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nation is perhaps best illustrated in the open and frequent proposals to shoot Boer prisoners as 'rebels.' The ordinary Jingo is quite satisfied that we have a 'right' to do so, since we have annexed the Republics; and he has never ceased to advocate the policy, undeterred by the reflection that reciprocity in such an outrage would cost us at least as many lives as we should take. Nor is this merely the loose talk of the drinking-bar or the club smoke-room. One of the most respectable organs of public opinion – the Standard – in its issue of October 16th, used language which has no other meaning than as a direct incitation to the massacre of prisoners.

In every rebellion a point is reached at which the services of the Provost Marshal become more effective than those of the strategist. The prompt and ruthless punishment of every insurgent burgher caught in delicto is required. We cannot keep a troop of horse outside each Boer farm, but we can show its occupant that he risks something more than his freedom, or even his property, when he takes up arms against the Crown.

Military opinion in the Transvaal capital urges that a Proclamation should be issued, declaring that any Boer found with arms in his hand, and without uniform, shall be treated as a rebel, rather than as a prisoner of war. Perhaps the time has arrived for even more drastic measures.

In interpreting this infamous suggestion, it