onstitute an 'African England,' whether consolidated
under the suzerainty of Great Britain or on the basis of absolute
political autonomy. But the internal elements of disorder and danger are
too multifarious to allow the European inhabitants of Austral Africa for
many generations to dispense with the protection of the English sceptre.

"Possessing for two centuries no book except the Bible, the South
African Dutch communities are fond of comparing their lot with that of
the 'Chosen People.' Going forth, like the Jews, in search of a
'Promised Land,' they never for a moment doubted that the native
populations were specially created for their benefit. They looked on
them as mere 'Canaanites, Amorites, and Jebusites,' doomed beforehand to
slavery or death.

"They turned the land into a solitude, breaking all political
organization of the natives, destroying all ties of a common national
feeling, and tolerating them only in the capacity of 'apprentices,'
another name for slaves.

"In general, the Boers despise everything that does not contribute
directly to the material prosperity of the family group. Despite their
numerous treks, they have contributed next to nothing to the scientific
exploration of the land.

"Of all the white intruders, the Dutch Afrikanders show themselves, as a
rule, most hostile to their own kinsmen, the Netherlanders of the mother
country. At a distance the two races have a certain fellow-feeling for
each other, as fully attested by contemporary literature; but, when
brought close together, the memory of their common origin gives place to
a strange sentiment of aversion. The Boer is extremely sensitive, hence
he is irritated at the civilized Hollanders, who smile at his rude
African customs, and who reply, with apparent ostentation, in a pure
language to the corrupt jargon spoken by the peasantry on the banks of
the Vaal or Limpopo."

No impartial student of recent South African History can fail, I think,
to see that the results of Mr. Gladstone's policy in the retrocession of
the Transvaal have been unhappy, however good the impulse which prompted
his action. To his supporters at home, and to many of his admirers
throughout Europe, his action stood for pure magnanimity, and seemed a
sort of prophetic instalment of the Christian spirit which, they hoped,
would pervade international politics in the coming age.

To the Transvaal leaders it presented a wholly different aspect. It
meant to them w