THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
THE HISTORY
OF THE
ORANGE FREE STATE.
MARTIN JAMES BOON,
AnXHOE OF
The Immortal History of South Africa,^' " Home Colonisation,"
" Jottings by the Way in /South Africa,^' " National Faper-
Money and its Use"d:c., cCc, dc.
LONDON :
WiLiiUM Ekkte8, 185 Fleet Street ; Martin J. Boon, 170 Farringdon Road
SOOTH AFRICA :
Hay Bxos., Wholesale Agents, King William's Town.
1885.
PRINTED BY
LONGMAN & DAVIES,
3, Jerusalem Passage.
London, E.G.
DT
PREFACE.
O God ! for a man with a heart, head, hand
Like some of the simple great ones gone
For ever and ever bye : —
One still strong man in a blatent laud ;
Whatever they call him what care I ?
Aristocrat, Democrat, Autocrat — One
Who can rule and dare not lie.
— Tennyson.
These " Jottings " on the Orange Free State are but the utter-
ings, voicings, and articulatings of one who has honestly attempted
to pourtray that State as he found it.
Many doubtless have experienced similar thoughts but lacked
the energy and the heart to give them utterance.
I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude to others for their
noble efforts in the past for the amelioration of man's condition,
whilst contributing my humble quota on behalf of human-kmd.
If I have succeeded in opening up any new train of thought
that may have afforded pleasure or information to the readers, I
shall be gratified ; and if the pecuniary results of this little ven-
ture in the cause of human progress merely suffice to pay the
printer, I shall be satisfied ; but as one does not live by paying
printers only, my satisfaction will of course be enhanced should
the harvest be more bountiful than would be required to cover
typographical disbursements.
I offer no apology for anything I have written. The questions
herein mooted affect not only the Orange Free State but the whole
of South Africa.
The Author.
1333118
S;^e pi^targ 0f % §xm^t ixtt ^kit
CONTENTS.
Chapter I. Pp. 1 to 18.
A glance at the early history ol the Free State — Traditions and
speculations as to the Aborigines — The first definite records
about the years 1816 to 1820 — The Griquas under Adam
Kok settle at Griqua Town, and gradually spread them-
selves along the Orange River, concentrating chiefly at
Philippolis — The colonial Dutch farmers commence crossing
the Orange River, and take up their abode in the new
territory, whether they are soon followed by whole bodies
of emigrants — The new comers purchase or lease lands from
the Native Chiefs — The Emancipation of slaves in the
Cape Colony caused large numbers to place themselves be-
yond British control and take up their abode on the
Orange River — The settlers form a government for them-
selves after the model of the old Dutch Government of the
Cape Colony — Matters go on quietly up till 1845 — After
some fracas between the Emigrant Boers and the Griquas
open hostilities break out — The British Government inter,
venes, and assisting the Griquas with Her Majesty's troops-
the Boers are defeated at Zwart Koppies— A British Resi-
dent is established in the country, with a small force to
support his authority — A treaty is concluded between the
British Government and Adam Kok- The terms of the
treaty cause great dissatisfaction amongst the Emigrant
Boers — Their acknowledged chief Andries Pretorius, fails
to obtain any amelioration of the conditions — In February,
1848, Sir Harry Smith jaoclaimed Her Majesty's
Contents. V«
sovereignty over tlie territory — Discontent now breaks out
into hostilities, and in July the British Px,esident is driven
back across the Orange River — Sir Harry Smith comes up
in person with a stronger force, defeats the Boer Commando
at Bloomplats and re-establishes British authority in the
Orange River Sovereignty — The territory remains under
the British Government represented by a Resident at
Bloemfontein up to the year 1854 — Continual embroilments
between the burghers and the Basutos — The cost of keeping
up a large military force to preserve order induces the
British Government to abandon the Orange River Sovereign-
ty — On the 23rd February, 1854, a Convention is entered
into between tne British Government and a body of dele-
gates which forms the Charter of Independence of the
Orange Free State — A Provincial Government formed un-
der the presidency of Mr. Hoffman — A Volksraad, or
assembly of the people elected, and a Republican Constitu-
tion drawn up and adopted — The difhculties of the young
Republic — President BoshofT— War with the Basutos from
March till September, 1858 — The Convention of Aliwal
North — President BoshofF resigned his office and is suc-
ceeded by President Pretorius — Territorial annexations —
Resignation of President Pretorius and election of Presi-
dent Brand — Renewal of hostilities between the Orange
Free State and the Basutos — A treaty of peace and a
definite boundary line agreed upon — The diamond fields by
the Vaal River — The British Government takes forcible
possession of the disputed territory — The rascality of the
Trek Boers — "Land and loot" the watchwords of the
Dutch from the time they occupied the Cape — the Dutch
only know one book, the Bible — From it they gather that
they are the elect of God and the sons of Ham are to be
their servants for ever — They start with the idea that they
are of the House of the Lord and all others mere inter-
lopers — What they call their " advanced mission " amongst
the natives really means extermination — England's inter-
position for the protection of the natives from Dutch vio-
lence — History and facts give the lie to the pretensions of
the Dutch — The Raad, the Executive, and the Sovereignty
vi.'-'" Contents.
