THE CONVENTIONS
As may be remembered, Sir Evelyn Wood was ordered to conclude an
armistice, whereby the troops that had garrisoned the Transvaal
might evacuate it. In the case of Potchefstrom, the execution of
this design was treacherously prevented by Commandant Cronje. This
officer, after the armistice had been arranged, withheld the news
from the garrison, and prevented supplies from reaching the fort. As
a natural consequence, he became a national hero, and led the
burghers against Dr. Jameson in 1895 and the forces on the Western
frontier in 1899.
The armistice was concluded in March 1881, and in August the
Convention of Pretoria was signed. Some form of inquiry was held
into the conduct of persons who had been guilty of acts contrary to
the rules of civilised warfare, but the whole thing proved to be a
mere farce; and, as a matter of fact, not one of the perpetrators of
murder and other crimes during the course of the war was brought to
justice. The Commission insisted on a definite agreement for the
purpose of securing British persons from oppressive legislation,
but, as we know, Boer promises were as completely pie-crust as Boer
contracts were mere waste paper.
At the beginning of June Mr. Gladstone wrote a letter in answer to
that received from the loyal inhabitants. In this he said:--
"Her Majesty's Government willingly and thankfully acknowledge the
loyal co-operation which her Majesty's forces received at Pretoria
and elsewhere by the inhabitants, and we sympathise with the
privations and sufferings which they endured. I must, however,
observe that so great was the preponderance of the Boers who rose in
arms against the Queen's authority that the whole country, except
the posts occupied by the British troops, fell at once practically
into their hands. Again, the memorialists themselves only estimate
the proportion of settlers not Transvaal Boers at one-seventh.
Nearly, though not quite, the whole of the Boers have appeared to be
united in sentiment, and her Majesty's Government could not deem it
their duty to set aside the will of so large a majority by the only
possible means, namely, the permanent maintenance of a powerful
military force in the country. Such a course would have been
inconsistent alike with the spirit of the Treaty of 1852, with the
grounds on which the annexation was sanctioned, and with the general
interests of South Africa, which especially require that harmony
should prevail between the white races.
"On the other hand, in the settlement which is now in progress,
every care will be taken to secure to the settlers, of whatever
origin, the full enjoyment of their property, and of all civil
rights."
The pledges conveyed in the last sentence received such fulfilment
as they were to have by the insertion in the Convention of the
following clauses:--
"Article XII.--All persons holding property in the said State, on
the 8th day of August 1881, will continue 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
connection 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 XXVI.--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, 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 and 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."
The Convention itself is now well known, but brief allusion to it
may not be out of place. The preamble is important, and runs as
follows:--
"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 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...."
The new State was to be styled "The Transvaal State." A British
Resident was appointed, and the right to move British troops
through the State guaranteed. External relations were to be under
British control, and intercourse with foreign Powers to be carried
on through her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers. The
independence of Swaziland was guaranteed. Article 4 of the Sand
River Convention, forbidding slavery, was re-affirmed in Article 16.
Natives were to be allowed to acquire land, and to move about the
country "as freely as may be consistent with the requirements of
public order." Complete freedom of religion was established.
Protection to loyalists was guaranteed by the Triumvirate. The
British Resident was given wide authority in native affairs; was, in
fact, constituted as an official protector of natives. The
boundaries of the State were defined, and it engaged not to
transgress them.
The government of the country was handed over to the Triumvirate,
who engaged to summon a Volksraad as soon as possible. The Volksraad
when it assembled, however, was disinclined to ratify the Pretoria
Convention. The burghers wanted the Old Republic of the Sand River
Convention, and fretted at the idea that they should have agreed to
acknowledge British suzerainty. This acknowledgment was made a
condition of the grant of autonomy, and the British Resident in
Pretoria was to have large powers in the direction of native
affairs. The position of the post of British Resident was to be
similar to that held by a British Resident in one of the Native
States of India. "Africanus," in his useful book on "The Transvaal
Boers," thus describes the practical difference between the status
of the two officials: "A Resident in an Indian State, though
sometimes exposed to the risk of assassination, or of a general
mutiny, is known by the inhabitants to have behind him the enormous
military force of the Indian Empire, whereas the unhappy Resident at
Pretoria was given no means of enforcing any protests which he might
be called upon to make. His only course was to report disobedience
to the High Commissioner; and if the disobedience was not of such a
character as to force the Imperial Government to undertake military
measures, it was sure to be overlooked. Thus the Resident, so far
from controlling the policy of the Transvaal, was reduced to the
position of counsel holding 'a watching brief.'"
