The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-09

contains a nobler race of men and women.
The descendants of the pious HugueDots
who were the victims OF the revocation
OF the edict of Nantes-who were obliged
10 fee from their country in 1865 in order
that Madame de Maintenol might become
the wife of a king The descendants, too,
of the heroic Netherlands, who. under
William the Silent, wrested the independ-
ence of Holland from the hand of the
Spanish tyrant.
mo people in all the worlds h story
have made a more yalisnt effort to secure
liberty for future peoples than they. And
no people have endured more hariships
in the cause of liberty and equality of
rights than they. Indeed it was, and is.
their inconquerable love for liberty that
has caused all their troubles.
= "Gf course they are stubborn and strong.
Otherwise how could they have done SO
much? A giant race OF men and women
accustomed TO hardship and toll; Of heroic
stature and broad shoulders. with clear
eyes. strong brains. and noble hearts,
these plain common people Of ,he moln-
tain and veldt have struggled together n
common cause. In the hard school Of
experience they received their only edu-
cation. In the Holy Bible they received
that instruction and consolation from the
nuu lhts iONts AhaA EutefN AAF-A4 ta-AONs5h
the trials and tribulations Of tie Gen.
turtles and that made them courageous
enough to defy the nefarious tricks and
schemes of greedy. selfish. Srasping NIL
lions of their fellow-men and TO combat
successfully with the wild beasts and fe-
Tocious savages, as they trekked through
the African wilderness hitherto untrodden
by the foot of white mem.
The Bocrs' History.
In sketching the history OF the Beers
Mr.. Dsvi1 said:
"It was many years ago that they settled
In spite of the oppressive bonds OF the
East Indian Company, that young settle
ment grew and fourished with such vigor
that when the colony passed into the
hands of England in 1906 a strong ma
tional spirit and local patriotism had
already developed itself. 1t was against
the wish of the people Of the infant colony
that they passed under the control OF the
English Government and very soon there
after their Afrikander spirit was seriously
wounded by the British Government TAX
ing sides with the natives as against the
.colonists in many ways. The farmers were
deprived of their guns and ammunition,
and. as a result, in a snort time their
strcyed by the savages.
The British Government organized
their police force by the appointment OF
Hottentots, the most contemplate of the
natives, to the positions of policemen
This action infuriated the Beers, for they
regarded the Hottentots as much lower
than themselves in the social scale. AS
a result part of the Beers reyolted in
the year 1915 and six of them were tor
tt,o
British at Slaughter's Nek. In the pres
ence of their wives and children. who
were compelled to be present. the poor un-
fortunate Beers were first inhumanly
half-hanged and when the scaffold broke
they were again hoisted. in a dying state.
and strangled to death. Such was the
conduct then of the representatives of that
nation that now boasts of its humanity
and civilization and which is wont to refer
to the Beers as uncouth savages, feeding
upon mealies and wild bucks, and who are
unfit for the solution Of the great prob
lens of civilization that belong to the
most refined and esthetic nations.
That tragedy was the first blood beacon
raised to mark the division line between
Boer and Briton in South Africa. and it
will ever remain 4 dark spot upon the
pages of British history-a marker as II
were for cruelty, injustice, and dishonor."
Mr.. Davis addressed himself at length
10 the successive northward trekkings Of
the Beers. He said:
The Burgher's Tribulations.
Like the followers Of Abraham and
Moses in the long ago they left everything
behind and went out into the great un-
known Their history surpasses all fiction
in its vicissitudes, successes. and tragedies.
They fought and worked, starved and
died for the land Oh promise-that land
where they might hope to live alone, where
they might build homes for their loved
ones. where they might enjoy all the bless
ings of civil and religious freedom where
the cid mother and father might, in after
years, sit on the porch of rhe old farm
house and look out over their green fields.
blossoming orchards. and herds of cattle
grazing on the broad veldt. while in the
distance rise the blue mountains, looking
like sentinels grim and bold, as behind
them Africas golden sun sinks peacefully
rest"
Mr.. Davis read from declaration OF
Piet Retief, assigning the motives which
caused the Beers to move out of Cape Col
ony into the country beyond the Orange
and Vaal Rivers.
When the Beers triumphed over the
public of Natal, the British Government
annexed it and again the Beers we're
driven over the mountains, the Boer
women even declaring that rather than
submit TO British authority they would
walk barefoot over the Drakensberg
Mountains TO freedom or to death"
According to Mr.. Davis. the Eng ish
followed the Beers northward until dia
monds were discovered in the Orange Free
State.
In the matter OF the diamond fields of
Kimberley" Mr.. Davis said. under the
cloak of hypocricy the plea was resorted to
that the ground belonged to native.
Yet this assertion was proved and
adjudged to be false even in the British
Law courts"
Mr.. Davis sketched the history OF tie
South African Republic and reviewed the
SAID River Convention OF 1852.
But England's urdying love for terri
tory soon brought about the annexation
OF the TrarsyRal. The persecution OF the