t most people were incredulous as to the
facts being known at the Colonial Office, and there was a uniform
persuasion that Mr. Gladstone was ignorant that such things were going
on."

I have given these interviews (much abridged) because they illustrate in
a rather humourous way a state of mind which unhappily has long existed
and exists to some degree to this day in England--an impatience of
responsibility for anything concerning interests lying beyond the shores
of our own Island, a certain superciliousness, and a habit of expressing
and adhering to suddenly formed and violent opinions without sufficient
study of the matters in question,--such opinions being often influenced
by the bias of party politics. Our countrymen are now waking up to a
graver and deeper consideration of the tremendous interests at stake in
our Colonies and Dependencies, and to a greater readiness to accept
responsibilities which once undertaken it is cowardice to reject or even
to complain of.

At the request of the London Missionary Society, Mr. Mackenzie drew up
an extended account of the Bechuanaland question, which had a wide
circulation. He did not enter into party politics, but merely gave
evidence as to matters of fact. There was surprise and indignation
expressed wherever the matter was carefully studied and understood. Many
resolutions were transmitted to the Colonial Secretary from public
meetings; one which came from a meeting in the Town Hall of Birmingham
was as, follows:--

"This meeting earnestly trusts that the British Government will firmly
discharge the responsibilities which they have undertaken in protection
of the native races on the Transvaal border."

Among the people who took up warmly the cause of the South African
natives were Dr. Conder, Mr. Baines, and Mr. Yates of Leeds (who
addressed themselves directly to Mr. Gladstone), Dr. Campbell and Dr.
Duff of Edinburgh, the Rev. Arnold Thomas and Mr. Chorlton of Bristol,
Mr. Howard of Ashton-under-Lyne, Mr. Thomas Rigby of Chester, and
others.

A Resolution was sent to the Colonial Office by the Secretary of the
Congregational Union of England and Wales, which had been passed
unanimously at a meeting of that body in Bristol:--

"That the Assembly of the Congregational Union, recognising with devout
thankfulness the precious and substantial results of the labours of two
generations of Congregational Christian Missionaries in Bechuanaland,
learns with grief and alarm