Their local position as half-nomadic inhabitants of a wide interior gave

a peculiar character to that struggle between the mother country and her

colonists which has arisen more than once in British history. They were

so few and so poor, as compared with the people of the thirteen Colonies

of the North American coast in 1776, that it was useless for them to

rebel and fight for independence, as those Colonies had done. On the

other hand, they were not, like the French of lower Canada, rooted in

the soil as agriculturists. Hence a middle course between rebellion and

submission offered itself. That course was secession. They renounced not

only their political allegiance, but even the very lands where they

dwelt, seeking the protection of the desert as other emigrants before

them had sought that of the ocean. Thus again, and more completely,

isolated since 1836, the emigrant Boers, and especially those of the

Transvaal, have been able to retain their old ways for sixty years

longer, and have grown more anti-English than ever. On the other hand,

the English of the Colony, whose English sentiment was quickened by

these events, have remained more thoroughly English than those of most

British Colonies, and have never conceived the idea of severing their

own connection with the mother country.

That the emigrant Boers became republicans was due rather to

circumstance than to conscious purpose. A monarch they could not have,

because there was no one designated for the place, as well as because

they had the instinct of general disobedience. But for a long time they

tried to rub along with no more government or leadership than the needs

of war required. Seldom has any people been so little influenced by

abstract political ideas, yet seldom has a people enjoyed so perfect an

opportunity of trying political experiments and testing the theories of

political philosophers. But the Boers were, and are still, a strictly

practical people. Their houses give them cover from sun and rain, but

nothing more; there is little comfort and no elegance. So their

institutions were the fewest and simplest under which men have ever

governed themselves. It is therefore no theoretical attachment to

democracy that has helped the Boers to resist the English; it is merely

the wish to be left alone, and a stubbornness of will that made

independence seem more desirable the more it was threatened.

Even this admirable stubbornness would hardly have carried them through

but for the dispersion over vast spaces. That dispersion, while it

retarded their political growth and social progress, made them hard to

reach or to conquer. The British Government despaired of over-taking and

surrounding them, for they were scattered like antelopes over the lonely

veldt, and there was a still vaster and equally lonely veldt behind them

into which they could retire. To pursue them seemed a wild-goose chase,

and a costly one, in which there was much to spend and little to gain.

Thus their weakness has proved their strength, and the more settled they

become in the future, the less can they hope to escape the influences

they have so long resisted.

But for the maintenance of the sentiment of Boer nationality by the two

Boer Republics, the antagonism of Dutch and English in Cape Colony would

have ere now died out, for there has been little or nothing in colonial

politics to sustain it. The interests of the farmers of both stocks are

identical, their rights are in all respects the same, and the British

Government has been perfectly impartial. The Boers in the Colony are

good citizens and loyal subjects. It is only the character of the

country and the conditions of their pastoral life that have retarded

their social fusion with the English, as it is only the passions aroused

by the strife of Boers and Englishmen in the Transvaal that evoked in

1881, and again evoked in 1896, a political opposition between the

races. Fortunately, the sentiments of the Dutch have possessed a safe

outlet in the colonial Parliament. The wisdom of the policy which gave

responsible government has been signally vindicated; for, as

constitutional means have existed for influencing the British

Government, feelings which might otherwise have found vent in a revolt

or a second secession have been diverted into a safe channel.

The other set of race troubles, those between white settlers and the

aborigines of the land have been graver in South Africa than any which

European governments have had to face in any other new country. The Red

Men of North America, splendidly as they fought, never seriously checked

the advance of the whites. The revolts of the aborigines in Peru and

Central America were easily suppressed. The once warlike Maoris of New

Zealand have, under the better methods of the last twenty-five years,

become quiet and tolerably contented. Even the French in Algeria had

not so long a strife to maintain with the Moorish and Kabyle tribes as

the Dutch and English had with the natives at the Cape. The south-coast

Kafirs far outnumbered the whites, were full of courage, had a rough and

thickly wooded country to defend, and were so ignorant as never to know

when they were beaten. A more intelligent race might have sooner

abandoned the contest. The melancholy chapter of native wars seems to be

now all but closed, except perhaps in the far north. These wars,

however, did much to retard the progress of South Africa and to give it

a bad name. They deterred many an English farmer from emigrating thither

in the years between 1810 and 1870. They annoyed and puzzled the home

government, and made it think the Colony a worthless possession, whence

little profit or credit was to be drawn in return for the unending

military expenditure. And they gave the colonists ground for complaints,

sometimes just, sometimes unjust, against the home government, which was

constantly accused of parsimony, of shortsightedness, of vacillation, of

sentimental weakness, in sending out too few troops, in refusing to

annex fresh territory, in patching up a hollow peace, in granting too

easy terms to the natives.

Whoever reviews the whole South African policy of the British Government

during the ninety-three years that have elapsed since 1806 cannot but

admit that many errors were committed. Many precious opportunities for

establishing British authority on a secure basis were lost. Many things

were done imperfectly, and therefore had to be done over and over again,

which it would have been cheaper as well as wiser to have finished off

at once. Many steps, prudent in themselves, and dictated by excellent

motives, were taken at a moment and in a way which made them

misunderstood and resisted. Reflecting on these mistakes, one sometimes

wonders that the country was not lost altogether to Britain, and thinks

of the saying of the old Swiss statesman: _Hominum negligentia, Dei

providentia, regitur Helvetia_. It may nevertheless be truly said for

the British Government that it almost always sought to act justly, and

that such advances as it made were not dictated by an aggressive spirit,

but (with few exceptions) compelled by the necessities of the case. And

it must not be forgotten that, as all home governments err in their

control of Colonies--Spain, Portugal, and France have certainly erred in

their day far more fatally than England--so many of the errors which now

most startle us in the annals of South Africa were all but inevitable,

because the wisest man could not have foreseen the course which things

have in fact taken. Who ever tries to look at the events of sixty,

thirty, or even twenty years ago with the eyes of those times, and

remembers that Colonial ministers in England had to consider not only

what they thought best, but what they could get the uninstructed public

opinion of their own country to accept, will be more indulgent than the

colonists are in their judgment of past mistakes. For instance, it is

apt to be forgotten that the Cape was not occupied with a view to the

establishment of a European Colony, in our present sense of the word.

The Dutch took it that they might plant a cabbage-garden; the English

took it that they might have a naval station and half-way house to

India. Not till our own time did people begin to think of it as capable

of supporting a great civilised community and furnishing a new market

for British goods; not till 1869 was it known as a region whence great

wealth might be drawn. Hence Britain, which during the first half of

this century was busy in conquering India, in colonising Australasia,

and in setting things to rights in Canada, never cared to bend her

energies to the development of South Africa, then a less promising field

for those energies, spent no more money on it than she could help, and

sought to avoid the acquisition of new territory, because that meant new

troubles and new outlays.

The views of colonial policy which prevailed in England down till about

1870 were very different from those which most of us now hold. The

statesmen of the last generation accepted that _consilium coercendi

intra terminos imperii_ which, according to Tacitus, Augustus held sound

for an empire less scattered than is that of Britain; they thought that

Britain had already more territory than she could hope to develop and

(in the long run) to govern; and they therefore sought to limit rather

than increase her responsibilities. And they believed, reasoning

somewhat too hastily from the revolt of the North American Colonies,

that as soon as the new English communities to which self-government had

been or was in due course to be granted, reached a certain level of

wealth and population they would demand and receive their independence.

That the fruit would fall off the old tree as soon as it was ripe was

the favourite metaphor employed to convey what nearly all publicists

took to be an obvious truth. No one stated it so trenchantly as Disraeli

when he wrote: "These wretched Colonies will all be independent too in a

few years, and are a millstone round our necks;" but the dogma was

generally accepted by politicians belonging to both the great parties in

the state. Those, moreover, were days in which economy and retrenchment

were popular cries in England, and when it was deemed the duty of a

statesman to reduce as far as possible the burdens of the people.

Expenditure on colonial wars and on the administration of half-settled

districts was odious to the prudent and thrifty contemporaries or

disciples of Sir Robert Peel and Richard Cobden. Accordingly, the chief

aim of British statesmen from 1830 till 1870 was to arrest the tide of

British advance, to acquire as little territory as possible, to leave

restless natives and emigrant Boers entirely to themselves. Desperate

efforts were made to stop the Kafir wars. We can now see that the

tendency--one may almost call it a law of nature--which everywhere over

the world has tempted or forced a strong civilised power to go on

conquering the savage or half-civilised peoples on its borders, the

process that has carried the English all over India and brought the

Russians from the Volga to the Pamirs in one direction and to the mouth

of the Amur in another, was certain to compel the British Government to

subdue and annex one Kafir tribe after another until either a desert or

the territory of some other civilised State was reached. But fifty years

ago this was not clearly perceived; so the process, which might have

inflicted less suffering if it had been steadily and swiftly carried

through, went on slowly and to the constant annoyance of statesmen at

home.

