The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-27

NEW YORK, June 26.-The ENJOYS OF
the South African Republics. who sill for
home tomorrow, issued an address TO TIE
people OF the United States this forenoon.
They thank those when they have met r
their cordial receptione. and add that these
greetings Fave convinced them that the
boastful allegation of the Colonial SecTe-
tary and other British statesmen, VIZ, that
the citizens OF this great country syn pa
thize with the British Empire in its a.
temp; to crush the liberty and indepen-
dence of our two small States. is absolutely
devoid of truth
Beginning with the departure of the
Beers from Cape Colony in 1885, the ad-
the Transvaal and in the Free State VIII oh
eliminated in the placing of a price u: on
the head of Andres Pretorius. Then it is
charged that the Zand RIVER Conv antion OF
1852. which guaranteed the absolute ind =
pendence of the Transvaal, was brok 4
without reason, followed in 1856 by ,le
violation of the covenant with the Free
State not to sell arms to the kaffir TRIES
and later by the seizure OF the kmbsr- e.
diamond fields. Tie sdlrsss cant nues:
There was iull in the troubled at
mosphere of South African politics for
about eight years, arai then violent dis
turbance occurred when Sir Theophiius
Shepstone annexed the Transvaal TO Great
Britain against the wish and will CT its
citizens. After four years of persistent
though futile agitation, the burghers of
the Transvaal were forced to take up arms
to regain their liberty, and after some
success in the field, they were fortunate
enough to secure an instaliment of their
independence by the convention of Pre-
toria in 1881 For this they were in
debted to the noble Mr.. Gladstone and
other right-minded Englishmen of that
day. In 1854 a fuller installment of heir
liberty was secured under the convention
of London, by which the obnoxious suZe-
rainty was abolished and the fullest meas
ure of the internal self-government was
accorded.
The Convention of 1854.
THE Transyaal. or, as it is now ofi-
cially known, the South African Republic,
was also left free to conduct and shape
its foreign policy, subject only to the
stipulation that no foreign treaty would
be binding if found to be inconsistent with
British interests, and vetoed within six
months on that ground by Her Majesty,
the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland.
From 1883 violent political agitation
was ac:ivelv carried on in one form or
another, both publicly and secretly. The
capui sts loIned the insurrectionary party
IN 1895 and secured the virtual control of
the press in Johannesburg and South At
RIGA, together with a. corresponding in
fluence among the leading London jour
mails. This agitation eliminated in the
Jameson raid, which was one Of the most
fragrant breaches Of international law
known to modern civilization. But this act
OF criminal wickedness only acadeTr-
ically censured by the British Government
and public. for the perpetrators were ac-
claimed as heroes in England and in Brit
fish South Africa, and after the mildest
form of punishment inflicted so as to save
appearances some of the ringleaders have
been actually promoted. The magnanim-
ity Of the Transyaal Government in spar
ing the lives of the reform leaders. as the
chiefs Of the insurrectionary party were
termed, was regarded as an act of weak
ness. and has been rewarded by the basest
ingrautude on the part of most of those
who benefited by the clemency Not one
cent Of the promised indemnity for this
unwarrantahle act OF aggression has been
paid
Aided by Chamberlain.
''Forcible measures having now failed,
owing to the unexpected activity of the
burghers of the South African Republic, it
was resolved to have recourse to what Mr.
Cecil Rhodes characterized as 'constitu-
tional methods Mr. Chamberlain, Sir
Alfred Miner, and Mr.. Cecil Rhodes are
the terrible, diaboiical trinity which has
brooded over and shaped the destiny OF
South Africa during this calamitous period
Those gentlemen combined forces so SIS to
achieve by subtiety and craft and misrep
resentation what DIR. Jameson and the raid
ers failed to attain by open violence. The
efforts of the capitalists in controlling the
press and conducting the agitation were
redoubled. The editors of those South AT
rican subsidized journals were appointed
special correspondents of the principal
London dailies, SO that what virtually
emanated from small ring OF conspira tors
appeared to be the spontaneous opinion or
summary. telegraphed and written to Lon
Ion by various disinterested observers
Some of the editors were the trusted ad-
yisers of Sir Alfred Miner.
ITO prepare the world for the coming
war and to divert attention from the real
business, namely, forcible acquisition of
Eaboths Vineyard. a campaign of SANDER
and Misrepresentation now ensued, which
hardly finds adequate parallel in the
same efforts to calumniate the American
revolutionists Of 1875. of which your great
Statesman. Benjamin Franklin, SO justly
complained
THE barren negotiations OF the Bloem-
fontein conference are we'll known t.
gether with the fact that Sir Alfred MIL
ner went into that conference with the ex-
pressed conviction that war was the on v
one possible way TO arrive at the soli,ion
of the South African question, which the
greed Of lingo and capitalist aimed at;
solution which they have been only too sue
cessful In bringing about. The efforts OF
both President Steyn and President X uger
to avert the catastrophe by concediug even
more than the original demands on the
franchise question were all truitleas.
THE request for the principle of arbitra-
ton so piously advocated by The liz que
conference was contemptuously rejected,
then partially accepted. only to be ulti-
mately sterilized by its conditional app lea
ton to few minor questions of no great
Importance TO either party. In this way
the war which We as a Christian op.e
shrank from and did all in our power 10
avoid. was forced upon us in such a way
that we were compelled TO take up arms in
defence OF our rights. Tee British BY ham,
ming in our Republics with their armies
committed The first unmistakable act tf
overt hostility, though they have tried to
make IL appear that our protest aga rst
their attack and the steps taken by us in
our defence have made US the technical g
gressors. Compared to our powerful enemy
We are an insignificant handful OF pc pie.
and we are fully conscious o, our nuneri al
lnferiority.
1.-THE British force in South Africa out
numbered the combined burgher population
Of tha two Republics, including men, wo-