Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-06-15
TWELVE PAGES.
FRIDAY. JUNE Is. 1900.
STRANGE IDEAS OF LIBERTY.

Speaking of the recent visit OF the
Boer ENJOYS to st. Paul, the Pioneer
Press delivers itself of strange defini-
ton Of liberty. from the American
point of view. 1t says:
What the Beers are fighting for in
fact Is not liberty, or even for home
rule or f-government. but for ma
tional independence. and for independ-
eslce as the bulwark of their exclusive
right to rule the country and to deny
the rights ana liberties they claim for
themselves to other inhabitants of the
country"
or course the distinction between
national independence and n measure
of Individual liberty Is clear enough.
Either may exist without n full enjoy
ment OF the other The citizens of a
country governed by an autocrart may
have the largest measure of personal
liberty; the citizens of n republic may
concelvably have their individual free
dom of action greatly restricted None
the less, liberty as it is understood in
this country does not merely mean free
dom from the exactions of tyrannical
laws or the absence OF governmental
citizens It's very essence comes from
national independence and the conse-
quent right OF each citizen to say what
Jaws shall govern him and what rulers
shall sit in high places. 1t is not the
absence of oppression that makes men
Tree, but the absence of the power in
government to Cypress
lie 20
supposedly intelligent newspapers put
ting forward such crudfties as have
been repeatedly put forward in the dis
cussion of the war iel South Africa.
1t argues i'll for the preservation of our
institutions that they should contend
that 1t makes no difference whether
there is national independence so long
as a task-master is not set over the in
dividual: rather let us say 1T would
argue i'll but for the contempt with
which 1t is repudiated by every Ameri-
can who is not Bitten of revived Tory
Ism. Would Americans consider them
selves freemen if they were governed
from London. no matter if the laws
should be the same as at present? So
long as the sovereignty. or any portion
thereof. is vested elsewhere than in the
citizens of a country, that country is
not free. and It's citizens are not free
men; let it's laws be ever SO mild and
its government ever so liberal So long
rs the laws and those who enforce
them may be changed without the con
sent of the people the government Is
potentially tyranny. and its inhalbi-
tants are subjects, not citizens.
Freemen are they who have the right
to govern themselves. That is The con-
tention of the Beers. That is the right
for which they are wagng n fight un
surpassed in heroism and courage. IF
their laws were bad, as is alleged. that
was their own affair. 1t did not do
prive them Of freedom. They could
change the laws. If their rulers were
corrupt, as is alleged, that is not n
proof that they We're not free. Ours are
also corrupt. sometimes, but we can
change them, and do. We should pre-
fer them, at their very worst, to the
best that could be supplied from Lon
don. without our advice and consent.
The American who sees in freedom
nothing more than the right OF the in
dlvfdual to buy and sell, to eat and
sleep, to marry and give in marriage
under liberal laws, should be provided
with a guardian and history Of his
country.