As will be seen, the interests of the Uitlanders were protected, but
no provision was made by the Convention for future immigrants. Mr.
Kruger, whose assurances at the time were believed to be sound, had
promised to place them on equal footing with the burghers as regards
freedom of trade. His words were: "We make no difference as far as
burgher rights are concerned. There may, perhaps, be some slight
difference in the case of a young person who has come into the
country," but the term "young person," it was afterwards explained,
had no reference to age, but to time of residence in the country.
Mr. Kruger, as leader of the reactionary section of the Boers,
finally became the President. The rival of Mr. Kruger was Mr.
Joubert, otherwise known as "Slim Piet," on account of his wily
ways, and between them from that day up to the present time
considerable jealousy existed. They were always of one accord,
however, in struggling to slip or squeeze out of any Conventions
with the British. The first contravention of treaty engagements was
the return of the State to the old title of South African Republic.
The Home Government feebly remonstrated--it was too sunk in the
slough of "magnanimity" to do more. As a natural result the Boers
snapped their fingers at such remonstrances. After taking an inch
they helped themselves to an ell! They had engaged to respect
boundaries, but soon they began to lap over into Zululand and
Bechuanaland.
The Boer process of expansion is simple and time-honoured. A case of
spirits is exchanged for the right to graze on land belonging to an
independent chief. The cattle graze, the master locates himself. If
the intrusion is resented, a campaign follows, and the stronger
ousts the weaker. Sometimes the Boer lends his services in warfare
to a petty chief, and those services are rewarded with a grant of
land.
When the British annexed the Transvaal and conquered Sekukuni, the
other chiefs submitted to the British Government. On the resumption
of Boer rule, however, the chiefs were inclined to defy their
authority. The territories of the Mapoch, Malaboch, and Mpefu were
assigned to the Boers by the Convention of 1881, and consequently
quarrels began. In 1883 Mapoch broke out against authority, and
there was a campaign to subdue him. Malaboch became obstreperous in
1894, and Mpefu followed his example in 1898. Most of the campaigns
arose over the refusal to pay the hut tax. Before the Mapoch
campaign in 1883 the Volksraad made a change in the terms of the
franchise. It may be remembered that for burgher rights a residence
of one year in the country and an oath of allegiance were necessary
conditions. It was arranged that in future all candidates for
citizenship must have resided and been registered in the Field
Cornet's lists for five years, and must pay the sum of L25.
About this time Messrs. Kruger, Du Toit, and Smith travelled to
England to agitate for a new Convention. The Transvaal Government
had "broken the spirit, and even the letter," of the old Convention,
and Lord Derby in the House of Lords expressed his opinion that "it
would be an easy thing to find a _casus belli_ in what had taken
place." In spite of all this, Mr. Gladstone in 1884 obligingly
agreed to a new Convention. By examination of its terms, it will be
seen how far and how ignobly the Government went on the road to
concession. By this Convention the British Resident was replaced by
a diplomatic agent; the old title of South African Republic was
restored; the Republic was allowed to negotiate on its own account
with foreign Powers, limitations on treaty-making alone being
imposed. Complete freedom of religion was promised, and the Republic
agreed to "do its utmost" to prevent any of its inhabitants from
making any encroachments upon lands beyond the boundaries laid down.
