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September 22, 1900.]
THE END OF BOERDOM.
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
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nature, and always exposed to the invasion | presence of the aboriginal stock. To exter- "of barbarous tribes, abandoned a whole minate the Kaffir by any means in his region which had previously been an- power-murder, treachery or starvation nexed, and fixed the Orange River as alike is in the
eyes of the Boer the northern frontier of the colony. It acceptable sacrifice to the old Israelitish "6 WBS within the limits of the territory so God he worships. In emancipating the "ment that the two small communities to of the Boer the British Government is in "deserted, and left without any govern slave and checking the outrages on humanity which I refer were formed. They have their his eyes making an attack on his sentiment own govenment, and are entirely self-de- of religion; the compact with the African is "pendent." Quoting from a recent French traveller amongst these regions, the author punishment with the truce made by the an unholy thing, equally deserving of divine gives a by no means flattering account of Israelites of old with their Amalekite these peoples thus removed from contract neighbours, and to counteract so impious a with civilisation, which is well worthy of conjunction murder, treason, and perjury being read and studied after a lapse of near- ly half a century,
may well be resorted to as in the sight of "The habits of these Heaven positive virtues. Such was the Boers, who have lapsed from a state of civi- impelling concept of the Boer half a century lisation to a condition little better than that ago, and the present war was the necessary "of savages, might furnish a novelist with a result, as soon as he bethought himself few good scenes. They live in the midst of sufficiently powerful to take up arms against "extensive farms, in houses miles from each the impious upholders of alien rights.
other, alone with their wives and children, servants and herds. They have large fami-
THE CRISIS: TELEGRAMS. "lies, the ordinary number of children being "from fifteen to, eighteen. They have enor-
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.]. SHANGHAI, 14th September, 8.11 p.ra. by the China Merchants' steamer Anping, Li Hung-chang left to-day for Tientsin sailing under the British flag.
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mous herds. The Kafirs sometimes carry "off their cattle. Then the Boers mount on "horseback, load their guns, and start at once in pursuit of the robbers. They are such "excellent marksmen, and their skill in this respect is so well known to the natives, that the latter run off the moment they come in sight, leaving their booty behind them.
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escort.
It is reported that be had a Russian miral Seymour enquired, but the German This was flatly denied when Ad- despa ch vessel Hela left at the same time.
It is certain that Li Hung-chang will merely register Russia's orders.
The official estimate is that there are cer- tainly twenty thousand Chinese turncoat troops remaining at Peking.
Chinanfu reports that an encampment of Roman Catholic priests and their converts at Hoehien, Chihli, which has been besieged by the Boxers since June, was relieved on the 29th August by the troops sent to Chib- li by Acting Viceroy Tingyung.
(Daily Press, 17th September.) Early in the year 1857 the French Go- vernment, having grievances of its own to erctify, took advantage of the British ex- pedition to China to join in seeking re- dress of that obstinate and wrong-headed nation; and on the 27th May, forty-three years ago, the French first-class frigate Audacieuse set sail from Toulon, having on board Baron GROs and his secretary the Marquis DE MOGES. The Audacieuse was a ship of the then most modern type, and in addition to carrying a large armament, was propelled by a screw driven by engines of 900 horse power, nominal. Steam naviga. tion was only then beginning to be applied to ships of war, and it therefore need excite but little surprise to learn that it was not till the very end of July that the
( voyagera reached the Cape of Good Hope, having ex- perienced by no means pleasant weather on the journey. As the ship had to spend some time refitting, and as the Marquis was a keen, though on the whole friendly, critic, it is interesting to review his experiences in the light of subsequent events. Of the road from Simon's Bay to Capetown, he tells us that it was one long street dotted with pretty cottages with verandahs, white- washed walls, and green outside shutters. There is an air of elegance about the "smallest cot. It is English tidiness en- grafted on Dutch cleanliness." Even then
It is a remarkable fact that these wild herds- the population of Capetown amounted to men, living far in the wilderness and alto- some 30,000 of European blood, but what most struck the traveller was finding that
gether beyond the pale of civilisation, had all heard of the Crimean war. In the even the colony had its own government, and 'ing when the day's work was done, nothing administered its affairs through its own pleased them better than to hear about it. Parliament without interference from Eng- They know absolutely nothing of politics. land. That a colony under the circum- They hear little of what is going on in the stances should remain loyal seemed im- world. They read their Bibles and abuse possible to the Frenchman, who sees "the English. Round these two pivots the only reason in the fact that it is de-"turn all their thoughts. Dutch to the core, ficient in population and capital, and in all their feelings, hatred of the English could not exist without direct assistance; "constitutes their nationality. It was this feel- from England, in the way of troops, &c. "ing which led them to emigrate to the outskirt He of course saw the advantage to England of the colony, and caused the exodus from of the positions at Table Bay and Simon's "Port Natal, a phenomenon full of interest Bay, which during peace protect her trade,
Li Hung-chang has been detained at and in war establish for her an overpower-
in the history of humanity. This event has
Woosung by the typhoon weather. 'been recounted by one of themselves in the ing preponderance in the Southern Atlantic.
