Queen Liliuokalani is not at all disturbed by the talk of annexation. She has been in Washington all the winter, trying to make friends of the Senators, so that they will oppose the treaty when it is brought before them.
It is said that she is perfectly serene and happy in the belief that she 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.