The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-09-24
IT RESTS With KRUGER
Now Is His Opportunity to De.
clare War.
BOERS WILL NOT SUBMIT
England Will Issue No Warlike Ultima
tum Until She Is in Position to
Back 1t Up-An Appeal
From Stead.
Special Gable Letter,


stage of the Transvaal crisis has peace
or war rested SO entirely within the
hands of President Kruger. The longer
| he delays precipitating definite issue,
| the better are the chances for peace.
He now knows to what extent he can
| rely on sections of South Africa to up
| hold him and he realizes that the Brit
| ish will, if possible, avoid a conflict
| until the last transport lands her men
| and he is too willy a leader not to
know the military advantage that
| comes to the aggressor His appeals
to the foreign powers to intervene
| have apparently been hopeless, but his
efforts to drag in the Orange Free
State have been successful, and If he
honestly intends to defy Great Britain
he never will have a better opportu-
| nifty than at present.
If he does not there will be much
| ground for believing President Kruger
intends an ultimate te back-down, though
whether he is strong enough to carry
| his people with him in such action is
| open to great doubts. The cabinet
council merely verifies the logical sup
position that Great Britain will issue
no hostile ultimatum until she is in a
position to back it up.
| The impression that war is inevita-
| BILE, which is now fairly general, is
based almost solely upon the belief that
| the Beers will not submit, while it is
| impossible for Great Britain to recede
! from the position which the secretary
| of state for the colonies, Joseph Cham
| berlatn, brought about
| The recent negotiations upon the part
of the colonial secretary have not tend
! ed to appease the peace party in Eng
/ land. The Speaker declares that ito
| fight over a question of etymology is
naturally impossible" by which the
! paper refers to suZerainty being the
| whole base of the dispute.
| The Speaker and some of the liberal
papers take the view that Mr.. Cham
| berlain has made it as hard as possi-
| BILE for President Kruger to accept his
! terms
Sir Edward Clarke. @. c., former So
! licitor general, writes to the Times
that he sees no casus belli and hopes
parliament viii be summoned so that
the whole affair may be explained to
him and other conservatives
w. Il. Stead, Mr.. Chamberlain's bitter
! opponent, is bringing out a pamphlet,
Shall l Slay My Brother Boer?" an
appeal to the conscience of Great Brit
ain, in which he reiterates his accusa-
tions of Mr.. Chamberlain's completely
in the Rhodesian conspiracy of 1895, and
declares that war would be stain
upon Great Britain's escutcheon as foul
as that by which the Dreyfus case has
sullied the fair name of France"
He compares Mr.. Chamberlain to
General Mercier and the South African
committee which tried the Jameson
raiders to the Rennes court martial.
But such diatribes do not represent the
popular feeling. If President Kruger
decides to hold his ground with the
only means at his disposal, l. e., almost
immediate hostilities, he will find he has
but small sympathy from any class
of British
The Transvaal negotiations are now
so long drawn out, that though the pa
pers devote great space to them, popu-
lar interest seems tagging. The gov
ernment organs, while regretting the
attitude of the Orange Free State,
point out that it's open hostility will
eventually prove advantageous in rid
ding Great Britain of the annoyance Of
having presumably neutral, but really
hostile, power so close to the scene Of
action, and enabling Great Britain to
add the Free State to her possessions
without encountering foreign protests
or accusations of inhuman aggrandize-
| ment.
! The Statist, commenting on the finan-
cial position brought about by the
Transvaal crisis and the New York
stringency, says: 1.-The competition for
gold during the next few weeks prom
ises to be great No gold is available
in Australia for export and we may
have to send gold to the Cape instead
of receiving 1t, and also meet the de-
mand for Egypt to pay for the cotton
as well as Southern America.
Beyond these considerations we have
| 10 mr. n itr- q wi
many will endeavor to obtain gold at
home The usual autumn drain conse-
| quently will further advance the official
minimum. 1t appears nearly probable
that our own government will be re-
| quired to raise a considerable loan,
probably by the issue of treasury bills.
Such a loan would, of course, give the
Bank of England control of the mar
ket enabling it to keep its rate effect
i've, whatever it might be-"
| Dreyfus and Guerin have practically
passed out of the public mind here, but
echoes of the case congratuls tions and
otherwise of the French government
appear with the English weeklies. Ex-
cepting these topics and the Transvaal
there is a dearth of interesting mat
ters
Cyclists here are much worked up
over the rumor of the manufacturers
combine, which lis expected to produce
high grade wheel for $42.
The st. James Gazette says: The
combine will be welcomed by those hav-
ing at heart the best interests of Brit
ish commerce, for it is undoubted that
the cheaper cycles of the Americans
and Germans are fast driving the Brit
ish cycle makers out of all of the for
eign markets.
The discovery under the nave of an
old church at Penn, Buckingh
of a coffin bearing the name of William
Penn caused the circulati ton of a report
that it contained the body of the found
er of Pennsylvania, buried there, ac-
cordng to several English papers, in
1888, or so years prior to his decease. 1t
is probably one of PENIS ancestors
Similar instances are net uncommon in
the London papers. Only the other day
the Westminster Gazette referred glow
ingly to the state of Philadelphia"
The close political Anglo re-