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Show (Editorial Correspondence Intermounlain Catholic.) t London. Aug. 23, 1900. Mr. Henry Labouchere, M. P., the irrepressible t-ditor of Truth, has scored heavily against JoseDh Chamberlain and his band of liberty assassins. , It will be remembered that 'during the closing hours of the last session of Parliament Mr. Chamberlain aroused the country to great excitement bv the allegation that letters of a treasonable nature from English members of Par-liament Par-liament to the Transvaal authorities had been found in the (aptured archives arch-ives of Pretoria. No more than this whs said. The letters were nnt Jriven to the public, which was left to conjecture conjec-ture the most fanciful and preposterous suppositions. Lord Salisbury's government, under the guidance of Chamberlain, turned alleged treasonable utterances in the J captured letters to electioneering ac- t ciiunt. It was made to appear that the 1 whole liberal party was in a eonspira- ! y with the P.oers arainst Chamberlain Chamber-lain and his Tory colleagues. Now. it so happened that among these letteis in question were two writ- t ten by Mr. Labouchere. For some time this erentleman has t been enjoying- himself in the mountain fastnesses of Switzerland, and only the other day learned of the despicable trick bv vhich Chamberlain was fooling fool-ing the English electorate. The able editor of Truth at once concluded to bring Mr. Chamberlain down from his hifrh estate. He thought rightly that this could best be done by publishing the alleged treasonable correspondence. The British public was, therefore, treated today to a perusal of these letters, let-ters, as well as one from Mr. Labouchere Labou-chere to Mr. Chamberlain, which, as a political manifesto, is one of the cleverest clev-erest and best that has appeared in any language in our generation. The effect on the British public has been electrical. Mr. Labouchere's letter let-ter has stripped Mr. Chamberlain of his pretences, and he stands today branded before the world as a demagogue and , a trickster, whose like the English public pub-lic does not recall. Put no mere description of the incident inci-dent can Convey to American readers an adequate idea of the manner in which Mr. Labouchere has played the secretary of the colonies. j In order to appreciate it fully the ! correspondence itself should be perused, ! nnd, as I am sure the readers of the ! Intermountain Catholic will not find it j heavy reading. I give it to them in full, so that they may understand how base- i less was Mr. Chamberlain's charge that I the le tiers were treasonable. i I first give the letters in question, I merely observing that they were both i written before the war: I i MR. LABOUCHERE TO MR. WHITE "5. Old Palace-yard, S. W., Auj. 2, 1899. "Dear Mr. Montagu White: You will pee the lines in 'Truth.' I have altered one or two words to make the grammar gram-mar all rirht. "I do hope that President Kruger will manage to accept in some form the r reference (proposed conference). Ban- nerman and a!! our Front Bench be-lieye be-lieye that it is only a way devised by the Cabinet to let Joe climb down. The new Franchise Act stands. The onus probandi of showing that it does not give substantial representation to the I'itlanders and yet leave the Boers masters is with Chamberlain. "The difference between five and s--ven years is not a ground for proof. The details for registration do not prove it. Let President Kruger quote our Registration Laws, which you had better send him. and do not forget that a lodger has to register every year; he is not automatically on the franchise list, tn connection with this, Milner j suggested in his dispatch six years. He afterwards said that six was a mis- j take for five. But Chamberlain, in his, rT'!y to the dispatch, approved of six. . It 's impossible to calculate the effect wilhout knowing how many I'itlanders ! th'-re are. and how long each has been in the country. 'To discover this basis of ino.uiry i would take a long time. As the decis- ' ion would go by the majority, the ques- tion would be on the chairman, who j would have a casting vote. Surely it could be arranged with Natal: the Cape ! and the Orange Free State, as well as : the Transvaal, should be represented, with the chairman an Englishman who. has not yet expressed an opinion. "My own impression is that compara- j lively few w ill ever become Boers j amongst the English; they will not, like to pjve up their nationality. The j President has a great opportunity to give Joe another fall. If. at the same time, the Dynamite Concession is abrogated ab-rogated there will be a rise in many shares, nnd this will be regarded as a , barometer that everything is going on well and satisfactorily. "The great thing is to gain time. In a few months we shall be howling about something in another part of the world, j Yours truly, (Signed) "H. LABOUCHERE." MR. LABOUCHERE TO MR. WHITE "f, Old Palace-yard, S. W.. "Friday. Aug. 4. 