I quite agree that it is the duty of Her Majesty's Government to
strengthen our forces in South Africa to show the Boers that we are
serious, and that power is at hand in case of necessity, but as long as
our forces remain inactive their effect will wear away, and the Boers
will soon fall back again to their sullen and vindictive attitude.
What, then, is to be done? Nothing, absolutely nothing, until the
Johannesburgers themselves prove to us that they are serious, united,
and firm, and make the first move. It will be said, however, that they
have no arms. No arms are needed of any kind, but the will to suffer
and the courage to endure. Their lives will be safe in any case, for
even Boers do not shoot unarmed and unresisting men, but if they all say
that the taxes are ruinous, that their property is confiscated by these
legal exactions--why pay the taxes, why continue to pay bribes to those
in authority for trifling relaxations, why assist in any way to
perpetuate the "corrupt and rotten" Government of which they complain so
bitterly? It amounts to this. The Boers have a right to administer
their country as they think best, but if their administration is unjust
and oppressive, surely the oppressed have the right of passive
resistance, for it is in human nature to resist injustice. The
consequence of passive resistance will be imprisonment. But when a
sparsely populated State is obliged to imprison some score of thousands
of non-taxpayers, and to feed them, bankruptcy is not far off. If any
die in prison from starvation, or blood is shed, or general confiscation
of property takes place, we then shall have a legitimate cause for
action. I do not say that this policy of waiting upon Johannesburg is a
noble one, but as we have been so indifferent to the obligations of the
Convention, as we have closed every sense to our countrymen's
complaints, as we have been the slaves of every petty circumstance, as
South Africa is so contentious and fault-finding, as the English
uitlanders themselves have threatened to lift their rifles against us if
we move to exert pressure on the Boers, it seems to me that we must wait
upon Johannesburg and let the people of that city point the way. Every
civilised people in Europe can furnish instances of how to resent
injustice and defeat oppression. England, Ireland, Wales, France,
Spain, Italy, Germany, etc., all have their examples of what courage can
do when nerved by despair, and I think, if it is really serious, it is
the turn of Johannesburg to show what it can do; otherwise we must wait
until Mr Kruger's nature changes, which will be "Never, no, never."