We have no answer to give Mr. Morley as to
the blunders committed in the way of preparation except that they show that the British Government had not designed the war; but he seems to us to shirk the most serious questions just as completely as inferior speakers do. If the Boers did not intend war, and war with a first-class Power, why did they waste millions on their astonishing collection of war materials? And if they only accepted wax and did not wish to force it, why was not their ultimatum couched in reasonable though explicit terms, instead of terms of insult so gross that, as they well knew, no Government could regard it as anything but a challenge which it would be shameful to refuse. We are not of those who hold the Boers wicked because they hoped to found a great Afrikander Republic of South Africa —why should they not hope it ?—but that they did hope it and did prepare for it, and that Great Britain was bound to resist such a design, seem to us past question. It would be as reasonable to argue that Prince Bismarck never intended war with France because till he was quits ready he continued to negotiate.
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