our forefathers in that Revolution which, in 1776, brought our own Republic into being as a model after which the liberty of the world has been fashioned.

Under the conditions and circumstances grouped about the origin of our Government and the historical events attending its course of development, the most unnatural alliance for us to make is an English alliance. Our most natural alliance would be one of sympathy with the heroic defenders of the Transvaal, who have been winning victories that take their places beside Marathon, Bunker Hill, and Lexington.

And in response, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, a wave of enthusiasm moves across our continent, and in public meetings the hope everywhere finds expression that the Republic of South Africa shall not perish from the earth, and that the red uplifted hand of British greed may be stayed.

Why, then, did not our Executive take action in behalf of liberty and humanity, action that would have convinced the world that we still believed liberty and humanity should prompt nations in their dealings with each other? Simply because he is engaged in the same wretched business as that which is drenching the soil of Africa with the blood of martyrs. He is busy with an effort to rob the people of the Philippine Islands, and is slaughtering those who resist robbery because, forsooth, it will pay, because they are rich and are worth robbing, and because their island possessions will furnish a foothold for other robberies. The Executive has the power to intercede in behalf of the South African Republic, and if he had spoken as Cleveland spoke in the Venezuela case, there would have been no war in South Africa. But the President will not avail himself of the humane opportunity. The duty is then upon us to act.

Who are these people that excite our sympathy?

They are of our own race. The same blood courses in their veins and in our veins. They sprang from the Dutch, who drove Philip out of Holland, and from the French Huguenots, who fled to Holland rather than surrender their convictions. Their career in South Africa is a living, burning page in the history of the world, and the impress of their ear

nestness comes down to the children of the thirteen colonies through the adoption of the alternative so eloquently voiced by the patriot Virginian, "Give me liberty or give me death."

I hope to enjoy the day when England shall have been driven from every foot of the soil of Africa and a republic of united and happily governed states constructed on the ruins of her despotic power. England has conquered no people but to rob them, has governed no race but to blight it with the curse of her presence. The Boers know her methods and their results better than any people in the world. Sixty-five years ago they left their homes in Cape Colony and fled into the wilderness, preferring to wander in the desert and fight for an existence against the savage tribes of that region than accept the pretended protection of a nation of canting hypocrites.

The South African Republic and the Orange Free State are in the interior of South Africa, and neither of these Republics touches the coast at any point. The South African Re public is separated from the Indian Ocean by a long, narrow strip of coast land, from 30 to 60 miles in width, owned by Portugal. The chief seaport is Lourenco Marques, on Delagoa Bay. Both of these Republics are dry, treeless, elevated plains, broken by mountain ranges, like Wyoming. They are naturally too dry for successful cultivation, but are covered with the rich grasses of semiarid growth. Farming is carried on through irrigation. Small patches of ground along the low river bottoms produce crops without irrigation, but their area is limited. Timber is scarce and is found only upon land contiguous to the streams. The principal industry is raising cattle, and the population is scattered over wide areas in isolated communities.

The area of the South African Republic (or the Transvaal) is 119,139 square miles.

Its population in 1898 was 336,400 whites-137,900 men and 107,450 women and 101,000 children-with a black population of 748,750 persons. Pretoria, the capital, has a population of 10,000.

Johannesburg, which is the gold-mining center, has a population of 108,263 people-79,500 men and 28,763

women; the white, 60,000; Chinese, 4,800; black, 42,500. In the Transvaal there are 10,000 Jews. The rest of the population are Protestants, mostly Dutch Reform and Lutheran. The Republic owns the railroads and telegraph lines. The total revenue is over twenty millions; but this includes railroads, telegraph, postal receipts, and the sale of explosives. The government is a republic.

The legislature consists of two houses of 27 members each. No person can be a member of either house unless he is 30 years of age and possessed of fixed property. The term of service is four years.

The first chamber is elected by the first-class burghers.

The first-class burghers are white male persons residing in the republic prior to 1876, or those who fought in the wars of the republic, including the Jameson raid, and the children of such persons over 16 years of age.

