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a vast majority of the people are bound to these families in a mild but effectual slavery. In a large majority of these republics, there is not, and there never has been, any government, except such as was imposed by military force after a successful revolution, confirmed by the forms of a popular election, at which anybody was permitted to vote freely, provided he voted for the ruling dictator. Even subjects of the German and Austrian Emperors have far more liberty and far more real voice in the government of their country, than have the "free and independent" citizens of any republic on the continent of America, except our own. The subjects of the monarchies of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland and Belgium have vastly more.

It will thus be seen that there is no substantial foundation for the current opinion that the mere name of "republic" is sufficient to entitle a government to the sympathy of any free and selfgoverning people. But there are other considerations which are of even greater importance to the right direction of our sympathies. If experience should prove that the government of any country treated American citizens with more respect and consideration, when it was nominally monarchical, than it ever did when nominally republican, common sense would soon teach us that our sympathies were very much misdirected, if they led us to prefer republican to monarchical government in that country. And if the same experience showed us that so-called monarchical nations or colonies uniformly showed more favor to American citizens than did republican nations, it is very certain that all those who had this personal experience would prefer monarchies to republics. Now it happens that this precise fact is proved by all history as well as by all present experience. There is not a republic in the whole world, not even including France and Switzerland, in which an American citizen is as justly and liberally treated as he is under the monarchies of Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Great Britain; while the treatment of Americans in France and Switzerland is not one whit better than it is under the imperial Governments of Austria and Germany. When, however, we compare the conduct of Government officials in the kingdoms first named, with the conduct of Government officials in any of the seventeen South American Republics, the contrast is enormous, and altogether to the disadvantage of our "sister republics." There is not one of

these so-called republics which has not at some time in its history inflicted many grievous wrongs upon American citizens; and nearly all of them have at various times committed the grossest outrages, including confiscation, wholesale robbery, imprisonment, expulsion and even personal torture. The United States Government has, upon innumerable occasions, been compelled to demand compensation for such injuries, although it has only on few occasions recovered any such compensation. Indeed, it has been found such a difficult and unpleasant task to appeal to these so-called republics for justice, that in a great majority of cases American citizens have found it useless to ask their own Government to do so. There has been some slow improvement in these respects; but even yet there is not a single republic on the whole continent of America, where citizens of the United States are treated half as decently as they are in every part of the British Empire.

These considerations have an obvious application to the war between Great Britain and the Transvaal Republic. The enthusiastic partisans of the Transvaal claim that they constitute a vast majority of the people of the United States. Whatever may be their number, there is no doubt that, after setting aside that large class of citizens by adoption, whose chief motive in political life is hatred of Great Britain, the remainder are on the side of the Transvaal for substantially no other reason than that it calls itself a republic, while Great Britain calls itself a monarchy. Let us then impartially examine the principal characteristics of the two Governments, thus placed in opposition to each other.

Cape Colony is a British dependency; and, therefore, it is theoretically part of a monarchy. But that colony has a separate Government, with a Parliament elected by the free vote of all its citizens, a large majority of whom are of Dutch, not British, origin. These Dutchmen, as they are proud to call themselves, elect a majority of the Parliament, appoint all the ministry, and have in their possession the entire government of the country. They lay and expend their own taxes; and in no respect whatever does an Englishman have any advantage over a Dutchman. Great Britain, it is true, appoints a Governor; but he never interferes with the internal affairs of the colony. Those who prefer English can have their children taught in English; and those who prefer Dutch can have their children taught in Dutch. Every town has its own municipal government; justice is impartially ad

ministered; all white men stand upon an equal footing. There is no distinction as to race among white men, or as to religion among any men. One Prime Minister was an Irishman by birth; another was a rich man, who paid all the salaries of the Irish Home Rulers in Parliament for a year; and the present one is a representative Dutchman. No one suggests that there has been any corruption in the Government, or that justice has not been impartially rendered to all; and such a thing as the removal of a judge from office, for making a decision displeasing to the ruling powers, has never been dreamed of. There is no aristocracy and no oligarchy in Cape Colony; and the only semblance of monarchy consists in the theoretical recognition of an absent Queen, who has in fact no power. This so-called monarchical province is in reality a republic, as free and independent as the United States of America, except that it has not the right of entering into foreign relations, or of making war or peace; these powers being reserved to the Parliament of Great Britain.

