In giving these proofs of perspicacity, Dr. Kuyper charitably adds, concerning England, “her reverses may be her salvation.”  And in order to ensure her this salvation, he looks forward to “those projected alliances, whose tendency it is unquestionably to draw together against that insular power,” of which Dr. Kuyper would fain “be the son, were he not a Dutchman,” and yet whose destruction he so ardently desires.  This far seeing politician forgets that were his wishes realised, Holland would be the first victim.

3.—­A Lioness out of Place.

Dr. Kuyper delivers a lengthy dissertation upon “the inadequacy of the Christian movement”; and shows himself worthy to be a collaborator of M. Brunetiere by excommunicating Schleiermacher, “the typical representative,” says the Rev. J.F.  Smith, of modern effort to reconcile science, theology and the “world of to-day with Christianity.”

He inveighs against individualism, Darwinism, and the law of evolution; he speaks of “the broad paths of human sin,” and accuses the English clergy of “betraying the God of Justice”; he places before them the God of the Boers, declaring that “an invisible Power protects their commandos.”

Dr. Kuyper who is much better acquainted with the North Sea herrings than with African lions, concludes his articles with this daring metaphor:—­

     “So long as the roar of the Transvaal lioness, surrounded by her
     cubs, shall be heard from the heights of the Drakensberg, so long
     shall the Boers remain unconquered.”

Now, the Boers have surmounted the armorial bearings of the South African Republic with an eagle, bird of prey beloved of conquerers.  It is true that in the left quarter of their coat of arms is a small lion lying down with bristling mane.  It is probably the lady-friend of this ferocious quadruped which Dr. Kuyper has chosen to symbolise the people of the Transvaal.

I would merely remark to him that the highest summit of the Drakensberg rises to an elevation of something like 10,000 feet.  It is situated away from the frontier of the Transvaal, between Natal, Basutoland, and the Orange Free State.  I imagine it is there that Dr. Kuyper’s Transvaal lioness is to take her stand, in order to carry out Krueger’s programme “Africa for the Afrikanders, from the Zambesi to Simon’s Bay.”  But the poor animal would not be long on that height, before she would die of cold and hunger.  This concluding imagery well reflects the spirit of Dr. Kuyper’s essay; it demonstrates to perfection the rapacious and megalomaniac ideal of the Boers; and in his grandiloquence the author contrives to express exactly the reverse of what he means.

4.—­Moral Unity by Means of Unity of Method.

Here again Dr. Kuyper puts metaphor in the place of reasoning; a truly
Eastern mode of discussion.

Ever since I entered upon public life, I have always endeavoured, in the study of social and political phenomena, to eliminate subjective affirmations, the dogmatic and comminatory a priori, the antiquated methods which consist of taking words for things, nomina for numina, metaphors for realities.