In 1899, the press in English Canada had a cause that filled the front pages. Britain was preparing to fight a war in South Africa against the Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, ostensibly to protect the rights of uitlanders. These mainly British migrant workers were men who had come to the Transvaal to work the rich gold mines and they were, the British claimed, being denied their rights by the Dutch-speaking Boers. In fact, it was the gold that was up for grabs, and British imperial and commercial interests were at stake. But why should this concern Canada? Jingoism, extreme British imperial patriot-ism, was wildly popular in the late 1890s among English Canadians, and there was strong public support for Canada to send troops well before the war began in Octobe...