|
|
representations from the Uitlanders on the subject nor would he
permit them to discuss it.
Very shortly after the granting of this railway concession came the
appointment of Dr. Leyds as State Attorney for the Republic, he
having been recommended and pushed forward by the gentlemen in
Holland to whom the concession had been granted. It is stated that he
was sent out as the agent of the concessionaires in order to protect
and advance their interests, although at the same time in the service
of the Republic. It is only necessary to add that Mr. Beelaerts van
Blokland, the Consul-General for the Republic in Holland, is the
agent of the concessionaires in that country, and the accord with
which these two gentlemen, as railway commissioners at their
respective ends, have always acted becomes intelligible. Several of
the vital conditions of the concession have been freely violated, the
first being that a certain section of the line (Nelspruit) should be
completed within four years. It was not completed for eight. The
concession really became void several times during the years prior to
1890, but always found a stalwart champion in the President, who
continued to defend the concessionaires for some two years after they
had failed to get their capital subscribed. The Company was
floated on June 21 1887 on the most peculiar terms, the capital of
£166,666 being in 2,000 shares of 1,000 guilders, or £83 6s. 8d.
each. The shares were subscribed for by the following groups:
German 819 shares, carrying 30 votes.
Hollander 581 " " 76 "
The Republic 600 " " 6 "
The trust-deed, which limited the Republic to 6 out of 112 votes,
although it subscribed about one-third of the capital, and gave to
the smallest holders, the Hollanders, twice as many votes as all the
others put together, was passed by Dr. Leyds, in his capacity of
legal adviser of the Government, having previously been prepared by
him in his other capacity. The sum of £124,000 appears to have been
expended on construction ten months before any contract was given out
for the same or any work begun, and fifteen months before any
material was shipped.
The contract for the construction of the first sixty miles compels
admiration, if only for its impudence. In the first place the
contractors, Van Hattum and Co., were to build the line at a cost to
be mutually agreed upon by them and the railway company, and they
were to receive as remuneration 11 per cent. upon the amount of the
specification. But should they exceed the contract price then the 11
per cent. was to be proportionately decreased by an arranged sliding
scale, provided, however, that Van Hattum and Co. did not _exceed the
specification by more than 100 per cent._, in which latter case the
Company would have the right to cancel the contract. By this
provision Messrs. Van Hattum and Co. could increase the cost by 100
per cent, provided they were willing to lose the 11 per cent. profit,
leaving them a net gain of 89 per cent. They did not neglect the
opportunity. Whole sections of earthworks cost £23,500 per mile,
which should not have cost £8,000. Close upon a thousand Hollanders
were brought out from Holland to work for a few months in each year
on the line and then be sent back to Holland again at the expense of
the Republic. In a country which abounded in stone the Komati Bridge
was built of dressed stone which had been quarried and worked in
Holland and exported some 7,000 miles by ship and rail.
These are a few instances out of many. The loss to the country
through the financing was of course far greater than any manipulation
of the construction could bring about. In the creating of overdrafts
and the raising of loans very large sums indeed were handled.
Three-quarters of a million in one case and a million in another
offered opportunities which the Hollander-German gentlemen who were
doing business for the country out of love for it (as was frequently
urged on their behalf in the Volksraad) were quick to perceive. The 5
per cent. debentures issued to raise the latter sum were sold at £95
15s.; but the financiers deducted £5 commission from even this, so
that the State has only benefited to the extent of £90 15s. This
transaction was effected at a time when the State loan known as the
Transvaal Fives--raised on exactly the same interest and precisely
the same guarantee--was quoted at over par. What, however, was felt
to be worse than any detail of finance was that this corporation of
foreigners had gradually obtained complete control of the finances of
the State, and through the railway system it practically dictated the
relations with the other Governments in South Africa, by such
measures for instance as the imposition of a charge of 8-1/2d. per
ton per mile on goods travelling over their lines coming from the
Cape Colony, whilst the other lines are favoured by a charge of less
than half that. The burdens placed upon the mining industry by the
excessive charges imposed for political purposes were, in the case of
the poorer mines, ruinous. The right which the Company had to collect
the Customs dues for account of the State, to retain them as security
for the payment of interest on their shares and debentures, and to
impose a charge for collection quite disproportionate to the cost,
was another serious grievance. It was hopeless, however, to deal with
the whole question. The Government had set its face against any
reform in this quarter. It was not possible to obtain even ordinary
working facilities such as any business corporation unprotected by an
absolute monopoly would be bound to concede of its own accord, in
order to catch a measure of trade.
The Government have the right, under the agreement with the
Company, to take over the railway on certain conditions, of which
the following are the most important:
(_a_) The Company shall receive one year's notice of the intention to
take over.
