A rather grave complication has been averted in South Africa.
A great number of Boers in the Transvaal are dis- satisfied with their position in the midst of English immi- grants, and five thousand of them resolved to " trek " in a body to Mashonaland, and there found a Republic. They accordingly opened negotiations with the Portuguese, who claim the east side of the plateau, and began to make prepara- tions for their march. Fortunately, the project got wind, and Sir H. Loch, High Commissioner in South Africa, was autho- rised to inform Mr. Kruger, the President of the Transvaal, that the movement would be regarded as an act of hostility to the Queen, and to demand a strict fulfilment of the Swaziland Convention. The President, who is supposed not to be favourable to a movement which threatens to carry away so many of his Dutch supporters, immediately re- plied that he had "damped" the trek, and that his Govern- ment would fulfil all its obligations. It is possible that the Boers may disregard his proclamation ; but if they do, they will be driven back by force, and the Dutch Republic will be unable to take up their cause. With the English hostile and their own Government neutral, they would be attacked on the march by natives who are profoundly sensible of the difference between the treatment which Boers mete out to blacks, and that which the English at least try to make
customary and legal.
