which the black man ought to have.”  I have similar testimonies from missionaries (not Englishmen); but I regret to say that these good men hesitate to have their names published,—­not from selfish reasons,—­but from love of their missionary work and their native converts, to whom they fear they will never be permitted to return if the ascendancy of the present Transvaal Government should continue, and Mr. Kruger should learn that they have published what they have seen in his country.  It is to be hoped that these witnesses will feel impelled before long to speak out.  The writer just quoted, says:—­“I firmly believe that the native question is at the bottom of all this trouble.  The time is coming when, cost what it will, we missionaries must speak out.”

In connection with this subject, I give here a quotation from the “Daily News,” March 21st, 1900.  The article was inspired by a thoughtful speech of Sir Edward Grey.  The writer asks the reason of the loss of the capacity in our Liberal party to deal with Colonial matters; and replies:  “It is to be found, we think, in want of imagination and in want of faith.  There are many among us who have failed, from want of imagination, to grasp that we have been living in an age of expansion; or who, recognising the fact, have from want of faith seen in it occasion only for lamentation and woe.  Failure in either of these respects is sure to deprive a British party of popular support.  For the ‘expansion of England’ now, as in former times, proceeds from the people themselves, and faith in the mission of England is firmly planted in the popular creed.”  We recall a noble passage in which Mr. Gladstone stated with great clearness the inevitable tendency of the times in which we live.  “There is,” he said, “a continual tendency on the part of enterprising people to overstep the limits of the Empire, and not only to carry its trade there, but to form settlements in other countries beyond the sphere of a regularly organized Government, and there to constitute a civil Government of their own.  Let the Government adopt, with mathematical rigour if you like, an opposition to annexation, and what does it effect?  It does nothing to check that tendency—­that perhaps irresistible tendency—­of British enterprise to carry your commerce, and to carry the range and area of your settlement beyond the limits of your sovereignty....  There the thing is, and you cannot repress it.  Wherever your subjects go, if they are in pursuit of objects not unlawful, you must afford them all the protection which your power enables you to give.”  “There the thing is.” (But many Liberals have lacked the imagination to see it.) And being there, it affords a great opportunity; for “to this great Empire is committed (continued Mr. Gladstone) a trust and a function given from Providence as special and as remarkable as ever was entrusted to any portion of the family of man.”  But not all Liberals share Mr. Gladstone’s faith.  They thus cut themselves off from one of the chief tendencies and some of the noblest ideals of the time.  Liberalism must broaden its outlook, and seek to promote “the large and efficient development of the British Commonwealth on liberal lines, both within and outside these islands.”