Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1899-10-09
LONDON NEWS
Paradoxical State of Affairs over
Transvaal Trouble.
WAR PRACTICALLY EXISTS.
Why Neither the Beers Nor EnEinho
Wants to De the First to start
the Connict-Attitudc OF
European Powers.

London, Oct. O.--Judging from the re-
ports from South Africa, a state OF war
ractically exists between Great britain
and the Transvaal. This seems almost
paradoxical in conjunction with the fact
that the British diplomatic agent, Mr..
Cunningham Greene, still remains at fre'
TORN and the further fact that the nego-
tiatiOns continue.
A solution Of this apparent PARADOX
probably lies in an understanding OF the
curious relations between the TWO gov
ernmcnts. AS has already been capled'
Great Britain, Is not likely to make
formal declaration of war against what
she considers a dependent nation the
process being smere issue or ORDERS ~
the military forces to restore the STATE Oh
sovereignty which she alleges orlsihally
existed. Were England similarly at log
eerheads with power recognized by her
as her equal pride and precedent would
some time ago have compelled her to
break off diplomatic intercourse. 1t Is
this legend of srzerainty that enables her
to palaver without loss of self respect
and at the same time to run good
chance of placing the onus of beginning
hostilities upon the Beers or, fallng III
that to delay action until she has in the
field sufficient force to overrun the
Transvaal.
This is the only ground upon which 1t
is possible to reconcile the government >
utterances with its passive reception or
palpably hostile acts on the part OF the
Beers for it is now impossible to believe
that the Transvaal forces are massing
merely for defensive purposes. Thus war
appears to be the only possible outcome.
If the Beers are determined to precpi-
tate it, hostilities are only question OF
days. If England-is allowed to take her
own time, then two months may elapse
before the first blow is struck.
Look Back.
Needless to say, all signs Indicate that
the Beers will not talnely await the ar
rival of a British army corps. Although
the diplomatic negotiations are well nlgn
forgotten in the expected exciting devel-
opments, they are in a peculiar stage and
deserve recapitulation. After the last
cabinet council it was officially stated
that the Beers had not replied to the lat
est dispatch and that the foreign office,
while deciding to consider the question
de novo, had expected an answer from
the Beers.
The papers daily heralded the arrival
of the reply, but none came. Many took
this silence to mean that the Beers re-
fused to discuss the controversy further,
but that this was wrong became evident
from President Ringers reply to the
peace Telegram of the Transvaal commit
tee in London. in which he said that as
the latest British dispatch had asserted
that the British government was formu-
lating new proposals the Transvaal did
not feel at liberty to rcformulate propos-
ais, thus implying that the Beers were
waiting for Great Britain's new demands
and did not wish to waste breath in dis
cussing propositions already dismissed,
What these new demands consist of Is
still mystery. First it was asserted
that another cabinet council would pass
upon them, but this is now denied by Mr.,
Chamberlain, who in answering a dis
patch from the progressive members of
the Cape house of assembly, said the de-
mands had been communicated to the
Transvaal. Whether this has actually
been done remains as much an enigma rs
the nature of the terms themselves. All
the public has upon which to base an
OPINION lS Vic Suui statement VI lHC
Duke of Devonshre, lord president of
the council, at Manchester, where he de-
cared that these new demands did not
imperil the independence of the Trans
vaal, the word independence having alb
solutely opposite meanings in Boer and
British Interpretation.
Hence although the week has pro-
duced no negotiations tending to throw
light upon the merits of the case, Il is evil
dent that negotiation has not ceased, so
far as diplomatic correspondence is CON
cerned. This goes to show that there is
no cause for immediate hostilities. The
pith of the whole dispute, however, is
daily becoming clearer. The Beers are
thoroughly convinced that their freedom
is menaced, and England is convinced
that her supremacy in South Africa is
threatened. This constitutes an impasse,
against which pacific measures can
scarcely be effective.
Dritain's Only Fear.
As the possibility of war increases
British conjecture as to the unfriendly
attitude of other European powers in