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Hamilton's command held a running fight for twenty miles. Commandants Prinsloo and Englebrecht surrendered to the British March 30, and the British reoccupied Pietersburg on April 9, on which date the Boers captured seventy-five men of the Fifth Infantry and Sir Imperial Yeomanry. General Botha, on April 10, renewed negotiations for peace, Alfred Milner, returning home from South Africa, was received by the King and created a peer May 21, The Boers, again for a time, rejoiced over successes. They attacked and partially destroyed the convoy of General Plummer's column May 25; captured a British post of forty-one men near Maraisburg May 27, and attacked General Dixon's brigade of the Seventh Yeomanry near Vlakfontein May 29, causing a heavy British loss.

On June

3 an attack by 700 Boers under Scheeper upon Willomore, Cape Colony, was repulsed after a nine hours' fight. The British and Boers lost heavily in an engagement between Elliot and DeWet near Reitz June 6, and on the same day Colonel Wilson, with 240 men, routed 400 Boers under Bever near Warm Baths. The Boers captured 200 members of the Victoria Mounted Rifles at Steenkoolsprint June 12, and the Midland Mounted Rifles were overpowered by Commandant Malan at Waterkloof June 20.

President Schalk-Burger, of the South African Republic, and President Steyn, of Orange Free State, issued a proclamation for "no peace without independence" June 20, and on August 7 Lord Kitchener issued a proclamation of banishment against all Boers in South Africa not surrendering by September 15. In the meantime General Benson repulsed the Boers in a mountain pass near Dullstroem, and, though the inevitable end of the warfare was becoming daily more apparent, fighting was continued. Fifty of General French's scouts were captured in Cape Colony August 16; three officers and sixty-five British north of Ladybrand were captured August 21; the Boers attacked a convoy near Koolpopje and killed nine men of the Seventy-fourth Yeomanry, wounding twenty-three, on August 24; Colonel Vandeleur and nine men were killed and seventeen wounded by the blowing up of a train in the Transvaal August 31; Von Tonder and Delarey engaged General Methuen in the Great Maries valley September 8. Then, on September 16, the British troops captured Lotter's entire command south of Pietersburg, and on the following day the Boers partially 'evened matters by ambushing and capturing three companies of British mounted infantry under Major Gough near Scheeper's Nek, and also by capturing a company of mounted British infantry and two guns at Vlakfontein September 20. Two Boer commandos were captured September 21 near Adenburg, and Col. the Hon. A. Murray and Captain Murray, his adjutant, were killed in a fight with Krintzsinger, who crossed the Orange River: On September 29 Commandant Delarey attacked Colonel Kekewich's camp at Moedwill, with loss on both sides.

THE APPROACH OF THE INEVITABLE END.

Martial law was declared throughout Cape Colony on October 9. The following day Gen. Sir Redvers Buller admitted in a speech that he advised the surrender of Ladysmith and was severely criticised for his utterances. Commander Scheeper was captured October 12, and Captain Bellew and four others were killed in a fight October 16 at Twenty-four Streams. On November 1, in a heavy Boer attack on Colonel Benson's column near Brakenlaagte, the British lost 25 officers and 214 men in killed and wounded. During the next sixty days numerous small skirmishes were reported, but the year closed with all signs pointing to the early conclusions of peace.

During the first three months of 1902 the war was more or less of a desultory character, negotiations for peace between the Boer leaders and the British Government beginning on March 23, the latest notable Boer accomplishment having been the capture of General Methuen and 200 men, 41 British being killed, on March 11. On March 23 Acting President Schalk-Burger, Mr. Reitz, former Secretary of State of the South African Republic, and Commandant Lucas Meyer applied to Lord Kitchener at Pretoria for a safe conduct to the Orange River Colony with the view, of discussing terms of peace with the Boer generals in the field. On April 9 Mr. Steyn and Generals Delarey and DeWet entered Klerksdorp with a flag of truce and me: Mr. Schalk-Burger and his party, and Gen. Louis Botha, Commander-in-Chief of the Boer forces. These leaders, in conference, determined to submit to the burghers in the field the question of a cessation of hostilities, and by

this method learned that the fighting Boers were for peace.