(_b_) The Company shall receive twenty times the amount of the
average of the last three years' dividends.
(_c_) The Company shall receive as a solatium for the unexpired
period of the concession an amount equal to one per cent. of its
nominal capital for each year up to the year of expiring (1915).
The Government can take over the Krugersdorp-Johannesburg-Boksburg
Tramway against payment of the cost of construction.
If the Volksraad should not during this Session{08} decide to
nationalize the railway no change can take place before 1898, so that
the three years 1895 to 1897 would have to be taken as a basis and
therefore the 6 per cent. for 1894, the only low dividend, would not
come into the calculation. This would of course considerably increase
the purchase price--_e.g._,
1895 9 per cent.
1896 14 " (estimate),
1897 14 " "
--
Total 37 "
That is to say an average distribution of 12.33 per cent. for the
three years. The purchase price would thus be:
12.33 X 20 = 246.66 per cent.
17 years' premium 17 "
------
Total 263.66 "
This has been clearly explained to the Volksraad but without avail,
the President's influence on the other side being too strong. During
the Session of 1895 it was made clear that agitation against the
Company was as futile as beating the air. When the Hollander clique
found that they could no longer convince the Boers as a whole of the
soundness of their business and the genuineness of their aims, and
when they failed to combat the arguments and exposures of their
critics, they resorted to other tactics, and promulgated voluminous
reports and statements of explanations which left the unfortunate
Volksraad members absolutely stupefied where they had formerly only
been confused.{09}
The following is taken from an article in the Johannesburg _Mining
Journal_, dealing with the burdens imposed by the railway company
upon the industry:
RAILWAY MONOPOLY.
This is another carefully designed burden upon the mines and country.
The issued capital and loans of the Netherlands Company now total
about £7,000,000, upon which an average interest of about 5-1/3 per
cent.--guaranteed by the State--is paid, equal to £370,000 per annum.
Naturally the bonds are at a high premium. The Company and its
liabilities can be taken over by the State at a year's notice, and
the necessary funds for this purpose can be raised at 3 per cent. An
offer was recently made to the Government to consolidate this and
other liabilities, but the National Bank, which is another
concession, has the monopoly of all State loan business, and this
circumstance effectually disposed of the proposal. At 3 per cent. a
saving of £160,000 per annum would be made in this monopoly in
interest alone. The value represented by the Custom dues on the
Portuguese border we are not in a position to estimate, but roughly
these collections and the 15 per cent. of the profits paid to the
management and shareholders must, with other leakages, represent at
least another £100,000 per annum, which should be saved the country.
As the revenue of the corporation now exceeds £2,000,000 a year, of
which only half is expended in working costs, the estimate we have
taken does not err upon the side of extravagance. By its neglect of
its duties towards the commercial and mining community enormous
losses are involved. Thus, in the coal traffic, the rate--which is
now to be somewhat reduced--has been 3d. per ton per mile. According
to the returns of the Chamber of Mines, the coal production of the
Transvaal for 1895 was 1,045,121 tons. This is carried an average
distance of nearly thirty miles, but taking the distance at
twenty-four miles the charges are 6s. per ton. At 1-1/2d. per ton per
mile--three times as much as the Cape railways charge--a saving upon
the coal rates of 3s. per ton would follow, equal to £150,000 per
annum. Again, by the 'bagging' system, an additional cost of 2s. 3d.
per ton is incurred--details of this item have been recently
published in this paper--and if this monopoly were run upon ordinary
business lines, a further saving of £110,000 would be made by
carrying coal in bulk. The interest upon the amount required to
construct the necessary sidings for handling the coal, and the
tram-lines required to transport it to the mines, would be a mere
fraction upon this amount; and as the coal trade in the course of a
short time is likely to see a 50 per cent. increase, the estimate may
be allowed to stand at this figure without deduction. No data are
available to fix the amount of the tax laid upon the people generally
by the vexatious delays and losses following upon inefficient railway
administration, but the monthly meetings of the local Chamber of
Commerce throw some light upon these phases of a monopolistic
management. The savings to be made in dealing with the coal traffic
must not be taken as exhausting all possible reforms; the particulars
given as to this traffic only indicate and suggest the wide area
covered by this monopoly, which hitherto has made but halting and
feeble efforts to keep pace with the requirements of the public.
