as II were. is
British territory. IL did not always pay
its way, IL 81 true. but I'm the end John |
Bull made IL do so. and left the other
powers to scramble for his leavings
France gobbed up the Sahara. and got
nothing but a stomach full OF sand for
her trouble Germany seized on East
Africa and has never made dollar out
OF the bargain. for all she got was, des-
ert-bleak and forbidding desert. Bel
gium pays S5O0,000 n year to keep her
African colony out OF bankruptcy. |
Portugal has malaral swamps on two
coasts, and finds them costly posses
sions. The same Is true OF the other
powers. ON the map they make a big
show. When Il comes TO hard cash.
they can only sigh regretfully.
But wherever YOU nud a good hsrbor.
or navigablo river. on q great inland