Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1900-02-23
HIS SILENCE BROKEN

HIS SILENCE BROKEN
Ex-CoNsUL MACRUM TELLS WHY HE
LEFT PRETORIA. -.
His Dhcial Letters aud Dispatches We're
| Tempered With by the British Censor
and He Desired to Report In Person.
Says Secretary Hay Wired Him the Be-
| sired Permission for Leave of Abseace.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15.-Charles e.
Aacrun, formerly United States consul
at Pretoria, has given out signed
statement regarding his reasons for
leaving the Transvaal capital. The
statement begins as follows:
'The situation in Pretoria was such
that, first, could not remain there
while my government at home was ap-
parently in the dark as to the actual
conditions in South Africa; second, that
as man and an American could not
remain in Pretoria sacrificing my self
respect while the government at home
continued to leave me i'll the position of
q British consul and not an American
consul.
Mr.: Macrum then tells Of his attempt
to compel Americans to remain neutral,
but that in spite Of his efforts they were
continually going to the front as burgh-
ers. Even the American vice consul re-
signed his position and took up arms for
the Beers.
| His Mail Tempered With.
Regarding the difficulty of sending
and receiving mail and dispatches Mr..
Macrum says:
|'It was over four weeks from the
time the war opened before received a
single mail or dispatch from my gov
erment or single private letter. The
mail for the Transvaal had all been
stopped at Cape Town by order of the
high commissioner When this mail
was formally forwarded to me, after
Captain Stowe, the consul general at
Cape Town, had secured it's release I
had the humiliation, as an American
representative, of sitting in my office
and looking upon envelopes Of the
United States, officially stamped, sealed
with a sticker notifying me that the let
ters had been opened at Durham.
looked up the international law and
failed to find that any military power
has the right to exercise its Judgment of
examining the dispatches of neutral
government to its representative. This
; interruption continued all the time I
remained in Pretoria.
; Requests Leave of Absence.
eThe misrepresentation which had
been going on before the war and after
it opened We're Of such a serious nature
and would require such detailed ex-
PLANTATION that on the 9th day Of Nove1n-
Der filed a cable to the department. i'll
code, stating that wished leave Of alb
sence in order to visit the States. To
this received reply advising me tha5
my presence at Pretoria was important
to public interests. again wired the
department. OH Nov. and II, but to
these dispatches received no reply On
Nov. IA again wired the department.
stating that could not leave without
permission; that would forfeit my post
If the reasons which I would make to
the department did not prove satisfac-
tory. This cable was retained by the
censor until Dec. 2, when / had advices
that it had just been forwarded. To
this received reply reiterating the
refusal to grant leave of absence.
Agrees to Stick to His Post.
"Upon the receipt of this reply, which
was on Dec. Is, Immediately wrote to
the department accepting the refusal to
grant me leave of absence and stating
that in that matter would abide by
the decision Of the department and that
/ was unable to convey definite ac-
count Of the conditions there by mail.
Several days later 1 received message
saying, You may come home, signed
Hay.'
Mr.. Macrum then tells of his depar-
ture from Pretoria under the impression
that he was still consul and Of his ar
arrival at Washington on Feb. 5, when
he was informed that Secretary Hay s
son had been officially appointed to sue
coed him. He had expected to make
Ills report anu w ie1uiAeu ~ Iietorld
Continuing, he says:
'Instead of this found that Secre-
tary Hay did not see fit to await my
personal report and has been a silent or
conniving partner to the discrediting
reports of my official action.
| Not Aware of "the Secret Alliance"
II wish to state here that when &C.
cepted my post I knew nothing of a
secret alliance between the United
States and England and I had seen
nothing in the consular instructions
that made III American consul subject
to the whims and caprices of an English
military censor in Durham.
"There is not one soul who can point
to single official act of mine which de-
parted from the strictest neutrality.
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