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Show in i THE BOER WAR. i (Written fur the intermountain Catho- ( lie.) New York. Dec. 24. Since the com- j ftiencement of the struggle in South Af-"'n Af-"'n .1. Great i'.ritain has betrayed an extraordinary ex-traordinary anxiety for American ap-jjirovni ap-jjirovni of her attitude towards the j ransvaJil republic. It is certainly j lather amusing to read the speeches of I 'her piiblk- in. n and the comments ot her newspap.-rs. expressing a sense ot th-ir profound gratification at the manifestations man-ifestations of sympathy and support which the American people have displayed dis-played toward her in her present critical criti-cal Situation. They have gone so far as to describe to their readers the cheers with which we gret the news of British Brit-ish successes and the consternation with which we learn of British defeats. They declare that in siding with them we are merely returning the obligation ' 1 they conferred upon us in our late war j by saving us from a European coalition, thai was determined upon the destruction destruc-tion 'of our republic. . This mythical "concert of the powers" pow-ers" did good service during the past year, but it had its origin in the feverish fever-ish imagination of an obscure London journalist, and it has only been ac-copted ac-copted as gospel truth by a number of nnglo-maniac journals, whose allegiance alleg-iance to British interests in America is paramount, to their loyalty to their own government. These papers have been j challenged to produce one .t. one tittle of evidence, that sueh an idea was ever considered or even contemplated by the powers; and they have failed to do so. On the contrary, we have the reiterated denials of the ambassadors of the coun- i tries concerned, as well as our own ambassadors am-bassadors and Secretary of State, repu- j diating. without any equivocation whatsoever, the whole story. All seri-ous seri-ous observers of international affairs have long since been convinced that I this aliegtd European coalition against , the American republic during the Spanish Span-ish war was an unscrupulous British j fake and hollow imposture upon the credulity of the American people. The New York Tribune has been one j of the most offensive of the pro-British j journals to which I have alluded. The South African republics have been sub- I jected almost daily to the greatest mis- j representation in the editorial columns of that paper. It has not been enough to read the fraudule'nt dispatches which come over the British cables, but we are compelled in addition to read the sneering comments of those who resent the interference of the two republics with the imperialistic programme of Joseph Chamberlain. A few days ago the Tribune stated that the Boers called the British and Americans "red-necks," and spoke contemptuously con-temptuously of "their white flag." The original story appeared in most of the nmrciianorc ,f thu cfllinh'V without 3I1V i allusion to Americans. The writer de-I de-I liberately and maliciously interpolated : the word "Americans" for the purpose I of discrediting the Boers and their , cause in the United States. It is well known that, with the excep- tion of the half-dozen American engin-I engin-I eera who took part in the Jameson raid I and who are in the employ of English companies in the Transvaal, the American Ameri-can population is with the Boers, and ! manfully fighting with them in the defense de-fense of their country. No complaints I have come from the Outlanders of other nationalities. The Americans. Irish, German and French are satisfied with the conditions which prevailed in the Transvaal, and a:e now shedding their blooi in behalf of the liberties of the republic. The statement that Catholics are not eligible for office in the Boer republic, so industriously circulated by , the British agencies in America, is not j true. We have the statement of Dr. ; Leyds that four prominent officials of j the present Transvaal government belong be-long to that faith. The Tribune and other pro-British Organs have endeavored to convey the impression that American sympathy is j with Great Britain. If newspapers are supposed to represent the sentiment of j their constituents, it is a remarkable I fact that a large majority of American newspapers are against Great Britain. The Literary Digest has analyzed the position of fifty-four of the leading newspapers, thirty-four of whom favored fa-vored the Boers and twenty-three the British. The question of expansion and anti-exnansion anti-exnansion does not cut any figure in I their views upc n this subject, many of the leading expansionist newspapers supporting the Boer position. The New j York Sun in a recent is.sue states edi- j torially that a large majority of the ' American press is with the Boers. The Catholic newspapers and nearly all the newspapers of other Christian denominations denom-inations share the same view. The German-American press, in fact, all ' foreign press published in America, is ! hostile to Great Britain. Large public I mootintra 15jt'o hof.n tinlrl tn taw Vorlr and other cities, which leave no doubt as to American s apathy in the South African war. Ma.