1901 THE CUBAN CONSTITUTION 22. The program included the discussion of arbitration, and trade relations and telegraphic communications between the States of North, South, and Central America. On the 7th of August Kitchener issued a proclamation, banishing all Boers in arms after the 15th of September, and placing the cost of the maintenance of their families upon their property. The proclamation was ignored by the Boers and never fulfilled by Lord Kitchener. On the date when it was supposed to go into effect Louis Botha defeated a "sweeping" expedition under Major Gough at Scheepers's Nek, and Commandant Smuts rushed the Seventeenth Lancers, who had surrounded his commando at Eland's River in Cape Colony, and escaped from the cordon. On the 25th of September General Christian Botha made a midnight attack upon Fort Itala on the Zululand border. Although the assault was ineffective, the British suffered so severely that they retreated on the 27th, leaving their wounded and dead behind. At Moedwil on the 29th of September Delarey surprised Colonel Kekewich's column, engaged in a "sweeping" expedition, and put 200 men out of action. On the 29th of October Louis and Christian Botha attacked Colonel Benson's column at Brakenlaagte in the western Transvaal. They put 300 British out of action and captured two cannon. As a means of strengthening the dual alliance, the Czar of Russia decided to make a visit to France. On September 18, in company with the Czarina, Nicholas II arrived at Dunkirk. The royal visitors were welcomed by a magnificent display of naval strength. President Loubet met and embraced the Czar on the royal yacht. The imperial guests and the President then proceeded to Compiègne and witnessed maneuvres by an army corps and division of cavalry. In the Western Hemisphere a firmer alliance than that between republican France and imperial Russia was being SECOND HAY--PAUNCEFOTE TREATY 1901 consummated. On October 1 the Cuban Constitutional Convention completed its labors by the adoption of a Cuban constitution, the recognition of special interests by the United States in Cuba, and the arrangement for popular election of officers under the constitution. The constitution adopted was modeled closely upon that of the United States. Other countries in Latin America were not so peacefully engaged as Cuba. Venezuela complained that an act of open aggression had been committed against her by Colombia in the invasion of the Tachira district in July. In October at an encounter at Curuzao the Venezuelan General Echeverria was routed and himself and about 600 of his troops were killed. The grievances between the two countries were referred to the mediation of Chile. Colombian insurgents unexpectedly attacked and captured Colon on November 19. A force of American bluejackets at once landed and took possession of the railway station. Early in November Mr. Chamberlain made a speech at Edinburgh, in the course of which he asserted that the British army in South Africa had conducted the war as humanely as the Germans had behaved in the Franco-German conflict. This aroused the greatest indignation throughout Germany. On November 18 Secretary Hay and Lord Pauncefote signed in Washington a second Isthmian Canal treaty, in which it was agreed that the treaty should supersede the Clayton-Bulwer convention of 1850, and that the canal should be free to the navigation of the world, with proper provisions for its neutralization. The new treaty was ratified by the Senate on December 16. The Isthmian Canal Commission, on December 4, recommended the adoption of the Nicaragua route, in preference to that through Panama. A strange disturbance broke out in Athens on November 19, having its origin in a translation of the Gospels into modern Greek, under official authorization. It was felt that 1901 SANTOS--DUMONT'S DIRIGIBLE BALLOON a translation in any other than classic Greek was a profanation. The students of Athens University arose, besieged the Metropolitan (the ecclesiastical head), attacked newspapers, officers, and fought the police. Ultimately both the Metropolitan and the existing Ministry had to resign. On Christmas Eve General De Wet captured the garrison under Colonel Furman at Tweefontein, guarding the Bethlehem end of the block-house line. Among the spoils was a large supply of Christmas provisions. So the Boers in the field, if not those in the concentration camps, were quite in the mood to celebrate the holiday season. The year had less than the usual number of great disasters. Fire devastated Jacksonville, Florida, on May 23. Seven lives were lost and property to the value of $15,000,000 was destroyed. Floods ravaged the Pocahontas coal region in West Virginia on June 23. On November 16 an earthquake devastated Erzeroum, Armenia. Seventy-five people were killed in a railway collision between an emigrant and a passenger train on the Wabash Railroad on November 27. The year is notable for a number of industrial achievements and scientific discoveries. Marconi's system of wireless telegraphy was officially authorized by the British naval authorities and was adopted at the Lloyd Maritime Agency for reporting incoming ships at a number of points on the English, Scotch, and Irish coasts. A station was established on Nantucket Island by the New York "Herald," and steamships of several Transatlantic lines were equipped with the apparatus. The most important aeronautic event of the year was a voyage of nearly eight miles in length in Paris with an airship, devised and navigated by a young Brazilian, SantosDumont. In the course of this M. Santos-Dumont circumnavigated the Eiffel Tower, winning $20,000 offered by a Frenchman named Deutsch for this achievement. EVENTS OF 1902 British Organize Renegade Boers as "National Scouts"-They Shoot Commandant Scheepers as a Traitor-They