Three periods of administration lie before the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies:

(i) Martial law, until the Queen's authority has been established;

(ii) A Government of the type indicated by the term 'Crown Colony-i.e. one in which the principle of representation is admitted in a greater or less degree according to circumstances; (iii) Responsible government, or full Parliamentary selfgovernment.

During the first two of these periods-periods of uncertain duration-the realisation of any scheme of Federal Union is not to be expected; since there is a general consensus of opinion that a Federal Constitution cannot be created until self-government has been established in at least the majority of the South African Colonies. Now, as the grant of responsible government cannot be made to the inhabitants of the two new colonies until the bad effects of the war have been obliterated, and political stability and industrial progress have been restored; and as, moreover, it is certain that the most effective method of securing this political stability is to introduce fresh AngloSaxon settlers into the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies, and generally into South Africa, it follows that the question of fresh settlers governs the question of Federal Union. In plain words, the present preponderance, or even equality, of the Dutch population in South Africa would alone constitute a sufficient reason for postponing the creation of a Federal South Africa. So long as this preponderance is maintained, the application of the principle of responsible government to the Federal Constitution would require the recognition of the Dutch language and the maintenance of the Dutch Afrikander laws and institutions, whereas the experience of the last twenty years affords unmistakable evidence that to allow the Federal Parliament to be controlled by a hostile Dutch majority would be the most fatal of political blunders. If a Federal Legislature and Executive are to be entrusted with the destinies of South Africa, the control of that Legislature and Executive must be in the hands of loyalists; in short, British ideas, political, social, and industrial, must be allowed to work without hindrance in the future development of a country for which so great a price has been paid by the Empire at large.

Assuming then that Federal Union cannot be introduced until responsible government has been established throughout the South African Colonies, it remains to consider what advances in the direction of administrative uniformity can be usefully attempted in the immediate future; that is to say, while the

Transvaal and Orange River Colonies remain in the stage of Crown Colonies. A precedent for such an endeavour to secure uniformity of action in matters of common concern, pending the creation of a Federal Union, is to be found in the practice of the Australasian Governments during the period in which the Commonwealth Constitution was in the making. During this intermediate period the principle that the representatives of the various Australasian Governments should consult upon matters of common concern to Australasia was put into practice. Conferences were held from time to time at which the respective Premiers met; and by this means a common course of action was pursued where necessary, as in the case of the question of Chinese immigration. It is not too much to hope that the representatives of the Colonial Governments in South Africa should, by means of similar conferences, secure uniformity of action in such matters as railway administration and rates, customs, and the treatment of the native population.

To those who have expected to see a Federal South Africa rise directly from the ashes of the present conflagration, and whose thoughts have been running upon such questions as the site of the Federal capital, the relationship of the GovernorGeneral to the Lieutenant-Governors, and the rectification of colonial boundaries, this programme will no doubt appear timid and insignificant. Nevertheless, in view of the complexity of the problem of South African unity-in view of the wide divergences of interest which keep the several colonies apart, of the broad lines of cleavage scored across the map of South Africa by the underlying antagonism of the European and the native, the Dutch and the British, the agricultural and the urban settlers, to say nothing of the opposite ideals placed before the British public by Exeter Hall and St. Swithin's Lane -the nation will have reason to congratulate itself if it sees this modest programme carried into effect. Nor are the practical advantages to be derived from the attainment of mutual co-operation in these matters inconsiderable. What is wanted now is not constitution-making, but industrial development. It cannot be too strongly insisted that the one paramount need of South Africa, from the moment that the embers of Boer resistance are quenched, is the settlement of fresh Anglo-Saxon colonists. The rapid development of the agricultural and industrial resources of the country would at one and the same time create opportunities for the reception of these Anglo-Saxon emigrants, and by diverting the attention of the Dutch population from their political ambitions, heal the festering sores of racial animosity. It is in the Transvaal, of course,

that the most immediate and striking results may be expected. Under the Boer Government the mining industries already established were subjected to an annual burden of unfair taxation and extortionate charges which cannot be estimated at less than two and a half millions sterling. The heaviest item in this total consisted of 1,000,000l. paid to the Netherlands Railway Company in excess of the commercial value of the services rendered, and 350,000l. exacted by the dynamite monopoly. Assuming that the cost of expropriating the Netherlands Railway, and the proportion of the expenses of the war with which the revenue of the Transvaal Colony is charged, will fall mainly upon these mining industries, they should still benefit to the extent of 1,000,000l. annually by the establishment of British rule. The direct relief thus afforded to the existing industries will form only a part of the industrial advantages of the new régime. The security of British rule will attract capital for the development of fresh mineral areas, and the increased population due to this cause will create a demand for agricultural produce which will justify the expenditure of capital, public and private, on irrigation works and light railways, and so lead in turn to the development of the agricultural and pastoral areas.