It was the same as regards the great plateau and the Boer emigrants who

dwelt there. Not from any sympathy with their love of independence, but

because she did not want the trouble of pursuing and governing them and

the wide lands they were spread over, England resolved to abandon the

interior to them. In 1852 and 1854 she made a supreme effort to check

her own onward career, first by recognizing the independence of the

Transvaal emigrants whose allegiance she had theretofore claimed, then

by actually renouncing her rights to the Orange River Sovereignty, and

to those within it who desired to continue her subjects. What more could

a thrifty and cautious and conscientious country do? Nevertheless, these

good resolutions had to be reconsidered, these self-denying principles

foregone. Circumstances were too strong for the Colonial Office. In 1869

it accepted the protectorate of Basutoland. In 1871 it yielded to the

temptation of the diamond-fields, and took Griqualand West. Soon after

it made a treaty with Khama, which gave the British a foothold in

Bechuanaland. In 1877 it annexed the Transvaal. By that time the old

ideas were beginning to pass away, and to be replaced by new views of

the mission and destiny of Britain. The wish of the British Government

to stand still had been combated all along by powerful inducements to

move on. The colonists always pressed for an advance of the frontier.

The Governor usually pressed for it. The home government was itself

haunted by a fear that if it abandoned positions of vantage its

successors might afterwards have reason to rue the abandonment. These

were the considerations that drove British statesmen to the most

momentous forward steps that were taken. Two things, and two only, were

really vital to British interests--the control of the coasts, and the

control of an open road to the north. Accordingly, the two decisive

steps were the occupation of Natal in 1842-3, which shut off the Boers

from the sea, and the taking of Griqualand West in 1871 (followed by the

taking of southern Bechuanaland in 1884), which secured between the

Transvaal on the one side and the Kalahari Desert on the other a free

access to the great northern plateau.

The tide of English opinion began to turn about 1870, and since then it

has run with increasing force in the direction of what is called

imperialism, and has indeed in some cases brought about annexations that

are likely to prove unprofitable, because the territory acquired is too

hot and unhealthy to be fit for British settlement. The strides of

advance made in 1884-5 and 1890 have been as bold and large as those of

earlier days were timid and halting; and the last expiring struggles of

the old policy were seen in 1884, when Lord Derby, who belonged to the

departing school, yielded a new convention to the importunity of the

Transvaal Boers and allowed Germany to establish herself in Damaraland.

But it is due to Britain, which has been accused, and so far as regards

South Africa unjustly accused (down to 1896), of aggressive aims, to

recall the fact that she strove for many years to restrict her dominion,

and did not cease from her efforts until long experience had shown that

it was hard to maintain the old policy, and until the advent on the

scene of other European powers, whom it was thought prudent to keep at a

distance from her own settled territories, impelled her to join in that

general scramble for Africa which has been so strange a feature of the

last two decades.

There have been moments, even since the occupation of two points so

important as Basutoland (in 1869) and Griqualand West (in 1871) when it

has seemed possible that South Africa might become Dutch rather than

English, such is the tenacity of that race, and so deep are the roots

which its language has struck. With the discovery of the Witwatersrand

gold-fields, drawing a new body of English immigrants into the country,

that possibility seems to have passed away. The process of territorial

distribution is in South Africa now complete. Every Colony and State has

become limited by boundaries defined in treaties. Every native tribe has

now some legal white superior, and no native tribe remains any longer

formidable. The old race questions have passed, or are passing, into new

phases. But they will be at least as difficult in their new forms as in

their old ones. I will devote the few remaining pages of this book to a

short consideration of them and of the other problems affecting the

future of South Africa with which they are involved.

Reasons have been given in a preceding chapter for the conclusion that

both the white and the black races are likely to hold their ground over

all the country, and that the black race will continue to be the more

numerous. Assuming the conditions of agriculture to remain what they are

at present, and assuming that the causes which now discourage the

establishment of large manufacturing industries do not pass away, there

will probably be for the next seventy years a large white population on

the gold-field and at the chief seaports, and only a small white

population over the rest of the country. Even should irrigation be

largely introduced, it would be carried on chiefly by black labourers.

Even should low wages or the discovery of larger and better deposits of

iron and coal stimulate the development of great manufacturing

industries, still it is a black rather than a white population that

would be therewith increased. Various causes may be imagined which would

raise or reduce the birth-rate and the infant death-rate among the

natives, so that one cannot feel sure that the existing proportion

between them and the whites will be maintained. But if we regard the

question from the point of view of labour, and take the natives to

represent that part of the community which in Europe does the harder and

less skilled kinds of work, both in country and in town, it may be

concluded that they will continue to form the majority even where they

live among the white people, without taking account of those areas where

they, and they alone, are settled on the land. It is, however,

impossible to conjecture how large the majority will be.

The Kafirs, as has been already suggested, will gradually lose their

tribal organisation and come to live like Europeans, under European law.

They will become more generally educated, and will learn skilled

handicrafts; many--perhaps, in the long run, all--will speak English.

They will eventually cease to be heathens, even if they do not all

become Christians. This process of Europeanisation will spread from

south to north, and may probably not be complete in the north--at any

rate, in the German and Portuguese parts of the north--till the end of

the next century. But long before that time the natives will in many

places have begun to compete (as indeed a few already do) with the

whites in some kinds of well-paid labour. They will also, being better

educated and better paid, have become less submissive than they are now,

and a larger number of them will enjoy the suffrage.

What will be the relations of the two races when these things have come

about, say within two or three generations? Consider what the position

will then be. Two races will be living on the same ground, in close and

constant economic relations, both those of employment and those of

competition, speaking the same language and obeying the same laws,

differing, no doubt, in strength of intelligence and will, yet with many

members of the weaker race superior as individual men to many members of

the stronger. And these two races, separated by the repulsion of

physical differences, will have no social intercourse, no mixture of

blood, but will each form a nation by itself for all purposes save those

of industry and perhaps of politics. There will, no doubt, be the nexus

of industrial interest, for the white employer will need the labour of

the blacks. But even in countries where no race differences intervene,

the industrial nexus does not prevent bitter class hatreds and labour

wars.

That such a state of things will arrive is rendered probable not only by

the phenomena to be observed to-day in South Africa, but by the

experience of the Southern States of the American Union, where almost

exactly what I have described has come to pass, with the addition that

the inferior race has in theory the same political rights as the

superior. How will the relations of two races so living together be

adjusted? The experience of the Southern States is too short to throw

much light on this problem. It is, however, a painful experience in many

respects, and it causes the gravest anxieties for the future. Similar

anxieties must press upon the mind of any one who in South Africa looks

sixty or eighty years forward; and they are not diminished by the fact

that in South Africa the inferior race is far more numerous than the

superior. But although the position I have outlined seems destined to

arrive, it is still so distant that we can no more predict the

particular form its difficulties will take than the mariner can describe

the rocks and trees upon an island whose blue mountains he begins to

descry on the dim horizon. Whatever those difficulties may be, they will

be less formidable if the whites realize, before the coloured people

have begun to feel a sense of wrong, that their own future is bound up

with that of the natives, and that the true interests of both races are

in the long run the same.

Although the facts we have been considering suggest the view that the

white population of South Africa will be very small when compared with

that of the North American or Australasian Colonies, they also suggest

that the whites will in South Africa hold the position of an

aristocracy, and may draw from that position some of the advantages

which belong to those who are occupied only on the higher kinds of work,

and have fuller opportunities for intellectual cultivation than the mass

of manual labourers enjoy. A large part of the whites will lead a

country life, directing the field work or the ranching of their

servants. Those who dwell in the towns will be merchants or employers of

labour or highly skilled artisans, corresponding generally to the upper

and middle strata of society in North America or Australia, but probably

with a smaller percentage of exceptionally wealthy men. There is, of

course, the danger that a class may spring up composed of men unfit for

the higher kinds of work, and yet too lazy or too proud to work with

their hands; and some observers already discover signs of the appearance

of such a class. If its growth can be averted the conditions for the

progress and happiness of the white race in South Africa seem

favourable; and we are approaching an age of the world when the quality

of a population will be more important than its quantity.

In this forecast I have said nothing of the gold mines, because they

will not be a permanent factor. The present gold fever is a fleeting

episode in South African history. Gold has, no doubt, played a great

part in that history. It was the hope of getting gold that made the

Portuguese fix their first post at Sofala in 1505, and that carried the

English pioneers to Mashonaland in 1890. It was the discovery of the

_banket_ gold beds on the Witwatersrand in 1885 that finally settled

the question whether South Africa was to be an English or a Dutch

country. Yet gold mining will pass away in a few decades, for the

methods which the engineer now commands will enable him within that time

to extract from the rocks all the wealth now stored up in them. A day

will come when nothing will be left to tell the traveller of the

industry which drew hundreds of thousands of men to a barren ridge,

except the heaps of refuse whose ugliness few shrubs will, in that dry

land, spring up to cover. But South Africa will still be a pastoral and

agricultural country, and none the less happy because the gold is gone.

