The Topeka state journal., 1899-10-26
TIE TRANsvAAL. WITH :: BoER. AND UITLANDER
% 59q 5 9 @ aPe e @ Ts HSa o the M the Gsas9

is the antagonisrn of the Beers, the rul-
ing class, against the progress and
against the foreigners who are thus
Transforming the country. The other
is the antagOniSn of the new settlers
against the ignorant and obstinate oil
garchy that would keep the country in
semi -barbarism. There is in this latter
no question of race, or of form of gov
ernment, or of national proprietorshfp.
The settlers have nothing against the
Beers. They do not want to overthrow
the Republic. They have no desire to
reannex it to the British Empire. They
simply want such just and reasonable
treatment as will permit them to live IN
peace and prosperity, and Will assure
to them the protection and benefits OF
the government they are taxed to sup
port. AS most of these settlers are
English they naturally look to Great
Britain for sympathy and moral sup
port, which, of course, they are sure to
get. Indeed, many Englishmen, such as
the leading spirits of the British South
Africa Company, will be inclined to
give them much more and to intervene
forcibly in their behalf.
It must be borne in mind that without
British protection there would probably
have been no such thing to-day as the
South African Republic. Under Boer
management the affairs of that country
went steadily from bad to worse, until
twenty-five years ago, its government
was bankrupt and on the verge of dis
solution. 1t was perfectly evident that
without some foreign aid it would go
bariSn. The progressive element of the
people therefore asked the British Gov
ernment to take it under it's protection
To this appeal Great Britain, of course,
promptly responded.
But a majority of the Beers were
from the first opposed to the British
occupation So after two or three years
of British rule they rebe1led. They OBJ
jected to being taxed for the support
of their own government and the i'm
provement and welfare of their own
country.
There was a short war, very badly
managed on the part of the British.
which amounted, in fact, to a mere Sc
ries of massacres, and then Mr.. Glad
stone decided to let the Beers have
their own way. He allowed them to
secede from the British Empire and to
set up their own independent govern
ment, merely reServing for Great Brit
ain sort of suzerainty over the for
eign affairs of the Republic Since then
the Beers have shown on every poSsi-
BILE occasion the utmost conceivable
hatred of the British. At the same time
realizing that without foreign enter
prise and foreign property owners to
tax they would soon get into as bad
a plight as ever, they opened their
country to settlement and invited the
world to come in and occupy the land
This invitation was promptly ac-
cepted by men of every nation. Many
Americans went thither and French
and Germans. Naturally, however, on
account of the close proximity of the
British colonies at the Cape the great
majority of the immigrants were Eng
lish and Scotch. The climate of the
Transvaal was known to be pleasant
and saIubrious and the soil rich in min
erals.
There was. therefore, soon a steady
procession of mining prospectors pour
ing in. Eng1ishmen with English mon
ey and English enterprise swarmed in
to the country by thousands. They dug
mines and built mills Cities sprang
up in the wilderness as if by magic.
Markets were created and supplied.
The Beers, who had been living q
wretched hand-to-mouth existence,
found themselves able to sell their cat
tie and crops, and their land also at
fabulous prices.
In the mean time these ''Uit1anders,'
while they are making the prosperity