19 JANUARY 1901, Page 2

Sir Henry Fowler, M.P., was the principal speaker at the

Willenhall District Council dinner on Monday night. On the question of the war, his views as to its inevitableness and justice were unchanged, only the evidence on which they were based had grown much stronger. The true scope of the Afrikander aspirations had been revealed in a significant admission contained in the peace manifesto issued by the burghers in the Orange River Colony to their brethren in South Africa. "We have fought to get South Africa under one flag." In this manifesto there was no talk of franchise, of independence, of capitalists or Outlanders. "They had revealed the truth, and were honourable men. They had been fighting to get South Africa under one flag,' and England had been doing the same, because it was a part of Great Britain ; and belonged to her by the triple title of conquest, treaty, and purchase." Sir Henry Fowler's attitude throughout the war has been unswervingly consistent and thoroughly patriotic, and his latest public utterance is the speech of a statesman.