Pot-Pourri 211 



" have greatly failed and have forfeited that right. 

 I believe the Boer Government and general admin- 

 istration to constitute a corrupt and oppressive 

 oligarchy. Is it possible that there are Ameri- 

 cans who in face of the records really believe that 

 the Transvaal rather than Great Britain stands for 

 the cause of political liberty and purity of admin- 

 istration ? " 



Captain Mahan may well ask such a question. 

 And the answer to it ought to stimulate the sense 

 of justice and fair play upon the part of his fellow- 

 countrymen. The majority of Americans do believe 

 that the Transvaal stands for the cause of political 

 liberty. And they would sooner listen to the 

 impassioned rhetoric of a Parkhurst than the well- 

 weighed utterances of a Mahan, an Alger, or a 

 Hopkins. 



None the less, thoughtful Americans with whom 

 I have talked on this subject are of opinion that 

 truth prevails in the end. 



It is impossible in a book like this to defend the 

 Imperial policy of England or to indict the Ameri- 

 can misconception of that policy, but I cannot for- 

 bear quoting a few lines clipped from an editorial 

 wliich appeared in the " San Francisco Chronicle " 

 under date November 19, 1899 ; a fair sample of 

 the food supplied by Western journalists : — 



^* The records of the Transvaal show that a very mod- 

 erate tax is imposed upon the net output of the gold 

 mines of the Eand. ... To the Boer's credit it must 

 be said that not one instance has been cited against him 

 of maladministration of justice to the stranger who has 

 invaded his country." 



