The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-11-07

| already bankrupt. Their hostility To the
| native was making the black "A danger
| 20 every settler in South Africa. The
| Beers found themselves i'm war they.
| were neither strong enough to eni
nor diplomatic enough To evade For
her own sake England stepped I'm.
| knowing well that II the blacks once
| overran the Transyaal il was only a
matter Of time when they would mem
| ace the Cape itself So in April. 1871
England annexed the TransvaaI. That
| annexation saved the Boer from col
lapse. 1t was English vgor and Eng
/ lish money that reconstructed the
emasculated Boer republic ana put the
sloven burgher once more on his feet
IL was England who drove back his
enemies and IL was England who open
ed up his country. Then when his
house was put i'm order the Boer calm
ly decided to eject the housekeeper.
This ne did. for the resistance was only
half hearted The door was slammed
i'm John Bulls face at Majuba Hill ana.
though he might easily have pounded
down that portal in time. he had no
wish TO deprive an alien people Of their
liberty.
In 1881 England gave the Transvaal
internal autonomy under an imperial
suzerainty that would guard against
encroachment upon neighboring bound
aries. This left the Boer neither re-
pentant nor grateful He hated the
English. and he always would hate the
English. that was all he knew and all
he cared to know. Three years after
being granted her independence the
Transyaal promised al the London con-
vention to give practical equality ot
rights and privileges To all white men
such as was enjoyed in neighboring
British colonies. The promise was glib
ly made and lightly broken. The dis
covery Of gold in the heart Of the
Transvaal brought thousands or stran-
gers knocking at her doors. These
strangers were just what the bucolc
Boer did not want. He desired To be
left alone. The stolid burghers or the
veldt wanted 10 raise their sheep and
drink their coffee and smoke their pipes
in peace. For the newfangled cries or
progress and industry and advance
they had the most profound contempS.
-rhal-haa- -+AeiE-hlael<- slaves, -thA-lt-IlIiIa-
homes, their bit of corn ground, ana
that was all they cared for. Their cry
was the cry OF the red Indians Oh Amer
lea Of one century ago.
But the tide of immigration they
could not keep back This they realiz-
ed. Africa became the cynosure OF all
eyes There was one thing they could
do. however-they could make it SO
hot and uncomfortable for the incomer
that he would be glad to get out And
this is just what the Boer all his life
long has been trying to do. The time
for an alien TO become enfranchsed was
enlarged from two years 10 five. Every
political and municipal right was de-
MED him. When the gold rush Of 1886
showed the need Of even more discour-
agemont the franchise was still more
narrowly delmited, until IA years was
the term imposed on the immigrant
The gold industry was taxed, monop-
olies were created, every uitlander was
hled. The liquor law was so admins
tered that il worked only in the interest
OF the Dutch manufacturer An out
rageous monopoly i'm dynamite was also !
created, and eXorbtant prices for this |
Of the miner became the or
der. English children had 90 go to Boer /
schools and be taught the sloven |
tongue OF the low Dutch. Sixty thou
sand indolent and corrulent Beers. |
banded together i'm one impregnable |
family compact dominated and oppress
ed and disgraced the manhood OF 200, |
300 uitlanders.
1t was no wonder such thing ended |
In a Jameson raid. That raid was
This every one, Boer and |
British alike. Will now confess. But Il |
was mistake only because il was
failure. Then it was the Boer gloated, |
with his Bible in his hand and race ha- !
.red I'm his heart. He famed that ha- |
red up to the burning point. Outrages |
to property and mdignities to people /
became II thing positively Terrifying I
proportions. The country was missov- /
arned, corruption was rampant and, To /
make sure OF his position. the Boer I
armed and equipped his home forts by Z
means OF war taxes wrung from the 4
lard working uitlander, who paid four
cen -fifteenths OF the republics revenue.
Such things have 20 have an end.
If you saw a pile OF gold worth $780,
,o0 coo with 10000 Beers armed TO the
eeth sitting on &C." cried Sir Alfred
Miner, what would you do?' The
3oer piously protests that we English
ire band of selfish and rapacious in
'aders, who want nothing but TO suck
he golden honey from the mines II
lis country and then pass on and leave
him TO feed on the empty husks ~ the .
barren Veldt. But I'm his heart he knows
nat any permanent good. that any .
Improvement that has ever
'een made in the Transvaal has been .
he result Of uitlandcr effort. lie knows .
hat he himself has moved neither hand .
Tor foot TO irrigate or enrich those fer
lie but well parched pralries over /
Nhich now roam his few handouts ~ !
heep and cattle And he must know /
n his heart that a selfshness SO mar |
ow and an attitude so autocratic can I
lave but one end. That end. thank /
iod. now seems 20 be nearer than ever /
'efore. The spirit OF the nineteenth /
entury must sweep away the Boer and /
III FOR which he stands
II rs FOR these reasons that the Roers |
late tho British and the British tba |
soers. Time was when we were willing /
o give and take rather than bring ,non /
ur empire another bitter and bloody /
var. Dom Paul and his people allowed \
nat time TO pass. and now nothing hut 4
var TO the death can bring about tho 4