Connecticut western news., 1900-03-15
THE BOER WAR.

S The writer of an accompanying article signed "A Loyal American" rightly pre- sumes that the NEWS is edited in a spirit of fairness and will give space to both sides of question. With the same spirit American" will allow us to pub fish below an account of speech de- livered by Yale professor of history Prof. Arthur M. Wheeler of Yale Uni versity. The account is taken from the New Haven Palladium.
 Prof Wheeler, in order to impress fully upon the minds of his hearers all of the f cts leading up to the present state of affairs, went back to the begin ming of Boer history. He explained and produced authorities in proof, how the Boers had time and again been the victims of British duplicity. In each of the disputes which had arisen betu cen the Boers and Great Britain since first the fern,er settled in South Africa, Prof. Wheeler showed that England had in- variably been in the wrong.
 As the principal cause for the present war, Prof. Wheeler explained. England represented that the Boers had insisted
 
 without giving them fair representation in the government. As against this, however, was the fact that no alien, even though naturalized, had been allowed | to sit in the British house of lords. Un | til period antedsting by about 20 years the present war no alien even though naturalized, had been allowed a | seat in the house of commons. Such fN Ahn f<,- came with ill grace from England. In partial defense of the Boer refusal ] of the suffrage and the right to voice | in government to those of alien birth except under the conditions to which | England has taken armed exception, Prof. Wheeler explained the conditions l in Johannesburg The latter was sim ply mining town of the most pro- nounced form of mushroom growth on record. The surrounding region is uu- fitted for agricultural pursuits and as | soon as the mines are exhausted the town will become practically deserted A large majority of its residents have only temporary interest in either the town or the Boer republic The Boer exaction of a If years residence before granting the right to vote was therefore only requiring reasonable guaranty that the interest of the alien residents should be something more than tempo rary. That the English who are clam bring for representation if they are to be | taxed are nowhere near in the majority was shown by the last census. This showed that 40 per cent of the populs- tion are French, 12a per cent German and the rest made up of many other na- tions.
 Of the real cause of the present war Prof Wheeler spoke in plain terms. He ascribed it in so many words to the bankrupt British aristocracy. The in- terest of the latter had been created through the formation by Cecil Rhodes and Dr Jameson of the British South Africa company. Believing that part of south Africa called Rhodesis to be , inexhaustibly rich in gold and diamond mines. the South Africa company was | organized with a capital of $5.000, 900 | This was subsequently increased to l $25, ,000 GOO To float the stock money was spent like water and blocks of che stock distributed gratuitously where it would do the most good. For this pur- pose millions of dollars worth of it had gone into the hands of the British aris- | tocracy, including the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Abercorn and the Duke of Fife. The last named is both grandson to Queen Victoria and son-in- law to the Prince of Wales. It is we'll known that the three named as we'll as many others of the British aristocracy are heavily in debt. These and the other 40, GOO shareholders, the South Africa company having paid no dividends, became inn patient Rhodesia having not proved to be the fruitful source of wealth which had been anticipated and driven to des- peration by the clamoring shareholders the excuse for the present war had been
 trumped up with the hope that one re- suit would be the coming into possess ion by the South Africa company of the rich gold and diamond mines of the Transvaal. If the South Africa com
 pany goes into bankruptcy the whole scandal connected with it will be laid
 bare Driven to the necessity of secur. ing funds the bankrupt sristocrscy and
 virtually bankrupt South Africa com
 pany had bror ght about the war.
 Prof Wheeler. who was vigorously applauded at the end of his address,
 closed with an earnest exhortation that
 politics and morals be not divorced. I