Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1900 — GREETS BOER CHIEF. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GREETS BOER CHIEF.

FRANCE GOES WILD OVER PAUL KRUGER. Great Enthusiasm Manifested at Marseilles as the Transvaal President Conies Ashore—He Denounces British Warfare as Most Barbarous* Paul Kruger, former president of the South African Republic, landed at Marseilles, France, Thursday morniug. Judging from telegraphic reports, it may be said that Mr. Kruger was borne on an irresistible wave of enthusiasm from the landing stage to his hotel. The broad streets and boulevards through which the route lay presented a perfect sea of human beings, all gathered there prompted by the unanimous desire to welcome the aged Boer statesman. From the moment the white twelve-oared barge left the side of the Gelderland with Mr. Kruger, who appeared to be in good health, sitting in her stern, surrounded by the Boer representatives, including Dr. Leyds and Messrs. Fischer and Wessels, a storm of cheering broke and never cease*! until Mr. Kruger entered his hotel. Even then a vast doncourse of people remained in front of the building until Mr. Kruger appeared on the balcony, where he had to remain for some time, uncovered, acknowledging the acclamations of his thousands of admirers, who continued cheering until they were hoarse with shouting. Replying to the address of welcome of the presidents Of the Paris and Marseilles committees, Mr. Kruger spoke in Dutch and in a low voice, accompanying his w-ords with energetic movements of his hat, which he held in his right hand. After thanking the committees for the warmth of the reception accorded him and expressing gratitude for the sympathy he had received from the French government, he spoke of the war as terrible and barbarously conducted by the British. He said: v “I have fought with savages, but the present war is even worse. We will nev-

er surrender. We are determined to fight to the last extremity, and if the republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State lose their independence it will be because they have lost every man, woman and child.” This declaration which Mr. Kruger made dispelled at once any impression that he intends to accept a compromise from the British government. His announcement was greeted with a roar of cheers and cries of “Vive Kruge/,” “Vive les Boers,” “Vive la Jiberte.” Mr. Kruger received delegations from various municipalities and societies in the hall of the hotel. This proved to be a severe trial, as he had to listen to a couple of hours’ eloquent but to him unintelligible addresses in French, and he left the hall visibly fatigued. He retired to his apartments for an hour’s rest and Michael Davitt delivered a, short address in behalf of the Irish people, which evoked most enthusiastic applause from those present, during which cries of “Vive rireland!” resounded. The gist of Mr. Davitt’s address was interpreted to Mr. Kruger, who is pleased with his reception. Mr, Kruger only replied in the hflll of the hotel to the first address, delivered by M. Thorell, president of the Marseilles committee, who presented the traveler with a symbolical bronze cup, entitled “The. Defense of Home.” Mr. Kruger’s reply breathed the same determination to resist to the end as expressed in his speech at the landing stage. He said the situation was terrible for the Boers, but it was in nowise inextricable or definitive. They never appeared to be crushed by numbers, but he was still firm in the hope “that the reign of the sword would before long be overthrown by that of Justice.” Mr. Kruger received a great ovation from his hearers. Eventually becoming fatigued, he asked the other addresses to be presented to him in writing, and then withdrew again to hie apartments, where he passed the evening quietly. Long after the former president had retired for a rest, the crowd still remained in front of the hotel and horses and carriages could pass only with difficulty. Among the hostile comment on Kruger’s reception at Marseilles appearing in the English press is an article in the London Times. That paper attacks Mr. Kruger’s “extravagant and malignant calumnies on England,” and adds: “It is only by our sufferance that he is in Europe st all. His friends might ds well to reflect on tais obvious an<* palpable fact when his invective grows too spiteful.”

The following is the full, text of Mr. Kruger’s speech on landing at Marseilles: I thank the president of the Marseilles committee and the president of the central committee of the independence of the Boers for their welcome. , I thank all this population assembled In great concourse to greet me, for, although 1 wear mourning for the misfortunes of my country, and although 1 have not come to seek festivities, still 1 i.evertheless accept with all my heart these acclamations, for I know they are dictated th you by the emotions which are Inspired in you by our trials and by your sympathy fur our cause, which is that of liberty, which awakened you. I am truly proud and happy at having chosen as my point of landing a port in France, to set foot on free soil and to be received by you as a free man. But my first duty is to thank your government for all the tokens of interest It has given me. I believe England, had she been better Informed, would never have consented to this war, and since the expedition of Jameson, who wished to seize the two republics without the necessity of firing a rifle shot, I have never ceased to demand a tribunal of arbitration, which up to now has always been refused. ' ~ ■ '' The war waged on us in the two republics reached the last limits of barbarism. During my life I have had to fight many times the savages of the tribes of Africa, but the barbarians we have to fight now are worse than the others. They even urge the Kaffirs against us. They burn the farms we

worked so hard to construct and they drive out our women and children, whose -husbands and brothers they have killed or taken prisoners, leaving them roofless and often without bread to eat. But whatever they may do, we will never surrender. We will fight to the end. Our great. Imperishable confidence reposes In the Eternal, In our God. We know our cause Is just, and if the Justice- of men Is wanting to us, He, the Eternal, who Is master of all peoples and to whom belongs the future, will never abandon us. I assure you that If the Transvaal and the Orange Free State must lose their independence It will be because all the Boer people have been destroyed with their women and children.

HARBOR OF MARSEILLES, WHERE KRUGER LANDED.