Another volume of dispatches from China was issued to the public on Tuesday. It relates almost exclusively to the disputes between Great Britain and Russia in regard to the railway; and it cannot, be said that it is altogether pleasant reading. On the whole we appear to have held our own in the disputes; but it was only by making a firm stand, for where British interests were involved it seems that a majority of the Allies could always be depended upon to take the side hostile to Great Britain, 23rd August.
The War and the Proclamations.
Nobody is much surprised that, the Banishment Proclamation of Lord Kitchener has been met with No Surrender declarations from the Boer leaders still in the field. There is still " fortnight before the proclamation comes into effect, but it is not anticipated that Botha, Lotter (whose reply was. unfit for publication), De Wet, Steyn and the rest will alter their minds between then and now. Still, since Lord Kitchener reports that surrenders have been more numerous since the issue of the proclamation, we may congratulate ourselves that it has not been issued altogether in vain. Since then we have had another Proclamation—on the subject of the Boer murders of surrendered British officers and men. This one also is issued at the instance of the British Government, and not on the initiative of Lord Kitchener. It notifies the Boers that the leader of a commando by which such outrages are committed in his presence will, when captured, be sentenced to death, and that other members of the commande present will also be punished, even though they took no actual part in the murders, Even the "Times" is asking whether this proclamation was worth issuing, and whether we have not had enough of proclamations. Evidently the war has got to be fought toa finish. We must win by the process of exhaustion of the enemy, however wearisome that process may be.
Rights and Wrongs of the War.
Controversy still rages on the subject of the origin of, and responsibility for, the war, but it is confined almost entirely to the two sections of the Liberal y. The Unionists and the non-party men have made up their minds on the question long ago, and have for the most part recognised the' hopelessness of convincing the Pro-Boers. But for Liberal leaders the qu tion is of course one of vital interest, since it is only by coming to some sort' of agreement on the subject that they can hope to form a strong opposition and to pave the way for a Liberal Government at the exd of the present Parliament. In consequence the usual campaign of the recess, which begins as soon as the autumn holidays are over, will be almost confined to the Liberals this year; and while the two sections will each be nominally attacking the Government, they will really be waged in acontlict with each other.
too, an article which Sir Edward
of the "National Review." Tt takes the il number form of a review of Mr. E. 'T. Cook cellent work, "The Rights and Wrong the Transvaal War," and sets forth very ably and lucidly the views of the Imperialist Liberals.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.