=Source.=--_The Times_, August 5, 1881.
England can now have no desire to intrude herself upon the
Transvaal. The more completely its people can get on without
interference of any kind, the better pleased we shall be....
The occasion may come which will call for all the knowledge and
discretion which our Government will have at its command. The
Boers, if they are so disposed, may give trouble in a thousand
ways. The question may be continually arising whether the point
has yet been reached at which active interference is called for,
or whether it may be the prudent and better course to let things
be. The fact is that between England and the Transvaal there is
no natural connection whatever. The bond which unites them is an
artificial one, and though it is too early to anticipate the time
at which it will be severed, we are sure that at no time will it be
found strong enough to bear a violent strain. The strain may never
come. The Convention, which has been entered upon in due form,
and with all solemnity, may remain to all intents and purposes a
dead letter as to the chief part of its provisions, and may thus
pass quietly into the great limbo to which all monstrous political
births must some day come. It will be by the fault of the Boers
that we can be driven to put an active interpretation upon it. It
contains terms which we cannot suffer to be disregarded.