Dealing as it does with the imports of the whole country, which now
amount in value to £10,000,000, the figures we have given must serve
merely to illustrate its invertebrate methods of handling traffic, as
well as its grasping greed in enforcing the rates fixed by the terms
of its concession. Its forty miles of Rand steam tram-line and
thirty-five miles of railway from the Vaal River, with some little
assistance from the Delagoa line and Customs, brought in a revenue
of about £1,250,000 in 1895. Now that the Natal line is opened the
receipts will probably amount to nearly £3,000,000 per annum, all of
which should swell the ordinary revenue of the country, instead of
remaining in the hands of foreigners as a reservoir of wealth for
indigent Hollanders to exploit. The total railway earnings of the
Cape and Natal together over all their lines amounted to £3,916,566
in 1895, and the capital expenditure on railways by these colonies
amounts to £26,000,000. The greater portion of these receipts come
from the Rand trade, which is compelled to pay an additional
£2,500,000, carrying charges to the Netherlands Company, which has
£7,000,000 of capital. Thus, railway receipts in South Africa amount
now to £7,000,000 per annum, of which the Rand contributes at least
£5,000,000.
The revenue of the company is now considerably over £3,000,000 per
annum. The management claim that their expenses amount to but 40 per
cent. of revenue, and this is regarded by them as a matter for
general congratulation. The Uitlanders contend that the concern is
grossly _mis_managed, and that the low cost of working is a fiction.
It only appears low by contrast with a revenue swollen by
preposterously heavy rates and protected by a monopoly. The tariff
could be reduced by one-half; that is to say, a remission of taxation
to the tune of one and a half million annually could be effected
without depriving the Company of a legitimate and indeed very
handsome profit.
[Selati Railway.]
The Selati Railway Scheme! 'Conceived in iniquity, delivered in
shame, died in disgrace!' might be its history, but for the fact that
it is not quite dead yet. But very nearly! The concession was
obtained during the Session of 1890 by a member of the First
Volksraad, Mr. Barend J. Vorster, jun., who himself took part in and
guided the tone of the debate which decided the granting of the
concession. The Raad resolved to endeavour to obtain the favourable
opinions of their constituents, but before doing so the generous
Mr. Vorster made what he was pleased to call 'presents' to the
members--American spiders, Cape carts, gold watches, shares in the
Company to be floated, and sums in cash--were the trifles by which
Mr. Vorster won his way to favour. He placated the President by
presenting to the Volksraad a portrait of his Honour, executed by the
late Mr. Schroeder, South Africa's one artist. The picture cost £600.
The affair was a notorious and shameless matter of bribery and the
only profit which the country gained from it was a candid confession
of personal principles on the part of Mr. Kruger himself, who when
the exposure took place stated that he saw no harm in members
receiving presents. Debentures to the amount of £500,000 were issued,
bearing Government guarantee of 4 per cent. The Company received £70
for each £100 debenture. Comment is superfluous. A second issue of a
million was made, nominally at £93 10s., but the Company only
received £86--a commission to the brokers or agents of 8-3/4 per
cent., at a time when the Company's previous issue of 4 per cents.
were standing at £97 in the market. The costs of flotation were
charged at upwards of £32,000; the expenses of one gentleman's
travelling, etc., £6,000.
But these are 'trifles light as air.' This Selati Railway Company,
which being guaranteed by Government is really a Government
liability, arranged with a contractor to build the line at the
maximum cost allowed in the concession, £9,600 per mile. Two days
later this contractor sub-let the contract for £7,002 per mile. As
the distance is 200 miles, the Republic was robbed by a stroke of the
pen of £519,600--one of the biggest 'steals' even in the Transvaal.
During the two years for which Dr. Leyds was responsible as the
representative of the Republic for the management of this affair,
none of these peculiar transactions were detected--at any rate none
were reported or exposed; but on the accession to office of an
ignorant old Boer the nest of swindles appears to have been
discovered without any difficulty. And it is generally admitted that
Dr. Leyds is not a fool. This exposure took place at the end of the
Session of 1894, and, inured as the Uitlanders had become to jobs,
this was an eyeopener even for them, and the startled community
tax-payers--who had to bear the brunt of it all.
[Revenue.]
Turning to the finances of the country, the following tables are as
instructive as anything can be:
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC.{10}
Fiscal period. Revenue. Expenditure. Remarks.
£ £
Aug. 1, 1871 to July 31, 1872 ... 40,988 ... 35,714
" 1, 1872 " Jan. 31, 1873 ... 43,239 ... 41,813
Feb. 1, 1873 " " 31, 1874 ... 49,318 ... 45,482 Gold discovered
in Lydenburg.
