On his way to Cape Town Mr. Chamberlain made speechesand
received deputations at Graaf Reinet, Middelburg, Schomibie, and Pearl. At Graaf Reinet Mr. Chamberlain spoke with the utmost frankness on the subject of rebellion and loyalty. The Transvaal and Orange River Colony, he said, had aban- doned their aspirations for the establishment of a• Dutch Republic outside the British Empire. Why, then, should the population of Graaf Reinet be more disloyal, more anti- British, than that of the late Republics P He accepted their professions of loyalty, but asked them to find proof. The proceedings at Middelburg, an essentially Dutch_ • town, derived special significance from the presence of Mr. de Waal, the Hollander secretary of the Bond, which was now for the first time represented at a public function in honour of Mr. Chamberlain. Mr. de Waal in an excellent speech declared that the address contained the sentiments of a unanimous people. In reply to Mr. Chamberlain's appeal that the Dutch should come forward and declare that they accepted the logic of events and gave up their cherished ideal, he said : " We propose to prove our loyalty by acts, and to assist in the great scheme you have laid down. We will show by our lives our wish to live in amity with our fellow-men." They had now one flag, one country, one ruler, and he hoped the time was not far distant when they would be one. people.