of the people — " Commandeering " or *' requisitioning "
neither more nor less than .spoliation or repudiation — The
constitution, duties, payment, and conduct of the Raad or
Parliament — The elements of sound political character not
to be found either in the Free State or Transvaal Republics
— Hollanders fand Germans thrive upon the credulity of
the Dutch — The Free State governed by foreigners — Ex-
posure of the many bad acts of omission and commission
on the part of the Volksraad and the remedies for the same
— Money agencies, or suckers and parasites — The Queen of
Sheba and her treasures — South Sea Bubble-believers —
Majuba, Sir G. P. Colley, and Sir Garnet Wolseley — The
Dutch love of English sovereigns — The Free Staters very,
very brave behind rocks and stones, but perfect cowards in
the open — How the Basutos and the Transvaal Govern-
ment were supplied with arms and ammunition — England's
gold and Germany's poverty — The Moses of the Express —
The best to command are they who know best how to obey,
independently of consequences.
Chapter II. Pp. 19 to 31.
The Free State Express on the dismissal of Dr. Jorissen irom
his position of State Attorney — The policy and cry of the
Dutch party throughout South Africa " Africa for the
Africanders " — The German-Hollander — Jewish faction —
A magnified Cape Town dressmaker — The President of the
Transvaal after conquering the natives, Shoots the leaders,
appropriates their lands, cattle, &c., and enslaves eight
thousand prisoners — " All shall right come " — Monarchical
and Republican Governments contrasted — The Kind of
Government wanted in the Free State — The presence of
barristers and lawyers in Parliament inimical to the sim-
plification of the laws — The election of medical men and
scientists desirable — " Grand old men " — Napoleon the
Third, but the Little, an ai'ch- traitor, perjurer, and bedizened
villain — Sir John Brand and William the Silent of Orange
Contents. viu
—The Capital of the Free State described— The Public
offices a disgrace to the architect— The Church-home and
hospital the result of charity and debt— The chronic
poverty of the " Sisters "—The holy, idiotic, itinerant
bishop and his wretched acolytes so many walking im-
posters— The Dutch Church the outcome of beef, mutton,
and farming produce — Any literary man would feel ashamed
to own the Public Library— The Building Society "a
delusion and a snare " — Although a Dutch Capital with
five thousand inhabitants not a tenth are Dutch — Its Eag
Alley and Petticoat Lane— Its poverty disgusting, and its
immorality and disease an eye-sore to decent people —
Hot-beds of disease exposed in all their intensity and all
their horrors — The prisons of South Africa including that
of the Capital of the Free State— Their filthy and disgusting
condition render them " living hells " — The Neapolitan
dungeons of King Bomba would bear favourable compari-
son with them — The dishonesty and corruption of the
gaolers — The cruelty of long sentences of imprisonment and
the physical and mental torture endured by the victims
thereof — Judge or Jury,
Chapter III. Pp. 32 to 44.
