The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-07-08
Dutch are Badly Misrepresented
By the English.
COMPLAINT OF TYRANNY UNFoUNDED
The Liberty Of the Press Is Not
Interfered With.

field Republican sheds light upon tine
dispute between Great Britain and the
Boer republic and shows that the OBJ.
jecs OF John Bull is to gain possession
of the African gold fields:
The struggle in the Transvaal between
the English and the Beers is essentially
one for the possession OF the country.
Undoubtedly the uitlandcrs have many
grievances, which in time must be re-
dressed if superior British force will tear
down the Boer state. The English have
grown accustomed to ruling others, Of
ten despotically, and not to being ruled
themselves by alien races. The final re-
suit however, deferred, cannot be doubt
full. Force will win.
But the Beers undoubtedly are being
sadly misrepresented, and even lied
about, by the English, who are prac-
tically incapable of being entirely just
to a people who happen to stand in the
way of their aggrandizement Let US
consider a few points for illustration.
The English, who are all gold seekers
in the mines, charge that the Boer gov
ernment maintains dynamite monopo-
ly. So it does, and one reason for it is
that dynamite is high explosive that
could be used to overthrow the indc-
pendencc OF the Transvaal The mining
spectators have become millionaires out
of the Transvaal gold mines, and their
profits continue, Notwithstanding the
dynamite monopoly.
The English too simultaneously ac-
cuse the Boer government OF loosely ad-
ministering the liquor law, and they
loudly complain that the poor native
blacks are led into drunkenness. OF
course the liquor laws are very strictly
enforced in London. There is no drunk
cnness, to be sure, in England, not
withstanding that statistics prove the
English to be the greatest drink
ers on earth. This charge against
the Beers is really grotesque when
you recall the hundreds of tons
of gin exported for the benefit Of
the central African blacks by the British
Royal Niger company. No one would
deny that lax enforcement OF the
liquor law by the Boer government is a
shame, but it might at least be rcmem-
bered that the main difficulty in enforc-
ing it arises in the city Of Johannesburg,
where the English and other uitlanders
live. The Beers themselves are not
hard-drinking people.
The English also complain that the
liberty OF the press is interfered with,
yet the Boer tyranny merely goes so
far as to require that the name and ad-
dress OF responsible editor be regis
tered. They complain that the right Of
public meeting is abridged, but that is
because such meetings have been used
for seditious purposes. They complain
that educational grants have been with
held from them, while the truth is that
grants have been subject only to devo-
ton Of certain length Of time, in the
higher school grades, to the study OF
the Dutch tongue. The Beers naturally
want their country to remain Dutch in
language. The English complain, again,
because President Kruger has the pow
er to cxpel arbitrarily any alien from
the country, yet that power has never
been exercised by him but once, and
that was to expel foreigner who had
shot johannesburg millionaire. 1t has
been stated in the American press, which
gets its information almost wholly
through biased English sources, that Jo-
hanncsburg is wretchedly governed and
is dangerous to the health of its inhabi-
tants. Yet in recent summary of uit-
landers' grievances printed by Lon
don newspaper there is no complaint OF
sanitary defects, or of bad municipal
government
The real grievances OF the English are
political. AS London imperialist pa
per says: What really matters is the
denial OF ordinary political rights to the
majority OF the population" The fran
chise question is one OF the most diff
cult OF all, yet one must admit that the
extreme restrictions placed upon it by
the Transvaal government have been
due to the desire to maintain state in
dependence and nationality. Jameson's
raid was convincing demonstration OF