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GENERAL SIR RED VERS BULLER. iIUND'S plea. Why ttie Britisli Are at War With the Boers. TRANSVAAL AN ANACHRONISM. NATIONS, like men, are never Im? maculate. There never yet was a great power that had no sins to answer for. I do not claim for my country thnt her hands are abso? lutely clean of blood guiltiness. Eng? land, like other countries, has made her mistakes, and has at times wandered from the straight and narrow path of national rectitude. But what I do claim for England is that the great general trend of her national policy has been one making for liberty, peaco and progress. Whethep or not civilization, English or otherwise, Is the best thing for the heathen I do not care to discuss, though England, it must be confessed, has been the greatest clvilizer of modern times. , No matter what her motives, no matter how sordid and how selfish her aims, it cannot be denied by her most enp tious or cnylpus critics that order and advance have always followed Eng? lish domination. One has only to look at . India, at Egypt, at British North America, at al? most any' corner of the world, to see how true Is this. But especially and remarkably -true is It of South Africa, where a sloven and slothful people are now raising- futile arms against the re? lentless spirit of the times for which English colonization stands. It Is an old story, but I shall try to state It as clearly ns that very familiarity which so often befogs will allow. To get at the root of the South Af? rican question only a few facts and con? ditions before 1SS0 need bo noted. The first of these is the Boer exodus, early in the century, from that territory nbout the Cape, over which Great Brit? ain ruled. "Why they went north It is hard to say. They had been given ev? ery liberty of life and religion. But they were a sullen and segregative peo? ple, and the spirit of unrest and ad? vance thnt came with the Kngllsh was as odious to them then as it is today. So they took to their primitive ox wag? ons and trekked northwnrd. Some crossed the Orange and some went on across the V'aal. Britain did not wish to hold them. She did not Interfere with their migrations or their home building. By the middle of the cen? tury, In fact, she had given them t elr independence, with those qualifications laid down in the Rand river convention of 1802. Were they fit for such Independence? Subsequent events have answered that question. Tho Bo.?rs, when still in Cape Colony, had wanted slaves to do their work for them. They held that heaven sent blacks to the land for that par? ticular purpose, and when the Kngllsh took the slave away they sulked and went on their big trek. Once across the Vaal their treatment of the blacks soon got them in trouble again. They did nothing to conciliate their new neighbors of the desert. They fought the Kaffirs under Sekukum, enslaved what Basutos fell into their hands, and went one better and made war on the Irrepressible Zulus. In ten years the Boers found them? selves in a bad way. The republic was already bankrupt. Their hostility to the native was making the black a danger to every settler In South Africa. The Boers found themselves In a war they were neither strong enough to end nor diplomatic enough to evade. For her own sake England stepped In, knowing well that If the blacks once overran the Transvaal It was only a matter of time when they would men? ace the Cape Itself. So In April, 1877, England annexed the Transvaal. That annexation saved the Boer from col? lapse. It was English vigor and Eng? lish money that reconstructed the emasculated Boer republic and put the sloven burgher once more on his feet. It was England who drove back his enemies and It was England who open? ed up his country. Then when his house was put In order the Boer calm? ly decided to eject the housekeeper. This he did, for the resistance was only half hearted. The door was slammed In John Bull's face at Majuba Hill and, though he might easily have pounded down that portal In time, he had no wish to deprive an alien people of their liberty. In 1881 England gave the Transvaal Internal autonomy under an imperial suzerainty that would guard against encroachment upon neighboring bound? aries. This left the Boer neither re? pentant nor grateful. He hated the English, and he always would hate the English; that was all ho knew and all he cared to know. Three years after being granted her Independence the Transvaal promised at the London con? vention to give practical equality of rights and privileges to all white men, such as was enjoyed In neighboring