Page:The truth about the Transvaal.djvu/14

 in her Speech from the Throne, words which declared, in a proper, English, loyal spirit, that whilst anxious to give the freest possible institutions to the inhabitants of the Transvaal, Her Majesty's authority must first be vindicated, and order re-established in the country.

What, then, has caused the lamentable change in the policy of the Government? Mr. Sellar and other advocates of the Boers calmly tell us that Lord Carnarvon and Sir Michael Beach, the authorities and the people, both in the Colony and at home, were badly informed of the true state of feeling in the country; or, to put it in the words of the Boer speakers, "the officials of the Queen have, by their untrue and false representations, closed the door to Her Majesty and Parliament." To put the matter plainly, these anti-British writers and speakers, who glorify patriotism in everybody but a Briton, and can see no virtue save in the enemies of their country and those who sympathize with them, would have us believe that our British and Colonial authorities, from the highest to the lowest grade, have been guilty of falsehood and concealment, rather than that a number of Dutch Boers, gladly availing themselves of British assistance and being ready enough to be annexed to Great Britain in a time of danger, changed their minds and became the easy dupes of interested agitators when the danger was past, their enemies destroyed, and when they were required to conform to that system of law and order to which they had so much objection, and to pay the taxes necessary to support that system.

Truth-loving Englishmen may judge between the two probabilities, but how is it that our Government has sided with the rebels and believed their statements rather than those of British officials and loyal British subjects? The reason is not far to seek. Unhappily, the democratic element which prevails in our present Government does not seek to lead public opinion to what is right but to follow public opinion to what is popular. And so, just as in Ireland ministers refrained from that vigour of action in September or October last year which would in all probability have saved many lives and prevented much outrage in that unhappy country, because they waited until public opinion should be matured to support them, or, in other words, until the Radical section of their followers should be so alarmed by Irish agitation as to be ready for, "strong measures." so, with regard to the Transvaal, they believed they had a clue to the direction of public opinion, and shaped their policy accordingly. A noisy section of "advanced Liberals"—Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Mr. Passmore-Edwards, of the Echo, and some others of the same stamp—set themselves to stir up an agitation in favour of restoring the Transvaal to the Boers. Public meetings were held, strong language used, the independence and patriotism of the Boers extolled to the skies, and the vindication of Her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal by her troops stigmatised as an unjust and unholy war. Forgetful of the fact