Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-02-20
MAcRuM,s cHA--GEs SERIOUS.

Ex-Consul Macrum, who for weeks
was roundly ridiculed for leaving his
post in Pretoria, is not being ridiculed
Just now. He is no longer an admin
istration joke. In fact, he is a very
serious proposition. He has been
forced in self-defense to make public
some things which he designed for
the ear of the State Department alone,
which have placed the Department
and the administration in a very seri-
GUS predicament. One of the conse-
ouences Of Mr.. Macrum's revelations
may be that the administration will
be forced to recall it's American
Ambassador to London, Mr.. Joseph
II. Choate. If Mr.. Macrum speaks the
truth in his public statement Mr..
Choate must come home, or else the
administration will have to make some
very important explanations regarding
it's secret and unauthorized alliance
with England.
In this connection, it is noteworthy
that the State Department has aban-
doned it's contention so readily given
out at first that Mr.. Macrum was gull
ty of falsehood when he declared that
United States official mail had been
opened by the British censor at Dur
ban. 1t is equally noteworthy that
it has. abandoned it's other contention
that Mr.. Macrum was superseded by
Secretary Hays son because he, Ma
crum, was incompetent to fill the post.
The State Department has been COM
PEELED to back down on these and sew
eral other important points since Mr..
Macrum has made public his explana-
ton of the situation which the State
Department arrogantly refused to re-
ceive.
England has committed two grave
offenses, evidently secure in the belief
that the administration at Washing
ton would never call her to account for
them. One is the opening of United
States official mail for Mr.. Macrum,
for Mr.. Macrum has the envelopes
with the censor's stickers on them and
bearing Queen Victoria's Initials. This
is a gross violation of international
usage and courtesy which calls for an
immediate apology.
The second offense is the possible
abstraction of our governments Off
cial correspondence from the opened
envelopes. A Washington dispatch
says on this point: eff Great Britain
has been guilty of this, and the State
Department is willing to admit the
fact, an abject apology will be de-
manded by the State Department,
which is now under the spur of the
polite President. and if the apology
is not complete and prompt the Amer
lean Ambassador, MI. Choate, will be
withdrawn from London.
Ambassadors have been recalled
for less grievous offenses than the
opening of official mail by a friendly
government. While to recall Mr..
Choate. would cause the State Depart
ment much anguish, Republican lead
ers have served notice on President
Mckinley that a pro-British Prime
Minister in the Cabinet cannot but
give point and color to the frequently
repeated stories of an Anglo-Ameri-
car alliance in the face of an impend-
ing Presidential campaign. The Pres
dent, alarmed at the storm, agrees with
the opinion of his advisers.
THE State Department, too, is
alarmed, and cabled to South Africa
to-day for a list of the letters received
by Consul Macrum during the period
when the British censor was breaking
United States seals on government
communications"
The same dispatch adds:
The State Departments reversal of this
matter has been complete. Two days ago
it declared that Mr.. Macrum had made no
complaint about the British censor tam
pering with the United States official mai,
and that it did not believe any official mail
had been opened by the British censor.
To-day the State Department admitted