We note in last Saturday's Daily Chronicle a very sensible
article on the right way of treating Mr. Merriman. After condemning the rowdyism of a section of the Edinburgh public, our contemporary continues : " The proper way to treat Mr. Merriman is not to hoot at him, but to bombard him with his own speeches." Mr. Merriman said at Edinburgh that the idea of a Dutch conspiracy was ridiculous, and that nobody ever thought of it till 1895. But Mr. Merriman him- self in 1885 said: "It must come to this—was England or the Transvaal to be the paramount force in South Africa ? " and, again: "My quarrel with the Bond is that it stirs up race differences. Its main object is to make the South African Republic the paramount Power in South Africa." We do not wish for a moment to discredit the sincerity of Mr. Merri. man's present views. but as a vindicator of the non-aggressive
character of Afrikander aspirations he is terribly handicapped by his past utterances, which clearly cannot be held to be less sincere and veracious than those of to-day.
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