Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

Vol. 63

The Outlook

The Transvaal Crisis

Published Weekly

OctobRVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

7, 1899

OCT 6 1899

No. 6

Continued military ac- Impressive evidences that the British

tivity continues on both CAMRment is in earnest are found in the

sides of the Orange-Transvaal frontier. In the Transvaal the commandeering orders are completed and the burghers are ready for the field. Commandant-General Joubert is reported to have said that there are ten thousand men near Volksrust, the nearest town to the Natal border. Commandant Cronje has three thousand on the Bechuana side. Opposing these there are, at this writing, five thousand British near Dundee, in Natal, and a considerable force at the junction of the Kimberley-Johannesburg railways near the other frontier. Business has virtually ceased at Johannesburg. Such great numbers of Outlanders have left that the mines are paying five dollars a day, with food, to those who will remain. It is rumored that at Pretoria the Transvaal Government has declared an emergency act of legislation, which authorizes the Government Bank to suspend specie payments, closes the courts, and suspends papers published in the English language. Mr. Bennet Burleigh, the war correspondent of the London Telegraph," says that although both republics have mobilized their male population, good order prevails everywhere. "I have never seen people in such a crisis so well behaved and resolute, without the least air of boastfulness. Young and old are fully determined to fight to the bitter end. Whatever may be said to the contrary, there are large numbers of Uitlanders, English and other nationalities, who have enrolled themselves to take up arms in defense of their adopted country." The feeling among the Cape Colony Africanders, always strong, is now doubly so, since every one has relatives in the Boer forces. The line of cleavage between British and Dutch in the colony is daily growing more marked; it will be surprising if it does not occasion even greater anxiety.

[ocr errors]

to South Africa. The Government has ordered nearly five million pounds of its army meat from the Louisville Packing Company. Large orders have also been received by concerns in Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. One result will probably be that the already high prices of meat in this country will become higher.

The Orange-Transvaal
Alliance

The most important. event of last week in the Transvaal situation was the unanimous passing of resolutions by the Orange Free State Volksraad, or Parliament, in accordance with President Steyn's exhortation of the week previous. The first resolution instructed the Government to use every means to insure peace without violating the honor or independence either of the Free State or of the Transvaal. The second resolution declared that there exists no cause for war, and that war against the Transvaal, if undertaken or occasioned by the British Government, would morally be a war against the whole white population of Africa, and in its consequences criminal. Come what may, the Free State will faithfully fulfill its obligations to the Transvaal in virtue of the existing offensive and defensive alliance. As the Orange Free State is connected with the Transvaal by the closest ties, not only of a formal agreement, but of blood and race, this action of the Volksraad at Bloemfontein is, of course, what might be expected. However, as the Orange Free State has long stood in friendly relations with the British Government, some English colonials profess surprise and chagrin. One, Sir Walter Peace, Agent-General for Natal in London, is reported as saying that if the

Free State had been loyal, fighting would not have lasted fourteen days; it might now last two months. It is believed that the union of the Orange and Transvaal military forces will add nearly three-quarters to the latter's numerical strength, and, by the extension of Boer frontier, is sure to make the struggle far harder to concentrate.

The Feeling in Great Britain

The general feeling in Great Britain is voiced by the Rev. Dr. James Stewart, who has spent the last thirty years in South Africa. Writing to us on the crisis, he says that the small oligarchy of Transvaal Boers do not mean to give and will not give to white or black the smallest political or municipal rights, except those which they are compelled by force to give. In consequence, the outlook is gloomy enough. The vast majority of the British papers, home and colonial, heartily approve those passages of the Duke of Devonshire's speech last week which read as follows:

The obstacle which seems to stand in the way of a peaceful settlement appears to be the rooted conviction of the Boers that we cherish designs hostile to their independence. That such apprehensions are unfounded has been asserted as strongly as possible-officially in our despatches and unofficially by members of the Government. The unfounded suspicions of President Kruger and his Government cannot relieve us of the duty of taking measures for the protection of our fellow-subjects and in the interests of peace and good govern

ment.