Neither have I said anything as to the influence of any foreign power or

people upon the South Africans, because they will to all appearance

remain affected in the way of literature and commerce, as well as of

politics, by Britain only. There is at present no land trade from

British or Boer States with the territories of Germany and the Congo

State which lie to the north; and spaces so vast, inhabited only by a

few natives, lie between that no such trade seems likely to arise for

many years to come. Continental Europe exerts little influence on South

African ideas or habits; for the Boers, from causes already explained,

have no intellectual affinity with modern Holland, and the Germans who

have settled in British territories have become quickly Anglified.

Commerce is almost exclusively with English ports. Some little traffic

between Germany and Delagoa Bay has lately sprung up, aided by the

establishment of a German line of steamers to that harbour. Vessels come

with emigrants from India to Natal, though the Government of that Colony

is now endeavouring to check the arrival of any but indentured coolies;

and there are signs that an important direct trade with the United

States, especially in cereals and agricultural machinery, may hereafter

be developed. In none of these cases, however, does it seem probable

that commercial intercourse will have any considerable influence

outside the sphere of commerce. With Australia it is different. Having

ceased, since the opening of the Suez Canal, to be the halfway house to

India, the Cape has become one of the halfway houses from Britain to

Australasia. The outgoing New Zealand steamers, as well as the steamers

of the Aberdeen Australian line, touch there; grain is imported,

although the high tariff restricts this trade, and many Australian

miners traverse Cape Colony on their way to the Witwatersrand. A feeling

of intercolonial amity is beginning to grow up, to which a happy

expression was given by the Cape Government when they offered financial

assistance to the Australian Colonies during the recent commercial

crisis.

With the other great country of the Southern hemisphere there seems to

be extremely little intercourse. Britain did not use, when she might

have legitimately used, the opportunity that was offered her early in

this century of conferring upon the temperate regions of South America

the benefits of ordered freedom and a progressive population. Had the

territories of the Argentine Republic (which now include Patagonia),

territories then almost vacant, been purchased from Spain and peopled

from England, a second Australia might have arisen in the West, and

there would now be a promise not only of commerce, but ultimately of a

league based upon community of race, language, and institutions between

three great English-speaking States in the south temperate zone. That

opportunity has, however, passed away; and southern South America,

having now been settled by Spaniards and Italians, with a smaller number

of Germans, seems destined to such fortunes as the Hispano-American race

can win for her. But it may well be hoped that as trade increases

between South Africa and Australia, there may come with more frequent

intercourse a deepening sense of kinship and a fuller sympathy,

inspiring to both communities, and helpful to any efforts that may

hereafter be made to knit more closely together the English-speaking

peoples all over the world.

Although the relations of the white race to the black constitute the

gravest of the difficulties which confront South Africa, this difficulty

is not the nearest one. More urgent, if less serious, is the other race

problem--that of adjusting the rights and claims of the Dutch and the

English.

It has already been explained that, so far as Cape Colony and Natal are

concerned, there is really no question pending between the two races,

and nothing to prevent them from working in perfect harmony and concord.

Neither does the Orange Free State provide any fuel for strife, since

there both Boers and English live in peace and are equally attached to

the institutions of their Republic. It is in the Transvaal that the

centre of disturbance lies; it is thence that the surrounding earth has

so often been shaken and the peace of all South Africa threatened. I

have already described the circumstances which brought about the recent

troubles in that State. To comment upon what has happened since the

rising, to criticize either the attitude of the President or the various

essays in diplomacy of the British Government, would be to enter that

field of current politics which I have resolved to avoid. What may fitly

be done here is to state the uncontroverted and dominant facts of the

situation as it stands in the autumn of 1897.[90]

What are these facts? The Boer population of the Transvaal is roughly

estimated at 65,000, of whom about 24,000 are voting citizens. The

Uitlanders, or alien population, five-sixths of whom speak English, are

estimated at 180,000, of whom nearly one-half are adult males. These

Uitlanders hold sixty-three per cent. of the landed and ninety per cent.

of the personal property in the country. In December, 1895, their number

was increasing at the rate of one thousand per week through arrivals

from Cape Town alone; and though this influx fell off for a time, while

political troubles were checking the development of the mines, it rose

again with the renewal of that development. Should the Deep Level mines

go on prospering as is expected, the rate of immigration will be

sustained, and within ten years there will probably be at least 500,000

Uitlanders in the Republic, that is to say, nearly eight times the

number of the Boers.

The numerical disproportion between these excluded persons--a very large

part of whom will have taken root in the country--and the old citizens

will then have become overwhelming, and the claim of the former to enjoy

some share in the government will be practically irresistible. The

concession of this share may come before 1907--I incline to think it

will--or it may come somewhat later. The precise date is a small matter,

and depends upon personal causes. But that the English-speaking element

will, if the mining industry continues to thrive, become politically as

well as economically supreme, seems inevitable. No political agitation

or demonstrations in the Transvaal, much less any intervention from

outside, need come into the matter. It is only of the natural causes

already at work that I speak, and these natural causes are sufficient to

bring about the result. A country must, after all, take its character

from the large majority of its inhabitants, especially when those who

form that large majority are the wealthiest, most educated, and most

enterprising part of the population.

Whether this inevitable admission of the new-comers to citizenship will

happen suddenly or gradually, in quiet or in storm, no one can venture

to predict. There are things which we can perceive to be destined to

occur, though the time and the manner may be doubtful. But as it will be

dictated by the patent necessities of the case, one may well hope that

it will come about in a peaceable way and leave behind no sense of

irritation in either race. Boers and Englishmen cannot in the Transvaal

so easily blend and learn to work together as they have done in the

Orange Free State, because they were in the latter State far less

socially dissimilar. But the extension of the suffrage, while it will be

followed by legislation beneficial to the mining industry, need not

involve legislation harmful to the material interests of the Boer

element. On the contrary, the Boers themselves will ultimately profit by

any increase in the prosperity of the country. An improved

administration will give a more assured status to the judiciary, as well

as a better set of laws and better internal communications, advantages

which will be helpful to the whole Republic.

That the change should come about peaceably is much to be desired in the

interest not only of the Transvaal itself, but of all South Africa. The

irritation of the Dutch element in Cape Colony, both in 1881 and again

in 1896, was due to an impression that their Transvaal kinsfolk were

being unfairly dealt with. Should that impression recur, its influence

both on the Dutch of Cape Colony, and on the people of the Free State,

whose geographical position makes their attitude specially important,

would be unfortunate. The history of South Africa, like that of other

countries nearer home, warns us how dangerous a factor sentiment, and

especially the sense of resentment at injustice, may become in politics,

and how it may continue to work mischief even when the injustice has

been repented of. It is, therefore, not only considerations of

magnanimity and equity, but also considerations of policy, that

recommend to the English in South Africa and to the British Government

an attitude of patience, prudence, and strict adherence to legal

rights. They are entitled to require the same adherence from the

Transvaal Government, but it is equally their interest not to depart

from it themselves, and to avoid even the least appearance of

aggression. The mistakes of the past are not irremediable. Tact,

coolness, and patience--above all, patience--must gradually bring about

that reconcilement and fusion of the two races to which, it can scarcely

be doubted, South Africa will at last attain.

When, by the enfranchisement of the Uitlanders, the Transvaal has ceased

to be a purely Boer State, questions will arise as to its relations with

the other States of South Africa. Cape Colony and the Orange Free State,

as well as Basutoland and the Bechuanaland Protectorate, already form a

Customs Union, and they have long sought to induce the Transvaal and

Natal to enter into it and thereby establish internal free trade

throughout the country. Natal at last consented (in 1898); but the

Transvaal people steadily refused, desiring to stand as much aloof as

possible from Cape Colony, as well as to raise for themselves a revenue

on imports larger than that which they would receive as partners in the

Customs Union. A reformed Transvaal Government would probably enter the

Customs Union; and this would usher in the further question of a

confederation of all the States and Colonies of South Africa. That

project was mooted by Sir George Grey (when Governor) more than thirty

years ago, and was actively pressed by Lord Carnarvon (when Colonial

Secretary) and Sir Bartle Frere between 1875 and 1880. It failed at that

time, partly owing to the annoyance of the Orange Free State at the loss

of the diamond-fields in 1871, partly to the reluctance of the Dutch

party at the Cape, who were roused against the proposal by their

Transvaal kinsfolk. The desire for it is believed to have moved some of

those who joined in the Transvaal Uitlander movement of 1895-96, and no

one can discuss the future of the country without adverting to it. The

advantages it offers are obvious. A confederation would render in Africa

services similar to those which the federal system has rendered in the

United States and Canada, and which are expected by the colonial

statesmen who have laboured to establish such a system in Australia. I

heard not only railways and finance (including tariff and currency), but

also commercial law and native questions, suggested as matters fit to be

intrusted to a federal authority; while it seemed to be thought that the

scope of such an authority should, on the whole, be narrower than it is

under the Canadian Constitution, or under that of the United States. The

love of local independence is strong in South Africa, but might be

deferred to and appeased, as is being done in Australia, by appropriate

constitutional provisions. So far, no fatal obstacle stands in the way;

but a difficulty has been thought to arise from the fact that whereas

Cape Colony, Natal, and the other British territories are part of the

dominions of the British Crown, the Orange Free State is an independent

Republic, and the Transvaal may be so when federation becomes a

practical issue. "Can a federal tie," it is asked, "bind into one body

communities some of which are Republics, while others, though

practically self-governing, are legally parts of a monarchy?"

