NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11151, 25 August 1899, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The story of how the Transvaal was annexed to the British Empire 20 years ago is particularly intefesting just now, and it is curious, in the light of later events, to read how what is now the South African Republic was for four short years under the Union Jack. It is one of the romances of the Empire. We owe the story to Cetewayo. But for the Zulu king the Union Jack would never have .waved over the Boer country, The Boers, who are human enough at any fate to hate rates and taxes, had brought their country to the verge of bankruptcy. Its exchequer was empty; its army was all but useless; the.natives Were rising in revolt; and the country Was threatened with a Zulu invasion. Cetewayo was in the height of his power—the British arms had not yet scattered his forces. , The king complained that the Boers were constantly encroaching on his frontier, and he gathered his men together, to fight the last great fight —to wipe the Boers' out of existence. '.'Hid

the fight been foiight; titers can be no doubt of wliaß would have happened, .Me Boers would hare fcertsed to be. The ZilltlS w&fb immensely superior In strength and numbers, and had Oetcfrayo been ieft free to carry out his plans, there would probßbly have fcetfh fio Transvaal tjiibsfloii t6-dtiy: BUt Cetewayo wis not left fee. Sir Theophilus Slltpstoiie, who had made himself fealt'd by the Zulus, tame to the tescuS of the Boers. He planted the Uilion Jack iii the TriHisvaal, and declafed it part and parcol of the Queen's Empire. Nothing could hive bSeit more simple; The Boers feared the Zuliis; tilt Zulus ledved the whitd liieiii aiid at the moment when Getewayo was gathering his forces to smash the Boers, the Englishmen stepivrf Itt find eiairiied '.lie cduntit- The.-e was no opposition, everybody was devoutiv thankful, and tlic Queen's dominions w.re eifended lit 112,000 square miles; and fiSHrljr §dt)',t)Bo gubjfefcts, arid tit the cost of less than iSlOjOOO: it was probably the cheapest corner of the British Etripii-e. the cost tit the laid wflrkfed out at sbhiething like Is 10d per sgiiSts friile, arid the Queen griiiifed nearly 800,'000 Hefr subjects at a cost of threepence a head. Paul Kfuger ■It tiikt tlirie was, pethiip'S; tile hltist strikihg figure among Hie subject people aiid lie was ode of three Boer delegates wild came tb iliigiaiid to petition the Queen to set the country free again. The mission failed, however; and Rrnger returned to the Transvaal W trikfe offliie as a British ttfflciill-a past which lie iieid for a few months, when lie was disused tiiider curidiis and Some-

wlitlt discreditable circumstances. It has been said tiiat if tiife British Go'teriiment had increased his wages KHige'r might still have been a huirible British official, but that tail iiever be iilore tton meM conjecture: What is certain is that the next few year's wert' yeah of discdiitbnt iii the Triinsvaai, and a movement for demanding the restoretlb'h of tlioir Independence grew in favotlr. Taking advantage of our small garrison, the Beth jdliUited the flag bf independence, the Transvaal war began, and the result fill tie world kiiows.

The Czar must be content with the glory of having conceived ft great- philanthropic idea, whlfcli nitty one day bear fruit. For the present bis main proposal; tliH titife, indeed, oh tlie necessity of which lite based his Summons to EUi-Spe, tte reductioil bf ftrmdhients, has been totally defeated, 'the Qerfaian delegates at The Hague refused in the taost decisive and oiitspoken fray to adhere to it, and tis Gbtmariy possesses the Strongest army, and occupies the centre of Eiiropte, that refusal St once reduced the project to an academic proposition, fehgliirid is not artried in the military sense, and the Powers of the Continent cannot disarm while tlie strongest of them announces iti sb maiiy words its resolve to increase its strength. the failure, as all the delegates tfecogriise,- is complete,and there is a disposition to cast grave blame upoti tlie German Emperor as its author. The truth is tlie proposal was generally inconsistent with the conditions of modern Continental life, and specially incoilsisteiit with the situation bf Germany. Germany does not arm for the sake of arming, litu under the pressure of a terrible fear. She, a nation of forty millions, with an uncertain ally of folly iiiilliotis iilore, is thftatfeiied on two sides lit once, by martial tuitions, whose papulation, equally brave With her oWn, exceeds, when taken altogether, 150,000,000. She haft two Jo one against her, Sveh if Austria proves loyal, and if Austria does not, she has four to one. No proportionate reduction can alter that disparity, or take aWay the consequent necessity frit making of every man in tlefniany a trained soldier. To do moTb than that is impossible, and the ruler's conscience is therefore relieved ; but to do less than that woukl appear dishonourable, as well as foolish, a wilful submission to the chance of successful invasion. Even when evert- man lias been called out, Germany will be comparatively weak in numbers, and the difference has to be made up, as Colonel Srhwartzhoff pointed out in his able speech, "by an organisation which involves the whole structure of the Empire, from the system of education to the management of railways. That organisation works automatically, and its basis is the intention that, with a growing population, every year should find the army just a little stronger. Even ft reduction for five years, even a pause in the multiplication of resources of war, is impossible under such circumstances, without a dislocation of all the arrangements of the Empire. We cannot wonder, therefore (says the London Spectator), that the Emperor refused to consent, or blame him for his refusal, while we must praise him for being frank instead of diplomatic in the statement which his delegates were instructed to convey. His army would never have forgiven his " weakness " if lie had yielded, and even his subjects in civil" life would lfave doubted whether he had not postponed bis obvious duty to a philanthropic dream.