The extortions of lawyers and agents — Political judges a nuisance
in the Free State — They talk bunkum and spout treason
—The Chief Justice of the Free State goes into the
Cape Colony and takes an active part in setting up a
" Bestuur " — Judge Reitz preferring the Presidency of
the Free State to the " Judgemisfitship " sticks at no
meanness to secure it — Mr. Hofmeyer and " Kitchen
Dutch " — The Dutch Artillery manned by young men too
lazy to work, and not fit for much better than targets to be
shot at — The attack on Colonel Anstruther not fair fighting
but simply sudden murder — Free State Doctors mostly
quacks — Their ignorance and extortions — Twenty-five
shillings for a visit, and seven and sixpence for a box of
viii. Contents.
pills — Their stock-in-trade for the most part consists of
impudence and a few bottles with Latin inscriptions upon
them — The officials as a rule are of German or Jewish
nationality — The diamond mine swindle at Jagersfontein —
A member of the Free State Eaad proposes to annex the
Cape Colony — Free State official puppies snarling at John
Bull's big dog — The Climate — The summer heat intolerable?
and the winters cold and unbearable — Whatever grass or
vegetation may be grown in the summer to fatten the
cattle, the frost destroys in the winter, and the wind
blows away for ever — German and Jewish hunger for
John Bull's money — England and the Hanoverian connec-
tion and German intermarriage combination — Downing
Street a curse to all our Colonies — All mineral wealth
must be public property — The Compulsory working of
claims at the diamond mines.
Chaptek IV. Pp. 45 to 49.
An extraordinary piece of hasty legislation — The New Wine and
Spirit Ordinance — Cutting off the patients head to cure the
tooth-ache — Drunkenness amongst the natives, and the
stringent enactment passed to suppress it — Contribu-
tions by Plato, Pliny, Saint Chrysostom, Luther,
Matthew Arnold, Maccall and Boon to the Temperance
Question.
Chapter V. Pp. 60 to 58.
The Bill to punish the illegal possession of diamonds — Trap-
stones sold in the dark by Kaffirs — Gross perjury
and treachery resulting in cruel and unjust sentences —
Free State lawyers — Their ability limited, their extortion
unlimited — As a rule, like the Doctors, they are old mis-
sionaries — The " black sheep " of the legal flock — Some of
Contents. ix.
the dodges resorted to by lawyers for levying black mail —
A Ipersonal momento of the Free State lawyers way of
making Englishmen pay for being fools enough to dwell
there in opposition to Germans and Jews. — The members
of the Free State Bar on strike— Mr. Sheriff Crosby as
Taxing Master takes a very determined stand against the
extortionate practices of the legal fraternity and gains the
Jay — The Dutch are beginning to see that under the sneak-
ing " ferneuking " Jew, German, and Hollander, they are
in the hands of Shylocks— President Brand and his title,
salary, and many public gifts— The Alsatia of Basutoland
—The Dutch Thunderer or Express liar paper, edited by a
Jew and owned by a German, secures by flattery and syco-
phancy a contract for three years' printing— The old Free
State notes and the French assignats—ll^Qix mode of issue,
value, and the security upon which they were based ex-
plained—Surreptitious issue into France by " the political
vagabond " Pitt of assignats that were produced in Eng-
land—Pitt sued in the King's Bench to recover the en-
graver's charges for making the same — Gold owners and
hard money supporters oppose some monetary arrange-
ments—The solution of the financial problem means the
redemption of farmers and manufacturers throughout the
world.
Chapter VI. Pp. 59 to 70.
The Free State still a heathen country, a land still occupied with
both white and black barbarians— The Free State Dutch-
man dirty, mean and cruel — Many an Englishman has
met foul play at their hands—They would feel no Com-
punction in being the death of all the English but for the
difficulty of burying them on the quiet— The Dutch meeting
Houses are virtually courting houses where the young men
look out for wives and the young women sigh for husbands
—The opening of the New Town Hall and Public Library
— Dutch gluttony and drunkenness at the banquet — The
X. Contents.
Englisli the salt of the Free State — A Presidential bereave-
ment — One Cape Town dressmaker taken and the other
left — Polygamy often practised in the Capital though not
sanctioned by law and to have a plurality of wives is not
considered a crime — The clergy are the public advocates
of lying hypocrisy and stealing — Hollanders and Dutch-
men repudiate their just debts and stink in the nostrils of
the English — Debts and dishonour the constant companions
of all the officials in the Free State from the President and
his sons down to all his army of supporters.