- meetings have been held in Chicago, St. Louis and other j cities of the ITnion in the interest of the j Boers. Another large meeting is to be held in New York within a few weeks, j which will exceed the great assembly ! held recently in Carnegie hall. At the latter meeting a dozen governors of States and over a hundred Congress- I men and Senators telegraphed their ! sympathy, and over five thousand of i the leading citizens of New ' York cheered the resolutions eulogistic of i Oom Paul and his people. If American sympathy is with the British, as so : loudly proclaimed by the Tribune and a few other newspapers, why is not a I meeting gotten up in their interests? I am afraid that John Bull has been deceived de-ceived by his fool friends in this country, coun-try, or that he attaches more importance import-ance than it deserves to the, movement gotten up by American women for a British hospital ship. It is rather a significant fact that but three of the alleged American subscribers to this hospital ship made any contribution toward the Red Cross movements in America during the Spanish-American i or. the Philippine war. So much for i their Americanism. I do not deny that there is some sympathy for Great Britain Brit-ain in this country, but I claim that it will be found only in the vicinity of Wall street. The American sympathizers sympa-thizers with Great Britain could be conveniently accommodated any day on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Ex-change, and they would have more than elbow room. T. ST. JOHN GAFFNEY. No. 41 Riverside Drive, New York. tion between the war office and the gen-orals gen-orals both in Natal and Cape Colony, but it is not deemed advisable that the purport pur-port of these communications shoui.l be made known. The jingoes are buoying themselves up with the hope that at last some decisive operation is afoot, if not executed. But there Is nothing to support sup-port thi.s theory except the optimum which has persistently spoken of the- engagements en-gagements already recorded as "vietor-ivs." "vietor-ivs." '"splendid victories" and "complete victories." Yet they have achieved nothing. noth-ing. Not a gun of the enemy's has been taken in the war in which artillery is the deciding factor. Daily Paper. While you're wearily awaiting for somo tiriinps from the South, While the telegraphic cables all are idle, There is not the least necessity at all to shut your mfiiith. Or your truculent Imagination bridle. You can prate aiut alliances- or stiaKe your fist at France, You can cringe before the German and the Yankee, And when (Jncle Sam and Wllhelm on your prostrate carcass dance. Why, take their kicks and humbiy murmur "Thankee!" Our only Joseph tried that plan of filling in his time, And slavered Sam and Wilhelm down at Leicester Tho Times and Post and Standard all cried out next day. "Sublime!" The Cockney Daily Mail yelled, "lie's a bester!" But soon across the ocean an indignant message came, Denoting feelings angry, not fraternal Then Joseph's friends recanted and in s wtow blame and shame. Consigned him to far climates marked "Infernal." And while the Yank protested, and the Teuton looked askance At Joseph's humble craving for Alliance, His stern threats were greeted in the sunny land of France With shouts of quite contemptuous defiance de-fiance ; In fact they're sadly saying now across in "(Jay Paree" "What fools we were to flinch about Fashoda! This impotent decrepitude could we last year foresee We'd beat John Bull from Bristol to Baroda!" There's wailing wild and hopeless in full many an Irish home By Lagan. Liffey. Bee and Suck and Shannon, For boys who took our chilling from their native hills to roam And die for Cecil Rhodes 'fore Kruger's cannon; That is not how we take it in our fashionable fash-ionable clime We know how low and vulgar is emotion emo-tion Our ladies leave the theatre in evening dress in time To ask for news of slaughter o'er the ocean: Thus while the solemn silence of the tele- graphic wires Denotes that Buller hasn't reached Pretoria. Pre-toria. And that the Absent minded Beggars' ' task more toil requires Than munching of the chocolate of Victoria Vic-toria We of tho ever glorious "Anglo Saxon race" at home Must sit and at our leisure sadly wonder If e'er again the earth will ring with Kipling's Kip-ling's latest "pome," Or any nation heed our stagey thunder. In bitter truth we've fallen- on a pad and gloomy day The atmosphere, decidedly, is murky. The "world extended Empire" now bids ! fair to go the way Of Persia. Macedonia and Turkey: But even though the Boers licked our hundred thousand men Though France and Russia chased our ships and sunk 'em 'Tis really quite consoling to reflect that even then We.'d still preserve our British brag and I bunkum. Thn war office in London has beeii ! crowded just before midnight by ladies in fail evening dress looking for information i regarding relatives in South Africa. The I Irish People. |
