ression of its
unswerving loyalty." As he read on we can imagine how, in ominous
contrast to the superficial protestations of the text, something
exceptionally aggressive in the tone of the address, something which
emphasised the inconsistency of these formal professions of attachment
to the throne with the very practical hostility of their authors to
British policy, struck the High Commissioner with peculiar force. The
Dutch, who, under British rule, enjoyed--one might almost say
abused--every privilege of citizenship in the Cape Colony, were quite
prepared to see the British excluded, under Dutch rule, from these
same privileges in the Transvaal. More than that, they were determined
to employ all the agencies at their command to prevent any effective
interference with the Transvaal oligarchy. Lord Milner evidently felt
that the time had come for remonstrance, so, gathering up the
impressions which had been accumulating in his mind, he wrote down
then and there his answer, which was delivered on the following day.

"Of course, I am glad to be assured that any section of Her
Majesty's subjects is loyal, but I should be much more glad to be
allowed to take that for granted. Why should I not? What reason
could there be for any disloyalty? You have thriven wonderfully
well under Her Majesty's Government. This country, despite its
great extent and its fine climate, has some tremendous natural
disadvantages to contend against, and yet let any one compare the
position to-day with what it was at the commencement of Her
Majesty's reign, or even thirty years ago. The progress in
material wealth is enormous, and the prospects of future progress
are greater still. And you have other blessings which by no means
always accompany material wealth. You live under an absolutely
free system of government, protecting the rights and encouraging
the spirit of independence of every citizen. You have courts of
law manned by men of the highest ability and integrity, and
secure in the discharge of their high functions from all external
interference. You have--at least as regards the white
races--perfect equality of citizenship. And these things have not
been won from a reluctant sovereign. They have been freely and
gladly bestowed upon you, because freedom and self-government,
justice and equality, are the first principles of British policy.