The San Francisco call., 1897-06-06
MRS. HAMMOND WAS HERE.

MRS. HAMMOND WAS THERE.
a WOMAN's PART IN A RFVOLUTION-By
Mrs John Hays Hammond New or Long
mans, Green lG Co. For sale by all bookstores.
"a Woman's Part in q Revolution in the
case OF Mrs John Hays Hammond, who has
written a book bearing that title, consisted OF
going through the Johannes burg revolution
with pencil in one hand and notebook IN
the other, and coming out of it alive to tell
waiting world what she saw there. And in the
fu!fillmeut of this intrepid undertaking she
certainly succeeded in discerning at short
range few things which the newspaper cor
respondents forgot TO come down off the neigh
boring hilltops 10 investigate, and she failed
10 observe only so much as transpired IN the
courageous imGginationS OF those resourcetul
gentlemen when their telescopes became
blurred by the distant smoke OF battle.
Tne obhging publishers inform Us that Mrs.
Ham mond is the youngest daughter OF the
late Judge W. NJ. Harris OF Vicks burg, Miss,
and niece of General y. II. Harris" To the
reader of "A Woman's Part in a Revolution"
an introduction to any OF the authors rela-
uves is, OF course, pleasure, ii an irrelevant
one but fault may be found with the manner
herein employed to Introduce them. They
might have been announced more Oecomingly
as the father OF Mrs. Hammond" and the
''uncle of Mrs. Hammond - respectively, them
selves and not the lady being in need OF recon-
mendaton.
Mrs. Hammond herself is q very noteworthy
parsonage. She has written an important
book, which is more than her father (ghoever
he may have been) ever did in the realms OF
intellectually, and she has been through
real war, W hich is more than her uncle (who-
ever he may be) ever did in the way OF being
general She is by far the best man OF the
lot. despite her moan uttered in the thick OF
the fight at Johannesburg, "It is hard to be
only she-thing' and stay in the house with
q couple OF Underlined men when such
stirring happenings are abroad!'
Instead OF being only "she-thing," in the
contemptuous light in which she professed to
regard it, Mrs. Hammond a vigorous
thinker, actor, director and in various
ways torceiul participant IN the stirring
happenings TO which she refers. And to her
calmness of observation and steadness of
nerve under all the turbulent conditions
which beat about johannesburg in that fs-
nous uprising the world owes lis thanks for
the most rational and apparently authentic
account of the movement from beginning 10
end thati has received from any quarter.
The framework OF this account conforms
generally to the conclusions which sensible
people had already drawn of the matter from
the mass Of newspaper reports which appeared
during the progress OF the trouble. The expe-
rlenced reader has been educated to fine
sense OF discrimination between wheat and
Is
pile OF conflicting dispatches after the reports
are ali in and the trouble is over and can sift
out the truth from rubbish heap of fakes
groundl less rumors, fairy tales and all the
other conventional subterfuges of the "enter-
prising special correspondent when news is
scarce.
Mrs. Hammond's book in the main serves
TO substantiate what good many people had
previously guessed-that the Boer republic
acted the part of an obdurate tyrant againat
the American ana British settlers, holding
them off by false promises as long as possible
and finally catching them of guard by
treacherOus move, and, obtaining the upper
hand, CRUSHING them stolidly and uncom pro-
mSingly into submission to the existing order
of affairs, which were indisputably unjust.
The Americans and the British, commonly
called the Uitlanders, whose mining interests
in that territory are enormous, and who Them
selves compose q greater part of the popula-
tion than do the Beers who rule over them,
had long suffered the inhiction of exorbitant
taxes ana the humiliation of autocratic re-
strictiOns from people whom they had ielt TO be
their interiors. The inferior few were ruling
the superior many and were doing it with the
same grotesque impudence which ignorance
always thrusts in the face of wisdom when
the latter's hands are tied.
The Uitanders at last rebelled They pre-
faced the rebellion with a courteous request
tnat the following set OF reforms be instituted
by the Beer Government:
/. The es ablishment OF this republic as true
republic.
+, .. A constitution which shall be framed by
competent persons selected by representatives of
The whole people and framed on lines laid down
by them; a constitution which shall be safe
guarded against hasty alteration.
3. An equitable franchise law and fair represen-
tatIoa.
4 Equality of Dutch and English languages
s. Responsibility 10 the legislature OF the heads
of the great departments.
8. Removal of religious disabilities.
z. Independence o. the courts of Justice. with
adj qutte and secured remuneration Of the judges
S. Liberal and comprehensive education.
9. An efficient civil service.
10. Free trade in South African products
President Kruger met these propos itions
with crafty pretense OF taking them under
serious consideration, signifying with smile
the while that he felt very favorablv
disposed toward amicable adjustment
of the grievances. He played with the Reform
Committee until the moment came when he
could strike it a disabling blow unawares
The uprising collapsed in its infancy, jamie
sens march became farce and the unyield-
ing Boer, dropping the smiling mask when 1t
was no longer seTYiceable, again showed his
despotic hand and said: The matter is ended;
it is useless for you to come and say another
word, and if any more of this silly talk about
force is heard you Will De jailed"
The matter did end. The taxes remained
high, tn American and the Engiishman still
bent the knee to the poer, the inferior minor
ity rules to this day the superior ajority and
extorts even more stupid satisfaction from il
than it did before the protest was made
Mrs. Hammond's book minutely describes
each day of the uprising il wore its way TO a
close her diary having in many cases been
written at intervals of only two or three hours
apart. 1t is bright, well written, forclble I'm
&c la.
of The lime, which the lady seems to have
known like book, and it bears all the evil
dence OF reliability and truth.
CARROLL CARRINGToN
JERUSALEM TO-DAY.