The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-17
.THE beers Discussed
Montagu White Speaks Before the
Geographic Society.
The Destruction of JohnnneSburE,
in His Opinion, a Necessity in Case
of the Position Of Kruger Toward
England Before the War Began.


sumably as the accredited envoy from that
country to the United States, spoke before
an audience Of l. 500 last night at the Con
grega tional Church, Tenth and Streets.
The address was made under the auspices
OF the National Geographic Soriety of
this city, the members Of which were
present
The audience was made up largely OF
Boer sympathizers, who were present TO
hear the personal opinions OF a man who
had lived with and was familiar with
the people now fighting in the Trans
vaaL There were many women pres
ent. and when Mr.. White had finished the
sympathy that had been aroused for the
Beers was manifested by the manner in
which he was congratulated by hundreds
of ladies' who come up to the platform to
shake his hand.
Mr. White was introduced after a pleas
ing little speech By Prof McGee, Chief Of
the Bureau Of EthnOlogy. Mr.. Whites
first remarks related to a newspaper ar
ticle which had been written on speech
1 which he recently made in New York
City. and which alluded TO his speech as
!
tone. Mr.. White desired to correct this
statement. which. he said. was not true.
| The speaker then took up the subject Of
his address, which was South Africa,
and sFcEo at considerable length upon the
! geographical features of that country. He
gave a careful description OF the inhabited
portions Of the country. and while this
was made especially for the Geographic
Society his subsequent remarks were Of
I III
Speaking Of the present danger that
Johannesburg viii be destroyed by the
! Beers to prevent its being taken by the
advancing British Army, Mr.. White said;
Johannesburg. thiTty-seven miles from
! Pretoria, while representing great wealth,
! is now a point looked at by all eyes be
cause Of its strateglcal Importance. BiOem
fontein is not important in this respect,
and il would be but a WantOn waste 10
destroy it. But Johannesburg lies as
stepping stone. This city. with its facili-
les, would be a great help 10 the British
armies. and it has never occurred to me
that the Beers would hesitate to remove
stepping stones from the path Of the Eng
lish soldiers.
Il read in an American paper recently"
continued Mr. White. that johannesburg
was soon to be captured and Dom Paul
hanged. l do not think that possible.
Dom Paul can take care of himself and
in case he cannot the world would inter
yene TO prevent such an action.
1T has always been one OF my dreams
that the English speaking people would
unite. 1t was not to be hands across
the-sea union, but, instead. an understand
ing which would be not only naturally
helpful to America and England but 4
great benefit to every civilized country.
when l renounced my allegiance to
England and fOrsook Her Majesty's cause
| for that Of the South African Republic l
thought | might still realize that dream.
But then it never occurred to me that
such an alliance might prove a menace
to the life of a Republic which stood for
I the same principles as Great Britain and
America.
In my boyhood Lord Salisbury was
fetch l always admired and respected
him. When the trouble arose between the
two nations and assumed dangerous form
| counted on Salisbury's great skill to
avert the horrible disasters and tragedies
that have taken place on the battlcfields.
But my love for him suffered a seye- e
shock when | saw that nOt only did he re-
| fuse to interfere in our behalf bat made
our position much more difficult than |
think the facts warrant OOm Pauls conf
municatiou, which Lord Salisbury chose to
regard as an ultimatum, was merely q
necessity
Were the citizens Of the Boer Republic
! to array themselves so that they could be
more easily killed? The British KEEP MAJ
ing the situation harder and harder for the
/ Beers until the receipt Of this cOmmunica-
ton Had not this step been taken the
/ British would have continued the massing
| of troops and making ready to strike with
greater effect. This move upon tce pat of
| President Kruger was one that could not
have been easily escaped"
| MIR. White said that his sentiments re-
| garding the ultimatum were expressed in
| an article which appeared recently in pTi q
| to this effect. "Of course. Dom PAU was
a fool 20 send in the ultimatum, but he
! would have been ten times a greater f5Cl
! had he not done So"
by the many questions that have been
[ asked me. together with the editorials OF
I many papers, my attention is drawn to lac
| matter Of franchises. II has been repro
| sented in numerous Instances that the
/ British subjects have been crowded out OF
I The right OF citizenship In the Transvaai
| but that is really not Dom Paui's fsut."
! Here Mr.. White told the story OF a con-
| versatiou which occurred between Dom
I Paul and a man named Carpenter, an Eng
/ lshmau. who resided in the TransvaaI
] Carpenter desired to become a citizen and
was asked by President Kruger if he would
renounce his allegiance to the Queen.
/ Indeed not answered Carpenter. 4
can be a good subject Of the Queen and
! still serve you we'll
You have Cnly 10 read your Bible, ar
swered Oom Paul. to learn that you can
not serve two masters
81 do not know great deal about
/ American history" continued the speaker.
but my attention has been called to an
Incident hat took place in 1914"
He referred 10 the burning of the United
States Capitol. and cited It to Illustrate
British methods saying that in his opln-
ion il was unforgivable vandalism.
Mr.. White gave a brief history Of the
building Of the Transvaal Republic. telling
uf the trials and suferings experienced by
the Beers He referred, during the speech
10 Rudyard Kipling as a wandering ro-
mancer % and feared that the novelist had
gone 20 South Africa ON a mission that
would DO no good to man.
Mr. White said that In the possible fan
of Johannesburg $50 600 worth OF his prop
eriy Is jeopardzed. In concluding he said
that all the Beers want is liberty and in
dependence which they have desired aud
fought for during great number OF years
So C,,,sa1 .aJ Dotp1