that no sooner are they baffled in one
attempt, than a new project has captivated their fancy, and enlisted
their enthusiasm. They have tried to shame Kruger by their
ill-considered demonstration in favour of Sir Henry Loch. The National
Union has published its solemn declarations of uitlander claims and
rights, they have had a Jameson raid, they have had the benefit of Lord
Rosmead's diplomacy, they have resorted to giving indiscriminate
backsheesh, they have made much of the Progressive party, they have had
an Industrial Commission, Chamber of Mines gatherings and speeches, but
they are not a whit further advanced, and if to-morrow it is suggested
that the mines should be closed, I suppose they would adopt that course
or any other with equal belief in its efficacy.

MR CHAMBERLAIN AND THE PRESIDENT.

Mr Chamberlain again, despite his better sense, and possibly his
inclinations to try different methods, has--judging from the blue books
which contain his letters--come round to the belief that the old methods
of diplomacy are best, and now conscientiously exchanges courtesies in
the blandest and most amiable fashion, as though there were no burning
questions unsettled. He professes to cherish a profound belief in the
integrity of Mr Kruger, and assumes an assurance that everything will
be done by him according to the spirit of the London Convention. Sir
Alfred Milner has been also heard to say that it is all "humbug and
nonsense" to express a doubt of good relations being restored, and
probably Mr Greene in the first flush of his coming has written in
equally strong terms of the approaching pacification of South Africa. I
wish I could share in this buoyant feeling, but the spirit of the Boer,
as it has impressed itself on my mind, since I crossed the Vaal, forbids
me to believe that while Kruger lives there can be any amelioration in
the condition of the Johannesburger. The Boers have endowed Kruger with
almost absolute power, and if up to seventy-two years of age Kruger has
been the incarnation of hostility to England, it would be a miracle
indeed if in his extreme old age he should be converted.

PAUL'S SPOOF.

It strikes me with wonder also that with all our astuteness, our
experience, and our knowledge of human nature, we should be so credulous
of these many professions of amity from the Transvaal. I am fresh from
my visit to Mr Kruger. It was but yesterday I heard the many dismal
complaints of Johannesbu