Many Liberals, however, are saying that it can be only a few years until the venerable President Kruger and the other bigoted conservatives pass away. When that occurs, the Outlanders will have their way. Why should not the latter wait, even though the present situation be desperately uncomfortable, rather than involve not only the Transvaal but every South African State in a horrible conflagration? This war would quite probably be not only between the British and the Boers, but also between the whites on the one side and, on the other, the blacks, outnumbering them eight to one. There would also be a dire imperiling of Great Britain's duties in many parts of the world-in China, where she has the "open door" to keep open; in the Persian Gulf, where she must constantly fight France and Russia,

resolved upon obtaining coaling stations there and thus endangering India; in North Africa, where the Chauvinists at Paris long to avenge Fashoda. On Sunday last Cardinal Vaughan warned his fellow-countrymen as follows: "War is still trembling in the balance, and a great responsibility rests upon those deputed to safeguard the welfare of the British nation. An unjust or an unnecessary war would be a great national crime, deserving divine chastisement, because it would be an offense against God and mankind."

A Possible Consolidation

The Transvaal Boers are divided into two classes, Conservatives and Liberals. The leader of the first is President Kruger; of the second, General Joubert, Vice-President of the Republic, Commandant-General of the Army, and, with Mr. Kruger, one of the triumvirate which governed the Transvaal during the war of independence in 1880-81. General Joubert gained a victory in every one of the battles fought against the British, and has been VicePresident ever since the re-establishment of Transvaal independence. He is equally remarkable in a civil and in a military capacity. As Liberal leader he believes that the Outlanders should be permitted to dency and for those of the Volkraad's first vote both for the candidates for the presiChamber. They are already allowed to vote for those for the impotent second Chamber. Latterly General Joubert has been trying to restrain the bellicose Conservatives, and, according to the London " Times," the postponement of hostilities is due almost wholly to his influence. Now, however, he has been informed by the armed burghers that, unless he is prepared to take the initiative within a brief period, he must relinquish command of the army. General Joubert has long been the Liberal candidate for the presidency. President Kruger fears, so it is believed, that at the next election the office may pass into his opponent's hands. Accordingly, he is now said to be considering a plan which will give him the satisfaction of not seeing his rival reigning in his stead, and at the same time of wonderfully strengthening the Transvaal, morally and materially, indeed as nothing else could. This plan is nothing less than his own resignation

in favor of President Steyn, of the Orange Free State. The inevitable consequence of this would be the consolidation of the two Republics, or rather the annexation of the Transvaal to the Free State. We hope that this union may take place. By this the Transvaal Boers and the Outlanders would both be benefited.

Religion In the Transvaal

No conception of the Boer character is complete which does not take into account the strong religious admixture which obtains therein. The most striking example of Boer literal faith in God is the contrast between their defeat under the atheist Burgers, whom they could not trust to lead them into battle against the natives and so were routed, and their wonderful victories over the British in the war of independence of 1880-81, when they fought with a courage and persistence above all praise, inspired by the stirring conviction that the Lord was fighting with them and for them. Few peoples have ever shown a more touching reliance upon the Supreme Being. The great analogy is, of course, the setting forth of the Pilgrims from Holland, not far from the time when the Dutch also set forth from that country to found homes and republics in South Africa. The Boer religion, however, was like the Puritan in this country-a seeming striving after an Old Testament rather than a New Testament ideal. It was also shown in the spirit of entire democracy in ritual. Anything else would have seemed sacrilege. Ever since the "Great Trek" in 1835 the Dutch Reformed Church has been the State Church of the Boers. It is now divided into two factions, of which the Doppers, led by President Kruger, constitute the conservatives. The radicals insist on singing hymns, a performance which the Doppers declare to be extremely worldly. The great festival in the Boer calendar is that of the Nachtmaal, or communion, generally held at Christmas-time at Pretoria, the capital. To this feast burghers come from all parts of the Transvaal, and, encamped about the capital, present a truly pastoral and patriarchal picture. Five of the nine legal holidays in the Transvaal are religious holidays namely, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, and Whit-Monday.

