[Long reports from the Church Congress in Southampton
included this paragraph:]
By Our Special Correspondent.
Southampton, Monday.
"THE Kingdom of God and the Races", our subject this morning, is
dry - necessarily dry - but beneath it lies a problem of intense
interest and vital importance. . . Lord Selborne confined himself
to the knowledge he had gained in South Africa and to the
enunciation of principles. He insisted that it is not possible for
backward races to live in permanent independence side by side with
a civilised race. On this ground he defended the conquest of
Matabeleland, and mentioned how other races had placed themselves
under the rule of Queen Victoria. But the essential conditions were
that the white man's control must be full, complete, and exercised
in the light of day. He paid a high tribute to the loyalty of the
Basutos. The white man must learn to treat the native with full
justice, but on the other hand the native races are not fit to
exercise the franchise. Education should not be forced on the
unwilling, but opportunities should be offered to the willing. If a
native is living the life of a civilized man he should receive the
privileges of a civilized man; there should be an opportunity for
every native to air his grievances before a minister of the Crown
and in the presence of the Press. No artificial barrier should be
erected which would prevent the native rising from his present to
the highest level. . .