Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1899-10-25
AMERICAN SYMPATHY.

Now that war has actually beer
forced by the Transvaal upon Grea1
Britain. the question arises on which
side are American sympathies to bt
cast. Officially. the American govern
ment is not directly concerned, ana
the question of its neutrality will
scarcely need to be considered. The
war will be entirely on land and inland
and seeing that to get to the scene OF
war any one would have to pass
through waters and across land actual
ly or practically under British control
and in British possession, it is not to be
supposed that even the most rabid An
glophobes will undertake any filibust-
ering expeditions to help the Beers
Cypress American settlers in the Trans
vaal. The question of popular SYM
pathy is, however, quite another mat
ter, and it will doubtless be variously
dealt with. There are some Ameri-
| cans, including some of the most
worthy and esteemed citizens, who are
of Dutch origin and who. through in
| fluences of consanguinity, side strongly
with the Beers. There are others, no
less worthy and perhaps more numer-
Gus, who similarly espouse the British
cause. There are, unhappily, others
who are imbued with blind hatred of
alone side with the Beers, not that they
love the Dutch, but that they hate the
British. Bat these are classes. The
masses of the American people will be
guided and governed by broader prin-
-ciples than these.
They will not, in the first place, be
misled by the pretense that the Trans
vaal is a republic and Great Britain an
"effete monarchy" and that, therefore
Americans should sympathiZe with the
former. They have only to compare
the restricted franchise and corrupted
courts of the Transvaal with the uni
versal suffrage and free, strong judici-
airy of the Cape Colony to disabuse
themselves of all such notions. The
fact is that the Transvaal, with citi-
zenship restricted to a minority ana
with not only religious but sectarian
tests and lingual shiboleths hedging IN
all real authority, is not republic, but
a particularly narrow and despotic OIL
garchy On the other hand, de-
spite the nominal monarchy. the
British empire, whether in Great
Britain itself or in the selfgov-
erning colonies, such as the Cape and
the Dominion of Canada and the Unit
ed States of Australia, is one of the
most complete democracies the world
has ever known. On the general
ground of form of government, there
fore, American sympathies will nat
urally turn to the British side.
Americans will not fail, moreover, to
observe that the British are contending
for much the same principles that they
themselves and their ancestors have
contended for in more than one war
The Outlanders have been protesting
against taxation without representa-
ton, and Great Britain is backing
them up in it. It was to enforce that
identical protest that this nation
fought its first war. Again, the Brit
ish subject, wherever he be, is entitled /
to British protection. Was not that
what the United States was fighting
for in 1912? Again, it is said that Great
Britain has refused arbitration and has |
insisted that the dispute must be set
tied between her and the Transvaal
without alien intervention Would we |
have accepted alien intervention IN
1861? Or would this country have sub
mitted the settlement of its dispute
with Mexico to the arbitration of |
European power. Nor. finally, will II !
escape notice that there is a similarity |
between the Boer counting of war with |
Great Britain and the Spanish course
toward the United States. The Beers
declare that Great Britain forced the |
war upon them. So the Spanish COM
planned of the United States. This
can scarcely admit the Boer
complaint to be we'll founded without
admitting that of Spain.
In brief then, Great Britain is acting
precisely as the United States would
act in her place, precisely as this coun-
try would have to act if it did not wish
TO repudiate its principles and its rec
1rd That is the great salient, funda
mental fact which is likely, as it seems
to us, to determine the direction in
which the overwhelming mass of
American sympathy will be given.
There must be no animosities aroused
Americans who sympathize
with the Outlanders and those who
with the Beers. Nor in
Iced will Americans generally fail to
in some measure with the
Beers. at least SO far as to regret that
heir counsels have not been wiser and
more generous, and that the heroism
If the great trek has not had a hap
bier ending. But just as Great Brit
lin stood loyalty with US in sympathy
Ind in moral influence in our fight
With Spain, because we We're contend
ng for the rights of man to life, lib
rty and the pursuit of happiness so
will the general sympathy and moral
influence of America be given in this
var to Great Britain, not only because
he is our kin and our friend, but be- :
ause in this fight she stands for those
anne rights of man and because, in Z
he words of the Canadian prime min
ster, already quoted in these columns,
n the defense of a holy cause, in the i
efense of holy justice, for the defense
f the oppressed, for the enfranchise-
nent of the downtrodden, and for the
dvancement of liberty, progress and
utilization. New York Tribune.
Thin Do1e ooJ c01c1-1 liz