Vol. 64

The Boer War: The Boer Country President

"You will have to build a wall around us before you can conquer us," said Kruger to a British Agent recently. This remark had special reference to the Portuguese frontier-the Transvaal's back door, as far as the reception of recruits and military stores are concerned. It is an open door because it is neutral. Last week, owing to the anged fortunes of war, there was a val of the probably correct rumor that the secret Anglo-German agreement means e ultimate absorption by England of the ortuguese territory south of the Zambesi, and by Germany of all Portuguese territory the north of that river, together with gain of a free hand in Asia Minor. Attention is called to the Transvaal's internal affairs by the promulgation of a new law by which individuals and companies working their own gold-mines are taxed thirty per cent. of the output, while mines worked by the Government will pay fifty per cent.; suspended mines will pay thirty per cent. on their probable output, calculated on three months' workings. The law is retroactive to October 11. Last week, near Zeerust, in the South African Republic, there occurred the first engagement during the present war within the boundaries of the Transvaal State. It was not between Boers and British, but between Boers and Kafirs. It is claimed that the latter were the aggressors. After heavy fighting the Boers captured the Kafir position. The Kafirs in the neighborhood of Mafeking have always been hostile to the Boers, and, since 1885, when the British delivered them from Boer oppression, friendly to Great Britain. It is probable that this section of the Kafirs have determined to take the opportunity for revenge offered by the BritishBoer war. Describing the situation of the British prisoners at Pretoria, Mr.

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Winston Churchill, who has now arrived in Natal, says that there is no cause for any anxiety concerning them, that the Boers are certainly not a bloodthirsty people, and that they are desirous of deserving the respect of European nations by correct observances of the usages of war. The only misbehavior, he adds, is on the part of Irish renegades, "whose cowardice and brutality excite the disgust of the real burghers.' He informs us that the British officers at Pretoria are guarded by police, armed with rifles and revolvers. The prisoners have exercise in a daily game of rounders. "They are allowed to become members of the State Library, where there are many good books. The Boer Government allows them a daily ration of beef and groceries, but anything may be bought from the local tradesmen." As Great Britain does no pay her officers while they are prisoners many of them are poorly off pecuniarily.

It is only now known The British Country that a fortnight ago the Boers captured Kuruman in British Bechuanaland, about a hundred and twenty-five miles north of Kimberley. Kuruman is the last considerable place in Bechuanaland where British authority is still represented. At both Magersfontein and Colenso, scenes of recent battles, the Boers have constructed many bombproof trenches. At the first-named place they extend for twenty miles due north of the present British camp, and at the second they extend on both sides of the Tugela; wire trenches have also been laid in the bed of that river. Tramway lines have been put down, and heavy guns may now be shifted with rapidity. The main positions are connected with the outlying positions by underground passages. As the Boers announce that the railway

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from Pretoria is now in running order as far south as Colenso, it is understood that they have built a line partially encircling Ladysmith. The death-list from that beleaguered place shows that dysentery and typhoid are now more effective than have been the Boer guns in reducing the garrison's strength. Nevertheless, General White sends heliograph messages to General Buller that the town can easily hold out for another six weeks. General Buller is receiving reinforcements and fresh batteries. He is supposed to have thirty thousand men, as opposed to twenty thousand in the Boer forces at and near Ladysmith. The most serious event of the week was the outbreak of glanders among the horses in both the British and the Boer camps, a disease likely to spread more rapidly among the hardly acclimated British animals than among the hardier Boer ponies. Several hundred British horses have already been shot. By reason of the advent of this horse sickness renewed attention is given to the lack of road- -wagons. It is understood that the British Government has now applied to American wagon-factories. In Cape Colony General Gatacre has succeeded in occupying Dordrecht, an important railway junction. As Dordrecht is the depot for coal from the neighboring mines, General Gatacre should thus now be able to keep up the necessary supply. The most important British success has been the reoccupation of Colesberg by General French. The attack began on Sunday night of this week; the Boer position, which extended for six miles, was shelled by the British artillery at daybreak with great accuracy and effectiveness. The British loss is reported as small, that of the Boers as large. To some extent this victory is a turning of the Boers' right (west) flank in the general position. An interesting feature of the week's news was the patriotic offer of service in the British army from Indian princes. The Maharajah of Gwalior has asked permission to serve on General Roberts's staff, and has offered to send troops, horses, and a transport to South Africa. The Nizam of Hyderabad, replying to a toast proposed by Lord Curzon, the Viceroy, at a banquet in Calcutta, said that the proudest title he possessed was that of being the Queen's faithful ally.