To this it may be answered that there have been instances of such

confederations. In the Germanic Confederation, which lasted from 1815

till 1866, there were four free Republics, as well as many monarchies,

some large, some small. The Swiss Confederation (as established after

the Napoleonic wars) used to contain, in the canton of Neuchatel, a

member whose sovereign was the King of Prussia. And as it is not

historically essential to the conception of a federal State that all its

constituent communities should have the same form of internal

government, so practically it would be possible, even if not very easy,

to devise a scheme which should recognize the freedom of each member to

give itself the kind of constitution it desired. Such an executive head

as either the President of the United States or the Governor-General of

Canada is not essential to a federal system. The name "confederation" is

a wide name, and the things essential to it may be secured in a great

variety of ways. The foreign policy of a South African Confederation is

perhaps the only point which might raise considerations affecting the

international status of the members of the Confederation; and as to

this, it must be remembered that neither the Orange Free State nor the

Transvaal can come into direct contact with any foreign power except

Portugal, because neither has any access to the sea, or touches (save on

the eastern border of the Transvaal) any non-British territory.

Another remark occurs in this connection. The sentiment of national

independence which the people of the Free State cherish, and which may

probably survive in the Transvaal even when that State has passed from a

Boer into an Anglo-Dutch Republic, is capable of being greatly modified

by a better comprehension of the ample freedom which the self-governing

Colonies of Britain enjoy. The non-British world is under some

misconception in this matter, and does not understand that these

Colonies are practically democratic Republics, though under the

protection and dignified by the traditions of an ancient and famous

monarchy. Nor has it been fully realized that the Colonies derive even

greater substantial advantages from the connection than does the mother

country. The mother country profits perhaps to some extent--though this

is doubtful--in respect of trade, but chiefly in the sentiment of pride

and the consciousness of a great mission in the world which the

possession of these vast territories, scattered over the oceans,

naturally and properly inspires. The Colonies, on the other hand, have

not only some economic advantages in the better financial credit they

enjoy, but have the benefit of the British diplomatic and consular

service all over the world and of the status of British citizens in

every foreign country. It is also a political convenience to them to be

relieved by the presence of the Governor whom the mother country sends

out as an executive figure-head of their Cabinet system, from the

necessity of electing an executive chief, a convenience which those who

know the trouble occasioned by Presidential elections in the United

States can best appreciate. And, above all, the British Colonies have

the navy of Britain to defend them against molestation by any foreign

power. It may be said that they have also the risk of being involved in

any war into which Britain may enter. This risk has, however, never

become a reality; for during the last eighty years no Colony has ever

been even threatened with attack by a foreign State, while during all

that time the Colonies have been relieved from the cost and trouble of

maintaining the naval and military armaments which are needed to ensure

their safety. Thus, even leaving sentiment aside, the balance of

material advantage to the Colonies is great and real; while their

self-government is complete, for the mother country never interferes

with any matters of colonial concern, unless in the rare cases where a

matter primarily local may affect the general relations and interests of

the whole empire. When these facts have been fully realized in the Free

State and the Transvaal, it may well be that those States will be ready

to enter a confederation of which the British monarchy would be, as in

Canada and (probably before long) in Australia, the protecting suzerain,

for there would be in that suzerainty no real infringement of the

independence which the Free State has so happily enjoyed. It is

premature to speculate now on the best form which a scheme for South

African Confederation may take. All that need here be pointed out is

that the obstacles now perceived are not insurmountable obstacles, but

such as may be overcome by a close study of the conditions of the

problem, and by reasonable concessions on the part of South African

statesmen in the different States concerned.

These observations are made on the assumption that the South African

Colonies will desire to maintain their political connection with the

mother country. It is an assumption which may safely be made, for

nowhere in the British empire is the attachment to Britain more sincere.

Strong as this feeling is in Canada and in Australasia, it is assuredly

no less strong in South Africa. The English there are perhaps even more

English than are the people of those other Colonies. Those of Dutch

origin, warm as is their Africander patriotism, have never been hostile

to the British Crown. And both English and Dutch feel how essential to

them, placed as they are, is the protection of a great naval power. They

have as near neighbours in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans two

great European powers bent on colonial expansion, and to either of whom,

even apart from colonial expansion, such a position as Simon's Bay or

Table Bay offers would be invaluable. Both the mother country,

therefore, whose naval and commercial interests require her to retain

the Cape peninsula, and her South African children, have every motive

for cleaving to one another, and, so far as our eyes can pierce the

mists of the future, no reason can be discerned why they should not

continue so to cleave. The peoples of both countries are altogether

friendly to one another. But much will depend on the knowledge, the

prudence, the patience, the quiet and unobtrusive tact, of the home

government.

While Britain continues to be a great naval power, the maintenance of

her connection with South Africa will ensure the external peace of that

country, which, fortunately for herself, lies far away in the southern

seas, with no land frontiers which she is called on to defend. She may

not grow to be herself as populous and powerful a State as will be the

Canadian or the Australian Confederations of the future, for her

climatic conditions do not promise so large an increase of the white

race; but her people may, if she can deal wisely with the problems which

the existence of the coloured population raises, become a happy and

prosperous nation. They are exempt from some of the dangers which

threaten the industrial communities of Europe and North America. The

land they dwell in is favoured by nature, and inspires a deep love in

its children. The stock they spring from is strong and sound; and they

have carried with them to their new home the best traditions of Teutonic

freedom and self-government.

[Footnote 90: I leave the pages that follow as they were written in 1897

(reserving for another place a reference to events which have happened

since), because I desire that the views therein expressed, which I hold

quite as strongly now as in 1889, should be known to have been formed

and stated before the deplorable events of the last few months (Oct.

1899).]

APPENDIX

CONVENTION OF 1881

CONVENTION FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TRANSVAAL TERRITORY.

Preamble. Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Settlement of the

Transvaal territory, duly appointed as such by a Commission passed under

the Royal Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the 5th of April 1881, do

hereby undertake and guarantee on behalf of Her Majesty, that, from and

after the 8th day of August 1881, complete self-government, subject to

the suzerainty of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, will be

accorded to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, upon the

following terms and conditions, and subject to the following

reservations and limitations:--

Article 1. The said territory, to be herein-after called the Transvaal

State, will embrace the land lying between the following boundaries, to

wit: [Here follow three pages in print defining boundaries].

Article 2. Her Majesty reserves to herself, her heirs and successors,

(_a_) the right from time to time to appoint a British Resident in and

for the said State, with such duties and functions as are herein-after

defined; (_b_) the right to move troops through the said State in time

of war, or in case of the apprehension of immediate war between the

Suzerain Power and any Foreign State or Native tribe in South Africa;

and (_c_) the control of the external relations of the said State,

including the conclusion of treaties and the conduct of diplomatic

intercourse with Foreign Powers, such intercourse to be carried on

through Her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers abroad.

Article 3. Until altered by the Volksraad, or other competent authority,

all laws, whether passed before or after the annexation of the

Transvaal territory to Her Majesty's dominions, shall, except in so far

as they are inconsistent with or repugnant to the provisions of this

Convention, be and remain in force in the said State in so far as they

shall be applicable thereto, provided that no future enactment

especially affecting the interests of natives shall have any force or

effect in the said State, without the consent of Her Majesty, her heirs

and successors, first had and obtained and signified to the Government

of the said State through the British Resident, provided further that in

no case will the repeal or amendment of any laws enacted since the

annexation have a retrospective effect, so as to invalidate any acts

done or liabilities incurred by virtue of such laws.

Article 4. On the 8th day of August 1881, the Government of the said

State, together with all rights and obligations thereto appertaining,

and all State property taken over at the time of annexation, save and

except munitions of war, will be handed over to Messrs. Stephanus

Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus Wessel Pretorius, and Petrus Jocobus

Joubert, or the survivor or survivors of them, who will forthwith cause

a Volksraad to be elected and convened, and the Volksraad, thus elected

and convened, will decide as to the further administration of the

Government of the said State.

Article 5. All sentences passed upon persons who may be convicted of

offences contrary to the rules of civilized warfare committed during the

recent hostilities will be duly carried out, and no alteration or

mitigation of such sentences will be made or allowed by the Government

of the Transvaal State without Her Majesty's consent conveyed through

the British Resident. In case there shall be any prisoners in any of the

gaols of the Transvaal State whose respective sentences of imprisonment

have been remitted in part by Her Majesty's Administrator or other

officer administering the Government, such remission will be recognized

and acted upon by the future Government of the said State.

