price they may be called upon to pay for them. In no circumstances, I imagine, will Lord Rosebery consent to return to the leadership of the Liberal Party if it is to be bound by the worn-out and always ridiculous programme of 1892-the Newcastle programme, with its array of measures, good, bad, and indifferent, sufficient to occupy the time of Parliament for twenty years to come. But if the Liberal Party recognise the truth that the great changes which have swept over the world, and the British Empire in particular, during the lifetime of this generation have opened up new channels into which the ancient principles of Liberalism may be turned, and imposed new duties upon us, and if they are in consequence prepared to consider the advice Lord Rosebery gives them, then we may reasonably expect that he will return to his old position and give to the party the brilliant service which he has it in his power to render to it. If, on the other hand, those who control the somewhat rusty party machine insist upon old shibboleths and programmes and turn a deaf ear to the advice they have received from their former leader, they cannot hope to secure Lord Rosebery's assistance. He will continue to plough his own furrow, but he will no longer be alone when doing so. Thus English Liberalism seems to have come to the parting of the ways, and it is for this reason that Lord Rosebery's speech on the 16th of December at Chesterfield may without exaggeration be described as ' epoch-making.'

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Of the effect of the speech upon the Government and upon foreign opinion it is difficult to speak. In the eyes of most English Liberals its crowning merit was that it 'ingeminated peace.' But abroad critics are disappointed because it did not counsel surrender, or at least some relaxation of the energy with which military operations are being conducted. They are disconcerted also to find that no countenance was given by the speaker to the slanders upon our troops. Lord Rosebery, therefore, has not conciliated the opinion of the Continent, as most assuredly he never expected to do. The effect he may have had upon His Majesty's Ministers is not yet to be ascertained. His suggestion that we should open the way for the Boer authorities at the Hague to enter into negotiations with us may or may not bear fruit. The members of our own Government may be too proud to accept any suggestion from one outside their own ranks. Mr. Kruger and his advisers may bluntly refuse to come to any terms, though there are many indications which point to the fact that absolute independence,' though it may be a cry on the battle-field, is no longer one of the conditions on which the Boer leaders are likely to insist. The Chesterfield speech has made it clear to Mr. Kruger and his friends that the incorporation of the two States in the British Empire is finally settled. But it has at the same time indicated a method by which the war may be brought to

a close on terms less hard and humiliating than complete and unconditional surrender. There is every reason to hope that our own Government would not refuse to listen to any reasonable overtures that might come from the Hague, or at least would not refuse to listen to what the Boers might have to say if they once accepted the principle of incorporation. In any case, Lord Rosebery has made a suggestion which both Boer and British Governments ought to consider well before they reject it and leave the problem to be dealt with by the slow and cruel processes of war.

It is difficult for any Englishman of middle age to repress a sigh of regret when he reads of the brutal violence to which a large section of the people of Birmingham had recourse on the occasion of Mr. Lloyd-George's recent visit to that city. The number of people, either in Birmingham or elsewhere, who share Mr. Lloyd-George's sentiments may be very small, and his language may at times be very objectionable, not only to the Jingoes but to much more moderate and sensible people; yet none the less is it deplorable that the only arguments with which Birmingham tries to answer him should be stones and brickbats. What an immeasurable distance must separate the Birmingham of to-day from the Birmingham which found a seat for John Bright when he was driven out of Manchester because of his opposition to the Crimean War! However small may be one's sympathy with the opinions of the pro-Boer party of to-day, the intolerance of free speech which is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the mob is on the whole the most distressing feature of the time. Tennyson's boast can no longer be uttered by an Englishman. Not any longer is this a land in which 'a man may say the thing he will.' If what he says happens to be distasteful to the yellow press or to the howling dervishes of Jingoism, he can only say it at the risk of his life. This, however, is one of the baser features of the hour, which one may trust will disappear when Liberalism once more becomes an organised and recognised force.

