EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 7331, 4 October 1898, Page 1

EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The cablegram from Berlin, stating that the German Emperor had refused to grant Dr Leyds, the Transvaal envoy to Europe, an interview, forms a striking contrast to the effusive, friendship towards the Transvaal which the Emperor displayed on the occasion of the Jameson raid. By his action on that memorable occasion the Kaiser encouraged President Kruger to adopt; a defiant attitude towards the British Government which has made peace insecure in that region ; by the snub he has now administered he has practically given Oom Paul "to understand that; he need not look to Germany for aid should his . obstinate disregard of, the sovereign rights of Great Britain lead him into trouble. The change "of attitude on the part of the Emperor, though on the face of it a violent one, is not very sur" prising. If there is one thing for which the Emperor is more than another noted it is his strong resistance of anything approaching defiance of constitntedauthority. Jameson's ill-advised and ill-fated raid was unquestionably an outrage upon constituted authority in the Transvaal. Its failure was therefore pleasing to the stickler for obedience to the ruling power, and his feeling found - outburst in the memorable telegram of congratulation which he sent to President Kruger. The Emperor's peculiar i-ympathy with the Sultan of Turkey over the Cretan affair probably sprang from the same root, and not from any want of appreciation of the need for reform of the brutal Turkish methods. By the first of these seemingly inexplicable eccentricities the Kaiser made more difficult the work of obtaining a clear understanding between Great Britain and the Transvaal, and encouraged the Volksraad to openly disavow the suzerainty of Great Britain. By the second he became responsible for the delay that has taken place in settling the Cretan question. Had not the British Government maintained a calm, but firm, attitude in both cases the consequences might have been exceedingly serious. Happily, however, serious trouble was averted. By his present action in refusing to grant the Transvaal envoy an interview the Emperor has made some atonement for encouraging the arrogance of the Boers and Imperilling the peace of Europe. The question will naturally be asked, What has induced this remarkable change of attitude 1 The answer to that question may be manifold. The action of the British Government in punishing the raiders for making war upon a friendly State disabused the German mind that the wild enterprise was a pre-arranged affiir with the 01-jectof annexing the Transvaal. The mist of doubt upon that point having | been cleared away, and the honorable intentions of Great Britain having been demonstrated, the way was cleared fee a definite understanding between the two nations. As has lately been made known, an agreement has been arrived at between Great Britain and Germany in relation to African affairs, and it would seem that in that agreement lies the whole secret of the position now taken up by the Kaiser in relation to the Transvaal. The full tcopa and effect of that agreement has not been disclosed, but it will probably be found to include some concession to Germany by Great Britain in the form of the freedom of a port affording ready access to German teiritory in Africa. This is, however, mere snrmise. What does appear plain is that Germany has at anyrate begun to realise that British friendship is not a thing to be despised, and that ib is possible. for two great nations engaged in commercialrivalry to have interests in common. The concluding sentence of the cablegram leaves no room for doubt that the agreement between the two nations is accountable for Germany's ab nionmanfc of her former etii barreling countenance of the Boers' nrrogmb disregard of the British suzerain rights in the Transvaal. " The F -reign Office has intimated that it is the Emperor's desire that the Transvaal shall cease agitating in German newspapers against the Anglo-German agreement," is a plain indication that Germany has become wiser and more rational as a consequence of enlightenment as to the intentions of Great Britain, and that she has found reason for believing that her own interests can be better served by friendly co-operation with Great Britain in respect to Africa than by sympathising with the arroga it Boers. The practical withdrawal ot German sympathy, coupled with the acquirement of Delagoa harbor by the British, will probably bring President Kruger to a sense of the futility of resisting reforms within the Transvaal. The plea of the Uitlanders for simple justice is likely to receive more consideration from the Volksraad as the result of the altered condition of things than was the case so long as there was a hope that German influence would support obstinate refusal to modify the intolerable conditions imposed upon those residents of the Transvaal who are not counted amongst the Boers. Thus the Anglo-German agreement is likely to make, for peace and proeress in that small portion of the world. There is really no reason why a more comprehensive agreement between the two nations should not be productive of equal blessings over a much wider area of the earth.