The Tucson citizen., 1902-06-03
THE CONCLUSION OF PEACE.


quest. The Beers lay down their arms
and acknowledge the sovereignty or
Edward VII, and the British do the
rest. The British will pay war In
demnty, pay the cost Of the war ana
withdraw the army of occupation.
The Beers will establish local self-gov-
ernment, and with the exception of an
enlargement of the franchise for the
benefit of the Britishers resident in the
Transvaal. it is probable that the gov
ernment will be much the same as be-
fore except in name. 1t should not be
forgotten that the British sovereign
always claimed sovereignty over the
Orange Free State and the Transvaal,
so that the acknowledgement of the
sovereignty OF Edward VII can hardly
be called a concession viewed from the
British standpoint. At this distance,
the result of the fight looks very much
like a dog fall" with some give and
take on both sides.
At this time the pathetic words Of old
Paul Kruger uttered few weeks ago,
should be recalled to every American
citizen:
We are fighting" said Paul Kruger,
TO a correspondent of the Boston
Globe, probably the two greatest ma
tions of the world-England and
America England furnishes the men
and ammunition; America supplies
the horses and mules. | can
not exaggerate the Importance of
Americas aid to England in this mat
ter She has supplied to our enemy
more than 100000 horses and mules,
and with their aid alone has England
been able to cope with US"
These words of the sturdy Dutch pa
triot and statesman are full of pathos.
They ought to give Americans cold
chill. Our government looked on with
elm Indifference while the Dutch re-
publics were being overwhelmed by
the might of a powerful empire, Our
neutrality laws were steadily inter
preted to the detriment of the little
South African states, and consistently
in favor of their colossal adversary.
Benevolent neutrality as practiced by
the United States during the war be-
tween Boer and Briton was solely for
the advantage of the latter. 1t was
Impossible for the liberty-loving bur
ghers to derive any benefit from Amer
Jean willingness to sell munitions OF
war to both belligerents. The Beers
have no navy, no merchant fleet. II
they had established military camps on
our coasts and attempted to send sup
plies to South Africa, their vessels
would have been unable to run the
gauntlet of the British feet Their
lack of naval resources not only pre-
vented them from obtaining supplies
them powerless to interfere with Brit
ish operations from American ports.
History will probably never record a
more gallant resistance than the Beers
made to overwhelming odds. 1t GER
tainly does not hold such record to-
day, in either ancient or modern times
The Beers have inflicted upon the
British empire in point of material
loss and loss of prestige, measure of
hnc
tanned since the success of the Amer
lean revolution. The Beers have
proved themselves to be not only he
roic but humane. They represent a
devotion to exalted ideals of human
conduct such as has not been wit
messed since the resistance of the
American colonists to the same meth
ods on the part of the British govern
ment. Such race as this never dies,
and it never surrenders. The Boer
nationality will live. It's complete
absorption by the British people will
never be accomplished The future
may reveal the Afrikander as one of
the composite races OF the British en-
pire, but the traditions of the race will
never be lost and the descent from
Boer ancestry will probably ever re-
main In South Africa the highest badge
of superior inheritance
The promise of President Kruger
that the cost to England of the subju-
cation OF the Beers would stagger hu-
manity has been more than fulfilled.
Lord Salisbury declared some few
weeks ago. that an end of the war
would not be reached until every yes