The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-22
PRESIDENT KRUGER's DIPLOMATIC
REPRESENTATIVE.

representative of the South African Re
public I'm Washington may give the Boer
jingolsts in Congress a chance TO exploit
some resolutions of sympathy. and enemies
of the administration may try TO make
political capital out Of 1t, but the admins
tration need not be disturbed. No doubt
there is in the United States a good deal
of individual sympathy with the Beers.
though popular sentiment is divided, but
however Americans may feel on this phase
of the question, nobody wants the govern
ment to become mixed up in the matter
in any way or to depart hairs breath
from strict neutrality. The official recogni-
ton by the government of a diplomatic
representative of the Transvaal Republic
at this time would be regarded by Great
Britain as an unfriendly act and could not
be defended on grounds of international
law or comfy. Without undertaking to
decide the question of suzerainty as be-
tween Great Britain and the Transvaal Re-
public, it is enough that Great Britain as
serts the claim and would resent any act
that looked like denial of it. And under
the treaty of 1884 her claim seems to be
we'll founded, as far as the foreign rela-
tions of the Transvaal are concerned. The
treaty of 1881 distinctly acknowledged Great
of 1884 modified that of 1881 so far that the
South African Republic agreed to submit
any treaty or engagement concluded with
any foreign state or nation TO the British
government" which should have the right
of veto If exercised within a period of six
months. A right to veto treaty or agree
ment would imply a right to veto the es-
tablishment of diplomatic relations with
foreign governments. The Beers claim
that the treaty of 1884 abolished British
admitted by the British. In the trial of
the Jameson raiders in 1896 the lord chief
justice of England said: 1.-The position
of the South African Republic is deter
mined by the two conventions of 1881 and
1884. The result is that under these con-
ventions the Queens government recog-
nizes the complete independence and au-
tonomy of the South African Republic.
subject only to the restrictions of the con-
vention of 1884. to the effect that the South
to come into any treaties without this coun-
try's consent Sir William Vernon Har-
court, former Liberal leader in the House
of Commons, said in a speech delivered
last September:
Now l must ask you to bear with me
you what was the limit of the independence
which was then granted, regranted /
should say, to the Transvaal state Now.
1T was considered then, and it is considered
now, that the Transvaal state ought not
to enter into any foreign relations by
treaty with other countries, without the
consent of the. British government. In
my opinion that was proper and just
principle.
Again, Lord Salisbury, the British pre-
mier. said in a speech at the opening of
the last session of Parliament:
The word "suzerainty" is not necessary
for Great Britain's resent purpose. Stu
ated as Great Britain is in South Africa
towards the TranSvaal and the outland-
ers. she has duty to fulfill which has
nothing 10 do with any convention or any
question of suzerainty. This word. how
ever. being put into the treaty. obtained
an artificial value and meaning which have
prevented Great Britain from entirely
abandoning it, If Great Britain dropped Ii
she would be intimating that she also re-
pudiated and abandoned the ideas attached
to IL.
Thus it appears that in reality Great
Britain claims suzerainty over the foreign
relations of the South African Republic as
much as she ever did. This is important as
showing how the British government would
a diplomatic representative from the South
African Republic at this time. 1t is by no
means unlikely that the sending of the rep
rcsentative at this time was intended as
trap for the United States in the hope
that perhaps popular clamor for his recog
milton would be strong enough to compel
the government TO yield and thus bring
about a complication that would help the
Boer cause. President Kruger is very cum
ming and quite capable of trick of that
kind This government should not be
caught in any such trap. no matter what
the Boer jingOists or enemies of the ad-
ministration may say. AS the United
States has never officially recognized the
independence of the South African Repub-
lie nor established diplomatic relations
with 1t. ii should not change its policy at
a time when such step would surely be
construed as an unfriendly act by
friendly power. The fact that Great Brit
ain has a big war on her hands and may
have great difficulty in establishing her
claim of suzerainty in foreign affairs over
the Transvaal does not affect the principle
of the case a particle. The war is her af-
fair and the United States should keep as
far out Of II as possible. Whether she sue
ceeds in establishing her claims in South
Africa or not, she has not surrendered
them yet. and the United States should not
offer gratuitous insult by an act that
would be equivalent to denying them
MISSIONARIES TO PHILIPPINES.
Missionary societies OF the various Profess