NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 275, 20 November 1899, Page 5

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

WAR NOTES, NOTIONS, AND NEWS

(VIA ENGLAND,

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

LONDON, October 13th ...THE SITUATION. ( After lying dormant from Friday to Tuesday, the Avar fever has burst forth again with renewed intensity, and I don't at present see any prospect Avhatever of a subsidence till there has been some blood-letting. Sensations commenced on Tuesday morning with the right royal send-ofl London" gave to the New South Wales Lancers. It was really a splendid exhibition of genuine fraternal enthusiasm. Despite the early hour of a cold October morning London turned out in its hundreds of thousands and cheered the Australians riotously and continuously from Waterloo to Fen-church-street. The troopers themselves —all the best of them—Avere immensely touched. "By Godl'Ave must justify this," I heard a big stalwart fellovA' say at Eenchurch-street, with a suspicious moisture in his eyes. And "Eight you are" was the simultaneous comment of all his comrades within hearing. Tuesday afternoon ;,-the aimable Mr Kruger's ultimatum. -The monstrous provisions of this document at first caused the news to be received with general incredulity and in consequence a good deal of money Avas, I fear, lost in the City. A few hours

later, however, "official confirmation" put the facts beyond doubt. Then, indeed, did dismay envelope the Peace party, and sorrow set down in the .National Liberal Club. As malign luck would have it, too, Mr Stead had

choxeii this particular evening to lecture at Croydon on the "Results of the' Peace Congress." Scoffers w-ere naturally not wanting, and I fear they gave the "good man" a lively hour. Matters ended with the suppression of the chairman and lecturer, and the tumultuous singing of "Rule Britannia." "NO BUSINESS OF YOURS." : The attitude of the "Daily News," -the. representative of the traditional Liberal principles and policy concerning the part which the colonies are taking in the South African troubles is in strong contrast to that adoped by the "Chronicle." The latter journal has been crying the question, "What have the colonies to do with the internal affairs of the Transvaal?" The "News" give., the answer thus: — "Colonists, we think, are able, from their own experience, to appreciate the. real issues at stake. . . . They see British subjects in the Transvaal deprived of all political rights. In Canada, as in South Africa, the problem was the fusion of two races. The solution was found in equality , of rights. The Canadians see, therefore, that the British Government is right an insisting upon the application of this principle in South Africa,. Australian colonists, again, know from practical experience the feelings and the, ideals which British settlers take with them into new countries. They konw that the secret of peace and order and contentment is self-govern-ment and equal rights. "Uitlanders" from all .parts of the world settle in Australia. They all enjoy equal rights with the original squatters. They know that Mr Gladstone thought he was conferring self-government upon the inhabitants of the Transvaal. They do not understand a form of self-gov-ernment under which a minority, alike in numbers, in wealth and intelligence, are allowed by means of a monopoly of the vote, and of the gun to keep in political subjection the majority of the inhabitants of the country. But this is not the only point of view from which the Transvaal crisis has' a, special significance for British colonists. . . . British settlers in a State ■which is in semi-dependence upon the British Crown ha.ye appealed to the Queen for redress of grievances. British colonists throughout, the world are watching keenly to see what in the last resort the protection of the British Crown is worth. According to some organs Of public opinion here the Uitlanders are worth paper protests, but not any sacrifices or risks. It was right to ask President Kruger to be kind enough to treat British subjects better. But as he has refused, it will not be right to go any further. This is not a. doctrine which tends to make the Empire beloved or respected. The colonists, like the rest of the world, see it stated every day by statesmen of both parties thatGreat Britain is and must be the paramount Power in South Africa. Mr Bryce speaks of that paramountcy as "patent and unassailable." But the patent fact is that it is assailed. What is the meaning of a, paramountcy which allows the subjects of the paramount Power to be singled out- in one of the South African States for special disabilities, ill-treatment, and political helotry?"