The Washington times., 1901-08-04
Circulation Statement
Ensl.nd,s Threat of Savage wn-.


1t is no new thing for the Righ
Honorable Joseph Chamberlain to ado
to the sum of dislike for England whicf
in recent times has not been inconsid
cradle in other countries. We all know
how deeply and with what cause thu
Russians detest the British; a French
man who is an Anglophile is rare birt
indeed. and the Germans appear to bt
not far behind the procession in theil
unfriendliness to the Government of the
tight little island" From the London
point of view, things are not much bet
ter in the United States. Like our Eu-
ropean friends, we have our own dis
tinct reasons for mistrusting England
and considering her dishonest trader.
as well as highway robber. That we
are justified in so looking upon her is
easily shown by reference to hum
dred acts of overreaching, bad faith, and
perfidy extending over more than CEN
tury of intercourse. We need only go
back to the Clayton-B -Bulwer Treaty as
a starting point TO prove the case in
general. That convention was outra-
geous, was never legally binding ON us
in the sense that the British Govern
ment has held it to be, on account of the
suppression of a secret article to which
the American negotiator consented, but
which never was submitted to the Sen
ate for ratification, and, hence, never
he a axytn NJ
wer Treaty was deliberately violated by
Great Britain in 1862, when in defiance
of its most vital consideration the
Crown Colony of British Honduras was
created in Central America.
More recently We have an exasperat-
ing illustration of British treachery in
the seizure of the American Porcupine
district of Alaska by Canadian armed
forces. To the shame of the Admins
tration this act of war and E.rd piracy
was condoned in the practical surren-
der of the seized area under the dis
graceful HayTower modus vivendi.
England need not look for any friendly
feeling in the United States among the
masses of its people while her impu-
IDENTIFY obstructive policy in Central
America and her efforts to steal Alas
kan territory shall be continued.
All this is Introductory to a few re-
marks on a notable and sensational
speech delivered by Mr.. Chamberlain in
the House of Commons on Friday night
In ii he referred TO the notice served
upon Lord Kitchener by the Beers that
the employ of the British whom they
could capture. He said that the Gov
ernment had telegraphed Kitchener to
reply that every such act would cost the
life of the person ordering or commit
ting 1t. should he ever be taken alive.
And then the Colonial Secretary aston
ished Parliament and the country by
declaring that the Government consid-
cred itself at liberty 10 arm and use the
South African blacks against the Beers;
that there was as good reason for max
ing soldiers" of them as there was for
employing natives of India for the same
purpose; that either could be used in
England's wars in Europe with COM
plete propriety; and that there never
had been any understanding with the
Beers that the Kaffirs and other tribes
should not be utilized against them.
While this cynical statement may
please the British jingoes, 1t is not
likely TO be popular otherwise in the
United Kingdom. Even during our
Revolutionary war an influential ele-
ment in England denounced the course
of the Government of that day in hir-
ing American savages to attack from
tier settlements of the co,onists and
Dlassacre their inhabitants without re-
gard TO age or sex in cold blood. Since
then there has been a vast growth of
British and Of world opinion in the mat
ter Of allowing savages to take part in
wars between white and Christian
States. Today that opinion is SO strong
and well defined that were the British
Government to do what Mr. Chamber
lain's utterance suggests it has in con-
temptation, we are not at all sure that
Germany and Russia would not regard
the matter as one justifying armed in
tervention. The Beers in their misery
and desperation probably are open to
the charge of ignoring the rules of civ
ilized warfare on occasion. We are
afraid the report that they massacred
the British wounded on the field of
Vlakfontein Is only too we'll founded.
hut even such atrocities could hardly
Justify the kind of reprisals that would
be involved in turning loose the savage
black hordes of South Africa upon the
unfortunate people of the Transvaal
and the Orange River territories. Re-
sort 10 such means may be thought
moral and proper in Downing Street,
but Mr.. Chamberlain and his minis
terial colleagues would not be long in |
hearing the angry voice of civilization
calling them TO halt, We're they to |
add such a hideous feature to the South |
African war.
Advancing Coal Prices,
Coal Is not an especially interesting |
subject in hot weather At the cau,e