Boers' line of defense, second Boer war. |
Cortland
Evening Standard, Friday,
January 3, 1896.
BEATEN BY THE
BOERS.
Invasion of the Transvaal Ends In
Disaster.
BRITISH FORCED TO SURRENDER.
Dr. Jameson Disregarded the Order
of Withdrawal and Has Already Paid Dearly For His Temerity.
LONDON, Jan.
3—The Colonial office publishes the following telegrams from Sir Hercules Robinson, governor of Cape Colony, to
Colonial Secretary Chamberlain, which are dated Jan. 2:
"A messenger overtook Dr. Jameson 10
miles the other side of Elans river. He has brought back a verbal message to
the effect that the dispatches have been received and will be attended to. The
force was then saddling up and immediately proceeded eastward into the
Transvaal. Dr. Jameson thus received and disregarded my message. Sir Jacobus de
Wot, British agent in Transvaal, telegraphs that the fighting commenced at 4
o'clock Wednesday. He was unable to obtain details from General Joubert,
commander of the Transvaal forces, and had heard nothing beyond rumor.
"The Cape Times has a telegram from Pretoria,
the capital of Transvaal, received there from Krugersdorf that there had been hard fighting, the forces of the Chartered South Africa company suffering heavily."
A second
cablegram has been received from Sir Hercules Robinson which says:
The British agent at Pretoria telegraphs under date
of Jan. 2:
"I
have just seen General Joubert and he says that as far as he knows, Dr. Jameson
has been driven out of several positions. The burghers have 25 of their wounded
as prisoners, including three officers, and five corpses have been buried by
the burghers. The fighting is still proceeding. No force has yet left
Johannesberg to assist Dr. Jameson.
"The
government has received information that further forces of the Chartered South Africa company are mobilizing to enter the
Transvaal and the Kaffir commander within the Transvaal on the Bechuanaland
border of the Free State is ready to assist the Transvaal, if required.
"Dr.
Jameson is surrounded by a large force near to Krugersdorf. The railway between
Krugersdorf and Johannesberg has been broken up.
"The
acting president of the Free State telegraphs me that 1,600 burghers were commanded
to take up a position 16 miles this side of the Vaal river."
A third
telegram from Sir Hercules Robinson forwards a dispatch from the British agent
at Pretoria stating that Dr. Jameson's force has surrendered.
Colonial
Secretary Chamberlain, in reply, has cabled to Governor Robinson his regret
that Dr. Jameson's disobedience has led to this deplorable loss of life and to
do his best to secure generous treatment of the prisoners and care of the
wounded and to telegraph the names of the killed and wounded.
TRANSVAAL TROUBLE IS OPPORTUNE.
It Furnishes a Material Argument
In Our Favor Regarding Venezuela.
WASHINGTON,
Jan. 3.—The personnel of the Venezuelan commission was commended by members of
the house who take particular interest in international matters, regardless of
party affiliations. The gentlemen selected were considered entirely competent
to conduct what the president in his message expressed a wish for—a judicial
examination of the evidence relating to the boundary.
It was also
pointed out that while several members of the commission have participated in
politics they cannot be considered strong partisans at this time; that so far
as our domestic affairs are concerned they would not be likely to enter upon their
work with any party ends to serve.
In speaking
of the Venezuelan question an authority on international affairs pointed out
that the present hostilities in the Transvaal furnished a direct and most opportune
parallel to the South American dispute. The note of the German government to
the British government requesting an explanation of Jameson's expedition into
the Boers' territory and protesting against it, he thought, would tend to fortify
the arguments of the United States in justification of its action regarding the
Venezuelan boundary.
The
conditions of the two cases are not unlike. The Transvaal is nominally an independent
republic and Germany does not claim to maintain a protectorate over it any more
than the United States does over Venezuela, yet Germany assumes a right to
interfere to check British aggressions.
Nor can the
German government claim that its own safety is in any way menaced by any steps
which the English might take against the Boers; it can only assert a right to
interfere on the ground that its interests are involved, which is thought to be
the only tenable ground upon which this government can base its right to be considered
a party to the dispute between Venezuela and a British dependency.
There is no
doubt that proceedings in the Transvaal will have an interest for this government
which they otherwise would not because of their possible application to the
Venezuelan boundary correspondence.
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
◘ England has practically had her own way about
everything ever since the American war of 1812. She has bullied Turkey, China
and the native tribes of
Africa. She has step by step secured colonies and
naval stations in every part of the world, and nobody has dared to say her nay.
It is now certain that the time has come to check her insolent assumption that
she can do whatever she pleases on this earth. It is time for one nation to set
its foot down that when her course is unjust she must be stopped in her career
of aggression, on this continent at least. A nation that grows bold and unjust
through success in long bullying of weaker peoples must at length come dead
against a stone wall and receive a lesson. The United States is that stone wall
so far as the western hemisphere is concerned.