1899. "Dear Mr, White: It is the general opinion rhat Chamberlain 'climbed down. As Bannerman out it to me: 'His speech was a little bluster of his own. with the main parts arranged by his colleagues, and they sat by like nolk-emen to "ci that he read them.' As a matter of fact, he did read all the important parts. "If the President agrees to the Committee Com-mittee it will, under clever tactics, take months to settle conditions, and then it will take further months to come to a derision. If the basis is established establish-ed that there shall be a substantial representation rep-resentation of the Uit landers, yet not such Ps cr.n endanger the majority of the Boers, no harm can well come of the Commission. The only difficulty is that i - a sort of recognition of our right to meddle. But this might Te avoided in two ways: (1) By getting Schreiner into it, and. makiPff it a sort j of South African affair; (2) by making ! a bargain and agreeing only on the 1 understanding: that there shouid be ar-i ar-i bitration on a)! matters affecting the j true reading of the Convention. But : if the latter is proposed, then tne Pres-' Pres-' blent should put in some proposal for . the Chief Justices and one Imperial ' Judge or C-o vernor to be the tribunal. ' "The universal opinion is that the Cabinet has forced all this on Chamberlain, Cham-berlain, and that they are determined ! not to have war and to do something1 ; to let him down easily. , "Salisbury's speeen was conceived on ; these lines, and a little vague bluster, but nothing more. i "I accentuated I-annerman's declara-' declara-' tion about hostilities; this pledges the Liberal party against war. Yours truly, i (Signed) "II. LABOUCHERE." j Mr. Chamberlain wrote to Mr. La-i La-i bouchere, and asked that rrentieman if he had any "explanations or observations" observa-tions" to offer for having written the ; above letter. j In the following: letter Mr. Labouchere La-bouchere ventures a "tew observa- tions" which probably Mr. Chamberlain Chamber-lain will never forget. 1 look upon it as p. rolitical masterpiece and give It in full: "Hotel ".nd Pension Waldhams, Vul-pera-Tarasp, Engradin-Schwc iz. "Aug. IS, 1900. "Sir: I beg to acknowledge your letter let-ter of Aug. 6, enclosing copy of a letter let-ter of Mr. Montagu White, with cosies cos-ies of two lett?rs 'purporting to have been written by me, and inquiring if I desire to offer any explanations or observations ob-servations with rejrard to them. "For what I may have written or said to Mr. Montagu White I am responsible re-sponsible to the House of Commons, of which I am a member; to my constituents, constit-uents, who have done me the honor to send me there: and to the law. To you I owe no sort of explanation. I ascribe, as-cribe, therefore, your invitation to furnish fur-nish you with one in respect to the enclosed en-closed letters to the singular illusion that, no matter .what course you may j see fit to adopt, whether as a Conser- j vative or a Libera! Minister, all owe j you a personal explanation who take ! t the liberty to disapprove oT it, and to j j do their best to prevent its brinsin? I us into unnecessary hostilities with! f some foreign Po-Yer. Whilst not recog- j ! nizing this pretension on your part, I will, however, offer you some observa- I tions in regard to these letters, as you : apparently desire that I should do so. "The letters of mine enclosed were, I do not doubt, written by me. The only exception that I have to take to the copies is that a few of the words in them are, I should fancy, erroneously copied, as they do not. make sense. The advice tendered in them seems to -me to be excellent, and I know of no reason rea-son whv 1 should not have addressed it to Mr. White, who was then the representative of a country with which we were at peace. Many letters pass- ed before the war between that gentle- j man and rr.i-self. He was most desir- i ous that all possibility of war should be removed, and that harmony and ; ! good feeiins should be established on , a firm basis between Great Britain and the Transvaal. This, we both thought, i could only be effected by a full recog- nit ion of the Convention of 1SS4, as explained ex-plained by Lord Deroy, who signed it ; for Great Britain, and by reasonable j concessions on the part of the Trans-: Trans-: vaal Government in regard to the naturalization nat-uralization and electoral franchise of ; the I'itlanders domiciled in the Re-i Re-i public. I therefore suggested that the Tiansvaal Government should grant to such domiciled aliens naturalization and franchise on precisely the same terms as thev are granted to aliens in , Great Britain. A law thus framed would. I thought, not be open to objection ob-jection on your part, and would put an end to all the carping criticisms that were being raised by you in respect re-spect to small and unimportant details in thd concessions that you were fore- j ing on the Transvaal in regard to these matters, and which seemed to me hardly calculated to bring about a j peaceful solution of the situation. If ' I remember rightly, the last letters ex- j changed between Mr. Wnite and myself my-self were just, before the close of the normal session of Parliament last year. Mr. White in his letter informed me that he had received a communication from Mr. P.eitz, the Transvaal Secretary