Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1899 — BOER WAR IMMINENT. [ARTICLE]

BOER WAR IMMINENT.

BRITISH OFFICIALS BELIEVE A CONFLICT AT HAND. Kruger's Answer Taken aa a Defiance of England—Counter Proposal from Transvaal Will Be Ignored—Backdown of Afrikanders Only Way OuL The action of President Kruger of the Transvaal in refusing to accept the court of inquiry proposed by Secretary Chamberlain has caused officials of the Colonial Department to believe that war with the Boers is now inevitable. London advices say that just what Oom Paul’s reply to Mr. Chamberlain contained in the way of rejecting his plan for settling the . dispute is not known, as the colonial office is noncommittal, but it has been admitted, however, that in place of accepting the suggested court of inquiry, Kruger submitted a number of new proposals, that are taken to mean an open defiance to England. The British officials, however, would far rather have received a curt, defiant reply from the Boers than the temporizing and “soft word” answer, which it is feared will require considerable explanation to justify any aggressive action in the eyes of the world and English minority, which still declares that war would be an outrage. It has developed that the war office has been aware of the nature of the Transvaal’s reply for several days, hence it is believed that Great Britain will de lay the denoument as little as possible, and if Mr. Chamberlain has his way the counter proposals of President Kruger will meet with scant attention, thus forcing the Boers into a position where the only way to avoid war will be by a complete back-down, w-hich is not at all probable. All England is talking war. Even the man in the street who knows nothing of what is going on behind the scenes is confident that an appeal to arms is now the only solution left for the Transvaal problem, which has reached an ugly stage. That the Boers will yield aJI is not believed, and this idea is strengthened by tlie feverish preparations which both sides have been making for hostilities within the last month. The Transvaal dispute has been tanging fire for fifty years, and now that it bids fair to comb to a crisis where it must be settled for all time the government seems annoyed a,t tho apparent indifference of the public in the question. Throughout the Orange Free State and Cape Colony Sunday was observed with prayer and humiliation by the populace advocating a peaceful settlement of the Transvaal dispute. A dispatch from Pretoria says: "President Kruger, while personally conducting a public church service, prayed that if war was unavoidable God might find right and truth on the side of the Afrikanders.”