The Hastings Standard Published Daily. MONDAY, MAY 18, 1896. DOPPERS AND UITLANDERS.

Hastings Standard, Issue 19, 18 May 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

MONDAY, MAY 18, 1896. DOPPERS AND UITLANDERS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The prisoners of President Kruger are at last settled with. The leading members of the Reform Committee, Colonel Rhodes, Messrs Phillips, Hammond, and Farrar, are to put in five years in gaol, and the other prisoners are to be imprisoned for twelve months. There is a considerable " climbingdown " on the part of Kruger in the revised sentences, and we may safely say that the sentence of death passed on the Reformers by the Judge who heard the case was for show purposes. These very men —Rhodes and his colleagues—stood with bared heads on the 31st December last and hoisted the Transvaal flag, saying that they would remain loyal to the Republic if reasonable reforms were granted. Furthermore, these same men restrained three thousand armed men from going to the assistance of Jameson. The Dopper President is at the moment master of the situation, for the clamorous Reform Committee are in gaol. But *'ha» does this mastery signify ? It means

that the industry which has converted a poverty-stricken State into one of the wealthiest and most prosperous countries will be depressed. Already the mines are shutting down, and this will affect the pockets of the Boers. The revenue of the Republic will diminish, and the Boer farmers, who have always found a ready and profitable market for their produce, will feel the pinch caused by the idleness at the mines. From every point of view the present condition of affairs is bad both for the Boers and Uitlanders, for it means loss to both. One side or the other must give way. The Uitlanders must reopen the mines without the reforms which they seek, or the Boers must concede the demands of the Uitlanders, and so bring about a revival. The Boer Government has been purchasing warlike stores, and has imported German soldiers, and from such matters as these we may conclude that the reforms desired by the Uitlanders must be obtained by physical force, and the Boers are preparing for the inevitable. The stand taken by the British Government is lamentably weak. Mr Chamberlain, to use a vulgar but expressive phrase, has been " sat upon" by the wily Kruger. lie has given Kruger too much credit for honesty and too little for craftiness, and he has in consesequence been out - matched. Mr Chamberlain's prestige has- fallen considerably both in South Africa and in England. He promised great things at the commencement of the Transvaal trouble, but has done nothing beyond recalling the High Commissioner, and causing Sir Jacobus De Wet to resign. Further and perhaps more serious trouble must bo expected in the Transvaal. The enormous interests of British subjects demand that the British Government shall interfere to protect those interests. A settlement of the difficulty rests with the two men, Kruger and Chamberlain, but looking at all the circumstances it seems highly probable that a settlement will not be arrived at without spilling blood.