Arizona republican., 1899-12-27
ROPE OR BULLET
Fate of Foreigners and Eaglishmen
 Caught Fighting for Beers.


 There is at the present juncture one point i'll connection with the Transyaal
 war that invites special attention, and
 which possesses for people on this side l Of the Atlantic a more than ordinary | interest. It is as to the treatment that | will be accorded by General Sir Red | vers Butler to fOreigners-that is to say, men not Boers-who may be found ffghting in the rank of the Transvaal forces against the English.
 In view of the circumstances that at Washington, New York, Chicago, St.
 Louis and other great centers in this country offices are alleged to have been opened for the avowed purpose of re-
 cruiting volunteers for the Boer army, and that in Paris Colonel Montel, the
 famous African explorer and now re- | tired officer of the French army, is openly engaged in raising a French force for the same object, the duchess
 of Uzes and other Parisian great ladies
 having subscribed munificently for it's
 armament and equipment, it becomes necessary to consider the treatment which these foreign levies are likely to
 receive from the British commander. | LuS necessity IS llt greater, as national complications are almost cer- | tain to arise in the event of Sir Rer- vers Butler complying with the recom-
 mendations of the London Times, and of other equally influential organs of the British press, which urges him to
 give a short shrift and a summary pun ishment 10 any British subjects or for eigners-that is to say, non-Boers- GrrI- the Transvaal and Orange Free State.
 There are two alternatives which Sir
 Redvers will have to choose from in the matter. Either the Boers are rec ognized by England as fuu-fadged bel igerents, and in that event they, as well as non-British foreigners serving under the Boer flag, are entitled to all the rights and privileges of prisoners, if they fall into the hands of the Eng
 fish troops, or Sir Redvers will be forced to take the ground that the Boers are mere rebels-that is to say, people in a state of insurrection against their suzerain, and, therefore, only en- titled to the treatment which the Eng fish commander in chief may see fit to accord with the example set by the
 union in its war with the south thirty five years ago, if he comedies to the Boers themselves the treatment of bona fiGe belligerents as an act not of right but of grace. In such an event he would do this in recognition of their bravery, of the treatment given to his own troops who have fallen into Boer hands, and above all, because of the fact that the Boers were fighting in de- fense of their hearths and homes It
 was the same magnanimous ground
 that the north adopted toward the con- federate troops, since the confaderates
 were never officially recognized either
 by the union or by foreign powers as
 belligerents.
 But Sir Redvers will be under no obligation whatsoever to recognize as
 prisoners of war or belligerents any
 Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Dutch or citizens of the United States, whom
 he may capture in the act of bearing arms against Great Britain. He may
 take the ground that they are mere merecenaries. induced by hope and ex- pectations of the pillage of British
 towns and villages to take part in a struggle, in which they have no racial concern, and that they are merely pro- noting and abetting q rebellion of Brit ish lieges against their suzerain.
 In that event there is no doubt but that he may consider that he is entitled by the laws of war and international
 usage to hang or shoot without even
 the process of court-martial any nOn- Bocr bearing arms against the British who may fall into his hands.
 It may possibly be remembered that when the Spaniards were successful enough to capture American citizens helping the Cuban insurgents and fight ing in their ranks, net even the claws of the American eagle could save them from death. Imagine what the fate of any American or Erglishman at the hands of the German authorities would
 be, were he caught in the act of fo- lnonting and abetting an insurrsctiOn in Alsacc-LOrraine of the inhabitants against their German rulers. That is
 precisely. according to British views, the position of non-Boers now fighting in the BOer ranks.
 There is little doubt but Sir Redvers. justly reputed as the most harsh and relentless of English commanders. will comply with the suggestion of the Eng fish press, a fact for which the state de- partment at Washington and the cOnti
 mental government had best be pre- pared. In the proclamation issued by the queens high commissioner of PlM NJFAD CHOEC