The life and letters of John Hay . the Vaal, Johannesburg, and Pretoria, not tomention Laings Nek and other places, and not los-ing a man or a mule, a gun or a cart. It looks now asif Oom Paul will get to Lydenburg with his wholearmy intact — bar Cronje — having put hors decombat a force fully equal to his own, with everyounce of his material saved. I have the greatest admiration for the Boerssmartness, but it is their bravery that our idioticpublic is snivelling over. If they were only as braveas they are slim, the war would have ended long agoby their extermination. We do occasionally kill a
The life and letters of John Hay . the Vaal, Johannesburg, and Pretoria, not tomention Laings Nek and other places, and not los-ing a man or a mule, a gun or a cart. It looks now asif Oom Paul will get to Lydenburg with his wholearmy intact — bar Cronje — having put hors decombat a force fully equal to his own, with everyounce of his material saved. I have the greatest admiration for the Boerssmartness, but it is their bravery that our idioticpublic is snivelling over. If they were only as braveas they are slim, the war would have ended long agoby their extermination. We do occasionally kill aFilipino, but what man has ever yet seen a deadBoer? Your friend Bryan . . says the Boer War isan issue in our campaign — I suppose because theBritish are 16 to i. The serious thing is the discovery—now pastdoubt — that the British have lost all skill in fight-ing ; and the whole world knows it, and is regulatingitself accordingly. It is a portentous fact, altogetherdeplorable in my opinion; for their influence on the. THE BOXER ORDEAL 233 whole made for peace and civilization. If Russiaand Germany arrange things, the balance is lost forages. The abuse which the Administration, and particu-larly the Secretary of State, suffered for its friendli-ness toward England caused Hay anxiety. With ahostile Senate on one side and an irresponsible butperniciously active horde of demagogues on theother, he feared that his projects would be hopelesslyshattered. While he betrayed neither resentment nortrepidation to the enemy, he spoke out almost withferocity to his few confidents. Uninformed historical writers have recently re-vived an old rumor to the effect that the UnitedStates made, in Hays time, a secret alliance withEngland. After his denial which follows, this sillyassertion ought to be allowed to stay dead. To Senator McMillan July 3, 1900. The Administration has observed the laws of neu-trality strictly, . . You ask me if there is a secretalliance between Great Britain an
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