THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JULY 24,1900.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11432, 24 July 1900, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JULY 24,1900.

The cabled announcement that Sir Gordon Sprigg commands a majority of six in the Cape Assembly, while extremely gratifying, is not astonishing to thos:> who have followed during the past decade the varying political fortunes of tho leading South African colony. The last general election in 1898- gave the Progressionists a majority of four in the Legislative Council, and only gave a majority of one to the Afrikander Bond in the Assembly— 40, Progressives 39. Elections held early in 1899 to fill sixteen new Assembly seats created by a Bondmade Redistribution Act, increased its majority to eight, although the anti-Bond party showed a majority of votes cast. But Mr. Sclireiner carried eight old Bond members with him when he recently came to open; disagreement with the ultraAfrikanders. The tyranny of that disloyal ■■:.. organisation ■ being thus broken, the Cape ; ■ Government • is again; in the hands of;a loyal party, ( which the: next elections will ,d,Qub>

less render supreme. In spite of the vapouring* of the irreconcilable*, the stern enforcement of Imperial dominance promises already. to solve in a peaceful and satisfactory manner what might have been a serious and difficult problem. It is the old proverb r of; the nettle; over , again:■ grasped firmly the Afrikander Bond does not sting. , Capo mails to, hand elucidate the cabled' report of the quarrel' that arose between; Mr. ? Schreiner and that truculent organisation which, sheltered. by British respect for freedom pf speech, has lent open countenance and sympathy to _ the insolent Boer invasion of British soil. The ex-Premier met his party in its committoeroom at the House of Assembly, and declared flatly that its plan to obtain amnesty for all rebels wis impossible. Mr. Hofroeyr, the actual controller— official re-sponßibility-of the Bond having been omitted, Mr. Schreiner laid | down the following policy, for which he demanded support if he was to remain in office:

First, an Act of indemnification in connection with the war. Secondly, an Act to establish a tribunal for tho trial of colonists accused of high treason and rebellion, tho Commission to consist of two judges of the Supremo Court of the oniony and ono barrister of not less than 10 years' standing at tho Cape Bar. Thirdly, an Act defining tho punishment of persons convicted of rebellion and high treason, tho punishment to bo imprisonment and perpetual disfranchisement for the leaders of tin rebellion, and simple disfranchisement for a term not exceeding five years for tho rank and file so convicted.

In spite of the representations of moderate Bondites that the proposal was a most clement one, since if the ordinary law of the colony took its course, the gaols and prisons would not be large enough to hold those who had broken the law, the meeting utterly refused to' listen to reason. A committee, appointed to finally decide, reported by eight votes to throe against Mr. Schreiner, who thereupon determined to resign office and to support tho party of order. It is possible that the report recently in circulation to the effect that Mr. Schreinjr—who had before expressed himself in favour of annexation of tho Republics as the only possible outcome— criticised adversely the annexation scheme, semi-officially propounded, may mean that he objects to the establishment of Crown colonies. But this is, after all, a mere matter of detail. If the moderate Bondites, who have been dragged at the tail of an unreasoning and ambitious faction, will but make common cause with their British fellow subjects in redressing the wrongs and rectifying the mistakes of past colonial and Imperial Governments, it will wonderfully assist in healing the sore of racial antagonism and promoting peace and prosperity throughout the whole of South Africa. Meanwhile, we peruse the still rebellious columns of Afrikander journals and read the hardly modified utterances of Bond advocates, with the feeling that the Imperial authority is the most tolerant and forbearing which can, by the most vivid imagination, be conceived. When we think of the harm such insane ebullitions of unreason may do, we incline to think that tolerance may be carried too far. But when we think how any foreign Power would act, how a triumphant Boer Government would have stamped out British free speech and British manifestations of discontent, we remember that it is by being different to others that the Imperial rule wins in the end the love and respect of all true free-men, and are more proud than ever of the free flag which every British community has of free will fought to maintain. Now that they know the grip of the iron hand that the velvet glove hides from sight, these very Afrikanders will gradually surrender their .disappointed ambitions and join in upholding the authority which scorns to crush folly and seeks to make all men free.

The supreme exigency of the situation has for the time being submerged all minor Cape questions and ranged every man under one or other of the opposing banners of " loyalty" or "disloyalty." The "disloyalists" are still a very strong minority, but the tide has turned against them; their clamour against annexation, against rebel disfranchisement, against compensation for loyalists, against everything which is inevitable, shows the hopelessnes which they feel. For years everything has played their game. The supiueness of the Gladstone Administration, the unpopularity of the .Chartered Company, the unfortunate Jameson affair, the growing militancy of the Transvaal, the feat of Imperial weakness, have kindled to flame the almost extinct embers of Dutch nationality. This is now a lost cause, with every loyal man conscious of security, with every reasonable man conscious of the inevitable. In the early 90 &, + be Bond only held a third place in Cape politics. Mr. Rhodes held office with an AngloDutch party, including Sir Gordon Sprigg and Mr. Schrciner, against an Anglo-Dutch Opposition. The Bond generally supported Mr. Rhodes. After the Jameson raid, Mr. Rhodes gave place to Sir Gordon Sprigg, who held ? number of Dutch moderates, but the Bond was strengthened and became the Opposition, tho old Opposition—loyalist " Independents"—falling to third place. The elections of 1898 almost wiped out these Independents in the triangular contest which arose in many electorates, the division among the loyalists thus throwing office to the numerical minority of the Bond, with whom Mr. Sohreiner had become associated. With the consolidation of the loyalist majority, the disfranchisement of rebels and the incoming of British settlers, the very next election should relegate the Bond to the obscurity it originally sprang from and politically destroy this traitorous organisation which has so grossly abused the unlimited freedom accorded to British and Dutch alike under the constitutional rule of our Queen.'