16 AUGUST 1890, Page 25

England and South Africa. By Edward J. Gibbs, M.A. (Long-

mans.)—" In these pages I have endeavoured to give an impartial account of the progress of Great Britain in South Africa." It is thus that Mr. Gibbs begins his preface. He goes on : "Unhappily, it is impossible to be impartial without being severe." And very severe he is on the British Government. He denounces the cession of the Transvaal ; in fact, he denounces pretty nearly everything that the Colonial Office has done. To a certain extent the book is made ancient history by Lord Salisbury's bargain with Germany. We suspect that it will hardly have pleased Mr. Gibbs, who, we fancy, holds in his heart the belief that "everything ought to go in England's basket."