Article 14 will be seen to be verbally similar to Article 26 of the
Pretoria Convention of 1881, only the words _South African Republic_
being substituted for _Transvaal State_. Nothing was said about the
preamble to the Pretoria Convention or the question of British
"suzerainty." The word was omitted from the new text; but it was
supposed to be operative as before. Over this matter there has been
so much argument that, unless we can devote a volume to solving the
Convention riddle, it is best left alone. We must allow that the
ambiguity of an already ambiguous Ministry had here reached its
climax! Certain it is that the Transvaal representatives returned to
inform the Raad that the suzerainty had been abolished, and that
statement they were allowed to maintain without contradiction! As a
natural consequence of this indecision and weakness on the part of
the then Government, subsequent Governments have been placed in an
unenviable quandary. The Boers contend that the omission of the word
"suzerainty" in 1884 was intentional, and designed to permit the
State to style itself an independent Republic, while all
level-headed persons are fully aware that no Republic could have
been granted complete independence while under a weight of debt for
money and blood spent for years and years to save it from collapse
and annihilation. Moreover, the guarantee of independence of the
Transvaal was so unmistakably a result of suzerainty that the
repetition of the word was unnecessary.
MR. KRUGER
Of the man who now began to play so prominent a part on the
political stage, the world at that time knew but little. Even now
opinions regarding him are many and varied, and it may be
interesting to read, in close juxtaposition, sketches of his
character and ways which have from time to time been drawn by those
who have come in contact with him.
Perhaps no more impartial sketch can be presented than that of Mr.
Distant, a naturalist, who visited the Transvaal about eight years
ago. He said:--"President Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger was born
on the 10th October 1825, in the district of Colesburg in the Cape
Colony, and is without doubt the greatest and most representative
man that the Boers have yet produced. Uneducated, or self-educated,
he possesses a very large amount of that natural wisdom so often
denied to men of great learning and of literary cultivation. With
many prejudices, he is fearless, stubborn, and resolute, and he
really understands Englishmen little better than they understand
him. In his earlier days he has been a somewhat ardent sportsman and
a good shot. He has been engaged and honourably mentioned in most of
the Kaffir fights of his time.... Socially, he has always lived in a
somewhat humble position, and it is to the credit of his nature as a
man that he bears not the slightest trace of the _parvenu_. Plain
and undistinguished in appearance, he combines the advantages of a
prodigious memory with a remarkable aptitude for reading his
fellow-man, and this last quality would be more valuable were it not
leavened by a weakness in resisting flattery and adulation. He is
very pious and self-reliant, which is provocative of bigotry and hot
temper; and surrounded and approached on all sides by clever and
often unscrupulous financiers and speculators, his scutcheon has
worn wonderfully well, and his character and reputation passed
through many fiery ordeals. He is also a rough diplomatist of no
mean rank."
The picture is distinctly interesting, but it does Mr. Kruger an
injustice. Mr. Distant says that "he understands Englishmen little
better than they understand him." Surely this remark is an insult to
Mr. Kruger's great sagacity. He long ago "took the measure" of the
Englishman, and he has enjoyed himself immensely in seeing how far
it was possible--vulgarly speaking--to "try it on" with the British
nation. If Mr. Kruger could be induced to write a book entitled "My
Life and Games with the British Government for the last Twenty
Years," he might afford our politicians some useful and instructive
entertainment.
To Mr. Distant's portrait of the President of the South African
Republic another and a later one may be appended. It is drawn by the
able pen of Mr. Fitzpatrick, the author of "The Transvaal from
Within." "In the history of South Africa the figure of the grim old
President will loom large and striking--picturesque, as the figure
of one who, by his character and will, made and held his people;
magnificent, as one who, in the face of the blackest fortune, never
wavered from his aim or faltered in his effort; who, with a courage
that seemed and still seems fatuous, but which may well be called
heroic, stood up against the might of the greatest empire in the
world. And, it may be, pathetic too, as one whose limitations were
great, one whose training and associations, whose very successes,
had narrowed and embittered and hardened him; as one who, when the
greatness of success was his to take and hold, turned his back on
the supreme opportunity and used his strength and qualities to fight
against the spirit of progress and all that the enlightenment of the
age pronounces to be fitting and necessary to good government and a
healthy State.
