The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-11-07
THE BOER'S SIDE.
England Has Been the Pitt
less Aggr0SSOr.
TYRANT FOR THE SAKE OF GOLD.

y y "a
n their homes and the homes Of
/ / their fathers? II they have nor
then the Beers are now engaged M
an unhoIy and unrighteous war. II -
a war however that has been rorc.. ,
on them by "A great and aggressive em-
pire. an empire whose rapacity ana duo
plicity has become a byword through
out the world. -
There are many reasons why I ana
all my brother Beers fear this sama
British empire. When. over a century
ago. the valiant forefathers Of the pras,
ent burghers OF the South African Ra.
public set sail from their native shores
and founded new homes and q now set-
tlement In this faroff Cape countr, II
was thought that they would here .t
least. be allowed To follow their own
peaceful pursuits. They were. as tbev
always have been, an honest out-
spoken. God fearing and amicabla neo-
pie. asking not OF their neighbors ana
intruding not on their enemies.
At the Cape our forefathers subduel
the natives. gave them homes and
clothing and did their best 10 enlighten
them In return for this the KafHrs
worked on the land and did that labor
for which they were by nature fitted
Then the English came hocking down
10 the Cape and, with pharisaical bor-
ror, said that we had no business IN
treat blacks like dogs and that II was
our duty as Christians TO liberate every
slave in our colony. This we declined
to do, knowing it was no worse Ia on
slave natives by the hundred than -
was TO bayonet them by the thousand
The English. however. won their
point. being the greater and more ag.
gressiVe power. They promised IN nav
our people. however for exerN sla.4. -
free. But even i'm their works Of char
ity the English could not be honest.
They paid for the slaves, II is true. bur
ala so in paper redeemable at London
only. This paper was worthless at the
Cape and was bought up at ridiculous
and ruinous discounts. Then the Beers
washed their hands of the English ana
trekked northward. What those heroic
home seekers endured during their long
journey into the dark interior will nev-
er be known. The fruits of that great
trek was the foundation Of the Zui1
Afrikanische Republiek and the Orange
Free State. Here, at last. il was
thought, a pastoral and simple minded
people might take UP their homes and
dwell i'm peace.
Never before mad such mistake been
made. The leopard cannot change his
spots, nor the Anglo-Saxon his viking
hetfts For ten centuries he has been a
landgrabber and an aggressor.
In 1870 Britain again invaded and
captured our country. We were then
Il scattered and weak people else that
INVASION would have been dearly paid
Tor. But we Were willing TO wait.
AFTER three years OF tyranny we pre-
pared TO shake off the yoke. How er-
fectively we did IL England remembers
10 this day. Boys not yet out OF their
teens, old burghers who had passed
their threescore years and ten. women
even. with babes i'm the cradle-alI took
up their trusty rifles and went out TO
nsht ior nome and freedom God show
ed Which side He was on by the victories
ot Lalngsnek. Broncker's Spruit ana
MaJuha Hill. England saw We were IN
earnest ana wisely granted US our in
AT last the Boer had his
freedom.
but IN the meantime n change hal
peen creeping over our country. That
lahu winch we had first thought 50
iude ana inhospltable was found 10
nave hidden beneath its rugged sur
race wealth of gold the like OF which
the world has never before seen. IL
was "a blessing that carried with Il its
own curse lt drew like magnet tho
IlHfaH or the world within our borders.
SPECTATORS and adventures swarmcd
'nto our quiet little towns. and mon
W nose only quest was wealth tried 10
'lnoW us out OF our hard earned homes.
lhen, too. came Cecil Rhodes and his
empire building compatliots. when
lh's man Rhodes stood i'm a little gro
'ery shop at Cape Town and stretched
MS great paw over the entire map #
9outh AFRICA and said IAN British. that
y my dream" he made a confession
nat the world should never forget II
- Key To the present situation. an
.Nllahation OF why the Boer Is today
lhhung Tor existence. struggling. per-
maps Nainly, against a band of land
-rahpers intoxicated with dreams of au
African empire.
lhree years after the granting ~ the
independence Of the Transvaal the Lon
loh convention came together and drew
lp new agreement. In that agree
neht england quietly gave back 10 our
country the suzerain rights she hal
before insisted upon. and in the new
document there was made no mention
1t suzerainty or colonial obligation. The
English today claim that all this was
understood. We claim that such was
lot the case.
During the next ten years we found
ourselves harassed by these intrusive
uitlanders' who gradually grew more
ana more audacious and kept making
more and more Impossible demands
Their organization and threatening
movements naturally prompted our
government in its official capacity o.
do what it could TO preseryc Itself
1gdinst Its ebemIes on the one hand
and among the people al larze Oh the