*

To this industrial development of South Africa, of which the first and most striking results are to be looked for in the Transvaal, the attainment of uniformity in regard to these matters will materially contribute. The transfer of the Transvaal and Orange River railway systems to British hands will remove the political causes which stood in the way of agreement; and the adjustment of the separate interests of these colonies, and of the railway interests of Rhodesia, Natal, and the Cape Colony, remains therefore to be effected upon commercial and financial grounds. The increased economy and efficiency of intercolonial co-operation will enable a substantial reduction of rates to be accomplished without decreasing the railway revenues of the respective Colonial Governments, or of the private companies concerned. At the same time an adjustinent of the tariffs should prevent the fiscal necessities of any separate Colonial Government from interfering with the reduction of the cost of living which may be expected from uniformity in the administration of the railways. In particular, all foodstuffs should be admitted as nearly free as possible. Scarcely inferior

It is to be presumed that the expropriation of the Netherlands Railway Company will be effected; but in any case the British Administration in this colony will succeed to the controlling powers and interests possessed by the late Transvaal Government.

in importance to these questions is the necessity for providing an abundant supply of native labour, not only for the mining and other industries already established, but also for the irrigation works and light railways which are to open up fresh districts for agricultural settlers. Concerted measures, based, for example, on the principle of Mr. Rhodes's Glen Grey Act, would stimulate the native population to offer their services to European employers; and special facilities for the economic transport of native labourers should be arranged, so that the supplies afforded by the great seats of Bantu population may be easily drawn upon. This question of transport is important, since it is the practice of the African natives to engage themselves for comparatively short periods, say three months, or six months, as the case may be, and then return to their homes, where they establish themselves for life by purchasing wives and cattle with the proceeds of their earnings.

In short, the impulse to federate must come from within and not from without. The army of Great Britain and of the Empire has accomplished the all-important task of securing the unity of a common subordination to the British Crown; the Imperial Government is pledged to promote the settlement of such members of the reserve forces, and of the British and Colonial volunteers, as desire to make their home in the country where they have risked their lives. It is more than probable that municipal self-government will be granted to the Randt and to other urban districts in the Transvaal so soon as the exigencies of the military situation permit. When the time comes to grant responsible government to the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies, it may be possible to make the acquisition of these privileges by the inhabitants of the former Republics simultaneous with the creation of the Federal Constitution. If this were possible, and if, further, the sentences of disenfranchisement on the rebels in the Cape Colony were annulled, the establishment of Federal Unity might be presented to the Dutch population of South Africa as heralding an era of complete political freedom and racial conciliation. But whether this be possible or not, administrative unity is now a matter for the colonists themselves. It is a movement which the Imperial Government will welcome, but one which it can do little to promote.

ART. XI.-ENGLISH PATRIOTIC POETRY.

1. Lyra Heroica. Methuen, 1893.

Edited by W. E. Henley.

London:

2. A Selection from Drayton and Daniel. By H. C. Beeching. London: Dent, 1899.

3. Poems of England (with Notes). By H. B. George and Arthur Sidgwick. London: Macmillan, 1896.

4. Songs. By Charles Dibdin.

5. Poems written during the Russian War. By Archbishop Trench. London: Kegan Paul, 1900.

6. Barrack-Room Ballads. By Rudyard Kipling. London: Methuen, 1892.

7. The Seven Seas. By Rudyard Kipling. London: Methuen, 1896.

8. The Island Race. By Henry Newbolt. London: Mathews, 1898.

9. For England's Sake. By W. E. Henley. London: Nutt, 1900.

WITArnold, Rossetti, and William Morris, English poetry

the death of Browning and Tennyson, Matthew

passed into a silver age. The hopes and fears kindled by so many startling discoveries in the region of natural science had exhausted themselves; that pre-occupation with the Middle Ages which had followed upon the Oxford movement had passed; and no new passion had arisen to take their place. We had settled down in poetry either to copy the old masters with Mr. Watson, or to embroider natural scenery with Mr. Bridges, or with Mr. Yeats to play with Celtic dreams. All at once, upon this ingenious trifling came a great war in South Africa, and along with it a generous and unanticipated response to our imperial needs throughout the length and breadth of our colonies. Once more we were in a period of storm and stress; and the questions presented in the field of literature began once more to be of intense interest. Would the new afflatus find a new poet through whom to speak? If so, in what shape would the new work of art be born? And then, how would the silver writers behave under the strain? Which of them would awake the Spartan fife'? It may be worth while to consider how far and in what way these questions have been answered.

We may preface our enquiry by examining some characteristics of the patriotic poetry which the great poets of England have bequeathed to us from bygone ages. The new-born