"To an English nobleman who, in the course of an interview, remarked,
'My father was a Minister of England and twice Viceroy of Ireland,' the
old Dutchman answered, 'And my father was a shepherd!' It was not pride
rebuking pride; it was the ever-present fact which would not have been
worth mentioning but for the suggestion of the antithesis. He, too, was
a shepherd, and is--a peasant. It may be that he knows what would be
right and good for his people, and it may be not; but it is sure that he
realises that to educate would be to emancipate; to broaden their views
would be to break down the defences of their prejudices; to let in the
new leaven would be to spoil the old bread; to give unto all men the
rights of men would be to swamp for ever the party which is to him
greater than the State. When one thinks of the one-century history of
this people, much is seen that accounts for their extraordinary love of
isolation, and their ingrained and passionate aversion to control; much,
too, that draws to them a world of sympathy. And when one realises the
old Dopper President hemmed in once more by the hurrying tide of
civilisation, from which his people have fled for generations--trying to
fight both Fate and Nature, standing up to stem a tide as resistless as
the eternal sea--one sees the pathos of the picture. But this is as
another generation may see it. To-day we are too close, so close that
the meaner details, the blots and flaws, are all most plainly visible:
the corruption, the insincerity, the injustice, the barbarity--all the
unlovely touches that will by-and-by be forgotten, sponged away by the
gentle hand of Time, when only the picturesque will remain."
[Illustration: PAUL KRUGER,
President of the Transvaal Republic.
Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.]
Mr. Fitzpatrick speaks somewhat more plainly in another place:--
"Outside the Transvaal Mr. Kruger has the reputation of being free
from taint of corruption from which so many of his colleagues
suffer. Yet within the Republic and among his own people one of the
gravest of the charges levelled against him is, that by his example
and connivance he has made himself responsible for much of the
plundering that goes on. There are numbers of cases in which the
President's nearest relations have been proved to be concerned in
the most flagrant jobs, only to be screened by his influence;
such cases, for instance, as that of the Vaal River Water Supply
Concession, in which Mr. Kruger's son-in-law 'hawked' about for the
highest bid the vote of the Executive Council on a matter which had
not yet come before it, and, moreover, sold and duly delivered the
aforesaid vote. There is the famous libel case in which Mr. Eugene
Marais, the editor of the Dutch paper _Land en Volk_, successfully
sustained his allegation that the President had defrauded the State
by charging heavy travelling expenses for a certain trip on which he
was actually the guest of the Cape Colonial Government."
The light thus thrown on the dealings of Mr. Kruger is not a
solitary gleam. It may be remembered that during the period of
British rule in the Transvaal he had an appointment under
Government. The terms of his letter of dismissal can be found on
page 135 of Blue-Book, c. 144, and involving as they do a serious
charge of misrepresentation in money matters, are useful when viewed
in line with the above quotation.
Mrs. Lionel Phillips imagines that every one must by this time have
gauged the nature of the President, as she herself has done. She
says:--
"Paul Kruger is so well known from the many portraits and
caricatures that have appeared in recent years, as well as
descriptions of him, that one from me seems superfluous. His clumsy
features, and small cunning eyes, set high in his face, with great
puffy rings beneath them, his lank straight locks, worn longer than
is usual, the fringe of beard framing his face, even his greasy
frock-coat and antiquated tall hat have been pourtrayed times
without number. He is a man of quite 75 years of age now, and his
big massive frame is bent, but in his youth he possessed enormous
strength, and many extraordinary feats are told of him. Once seen he
is not easily forgotten. He has a certain natural dignity of
bearing, and I think his character is clearly to be read in his
face--strength of will and cunning, with the dulness of expression
one sees in peasants' faces. 'Manners none, and customs beastly,'
might have been a life-like description of Kruger. The habit of
constantly expectorating, which so many Boers have, he has never
lost. He is quite ignorant of conversation in the ordinary
acceptation of the word; he is an autocrat in all his ways, and has
a habit of almost throwing short, jerky sentences at you generally
allegorical in form, or partaking largely of scriptural
quotations--or misquotations quite as often. Like most of the Boers,
the Bible is his only literature--that book he certainly studies a
good deal, and his religion is a very large part of his being, but
somehow he misses the true spirit of Christianity, in that he leaves
out the rudimentary qualities of charity and truth."
