The Government has created a new Chartered Company with quasi-sovereign
powers. Its dominion will be called Zambesia, or Zambesiland, and will cover Matabeleland, North Bechuanaland, and Khama.'s terrritory, in all four hundred thousand square miles, or twice the area of France. More than half this vast region is fit for European settlement, and the whole of it is rich in minerals. The new Government is entrusted to Directors of the Company, of whom three, the Duke of Fife, the Duke of Abercorn, and Mr. Albert Grey, are irremovable ; while of the remainder, the most influential will be Mr. Rhodes, the millionaire. The Company has all the powers of the old East Indian Company, and will, we trust, like its prototype, solve the problem of creating an efficient native army. That is what is now wanted for our South African and East African dominions; and until it is secured, our position in the immense provinces we have recently acquired must remain a little uncertain. Our liabilities are extending fast, too fast ; but there are resources and capacities in Britain to deal with every problem—except the Irish Question. We could govern all Africa more easily than that little island, because in Africa we should retain our political nerve.
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