Mrs. Croly, Well known in the United States as a pioneer among women journalists, lias been giving her views on Englishwomen to an interviewer. Site says: — "It is difficult for English and American women to see things alike, for we look at them from different points of view. The differences between us are in points of detail, rather than differences that reach down to the essential things of life. First, the American woman has more liberty than the Englishwoman. She is not so bound by conventions and by rigid social rules. In England, when you have any scheme on for a great movement of women, you seek out ladies of title to lead, and you think nothing can be done without them at the head. The Englishwoman, too, is more reserved; she limits her acquaintances; she is careful whom she knows. As with friends, so with ideas. She is not hospitable to new notions. I believe that the American woman makes the better housewife of the two. But here, again, the differences are in detail rather than in principle. For one thing, the American wife looks more carefully after the sanitation of her house. In England, the housewife seems to leave the dumbing and the sanitary arrangements to take care of themselVesi She assumes that they are all right. The American woman carefully looks after them. Again, the American wife keeps her house more clean. It is difficult, to go into detail, and I would hesitate to say this to an English woman, for she would imagine I meant that the English woman did not scrub her floors clean. Ido not mean that, But the American woman takes more pride in her hangings, in her linen, in her towelling, and renews such things much more frequently than you do. Her cupboards undergo a much more frequent inspection and thorough cleansing than seems to be the case here. When I first came to England, I was amazed to find the time which bedclothes are left in most houses without changing.

I In the Idlei, Mr. A. Hamilton has an interesting article on the subject of faithhealing, or mind cure, which is exciting as much interest in England and America as if it were quite a new topic, He shows that experiments on hypnotised subjects have proved it possible to raise blisters or to prodace stigmata entirely by mental suggestion. He quotes as on instance of the direct influence of a state of . mind on the bodily organs, the Indian method of detecting a thief, by causing all the suspected persons to chew a. portion of rice and spit it on a lea -' The anxiety of the real culprit arrests the flow of saliva, dhd the unmoistened nee convicts. . As long ago as the last con-

tray a ineflical jirilttitldriet "• perated at the success of an "el in producing great curative effect* a belt exactly similar in appearand T*patients without letting them into the 0 It ptbductd exabtly similai cilrgs- h^lfl revealed the hoax, when the virtus, MM] belt instiintaiifeoiiSly vitnished. Jto ' tors know the magical powers of a kuM V I Coloured watet tHien taken as " medifeiflg ° ' |

Cable news to-day shows that Presidfht * Kruger has been making a hbld bid l£.j2sf' rid of the British suzerainty in tig \ Vaal. He hiss offered evidently all tliafc sftf j A. Milner contended fot, the price being -1 relinquishment of suzerainty, biit Mr- (4 betlilin has replied that the proßnai t ***>. Jt is ] likely to seize the rimmtinitidii imported jyM : - ! the Transvaal Government and detained at j ' Deligoa Bay. Dliring three years th& Tftijt ? vaal Government have imported Ul'jjjj'H rifles", and 598 tons of aiilmunitidii {# fllite' s I Bay. Three hundred Boers are now 'eaiiiljj'fl on (lie border between the TratisVaii and British Becluianaland. As the tirevfn s trial proceeds tilings look more ilojJetiH. fdt : the prisoner. It is how iBpWtW tiidt generals are pahic-striekeii. atid tfaft lli&ljl contemplate admitting that Esttrilazj Vrd{fc' 1 the bordereau and stating that tlreyfui irajil? his accomplice. Esterliazy was recognised jj, London, and was hooted in the street. "'J ; (S-