The real aims and objects of the Bond are as decipherable to-day as they were three years or ten years ago. The people who belong to it are thoroughly tenacious of these opinions, and to do them justice, make no pretence of having changed them. At the Paarl the popular General Botha has just declared that they are not vanquished, retain their traditions, and will yet conquer. They look with unutterable scorn on the men who joined the National Scouts, and entertain feelings of coldness and dislike for those who did not join the enemy either actively or passively. In the great Dutch Church of Cape Town, the Republican Generals received an unanimous ovation, and were carried shoulder high, in triumph, from the edifice. The truth is that the Bond exists, remains extremely powerful, and is only waiting and watching for an opportunity. British rule is now comparatively easy both in the Transvaal and Orange Colonies. Effective progress is being made under the rule of wise and firm Governments; but it is in the Cape Colony, where a treacherous and powerful enemy is allowed to plot with impunity, that the real danger to British Imperial interests lies. How history repeats itself! When the fatuous policy of abandoning 35,000 square miles of excellent territory styled the Orange River Sovereignty was pursued in 1853, there was only one man in the House of Commons who opposed it,[9] and subsequent circumstances amply justified his judgment. In 1902, Mr. Chamberlain would have found it absolutely impossible to obtain a majority in the House of Commons favourable to suspension of the Cape Colony Constitution. What is now to be done? Our answer is, "Accept with loyalty the decision of the Government, and show by wise moderation that we are most desirous to be friends with our fellow-subjects of Dutch extraction. No recriminations nor abuse should proceed from our side. Nothing will please us better than to find the Bond abandoned and all men cordially uniting as one free people under the British flag. If this be not done--and masses of the people have already declared that it will not--we will have to fight the Bond again at elections, on public platforms, and in the press, as well as in Parliament. It would have been well for both nationalities if this could have been avoided, but this is now impossible." LET GOD DEFEND THE RIGHT. FOOTNOTES: [3] See "From Boer to Boer and Englishman," by Paul M. Botha. London: Hugh Rees, 1901. [4] See _Macmillan's Magazine_, May 1900. [5] This is published in full in the _Weekly Times_ of December 1, 1899, and is fully referred to in Wilmot's "History of Our Own Times in South Africa." See also "The Truth about the Transvaal" and various other publications. [6] See _Daily News_ of May 10, 1900. [7] Reported in the _Times_ of May 24, 1900. [8] Paper read at the Cradock Farmers' Association in October 1893.