NEWS OF THE WEEK.
IT was announced in both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday that the peace negotiations which have been proceeding for the last three weeks had fallen through, General Botha having declined the terms offered on behalf of the British Government. The documents. relating to the negotiations were published as we were going to press, so that for the moment we must confine ourselves to stating that, in our opinion, the terms offered were most generous, and that the Government could not possibly have conceded the modified independence for which the Boers held out. We have expressed our opinion on the failure of the negotiations else- where, and will only say here that it was much better that they should break down than that an unreal and imperfect peace should be made prematurely. It is no doubt deplorable that, the waste of life and all the attendant miseries to both sides should begin again, but in war it is impossible to allow such considerations to prevail over a just appreciation of, and judgment on, the essential issues. It is criminal to make war light-heartedly, but not less criminal to leave it off light- heartedly,—out of weariness and ennui, and before a real settle- ment has been reached. What would now be the condition of the United States if the North had patched up a peace with the South on their terms, and not on the only conditions which allowed of permanent peace within the Union ?
