Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-11-13
The Outlook in South Africa.

change in the character of the war re-
ports from there. About 10000 British
troops are now on the ocean on their
way to the scene of hostilities. 1t is
very evident that the Beers have clear
ly appreciated the necessity of striking
some hard and telling blows at the
British forces now on the ground pc
fore these achievements should arrive
1t was very generally anticipated py
| the world at large that their success
at the outset would be very decisive
| but such has not been the case. Inc
British forces, though largely cutnuin-
bered, have made a most gallant snow
! ing. and the few advantages thus far
secured by the Beers have been at
! tanned at very heavy cost. Now that
the big army corps from England is
beginning to arrive on the scene of
action. all this is liable to be changed.
Forces are already on the way to the
| relief of Ladysmith, and if General
| White can nOlu Out, dS SEEMS iIloSt
nrobable. the Beers in front OF him will
| soon be forced to retire. or will be
caught between two fires. In the course
of the next six weeks the war Will
probably be carried into the Transvaal.
where it will remain until the end. OF
the ultimate result there can be no
doubt. The Beers will fight bravely
ard well, but in the end they will be
subdued. They would have been wiser
had they dealt more literally with the
taxpayers of their Countrywide men
who developed its resources and built
up its civilization-but they Were too
marrow. They threw themselves in the
pathway of human progress-and must
take the consequences. We may adj
mire their desperate courage. but the
principles they fight for are those re
nounced by the American people as far
back as the struggle for independence.
Taxation without representation is in
the highest degree subversive of human
| liberty. 1t is contrary to the great laws
of human progress and neither King
! George nor Boer oligarchy could for
any length of time impose its degrading
conditions upon proud and spirited
people.
But will our own country secure any
special advantages through England
success in the present war? Assuredly
SO. There were. at the outbreak Of
hostilities. about 10000 Americans in
the TraEsvaal. These men in enter
prise, intelligence. education, and
breadth Of spirit. were infinitely the
superiors of the Boer population. They
were large property owners and heavy
taxpayers. and yet they had no voice
whatever in the expenditure of the
money they paid into the public treas
ury, nor in the management of the civic
| affairs of the communities in which
they resided. A small coterie of Beers
men of Dutch descent, and for the
most part uneducated assumed the
perpetual right to rule by virtue OF
| having been the first white men to
wrest portion Of the country from its
former black inhabitants. The big
modern city of johannesburg was made
| up almost wholly of English and AM
erican inhabitants. 1t was in fact n
| modern Anglo Saxon cOmmunitV-and
yet its inhabitants and taxpayers had
no voice in its management. A few
| Beers alone had 4 right to vote there
and absolutely controlled its civil
| affairs, filling it's municipal Offices
| from mayor to police force and even
| requiring that the Dutch language
should be used in the schools where its
| children-practically all of whom We're
born of English speaking parents-wcre
taught,
| In view Of these facts, and the long
record of incompetence and corruption
that characterized the Boer govern
ment of the South African Republic.
the war that has come was inevitable.
and it will never end until the wrongs
that Occasioned il are forever righted.
|
The reported selection of General