Formal negotiations were opened with the British Government through Lord Kitchener. On June 2, in the House of Commons, was announced by First Lord of the Treasury A. J. Balfour, the following British terms of peace:

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The burgher forces in the field to forthwith surrender all their arms and ammunition of war, desist from further resistance, and acknowledge King Edward VII, as their lawful sovereign; all burghers outside the limits of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, and all prisoners of war who are burghers, outside of South Africa, to be brought back to their homes, suffering no loss of personal liberty or property, as soon as transportation and subsistance can be assured; no proceedings, civil or criminal, to be taken against surrendering burghers for any acts in connection with the prosecution of the war, Great Britain retaining the right to try by court-martial persons guilty of violating the usages of war; the Dutch language to be taught in the public schools of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, where the parents desire it, and its use permitted in the courts of law for the better and more effectual administration of justice; the use of rifles to be allowed in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, by license, by persons requiring their protection; civil government in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony to succeed military administration as soon as possible, and the establishing of representative Institutions leading up to self-government; the question of granting franchise to the natives to be decided after the granting of self-government; no special tax to be imposed on landed property in the Transvaal or Orange River Colony to defray the expense of the war; the assisting, by the British Government, in the restoration of the people to their homes and resumption of their normal occupations by a British loan of £3,000,000 ($15,000,000) free of interest for two years, and afterward repayable over a period of years, with 3 per cent. interest, such loans to be made through a commission, in which each district of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony shall be represented; the British Government to indemnify holders of the South African Republic's notes of 1900, considering such notes as war losses.

With regard to the treatment of the Cape and Natal colonists who were in rebellion, but who had surrendered since April 12, 1901, the British Government offered broad Immunities, with restoration of voting privileges, reserving the right to try others, who had held official positions in the Cape Colony Government, and who held commands in rebel or burgher forces, for high treason, provided, that in no cases the death penalty should be inflicted as punishment unless the rules of civilized warfare had been violated. These arrangements, which were suggested by the Cape Government, were approved, as submitted, by the British Government.

On May 31, 1902, Lord Kitchener announced that a peace treaty had been signed between Great Britain and the Boers, Commandant-Gen. Louis Botha, assisted by General Delarey and Chief Commandant DeWet, acting for the Boers. Lord Kitchener returned to England, where he was heartily welcomed, July 12, and was decorated by the King with the new Order of Merit. On August 16 Generals Botha, DeWet and Delarey were cordially received in England, and the Boers were thus further mollified.

1903

The year 1903 was one of general calm, when compared with the five years immediately preceding it. The events of greatest interest in the United States were: The Panama Canal treaty between the United States and Colombia was signed January 22; the United States and Great Britain signed a treaty providing for a mixed commission to settle the Alaskan boundary dispute January 24; John D. Rockefeller's gift of $7,000,000 to be used in research for tuberculosis serum was announced January 27; Great Britain, Germany and Italy signed, February 13, protocols providing for the settlement of the Venezuelan controversy at Washington, and protocols for the settlement of the French, Mexican and Dutch claims against Venezuela were signed at Washington February 26-28; the President signed the bill creating the Department of Commerce and Labor February 14; the Cuban Senate ratified the reciprocity treaty with the United States March 11, and it was ratified at Washington, with amendments, March 19; the Panama Canal treaty was

