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An Exciting New Year's Day in Jungletown

AN EXCITING NEW YEAR'S DAY IN JUNGLETOWN

PRESS OF HAHN & HARMON COMPANY MINNEAPOLIS

AN EXCITING NEW YEAR'S DAY IN JUNGLETOWN

The first of January dawned bright and clear, much to the gratification of the inhabitants of Jungletown, for King Leo had decreed that various sporting contests should take place on Monkey Hill. There were to be foot races on skis and snow shoes, snow ball encounters and toboggan races. In fact, almost every kind of winter sport was to be indulged in, with the exception of skating, for the king was averse to that amusement, and never included it in his entertainments.

All the animals, from the very big bear down to the little squirrel, ever since the day for the sports had been set, had looked forward to it, with eager anticipation and joy, and had worked busily, getting things in readiness, for much was accomplished before the eventful day arrived.

First, there had to be a space cleared for the spectators, with a special tract set aside for the king and his friends; then the making of a fine slide for the tobogganers, and the marking of the bounds for the foot races. Moreover, each family provided a full lunch basket, so the mothers and daughters were also busy planning what they should cook.

Finally, when the day came, all was ready. Most families had even packed the food the day before. So it happened that quite early in the morning a large crowd had gathered on Monkey Hill. Not only all the citizens of Jungletown, itself, and their families were there, but also animals, whose homes were many miles away, had come to see the fun.

Thus, when one o'clock, the hour set for the races to commence, came, the hill was simply alive with elephants, giraffes, bears, wolves, foxes, monkeys, 'possums, coons, squirrels, and many other animals, besides the relatives of the king, lions, tigers and leopards.

Then the jolly, good time began, and what a glorious afternoon they all had. The ski race, between the bears and the squirrels, came first, and was very exciting, for, although the squirrels were much smaller than the bears, they were so much lighter on their feet, and could manage their skis better, that they won the race.

Next came the equally animated snow shoe race, between the elephants and giraffes, the latter winning in the end. After the foot races were finished, there were snow fights between different parties, and then the time came for the toboggan races to begin. They aroused even more excitement than any of the previous contests, but were also the cause of a serious accident.

All went well, until the last load of tobogganers, composed of monkeys, 'possums and squirrels, had started down the hill. Suddenly, as the toboggan was skimming along the slide, at a rapid rate of speed, a screech was heard from behind, and Jack 'Possum looked around to see a poor squirrel lying on the ground, several yards back, seemingly senseless. The little fellow had been at the end, and when the toboggan gave a slight lurch, as it passed over an uneven place in the slide, he lost his balance and fell backward.

As soon as the accident had been discovered the race was stopped, and a crowd gathered about him. For a time, some thought him dead. However, when Sir Thomas Lion, a cousin of the king, and a very prominent physician in Jungletown, reached his side, he found one leg broken, but said the squirrel was not otherwise injured, except temporarily stunned by the fall. Dr. Lion ordered him carried to the nearest house, which happened to be that of two nice, old maid bears. There the doctor set his leg, and soon afterward he regained consciousness.

Next a search was made for his father and mother, but none of the squirrels present at the races claimed any relationship to him. In the course of a few days he told the two old bears that he was an orphan, and had come many miles to see the sporting contests.

Now these bears were very kind hearted, and they felt very sorry for the little homeless creature, and soon became very fond of him, and he of them. So, when the day came that he was able to go, they, all three, went to the Jungletown Court, and the bears legally adopted him.

From that time on, Tommy Squirrel always had a very comfortable home and two, dear friends, in these old maid bears. While they never ceased to be grateful that the toboggan accident, the day of the sporting contests, had been the means of their finding a very obedient and loving little charge.

It has not been sufficiently realised in England that although the Transvaal may properly, in respect of British control over its foreign relations, be described as a semi-dependent State, Britain was under the same obligation to treat it with a strict regard to the recognised principles of international law as if it had been a great power. She had made treaties with it, and those treaties it was her duty to observe. Apart from all moral or sentimental considerations, apart from the fact that Britain had at the Hague Conference been the warm and effective advocate of peaceful methods of settling disputes between nations, it is her truest interest to set an example of fairness, legality and sincerity. No country, not even the greatest, can afford to neglect that reasonable and enlightened opinion of thoughtful men in other countries--not to be confounded with the invective and misrepresentation employed by the press of each nation against the others--which determines the ultimate judgment of the world, and passes into the verdict of history.

Among the grievances most in men's mouths was the exclusion of the new-comers from the electoral franchise. It must be clearly distinguished from the other grievances. It was a purely internal affair, in which Britain had no right to intermeddle, either under the Convention of 1884 or under the general right of a state to protect its subjects. Nothing is clearer than that every state may extend or limit the suffrage as it pleases. If a British self-governing colony were to restrict the suffrage to those who had lived fourteen years in the colony, or a state of the American Union were to do the like, neither the Home Government in the one case, nor the Federal Government in the other would have any right to interfere. All therefore that Britain could do was to call the attention of the South African Republic in a friendly way to the harm which the restriction of the franchise was causing, and point out that to enlarge it might remove the risk of a collision over other matters which did fall within the scope of British intervention.

