before the tribunal of public opinion. That is why I feel compelled to
state the facts which have characterised the attitude of the British
towards us during the Nineteenth century. Naboth's title to his vineyard
must be cancelled. The easiest way of securing that object, according to
the tortuous methods of British diplomacy, was to prove that Naboth was
a scoundrel and Ahab an angel. The facts which have marked Ahab's career
have been stated. I shall now proceed to draw my conclusions, which I
submit must appeal irresistibly to every impartial and right-minded
person.
During this century there have been three periods which have been
characterised by different attitudes of the British Government towards
us. The first began in 1806, and lasted until the middle of the century.
During this period the chief feature of British policy was one of utter
contempt, and the general trend of British feeling in regard to our
unfortunate people can be summarised by the phrase, "The stupid and
dirty Dutch." But the hypocritical ingenuity of British policy was
perfectly competent to express this contempt in accents which harmonised
with the loftiest sentiments then prevailing. The wave of sentimental
philanthropy then passing over the civilised world was utilised by the
British Government in order to represent the Boers to the world as
oppressors of poor peace-loving natives, who were also men and brethren
eminently capable of receiving religion and civilisation.
It may seem inexplicable that the Power which stood up boldly at the
Treaty of Utrecht as the shameless champion of negro slavery was the
very one which was celebrated in South Africa for its morbid love of the
natives; the explanation, however, is that it was not so much love for
the native that underlay the apparent negrophilistic policy as hatred
and contempt of the Boer. As a result of this hatred of the Boer,
disguised under the veneer of philanthropy in regard to the aborigines,
the natives were employed as police against us; they were provided with
arms and ammunition to be used against us; they were incited to fight
us, and, wherever it was possible, they murdered and plundered us. In
fact, our people were forced to bid farewell to the Cape Colony and all
that was near and dear to them, and seek a shelter in the unknown
wilderness of the North.
As an ultimate result of this hatred, our people had to pursue their
pilgrimage of martyrdom throughout South Africa, until every portion of
that unhappy country has been painted red with the blood, not so much
of men capable of resistance as with that of our murdered and
defenceless women and children.
The second period lasted until the year 1881. The fundamental principle
then underlying British policy was no longer one of unqualified hatred.
Results had already proved that hatred was powerless to subdue the
Africander; it had, on the other hand, contributed largely to the
consolidation of Africanderdom and to the fact that they spread over the
whole of South Africa, thus forming the predominant nationality almost
everywhere. In a moment of disinterestedness or absent-minded dejection
England had concluded treaties with the Boers in 1852 and 1854, by which
they were guaranteed in the undisturbed possession of certain wild and
apparently worthless tracts of territory.
The fundamental sentiment which governed the policy of the second period
was a feeling of regret at having made this mistake, coupled with the
firm determination to set aside its results. These wild and useless
tracts, which had been guaranteed to the Boers, appeared to be very
valuable after the Boers had rescued them from barbarism, and opened
them up for civilisation. It was felt that they ought to gleam amongst
the jewels of Her Majesty's Crown, notwithstanding the obstacle in the
treaties that had been concluded with the Boers. This was the concealed
intention. As far as the means were concerned--they were, from the very
exigency of inborn hypocrisy, partly revealed and partly concealed; the
one differing from the other, as light from darkness. The secret means
consisted in arming the Kaffir tribes against us in the most incredible
manner, and in inciting them to attack us in violation of solemn
treaties and promises. If this policy succeeded the real objects and
means could be suppressed, and England could then come forward and pose
openly as the champion of peace and order, and as the guardian angel of
civilisation in this part of the world. The Republics could then be
annexed under cover of these plausible pretexts. This policy failed as
far as the Orange Free State was concerned, because the brave burghers
of the neighbouring Republic succeeded, after great difficulty, in
overcoming Moshesh, notwithstanding the fact that their arms and
ammunition had been illegally stopped by the British Government. England
was compelled in that case to confine itself to the protection of its
"Basuto" tools. The British, however, succeeded in preventing the Boers
from reaping the legitimate fruits of their victory, and in annexing the
Diamond Fields--a flagrantly illegal act.
As far as the South African Republic is concerned, it was unfortunate
that the burghers were not vigilant enough to foresee and prevent the
crafty policy of the enemy. As the Transvaal Boers had subdued the most
powerful Kaffir tribes, they never dreamt that the insignificant Kaffir
wars in which they had been involved through English intrigue would have
been seized as a pretext to annex their country to the British Crown.
They had been remiss in not putting their full force into the field so
as to bring these little wars to a speedy conclusion. And so the Magato
and Socoecoeni campaigns were conducted in a protracted and half-hearted
way, much to the satisfaction of Sir Theophilus Shepstone, and those
who were at his back.
