The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-12

issue the exact reason OF the EHSi
BOer war.
Recognizing the difficulty Of giving an
| answer that shall be absolutely correct
| in point of fact, the G o e does not on
| it's own account essay the task. In
| stead, we submit, simply as echo, what
partisans of the respective belligerents
have to say to the question.
| The pro-Boer answer, as will be seen,
has been secured by local interview.
| The pro-British answer is the contents
of a leaflet which has found its way to
the EDITORS desk.
PrO-BOer answer.
MrW. Siwart Smit, secretary and treas
urer of the Twin City Brick company
and an enthusiastic Sympath1zer with
the Beers, contends that the war in South
Africa is unjustified, and was forced upon
the Beers by the unreasonable eXactlons
of Great Britain. Mr.. Smit is a relative
of Mr.. Fritz KOCH president of his com
pany. Mr. Koch is a Hollander, and,
while in his native land, met~and became
intimate with both Presldent h Isl gnni It,d
q familiarity with the situation in the
two little republics that are fighting.
When Gen. Joubert issued his pamphi1est,
"A
causes that led up to the preyalllng
crisis, MI. Koch was sent copy by the
author. Speaking of the Transyaal war;
Mr. Smit said yesterday:
I'm some quarters the reason for the
war is said to be that the Beers declared
their intention Of ousting England from
republics. There was no more
British paramount power In the
Orange Free State, or the Transvaal,
than there is today in the Unlted states.
MI iobt cr1a reserved bV the
treaty Of 1884 with the Transvaal is that
no treaties made by the Transvaal with a
foreign country, other than the orange
Free State shall become effective WITHOUT
the approval of her majesty. ACCORDING
to the convention of 1881 the British Ill the
Transvaal were guaranteed equal priv
ileges and civil mot political, rights before
the law Article 26 says: All persons
! other than blacks conforming themselves
| to the laws of the Transvaal will nave
| full opportunity to enter, travel, reside IN
| hire or possess houses, manufactures,
| warehouses, shops and other premises
| They may carry on their commerce, either
or by say w not f be
| to restriction in respect to their persons
| or property or in respect to their COM
merce or industry or in taxation, either
| general or local. other than those which
| may be imposed upon TranSvaal citizens.
! Article 27 says: All inhabitants of the
Transvaal shall have free access to the
| courts OIL justice LUZ llS plObSOIAO1 e1ho
| defense of their rights.
| 1.-THE English papers claim that In said
| convention was granted equal civil ana
also political rights which Is entirely IN,
Lord Derby struck out. OF the old treaty
of 1881 everything referring to sovereignty
| 1t was Cancelled and crossed out by him
self with black lines in the preamble as
we'll as in the three paragraphs in which
| it is mentioned. He then offered what he
| himself called new treaty In subst1tu-
| g. i, fi(Ny1 DTaf Trio
1881 to 1884 a resident was appointed at
Pretoria to represent the British crown in
| its suzerain capacity. In 1884 the othce
| of resident was abolished, and consul
! appointed in his stead A resident marks
| the country in which he acts as vassal
one. A consul on the contrary receives
the protection Of the republic ooe Sha an tha
| house of commons affirm this. To go to
war with President Kruger in order to
force upon him reforms in the internal
Of state standing in this place have re-
| pudiated all the right of interference-that
| would be a course Of action that would
be as immoral as it would be unWise
is 1t a wonder that, when both the
! Orange Free State and the Transvaal
were convinced that Mr.. Chamberlain
wanted to enforce the paramount power
| (Which never belonged to England) in
both these small republics, they
would not wait until Chamberlain sent
an immense army to South Africa ready
|
Kruger's offer, I will give all, all, all, ex-
cept the freedom of my country, did not
satisfy Chamberlain. they sent their I'LL
| timatum, in which they offered again ar
bitration. preferring to die for freedom
rather than be at the mercy OF Chamber
lain."
The following official MESSAGES to the
| consul of Great Britain at Pretoria, Mr..
Smit says, prove the sincerity of the eff
forts Of the South African government to
settle all differences:
| of A OH
ment Office, Pretoria, Aug. 10, 1S99.-Sir:
With reference to your request for a joint
inquiry contained in your dispatches Of
Aug. and the government of the South
African republic have the honor to sug-
| gest the alternative proposal for the con-
sideration Of her majesty's government
| which this government trusts may lead
| to final settlement:
1. The government are willing to rec
| ommend to the volksraad and the people
five years, retrospective franchise, as
proposed by his excellency, the high COM
| missioner, at Bloemfontein, on June l, 1899.
2. The government are further willing to
recommend to the volksraad that eight
new seats in the first volksraad, and, if
necessary, also in the second volksraad
| be given to the population Of the Wit
! waterSrand, thus with the two sitting
members of the gold fields giving to the
population thereof ten representatives In
Rad of thirty-Six, and in future the
representation Of the gold fields of this
republic shall not fall below one-fourth
| of the total.
8. The new burghers shall, equally with
the old burghers, be entitled to vote at
the election for state president and COM
| mandant general.
4 This government will always be pre-
pared to take into consideration such
friendly suggestions regarding the de-
tails Of the franchise law as her mai
esty's government. through the British
agent, may wish to convey to it.
In putting forward the above proposals
the government of the South African re-
public assumes;
(a) That her majesty's government will
agree that the present intervention shall
not form a precedent for future similar
action and that in the future no inter-
ference in the internal affairs of the re-,
public will take place.
/ (b) That her majesty's government will
not further insist on the assertion of the
suzerainty. the controversy on this sub
ject being allowed tacitly to drop.
(c) That arbitration from which for
eign clement, other than Orange Free
State, Is to be eXcluded) will be conceded
as soon as the franchise scheme has be-
come law.
6. Immediately on her British majes-
tvs government accepting this proposal
the volksraad to adjourn for the purpose
of consulting the people about it, and
the whole scheme might become law say
within a few weeks.
Z. In the meantime the form and scope Of
the proposed tribunal are also to be dis
cussed and Professionally agreed upon
while the franchise scheme is being re-
ferred to the people, So that no time may
be lost in putting an end to the present
state of affairs.
The government trusts that her majes-
that in the opinion of this government
the existing law of this republic is both
fair and liberal to the new population,
and that the consideration that induces
above proposals, Is their strong desire to
get the controversies between the two