“_Resolved_, by the Senate and the House of Representatives, That in recognition of the patriotism and generosity of Bernard N. Baker in donating the use of the steamship _Missouri_ to the United States, with the services of her captain and crew, during the war with Spain, the cordial thanks of Congress are hereby tendered to him, and Congress hereby authorizes and directs that a gold medal with appropriate design be prepared by the Director of the Mint, and that said medal be presented to him by the President of the United States at such time as he may determine.” Mr. Baker repeated his generous offer when he gave the _Maine_ to the American ladies in London to be fitted out as a hospital ship similar to the _Missouri_. Lady Randolph Churchill (now Mrs. Cornwallis West, Jr.) took the matter in charge and worked unremittingly until the ship was sent to South Africa fully equipped. From October, 1899, to July, 1900, the _Maine_ ministered to the needs of the sick and wounded from South Africa. Then she sailed for Chinese waters, there to undertake the nursing of the British and American soldiers alike. All this time she has been manned, coaled, and run by Mr. Baker entirely at his own expense. The transportation of troops at sea is a problem of the first importance in war. The government of the United States has solved it for the present by purchasing and equipping a fleet of model transports. Great Britain has solved it by abandoning her former fleet of government ships and using her immense merchant marine. Her conspicuous success in carrying promptly and comfortably over 200,000 soldiers to South Africa shows that the resource was ample and that she fully understands the work. The men in khaki fared well on their long journey to the south, and the absence of any complaints speaks well for the staff of the British army which had the task in hand. But the chief secret of the success was in the fact that there were ships without limit for selection, and only the best and largest and swiftest were chosen. At the same time they did not find it necessary to disturb the transatlantic commerce by drawing off the great liners. It is not a pleasant comparison when one thinks that Great Britain sent the greatest army she ever brought together to almost the remotest quarter of the globe without any apparent effect on sea-going traffic, while the United States in 1898 had to scrape together every hulk that would float in order to transport a single army corps a few hundred miles. CHAPTER IX. The Last Days of the Boer Capital [Illustration: Mr. R. H. Davis in Pretoria.]