Chapter VII. Pp. 71 to 83.
The inestimable value of Public Libraries and Homes of Painting,
Sculpture and ail our Fine Arts — These repositories of
imperishable things will form our future churches to the
shame of the preachers of all denominations — Bible criti-
cisms — A plea for the free discdssion of theological
difficulties — The philosophy of secularism — Orthodoxy and
Agnosticism — Revelation — Lucifer in the Confessional —
"The Pirates of Penzance " — The House of Peers a house
of hereditary vagabonds — The Queen only a figure-head
and in no case useful.
Chapter VIII. Pp. 84 to 99.
The construction of j)ublic works of utility by means of national
paper-money — The dangers of making acquaintances in
Bloemfontein — Africa peculiarly a black man's playground
and a place for no honest man — To cheat and be cheated
is the system all round ; honesty is positively unknown —
The Religious Orders and Churches in Bloemfontein are
compounded of idiotcy, poverty and commercialism. The
Theological College is a disgrace in every respect — The
kiss of Sisterhood and after pleasures — Carnal pleasures
CONSTENTS. ^1'
increase spiritual delights— All the younger ones do it
when the opportunity offers, although they may afterwards
rue it— Dr. Twells, the young half-blood Beck and his
companions— Edwin Heron on the Confessional-" Under
which Lord ? ' — The decline of Orthodoxy— Protestants
and the Bible— The triumph of truth— The Religion of the
future — What we need— Press on.
Chapter IX. Pp. 100 to 121.
The uncertainty of the law ; unique and instructive personal ex-
periences thereof— The Hollander and German arrange-
ments to fleece all producers— A Maitland Street Post-
cart-contractor-of-an-attorney— The faith of the Dutch
Government in stamps— The advantages of the Code
Napoleon— The white adult Africander population lazy,
thriftless and roguish— The Cape no land for emigration,
hut merely a half-way place to India— Oath or affirmation—
The Guelphs and the Throne of England— The " jumping "
proclivities of Free State born commercial assistants— The
Free State, from the President, members of the Parliament,
&c., downwards, a nest of polite and impolite robbers
Boon re-chi-istened without godfather or godmother—
Bloemfontein a most unhealthy spot and the " Queen City
of Cesspools, Cow-Kaals and pigsties— Boon declared to
be a Mormon in heart and a Turk in practice— Bloemfon-
tein the home of the vilest and most contemptible of
human wretches — " Trust none you know not, and trust
none you "know"— Morality not Christianity— Self-improve-
ment— The morality of the future— The coming man's
religion— The animalism of the Free State burghers and
women and its baneful results.
xii. ' COKTENTS.
Chapter X. Pp. 122 to 133.
Drunken and idiotic judges — Victims of the Blasphemy Laws —
The Dutch and English could live side by side happily,
but the German, the Hollander, and the Jew cause strife —
The Parliaments of the Cape Colony and the Orange Free
State — Their manners, customs and attire — The alleged
apathy and indifference of voters in the Cape Colony —
More " legal " abuses and suggestions for their removal —
Boon's political economy — The enormous increase in num-
ber of lawyers in the United States, or an army of locusts
forming a greater pest than the host of monks and friars
that intested Europe on the Eve of the Reformation — M. J»
Boon V. V. Van Reenen — The Press a power to harass and
injure as will as to support.
Chapter XL Pp. 134 to 146.
A woman's description of the Free State lawyers — A black-blooded
Dutch Sheriff — " Paradise " a hell to Boon and the
finishing stroke to his patience — A Free State lawyer's bill
of Costs in Extenso — Boon shows that private, legal,
Parliamentary, and public robberies (in that of Paradise*
Hell) cost him over £1500 in the course of a iew months
— Boon's panacea or " perlect cure " for all legal, clericah
commercial, agricultural, legislative and Presidential
rascality in the Orange Free State.
