has enough influence in the Senate to prevent the bill from being
passed.

* * * * *

The Committee of Inquiry into the Transvaal Raid has finished its work.

In the course of the inquiry certain cablegrams were mentioned, which
had been sent by Cecil Rhodes to some persons in England.

In courts of law you cannot quote from a book, letter, or telegram,
unless you produce the actual paper you quote from, and thus prove to
the satisfaction of the court that the book, letter, or telegram really
exists.

When reference was made to these telegrams, the Committee asked to see
them, but they were not forthcoming. Every one supposed that an order
would be issued for the production of these messages, but, strange to
say, no such order was given.

People began to be suspicious, and it was whispered that these messages
contained information that the Committee dared not make public.

At first, the worst that people suspected was that they would show that
Mr. Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary, had known all about the
preparations for the Jameson Raid, and that he and Mr. Cecil Rhodes had
planned to seize the Transvaal, with its rich gold-fields, and annex it
to the English Colonies in South Africa.

Had this been the truth, it would have been bad enough. Mr. Chamberlain