Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-18
nRITON AND pnER.

Philadelphia North American. In the long
run 1t will doubtless be to the advantage OF
mankind to have English substituted for
Boer civilization, but neither progress nor
good morals can be helped by the revolving
cant with which the British seek to disguise
their robber purpose. And the Beers
though destined to vanish, are entitled to
every particle OF sympathy which the sound
sentiment Of the world acCords them
Springfield Republican: There are. indeed.
breakers ahead" no nation can have
Englands past and occupy her present posi-
tion without being hated. Every race, or
state that she may have trampled upon,
every nation that ia envious of her power
and wishes to occupy her place, will well
come the opportunity to help drag her down.
Not even her subject peoples love her. All
this Is human nature. 1t cannot be other
wise while empires are built upon force
Washington Post: There is much talk
here and there, of compact, secret, but
well understood, between England and the
United States. We do not believe and have
never believed that any such compact could
be possible But we know, beyond the
shadow OF doubt, that the sentiment OF
the American people is against England in
this enterprise and we predict the defeat
and humiliation Of any government that
ehall be even suspected of an entanglement
so odous and so base. The sympathy of the
whole civilized world Is with the Beers in
this affair. Possibly the active encourage
ment and aid which follow sympathy may
reveal themselves in time.
New York Post: MIR Froude was an
apostle Of the expansion of England, yet
in a lecture which he delivered in Edin
burgh in 1850 he told some very unpleasant
truths about the way the English had
wronged the Dutch in South Africa. In par
tiCular did he dilate upon the manner in
which Kimberley, with its diamond mines,
became British possession. The reason
ing was. in brief "No state but England
could be allowed to possess the finest dia-
mond mine in the world" Great Britain
had abandoned the Orange River territory
because 1t was thought useless. BY the
treaty OF Aliwal signed with the Dutch
in 1869, England pledged herself to inter-
fere no further north OF the Orange river
But the ink was scarcely dry on this doCu-
ment when the Kimberley mines were dis
covered and that altered the case entirely
The diamonds stirred the cOnsCiences of the
English authorities. They found that the
Kimberley region really belonged to a
Griqua chief, not at all to the Dutch; so
they proceeded to take it away from the
Free State in order to hand it carefully
back to it's rightful owner, the lawless
native chief. But, unfortunately, he could
not be found when the time came, and,
therefore. England was compelled to annex
the diamond fields. handing over s450OOo
to the Orange Free State as "compensa-
ton" 1t was, said Mr.. Froude, zone OF
the most scandalous acts recorded II our his
tory. In modern European history no treaty
has ever been broken with more deliberate
shamelessness than the treaty Of Aliwal was
broken by us when we annexed the dia-
mond fields" Yet Mr.. Froude acquitted the
English authorities of doing what they con
sciously knew to be wrong" The explana-
ton is that "when Englishmen wish that
a particular course shall be right, they are
perfectly convinced that it is right