The Anaconda standard., 1899-10-22

1881.
The Beers proudly say that each one
of them is equal to seven Englishmen,
and the truth is that they are among
the most skillful marksmen in the
world. Even old Dom Paul can ham
| die his rifle with sufficient skill to make
| him boastful of the amount of lead he
can put in British heads. By an orderof
the volksraad issued August IA all
| burghers of both classes are made IL
able for military service at quick no
| tice.
May Use Dynamite.
| A special means of inflicting injury
on the English the Beers have in the
! possibility of destroying by dynamite
| or otherwise the immense mining prop
critics belonging to English companies
| in the Transvaal. Threats that this
will be done have been made.
The estimated cost of a war with the
Beers as made by the English war Of
flee is 95.000,000 (S25, 900, ,O0O), but other
computers place it nearer e75,0Oo, 900
(SSl5.OOO,O ,O00D. The English regular army
in Cape Colony consists of q 500 we'll
disciplined men, but this number has
been increased by regiments from In
dia and from British garrisons.
The Transvaal, or South African Re-
pubic, as 1t is properly called, is a re-
gion about as large as the state of Ne
vada, and is completely surrounded by
foreign countries. having no direct out
let to the sea. To the north and west
are the British possessions. Bechuana-
land and Rhodesia. To the south is
the friendly Orange Free State, and al
so Natal, a British province To the
east are the Portuguese colonies.
Hilly and even mountainous, full of
sharp ravines and regions of difficult
passage, the Transvaal is peculiarly
adapted for defensive operations, and
t,,fN
Beers could long hold out against a
great force. The Beers settled it only
fter a series of hard experiences the
result of which had been to drive them
north and east from the African set
Elements they had originally made
Struggles in Former Days.
Only by considering these past strug-
giles with the English can the present
one be seen in it's true proportions. The
Beers We're the original European set
tiers of South Africa. OF Dutch de-
scent, they had sturdy qualities, which
their life in the savage lands only
served to make sturdier. They We're
farmers from the first, and by the
sweat of the negro races they grew in
wealth. The English took definite pos
session of the Cape in 1914, and the
English immigration then began in
such great waves that Holland emf
grants and Boer children could not
keep up the balance of power The
situation was much as exists now in
the Transvaal, where the Uitlanders
Outnumber the Beers, except for the
fact that then the Beers were actually
and not merely nominally subjects or
Great Britain.
The English rule was autocratic, and
the Boer idea about slaves and land
holding fitted so little with the English
ideas that soon the Beers had two
i,et,
They were surly and ugly and often
there were riots and broils, until they
found what they thought was a solu-
tion of their troubles in the '30s.
First Trek North. IT,
Then they began to trek" north
and east into the wilderness. to set up
homes for themselves. The English did
not hinder them.
The year of the great trek. or ex-
odus, was 1885, when the regions now in
Natal, Orange Free State and even the
lands across the Vaal We're all entered
by them. In Natal the Beers were first
slaughtered by Zulus and then subdued
by British soldiers and forced to move
further north But in the Orange
River and Vaal countries they We're
left very much alone by the British,
though "a sovereignty over them was
claimed. Sir Peregrine Maitland is
sued proclamation August q. 1S45, to
the effect that all these Beers were still
British subjects
England was able to enforce this
claim as to the Orange river country in
1S4S by an armed invasion, when the
resident Beers and their allies from the
north were beaten in battle Her force
full occupation would have gone still
further into the Transvaal region had
it not been for the troublesome wars
with the natives. The Cape govern
;,,,
enforce its claims over the Beers, and
so, by conventions signed at Sand river
in 1852 and at Boemfontein in 1854,
it recognized the two little governments
as independent states. and abandoned
sovereignty over them.
Base of Krugers Claim.
Here is the first ground for the pres
ent claim of President Kruger to COM
plete independence for the Transvaal.
His sturdy countrymen had gained an
advantage which they might have held
permanently had they been able TO
conduct their affairs so as to give no
reason for further British interference
The Orange Free State was successful
in keeping it's house in order, and re-
mains independent to this day.
There We're many little statelets at
first in the lands beyond the Vaal, but
in time they combined, and the first
republic of the Transvaal was organiz-
ed.
In 1864 w. NJ. Pretorius was recog-
nized as the head of the state, and
constitution for the land was made.
The condition of the republic was
however by no means good. The Beers
not over 10000 in number, We're con-
tinually fighting with the natives, who
We're so numerous that they could not
be eNterminated or crushed. The
Beers themselves did not pay their
taxes, and the government. with lit
Tie money, could not furnish proper
protection to the residents.
The conditions grew worse and worse
flnailE the negro chieftains were so
generally Victorious that they threat
tned the British colonies to the south.
Inc weakness of the BOer state Was
point OF dan"er to all the British pos
sessions. In 1877 England decided that
1t was high time to interfere. Sir The
ophllus ShepStone was sent to the Beers
as a special commissioner of Great
Brltaln, and before long he concluded
mat there was no way to make stable