British colonies. The promise was glib? ly made and lightly broken. The dis? covery of gold in the heart of the Transvaal brought thousands of stran? gers knocking at her doors. These strangers were Just what tho buqollc Boer did not want. He desired to bo left alone. Tho stolid burghers of the veldt wanted to ralso their sheep and drink their coffee and smoke their pipes In peace. For the newfangled cries of progress and Industry and advance they had the most profound contempt. They had their black slaves, their little homes, their bit of corn ground, and that was all they cared for. Their cry was the cry of the red Indians of Amer? ica of one century ago. But the tide of Immigration they could not keep back. This they realiz? ed. Africa became the cynosure of all eyes. There was one thing they could do, however?they could make it so hot and uncomfortable for the Incomer that he would be glad to get out. And this is Just what the Boer all his life long has been trying to do. The time for an alien to become enfranchised was enlarged from two years to five. Every political and municipal right was de? nied him. When the gold rush of 1SSC showed the need of even more discour? agement, the franchise was still more narrowly delimited, until 14 years was tho term Imposed on the immigrant. The gold Industry was taxed, monop? olies were created, every ultlander was bled. The liquor law was so adminis? tered that it worked only in the Interest of the Dutch manufacturer. An out? rageous monopoly In dynamite was also created, and exorbitant prices for this necessity of the miner became the or? der. English children had to go to Boer schools and be taught the sloven tongue of the low Dutch. Sixty thou? sand indolent and corpulent Boers, banded together In one Impregnable family compact, dominated and oppress? ed and disgraced the manhood of 200, uOO uitlnnders. It was no wonder such a thing ended In a Jameson raid. That raid was a mlstnke. This every one, Boer and British alike, will now confess. But it was a mistake only because it was a failure. Then it was the Boer gloated, .with his Bible In his hand and race ha? tred In his heart. He fanned that ha? tred up to the burning point. Outrages to property and Indignities to people became a thing of positively terrifying proportions. The country was misgov? erned, corruption was rampant and, to make sure of his position, tho Boer armed and equipped his home forts by means of war taxes wrung from the hard working ultlander, who paid four teen-flfteenths of the republic's revenue. Such things have to have an end. "If you saw a pile of gold worth ?500, 000,000 with 20,000 Boers armed to the teeth sitting on It," cried Sir Alfred Milner, "what would you do?" The Boer piously protests that wo English are a band of selfish and rapacious in? vaders, who want nothing but to suck the golden honey from the mines cf his country nnd then pass on and leave him to feed on the empty husks of the barren veldt. But In his heart he knows that any permanent good, that any substantial improvement that has ever been made In the Transvaal has been' the result of ultlander effort. He knows that he himself has moved neither hand nor foot to irrigate or enrich those fer? tile but well parched prairies over which now roam his few handfuls of sheep and cattle. And he must know In his heart that a selfishness so nar? row and an altitude so autocratic can have but one end. That end, thank God, now seems to be nearer than ever before. The spirit of the nineteenth century must sweep away the Boer and all for which he stands. It is for these reasons that the Boers hate the British and the British tho Boers. Time was when we were willing to give and take rdthef than bring upon our empire another bitter and bloody war. Oom Paul and his people allowed that time to pass, and now nothing but war to tho death can bring about tho final readjustment of affairs In South Africa. ALBERT BONYNGE. Cape Towa, South Africa* THE BOER'S SIDE. x ? England Has Beent?e Piti? less Aggressor. TYRANT FOR THE SAKE OF GOLD. HAVE people a right to fight for their homes and the homes of their fathers? If they have not, then the Boers are now engaged m an unholy and unrighteous war. It is a war, however, that has been forced on them by a great and aggressive em? pire, an empire whose rapacity and du? plicity has become a byword through? out tlio world. There aro many reasons why I and all my brother Boers fear this same British empire. When, over a century ago, the valiant forefathers of the pres? ent burghers of the South African Re? public set sail from their