Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-13
Sends an Open Letter to
the President.
AN OFFER OF MEDIATION
Should Be Made in the TranSvaal
Affair in the Interests of Civil
izati0n--AlS0 Speaks of Proposed
Angl0-American Alliance.

New York. Sept. 13.-Ex- Congressman
w. Bourke Cochran has written the fol-
lowing open letter to President Mckinley
about the Transvaal:
"You will, am sure, excuse this inya-
! sion OF your holiday when I explain that
its object is to invoke the exercise of
power which Providence seems to have
placed in your hands with special refer
ence to a danger now threatening the
peace of the world. 1t can hardly be ques-
toned that a proffer of friendly media
ton by you would suffice to delay, if not
prevent the threatened invasion of the
TransVaal. If this government be justi-
| fled in exerting military force to restore
order at the other side of the globe, sure
ly it should exert every moral force to
preserve order at half that distance. A
recourse to arms which might result in
kindling a fearfully destructive conf1a-
! grafton throughout Christendom on such
questions as those a issue between Great
Britain and the Boer republic would be
an injury to civilized society," which all
the forces of ci lzation should combine
! to resist.
''The assertion at the point of the bayo-
net by one power of a right to control or
prescribe the conditions governing the
electoral franchise in another country,
admittedly independent, would be an act
of criminal aggression the enormity of
which has been described in clear, vigor-
GUS and scathing terms by the present
| English colony. You cannot be indiffer-
| ent to the fact that when Mr.. Chamber
| lain announced as indefensible any sug-
gestion of interference by the British
| government in the purely domestic af-
fairs Of the Transvaal the relations be-
| tween this country and England We're
strained over the Venezuelan boundary
while now that these relations have be-
come cordial the same statesman feeling
emboldened to trample upon his profess
sions, is now to violate his principles.
| "An Anglo-American alliance can hard
ly be forceful in the maintenance of JUS
tice and the spread OF civilization, as its
advocates contend, if England's foreign
policy be marked by respect for justice
| While the two countries are estranged
and because Wanton acts of aggression
While their relations are cordial It is
not eXtravagant or unreasonable to in
with the United States must show some
semblance of regard for the moral law
at least during the period of courtship
If there be other and sounder reasons
than these assigned by the press for the
attitude of the British government in
South Africa, its position will be
strengthened by disclosure of them
"A friendly but urgent tender of your
good offices would undoubtedly evoke a
full and complete statement on the
grounds on which the peace and integri-
ty of the Transvaal are threatened Such
a statement would be a powerful obstacle
to hostilities. for it would enable the civ.
ilized world to form a Judgment on the
merits of the controv ~rsy and in all prob
ability that judgment would impose it.
self on both disputants. Public opinion
is a force which these days no nation car
disregard. Allow me to add that these
suggestions are offered solely from a re.
regard for the welfare of humanity and
the true glory of our flag. which I hope
will remain forever inseparahle'