Capture Viljoen and Other Boer Commanders-Delarey Captures British Column at Yster Spruit-He Defeats Methuen at Tweebosch-He Releases Methuen and the Other Prisoners-In Return British Acquit Commandant Kritzinger, Accused with Scheepers-Death of Cecil Rhodes -His Will Endows Colonial, American, and German Scholarships at Oxford-Executives of Boer Republics Propose Peace Terms Preserving Boer Independence These are Refused-Boer Delegates Empower Commission to Settle Terms-Peace is Concluded at Pretoria-It Involves Amnesty to Boers Taking Oath of British Allegiance and Gifts and Loans of British Money to Boers-Statistics of the War-Death of Jean de Bloch, Peace Propagandist-President Roosevelt Recommends Panama Route for Isthmian_CanalSenate Ratifies Treaty to Purchase Danish West Indies-Denmark Later Withdraws Offer-Great Britain and Japan Form Alliance to Preserve Integrity of China and Korea-Anarchist Disturbances in Barcelona and Saragossa-Miss Stone, American Missionary, is Ransomed from Macedonian Patriot-Brigands Arbiters Settle Brazil-Bolivia Boundary Dispute in Favor of Bolivia-Prince Henry of Germany Visits America-J. P. Morgan Organizes Merchant Marine and Other Trusts-U. S. Supreme Court Blocks Suit of State of Minnesota against Northern Securities Company-Marconi Sends Wireless Messages Across Atlantic-Convention of Powers at Brussels Abolishes Sugar Bounties, Russia Protesting-Contest Over Universal Suffrage Bill in Belgium Leads to Strikes and RiotsThe Bill is Defeated-Russia Agrees to Evacuate Manchuria in Eighteen Months-Deaths of Talmage, American Pulpit Orator, and Stockton, American Novelist-Congress Passes Chinese Exclusion Act-Destructive Earthquake in Transcaucasia - Volcanic Eruptions Devastate West Indian Islands of St. Vincent and Martinique-Deaths of Bret Harte and Paul Leicester Ford, American Novelists-Strike of Pennsylvania Anthracite Miners-Operators and Miners Accept Intervention of Theodore Roosevelt-He_Appoints Arbitration Commission-Cuba Elects Palma as Her First President-He Appeals Through President Roosevelt in Behalf of Cuban Reciprocity Bill-Congress Fails to Act on Bill-Visits of President of France and King of Italy to Russia-Meeting of Czar and German Emperor-France Presents Statue of Rochambeau to United States-District-Attorney Folk of St. Louis Secures Indictment of Boodling Officials-Severe Repression of Student Demonstration in Russia Leads to Assassination of Minister Sipiaguine -Death of King of Saxony-Edward VII is Successfully Operated on for Appendicitis-Panama Route is Accepted for Isthmian Canal -Colombia Questions Validity of the Acquired Concessions M. Combes Becomes Premier of France-He Closes Mutinous Monastic Schools Conference of Colonial Premiers Endorses Chamberlain's Policy of Preferential Tariffs-Campanile of St. Mark's Falls at Venice Assouan Irrigation Dam in Egypt is Completed - Death of Tissot, French Painter - - Coronation of Edward VII-Chile and Argentina Sign Ten Years' Arbitration Treaty and Agree to Naval Disarmament-Generals Botha, De Wet, and Delarey Visit England on Behalf of Boers-Deaths of Edward Eggleston, American Novelist, and Rudolph Virchow, German Pathologist and Statesman -China Abolishes Likin Dues on British Goods-She Opens New Treaty Ports-Secretary Hay Protests to Powers against Rou 1902 THE NATIONAL SCOUTS mania's Violation of Berlin Treaty in Restricting Jews to Menial Employments Return of Peary, Sverdrup, and Baldwin Polar Expeditions-Millenary of King Alfred at Winchester, England-Death of Queen of the Belgians-Attempted Assassination of King Leopold -Death of Emile Zola, French Novelist-Treaty Between France and Siam Fixes Boundary-Hague Court Settles Pious Fund Dispute Between Mexico and United States in Our Favor-King of Sweden, Arbiter in Samoan Controversy Between Germany and United States, Decides in Germany's Favor- Deaths of Frank Norris, American Novelist, and Mrs. Stanton, American ReformerCompletion of British Trans-Pacific Cable-Reciprocity Treaty Between United States and Newfoundland-Edward VII Arbitrates Argentina-Chile Boundary-Death of Joseph Parker, English Pulpit Orator-Decision in English Taff Vale Case Makes Trade Unions Financially Liable for Illegal Acts of Their Agents-Deaths of Nast, the American Cartoonist, and Ex-Speaker Reed-Great Britain and Germany Send Joint Fleet to Venezuela to Secure Indemnity for Injuries to Their Subjects-Fleet Sinks Venezuelan Ships, Seizes Custom-House, and Demolishes Fort-Venezuela Appeals Through United States for Arbitration of European Claims. B Y the beginning of the year there was completed on the British side the organization of a body of soldiers which became an important factor in the downfall of the Boer cause. This was a corps of 1,500 renegade Boers known as the National Scouts. They were used by Kitchener to fight the patriots with their own tactics. Their leader was a certain Vilonel, whom Michael Davitt, in his "The Boer Fight for Freedom," published in 1902, calls "the Benedict Arnold of the Boer armies." He fought, says Davitt, in the Free State commandoes in early stages of the war, but because of insubordination did not receive the consideration which he thought that his abilities deserved. Wounded vanity led him into actual treachery and he deserted to the British. He informed Kitchener of the movements and plans of General De Wet and President Steyn, and seduced other Boer officers to follow his example of desertion. He was captured by the Boers, convicted of treason, and sentenced to imprisonment. The British captured the place of his imprisonment and liberated him. The British dealt more severely than the Boers with men whom they considered traitors. Kritzinger and Scheepers, citizens of Cape Colony who had joined De Wet upon his invasion of that British territory, were cap |