524 



OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (KETTELER LAWES.) 



over the Transvaal. In 1891 the commandant 

 general went to Europe to select arms for the 

 defense of the independence of the republic. 

 The training and tactics of the Boer army 

 were the work of Joubert, who was well versed 

 in military science and history, and who studied 

 out the methods of administration, discipline, 

 and fighting that were best adapted to the 

 character of the Boers and the conditions and 

 conformation of their country. When the war 

 eume and the Boers marched into the war his 

 general plan of campaign was good, but owing 

 to his own lack of energy and promptitude, the 

 effect perhaps of growing old or of his pacific 

 leanings, owing also to the want of co-operation 

 and obedience on the part of the commanders, 

 ahvays more marked in the Boer army at the be- 

 ginning of a campaign than in other armies, it 

 was not successful either in Natal or in Cape 

 Colony ; and he might have chosen a better plan, 

 more likely to succeed, that of an immediate in- 

 vasion of Cape Colony, had not sectional jealousy 

 prevented, and the unwillingness of the Boers to 

 leave their homes unprotected. Indecision and 

 excessive caution, undue deference to the opin- 

 ions of his subordinates, and acquiescence in their 

 independent movements, characterized his con- 

 duct of the campaign in Natal, which was carried 

 on with more vigor after he was compelled by 

 infirmity of health to leave the front. His death 

 was sudden and unexpected. Gen. Louis Botha, 

 the victor at Spion Kop and on the Tugela, suc- 

 ceeded to the supreme command. Piet Joubert 

 was a typical Boer of the old sort, understanding 

 funning and cattle breeding as well as any one, 

 keen at a bargain, yet ready to sacrifice selfish and 

 pecuniary interests for the public good, simple and 

 frugal in his habits, plain and frank of speech, 

 kindly, unassuming, such a man as the Boers like 

 and admire; none was more popular among all 

 the Dutch of South Africa. And he had intellec- 

 tual gifts of a remarkable kind, and an ability to 

 use them that gave him recognition and weight. 

 There was no malice or depreciation implied in 

 the epithet xlim. His mental activity, facility, 

 and versatility, and his thirst for knowledge, 

 made him almost a master of jurisprudence, his- 

 tory, politics, and strategy, and he was the mas- 

 ter of a noble, forcible, and eloquent style of 

 writing, and made frequent use of his ready pen. 



Ketteler, Baron K. von, a German diplomatist, 

 died in Pekin, China, June 18, 1900. He was a 

 nephew of the celebrated Bishop of Mayence, and 

 was trained first for a military life. He resigned 

 his commission as a Prussian officer in 1882 to 

 enter the German legation in China as a student 

 interpreter, was transferred to Canton, and the 

 courage and understanding that he displayed in 

 saving Germans and other Europeans during the 

 disturbances of 1883 gained for him the order of 

 the Red Eagle. He returned to Pekin, filled as 

 substitute for a time the post of consul in Tien- 

 tsin, was transferred in 1890 to Washington as 

 secretary of legation, was appointed minister to 

 Mexico in 1895 after marrying an American lady, 

 and in 1899 returned to China to succeed Baron 

 von Hey king as minister plenipotentiary at Pe- 

 kin. He could speak Chinese with ease, and for 

 this reason and because of the German activity 

 in Shantung took the lead in making representa- 

 tions and uttering warnings to the Chinese Gov- 

 ernment when the Boxer troubles began in north- 

 ern China. He was engaged in such an errand 

 when lie was shot in the street by a Chinese 

 patrol (see CHINA). 



Kingsley, Mary H., an English traveler and 

 writer, born about 1805; died in Simonstown, 



Cape Colony, June 5, 1900. She was the daughter 

 of Dr. George Kingsley, a brother of Charles 

 Kingsley. She was known principally in relation 

 to west Africa through her books and lectures. 

 Her statements are all founded on personal ob- 

 servation, and in one of her books. West African 

 Studies, she criticises with considerable sharpness 

 the system of government adopted for the Crown 

 colonies of West Africa. Early in 1900 she went 

 to South Africa as a special correspondent, and 

 soon after arriving there offered her services as 

 nurse in the military hospital at Simonstown. 

 While engaged in this work she contracted the ill- 

 ness of which she died. Her published books in- 

 clude Travels in West Africa (1897); West Af- 

 rican Studies (1899); and The Story of West 

 Africa (1900). Her style was both original and 

 distinctive, displaying at times a peculiar quality 

 that might almost be called sardonic, and is sel- 

 dom found in a woman's writing. 



Lankester. Airs. Phebe (Pope), an English 

 writer on popular science, born in Manchester, 

 England, in 1825; died in London, April 9, 1900. 

 She was the daughter of a manufacturer, and in 

 1845 married Dr. Edwin Lankester, and subse- 

 quently assisted her husband in preparing articles 

 for the Penny Cyclopaedia and the English Cyclo- 

 paedia. She was the mother of eleven children, 

 one of whom is the noted scientist, Prof. E. Ray 

 Lankester. Her published works comprise Wild 

 Flowers worth Notice (1861); the literary por- 

 tion of Sowerby's British Botany; Talks about 

 Health (1874); and Talks about Plants (1878). 



Lavroff, Pierre, a Russian revolutionist, born 

 in 1821 ; died in Paris in the beginning of Febru- 

 ary, 1900. He was of noble birth and entered the 

 army, becoming an eminent professor in the St. 

 Petersburg military academy. His contributions 

 to various Russian periodicals roused the sus- 

 picion of the authorities, and after the attempt of 

 Karakasoff on the life of Alexander II he was 

 proved to have held relations with the nihilist 

 conspirators, for which he was deprived of his 

 rank of colonel of artillery in the guards and 

 relegated to the government of Vologda, whence 

 he escaped. Going to France, he entered into re- 

 lations with Bakunin and plunged into the revo- 

 lutionary agitation. After staying for a while 

 in Zurich and then in London, consorting with 

 other nihilists in exile, he returned to Paris and 

 assisted in editing an anthropological review. He 

 was expelled in 1882, but returned again and re; 

 mained in Paris thenceforward. 



Lawes, Sir John Bennett, an English agrieul- 

 turist, born in Hertfordshire in 1814; died there. 

 Aug. 31, 1900. He was educated at Eton and 

 Brasenose College, Oxford, giving more attention 

 to independent scientific studies than to the 

 classics. He acquired a thorough acquaintance 

 with the pharmacopoeia, and after succeeding t<> 

 the paternal estates in 1834 he experimented with 

 the culture and studied the properties of the pop- 

 py, hemlock, henbane, belladonna, and other 

 plants the therapeutic action of which was en- 

 gaging the attention of the medical world. The 

 agricultural crisis caused by the decline of the 

 price of wheat in spite of protection to 39.v. i 

 quarter in 1835 roused his interest in this staple 

 and suggested investigations and experiments in 

 agriculture for the public good. He took the lion 

 farm of 250 acres for his researches in debated 

 questions and unsolved problems of agricullm . 

 From 1837 till 1839 he tested the effects of dif- 



f( rent kinds of manure on plants growing in 

 and was the first one to discover the value of the 

 process of treating phosphates \\ith sulphuric 

 acid. He obtained remarkable results from the 





