Rumours have been circulating all the week that Prince Bismarck
has made some arrangement under which the Portu- guese, in return, probably, for concessions on the Congo, are to cede to him Delagoa Bay. He is then to seize Zululand, protect the Transvaal, and so stretch German influence right across South Africa to Augra Pequena. If the arrangement were made with British consent, and by agreement, we should by no means denounce it as bad, for a hundred thousand German cultivators between the Orange River and the Zambesi would be infinitely better neighbours than the Boers, and would bar the road against the Northern tribes ; but there is no reason for believing the story. It is denied both from Berlin and Lisbon, and is in- consistent with Prince Bismarck's policy. He wants a land for his Germans to ssttle in, and the Transvaal would do but he wants an unoccupied one, not one parcelled out among Dutch farmers. The Boers are said to wish for his "protection ;" but they do not desire his government any more than they desire ours. They want to be let alone, to possess ten square miles in peace, and to whip black persons till they grow produce for their masters on those gigantic farms without being paid for their labour.
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