Mr Chamberlain again, despite his better sense, and possibly his
inclinations to try different methods, has--judging from the blue books
which contain his letters--come round to the belief that the old methods
of diplomacy are best, and now conscientiously exchanges courtesies in
the blandest and most amiable fashion, as though there were no burning
questions unsettled. He professes to cherish a profound belief in the
integrity of Mr Kruger, and assumes an assurance that everything will
be done by him according to the spirit of the London Convention. Sir
Alfred Milner has been also heard to say that it is all "humbug and
nonsense" to express a doubt of good relations being restored, and
probably Mr Greene in the first flush of his coming has written in
equally strong terms of the approaching pacification of South Africa. I
wish I could share in this buoyant feeling, but the spirit of the Boer,
as it has impressed itself on my mind, since I crossed the Vaal, forbids
me to believe that while Kruger lives there can be any amelioration in
the condition of the Johannesburger. The Boers have endowed Kruger with
almost absolute power, and if up to seventy-two years of age Kruger has
been the incarnation of hostility to England, it would be a miracle
indeed if in his extreme old age he should be converted.