Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-04-12
, SPECIAL LONDON LETTER
The Invitation to President Kru-
ger Not Accepted.
HE WON'T LEAVE PRETORIA
As Far as Gone the Soudan Expedition Is Dis
appointing.
MORE EXPENSIVE THAN CALCULATED
Most of the Money Has Been Spert and
Much More Will Be Spent Before
There Will Be Scrap With
the Dervishes.
HE WON'T LEAVE PRETORIA
MORE EXPENSIVE THAN CALCULATED

that are passing between Mr.. Chamber
lain, the colonial secretary, and Presi-
dent Kruger of the Transvaal will, when
published be found to be models of
frank and direct statements on the part
of the former and of diplomatic finessee,
yelled with an air of simplicity, on the
part of the latter
A month hence it is likely that Mr..
Chamberlain will be compelled by events
to issue the correspondence in blue
book in order to justify whatever strong
action may be taken after diplomacy
fails to settle the troubles between Great
Britain and the South African republic.
The representative of the United Press
Is able to predict on thoroughly reliable
information that Mr.. Chamberlain will
come out of the negotiations with a
heightened reputation. Throughout the
communications he has not budged from
his public declarations to adhere to the
Anglo-Boer convention of 1884, while re-
speeding the internal independence of the
republic. The Pretoria authorities use
certain organs in London as the medium
for the spread of the useless fctions that
Mr.. Chamberlain will cancel the conVen-
tion that he has telegraphed to the Boer
government that Great Britain has no
intention of Aending troops to Cape Col
ony, etc, dotfSt less with a view to in
fuencing public opinion here. Mr.. Cham
berlain counters those stories with
explicit denial that he has sent such
kilograms The public is half conscious
that final crisis is near and accept the
denials implicitly. Whether the country
will ultima tely confirm Mr.. Chamber
iain's policy is doubtful, but 1t is impossi-
BILE that the developments will show him
to have been duped by President Kruger.
Instead Of weakening on the clause of
the convention giving Great Britain
suzeranty over the Transvaal he
proposes to strengthen it. The
present clause empowers the Transvaal
to conclude treaties with foreign powers,
subject to the veto of Great Britain.
This clause Mr.. Chamberlain has sought
to have altered by making Great Britain
a party to the treaties on lines similar
to those existing in the case of Great
Britain and her colonies. With regard
to the protection of the foreign residents
of the republic Mr.. Chamberlain contin-
ues to recommend that the franchise be
given to them after five years, and he
also recommends autonomy for the
Rand the measures there adopted to be
subject to the veto of the president
To none of these proposals has Pres
ident Kruger definitely assented. He
responds that the volksraad is not like
ly to give its consent to such changes as
the British colonial secretary proposes.
He has taken no steps to summon the
volksraad, Notwithstanding the report
that he proposed to summon it at a date
earlier than the one fixed for the opening
of the regular session.
The position just misses a dead lock
through the stiffness of the Pretoria
government. A report is credited in the
colonial office that Mr.. Chamberlain has
asked the assent of his colleagues to
proposal not to wait for the decision of
the volksraad regarding the visit of Pres
ident Kruger to London, but to send
politician to Pretoria as a last effort to
arrange the terms of a settlement. The
Earl of Shelborne, parliamentary secre-
tary of the colonial office. is mentioned as
the envoy, but he is too young to be en-
trusted with such momentous task.
Consols yesterday touched HOY, the
highest price on record, and were hard to
procure at that price. Indian per cents
were quoted at~over Ill, which was also
a record price. These values would
have been held incredible year ago.
ffhe rise in consols is largely attributable
to buoyancy of trade as shown in the
board of trade returns and the increase
In the imports and exports. The strength
of the Indian securities leads to the ex-
pectation of a conversion operation.
The government proposes that the
house of commons shall commence sit
ting in the morning, beginning on Tues
day next, with a view to expedite bus
mess, so as to enable parliament to be
prorogued at the middle of August. The
proposal is not acceptable to the liberals,
who suspect that the early rising of par
lament means giving the government a
free hand to carry out its plans to ex-
tend operations in the Soudan. Neither
does 1t meet with the approval of the
Irish members, who rightly calculate
that it will delay consideration of the
land bill Mr. Gerald Balfour, chief sec
rotary for Ireland, will on Monday intro
duce bill to put the proposal into effect.
The opposition has, therefore been de-
termined, apart from other reasons, to
enter upon a campaign of obstruction
and not to withdraw from 1t until the
government pledges itself to hold an au-
tumn session.
AS far as it has gone the Soudan ex-
petition is Disappointing to the war office
and the government. Dispatches are sent
daily from Cairo praising the rapidity of
the movement at the front and the COM
pleteness of the preparations. The truth,
as known at the war office, which is sus-
tanned by private advices Is that the ad-
vance beyond Assouan is excessively
slow being hampered by deficient river
service and the want of forage. The
worst feature for the government Is the
enormous and unexpected expenditures
that have been and are yet to be made.
Lord Cromwer, the British diplomatic
agent at Cairo, advises that 1t will be
necessary early to draw upon the Egyp-
1ian treasury for Fl ,000, 900 in addition to-
the f500,0 900 already drawn, and this fact
renders It probable that the entire re-
serve of the Egyptian debt commission
will be ultimately absorbed in prepare
tions before there is actual contact with
the Dervishes. No authority ventures
to speculate as to what will happen when
the reserve is exhausted.
Until September the only forward
movement from Akasheh that is likely to-
be made will be to Firket, ten miles up
the river. This will be merely due to the
discovery that Akasheh is bad strate-
gic position. The place Is surrounded by
low hills commanding the camp, and for
this reason 1t has already been found ad-
vsable to form chain of forts in the
hills. The sanitation of the camp is bad:
The mercury reaches an average of Jos
degrees in the shade, and this extreme
heat impedes the work of even the tella-
heen laborers. At Wady Halfa large
number of the men belonging to the
North Staffordshire regiment have been
fnvallded by the heat. i eo. 3rafa
That no operations of importance are
intended during the summer ~ evident