"CAPITALIST INTRIGUES" AND THE WAR.[17]
1.--_A War of Capitalists._
"It is a war of capitalists against a set of poor Boers who have no sort
of interest in the dispute!" Such is the general cry.
Let us look at the facts.
The other day, anent the attempt upon the Prince of Wales, I referred to
the anarchist and socialistic attacks of certain Pro-Boer and Anglophobe
journals on capitalists, financiers, and the wealthy "metal-hearted
mine-owners," as Dr. Kuyper calls them. I reminded my readers that
Professor Bryce himself treats as absurd the tale that the aim of the
Jameson Raid, as stated by those papers, was the conquest of the
Transvaal for Rhodesia. I shall now show by documentary evidence that
the war did not break out through any action on the part of gold-mine
proprietors. In the first place, the greater number of these proprietors
reside in Europe; and as much in France, Germany and Belgium, as in
England. Their representatives in the Transvaal may hold more or less
important interests in those mines, but they are imbued with a full
sense of their responsibilities.
Now, commercial men never seek to bring about a political crisis
unnecessarily; they invariably endeavour to avoid one. If they resign
themselves to such a course, it is only as a last resource.
The truth of these general assertions is verified in the case in point
by two documents which have not been fabricated after the events.
They are the reports of the Chamber of Mines, published by Mr. Rouliot,
in January 1898, and January 1899.[18]
[Footnote 17: _Le Siècle_, April 7th, 1900.]
[Footnote 18: Published in the _Revue Sud-Africaine_ (Paris).]
2.--_A Local Board._
The report made by Mr. Rouliot to the Chamber of Mines on January 20th,
1898, refers to the burdens imposed upon the gold industry by the faulty
administration of the Transvaal. It shows how the Volksraad
contemptuously rejected, in 1897, a petition signed by more than ten
thousand inhabitants of all nationalities and all professions. It
declares that "the Chamber of Mines has no desire to interfere in the
conduct of general affairs in the Transvaal"; it recalls the fact that
the Commission of Enquiry nominated after the Crisis of 1896, had
recommended the constitution of a "Local Board" which President Krüger
had contemptuously rejected; and goes on to say:--
"It is nonsense to affirm that the creation of such a Board would
have made a government within a government, and would have
threatened the independence of the State. At the time that we made
the proposal, we sincerely trusted that what had happened might be
buried in oblivion and that we might dwell together in amity. We
had hoped that the burghers would have recognised that want of
experience, and their education would have made them unfitted for
dealing with the most difficult problems that could face a young
nation, and that they would have seen the necessity of calling men
to their aid who could give them the benefit of their experience,
and help them to ensure sound conditions for the State and its
industrial development. Unfortunately, we have been deceived in our
hopes...."
That is all; save that Mr. Rouliot alludes cursorily to the fact that
the government had endeavoured to found a Chamber of Mines in opposition
to the old one, but that an amalgamation had taken place; he,
consequently, was speaking in the name of the entire industry.
3.--_A Deliberative Council._
In the course of the year 1898, Mr. Krüger's policy became more and more
provocative. The Chamber of Mines confined itself to the request for the
appointment of a deliberative council, to be composed of members
nominated by the government, the powers of which should be limited to
the application of the laws concerning gold-theft, the sale of
spirituous liquors, and the "pass-law" concerning native labourers.
At a meeting of the Volksraad, June, 1898, the sub-committee appointed
to enquire into this modest request, decided to recommend its rejection.
Mr. A.D. Wolmarans said that "the council would be the means of placing
over the heads of the agents of the State, a commission whose members
were not in possession of the franchise; and that the Volksraad would
practically be adopting the proposition of home rule, and autonomy, put
forward by Mr. Chamberlain in 1896."
On September 12th, the question was revived. A member of the Volksraad,
named Lombaard, said that: "Johannesburg would never be satisfied until
it had a little government of its own"; and that, as for the sale of
liquor, as far as he was concerned, he saw no reason why Kaffirs should
not drink themselves to death, if such was their taste.