native shores and founded new homes and a new set? tlement In this faroff Cape country, It was thought that they would here, at least, be allowed to follow their own peaceful pursuits. They were, na they always have been, an honest, out? spoken, God fearing and amicable peo? ple, nsking not of their neighbors and Intruding not on their enemies. At the Cape our forefathers Bubducd the natives, gave them homes and clothi: g and did their best to enlighten them. In return for this the Kaffirs worked on the land and did that labor for which they were by nature fitted. | Then the English came flocking duwn to tho Cape and, with Pharisaical hor? ror, said that we had no business to treat blacks like dogs and that It was our duty as Christians to liberate ever; slave In our colony. This wo declined to do, knowing It was no worse to en slavo natives by the hundred than It was to bayonet them by the thousand. I Tho English, however, won their j point, being the greater and more ag? gressive power. They promised to pay our people, however, for every slave Bet free. But even In their vorks of char? ity the English could not be honest. They paid for the slaves, It Is true, but did so in paper redeemable at London only. This paper was worthless at the Capo and was bought up at ridiculous and ruinous discounts. Then the Boers washed their hands of the English and trekked northward. What those heroic home seekers endured during their long Journey Into the dark Interior will nev? er bo known. The fruits of that great trek was the foundation of the Zuld Afrikanische Rcpubllek and the Oraqge Free State. Here, at last, It was thought, a pastoral and simple minded people might take up their homes and dwell In peace. I Never before had such a mistake been made. Tho leopard cannot change his spots, nor the Anglo-Saxon his viking heart. For ten centuries he has been a landgrabber and an aggressor. I In 1877 Britain again Invaded and captured our country. We were then' a scattered and weak people, elso that Invasion would have been dearly paid for. But we were willing to wait. After three yearn of tyranny we prn pared to shake off tho yoke. How ef? fectively we did It England remembers to this day. Boys not yet out of their teens, old burghers who had passed their threescore years and ten, women even, with babes In the cradle?all took up their trusty rllles and went out to fight for home and freedom. God show? ed which side He was on by the victories of Lalngsnek, Broncker's Spruit and Mnjuba Hill. England saw we were in earnest and wisely granted us our In? dependence. At last the Boer had his freedom. But In the meantime a change had been creeping over our country. That land which we had first thought ao rude and Inhospitable was found to have hidden beneath Its rugged sur? face a wealth of gold the like of which the world has never beforo seen. It was a blessing that carried with It Its own curse. It drew like a magnet tho riffraff of the world within our borders. Speculators and adventurers swarmed Into our quiet llttlo towns, and men whose only quest was wealth tried to elbow us out of our hard earned homes. Then, too, came Cecil Rhodes and his emplro building compatriots. When this man Rhodes stood In a little gro? cery shop at Capo Town and stretched his great paw over the entire map of South Africa and said "All British, that Is my dream," ho made a confession that the world should never forget. It Is a key to the present situation, an explanation of why the Boer Is today fighting for existence, struggling, per? haps vainly, against a band of land grabbers intoxicated with dreams of an African empire. Threo years after the granting of the Independence of the Transvaal the Lon? don convention came together and drew up a new agreement. In that agree? ment England quietly gave back to our country tho suzerain rights che had before insisted upon, and in the new document there was made no mention of suzerainty or colonial obligation. The I English today claim that all this was understood. We claim that such was not the case. During the next ten years we found ourselves harassed by these Intrusive uitlanders, who gradually grew more and more audacious and kept making more and moro Impossible demands. Their organization and threatening ?movements naturally prompted our government In Its official, capacity to do what It could to preserve itself against Its enemies on the one hand, an* among tho people at large on tho oinert, aroused sufncloat suspicion and GENERAI JOT/BEET. watchfulness In every Boer heart to make citizens of the republic always on the alert. That was the secret of the Afrikander Bund and the excuse for Its existence. Under such circumstances race hatred and bitterness of feeling were only natural, in fact inevitable.