Mr. Merriman's speech of last week has rendered the situa-
tion in South Africa very uncertain. The suggestion that the first Government of united South Africa should be a Coalition Ministry in which British and Dutch should be associated had become so familiar, and had excited so little opposition, that people had already begun to speak of it almost as a certainty. Mr. Merriman's declaration against coalition, therefore, took South Africa by surprise. " Get out of the little cock-boat coalition," he said, "and refit under the old flag." The Pro- gressive Party argues that the "old flag " means racial antagonism and nothing else. It is only fair to Mr. Merri- man to say that he explained that, in his opinion, racial ill- feeling was already dead, and that he held the existence of a strong Opposition to be of primary importance for good government, We cannot help thinking, however, that the balance of advantage would be strongly on the side of a coali- tion. A coalition would be a definite and picturesque adver- tisement, not only that the conflict of races was ended, but that it was intended never to revive it.
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