" 1, 1874 " " 31, 1875 ... 58,553 ... 61,785
" 1, 1875 " " 31, 1876 ... 64,582 ... 69,394
" 1, 1876 " " 31, 1877 ... 62,762 ... 64,505
" 1, 1877 " April 12, 1877 ... 25,752 ... 17,235
April 12, 1877 " Dec. 31, 1877 ... 54,127 ... 70,003
Jan. 1, 1878 " " 31, 1878 ... 76,774 ... 89,063
" 1, 1879 " " 31, 1879 ... 93,409 ... 177,596
" 1, 1880 " " 31, 1880 ... 174,069 ... 144,943
" 1, 1881 " Oct. 14, 1881 ... 25,326 ... 186,707 British Govt.
Aug. 8, 1881 " Dec. 31, 1881 ... 37,908 ... 33,442 Boer Govt.
Jan. 1, 1882 " " 31, 1882 ... 177,407 ... 114,476
" 1, 1883 " " 31, 1883 ... 143,324 ... 184,344
" 1, 1884 " Mar. 31, 1884 ... 44,557 ... 18,922
April 1, 1884 " " 31, 1885 ... 161,596 ... 184,820
" 1, 1885 " " 31, 1886 ... 177,877 ... 162,709 Sheba floated.
" 1, 1886 " Dec. 31, 1886 ... 196,236 ... 154,636 Rand proclaimed
Sept. 8, 1886.
Jan. 1, 1887 " " 31, 1887 ... 637,749 ... 594,834 Shares quoted
Johannesburg
Stock Exchange.
Telegraph
opened
Johannesburg
April 26, 1887.
" 1, 1888 " " 31, 1888 ... 884,440 ... 720,492 Boom, Nov. 1888
" 1, 1889 " " 31, 1889 ...1,577,445 ...1,201,135 to Jan. 1889.
Slump, Mar. 1889.
" 1, 1890 " " 31, 1890 ...1,229,061 ...1,386,461
" 1, 1891 " " 31, 1891 ... 967,192 ...1,350,074 Baring Crisis.
" 1, 1892 " " 31, 1892 ...1,255,830 ...1,187,766 Railway reached
Johannesburg
Sept. 15.
" 1, 1893 " " 31, 1893 ...1,702,685 ...1,302,054
" 1, 1894 " " 31, 1894 ...2,247,728 ...1,734,728
" 1, 1895 " " 31, 1895 ...2,923,648 ...1,948,249
" 1, 1896 " " 31, 1896 ...3,912,095 ...3,732,492
" 1, 1897 " " 31, 1897 ...3,956,402 ...3,898,816
" 1, 1898 " " 31, 1898 ...3,329,958 ...3,476,844
" 1, 1899 " " 31, 1899 ...4,087,852 ...3,951,234 (Budget).
The figures for the period from 1871 to the end of 1887 are taken
from Jeppe's Transvaal Almanac for 1889. They represent the
ordinary Revenue and Expenditure arrived at after the deduction
of the items 'Special Receipts,' 'Special Deposits,' 'Deposits
Withdrawn,' 'Advance Refunded,' 'Advances made' and 'Fixed Deposits'
from the totals given in the Official Government Returns.
The figures for the years 1888 to 1899 are those of the published
Government Returns after the deduction of--
Fixed deposits from 1888 to 1893 inclusive.
The sale and purchase of explosives from 1895 to 1898 inclusive.
The owner's share of claim licenses from 1895 to 1899 inclusive.
Delagoa Bay Customs Dues paid to the Netherlands Railway for 1898 and
1899.
[Dynamite Monopoly.]
The dynamite monopoly has always been a Monopoly very burning
question with the Uitlanders. This concession was granted shortly
after the Barberton Fields were discovered, when the prospects of an
industry in the manufacture of explosives were not really very great.
The concessionaire himself has admitted that had he foreseen to what
proportions this monopoly would eventually grow he would not have had
the audacity to apply for it. This, of course, is merely a personal
question. The fact which concerned the industry was that the right
was granted to one man to manufacture explosives and to sell them at
a price nearly 200 per cent. over that at which they could be
imported. It was found upon investigation after some years of
agitation that the factory at which this 'manufacture' took place was
in reality merely a depot in which the already manufactured article
was manipulated to a moderate extent so as to lend colour to the
President's statement that a local industry was being fostered. An
investigation held by order of the Volksraad exposed the imposition.