Article 6. Her Majesty's Government will make due compensation for all

losses or damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in the 8th

Article herein-after specified, which may have been committed by Her

Majesty's forces during the recent hostilities, except for such losses

or damage as may already have been compensated for, and the Government

of the Transvaal State will make due compensation for all losses or

damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in the 8th Article

herein-after specified which may have been committed by the people who

were in arms against Her Majesty during the recent hostilities, except

for such losses or damages as may already have been compensated for.

Article 7. The decision of all claims for compensation, as in the last

preceding Article mentioned, will be referred to a Sub-Committee,

consisting of the Honourable George Hudson, the Honourable Jacobus

Petrus de Wet, and the Honourable John Gilbert Kotze. In case one or

more of such Sub-Commissioners shall be unable or unwilling to act the

remaining Sub-Commissioner or Sub-Commissioners will, after consultation

with the Government of the Transvaal State, submit for the approval of

Her Majesty's High Commissioners the names of one or more persons to be

appointed by them to fill the place or places thus vacated. The decision

of the said Sub-Commissioners, or of a majority of them, will be final.

The said Sub-Commissioners will enter upon and perform their duties with

all convenient speed. They will, before taking evidence or ordering

evidence to be taken in respect of any claim, decide whether such claim

can be entertained at all under the rules laid down in the next

succeeding Article. In regard to claims which can be so entertained, the

Sub-Commissioners will, in the first instance, afford every facility for

an amicable arrangement as to the amount payable in respect of any

claim, and only in cases in which there is no reasonable ground for

believing that an immediate amicable arrangement can be arrived at will

they take evidence or order evidence to be taken. For the purpose of

taking evidence and reporting thereon, the Sub-Commissioners may appoint

Deputies, who will, without delay, submit records of the evidence and

their reports to the Sub-Commissioners. The Sub-Commissioners will

arrange their sittings and the sittings of their Deputies in such a

manner as to afford the earliest convenience to the parties concerned

and their witnesses. In no case will costs be allowed to either side,

other than the actual and reasonable expenses of witnesses whose

evidence is certified by the Sub-Commissioners to have been necessary.

Interest will not run on the amount of any claim, except as is

herein-after provided for. The said Sub-Commissioners will forthwith,

after deciding upon any claim, announce their decision to the Government

against which the award is made and to the claimant. The amount of

remuneration payable to the Sub-Commissioners and their Deputies will be

determined by the High Commissioners. After all the claims have been

decided upon, the British Government and the Government of the Transvaal

State will pay proportionate shares of the said remuneration and of the

expenses of the Sub-Commissioners and their Deputies, according to the

amount awarded against them respectively.

Article 8. For the purpose of distinguishing claims to be accepted from

those to be rejected, the Sub-Commissioners will be guided by the

following rules, viz: Compensation will be allowed for losses or damage

sustained by reason of the following acts committed during the recent

hostilities, viz., (_a_) commandeering, seizure, confiscation, or

destruction of property, or damage done to property; (_b_) violence done

or threats used by persons in arms. In regard to acts under (_a_),

compensation will be allowed for direct losses only. In regard to acts

falling under (_b_) compensation will be allowed for actual losses of

property, or actual injury to the same proved to have been caused by its

enforced abandonment. No claims for indirect losses, except such as are

in this Article specially provided for, will be entertained. No claims

which have been handed in to the Secretary of the Royal Commission after

the 1st day of July 1881 will be entertained, unless the

Sub-Commissioners shall be satisfied that the delay was reasonable. When

claims for loss of property are considered, the Sub-Commissioners will

require distinct proof of the existence of the property, and that it

neither has reverted nor will revert to the claimant.

Article 9. The Government of the Transvaal State will pay and satisfy

the amount of every claim awarded against it within one month after the

Sub-Commissioners shall have notified their decision to the said

Government, and in default of such payment the said Government will pay

interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum from the date of such

default; but Her Majesty's Government may at any time before such

payment pay the amount, with interest, if any, to the claimant in

satisfaction of his claim, and may add the sum thus paid to any debt

which may be due by the Transvaal State to Her Majesty's Government, as

herein-after provided for.

Article 10. The Transvaal State will be liable for the balance of the

debts for which the South African Republic was liable at the date of

annexation, to wit, the sum of 48,000_l._ in respect of the Cape

Commercial Bank Loan, and 85,667_l._ in respect to the Railway Loan,

together with the amount due on 8th August 1881 on account of the Orphan

Chamber Debt, which now stands at 22,200_l._, which debts will be a

first charge upon the revenues of the State. The Transvaal State will,

moreover, be liable for the lawful expenditure lawfully incurred for the

necessary expenses of the Province since the annexation, to wit, the sum

of 265,000_l._, which debt, together with such debts as may be incurred

by virtue of the 9th Article, will be second charge upon the revenues of

the State.

Article 11. The debts due as aforesaid by the Transvaal State to Her

Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a half

per cent., and any portion of such debt as may remain unpaid at the

expiration of twelve months from the 8th August 1881 shall be repayable

by a payment for interest and sinking fund of six pounds and ninepence

per cent. per annum, which will extinguish the debt in twenty-five

years. The said payment of six pounds and ninepence per 100_l._ shall be

payable half yearly in British currency on the 8th February and 8th

August in each year. Provided always that the Transvaal State shall pay

in reduction of the said debt the sum of 100,000_l._ within twelve

months of the 8th August 1881, and shall be at liberty at the close of

any half year to pay off the whole or any portion of the outstanding

debt.

Article 12. All persons holding property in the said State on the 8th

day of August 1881 will continue after the said date to enjoy the rights

of property which they have enjoyed since the annexation. No person who

has remained loyal to Her Majesty during the recent hostilities shall

suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty, or be liable to any

criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connexion

with such hostilities, and all such persons will have full liberty to

reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and

protection for their persons and property.

Article 13. Natives will be allowed to acquire land, but the grant or

transfer of such land will, in every case, be made to and registered in

the name of the Native Location Commission, herein-after mentioned, in

trust for such natives.

Article 14. Natives will be allowed to move as freely within the country

as may be consistent with the requirements of public order, and to leave

it for the purpose of seeking employment elsewhere or for other lawful

purposes, subject always to the pass laws of the said State, as amended

by the Legislature of the Province, or as may hereafter be enacted under

the provisions of the Third Article of this Convention.

Article 15. There will continue to be complete freedom of religion and

protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the same be

not inconsistent with morality and good order, and no disability shall

attach to any person in regard to rights of property by reason of the

religious opinions which he holds.

Article 16. The provisions of the Fourth Article of the Sand River

Convention are hereby re-affirmed, and no slavery or apprenticeship

partaking of slavery will be tolerated by the Government of the said

State.

Article 17. The British Resident will receive from the Government of the

Transvaal State such assistance and support as can by law be given to

him for the due discharge of his functions, he will also receive every

assistance for the proper care and preservation of the graves of such of

Her Majesty's forces as have died in the Transvaal, and if need be for

the expropriation of land for the purpose.

Article 18. The following will be the duties and functions of the

British Resident:--Sub-section 1, he will perform duties and functions

analogous to those discharged by a Charge d'Affaires and Consul-General.

Sub-section 2. In regard to natives within the Transvaal State he will

(_a_) report to the High Commissioner, as representative of the

Suzerain, as to the working and observance of the provisions of this

Convention; (_b_) report to the Transvaal authorities any cases of

ill-treatment of natives or attempts to incite natives to rebellion that

may come to his knowledge; (_c_) use his influence with the natives in

favour of law and order; and (_d_) generally perform such other duties

as are by this Convention entrusted to him, and take such steps for the

protection of the person and property of natives as are consistent with

the laws of the land.

Sub-section 3. In regard to natives not residing in the Transvaal (_a_)

he will report to the High Commissioner and the Transvaal Government any

encroachments reported to him as having been made by Transvaal residents

upon the land of such natives, and in case of disagreement between the

Transvaal Government and the British Resident as to whether an

encroachment has been made, the decision of the Suzerain will be final;

(_b_) the British Resident will be the medium of communication with

native chiefs outside the Transvaal, and subject to the approval of the

High Commissioner, as representing the Suzerain, he will control the

conclusion of treaties with them; and (_c_) he will arbitrate upon every

dispute between Transvaal residents and natives outside the Transvaal

(as to acts committed beyond the boundaries of the Transvaal) which may

be referred to him by the parties interested.

Sub-section 4. In regard to communications with foreign powers, the

Transvaal Government will correspond with Her Majesty's Government

through the British Resident and the High Commissioner.

Article 19. The Government of the Transvaal State will strictly adhere

to the boundaries defined in the First Article of this Convention, and

will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any

encroachment upon lands beyond the said State. The Royal Commission will

forthwith appoint a person who will beacon off the boundary line between

Ramatlabama and the point where such line first touches Griqualand West

boundary, midway between the Vaal and Hart rivers; the person so

appointed will be instructed to make an arrangement between the owners

of the farms Grootfontein and Valleifontein on the one hand, and the

Barolong authorities on the other, by which a fair share of the water

supply of the said farms shall be allowed to flow undisturbed to the

said Barolongs.