Chapter XII. Pp. 147 to 153.
The President of the Free State as the lountain of c/zshonour meets
the old Dutch-£2-per-day-men and Town Council — Boon
proposes and describes an installation of the order oi Knight-
hood with very i^uggestive titles — Bully swart Dutchmen,
or^ half blacks with Dutch namee — their insolence to the
English due to the (oily of a Colley and the weakness of a
Contents. xiii.
Gladstone — A modern Daniel — Idolatry — The policy of the
Gladstone Administration and its results in South Africa.
Chapter XIII. Pp. 154 to 167.
Sepinare the Free State made Chief of the Barolongs not the
rightful heir — The rivalry between Sepinare and Samuel
Moroka — Sepinare giving farms to lawyers, missionaries,
and the Bishop of Bloemfontein to ensure their support —
The extortions practised upon the Barolongs to pay the
Resident and the white forces under Commandant Raaff —
The defeat and death of Sepinare by the followers of
Samuel — The Friend of the Free State on the Barolong
disturbances — The annexation of the Barolong Territory —
Diplomatic Relations — The beginning of the end — Aiders
and Abettors — Is it Peace ? — Proclamation by President
Brand — A Treaty of amity ayid TreacJm'y .
Chapter XIV. Pp. 168 to 188.
The financial position of the Free State in 1884 — The failure to
negotiate a loan in England and the causes thereof — Ex-
traordinary Session of the Volksraad — " The way it should
be done " — Patent Law — National paper-money and its
use — A perfect buck animal or human monster — Express
views on the Free State legal profession — The Free State
Balance Sheet — Mr. Higgo and his day of prayer — Hard
Times — More Swindling — Jewish Fire Kings and Fire
Dragons defrauding their creditors and the insurance offices
— The descendants of the Impenitent Thieves of the
Roman Era deserve the liatred of m;>nkind.
Chapter XV. Pp. 189. to 203.
A lively and amusing " Skit " on the Bloemfontein Town Council
by Blikoor — The Sanitary surroundings of Bloemfontein
xiv. Contents.
— Paying the piper — The water supply of Bloemfontein —
How to construct public municipal water works by means
of national paper- money — " Utopia is a pleasant place, but
how shall I c;et there ? "
Chapter XVI. Pp. 204 to 217.
Preparations for a May day ' Festival' — Meeting of the Volksraad
The Treasurer-General's balance Sheet — A Serious debit
balance of £39,722 4s. 3jd — Trade influencing Revenue —
Bad Times — Measures for peace in Basutoland — What a
New Ministry means — The Natal Wityiess on Railways and
the Rebate Customs — But for its connection with England
the Free State would be an uninhabited wilderness —
German and Hollander human asvogals — Boon has a
holiday and goes sight- seeing — The Town Council votes
£10 for a National day of rejoicing — The swearing-in of
His Honour J. H. Brand as President — The procession
amusements, and illuminations.
Chapter XVII. Pp. 218 to 222.
Banking] power a monopoly — " Blue-backs " issued on the public
and their securities stolen, consequently their market
value diminished — Interested parties oppose the issue of
paper-money — Boon's opinion of a few of the " big ones "
— A magistrate not knowing his duties — Commercial
trickery.
Chapter XVIII. Pp. 223 to 228.
Settling with a Landlord — Roman-Dutch Law and E(|uity — Cause
of hatred to a squint-eyed man — Information is vouchsafed
that it is not legal to rob — The Africander Bond says that
Contents. xv.
lawyers are to be extirpated — Hostile feeling to the legal
profession, why and wherefore — The remedy for reformation
lies with the profession itself — The scarcity of " free men ' »
in Bloemfontein, the remainder of business houses ex-
pecting by every mail to receive their conge— K cry to
John Bull.
Chapter XIX. Pp. 229 to 246.
