"Wrong! Is it wrong? Well, may be!
But I'm going, boys, all the same. Do they think me a Burgher's baby, To be scared by a scolding name? They may argue, and prate, and order "Go, tell them to save their breath Then, over the Transvaal border, And gallop for life or death "Let lawyers and statesmen addle "Their pates over points of law If sound he our sword, and saddle, And gun-gear, who cares one straw When men of our own blood pray us To ride to their kinsfolk's aid, Not Heaven itself shall stay From the rescue they call a raid, "There are girls in the gol-reef city, There are mothers and children too And they cry, Hurry up for pity So what can a brave man do? If even we win, they'll blame us If we fail, they will howl and hiss. But there's many a man lives famous.
For daring a wrong like this So we forded and galloped forward, "As hard as our beasts could pelt, First eastward, then trending norward,
Till we came on the Burghers lying Right over the rolling veldt Ina hollow with hills behind, And their bullets came hissing, flying, Like hail on an Arctic wind Right sweet is the marksman's rattle, And sweeter the cannon's roar, But tis bitterly bad to battle, Beleaguered, and one to four, Lean tell you, it wasn't a trifle To swarm over Krugersdorp glen, As they plied us with round and rit And ploughed us, again and again.
Then we made for the gold-reef city, Retreating, but not in rout, They had called to us ' Quick for pity And He said, They will sally out. They will hear us and come. Who doubts it?"
'But how if they don't, what then "Well, worry no more about it, But fight to the death, like men.'
Not a soul had or supped or slumbered Since the Borderland stream was cleft But we fought, ever more outnumbered, Till we had not a cartridge left. We're not very soft or tender, But it breaks one to have to render Or given to weep for woe, One's sword to the strongest foe, vin, Tsuppose we were wrong, were madmen, Still I think at the Judgment Day, When God sifts the good from the bad men, There'll be something more to say. We were wrong, but we aren't half sorry, And, as one of the baffled band, I would rather have had that foray Than the crushings of all the Rand, The Economist's opening note on the Money Market indicates the fear that one financial crisis will succeed another in New York, until the whole currency system of the United States is reformed; but how is that to be done with the Senate undoing what the House of Representatives does, and rice vers? Tt says As usual after the turn of the year, an easier tendency has prevailed in the money market, and the quotation for best three months' bills has receded to 12 per cent. The relapse, too, world almost certainly have been still more marked but for the political unrest and uncertainty as to the action which may be taken to replenish the gold reserve of the United States Treasury. Experience has shown that there is no tse in trusting to another internal issue of bonds, although that is the course the Senate favours, and the plain; of the loan, or a portion of it, abroad lead to withdrawals of gold from the Bank of England. Looking, however, to the enormous stock of the metal the Bank' now holds, the loss of a few millions would be matter of no moment, and there is, besides, the certainty that under existing conditions the gold taken hence will not remain in the Treasury, but will before long flow back in. It is not, therefore, the possibility
troubles the market, but the uncertainty as gold being taken from the States that to how currency affairs in the States will develop themselves, and how long it will be, if the present makeshift policy' is pursued, before another financial crisis is, precipitated. In ordinary circumstances, the fact that during the March quarter the collection of the rovenvo sweeps large amounts of money from the market into the Bank would also have tended to keep rates from falling, but that consideration has little force at present.
The Economist's first leading article deals of course with "The Situation in the Transvaal," and it states very clearly the dilemma in which Dr, Jameson's action left the Chartered Com:
However the matter is approached, and from whatever point of view considered, it will be admitted that the position occupied by the Chartered Company is extremely unsatisfactory. Dr. Jameson is one of the most trusted servants of that body. Indeed, he may be described as their chief executive officer. Again, the troopers who moved with him into the territory of the Boers were apparently in the military employment of the Company, and committed something very like an act of mutiny in taking the course they did. Now, these being the circumstances, of two things' one. Either the Chartered Company winked at and allowed Dr. Jameson's action, or they did not. Which of these views is the true one we shall make no attempt to decide. All we desire to point out is that in either case the Company and the system of jovernment carried on by them stand con-lornned: If the Company, or rather those who control their affairs in South Africa, were privy to the movement made by Dr. Jameson, they have, of course, forfeited all right to the confidence that has been reposed in them by Parliament. If, on the other hand, the Company were' not either directly or directly privy to Dr. Jameson's action, then they have shown themselves quit incapable of controlling their own forces, and have proved themselves unfit to do the work with which they have been entrusted. It cannot be said that a body so utterly without the power to keep its executive officers in hand ought to be entrusted with the command of a military force. The only thing that can justify us in delegating Imperial and governmental powers to a trading company is the absolute ability of that company to carry out the great responsibilities devolved upon them. When it shows itself incapable of controlling those nominally under its orders, a chartered company has become as dangerous as a ship with a crew in mutiny.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.