Article 20. All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal

Government in respect of land outside the boundary of Transvaal State,

as defined, Article 1, shall be considered invalid and of no effect,

except in so far as any such grant or title relates to land that falls

within the boundary of the Transvaal State, and all persons holding any

such grant so considered invalid and of no effect will receive from the

Government of the Transvaal State such compensation either in land or in

money as the Volksraad shall determine. In all cases in which any native

chiefs or other authorities outside the said boundaries have received

any adequate consideration from the Government of the former South

African Republic for land excluded from the Transvaal by the First

Article of this Convention, or where permanent improvements have been

made on the land the British Resident will, subject to the approval of

the High Commissioner, use his influence to recover from the native

authorities fair compensation for the loss of the land thus excluded,

and of the permanent improvement thereon.

Article 21. Forthwith, after the taking effect of this Convention, a

Native Location Commission will be constituted, consisting of the

President, or in his absence the Vice-President of the State, or some

one deputed by him, the Resident, or some one deputed by him, and a

third person to be agreed upon by the President or the Vice-President,

as the case may be, and the Resident, and such Commission will be a

standing body for the performance of the duties herein-after mentioned.

Article 22. The Native Location Commission will reserve to the native

tribes of the State such locations as they may be fairly and equitably

entitled to, due regard being had to the actual occupation of such

tribes. The Native Location Commission will clearly define the

boundaries of such locations, and for that purpose will, in every

instance, first of all ascertain the wishes of the parties interested in

such land. In case land already granted in individual titles shall be

required for the purpose of any location, the owners will receive such

compensation either in other land or in money as the Volksraad shall

determine. After the boundaries of any location have been fixed, no

fresh grant of land within such location will be made, nor will the

boundaries be altered without the consent of the Location Commission. No

fresh grants of land will be made in the districts of Waterbergh,

Zoutspansberg, and Lydenburg until the locations in the said districts

respectively shall have been defined by the said Commission.

Article 23. If not released before the taking effect of this Convention,

Sikukuni, and those of his followers who have been imprisoned with him,

will be forthwith released, and the boundaries of his location will be

defined by the Native Location Commission in the manner indicated in

the last preceding Article.

Article 24. The independence of the Swazies within the boundary line of

Swaziland, as indicated in the First Article of this Convention, will be

fully recognised.

Article 25. No other or higher duties will be imposed on the importation

into the Transvaal State of any article the produce or manufacture of

the dominions and possessions of Her Majesty, from whatever place

arriving, than are or may be payable on the like article the produce or

manufacture of any other country, nor will any prohibition be maintained

or imposed on the importation of any article the produce or manufacture

of the dominions and possessions of Her Majesty, which shall not equally

extend to the importation of the like articles being the produce or

manufacture of any other country.

Article 26. All persons other than natives conforming themselves to the

laws of the Transvaal State (_a_) will have full liberty with their

families to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the Transvaal State;

(_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactures,

warehouses, shops, and premises; (_c_) they may carry on their commerce

either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ;

(_d_) they will not be subject in respect of their persons or property,

or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether

general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon

Transvaal citizens.

Article 27. All inhabitants of the Transvaal shall have free access to

the Courts of Justice for the protection and defence of their rights.

Article 28. All persons other than natives who established their

domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April 1877 and the

date when this Convention comes into effect, and who shall within twelve

months after such last-mentioned date have their names registered by the

British Resident, shall be exempt from all compulsory military service

whatever. The Resident shall notify such registration to the Government

of the Transvaal State.

Article 29. Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate instrument

for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the surrender of

deserters from Her Majesty's forces.

Article 30. All debts contracted since the annexation will be payable in

the same currency in which they may have been contracted; all

uncancelled postage and other revenue stamps issued by the Government

since the annexation will remain valid, and will be accepted at their

present value by the future Government of the State; all licenses duly

issued since the annexation will remain in force during the period for

which they may have been issued.

Article 31. No grants of land which may have been made, and no transfer

of mortgage which may have been passed since the annexation, will be

invalidated by reason merely of their having been made or passed since

that date. All transfers to the British Secretary for Native Affairs in

trust for natives will remain in force, the Native Location Commission

taking the place of such Secretary for Native Affairs.

Article 32. This Convention will be ratified by a newly-elected

Volksraad within the period of three months after its execution, and in

default of such ratification this Convention shall be null and void.

Article 33. Forthwith, after the ratification of this Convention, as in

the last preceding Article mentioned all British troops in Transvaal

territory will leave the same, and the mutual delivery of munitions of

war will be carried out. Articles end. Here will follow signatures of

Royal Commissioners, then the following to precede signatures of

triumvirate.

We, the undersigned, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus Wessel

Pretorius, and Petrus Jacobus Joubert, as representatives of the

Transvaal Burghers, do hereby agree to all the above conditions,

reservations, and limitations under which self-government has been

restored to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, subject to the

suzerainty of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, and we agree to

accept the Government of the said territory, with all rights and

obligations thereto appertaining on the 8th day of August; and we

promise and undertake that this Convention shall be ratified by a

newly-elected Volksraad of the Transvaal State within three months from

this date.

CONVENTION OF 1884

A CONVENTION BETWEEN HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC.

Whereas the Government of the Transvaal State, through its Delegates,

consisting of Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, President of the said

State, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, Superintendent of Education, and

Nicholas Jacobus Smit, a member of the Volksraad, have represented that

the Convention signed at Pretoria on the 3rd day of August 1881, and

ratified by the Volksraad of the said State on the 25th October 1881,

contains certain provisions which are inconvenient, and imposes burdens

and obligations from which the said State is desirous to be relieved,

and that the south-western boundaries fixed by the said Convention

should be amended, with a view to promote the peace and good order of

the said State, and of the countries adjacent thereto; and whereas Her

Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,

has been pleased to take the said representations into consideration:

Now, therefore, Her Majesty has been pleased to direct, and it is hereby

declared, that the following articles of a new Convention, signed on

behalf of Her Majesty by Her Majesty's High Commissioner in South

Africa, the Right Honourable Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson, Knight

Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint

George, Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and on behalf

of the Transvaal State (which shall hereinafter be called the South

African Republic) by the above-named Delegates, Stephanus Johannes

Paulus Kruger, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit,

shall, when ratified by the Volksraad of the South African Republic, be

substituted for the articles embodied in the Convention of 3rd August

1881; which latter, pending such ratification, shall continue in full

force and effect.

ARTICLES.

Article 1. The Territory of the South African Republic will embrace the

land lying between the following boundaries, to wit: (Here follows a

long description of boundaries).

Article 2. The Government of the South African Republic will strictly

adhere to the boundaries defined in the first Article of this

Convention, and will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants

from making any encroachments upon lands beyond the said boundaries. The

Government of the South African Republic will appoint Commissioners upon

the eastern and western borders whose duty it will be strictly to guard

against irregularities and all trespassing over the boundaries. Her

Majesty's Government will, if necessary, appoint Commissioners in the

native territories outside the eastern and western borders of the South

African Republic to maintain order and prevent encroachments.

Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the South African

Republic will each appoint a person to proceed together to beacon off

the amended south-west boundary as described in Article 1 of this

Convention; and the President of the Orange Free State shall be

requested to appoint a referee to whom the said persons shall refer any

questions on which they may disagree respecting the interpretation of

the said Article, and the decision of such referee thereon shall be

final. The arrangement already made, under the terms of Article 19 of

the Convention of Pretoria of the 3rd August 1881, between the owners of

the farms Grootfontein and Valleifontein on the one hand, and the

Barolong authorities on the other, by which a fair share of the water

supply of the said farms shall be allowed to flow undisturbed to the

said Barolongs, shall continue in force.

Article 3. If a British officer is appointed to reside at Pretoria or

elsewhere within the South African Republic to discharge functions

analogous to those of a Consular officer he will receive the protection

and assistance of the Republic.

Article 4. The South African Republic will conclude no treaty or

engagement with any State or nation other than the Orange Free State,

nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the Republic,

until the same has been approved by Her Majesty the Queen.

Such approval shall be considered to have been granted if Her Majesty's

Government shall not, within six months after receiving a copy of such

treaty (which shall be delivered to them immediately upon its

completion), have notified that the conclusion of such treaty is in

conflict with the interests of Great Britain or of any of Her Majesty's

possessions in South Africa.

Article 5. The South African Republic will be liable for any balance

which may still remain due of the debts for which it was liable at the

date of Annexation, to wit, the Cape Commercial Bank Loan, the Railway

Loan, and the Orphan Chamber Debt, which debts will be a first charge

upon the revenues of the Republic. The South African Republic will

moreover be liable to Her Majesty's Government for 250,000_l._, which

will be a second charge upon the revenues of the Republic.