On the other hand, the Transvaal calls itself the "South African Republic." Its people abhor the idea of a monarchy. But their government consists of a President and two legislative bodies, called the First and Second Raads. The Second Raad has no power, except to talk. It is at liberty to frame bills, and to send them to the Upper Raad; which invariably and unanimously casts all such papers into its waste basket, never even discussing anything which comes from the Second Raad. The Constitution prohibits the First Raad from proposing any measure, and confines its powers to discussing and voting upon measures which are sent to it, either from the President or from the Second Raad. As it is determined not to recognize anything which comes from the Second Raad, the inevitable result is that no law ever can be passed which is not proposed by the President. The concurrence of the Second Raad is not necessary for any purpose. Anything which is proposed by the President and voted by the First Raad becomes a law, without further ceremony.

As the Constitution may be amended or abolished at a moment's notice, by the vote of the First Raad, on the proposition of the President, it is impossible to tell what that Constitution may be to-day. And as it is untruly pretended that the complaints of foreigners relate to regulations introduced since the Jameson Raid of December, 1895, we confine our statements to the condi

tion of things as they were before the Jameson Raid was thought of. No local municipal government of any kind was allowed. The City of Johannesburg, with 50,000 inhabitants, was not merely not allowed to elect a municipal government: it was not allowed to have any, whether elected or appointed. Everything had to be referred to President Krüger and his First Raad. Every Boer was compelled to keep a rifle: and no foreigner was permitted to have one. No Roman Catholic or Jew was allowed to vote or to hold office; and for a long time not even a Protestant was allowed to vote, unless he belonged to the orthodox Dutch Church. Although two-thirds of the residents of the Transvaal could neither speak nor understand the Dutch language, and although all educated residents understood the English language, yet English and American children were forced to learn Dutch, to the exclusion of English; while the use of any other language than Dutch, in the courts or in any official proceedings, was strictly prohibited. It frequently happened that the judges, all the counsel and all the witnesses understood English better than Dutch, and that the technical phrases upon which the issue turned were in English, and could not be expressed correctly in Dutch. Nevertheless, everybody in court was compelled either to talk in Dutch, or, having spoken in English, to listen while his language was mangled by a Dutch interpreter. Occasionally, a judge so far forgot himself as to allow a case to be stated to him in English, where both parties spoke English only. For this, he was promptly punished by a fine, and threatened with removal if he repeated the offense. A judge of the highest court was called upon to decide a controversy between an American resident and the Transvaal Government. Being an honest man, he made a preliminary decision in favor of the American; whereupon President Krüger promptly caused his removal from office, and passed a law, forbidding any similar case ever to be brought into court. Finding that upon another question a majority of the highest court would not accept his dictation, President Krüger caused the court to be abolished and fresh judges substituted, of a more subservient nature.

President Krüger not merely expressly invited foreigners to enter the Transvaal for mining purposes, but also personally sold. to them tracts of mining land, receiving $500,000 in gold for a single farm. He procured skilled men to frame a code of mining laws for the encouragement of that industry; and, within a few

years, foreign miners and investors poured into the country at such a rate that they constituted about two-thirds of the permanent population. They paid to the Boers about $20,000,000 for the mere land. The mines, being of low grade, would have been entirely worthless, but for the use of the finest and most highly developed machinery. The equipment of the mines, therefore, cost about $30,000,000 more. There was not in 1895, and there is not now, any property in the Transvaal, having any commercial value outside of its limits, that is not the creation of these foreign residents and the fruit of foreign capital and industry. For the avowed reason that so many foreigners had entered into the country and had developed its wealth, enriching the Boers both as a people and as individuals, President Krüger changed the naturalization laws, so as to make it impossible for them to become citizens. Whereas, when they first began to come, the law allowed them to become citizens in two years, he suddenly changed the term to nine years, and again to fourteen years, avowing his intention to keep changing and extending the term, just so far as might be necessary to make it impossible for the great majority of the population ever to have any share in the government. He allowed foreigners to vote for members of the Second Raad, after a shorter term of residence; but, as already stated, this Second Raad had no power whatever, either to propose or to reject laws. It was a mere cipher. No one could acquire a vote for the First Raad, unless he renounced the protection of his native country, without getting the protection of his adopted country or of any other, for a term of fourteen years. During this term, he must serve in the army whenever called upon, furnishing his own horse and gun, his own food and clothing, without pay. He assumed for fourteen years all the burdens of a citizen, without any more rights than a negro. At the end of that time, he still could not get full rights of citizenship, unless he was forty years of age, and produced a certificate from the Field Cornet of his district, to the effect that his name had been registered on the Cornet's books for fourteen years, that during all that time he had faithfully served in the army, and had been in every respect a good subject. As most Field Cornets never kept any such books, the fulfilment of this condition was usually impossible. But, in the few cases where it could be fulfilled, there must be then added a written certificate, from two-thirds of the Boers living in the

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