English
themselves--strongly sense the pathos in the situation of the
Dutch Boers, who feel convinced that they are fighting for their
national existence, and agree that it equals the pathos of
Leonidas, William Tell, and Kosciusko.

Over and above all else the note in the State Secretary's appeal which
will vibrate most loudly in the British heart is that in which he
appeals to his countrymen to cling fast to the God of their forefathers,
and to the righteousness which is sometimes slow in acting, but which
never slumbers or forgets. "It proceeds according to eternal laws,
unmoved by human pride and ambition. As the Greek poet of old said, it
permits the tyrant, in his boundless self-esteem, to climb higher and
higher, and to gain greater honour and might, until he arrives at the
appointed height, and then falls down into the infinite depths."

Who is there who remembers the boastings of the British press at the
outbreak of the war can read without awe the denunciations of the Hebrew
seers against the nations and empires who in arrogance and pride forgot
the Lord their God?

"Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of
Hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. And the
most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up."

This, after all, is the great issue which underlies everything. Is there
or is there not in the affairs of men a Providence which the ancients
pictured as the slow-footed Nemesis, but which we moderns have somewhat
learned to disregard? "If right and wrong, in this God's world of ours,
are linked with higher Powers," is the great question which the devout
soul, whether warrior or saint, has ever answered in one way. When in
this country a leading exponent of popular Liberalism declares that
"morally we can never win, but that physically we must and shall," we
begin to realise how necessary is the chastisement which has fallen upon
us for our sins. If this interpretation of the situation be even
approximately correct, the further we go the worse we shall fare. It is
vain for us to kick against the pricks.

W.T. STEAD.
_January 1st, 1900._

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: 1894.--Year of Lord Loch's visit (in June) to Pretoria.]

[Footnote 2: 1895.--Conspiracy, culminating in the Raid.]

[Footnote 3: 1898.--First nine months.]

A CENTURY OF WRONG.

* * * * *

INTRODUCTION.