inister of Agriculture, Mr. (now Sir Pieter)
Faure. On one occasion Mr. Faure made some remarks in the same spirit
as that in which Lord Milner had spoken. "People," he said, "talk of
Africa for the Afrikanders; but what I say is, Africa for all." The
expression of this moderate sentiment drew down upon Mr. Faure a sharp
reproof from _Ons Land_. From this and many other such incidents it
must have begun to dawn upon Lord Milner's mind that what the Dutch of
the Cape Colony wanted was not conciliation but domination.

[Sidenote: Attitude of the Cape Dutch.]

[Sidenote: "Hands off" the Transvaal.]

And so it came about that in the months that President Krueger was busy
shutting the door against reform, Lord Milner was learning to realise
that on this all-important matter there was nothing to hope from the
Cape Dutch. When once the question of reform, or no reform, in the
Transvaal came up, all conciliatory speeches were useless. It made no
difference whether the Transvaal was right or wrong; it was always,
"_Our_ Transvaal, good or bad." In short, all that happened both in
the Transvaal and the Cape Colony during this (South African) spring
and summer was of the nature to impress conclusively upon Lord
Milner's mind that on the crucial issue between the Imperial
Government and the Transvaal, the leaders of Dutch opinion in the Cape
Colony were against the British cause. The rank and file of the Dutch
population, if left to themselves, might be indifferent, possibly
friendly; but the Bond organisation had placed them under the control
of the Bond leaders; and the Bond was hostile. What, more than
anything else, would serve to confirm this impression was Lord
Milner's constant study of the Dutch Press. Among these journals, _Ons
Land_ presented the most authoritative and significant expression of
the Bond policy, as directed by Mr. Hofmeyr's astute brain and
unrivalled experience. The editorial columns of _Ons Land_ rarely
contained a sentence that, standing alone, could be quoted as evidence
of its advocacy of anti-British action. Its method was far more
subtle. In everything in which Great Britain was concerned the
attitude which it adopted was one of profound alienation, rather than
of aggressive hostility. England's position in the world was presented
and discussed as though "Afrikanders" were no more interested in it
than they were in that of any foreign country. And, in South African
matters, the tone of the Dutch