Article 6. The debt due as aforesaid by the South African Republic to

Her Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a

half per cent. from the date of the ratification of this Convention, and

shall be repayable by a payment for interest and Sinking Fund of six

pounds and ninepence per 100_l._ per annum, which will extinguish the

debt in twenty-five years. The said payment of six pounds and ninepence

per 100_l._ shall be payable half-yearly, in British currency, at the

close of each half year from the date of such ratification: Provided

always that the South African Republic shall be at liberty at the close

of any half year to pay off the whole or any portion of the outstanding

debt.

Interest at the rate of three and a half per cent. on the debt as

standing under the Convention of Pretoria shall as heretofore be paid to

the date of the ratification of this Convention.

Article 7. All persons who held property in the Transvaal on the 8th day

of August 1881, and still hold the same, will continue to enjoy the

rights of property which they have enjoyed since the 12th April 1877. No

person who has remained loyal to Her Majesty during the late hostilities

shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty; or be liable to

any criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connexion

with such hostilities; and all such persons will have full liberty to

reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and

protection for their persons and property.

Article 8. The South African Republic renews the declaration made in the

Sand River Convention, and in the Convention of Pretoria, that no

slavery or apprenticeship partaking of slavery will be tolerated by the

Government of the said Republic.

Article 9. There will continue to be complete freedom of religion and

protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the same be

not inconsistent with morality and good order; and no disability shall

attach to any person in regard to rights of property by reason of the

religious opinions which he holds.

Article 10. The British Officer appointed to reside in the South African

Republic will receive every assistance from the Government of the said

Republic in making due provision for the proper care and preservation of

the graves of such of Her Majesty's Forces as have died in the

Transvaal; and if need be, for the appropriation of land for the

purpose.

Article 11. All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal

Government in respect of land outside the boundary of the South African

Republic, as defined in Article 1, shall be considered invalid and of no

effect, except in so far as any such grant or title relates to land that

falls within the boundary of the South African Republic; and all persons

holding any such grant so considered invalid and of no effect will

receive from the Government of the South African Republic such

compensation, either in land or in money, as the Volksraad shall

determine. In all cases in which any Native Chiefs or other authorities

outside the said boundaries have received any adequate consideration

from the Government of the South African Republic for land excluded from

the Transvaal by the first Article of this Convention, or where

permanent improvements have been made on the land, the High Commissioner

will recover from the native authorities fair compensation for the loss

of the land thus excluded, or of the permanent improvements thereon.

Article 12. The independence of the Swazis, within the boundary line of

Swaziland, as indicated in the first Article of this Convention, will be

fully recognised.

Article 13. Except in pursuance of any treaty or engagement made as

provided in Article 4 of this Convention, no other or higher duties

shall be imposed on the importation into the South African Republic of

any article coming from any part of Her Majesty's dominions than are or

may be imposed on the like article coming from any other place or

country; nor will any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the

importation into the South African Republic of any article coming from

any part of Her Majesty's dominions which shall not equally extend to

the like article coming from any other place or country. And in like

manner the same treatment shall be given to any article coming to Great

Britain from the South African Republic as to the like article coming

from any other place or country.

These provisions do not preclude the consideration of special

arrangements as to import duties and commercial relations between the

South African Republic and any of Her Majesty's colonies or possessions.

Article 14. All persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to

the laws of the South African Republic (_a_) will have full liberty,

with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the

South African Republic; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess

houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises; (_c_) they may

carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may

think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not be subject, in respect of their

persons or property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to

any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may

be imposed upon citizens of the said Republic.

Article 15. All persons, other than natives, who established their

domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April 1877, and the

8th of August 1881, and who within twelve months after such

last-mentioned date have had their names registered by the British

Resident, shall be exempt from all compulsory military service whatever.

Article 16. Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate instrument

for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the surrender of

deserters from Her Majesty's Forces.

Article 17. All debts contracted between the 12th April 1887 and the 8th

August 1881 will be payable in the same currency in which they may have

been contracted.

Article 18. No grants of land which may have been made, and no transfers

or mortgages which may have been passed between the 12th April 1877 and

the 8th August 1881, will be invalidated by reason merely of their

having been made or passed between such dates.

All transfers to the British Secretary for Native Affairs in trust for

natives will remain in force, an officer of the South African Republic

taking the place of such Secretary for Native Affairs.

Article 19. The Government of the South African Republic will engage

faithfully to fulfil the assurances given, in accordance with the laws

of the South African Republic, to the natives at the Pretoria Pitso by

the Royal Commission in the presence of the Triumvirate and with their

entire assent, (1) as to the freedom of the natives to buy or otherwise

acquire land under certain conditions, (2) as to the appointment of a

commission to mark out native locations, (3) as to the access of the

natives to the courts of law, and (4) as to their being allowed to move

freely within the country, or to leave it for any legal purpose, under a

pass system.

Article 20. This Convention will be ratified by a Volksraad of the South

African Republic within the period of six months after its execution,

and in default of such ratification this Convention shall be null and

void.

Signed in duplicate in London this 27th day of February 1884.

(Signed) HERCULES ROBINSON.

(Signed) S. J. P. KRUGER.

(Signed) S. J. DU TOIT.

(Signed) M. J. SMIT.

[Illustration: POLITICAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA]

[Illustration: OROGRAPHICAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA]

[Illustration: RAINFALL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA]

