THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, JULY 18, 1899.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 22, 18 July 1899, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, JULY 18, 1899.

At the present moment English statesmen are rnucli exercised over the grievance of the UiLlanders, the name applied to Englishmen who have settled among the Boers in the Transvaal. It is beyond doubt that the position is a difficult one, and that war between England and the Transvaal either now or at some future ' date is inevitable. In our issue of June 27th, we published ,the full list of complaints made against the Boers by the TJjtlandeivs, and we refer tho^e interested to the paper of that date. That it will be advantageous for English commerce, tha,t it will increase English wealth, namely, for Britain to cast her protecting mantle over British subjects in the Transvaal will be accepted without discussion. The question asked now is, is it right or lawful for Britain to interfere in fche domestic policy of the Boer Government, and it must be confessed that for outsiders to form a clear and emphatic opinion .is by no means easy. If Englishmen like to live in other people's countries, it seems evident that they have sq take , their chance of being considered as and treated a*s unwelcome visitors. This the Boers have done to the utmost of their ability. The claim Britain makes is that she holds suzerain rights over the Transvaal.' The word suzerain, comes down to us 'from feudal, times^and is not now capable of, accurate definition— it is applied to the- loose control of the Ottoman Porte over tributary estates as well as to the effective control claimed by Britain over the South' African, Republic. The original

settlement in the Transvaal was that formed by some Cape Colony farmers who, dissatisfied with -the petty exactions of an irritating officialdom, harnessed their cattle to their lumbering waggons and I trekked in a northerly direction, shaking the dust of Capo Colony 1 off their feet. From 1800 to 1870 the Boer pioneers still came northward, ami after many fights the branch of the Zulu race, under Umziligase, were driven from their territory into the Matabele land, and the Boers settled down in possession. Now the Boer was not a man of commercial instincts — trade was small and each grew for his own wants oaly. Here was the chance for i the descendants of Great Britain, and into their hands passed the irade of the count iy, and it is said that nine-tenths of the business transactions still remain in their hands. Chronic native wars with a resulting empty public purse led to British interference, and the subjugation of several rebellions native tribes. Then there followed friction between the officialdom of Britain, who by the way failed in her promise 10, grant self-governing institutions to the Boers, this culminating in a war tint ended in the fight at Majuba Hill, when General Colley, the leader, was killed, and the British force of GlB utterly routed on February 27tb-, 1881, more than 200 Englishmen being either killed or taken prisoners.. In 1881 a convention between England and the Boers was signed, which gave the Boers republican rights, but the former country control over 11a ti ye affairs, boundaries, and foreign relations. Now in 1884, another convention was signed, and this lessened the control of Great Britain, and the word "suzerain" was specially oraitLed from the 18S4 treaty signed in Pretoria, the political capital of the Transvaal. Britain apparently claims that both treaties are in force, the Boers say that the one of later date superseded entirely the previous one, and the word suzerain was purposely eliminated. If the Boers possess the Transvaal as New. Zealanders possess this country, then the Boers are as much within their right's in making things uncomfortable 'for Britons, as we are in turning i away the Austrian ,from our shores. The interference in do- [ mestic policy allowed by the 1884 convention includes a clause forbidding any slavery in the Republic. So far a? we are aware, this is the most explicit reason that Britain can«. ! put forward for undertaking ,a war on behalf of the Uitlaiider. Why has Great Britain not interfered before ? Because she was occupied with her other little international troubles : the ,Venezuelan difficulty in Americaj 'the Cretan and Armenian, coon.-

plications, the frontier trouble irf India and the withdrawal of troopsfor the Soudan. Thers is no doubt business is meant this time : and that Britain will show her teeth, and fight ultimately if required, seems certain. When Carlyle denominated the English a nation of shopkeepers, he meant that their lives were given over ■to commercial pursuits. If there is one thing she will fight for it is her commerce. The Egyptian war, beginning with the bo'nbarcU merit of Alexandria, was undertaken almost wholly with a view to protecting the rights of wealthy British bondholders, and if British trade in this Boer republic is to be seriously damaged, tho blood of Tommy Atkins will be shed freely on the altar of tho Great God Commerce. The Boera am prepared for a long struggle, and can put 3,2,000 men immediately' in the field. They seem prepared to fight though "they do not expect much assistance from their neighbour, the Orange Free State, nor even from- the Afrikanders, those born of European parents' in South Africa. The latter have banded themselves together under the name of the Afrikander Band,, their object, being to increase the influence of the Dutch population in, South Africa. It is not by any means evident that this war is in a holy cause, (it took a lot of pleading to move the British Lion when the friendless Armenian was slaughtered by the Turk) but this war is a question of mines and 1 , other wealth, and war insure to come when the region of' the Britishers' money bags is touched There is plenty of funds to pay soldiers, and plenty of men ready to fight, so the boom and bloodshed of the battlefield will | probably soon again be on us, ! Then will follow the glorification of the ' soldiers of the Queen r land Rudyard- Kipling's darlings will got their dues :—: — - " Then its Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Tommy 'ow's yer scol But its their red line of 'eraes when tho drums begin to roll, For its Tommy this, an' Tommy that and " chuck him out the brute !" But its ' Saviour of 'is country ' when t the guns begin to shoot." The circumstances of this war* however,, make us pause lend doubt its justification, and recalls the same poet's invocation : ■ Loid God of Hosts ; be with us yet, Leat we forget— lest we forget !