The Annexation was brought about. It was announced that the extension of
Her Majesty's sway and protection over the South African Republic could
alone secure unity of purpose and trade, as well as open out a prospect
of peace and prosperity. In these words of Shepstone's proclamation we
see in all its repulsive nakedness the hypocrisy which openly
masqueraded in the guise of the disinterested and pitiful Samaritan,
while its true and secret object was to inflict a fatal wound upon the
burgher Republic.
The third period of our history is characterised by the amalgamation of
the old and well-known policy of fraud and violence with the new forces
of Capitalism, which had developed so powerfully owing to the mineral
riches of the South African Republic. Our existence as a people and as a
State is now threatened by an unparalleled combination of forces.
Arrayed against us we find numerical strength, the public opinion of the
United Kingdom thirsting and shouting for blood and revenge, the
world-wide and cosmopolitan power of Capitalism, and all the forces
which underlie the lust of robbery and the spirit of plunder. Our lot
has of late become more and more perilous. The cordon of beasts of
plunder and birds of prey has been narrowed and drawn closer and closer
around this poor doomed people during the last ten years. As the wounded
antelope awaits the coming of the lion, the jackal, and the vulture, so
do our poor people all over South Africa contemplate the approach of the
foe, encircled as they are by the forces of hatred and revenge, and by
the stratagems and covetousness of their enemies. Every sea in the
world is being furrowed by the ships which are conveying British troops
from every corner of the globe in order to smash this little handful of
people. Even Xerxes, with his millions against little Greece, does not
afford a stranger spectacle to the wonder and astonishment of mankind
than this gentle and kind-hearted Mother of Nations, as, wrapped in all
the panoply of her might, riches, and exalted traditions, she approaches
the little child grovelling in the dust with a sharpened knife in her
hand. This is no War--it is an attempt at Infanticide.
And as the brain of the onlooker reels, and as his thoughts fade away
into uneasy slumbers, there arises before him in a dream the distant
prospect of Bantu children playing amongst the gardens and ruins of the
sunny south around thousands of graves in which the descendants of the
European heroes of Faith and Freedom lie sleeping.
For the marauding hordes of the Bantu are once more roving where
European dwellings used to stand. And when the question is asked--why
all this has happened? Why the heroic children of an heroic race, to
which civilisation owes its most priceless blessings, should lie
murdered there in that distant quarter of the globe? An invisible spirit
of mockery answers, "Civilisation is a failure; the Caucasian is played
out!" and the dreamer awakens with the echo of the word "Gold! gold!
gold!" in his ears.
The orchids of Birmingham are yellow. The traditions of the greatest
people on earth are tarnished and have become yellow.
The laurels which Britannia's legions hope to win in South Africa are
sere and yellow.
But the sky which stretches its banner over South Africa remains blue.
The justice to which Piet Retief appeals when our fathers said farewell
to the Cape Colony, and to which Joachim Prinsloo called aloud in the
Volksraad of Natal when it was annexed by England; the justice to which
the burghers of the Transvaal entrusted their case at Paarde Kraal in
1880, remains immutable, and is like a rock against which the yeasty
billows of British diplomacy dissolve in foam.
It proceeds according to eternal laws, unmoved by human pride and
ambition. As the Greek poet of old said, it permits the tyrant, in his
boundless self-esteem, to climb higher and higher and to gain greater
honour and might until he arrives at the appointed height, and then
falls down into the infinite depths.
Africanders, I ask you but to do as Leonidas did with his 300 men when
they advanced unflinchingly at Thermopylæ against Xerxes and his
myriads, and do not be disturbed by such men as Milner, Rhodes, and
Chamberlain, or even by the British Empire itself, but cling fast to the
God of our forefathers, and to the Righteousness which is sometimes slow
in acting, but which never slumbers nor forgets. Our forefathers did not
pale before the terrors of the Spanish Inquisition, but entered upon the
great struggle for Freedom and Right against even the mighty Philip,
unmindful of the consequences.
Nor could the rack and the persecuting bands of Louis XIV. tame or
subdue the spirit of our fathers. Neither Alva nor Richelieu were able
to compass the triumph of tyranny over the innate sentiment of Freedom
and Independence in our forefathers. Nor will a Chamberlain be more
fortunate in effecting the triumph of Capitalism, with its lust for
power, over us.
If it is ordained that we, insignificant as we are, should be the first
among all peoples to begin the struggle against the new-world tyranny of
Capitalism, then we are ready to do so, even if that tyranny is
reinforced by the power of Jingoism.
