POLILLO I

caratons, or native carts, laden with all manner of household effects, and surrounded by panicstricken, jabbering men, women, and children, breaking for the mountains. Once we thought we could hear the distant rumble of our artillery, and then it was our turn to become excited."

AN INDIAN ACCOUNT OF CUSTER'S LAST FIGHT.

ONE

NE of the most interesting articles in the Chautauquan for July is "The Story of the Little Big Horn," told by Dr. Charles A. Eastman, a fullblooded Sioux Indian, who has made a special study of Custer's last battle.

Dr. Eastman is convinced that the number of Indian warriors engaged at the Little Big Horn has been greatly exaggerated by all the historians of the fight. He estimates that there were not more than 5,000 Indians in the camp that Custer attacked, and that the number of fighting men all told, including boys under eighteen and old men over seventy, many of whom had not sufficient weapons, could not have exceeded 1,400. After describing the hemming in of Custer's column by the Indians, Dr. Eastman's account continues:

"At first the general kept his men intact, but the deafening war-whoops and the rattling sound of the gunshots frightened. the horses. The soldiers had no little trouble from this source. Finally, they let go of their horses and threw themselves flat upon the ground, sending volley after volley into the whirling masses of the enemy.

Aguinaldo's capital was a well-built town, with regular streets and many brick buildings, not unlike a European town of 8,000 or 10,000 population. The house occupied by the family of the insurgent chief was pointed out to us, but we did not see him; and as we were locked up all the time, of course we had no opportunity to ascertain what sort of a government organization he maintained there. In a few days there were rumors of a near approach of the American troops, and great excitement prevailed among the people. From our prison we could see them running to and fro. The streets were filled with

The signal was given for a general charge. Crazy Horse with the Ogallalas, and Little Horse and White Dull with the Cheyennes, now came forward with a tremendous yell. The brave soldiers sent into their ranks a heavy volley that checked them for a moment. At this instant a soldier upon a swift horse started for the river, but was brought down. naled for a charge. made from all sides.

Again the Indians sigThis time the attack was Now they came pell-mell

among the soldiers. One company was chased along the ridge to the south, out of which a man got away. A mighty yell went up from the Indians as he cleared the attacking forces, as if they were glad that he succeeded. went toward Reno's position. The rest of the company were now falling fast, and the ridge was covered with the slain.

66

BRAVERY OF THE SOLDIERS.

DID THE INDIANS OUTGENERAL CUSTER?

It

Hay-ay! hay-ay! Woo! woo! The sol. dier who escaped is coming back!' The man now appeared again upon the ridge where he had just escaped death, closely pursued by fifteen warriors. He was more than half-way down to Reno's stand when the party set upon him. They were coming up from the other battie. Some say that this soldier took his own life when he was driven back to the main body of the Indians.

"The soldiers found near the spot where the big monument now stands fought best and long. est. The Indians used many arrows and warclubs when the two forces came closer together. There was one officer and his attendant who fought their way almost through, but they were killed at last. They fell farthermost toward the east, at the head of the ravine. It is said that the private stood over the wounded officer, and when two warriors attacked him he killed one of

them, but the other lassoed him and dragged

him away.

Thus ended the last battle and the career of a daring American officer. It was a surprise to the Sioux that he held his men together so well."

GEN. GEORGE A. CUSTER.

R. EDWARD DICEY, writing in the Fortnightly on the "Policy of Peace," recognizes that British supremacy in a self-governed South Africa can best be secured by an increase in the British resident population. Government irrigation works might make it worth while for younger sons of good family, now serving under Lord Roberts, to settle on the land. But his chief hope is that the staffing of the railroads, the building and mine-sinking which will follow the war, will retain a large number of skilled artisans among the reservists, militia, and yeoman. He especially urges the development of the mining industry, and pays this tribute to its present chiefs:

ry.

"I know of no mining community where the capitalists have done so much to provide for the comfort and convenience of the workers in their service, have lavished money so freely on all works of public utility, or have so identified themselves with the interests of the industry by which they have made their fortunes."

