Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/217

 1899.] Mr. Chamberlains Vindication. [209

paramountry over everything that had secured the hostility of the Free State." After some caustic observations on the new diplomacy, and the " rather half-hearted defence " of it under- taken by the Prime Minister, Sir Wm. Harcourt emphatically condemned the Boer ultimatum. But he was not satisfied that the conduct of our Government had been " in every respect most conducive to peace/'

On the following day (Oct. 19) Mr. Chamberlain delivered a lengthened and elaborate vindication of his policy. As was natural, he struck back fiercely, even going beyond parliamen- tary rules, at Mr. Philip Stanhope.

Replying to the charges brought against the South African League, he stated that it was one of the poorest and, at the same time, one of the most representative political associations ever formed. The league had a perfect right to make repre- sentations to Sir A. Milner, and there was no ground for calling upon the Government to repudiate this association. As to the imaginary collaboration between himself and Mr. Rhodes, he declared emphatically that from the time of the Jameson raid up till now he had held no communication with that gentleman either directly or indirectly on any subject connected with South African politics. Mr. Stanhope's charge that he and Sir A. Milner had worked for war for many months he characterised as monstrous.

Having pointed out the unfair construction placed by Sir Wm. Harcourt on opinions expressed by him in 1896 as to the impolicy and even immorality of then pressing internal reforms on the Transvaal by force, Mr. Chamberlain declared emphatically that, having considered most carefully all the negotiations with the Transvaal in the light of recent events — he referred to the ultimatum and to recent speeches of Presi- dent Kruger — he had most reluctantly come to the conclusion that war was almost inevitable. He had been determined at all cost to secure justice for British subjects, and to secure the paramountcy of this country, but within those limits he had striven to the best of his ability to achieve a peaceful settle- ment. If we were to maintain our imperial position as a great power in South Africa, we were bound to show that we were willing and able to protect British subjects when they were made to suffer from oppression and injustice. Then, in the interests of South Africa and of the British Empire, Great Britain must remain the paramount Power in South Africa — meaning by that the British colonies and the two republics — because the peace of South Africa depended upon our accepting the responsibilities of that position. The Government of the Transvaal had broken its promises, and had placed British subjects in a position of distinct inferiority, and had conspired against and undermined the suzerainty or paramountcy of the Queen. He insisted that we were entitled to use force to make our will prevail. If our fellow-subjects in South Africa were