Secre-tary of State, in which that gentleman told him that, although he had always al-ways been a strong advocate for all reasonable reforms in respect to the I'itlanders. and although he had used all his influence to promote a peaceful peace-ful solution of the pending issues between be-tween the two countries, vour dispatches dis-patches were so persistently insulting in their tone, and all concessions made bv his Government were so invariably met by you with fresh demands, at even the most moderate of the Transvaal Trans-vaal burghers were becoming convinced convinc-ed that you were determined to oblige them either to surrender at discretion to all that you might demand, or to defend de-fend by arms the position secured to ihe Transvaal bir the Convention of 1SS4. He therefore suggested that the negotiations should be taken in hand by Lord Salisbury, in which case he was convinced that a settlement f.atis-faetory f.atis-faetory to both sides would be easilv come to. As I entirely agreed with this opinion of Mr. Reitz. and believed that you were the chief impediment to such a settlement. I if plied to Mr. White that the tenor of Mr. Reitz's communication communi-cation should be conveyed to a leading member of the Cabinet, and that I 1ope(laithough I did not expect that the suggestion would bear fruit. "As i gathered from your observations observa-tions in the house of commons that you had not made up your mind whether you would publish the letters of members mem-bers of parliament td Transvaal authorities au-thorities that had fallen into your hands, I will so far as my letters are concerned relieve you of further consideration con-sideration by publishing them myself, together with this correspondence. I. have often urged that the public should have the advantage of a full knowledge j of all documents which are likely to enable them to form a sound judgment in respect to the issues that have arisen in South Africa. Might I, with all respect re-spect venture to suggest to you that vou should follow my example? The secretary of state for .foreign affairs (whoever he may be) and her majesty s representatives in foreign capitals correspond cor-respond not only by dispatches, butby: j -f ' j i JlORD ROBERTS OF LATE HAS BEEN TELEGRAPHING THE HOME GOVERNMENT THAT 00M PATJL f IS FLEEING FROM THE COTINrBY. FROM'. THxii. PICTURE IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE GRANS 4. f OLD MAN OF THE TRANSVAAL IS VERY MUCH AT PEACE WITH THE WORLD AND HIMSELF, 4-AND, 4-AND, IT MAY BE ADDED, WHATEVER -MAY BEFALL THE LITTLE BOER REPUBLIC, A NOBLE AND HEROIC FIGHT HAS BEEN MADE FOR ITS EXISTENCE. what they are pleased to term 'private letters,' which are to all intents and purposes dispatches. I presume that the same course is usual between secretaries sec-retaries of state for the colonies and her majesty's colonial governors. You have announced that you are in favor of a. 'new diplomacy,' in which nothing noth-ing is kept back from the public. Would it be too much to ask you to inaugurate inaugu-rate the 'new diplomacy' by publishing all the so-called private letters treating of public matters that have been exchanged ex-changed between you and the governors gover-nors of Natal and the Cape Colony; and all the letters and dispatches ex changed between these governors and our military commanders in South Africa of which you may have copies? Without these documents it is impossible impos-sible that either the house of commons or the electors of the United Kingdom can form a true' conclusion in regard to the 'diplomacy' that led to the war, or be able to affix the responsibility on the right shoulders ir respect to our lack of preparation for hostilities in ! South Africa and our initial reverses. If it is too much to hope that you will act on this suggestion, I would venture to urge that at least you should publish pub-lish the .correspondence between yourself your-self and Mr. Hawksley in regard to your alleged knowledge of the contemplated contem-plated Rhodes-Jameson conspiracy of 1894. Mr. Hawksley is still and then was the solicitor of the Chartered company com-pany of South Africa, and is a close friend and confidant of Mr. Rhodes. When the parliamentary committee of I inquiry into all connected with the con-I con-I spiracy was sitting Mr.. Hawksley was ' a witness. He alluded to this corre-! corre-! spondence. But when I wished to examine ex-amine him about it which was my right as a member of the committee according to parliamentary usage this was not permitted by the committee. After the report of the committee was published Mr. Hawksley made public his conviction that, if this correspondence correspon-dence saw the light, a guilty knowledge of the conspiracy would be brought home to you. When the debate on the 1 ! report took place in the house of commons, com-mons, he placed the correspondence in the hands of a member with instructions instruc-tions to read it if you made any attack at-tack upon Mr. Rhodes. Far, however, . from doing this, you went out of your way to assert that Mr. Rhodes had done, nothing to invalidate his right to be considered an honorable man, although al-though only a few days