The request was rejected by 14 votes to six. Four-and-twenty hours later
the government passed a measure for an additional tax upon mining
profits; then the Lombaard and Edgar cases occurred. The Chamber of
Mines remained calm, notwithstanding.
4.--_Timidity of the Chamber of Mines._
In his report of January 26th, 1899, Mr. Rouliot seems to have but one
aim, and that is to dissociate the Chamber of Mines completely from the
agitation excited among the English workmen by the murder of their
comrade, Edgar, at the hands of policeman Jones. I quote his words:--
"The Chamber of Mines has never taken part in any political
agitation, nor has it encouraged or organised demonstrations of a
political nature. We take our stand solely upon an economic basis,
endeavouring by constitutional means the alleviation of our
burdens, and offering our advice upon questions that affect the
State, equally with an industry, our thorough knowledge of which is
undeniable. We ask neither for concessions, nor for monopoly. All
that we ask is fair treatment for our business and our
shareholders. I may here express my disappointment at seeing that
all our efforts to bring about good feeling and union between
ourselves and the executive, meet with nothing but contempt on the
part of the latter."
He then goes on to allude to Hollander officials; and possibly, to
certain members of the diplomatic body:--
"Those act in bad faith who unceasingly encourage the executive of
this country in their retrograde policy, and constantly tell them
that all they do is well done."
He concludes by pointing out the manner in which the Press and political
agents of the Government of Pretoria are stirring up ill-feeling against
the proprietors and managers of mines. Persons without any defined
profession, attracted by the vision of gold, have flocked to
Johannesburg; unable to find employment, they have become a discontented
proletariat. These are the true adventurers, if the word be taken in its
worst sense. Mr. Krüger and his agents choose them as colleagues and pit
them against the "wealthy metal-hearted mine owners." This is the policy
pursued by Dr. Leyds in Europe, where he has been clever enough to
excite alike the capitalist and socialist Press against the hated mine
owner.
Mr. Rouliot continues, that it is not within the province of the Chamber
of Mines to provide work for incompetent workmen. It was, no doubt,
from among these men that Mr. Krüger had raised the signatures of the
counter-petition which so "emphatically" declared the administration of
the South African Republic "to be all that could be desired."
5.--_The Petition and the Despatch of May 10th._
They were _bonâ fide_ workmen who took the initiative in the petition of
March 28th, 1899, called forth by the murder of their fellow-workman,
Edgar. We see, from Mr. Rouliot's report, that the Chamber of Mines
regarding the petition as compromising, disassociated itself from it.
Nor was that all. The President of the South African League in the
Transvaal, Mr. W. John Wybergh, a consulting engineer by profession, was
dismissed by one of the principal companies.
These undeniable facts prove that "capitalist intrigues," as Dr. Kuyper
calls them, were not the causes of the present war.
The British Government could not disregard a petition which 21,684
British subjects addressed to it; even had its responsibility not been
pledged by Articles 7 and 14 of the Convention of 1884, relying upon
which those British subjects had settled in the Transvaal. Every
civilised Government concerns itself with injuries done to its citizens
in foreign lands. The petition of March 28th, was acknowledged by Mr.
Chamberlain in a despatch to Sir A. Milner of May 10th, 1899, in which
he says that "the complaints of the Uitlanders rested on a solid basis."
From the moment that the British Government "put its hand to the
plough," and that Lord Salisbury declared it would not draw back, the
end was easy to foresee. Mr. Krüger had recourse to his habitual
expedients. I said at the time what must certainly be the result; and an
eminent French statesman may remember a conversation I then had with
him, in the course of which he declared that the English would never,
never, make up their minds to go to war. That was the dangerous idea
then spread throughout European diplomacy, and which must have been
transmitted to Krüger by Dr. Leyds, and some of the representatives of
European Governments then in Pretoria. Thus Krüger thought he need not
trouble. Hence his attitude at Bloemfontein. It was not because England
was desirous of war that it broke out, it was because she bore the
reputation of being too pacific, and because she had given too many
proofs of forbearance to the Boers.