The news from the Transvaal is still unsatisfactory.- 'The Boer
leaders seem honest, and have at once restored Potchef- stroom, apologising for the breach of faith committed by a subordinate, Colonel Cranje, in not warning the British garri- son of the armistice. It is, however, doubtful whether the Boers at large have the sense of their leaders. They are harass- ing the loyal Dutch and the British settlers with persecutions, they say no territory shall be surrendered, and they will probably resist any sound arrangement made by the Commission for the protection of the natives. The Boer leaders may, however, -carry with them the Volksraad, which is about to assemble, and the British Government at home evidently fear nothing. Mr. Gladstone, in a letter to Mr. Tomkiuson, the candidate for Vs efit Cheshire, declares that he' is satisfied as to his policy in the Transvaal, and that when it is discussed in the House of Commons, he " shall adopt no apologetic tone. It was a .question of saving the country from sheer bloodguiltiness." 'The impression iu his mind evidently is, that as the present Government disapproved the annexation, and wants no more than suzerainty- and the protection of the natives, continued war, when those points were conceded, would have been wanton bloodshed.
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