GERMANS AND UITLANDERS
It appears that a German traveller, Herr Ernest Von Weber, as long
ago as 1875, had cast a loving eye on the Transvaal. He
wrote:--"What would not such a country, full of such inexhaustible
natural treasures, become, if in course of time it was filled with
German immigrants? A constant mass of German immigrants would
gradually bring about a decided numerical preponderance of Germans
over the Dutch population, and of itself would by degrees affect the
Germanisation of the country in a peaceful manner. Besides all its
own natural and subterraneous treasures, the Transvaal offers to the
European power which possesses it an easy access to the immensely
rich tracts of country which lie between the Limpopo, the Central
African lakes and the Congo (the territory saved for England by Mr.
Rhodes and the Chartered Company). It was this free unlimited room
for annexation in the North, this open access to the heart of
Africa, which principally impressed me with the idea, not more than
four years ago, that Germany should try, by the acquisition of
Delagoa Bay, and the subsequent continual influx of German
immigrants to the Transvaal, to secure the future dominion over this
country, and so pave the way for a German African Empire of the
future. There is, at the same time, the most assured prospect that
the European power, who would bring these territories under its
rule, would found one of the largest and most valuable empires of
the globe; and it is, therefore, on this account truly to be
regretted that Germany should have quietly, and without protest,
allowed the annexation of the Transvaal Republic to England, because
the splendid country, taken possession of and cultivated by a German
race, ought to be entirely won for Germany; and would, moreover,
have been easily acquired, and thereby the beginning made and
foundation laid of a mighty and ultimately rich Germany in the
southern hemisphere. Germany ought at any price to get possession of
some points on the East as well as the West Coast of Africa." Part
of Mr. Von Weber's ambition was subsequently realised.
In 1884 the introduction of Germany upon the political scene was
successfully accomplished. The hoisting of the German flag at Angra
Peguena was due to the unscrupulous and clever machinations of
Prince Bismarck. The new German Colony comprised Damaraland and
Great Namaqualand, and between it and the Boer Republic lay the
Kalari Desert and Bechuanaland.
Now, the Bechuana chiefs were old enemies of the Boers. A good deal
of border fighting took place, and at last the Boers established
their authority over a district which they christened "The New
Republic," and which was annexed to the Transvaal in 1888. They
endeavoured to capture in the same way Stellaland and Vryburg, but
on this subject the British Government had something to say, and for
once they said it definitely. Sir Charles Warren with a military
force took these districts under British protection. This expedition
was resented by the Cape Dutch and their English friends, Messrs.
Spriggs and Upington, who hastened to Bechuanaland to effect a
settlement before the arrival of Sir Charles Warren's force. Owing
to the firmness and decision of Sir Charles Warren and his
supporters, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, and Mr. Mackenzie,
their anti-Imperialistic efforts fortunately failed!
It must be remembered that in Cape Colony the Dutch sympathies had,
for the most part, been given to the Boers. Racial ties in Africa
are strong, and at the time of the war many people, not thoroughly
disloyal, felt that there had been aggression on the freedom of the
Republicans, and were inclined to admire the efforts of the Boers to
repel that aggression. There were others, too, who believed that,
owing to fear of rebellion on the part of the Cape subjects, Great
Britain had been forced into chicken-hearted surrender, and this
belief naturally encouraged the Cape Dutch to assume that, on
emergency, the policy of the Empire might be directed by threats of
rebellion.