He also insists :

"The time has come to put aside the preju dices caused by the raid, and to avail ourselves freely of the services of the British party—of which, in fact, if not in name, Mr. Cecil Rhodes still remains the leader. We have a hard task before us, and we need the help of all South African statesmen who, whatever errors they may be deemed to have committed, have always been loyal in their allegiance to the mother country."

Settle Soldiers as Farmers?

Col. J. G. B. Stopford has an article in the Nineteenth Century dealing with the proposals for settling time-expired soldiers in South Africa. The bulk of his article is devoted to recapitulation of the difficulties which settlers would meet with, but he does not think the project by any means impossible. He says:

"If the force which it is necessary to maintain in Africa be composed of men chosen because of their wish to settle permanently in the country, they might be divided into regiments of 1,000 or 500, or a less number of men, as the facilities for accumulating water might render advisable, and be settled in communities, whose houses might extend for some miles along a course, the center part of which would be supplied with water from a dam made by blocking a valley or depression in the ground.

"For a year, or two years, or as long as it was necessary to complete the works, these men might receive pay and be under military disci pline, and would work under the direction of offi.

cers.

During this time they would construct a dam, and build themselves houses and fences and prepare the land for sowing.

As the force, after their recent experiences, would not require much military training, the whole of their time would be available to make the farm, and when they were released from service they should be able to continue in their houses and on their holdings at such terms as might be arranged."

"The Unmakers of England."

Karl Blind, writing in the July Fortnightly on France, Russia, and the peace of the world, concludes that there are great perils ahead for England." He says:

For the calm observer there can be no doubt that the conscience of the civilized world has, in this South African war, been as much shocked as if some Continental power were to destroy by force of arms the independence and the republi· can institutions of Switzerland, or the independence and the somewhat conservative institutions

of the Netherlands. An outcry of indignation at such a deed would ring all over the world. Such an outcry has rung, in the present instance, from Europe to America, and it is being taken up even by cultured Indians of the most loyal character. The friends of England abroad are angered and sad at heart. Her enemies are reckoning upon what may befall her soine day, when she will be assailed by a variety of complications. More than one storm cloud is already in course of formation. The time may not be too far when those answerable for what is done now will ap pear before history, not as the makers of new imperial glories, but as the thoughtless unmakers of England."

FRENCH VIEWS OF THE BOERS.

IN N the first June number of the Revue des Deux Mondes, M. Leclercq writes an interesting paper on "The Origins of the South African Republics." Of these he says that, while it is well known how England seized the Cape Colony in 1806, where the Dutch had been established towards the middle of the seventeenth century, it is not so well known how the descendants of those same Dutchmen, unable to bear the foreign yoke, expatriated themselves in that famous exodus which the. Boers call the Great Trek. James Anthony Froude describes it in Oceana." The desire to change one's abode is, with the Boers, a kind of sixth sense. They are, unlike other peasants, fond of leading a sedentary life at certain times, and at other times they are nomads. That is why every Boer possesses, or desires to possess, several farms separated by considerable distances. If his pastoral occupations are not successful at one farm, the Boer will trek with his live-stock and his family to another, perhaps more favorably situ ated. M. Leclercq compares the Boers with the Irish, who were, he says, similarly expatriated at the same time, and also with the Israelites, who had a similar absolute confidence in God. He assures us that the Voortrekkers always led a pure life, free from drunkenness, luxury, and quarrels, although they had no law courts and no police; and he says that the fact that the people could remain for so many years outside all contact with civilization without falling into gross barbarism would be inexplicable if the cause were sought for elsewhere than in the fear of God and the principles of the Decalogue, with which the Boers were inspired.

BRITISH CALUMNIES.

