Ty
Conservative.
EVENTS OF THE , WEEK ,
British military
TIIK 1IOKK WAIt.
critics say that the
plan of campaign heretofore pursued in
attempting to relieve Lady smith and
Kiinberly from the siege of the Boers
was not good military strategy and are
heartily in sympathy with the plan of
Roberts in marching into the interior
and attacking Orange Free State from
the south , in this way getting at the
main body of the Boer army with the
least resistance , on either flank the
Boer forces being occupied.'both at Lady-
smith and Kimberly , wi % nothing to
impede his advance toward the center ,
and accomplishing the relief of Kiuiber-
ly and Ladysmith by cutting off the
communications of the besiegers , there
by reducing them to starvation or with
drawal.
It was probably with this object in
view that General Roberts concentrated
the force under his immediate command
and with the aid of the reinforcements
in an effort to crush the army of Gen
eral Cronje , without in any way inter
fering with the plans of Methuen at
Kimberly and Buller at Ladysmith.
The army of General Cronje , who was
beating a retreat from Magersfontein ,
was overtaken by General Kelly-Kenny
at the Modder river near Paardeberg.
Here General Kelly-Kenny was joined
by the brigade of General French and
the combined forces made an attack , but
met with stubborn resistance. An un
successful attempt was made by Gen
eral Smith Dorein to charge the Boer
laager , full of ammunition and stores.
On Tuesday the 20th inst. , an armis
tice was requested by General Cronje to
give him a chance to bury his dead.
General Kitchener replied that only un
conditional surrender would terminate
hostilities. The English forces were
then massed , completely surrounding
the army of Cronje which occupied a
position about a mile square in the bed
of the Modder river. General Roberts
interrupted and repulsed the Boer rein
forcements attempting to relieve Cronje
while a heavy artillery fire from fifty
field pieces , under the command of Gen
eral Kitchener , with a range of 2,000
yards , was directed upon the plucky
burghers and the latest dispatches re
ceived from General Roberts indicate
that it has been kept up intermittently
ever since , but Cronje declines to sur
render. One cannot help but admire
the courage of this Boer warrior , al
though it does almost border upon the
fanatical.
The London Daily News , in speaking
of the desperate fight he has been mak-
in says : "Eng-
, ,
. . ? e
Cronjo'H Courage. , ,
ashmen feel some
thing like pride in Cronje , even as a foe.
In a position covering only a square
mile , hemmed in on all sides , circled
with a chain of fire , from rifle , Maxim
and Howitzer , played on by deadly lyd
dite , bursting in its own sickly light ,
his hastily built trenches enfiladed by a
stream of lead sweeping down the river
from the north bank , General Cronje
still elects to fight. It is a magnificent
courage. "
The opinion is gaining ground that
there is in Cronje's conduct another ex
hibition of the Boer strategy that has
been so superbly displayed throughout
the war. It is thought by many that
he is making a play for time to en
able his artillery to escape and cross the
Vaal river to prevent its falling into the
hands of the British when the final ca
pitulation takes place. A like reason
probably prompted the request for an
armistice. His resistance cannot last
much longer as communications are cut
off and a lack of ammunition and starv
ation threaten him.
In the meantime Buller is slowly ad
vancing toward Ladysmith , meeting
with only so much resistance as is neces
sary to enable the burghers to remove
their ammunition and- supplies so that
by the time he reaches Ladysmith it is
quite probable that he will find it re
lieved by the voluntary withdrawal of
the besiegers.
The evident success of Roberts in his
plan of campaign is just what was need-
, . , , ed in London to
Effect In London. , .
relieve the crisis
that threatened the ministry because of
their responsibility for what had thus
far been an unsuccessful war. His bril
liant management of affairs has had the
effect of restoring confidence in British
arms and will mean the sustaining of
the Chamberlain ministry , which re
peated reverses in South Africa had
almost brought to the point of an en
forced retirement.
PUERTO KICO.
ing commerce with
Puerto Rico , in which it is proposed to
levy a tariff upon the products imported
from that country , has been under dis
cussion the past week. The bill is of no
little importance , as it establishes a pre
cedent relative to the legal status of the
islands. It was proposed by the ways
and means committee contrary to the
recommendations of the president , who
suggested in his message to congress the
removal of all trade restrictions with
Puerto Rico , or in other words free
trade.
Mr. McCall ( rep. ) of Massachusetts ,
took issue with his colleagues and , as
the leader of the opposition , made a
strong speech against the bill , basing his
argument upon constitutional grounds.
He took the position that the authority
of congress in the premises was derived
from the provision of the constitution ,
"Congress shall have power to levy and
collect taxes , duties and imposts . . but
duties and imposts shall bb uniform
throughout the United States , " thereby
prescribing the manner in which the
imposts shall be collected. The present
bill violated the rule of uniformity and
was therefore unconstitutional. He
cited the decision of Marshall , in the
case of the District of Columbia , and a
later dictum of the supreme court in the
case of the Territory of Californiawhere
it was held , in both cases , that the rule
of uniformity applied to territories. He
also raised the moral question that the
passage of the bill would be a breach of
faith with the people of Puerto Rico , to
whom we had given the assurance that
the island was to become a part of the
United States and entitled to the liber
ties and privileges of the several states.
Grosvenor ( rep. ) of Ohio , was the
leading champion of the bill and argued
mainly from the humanitarian stand
point , alleging the necessity of raising
revenue in order to restore the depressed
industries of the islands. Ho also stated
that the president differed with the ma
jority of the committee , not upon the
constitutionality of the bill , but only
upon the question of expediency ; that
the president believed that congress had
the right of taxing the colonies , but that
he did not think it wise to make use of
the power at this time , and upon this
theory he would sign any measure con
gress might recommend.
An argument that is used quite effect
ively , it seems , with the wavering re
publicans who are strict partisans , is
that if the bill is not passed as recom
mended the democrats will claim that it
was because of their opposition that the
republicans were forced to change their
policy of insular government.
In regard to the treaty , Prof. E. G.
Bourne , of Yale University , makes an
, , . _ , interesting observ-
Kxport Tax. . .
ation in the New
York Evening Post. He suggests that
if the islands are a part of the United
States , then a tax on articles exported
would be unconstitutional because a violation
'
elation of the rule of uniformity. If
they are not a part of the United States
a tax on articles imported from this
country would be a tax on exports from
the United States , which is forbidden
by the constitution.
The Democratic
tee met at Wash
ington during the latter part of last
week and decided upon Kansas City as
the place of holding the next national
convention. Milwaukee , it seems , had
the pledges of a majority of the commit
tee , but the personal preference of Mr.
Bryan for Kansas City decided the con
troversy in favor of the latter. Henry
Clay Caldwell , United States circuit
judge , was apparently the preference of
a majority of the committee for the vice
presidency. Judge Caldwell holds his
present position by appointment from
