The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-04-09
SOME PUBLIC MEN PRESENT
THE MAN WHO HAS JUST RE-
TURNED FROM PRETORIA
TELLS WHAT HE SAW
SEVERELY CONDEMNS J. BULL
From His Personal Observation He
Believes the TransvaaIers' Cause
just and Great Britain Open
to Condemnation.

audience gathered at the Grand opera
house tonight to listen to an address or
the war in South Africa from the Hon
Webster Davis, eX-assistant secretary OF
the interior, who has just returned to the
United States from that country. Every
available bit Of standing room in the
opera house, the largest auditorium in
Washington, was filled with auditors
who paid close attention to every word
uttered by the speaker and manifested
their appreciation Of his telling points by
frequent and generous applause. Simple
decorations of the United States flag and
the red, white and black bars with the
field of green, the emblem of the Beers,
were suspended over the stage.
score or more of public men, mainly
senators and representatives In congress,
occupied seats on the stage and in the
audience, among whom were the follow
ing: Senators Clay, Daniel, Teller, Ba-
con, Allen and Mason. and Representa-
tives Talbert, Jett, Littlefield, Ridgiey,
Robinson, of Indiana; Burke, of Texas;
Ball, Gilbert, Latimer, Cox, Of Tennessee;
Cowherd. Clark, of Missouri Bartholdt
and Shafroth.
I -.
Moran, the chairman of the executive
committee, who made a few Introductory
remarks. Mr.. Davis delivered his re-
marks in an off-hand, easy style, refer
ring to his notes only occasionally, and
mainly when it was necessary to read an
extract from some document or speech
He spoke for about two hours, and at It's
close was warmly congratulated.
MR.. DAVIS ADDRESS.
Years ago, Mr.. Davis said, the Beers
planted the seed of liberty in the fer
tile valleys of the Cape of Good Hope,
where a strong national spirit develop
ed as early as 1906 when the colony pass
thereafter i'll feeling arose between Briton
and Boer.> Mr.. Davis entered upon an
exhaustive review of the relations be-
tween the Beers and the British govern
described the great trek" northward,
after the emancipation of their slaves,
the foundation of the republic of Natal,
and its absorption by England and the
lands acquisition of the diamond fields
at Kimberley Mr.. Davis characterized as
a transaction without parallel for GU
material growth of the Dutch republics
Mr.. Davis said:
Cities with all the modern improve
ments sprang up on the veldt and in the
valleys as If by magic, and everywhere
the church and school house told the
story of the peoples progress. 1t Is no
wonder the Beers became intensely
proud of their homes in the Orange Free
State and the Transvaal, and we'll may
they feel that pride, for they have their
homes in one of the grandest belts of
valley. mountain and plain that the
But finally this period of peace and
rest was broken by the discovery of gold
In the TransVaal. Then it was that the
British government determined to seek
pretext for obtaining control of the
richest gold fields in the world as it had
before secured the richest diamond fields.
That this is the real cause for the pres
ent war no one can doubt who will but
listen to the frequent remark made by
Englishmen in South Africa, as well as
In England, that the gold mines in the
Transvaal are worth fighting for and we
are going to keep on fighting until we get
them. The British love for gold is pro-
verbal. Wherever gold has been discov-
cred 9,l,e1 9, there the British have turned a
Wlstful and longing eye. When gold was
discovered in Alaska, only few years
ago, 1t will be remembered how quickly
an effort was made to extend the Cana
olan line tar enough westward to take
IN the gold fields. And no doubt had the
British government not been anticipating
the present troubles over the gold fields
IN the Transvaal there would have been
trouble on the part of the United States
y SNPA4Ao
fields in Alaska"
JAMESON RAID.
Referring to the Jameson raid and GER
tain incidents connected with it, Mr.. Da-
Wis asked:
How long would the people of our re-
pubic stand it If foreigners from any
country in the world were to come here
and after getting rich in our gold mines
would undertake to control our govern
nent, ana railing to do so would en-
deavor to destroy it?
No himsier pretext for robbery and
murder ever emanated from the wicked
est cabinet In Europe in its palmiest days
than the British demand for a ffye-vear
franchise in the South African republic.
II this demand We're granted not an Eng
nShman In the Transvaal would renounce
arrogance to the queen and swear eternal
aIles1ance to the government of the South
AFRICAN republic as against the British
government. The idea was to obtain the
power to control the government of the
repuDllc and al the same time remain
British subjects. Who ever before heard
OF such proposition? Would the citi-
zens of the United States be willing to
allow British subjects or he subjects Of
any other power to come here and con-
troll our own elections and our own gov
ernment and at the same time not re-
nounce their allegiance to their own
countries?
'"The simple truth of the matter is that
the British government forced President
Kruger into a quarrel after he had dona
II.
negotiations were pending, British troops
were being massed in South Africa The
basis Of the negotiations meanwhile were
ingeniouSly shifted so that as the British
preparations for war had grown more
complete the acceptance by the Beers of
the so-called British terms would mean
an ever increasing measure of submission
and humiliation on the part of the Trans
Vaal.
''The British demands were trumped up
and are without sound basis, either in
morals or in law. 1t is sad spectacle of
the strongest empire in the world bring
Ing domineering pressure to bear upon q
tiny republic to influence change Of GER
tain domestic policies which are. in no
sense, a part of the business of that en-
pfre. For the Beers to comply with the
demands of the British government would
have meant the sacrifice of every vestiea
of essential sovereignty belonging to ths
TransVaal as an independent republic
The question of the naturalization of
foreigners in the South African republic
is no more the business of the Rritish
government than are the NATURALIZATION
laws or the republic of Mexico q matter
or concern to the republic of the TTnited
States of America. 1t is one of thosl
questions of internal policy that pertains
only TO the Transvaal government
ABUSED THE BOERS.
The Beers have been greatly abused
py the British because it is alleged they
began the war. In other words, the