At the annual meeting of the Liberal Unionist Council held
on Tuesday afternoon the Hon. Arthur Elliot, who moved the adoption of the report, said that he hoped the day was rapidly approaching when we should see the end of the mutual slaughter of brave men in South Africa. The Dutch and English had to live together as fellow-citizens, and there- fore, when peace came, every man who said anything to foment racial antagonism would be acting in a way detri- mental to the interests of the whole Empire. We bad to draw out of this war a great success and a great triumph for the Empire, but never had a heavier task been imposed on our statesmen. Sir Lewis McIver outlined the policy which he hoped the Government would be able to announce as, primarily, complete and absolute absorption into the British Empire of the two Republics, firm central government for a while, with a view to self-government later on ; and yet later on the federation of South Africa. Perhaps the most significant remark made at the meeting was that of the speaker just named, who observed that "it is not necessary to be in the secrets of the Government to know that a General Election in the early autumn of the year is not much more improbable than the prospects of a good grouse season"; but it is easy to attach undue importance to what is, after all, a carefully guarded prophecy.
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