Liberalism and the Social Problem | Page 5

have got
to the bottom of the hill. There would have been a swift transition. The
Legislative Assembly would have converted itself into a constituent
Assembly, and it would have taken by force all that the Government
now have it in their power to concede with grace, distinction, and
authority. On these grounds his Majesty's Government came to the
conclusion that it would be right to omit the stage of representative
government altogether and to go directly to the stage of responsible
government.
It is the same in politics as it is in war. When one crest line has been
left, it is necessary to go to the next. To halt half-way in the valley
between is to court swift and certain destruction, and the moment you
have abandoned the safe position of a Crown Colony government, or
government with an adequate nominated majority, there is no
stopping-place whatever on which you may rest the sole of your foot,
until you come to a responsible Legislative Assembly with an executive
obeying that Assembly. These arguments convinced his Majesty's
Government that it would be necessary to annul the Letters Patent
issued on March 31, 1905, and make an end of the Lyttelton
Constitution. That Constitution now passes away into the never-never
land, into a sort of chilly limbo that is reserved for the disowned or
abortive political progeny of many distinguished men.
The Government, and those who support them, may rejoice that we
have been able to take this first most important step in our South
African policy with such a very general measure of agreement, with,
indeed, a consensus of opinion which almost amounts to unanimity.
Both races, every Party, every class, every section in South Africa have
agreed in the course which his Majesty's Government have adopted in
abandoning representative government and going at once to responsible

government. That is already a very great thing, but it was not always so.
Those who sat in the last Parliament will remember that it was not
always so. We remember that Lord Milner was entirely opposed to
granting responsible government. We know that Mr. Lyttelton wrote
pages and pages in the Blue Book of last year proving how futile and
dangerous responsible government would be; and the right hon.
Member for West Birmingham, who took the Government decision as a
matter of course on the first day of the present session, made a speech
last session in which he indicated in terms of great gravity and force,
that he thought it was wholly premature to grant responsible
government to the Transvaal. But all that is abandoned now. I heard the
right hon. Member for West Birmingham, in the name of the Party
opposite, accept the policy of his Majesty's Government. I heard the
hon. Member for Blackpool this afternoon say that he hoped that
responsible government would be given to the Transvaal at the earliest
possible moment. In regard to the Orange River Colony, it is quite true
that the official Opposition, so far as I gather their view, think that it
should be delayed, and should not be given at the same time as to the
Transvaal; but that is not the view of the right hon. Member for West
Birmingham. Speaking in the House of Commons on July 27, 1905, the
right hon. gentleman said:
"Objection has also been taken that the same government which is now
being given to the Transvaal has not been given to the Orange River
Colony. I think that the experiment might have been far better tried in
the Orange River Colony. It is quite true that in that Colony there is an
enormous majority of the Dutch or Boer population. But they have
shown by long experience that they are most capable and moderate
administrators--under the admirable rule of President Brand they set an
example to the whole of South Africa; and although I think there is
some danger in this experiment, it is in the Orange River Colony that I
myself would have been inclined, in the first instance, to take the risk."
It is true the right hon. gentleman was speaking of representative
government; but it cannot be disputed that if an advance were to be
made in associating the people of the conquered Colonies with the
government of those Colonies, the right hon. gentleman thought that it

had better be in the Orange River Colony first. But at any rate now it is
incontestable that there is no Party in this country or in the Transvaal
that opposes the grant of responsible government to the Transvaal. That
is a great advance, and shows that we have been able to take our first
step with the approbation of all concerned.
But the Opposition, having abandoned their resistance to the grant of
responsible government,