l8o SOUTH AFRICA. 



settlement of all matters in dispute on a practical 

 and satisfactory basis. Failing which, an ultimatum 

 is the only alternative always supposing that all 

 demands on the Transvaal are framed in a 

 thoroughly just and even a conciliatory spirit 



However, I am not concerned to go into details 

 as regards the present accumulating political 

 troubles in South Africa. I trust that public 

 opinion in England is becoming aware of the fact 

 that all these complications may be traced to the 

 effects of Mr. Gladstone's imbecile and sentimental 

 policy, consequent on the result of our miserable 

 little disaster at Majuba, and that safety for the 

 future can be secured only by reverting to a course 

 within the bounds of practical politics. 



To attempt a description of the Transvaal, com- 

 pressed within the limits which I have decided on, 

 would be a vain endeavour, but it may suffice to 

 say that in appearance at least it would compare 

 favourably with any part of South Africa. A 

 traveller passing over its upland in the summer 

 season, looking over a boundless expanse of grass 

 waving in the wind like a corn crop, would at once 

 naturally conclude that, limited as its arable area 

 is, at any rate it is surely a rich pastoral country. 



