The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-25
LONDON NEWS AND GOSSIP.
Mr.. kruRer's Reception in France
Causes Little Excitement.

| terested stolidity. The half-penny papers
| would excite them IL they could with &C
counts of imagined insults TO England,
but they remain unmOved. rather pleased.
in fact by the reflection that had the
British Government acted as any other
European Government would have acted,
Mr.. Kruger would be today prisoner on
some lonely isle. his money confiscated,
and his State archives impounded, instead
of the much be-cheered hero of French
crowds
This English complacency is, of course.
rooted in the English sense of security.
Englishmen know that no amount of bou-
quets and pretty speeches can bring about
intervention. Germany will not. France
dare not. When President Loubet re-
ceives MIR. Kruger he will remove any
illusion which may have survived the very
frank assurances which the responsible
Partisan press have this week given on
this point. One sting, and one only, has
reached the Englishman from Marseilles.
He does not like Mr.. kruger's proclama-
tion TO the world that England is fight
ing as a barbarian in South Africa, for
he knows that Mr.. John Morley, not to
mention lesser and more emotional men
like Mr.. Stead, holds view not very
dissimilar. General Roberts is esteemed
as one of the most humane commanders
who ever led an army into battle, but
there is an uncomfortable feeling abroad
that his generals may, in their haste to
finish the war. be pushing severity too
far, and indulging in the burning of
homesteads and the worrying of women
and children beyond the necessities of
warfare.
1t is almost impossible to get at the
exact facts of any particular case from
the newspapers, but there seems to be no
doubt that nearly all land-owning Beers
favor peace, and that those now in arms
are almost entirely the mere riffraff of
Boredom. When 1t is contended that these
burned homesteads belong to this very
riffraff, the reply is made that 1t is not
the English practice to burn burglars
houses when the police fail to catch the
burglars. There is no finality in this rea-
soning. but it leaves the Englishman in
an uncomfortable frame of mind. In JUS
LITIGATION Of severe measures. the far more
unmerciful action Of Won Moltke in sup
pressing the guerrilla tactics of the bands
OF French Franc Tireurs FOR six months
after Sedan, is pointed to. and so is the
action by which the Federals crushed the
South in the last lingering phases of the
American civil war.
'Moltke and Sheridan says one writer
neither dare we. 1t was the fatal error
of 1881 that the Beers were not taught the
bitter but salutary lesson which they have
never realized until now. that war is war.
The terrible demonstration Of that funda-
mental truism in 1870 has preserved tran
quillity in Europe for thirty years. By no
other means can the permanent peace of
South Africa be securedcf "
Today's report that the Cabinet has de-
al ha f0nf nj
Kitchener to the rank necessary to enable
him to replace General Roberts in the
supreme command gives fresh point to
this discussion, for General Kitchener
has the reputation OF possessing tenn
permanent OF ice and IRON
The New York correspondent Of The
''Times', has made himself very busy this
week with sinister speculatious upon
Americas attitude in China, and today
the Times" 30 far supports him as to
give Mr.. Mckinley. Secretary Hay. and
the United States generally, an editorial
talking to for tanning the wheels of that
ponderous steam roller the concert Of
Europe. How dare you?"- is the key
note of the Times" cbrfespOndence and
editorial but outside the 'HiIhes" Office
Mr.. Hay may find every English encour-
agement to pursue his object Of placing
the negotiations on more rational and
businesslike basis. One who speaks with
peculiar knowledge Of that class Of Eng
lish opinion which generally prevails in
the long run, puts the case to me thus;
admit that the punishments proposed
by the Chinese authorities are futile and
possess no real corrective power you
must also admit the futility of supposing
the Chinese Government to be willing or
able to carry out punishments on The
scale demanded by Germany. Neither set
of proposals leads anywhere except TO that
very partition of China which We in Eng
land are most anxious to avoid. II
America can suggest a means of effectual
punishment while keeping the Powers to-
gether. she will deserve well OF us ell"
Needless to say no serious person credits
the astounding announcement of news
agency yesterday that America has de-
cided to Join in the land-grabbing in
China by taking strip between FoochOw
and Swallow. with the port of Annoy.
The alluring of Lord Rosebery still goes
on. This week Sir Henry Fowler and also
it is believed Mr.. Bryce. have added their
voices to Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-
mans appeal Of last week. Come back"
they say. 1.-The Liberal door Is open wide.
and a vast majority of the Liberals await
your leadership" One audacious para
graphist went SC far as to add Sir Will
liam HarcOuTt TO the SuppllcdutS, out the
latter at once made an emphatic dis
eli. inner He stands outside, and there's
the rub. Today, 1t is said that Mr.. Morley
is abandoning politics altogether. and it
would surprise no one to hear that Sir
William Harcourt had decided to seek
rest. His long services have earned it.
II IS probably for that Lord Rosebery is
waiting. At present he goes far to justify
the Tory criticisms that he is neither
counselor nor man of action. only a bril-
liant man. who comments
To perpetuate the memory of Mary
Kingsley the Mary Kingsley Memorial
Hospital for the Treatment of Tropical
Diseases is to be established in connec-
lion with the Liverpool School of Trop-
ical Medicine, also the Mary Kingsley
Society of West Africa. for the study of
native customs and laws. The society
will. besides publishing transactions.
maintain a skilled ethnologist for the pur-
pose of examining existing materials and
directing further research.
Classical England has been shocked |
there is no other word for it-by the spec |
tacle of an ex- Premier and man of letters |
like Lord Rosebery joining in the TRADE |
against the place given to Lat in and Greek |
in English education. Modern languages |
and natural sciences. he urges, give more
immediate practical results. He even.
warns oxford and Cambridge to mend
their ways to meet the changing needs of
A new world To all this his scritics reply
hat all good literature is cultivating, but
hat Greek and Latin have elements which
no modern literature gives. What is use
full in business is not always useful in
training the mind AS for oxford and
the large sums spent on the
natural sciences are already out of all
to what is spent on the support
Of literary studies. and many new branch