The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1900-02-22

to commit such hellish crimes that the
Archbishop would have his cOngrega-
tion pray for. The nation whose SOL
diers have bayoneted innocent little
children on their mothers breast; shot
human beings from the mouth of
cannon; exhumed the dead from the
grave, decapitated the corpse. placed
the head on spear and paraded
the streets to show a emi-civiliZed
people the beauties and virtues of
English civilization.
would rather wear the garb of an
American prisoner thousand times
over than the uniform of an English
soldier. The uniform of the latter
stands for greed, piracy, starvation,
robbery, deception, slavery, polygamy,
lust, hypocrisy and murder.
England advances many reasons in
attempting to Justify herself in the
present war in the Transvaal. The
most important of these are that of
suzerainty, and the franchise that
England claims the Beers denied the
Outlanders.
In 1884 the present basis of relations
between Great Britain and the Trans
vaal were signed, and by its terms
England surrendered its suzerainty
and the Transvaal was recognized as
an independent nation under the name
of the South African Republic.
The laws of the South African Re-
public require residence of fourteen
years before foreigner can cast a
ballot for President But the English
government wanted the Transvaal to
decrease the period of probation for
full citizenship from fourteen to five
years. and when the Transvaal refused
to do this the British Lion made an
awful roar.
| Now John Bull is not so very liberal
with the franchise himself; he does not
meet the emigrant to England at the
gang plank aud offer him franchise
on gold platter; but, on the other
hand, if the emigrant wishes to be-
come citizen of England residence
of twelve years is required before he
can cast ballot for member of the
House of Commons, and not even a
native born Engishman has the right
to vote for a member of the upper
house.
When the Transvaal was a depend
ancy of the British Crown did it's peo-
pie have vote? No, they did not.
Then why does England set up such a
whine about the poor oppressed Out
landers? Now who are these Out
landers that have suffered such priva-
tions? Why don't they shed their
busters and jump into the thick of the
fray and help England fight for their
so called rights?
If gold had never been discovered in
the Transvaal, we would never have
heard OF the poor downtrodden Out
lander But England tells us this is
not war for gold; but for progress,
1
civilization and the uplifting of hu-
manity; and to prove that this war is
waged in the interest of humanity,
England tells us that she unbound the
cords of slavery from the ankles of the
negroes of Africa after reimbursing
their masters with millions Now the
truth of this matter is that England
instead of paying millions to the
masters of the slaves, stole every acre
of their land.
If John Bull wants to witness the
most tax burdened people on the face
of this earth, all that he has to do is to
pay visit to Ireland. If the poor
Irish peasant bores hole in the side
wall Of his primative cabin with two
inch auger, he is taxed for enjoying
the luxuries of bay window; and if a
stranger unacqaainted with the ways
of English taxation were to read the
assessors report after he levied tax
on an old pig and few young shoats,
he would think that the poor peasant
who was fortunate or unfortunate
enough to be the owner of them, was a
rival of P. I. Barnum or the pluto.
cratic proprietor of geological gar
den.