We have dealt elsewhere with the question of the Powers
and the possibility of their intervention in our quarrel with the Transvaal. But though we have no fears of any inter- national complications arising out of the crisis, we shall no doubt see a great deal of newspaper ill-will displayed towards Great Britain during the next few months. If we are wise, however, we shall be rather amused than annoyed. Certainly there will be little difficulty in smiling if the official organ of the Vatican, the Osservatore Romano, can live up to its com- ments on the situation quoted in Wednesday's Times. After characteristically bringing in the Freemasons, the organ of the Papal Court asks "Can it be that this war is providen- tial ? Will Protestantism be exhausted by it ? Has the period of the great transformation of the world begun, when the Church will accomplish a new conversion of the Gentiles ? Let us have courage, determination, and faith in God, who is now and ever the God of armies." Apparently the Boers and the English are to eat each other up like the Kilkenny cats, and so give the Vatican a chance. But even if they do, how about the Americans, and the Germans?
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