Natal and the Cape Colony will, of course, be the scene of other measures necessitated immediately as the result of the war. A Natal Commission to investigate the losses of loyal colonists has been appointed for some time. A claim is also made for the cession to Natal of the remaining portion of Zululand, now annexed to the Transvaal, and for the annexation of Swaziland, now under the protectorate of the Transvaal. In the Cape, and Natal also, besides the question of compensation to loyalists, that of the punishment to be awarded to rebels is being considered, and of measures to be taken against seditious publications.*

It may be well here to notice much wider projects of readjustment of boundaries of the new territories published from time to time in the press. Suggestions have been made of the annexation of the Orange River territory to Natal, of Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand to Natal, of Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand to Bechuanaland, to form a new province, with the Gold Reef city as its capital.

The grounds on which these partitions are advocated are chiefly that they would obliterate the former lines of division, and with them the tradition of corporate unity. As to this I do not think there is much probability of the end in view being attained by such means, even supposing the course could be recommended on other grounds. The sentiment of unity among the Boers seems to rest on language and religion, and not territorial circumscription, the bounds of which the late rebellion is a proof-race sentiment transcended. Another advantage

claimed is that it would facilitate the restoration of civil government by putting a British majority in power. This also seems unfounded. It rests upon the assumption that, an electoral body is going to be entrusted with legislative power, which, as I have pointed out, would be a rash experiment for several years. Again, the North-eastern Transvaal, almost completely inhabited by Boers, cut off by

* As I write, news has just been published of the resignation of the Bond Ministry, it is understood, owing to a party division over the firstnamed matter, and the annexation of the Republics.

R

any such operation as the last two-named, would become a focus of Afrikander propaganda. And, possibly, a gold reef may yet be found there, to be transmuted into rifles and cannon. But the greatest disadvantages of all are the delay and paralysis of industry, awaiting the return of civil life and law and order, pending the necessary inquiries as to population and boundaries, and, most of all, that it would be a complete leap in the dark as to the character and tendencies of any of the newly-formed communities.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE IMPERIAL HOLD ON SOUTH AFRICA:

REORGANISATION OF

THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT.

To retain the hold of the Empire on South Africa-a hold essential to the continued existence of the Empire the world over-reorganisation of the whole political fabric in South Africa is essential.

The present crisis in the fate of the Empire, the present war, with all its terrible consequences to victors and vanquished alike, are directly traceable to the effect on the mind of a stubborn people of Imperial errors of a hundred years.

To strike at the root of the evil, profiting by the teaching ! of this war, we shall have to destroy and to create.

Destroy the causes of vacillation and ignorance of fact, which have characterised the Imperial Government at home; destroy the causes of demoralisation and timidity of Imperial representatives in South Africa.

Create conditions of information with the Government at home; create conditions of confidence and independence with the Imperial representative in South Africa.

The method recommended and endorsed by experience is plainly that of our most successful Government of India. There no attempt has been made since the Mutiny to shirk the Imperial burthen. Here, as Grey and Frere have in vain preached to a people who would not heed, all the trouble has arisen by a series of vain endeavours to thrust the burthen of the Imperial people, now to a Griqua chief, now to a troublesome colony, now to rebels in arms.

The parallel between India and South Africa is not, it is true, very close. Here, as in India, there is a large subject population of non-European race. In India, however, the European population are loyal citizens of the Empire. In South Africa there is not merely the difficulty of a subject non-European people, but there is the difficulty, unknown in India, of a section of the European population, set for a generation past on ousting Imperial rule from the territory.

A little reflection will show that the analogies are greater than the discrepancies. In neither India nor Africa can mere counting of heads be sufficient to suffice for a rule of Government. The possession of the Cape is so all essential to the maintenance of the Empire that it is impossible to allow its inhabitants, of whatever race, to do as they please without regard to the higher interests and duties of the Empire as a whole. No more than the Orkneys-to which our original title is traceable to a pledge from Denmark as a security for a loan from Scotland four hundred years agono more than the Orkneys can be permitted to demand reunion to the Danish Crown, can Dutch-speaking citizens in South Africa be permitted to weaken or exclude the Imperial Power.

To follow the principle of our successful Government in India does not necessarily involve a servile copying of details. The creation of a Governor-General of South Africa, with an Advisory Council, the creation of an Under-Secretary in the Colonial Office at home, with an Advisory Council of South African experience, would reproduce the essential features characteristic of the Indian system. this last the reorganisation of the South African section of the Colonial Office-no more need be said, as there are few difficulties in the way, except in the selection of persons.

Of

Let us first consider the present system of Government in South Africa, which is chaos, and see what, on the Indian principles, should be substituted in its place. Evils, the immediate result of the present system, which is no system, we have had to repletion. If there had not been such chaos, a band of rash officers of a British territory would not have

by a raid on a State with which we were at peace discredited the Imperial Government in the eyes of the world and tied its hands in negotiating for the redress of British grievances. Nor, again, would an attack by the most formidable Power in South Africa have found the Imperial forces utterly unprepared.

British experience in organising and administering dependencies and colonies in every part of the world has been as unique as it is renowned. In South Africa, nevertheless, there is no trace of any foresight in the organisation of the various territories. Everything has been left to hazard, to the accidental creation of a moment, to a temporary expedient to tide over a sudden difficulty. It is true, of course, that the constitution of the United Kingdom has grown, and not been carried out on a pre-arranged plan. There the parallel ends. In the United Kingdom the movement has been from diversity to unity, from warring provinces to a central Government, from the mid-Saxon folkmoot to the Imperial Parliament. In South Africa the ever-recurring desire on the part of the home Government to evade Imperial responsibility-really inseparable from the necessary retention of the Cape-instead of, as in India, in 1857, boldly facing it, has ended in a perfect mosaic of constitutions, heterogeneous in origin, jarring in action.

The constitution of Cape Colony is modelled on the ordinary type of the British Colony in Australia or Canada. It is self-governing, having a Governor nominated by the Imperial Crown, an Upper House of Parliament, the Legislative Council, and a Lower House, the Legislative Assembly, both elected; "responsible Government," that is to say, Government by Ministers responsible to the local Parliament, was introduced some years ago.

In Natal a similar system prevails. The Governor is appointed by the Crown. A Lower House is elected, but the Upper House, the Legislative Council, is nominated by the Governor in Council. Here, too, is "responsible Government." The Governor is also "Supreme Chief of the Native Tribes," Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's forces and