Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, DEC. 80, 1899. The New Year.

Manawatu Herald, 30 December 1899, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, DEC. 80, 1899. The New Year.

The "year igoo opens with a pitiful outlook to thousands of our fellowcreatures, but as commencing anew year is somewhat similar to opening a new book we have hopes the ending may be one of very much brighter character than its commencement. Nothing has been more satisfactory in the war the Empire is engaged in than the evidence each day assures us that the Boers are the transgressors in every way, not only in invading Cape Colony but in having for years passed prepared for the opportunity of driving the British out of South Africa. History no doubt reminds us that from the Dutch we took the Cape, but the Boers of the Transvaal have everything to thank the Empire for, as they were practically swept out of their territory by the natives, roused by the cruelty of their treatment, and to the British their thanks should have been due for thrashing their enemies and replacing them on their land in safety. The Transvaal Dutch appear to have been so long isolated from other nations as to have got into a dreamy semi-reli-gious state which has caused them to be arrogant and tyrannical, and we learn tthat even by their neighbours of the Orange Free State their conduct is detested and that if they must be dominated the Free Staters prefer British to Transvaal domination. It was just four years ago, on December 28th, 1895, that Dr. Jamieson made his historical and unfortunate raid, the short history of which is as follows : —The Transvaal Republic is a close oligarcy of 15,000 adult males who rule a country as large as Spain, inhabited then by not more than 500,000 persons of whom 250,000 were natives. On the opening of the Rand mines there poured in a number of foreigners, and Johannesburg, the San Francisco of South Africa arose. The Boers refused to allow the new-comers any share in the government of the Republic, while compelling them to pay taxes, though these men by their enterprise had saved the land from bankruptcy. It was not possible to expect that 60,000 men in the prime of life crowded together in a great industrial centre would permanently continue to be governed as if they were Kaffirs by 15,000 men who spent their lives scattered at wide intervals over thousands of square miles of African prairie. The Uitlanders League was formed to demand the elementary rights of freemen, a right to share in making the laws they were compelled to obey, and a voice in voting the taxes they were obliged to pay. In the Christmas week 1895 the League formulated their demands, and President Kruger refused to concede to their demands, but hinted at some possible concessions at some future time. The Uitlanders decided, if needs be to support their claims by armed resistance, and the mines were closed down, and women and children fled to shelter. The white population itself contained many elements of disorder, and the bankers and leading tradesmen of Johannesburg thought it imperative to have some armed; police to maintain order. It was no use appealing to the Imperial Government. They had already appealed, and appealed in vain to the Boer Government which had grown fat upon their taxes. What were they to do ? Dr Jameson, the Administrator of the Chartered Company had a force of 700 strong mustered at Mafeking, and he had also Maxim guns, and a plentiful store of rifles and ammunition. To him the leading citizens despatched a despairing appeal for immediate help. " All feel," they wrote, " that we are justified in taking any steps to prevent the . shedding of blood, and to ensure the I protection of our rights. Should a disturbance arise here the circumstances are so extreme that we cannot but believe that you and the men under you will not fail to come to the rescue of people who will be so situated. .Nothing but the sternest necessity has prompted this appeal." Dr Jameson went with the result so well known. [ At the same season some years after we are now doing, or attempting to do, what Dr Jameson attempted in 1895. We are insisting upon the equal rights to all citizens, be they Dutch, English, or other nationality in the Transvaal, just as we give the same rights to all dwellers in the Empire, and this unfortunate war bacomes the fight for freedom, a battlftcry which has for ages aroused every member of a British community, it has been made

i— — — — — i —^—^—^^a evident lately that the taxation exacted from the Uitlanders in the Transvaal has been recklessly Squandered in the purchase of munitions of war to be used against them and the country they mostly represented. Now that the real truth of the many past years proceedings in the Transvaal has become known the craftiness and hypocrisy of the Boers becomes manifest, aQ d tuough Great Britain has done her best to avoid war yet having decided she has right on her side it may be sure that the immense Empire over which the Queen rules will support her in the subjugation of her enemies to the last man and the last pound they are possessed of. It is that with this feeling having been so surely made known to the world, the war may be kept between the present belligerents, when it can only be a question of time as to the Empire coining out best. Thus though the year opens dull and dark, we believe long before its close we shall see the war clouds dispersed and peace and plenty once again flourish in South Africa. With this hopeful view we are able earnestly to wish all our readers A Happy New Year.