of Hevievs, 1/6/0(1. 



History of the Month. 



441 



to our interest to humiliate a neighbour. It may be 

 necessary to oppose him, never to insult him. And 

 if we oppose him in our own interests or in those of 

 our ally, the easier we ought to make it for him to 

 give way. The building of a golden bridge for the 

 retreat of those whom we wish to evacuate their 

 position is good strategy and sound common sense. 

 Unfortunately with many of our newspapers it would 

 seem as if the attainment of our ends was compara- 

 tively of small importance to the barbaric yawp of 

 insult and exultation with which they love to greet 

 the discomfiture of the foreigner. Now that Ger- 

 many has yielded in Morocco, we ought to leave no 

 stone unturned to discover some way in which we 

 can help her to the attainment of some legitimate 

 ambition which does not conflict with our interest. 



The 



The elections for the Dounia in 

 Elections for the ^"^^^^ "*^ proceeding under cir- 

 Douma. cumstances which reduce to the 



minimum the authority of the body 

 in which, nevertheless, all the hopes of Russian 

 freedom are centred. As I constantly put it last 

 autumn, a representative Assembly without the four 

 liberties — Liberty of Public Meeting, Liberty of 

 Association, Liberty of Press, and a Habeas Corpus 

 .A.ct — is like a horse without any legs, a mere trunk 

 of a horse. Nevertheless, although the Douma will 

 not be what it might have been if the Russian 

 Liberals had rallied round M. Witte, instead of 

 allowing the Revolutionists to precipitate an appeal 

 to arms, notwithstanding all its defects it may be the 

 salvation of Russia. A National Assembly, no mat- 

 ter how it is composed, even if ever)- member in it 

 were nominated by the Tsar, would still be a 

 National Assembly, a visible and concrete represen- 

 tation of the vast amorphous, inorganic millions of 

 Greater Russia. It will have the right of free 

 speech, its proceedings will be reported, its mem- 

 bers will feel the national mandate, and it is pos- 

 sible that out of the hundred odd deputies there 

 may emerge some stout patriot who has not only an 

 enthusiastic devotion to liberty, but also a shrewd 

 practical eye to what is possible and what is not. 

 The worst of the Russians, on both sides, is that they 

 ail expect to work miracles Elijah's fashion, and 

 pivpare for the descent of fire from heaven b\ 

 drenching the altar and the sacrifice with water, 

 l-'.ach side plavs the other side's game, and then 

 tliev marvel that things won't go straight. Under 

 the.se conditions the chances even of an ideal 

 Douma would he small. But it is the only hope. 



. Sir J. West Ridgway, who won 



South African golden opinions as a level-headed 



Committee. administrator at Dublin Castle, has 



been despatched to South Africa 



with Lord Sandhurst and Sir F. Hopwood, of the 



Board of Trade, to join Colonel Johnstone, of the 



Topographical Department, who is already in Cape 



Town, for the purpose of reporting upon the vexed 

 question of the Constitutions which are to be estab>- 

 lished in the Transvaal and the Free State. The 

 terms of their reference are elastic, and the Com- 

 mittee might with advantage look into some of the 

 social and political questions which underlie the 

 superstructure of the new Constitutions. Is it true, 

 for instance, that the new citizens who are to govern 

 these countries hold in their hands military notes 

 acknowledging Imperial indebtedness to the tune of 

 ^"2,500,000, which, Mr. Chamberlain's promise not- 

 withstanding, have not been paid ? Is it true that 

 the new citizens have filed claims for compensation 

 for the destruct-on of private property, under the 

 Rules of War laid down at the Hague Conference, 

 amounting to _;^62, 000,000, not one penny of which 

 has been paid ? And if so, what prospect is there 

 of any stable and loyal government being estab- 

 lished in territories whose inhabitants are holders of 

 such vast unpaid claims upon the Imperial Govern- 

 ment? Must we pay these bills or part of them, 

 or repudiate them, or what ? It is a question that 

 goes to the root of the whole matter, and it is one, 

 therefore, which in one fomi or another the Com- 

 mittee will have to face. 



The 



Another question which, in common 

 Positio'n'of the decency, the Committee must look 

 Indians. ^"'o is the position of our Indian 



fellow-subjects. The grievances of 

 the Indians was one of the trump cards used by 

 Lord Milner and his backers in pressing their case 

 against Paul Kruger. Now that Kruger is dead 

 and we have seized his country, we can hardly ignore 

 the wrongs of our Indian fellow-subjects. By the 

 terms of the Treaty of Vereeniging the question of 

 the enfranchisement of the natives was held over till 

 responsible government was established. But the 

 Indian settlers are not " natives." They are civilised 

 men, who ought not to be contounded with raw 

 Kafiirs. Will the Committee be able to secure the 

 acceptance as the corner-stone of the new Constitu- 

 tion, ■' Equal rights for every civilised man in South 

 Africa"? It was Mr. Rhodes's formula. If it were 

 accepted, and the Cape franchise extended to the 

 new Colonies, there are hardly a thousand natives 

 who would be qualified for the franchise. The 

 principle might be adopted of allowing them two or 

 three representatives of their own, as was recom- 

 mended by the recent Commission, in accordance 

 with the Maori precedent. But it is monstrous to 

 enfranchise evers Russian Jew who makes his way 

 to Johannesburg, and to refuse to enfranchise highly 

 civilised and educated Indians. The Jew is as 

 Oriental as the Hindoo. Probably nothing would 

 bring the matter to a head so .soon and so satisfac- 

 torily as a decision that all regulations and restric- 

 tions imposed upon Orientals should be applied im- 

 partially to British Indians and foreign Jews. It is 

 to be hoped the Committee will call Dr. Abdurrah- 