We are therefore, on a review of the whole position, led to conclude that Britain was justified in requiring the Transvaal Government to redress the grievances which were complained of. Whether she would be justified in proceeding to enforce by arms compliance with her demand, would of course depend upon several things, upon the extent to which the existence of the grievances could be disproved, upon the spirit in which the Transvaal met the demand, upon the amount of concessions offered or amendment promised. But before the British Government entered on a course which might end in war, if the Transvaal should prove intractable, there were some considerations which it was bound seriously to weigh.

In the second place the British Government had to remember the importance of carrying the opinion of the Dutch in Cape Colony, and, as far as possible, even of the Orange Free State, with them in any action they might take. It has been pointed out how before December, 1895, that opinion blamed the Transvaal Government for its unfriendly treatment of the immigrants. The Dutch of both communities had nothing to gain and something to lose by the maladministration of the Transvaal, so that they were nowise disposed to support it in refusing reforms. The only thing that would make them rally to it would be a menace to its independence, regarding which they, and especially the Free State people, were extremely sensitive. Plainly, therefore, unless the colonial Dutch were to be incensed and the Free State men turned to enemies, such a menace was to be avoided.

Whether the force of these considerations, obvious to every unbiased mind which had some knowledge of South Africa, was fully realized by those who directed British policy, or whether, having realized their force, they nevertheless judged war the better alternative, is a question on which we are still in the dark. It is possible--and some of the language used by the British authorities may appear to suggest this explanation--that they entered on the negotiations which ended in war in the belief that an attitude of menace would suffice to extort submission, and being unable to recede from that attitude, found themselves drawn on to a result which they had neither desired nor contemplated. Be this as it may, the considerations above stated prescribed the use of prudent and conciliatory methods in their diplomacy, as well as care in selecting a position which would supply a legal justification for war, should war be found the only issue.

This was the more necessary because the Boers were known to be intensely suspicious. Every weak power trying to resist a stronger one must needs take refuge in evasive and dilatory tactics. Such had been, such were sure to be, the tactics of the Boers. But the Boers were also very distrustful of the English Government, believing it to aim at nothing less than the annexation of their country. It may seem strange to Englishmen that the purity of their motives and the disinterestedness of their efforts to spread good government and raise others to their own level should be doubted. But the fact is--and this goes to the root of the matter--that the Boers have regarded the policy of Britain towards them as a policy of violence and duplicity. They recall how Natal was conquered from them in 1842, after they had conquered it from the Zulus; how their country was annexed in 1877, how the promises made at the time of that annexation were broken. They were not appeased by the retrocession of 1881, which they ascribed solely to British fear of a civil war in South Africa. It should moreover be remembered,--and this is a point which few people in England do remember--that they hold the annexation to have been an act of high-handed lawlessness done in time of peace, and have deemed themselves entitled to be replaced in the position their republic held before 1877, under the Sand River Convention of 1852. Since the invasion of December 1895, they have been more suspicious than ever, for they believe the British Government to have had a hand in that attempt, and they think that influential capitalists have been sedulously scheming against them. Their passion for independence is something which we in modern Europe find it hard to realise. It recalls the long struggle of the Swiss for freedom in the fourteenth century, or the fierce tenacity which the Scotch showed in the same age in their resistance to the claim of England to be their "Suzerain Power." This passion was backed by two other sentiments, an exaggerated estimate of their own strength and a reliance on the protecting hand of Providence, fitter for the days of the Maccabees or of Cromwell than for our own time, but which will appear less strange if the perils through which their nation had passed be remembered.

These were the rocks among which the bark of British diplomacy had to be steered. They were, however, rocks above water, so it might be hoped that war could be avoided and some valuable concession secured. To be landed in war would obviously be as great a failure as to secure no concession.

This course having been adopted, the negotiations entered on a new phase with the Conference at Bloemfontein, where President Kruger met the British High Commissioner. Such a direct interchange of views between the leading representatives of two Powers may often be expedient, because it helps the parties to get sooner to close quarters with the substantial points of difference, and so facilitates a compromise. But its utility depends on two conditions. Either the basis of discussion should be arranged beforehand, leaving only minor matters to be adjusted, or else the proceedings should be informal and private. At Bloemfontein neither condition existed. No basis had been previously arranged. The Conference was formal and virtually public, each party speaking before the world, each watched and acclaimed by its supporters over the country. The eyes of South Africa were fixed on Bloemfontein, so that when the Conference came to its unfruitful end, the two parties were practically further off than before, and their failure to agree accentuated the bitterness both of the Transvaal Boers and of the English party in the Colonies. To the more extreme men among the latter this result was welcome. There was already a war party in the Colony, and voices clamorous for war were heard in the English press. Both then and afterwards every check to the negotiations evoked a burst of joy from organs of opinion at home and in the Cape, whose articles were unfortunately telegraphed to Pretoria. Worse still, the cry of "Avenge Majuba" was frequently heard in the Colonies, and sometimes even in England.

The story of the negotiations which followed during the months of July, August and September, cannot be told fully here, because it is long and intricate, nor summarized, because the fairness of any summary not supported by citations would be disputed. There are, however, some phenomena in the process of drifting towards war which may be concisely noticed.

One of these is that the contending parties were at one moment all but agreed. The Transvaal Government offered to give the suffrage after five years residence coupled with certain conditions, which had little importance, and were afterwards so explained as to have even less. This was, from their point of view, a great concession, one to which they expected opposition from the more conservative section of their own burghers. The British negotiators, though they have since stated that they meant substantially to accept this pro

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