The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-03-31

4 T.. n,
he had been granted leave of absence
by Secretary Hay on Nov. 10. He read
to the committee q message from the
cable company, saying a cipher cable
sent by him to the secretary OF state
/ Nov. IA had been held up by the mill
tary censor until Dec. 9.
+, Asked If other consuls had suffered
any inconvenience in the matter OF
| communicating with their home gov
! ernments, Mr. Macrum said they had.
| The Belgian and German consuls both
! told him that no cipher kilograms were
! allowed to go through.
Did you report to the state depart
ment that your mail had been opened?'
asked Mr.. Berry Of Kentucky
II did not"
did you mention it upon your ar
rival in Washington?
81 did not"
Why"
81 would prefer not to answer that
! question"
This reply raised a general laugh in
the committee room.
Mr.. Adams (Pa.) then proceeded to
| cross-qUestion Mr.. Macrum rather Sc
verely upon the duty of a consul to re-
main at his post during complication.
Mr.. Macrum described an alleged
meeting between President Steyn of the
Orange Free State and Consul Stowe
of Cape Town, at which he was pres
ent, in which he said Steyn was very
anxious that Stowe should do some
thing to settle the difficulty which was
brewing. He said that President Steyn
suggested an appeal to the president Of
the United States, and that Mr.. Stowe
had replied that he would be glad IL
some such thing could be done.
And 1 have reason to believe that
the question was submitted to the pres
ident of the United States" added Mr..
Macrum, land that he returned an un-
favorable reply"
What makes you say that?" in
CURED Mr.. Hit.
81 was told so by Colonel Stowe"
Was that statement in writing?"
cit was"
Have you the letter."
mo, 1t is in the files of the Pretoria
consulate"
After further questioning, Mr.. Mac
rum said he might have copy Of the
letter; he could not say positively. Sub
sequently he said he thought he could
produce it in short time.
Mr.. Macrum went over the exchange
Of kilograms with the state department
relative to his leave but as these were
in the cipher of the department the
committee did not call for them. He
stated that his reason for not making a
report to the state department on the
conditions in South Africa was that
when he called on Secretary Hill he
said to Mr.. Hill he understood he had
been relieved. Mr.. Hill responded that
this was true. Under such circumstan-
ces Mr. Macrum said he had no report
to make to the department. Ee en-
deavored, however, to see the secretary
of state, but was told that Mr.. Hay
was out.
After hearing Mr.. Macrum the COM
mittee went into executive session.
Chairman Hit presented a letter from
Secretary Hay, giving in detail the de-
partments view of the subject, and
this was subsequently made public.
The committee took no action as to
making report, and it was stated by
members of the committee there was
nothing to be done except the taking OF
the testimony. Secretary Hays letter.
giving the official view of the case, is as
follows:
Washington. March "a, 1900
Hon. R. r. Hit. Chairman COMMITTEES
on Foreign Affairs, House of Repre-
sentatives:
'sSir-In response to your inquiry of
this morning 1 have the honor to re-
port that up to this date Mr. Macrum,
the consul of the United States at Pre-
toria, has made no representations to
this department in regard to the OPEN
ing of his mail by the British authori-
ties.
Although without any information
except the allegations Of Mr. Macrum,
to which reference was made in
resolution Of the house of representa-
tives making certain inquiries of this
department, l mentioned the matter to
q NIL ~ aco y7n v-I,a do sv,
CURRY in regard to it of the British gov
eminent. and was informed in return
that the British government was not
aware of any such incident having ia
ken place, but if anything of the sort
had occurred, it was contrary to the
Instructions of that government
! received no further information in
regard to the matter until the DIST of !
this month, when this government was
informed by dispatch from Mr.. ]. G. |
Stowe, consul of the United States at |
one to Pretoria and one to |
Lourenzo Marquee, were opened by the |
censor at Durham.
Upon notice of this called upon the !
ligh commissioner, who wired Durham, |
and very satisfactory apology was
'eturned.
This is all the information possessed /
oy this department in regard to the in
,ident
In reference to certain allegations as
% our conSulsi South Africa having
)een approached with suggestions of
mediation, 1 have. the honor to reply
hat in dispatch of the Bird of October,
'eceived at this department on the 9Th
If November, and the only one on our
lie relating to this matter, Mr.. Stowe
exported as follows:
Under date of Sept. &c I received
rom the United States consul agent at
o. F. s., a letter which
eads as follows:
II saw President Steyn this af-
ernoon by his request and he would
ike to have you find out IL your (my)
government will consent for you to act
Is arbitrator, and if you can also find
ut if the high commissioner would
.ls9 consent. The president appears to
hink whatever is done should be done
It once, and wishes to know if you can
i've him this Information.
II replied by wire as follows: I will
eply by wire to your letter Of the 18th
his afternoon
after giving the above request care
III consideration I called upon the high
Commissioner the same date and in
he course of conversation said: When
dined with you the other day you
tated your government would never
onsent to arbitration by outside pow
rs or representatives, and your pub
shed dispatches SO state. Are you of
he same opinion?' And he replied:
What l might like to do 1 cannot do
.ow, as my hands are tied
"Then I told him in substance what