Much of the bad feeling was due merely to political agitation. The
association known as the Africander Bond was started as a species of
political nursery wherein to expand the ideas of the budding Boer,
and "coach" him in his duties as a free-born subject. "A little
knowledge is a dangerous thing," as we all are aware, and it seems
to have been the object of this organisation to implant just
sufficient knowledge in the mind of the ignorant farmer to foster
his hostility to Great Britain, without encouraging him to progress
sufficiently to gauge the advantages to himself of peace and
goodwill with a sovereign power. Before the existence of this
organisation he was contented to choose as his Parliamentary
representative some sound and respectable citizen, a British
subject, or some colonist who, well versed in the British tongue,
could understand the laws at first hand. But machinating politicians
conceived the notion that the dissatisfied Boer might be made to
dance marionette-wise while they pulled the strings, and they
promptly went to work to pretend he could think for himself, and
proceeded to inflate his mind with so vast an idea of his own
political importance that he even began to conjure up dreams of an
entirely Dutch South Africa on an Africander basis, with the
Vierkleur in place of the Union Jack floating bravely over his head!
For his benefit the Cape _patois_ was promoted to the rank of a
language. Parliament expressed itself both in English and so-called
Dutch, while Blue-Books and official papers were printed in
bi-lingual fashion, for the convenience of farmer members, who, for
the most part, could neither read, write, nor speak the language of
the Netherlands!
The battle-cry of the Bond was "Africa for the Africander" and the
"Elimination of the Imperial factor." The Colonists naturally grew
to imagine that, as Great Britain was powerless to govern,
government on their own behalf would be advantageous. In justice it
must be said that the Eastern Province and Natal adhered to the
Crown, though the Western Province was led by the nose by the Bond.
From this time Mr. Hofmeyr--a man of great ability, and generally
devoted to the Africander cause--became an important factor in the
political caucus. Mr. Rhodes also was conspicuous. At that date he
was inclined to lean toward Africander principles, but, like all
great men on seeing the error of their judgments, he readjusted his
theories--with the results we all know.
The expedition of Sir Charles Warren was entirely successful. As has
been said, a Protectorate was established over Bechuanaland.
The country south of the Moloppo River, whose chief towns are
Mafeking and Vryburg, became a Crown Colony. It was afterwards
transferred to the Cape. The territories of Khama, Sebele, and
Bathoen still form an Imperial Protectorate.
When gold was first discovered, the fable of "the dog in the manger"
began to be enacted in the Transvaal. The Boers were quite
incompetent to start mining operations on their own account, and yet
were intolerant of the presence of outsiders who were willing to
expend their energies in the business. Gradually, however, they
agreed to admit foreigners on terms which on the surface were fairly
liberal, and became indirectly almost extortionate.
These foreigners--British, Americans, Germans, and Poles--were the
antithesis of all that Boer traditions held dear. To begin with,
they were progressive; they were also energetic and commercial, and
their motto, instead of being "God will provide," was the practical
one of "_Carpe diem_." The dawn of the "golden age" has been
described, and there is no reason, therefore, to dwell on the
attractions which converted the Transvaal, for many, from a
fortune-hunter's goal to a permanent home. Unfortunately these
Uitlanders were not bound up in Transvaal politics. The ways of the
stolid and the ignorant, the narrow and the bigoted, were not their
ways; they had no sympathy for "masterly inaction," and this the
Boers knew.
In 1887, to protect themselves from the outsider, the Republicans
arranged that invaders could not be admitted to burgher rights under
fifteen years. The Uitlanders agitated for increased privileges, and
in 1890 a "Second Raad" was created. For this Chamber it was
necessary to take the oath of allegiance, to reside two years in the
State before being entitled to vote, and another two before becoming
eligible for election.
Upon the scene now came Dr. Leyds, a Hollander of certain ability, a
cosmopolitan schemer, and as such naturally opposed to the prestige
of Great Britain. He had his ideal of a great Africander
Confederation! On the other hand, there was Mr. Rhodes, who had also
his ideal--that of a Confederated South Africa stretching to the
Zambesi. Fortunately, with Mr. Rhodes went the Cape Dutch. And here
we may break off to consider the Colossus, as he has been called.
His enemies were many. By some it was asserted that Mr. Rhodes was
at heart no Imperialist; by others he was declared to be merely an
unscrupulous adventurer. But, as the proof of the pudding is in the
eating, so must any criticism of this marvellous man be confined to
results.