New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-04-29
PRISONERS OF STATE.
CAPTIVES WHO. BY REASON OF THEIR
RANK ARE A SOURCE OF TROUBLE,
ANNOYANCE AND EXPENSE.


era Cronje that readily understand the
extraordinary escape from capture of the Presi-
dents Of the two Boer republics at Kriegsfon-
TEN the other day The English had no desire
whatever to take either of them and any Brit
ish officer who had brought them TO Lord Rob
erts's headquarters as prisoners of war would
have been cursed rather than blessed for his
pains Instead there is every reason to be-
neye that the English deliberately avoided the
opportunity which presented itself to them OF
capturing not only Steyn, but also Dom Paul
Krj.ger The fact of the matter is that the
British Government would have been more en-
barrassed than pleased if they had fallen into
English hands. Lord Salisbury would have been
forced ship them off To st. Helena, and to
house and board them there still more lux
urious and costly scale than General CronJe,
with the by means pleasant conviction that
by combining the Boer Chief Magistrates on the
island it was endowing two men with not only
a kind of halo Of martyrdom, but likewise with
some of the romantic interest which the great
Napoleor derived from his captivity in st. He
lena From an English point of view, II would
be infinitely preferable that the Presidents OF
the Orange Free State and of the TransVaal
should escape capture and become mere fugl-
tives which would deprive them of the prestige
which they would inevitably acquire as prison.
ers of State.
Mess | am muCn lllStdhSli NIACO'O4'0 49, !
secretly issued from Washington at the close
CT the Civil War in this country to avoid capt
uring jefferson Davis Time and again he could
have been taken by the Union troops, VINO
however made no attempt TO arrest him. tie
was finally taken prisoner by blunderlhs ON
Ger who either had not received or VINO hau else
not undert ocd the confidential instructions from
the Secretary of War, and who was rounoly
abused instead Of rewarded for his pains. The
'Ovlfp
prisoned for time at Fortress Munroe ana then
was nuietlv let go without further punishment |
There is no doubt that the cause OF the Union
would however have been better served hao
Davis effected his escape To Europe without I'M
pediment
NAPOLEON III AT WILHELMsHOEHE-
have in my life known three prisoners of
State As a boy I accompanied my father to
V-iIhelmsh0he in 1870, and was presented for the
first time 10 Emperor Napoleon III, who was in
gflded captivity there. I have known both
Arab and Sami Pachas in Ceylon to which
island they had been deported after the close of
the Egyptian instruction in lSS2, and the bonn
bardment of Alexandria and the battle OF Tel
el-Keber; and last, but not least l have enjoyed
A something more than ordinary acquaintance
with Zobehr the former Emperor of the Sou
dan ond the representative in Egypt OF the
Grand Master of the Senoussi, who, during the
course of Lord Wolseley's Nile campaign 10
rescue Gordon in 1SS4-SJ, suddenly seized
one night at his residence in Alexandria by Eng
fish soldiers hurried board British cruiser
living in port which within quarter OF an hour
after his arrival quietly slipped her mornings
and steamed off TO Gibraltar where Zobehr
manned in captivity as a prisoner Of State for
several years until permitted 10 return 10 Egypt.
hear that he has lately gone back TO
hhartoum.
My recollection Of Napoleon at Wilhelmsh1he Is
somewhat dimmed by time: thirty years have
elapsed bat being fond Of my father h was
very kind to me. amazed me by the excellence
of his English and his knowledge Of the great
public school which I had recently left. and gave
me the impression Of being exceedingly sick
and weary man, who resigned to his fate,
and on the whole rather relieved that his trOu-
bles and worries sovereign were over. The
palace which served as his prison was the mag
niticent abode which had been the headquarters
of his uncle Jerome husband Of Elizabeth Pat
terson Of BALTIMORE during his reign King
of Westphalia The cuisine was perfect, and
inasmuch IS the Emper- 7 surrounded y the
officers + his household and waited upon by his
own French body servants. there nothing
to convey the idea that he under restraint.
save the German sentnels and patrols which
kept watch around the walls and entrances Of
the grounds at every point
Napoleon disappointed by his absence OF
majesty and by his short stature and short legs.