*' When we first heard of Dr. Jameson's preparations to invade our covmtry on behalf of the Chartered company, how-, ever, we could scarcely believe the truth. We really knew of that intended raid far earlier than the English realiz? ed, but we said little. We had long be? fore known of the activities of the Re? form Committee and had done our part and prepared for all internal trouble. But ive never dreamed that England, either secretly or openly, would permit an armed band to be collected In her territory and allow the same to cross her frontiers into the territory of a friendly state for the purpose of mur? der and pillage. We knew that tho offi? cers of the Chartered company had for some time been doing their beat to fo? ment discontent and bring about an up? rising in Johannesburg, and for a few days things looked very dark for the Transvaal. But our heroic leader, our stanch old Oom Paul, rose to the occa? sion at tho capital, just as Cronje and Joubert did In the field. The world atlll remembers the ignominy of the Jemc son defeat and how that land buccaneor was forced to run up his white flag and surrender. Once In our hands, did we treat these traitors as they richly deserved, or did we demonstrate our good will toward England and our desire for peace by treating our captives as honest and honorable gentlemen?which they were not? Many a burgher who bound up the wounds of these young bravadoes and carried meat and milk and brandy to them can answer that question. |" And England?did she do her duty aa a Christian nation, or did she violate her promise of Justice to the offenders as she had done so often of old? The official investigation at London was an official whitewash. Jameson and a few of hia officers were first given a publlo ovation and then given a brief sen? tence, nil of which was served amid the most happy and luxurious sur? roundings. Chamberlain himself was left unscathed. As the colonial minis? ter of the empire It would never do to have him mixed up in such disgraceful land raiding and buccaneering schemes, so everything necessary was most care? fully suppressed. And this is the man who today rants about progress and advance and declares war on a weak and unoffensive state simply becnuse a band of wealthy London speculators hunger for the goldflelds of our repub? lic. They may or they may not secure their long coveted mines, but the price, they will find, will not be a trifling one. PAUL KAALENBURG. Cape Town, South Africa. 8HB RAJSE3D THE) FIRST FLA G. Mlsa Curmen d'Antonsantl, a native Porto Rlcan, now living In Brooklyn, N. Y., claims the honor of having rals ed the first American flag In Porto Rico. The flag was one she had brought home from Brooklyn after completing her education there. When the war came and tho family were forced to fly from Ponce, she could not bear to leave her flag behind for the Spanish soldiers to destroy, and sewed it into tho lining of her skirt When tho news came that tho Span lards had tied without the firing of a shot, her family started back to Ponce, but not until sho had cut loose the flag and fastened it to an improvised flagstaff. On the way they were met by tho cheering American soldiers, who were in search of a flag to fly over tha city hall. Needless to say. this little (las Ava) gladly provided for tha purpose, and for several days, until a larger ons could bo procured,- floated proudly In the breeze from a tall staff which had never known, but the red and yellow colors of Castile. 1 ' The; crown the .'y?uri^;;q?e"^^ coronation;. IsVaaKlM and" has had" a'^OstM-., in 1829 it waa^toleg)^^^ Brooklyn,. N. Y.; .und;; tne.W^i^??J^ wore ultimately discoveredIn';Beiglur^^?!i: Strange stories, cluster-.round ViAtoy''^ other royal diadefas/^B^^ Prince del Drago, Jiti^^^^iT)'-Qt^f^'j^ sx-Queen Isabella of[fipainVsp?ld :"avisi'tM'-| to America,' his object being . to'selV the'^t :rown which his relative carried .off tbVi-r' :xlle with the rest of''her?Jewels^ i'Thei^ :rown, which is-set/wlthj.ye^ -nonds. emeralds aha^aapj^hi sventually bought for the ..[lato: JayV Hould's daughter. notv.?Kthe'.V'?o?n'tesa''?; Boni de Castellane, for; }25,000J?:'!At;;tho^ line- Queen Isabella [ yraa'Mnt^.VTC&i??^^t; the bauble Jay,, Gould '.- was'/ struggling :o make a living as a book canvasser. "0~> Tho coronation crown of. Queen "VIo-; >' toria weighs 3?'