[A]These figures are for a period of fifteen months. Add 10 per cent. for other products.
[A]These figures are for a period of fifteen months. Add 10 per cent. for other products.
THE TRANSVAAL OF TO-DAY
We have dealt with the exodus of the trekkers, and with the land that subsequently became the Transvaal. It behoves us now to discuss the difference between that primitive pastoral region of the early century and the busy country that may, for distinction sake, be styled the Transvaal of to-day.
Modern geographers apply the name of the Transvaal to the tract of country between the Limpopo River on the north, and the Vaal River on the south. It is bounded on the east by the Lobombo, and the Drakenberg Mountains, which run parallel to the Natal coast, and on the west by British Bechuanaland. On the east lie Portuguese Territory and British Zululand, on the north Rhodesia, on the west British Bechuanaland, and on the south the Orange Free State and Natal. The important rivers are the Limpopo or Crocodile River, so named in compliment to its reptile inhabitants, and the Vaal, a tributary of the Orange River. This rises among the Drakenberg Mountains, and, curving, flows west as a boundary between the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The Limpopo rises between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and sprays out north-east, north-west, east, and south-east, reaching the sea in the neighbourhood of Delagoa Bay. After leaving the Transvaal, owing to the presence of a cataract, it is however unsuitable for purposes of navigation. The district of the Transvaal varies in height from 2000 to 8000 feet above the level of the sea. The Hooge Veld, the uplands of the Drakenberg Mountains, rises from 4000 to 8000 feet above the sea, and between them and the outer slopes of the Lobombo range is a vast tract of some 20,000 square miles of arable land, called the Banken Veld. It furnishes a splendid grazing ground, and corn grows in profusion. The Bosch Veld or Bush Country comprises the centre of the country, and runs west into Bechuanaland. This district is largely infested with the tsetse fly, an insect whose sting means death to almost all domestic animals. Besides this, it is the home of malaria and other fevers. The Hooge Veld, which has a drier, colder, and more healthy climate, islargely used for breeding cattle, and as a grazing ground for sheep and oxen. It is here that, in later days, the gold-mining activity proceeds, as almost everywhere there are believed to be rich auriferous deposits. Its mineral deposits have been the attraction of the Transvaal, for the coal-fields invited the attention of some of the first speculators. In fact, the first railway line of the district ran between Johannesburg and a colliery.
Besides coal may be found silver, copper, and lead. But the great attraction,Gold, has for the last ten years lured all the money from the pockets of the enterprising. Other metals, such as cinnabar, iron, and tin are, for the nonce, like Gray's violet, "born to blush unseen," until some ingenious person discovers in them a subtle attraction.
To show the financial changes which have come over the country within the last ten years, Mr. Campbell, late Vice-President of the Chamber of Mines, Johannesburg, has written a valuable article. In it he gives us the following agrarian position in the Transvaal of the present by areas and by values:—
Areas.
But land is valuable not by area merely, but by intrinsic value, and the Boers have sold much of their best land, and taken British gold for it, and when we come to the figures in the Government Dues Office at Pretoria, we have—
Value.
The net deductions in the Dues Offices are, that the whole of the farms and private lands in the Transvaal, under the mere Boer occupancy, are valued by the outside world at £933,200, whereas to-day, by the addition of the British buyer and holder, they are now valued by the world at ten millions sterling! In figures given above, all land occupied for mining or town sites is excluded.
The current yield of gold is computed at the rate of seventeen and a half millions sterling per annum. This is the vitalising source of African trade and African progress. It pays the intereston nearly all South African Railways, is responsible for a large portion of the costs of Government in the Cape Colony, Orange States, Natal as well as Pretoria. And yet the working bees—the white British community of Johannesburg—who have helped to enrich the hive containing the whole of South African interests, have been neglected, if not betrayed, by the Mother Country. They have been deprived of arms, of liberties,—they have suffered insult and disdain, and Great Britain, until forced to do so, has moved not a finger in their defence. The Transvaal, one of the richest districts of the world, merely wants good and sustained government—a government that will grant to all respectable white men free and equal rights. When this shall come to pass, its splendid resources will be developed. The Indian Ocean trade will be supplied with steam coal. The country will sustain itself, and will also export food stuffs, and trade in iron, hide, wool, tin, and quantities of other things, whose value has hitherto been ignored. All that is needed is a dignified acceptance of British responsibilities. South Africa was bought by the paramount Power nearly an hundred years ago, and has since then been administered—if not entirely wisely and well—at least administered, by that Power. British sweat has rained on the country, British muscle has toiled in the country, British blood has flowed in streams over its face, and British bones are mixed with the shifting grains of its sand. It now remains for British sovereignty to wield its sceptre and make its presence felt.
PRETORIA FROM THE EAST.PRETORIA FROM THE EAST.Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.
PRETORIA FROM THE EAST.
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.