The President himself stated that he found he had been deceived and
that the terms of the concession had been broken, and he urged the
Raad to cancel it--which the Raad did. The triumph was considerable
for the mining industry and it was the more appreciated in that it
was the solitary success to which the Uitlanders could point in their
long series of agitations for reform. But the triumph was not
destined to be a lasting one. Within a few months the monopoly was
revived in an infinitely more obnoxious form. It was now called a
Government monopoly, but 'the agency' was bestowed upon a partner of
the gentleman who had formerly owned the concession, the President
himself vigorously defending this course and ignoring his own
judgment on the case uttered a few months previously. _Land en Volk_,
the Pretoria Dutch newspaper, exposed the whole of this transaction,
including the system of bribery by which the concessionaries secured
their renewal, and among other things made the charge which it has
continued to repeat ever since that Mr. J.M.A. Wolmarans, member
of the Executive, received a commission of one shilling per case
on every case sold during the continuance of the agency as a
consideration for his support in the Executive Council, and that he
continues to enjoy this remuneration, which is estimated now to be
not far short of £10,000 a year. Mr. Wolmarans, for reasons of pride
or discretion, has declined to take any notice of the charge,
although frequently pressed to take action in the matter. It is
calculated that the burden imposed upon the Witwatersrand Mines alone
amounts to £600,000 per annum, and is, of course, daily increasing.
[The Franchise Laws.]
The question of the franchise, which has achieved the greatest
prominence in the Uitlander agitation, is one with which few people
even in the Transvaal are familiar, so many and peculiar have been
the changes effected in the law. Lawyers differ as to whether certain
laws revoke or merely supplement previous ones, and the President
himself--to the grim amusement of the Uitlanders--frequently goes
astray when he speaks on franchise. The first law on burgher and
electoral rights is No. 1 of 1876, which remained in force until
1882. By it the possession of landed property or else residence for
one year qualified the settler for full burgher privileges. Law No. 7
of 1882 was the first attempt of the restored Republic to deal with
the question. It was then enacted that an alien could be naturalized
and enfranchised after five years' residence, such residence to be
proved by the Field-cornet's books of registration. It has already
been explained that these records in nine cases out of ten were
either improperly kept or non-existent.
In 1890 Law No. 4 was passed, creating the Second Volksraad and
altering the Grondwet (or constitution) accordingly. By this law the
franchise was indirectly altered without repealing those portions
which may be at variance with or repugnant to the implied
alterations, and this was done by simply defining what class of
electors should vote for members of the First Raad, and what class
for members of the Second. Thus, 'the members of the First Volksraad
shall be elected by those enfranchised burghers who have obtained the
right of voting before this law comes in force, or thereafter by
birth in the State, and on having attained the age of sixteen years.'
Secondly, all those who became naturalized and enfranchised after
this law was passed could not vote for members of the First
Volksraad, but a subsequent article in the law provides that the
higher rights can be obtained by those who shall have been eligible
for ten years for election to the Second Volksraad; and it is then
explained that, in order to be eligible for the Second Volksraad,
it is necessary to be thirty years of age, to be a member of the
Protestant Church, to live and have landed property in the Republic,
and to have been a naturalized subject for two years. Thus the full
electoral privileges were only obtainable after fourteen years'
residence in the State, and the possession of the other
qualifications of religion, property, etc.
Next came Law No. 13 of 1891, which was rather a codification than an
alteration of previous laws. In 1892 another law was passed again
explaining, but not materially altering the franchise. In 1893 Law
No. 14 was passed as an amendment of previous laws: further juggling
the position--further hedging in the sacred preserve. As the law was
superseded in the following year it is unnecessary to go into
details; but note how the measure became law! It was not published in
the _Staats Courant_ for three months as required by law; it was not
published at all; nor was any special resolution taken affirming that
it was a matter of extreme urgency and therefore to be held exempt
from that rule of procedure; so that the High Court ought to be able
to declare it null and void. The circumstances of its introduction
could not be considered to warrant the plea of urgency. On the 29th
and 30th June, 1893, memorials upon the franchise question were laid
before the Raad. From Johannesburg came one memorial bearing 4,507
signatures out of the grand total of 6,665 memorialists. It was in
favour of _extension_ of the franchise. Another memorial from 103
Free State burghers was in favour of _extension_, another from
Barberton from 40 burghers also for _extension_. Seven memorials,
bearing 444 signatures, were _against_ extension. All the others
concerned minor alterations in Law 13 of 1891, and did not affect
the franchise. The Raad appointed a commission and on the 8th of
September received its report, together with a draft law which had
not before seen the light of day. After a discussion lasting part of
one morning the law was passed provisionally; and to be of full force
and effect until confirmed by the Raad in the following year. Thus
again were the fundamental political conditions entirely altered by
the passing of a law which _two hours before_ had not been heard of.