The second chamber of the legislature is elected by the first and second class burghers.

Second-class burghers are naturalized citizens and their children over 16 years of age.

Naturalization may be obtained after two years' residence by taking the oath of allegiance and paying $10.

Naturalized burghers may become first-class burghers after twelve years.

Sons of naturalized burghers may become naturalized burghers at 18 years of age.

First-class burghers ten years thereafter.

The president and commanding general are elected by the first-class burghers only.

The executive authority is vested in a president, elected for five years, assisted by a council of four members.

The Orange Free State is south of the Transvaal, and has an area of 48,300 square miles, and in 1890 had a population. of 77,700 whites and 130,000 blacks or natives.

The capital is Bloemfontein, with a population of 2,077 whites and 1,300 blacks.

The railroads and telegraph lines are owned by the gov

ernment.

Exclusive of the railroads the revenue in 1897 was $2,010,000, and the expenses $1,905,000.

Government.-Written constitution. President elected for five years by voters. Executive council consists of the secretary and four others.

Legislature. Popular assembly; 60 members, elected by popular vote for four years, one-half every two years; salary, $10 per day; qualification, burghers 25 years old, owner of real estate valued at $2,500. Voters, white burghers, by birth or naturalization, who own real property worth $750 or pay a rent of $180 per annum or have a yearly income of not less than $1,000 or own personal property worth $1,500.

Law.-Roman Dutch. Supreme court, composed of three judges. Circuit courts.

Religion.-Dutch Reformed, 68,940; English Episcopal, 1,353; Methodist, 753; Lutheran, 312; Roman Catholic, 416; Jews, 113.

Education, free, compulsory, and universal. Two daily and two weekly papers.

Every man over 16 years of age or under 60 is enrolled in the militia and trained to handle arms, but the standing army is very small, consisting of a few trained artillerymen. The total white population of these two Republics is less than 500,000, and they are to-day holding in check and have repeatedly defeated the greatest army England ever sent from her shores. Their army has no doubt received many recruits from Cape Colony.

Cape Colony is a British colony, and embraces the southern coast of Africa, possessing an area of 191,400 square miles, with a population of 956,900 people in 1891. Of these 336,900 are European, three-fourths of the white population Dutch, and those who first occupied Cape Colony were the ancestors of the Boers of the two Republics now at war with Great Britain.

Cape Colony was settled by the Dutch in 1652, when a number of Holland farmers were landed at Table Bay, now Cape Town, for the purpose of raising vegetables and cattle to supply the Dutch vessels engaged in trade with India, Java,

and Borneo. This trade was very profitable and the settlement prospered. The vessels of all nations trading with the East put in here to secure fresh supplies, and thus the farmers found a good market for all their crops. Families arrived each year from Holland, and the settlement spread along the coast and into the interior and engaged in all kinds of agriculture and stock raising. They made slaves and servants of members of the native tribes of blacks, compelling them to cease their wandering habit and establish themselves in permanent settlements.

In 1795 England, being at war with Holland, sent a fleet and an army to South Africa and captured Cape Town and garrisoned it. England held the colony until 1803, and then surrendered it to the Batavian Republic; but in 1806, the Batavian Republic having been conquered by Napoleon and erected into the Kingdom of Holland, with Louis Bonaparte upon the throne, England sent a fleet of ships and an army of soldiers and again captured Cape Town and resumed the government of the country.

In 1814, when Holland again became independent and the monarchy was restored, England refused to surrender Cape Colony, but annexed it to the British Empire and paid Holland $30,000,000 for a quitclaim title to the colony.

England despised the Dutch and her officers treated them with contempt, and under her domineering rule the people were oppressed.

All semblance of a republican form of government was abolished.

Civil offices were filled from England with broken members of Parliament, with bad, if any, character.

Adventurers, worthless sons of distinguished men, were commissioned to rule the colonists, and places were even bartered away for money.

The English language was made the official language, and no man could serve on a jury unless he could speak English. In the country the people were not able to employ the English language. All trials, therefore, had to be conducted in Cape Town; and men charged with offenses were taken long dis