The moving spirit of the Great Trek was Prinsloo the Protector of the People, as the Boers called him. The colonial government at

tempted to repress the rebellion with ruthless severity; and there is a story of the execution of five rebels, who had to be hanged twice, because the first time they broke the rope with their weight, which is still remembered in South Africa. The language question caused great bitterness, for Dutch was not taught in the schools; all legal proceedings were conducted in English, and no one could serve on a jury unless he understood English. All this wounded the All this wounded the pride of the Boers. On the other side, the worst accusations were launched against the Boers by the natives, which, being credited by the English, caused the name of Boer to become an object of execration throughout Europe. The Boers were accused of assassinating the natives with the most horrible refinements of cruelty; and M. Leclercq tells us that, under the pretext of philanthropy and religious propaganda, these calumnies were spread by the English missionaries. The accusations were so precise that the government instituted an inquiry which lasted for several months, and ended, according to M. Leclercq, in no single one of the horrible accusations being proved.

THE KAFFIR QUESTION.

M. Leclercq also defends the Boers from the charge of subjecting the natives to degrading slavery. Their condition he represents rather as that of the manservants and maidservants who formed the household of the old Biblical patriarchs. Moreover, the Boers as a whole desired to abolish the titular institution of slavery. In a meeting which was held at Graaf Reinet, in 1826, it was expressly declared that "all the members of the assembly wished for the complete suppression of slavery, provided that this desire could be realized on reasonable conditions. The only difficulty was the mode of carrying it out." The objection which the Boers entertained to the freeing of the slaves appears, therefore, to have been not one of principle, but directed to the suddenness of the measure. Emancipation was decreed in 1834, and the British Parliament voted the sum of £20,000,000 sterling as compensation for securing the liberty of the slaves in all the British colonies. At the Cape there were 39,000 slaves, who were valued at over £3,000,000 sterling; nevertheless, the share which South Africa obtained of the compensation was reduced to £1,200,000. This aroused absolute consternation in the colony, for many of the Boers had pledged their slaves as security for loans; and, moreover, the compensation was only payable in London, so that the slave-owners were obliged to employ agents, who took care to secure an enormous profit.

The

result was widespread misery at the Cape, and many hundreds of families who had been well-todo were reduced to poverty.

Another cause had previously contributed to the ruin of the Boers; namely, the action of the London Government in the year 1824 in withdrawing certain small bank-notes which had been issued at 4s., and were withdrawn at a reduction of more than 50 per cent. But the principal cause of the Great Trek was the Kaffir question. The Boers, M. Leclercq explains, had bitter experience of the falseness, slimness," and rapacity of the Kaffirs, who were always pillaging and robbing them; whereas the English viewed the Kaffirs through the rosy spectacles of the Protestant missionaries. It is needless to follow M. Leclercq through the rest of his extremely interesting article, in which he shows how much the Boers had to contend with, and what astonishing blunders were made by the English.

Social Psychology of the Boers.

To the second June number of the Revue de Paris, M. Mille contributes a study of the Boers from the point of view of social psychology. M. Mille notes with astonishment that the English have practically not studied at all the nature of the Boers themselves. The books written about South Africa at any rate, before the war broke out-dealt with gold mines or big-game shooting, and M. Mille could only find two exceptions: those of Livingston and Mr. Bryce. The inquirer who sought to understand the Boer nature was obliged to have recourse to Dutch or German books, or to the notes made by the French Protestant missionaries in Basutoland. M. Mille relates various stories which go to show the ignorance of the Boer of everything outside South Africa, and even of some things that are inside. He brings out clearly the patriarchal cohesion of the Boer families, and he goes on to explain the efforts which the Pretoria Government made in the cause of education. In 1886 there were 159 rural schools and 20 urban schools, and these had risen in 1896 to 330 and to 34, respectively; while the total number of pupils had risen from 4,016 to 7,738. Secondary education, too, had received a great impetus; but M. Mille does not disguise the fact that this interest in education is comparatively modern, and came from Europe: indeed, the majority of the teaching staff was composed of Hollanders and Germans. Nevertheless, the Boer is a great reader, and not of the Bible alone, but also of newspapers; in fact, as one shrewd observer has said of him, he is a politician to the marrow of his bones.