Is Food Contraband?

The British Consul at
New Orleans says that

during the past few weeks three million bushels of corn have been shipped from that port to Rotterdam for reshipment to Lourenço Marques, the gateway to the Transvaal. There have also been such significant increases in the shipments of flour as to lead to the suspicion that the Boers are being fed on American wheat, and their mules on American corn. On the ground that the cargoes were intended for the Boers, the British authorities at Cape Colony ports have now seized three cargoes of flour belonging to American shippers and bound from Philadelphia for Lourenço Marques in Portuguese Africathat is, from one neutral port to another. The route to the Transvaal through Lourenço Marques is the only easy way thither not controlled by the British. Two of the seized vessels were British and one Dutch. The seizures differ from those in our Spanish war, in that the vessels taken by our ships were known to be bound for the enemy's blockaded ports with supplies. As a matter of fact, however, Great Britain had abundant cause to suspect that the flour was really consigned to Boer merchants in Johannesburg. If food is contraband of war, then the seizure was internationally legal. Food may be considered contraband when it gives "aid and comfort" to an enemy by being part of their sustenance. In the war between the French and the Chinese, however, when rice was declared contraband, England protested. Her position then would hardly justify the present seizure. Whatever the legality of the case, as a matter of policy the seizure was, to say the least, unfortunate. Even that typical example of self-sufficiency, the London "Morning Post," argues that "the Government would be mad to treat food as contraband." While no one doubts that the British Government will make characteristically generous amends, the repetition of such seizures might tend to alienate the present American sympathy for Great Britain, of which that Power was never so much in need as it now is. Again, the establishment of such a precedent might one day do more harm to England than it could do to any other nation, for of all nations she is the most dependent on foreign markets for her food supply. It would seem incredible

that she could thus play into the hands of any of her future enemies. If food is not contraband-and it ought not to be the questions arise: (1) Has Great Britain any right to seize vessels flying her own flag and the neutral cargo of such vessels bound for a neutral port? (2) Has Great Britain the right to seize a neutral vessel with a neutral cargo bound for a neutral port, on the suspicion that the cargo is ultimately destined for a people with whom the British are at war?

Almost the first thing done by General Leonard Wood after taking supreme command in Cuba was to institute an investigation into the state of Cuban prisons. He found that the sanitary conditions were bad, that prisoners slept on the bare floors, that even among American prisoners the average period of detention without trial was five months, and that Cubans whom General Ludlow ordered released are still

held, after three or four years' waiting without trial. On the subject of Cuban prison abuses Mr. Charlton T. Lewis, of the New York Prison Association, has just made a report founded on personal inspection. He finds these abuses flagrantthe herding of boys in idleness with hardened prisoners; lack of beds, blankets, and clothing for prisoners; filth and vermin everywhere. In the Havana Carcel, which Mr. Lewis characterizes as (6 worse than the Newgate of John Howard," he found on December 2 last twenty-two American citizens, some of whom had been there for over five months vainly begging a hearing. The entire system of the lower criminal courts he believes to have been corrupt, with the results still continuing, as in the case of men sentenced to forty years' imprisonment for insolence to officials. General Wood has already made thorough reforms in the Santiago prison system, and no doubt he will now remedy the abuses in Havana and throughout Cuba. If half that Mr. Lewis charges can be substantiated, it is almost incredible that such abominable cruelty and injustice should have been allowed to continue even a year under American administration. General Wood's general plan of reorganization and reconstruction, so far as it is known, is well

received by the Cuban people. The new Governor-General has already made friends and has inspired confidence in his capacity and good will. Mr. Rubens, formerly counsel for the Cuban Junta, has just returned to Washington from a Cuban trip. In an interview he said:

No country on earth is more at peace than Cuba is. The veterans of the revolution and all elements, even those supposed to be most gramme announced by General Wood-the at unrest, are deeply gratified by the proreform of the courts so as to give speedy trials, the clearing of the prisons of those who have been languishing under the slow procedure, the establishment of a system of free public schools, and the construction of roads, all

with a view to local necessities.

