The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1900-05-24
Relief Of Mafeking.

IL IS almost TOUR nunQreQ ana dttY
years since the siege and downfall of
Constantinop1e. Those who lived and
acted during those fearful days,
whether Christian or Mos1em, are for
eigners and strangers to us, yet, all
who have read the history of the Mus
su1man investment or the thrilling de-
scription of it, as given by Lew Wal
lace in The Prince of India, have been
conscious not only of interest, but as
if unintended, of deep sympathy for
the be1eagured defenders. It is always
so, we do not "boast a virtue though
we have it not,'' it is natural, human
nature instinctive1y puts itself on the
side of the unfavored and the unfor-
tunate.
Imagination thrusts itself into
Lucknow, watches the brave defenders
Of the Residency, greets Havelock who
fought his way through Indian hordes,
anticipates with the excitement of real
delight the coming of Campbell, and
feels it's heart beat with intense salts
faction when the garrison with the
women and children who for four
months had suffered more than has
been told, marched hopefully away
toward Cawnpore and Calcutta So in
regard to P1evna, though the Russians
in the one hundred and forty-two days
Of conflict in the vicinity of that city
had lost forty thousand men, somehow
our sympathies are more with the
wasting Mohammedans within than
with the battle SCARED Muscovites
without. No less have we been in touch
with the imprisoned garrison of MAIZE
king.
On the ninth of the present month it
was seven months since Col. Baden
Powell with his little army Of 800, con-
fronted by 1900 Beers, was compelled
to seek shelter in the feeble defences of
Mafezing. Since then the little city
has been continuously surrounded; it's
history has been a record of attacks and
sorties, failures and victories. In one
of those attacks Cronje lost three hun
dred men. When commanded to sur
render the unbending Powell replied to
the Boer ommander-"You cannot
take us by sitting down outside, come
in and get u.s." Each day soldiers and
civilians heard the ping of the bullets
of the Burgher sharp shooters, and the
laundering voice of some ''Long Tom.
Drought, famine and fever did their
dreadful work. Thousands of men,
women and children were in the hos
pitfalls. The diet of the people was
horse sausage and mule sandwich.
Still the union jack waved above the
citadel, and the unyie1ding colonel sent
cheerful messages to his commanding
general, to England and the world. At
last, after several unsuccessful at
tempts, relief arrived Tuesday, May
IS.
The bravery of the be1eaguered
English finds no parallel in the history
of Great Britain unless the defence of
Lucknow affords it. Imagine the emo
tons of the Mafeking population. It
is not strange that all England is mad
with demonstrations of JOY. Aneri-
cans are too magnanimous naturally
not to be happy over the long delayed
relief; while Britons were singing
"God Save the Queen" and ''Ru1e Bri-
tania'', it must have been a Yankee
crowd who joined their voices with the
English throng and sang ''John
Browns body and Marching through
Georgia.. Well, the world is glad! and
when the war in South Africa shall
cease, like those liberated Greeks, who
in a frenzy of JOY shouted SO loud that
frightened birds fell dead at their feet,
the g1adness of the nations of the
earth will be great enough to make the
we1kin vibrate and all life wonder at
the noise of its multitudinous appro-
baton.