The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-12-31


OF hundred and slxty-hve years was al
an end They began immedately-thess
new-comers-to hafass the burghers with
impositions and exactions. Heretofore I'M
known; and after twenty years Of suffer-
ing the harassed burghers sold 10 the
willing English for what price they could
get. the farms their ancestors for gener-
| atiOns had TILED. and putting their wo-
men and their children in their ox-cart,
I started forth into the widerness-to seek
. liberty. Putting hundreds of m les be-
I tween themselves and their oppressors.
! they camped at last I'm what IS now Ma
( tai. and faithful 20 their traditions, found
( ed a Free State. For seven years they
/ cut down s--ests. cleared the jungle. built
/ their modest homes. and reaplng where
/ they had sown. they prospered This
! prosperity excited anew the covetousness
OF their old oppressors. who. wish ng 20
reap whore they had not sown. invaded
the burghers' home in 1872 drove them
ont and possessed themselves Of the fruit
of their toll.
Again. tAe despoiled but undaunted
I burghcrs turned their faces to the north
ern wilderness and singing hymns and
I invoking the help OF Cod" as their his
toran tells us. they plunged with wives
and little ones again into the bush. and
putting the Drackenberg mountains be-
tween them and their oppressors. again
they halted. again they founded a Repub-
lie and under the name Of the Orange
Free State set themselves for the third
time to conquer home. For SIX years
they were left in peace. This gave them
again time 10 establish Their farms and
stock them-in n word 20 make their
homes worth stealing. when IN 1913. their
- q I'm,
and az the simplest form OF rot berry IAN
nexeo' them 10 the British crown, and
destroyed their liberties with the mere
stroke Of a High Commissioners peni
MOVED ONCE MORE.
Still undauntod. still inspired with
passionate love OF liberty, the unhappy
burghers once more turned their backs on
homes and farms worthless 10 them with
out freedom. and crossing the river Vaal.
the nothern boundary Of he Orange Free
state. they again marched IN large num-
hers with their wives and title ones into
the wilderness; and with the river be-
tween them and their merciless oppress-
ors they raised again the flag OF free
dom, again framed government on the
model % our own. and began again to cut
down the forests and prepare their farms
Smitten. LEI us hope with tardy shame
at their persistent injustice, the British
now left them alone. and In 1852 signed
with their President treaty, aclSnowl-
edging their independence; and at last
the hunted burghers enjoyed peace For
five and twenty years. they thriyed un-
molested: but five and twenty years Of
the patient toll they have always prac-
ticed. with their oil gence and economy.
left them TOO tempting a spoil 10 be neg
lected: and IN April 1877, in contemptuous
violation OF the treaty OF lSJ2 by the
convenient process already found so nrof-
table. OF annexation" Sir Theophilus
Shepstone I'm the name OF Br tain once
more converted them from citizens Of a
free Republic to subjects OF the Queen.
They were unable 10 20 forth again,
for the lands about them were already in
the possession OF others, and they resolved
10 end sixty years Of wanton persecution
by fighting at last. for their hearthstones.
They had no standing army, as they have
not to-day; but strong In their manifest
right. and rendered desperate by the i'm
placable cruelty of Their foes, published
"a call to their people. and declaring in an
official paper that they had resolved 10
resst-"inspired by the heroic fight OF
the American colonies for independence"
they faced for freedom the strongest pow
er on earth.
OUR FORMER SYAfPATHIES.
And these poor farmers, fighting for
wives and little ones and home. fell upon
their trained aggressors and defeated
them again and again with a swiftness
and completeness which amazed the
world.
Then, as now, the sympathies Of every
Continental State were with them; and
then. not as now. no more generous or
hearty applause came from any people
than from the citizens OF the United
States
Then too. rs now, those despised burgh- |
ers conducted a war-wh0ss origin might
well have Justified n different course-with
the most scrupulous respect even with
4 chivalrous regard for the humanity
imposed on belllgerents by the most mod
ern rules: and then. as now. they pro-
claimed that they had 10 other aim than
10 preserve the homes and freedom.
Their desperate gallantry, and not
little. the force OF public opinion through /
out the world, covered peace which /
was signed in August. 1851, by which the /,
Of the brave Burghors /
was conceded with two limitations:
/. That m change in the relations of tho !
republic with foreign government.
, That no change iii the UVunuari1s 1
OF the itRup4lI SApN+F - aitl'E n. ~ i
out British approval
The republic contends that even this /
limitation Of their independence was 1
abolished by a treaty made two years /
later with Great Britain, and no English /
man denies that il was greatly reduced 4
Il not entirely abandoned But with that I
| am not now concerned. The /
lvowed and official cause of the war on
the Burshers is Tor was sixty days ago. I
that the republic refused to admit q
horde of foreigners 10 citizenship on live \
years evidence instead OF seven years,
as the republic was willing to- and in
Iced by legislation had already for peace
sake granted. No honest man can claim
that such a question concerns either
he foreign affairs or the boundaries Of
he republic.
a BOLD PRETEXr.
That this /. merely a bold pertext for.
repetition on a governmental scale OF
he buccareerlng Of jameson and RHODES
lAd prolaOly Chamberlain is proved BY
he circumstances that nc one now hears
# the Ci.landers. The conclusion Was
hat they had the wealth and probably I
he majority OF the population, but they
promptly ran away when war. was de-
dared, and Great Britain sent the flower
# her army to fight their battle
New reasons are now found I'm the
mouths OF all the home defenders OF the
var. They are:
l. The need TO maintain the para
Of Great Britain as though
popu alton less than oae-third tie leo
'le OF Glasgow could contend with Great
Britain for paramouatcyl and besides
he excuse is as false ls u IS foolish.