ACCUMULATED AGGRAVATIONS
Since it is impossible to enter into all the intricacies of foreign political relations with the Transvaal, we will return to the Uitlanders. They became more and more unwelcome as their numbers increased. Many Acts were passed, each serving to render more impossible their chances of obtaining the franchise. The fact was that Mr. Kruger, having brought his State to a condition of bankruptcy almost identical with that which existed when Sir T. Shepstone annexed the Transvaal, was struggling to carry on a divided scheme, that of grabbing with both hands from the Uitlander financialists, while endeavouring to maintain with close-fisted obstinacy the exclusiveness, irresponsibility, and bigotry of the primitive trekker. He knew that if he granted full political rights to the outsiders he would no longer be master of his own misguided house. He said as much, and pointed out that were he to do so there would be no alternative but to haul down his flag. This being the case, there was no resource but to transformthe so-called free Republic into an absolute oligarchy. Much has been said of the "Russian despot," but this century can present no more complete spectacle of despotism than that of Mr. Kruger. The Emperor of Russia, autocrat as he is, is guided by the traditions of his empire and the machinations of his ministers, but Mr. Kruger has allowed himself to be reasoned with and influenced by none, and his word has been in reality the only form of law or justice on which the Uitlanders have had to rely. Such system of government as there was was corrupt. Smuggling flourished under the very eye of the officials, and the Field Cornets, whose business it was to act as petty justices, collect taxes, and register arrivals of new-comers, kept their books in a manner more in accord with their personal convenience than with accuracy. Hence, when it came to the question of the naturalisation of the Uitlanders, the books which should have recorded their registration were either withheld or missing. Settlers in the Transvaal between the years 1882 and 1890, owing to this irregularity, were debarred from proving their registration as the law required. Speaking of this period, Mr. Fitzpatrick, in "The Transvaal from Within," says:—
"In the country districts justice was not a commodity intended for the Britisher. Many cases of gross abuse, and several of actual murder occurred, and in 1885 the case of Mr. Jas. Donaldson, then residing on a farm in Lydenburg—lately one of the Reform prisoners—was mentioned in the House of Commons, and became the subject of a demand by the Imperial Government for reparation and punishment. He had been ordered by two Boers (one of whom was in the habit of boasting that he had shot an unarmed Englishman in Lydenburg since the war, and would shoot others) to abstain from collecting hut taxes on his own farm; and on refusing had been attacked by them. After beating them off single-handed, he was later on again attacked by his former assailants, reinforced by three others. They bound him with reims (thongs), kicked and beat him with sjamboks (raw-hide whips) and clubs, stoned him, and left him unconscious and so disfigured that he was thought to be dead when found some hours later. On receipt of the Imperial Government's representations, the men were arrested, tried, and fined. The fines were stated to have been remitted at once by Government, but in the civil action which followed Mr. Donaldson received £500 damages. The incident had a distinctly beneficial effect, and nothing more was heard of the maltreatment of defenceless men simply because they were Britishers."
Nevertheless the hostility between the two races was growing apace, and every ambition of the Uitlanders was promptly nipped in the bud.
Reforms were at first mildly suggested. Bridges and roads were required, also a remission of certain taxes, but suggestions, even agitations, were in vain. In regard to the franchise question—the crying question of the decade—Mr. Kruger turned an ear more and more deaf. There are none so deaf as those whose ears are stopped up with the cotton-wool of their own bigotry. This bigotry it is almost impossible for enlightened persons to understand. As an instance of the almost fanatical ignorance and prejudice with which the Uitlanders had to contend, we may quote the letter of Mr. Kruger when requested to allow his name to be used as a patron of a ball to be given in honour of her Majesty's birthday. He replied:—
"Sir,—In reply to your favour of the 12th inst., requesting me to ask his Honour the State President to consent to his name being used as a patron of a ball to be given at Johannesburg on the 26th inst., I have been instructed to inform you that his Honour considers a ball as Baal's service, for which reason the Lord ordered Moses to kill all offenders; and as it is therefore contrary to his Honour's principles, his Honour cannot consent to the misuse of his name in such connection.—I have, &c.,"F. Eloff,Private Secretary."
"Sir,—In reply to your favour of the 12th inst., requesting me to ask his Honour the State President to consent to his name being used as a patron of a ball to be given at Johannesburg on the 26th inst., I have been instructed to inform you that his Honour considers a ball as Baal's service, for which reason the Lord ordered Moses to kill all offenders; and as it is therefore contrary to his Honour's principles, his Honour cannot consent to the misuse of his name in such connection.—I have, &c.,
"F. Eloff,
Private Secretary."
On another occasion, when the question of locust extermination came before the first Raad, the worthies to whom the conduct of the State was confided showed a condition of benighted simplicity that can scarcely be credited.
"July 21.—Mr. Roos said locusts were a plague, as in the days of King Pharaoh, sent by God, and the country would assuredly be loaded with shame and obloquy if it tried to raise its hand against the mighty hand of the Almighty.
"Messrs. Declerq and Steenkamp spoke in the same strain, quoting largely from the Scriptures.
