The annual meeting of the National Liberal Federation opened on
Tuesday at Nottingham. Dr. Spence Watson, in moving the adoption of the report, said that never had the Liberal party needed Mr. Gladstone more. They met at a oritioal time, when the Liberal party was greatly divided, and the division was all the more serious because the differences were differences of conviction. As regards the wee, he re- called Mr. Gladstone's saying, "Let us recognise the principle of brotherhood among nations, and of their sacred indepen- denoe," and appealed to Liberals to urge upon the Govern. meat to leave to the two Republics the widest independence compatible with the avoidance of a recurrence of the present trouble. Professor Massie (of Oxford), who moved a colour- less resolution condemning the Government's diplomacy and calling for a durable settlement, struck a resonant Liberal Imperialist note throughout, and his statements that the grievances of the Outlanders were real, that the Boers were greatly to blame, that since Majuba they had been not merely unpleasant but contemptuous neighbours, provoked a running comment of cheers and protests. Vehement speeches against the capitalists and the war from Mr. Channing and Mr. Lloyd-George followed, but the resolution was passed by a large majority. The representative of the Westminster Gazette, in a singularly impartial account of the meeting, comes to the conclusion that the Conference was really evenly divided on the question of the immediate responsi- bility for the war, but that a majority of those present realised the impracticability of allowing the Republics to retain their independence.
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