The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-05-23
The Boer War.

Il may have reached the decis-
ion reported or may delay it:
but nothing can delay peace. 1t is near.
1t is probably accepted. The British
government, while all the facts are not
known, has plainly been at last wise
enough, as we were at the close of our
Civil war, to offer terms and some def
mite promise of government in the
near future.
This has ended conflict which might
have dragged for q year more, perhaps
for two years longer. 1t brings an end
which gives some return for the Boer
struggle in the last two years. The
Boer cause has been, in IL military
sense. hopeless since Cronje surrendered
and the capitals of the allied republics
were occupied. In Il moral sense, the
Beers have gained much by their perth
nacious resistance. They have won a
respect which would never have been
theirs without this long fight. Their
rights in the future are secure. Their
self-government will come sooner and
be more complete.
These are great gains. Their losses
are as great. The entire farming plant
of the two republics is laid waste. The
Boer population has had a fatal blow.
A local bitterness. has come in Cape Col
ony time cannot remove. Battles men
forget. Scaffolds are never forgiven.
English immigration is certain to be
large, rapid and overmastering The
Beers by prolonging the war have left
space for it.
South Africa is to be English. This
is the real issue of the war. The tri-
angular end of the continent, physically
one in it's natural boundaries, could not
be both Boer or English. The natural
increase made it Boer. Immigra ton
made it English. The BOer refused
political rights to the immigrant on one
side and personal rights to the negro
on the other War came. The immi-
grant rules. The negro is freed from
the worst black code of modern times.
South Africa becomes homogeneous. The
future gains immeasurably. A region
divided by artificial boundaries and
certain to breed conditions that bring
war passes under one flag and one law.
In time, there Will be one tongue and
one people. Instead of being connected
with the continent OF Europe, as were
the Beers, the new Afrkander will take
his place among the Englsh-speaking
peoples, sharing their future and hold
ing for the worlds Englishry the one
s,c A c,,;n
The cost is high. England has sacri-
feed 10000 lives, $1,114,0O00 600 of treas
ure and her military prestige. The
British empire has gained by the proof
of colonial solidarity. England has lost
The British empire has, in the minds OF
men, taken the place of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The center of gravity for one OF the
worlds great empires has shifted. 1t
was once England. 1t is today some
where between England and her Colo
MES. What was an empire bids fair, as
perial federation.
These are mOmentous changes. South
Africa, where it was always possible
that continental interference in English
affairs might begin, as the kaiser's tele-
gram to Kruger showed, becomes Eng
lish, and English alone. Europe loses.
The English empire gains. England as
England loses. British colonies more
and more control Today the British
empire has 4OO00,OO0 white population
IN the United Kingdom and $4,000 600 in
the colonies. In fifty years these two
bodies will be equal. The Boer war has
made this prospect visible, and, making
1t visible, profoundly altered English
policy.