The War in Luzon

more

Last week was eventful in a military

way than any since the rainy season began. On Sunday a naval expedition went up Subig Bay, landed a party, and destroyed insurgent works at Olongapo without much serious resistance, capturing a Krupp gun and driving the enemy temporarily away from the vicinity. None of our sailors was killed, and only one wounded. On Monday despatches from General Otis were published stating that sixty-five armed men had surrendered to our forces in Negros and that the Panay Island insurgents had made overtures for submission if good terms could be promised them; they were told that they must surrender absolutely. General Otis also confirmed the news that General Bates had placed garrisons in several places in the Sulu Islands, while in Zamboango the chiefs were willing to receive a United States garrison on the curious condition that it should agree to withdraw if Aguinaldo were finally victorious-a condition naturally declined with promptness. On the same day were published the particulars of a minor success by the insurgents: they had seized, burned, and scuttled the gunboat Urdaneta, which had been bombarding the town of Orani, on Manila Bay.

The crew of ten men, landed to take possession of the place, fell into an ambuscade and were captured, and, it is believed, taken to Porac by the insurgents who looted and sunk the gunboat. Cadet Wood, in command of the gunboat, was killed. On Tuesday was reported an action of some importance in Cebu; here General Snyder made an attack on fortified positions and captured seven forts with many old smooth-bore guns.

News from Lieutenant Gilmore and his fellow-prisoners has been received through two Englishmen. who have been in Aguinaldo's lines. They say that the American prisoners are at Vigan, and are well treated. These Englishmen say that five Japanese army officers are assisting the insurgents in the north. The crops, they say, are plentiful and the army is enthusiastic, but the organization is poor and the discipline slack. It is believed that the rebels will retreat

The Capture of Porac and Delivery of Prisoners

to the mountains when the Americans advance. The offer made lately by Aguinaldo to release some prisoners if a commission of his officers might accompany them to Manila to talk about peace negotiations was at first refused, because of a projected immediate advance by the American forces against Porac. On Thurs day this announced American advance was made against Porac-twelve miles northwest from Bacolor, eight miles southwest of Angeles (our northern advance post), and a few miles west of the railway. Porac was thus in a position which threatened our flank, and from it expeditions have annoyed our outposts. The attack was the old story over again. General MacArthur's force met with little resistance; none of our men were killed; only four wounded; the insurgents abandoned the town. The capture of Porac was part of a general movement to clear our flanks. After this advance was thus successfully carried out, the Filipino Commissioners were allowed to enter our lines escorting fourteen American prisoners (not Lieutenant Gilmore's band), who were surrendered with no other return than the admission of the Commission. The prisoners unanimously praised their treatment. One man said: "We have been given the best the country afforded, fine houses for quarters, servants, good food, plenty of wine, and a money allowance. The idea of independence has taken firm hold of the Filipinos." The Filipino Commissioners, General Otis cables, tried to secure some recognition of their Government; they were told that unconditional surrender only would be considered.

Dr. Schurman on the Philippines

The address delivered at Cornell last week by President Schurman is of more than local and university interest because of its very full statement of the views of one of the Philippine Commission on the great question now occupying public thought. President Schurman frankly admitted that a year ago he answered negatively the question, Shall we take the Philippine Islands from Spain? To-day he thought the only question was, "The United States having taken the Philippine Islands from Spain, what shall be done with them?" He admitted that there was

a great difference between the expansion now proposed and that involved in the development of the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific in territory practically uninhabited. The most fundamental and obvious lesson drawn from all colonial history was, he thought, the warning, Let no ruling race ever treat its colonies or its dependencies as its possessions." We cannot, he continued in substance, do what we like with the Philippines; this would be barbarous and muddle-headed; we must not use the government of colonies or dependencies as a money-making enterprise; let a nation seek to enrich itself at the expense of its colonists and it impoverishes all; a colonizing power should aim at nothing but the welfare of its colonies, but colonies and dependencies should be made self-supporting. President Schurman, in reply to the question, Why should we extend our sovereignty over remote countries and alien people? affirmed over and over again that the only justifiable object would be the establishment of good government in the territory, the evolution of its people in civilization, and "the training of them in progressive self-government with a view to ultimate independence, whether by partnership in or separation from the sovereign State." He believed in our mission to educate and elevate the Filipinos in honest and fraternal co-operation with them to estabis a just and stable government, “in which the natives shall have ever-increasing participation in proportion to the development of their political capacities."