Law No. 3 of 1894 purports to supersede all other laws. Therein it is
laid down that all persons born in the State, or who may have
established their domicile therein before May 29, 1876, are entitled
to full political privileges. Those who have settled in the country
since then can become naturalized after two years' residence dating
from the time at which their names were registered in the
Field-cornet's books. This naturalization confers the privilege of
voting for local officials, Field-cornets, landdrosts,{11} and for
members of the Second Raad. It is however stipulated that children
born in the country shall take the status of their fathers. The
naturalized subject after having been qualified to vote in this
manner for two years becomes eligible for a seat in the Second
Volksraad--_i.e._, four years after the registration of his name in
the Field-cornet's books. After he shall have been qualified to sit
in the Second Volksraad for ten years (one of the conditions for
which is that he must be thirty years of age) he may obtain the full
burgher rights or political privileges, provided the majority of
burghers in his Ward will signify _in writing their desire that he
should obtain them_ and provided the President and Executive shall
see no objection to granting the same. It is thus clear that,
assuming the Field-cornet's records to be honestly and properly
compiled and to be available for reference (which they are not), the
immigrant, after fourteen years' probation during which he shall
have given up his own country and have been politically emasculated,
privilege of obtaining burgher rights should he be willing and able
to induce the majority of a hostile clique to petition in writing on
his behalf and should he then escape the veto of the President and
Executive.
This was the coping-stone to Mr. Kruger's Chinese wall. The
Uitlanders and their children were disfranchised for ever, and as far
as legislation could make it sure the country was preserved by entail
to the families of the Voortrekkers. The measure was only carried
because of the strenuous support given by the President both within
the Raad and at those private meetings which practically decide the
important business of the country. The President threw off all
disguise when it came to proposing this measure of protection. For
many years he had been posing as the one progressive factor in the
State and had induced the great majority of people to believe that
while he personally was willing and even anxious to accede to the
reasonable requests of the new population his burghers were
restraining him. He had for a time succeeded in quelling all
agitation by representing that demonstrations made by the tax-bearing
section only embarrassed him in his endeavour to relieve them and
aggravated the position by raising the suspicions and opposition of
his Conservative faction.
In 1893 a petition signed by upwards of 13,000 aliens in favour of
granting the extension of the franchise was received by the Raad with
great laughter. But notwithstanding this discouragement, during the
following year a monster petition was got up by the National Union.
It was signed by 35,483 Uitlanders--men of an age and of sufficient
education to qualify them for a vote in any country. The discussion
which took place on this petition was so important, and the decision
so pregnant with results, that copious notes of the Volksraad debate
are published in this volume (Appendix). The only response made to
this appeal was a firmer riveting of the bonds. It is but just to say
that the President encountered determined opposition in his attempt
to force his measure through the Raad. The progressive section
(progressive being a purely relative term which the peculiar
circumstances of the country alone can justify) made a stand,
state that two or three of the intelligent and liberal-minded farmers
belonging to this progressive party, men who were earnestly desirous
of doing justice to all and furthering the interests of the State,
declared at the close of the debate that this meant the loss of
independence. 'Now,' said one old Boer, 'our country is gone. Nothing
can settle this but righting, and there is only one end to the fight.
Kruger and his Hollanders have taken our independence more surely
than ever Shepstone did.' The passing of this measure was a
revelation not only to the Uitlanders, who still believed that
reasonable representations would prevail, but to a section of the
voters of the country who had failed to realize Mr. Kruger's policy,
and who honestly believed that he would carry some conciliatory
measures tending to relieve the strain, and satisfy the large and
ever-increasing industrial population of aliens. The measure was
accepted on all hands as an ultimatum--a declaration of war to the
knife. There was only one redeeming feature about it: from that time
forward there could be no possibility of misunderstanding the
position, and no reason to place any credence in the assurances of
the President. When remonstrated with on this subject of the refusal
of the franchise, and when urged by a prominent man whose sympathies
are wholly with the Boer to consider the advisability of 'opening the
door a little,' the President, who was in his own house, stood up,
and leading his adviser by the arm, walked into the middle of the
street, and pointed to the Transvaal flag flying over the Government
buildings, saying, 'You see that flag. If I grant the franchise I may
as well pull it down.'
It is seldom possible to indicate the precise period at which a
permanent change in the feeling of a people may be considered to have
been effected, but the case of the Uitlanders undoubtedly presents
one instance in which this is possible. Up to the passing of this law
quite a considerable section of the people believed that the
President and the Volksraad would listen to reason, and would even in
the near future make considerable concessions. A larger section, it
is true, believed nothing of the sort, but at the same time were so
far from thinking that it would be necessary to resort to extreme
measures that they were content to remain passive, and allow
their more sanguine comrades to put their convictions to the test. It
is not too much to say that not one person in a hundred seriously
contemplated that an appeal to force would be necessary to obtain the
concessions which were being asked. It might be said that within an
hour the scales dropped from the eyes of the too credulous community,
and the gravity of the position was instantly realized. The passage
of the Bill and the birth of the revolutionary idea were synchronous.