Personal remarks on an unfortunate wretch — Threatened action
for £500 for loss of character — " Fortune favours the
Iji-ave" — Sharpers in Bloemfontein — The Keformer — System
of Thieving Practised by the Medical profession — A
good salary and an enormous fee for two days' visits — The
Volksraad takes the medical faculty in hand — Sharp prac-
tise, buying a farm of a dying man for a small sum —
Medical Scandals — The memorial (translated into English)
got up by the faculty to be presented to the Volksraad to
reduce the tariff Ordinance — How to put down Quackery —
District Surgeoncies — On putting up his shutters for the
last time Boon is asked to deliver a parting lecture — The
selected subject somewhat astonishes the Town Clerk — The
Town Hall hired — A Hard-God, alarmed, summoned a full
meeting of the Town Council — A Mayor believes in free
speech but not in a speech of freedom — Good English
sovereigns and the Town Hall refused ; consequently a
" set to " prevented — A solemn warning to the Prussian
thieves — " A crew to fly from " — St. Edmond-of-the-
Council assures Boon that the refusal of the Hall was the
saving of his (Boon's) life — Programme of entei'tainment
and the laconic letter of refusal — The last Sunday in Bloem-
fontein — No longer light and sunshine, a total eclipse ex-
pected — " Away, away with him, he knows too mucii to
leave us alone."
xvi, Contents.
Valedictory. Pp. 247 and 248.
Boon does not wait for the day of judgement and of doom but
mounts the Post-cart for his last ride in and out of the
Orange Free State — The way to be an ever-living boon, not
for the Free State only but to all States and for all time —
Sad thoughts broke in upon and indignation aroused at
the sight of the dry bed of the Modder-river — Boon begs
to subscribe.
THE
OEANGE FREE STATE :
A GLANCE AT ITS EARLY HISTORY.
CnAriER I.
HE earliest traditionary accounts concerning the
territory now known as the Orange Free State con-
vey the idea that it was not inhabited by any par-
ticular race, but rather that marauding bands from
various tribes, either Kaffirs, Bashmen, or Corannas,
from time to time infested it with a view to secure
pasture for their flocks, or to escape destruction at
the hands of some stronger and "inimical races ; and it is only
about the years from 18 IG to 1820 that the records become
definite as determining the fact that a body of Griquas under
Adam Kok settled at Griqua Town, and afterwards gradually
spread themselves along the Orange River, concentrating their
greatest number at what is now called Philippolis.
About this time many colonial- Dutch farmers commenced
crossing the Orange River with their flocks in search of pasturage
during times of drought in the Colony, and took up their abode in
the new territory, more especially in the vicinity of Riet River.
These pioneers were afterwards followed up by whole bodies of
emigrants, one of which settled in the district of Boshof, on lands
purchased by them from the Coranna chiefs Dantzer and Bloem,
while another located itself in what was afterwards termed Vaal
E,iver district, on lands bought from the chief Mataquan, and many
2 The Orange Free State.
more either leased or bouglit lands in the territory of the Griquas,
between the Rietand Orange Rivers. The numbers of the emigrants
were also greatly increased by the influx of those colonists who
felt themselves aggrieved by the emancipation of slaves, and left
the Colony in 1836 in large numbers in order to place themselves
beyond British control.
These settlers formed a government for themselves after the
model of the old Dutch Government of the Cape Colony, and
matters went on quietly up till 1845, when, in consequence of
some fracas between the emigrant Boers and the Griquas which
resulted in hostilities, the British Government intervened and,
assisting tha Griquas with Her Majesty's troops, defeated the
Boers at Zwart Koppies. To prevent a like occurence, a British
Resident was established in the country, with a small force to
support his authority. But a treaty had been entered into between
the British Government and Adam Kok in 1845, in which certain
terms affecting the Boer tenure of property in Griqualand were
comprehended, which gave great dissatisfaction to the emigrantfj
and their acknowledged chief Andries Pretorious used every
endeavour to procure an amelioration of these terms, but without
success. Accordingly, after the proclamation of Her Majesty's
sovereignty over the territory by Sir Harry Smith, in February,
1848, discontent broke out into hostilities, and the British Resi-
dent was driven back across the Orange River in July, 1848, until
a stronger force could be brought up by Sir Harry Smith in person,
which force met the Boer Commando at Boomplaats, and after a
short but sharp encounter, defeated it, whereby British authority
became re-established in the Orange River Sovereignty.