Captain Carter's

Sentence

The verdict of the court martial against Captain Oberlin M. Carter was approved by the President at the close of last week. On the Wednesday preceding, ex-Attorney-General Wayne MacVeagh, one of Captain Carter's counsel, was heard in his defense by Attorney-General Griggs, but only a few minor specifications in the findings of the court martial were disapproved. Mr. MacVeagh expressed his own belief in the innocence of his client, but his argument was almost exclusively a pleading of legal technicalities against the decision of the court martial. He urged that the court martial had violated the rules of evidence in vari

ous ways-notably by admitting illegally seized private papers of Captain Carterand pleaded that the court martial was incapable of conducting a thorough trial of the case, because it could not compel men in civil life to testify before it. This plea was undoubtedly true, but the inability of the court martial to subpoena civil witnesses was rather an advantage than a disadvantage to the accused, whose personal popularity, supplementing the financial resources of the contractors involved, enabled him to secure volunteer witnesses at command. Laymen who have followed the case have generally been convinced of the accused officer's guilt ever since he pleaded the statute of limitations to secure himself from prosecution for offenses committed during eight years of the ten he was in charge of the Government works in Savannah Harbor; and the present attempt of one of his counsel, Mr. Blair, to raise the cry of "militarism" will utterly fail.

That the verdict of the court martial imposed in April, 1898, should remain so long unapproved shows that civil distrust of military tribunals has been carried to the last possible point. The Nation will indorse the execution of the sentence, which imposed a fine and imprisonment for five years at hard labor.

The Boston and Albany Lease

The Protective Committee" of stockholders of the Boston and Albany Rail road, who opposed the acceptance of the eight and a half per cent. lease of this road to the New York Central, had remarkable success in obtaining the support of their fellow-stockholders. At the beginning of last week they held the power to vote 136,000 shares out of the total of 250,000, and were thus clearly able to veto the proposed action of the directors. To make their victory complete, however, they decided to put in nomination a new list of directors, and though they renominated President Bliss and four of his associates on the present board who favored the lease, their object was clearly to rebuke if not to remove the old management. This new attitude called forth consider able protest from their previous supporters, and when President Bliss refused to accept their nomination they found themselves unable to dictate what the outcome should

be. At the meeting of the stockholders on Wednesday the friends of the old management were able to secure postponement of final action upon the lease until November, and before the vote upon the new directors could be counted a compromise was effected by which the protestants against the lease accepted a mere increase in their representation upon the board. Meanwhile the question of State purchase of the Boston and Albany has gained unexpected prominence. The charter of the road, it will be recalled, provided that the State might at any time purchase the road upon terms that would return to the stockholders their original investment and ten per cent. interest thereon. As the State has chartered no parallel road, the stockholders have always received about ten per cent. interest, so that the State has the contract right to purchase the stock at par or for about half what the New York Central offers. If a private corporation had this right, it would exercise it, and a great many citizens of Massachusetts believe with ex-Senator Dawes that the State should look after the rights of the public as zealously as a private corporation after the rights of its shareholders. No prominent paper, so far as we have seen, advocates the public operation of the road, but both. the Springfield "Republican" and the Hartford “Courant" are in substantial agreement with the Boston "Post" when it says: "The strong tendency of things to-day is towards the public ownership of public utilities' by the people. Why would it not be a good thing for the State to buy in the road, and then lease it to Mr. Vanderbilt for the profit of the public treasury?"

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]
« PredošláPokračovať »