The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-19

| Beers 1t is just possible, say. that
| Shakespeare was Mr.. Gladstones au-
thority for the act: if so. he should
| have remembered that the Sweet
Swan of Avon" had also said:
| Merry is not itself. that oft looks so,
| Pardon is still the nurse of second Woe"
| The events now transporting in South
| Africa fully exemplify the wisdom of
! the latter quotation.
+, Another item overlooked by Mr.. Glad
stone in his magnanimous experiment
| is that in order to make mercy bless
| both given and receiver. ii is indiSpen-
sable that both the interested parties
! should be on the same intellectual
| plane; that. in point of fact, the re-
ceiver should be mentally capable of
discriminating between generous for
! bearance and arrant cowardice; other
wise the act of mercy will waste its
sweetness en- the desert air as it most
errphaticaily has done in this Trans
vaal instance.
Recently l read in a dispatch that
Mr.. Paul Kruger had stated to an in
terviewer that by far the most chival-
rous action England had done during
the present century was giving the
Transvaal to the Beers after the battle
of Majuba- This statement is in con-
formity with the hypocrisy displayed
by Dom Paul during the past eighteen
years. Whether he was speaking from
conviction or not. he is equally guilty
of wiilful deception. If he didn't think
so, the jugglery is self-apparent; if he
did think so. then all his teachings and
preachings to the illiterate Beers. since
Majuba day, have been sanctimoniOus
humbug.
Full of Boastfulness.
Leaving Mr. Kruger alone for the
moment, let us ascertain how far the
average Transvaal Boer was impressed
by England's foolish act in leaving him
unwhipped. A few specimens of the
Beers intellectual capacity will suffice.
Shortly after peace had been declared
between Great Britain and the Trans
vaal Boer, in discussing the war with
an Englishman, declared that his peo-
pie had acted with great leniency
towards England, seeing that, after
demolishing the English army. they
had refrained from marching on with
their wagons and capturing England
itself. The Englishman sarcastically
inquired how the Beers expected to
cross the intervening body of water.
to which the Dutchman replied that
you could safely leave a Boer alone
to find a ford somewhere" Finding
forde the South African rivers is
something a Boer is expert at: there
fore there was no reason why he could
and Africa Another instance: 1t viii
readily be understood that the war of
1881 was a topic an Englishman scarce
ly cared TO discuss with a Boer in the
Transyaal but on one occasion a Boer
provoked me into replying to his par
ot-iike chatter This particular Boer
was so persistent in gloating over the
English defeat that l asked him if he
really thought the Beers had beaten the
whole English army. He replied that
they had whipped all they could see.
and if England had any more men why
diGn't she trot them out? To this I
answered that had England seen fit she
could have placed 100 men in the field
to every Boer the TfansvaaI could raise. |
dent think the Dutchman believed
me for "a moment but he shouted. !
with angry demonstrations, that even
if England had sent goo men against !
every Boer, the latter would still have
won, because the Lord was on his
side.
An Intelligent Beer.
One more Instance: was one day /
riding over a Beers farm in the Trans /
vaal and was passing a flock Of sheep. |
when ! was Joined by the insufficiently |
washed and literally bewhislxered own
gether discussing sheep and kindred i
subjects, and, amongst others, the fol-
lowing conversation ensued:
Boer Neutrality-suspicious.. / wonder
what is done with all the wool the
buy from us?
Myself-What do you think becomes
of it?
B.-Well. don't know; they say it is
made into the blankets we buy.
M.-Do you believe that?
B. (positively)-No 1t stands to rea-
son that it is not true. How can they
make such long blankets from such
short wool?
1t may. perhaps. be objected that such
instances of colossal ignorance can be
found in other countries besides the
Transvaal: that even in fair Utah it is
possible, by searching diligently. to
ind an occasional individual who is not
an intellectual Croesus. True. The
is. though. that amongst the
such self-complacent be-
nighted. intolerant stupidity is the ex-