The first ministry of the federated South African colonies has been formed, and Louis Botha, who was the captain-general of the Boer forces ten years ago, is prime minister, while Lord Gladstone, the son of the "great commoner," is the first governor-general of the new South African nation. The ministry is considered a coalition body, for there are on it representatives of the British elements of South Africa; but the majority are Boer statesmen and generals, former enemies of British rule in the now peaceful and united commonwealths. Certain extreme tories in England are bitterly disappointed: "the Boers have won," they say, the war for British supremacy might as well never have been undertaken, and the "self-preserving" Dutch are as clannish, stubborn, anti-imperialistic as they ever were. Think, exclaims one tory organ, of a British "opposition" party led by Dr. Jameson, in the South African parliament! Think of the English, with their genius for rulership, taking that place and role in a British colony, with the Boers as the dominant and governing party!

This, however, is the view of a small section of British opinion. Even among the tories there are many who find cause for pride and gratulation in the South African developments. The Boers, they admit, have shown surprising strength and recuperative power, but they are loyal to the empire. They have no intention of reviving acute racial issues, they will work along constitutional and constructive lines, and they will follow reasonably progressive and just