ence has told us, and ought to have taught us, that in what we
have done or tried to do, we have aggravated every evil which we most
desired to prevent. We have conciliated neither person nor party.'

Baron Huebner arrived at his conclusions by a totally different road from
that pursued by Mr. Froude, but the burden of his story is much the
same. It is the indecision of the Central Government, the uncertainty in
which the Colony is always kept as to what will happen to them next,
which causes nearly all the mischief. We have treated the Cape Colony as
we have treated Ireland, and with every prospect of bringing about the
same results. First 'coercion,' then abject surrender, then coercion
again--'a process,' as Mr. Froude justly remarks, 'which drives nations
mad, as it drives children, yet is inevitable in every dependency
belonging to us which is not entirely servile, so long as it lies at the
will and mercy of so uncertain a body as the British Parliament.' Baron
Huebner, who stands beyond the influence of our party politics, tells us
the same thing in other words. We want a policy, he says, in effect,
which shall be permanent in its application, and therefore not affected
by changes in Ministries. The fact is that we want such a policy for
many parts of our Empire besides South Africa, and we are likely to want
it. With Parliaments elected at short and frequent intervals, and
depending largely on shifting caprices, there is not likely to be any
fixed principle in dealing with political problems arising either at our
own doors or thousands of miles away.

There is one question in which all the colonists take a deep interest,
and that is the condition and prospects of our trade. The Colonies are
now our best customers, and we sincerely hope they will continue to be
so, for with them we may possibly get, even yet, something like Free
Trade, whereas no chance of securing even an approach to it can be
looked for in the rest of the world. The Colonies will always raise at
the Custom House the greater part of the money they want for the
expenses of internal government, but they may be induced to offer
England more favourable terms than other nations receive. In Australia,
as elsewhere, it begins to be doubted whether 'England can trust
entirely to Free Trade and competition to keep the place she has
hitherto held.' If all our Colonies were bound with us in one commercial
federation, we could make sure of Free Trade over a