NEWS OF THE WEEK.
—4,— Tilnews from the Transvaal is disquieting. The Boers l-feld their mass-meeting on December 10th, at Doom n Kop, and it was attended by some 6,000 persons, who passed reso- lutions affirming that Mr. Paul Kruger should be President ; that the Volksraad should be convoked ; and that the .old Republican Government should be reinstated. Moreover, -4‘ We hereby proclaim that we will ne vet submit to the British Government, and that we continue emphatically to protest against all proclamations issued by the English authorities. We desire nothing else than our independence, and we -solemnly declare to be prepared to sacrifice our lives and shed our blood for it." The meeting then dispersed, but there is a rumour that the Boers have seized Potchefstrom, and Sir Garnet Wolseley has certainly arrested Mr. Pretorius, formerly Presi- dent, and Mr. Bok, secretary of the meeting, on a charge of high- treason. It must not be forgotten, however, that all these accounts come to us through sources friendly to the Boers, that Sir Garnet Wolseley disbelieves in the seriousness of the move- ment, and estimates the number present at the mass-meeting at .only 3,000, and that a strong English party is growing in the Transvaal. Unfortunately, Sir G. Wolseley, by announcing that the territory would in future be governed as a Crown -colony, has thrown a needless difficulty in the way of com- promise, as the Boers lose their liberty as well as their indepen- .dence.