INDEX

A

Aberdeen, Lord, 131

Africander, 162

Africander Bond, the, 401

Agriculture, 433-435

Animals, Wild, and their fate, 17-23

Arabs, 99, 288

Antelopes, 18

Antiquities, 71, 74-82, 101 _n_, 229, 234-237, 247

B

Baboons, 23

Bantu Tribes, 45, 66-68

Basutoland, 7, 25, 52, 319-342

Basutos, 128, 130, 143, 319-342

Beaconsfield, Lord, 156

Beaufort West, 16, 195

Bechuanaland, 14, 25, 29, 36, 40-42, 145, 165, 242

Beira, 45, 182, 266

Berea, 283

Blacks and Whites, 345-369

Bloemfontein, 47, 129, 132

Boers, 18, 39, 47, 57, 107 and _n_, 115 _et seq._, 134 _et seq._, 155,

159, 453-457, 461-463, 469-474

Brand (President) Sir John, 133

British Government, 131, 132, 136 _et seq._

British South Africa Company, 15, 22, 41, 170, 173, 219, 280, 422-431

British South Africa Company's territories, 15, 41, 268-380

Buffalo River, 159

Bulawayo, 15, 118, 181, 216-219

Burgers (President), 153, 154

Bushmen, 44, 61, 63-65, 107

C

Caledon River, 144

Cape Colony, 36, 51, 52, 110, 138, 139 _et seq._, 468 _et seq._

physical changes in, and material progress of, 134-142

wild beasts in, 18, 21

Cape of Good Hope, 46, 99

Cape Town, 51, 112, 138, 179 _et seq._

appearance from the sea, 190-192

Carnarvon, Lord, 148, 157

Cathcart, Sir George, 333-335

Cattle murrain, 142, 223, 273

Cattle, sheep and goats, 436

Cetewayo, 149, 158

Chimoyo, 257-260

Chipadzi, 247

Churches, 388

Climate, 7-9, 11-16, 45, 200, 233

Coaches, 184

Coal, 273

Coalfields in Natal, 287, 442

Colley, General Sir George, 159, 160, 292-294

Colonial policy of England, 458 _et seq._

Colour question, the, 287 _et seq._, 348 _et seq._

Commerce, 467

Confederation of South Africa, 473

Constitution of Cape Colony, 135 _et seq._, 392-394

Natal, 285, 392

Orange Free State, 315-318

the Transvaal, 358-360, 409 _et seq._

Conventions--

Sand River, 1852, 130

Bloemfontein, 1854, 132

London, 1881, 160, 166, 479

London, 1884, 166, 488

Cricket, popularity of at the Cape, 384

Crown Colonies, 379-391

Customs Union, 285, 472

D

Damaraland, 5, 36, 52, 170

Delagoa Bay, 21, 86, 99, 117, 141, 146, 147, 173, 179 _et seq._, 281,

282, 467

Dhlodhlo, 71, 74-82, 101 _n_, 229

Diamond mines, 135, 144, 196-200, 438

Diaz, Bartholomew, 46, 99

Dingaan, 118 _et seq._, 159

"Divide," or watershed, 5

Durban, 16, 54, 119, 282-284

Dutch, 38, 101 _et seq._, 114, 135 _et seq._, 150, 379 _et seq._

Dutch language, 382-384

Dutch Reformed Church, 388

E

Economic future of the country, 432-451

Education, 387

Elandsfontein, 296

Elephants, 17 _et seq._

Europeans in South Africa till 1854, 95, 98-133, 134-176

F

Fever, 13-15, 279

Flora of South Africa, 24 _et seq._

Fontesvilla, 260, 261

Forests, 26, 29

Fort Victoria, 15, 235-237

Salisbury, 15, 183, 239-243, 245

Frere, Sir Bartle, 148-150, 158, 161 _n_

Froude, Mr. T. A., 148

G

Gama, Vasco da, 46, 96

German East Africa, 22, 224

German South-West Africa, 27, 36, 43 _et seq._

Giraffes, 20

Gold Mines, 173, 213, 253, 254, 270-273 and _n_, 296-304, 438-442, 466

Graham's Town, 21, 26

Grass-fires, 230

Grey, Sir George, 148

Griqualand, East, 52

Griqualand, West, 144, 145

Griquas, 66, 144

Grondwet, the, or "Fundamental Law" of the Transvaal, 357, 409

Gwelo, 232-234

H

Harbours, Saldanha Bay, 7

Health, 11-16, 33-43, 269

Heat, 7-10

Hippopotamuses, 20

Honey Bird, 256 _n_

Horse-sickness, 249-252

Hottentots, 45, 61 _et seq._, 110, 113, 140

Huguenot, Immigrants, 104, 105

I

Immigration, 135, 287

Indians, 284, 288, 350

Ingogo, 159

Inyanga, 254, 273

Iron, 442

Irrigation, 434, 435

Isandhlwana, 150

J

Jameson, Dr., 202, 220, 223

Johannesburg, 15, 174-176, 298-308, 405-431

Journalism, 386

Joubert, General, 159

K

Kafirs, 38, 56, 66-69, 83-97, 108, 113, 120-122, 135, 137, 151, 155,

209-212, 221-225, 230, 246, 287, 303, 348 _et seq._, 361 _et seq._,

444-458, 464

Kafir Wars, 26, 140 _et seq._

Kalahari Desert, 20 _et seq._, 42, 51.

Karroo, the Great, 7, 16, 25, 34 _et seq._, 48, 55, 106, 195, 433-436

Khama, 68, 124, 165, 207-212

Kruger (President), S. J. P., 117, 155, 164, 166, 167, 309, 420 _et seq._

Kei River, 141

Klip River, 159

Kimberley, 16, 129, 144, 181, 196-201

King William's Town, 26

Krugersdorp, 159

L

Labour, 443 _et seq._

Laing's Nek, 159, 160, 291

Lake Ngami, 6

Leopards, 17 _et seq._

Lerothodi, 322 _et seq._

Limpopo River, 9, 14, 20, 39

Limpopo Valley, 42

Lions, 18 _et seq._, 213

Literature, 385, 386

Livingstone, David, 47, 146, 153

Lo Bengula, 20, 165, 170, 172, 173, 209, 216

Lo Bengula's sister, 217 _n_

Loch, Sir H., 414

Locusts, 23, 229, 245, 252, 260

Lourenco Marques, 146, 147 _n_, 281

Luederitz, Herr, 99, 168

Lynxes, 22

M

Maceo, the Cuban leader, 102 _n_

Machacha, 325, 327, 329

Mafeking, 28, 202, 203

Majuba Hill, 159 and _n_, 160, 161-164, 292-294

effects of the victory on public opinion at home and abroad, 161-164

Makalanga, or Makalaka, 83, 216, 219 and _n_, 237, 238

Malarial fever, 13

precautions against, 14

Mangwe Pass, 213-215

Manicaland, 28 _et seq._, 52

Maritzburg, 284, 290

Mashonaland, 25, 42, 52, 70, 170, 220, 242

resources and future of, 268-280

Mashonas, 53, 172, 173

Matabili, 53, 91, 94, 96, 118, 119, 172, 173, 216, 217, 222, 226,

235 _et seq._

Matabililand, 12, 15, 28, 53, 56, 220, 222-224, 242

resources and future of, 268-280

Matoppo Hills, 214, 227

Minerals, 437 _et seq._

Missionaries, 113, 128, 129, 131, 136, 137, 340

Missions, 370-378

Modder River, 144

Molteno, Mr., 147 _n_

Mombasa, 99

Montsioa, 203

Moshesh, 68, 123-125, 129, 143

Mossel Bay, 179

Mosilikatze, 118

Mtali, 226, 251-254

Mulattoes, 101

Mzila, 255

N

Namaqualand, 27, 36, 169

Natal, 14, 25, 35 _et seq._, 52, 119-123, 134 _et seq._, 144, 149, 179,

286, 287, 467, 469

National Union formed by the Uitlanders, 413

Nature, influence of, on South African history, 44 _et seq._

Newcastle, Duke of, 131

Nixon, Mr. John, 155 _n_

Nyassaland, 268

O

Orange Free State, 26, 38, 52, 133, 134 _et seq._, 143, 144, 145, 148,

162, 311-318, 469, 471, 472

Orange River Sovereignty, 129, 131, 132, 144

Orange River, 9, 34 _et seq._, 119, 123, 140, 145

Ostriches, 21, 27, 135, 436

Oudzi River and Waterfall, 250, 251

Ox-Waggon, 182-186, 203-208, 226, 231

P

Palapshwye, 207, 210, 211

Panda, 149, 165

Philip, Dr., 128, 129

Phillips, Lionel, 417 _n_

Physical features, 2-10, 33-35, 433

Pietermaritzburg, 36, 284, 290

Pitsani, 204, 220, 223

Pitso, Basuto National Assembly, 88 and _n_, 338

Plateau, great interior, 5-7, 15, 27, 48, 101

Politics, Natal, 286, 287

Politics in the two British Colonies, 392-404

Population, mixed state of the, 395

Portuguese, 20, 36, 99 _et seq._, 171, 256-258

Portuguese Territory, 20, 37 _et seq._, 171, 243, 255-258

Pretoria, 47, 160, 398-340

Pretorius, Andries, 129, 130

Pretorius, M. W., 152, 158

Pungwe river, 261-266

Q

Quagga, 18

Quathlamba Mountain Range, 5, 10, 15, 25, 35, 37, 39, 52, 116

R

Race Problem, the, 345-369, 453 _et seq._, 469-473

Race question, the, 345-369, 399

Railways, 180 _et seq._, 258-262

Ranching, 440

Religious bodies, 354, 372-375, 388

census of, 389

Riebeck, Jan van, 103

Rising (Raid) at Johannesburg, 174-176

Rhinoceros, 20 _et seq._

Rivers--

Orange, 9, 34 _et seq._, 45, 123, 140

Limpopo, 9, 14, 20, 39, 100, 118, 119, 123, 209

Notwani, 14, 209

Congo, 14

Zambesi, 19, 37, 41, 52, 102, 156

Tugela, 47, 159

Great Fish, 99, 108, 113

Keiskama, 113

Kei, 141

Klip, 159

Pungwe, 261-266

Rhodes, Cecil, 170, 175-196, 197, 236, 418

Rhodesia, 278

Government and administration of settled by Order in Council, 278

S

St. John's River, 144

St. Lucia Bay, 165

St. Paul de Loanda, 47

Sand River Convention, 130, 131, 152

Sanatoria, Ceres, 15

Beaufort West, 16

Kimberley, 16, 129, 144, 196-201

Scenery, aspects of, 50-57

Schools, 387, 466 _n_

Selous, Mr. F. C., 222 and _n_

Shangani River, 226

Sikukuni, 154

Simon's Bay, 192

Slavery, 113, 130

Smith, Sir Harry, 129

Snakes, 21

Society, upper, curious condition of, 390

Sofala, 45, 99, 102

South African Republic. See Transvaal

Spring-bok, 18

Steamer communication, 179, 180

Stellenbosch, 31, 33, 193

Stores, 245

Sun-stroke, relation to climate, 13

Swazis, 167

T

Temperature, variations of, 12

Thaba Bosiyo, 328 _et seq._

Tonga-land, 35, 37, 168

Transvaal, 14, 28, 39, 49, 132, 133, 134 _et seq._, 159, 173 _et seq._,

405 _et seq._

Transvaal Boers, their history and characteristics, 405-431

Travelling and communications, 179-187

Treeless South Africa, 26, 27

Trees--

Australian, 30

Oak, 31

Planting, 30-32

Trek, the great, 115 _et seq._, 151

Tsetse-fly, 225, 259, 273

Tshka, 68, 84, 118 _et seq._, 149, 255, 332

U

Uitlanders, their grievances, 175, 408-431

National Union formed by, 413, 422, 469-472

V

Vaal River, 140, 144, 151, 201

Vandals, 108

Vegetation, 24-32

Victoria Falls, 6

Voyage out, 188-190

W

Wages, 444

Walfish Bay, 37, 169

Warren, Sir Charles, 165

Waterboer, Andries and Nicholas, 144, 145

White ants, 23, 206, 231, 252

White population, 449, 450

Wissmann, Dr. von, 22

Witwatersrand, 39, 49, 156, 296-305, 441

Z

Zambesi, 19, 37, 41, 52, 268-270, 273

Zambesi Valley, 101

Zebra, 18

Zimbabwye, 75 _et seq._, 234-237

Zoutpansberg, 151, 152

Zululand, 13, 35, 36, 150

Zulus, 84-89, 115, 118, 120, 142, 149, 154

RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY

End of Project Gutenberg's Impressions of South Africa, by James Bryce