The Saint Paul globe., 1900-01-15
TWO VIEWS OF BRlTISH-BOER war.
GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR.

| GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR.
To the Editor OF the Globe:
I have only today read your report Of
the speech recently made by Mr.. Mason
in the senate Of the United States. q
speech urging upon the senate an express
sion Of sympathy for the Beers. Mr.
Mason declares that the United States
has the same right to extend It's sympa-
thy and its hopes for their success, to
the Beers in their struggle for liberty
as 1t had to interfere with Spain in Cuba"
And yet Mr.. Mason is fully aware that
every argument which justified a dis
armed and disfranchised majority in Cuba
| in claiming your Intervention has justified
the appeal made to our nation by the
majority In the Transvaal. In the case
Of Cuba you were long suffering almost
| to the point Of poltroonery, and I venture
| to say that the imbecile cowardice Of our
governments here since 1880 in dealing
with the Transvaal Is a sure sign of Brit
| fsh decadence and that even our sue
cessful conduct of the present war will
| by no means put US right either with
ourselves. our colonies, or with the ma
tional conscience.
| What is liberty7 Does it relate to the
| square miles men call the Transvaai,
| or to the people who occupy those square
| miles? If governments do derive their
| just powers from the consent Of the gov
| erned and If without that consent gov
ernment is but tyranny, what is the
| position in the Transvaal. where two
thirds of the white population paying
nine-tenths Of the taxes, have had nc
more voice in the affairs of their COM
munity than has a cam shaft In one of
| their stamp mills.
| Mr.. Mason is the Ambassador of SOW
| ereign state''-of one of your great lib
| erty-loving commonwealths should In
| deed, be sorry to suppose that any con-
| siderable section Of his community ap-
| proves its ambassador or his language.
| He declares that "the South African war
| is a struggle between democracy and
| royalty, between the divine right
| Of man and the divine right Of
kings" really, sir, such stuff entities
Mr.. Mason to our sympathies rather than
our arguments. Unfortunately, however,
Mr.. Mason Is not alone. and should not
venture to trouble you with this letter
only that I have today heard from an
American who has perhaps the best right
| of all to speak for the American Democ-
racy. My correspondent deprecates the
war on the ground that '1f the Uitlanders
| are in a majority in numbers and in
wealth, 1t Is only question of time when
| they will obtain their rights without the
| Intervention Of England" Now, pre-
| cisely the same statement might have
1 D66u IldQ6 Ill Il0 Case VI OuUd 4NO OOuOb
4 the Cubans were in a majority both in
numbers and in wealth, but their efforts
have merely kept Cuba in flames for the
| past forty years; and in the case Of the
majority in the Transvaal the greater
| their majority and their wealth the
weaker they became, because the greater
was the volume Of taxation wrung from
! them, which taxes were spent in build
| ing forts round johannesburg, every gun
i nOintinp into the Dlanted
not to protect the town but to destroy
! 1t. Read the following passage from one
| of the petitions Of the Transvaal National
Union:
| We now have openly the policy OF
| force revealed to usie 900 is to be
spent upon the completing Of a fort in
Pretoria, 91GO0oo is to be spent upon a
| fort to terrorize the inhabitants Of johann
nesburg. Large orders are sent to krupp
for big guns Maxim guns have been or
| man officers are coming out to drill the
| burghers. Are these things necessary, or
are they calculated to irrltate the feeling
| to breaking point? What necessity Is
| there for forts In peaceful inland towns?
| Why should the government endeavor to
keep us in subsection to unjust laws BIZ
themselves live in the hearts Of the peo-
| pie by q broad policy Of justioe7 What
| can be said Of the policy which delib-
! the tts' people from ~ each other d instead Of Of
| uniting them under equal laws. or the
policy which keeps US in eternal tur-
! moil with the neighboring states? What
shall be said of the statecraft, every act
| Of which sows torments, discomfort, or
| race hatred, and reveals a conception of
republicanfsmeunder which the only privi-
| lege OF the majority is to provide the rev.
| enue and to bear insult, while only those
| are considered Republicans who speak a
! certain language, and In greater or less
| degree share the prejudices of the ruling
| classes?
| But ut Is only a question of time,"
! writes my Democratic friend, "before the
| uitlanders will get the franchise" But
| how much time, and what were the
hopes held out? In the great debate in
the raad on Aug. 49, 1895, the franchise
proposals were made clear. Mr.. Lucifer
| Meyer, Progressive, introduced seven
| years. prospective franchise, and tabled
| petition in it's support signed by 80, ,4S3
| inhabitants Of the Transvaal. Mr.. Tosen,
on the part Of the government, opposed
it. He said lit would be contrary to Re-
publican principles. Those persons
who signed the petition for the franchise
say that they are peaceful, law-abiding
citizens; but they give US sign that they
are not law abiding. because they are
against the law; the election law is there,
and they should abide by it."
Then Mr.. R. X. Loveday, in his speech
to the raad, has this to say of the exist
ing franchise act:
"The president uses the argument that
| they (the Uitlanders) should naturaiize
and thus give evidence of their desire
to become citizens. l have used the same
argument, but what becomes Of such ar.
guments when met with the objec IN
that the law requires such persons to un-
dergo a probation period extending from
fourteen to twenty-four years before they
are admitted to the full rights of citizen
ship. and even after one has undergone
that probationary period he can only be
admitted to full rights by resolution OF
the first raad. In any case the naturalized
citizen cannot obtain full rights until he
reaches the age of forty years. he not
being eligible for the second raad until
he Is thirty years. The child born of
Uitlander parents must therefore walt
until he Is forty years of age, although
at the age Of sixteen he may be called
upon to do military service and nay fall
in defense of the land of his birth. When
such arguments are pressed upon me by
| our kinsmen from all parts of South At
rica | am not surprised that these per-
sons Indignantly refuse to accept citizen
ship upon such unreasonable terms"
The chairman said there was no doubt
about 1t. What Mr.. Loveday said regard
man would have to wait until he was
| Qualified to become full burgher was alb
solutely correct. 1t could not be CONTRA
| dicted. The law was clear on that point
Mr.. Jan de Beer-Yes. I see now Mr.
Loveday Is right and / am wrong. The
| law does say what Mr. Loveday said.
! If you turn to Whfttaker's Almanac
you will find on two consecutive pages
| Sweden and the Transyaal In Sweden