The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-11-11
OF Wales who cheated at cards; but they
were hardy, self-reliant and prone to
the cnioyments OF domestic life.

we're hardy, self-reliant and prone to
the cnjoyments OF domestic life.
1t may be that the government OF
Paul Kruger is narrow, proscripive and
intolcrable; but ii the Boers are salts
fed, it is no concern of England. There
are other governments which are not
ideal, and none are perfect. The por-
traits OF Dom Paul show that he has no
more beauty than without candle
would go dark to bed. The cut of his
whiskers is not up to date, his clothes
do not fit, his countenance betrays igno-
rance, craft, and obstinacy; but he is
the legitimate ruler of sovereign state
as much as William Mckinley or Kaiser
Wilhelm. 1t is said that Mrs. Kruger
cooks for the family, makes the bed
and waits on guests at table. But none
of these characteristics and conditions
menaced Anglo-Saxon civilization or
threatened the stability OF the British
empire until 1885, when gold was dis
covered at johannesburg.
The simple truth is that the real griev-
ance OF England against the Beers is
not that they are illiterate, stolid and
unprogressive, but that the Transvaal
contains the richest gold mines in the
world, and English miners, capitalists
and spectators want to control them.
Whenever weak or feeble power has
anything that England wants and re-
fuses to surrender, that is OF itself
"casus bclli," and the plundcr, robbery
and extortion that follow are always in
the interest OF civilization. In this con-
sccrated name she built up the Indian
empire by a series of inconceivablc bar
baritics, whose horrors as narrated in
the speeches OF Burke and Hastings will
forever shock the conscience OF man.
kind. Upon the same pretense she
forced the famous opium traffic on
China, and is now engaged in dismem-
bering that ancient domain to advance
civilization and at the same time secure
control of the Suez canal and protect
patent land holders. She bombarded
Alexandria and buried it in the night.
England is the bully and ruffian and
coward among nations She never
fights her equals or on equal terms.
She never tenders all utimatum to
the strong. With them she negotiatcs
and compromises and dickers and
squirms and yields.
She claims to have been the con-
queror OF Napoleon, t,a she never dared
to meet him single-landed on any field,
and had it not been for her Prussian
allies would have been defeated at
Waterloo.
| She fought Russia in the Crimca with
the help of the French; but give her a
cripple or baby as an antagonist and
she is dauntless and undeniable. She
bullied and insultcd and domineered
over this country till we tllrasfed her
in two wars on land and sea.
During the Rebellion she omitted no
effort to destroy the Union. She
threatened the North with war and
treated the South with promises OF rec
ognition. She equipped fleet OF pi-
rates that swept the seas OF our COM
mercc, from the effects OF whose dcprc-
dations we have not yet recovered, and
then paid fifteen millions rather than
fight. Cleveland slapped her in the face
in his Venezuela message, and she ac-
ceptcd the insult and submitted to arbi-
tration.
1t would seem as ii the greatest king
dom in the world could afford to be
magnanimous in its differences with SO
small an adversary as the Boer republic
and find some amicablc solution by ne
gotiation, as it has SO often done with
the great powers; but the interest OF
civilization demands that the Transvaal
shall be oblitcrated in order that British
control Of the Rand may be supreme.
The result can hardly be doubted. The
odds are too great. The Beers must
go; but there is no intelligence so dense
and opaque as not TO know the cause
OF their oppression, and no conscience
so callous and cold as not to feel that
they are victims OF greed and injustice
such as will, on the Judgment day OF
nations, demand vengeance and retribu-
ton.