"The Chairman related a true story of a man whose farm was always spared by the locusts, until one day he caused some to be killed. His farm was then devastated.
"Mr. Stoop conjured the members not to constitute themselves terrestrial gods, and oppose the Almighty.
"Mr. Lucas Meyer raised a storm by ridiculing the arguments of the former speakers, and comparing the locusts to beasts of prey, which they destroyed.
"Mr. Labuschagne was violent. He said the locusts were different from beasts of prey. They were a special plague sent by God for their sinfulness."
SERGEANT and BUGLER, 1st ARGYLE AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS.SERGEANT and BUGLER, 1st ARGYLE AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS.Photo by Gregory & Co., London.
SERGEANT and BUGLER, 1st ARGYLE AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS.
Photo by Gregory & Co., London.
Their deliberate unenlightenment, had it not been so tragic for those who suffered in consequence of it, must have been almost comical. On one occasion the question of firing at the clouds to bring down rain was discussed, and declared to be impious.
"August 5.—A memorial was read from Krugersdorp, praying that the Raad would pass a law to prohibit the sending up of bombs into the clouds to bring down rain, as it was a defiance of God, and would most likely bring down a visitation from the Almighty.
"The Memorial Committee reported that they disapproved of such a thing, but at the same time they did not consider that they could make a law on the subject.
"Mr. A. D. Wolmarans said he was astonished at the advice, and he expected better from the Commission. If one of their children fired towards the clouds with a revolver they would thrash him. Why should they permit people to mock at the Almighty in this manner? It was terrible to contemplate. He hoped that the Raad would take steps to prevent such things happening.
"The Chairman (who is also a member of the Memorial Commission) said the Commission thought that such things were only done for a wager.
"Mr. Erasmus said they were not done for a wager, but in real earnest. People at Johannesburg actually thought that they could bring down the rain from the clouds by firing cannons at them."
These quotations are not offered in the spirit of ridicule. The Uitlander question is too serious for joking. They are reproduced to enable those who have no knowledge of the Boer—his petty tyrannies and annoying and irritating habits, and the vexatious regulations from which the Uitlander continually suffered—to form an idea of the terrible mental gulf which existed between oppressor and oppressed. As the constant dropping of water will wear away stone, so the constant fret of Boer treatment wore out the patience of their victims!
It soon became very difficult for even sons of Uitlanders born in the country to obtain the franchise. The naturalised subject resigned his own nationality, and acquired the duties of the citizen and the liability to be called on for military service, only to find out that he could not even then enjoy the rights of the citizen. He felt much as the dog in the fable, which let drop his piece of meat for the sake of a reflection in the water. New laws and regulations continually came into force for the ostensible purpose of improving the state of the Uitlander—laws which in reality were created to bamboozle him still further. What chicanery failed to accomplish the remissness of officials successfully brought about, and the discomfort of the foreign inhabitants was complete. Beside domesticthere were economic grievances. The position in a nutshell is given by one of the unfortunates:—
"The one thing which we must have—not for its own sake, but for the security it offers for obtaining and retaining other reforms—isthe franchise. No promise of reform, no reform itself will be worth an hour's purchase unless we have the status of voters to make our influence felt. But, if you want the chief economic grievances, they are—the Netherland Railway concession, the dynamite monopoly, the liquor traffic, and native labour, which, together, constitute an unwarrantable burden of indirect taxation on the industry ofover two and a half millions sterling annually. We petitioned until we were jeered at; we agitated until we—well—came here (Pretoria Gaol); and we know that we shall get no remedy until we have the vote to enforce it. We are not a political but a working community, and if we were honestly and capably governed, the majority of us would be content to wait for the franchise for a considerable time yet in recognition of the peculiar circumstances and of the feelings of the older inhabitants."
Mrs. Lionel Phillips, as the wife of an Uitlander, has also written her plaint. She says:—
"To show that the grievances of the Uitlanders are indeed real, let me call your attention to a few facts. What would women residing in peaceful England say to the fact that one cannot take a walk out of sight of one's own house in the suburbs of Johannesburg with safety? The Kaffirs, who in other parts of South Africa treat a white woman with almost servile respect, there make it a most unpleasant ordeal to pass them, and in a lonely part absolutely dangerous.
"Even little girls of the tenderest age are not safe from these monsters. This is, of course, owing to the utterly inadequate police protection afforded by the Government, the ridiculously lenient sentences passed on horrible crimes, and to the adulterated drink sold by licensed publicans to the Kaffirs on all sides. What would be said if, when insulted by a cab-driver, it was found that the nearest policeman was the owner of the cab in question, and refused to render any assistance or listen to any complaint?
"The educational grievance has been so widely circulated that it is needless to mention it now; but what is to be expected of a Government composed of men barely able to write their own names?