So long as there was any doubt as to the purpose of the United States, the revolutionhowever, they feel that they must constitute ary element stood aloof and expectant. Now, the conservative party in Cuba-that is, the party which supports the political programme of the President. The day is rapidly approaching when all the elements of Cuba, even those who are opposed to the revolution, will be called upon to aid in the political reconstruction of the island and to form a government in which all the inhabitants of Cuba may take part. They expect that this new government will be established as soon as possible, but they do not insist upon unreasonable haste.

The Philippines

There was little new of im

portance last week about the campaign in the Philippines. The most notable event was the capture of a mountain stronghold beyond Montalban. This place is some distance northeast of San Mateo, where General Lawton met his death, and was defended by the troops which opposed General Lawton at San Mateo. The stronghold was captured after a sharp fight, in which, as usual, the insurgents suffered severely and our forces hardly at all. The place had been supposed by the insurgents to be impregnable, and in it were found a large quantity of powder, ammunition, and food supplies. General Otis reports that the natives who had evacuated the coast towns lying north from Dagupan to Vigan are returning from the mountains and are intimidating the natives and Chinamen of those villages who showed friendship for the Americans. Several important ports of Luzon-Dagupan, Vigan, San Fernando, Laoag, and Aparri-are thrown open to commerce with the beginning of the year, and General Bates has instructions to open the ports in Mindanao and Zamboanga.

The

opening of these ports will allow the export of hemp, the most important product of the island, which has for the past year been greatly hindered. On New Year's Day began the projected movement against the insurgents in Cavite Province. After a fight in which our troops had two killed and several wounded they occupied Cabuzac on the south side of Laguna de Bay.

General Lawton's Letter

The letter read by Mr. John Barrett at the New England Dinner, received by him from General Lawton a month before the latter's death, constitutes an eloquent and effective testimony confirming what has before been said by the Philippine Commissioners, and will and ought to serve as a warning to those who, following feeling rather than judgment, have by their public counsels prolonged the war in the Archipelago which they wished to see brought to a speedy end. This letter needs no comment; it is its own best interpreter :

I would to God that the truth of this whole Philippine situation could be known by every one in America as I know it. If the real history, inspiration, and conditions of this insurrection, and the influences, local and external, that now encourage the enemy, as well as the actual possibilities of these islands and peoples and their relations to this great East, could be understood at home, we would hear no more talk of unjust "shooting of government" into the Filipinos, or of hauling down our flag in the Philippines. If the so-called anti-imperialists would honestly ascertain the truth on the ground and not in distant America, they, whom I believe to be honest men misinformed, would be convinced of the error of their statements and conclusions and of the unfortunate effect of their publications here. If I am shot by a Filipino bullet, it might as well come from one of my own men, because I know from observations confirmed by captured prisoners that the continuance of fighting is chiefly due to reports that are sent out from America.

The

Clark's behalf, and has been disbarred because of his guilt. Some of the facts upon which the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court rested were as follows: First, that two State Senators, according to their own sworn statements, received ten thousand dollars each from Wellcome to vote for United States Senator Clark. Second, that, in order to expose the bribery, one of these State Senators became a sub-agent in the purchase of Clark votes, and while thus acting received another ten thousand dollars from Wellcome, which was paid to a third State Senator. The thirty thousand dollars given to these three Senators was handed over to the legislative investigating committee. Third, the testimony of these three Senators, in the view of the Court, is further supported by the fact that still other Senators, at first opposed to Senator Clark-some of them party opponents-finally gave him their votes without apparent cause. accused attorney was present throughout the hearing, but at the time appointed for him to answer the charges he did not appear in person. Therefore, says the Court, "the charges themselves,are not challenged by any direct denial by him." It is not probable that Senator Clark's direct connection with the bribery can be proved, but each house of Congress is given by the Constitution the power to judge of the election of its own members, and the House of Representatives has repeatedly unseated members because their election was secured through bribery or fraud. has never been essential to prove that the members themselves participated in these corrupt tactics. If it is shown that Senator Clark's election was secured by bribery, he certainly should be unseated. Indeed, both houses of Congress ought definitely to adopt the principle by which English democracy has curbed the power of the rich to obtain office through the corrupt use of money. By the Corrupt Practices Act, a candidate elected by bribery may be unseated, whether or not the bribed votes were essential to his majority. "If a corrupt practice has been permitted with the consent of the candidate, he is forever disqualified from holding office. ... If such corrupt practice is found to have occurred by the act of the agent, with or without the candidate's knowledge and consent, the candidate himself is dis

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