before you had agreed to a report in which he was branded as having been guilty of dishonorable dis-honorable conduct. Since then, again and again, you have been asked to produce pro-duce the correspondence. But this you have persistently refused to do, although al-though no public interest could suffer by the production. Yet, if Mr. Hawksley Hawks-ley is wrong in the inference that he deduces from the correspondence, it is I obvious that its publication would go far to allay the suspicion which lea President kruger to doubt your desire I for a peaceful solution of the strained relations that existed between her majesty's ma-jesty's government and that tf the Transvaal republic, and which even now militates all good feeling between the colonists of South Africa of British Brit-ish and Dutch origin. "I trust that you will excuse my venturing ven-turing to make these suggestions. I do so because I heartily agree with you as to the desirability of the 'new diplomacy.' di-plomacy.' It is the only way in which that popular control can be established estab-lished over the executive which is essential es-sential In a self-governing community, if it Is to escape from falling under the domination of some purely unscrupulous unscru-pulous adventurer gifted with a ready tongue. "I believe with my leader. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, that the war might, and ought to, have been avoided, avoid-ed, and I cannot -help hoping that my letters which have fallen into your hands will show that I labored to the best of- my ability in order that it should be : avoided. -Unfortunately, these efforts .were not successful. The i war was commenced under a lamenta-j lamenta-j ble ignorance on the part of her majesty's ma-jesty's ministers of the . reslstahce which the two Dutch republics would oppose to our arms. Reverses followed, owing, to the meddling of civilians in military matters. Pretoria, Johannesburg Johannes-burg and Bloemfontein are in our hands. The Orange river Free State has been annexed. The Transvaal republic re-public has been annexed. ' Under.tese circumstances peace and prosperity can only be restored to South Africa when all suspicion is removed that the secre-' tary of state for the colonies was actuated actu-ated by his previous relations with the Rhodes-Jameson conspiracy in forcing on a war. I am sure, too, that you will agree with me that it will not be right for the electors of the United Kingdom King-dom to be called upon to pronounce an opinion on the policy of a war which has cost us thousands of valuable lives and tens of millions of money, as well as on the mode in which the war has been conducted, until all that can enable them to arrive at a conclusion has seen the light. I am, sir, your obedient obe-dient servant, "H. LABOUCHERE." "P. S. If you desire to offer any explanations ex-planations or observations with regard to your action in respect to South Af-ri'ca, Af-ri'ca, they will receive due consideration. considera-tion. , "The Right. Hon. J. Chamberlain," etc. In order to stem the tide of public opinion which set in arainst him by the publication of the above correspondence, corres-pondence, Mr. Chamberlain tonight occupies oc-cupies a large space in all the evening papers, in ivhich he publishes other alleged al-leged treasonable letters written bv Dr. Clark, M. P. But Dr. Clark's letters let-ters are no more treasonable than Mr. Labouchere's, and regarding them it is enough to say that they were written before the war and also that Dr. Clark was the official and the accredited representative rep-resentative of the Transvaaal republic. Personally, I am convinced that the English people will see the day when the name of Chamberlain will be execrated exe-crated hot only outside of England, as it now is, but wherever the Union Jack floats. ' i . THOMAS H. MALONE. j London, Aug. 21, 1900. "God Save Old Ireland and Her Queen" was the inscription in-scription which I saw last night in the. London Hippodrome beneath a picture of Queen Victoria, surrounded by a huge green frame. The picture was one of the stereopticon kind, and 5,000 people stood up and applauded it, while the band enlivened the occasion with the national anthem of Britain. A few, like myself, remained seated, which under the circumstances, seemed the only possible protest we could offer of-fer to a sentiment meaningless and positively pos-itively repulsive to Irishmen. How little, I was about to say, did last night's audience care for Ireland's welfare! But perhaps I should say, how little did they know of the cruel Avrongs which the government of that queen whom they so enthusiastically .applauded is continually inflicting on the Irish people? I am charitable enougn to believe that even If the masses of the English people 'had a remote appreciation of the grievances of the Irish people, they would in some measure, at least, protest pro-test against a system so tyrannical and unjustly exacting. Be this as it may, the common people peo-ple of England are very much mistaken mis-taken if they imagine that the Queen's visit to Ireland, the concession to wear the shamrock in the armv on St. Patrick's Pat-rick's day, or