The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-29

I'll. %Rise.
YESTERDAYS -TENIPERATrREs-
washington time q D. m. St, Paul..
KIMBERLEY. PAST AND PRESENT.


The investment of Kimberley by tie
Boer @oldiery naturally attracts unive l
attention to the locality of the eat
diamond deposits which derive Their title
from an English nobleman.
There is something i'll this investment
which may be said to be in itself sug-
gostlve CT retibuttve justice. AS against
the statements which are now so numer-
ors Of the deception ard bl utality Of the
Bocrs, the one incident Of the assu p
ton of ownership of the Kimberly mines
Is sufficient in itself on this SEQ to put
the British out of court. If th4 citis- rs
of the South African republics T, fused 20
trust to British honor or to put faith in
British statements, the Bri ish have them
selves, not the Beers, to blame. Doubt
less the comparatively brief his Org Ct
these peoples offers many Instances of
British perl1dy and greed. II IS doubtful,
however. whether any other circum-
that history offer more convincing p. oof
in this direction than that relating to the
Kimberley mines.
1t IS not necessary to Sc to Boer sources
for confirmation Of this view. There is
unimpeachable English authcd Y viii h
silstains it. In the entire range OF II,
writer's of English history there vii cot
be found op.e who has been more d cisiFe
in presenting to the minds Of his readers
the most favorable view of British roiicy
in foreign lands than James Antho "
T'roude It IS indeed a dubious u1der-
taking on the part of the English gov
eminent, in any land or in any age, of
which the historian Frollde has net been
able to find some palliation, even + he
has not thought it safe to seek 1usti
fication. And we have the ties ,imony of
Mr.. Fro,lde very clear and very direct en-
this matter of the Klmb erley mines own
ership.
OF course il is generally known that he
British government, some years ago, cen
scented to withdraw from all interference
or authority in the affairs Of the Or nge
Free State, and that it is upon that with
drawal that the system of free govern.
rnent In that state has partially RS ed.
That withdrawal was effected and the
delimitation Of Free State territory had
been clearly and specifically made before
the Kimberley mines We're discover d.
This discovery, according to British ideas,
necessitated a new delimitation of Free
State territory by the British authorities.
How it came about and how it was eff
fected Mr.. FrouGe makes very plain in
the pages Of his book 'Oceana;' work,
by the way, which it would ID we'll If
every American adherent Of colonial
policy would read. Here are some of the
things which Mr. Froude says regarding
the treatment of the Free State people by
the British as the result Of the discovery
of the Kimberley mines:
The ink on the treaty of Aliwal North
was scarcely dry when diamonds We're
discovered in large quantities in dis
trict which we had ourselves treated as
part Of the Orange territory before our
first withdrawal, and which had ever
since been administered by Orange Free
State magistrates. There was a rush of
diggers from all parts of the country
There was a genuine fear that the Beers
would be unable to control the flock Of
Vultures which was gathering over so
rich a prey There was a notion also
that the finest diamond mine in the
world ought not to be lost to the British
empire. The Dutch were expelled.
They did not resist, but they yielded un-
der protest to superior forces and from
that day no Boer in South Africa has been
able to trust to English promise. The
manner in which we acted, or allowed
our representatives to act, was insolent
would have been less entirely intolerabie
strength-if we had told the Beers simply
that we must have the diamond fields
and intended to take them, but we poi
soned the wound and we justified our
action by posing before the world as the
protectors of the rights of native tribes
whom we accuse them of having wrong
ed.
Since also so much is being said as TO
the underlying barbaIism of Boer life,
character and habits, 1t is not impro er
to quote the same authority on this rar-
ticular feature of the South African stu
aticn. Just what Historian Froude had
determined as to the result Of his ex-
animation of Boer character is made very
plain by the following quotation taken
from The same work:
The Beers of South Africa, of all hu-
man beings now on this planet. CORE