St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-02-24
BEST COLONIAL GOVERNOR.
England - CeasiaeFs Sir Claude
McDeaala who Never Loses
His Temper.


His Temper.
The British empire has intrusted its
interests in the far. east to q tall, thin
red-headed Scotchman. He is described
as man SO dignified that it is painful
to be near him." He is not q pleasant
person either to know or to talk with
but he can take heather colony and
civili1e it quicker than anyone in the
queens service. aSC 81 'vesaa
1t may be interesting to Americans
now that their own country is begin
ming 20 assume the responsibilities OF
Imperialism, to know how this man goes
about making good citizens of savages
Col. Sir Claude Mcdonald is now Brit.
ish ambassador to China. He was pro
NOTED to that position because in Africa
he about fulfilled the ideals of colon.
ial governor fHe was heard from last
when the Germans were in Kai-Chow
bay and the empress Of China was &C.
cused of trying to kill of the young
emperor. % "a r ~T
The report went out that the lad was
very sick and gradually dying. The
dowager is hostile to the English, who
have championed the emperor's cause.
The reports continued to grow alarm
ing, until one day a note came to the
dowager from the British ambassador.
1t said simply: sTime for the emperor
to get better" and the cables soon an
u0vnv,r,>3 HE ~o~r~a.v
81 One practice of the west coast Afri-
cans which he thought should be
abruptly stopped was that of sacrific-
ing human lives. On feast days, or
when entertaining guest, it has been
the custom along the banks Of the Niger
for chief to have several prisoners
put to death. In Central Africa there
is still great deal of this done.
Mcdonald put a stop to it on the gold
coast by one move. He had been.away
taking vacation to England and on
returning found a native uprising
caused by several chiefs slaughtering
some prisoners. There were IA guilty
prisoners in all. and Sir Claude had
them brought before him early in the
morning.
Ranging ten in front of him. he said: /:
snow you men have never been here
before. This is your first offense. 1t
Is Justice that you should be warned.
Go away and never come back"
"You two have been here before. You
know the law. To the chains.
"But you two are incorrigible. There's
no good in you. I'm going to hang you.
Sergeant, take them away and hang
them. Orderly. is my breakfast ready?"
While Sir Claude is not militsly
man, he possesses coolness In time of
danger that would make him warrior
II his aspirations lay in that direction.
He took command personally of an
expedition up the Niger to quell an
uprising once. travelling on q big tug
boat armed with rapid-fire guns. When
90 miles up the river fearful fusillade
of bullets and arrows came from the
banks, and every man on the boat sud-
denly discovered that he had business
below excepting Sir Clapde. He stood
leaning against stanchion smoking
q long sigar. and when the storm burst
never moved. ae-s
Casting his eye about. he noted where
the fire came from, and then gave or
ders to train maxim gun on the
bushes. The attack soon ceased. and
Sir Claude looked about for his cigar.
It had been shot away by bullet.
The African thinks that a quick tenn
per is an attribute of woman. For one
who shows it he can have no respect.
This is weakness in both the German
and French colonial officers. English
men take care never to show temper in
dealings with the native African. For
this reason their empire is. highly
thought of among these savages.
With the natives of the Haussa dis
trict Mcdonald was held in alteration.
He was the first governor who did not
make an attempt to abolish Mahom-
the followers of which are
on the west coast.
= The HauSsa natives were allowed to
build mosques and not required to drill
in the early morning and evening, the
best time of day for work in that coun-
try. This was so much appreciated
that the Haussa troops became the best
and most loyal on the coast.
He did not interfere with poly gamy
either, and with witclcraft only when
asked to.
In all his administration his aim was
to give the negro civilization only so
fast as he could digest II. He did not
lbolish slavery at a swoop, but made
laws whereby those in bondage could
buy their freedom.
He imposed no custom duties on the
native to hamper trade until they de-
them. He made them observe
no sanitary laws until the negroes took
from the cleanliness of the
whites and began to follow 1t. He did
not believe in missionaries spending
thousands of dollars to establish
but waited for the native to
grsdually deyelop them himsef As he
NV their advantage in the whites.
After Sir Claude hsd been at OLD
cabber awhile : general tidying up
among the natives became evident.
They saw this man get up every morn
lne bright and early, take a cold bath,
shave, put on a clean suit Of white
luck and appear each day as immacu-
Iate q though just out Of bandbox.
as the saying is. The example told and
had its effect In many q native tribe
Boston Globe.
: -
Partly Correct.