Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-30
FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 90. 1900.
MR. KRUGER IN FRANCE.

kit. AHU In
With n other nation on earth. such
3 demonstration as France has given in
honor of MI. Kruger would be a thing of
grave import. After the French trans
port has subsidized, Mr.. kruger will
search in vain there for any suggestion
q material aid for his cause, and the
French government will see that nothing
is done by it, either at home or in South
Africa, that might be construed as an
overt act OF unfriendliness The demon
s~tration is instructive in one way. how
ever. as showing the intense national
feeling in France against Great Britain.
hut not in the cause of the Beers will
Trance engage in a struggle which. if it
ever does come, will deluge the world
with blood.
Going back to the question of media
ton, it is found that at the beginning of
the present trouble in South Africa. it
MI llIilStu iHbll tie NlSptltt point as TO
whether the Transvaal was an indepen-
Ient and sovereign state or to some ex-
britain, by conserving to arbitration
nhen, would. by that act, have conceded
the very point it was contending for and
ruled itself out of court. The question of
arbitration having been revived, Great
Britain makes the same answer.
Attempts to draw a parallel between
the cases of Venezuela and the Trans
Naal are not successful. because there is
Il radical difference between the two
countries. In the case of Venezuela, the
i~lndependent sovereignty" of that state
Was never questioned. In the matter of
the Transvaal, Great Britain claimed
from the outset, unjustly many will say,
that the Transvaal was, to some extent
at least, a dependency.
Upon this very point, which is, of
course. the vital one of the whole ques-
ton, the New York Tribune points out
that mediation between two independent
powers is one thing, and mediation be-
tween two powers one of which claims
to be suzerain of the other, is another
and very different thing.
An offer of mediation between the
United States and Spain during the re.
cent war could have been made by
while such an offer between the United
States and A%guinaldo would be looket
upon in a very different light. There is
o. course, no comparison to be made be.
tween the Filipino insurgents and tn,
brave Beers The Illustration is made
merely as applying to the internationa
aspect of the case, as viewed by Grea'
Britain.
As to the question why mediation wa:
Prof. De Martens, privy councillor to tn,
car, has something to say. In an arti
Gle in the last issue of The Monthly Re
View, he vindicates the United State!
and all the powers for not having under
taken mediation. He was one of tn,
most conspicuous figures at the congress
at the Hague, and certainly cannot b
accused of any bias against the Boo
cause. He says:
The Peace Conference, had nothing t
do with the conflict between Englan,
and the TransVaal, and could have moth
ing to do with it unless the scope of tn
resolution had been essentially enlarge,
s. x The resolutions of an interna
tional conference are only binding o.
those Powers who have taken part in il
'The TransVaal did not take any part il
the deliberations of the Hague Confer
ence. = # Is On this account it is quit
natural that the Transvaal should hay
no legal claim to profit by the resplu
tions of his international assembly
y = The application of the resolu
lions of the Hague Conference to thi
Gonflict was impossible.
This discussion does not go to til
merits or dement's of the Boer cause a
all, and is directed solely to the auestio
of mediation. With these facts befol
them, it is apparent that however carr
estly Mr.. Kruger may appeal for me
d;ation, his appeals must be in vain.