the fact tha4; some Irishmen Irish-men are fighting against the Boers, can be construed as an indication that Ireland's hostility to England is on the j wane. It was supposed that amidst the apparent ap-parent enthusiasm surrounding Victoria's Vic-toria's visit to Ireland, sufficient loyalty loy-alty to the crown could be found to form a battalion of Irish Guards.. .But, in this, as in many other things relating re-lating to Ireland, the English government govern-ment finds itself woefully mistaken. In spite of every inducement, respectable respect-able 'Irishmen have not been inveigled into affiliations with an organization which, although nominally Irish, will be considered as a standing protest of the hopes and aspirations of the Irish people. Of course, some have listened to the blandishments offered, for a starving man will rarely look to ultimate results re-sults if the means of satisfying his hunger hun-ger are immediate. But that the whole scheme of the establishment es-tablishment of the Irish Guards is distinctly disappointing to the British government is a moral certainty. Ia a leading article this morning, the Chronicle makes the best of an unsatisfactory unsat-isfactory condition in the following words : "It is a good many months since her Majesty in recognition of the valor of her Irish soldiers in South Africa ordered or-dered that am Irish battalion should be added to the Brigade of Guards. The organization of the new battalion has been carried out in a very tardy fashion. fash-ion. Long delays were caused by War office clerks being unable to make up their minds as to such important matters mat-ters as badges and buttons. The men were recruited and sent to the Cater-ham Cater-ham depot by twos and threes, and the roll of officers in the army list is still a very brief one, and chiefly remarkable remark-able for the fact that well-known Irish names are absent from it. It is a pity that more expeditious methods were j not adopted. The regiment could easily have, been formed months ago, when the enthusiasm created in Ireland by the Queen's recognition of Irish valor was still in its first fervor. But at last the new battalion is to hold its first parade. It will be assembled at Pir-bright Pir-bright on "Sept. 1. It will be only 300 strong, but we trust that i will soon be increased to something more like its full establishment, and we hope to hear that at an early date her Majesty Ma-jesty will herself present their first colors col-ors to the Irish Guards. If we might make a further suggestion, we would add that nothing would better help the recruiting of the new corps than an announcement that tiVir? youngest of the Guards battalions had been placed first on the roster for active service. The colors of the older battalions are decorated with so many records of splendid achievements that the new battalion will be eager for the chance of winning some honors of the same kind of their own. Of one thing we are all certain when first the Irish Guards go into action they will more than sustain sus-tain the honor of the splendid brigade to which they belong and of the race of soldiers from which they spring." - Now this is quite good enough for Englishconsumption, but it will fool no one who has any knowledge of the Irish character. Besides throwing dust in the eyes of its English readers, the Chronicle offers of-fers a good round "jolly," as we say in America, to the Irish who by the exigency of circumstances have joined the Irish Guards. The suggestion that this Irish regiment regi-ment be "placed first on Ute roster for active service" has a true English ring. The Irish and Scotch were "placed first" in every action in which they participated in South Africa. 'Tis true they coveted the honor, as does every real soldier but where were the English En-glish all the time? Oh, they made a splendid rear guard! I make this statement state-ment advisedly. My informant has had the best possible means of knowing its truth. WelL indeed, might Queen Victoria I have' referred to the Irish troops in South Africa as "brave," but when she added the possessive pronoun "my," she had small conception of the spirit which at bottom animated these men. v When we consider the Irish soldier fighting ijnder the Union Jack in South Africa we are indeed, considering an 1 j anomoly in human action, j These soldiers left Ireland carrying I British arms, yet cheering to a man I for Oom Paul and the South African j Republic. But v. hen they were throw n 1 irito action against that Republic they fought like demons. j . Of course, I know that the obvious i inference from this statement is. that I if we Irish cannot nht our enemies j we so love to fight that we will battle j for them. I But I do not care to dwell on the I psychological aspect of the case, its i statement perhaps justifies the opinion j of the Chronicle that the Irish spring; 1 from "a race of soldiers." After all the formation of this Irish I Brigade may have in it a bit of provi- dentin 1 inspiration, for who shall dare I say that the day will not cme when ; this "race of soldiers" will make its-eK I a r-ouer for Great Britain to rec kon i with? THOMAS II . MALONE. |