18th May.
'A SOMEWHAT doubtful telegram received here on the 3rd instant, spoke of the getting ready of a number of transports ready for the embark ation of a large body of troops, but whether to or from South Africa did not plainly enough appear. There is now no daubs from Lord Salisbury's recent speech at the great meeting of the Primrose League, for which the Albert Hail was engaged, that the previous intention of the Government, not to permit the conduct of the unfinished peace negotiations to interfere with the conduct of the war has been carried out, and that what every Britisher hopes will be the last instalment of troops sent with a hostile purpose is now on its way to the Cape. Notwithstanding that the war is costing something like a million sterling a week, and that new taxes have had to be put on to prevent this expenditure becoming a permanent charge on the revenue, this even from a mere financial point of view will recommend ivse!f ug a sound measure of policy, and will in the end tend to economy. It is therefore with unusual satisfaction that we hail the decisive statement of Lord Salisbury that he is not prepared to abate one inch the conditions of surrender; and this the more so that the irreconcilable element which has up to this kept in the field, frequently against their own wiser councils, a number of commandees shows plain signs of weakening. With regard to the war itself it, of course, goes without saying that mistakes, often serious, have been mad" in its conduct; no human enterprise ever carried to an issue was without errors of judgment, and it would be folly to claim for the South African contest that it alone of human ventures since the beginning of the world was free from human weaknesses. The Government can, however, claim with justice, that the record of failures has been reduced to a minimum, and thas most of them have been the outcome of conditions that could not have been foreseen at the commencement of the war. We are therefore the more pleased to be able to congratulate the Government on its present determination, as any attempt. to depart from the policy hitherto adopted of meeting the requirements in the field of Lord Kitchener would more surely end in prolonging the contest than in bringing about a speedy adjustment.
It is not that this time we distrust our Boer neighbours, or disbelieve their declaration that in the face of the generous terms offered, they as a body are convinced that the time has come to unite with, rather than submit to their late adversaries, but in the fear that should the Government commit the error of leaving a door open, some whose only chance in the future lies in keeping up a spirit of agitation may be led to create a new spirit of pro-paganism. We must, of course, give the Government the credit of being in possession of means of information not accessible to ordinary morials; still it is eminently satisfactory find that the Government have not been slacking in their preparations and are continuing the dispatch of troops and material. Recently, although the atmosphere has become brighter and a settlement is evidently on foot, nothing has actually come to light of any actual adjustment. Of course in any case a considerable portion of the army present on the spot must remain till affairs are finally settled, and the new government put into working order. The prisoners of war at present in such distant localities as Ceylon, St. Helena and Bermuda, have to be returned to their homes, and provision made to keep them till they will be in a condition to start at work again; families have to be brought together andallowed time to settle into their new con tions: and during all this time disorder or any attempt at brigandage has to be promptly and effectively repressed. Of course in this work we shall look to be largely assisted by the Boers, but government has been so utterly disorganised that extraneous assistance will possibly for some years be needed. In one respect the home going of the British force when it causately be taken in hand wilt be markedly different from that of most continental armies. The enormous force of a quarter of a million men which we have maintained in South Africa may be looked upo" as the largest army ever maintained in distant country, entirely onghome resources without being a burden tothe land where they were quartered. In a comparatively short time the whole of these troops will have returned to their homes and have become 0 the general population, without any of thos= temptations to assume an aggressive attitude which have elsewhere been a standing menace to the peace of the world. Elsewhere, and at other times the burden of a disbanded army has been a prolific cause of new complications; and too often has led to aggressions on other nations, as the charge of disbanded men has been found equally oppressive with their maintain ance as a fighting force. From thi temptation the British Empire is fortunately free, and can afford to remain at peace with its neighbours, should they desire to live in comity. At the sxme time it may be a useful lesson to our more aggressive friends to discover
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.