Mr. Lecky's article on the moral aspects of the South
African War in last Saturday's Daily News may be com- mended to all who are open to conviction as to the righteous- ness of the British cause. Dismissing as impracticable the methods that might have been adopted by an " intelligent military despotism" to check the arming of the Transvaal, Mr. Lecky states his belief that the war had on the English side for some time become inevitable and could not have been greatly postponed. The grievances of the Outlanders had been exaggerated, bat the Transvaal Government was • ` detestable," and the British Government could not acquiesce in a state of things which violated distinct promises, and threatened our whole position in South Africa. After paying a well-merited tribute to Mr. Schreiner's conduct as that of a very honourable man, and frankly admitting the shortcomings of the British—the sinister intrusion of financial speculation into the domain of politics both in England and South Africa, the baleful effect of the Raid which was a folly as well as a crime, and the adulation of Mr. Rhodes—Mr. Lecky declared that no responsible politician in England desired the war, and that Mr. Chamberlain, if not always judicious in diplomacy, had nevertheless "sincerely laboured for peace," and that in its broad lines his policy had been just and moderate.
Previous page
