The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-07-01
correspondence
HoW ~ BOER wAR BEaAN.
An Interesting Story Of the Early Settlement
Of the Transvaal, the Discovery Of Gold,
the Comir 3 OF the O~utlanderS, and\
the Dispute With England.

MEEr ~
Now that the Boer War is over, and
the cause for which this wonderful
people have been fighting SO braveJ
against overwhelming odds for nearly
three years has been lost, it might be
of interest to look back a little and
ascertain some facts in regard to 1.-THE
grievances they had against England
To find out about the reasons for
the trouble between England and the
Transvaal, we must 60 a good many
years back, and it win make our knowl-
edge more full if we learn something
of the natural resources of the coun-
try as well as its history.
The Transvaal is a country of about
10000 square miles. 1t is a plateau,
and at the same time a basin. For
: although 5000 feet above the sea, for
the most part, it is surrounded by
mountains from 5000 to 10000 feet
In height. The climate is good and
suited to Europeans. 1t Is a good
country for grazing, and the Beers,
who founded the government, are
largely engaged in cattle raising. The
land is, however, well adapted to gen
eral farming, especially with an irri-
eating system.
THE BoERs AND THE UTTLANDERs.
The country is rich in coal and iron.
As a matter of fact, those are probably
the chief riches; but they are largely
forgotten on account of the rich gold
mines-perhaps the richest in the
world. These are situated in the
southwestern part of the country.
They have attracted to the TransVaal
people from all over the globe. To
these people the Beers gave the name
of Uitlanders, or Outlanders.
At the beginning of the recent
war with England the Outlanders nun
bered perhaps $4,000, the Beers 80
600, and the natives $4,000. The
Beers live largely in the country.
Pretoria, the capital, is hardly large
enough to be called a city. The only
large city is Johannesburg, in the min
ing center, where there are some 1OO,-
600 people, a large proportion of whom
are Outlanders.
The government consisted of a
Voksraad of two chambers, with a
President and Vice-President at the
head. These were elected by the peo-
pie. To obtain the right to vote, or
right of becoming a n~aturalized citi-
zen, it was necessary for a foreigner
to reside in the Transvaal fourteen
years.
CHARACTER OF THE BoERs.
We have had many different &C
counts of the Beers themselves. We
are told by some that they are bigot-
ed, dirty, deceitful, and lazy. Others
tell us quite the contraary-that they
are indeed a rough people, but that
they are good hearted, honest, brave,
h~ospitable; and their conduct in this
war quite persuades us that these last
qualities, rather than the former, are
among their characteristics. Certain
1T is that their treatment of English
prisoners has been most humane
throughout the war, and this too in
the face of the fact that as much can
hardly be said of the treatment of
of Boer prisoners by the English in
some instances. Let it be granted
that they are somewhat unprogressive,
rough, and a little behind the times
In education and government; yet it
must be insisted that they are very
tenacious, are brave and loyal, and
are not the cruel ~barbarians that some
of their enemies would have us be-
ieve.
THEIR TROUBLES WITH THE ENGLISH.
It is true that they hate the Eng
lish, and always have, but if we re-
view their history We Will learn why.
It was in 1852 that they were join
ed by many French Huguenots. From
1895 to19O2 Great Britain held the
colony in the name of Holland. A
year or two later she went to war
with Holland and seized this colony
in 1906 and got possession formally
in 1915.
The Beers were never satisfied with
English rule, and were continually
having trouble with them on account
of slavery. Finally they decided to
quit Cape Colony and leave it to the
British. So in 1885 they moved to-
ward the northeast, and within five