The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-09-23
GREAT BRITAIN'S SIDE
THE SOUTH AFRICAN PROBLEM n
OF GREAT COMPLExITY.
The Suxerainty Question an Imperial
Issue Involving Integrity Of
British Empire.
Philadelphia Record.

CT Ou pOitlCdl lupus e hAAO"h W MS
nom de plume "Diplomaticus." who.
though far from being a Little Englander,
is anything but a lingo. Until after the
failure of the Bloemfontein conference, &C
cording to our informant, there existed no
body of public opinion in Great Britain IA
vorable to the policy of the pushful Joseph
Chamberlain. The programme of the johann
nesburg National Union of 1885 did not COM
mend itself to any large nor influential
class of Fundamentally. because of the
Identification of the earlier reform move
ment and the Jamison raid. with its nau-
seating flavor of stock-jobbery, and, Sec
ondly, because the solution of the Transvaal
question proposed by the Johannesburgers
was not so obviously equitable as to become
the subject for energetic action on the part
of Great Britain. The proposition that 20.-
600 outlanders should be accorded full rep
resentation in the councils of the state in
proportion to numbers was felt by mod
crate Englishmen TO be equivalent to a de-
mand that the burghers should hand over
the government TO men not born within
their country, who had taken no part in the
framing of its Constitution and whose ideas
and sentiments were largely alien to those
of the founders. The objections of the Beers
to being thus effaced were conceded to be
we'll taken.
A new situation was created, however,
when the very reasonable suggestions of
Sir Alfred Miner at Bloemfontein were re-
jected by President Kruger; for the ~alterna-
tive proposals of the latter, coupled as they
were and have continued to be with con-
ditions unacceptable to Great Britain, cam
not be regarded as anything else than a
rejection of the British proposals. What
Sir Alfred proposed was that residents Of
five years standing should be eligible for
citizenship, and that even they should be
men who intended to s%ojourn permanently
in the Transvaal, who are ready to take
their share in the military service of the
state and who bear good characters and
possess a certain amount of property. The
birds of passage, dive keepers and barroom
~loafers, who form a large element in the
mining community, would thus be excluded:
indeed, 1t is very doubtful If 10 per cent.
of the outlanderS possess the proposed quail
iications for citizenship. Instead of being
the outset outnumber their new fellow-citi-
zens two to one. But even if the number
entitled to the rights of citizens should
prove to be very much greater they would
still be unable to overmaster the Beers,
since the representation of the gold fields,
where the newcomers mostly congregate;
was to be limited to one-ifth OF the total
membership of the Raad. The voting power
of the inhabitants of johannesburg. no mat
ter how numerous. would be equal to that
" by c,NVV
OUTLANDERS' COMPLAINTS.
To be sure, President Kruger, since the
Bloemfontein conference, has offered TO
concede all the points in the programme of
Sir Alfred-but conditionally on the renun-
citation Of Great Britain's claim of suzer-
airty. Furthermore, he has declined to con-
sent to the institution of a commission Of
inquiry to determine what would be the
ctof,,c of the o,,tIo p1orc ppdor tho navy Won
ulations, and whether the new laws would
repeal certain prohibitory requirements Ct
enfranchisement-for instance, the sanction
of two-thirds Of the burghers of the ward
in which the applicant for citizenship might
reside. In any event, by the slow process
of constitutional legislation the franchise
three and one-half years. during which time
the present intolerable state of affairs
would continue. The Johannesburgers,
in the world, have no political and
are controlled by a brutal and ignorant po-
lice. Justice is difficult to obtain. The ed
ucation of their children is obstructed.
Their press is muzzled. The right. of public
meeting is practically denied them. and
nally, their town is dominated by forts ard
Krupp guns, as though 1t were a settlemen!
of desperadoes under martial law. Sir Al
fred Miner describes the outlanders as a
community of "helots." and protests that
their helplessness is calculated to under
mine the influence and reputation OF Great
Britain and the respect for the British
government within the Queens dominions.
KRUGER AGGRESSIVE.
That this is the object of President Kru-
gers policy is declared by "Diplomaticus''
without hesitancy. 1t would occupy too
much space to trace the origin and history
of the British claim to suzerainty over the
Transvaal. Suffice it to say that the conven-
ton of 1884 leaves the ultimate regulation OF
the foreign affairs of the republic in the
hands of the British government, and to
| this extent, at least, the Transvaal is an
incomplete sovereignty and Great Britain
the paramount power. The right to veto the
foreign treaties of a community of herders
shut off on all sides from direct contact
with the outer world annot be said to Sc
riously. disparage the independence Of the
| South African Republic; nevertheless, Pres
ident Kruger has made attempt after AT.
tempt to evade the suZerainty clause of the
London. convention. and every time tina,
concessions have been asked of him he has
tried TO extort in exchange the abolition OF
the clause. or to circumvent the same by
S W6S5id nIscs a ,S Scne rnnub Gi arbitration 70 rat tacp Mhicf
level of a complete and independent SOW
ereignty.
The oppression of the outlanders has beer
hardened for purposes other than keepin:
the victims in subsection. Sometimes ]
| has been done in defiance of the convention
with the object of bringing that instrument
into contempt: sometimes independently o
It. in the hope of extorting a modification
of the same. He has made an offensive an'
defensive alliance with the Orange Ere
State, to which fact a subservient Dutc,
press in the British Cape Colony, as we,
| as in the two republics, has made frequen
and menacing reference. BY continuou
agitation a seditious spirit has been arouse'
among the colonial Dutch. and the latter
who some few years ago were quite willinI
to aid in the coercion of theTransvaal o.
the franchise question, are now prepared t
support the latter in its construction of tn
convention. According to Sir Alfred Milne
1.-The doctrine of a Dutch republic embrac
ing all South Africa" is openly preached
and is producing a great effect In the Cap
which seems to imply that the Dutch hav
some superior right. even in this colony
TO their fellow-citiZens Of British origif
Thousands of men peaceably disposed, anC
II let alone, perfectly satisfied with thei
position as British subjects. are bein
drawn into disaffection.' Under the eli
cumstances a display Of weakness on tn
part of Great Britain. such as the abnega
ton of her claim to suzerainty over I'll
Transvaal, would jeopardize her position |
the ~colony-as well. The suzerainty cues
ton thus becomes an imperial issue involN
ing the safety and integrity OF the BIRTHS
empire. 1t is a point on which the govern
ment cannot yield. and in the opinion {
soher-minded Englishmen should not yielt
COMMERCIAL INVASION.
Can the American Engine Gust tn
Britishs
London Daily Mail.