The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-10-11
TIE ENGLISH ELECTIONS.

There are pessimists in England well
as in America. and Great Britain $ recent
eynansion in South Africa excites as mucn
,l.rn, m the minds of these as our eX-
mansion mas excited in the minds OF some
people in the United States. Inc very re-
narkab!e endorsement which the recent
parliamentary elections have given TO the
Government policy excites the English pes
s,mists to high degree. Mr.. John Morley
despairs of the country under Mr.. Joseph
Chamberlain's ascendency. He says: He
is not the ending, he is only the beginning.
Perhaps the day is not remote when we
will even regret Lord Salisbury For the
ministerial majority now means the
,riunnh of the very school which not long
aso he most pointedly condemned 1t
means a new era of vaporing sentiment, OF
wild cat language and Of quack devices
Here IS the sort of doctrine that The
English people heard preached to them
months before the election and yet the
country responded III the election by an
increased majority for Mr.. ChaEnbarlains
policy He also had the peculiar sails
faction of seeing his three chief personal
traducers, Mr. James Stewart, Mr.. Philip
Stanhope and Sir Wilfred Lawson, defeated
and elected by handsome najoritiess to re-
main at home. What is also very -aniark-
able is that the increased majorities Of the
Government have come from industrial con-
st.tuencies They have plainly turned
deaf ear to the arguments against e>nan-
sion and Imperialism, which are much the
same arguments that have been made iii
this country of late.
We have never understood the vicrlent
attacks that have been made upon Eng
land in consequence of the Boer var. che
English certainly had by treaty stipulation
some rights in the Boer country. We
are not going to say that these :ig1ts We're
as extreme as England claimed 1aen to
be. hui there can be no denial that she had
some rights guaranteed TO her by treaties
with the Beers Whilst she was negotiat-
ing viii, the Beers in respect to those rights
and the limitations upon them the armed
forces of the Beers attacked her armed
forces. The Beers were, therefore, plainly.
and by consent Of the whole world, the aS-
as they please that they only anticipated
England IN an attack which was sure to
be ultimately made upon them, but the
fact is that they did not wait for that at
tack; they made the attack themselves
and We're. therefore, the aggressors in the
war. Now, By consent of all mankind, who
ever draws the sword throws away the
scabbard. War being once Joined there is
no limitation, whatever. upon the con-
queror but the dictates of humanity.
The object of war Is to Kill, capture and
destroy. Vac victis has been its law from
end. The Beers should have understood
when they commenced the war that il
might result in the destruction of their
government and in the annexation of their
territory, and they should have prepared
themselves when they began war for that
result. if such it should be. The over
throw of tho Boer government and the an
neXation Of that territory, therefore, pS
Great Britain IS a natural and logical re-
suit of her success in the war which the
Beers opened upon her.
Nor do We share in the common distress
at the annexation by Great Britain of The
Boer territory. We hear much Of Eng
lands overthrow of two republics. but in
point of fact they became part of what IS
a monarchy in name alone: England IS as
much a republic in fact as the United
States is. She is governed by public opin-
ion just as much as we are. There VIII
be sorrow and bitterness among the Beers
for time. but they will be subjected to
a rule of fixed law: they will uave the
writ of habeas corpus trial by jury, inn
partial administration of justice and eco
nnmical government and protection for
life. liberty and property. Wherever Eng-
lands rule extends there go those Ilsti-
5lGtions as fixed facts We have not 3
doubt that the bitter memories of the
Beers sill, disappear in far less time, thar
has been required 10 disslpate the same
n,ema.les an the Southern peapie, and the
Beers viii no, haze 10 pass through the
period OF Reconstruction that fsll5to the ior
of the South.
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THE PASSING ola AN EDITOR.
observant readers of this paper have
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