Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1900-04-06
A TALK WITH KRUGER.
Transvaal Presidents Remarka.
bic Statement on the War.
THE BoERs WILL FIGHT TO THE Ell
Dom Paul Has No Intention of Harm
ing the Coil Mines and Says His
BurEhers Are Not LuOtcrs - indc-
pendcnce the Only SnoIis of War.
American sympathy Appreciated.

BurEhers Are Not L"otcrs - Indc.
pendcnce the Only SroIIs of War
American sympathy Appreciated.
copyright, 1900 by the Press Publishing com
piuy, New York Norli.l
The New YORK World commissioned
Howard '. Hillegas, whu~r recent
book on 'Ocm rauls People" has been
50 favorahly received. tu interview
President krugc.. that his side Of the
war might be presented To the Amrri
can public without bias and without
1iltering through the hands Of English.
men, however impartial Mr.. iliIlcga+
arrived at Pretoria about the first Of
February. went 10 the front for several
days and returned to secure the inter
view witI President Kruger hero print
ed. This Interview was very courtr-
ouSly brought from Pretoria to New
York by Assistant Secretary of the In
terror Webster Davis, wla arrived the
other day.
state Secretary Rc'z introduced ne to the
president this morning On the .yrrauda It li-
modest housc-that is il | needed any iutroiUD.
ton. for / had been presented Ia him three ur
four times before lie told him my mission
MI Kruger instantly recalled that ho had s,nt
several cable mls.agrs To- The World Immediately y
preceding the war and inquired.
Il sent message to The World say
ing that the losses in war would
staggtr humanity The British laugh
ed ut me and said they would only take
a month to conquer us. Did those $50
dead ut Spion kOp and those hundreds
who We're killed in other battles please
the British? Are they laughing now
When YOU came through London. did
you see much laughterE"
| told him Of the scenes in front q the London
war bulletin boards, the weeping relatives auc
the sorrowing friends. lie continued:
"YeS; that is only one side of the pie
turC. Here we have the same scenes,
only our casualties are not 50 great.
Every home in South Africa has been
dcsOlated. and the war has only begun.
Wait until the war is ended. and those
who will suffer on account of it viii
be numbered hy the hundreds Of thou
sands. Did Chamberlain and Miner
and the capitalists who were back Of
them think of those things before they
drove us to the wall? Are the tears
of widows and orphans to pay for the
goldfcldsT"
After inquirinE concerning the health Of Pres.
dent Mckinley and the condition Of America the
president a,Ned concerning the opinion Of the
American people on the subject Of the war.
Tell the Americans that appreci-
ate their expressions of sympathy and
that | will inform my bur@hers of it.
am greatly pleased to hear that COM
mittees have been formed to raise
funds for our Red Cross We need
medicines and supplies for the wound
ed-not so much for our own wounded,
but for the many poor British soldiers
who come into our hands. 1t makes
my heart bleed to see them suffer, but
we cannot help them as much us we
should like to do because the British
authorities will not let us bring medi-
cines or supplies for our local Red
Cross through Delagoa Bay"
Mr.. Kruger explained at length the efforts
which the British authorities made to seal up
Delagoa Bay and then told of the message he sent
to Lord Salisbury concerning it. He said he re-
fused to have any more correspondence with Mr.
Chamberlain. but frequently cabled to Lord sal
isbury. In one cablcgram he asked Lord Sails
bury to allow toodstutfs to enter through Delagoa
Bay or they would be compelled to feed the 1900
British prisoners in F,toria on maize porrilgc.
Lord Salisbury did not reply, but a message
signed "Chamberlain" explained that the en-
barge on foodstuffs had been raised three days be-
fore Mr.. Kruger laughed heartily when he told
that the Chamberlain message teegraphed
back to Lord Salisbury with the query, is this
true?' The president added:
I'VE have not heard from Chamber
lain since" and laughed for fully half
a minute.
Secretary Reitz then told Of a second series of
communications between the president and Lor!
Salisbury concerning the prisoners who were taken
by the British at Douglas Cape Colony, and
who. although they became citizens of the Orange
Free State, are being tried in Cape Town for high
treason. The president sent cablegram directly
to Lord Salisbury demanding that the Douglas
prisoners be treated only as prisoners Of war and
not reasonable subjects Of her majesty and
stated that ii they executed rpprisals would
be made. Lord Salisbury replied that if one of
dent Steyn and President Kruger would be hanged
at the conclusion OF the war. The president
thought that was harsh language TO use and, ac-
fording TO MIR. keitzs statement replied in effect:
GO ahead with your hanging, but
remember that your son, Lord Edward
Cecil. is in Mafeking."
Mr.. Kruger has had no reply to this message.
kome one cautioned me not to insinuate by nnucn.
do even that the war could have but one ending,
and that with the Beers as victors So | asked
concerning the progress of the war and how it
coincided with his expectations.
MY burghers are fighting bravely,"
he said. with much earnestness, and
they will continue to do so until Great
Britain asks for peace or withdraws
her soldiers. We cannot expect to con-
quer several hundred thousand men in
a day, but my burghcrs are going
ahead rapidly, as you can see by look
ing at the place where we keep our
prisoners. Even as your forefathprs
fought against great odds in the Revo-
lutionary war, so are we struggling,
and even as God was with your people
SC is lie with us. We have fought with
England before and we defeated her
soldiers, AMI we will be victorious
again. Ny burghers are fighting for
their wives, their children and their
country, while those who are fighting
against them are looking for medals,
Victoria crosses and shilling a day.
My burglIers are the best soldiers in
the world, because they do not receive
a penny for their services. They fight
with their hearts, and an army Of
hearts is nvincible. So surely as there
Is a God Of Righteousness. so surely
will the vierkleur of the Transvaal be
victorious. 1t may be month from