We have dealt with the question of the Constitution at
length elsewhere, and will only say here that we cannot con- ceal our anxiety as to whether the Government have in effect secured that British supremacy which is our due, not merely because of victory in the war to which the Dutch in South Af riga, challenged us, but also because of the existence of a large British majority in the Colony. Since, however, the Government have finally decided to run a great risk, it seems to us that the only thing now is to urge the British in the Transvaal to work the Constitution with the loyal endeavour to make the best of it. At the same time, we cannot refrain from pointing out that the present dangerous situation would never have arisen had Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Balfour, and the other statesmen who have Imperialism so constantly on their lips refrained from breaking up the Unionist Party, at any rate till time had secured the British position in South Africa. Regardless of all Imperial interests, Mr. Chamberlain, abetted by Mr. Balfour, introduced a Fiscal policy which any man with the least political discernment should have known must ruin the Unionist Party,—that is, the party which was most alive to Imperial interests, and most capable of safe- gir!rding what had been achieved by war. For what Mr. Chamberlain has described as the double policy of Protection and Preference they were, in fact, willing to risk the future of South Africa. Nor were they even content with the disruption of the Unionist Party. They must add to the ruin they had made by the introduction of a system of inden- tured Chinese labour which was condemned by public opinion throughout the Empire. Considering what Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Balfour between them did to the Unionist Party between June, 1903, and January, 1906, the wonder is, not that the state of things in South Africa is what it is, but that it is not infinitely worse. They are the true begetters of a Parliament without an Opposition,—always a most dangerous and uncertain depository of power.
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