◘ It would not be necessary in case of war with
England for this country to lend men to Venezuela We would engage England's
attention so thoroughly on our northern border that the little army of Crespo
would be quite able to cope with all the British soldiers that could be spared
to stretch out along the Schomburgk line.
◘ Spain sympathizes altogether with England in the
Venezuelan difficulty.
That is what the United States gets for being so
forbearing to Spain in the matter of the Cuban revolution.
◘ It is true, as the English papers say, that the
Monroe doctrine is not binding upon other nations. But it is very binding
indeed upon the United States, so binding that if at any time it is necessary
to fight to enforce it we stand ready to do so at 24 hours' notice. The Monroe
doctrine is a distinct part of the code of the law of nations so far as the
United States is concerned. That much is sufficient. By maintaining this
doctrine straight through and making others respect it, in time we shall have
it understood of all countries as a part of the international law of the
western hemisphere, and they will respect it and leave that hemisphere strictly
alone, except so far as the possessions they at present have are concerned.
Perhaps the occasion has now been reached for us to enforce the doctrine so
emphatically that from this time on there will be no disputing it on the part
of European powers. As President Cleveland said in his message, "The
Monroe doctrine was intended to apply to every stage of our national existence
and cannot become obsolete while our republic endures."
◘ With the present war feeling in the country the bill
of Senator Hansbrough to prevent the desecration of the American flag by
printing business advertisements on it ought to pass congress with a rush. Love
for the flag is a matter of sentiment, and that sentiment ought to be kept as
pure and enthusiastic as possible. It is a desecration and a degradation of the
flag of this Union to print advertisements upon it.
SIR KNIGHTS NEW YEAR'S
VISIT.
The Cortland Commandery
Make a Pleasant Call at the Old Ladies' Home.
(From the Homer
Republican, Jan. 2.)
Yesterday afternoon at about
3:30 o'clock some thirty members of Cortland Commandery No. 50, Knights
Templar, in accordance with their custom on New Year's day of visiting some
worthy institution, made the Cortland County home for aged women a pleasant
call and left with its managers a substantial contribution to assist them in
carrying on their good work.
The Sir Knights came up from
Cortland on a special car which left them in front of the Home. There they
formed in twos and marched to the door of the Home where they were received by
the officers and a reception committee of ladies from the board of managers of
the Home.
Eminent Commander Albert Allen
led the Knights to the reception room where the exercises prepared were had. A quartet
composed of the following
Cortland gentlemen opened the proceedings with singing: Messrs. Brown, [Saltman],
Davis and Selover.
The program of exercises was as
follows:
Prayer.
Address of Welcome, Mrs. E. S.
Newton. Pres. of the Home.
Response, Eminent Commander
Albert Allen.
Music, Quartet.
Address, Sir Knight J. W. Suggett.
Music.
Address and Benediction, Prelate
H. T. Dana.
Singing, Auld Lang Syne.
Mrs. Newton's address of welcome
was most cordial and fitting, and the response by the eminent commander Albert
Allen was graceful and eloquent. Mr. Suggett gave a brief history of the order
of Knights Templar, its origin and guiding principles which was eloquent and
well calculated to inspire admiration for the noble order. Dr. Dana's address
was also an admirable one, breathing a most noble Christian spirit, and his
words of commendation for the work of the Home were most cordial and kindly.
After the Knights had signed the
register, light refreshments were served and about 4:30 the visitors returned
to Cortland by their special car, having given much pleasure by their
visit to the inmates of the Home and the friends of the institution.
An Abundance of Water.
A curious phenomenon has
manifested itself within the last few days at the
Floral Trout park. Last year while the sewers were in process of
construction the supply of water which had made the place such an attractive
one was entirely cut off, and the ponds and springs have been nearly dry since
that time. During the past few days the ponds have been rapidly filling up and
now there is an abundance of water. Whether it has come to stay is a question
which can only be decided by time.
Farmers' Institute.
The following is the program for
the farmers' institute to be held at the courthouse, Cortland, N. Y., Friday
and Saturday, Jan. 10, and 11, 1W8, Geo. A. Smith, Director:
FRIDAY, 10:30 A. M.
Address of Welcome.
Response by Member of institute
Force.
Value of the Silo to the Dairy
Farmer, P. A. Converse, Woodville, N. Y.
Developing Waste Land, W. L.
Bean.
FRIDAY, 2 P. M.
Question Box.
My Experience with Holstein Cows
and Cattle, Millard H. Nye
How to Make Apple Culture Pay in
Cortland Co., E. Van Alstyne, Kinderhook. N. Y.
