In the House of Lords on Thursday Lord Halifax moved
a Motion placing on record the high appreciation of the House of Lords "of the services rendered by Lord Milner in South Africa to the Crown and the Empire." With a great deal of Lord Halifax's praise of Lord Milner we are in sympathy, and we are as anxious as Lord Halifax that the British settlers in South Africa should realise that the Imperial Government will stand by them and protect their just rights at all costs. Lord Elgin, who met the Motion by moving the Previous Question, said that the Government could not discuss Lord Halifax's Motion without entering into the question of the policy and the conspquences of the action of the late Govern- ment. But such discussion they wished to avoid as likely to raise obstacles to the progress and peace of South Africa. After a speech from the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, though he defended Lord Milner, expressed his deep regret at the illegal flogging of the Chinese, and after Lord Goschen, Lord Roberts, and Lord Lansdowne had highly praised Lord Milner, the Motion for the Previous Question was negatived by a majority of 135 votes (170 to 35), and Lord Halifax's Resolution was carried without a division.
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