General Voyron arrived yesterday morn- style of the historical books of the Olding, the 15th inst., and left last night for These, however, are only facts that would "Testament." Pastoral nomads have every have struck any traveller of ordinary intelli- where long memories; the Kirghese wanderer gence. The most interesting portion of the over Central Asia sings to-day of the glorious book is that connected with the social pro- deeds of a Ginghis Khan; and the Boer blem, and the separation of the races, the oblivious of what has happened in the abundance of horses and the methods of meanwhile, still in memory goes back to the travelling by ox-teams and wagons, the lat- seventeenth century when DRAKE and VAN tor showing every evidence of their Dutch TROMP fought for the commercial supremacy origin. The great table-lands and their of the world. The rooted antipathy of the parse population, the abundance of wild Boers towards the English has thus, as is game, anl the unsettled habits of the col- always the case, its foundation in a long onists come in for remark. The large in- past history. Elsewhere the antagonism fusion of Huguenot blood is commented on, between Dutch and English, which was and the curious fact that at that time nearly perfectly natural during the great contest all the missionaries in the Colony were for supremacy, when more than once Dutch French Protestants, while the capabilities of men-of-war sailed on plunder bent up the the soil and climate for viniculture had Thames, and even threatened London itself, attracted a considerable number of French has ceased, and been succeeded by a general settlers. All these things combined were sympathy of race and religion. To the Boer evidently bringing about a peculiar phase of in Southern Africa the succeeding two civilisation in the Colony different from that centuries have been a perfect blank. As he prevailing elsewhere. It is, however, when descended in the scale of civilisation, the speaking of the Boer population and their prejudices, not the judgment of his remote manners and customs that the Marquis's ancestors prevailed, and increasing ignorance book is most interesting. He speaks of the rivetted the chain on his intellect. In the British Government having permitted the emancipation of the slaves England finally establishment of two small but independent severed any bond of fellow-feeling with the republics to the north of the Colony. "Till Boer which might have found space to develop. "very recently Cape Colony extended much The reading of the Bible, or rather of the further to the north. But the English Gov- Old Testament, as their sole acquaintance "ernment, finding it useless to penetrate so with literature has had the effect on the "far into the interior, and preferring a well- marked geographical boundary to an un- certain line nowhere distinctly marked in
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Boer that he sees in himself the representa tive of the "Chosen People" of old, whose privilege it was to purge the soil from the
SHANGHAI, 16th September, 8 p.m. The Paotingfu expedition has apparently been postponed.
Nagasaki.
Five thousand Russians are marching overland to Manchuria from Peking.
Tientsin-Peking line. It is reported that Numerous Boxers still interfere with the
forty thousand Boxers are at Chochou, south-west of Peking.
SHANGHAI, 18th September, 9.15 p.m. on board, leaves on Wednesday morning H. M. 8. Alacrity, with Admiral Seymour
for Taku.
Small but successful expeditions have been sent out in a south-westerly direction from Peking and Tientsin.
A few Boxers have been found.
The total allied force at Peking on the 10th inst. amounted to twenty-two thousand.
A R.W.F. CASUALTY. We received from Government House on the 14th instant the following copy of a telegram from General Sir A. Gaselee, received on Thursday night :-
** 4,977 Private Jones, R.W.F., who was wounded in attack on Tientsin, died of wounds at Sinho on fourth."
THE SAFETY OF THREE KWEICHOW
MISSIONARIES.
Mr. B. C. G. Scott, writing from H.BM. Consulate, Canton, on the 18th inst., sends received from Kweiyang, the capital of us the following translation of a telegram
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