"Of course I, as a woman, do not wish to enter into the larger questions of franchise, monopolies, taxation, &c., but being myself an Africander, and well able to recognise the many good qualities of the Boers, you will quite understand that I do not take a prejudiced view of the situation, and I am in a position better than that of most people to understand the grave reality of the Uitlanders' grievances."
MONOPOLIES AND ABUSES
Of the scandals leading out of the Netherlands Railway concession and the dynamite monopoly it is needless to speak. These monopolies were little more than schemes having for object the diversion of money from the pockets of the British into those either of the Boers or their trusty satellites in the Hollander-German clique. As an instance of themodus operandi, an article relative to the railway monopoly in theJohannesburg Mining Journalmay be quoted:
"Railway Monopoly"This is another carefully designed burden upon the mines and country. The issued capital and loans of the Netherlands Company now total about £7,000,000, upon which an average interest of about 51⁄3per cent.—guaranteed by the State—is paid, equal to £370,000 per annum. Naturally the bonds are at a high premium. The company and its liabilities can be taken over by the State at a year's notice, and the necessary funds for this purpose can be raised at three per cent. An offer was recently made to the Government to consolidate this and other liabilities, but the National Bank, which is another concession, has the monopoly of all State loan business, and this circumstance effectually disposed of the proposal. At three per cent. a saving of £160,000 per annum would be made in this monopoly in interest alone. The value represented by the custom dues on the Portuguese border we are not in a position to estimate, but roughly these collections and the fifteen per cent. of the profits paid to the management and shareholders must, with other leakages, represent at least another £100,000 per annum which should be saved the country. As the revenue of the corporation now exceeds £2,000,000 a year, of which only half is expended in working costs, the estimate we have taken does not err upon the side of extravagance. By its neglect of its duties towards the commercial and mining community enormous losses are involved. Thus in the coal traffic the rate, which is now to be somewhat reduced, has been 3d. per ton per mile. According to the returns of the Chamber of Mines, the coal production of the Transvaal for 1895 was 1,045,121 tons. This is carried an average distance of nearly thirty miles, but taking the distance at twenty-four miles the charges are 6s. per ton. At 1½d. per ton per mile—three times as much as the Cape railways charge—a saving upon the coal rates of 3s. per ton would follow, equal to £150,000 per annum. Again, by the 'bagging' system an additional cost of 2s. 3d. per ton is incurred—details of this item have been recently published in this paper—and if this monopoly were run upon ordinary business lines, a further saving of £110,000 would be made by carrying coal in bulk. The interest upon the amount required to construct the necessary sidings for handling the coal, and the tram-lines required to transport it to themines, would be a mere fraction upon the amount; and as the coal trade in the course of a short time is likely to see a fifty per cent. increase, the estimate may be allowed to stand at this figure without deduction. No data are available to fix the amount of the tax laid upon the people generally by the vexatious delays and losses following upon inefficient railway administration, but the monthly meetings of the local Chamber of Commerce throw some light upon these phases of a monopolistic management. The savings to be made in dealing with the coal traffic must not be taken as exhausting all possible reforms: the particulars given as to this traffic only indicate and suggest the wide area covered by this monopoly, which hitherto has made but halting and feeble efforts to keep pace with the requirements of the public. Dealing as it does with the imports of the whole country, which now amount in value to £10,000,000, the figures we have given must serve merely to illustrate its invertebrate methods of handling traffic, as well as its grasping greed in enforcing the rates fixed by the terms of its concession. Its forty miles of Rand steam tram-line and thirty-five miles of railway from the Vaal River, with some little assistance from the Delagoa line and customs, brought in a revenue of about £1,250,000 in 1895. Now that the Natal line is opened the receipts will probably amount to nearly £3,000,000 per annum, all of which should swell the ordinary revenue of the country instead of remaining in the hands of foreigners as a reservoir of wealth for indigent Hollanders to exploit. The total railway earnings at the Cape and Natal together over all their lines amounted to £3,916,566 in 1895, and the capital expenditure on railways by these colonies amounts to £26,000,000. The greater portion of these receipts come from the Rand trade, which is compelled to pay an additional £2,500,000 carrying charges to the Netherlands Company, which has £7,000,000 of capital. Thus, railway receipts in South Africa amount now to £7,000,000 per annum, of which the Rand contributes at least £5,000,000."The revenue of the company is now considerably over £3,000,000 per annum. The management claim that their expenses amount to but forty per cent. of revenue, and this is regarded by them as a matter for general congratulation. The Uitlanders contend that the concern is grossly mismanaged, and that the low cost of working is a fiction. It only appears low by contrast with a revenue swollen by preposterously heavy rates and protected by a monopoly. The tariff could be reduced by one-half, that is to say, a remission of taxation to the tune of one and a half million annually could be effected without depriving the company of a legitimate and indeed very handsome profit."
