The Durban Convention continues its discussions in private, but from
rumour, as well as from the internal evidence of speeches made outside the Convention, it is fairly certain that the aim of the Congress is the union, not the federation, of South Africa. At a banquet on Saturday last the speeches of the delegates were remarkable for their optimism. Mr. Smuts declared that the work of Vereeniging must be perfected ; there the Boers bad made the greatest of all sacrifices by signing away their independence, but he did not think they had suffered, and now they could and would succeed in establishing a united country formed from the best stocks in Europe. Sir Matthew Nathan remarked that soon Natal would no longer need a separate Governor. Sir Henry de Villiers, whose reputation gives his word authority, said he regretted the secrecy of the Convention for only one reason, and that was that the public would never know of what high quality the speeches had been. All these signs point one way, and we may look forward to the production of a scheme of union which we are sure will be on the right lines for South Africa.
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