Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/231

 1899.] Lord Salisbury at the Mansion House, [223

place, because I am convinced that no such idea is present in the minds of any Government in the world. . . . Whenever we are victorious we shall consult the vast interests which are com- mitted to our care. We shall consult the vast duties which it lies upon us to perform, and taking counsel with the uniform traditions of our colonial government and of the moderation and equal justice to all races of men which it has been our uniform practice to observe, I have no doubt that we shall so arrange that the issue of this conflict will confer good govern- ment upon the area where it rages, and will give a security that is sorely needed, for the future, from the recurrence of any such dangers, or the necessity for any such exertions, and the restoration of peace and civilisation to that portion of the world/'

Among Liberals well informed on South African affairs Mr. Bryce was perhaps the most conspicuous of those who refused to accept the view of the " inevitableness " of the war. Speaking at Aberdeen, on November 8, he said all were agreed that the war, for the sake of humanity, should be vigorously prosecuted, though he condemned the diplomacy which led to it. The British Ministry made a fatal error in bringing on a crisis so soon after the Jameson invasion, and had made the Dutch in the Colony and the Orange Free State rally to the Transvaal. Bad Governments like that of the Transvaal did not stand long. The exclusive system would have collapsed in a few years, but now the gravest difficulties would begin when the war was over.

On the same subject Lord Kimberley, at Newcastle on November 14, said that he thought the negotiations failed through a suspicion, to some extent well grounded, in each party of the motives of the other. His tone towards Mr. Chamberlain, however, was respectful and friendly. Lord Kimberley intimated that he and, to a large extent, Mr. Glad- stone were influenced, in 1881, by a belief that if they went on with the war the Free State would join the Transvaal against them and the loyalty of the Cape Dutch would be precarious.

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, at Manchester on November 14, maintained his line of criticism of the conduct of the Govern- ment before the war. What he condemned in their policy was, he said, that " all through the months of last summer they were mixing up negotiations with warlike preparations, in such a manner as to prejudice greatly the chances of a peaceful solution."

By this date, however, the public mind was drifting steadily to the conclusion that, while the " mixture " referred to by Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman was practically unavoidable, the thing chiefly to be regretted was that the element in it of warlike preparations had not bulked much more largely than it actually did. This view was strengthened by reports of the advance of Boer commandoes into the Cape Colony, and of the issue by