A SOUTH AFRICAN SESSION. T HERE will be much and bitter
debating in this South African Session. It is all very well to say that it is summoned to vote some money on account, and that when the money is voted Members will disperse ; but a Parliament once assembled, and especially a new Parliament, is pretty sure to do something which will reveal at once its quality and its power. The new Members, for one thing, will want to display themselves, and among the new Members there may be a new man. Moreover, the imperative topic of the Session is by no means non- contentious. The country has, it is true, settled finally that the war in South Africa, was justifiable; that Dutch domination in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State must be ended whatever the expenditure of money, life, or energy the ending may cost ; and that South Africa is to remain British ; but there are many subsidiary ques- tions upon which opinion is still strongly divided. The conduct of the war in its later phases is sure to be reviewed, and much angry criticism will be offered, and doubtless repelled, as to the alleged deficiencies in supply. Though, too, it may be possible, it will be very difficult to avoid assurances as to the manner in which the new States are to be governed ; and whatever the method adopted, whether that of temporary military occupa- tion, or government through the High Commissioner, or government by a restricted franchise, it is certain to call forth a chorus of more or less reasonable objections. There will, too, be a severe financial struggle. If Sir Michael Hicks-Beach asks for many millions, as he must, the cost of withdrawing the troops being almost as great as the cost of sending them out, and the later operations being, as he admitted at Bristol on Tuesday, very costly, he will be compelled to give some hint as to the relief which he expects from the taxation of the Transvaal. The country has, we think, decided, quite justly, that the mining industry in the Transvaal should pay part of the expenses of the war, and Sir Michael Hicks-Beach heartily endorses that decision ; but what part has not been settled, even in thought, nor has the mining interest yet been heard upon the other side. It is sure to have much to say for itself, as any one may see who takes the trouble to read the speech upon the subject delivered last week by Mr. J. B. Robinson to the shareholders in his bank, and reported textually in the Economist of last Saturday. Let no one interested in the fair settlement of this question shirk that address on account of its great length. We disagree utterly with Mr. Robinson's conclusion, and dislike the tone of veiled menace in which he concludes—all South Africans, we observe, of all parties always think that threatening is effective rhetoric — but it is impos- sible to deny that the speech is statesmanlike and Rill be a storehouse of argument for those who accept its point of view. The substance of it is that every million taken from the Transvaal to aid the British Treasury is a, million taken from the fund which is to develop prosperity, and thereby to produce for Great Britain most profitable trade. If the mines are taxed, says Mr. Robinson, the second-rate mines will never be worked, and the working of the second-rate mines would double the prosperity of the country, and especially would increase the demand for labour, and therefore the rate of wages. The answer to that argument is, of course, that it is perfectly sound, but that it is equally sound as regards any millions taken from the British taxpayer, and that consequently if both caused the war, and both benefit by its result, both should bear a fair proportion of its cost. The answer will, we doubt not, triumph over the objection, but there will be fierce debating over it. The capitalists will fight hard for their properties, their position differing from that of brewers and other manu- facturers in this, that the price of gold cannot be at once raised upon the consumer, and they will be aided by the silent feeling of many philanthropists that it is good for John Bull when he goes to war to pay the whole of the bill. Otherwise, being convinced by his history that he will always win, he may go to war with too light a heart.
There remains what we think will prove the greatest subject of all, viz., the proper treatment for Boers who still resist. Upon this subject there can be little doubt the average British elector is under the influence of a keen feeling of disappointment. He expected that when the Boer was beaten he would submit and be cheerful, and when he finds that his beaten enemy prefers fighting a little longer he is fretted out of his usual good humour. The feeling is natural enough. It is highly exasperating to read day after day lists of good men killed in a struggle which can have but one end, and to see the advent of beneficent peace, in which enemies and friends are all to share, prevented by explosions of what English. men think pure " cussedness." The disposition, there- fore, is to ask whether, as war has not brought peace, and lenity has not brought peace, peace might not be obtained through what, in the momentary temper of the people, is esteemed a just severity. Bitterness is increased, too, by the fact, which is, we fear, undoubted, that a Boer, like a Soudanese, is very often " shamming when he's dead," and that his respect for his promise to fight no more is at the best imperfect. The soldiers are, therefore, adjured to be severe, to treat the Boers as mere rebels, to burn their farmsteads when they have broken their word, and generally to secure submis- sion by means of terror. This, we say, is the temper of the majority ; but, on the other hand, it offends a nearly equal number. The English, though capable of terrible sternness on occasion, are never cruel, they dislike exceedingly to destroy the " plant " of civilisation by burning the houses and workshops of white men, and they are never quite convinced that treason, unless accom- panied by murder, deserves death. They cannot endure the notion of desolating a province in order to make it obey. There will therefore be fierce debating on this subject also, accompanied by angry charges, as angrily repelled, until at last some compromise is arrived at, probably the wise one that as the Transvaal and the Orange Free State have been annexed, their government, including the treatment of Boers still in arms, shall be left to the civil power, that is, in practice, to Sir Alfred Milner. He knows what plan will be most effective ; he feels every day, and said recently, that rebellion in arms cannot be tolerated ; and he is at the same time aware that if South Africa is to prosper British and Dutch must be so far reconciled as to be able to live in the same town in peace and quietness. We are not sentimental on that subject, but we have read some history, and know that Bretons after the war in La Vend6e became good French. men. Catholics and Protestants do not love one another in Belfast to any great extent, but still Belfast prospers, and the difference between Dutch and English in Africa, even if it is as deep as that between Catholics and Protestants, is not so eternally incurable.
We suppose the Government will be able to keep out other subjects of discussion, for the one which seems imperative, if there is a vote of money for China, will, we think, be avoided generally by all parties alike. Opinion is still too fluid for angry debating. Nobody wants to conquer China. Nobody wants to go out of China with- out a reasonable hope that the outrages which have marked the past will never be repeated. Nobody, from Lord 'Salisbury downwards, has any special plan which he thinks certain to coerce the Empress-Regent, and con- sequently no one will be very eager to begin debate. It may be before it ends a rather turbulent Session, for it is a special note of South African politics that men whom they interest quarrel fiercely about them ; but it will be a South African Session, and little else.
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