Evening star., 1901-04-11
Question Of Settlement of the Was in
South Africa.
EEGLAED'S OFFER WAS TOO SMALL
Rapid Increase of Taxes on Ac-
count Of the Struggle.
DECLINE IN BIRTH RATE
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.


LONDON, March 30, 1901.
1t seems pity that with terms so gen.
erous as those which the British offered
to the Beers that a way could not have
been found to make them so acceptable to
the leaders of the lost republics that an
end could be put at once to the war. If it
We're merely a matter of money such an
objection should not be allowed to stand in
the way of peace for moment This gov
ernment offered to assume Boer debts to
the amount of fl 900 900 and "to take into
CONSIDERATION the project of lending Boer
farmers enough to start life again on their
now desolate farms. That was Mr.. Cham
pertains rather vague way of amending
LORD kftehener's more generous proposal.
1t Is now learned on the authority Of a
recently taken Boer who has lately seen
Messrs. Steyn, De Wet and other leaders,
that the two chief things the Beers ask for
as price of surrender are the dismissal
OF Sir Alfred Miner as governor and IS ,00o,-
600 to recoup with. I . the war is costing
about fl 100000 week 1t will be seen how
little any reasonable amount of money
ought to count if the British are prepared
to accept the principle of giving any at all,
and II one particular man stands in the
way OF settlement why not give him
post elsewhere and place another there?
L fear, though, that the government will
p1ciel W carry on q war WHICH VIII Qp-
mand many hundreds of deaths of brave
men and swallow up many millions of
money rather than to seem to accept Boer
terms. AS far as can see the sound way
to look at it is this: The British have OBJ
tanned what they were fighting for, t. e.. the
sovereignty and annexation of the Trans
Naal, and having secured these they can
AFFORD to be as generous as they please.
Let them give ten millions if necessary, it
is cheaper than continuing the war for ten
weeks, and if Miner, who the Beers firm
ly believe has always been opposed to them
and had a large share in making the war,
prevents satisfactory settlement, how
much better to sacrifice him than to lose
more lives than treasure.
Terms Are Generous.
Though the terms are generous they can
not, six months hence, we'll be less so. The
British have surely no desire to take over
desolate and povertystricken country In
which there can only be discontented and
rebellious people who have no incentive to
work and no means to do so with. At the
end of six weeks, after straning the re-
sources of an already hard-puShed treasury,
an even larger sum viii be required by the
Boer rank and file to settle down with if
Britain is to govern fairly contented
country. ~
There may be. and probably are, other
reasons which VIC do not yet know why the
terms were rejected but one cannot help
noticing throughput the negotiations that
lIle same uHyleluillS spirit uldFhS
the conduct of the British government that
obtained when the American colonies wished
their grievances to be taken into consider
alton. There are two men here now from
South Africa, Messrs. Sauer and Merr.nan.
who represent the feeling of thousands of
Beers and their friends in South Africa and
who may be expected to have a full grasp
of the situation there. They have humbly
petitioned parliament to be allowed to lay
their opinions and plans for their friends
the Beers before the council who will decide
the fates of the republics. Their petition
has been tabled" and doubtless will be
The Times and other government organs
ridicule the peculiar pretensions" of
Messrs. Sauer and Merriman, and are in
dignant at their request. Some few saner
people here, however. see danger IN this,
and the Westminster Gazette, q loyal.
broad minded paper, says: THE facts
about Messrs. Sauer and Merriman, wheth-
we like them or not, are simply that
their peculiar opinions are those of all but
haii Of the Cape legislature, and just about
half of the British colonists in South Afri-
ca. We may override them, as we have
done In the policy which led to the Boer
war, but reckon with them we must, and
no blindness could be more obstinate and
dangerous than that which insists on re-
garding them peculiar or as manu-
factured by Boer wire pullers on the conti-
nent'
The government has evidently accepted
the breakdown as conclusive for the pres
ent and means to push on the war with all
possible vigor the surest way of bring
ing it quickly to an end. Heavy drafts of
yeomanry left Aldershot yesterday for the
front Three special trains were dispatched,
carrying in all some loo men. The whole
of the Imperial Yeomanry will be dis
patched from AidersAot during the coming
week, so that no time will be lost i'm getting
the renforcements out. contingent of
the Suffolk Volunteers also started for
South Africa yesterday. Many more con-
tngents are preparing for immediate de-
parture, and between this time and Easter
Tuesday no fewer than eleven yessels-car-
rying nearly 5000 men and more than l POO
horses-wiIl have sailed. This locks like !
business.
Census Week in England.
This is census week IN Great Britain and
the busiest people are census takers 1t is
expected that the results will show a pop.
uiation Of 100000 in Great Britain and
Ireland. The last census, ten years ago, |
was disappointment. as it was nearly a
million short of the estimates, For the
purposes Of the census the united king
dom has been parceled out into about 40 |
900 districts, under 2,031 registrars and 635
superintendent registrars. Each Of these
officials has received a priated volume OF !
the instructions, and each district has been
SO divided that no single enumerator shall |
have charge of more than 800 families.
Ten million forms have had to be printed |
and distributed, $4,000 enumerators' mem
orandum books have hao to be sent ont |
$1,000 enumeration books and countless
schedules and circulars for public institu-
tions, ships, prisons and other places some
OF them In different languages.
The counting of the people will cost con-
siderabiy over half a million dollars, which
a simple calculation shows to work out at
rather more than one cent for every man,
woman and child counted. The pay of the |
officials has been Increased since the last |
counting. Each counter will receive S.
and extra SO cents for every hundred
persons counted over 4G0
One of the most me1acing conditions in
England is the decline In the birthrate
There are now 500 fewer births daily in
the united kingdom than there were twen-
ty years ago During the five years from
1894 to 1898 there were $500 births in
the united kingdom. whereas, had the birth
rate been the same as in the five years
from 1874 to 1875 the number of births
would have beer over million more
G. 100000. ,7i
The depopulation of France is standing
subject of speculation, but the fact is since
1S74-S the decline in the English birthrate
has been greater than that of France.
Taking England and Wales, the loss since
1S74-s has been II per cent. while in
France 1t has been only 10 per cent Eng
land, however does not stand alone Ger