Washington sentinel., 1900-04-21

sre good ceal like the patriots OF our
own Revolution. They love free insti
tutions, the same as we do, for the sake
of personal liberty. 1t comes to them
naturally and by inheritance. Their love
of liberty is not Of day or Of year, but
OF centuries.
They are brave, a fearless, a patri.
otto, liberty loving, and God feariue
people Many years ago their ancestors
emigrated from Holland, from France.
and from other places in the north Of
Europe to Cape Colony IN order to live
under free institutions, enjoy the bless
ings of liberty, and worship their Maker
according to the dictates of their own
conscience.
The Puritan, the Hollauder, the Irish
man, the German, and the Cavalier came
to this country for the same reason and
for the same purpose.
| These sturdy immigrants and their
heroic descendants carved out unaided
and alone their own destin in the wIlds
ofthe Dark Continent amid unspeakahle
hardships and privations and ave to the
| world civilization as good as our own.
For a century and more, in sunshine and
and in storm, these brave people toiled
and plodded on, and they builded, like
the fathers OF this Republic, better than
they knew. Surrounded by savages,
harassed by wild beasts, visited by
famine and scourged by disease, in all
the long weary and dreary years they
never lost hope; they prayed to God
and never despaIred.
They are simple Christian people,
as honest as they are brave. They
redeemed the wilderness. turned the
desert wastes into sweeping fields Of
grain, made the jungle blossom and
bloom like rose, and dotted the hills
with villages and towns. Notwithstand
irg all they had to contend with, they
grew, they prospered, aud they were
happy until perfidious Albion came.
From that day to this England has
made cruel war on the Beers. She has
repeatedly robbed them Of their lives,
their property and their lands,
But the spirit Of their love Of liberty
has never been broken. You cannot
conquer a brave people inspired by the
love of freedom and battling on their
own soil for their homes and their liber-
ties. They will never surrender their
principles. They will resist oppression
and tyranny until they are exterminated
by overwhelming and superior .orce.
They know, like Patrick Henry, that
resistance to tYrants is obedience to
God. Their love of liberty is stronger
and more tenacious than their love OF
life Their history is an epic poem OF
one long heroic struggle against English
greed, English tyranny and English
oppression.
he absolute independence Of the
South African Republic was finally
recognized by Great Britain in 1884, and
ever since then it has been as free and
as independent as our own great Repub.
lie. Prior to the year 1884 these brave
and fearless men and their ancestors had
struggled and struggled Tor a century
aud more to establish what they now
possess and what they are at present so
gallsntlY fighting to maintain--a free
and independent government OF their
own. Once, twice, three times England
has violated her solemn pledge to them
and trespassed on their sacred rights.
She saw what they had wrought, and
her greedy sons coveted it. The Beers
were compelled by English greed an6
tyranny and power to move farther and
farther inland, Whenever they thought
they we're secure and had the right to
enjoy the blessings of liberty and sell
government, England encroached upo
their domain, waged pItiless and savage
war against them, and drove them
farther and farther from the sea.
To their credit and their glory, how
ever, be it said that every encroachment
on their land, their rights, and their
liberties has been manlullY and stub.
bornly resisted. They we're forced to
move on, but they never gave up their
freedom; they never surrendered their
independence.
Prior to the present conflict Majuba
Hill marks the place of the last contest
with Great Britain of these valorous
people for their homes and their fire.
sides. Majuba Hill Forever glorious in
the annals of the South African Repub.
lies struggle to maintain its indep end
ence, Majuba Hill to them is the same
as Bunker Hill to us, and both will live
in history to the end of time as an
inspiration to man.
After this disastrous blow to British
arms the convention Of 1884 was
entered into, and all other and prior
treaties were annulled. BY this treaty
the South African Republic became free
and independent and took IS place
among the nations of the world. And
Lord Derby, then Secretary OF State TOR
the Colonies and a very different man
from Joseph Chamberlain, distinctly
stated IN Parliament that the South
African Republic was independent end
free to govern itself The question oil
England's paramountcY IN South Africa
was not mentioned, and never a word
was said about British "suzerainty."
That great English statesman, friend
OF the Beers, friend OF liberty and oil
Irish Home Rule, VIM. z. Gladstone
said the word "suzerainty" was dropped
on purpose
Even as late as May, 1896, after the
Jameson raid, Mr.. Chamberlain said il
the House of Commons:
war In South Africa wonld be one of IN,
| most serious wars that could possibly be- wntod