The Irish standard., 1900-02-17

they were forwarded to John Hay at
Washington. when l accepted my
post as consul" says Mr. Macrum, 81
knew nothing of any secret alliance be-
tween America and Great Britain, and
l had seen nothing in the regulations
which made the consul OF the American
republic subject to the whims and ca
price OF an English military censor at
Durham" "As man and citizen of
the United States" continues the young
American, 81 could not remain in Pre-
toria, sacrificing my own self-respect
and that of the people of Pretoria while
the government at home continued to
leave me in the position of British
consul and not an American consul. l
want to say right here that there was
not one single request made of me
through the department of state look
ing to the care of British interests in
Pretoria, which l did not fulfill and re-
port upon according to my orders. On
the other hand, American interests in
South Africa were in that condition
which demanded that the department of
state should be cognizant of them"
Mr.. Macrum goes on to say that
Americans were continually enlisting in
the Boer army, that his vice-consul left
for the front as burgher, and that he
was unable to apprise his own govern
ment of these facts. Being completely
handicapped he asked leave of absence
from Hay, but that functionary in
formed him that his presence at Pre-
toria was important to public interests.
He again cabled but received no reply.
Again he cabled with the same result.
But he was persistent and cabled once
more, requesting a reply. He got it,
telling him to stay. Then he wrote to
Washington again and received lacon-
ic reply signed Hay" saying "You
may come home"
The young man started for home with
light heart, and on the way he kept
silent and made no statement chat
would i'll any way involve the depart
ment or embarrass it. He found OH
his arrival, however, that Secretary
Hay had been speaking disparagingly
OF him, whether upon advice from the
British government, or some other mo-
tive" he does not know; but he de-
clares that he comes back with motive
of which he is not ashamed. The long
and short OF his patriotic story is that
he did not want to do the dirty work
of England in the capacity of an Amer
lean consul.
John Hay, the Anglomaniac, sent his
own son to take his place. Young Hay
will get along all right and receive every
courtesy from the British for being the
son of his father. The appointment of
his son, however, is in exceedingly bad
taste, to say the least of it, and few
Americans, if any, would have done
such thing. Instead of commenting
on Hays conduct concerning his atti-
tude in the Macrum case we will allow
the Minneapolis Times to pass its YER
dict in the following forcible manner:
The Times declares itself sick of dill
letanti Little Brooches" and all his
works, from his ELUSIVE speeches when
ambassador to ST. James to his appoint
ment of his son as consul at Pretoria.
If he has hypnotized President McKin-
ley there should be a potency in the
wrath of the people to bring the chief
magistrate back to Yankee thoughts,
Yankee patriotism and Yankee me-
thods. Wake UP, Mr.. Mckinley! You
followed the stars and stripes in
war; you have Yankee blood in your
veins; you are president of these United
States and want to be returned to the
same office. Repudiate the cockney-
chumminess of your premier-repudiate
that premier if necessary, or by the stars
in the flag you are likely to fail of
nomination at Philadelphia or of
election if you should be nominated
there. A British censor opens Yankee
mails, sent to a Yankee official in a
country with which we are at peace.
The thought makes Yankee blood boil
and continuance of the practice by
the British, without effective protest
from our government, should serve to
overthrow any administration that ever
held the reins in Washington. There
is too much Great Britain and too little
Bunker Hill about our state department
now. The proposed Hay-Pauncefote
degradation started a prick1y heat of
protest on Our body polite and the
Macrum story may aggravate the trou-
bic into serious eruption
The Minneapolis Times is cultivat-
ing an independent spirit and is thorn
in the side Of the Mckinley plunderers.
1t is strongly opposed to trusts, to the
Anglo-American canal treaty and to
the Puerto Rico tariff bill. In an arti-
Gle on the little island grabbed from
S0oip - c,,,e. UIJo,,, co.. ...A.11