"Railway Monopoly
"This is another carefully designed burden upon the mines and country. The issued capital and loans of the Netherlands Company now total about £7,000,000, upon which an average interest of about 51⁄3per cent.—guaranteed by the State—is paid, equal to £370,000 per annum. Naturally the bonds are at a high premium. The company and its liabilities can be taken over by the State at a year's notice, and the necessary funds for this purpose can be raised at three per cent. An offer was recently made to the Government to consolidate this and other liabilities, but the National Bank, which is another concession, has the monopoly of all State loan business, and this circumstance effectually disposed of the proposal. At three per cent. a saving of £160,000 per annum would be made in this monopoly in interest alone. The value represented by the custom dues on the Portuguese border we are not in a position to estimate, but roughly these collections and the fifteen per cent. of the profits paid to the management and shareholders must, with other leakages, represent at least another £100,000 per annum which should be saved the country. As the revenue of the corporation now exceeds £2,000,000 a year, of which only half is expended in working costs, the estimate we have taken does not err upon the side of extravagance. By its neglect of its duties towards the commercial and mining community enormous losses are involved. Thus in the coal traffic the rate, which is now to be somewhat reduced, has been 3d. per ton per mile. According to the returns of the Chamber of Mines, the coal production of the Transvaal for 1895 was 1,045,121 tons. This is carried an average distance of nearly thirty miles, but taking the distance at twenty-four miles the charges are 6s. per ton. At 1½d. per ton per mile—three times as much as the Cape railways charge—a saving upon the coal rates of 3s. per ton would follow, equal to £150,000 per annum. Again, by the 'bagging' system an additional cost of 2s. 3d. per ton is incurred—details of this item have been recently published in this paper—and if this monopoly were run upon ordinary business lines, a further saving of £110,000 would be made by carrying coal in bulk. The interest upon the amount required to construct the necessary sidings for handling the coal, and the tram-lines required to transport it to themines, would be a mere fraction upon the amount; and as the coal trade in the course of a short time is likely to see a fifty per cent. increase, the estimate may be allowed to stand at this figure without deduction. No data are available to fix the amount of the tax laid upon the people generally by the vexatious delays and losses following upon inefficient railway administration, but the monthly meetings of the local Chamber of Commerce throw some light upon these phases of a monopolistic management. The savings to be made in dealing with the coal traffic must not be taken as exhausting all possible reforms: the particulars given as to this traffic only indicate and suggest the wide area covered by this monopoly, which hitherto has made but halting and feeble efforts to keep pace with the requirements of the public. Dealing as it does with the imports of the whole country, which now amount in value to £10,000,000, the figures we have given must serve merely to illustrate its invertebrate methods of handling traffic, as well as its grasping greed in enforcing the rates fixed by the terms of its concession. Its forty miles of Rand steam tram-line and thirty-five miles of railway from the Vaal River, with some little assistance from the Delagoa line and customs, brought in a revenue of about £1,250,000 in 1895. Now that the Natal line is opened the receipts will probably amount to nearly £3,000,000 per annum, all of which should swell the ordinary revenue of the country instead of remaining in the hands of foreigners as a reservoir of wealth for indigent Hollanders to exploit. The total railway earnings at the Cape and Natal together over all their lines amounted to £3,916,566 in 1895, and the capital expenditure on railways by these colonies amounts to £26,000,000. The greater portion of these receipts come from the Rand trade, which is compelled to pay an additional £2,500,000 carrying charges to the Netherlands Company, which has £7,000,000 of capital. Thus, railway receipts in South Africa amount now to £7,000,000 per annum, of which the Rand contributes at least £5,000,000.
"The revenue of the company is now considerably over £3,000,000 per annum. The management claim that their expenses amount to but forty per cent. of revenue, and this is regarded by them as a matter for general congratulation. The Uitlanders contend that the concern is grossly mismanaged, and that the low cost of working is a fiction. It only appears low by contrast with a revenue swollen by preposterously heavy rates and protected by a monopoly. The tariff could be reduced by one-half, that is to say, a remission of taxation to the tune of one and a half million annually could be effected without depriving the company of a legitimate and indeed very handsome profit."
Rt. Hon. CECIL JOHN RHODES, P.C.Rt. Hon. CECIL JOHN RHODES, P.C.Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.
Rt. Hon. CECIL JOHN RHODES, P.C.
Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.
