“Great importance,” said the right hon. gentleman, “seems to be attached to the view that in the interests of the two Colonies it is desirable that a certain time, not a long time in the history of a nation, but still a certain time should elapse before full self-government is accorded.  Whether a long time will elapse I really cannot say.  One thing is clear:  if the population of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, both Boer and Briton, by a large majority, desire this self-government, even although it might seem to us to be premature, I should think it unwise to refuse it.  I do not myself believe there is any such danger connected with Imperial interests that we should hesitate to accord it on that ground.  The ground on which I should desire that it might be delayed is really the interest of the two Colonies themselves, and not any Imperial interest.”

The peace and order of the Orange River Colony establish this case on its merits.  It is a State bound to moderation by the circumstance of its geographical position.  In all its history in South Africa it has been largely dependent on the goodwill of its neighbours—­goodwill and friendly relations maintained with Natal and the Transvaal, on the one hand, and with the Cape Colony on the other.  It is inconceivable that a State so situated in regard to its railways and its economic position generally should be a disturbing influence from the point of view of the different States of South Africa.  But there is another fact which justifies this grant, and that is the extraordinary crimelessness in a political sense of the whole of that country.  Let the House remember that there had been three years’ war, of which two years were fierce guerilla fighting, and that on all sides there were to be found desperate men who had been for a long period holding their lives in their hands and engaged on every wild and adventurous foray.  Peace is agreed on, and what happens?  Absolute order exists and prevails throughout the whole country from that moment.  There has not been a single case of violent crime except, I believe, one murder committed by a lunatic—­hardly a case of sedition—­and not a single case of prosecution for treason of any kind.  I say without hesitation that in order to find a similar instance of swift transition from violent warfare to law-abiding peace you have got to look back to the days when the army of the Parliament was reviewed and disbanded at the Restoration.

I submit to the House that a case for conferring responsible government on the Orange River Colony is established on its merits.  But that is not the whole question before us this afternoon.  We have not merely to decide whether we will give a Constitution to the Orange River Colony, but whether, having given a Constitution to the Transvaal, we will deliberately withhold one from the Orange River Colony; and that is an argument which multiplies the others which I have used.  On what ground could we refuse that equal treatment