The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1900-02-23
WASTED SYMPATHY.
The BOer War MiSunder-
stood.
The Beers Not a Liberty Loving
People.

The war between the Beers and Brit
sh in South Africa has drawn out
rood deal of sympathy from many of our
pest people, and there is no occasion
or questioning their motives or intel
igence.
We think this sympathy, however,
q mistaken sympathy, but it is not a
thing for Americans to quarrel over
among themselves.
to England for her frlendliness on the
eve of, and during our late Spanish
war. When France, Germany, Austria
and Russia, formed an alliance to pro-
test against our making war against
Spain, that protest meant that if we
persisted, we would have to meet their
navies upon the ocean. England refused
to join them in their protest, and
knowing that all of them together
could not meet the navies of England
and America combined, they changed
their protest to an appeal, and "cooed
as mildly as a sucking dove"
Then, after Spain had declared war,
when the same newspapers in France
and Germany that are now berating
England, were denouncing the United
States, and predicting that the Spanish
navy would ravage our coasts; and
when our Government in an almost
panic-stricken condition was Fastening
to place it's disappearing guns in all
our harbors to protect our defenseless
cities, England declared coal to be con-
traband of war, and thus made it
impossible for Spanish fleet
to operate against our coast and
left our navy free to blockade Cuba and
Porto Rico, and to utterly destroy Ger
vera's fleet, the pride of Spain. And
when the German admiral was trying
the patience of Dewey, in Manila bay,
by his insolence, it was the British
sailors who cheered our jackies, and it
was British vessels that significantly
anchored near Dewey's feet.
We appreciated these things in the
hour of danger; we should not forget
them now, when the same unfriendly
nations have turned their vituperation
against Great Britain, have sent their
officers to help the Beers, and would
gladly, if they dared, turn their guns
upon England. Those who would have
friends must show themselves friendly.
Many allow our old time hatred OF
the British to prejudice them againt
the England of today. But time works
changes, and we have not time nor oc-
casion to take up the quarrels OF our
fathers. The England of 1776 is not
the Great Britain of today. The En-
gland of today is our best FREUD. She
buys more of us than any other nation
She can do us more harm; she can dc
us more good, than any other nation
With the United States, she stand:
| more for liberty and christian civiliza
tion, for progress and humanity thar
all other nations, and friendly ALI
ance of an informal nature, between
| these two nations, will do more for hu
man rights, and more TO preserve the
of the world, than anything we can i'm
agine.
Wherever England rules today. in al
her colonies, there is more liberty, more
progress, more protection of human
rights, than among the subjects of any
other nation.
England's rule in Egypt and Soutf
Africa, with a railroad already contem
plated, connecting these extremes, will
do more to develop that vast continent
and relieve the cOngested populations o
Europe than all things that have hap
pened since the year one-anno mundi
For the best of reasons, therefore, W,
wish England prosperity and success.
But because we wish England well
we would not take sides against tn,
Beers, if they are right.
| We have studied this question, as ia
as we have been able, and we canno
say that the Beers have our sympathies
or that we believe England is in th
wrong.
England is fighting today agains
the very thing our fathers tough
against in 10 taxation without rel
resentation." She is fighting toda
against the very thing the Unite
States fought against in the rebellion
when South Carolina attempted to 81
cede from the Union.
England secured the same title
the possessions of Holland in South A
RIGA, that our Government secured
Louisiana by treaty, and it was neve
:. questioned. The Beers, or part I
them sought to throw off the BIRTHS
yoke, and establish their independence
however, not because of their love
| freedom, but because of their love fc
slavery.
Livingston, one of the best men wh
ever trod the earth, and who gave b
life to redeem Africa from its barbs
ism, said in his books that it was b
cause England abolished slavery
these colonies, that she incurred tt
:, enmity of the Beers, whose cruelty t.
wards the natives he severely criticize
,fl Others have criticized the cruelty
the Beers towards the natives-tl
g Basutos, the Zulus, and other tribes
= who are anxious tocay to fight for E
gland and against their old enemie
,, the Beers.
l,o, rr,,op+a conditional