ABSTRACT
In effect the Liberals sought to solve the issue of Anglo-Boer relations by shelving the second issue, that of the relations between white South Africans and coloured South Africans. Like the Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich of 1867, the Liberal settlement of South Africa was a compromise for the benefit of two 'master' races; and it left the larger problem of the subject peoples for future generations to grapple with. A further example of Conservative obstruction was the Lords' destruction of a non-controversial Liberal Licensing Bill in 1908. The Liberals were thus being pressed by the Labour members into legislative action they did not want, and were being prevented from legislative action which they did desire, by the pressure of the Conservatives in the Lords; and their need to escape from this situation provides the clue to the subsequent history of this period of Liberal rule.