ratified by the United States Senate by a vote of 73 to 5 March 17; the height of the Mississippi River at New Orleans, 19.8 feet, was the greatest ever known March 20; the New York State Legislature passed the bill for $100,000,000 canal improvements; President Roosevelt started on an extensive Western trip April 1; the Moro fort at Bacalod, Philippines, was captured by a force under Captain Pershing April 10; the United States Court of Appeals decided the Northern Securities Company merger illegal April 9; Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, received a gift of $600,000 from Andrew Carnegie April 23; the United States Supreme Court sustained the clause in the Alabama Constitution disfranchising the negroes April 27; the dedication of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition buildings at St. Louis took place with imposing ceremonies April 30; President Roosevelt assisted at the laying of the corner-stone of a monument to Lewis and Clarke at Portland Ore., May 21; the Presbyterian General Assembly formally enacted amendments to the Confession of Faith May 28; St. Gauden's Statue of General Sherman was unveiled in New York City May 30; floods at Topeka, Kan., drowned more than 200 persons, rendered 8,000 homeless, and destroyed $4,000,000 worth of property May 31; the following day there was great loss of life and property by a tornado at Gainesville, Ga.; on June 6 a cloudburst at Clifton, S. C., resulted in a loss of fifty lives and a property damage of $3,500,000; at Hepner, Ore., on June 15, 500 people lost their lives through a cloudburst and $1,000,000 worth of property was destroyed; the Textile Council declared the strike at Lowell mills ended, the strikers having lost $1,300,000 in wages, June 21; the European Squadron of the United States arrived at Kiel and was received by the German Emperor June 23-26; an explosion in a coal mine near Hanna, Wyo., killed 200 people June 30; Cuba ceded to the United States two naval stations, and government of the Isle of Pines, was settled July 2; the Pacific cable was completed, and on July 4 President Roosevelt sent the first message over to Governor Taft, of the Philippines; the President sent another message around the world by cable in twelve minutes; Russia refused to receive or consider the Kishineff petition from America July 16; the time for the ratification of the St. Thomas treaty between Denmark and the United States having expired, the treaty, which provided for. the purchase of the Danish West Indies by the United States, was dead, July 24; the battle-ship Kearsarge completed her long-distance run across the Atlantic, 2,885 miles, in 9 days, 4 hours, at an average speed of 13.1 knots per hour, July 26; Lieut.-Gen. Nelson A. Miles issued an address to the army on the occasion of his retirement August 7; Caleb Powers, formerly Secretary of State of Kentucky, was convicted and sentenced to death for complicity in the assassination of Governor Goebel August 29; the Federal Grand Jury indicted G. W. Beavers, A. W. Machen and others in connection with post-office frauds September 8, many more indictments being found later; Chicago celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the first settlement September 26-October 1; a commercial treaty between the United States and China was signed October 8; floods in Paterson, N. J., did $3,000,000 damage October 9-11; the Alaskan Boundary Tribunal in London decided in favor of the United States on all points except the Portland Canal October 17; the Republic of Panama was proclaimed November 3, and the United States recognized the independence of Panama November 6; Congress met in extraordinary session to consider the Cuban reciprocity treaty November 9; the Cuban naval station at Guantanamo was transferred to the United States November 11; the House of Representatives passed the Cuban Reciprocity bill by a vote of 335 to 21 November 19; Grover Cleveland announced that he would not accept a renomination for the Presidency November 28; the report on the postal frauds was made public by the President, who urged extension of statute of limitations for Government employees, November 29; by the burning of the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago 600 lives were lost December 30.

The leading happenings of 1903 abroad were: The ceremonies of the coronation of Durbar at Delhi, India, continued, January 1; the German gunboat Panther bombarded a Venezuelan fort January 17; Col. Arthur Lynch was found guilty in England of high treason in fighting for the Boers January 23; Mr. Wyndham, Chief Secretary for Ireland, introduced the Irish Land bill into the House of Commons March 25; the King of Servia suspended the Constitution of that country April 7; there was a massacre of Jews at Kichineff, Russia, April 19-20; Andrew Carnegie gave $1,500,000 to erect a Temple of Peace for The Hague Court of Arbitration April 20; King Edward became the guest of King Victor Emmanuel at Rome April 27, and was later received by President Loubet and the French people in Paris; the Russians reoccupied the Province of New-chwang, Manchuria, with a large force of troops May 8; General Manning's British troops defeated

