389

In a

and writers like Mr. Frederic Harrison are lead-
ing a great body of intelligent Liberals.
powerful address to Lord Salisbury Mr. Harri-
son touches the root of the matter when he
declares:

No legal quibbling about suzerainty can persuade us
that the South African republic is a part of the empire.
If it is not part of the empire it must be a foreign state,
even though it be one over which by agreement Great
Britain has some control. But this control is solely
concerned with the external, not with the internal, re-
lations of the republic. The point in dispute solely
relates to the internal relations of the Transvaal. No
one pretends that the dispute concerns the dealings of
the republic with foreign nations. Therefore the cause
of war, if war there is to be, arises from matters be-
tween Great Britain and the home affairs of a republic
which is not within the empire, not within the domin-
ions of the Queen.

Two Ways of

The whole British case against Krüger Putting the is summed up by a leading London Case. weekly, which in one of its issues for last month made the following editorial declara

tions :

These Where nations are concerned the only rights are the rights of strength, of ability, and of success. qualities we believe to be those of the British empire at present, and we mean to make them manifest in South Africa. As practical men we see that the development of an immense portion of the globe lies in our hands and in our hands alone, and we shall admit of no obstacles in our path. The Boer may stand against us for a moment, but only to be swept into oblivion. For us, too, in other' days may come annihilation and defeat, but in the meanwhile we are the paramount power, and no man shall deny it.

Such is the position of the British Government at the present moment, as frankly expressed by one of its supporters; and the statement is perfectly fair to the imperialists. Mr. Harrison's way of putting it, however, is somewhat different; as witness the following from his address to the prime minister:

Measured by the compromises with foreign nations which you may justly claim to have brought to a successful issue, the concessions already accepted by the republic are indeed decisive. From nine years to seven

THE WAR PLANET.

COLONIAL JOE: "Like to 'ave a look at Mars, yer 'onor? Yer seem to see 'im quite close through my telescope!" From Punch (London).

years, from seven to five years, from one demand of the
Uitlanders to another, the Boers have given way. They
And
have already conceded the whole of the original de-
mand made on them, and have even added more.

at every fresh concession Sir Alfred Milner is instructed
to make further demands, until throughout the Trans-
vaal, and we may well add at home, the impression
prevails that it is not concession of claims which is
sought from the republic, but submission, humiliation,
and loss of independence. Is this how negotiations have
been carried on when you, my lord, as head of the For-
eign Office, have dealt with Russia, Turkey, France, or
the United States? This is not negotiation. It is war
-war of naked aggression; war wherein the Boers will
not yield without a desperate struggle and after bloody
combats a war which cannot be closed by a few vic-
tories nor the traces of it
wiped out by a few promises
or proclamations; a
wherein many true and pa
triotic Englishmen devout
ly trust that the Boers ma
not be ultimately crushed.
The well

HANDS ACROSS THE SEA" (NEW VERSION).-From the World (New York).

Olive

wa

Schreiner's known Sout

Protest.

African wri er, Mrs. Cronwright, be ter known by her pe name (which was also h