And they are secured to you by the strength of the power that
gave them, and whose navy protects your shores from attack
without your being asked to contribute one pound to that
protection unless you yourselves desire it. Well, gentlemen, of
course you are loyal; it would be monstrous if you were not.

"And now, if I have one wish, it is that I may never again have
to deal at any length with this topic. But in order that I may
put it aside with a good conscience, I wish, having been more or
less compelled to deal with it, to do so honestly, and not to
shut my eyes to unpleasant facts. The great bulk of the
population of the Colony--Dutch as well as English--are, I firmly
believe, thoroughly loyal, in the sense that they know they live
under a good constitution, and have no wish to change it, and
regard with feelings of reverence and pride that august lady at
the head of it. If we had only domestic questions to consider; if
political controversy were confined to the internal affairs of
the country, there would, no doubt, be a great deal of hard
language used by conflicting parties, and very likely among the
usual amenities of party warfare somebody would call somebody
else disloyal; but the thing would be so absurd--so obviously
absurd--that nobody would take it seriously, and the charges
would be forgotten almost as soon as uttered.

[Sidenote: The loyalty of the Bond.]

"What gives the sting to the charge of disloyalty in this case,
what makes it stick, and what makes people wince under it, is the
fact that the political controversies of this country at present
unfortunately turn largely upon another question--I mean the
relations of Her Majesty's Government to the South African
Republic--and that, whenever there is any prospect of any
difference between them, a number of people in the Colony at once
vehemently, and without even the semblance of impartiality,
espouse the side of the Republic. Personally I do not think that
they are disloyal. I am familiar at home with the figure of the
politician--often the best of men, though singularly
injudicious--who, whenever any disputes arise with another
country, starts with the assumption that his own country must be
in the wrong. He is not disloyal, but really he cannot be very
much surpri