The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-09-06
THE TRANSVAAL.

The TransVaal situation seems to
have reached the stage which Senator
Harris of Tennessee used to describe
in this way: When things get bad
they're pretty sure to get worse; but
when things get damn bad, they're
pretty sure to get better"
The Transvaal situation seems in the
condition when it is liable to get better.
One cannot help feeling a certain
amount of sympathy for the Beers.
Their claim is that they are only assert
ing their right to maintain their own
independence and regulate their own
internal affairs. They claim the right to
prescribe qualifications of citizenship in
their own Republic; to say who may
vote and hold office. And they chal-
lenge admiration all the more because
they have shown themselves ready to
fight for their independence, to undergo
hardships and privations for it, to pur-
chase it with their blood. 1t is not more
than half a century ago that for the
sake of liberty and independence they
migrated from their old home further
to the southwark, crossed the Vaal into
an African wilderness, subdued that
wilderness, and established their gov
eminent and nation. They made it pos
sible for the Uitlanders to penetrate the
region and to grow rich from the nat
ural resources of the country, the gold
of the famous Rand. Admiration for
them seems also to find a firmer justi-
fication from the fact that they have
the sympathy and support in a large
measure of their neighbors who bear
British allegiance the people of the
Orange Free State and of Cape Colony.
This sympathy and support has gone
so far in it's activity that the govern
ments of those two colonies have refus-
ed to prevent the passage through their
territory of arms and munitions of war
which, in the event of war, will be used
against British soldiers. Even the
Portuguese dependency of Delagoa Bay
has prevented such shipment of arms
to the Beers.
The tactical weakness of the Beers
position is that the Transvaal acknowl-
edges suzerainty to the British crown
1t is a, vague and shadowy dependence
treaties made In 1881 and 1884, for what
ever it is worth; and at a time like this
it is worth a great deal to a man like
Chamberlain imbued with the persist
ence and immutably pushing instincts
of commerlcialism. To him, progress is
synonymous with freedom of trade,
with a world open to the civilizing in
1uence of trade. And Chamberlain is
a man who never yields to defeat.
This shadowy allegiance of the Trans
vaal to the British crown arises from
the fact that the Beers went out from
British territory to found their own
country. AS individuals, they owed allie
glance to the British crown and the
British crown has never surrendered it's
claims. AS the result of two wars it
has surrendered everything else, but
not this. - ....... a..
Upon this claim of suzerainty the
British Government claims for British
subjects equal rights or at least not I'M
reasonable disabilities in every land
where the arm of empire reaches. 1t
therefore demands for British subjects
in the Transvaal that they shall not be
taxed without, the possibility of repre-
sentation and that British subjects in
British land shall not be prevented
by prohibitive conditions from taking
part in the administration of public af-
fairs.
While this acknowledgment of suzer-
ainty is the tactical weakness of the
Beers position, the real and inherent
weakness is that they are trying to
stand in the way of modern progress.
mo man liveth to himself alone" 1t is
the same with nations. The Beers are
seeking to preserve a primitive civili-
zation, admirable in the strong virtues
it present no doubt against the expand
ing tide OF modern progress. They want