Mr. Chamberlain, in his reply, scarcely disputed the inferenoes to
be drawn from the cipher telegrams, but held that, nevertheless, he was bound to do the beat he could for the Empire and South Africa. It was essential to maintain the paramount power of Great Britain in South Africa, and to bind together the two races which inhabit it, and he thought the policy Sir Wm. Harcourt suggested would not do that. The country must not forget that Mr. Kruger had made raids too into British dominion, one of which had been justly characterised as an " impudent " breach of the Con- vention of 1884. The policy which had restored independence to the Transvaal was a most magnanimous one, and sufficiently proved that this country was not aggressive. The grievances of the Outlanders were serious, and are all the result of posi- tive laws. Mr. Rhodes had done great services to the State, and up to the time of the Raid had striven earnestly to harmonise British and Afrikander opinion, and had wonder. fully succeeded in that work. It was by no means certain that the majority of the Colonists desired to see him punished. Her Majesty's Government, therefore, proposed to utilise him as a great force, and to allow him to atone for his recent blunder, which might be called by a harsher name, by developing Rhodesia. The Chartered Com- pany also, with its wings all clipped, would be permitted to goon with its civil administration, but its connection with the Raid would be investigated, as soon as the Jameson trial was over, by a joint Committee of the two Houses. The Govern- ment had absolutely secured the Transvaal against further raids, and intended by every legitimate means to press for the removal of the grievances of the Outlanders. Through- out his speech Mr. Chamberlain hinted that he was in possession of some facts which it would be indiscreet to reveal, and he highly eulogised the energy with which Mr. Rhodes had anticipated and rendered impossible certain designs which would have prevented the expansion of the British dominion in South Africa.