Perhaps the dynamite monopoly was even more aggravating than the railway one. Mr. Fitzpatrick says it has always been "a very burning question with the Uitlanders. This concession was granted soon after the Barberton Fields were discovered, when the prospects of an industry in the manufacture of explosives were not really very great. The concessionaire himself has admitted that, had he foreseen to what proportions this monopoly would eventually grow, he would not have had the audacity to apply for it. Of course, this is merely a personal question. The fact which concerned the industry was that the right was granted to one man to manufacture explosives, and to sell them at a price nearly 200 per cent. over that at whichthey could be imported. It was found, upon investigation after some years of agitation, that the factory at which this 'manufacture' took place was in reality merely a depôt in which the already manufactured article was manipulated to a moderate extent, so as to lend colour to the President's statement that a local industry was being fostered. An investigation, held by order of the Volksraad, exposed the imposition. The President himself stated that he found he had been deceived, and that the terms of the concession had been broken, and he urged the Raad to cancel it, which the Raad did. The triumph was considerable for the mining industry, and it was the more appreciated in that it was the solitary success to which the Uitlanders could point in their long series of agitations for reform. But the triumph was not destined to be a lasting one. Within a few months the monopoly was revived in an infinitely more obnoxious form. It was now called a Government monopoly, but 'the agency' was bestowed upon a partner of the gentleman who had formerly owned the concession, the President himself vigorously defending this course, and ignoring his own judgment on the case uttered a few months previously.Land en Volk, the Pretoria Dutch newspaper, exposed the whole of this transaction, including the system of bribery by which the concessionaires secured their renewal, and among other things made the charge which it has continued to repeat ever since, that Mr. J. M. A. Wolmarans, member of the Executive, received a commission of one shilling per case on every case sold during the continuance of the agency as a consideration for his support in the Executive Council, and that he continues to enjoy this remuneration, which is estimated now to be not far short of £10,000 a year. Mr. Wolmarans, for reasons of pride or discretion, has declined to take any notice of the charge, although frequently pressed to take action in the matter. It is calculated that the burden imposed upon the Witwatersrandt mines alone amounts to £600,000 per annum, and is, of course, daily increasing."
Between the years 1890 and 1895 there were many negotiations over Swaziland. The South African Republic, ever anxious to extend its borders, longed to advance eastward to the sea. Negotiations were started in regard to this arrangement. The Transvaal had recognised the British occupation of Rhodesia, and the British in return agreed to allow the Transvaal to make a railway through Amatongaland to Kosi Bay, and acquire a seaport, if, within three years, it joined the South African Customs Union.
But Mr. Kruger, luckily for Imperial interests, would not entertain the idea. He did not want to come into confederation with the Cape. The Orange Free State, however, joined the Cape system, and the South African Customs Union was started. The advantages to the Free State of this arrangement, though unforeseen, were many; the principal being the privilege of importing, unmolested, arms and ammunition over the Cape Government railway lines. Finally, in 1895, the administration of Swaziland was transferred to the South African Republic on certain conditions. It was not to be incorporated with the Republic, European settlers were to have full burgher rights, monopolies were forbidden, English and Dutch languages were to be on an equal footing, and no duties higher than the maximum tariff rates imposed by the South African Republic or by the Customs Union were to be allowed. The territory of Amatongaland was annexed by the British in 1895, and the Transvaal thus lost its one chance of an outlet towards the sea.
THE FRANCHISE
The much-vexed question of the Franchise continued to rankle in the hearts of the Uitlanders. Its ramifications had grown so complicated that even lawyers in discussing the matter continually found themselves in error. We may therefore be excused from attempting to examine its niceties, or rather its—well—the reverse. In 1893 a petition, signed by upwards of 13,000 aliens in favour of granting the extension of the Franchise, was received by the Raad with derision. In 1895 a monster petition was got up by the National Union, an organisation formed for the purpose of righting the wrongs of the Uitlanders. During the great Franchise debate in August 1895, Mr. R. K. Loveday, one of the Loyalists in the war, in the course of an address dealing with the subject, expressed himself very definitely and concisely, and in a manner which could not be refuted. He said—
"The President uses the argument that they should naturalise, and thus give evidence of their desire to become citizens. I have used the same argument, but what becomes of such arguments when met with the objections that the law requires such persons to undergo a probationary period extending from fourteen to twenty-four years before they are admitted to full rights of citizenship, and even after one has undergone that probationary period he can only be admitted to full rights by the resolution of the First Raad? Law IV. of 1890, being the Act of the two Volksraads, lays down clearly and distinctly that those who have been eligible for ten years for the Second Raad can be admitted to full citizenship. So that, in any case, the naturalised citizen cannot obtain full rights until he reaches the age of forty years, he not beingeligible for the Second Raad until he is thirty years. The child born of non-naturalised parents must therefore wait until he is forty years of age, although at the age of sixteen he may be called upon to do military service, and may fall in the defence of the land of his birth. When such arguments are hurled at me by our own flesh and blood—our kinsmen from all parts of South Africa—I must confess I am not surprised that these persons indignantly refuse to accept citizenship upon such unreasonable terms. The element I have just referred to—namely, the Africander element—is very considerable, and numbers thousands, hundreds of whom, at the time this country was struggling for its independence, accorded it moral and financial support, and yet these very persons are subjected to a term of probation extending from fourteen to twenty-four years. It is useless for me to ask you whether such a policy is just and reasonable or Republican, for there can be but one answer, and that is 'No!' Is there one man in this Raad who would accept the Franchise on the same terms? Let me impress upon you the grave nature of this question, and the absolute necessity of going to the burghers without a moment's delay and consulting and advising them. Let us keep nothing from them regarding the true position, and I am sure we shall have their hearty co-operation in any reasonable scheme we may suggest. This is a duty we owe them, for we must not leave them under the impression that the Uitlanders are satisfied to remain aliens, as stated by some of the journals. I move amongst these people, and learn to know their true feelings, and when public journals tell you that these people are satisfied with their lot they tell you that which they know to be false. Such journals are amongst the greatest sources of danger that the country has. We are informed by certain members that a proposition for the extension of the Franchise must come from the burghers, but, according to the Franchise Law, the proposition must come from the Raad, and the public must consent. The member for Rustenberg says that there are 9338 burghers who have declared that they are opposed to the extension of the Franchise. Upon reference to the Report he will find that there are only 1564 opposed to the extension. Members appear afraid to touch upon the real question at issue, but try to discredit the memorials by vague statements that some of the signatures are not genuine, and the former member for Johannesburg, Mr. J. Meyer, seems just as anxious to discredit the people of Johannesburg as formerly he was to defend them."
