WHAT DIVIDES THE CONSERVATIVES FROM THE LIBERALS?
[To THE Eorroa OF THE " EFECTATOR."] Sin,—In one of your political articles in the Spectator of June 12th, you observe that it is not likely that the "Little England policy" will be popular with the Radical party here. Your view received a striking illustration last year in our Colonies at the time of the Transvaal excitement. The Australian Colonies are supposed to be the most Radical part of the Empire, and Melbourne the most extreme Radical point a the Colonies ; yet when the cable informed us of the German Emperor's insult, or supposed insult, to England, an extraordinary outburst of patriotic enthusiasm took place all over our part of the world. The Melbourne populace even stopped the German bands playing in the streets, and com- pelled them to play "God Save the Queen." The same spirit stirred all over the five Australias and New Zealand, and it was the more remarkable because the Colonies, as a whole, strongly disapproved of the Jameson Raid. It was a curious instance of the unpredictableness of human history that the light blow of an enemy should accomplish in an instant what Parliaments, and public meetings, and all the machinery of Empire Leagues had been laboriously struggling for years to produce. Not, however, that I would seem to undervalue these efforts ; indeed, it is believed in our Colonies that the action of Mr. Chamberlain in calling together the repre- sentatives of our States is one of the most memorable and far-reaching bits of statesmanship of the century.—I am,
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