the Mad Mullah in Somaliland May 25; the King and Queen of Servia were assassinated at Belgrade June 11; Peter Karageorgevitch was proclaimed King by the conspirators, who were mainly army officers; the Servian National Assembly offered him the crown, and he accepted, assuming the title of Peter I.. June 15; Bulgaria appealed to the Powers to compel Turkey to withdraw troops from the frontier July 1; President Loubet, of France, was entertained in England. July 6; Pope Leo XIII, died July 20 and was succeeded, August 4, by Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto. Patriarch of Venice, who assumed the title of Pius X.; King Edward and Queen Alexandra were warmly received in Ireland July 21; the House of Commons passed the Irish Land bill, 317 to 20, July 21; the battleship King Edward VII, then claimed to be the largest in the world, was launched at Devonport, England. July 23; Andrew Carnegie made a gift of $2,500,000 to his native town of Dun-, fermline, Scotland, August 5; Bulgarian insurgents blew up the Governor's palace at Keushevo, killing fifty Turks, August 6; the coronation of Pius X. as Pope took place at the Vatican August 9; more than 100 lives were killed by asphyxiation in the underground tunnel at Paris, two trains being fired by a defective dynamo, August 10; the Irish Land bill passed the third reading in the British House of Lords August 11; a West Indian hurricane destroyed $15,000,000 in values and many lives August 11-13; Bulgaria sent a memorandum to the Powers detailing outrages committed by Turkey in Macedonia August, 15; the Russian squadron arrived in Turkish waters August 19, but was withdrawn by the urgent request of Turkey the next day; the Zionist Congress opened at Basel, Switzerland, August 22; the Turks massacred all the women and children in twenty-two villages in the districts of Florina and Monastir August 24; the British Royal Commission issued a report condemning the lack of preparation of the army in 1900 August 25; Joseph Chamberlain, Charles T. Ritchie and Lord George Hamilton resigned from the British Ministry September 17; Premier Balfour declared for a protective tariff for England October 1; Russian troops entered Moukden October 29; an operation for the removal of a polypus from the larynx was performed on Emperor William November 8; Wos y Gil, President of San Domingo, took refuge in the German Consulate from the revolutionists November 10; Queen Victor Emmanuel and Queen Helena were cordially received in England November 17; the Dreyfus case was reopened in France December 1.

1904

The war between Russia and Japan, reviewed in a special account on pages 96-101 in this quarter-century record of events, was the paramount event in 1904, the struggle being eagerly watched by all nations. At the same time, Great Britain was fighting an interesting warfare in Thibet, Germany's troops were active in Southwest Africa, and the United States sent a naval squadron to Tangier because of the kidnapping of Perdicaris. an American citizen, by the Arabs. At home. a Presidential campaign added to the excitement. In the political arena in the United States it was obviously a "Roosevelt year." The Republican National Convention at Chicago, June 23, nominated Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, for President, and Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana, for VicePresident, The Democratic National Convention at St. Louis nominated Alton B. Parker. of New York, for President on the first ballot. Judge Parker sent a telegram to the convention saying that he regarded the gold standard as irrevocably established, and that he wished the convention to understand his position before it adjourned. The convention replied that it did not regard the gold standard as an issue in the campaign, and proceeded to complete its ticket by nominating Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia, for VicePresident. Roosevelt had a "walk over," receiving 2,541,635 popular votes to Parker's 1.729,809. Roosevelt's electoral vote was 336 to Parker's 140. Other events in the United States were: The United States Supreme Court decided that Porto Ricans are not aliens. January 4; the commercial treaty between the United States and China was ratified at Washington, President Roosevelt issuing a proclamation to that effect January 13; William H. Taft became Secretary of War, Elihu Root retiring. February 1: fire in Baltimore's business district destroyed $70,000,000 worth of property, burning over 140 acres, comprising seventy-five city blocks, wiping out about 2,500 buildings, February 7-8; the United States Senate ratified the Panama Canal treaty by a vote of 66 to 14 February 23; the business district of Rochester, N. Y., suffered a $3,200,000 fire February 26; the Wisconsin State Capitol at Madison was burned. loss. $300,000, February 27; one of the tunnels under the Hudson, between New Jersey and New York, was completed March 11: the

