New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-01-06


SIDE LIGHTS ON SOUTH AFRICA. BY Roy
tsNo pp 2 Importer by Charles scribners
THE HISTORY OF TIE GREAT EAT g soEaR,I TRE x
gIcAN REPUBLICS. By the Late Hon Henry
Imported by Charles scribner's Sons.
By Montague George Jessett F R c, S. with
Maps and illustrations 9dTl co Octave PIP xvii l'S'
WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE DARK
CONTINENT From Sayagegy to CyzatiOn
ss7. Chicago: The Dominion Company.
BRIToN AND BoER. Both Sides of the South
african onesti9 GS1;- BY MessTs Bryce; Brooks ;
Bouiger and Diplomat m. With Map and Illus Illus
North American Review" Octave PIP. 2l.
Harper & Bros.
With the eyes of the world riveted on the war
IN the Transvaal. a great flood of writing his
torical descriptive and reminiscential. is in
evitable. We have already alluded a consid-
cradle number of recent books relating to South
Africa The list grows rapidly, and will prob
ably go on growing 1t contains thus far very
little that pretends TO literary quality but that
is not, after all. what is wanted by the public
just now. The books desired are such as will
convey in the clearest possible form informa-
ton which will shed light on the country of the
Beers and the conditions which have led to the
present conflict. When a writer takes pains in
the collection of his facts and handles them in
good faith he is to be regarded as trustworthy
of course, but it may be noted that many of the
publications the Transvaal have to be read
with caution. They abound in good faith. but
then they often honestly one sided.
Take, for example, Mr.. Fitzpatrick's THE
TransyaaI from Within" He is anxious to set
down naught in malice, but he cannot disguise
the fact that, secretary of the famous Re
form Committee, he looks his subject with
something of partisan prejudice. The keynote
20 his volume is strucl; in the first paragraph
OF the first chapter. When in 1895 President
KRUGER read the manifesto published by the
chairman of the National Union, he said. grim
": Their rights. Yes, they'll get them-over
my dead body" And, according to Mr.. Fitz-
patrick, volumes Of explanation could not bet
ter illustrate the Boer attitude and policy tow
ard the English speaking immigrants" Kru
ger appears and reappears in this narrative
with the persistence of King Charles the First's
head in Mr.. Dicks memorial, and rarely does he
rise but the author thwacks him right merrily
as the sign and symbol of everything from
which the Outlanders have suffered. It is with
approval however, that ne quotes Mr.. Balfour's
declaration that, in so far as the Jameson in
vaders were concerned, President KRUGER has
shown himself to possess a generosity which is
not the less to be admired because it is coin
cident with the highest possible wisdom On
the other hand. Mr.. Fitzpatrick thinks that
criticism OF KRUGER in his attitude toward the
Outlanders is logically justifable and ulti-
mately imperative" His volume is devoted to
careful elucidation Of the whole dreary business
with which he and other reformers have had to
deal, and while it is necessary to read him with
reservations he is certainly interesting and in
structive. He traces the labors of the Reform
Committee in great detail traverses the history
OF the raid and summarizes its dubious results.
His appendices contain some of his best
teriai. reproducing q mass of documents illus
trating the Official relations Of England and the
TransyaaI as well as affairs exclusively
South African. The papers touching upon
President Krlger's affairs in the Raads are
sometimes amusing. When he was asked to
allow his name TO be used patron of a ball
in honor OF the Queen he refused on the ground
that he considered "a ball Balls service, for
which reason the Lord ordered Moses to kill all
offenders"
Mr.. Lionel Phillips a capitalist of South
Africa was also member Of the Reform Com
rrittee and played his part theoretically with
the rest Some South African Recollections.
by his wife displays that part, naturally. in its
most favorable aspect. This book, like Mr..
Fitzpatrfcks, makes it very plain that when
Jameson. in the words of Cecil Rhodes took
the bit between his teeth and bolted," he did
the last thing in the world calculated to please
his friends. They sought TO head him off But
they were too late, and the transaction ended
in the deplorable fashion familiar to everybod
Mrs. Phillips Is too ardent and even gushing a
champion Of her husband for her pages to
have any historical value, but she is readable.
She gives capital impression Of how the South
African troubles have affected those compelled
by circumstances to SIT and idly watch the
movements OF their kin in the thick of the fray.
She is unconventional and animated. Her
spirited story IS made the more attractive too,
by an unusually good pictorial accompaniment.
Some of the excellent half tone plates give views
OF johannesburg and OF the mines; others pre-
sent interesting bits Of Transvaal scenery.
The author of side Lights on South Africa
is e keen observer and sets forth her impress
sions of travel with engaging sprightliness.
Sometimes she INDUCES in passages inappro-
pirate enough in book Of the sort. Mr. Rhodes
it seems, imported ten nightingales from Eng
land They refused with consent says
Mrs Devereux. make melody in the alien
woods OF South Africa. He who thinks in
continents could not keep life in a nightingale"
and, continues the author in reflective mood
las i watched him mourning disconsolate over
the tenth corpse, the sharp Limitation of human
power sent its iron into my soul" This is
touching; but canddly. we prefer Mrs.
Devereux when she is describing what she has
seen of South African landscape mines and
more practical vein about Mr.. Rhodes and his
intercourse with the Beers. She admires him
profoundly. Other writers have equalIed her in
this. But there is something in her ac-
count of speech delivered at a critical moment
In South African politics by Mr.. Rhodes at