The Press. MONDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1899. THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT AND THE TRANSVAAL.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10483, 23 October 1899, Page 4

The Press. MONDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1899. THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT AND THE TRANSVAAL.

Mr Chamberlain, in the brilliant speech which lie delivered on the Addrese-in-Repiy, seems to (have annihilated the Little Englander party who condemned his manner of carrying on negotiations with the Boers, and accused him and Mr Cecil Rhodes of deliberately promoting the war. No impartial person can doubt that the British. Government not only sincerely desired a peaceful eolation, but actually believed, almost to the very last, that a peaceful solution would be obtained. The general opinion in England, as Mr J. G. Ward and other returning colonists hare informed us, was that President Kroger was merely attempting a big game of "bluff/ , and would climb down in the end when he found the British Government were really in earnest. It ie difficult to understand how, in the opinion of Sir W. •V. Harooort, Mr Labouchere, and other critics, the negotiations ought to have been conducted. The British Government have shown infinite patience. The Outlanders' grievances had become acute long before the Ji»nnn Raid, and the Englx& High Commisßinnar hod been quietly seeking to bring •book reform. When that ill-starred "coup" took place, the Bsfish Government recogniaed with regret that all their diplomatic effect! bad been apofled, and tihat they would fcm to wait for aome time before they oooM

hope to do any good by again moving in the matter. Representations of a friendly character were renewed after a while, and, as all the world knows, without effect, except to extract from President Kruger promises whiph were made to be broken, or which referred to proposals which appeared to grant reform with one hand, but took it away witih the other. . Then the. plan of "firm and continuous pressure" was adopted. Some of the milk-and-water reformers at Home calmly urged that while it was England's duty to apply such pressure, she ought at the same time to intimate to President Kruger that under no circumstances would she go to war. How this was likely to bring about the object in view, or what its effect would be on England's prestige, were points which the advocates of this very wise and valiant policy omitted to explain. England applied the "firm and continuous pressure." She did not stultify' herself by telling President Kruger that it did not mean anything, but she studiously avoided anything like an overt act which would impede a peaceful solution of the difficulty. The great proof of England's sincerity in desiring peacej is furnished by her comparative unpreparedness for hostilities when the Boers declared war. If Mr Chamberlain had really desired to force on a rupture he would long ago have poured reinforcements both into Natal and Cape Colony, and-he would have fortified and garrisoned every position of advantage on the Transvaal frontier. Then there would have been. some, colourable excuse for the charge that the British Government talked peace but that in their hearts they meant war, and that, coveting tihe gold mines of the Rand, they had determined to goad the Boers into fight, so that they iaigkfc seize their land by force. As it is, the English Government, in their desire to do notiing to embarrass the negotiations for a peaceful solution, (have so kept back their warlike, preparations that heroic efforts on the part of our soldiers will be necessary if they are to hold their own until help arrives, and in any case we shall lose many valuable lives which might have been saved had we been either less sincere or less sanguine in our hopes for peace.