In a brief sketch of events, such as this is, it is not possible with
due regard to simplicity to deal with matters in chronological order,
and for this reason such questions as the franchise, the railway,
dynamite, and others have been explained separately, regardless of
the fact that it has thereby become necessary to allude to incidents
in the general history for which no explanation or context is
supplied at the moment. This is particularly the case in the matter
of the franchise, and for the purpose of throwing light on the policy
of which the franchise enactments and the Netherlands Railway affairs
and other matters formed a portion, some explanation should be given
of President Kruger's own part and history in the period under
review.
Mr. Kruger was elected President in 1882, and re-elected in 1888
without serious opposition, his one rival, General Joubert, receiving
an insignificant number of votes. The period for which he was now
elected proved to be one of unexpected, unexampled prosperity,
furnishing him with the means of completing plans which must have
seemed more or less visionary at their inception; but it was also a
period of considerable trial. The development of the Barberton
Goldfields was a revelation to the peasant mind of what the power of
gold is. The influx of prospectors was very considerable, the
increase of the revenue of the State appeared simply colossal; and no
sooner did the Boer rulers begin to realize the significance of the
Barberton boom than they were confronted with the incomparably
greater discoveries of the Witwatersrand. The President did not like
the Uitlanders. He made no concealment of the fact. He could never be
induced to listen to the petitions of that community, nor to do
anything in the way of roads and bridges in return for the very
heavy contributions which the little community sent to the Republic's
treasury. In those days he used to plead that the distance
was great, and the time required for coach-travelling was too
considerable; but the development of the Witwatersrand and the
growth of Johannesburg within thirty-two miles of the capital, while
disposing of the pretexts which held good in the case of Barberton,
found Mr. Kruger no more inclined to make the acquaintance of the
newcomers than he had been before. Notwithstanding that the law
prescribes that the President shall visit all the districts and towns
of the State at least once during the year, notwithstanding, also,
the proximity of Johannesburg, the President has only visited the
industrial capital of the Republic three times in nine years. The
first occasion was in the early days--a visit now remembered only as
the occasion of the banquet at which Mr. Cecil Rhodes, then one of
the pioneers of the Rand, in proposing the President's health,
appealed to him to make friends with the newcomers, and to extend the
privileges of the older residents to 'his young burghers--like
myself.' That was before Mr. Rhodes had secured his concession, and
long before the Charter was thought of.
There is an unreported incident which occurred a year or two later,
concerning the two strong men of Africa--it was a 'meeting' which
didn't take place, and only Mr. Rhodes can say how it might have
affected the future of South Africa had it come off. The latter
arrived by coach in Pretoria one Saturday morning, and, desiring to
see the President, asked Mr. Ewald Esselen to accompany him and
interpret for him. Mr. Rhodes, knowing the peculiar ways of Mr.
Kruger, waited at the gate a few yards from the house while Mr.
Esselen went in to inquire if the President would see him. Mr.
Kruger's reply was that he would see Mr. Rhodes on Monday. Mr.
Esselen urged that as Mr. Rhodes was obliged to leave on Sunday night
the reply was tantamount to a refusal. The President answered that
this was 'Nachtmaal' time and the town was full of his burghers, and
that he made it a rule, which he would violate for no one, to reserve
the Saturdays of the Nachtmaal week for his burghers so as to hear
what they had to say if any wished to speak to him, as his burghers
were more to him than anyone else in the world. 'I do no business on
Sunday,' he concluded, 'so Rhodes can wait or go!' Mr. Rhodes did not
wait. When he heard the answer he remarked to Mr. Esselen, 'The old
devil! I meant to work with him, but I'm not going on my knees to
him. I've got my concession however and he can do nothing.'
The second visit of Mr. Kruger to Johannesburg was the famous one of
1890, when the collapse of the share market and the apparent failure
of many of the mines left a thriftless and gambling community wholly
ruined and half starving, unable to bear the burden which the State
imposed, almost wholly unappreciative of the possibilities of the
Main Reef, and ignorant of what to do to create an industry and
restore prosperity. This, at least, the community did understand,
that they were horribly overtaxed; that those things which might be
their salvation, and are necessary conditions for industrial
prosperity--railways, cheap living, consistent and fair
government--were not theirs. The President visited Johannesburg with
the object of giving the assurance that railways would be built. He
addressed a crowd of many thousands of people from a platform at the
Wanderers' Club pavilion. He did not conceal his suspicions of the
people, and his attempts to conceal his dislike were transparent and
instantly detected, the result being that there was no harmony
between his Honour and the people of Johannesburg. Later in the
evening the crowd, which had hourly become larger and more and more
excited and dissatisfied, surrounded the house which the President
was occupying, and, without desire to effect any violence, but by
simple pressure of numbers, swept in the railings and pillars which
enclosed the house. Most fortunately the Chief of Police had
withdrawn all the Boer members of the force, and the crowd, to their
surprise, were held back by Colonial, English, and Irish 'bobbies.'
