Mr. Chamberlain's second speech at Edinburgh, that delivered on Tuesday,
contained a passage in regard to South Africa which should have a good effect. All reasonable people know that the Governinent contemplate for South Africa no other ultimate destiny than that which belongs to Canada and Australia, —a free nation in a free Empire. But the Pro-Boers are never tired of pretending that all who support the present Government mean to reverse our whole policy as regards our Colonies, and design to keep South Africa for ever under a kind of Oriental despotism. To this mischievous nonsense Mr. Chamberlain gave a complete answer by the following declaration of policy, which we will quote verbatim:—" What will happen after the settlement is this: that we shall give to every man in South Africa—whether he be Dutch or whether he be British—equal laws, equal justice, equal civil rights. We shall give to them these things, and as soon as it is safe to do so we shall go further, and establish in the new Colonies the same form of self-government which has secured for us the loyalty of most of our self-governing Colonies." It may be said,—Why does it matter that the Pro-Boers should pretend to believe that this is not going to be our policy ? At home we admit that it does not matter, but we cannot doubt that the propagation of this Pro-Boer delusion has had a certain effect in keeping up the Boer resistance. The Boer, judging others by himself, is naturally inclined to imagine that those who have once gained power will never yield it to those who have lost it and when he is assured by Englishmen that this is so, he believes that once conquered he is sure to become a white Kaffir. This not unnaturally stiffens him in his determination to fight on. Unfortunately, the Pro-Boer is taken quite seriously in South Africa.
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