To judge from the spirit of his utterances in Canada on the subject of South Africa, it would appear that Sir Wilfrid Laurier's opinions as to the best means of working towards the end of South African Federation do not materially differ from those of Sir Edmund Barton. He believes that the free consent of the new Colonies should be obtained, and that the policy pursued with regard to Manitoba by the "Fathers of Confederation"--a policy of which he disapproved at the time, a policy which led to a long series of disputes between Manitoba and the Dominion Government--should not be pursued in the case of the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies. It will be remembered that the "Red River Settlement" received Provincial status on condition of becoming a member of confederation, and that the terms of membership were accepted under compulsion, and in the hope that they could be bettered. LAW AND LANGUAGE BY MR. M. J. FARRELLY, LL.D. _Barrister-at-Law; Advocate of the Supreme Court of Cape Colony_ I.--THE ROMAN DUTCH LAW AND THE LAW OF ENGLAND The Roman Dutch Law--the body of legal principles and enactments codified under the later Roman Empire by the Emperor Justinian, as modified by legislation of the States-General and decisions of the tribunals of Holland up to the end of the eighteenth century--the date of the British occupation of Cape Colony--constitutes the Common Law of all British South Africa from the Zambesi to the sea. Indeed its sway stretches farther north, if we include the province of Northern Rhodesia.