New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-04-04
AFRICA.
INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES AND HIS
TORICAL EVENTS

Mr. Montague's book is model Of what col
lection Of hunting anecdotes should be. lie
wastes time In telling how he reached the
field He gives no sign that ne ever Kept jour-
nal His "reminiscences read just as If they had
been taken down as they fell from the lips OF an
enthusiastic sportsman The reader only once or
twice discovers that the author has realized by
experience how many things fellow secs when
ne has no gun DAYS when everything went
wrong are left to the readers Imagination the
stories are related with a canGor which disarms
any suspicious that might be cherished on general
principles respecting shooting adventures. They
have also the merit Of relating to a time which
can return. Compared with the condition
OF the country in the seventies and the early
eighties South Africa Is devoid of game.
that IS of large game: and the men with whom
the author hunted have also disappeared From
q new field far distant he looks back upon days
when ne not only kept an eye out for bunaloes
and lions and antelOpes and hppopotam, but
had 10 reckon also with the BasuOs and the
Beers For he was a participant in the last con-
fict between the Dutch and English in South
Africa a conflict which. as he acknowledges. was
anything but creditable TO England, either from
the point Of view of justice that Of military
prestige. 1t was the eliminating incident OF
long rivalry with which the mon actually at war
owed no allegiance to Holland. But the ancient
tealous.es were not forgotten. The way these
were fostercd is illustrated In another region
nv Mr. Iucas's third volume. In West Africa,
where there was no thought Of colonizing on ac-
count Of the unheathfulness Of the coast national
ih-feeling was never mitgated by the hopes and
fears and friendships Of a settled popuiatloh'
The trading struggle went on there in its simplest
form. and II was pretty much Ike piracy down
to a time that could almost be remembered by
men still living. For little while. before the
middle Of the seventeenth century, il looked as II
the Dutch might rule. Those were times when
the Netherlands had a navy and when they were
as ready to carry terri " into the Thames as on
the open They had doSged the Portuguese
all over the globe in the effort to break down
the monopoly which the latter enjoyed and ITO
substitute for it a monarchy Of their own. no less
exclusive in theory and more effective in prac-
tice" Everywhere they had for time more or
less success But they found the English trouble
some on the Guinea Coast, and tried, in pursu-
ance OF their national policy. to dislodge them
Dutch cruisers kept on the coast for the
purpose Of preventing the English from trading
with the natives. Whether there was war or
peace in Europe between Great Britain and the
Netherlands. there constant strife between
Dutch and English traders on the West Coast of
Africa. Thus arose the only war at sea in which
England's pride was humbled before she ventured
upon strife with Americans Every attempt to
obtain redress at The Hague for the losses OF
merchants and sh!pnasters was unavailng. In
fact there were enough reprsals on the other side
TO comphcate the demand for compensation.
For example. a wear or 50 before war was de-
clared a British fee; destroyed or captured nearly
every Dutch fort on the coast. But Admiral
bar nd
lish stronghold besides. so that Pepys mourned
in his diary about our being beaten to dirt in
Guinny" 1t was by this war which ragged in the
East Indies in the West Indies. around the coast
Of Great Britain, and in the Hudson River that
New-York came into the power Of the English
After it was all over and the treaties made the
two nations found themselves just as they had
been before hostilities broke out far as West
Africa was concerned. But seeing that the
peace Of two nations at the mercy OF the
traders. some provision was made against the
hasty proclamations and manifestOes OF past COM
manders and truculent captains, and these pre-
cautions suffced for a long time. Yet there was
no thought on the part of anybody at that time
OF territorial possession. There were no West
African colonies with adjoining protectorates
such as exist a the present day. THE competi-
ton between French Dutch and English for
trade. not for sovereignty. The forts and fac
tories were built on soil which belonged and was
recognized belonging to natives"
For the conquest and parcelling out Of interior
Africa among the Powers, the process had to be
quite different. The war with the Beers in South
Africa unfortunate episode in the new
way of doing things. The manner in which their
country annexed to the British possessions
stirred their wrath; yet it was only a mistaken
step in the direction Of Mashonaand and the re-
cent Matabele war As for the Beers. they simply
refused TO be medded with. They actually pre-
ferred freedom with its drawbacks to the bless
ings Of British rule; land they had the audacty
10 inform u.s. adds Mr. Montague, that UNI
less their representations were listened to they
would positively make war upon us, and strive
to inculcate by the of carnal weapons those
views which they had failed to communicate TO
US by an appeal to intelligence and sense of fair
play" The results Of the war, which was a
thorough object LESSON for the world in the use
OF irregular troops expert with modern rifles Is
too familiar to need mention. The peculiarites
of the conflict were illustrated by the authors
individual experience. Two square inches OF the
crown of a head an ample mark for a Boer
rineman But with artillery, such as they had,
the Dutch colonsts seem to have made sorry
work Mr. Montague has little respect for ar
tillery in African war. Its principal function, he
SAYS is to stick fast in every mudnOle. or It's
uselessness. as well as that of native allies. ne
was convinced by his observations in war with
the Basutos Only the British infantry could be
trusted all the time. Even the Afrikanders were
unsafe when they distrusted their commander.
With them faith took the place Of discipline.
The war with the Basutos was marked by some
extremely harsh features on the part of the white
men. which Mr.. Montague excuses. though he
praises the tribesmen for their skill in battle.
They had sly ways Of fighting which irritated
him. Besides they appear to have been better
shots than most savages. 1t was not wise for a
man to stand near their defences with his hat in