In spite of all that was said and done, however, no progress was made. The debate was closed on the third day, the requestof the memorialists was refused, and they were referred for satisfaction to the existing laws.
About this time the Transvaal came very near to war with Great Britain. As before stated, Mr. Kruger was much bound up with the affairs of the Netherlands Railway Company and its Hollander-German promoters. He attempted to divert the stream of Johannesburg traffic to Delagoa Bay, for the purpose of keeping profit from the pockets of the British. The freights, however, were evaded by unloading the goods at the frontier, and taking them across the Vaal in waggons. It was easy thus to forward goods—between Johannesburg and Viljoens Drift—direct by the Cape Railway.
But Mr. Kruger was not to be defeated. In October 1895, he closed the drifts or fords of the Vaal to all waggon loads of goods from Cape Colony. Unfortunately the President had over-reached himself. The people of Cape Colony and those of the Free State were indignant, and the High Commissioner, Sir Hercules Robinson, and the Cape Premier, Mr. Rhodes, both brought their influence to bear on the President. He was obdurate. Mr. Chamberlain, the new Colonial Secretary, came to the rescue. He put his foot down, and a determined foot it was. He sent an ultimatum to Mr. Kruger announcing that closure of the drifts after the 15th of November would be considered an act of war.
The drifts were reopened. But the Netherlands Railway Company still stuck to their tariffs and their aim of depriving the British Colonies of the custom dues and railway rates on the traffic of Johannesburg. Consequently this thorn in the side of the British Colonists was left to fester.
SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVES—BOUND FOR THE GOLD-FIELDS.SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVES—BOUND FOR THE GOLD-FIELDS.Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.
SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVES—BOUND FOR THE GOLD-FIELDS.
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.
Day by day the discontent grew, and the cry of "No taxation without representation" became the Uitlanders' motto. They perceived that they were deprived of rights, yet expected to serve as milch cows for the fattening of a State that was arming itself at all points against them, and they came to the conclusion that some strong measures must now be taken for their protection. The Chamber of Mines and the Transvaal National Union had spent some time in advocating purely constitutional methods, the Chamber of Mines exploiting the grievances of the Gold Mining industry, while the National Union struggled for general reforms which should make the conditions of Uitlander life less intolerable than they were. The Reformers, whose chairman was Mr. Charles Leonard, a solicitor of good practice in Johannesburg, were mostly men of the middle and professional classes. The capitalists, being anxious to keep in with the Transvaal Government, were somewhat shy of the National Unionists; while the working men on their side were suspicious of the motives of the Reformers, and were chary of lending themselves to any scheme which might conduce to the profit of the millionaires. The National Union clearly expressed its aims in a manifesto which ended with the exposition of the Charter which its members hoped to obtain. It said:
"We want—
1. The establishment of this Republic as a true Republic.
2. A Grondwet, or Constitution, which shall be framed by competent persons selected by representatives of the whole people, and framed on lines laid down by them.
3. An equitable Franchise Law and fair representation.
4. Equality of the Dutch and English languages.
5. Responsibility to the Legislature of the heads of the great departments.
6. Removal of religious disabilities.
7. Independence of the Courts of Justice with adequate and secured remuneration of the Judges.
8. Liberal and comprehensive Education.
9. Efficient Civil Service, with adequate provision for pay and pension.
10. Free Trade in South African products."
The Manifesto wound up with the pertinent question, "How shall we get it?"
The "how" was to have been decided at a public meeting fixed for the 27th of December 1895, and subsequently postponed till January 8th, 1896. But what the National Union proposed the Jameson Raid disposed. The meeting was destined never to take place!
