Sir Edward Grey on Tuesday made an excellent speech to
the City Liberal Club. He described the Liberal party, of which he is so distinguished a member, as in a bad way, and doubted if it would be better until it widened its basis by accepting the idea of Imperialism, and then passed on to the war. He denied that we should come out of the war in an aggressive temper, but in one of greater seriousness. We should be stronger, no doubt, but we should have a keener realisation of the horrors of war. The expense of the war would be great, but it was clear from the Dutch armaments that even had peace been maintained we should have had to station fifty thousand troops in South Africa merely for our own protection. He could not agree to continue the inde- pendence of the Republics, as that would only lead to another war, bat he demurred to the idea of making them Crown Colonies. He would prefer to continue military occupation, as the intermediate stage between their former status and their freedom as self-governing Colonies of the Empire. That is, we are convinced, a wise opinion, and if we are not mistaken it is the one to which general opinion is turning. Let the Republics be declared British, let the general in command of the garrison govern with a fairly free hand for a short period, and then let them be free Colonies with a household suffrage for all whites who have resided there a year. The only difficulty we foresee in that arrangement is possible clashing between the War Office and the Colonial Office, but that could be avoided by a little judgment.
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