The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-10-09
THE POWERS INTERVENE.

Another factor has been injected in
to the Transvaal situation. 1t is a fac
tor that makes for peace, strained as
the situation is.
The powers have interviewed. Strong
representations have been made to
Lord Salisbury against Chamberlain's
proposition striking at the independ-
ence of the Beers. This is a factor
that cannot be ignored. Indeed the
dispatches say that as a result of these
representations the high handed fea-
ture of the ultimatum demanding a re-
turn to the provisions of the Pretoria
convention of 1881 will be eliminated.
To understand just what this means
it must be remembered that the Beers
in their origin as a nation were Brit
ish subjects who withdrew further and
further into the wilds of South Africa
in order to preserve their primitive
agricultural life, the peculiar religious
views and the strong but SIMPLE vir-
tues which characterized them. AS
long as this was their main object, the
question of whether they We're nation
ally Independent or acknowledged SUI
zerainty to Great BritOn did not APP
peal to the Beers as important. Hence
the Pretoria convention of 1881 by
which her suzerainty was acknowl-
edged. But times change and men
change with them" Isolated as the
Beers We're they could not escape the
influence of the worlds progress. Their
austere views yielded here and there.
They became more Appropriated to
the advance of European civilization
with it's ideals and purposes. AS they
did so the national spirit rose and
then a desire for independence as we'll
as autonomy began to be felt. This
produced the struggles of the later
eighties and the early nineties ending
in conventions which though not de-
cisive of the question left more and
more in doubt the suzerainty of the
British crown and gave more and more
color to the idea of national independ-
ence.
The present struggle began because
of the agitation of the Uitlanders for
the right to the electoral franchise.
Chamberlain, keen, shrewd, persistent,
saw that logically he had no basis
other than comfy for demanding the
franchise for Britons unless the Trans
vaal were a dependency of Great Brit
on. He may have been influenced in
this, too, by his Imperialistic ideas
At any rate, reViving the old, almost
forgotten claim of suzerainty he has
based on it all his demands and claims
for interference in the domestic affairs
of the Transvaal. Ignoring the later
conventions he has set up his claim
on the basis of the Pretoria convention
of 1881. In the abstract his position
was a strong one. The point if carried
would ultimately mean the complete
amalgamation of the Transvaal into
the British Empire.
If the form in which he has based
his demands is modified by the repre-
sensations of the powers, it will mean
opportunity for more negotiations and
the possibility of a settlement of the
present difficulty without a resort to
arms. But it will be only a temporary
victory for the Beers. The question of
sovereignty will come up again and
again, until the Transvaal becomes
strictly and formally a part of the
British Empire in Africa. In the Ian
guage of the street, the Beers, though
blind can see their finish as a nation
WITH THE PHOTOGRAPHERS