The Government has decided that all affairs in dis- pute
between ourselves and the Governments of the Trans- vaal and the Orange Free State shall be settled by a Special Commissioner, and Lord Reay has been asked to accept the office. We trust he will accept. He is a trained diplomatist, a Dutch noble and an English Peer, and a man of resolute moderation. He will understand almost by instinct what the Dutch Colonists really want, and will be able to report how far their demands can be conceded without destroying the future of South Africa, and without surrendering the natives too com- pletely to a people without pity. Lord Reay will, moreover, be able to report on the whole situation of South Africa with a fresh mind, and especially to decide whether the time has arrived for the creation of any central authority, whether nominee or elective. We have had many able men at the Cape, but never one who could be trusted, yet could talk to the old Dutch settlers as one of themselves, and perceive clearly how deep the fissure between the white races goes. The experiment, as we have maintained for years, is one full of hope.
