The Portland daily press., 1900-05-14
RUSSIA WILL STOP
THE CRUEL WAR.
She is After Trade and her Policy
Demands Immediate Peace In
the Transvaal.

BY p. Louter Vessels. Special Agent
South African Republic.
There are two reasons why England
will never conquer US. One Is that ten
Tommy Atkinses are no more than
match for one Boer The skirmishes OF
the war prove this. AS we can mobi-
lie 10000 men easily, II means Eng
land would have to send l,5OO,OO0 sol
diers to sbe on even terms with us In
point of men.
Besides we would have the advantage
in being on the defensive in our own
well-known country, almost impreg-
nably fortified by nature to say nothing
OF the many pitfalls we ourselves have
digged.
Secondly, the war will be ended In six
months This may sound strange, con-
sidering the present British advances
and the reports sent out by England
from South Africa. But 1t is true.
And the war will be ended by the
withdrawal of British troops from the
republics. The Beers will have the
same liberty they enjoyed before war
was declared. Otherwise we would
fight until there were no Beers to be
deprived of their liberty. We Beers
viii never be slaves.
/ do not mean to say that the Beers
themselves will end the war by supe-
rior force of arms. While we cannot
be conquered, neither may we hope to
defeat the hundreds of thousands of
men England can pour into South
Africa.
1t is intervention to which we took
for succor. We had hoped America
might say mol" to England, but your
Presidents efforts have been fruitless.
Russia Is the nation to which we now
turn. And we feel assured IL Is not In
vain. From advices from my own gov
eminent, l can state that inside of six
months 1t is confidently expected by
President Kruger and President Steyn
that Russia will declare war on Eng
land unless the war in South Africa is
stopped. England will refuse and an
Anglo Russian war will follow, in
which Continental Europe and probably
the United States may be drawn. This,
TO me, is as certain as that the sun
will rise tomorrow.
1t Is the intention of the republican
forces not to force big decisive battle
II IL may be prevented, but they hope
10 harass and impede Gen. Lord Rob-
ers' advance on Pretoria, so that he
will be still many miles away when
Russia's intervention does come.
The first big battle of the war. II II
cannot be avoided under President
Kruger's policy, l am Informed will be
near Wynburg. The exact place Is I'M
determined, of course, owing to Lord
known to us. And, of course, | would
not tell the exact place, as 1t would
convey most valuable information to
the English generals.
1 will say, however, that, despite the
English reports of Boer retreat. Lord
Roberts will find a most considerable
body of men opposed to him not far
from Wynburg.
The fall of Bloemfontein has not
much of significance, and that Frazer
and few officials delivered the keys of
the town over does not indicate that
our Free State Beers were divided.
Frazer was an English candidate in
the Rad. He represents the town of
Bloemfontein, where there was quite
number of English people. and 1t was
this class who welcomed Roberts
troops.
Our losses to date are not over 6,000,
killed, wounded and prisoners, includ-
ing Gen. Cronje's surrendered command
of 4,520 men. The English losses in
killed, wounded and prisoners is over
10000 men. This is true. notwithstand-
ing the English reports. know it.
The English generals pervert the
truth, enlarge English successes and
expand Boer reverses for political ends.
We have English telegraph operators
at the Cape in our pay and know the
real situation.
We are constantly getting more am
Just placed an order for 10000 pounds
of ammunition. This will need ship,
and we may not receive II. But we
have enough anyway.
RUSSIA AFTER TRADE, TOO.
Russia wants the South African trade
as much as England. She has a policy
OF commercial expansion as well as
England. The barren Arctic regions are
not to be her boundaries forever. Mark
my words, and they are not idle, Rus
STA will say mo" emphatically.
There was a tendency throughout
South Africa among the Dutch to try
and smooth down difference between
the English and Dutch in order to unite
and bring about an arrangement
whereby they could become one South
African nation, although the English
followed a depressing policy from the
beginning. Instead of trying to unite
the two races she executed a partial
policy, and the Dutch had for long
time no representative on the jury now
in parliament in the Cape Colony.
II the minerals had not been discov-
cred England would never have deemed
the country worth while having and
would have been glad If the Beers were
annihilated by the powerful barbarian
tribes.
The capitalists, of whom Mr.. Rhodes
was the leader, backed by the present
foreign colonial policy of England, con-
spired against the republic and organ
ICED the Johannesburg rebellion and
Jameson raid under pretense that the
laws of the Transvaal were unsatis-
factory.