New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-28

tige-frOm those unwholesome fictions OF dis
ordered tatesmanship-which clouded Lord
Beaconsfcld's Administration.
The abstract Of the Premiers speech on the
vote of censure, which was published yesterday,
shows how unequiyocal was his defence of q
policy which was at once courageous and honor
able, albeit unpopular at home. The peace
negotiations had been opened before the troops
had been disastrousy defeated. To have
broken off those negotiations and to have re-
newed them after the reverses had been re-
tlieved and there were victories to brag Of.
would have been mere blood thirstiness.
"Wicl1ed, cruel and mean," are the adjcctyes
which the Premier applies to so cowardly and
uprincipied a policy, and the words are not
one whit too strong His defence of the Gov
ernment's course in favoring the retrocesson of
the Transvaal is not outlined in the dispatches.
1t could have been and doubtless was made
equally valid The morality of the retrOcession
is based upon the immortality OF the annexation
ii wicledness for which, as it is only Just to
add. the agent of the last Administration was
mainly responsible. Sir TheOphilus ShepstOne
was SO eager to effect the general purpose of
the Government that he disregarded the cOndi-
tons imposed upon him. The Transvaal was
not to be annexed unless tho people could be
shown to desire it. He knew that the Presi-
dent, the Legislature and the mass of public
sentiment were all opposed to annexation. Yet
he persisted in his INSCRIPTIONS designs and
finally succeeded in cheating the people out of
their rights by miserable juggle of minority
petition. The annexation was "a crime so wan
ton that restitution was only common Justice
To say that the ulterior motives of the English
were good that they meant to do what would be
best not only for the Dutch settlers but for
blacks and whites throughout South Africa,
does not mend matters. Whatever their inten-
tons may have been, their practice was crimi-
nal. The settlers were first brought under q
yoke which they detested and were then denied
the free institutions which had been promised
to them.
That the negotiations with the Beers since
the armistice have not been well managed is
plain. The scheme Of government which has
been proposed is open to many serious objec-
TONS The anomalous suzerainty which has
been retained for the sake of the Protection
which it may afford to the blacks is an artificial
device that is as likely to work ill as well. The
claims of the English colonists who settled in
the Transvaal when the Queens sovereignty
was proclaimed will not be easily disposed of,
and there will remain serious grounds for APP
prehension lest the Beers may again resort to
the system of apprenticeship so closely re-
sembling slavebolding. 1t is safe to say this
without reference to the speeches of the pair of
Transvaal loyalists whom Lord Salisbury has
had the imprudencc to introduce to a London
audience. These all minor points on which
little stress has been laid by the Conservatives
The changes have been rung on the disgrace
OF q peace without victory-a surrender of
Crown lands to rebels. On these broad grounds
the Government has successfully beaten back
its assailants.