The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-21


declaration OF war. England forced the
war. England began it. The Beers yielded
everything but independence to satisfy
England. II the Beers had not struck fol-
their rights, their firesides. and their inde-
pendence when they did and as they did
they would have been overwhelmed by su-
perior British forces before they could
have struck blow. and resistance would
have been useless. They were right III
striking when they did. l glory in the
spunk Of grand old Paul Kruger. He is
one of the worlds great heroes he Knew
only too well how dangerous WAS celay,
and everything that has occurred since he
issued his defiant ultimatum TO the Brit
ish has demonstrated his wisdom and his
forosfsht. The uitimatrm be issued 10
England rang round the globe, and will
live in the worlds history. The Beers viii
never surrender their love of liberty. They
can only be conquered by being eXtermi-
mated. and England must not be permitted
to eNtermipate them and steal their homes.
Her criminal march of devastation must
and will be checked.
God grant that the English army may
never reach Pictorial"
Mr. Sulzers reference to President Kru-
ger as 1.-The Grand Old Man and as .'cne
of the immortehes.'' stirred the audience to
u
said Welcome to the Republic OF the
United States and welcome to the land ol
liberty and independence men wildly
shouted. The climax of applause was
reached when he lifted up his hands and
said impressiyely: God grant that the
English army may never reach Pictorial
Mr. Ffscher's Address.
When Mr.. Sulzer presented Mr.. .\F.seher
people once more left their seats and beat
and stamped upon the floor. repeating the
demonstration which followed the entrance
OF the enveys. Mr. Fischer was clad in
conventional evening dress He spoke very
simply without any effort at oratorical dis
play Critics said that he did not utter
anything of an undiplomatic nature. His
address follows:
MIR. Fischer said:
"Our worthy chairman has spoken Sd
kindly of me that ! fear it Will prove q
difficult task for me to deserve this praise
Whatever / may deserve, however, 1 think
there can be little doubt CT the justice OF
the cause 1 and my associates represent.
We have come here from afar and from the
new Republic struggling for freedom,
struggling to maintain our sacred rights,
to the heart of the great sister Republic;
to present to its people the truth of our
cause.
1.-The same sentiment that caused the
people OF this country to take up arms In
the cause of freedom and independence
actuates US We have come here in no
spirit of arrogance in no spirit Of con-
quest We have simply come here to let
you know that We did not seek this war,
but tried to avoid it and to maintain peace.
Now again we wish to obtain peace;
peace that shall be honorable. and the
maintenance of all that is dear to u.s. We
have come here in the midst of great
liberty-loying people whose sense of justice.
is strong. We have cCme here to say that
in the name of God and man, we desire
peace with honor. I'VE have been Informed
that you are similar in race to our foes,
and we wish to tell these latter that we
have come to their kind in this new land
and that you have acknowledged our cause
to be just. We are prepared to abide by
your judgment We simply ask for hear
ing. and We hope to obtain it.
Il can say that our reception has been
gratifying TO Us. The kindly feeling we
have seen displayed since the first moment
we set foot here has satisfied us that We
have your syn-pathies, and we thank you
most heartily for this expression of them
We believe that this sentiment will crystal
lize into something practical. as We know
that you are a nation as eminent for its
accomplishment Of things as for its kindly
sympathy and encouragement
--Our nation is losing, day by day, those
who are near and dear to us; those for
whom no issue in the contest can repay
US. In this dark hour We dearly appre-
ciate the sympathy which greeted US
when We landed in New. York which is
shown by your presence here tonight in
such large numbers. and we tell you 10
more than that We shall remain true to
the instincts of liberty and Independence
no matter what happens. We shall try and
only deserve this sympathy that has been
shown u.s.
Should II not be our lot to succeed for
the present in maintaining what is dear
to US. we trust that this sympathy we
receive shall still be with US, that we
shall learn from 1t encouragement and l
can say we have no fear of the result in
the long run.
Heartily We thank you 10: your pres
ence here tonight"
Mr.. Fischer was frequently interrupted
by applause, his most telling sentence with
the audience being No matter what hap
pens, the Beers will remain true TO the
principles Of freedom and independence"
Mr. Vessels introduced
He was followed by Mr. Vessels. to
whom Mr.. Sulzer referred as specimen
Of the thirty thousand Beers who are
fighting three hundred thousand British
"a man who never turns his back upon
friend or foe" Mr.. Vessels English is
favored with strong Dutch accent, and
he frequently used sentences OF which
the following is a sample: Il leave that
also for Judge to you" His picture Of
battle scenes drew forth emphatic ap
plause. He tenderly spoke Of Kruger as
President Kreeger. He said:
Should resemble In my appearance a
fighting man. as our honorable chairman
has Just said, I can only say that in this
case I belle my appearance-the fighting
men are home.
so many things have been said of the
Beers of the Orange Free State and Of
the Transyaal. that they have dsregarded
the white Gag, have fred on women, and
q thousand other disgraceful acts attrib-
uted to them. Ladies and gentlemen, We
are not now here to question the aecur-
acy Of whatever has been said against u.s.
Zone thing you will admit the Boer is
not as black as he is generally painted.
Those miserable things which have been
said about US are untrue, We stand here
before you, before the whole world and
deny them. You must remember that our
foes have been judge. jury. and army, but
We now ask the great American people to
be our jury.
You are very good in syrnpathizing with
us in this most unequal war now going On
between the greatest empire in the world
and q nation of but two hundred and fifty
Thousand inhabitants. 1t is very apparent
that for our small country to fight against
q nation of one hundred and fifty million
people We must needs be very big men.
II could take you to this little country
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.