Tae papers to hand by the last mail are full of rejoicings xt the conclusion of peace, the news of which reached London on Sun-diy, 1st Jane. Probably every paper in the land on the follo "i had an article on the good news, and li ssu ory to Jearn that there w=s an nlinost comp'et" absence of acrimonious criticism of the tims that had been granted, while the Press alm: st universally testified to the galt. fight that hid been made by the Boers. The "Daily Express" was bound to take a line of its own, and so on the front page of i's issue of Montay, the 2nd Juno, appears a large, hideous' and roughly execu ed drawing of Peace encircling portraits of Lord Roberts, Lord Kitchener, General Louis Botha and General De Wet, and if the portraits of the two Boot Generals are faithful ones, their best friends could not "cense them of possessin: e good looks. Underneath this caricature rsa facsimile of Lord Kitchener's to the War Office in which is annorneed the surrender of the Boers, which is, of course, of very questionable The "Times" has a dignified article on the subject, which ¢ rumen: follows The end for which we have striven during two years and eight months of continuous fighting has been reached. -Peace has been concluded, and concluded upon the conditions which we announced as alone admissible when the Boers followed up their ultimatum by the invasion of one} frontiers. There h s been and there could he no treaty, for the substance of the settlement is the recognition by th burghers of the extine'ion of the late South African Republ es ant the definitive incorporation of their inhabitants int" the British Em. pire, The peper which brings the war to a close, and which was signed by all the Beer representatives and by Lord Milner. and Lord Kitchener Pretoria on Saturday night, is expressly described by the Commander-in-Chief as the "document containing terms of si render." No proposals short of surrender, and of surrender complete in all essential points, could have been accepted or s2- nously entertained by us. The firmness with which this elementary fact in the situation was impressed upon the Boer leaders when they attempted to open "negotiations" has induced them to dre the preposterous proposals with which they at first approached us and to accept the conditions which we have long been ready to grant them, The first lief dispatches from Pretoria contain no mention of those conditions, but their general nature is already known, We tid Genera! Louis Botha more than'a yew ago the terms which w read; to accept the str render of his fellow-citizens and their allies. there is every reason to. believe that it is upon terms essentially the same that the surrender has now been made Then follow some remarks on the statements made by the Government as to the terms they were prepared to grant to the Boers which hid determined Lord Kitchener's parleying with them. After which the following apponrs There is one point, above all others, on which we msy feel confident, that no compromise has been made, for it is the point on which the future pacification of South Africa turns. Lord Milner, we may rest assured, will enter upon the great task which awaits him with the free hand which is indispensable to solve it satisfactorily, That alone will go far to tranquillise any uneasiness amongst the loyal colonists of Du'ch and British blood. The Colonial been sensible of the gations under which we stand to them, Their interests, it is certain, have not been overlooked in the settlement, ant we trust they will have good grounds to acknowledge that this time England has not been ungrateful to them. Looking back upon the history of the protracted and eventful contest which has now terminated, we must gaze with mingled feelings on its course. Tie searching test of war has revealed to us many grievous dense s and sho: teomings in the organisation and training of our Aemy and in the professional equipment of our officers, We have no desire to wnderate the or to deny that they might have Ted to terrible disasters in other circum stanees, On the other hand, there has been much in that history on which w may reflect with thankfulness and pride. The attitude of the nation at home and in. all tle great self-governing colonies has been above all The Ministry have made not a few misealeulations ""ud have committed not a few blunders before and after the outbreak of hostilities. Tt is but just at the same time toacknoslodye that li muy respects they have deserved well of the country and of ths Empire. 'The satisfactory management of oar forcizn relations has largely contributed to the successful x-secution of the contes'. Lord Salisbury had put our relations with foreign Powers on a footing which made it difficult fo~ thos" who might be inclined to intervene in the quarrel. to indulge their inclinations without risks they did not care to face, By his sagacious and concitiatery diplomacy, which has been ally continued by Lord lansdowne, he had built up that amicable understanding between ourselves snd our American cousins, which has done much to.sober the reflections of less friendly Stit-s. The tas been thst, except pthaps to tent in China, our rivals have not extracted from us any substantial' conees-sions by the diptomvtic pressure usually ied to a Power embarrassed by war, And then the leader closes with a t timony to the ability of Mr. Chamberlain, and in praise of the courage and endurance of our troops Of the splendid courage and ability shown by the Colonial Secretary it is hardly necessary to 'He has spoken the mind of the vation since this ¢ troversy ame acute, and the nation have given him a d Lord Milner, his representative in South Africa, their warmest admiration and support.' Our troops, wheth.1 from home oe from the Colonies, have proved that in all the qualities that make a soldier they are the true sons of their fathers, Ty
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.