Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-12
THE CAUSES FOR WAR
Trouble between British and the Beers of
Long Duration.
Situation Was Aggravated by the
Discovery of GOld--The
Jameson Raid.

| The New York Herald gives the following
history of the rise of the Boer republic in
South Africa. known as the Transvaal:
1t was on the Cape of Good Hope that
the white man made his first settlement in
South Africa. The Dutch, under the aus
pices of the Dutch East India Company,
went there in the seventeenth century.
They were followed by Hugh enot refugees
in seach of the religious freedom denied
them in France. These two races lived
amicably together, intermarriages merged
| II EN- into blood. That the Beers, or
| Dutch Afrihanders of today are a mixed
race is evidenced by the very names of
their prominent representatives. Kruger,
the president. for example, has a name of
Holland origin. Joubert. the vice president
and commandant general of their army, has
"a French patronymc. The first British set
tiers arrived toward the close of the eight
zenith century. Trouble at began to
arise. These troubles eliminated in the
conquest of the territory by the British. In
1914 Holland formally coded 1t to Great
| Britain. Cape Colony, as it was now nam
| ed, has ever since remained dependency
| of the crown.
| The "Grent Trek"
The new administration little to the
liking of the descendants of the original
settlers. Under Holland they had enjoyed
measure of self-government. Under Great
Britain they felt themselves aliens. The
crisis of discomfort arrived with the eman-
cipation of their slaves in 1884. Not only
was emancipation itself against their wish
es, but the nominal compensation offered
them took the form of orders London,
which they were forced to cash on the
spot at ruinous discounts. Many of the
farmers were practically impoverished. In
rage and disgust a large number of the
| Boers began to go north and east into the
wilderness. This exodus is known as the
| great trek of 1896. Trek is Dutch for
track, or rather for the verb which sur
| wives in our vernacuiar speech to make
| tracks. The trekkers founded the two col
onles OF Orange and Nata., whose northern
boundaries were the Vaal river. They were
still claimed as British subjects by the gov
ernor of the colony. In 1913 this claim was
| enforced by conquest. Once more a large
number of the Beers jumped into their
| wagons and trekked across the Vaal in
search of independence.
| British Protection Brought Annexa-
| ton.
| Thus the Transvaal state was founded
and maintained a precarious existence by
| whip and rifle in the teeth of constantly
encroaching hordes of hostile savage tribes
| But go where they would the Beers found
! that British power and influence were sure
| to follow. Nor We're they altogether I'M
| welcome at first. Without the aid of Brit
| ish arms 1t is more than doubtful whether
| tanned themselves against the Zuus on
| their east, the Matabeles on their west and
! the kaftirs in their very midst In 1877
however, British annexation proved the
price of British protection. The Beers pro-
| tested in vain. 1t was not until 1881 that
they resorted to arms. Their bloody VIC
tory at MaJuba Hill brought the British
| government to terms.
| By a convention signed at Pretoria il
| 1881 Mr. Gladstone's government restored
independence to the Transvaal, now known
officially as the South African republic
! Independence was subject, however, to the
| suzerainty of Great Britain.
There was no mistaking the meaning of
| the word suzerainty as defined in this con-
Eenuon. II was expressly stipulated that
the English crown should appoint a Brit
| lsh resident, with a veto power over the
internal policy of the republic toward the
| kaf1rs; that 1t should control and conduct
Its entire foreign policy and reserve the
right of moving troops over its territory in
time of war.
To the Beers. however, the reservation
was gall and NORWOOD. AS thew chafed
more and more under what seemed 10 the
colonial office a mere shadow Of authority
| Gladstone cheerfully proposed a revision of
the convention.
The London Convention in 1854.
Thus came the conference which led to
the second or London convention of 1884
Though held in the metropolis of Great
Britain Itself the British public thought lit
Tic anu CdIGu less ABOUT inc matter, The
Beers got pretty much what they wanted.
Out of Difference to Boer sensitiveness the
word "suZerainty," expressly used in the
convention Of 1881, was omitted In the
new one, and the title Of British resident
was changed to diplomatic agent with q
| restriction OF his functions to purely con-
sular duties. Complete independence was
granted in domestic affairs. The western
| boundaries of The state were mutlallv do
| termined upon.
| Though the word suZeranty was dropped
the thing itself was asserted in one clause
which ran follows: The South African
| republic will conclude no treaty or engage
ment with any state or nation other than
the Orange Free State, nor with any native
tribe to the eastward or westward of the
| republic, until the same has been approved
| by her majesty. the queen"
| As the other clauses were concessions to
| Boer feelings so this was a concession to
John Bulls. Some years passed before it
| was looked upon as of any vital import
ance. The Beers have argued that the
colonial office winked at some minor viola
tons of its spirit, but this is denied by
British authorities. Only when the Beers
showed a disposition to encroach beyond
| the boundary limitations of the conyen-
ton was 1t aroused, and even then to tardy
action The Transvaal government had its
| heart set upon two great aims. One was
to shut off Cape Colony from the north
the other to establish seaport of its own
In short, the British took little interest
| in the matter that it is not impossible the
| Beers might Stealthily and gradually have
succeeded in their double aim, despite the
vigilance of Cecil Rhodes and Sir Hercules
Robinson The discovery of gold in the
Witwatersrand range of hills changed every
thing To be sure, the first mines exploited
in 1886, at Barberton, collapsed after the
: preliminary rush, but the unique conglom-
crate deposits in the locality where the
present city of Johannesburg sprang up,
almost In a night, gave assurance to the
world that one of the greatest centers of
J gold mining known to all history had been
found
/ The world was quick to respond. Vast
! multitudes of foreigners. chiefly English,
but numbering also Americans, Germans
French and Austrians, streamed into that
!, region. The Beers classed them all as uit-
landers. foreigners. Today Johannes
burg, which is practically an English city
I numbers over 100000 souls. Pretoria, the
| capital of the state, can muster barely
J 5000. Today the uitander population OF
the South African republic is at least twice
I | as large as that of the Beers. The uit.
! landers not only have a preponderance IN
| numbers, but they have the wealth, the
\ intelligence and the energy that make num-
= berS tell.
The Uitlanders Denied Civic Rights
Meanwhile the Beers had wakened tc