“The above is my present address, where I am simply roughing it, owing to the chaos prevailing inside and out. I am therefore in no condition for writing a letter for the public eye, as you yourself would be the first to admit if you could see my surroundings. Besides, I cannot see the object of interesting the public in anything just now, and the Anglo-Saxon relations are the topic of a thousand pens more or less capable of instructing everybody who can read or think. Whether we shall fight or not depends upon Kruger. He alone has it in his power to stay the storm, but whether he will use that power or not, no one--probably not Kruger even--can say. My opinion of Kruger differs from almost every writer in the fact that I say he is a confirmed ass, or if you prefer the true meaning of it--an obstinate old fool. “I wrote ‘Through South Africa’ some two years ago, and if you will look at chapter seven, I think--I have not the book by me--you will see how the present crisis and the probable termination of it are fulfilling the prediction I made. “I really do not know which to pity most, the English who hate war and who would do anything in honor to avoid it--dragged to war and future trouble against their will--or the Boers, whose stupid obstinacy is likely to be their ruin. “A few years ago, before the Jameson raid, Kruger said, ‘I will never give you anything, and now let the storm burst.’ “It is a bad-tempered man who said that, and Kruger’s bad temper is the most prominent characteristic of his nature. His sheer bad temper has caused all this row and will eventually bring him to shame unless, may the gods grant it, he is thoroughly frightened by a stronger, sterner, fiercer will. “I have known individuals like Kruger before, and though their obstinate wills seemed adamantine, many yielded before a greater and superior will. “The South African war--should it take place--will prove the salvation of South Africa, if it is conducted rightly. We should have an overwhelming force over there, and the utmost energy should be employed to bring it to a perfect finale, where all white should be free and equal. The country should be given up to the people, and outsiders should refrain from meddling in their affairs.” * * * * * At social functions given by the press in his honor Stanley was always at his best. He appeared among newspaper men as perfectly at home--one of the profession, claiming no honors or no place that could or would not be attained by any live journalist should the occasion offer. It is this attitude that so helped to make of him in America the favorite hero of the pressmen of the land. GEORGE KENNAN was introduced to me by Mr. Roswell Smith, President of the Century Co. His letters on Siberia were appearing in _The Century Magazine_ and creating a great deal of interest.