Of outer politics during the past month there is comparatively little that calls for comment. The progress of the war has been without particular incident, but it has been uniformly favourable to this country. Since Lord Rosebery's speech there has been a revival of rumours of negotiations for peace, and undoubtedly the situation as a whole is more promising than it has been for a long time past. The ratification of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty regarding the Nicaragua Canal is one of the most pleasant incidents of the month. It removes from the path of the two countries one possible cause of friction and even of danger. Happily, as I pointed out last month, the best men in both countries are firmly resolved to do all that lies in their power to strengthen the bonds of union between Great Britain and the United States; and not even the eager pleadings of

those who represent the jealousy and hatred of continental Europe are likely to move the Government at Washington from the attitude of friendly inaction which it has maintained ever since the war began. Yet nowhere else, as I can testify, will the prospect of a termination of the long conflict be more eagerly welcomed than it will be there.

WEMYSS REID.

The Editor of THE NINETEENTH CENTURY cannot undertake to return unaccepted MSS.

THOUGH the South African war is not over yet, peace is creeping back to the towns of the Transvaal. Awakening interests cheep in Pretoria, the bee hums again in the streets of Johannesburg, and the noise of the stamp mill is heard on the Rand. Nearly three months ago Lord Milner, who is more economist than politician, detected the long-delayed approach of a change which is to change everything else. 'Terrible as have been the ravages of war and the destruction of agricultural capital, a destruction which is now pretty well complete,' the mines are opening and they will restore all with increase a hundred-fold. The great fact remains that the Transvaal possesses an amount of wealth, virtually untouched by the war,' which

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will not only create great industrial cities but cover the country with an agricultural population for whom an ample yield is provided. Even a very small proportion of the superabundant riches of the mines' should suffice to develop the vast permanent sources of wealth which the land affords. Only a small proportion of those underground riches, mark; and now their production begins in earnest for the first time.

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As for the agricultural fascinations of the Transvaal, they may be doubted without offence to Lord Milner. Mr. Rhodes, an equally good witness, declares that the portion of that country which is habitable all the year round consists, roughly, of four or five thousand farms, the balance of the country being only suitable for occupation during the winter months.' But as for its mineral wealth-which we need not be shy of saying is the main thing-Lord Milner's account of it may be accepted without a moment's hesitation. For, on that point, a far higher authority has said the same thing, and more also. Mr. J. B. Robinson is this authority. No man with as thorough a knowledge of the Rand has a greater reputation for sobriety of judgment; and when, eighteen months ago, belief in the near conclusion of the war sent droves of immigrants into Cape Town, he came forward to impart opinions which other mine-owners preferred to keep to themselves. He could tell us that when we mourned over the cost of the war we were quite ridiculous, though innocently so; for while we knew that the riches of the Transvaal were very great, we had yet to learn how prodigiously our gains transcended our losses. It was even amusing to see the things that are said from time to time about the cost of the war. The expense is a mere bagatelle in comparison with the value of the new territories'; and so Mr. Robinson would say still, no doubt, though the bagatelle of some scores of millions has doubled since he spoke. For here we have a country twice the size of France, and one that possesses mineral and agricultural wealth unequalled by any land of its size anywhere.' We are not to judge of its riches underground by the mines already open, enormously productive as they are. Great stretches of gold-bearing land remain untouched.' There are besides 'extraordinary amounts of copper in the northern parts of the Transvaal-literally mountains of copper, as well as silver, cobalt, lead, and diamond mines.' To make all complete, the Transvaal has abundance of coal, 'great seams of it running parallel with the seams of gold' all over the country. 'I tell you,' said Mr. Robinson, not as a needy prospector but as a mine-owner satiated with the wealth he describes, 'I tell you that you have seen nothing like what is coming. People in this country have no idea of the potential riches of the Transvaal, riches that have as yet been barely scratched.'

In the summer of 1900 this report of an inheritance which was