May the hope which glowed in our hearts during 1880, and which buoyed us
up during that struggle, burn on steadily! May it prove a beacon of
light in our path, invincibly moving onwards through blood and through
tears, until it leads us to a real Union of South Africa.
As in 1880, we now submit our cause with perfect confidence to the whole
world. Whether the result be Victory or Death, Liberty will assuredly
rise in South Africa like the sun from out the mists of the morning,
just as Freedom dawned over the United States of America a little more
than a century ago. Then from the Zambesi to Simon's Bay it will be
"AFRICA FOR THE AFRICANDER."
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A.
LORD DERBY'S DISPATCH ON THE CONVENTION OF 1884.
_To_ MESSRS. KRUGER, DU TOIT, AND SMIT.
DOWNING STREET,
15 _February_, 1884.
GENTLEMEN,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th
inst., in which you intimate your readiness to accept the arrangement
proposed by me at our recent interview, whereby the debt of the
Transvaal State to Her Majesty's Government would be reduced by
£127,000. I will not delay to recommend this proposal to the
consideration of Her Majesty's Government.
I have considered the representations and suggestions made in the fourth
and following paragraphs of your letter, and I do not think it would now
be practicable to carry out the arrangements which you propose for the
settlement of the questions referred to. Her Majesty's Government are
willing, however, that the 20th Article of the Convention of Pretoria
shall be retained in the new Convention, with such verbal alterations as
are requisite, and I am glad to understand that this course will meet
your views.
When I had the pleasure of receiving you here on the 8th inst. we
discussed the other principal questions which, in addition to those of
the boundary and the debt, you had submitted to me in previous
correspondence, and I explained to you generally the nature and extent
of the concessions which Her Majesty's Government would be able to make
in regard to them. You were satisfied with these explanations, as far as
they were put before you; and the progress which has been made appears
to me to render it convenient that I should now transmit for your
perusal a draft of the new Convention which Her Majesty's Government
propose in substitution for the Convention of Pretoria. In this draft
the Articles of the Convention of Pretoria, which will be no longer in
force, have been printed alongside of the proposed new Articles, and
where an Article is retained and altered, the alterations have been
shown in order to explain clearly the changes which will be made. You
will find that in the draft, and the map which accompanies it, the
conclusions which have been arrived at in the course of our
communications have been closely adhered to and accurately expressed,
and I trust that you will experience no difficulty in understanding and
agreeing to each of its provisions. If, however, there should be any
point as to which you are doubtful, it may be convenient that you should
again meet me here and receive such further explanations as may be
desirable.
It does not appear to me to be necessary that I should refer in detail
to each Article of the draft. You will observe that in the preamble and
throughout the Convention the wish of your Government that the
designation "South African Republic" should be substituted for
"Transvaal State" has been complied with. In the first Article the
extension of the Western boundary is precisely defined as agreed to. By
the omission of those Articles of the Convention of Pretoria which
assigned to Her Majesty and to the British Resident certain specific
powers and functions connected with the internal government and the
foreign relations of the Transvaal State your Government will be left
free to govern the country without interference, and to conduct its
diplomatic intercourse and shape its foreign policy subject only to the
requirement embodied in the fourth Article of the new draft--that any
treaty with a foreign State shall not have effect without the approval
of the Queen.
There are other provisions in the draft which have not been the subject
of discussion with you; they are for the most part a renewal of those
declarations made on behalf of the Transvaal State in the Convention of
Pretoria, which it is desirable (as I trust you will agree in thinking)
to maintain as an assurance to all parties that there will be no
withdrawal of those securities for liberty and equal treatment which
your State has always professed itself ready to afford. I would,
however, refer more specifically to the 19th Article of the draft, in
which it is proposed that in consideration of the discontinuance of all
direct interference by this country in the government and control of the
natives within the Transvaal, it should be formally declared that your
Government will adopt and carry out the assurances which, with their
assent and approval, were given to those natives by Her Majesty's
Commissioners.
I trust that I may soon hear from you that there is no obstacle to my
informing Her Majesty's Government that the Draft Convention can be
adopted.
I have, etc.,
DERBY.
A CONVENTION CONCLUDED BETWEEN HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, &C., &C., AND THE
SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC.
NOTE.--_The words and paragraphs bracketed or printed in italics are
proposed to be inserted, those within a black line are proposed to be
omitted._
[**Transcriber's Note: Words to be omitted are surrounded with '='s.**]
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 Heir 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:--
Whereas the Government of the Transvaal State, through its Delegates,
consisting of Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, President of the said
State. Stephanus Johannes Du Toit, Superintendent of Education; Nicholas
Jacobus Smit, a member of the Volksraad, have represented to the Queen
that the Convention signed at Pretoria on the 3rd day of August, 1881,
and ratified by the Volksraad of the said State on the 20th 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, &c., &c., 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--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.
