The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-14
SYMPATHY FOR B0ERS
Is EXPRESSED AT A MASS MEETING
AT TOMLINSON HALL.
Senator Mason Not One Of the Speak
ers-Addresses by Henry n. Spaan
and ID. 4. Shiyeley and Others.

Han iA-Sl AhSil III a dAe oA4
enthusiastic audience. The programme.
however. was long. and while the speeches
were patriotic in the extreme, the audience
soon tired of them and before the meeting
was over it had ~dwindled to one-half its
original size. Before the speeches the In
dianapolis Military Band enlivened those
assembled with such patriotic airs as
Yankee Doodle" "Star-spangled Banner"
Columbia" etc., and by the time the
first speaker was announced the audience
was ready TO give vent to it's enthusiasm
by applauding anything and everything
that was said. Senator Mason, of Illinois.
who was advertised as one of the speakers,
was not present.
Shortly after s o'clock Mr.. Henry Sey-
fried, the chairman of the committee on
arrangements, called the meeting to order
and introduced Henry N. Spaan as chair
man. In Introducing Mr.. Span Mr.. Sey-
fried said: Ladies and gentlemen. we
are assembled here this evening as Ameri-
cans for the purpose of voicing sympathy
for the struggling Beers. 1 take great
pleasure in introducing TO you Mr.. Henry
n. Span as your chairman"
Mr.. Spaan was loudly applauded and it
was some time before he could make him.
self heard. He said that there had been
a good deal of transformation in the news
papers concerning the present trouble be-
tween the Beers and the English and that
he had taken the trouble to find out the
real history Of the situation. He said that
we were informed that the Beers are igno-
rant, that they are only half civilized, that
they know nothing about self-government
and for these reasons and several others
they ought to be conquered. Mr.. Span
then proceeded TO paint the Boer as he
knew him to be, and it was a very different
picture that he held up to the audience.
He said that even the English historians
acknowledged that the Beers were a most
devout and progressive race, but this had
been said In days gone by, and the English
statesmen were to-day singing quite a
different tune. He described in very
graphic language the struggle the Beers
were making for their liberty, and COM
pared their history with our own.
REASONS FOR MEETINGS.
And" said he, 1--WE are told tina we
ought not TO ~antagonize England by hold
ing meetings like this. That she was our
friend in the Spanish war and that there
fore now We must let her rob and Cypress
without protest, because these Beers are
nothing TO us. Are they nothing to us?
Every brave people. struggling for liberty,
whether it is Cuban, Irishman or Boer,
is something to us.
why do we point with pride to the
Bartholdt Statue of Liberty enlightening
the world. in New York harbor? Because
1t means something. 1t means that liberty,
self-government, is more to be desired than
civilization based upon greed for riches
alone. But why should we sit silent in
the face of this great wrong? Love for En-
gland? She is the same England that hired
Hessians to shoot down the 'embattled
farmers of the revolution. She Is the same
England that by the use of gold made the
name of Benedict Arnold infamous
throughout the. world. She is the same
England that sympathized will the slave
holders of the South and did all she could
tc disrupt this country. She is the same
England that had to pay SIS. 900, 600 for al
lowing the Alabama to fit out from her
harbors and prey upon our m She
Is the same England who tried to coerce
us in the war of ISL, claiming the right of
search and seizure upon ships flying the
American flag. She is the same England
that tried TO rob Venezuela Of her gold
mines, and she would lave succeeded had
1t not been that at the head of our govern
ment was that magnificent American
Grover Cleveland.
This is the same England that did not
know where Alaska was on the map till
gold was discovered there, then at once she
laid claim TO all the gold fields and as soon
as she gets out of trouble with the Beers,
If there is anything left of her. she will
press her claim on US. At present she needs
our friendship and she has quit sneering in
her superior way at Americans. She has
learned that Americans can shoot; that an
American behind a gun is nearly as bad as
IN NO DANGER.
"Why then should we favor this sud
denly converted lover of ours? Because
she favored us in the Spanish war? The
truth of the matter is no one was ever
scared in the Spanish war except the in
habitants of Boston. We were no more
in danger from Spain than a first class
man of war would be from the attack of a
pleasure boat. She stood with us because
she stood alone in Europe. Her conduct
had always beer so bverbearing, so tyran-
meal, so greedy, so nypocritical that
~neighbors had fallen away from her like
fact that Good Queen Victoria is mother or
grandmother of most of the kings and en-
perors and lordlings of Europe.
"She is the same England that has made
a generous, noble race her enemies by her
wrongs and oppression. Her heel is on the
neck of Ireland now, but under God some
day that will end. Why then should we
love England?'
In conclusion Mr.. Span said: 'I am an
American citizen. In my estimation it is
the proudest title a man can bear. 1 love
my country. 1 love its institutions. AS
such American / think it is my duty to
sympathize with any and all people under
the sun who are striving for liberty and
Independence, whether that struggle is in
Ireland or in the Transvaal."
AT the conclusion of Mr.. Spans address
Miss Ida Sweenie sang Columbia and
was warmly applauded.
MIR. SHIvELEY SPEAKS.
Mr.. B. f. Shiveley, of South Bend, was
then introduced by the chairman. Mr..
Shiveley commented on the speech of Mr..
Span and said that he did not think there
was much left for him to say, as Mr.. Spaan
had thoroughly explained the situation. H.
said the war of the Beers was not an in
surrection or effort on the part of the Boer
government to throw off the English yoke
but it was a means to preserve their civil
rights and civil liberties. He said there
was a peculiar reason for the American
people to sympathize with the people OF
South Africa, for their efforts for freedom
their heraldry and their history were
analogous to our own and 1t is the logicaI
thing for the American people to hope fol
the success OF the Boer arms.
AT the end of Mr.. Shiveley's address
Chairman Span read a telegram from
Senator Mason, of Illinois, who expected "a
address the meeting last night, in which he
said that he exceedingly regretted thai
public business would prevent him from at
tending the meeting, but he Joined with the
people in wishing success 10 the South
African Republic.
A resolution was then read by the chair.