New-York tribune., 1900-04-22
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
SENATOR PETTIGREN's MISTAKES.
WALTER PHELPS DODGE DISCUSSES HIS INACcU-
RATE SPEECH IN THE SENATE.

WALTER PHELPS DODGE DISCUSSES HIS INAccU-
RATE SPEECH IN THE SENATE.
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In the recent speech Of Mr.. Pettigrew in
the Senate there are several points that deserve
attention. The whole speech is illogical and in
accurate and is evidently made for campaign
purposes. The sympathy Of the Senator for the
struggling Beers is very touching, but 1t
would be more effectual If less machine made
Mr. Pettigrew is nothing if not inaccurate. He
refers in one place to Mr.. Chamberlain For
eign Secretary" He quotes from "Reynods's
Newspaper "a Socialist sheet that no decent
person reads in London) a misleading tissue of
statements as TO taxes in the Transvaal He
cites Andrew Carnegie's parte article in
THE North American Review authorita-
tive. Carnegie. of all people. a critic of
British government and British policy! Mr.
Pettigrew says of johannesburg that very few
white women live there. and nearly all who
are there are harlots" 1t would be interesting
10 have the opinion Of John Hays Hammond
this statement
Having exhausted his extensive knowledge of
the Transvaal. knowledge derived chiefly from
'Reynolds's Newspaper" Mr.. Pettigrew cheer
ully wanders off TO Singapore and Hong Kong
and says Il quote The Congressional Record'):
--These colonies are little better than brothels.
struggling Beers. aside from the good taste of
such an attack on British colonies ii is hard to
discover but the Senator from South Dakota
is law unto himself.
When he has finished with the British colonies
Mr. Pettigrew comes up smiling with his second
wind and proceeds to anathematize English
courts, which in our ignorance had considered
perhaps the purest in the world. Mr.. Pettigrew
quotes from the letter of a mysterious friend
LAT of HGT a = IS he
of the English courts. from actual experience
think il Is all humbug. The British courts are
ili Olte latile, Nllel
the actual experience" of Mr.. Pettigrews S
friend was. There are things, however. that it
is better not to dwell on.
Again, Mr. PettigreW is able TO state that the
English yeomanry Of the last century has dis
appeared. From another passage of this lu-
ninous speech il is a moot question whether
the Senator from South Dakota knows the diff
ference between yeoman and Eurasan.
From the administration of English justice
and a wall over the departed British yeOman
Alr PettlgreW passes on TO the "canting Sails
bury and the SOudan campaign. This is the
generalization made by the eloquent Senator
from Lord Kitchener's success: THE victor is
not obliged 10 accept surrender. This is the
new English doctrine Of war" According to
Mr.. Pettigrew the rights of man have no place
in Englaud's moral or legal lexicon" / do not
know exactly whar the Senator means by Eng
lands moral leXicon~' but a member Of
the English bar / can assure him that any at
tempt on his part TO interfere with the rights
OF man in Englands legal lexicon would meet
with very prompt reply.
But I have given enough extracts from this
absurd speech show that it was really meant
for the Irish constituents of the learned SEN
ator and not for the colleagues Of Mr.. PettigreW.
As a companion to Artenas Wards books the
speech is not without its value, but in other re-
spects ii is ''voK ct praeterea nihil.'
It is 70 be hoped that such a speech may not
CO grave harm in England, on account Of a par
donable Ignorance Of Senator Pettigrew's past.
present and future.
WALTER PHELPS DODGE.
Fortress Monroe, Va. April IL, 1900