M. Mille then goes on to show that the theory

-so diligently propagated in England-that the Dutch element in South Africa had formed an old and long-elaborated plot for the destruction of British supremacy is not in accordance with the facts, but is rather contrary to them. As to the future, M. Mille declares that the gulf between the Afrikanders and the English is now perhaps impassable. He prophesies that England will attempt to submerge the Boers beneath a flood of emigrants from Scotland, Australia, and Canada, which he thinks will be a pity, because Australia and Canada are richer countries than South Africa, where the mines alone will continue to excite men's covetousness. M. Mille does not go so far as to say that reconciliation is impossible; the future is made up of so many elements that they cannot all be distinguished. But it is, he thinks, permissible to declare that no such difficult task has ever been imposed upon a conqueror. The economic antagonism between the two races will not disappear because the Pretoria forts are razed. The language, the family, the religious and social conceptions of the Boers will survive, and he thinks it will take many years to kill them.

MR.

TO TRAIN CIVIL SERVANTS.

R. P. LYTTELTON GELL'S article on "Administrative Reform in the Public Service" comes appropriately in the same number of the Nineteenth Century as Mr. Knowles' "Business Method Association." Mr. Gell's is a very interesting article, but his criticism is mainly devoted to the higher grades of the British civil service. There has not been sufficient expansion in the service to meet Imperial development, and the first step must therefore be to enlarge the number of well-paid and responsible posts. The second is no less important; for it is to break up the system of watertight compartments and stereotyped positions in the public service. I would urge that the whole higher division should be regarded as a single service. It should not be merely permissible and exceptional, but an absolute rule, that men, especially young men, should be shifted from office to office in order to widen their experience, to freshen their views, and to elicit their abilities by contact with new questions and new conditions.

Mr. Gell points out that a large number of the most successful officials have had experience of a variety of services, civil and military. What is required to effect these and other reforms is a small but strong board of administrative control :

This board would be as independent of all departments (the treasury not excepted) as the audit office is in regard to accounts; and, like

the audit office, it would present an independent report to Parliament; or, where expedient, a confidential report to a Parliamentary committee. It might consist of three paid commissioners, of whom not more than one should be a civil servant, two being men of experience in the industrial or commercial world. To these may be added four or six unpaid commissioners, who would be members of the upper or lower house, chosen for their business reputation-great shipowners, railroad managers, or provincial manufacturers. It would be essential that there should be no ex-officio members, except perhaps the first civil-service commissioner. Above all, its political independence must be absolute."

MR.

OUR GOVERNMENTAL METHODS.

R. CLINTON ROGERS WOODRUFF contributes, to the Political Science Quarterly for June, a timely paper on "The Complexity of American Governmental Methods.' Mr. Woodruff directs our attention especially to the rigidity of our written constitutions, with their elaborate systems of checks and balances, and to the difficulties of our electoral machinery. He says:

"The American, in ordinary matters, likes directness. In business, industrial, and social affairs he comes straight to the point; and so he does, for that matter, in political affairs, except in his written constitutions. In these he still worships at the shrine of complexity and indirection. He has found a way out of the maze of his own theories, however, and through the medium of political parties carries out his intent and purposes with little loss of personal energy. Yet to secure his immediate ends quickly he pays a great price, which is exacted to the last farthing. Practically he surrenders governmental functions to the political party organization, in exchange for direct action on a few subjects of commanding importance. This practice has been so persisted in, that party success and supremacy have come to be considered as the ends rather than as the means to an end.

"We rail against bosses, and we denounce party organization, as if that would avail; while we overlook the direct cause of the whole trouble -the complexity of our methods. How is a voter who is called upon to vote for candidates for twenty-two offices at a single election to exercise that care and caution which a conscientious citizen should exercise?"

WHY THE BOSS EXISTS.

Mr. Woodruff shows that the party boss is the logical outgrowth of these conditions: