LOUIS IRVING SEYMOUR.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sus,—Every Englishman who ever came within reach of his vivid personality, or even blew about him by report, must deplore the death of Major Louis Seymour, of Johannesburg, at the head of the Cape Railway Pioneer Corps, which he raised from the engineers and mechanics of the Rand. Mining engineers tell us that his record was perhaps the most brilliant of any among the younger members of their profession; his friends and the members of the great South African firm whose consulting engineer he was, tell us that great as is the loss of his professional capacity to the industry which he served, that loss is swallowed up in the loss to themselves and the Transvaal of the future of a noble, strong, and truth-loving man. But what concerns an English by- stander the most is that Seymour was an American, proud to the core of his native country, yet proud of his British descent and loyal to his kindred in the struggle which has cost him his life. "I want you all to understand," he wrote to his firm at the outbreak of the war, "I will not run any foolish risks, but that I will try to do what I can for the general good at any risk to myself. Should anything serious happen to me, please understand that I wanted to see this
• Report of Select Committee of House of Commons, which Included Sir Robert Peel and Lord John Russell.
country put on a basis that will enable a self-respecting man to make it his home, and am perfectly willing to abide by any consequences that may follow as a result of my exer-
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