The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-18
CRoNJE AT ST. HELENA.
An Essay on Comparative Punish
tn@ufs

OFrom the New York Journal)
The news u Cronje's transfer to st. Hell
ena has made us pensive. II must have
made France pensive as well. He might
better have been sent TO London and put
IN the Tower. The War Office has pre-
terred TO ship him to the island on which
Napoleon was Gagged The simplicity OF
the proceeding Is overwhelming II is not
merely that; II j. cruel. too. Were the
world younger Cronje would be sold as a
slave. In accordance with the mood and
the breed Of his captors. he would be
branded. mutilated. put to the sword
In Judea he would have been lefsureiy
massacred. In Carthage u would have been
crucided but upside down, with his feet.
not his head in the air In Rome he might
have been hamstrung. Had he made h as
hot for the legions he did for :he Brit
ish. he would have been led in triumph 20
the Tullianum. and after entering there
presently herald appearing would shout.
He has lived" Charlemagne would have
had him and the forty-six hundred that
surrendered with him promptly extermi-
mated. Had he been defending lille in
stead Of k0pjes he would have been tor
tured. Had he opposed Henry V instead
OF Victoria he would have been burned.
Had he been among those whom Bonaparte
took at Jaffa a momentary uneasiness
would have been followed By an eternal
rest. Had this war occurred earlier IN
the century the British Government might
have thrown him into the hold Of a hulk
and left him there to stifle. Instead OF
which he goes TO st. Helena. Times have
changed; customs. too. Whether they
have improved is another story
St Helena is very nice residence par
ucuiarly Tor a man OF enforced leisure
But since the Corsican ogre gave up his
magnificent ghost there has not been n
possible prisoner big enough TO occupy his
cell. Memories and legends have made
it far too roomy for anyone less tall. We're
Napoleon to reappear. reincarnated. re-
yamped. and as redoubtable as before.
there would be the place for him. Were
the disconnected Alexander still signing
for other worlds ne could properly be
lodged there Were Caesar able to return
and were there forces able to take him.
St Helena would do for him. too. But
with the exception Of our friend and Gov
ernor, Colonel Roosevelt. We know of no
other hero living or dead. with whom that
island and the memories OF IL would agree.
1t is cruelty to send Cronje there.
Cronie is a brave old BOer He Is
good general, a good soldier good man
Before the present war he never was
heard OF. After 1t he will be forgotten.
mere are no WORLDS behind him, no Ru-
blooms. no Marengos Of any kind. He put
up stiff fight and everybody applauded
him at it. In that fight he has pride and
we all have. too. But we have no illusions
regarding him or il. What Is more to the
point, he has none himself In the circum-
stances the action OF the War Office has
left us pensive. To our thinking the
proper place for him is Cape Town. There
he would be treated much as Cervera was
here. But at st. Helena the memories OF
the giant who was put there not because
Of his defeats. but because Of the very
magnitude Of his successes, will dwarf him
as nothing could.
When the news OF the transfer reached
here We heard it stated that it was a fine
tribute to a gallant foe. The English War
Office is not much at that sort OF thing It
had no intention Of making this depOrta-
tion an apOtheosis and OF elevating Modder
River into a Waterloo. What il did in
tend was to diminish Cronje and thereby
achieve the double purpose of humiliating
him and humiliatiug France. So do times
change and with them the usages Of war.
EDGAR SALTUS