The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-09-12

] lliiu lHE plOlll, Willie we DEAR IQS SIdlllS
and the cost. 1t may well be that the
Colonial Office is not strong enough to
resist the pressure of men who not long
ago staggered about, cutting the
painter" Neither in Africa nor at
nome is Mr. Chamberlain held to be
sufficiently master of the whole situations
to meet President Kruger, as calmly as
you, my Lord, have met the President of
the United States and the President of
] the French Republic. II Mr. Chamber
| lain is felt to be not strong enough, or
not cool enough for friendly comprom-
Use, much less is his deputy and mouth
| piece in Cape Town The crisis to-day
! concerns the United Kingdom and the
| empire as whole, for it must bring the
whole empire into the field of action, If
not war. And it is prominently a case
to be dealt with by him who presides
over the fortunes of the empire as a
whole
| Measured by the compromise with for
eign nations which you may justly
claim to have brought to successful
| issue, the concessions already accepted
by the republic are indeed decisive.
From nine years to seven years, from
seven to five years, from one demand of
the Outlanders to another, the Beers
| nave given way. They have already
conceded the whole of the original de-
mand made on them, and have even ad-
ded more. And at every fresh conces-
sion, Sir Alfred Miner is instructed to
make further demands, until through
out the Transvaal, and we may we'll add
at home, the impression prevails that
it IS not concession of claims which is
sought from the republic but submits
sion humiliation. and loss of independ-
ence. Is this how negotiations have
Deer carried on when you, my lord, as
heaG of the Foreign Office, have dealt |
with Russia, Turkey France, or hte
United States? This is not negotiation. |
1t is War-War of naked aggression; war
wherein the Beers will not yield without |
desperate Struggle, and after a |
bloody combat; war which cannot be |
closed by few victories, nor the traces |
of 1T wiped out by a few promises or
proclamations; a war wherein many |
true and patriotic Englishmen devoutly |
trust that the Beers may not be ulti-
mately crushed. Bella geri placuit,
nullos habitura triumphos'
The negotiations" as the new diplo-
into logged resistance, are things I'M
known to the real diplomacy of our For
eign Office as understood by yourself
and your predecessors. If the Trans
vaal is not a part of the empire, within
the Colonial dominions of her Majesty,
it must be an alien power To force an
alien power by threats of war to take
over British subjects to its own alleg-
10 70 ~ |
Queen into alien republicans, this is a
grotesque perversion of all public law |
as understood between nations AS the
sole object of forcing on an alien power
large body of new citizens is to enable
them to betray their acquired allegiance
and to master the State in the interests
Of their confederates--to be, in fact, the
wooden horse admitted into the Beer
Troy-it is obvious that this rreducibe
minimum of the new diplomacy is
transparent trick. To play it upon any |
European power would arouse ridicule
and contempt 1t may seem fine policy
to- the Colonial Office which is largely
engaged with savages and their white
but it is unworthy of the For
eign Office and of the traditions which
you uphold in its dealings with civilized
powers.
All the talk about 'suzerainty" and
paramount power" which fills the
Rhodestan press is mere darkening of
the case, as irrevelant as the gossip and
scandal rehearsed to the court at Rem
mes. Whatever "suzera inty" means or
does not mean it cannot empower
Great Britain to force her own citizens
on the Boer Republic. The burgher
franchise is an absolutely domestic
matter, and it is not claimed that "su- !
zerainty" covers domestic legislation. !,
If "suzerainty" gives no good title to
the Queen to require that her own dis
carded subjects shall be taken over as
alien republicans, still less can this
right be due to the fact that she has the
paramount" power in South Africa.
For paramount power is a phrase )
more vague and arbitrary than "suzer-
1inty"; and in the absence of specific !
treaties and conventions IL can mean
nothing more than a claim to be the
strongest, the most peremptory, the !
readiest to put might before right
These are claims and pretensions
which the best part of your public life, !
my Lord, has been occupied in resisting
The United States have claimed to be I
the paramount power In the transAt-
antic continents, as France has on the I
Niger, as Russia has in the Balkans and I
Northern Asia. Our constant policy,
Jur honorable traditions-they are very $
argely, my Lord. your policy, your '
-raditions-have been to require that |
he paramount power shall submit to .
International engagements, to public c
aw and to Justice S between the weak 7
md the strong. We as nation. you as o
have steadily resisted the S
lain Of any power calling Itself para II
mount to seize what is can and to t
'oerce those who refuse to be despoiled. L
f the Colonial Office defies these honor o
lble traditions, If the new diplomacy 8
s to develop also new morality, j.
lew public law whether moved by tim p
dity or pique, it remains for the Chief "
Minister of the Crown and the head Of Il
he Foreign Office to maintain our rec g
nd of freedom and of Justice, before t
We are dragged into a war the wicked p
less of which is certain but the end of b
which no man can forsee-London II
Daily Chronicle.
81