This was probably the only thing that prevented a very serious
culmination. As it was, some excited individuals pulled down the
Transvaal flag from the Government buildings, tore it in shreds and
trampled it under foot. The incident should have been ignored under
the exceptionally trying conditions of the time, but the Government
determined to make much of it. Some arrests were effected, and men
thrown into prison. Bail was refused; in fact, 'martyrs' were made,
and the incident became indelibly stamped on the memory of both Boer
and Uitlander. The President vowed that he would never visit the
place again, and without doubt made use of his experience to
consolidate the feeling of his burghers against the Uitlanders.
At a meeting of burghers several months after this incident, he
referred to the agitation and constant complaining of the Uitlanders,
and stated that they had only themselves to thank for all their
troubles, and yet they would blame the Government. He then proceeded
to entertain his hearers with one of the inevitable illustrations
from life in the lower animal kingdom. 'They remind me,' said his
Honour, 'of the old baboon that is chained up in my yard. When he
burnt his tail in the Kaffir's fire the other day, he jumped round
and bit me, and that just after I had been feeding him.' For five
years Mr. Kruger was as good as his word. He would not even pass
through Johannesburg when convenience suggested his doing so, but
made circuits by road to avoid the place of detestation. It was on
one of these visits to Krugersdorp, a township within the
Witwatersrand Fields, twenty miles from Johannesburg, that the
President, appreciating the fact that besides his beloved burghers
there might, owing to the proximity of the fields, be some
unregenerate aliens present, commenced his address as follows:
'Burghers, friends, thieves, murderers, newcomers, and others.' This
was not ill-judged and laborious humour; it was said in absolute
earnest. The references were repeated at various intervals in the
address and here explained by allusions to the Scriptures and to the
all-merciful God through Whom even the worst might hope to be
redeemed, the inference clearly being that even the Uitlander, by the
grace of God (and, no doubt, Mr. Kruger), might hope in time to
approach the fitness of the burgher.
In the meantime another affair occurred, which revived much of the
old feeling expressed at the time of the flag affair. War was
declared against Malaboch, a native chief with a following of a few
hundreds, who had, it was alleged, refused to pay his taxes. Such
wars are of frequent occurrence in the Transvaal, the reasons
assigned being usually some failure to pay taxes or to submit to the
discipline of the native Commissioners. In this case British subjects
were commandeered--that is, requisitioned to fight or to find in
money or in kind some contribution to the carrying on of the war. It
was felt that the position of the Republic did not warrant at that
time a resort to commandeering, a measure which no doubt was
necessary in the early days when the Republic had no cash; but with a
declared surplus of about £1,000,000 in the Treasury, it was deemed
to be an uncivilized and wholly unnecessary measure, and one capable
of the grossest abuse, to permit men of inferior intelligence and
training, and of no education, such as the Field-cornets are, to
use their discretion in levying contributions upon individuals. The
Uitlanders were especially sensible of the injustice done to them.
They had been definitely refused all voice in the affairs of the
State, and they already contributed nine-tenths of the revenue. They
received in return an infinitesimal portion in the shape of civil
administration and public works, and they were distinctly not in
the humour to be placed at the mercy of Boer officials, who would
undoubtedly mulct them and spare the burghers. Protests were made;
and five of the men commandeered in Pretoria, having point-blank
refused to comply with the orders, were placed under arrest. The High
Commissioner, Sir Henry (now Lord) Loch, was appealed to, and, acting
on instructions from the Imperial Government, immediately proceeded
to Pretoria. The excitement was intense. In Johannesburg a number of
men were prepared to make a dash on Pretoria to effect the forcible
release of the prisoners, and had any steps been taken to enforce the
commandeering law within the Witwatersrand district, without doubt a
collision would have taken place. The supply of arms in the town was,
it is true, wholly inadequate for any resistance to the Boers, but in
the excitement of the time this was not considered.
Sir Henry Loch's visit had the effect of suspending all action; but
the opinion in Pretoria was that should the High Commissioner proceed
to Johannesburg there would be such an outburst of feeling that no
one could foresee the results. Every effort was made to prevent him
from going. Among other steps taken by the President was that of
sending over for the President of the Chamber of Mines, Mr. Lionel
Phillips, and requesting him, if he had the interests of the State
and the welfare of the community at heart, to use his influence to
dissuade the High Commissioner from visiting the town in its then
excited state. Sir Henry Loch, in deference to the opinion expressed
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