Signed at =Pretoria= _London_ this =3rd day of August 1881,=
=HERCULES ROBINSON,=
=President and High Commissioner=
=EVELYN WOOD, Major General,=
=Officer Administering the Government=
=J.H. de VILLIERS.=
We, the undersigned, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, =Martinus Wessel
Pretorius=, and =Petrus Jacobus Joubert=, as =representatives delegates=
of the =Transvaal Burghers=, _South African Republic_, 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 enzerainty of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and
Successsors, and we agree to accept the Government of the said
Territory, with all rights and obligations thereto appertaining, on the
8th day of August 1881,= and we =promise and= undertake that this
Convention shall be ratified by a =newly elected= Volksraad of the
=Transvaal State= _South African Republic_ within =three= _six_ months
from this date.
Signed at =Pretoria,= _London_, this =3rd day of August 1881=
=S.J.P. KRUEGER=
=M.W. PRETORIUS=
=P.J. JOUBERT=
APPENDIX B. (TRANSLATION).
THE ANNEXATION OF THE DIAMOND FIELDS.
In his speech at the opening of the Cape Parliament on the 18th April,
1872, Sir Henry Barkly said:--
"The Sovereignty of Her Majesty was therefore proclaimed and brought
into operation with the _full consent of the diggers_, and the
Government has since been carefully and efficiently administered,
notwithstanding considerable difficulties."
The _Diamond News_ of the 1st May, 1872, says, in referring to this
speech:--
"Of the three short paragraphs which immediately concern us, the first
is one of self-congratulation--the diggers and other inhabitants of
Griqualand accept the British Government with heartfelt satisfaction.
Sir Henry says nothing of the unaccountable and daily increasing
dissatisfaction with that Government, and perhaps he knows nothing of
it, as it would be an act of suicide for the Commissioners, which they
would not be guilty of, to report about the prevailing feelings."
On the 30th May, 1872, the _Diamond Fields_ said:--
"There can be no doubt that the population of the Diamond Fields are
strongly opposed to annexation to the Cape Colony.
"If anything like a plebiscite could be taken, the votes against being
put under the Cape Government would be in the proportion of nine to one
... even the Free State Government would get two votes to one if the
Cape Town Government were the only other candidate."
In December, 1871, scarcely a month after the dispersion of the Free
State authorities and the constitution of Sir Henry Barkly's junta,
lynch law broke out. Lawlessness and general insecurity prevailed
everywhere (see _Diamond News_, 17th January, 20th March, 17th July,
1872).
One reads in the _Diggers' Gazette_ of the 26th April, 1872:--
"No one would wish to ask for a continuation of the existing state of
affairs. Only entirely mischievous people could wish for the
continuation of such a failure as our Commissioners of British rule have
brought about on these Fields. We have formerly expressed ourselves
openly about this matter, and our local contemporaries have done the
same."
The following remarks were made in the _Diamond News_ of the 16th
December, 1871:--
"A description of Du Toit'span by night lately appeared in the _Diamond
News_ as it used to be under the admittedly unsatisfactory Free State
police, and, by way of contrast, as it now is, after the withdrawal of
that police. The comparison is not flattering to the strength of mind or
administrative capability of our present rulers, and a comparison of
Free State administration with Cape administration would in no way be
more favourable to the latter.
"The British Government, so highly prized, which would put everything to
rights and would do so much for the diggers, has brought the camps back
to their original position of having to protect themselves."
In the _Diamond News_ of the 10th July, 1872 (eight months after the
constitution of Sir Henry Barkly's rule), the following criticisms
appear:--
"Robberies are becoming so frequent that if we were only to relate the
particulars of those that have been brought to our notice we would
require more space than our limits will allow. Innumerable petty thefts
are passed by without punishment. This is certainly a charming state of
affairs! And the question naturally arises--how long will this continue?
Thieves, black and white, experienced and dangerous, and yet no night
police to stop their illegal actions! Shall we get no night police, or
must the scoundrels, who are poisoning our camps continually, enjoy the
immunity and freedom which they now appear to have?"
On the 26th July lynch law and revolt broke out afresh in an extensive
way at New Rush, the principal diggings. The _Diggers' Gazette_ made the
following remarks about this:--
"As long as Judge Lynch remains free to hold his court and to levy his
punishments, for so long can the whole framework and machinery of lawful
authority just as well cease to exist.
"Authority cannot maintain its claim to be respected as long as persons
suffering under the sense of having been injured take the law into their
own hands, solely because of the proved incapability of those in
authority to protect them where their interests mostly need protection.