On Monday there was published in the newspapers a corre-
spondence between Lord Elgin and a correspondent on the subject of charges of cruelty made against the Natal troops in the recent war. Mr. C. H. Norman asked for a Com- mission to inquire into certain charges of barbarity made by newspaper correspondents and in anonyinous letters from soldiers purporting to be serving in the campaign. Lord Elgin very rightly replied that Natal had shown no desire to stifle inquiry, but had had the allegations of the Bishop of Zululand judicially examined. He went on to declare that, on the information supplied to him by the Government of Natal, the rumours referred to by his correspondent had no foundation, and that it would be an unwarrantable act to give the Natal Government the lie by appointing a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the behaviour of an independent Colony. We have no desire to make any excuse for real barbarity if such existed, but the game of atrocity-mongering on anonymous and inadequate reports can do no possible service to the cause of humanity.
