A great deal of attention has been attracted during the
week to an article in the September National Review by Sir Edward Grey dealing with the causes of the war. Sir Edward Grey writes with characteristic straightforwardness, and yet moderation, and shows once again how ridiculous is the contention that we forced war on the Boers. The whole paper is well worth close study, but perhaps the most striking and original portion of it is that in which Sir Edward Grey points out that if the Transvaal had been a State of equal size and power many people who sided with the Boers would have sided with the British Government. " But it seemed incredible that the Boers could deliberately have risked war with the certainty of defeat," and therefore it was assumed that war was forced upon them. Of course this was a delusion, for the Boers by no means thought themselves our inferiors in military strength. They thought of the analogy of a leopard attacking an ox, and argued that the leopard always wins in spite of the ox's size and sharp horns. Sir Edw.ard Grey ends his article with a defence of Lord Milner which does him the greatest possible credit. If ever a man had the courage of his political opinions, that man is Sir Edward Grey. But depend upon it, his countrymen will not think the worse of him for that.
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