We suppose this remark will be called " threatening "
and " bloodthirsty " in certain quarters, but for ourselves we are exceedingly glad that it was made. Though we are most anxious to avoid war, we hold that at the present moment military preparations are legitimate and necessary ; and we trust that the Government will proceed with them undeterred by any foolish talk about their effect being provocative and op- pressive. Meantime we are glad to see that New South Wales offers, in case of need, a contingent of nearly two thousand men, and that the Indian Government has made arrange- ments by which ten thousand men (all of them, of course, white troops, for no natives of any kind will under any cir- cumstances be employed) can be rapidly despatched to South Africa. Geographically, South Africa is a place where troops can be very easily concentrated, for it is, roughly, equidistant from England, from India, from Australia, and from Canada, and a telegram from London would set troops moving literally from four quarters of the globe.
