The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-08-04

dead at oplon kop. 1T is three days |
now, and they are still lying there. l
cannot understand why it is so. Even
the birds respect a dead body SO muclf
that they will not touch it for three
days; then tell me why it is that these
English have no respect for their own
dead. l cry when think OF the mothers
and childyen OF thess poor men. You
will excise me, but 'have.bcen SO mis-
cradle I have not changed my dress.
cannot sleep tonight if think those
men are lying there yet"
You remember the queens message,
beginning, "My heart bleeds," and SO
on, "ior my soldiers" Mrs. Kruger's
heart bled, too, for the queens soldiers,
the men who had been sent to rob her
OF her home and country. Compare the
two, the good queen sent to ireland,
after neglecting it for fifty years, to en-
courage enlistment, and the wife of the
Boer president, weeping over the SOL
diers who had tried to kill her country
men. Which shows the greater unself-
ishncss, the more Christian spirit, the
nobler charity?
The sequel hardly care to write. But
in as brief words as possible be it told
that after three days General Botha
wrote to Butler requesting permission
to bury the English dead and asking for
a guarantee that his men would not be
fired on while SO engaged Butler re-
piled that he would guarantee protection
to the Bocrs while burying the English
and requested that they should "scnd
him in bill for their trouble" General
Joubcrt's answer to this message is
carefully preserved in the state archives
Of the republic. General Butler himself
has not given it out for publication.
wish my English friends could have
witnessed ceremony which took place
yesterday in front of the presidents cot
tagc when the sixty Irisl-Amcrican VOL
untecrs from Chicago were presented to
Kruger before they started for the front.
1t is impossible to imagine the queen
coming out into the street to thank only
sixty men for offering her their services.
But that is what the head OF the nation
with which she is waging war was only
too pleased to do.
The Americans were drawn up in a
double row in front of the cottage, and
Colonel Blake, Of the Irish brigade, pre-
sentcd Captain O'Connor, who is in
command of the Chicago contingent, to
the president and to Mr.. Rcitz, who was
twice president of the Orange Free
State, and who is now secretary of state
of the South African Republic. What
Colonel Blake said was translated to
the president by Mr.. Rctz, and then
Captain O'Connor spoke, and spoke to
the point
1--WE have come here, sir" he said,
standing at attention with his rifle at
his side, because your people arc fight
ing for their liberty" He stopped, and
while Mr.. Rcitz translated this to the
president the captain fingered his rifle
ncrvously. Owe have also come that
we may meet the race we hatc-tfc Eng
lish race" There was another pause for
translation, at the end OF which the
president, | gricvc to report, nodded his
head apprcciativcly.
But since we have conc here and
have met your people," continued the
former sergeant OF the Sixth cavalry,
"wc arc willing to fight and to die for
them, for themselves, no matter what
their cause may be"
After that the president made speech
which was not important in comparison,
except that in it he warned the volun-
tcccrs to be very careful of their ponies,
as there were but few left in the rcpub-
lie, for the Transvaal receives no "rc-
mounts" from Bucnos Ayrcs, Cadiz and
New Orleans. But what was really i'm
portant, and what should have liked
| our English cousins to hear and to try
to understand, was Captain O'Connor's
pcroration.
1--WE came because you were fighting
for your liberty, and because we hated
your enemy" he said, "but now that we
have met you we are willing to fight for
you, no matter what your cause may
be-" What fresh knowledge made Cap
tain OConnor say that? Was it only
his Irish blarney, or is it possible that,
after all, the Bocr is not as the English
press has painted him, not as the Eng
lish officers have described him, not as
we have for too long believed him to
be?
Hints to Voters.