THE REFORM MOVEMENT
Before 1895 the wealthier members of the community refused to entertain the suggestion of coercive measures, but after the Volksraad in session revealed the real policy of the Government, even they began to perceive that revolutionary action might become obligatory. Though the capitalists were advised by those who knew to avoid spending money on hopeless efforts at reform, and to steer clear, if possible, of the political imbroglio, they eventually joined hands with the Reformers. How the egg of the Jameson conspiracy came to be laid no one exactly knew. Certain it was that those who looked for the hatching of a swan, wereconfronted with a very ugly duckling indeed! Arms and ammunition were purchased, and these, concealed as gold-mining impedimenta, were smuggled into the country. Messrs. Leonard and Phillips, two prominent Reformers, consulted Mr. Rhodes as to future affairs, but Mr. Rhodes was in the awkward position of acting at one and the same time as Managing Director of the Consolidated Gold Fields in the Transvaal, Prime Minister of the Colony, and Managing Director of the Chartered Company, and consequently was a little vague in his propositions. After some conversation, he decided that he would, at his own expense, keep Dr. Jameson and his troops on the frontier "as a moral support."
Later on in September Dr. Jameson visited Johannesburg, and made his arrangements in person. It was agreed that he should maintain a force of 1500 mounted men, fully equipped, and that besides, having with him 1500 spare rifles, and some spare ammunition, there should be about 5000 rifles, three Maxims, and 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition smuggled into Johannesburg. The idea was, that the Uitlanders would prepare their revolt, and that should Dr. Jameson's services be needed, Johannesburg, with 9000 armed men and a fair equipment of machine guns and cannon, would be prepared to co-operate: at that time it seemed no difficult matter to seize the fort and magazines at Pretoria for the time being. It was in course of repair, and in charge merely of a hundred men, most of whom could be relied on to be asleep or off duty after nine o'clock at night. The plan of seizing the fort, capturing the ammunition, and clearing it off so as to enforce their views without bloodshed seemed perfectly feasible, and Dr. Jameson readily agreed to lend himself to the scheme for giving such "moral support" as was required by the Uitlander Reformers. Of their part in the affair it is difficult to speak impartially. It appears on the surface that they induced this man, for no personal motive either of financial gain or political power, to lend himself willingly to be the tool of the aggrieved Uitlanders, who, when the time came, were too vacillating between their fear of the Republic and the desire for their own individual good, to support the person whom they had chosen for their champion, and who so disinterestedly was prepared to risk both life and position in their service! It was decided, however, that the Reformers should arrange a revolution, which would have the effect of forcing the hands of the Transvaal Government. The High Commissioner, as they imagined, would come on the scene as a final arbitrator. Dr. Jameson's troops, who had acted so effectively in the Matabele campaign, were to be kept at Pitsanion the Bechuana border, in order if necessary to come at a given signal to the rescue of the Uitlanders. The idea was not without precedent. Sir Henry Loch, two years before, in dread of a Johannesburg rising, had considered the advisability of placing troops on the border.
So as to justify his action to the directors of the Chartered Company and the Imperial authorities, the following undated letter was sent to Dr. Jameson, Mafeking:—
"Dear Sir,—The position of matters in this State has become so critical, that we are assured that at no distant period there will be a conflict between the Government and the Uitlander population. It is scarcely necessary for us to recapitulate what is now matter of history; suffice it to say, that the position of thousands of Englishmen, and others, is rapidly becoming intolerable. Not satisfied with making the Uitlander population pay virtually the whole of the revenue of the country while denying them representation, the policy of the Government has been steadily to encroach upon the liberty of the subject, and to undermine the security for property to such an extent as to cause a very deep-seated sense of discontent and danger. A foreign corporation of Hollanders is to a considerable extent controlling our destinies, and in conjunction with the Boer leaders endeavouring to cast them in a mould which is wholly foreign to the genius of the people. Every public act betrays the most positive hostility, not only to everything English, but to the neighbouring States.
"Well, in short, the internal policy of the Government is such as to have roused into antagonism to it not only practically the whole body of Uitlanders, but a large number of the Boers; while its external policy has exasperated the neighbouring States, causing the possibility of great danger to the peace and independence of this Republic. Public feeling is in a condition of smouldering discontent. All the petitions of the people have been refused with a greater or less degree of contempt; and in the debate on the Franchise petition, signed by nearly 40,000 people, one member challenged the Uitlanders to fight for the rights they asked for, and not a single member spoke against him. Not to go into details, we may say that the Government has called into existence all the elements necessary for armed conflict. The one desire of the people here is for fair play, the maintenance of their independence, and the preservation of those public liberties without which life is not worth living. The Government denies these things, and violates the national sense of Englishmen at every turn.
"What we have to consider is, what will be the condition of thingshere in the event of a conflict? Thousands of unarmed men, women, and children of our race will be at the mercy of well-armed Boers, while property of enormous value will be in the greatest peril. We cannot contemplate the future without the gravest apprehensions. All feel that we are justified in taking any steps to prevent the shedding of blood, and to ensure the protection of our rights.
"It is under these circumstances that we feel constrained to call upon you to come to our aid should a disturbance arise here. The circumstances are so extreme that we cannot but believe that you and the men under you will not fail to come to the rescue of people who will be so situated. We guarantee any expense that may reasonably be incurred by you in helping us, and ask you to believe that nothing but the sternest necessity has prompted this appeal.