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United States Supreme Court decided by a vote of 5 to 4 that the Northern Securities Company was a trust, and therefore, illegal, March 14; President Roosevelt made a ruling that all civil war veterans sixty-two years of age are entitled to pensions March 16; the United States Senate, in executive session, ratified the treaty with Cuba, embodying the Platt amendment, March 22; United States Senator Joseph R. Burton, of Kansas, was convicted at St. Louis of accepting a bribe March 28; Chicago voted overwhelmingly for municipal ownership of street railways April 5; an explosion of powder on the United States battleship Missouri killed twenty-nine men and injured five more April 13; Andrew Carnegie established a fund of $5,000,000 to provide for those who risk their lives for others and for the widows and orphans of those who sacrifice their lives for others April 15; the contract for the transfer of the Panama Canal property to the United States was signed at Paris April 22; the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was opened at St. Louis April 30; the excursion steamer General Slocum, having on board a Sunday-school picnic, was burned in the East River and more than 1.000 persons, mainly women and children, were lost June 15; the American Perdicaris and his stepson, Varley, having been released by the bandit Rais Uli, arrived at Tangier June 24; the Prohibition party nominated Dr. Silas C. Swallows, of Pennsylvania, and George W. Carroll, of Texas, for President and Vice-President, respectively, June 30; the centennial anniversary of the birth of Nathaniel Hawthorne was observed at Concord, Mass., July 4; the Feople's party nominated Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, for President, and Thomas H. Tibbles, of Nebraska, for VicePresident, July 5; a strike of 45,000 employees in the meat packing establishments of Chicago begun July 12, and on July 24 began a strike involving 24,000 operatives in the textile mills at Fall River, Mass.; the United States Government directed Minister Bowen to protest against the seizure of asphalt properties by the Venezuelan Government August 1; the collapse of a bridge at Dry Creek, Pueblo, Col., caused a railroad wreck, in which seventy-six persons were killed and many injured, August 8; Turkey consented to give American schools equal rights with those of other Powers August 14; military manoeuvres on the battlefield of Bull Run (Manassas), Va., were begun September 7; in a collision on the Southern Railway, near Knoxville, Tenn., 70 people were killed and 125 injured September 24; the thirteenth International Peace Conference opened at Boston October 3; the President directed Secretary Taft to go to Panama to reassure the people of the pacific intentions of the United States October 19; the President invited the signatory Powers to a second peace conference at The Hague October 20; the triennial general convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Boston agreed to a new divorce canon October 24; the Earl of Dartmouth laid the corner-stone of a hall at Dartmouth College October 26; the New York subway was opened from City Hall to 145th Street October 27; Secretary of State Hay and the French Ambassador signed an arbitration treaty at Washington, D. C., November 1; Miss Eva Booth was appointed Commander of the Salvation Army in the United States November 2; an arbitration treaty was signed at Washington between Germany and the United States November 15; the statue of Frederick the Great, presented to the United States by Emperor William, was unveiled at the Army War College in Washington November 19; all differences between the United States and Panama were settled by an agreement between Secretary Taft and President Amador December 2. 1

The foreign record for the year included, outside of the Russian-Japanese war, these occurrences: Joseph Chamberlain's Tariff Commission met in London January 15; fire in Aalesund, Norway, rendered 10,000 people homeless January 23; Mrs. Florence Maybrick, after spending nearly fifteen years in British prisons, convicted of poisoning her husband, was released on parole January 25; demand was made by the Thibet authorities that the English expedition be withdrawn January 29; The Hague Arbitration Tribunal decided unanimously that Great Britain, Germany and Italy had right to a preference of 30 per cent. of the customs duties of Venezuela February 22; the French Chamber of Deputies passed a bill debarring the religious orders from teaching in France, the vote standing, 316 to 269, March 28; the British, under Colonel Younghusband, repulsed the Thibetans March 31; Premier Combes, of France, ordered the removal of religious emblems from the French courts of justice April 1; an Anglo-French Colonial treaty, covering all disputed questions, was signed in London April 8; German troops near Okahandja, in Southwest Africa, defeated 3,000 Hereros April 11; fire in Toronto destroyed $10,000,000 worth of property April 20; Mr. Watson, leader of the Labor party in the Australian Parliament, formed a ministry April 26; President Loubet and King Victor Emmanuel received the French and Italian fleets at Naples April 29; France decided to reject the protest made by the Vatican

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