The Press. FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1879.

Press, Volume XXXI, Issue 4316, 30 May 1879, Page 2

The Press. FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1879.

These are two items of cable newe published yesterday which, will be read with interest by those who watch the progress of public affairs in oilier portions of the Empire. We refer to the announcement that the treaty of peace with Yakoob Khan has been signed, and that Sir Garnet "Wolseley has been appointed to the supreme military and civil command of Natal, Transvaal, and the adjoining districts, including the Beat of war. The successful termination of the Afghan war must be a source of very great satisfaction to the Government at the present time. There were many who viewed with some apprehension the prospect of a continuance of the campaign until the greater part of Afghanistan had been brought under our authority, and until our victorious forces were in possession of Cabul. It was felt that the professed objects of the war had been accomplished. We .had secured the " scientific frontier" laid down by military experts ■ as needed to make our Indian Empire safe against invasion, and we bad amply punished the Ameer for the,insult which we had received at his hands,! Any further advance would have changed the character of the war from one of self-defence to one of military conquest. There seems to have been grave apprehension in many l quarters tbat the Viceroy and bis military advisers might conquer the better judgment of the authorities at borne, and so commit the country to a further and indefinite expenditure. Bnt wiser councils have prevailed, and if the terms of peace are at all reasonable, the Government of Lord Beaconsfield will at least have one great success to place against the failures in South Africa. * For undoubtedly the Afghan campaign must be regarded as most successful. It has been short, and it has been bloodless. During the few months which have elapsed since hostilities commenced, our position in theEast has, in the opinion of Indian authorities, undergone an entire change. Before the war our power in India was said to be in considerable danger. It was maintained that the insult offered to the British representative by the ruler of Afghanistan would have been followed by other and more serious troubles, and the impression would have spread rapidly that at no distant day our rule in the East would have to give way to that of Russia. How general that impression was it is difficult to ascertain, but that it did exist cannot be doubted. And nothing short of a war with the Ameer would, it was saidi remove the impression. There were thoso, of coarse, «who opposed the campaign from the first, who denounced the war as unjust and uncalled for, and asserted that any Annexation of territory was -altogether unnecessary. But the conclusion of ft peace just at the time when hoetile critics were boldly asserting that the war had--scarcely begun, will greatly /fend" to revive the somewhat waning confidence of the majority in the House of Commons in their leaders, and will deprive their opponents of their most telling arguments. The Government will be able to point to their rela-i tktns with Afghanistan as proof thai' their foreign policy was dictated by other : than mere lust of conquest, and that the moment ibey could safely do so they eagerly embraced the opportunity of concluding an honorable peace. ; Aβ regards the appointment of Sir Garnet Wolseley it is somewhat difficult, with the scanty information before us, to realise die position taken up by the Government. In the debate on Sir Charles, Dilke's resolution in the House of Com-: mone, censuring Sir Bartle Frere for his action in bringing' about a war with the Zulu King, the Government boldly assumed all the responsibility for the war, and stood between Sir Bartle Frere and Parliament. Although not approving of hie conduct in certain respects, the Chancellor of the Exchequer told the House that they " had not thought his conduct was sufficient to outweigh the many considerations which induced the' Government , to desire that his services should be continued in South Africa. The Government had delayed pronouncing an opinion upon Sir Bartle ITrere's conduct until they had received all the explanation he had to offer, and though they thought it would have been wiser for him to delay sending the ultimatum, till he had- heard from the Home Government, they did not think this conduct disqualified him from being useful to the colony in future." The division which, followed showed ,that a change had taken place in the opinion of the House of Commons, for Ministers only secured a majority of sixty in a pretty-full h_onse.- The Times" characterised the division as a 'significant warningi and as .undoubtedly answering to a feeling of disappointment throughout the country. The debate, it is pointed out, did not convince the country that the Ministry w>s free from responsibility for what has Jtafcen place in South Africa. Had the Secretary of State "held a steadier and fighter rein," Sir Bartle : Frere - would not have .ventured upon taking the decisive step which precipitated the %ar. Had Sir Michael Hicks-Beach kept "before Sir Bartle : Frere's mind the .necessary limitations ■of ?his South'African'policy/' the Lord High^,Commissioner*7might, : not have entered upon a war which he brought on " without bestowing an instant's reflection upon the conditions under ivhieh Imperial policy was: compelled' to work." And it is the ■' conviction; 'to use the words of Lord Blachford, "that the Imperial Government may be very Imperial indeed, but will soon be no Government at all" if its officers, unacquainted with the wider considerations which should influence Imperial' action, are to "be allowed to determine the,, policy of Empire, which has created uneasiness in i the pubEc "~m&.dV;."iThe" hands of the Imperial Government .were full in other quarters, In Afghanistan, in Eastern ! Europe, in Asiatic Turkey, and elsewhere, I Was not one to precipitate a war in Zululand, which must necessarily be costly and demand the presence of large forces. What Sir Bartle Frere has done, others might <io elsewhere:! The ; " empire is so vast," and the "problems to be dealt with at the same time so many," that incessant vigilence and uncompromising firmness ace needed if the Home Government is not to be dragged into difficulties it does not understand, and .committed to uuder- ' takings 7 it does not approve. It is this conviction, no doubt, and the ereats which have ' since transpired at the Cape, which nave induced the Government, notwithstanding the declarations in th 6 House during the debate, ip alier. their decision, and withdraw from the position they had-taken up.' Writing on April lpth, our London correspondent points ,cut' that. each" srotdd in all proIfcbilite |»rthe coa*9& they trouto take,

and the appointment of Sir Garnet Wolsaley shows that hw prediction was correct. The appointment will, we suppose, give general satisfaction. The Press of all shades of opinion, but especially the Opposition Press, hare urged on the Govemmehli the necessity of'sending him to South iLfrica. Hβ goes oat armed with the snjsieme command, both military and civil, mi with instructions to entertain ~bona jlde honourable peace proposals. His great military reputation, and hie experience in dealing with natives, for he in South Africa before, encouragou the hope that the Zulu, like the Afghaa. war, will now be brought to a speedy iind honourable conclusion.