ent." This is damning with faint praise indeed. It then goes on to
recite the various points of object, stating that the answers from the
English Government proved that they were well founded. "The English
Government," it says, "acknowledges indirectly by this answer (the
telegram of 21st October, quoted above) that the difficulties raised
by the Volksraad are neither fictitious nor unfounded, inasmuch _as it
desires from us the concession_ that we, the Volksraad, shall submit
it to a practical test." It will be observed that English is here
represented as begging the favour of a trial of her conditions from the
Volksraad of the Transvaal Boers. The Ratification is in these words:
"Therefore it is that the Raad here unanimously resolves not to go into
further discussion of the Convention, _and maintaining all objections
to the Convention_ as made before the Royal Commission or stated in the
Raad, and for the purpose of showing to everybody that the love of peace
and unity inspires us, _for the time and provisionally_ submitting the
articles of the Convention to a practical test, _hereby complying with
the request of the English Government_ contained in the telegram of the
13th October 1881, proceeds to ratify the Convention."

It would have been interesting to have seen how such a Ratification as
this, which is no Ratification but an insult, would have been accepted
by Lord Beaconsfield. I think that within twenty-four hours of its
arrival in Downing Street, the Boer Volksraad would have received a
startling answer. But Lord Beaconsfield is dead, and by his successor it
was received with all due thankfulness and humility. His words, however,
on this subject still remain to us, and even his great rival might
have done well to listen to them. It was in the course of what was, I
believe, the last speech he made in the House of Lords, that speaking
about the Transvaal rising, he warned the Government that it was a very
dangerous thing to make peace with rebellious subjects in arms against
the authority of the Queen. The warning passed unheeded, and the peace
was made in the way I have described.

As regards the Convention itself, it will be obvious to the reader that
the Boers have not any intention of acting up to its provisions, mild
as they are, if they can possibly avoid them, whilst, on the other hand,
there is no force at hand to punish their disregard or breach. It is all
very well to create a Resident with extensive