. .ounces' 0 penny-1- -, .veight and is vyorth about 600[ times Ita'Qh ivelght in sovereigns. ' It !s: set with^'V 8,600 diamonds, 273 pearls, a famous rur '^ by, an immense sapphire and divers, ^' ither gems. The value is estimated at /i ,\ sum which would .yield, If invested at ?W-i 114 per cent, the snug Income of $75.00(1 \ year. Richard II could only get $10, 300 on his crown and regalia when he pledged them to the city ?t London. The king of Portugal's crown is es? timated by different authorities at a - fabulous value, being, [ according to some, equal to 40% miles of Bank of England fivers, and, according to oth? ers, 7 ton3 and 1C hundredweight of sovereigns; but If -wo take the'happy mean and say a column of sovereigns ' one mile and 43 yards high, or. the sum ot $0,300,000, we shall probably be about \ right. Whether tho czar's crown is moro valuable is a moot point. . The prln- ? ;lpal frutin-e of the Russian crown is '.' x magnificent cross formed of five su-'.?< ierb diamonds resting on an uncut but . jollshcd ruby of great size and wonder-, ,.-. 'ul luster. The crown , of tho king of'.' Italy is known as the "Iron Crown of he Lombards," so called because of a egend that a small! circlet of Iron . orming part or it was originally a nail from tho cross on which Christ was rruclfied. The Hungariap crown belonging to j the bereaved emperor of Austria was :; made for Stephen II 800 years ago, arid It weighs about 14 pounds. It Is adorn? ed with 53 sapphires, 60 rubies. 1 em-' erald and 333 pearls, but. no diamonds appear in It owing to some superstition" entertained by Stephen that such gems would bring bad luck to himself and his family. This crown has passed through many vicissitudes. It was once sewed up in n cushion and carried off by a queen, who eventually pawned It for 2,800 ducats. After it had been redeemed from the pawnbroker it was . hidden away and luy burled in a forest ' for five decade's. The crown of the sovereigns of Hou* mania Is unique, In so far,,as, It forma, a genuine badge of the natlon'B free? dom from Turkish tyranny. It la mado from the metal of the Turkish cannon captured at Plevna by tho Roumanians , in 1877. HOW TOB PRINCE RECRUITS. This is how a correspondent writes ot the Prince of Wales' recent visit ta Marlenbad for the sake of his health: The prince's fare is of the simplest-* ? rusks instead of bread, compotes of' .-. fruit without sugar (no salads), trout ? or pike, no salmon, very lean , meat, neither pudding nor cheese?both being: rigorously tabooed?and wine diluted. His rooms are light and airy; the hang-, ings, carpets and furniture are fresh and bright and large baskets of roses were placed in every nook und corner ; of the drawing room, many of which! ? hnd been sent by frlenda, who remem? ber that his royal highness is specialis; fond of the queen of flowers. One piece of furniture, a large writ? ing desk, is particularly useful. Seated thereut, the prince, spends the greater part of his time when Indoors, for hl3 correspondence Is very large, and ha attends, to It In detail, maktng notes for . 1-npHnq in addition to which he carries on a large private correspondence. He. Is attended by. Captain Eortescuo and accompanied by M. do Soveral, the Portuguese minister to London, a.very., remarkable man, who, besides being a trusted friend of the king of Portugal, is, perhaps, the most intlmato friend the prince has nowadays. Venus, the prince's favorite dog, leads a very pleasant life. Venus, is a Dandle Dlnmont nnd belonged to the late Duke of Clarence, hence the. great affection lavished on tho little animal by the future king, who had. her portrait painted some time ago. _I_' ? ?''".TT'<?.'*" ' ins LAST WORDS, A dangerous criminal was about tou be executed In Caloutta. While his last toilet was j . going forward an Englishman, who had just landed, begged five minutes' c onvers*ation with him, which was granted. All that wns heard of tho interview was the final re? mark of the criminal. H e called after his visitor, "Athou snnd pounds to my heirs, don't forget." When the hangman had prepared for his sad duty, the culprit claimed the right to say a farewell word. Lifting up his voice, he roared aloud to the as'-;'Ue roared aloud to, th?'??? ?/,? sembled mUltl- sembled multited;. tude: "Ail you who listen hear riijr dying'i statement: The best coffee la the coffee - of Messrs. Chicory, Ghewenx & Chockes' ot Calcutta and London!-" During the. lust three years of thi'ex? istence of the London Tnstlty?op.-Ij'cr'S Lost and Starving Cats It has.recelV?tiXv 13,99-1 animals. Those S^Wotf'wewV?W? solutely homeless and; Mnhealtfiy wcreft painlessly, put-to death',ana- roany'fi'1^ cats .were.;^$;i^