FRIDAY, 7 P. M.
Question Box.
Poem, Miss O. H. Sexton.
Business Sense on the Farm, A.
R. Eastman, Waterville, N. Y.
The Duties and Beauties of Farm
Life, Mrs. Emma Tuttle Watrous.
SATURDAY, 10 A. M.
Question Box.
Cultivation of Small Fruits by
the Farmer, J. E. Rice, Yorktown.
Should Cortland County Dairymen
Depend Upon the West for their Grain Feed?
Affirmative—Lloyd F. Rice.
Negative—N. F. Webb.
SATURDAY, 2 P. M.
Question Box.
How I make Gilt Edge Butter, A. A.
Knapp.
How I Make Farming Profitable,
H. E. Cook, Denmark, N. Y.
J. D. F. Woolston, Correspondent.
A question box will be used at
the opening of each session and all are requested to contribute. The presence
of the ladies is especially desired at the institute and all are cordially
invited to take part in the discussions.
BREVITIES.
—"A Catspaw" was
repeated at the Opera House last night and gave universal satisfaction.
—Two drunks occupied the cooler
last night and this morning were sentenced to three dollars or three days.
—The funeral of Mr. John
Gallagher will be held at his late residence in South Cortland, Monday at 10
o'clock A. M. Burial in Cortland Rural
cemetery.
—The supervisors of Tompkins
county realize that Ithaca is a city. So they took off the various towns
$270,000 in taxation and transferred the amount to the city.—Elmira News.
—The new combination car No. 17
of the Cortland and Homer Traction company which made its trial upon New Year's
day is to-day making regular trips on the cross town line in place of the old
car No. 7.
—Mary Barnard, aged 56 years, a
maiden lady who for some months has been an inmate of the Old Ladies Home at
Ithaca, committed suicide on Sunday afternoon by drowning herself in one of the
cisterns in the attic, the water being about two feet deep.
—The following to-day have been
added to the list of contributors to the Galpin fund: Miss Grace Wallace, $5;
Mason Ingalls, $l; a friend, $1. The Cortland Cemetery association have also donated
a lot in the Rural cemetery to the family.
—With the beginning of the New
Year a change was made in the management of the Groton and Lansing Journal. Mr.
L. J. Townley, the former editor and proprietor, has associated with himself
[and] his son, Mr. G. M. Townley, and the new firm will be known as Townley & Son. Mr. Townley,
junior, has been connected with the business and mechanical department of the
paper for a number of years and has well earned his promotion. We wish the new
firm abundant success.
FATAL NEW YEAR'S
TRAGEDY.
An Ithaca Colored Man
Shoots His Wife and Then Attempts to Kill Himself.
John W Corbin, a colored man
living on Clinton-st., Ithaca, and who has the care of a club home on the
campus, shot his wife and then attempted to take his own life on the evening of
New Year's day. The couple have not been living happily together for some time
and it is said they had several quarrels on Wednesday before the shooting
occurred. Between 1 and 2 P. M. Corbin knocked his wife down and kicked her
behind the stove, threatening to kill her if she dared to tell any one of his
treatment.
She managed to get away from him
then and went to the house of her mother, Mrs. Moon, who lives about three
houses away. Towards night the man followed and finding her on the back porch asked
her if she was back going home [sic]. She replied that she was not, when he
immediately fired two shots, one taking effect in her right side and the other
in the region of the stomach and passing through the liver—the last wound being
the fatal one, as the doctors who were called believe. He then shot himself, inflicting
a slight wound in his left side. He is now in jail awaiting the result of his
wife's injuries.
SIXTY-THIRD ANNIVERSARY
Of Mr. and Mrs. Prosper
Palmer Celebrated Yesterday.
On Jan. 2, 1833, occurred the
marriage of Mr. Prosper Palmer and Miss Lucy Stillman both of Cortland, by Rev.
J. S. Mitchell. Although they are enfeebled in health, they were yesterday able
to join in the festivities of the day and many reminiscences were related. All
but six months of their married life have been spent in or near Cortland.
Yesterday were gathered at their
home, 50 Greenbush-st., three of their children, Mrs. E. W. Bates, Mrs. M. F.
Gillet, Mr. W. C. Palmer and their families.
One son, Rev. A. P. Palmer of Utica, was unable to be present but
sent a letter of regret. Telegrams of congratulation were received from friends
in the West. A very pleasant afternoon was passed. Mr. Palmer will be 87 years
old on Jan. 21 and Mrs. Palmer 84 years old on March 1.
It is very seldom that a couple
live to celebrate the sixty-third anniversary of their marriage but such is the
case with Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, who will receive the hearty congratulations of a
very wide circle of friends.