This territory now remained under the Government, represented
in the person of a British Resident at Bloemfontein, where a fort
had been erected mounting three guns, and the Seat of Residency
had been established up to the year 1854. During this period many
Europeans and colonists of European descent also took up their
abode m the Sovereignty. Owing, however, to the continued em-
broilments of the burghers with the Basutos, under Moshesh and
Moletsaine, not in their own quarrels, but in those of allies of the
British Government, and the cost thereby occasioned of keeping
up a considerable millitary force, the abandonment of the Orange
River Sovereignty was recommended to the Home Government and
The Orange Free State. 3
carried out under the special cDmmissionership of Sir George Clerk,
who, notwithstanding the opposition of many of the inhabitants,
especially of Bloemfontein, made over the government of the Orange
River Sovereignty to a body of delegates representing the various
districts, in terms of a convention entered into on the 23rd February
1854, — which convention is the Charter of Independence of the
Orange Free State.
Two articles of this convention are as follows : — " The British
Government has no alliance whatever with any native chief or tribes
to the northward of the Orange liiver, with the exception of the
Griqua Chief, Kaptyn Adam Kok ; and Her Majesty's Government
has no wish or intention to enter hereafter into any treaties that
may be injurious or prejudicial to the interests of the Orange River
Government ; and the Orange River Grovernment shall have free-
dom to purchase their supplies of ammunition in any British colony
or possession in South Africa, subject to the laws provided for the
regulation of the sale and transit of ammunition in any such British
colonies and possessions." And these articles were approved and
confirmed by Her Majesty's Government.
A Provisional Government was at once formed by the dele-
gates, under the presidency of Mr. Hoffmann, and afterwards a
Republican Constitution was drawn up and adopted by the
Volksraad — the assembly of the people — the members of which
had in the meantime been duly elected.
For some time after its erection into a separate state, the Govern-
ment of the Orange Free State was principally engaged in meeting
the difficulties arising out of the many boundary questions with
petty native chiefs in and bordering on the Free State, the princi-
pal settlement arrived at being the definition of the Vetberg line
between Adam Kok and Cornelis Kok and Waterboer, in 1855.
And it was only during the able presidency of Mr. BoshofF, com-
mencing in August, 1855, that attention could ilrst be given to
the internal affairs of the country, and some order established by
salutary local ordinances, which are in force at the present day,
regulating, amongst other matters, the establishment of law courts,
tariffs, sale of gunpowder, the liquor law, &c. But this dawn of
order was soon to be clouded by territorial disputes with the
Basutos, which assumed greater importance, and eventually, in
March, 1858, culminated in war between the burghers of the new
4 The Orange Fbee State.
Eepublic and their thievish neighbours. The hostilities lasted
with varied fortune, and were finally brought to a close by the
convention of Aliwal North, on the 29 th September, ]858. The
following year, 1859, saw the Orange Free State deprived of the
further services of President BoshofF by the resignation of his
office, and although there are those who may have differed with
him, still the almost universal voice was one of regret at the loss
of the man who not only did so much for the internal regulation
of the country, but also so ably conducted the State through its
early difficulties with Witzie, the South African Eepublic, Scheel
Cobus, and the Basutos.
A successor to President Boshoflf was elected in the person of
President Pretorius, the son of the well-known Commandant-
General Andries Pretorius, of Boomplaats celebrity, who assumed
the reins of office in 18C0. The two principal events during his
term of oflice were — first, the annexation to the Orange Free State
of the Bethulie lands by special treaty with the chief, Tephin ;
and secondly, the purchase from the Griqua chief, Adam Kok, on
his migration to the territory of Nomansland in 1861, of all his
lands, and those he inherited from Oornelis Kok, of Campbell
whereby the Vetberg line became part of the boundary of the
Orancre Free State, and the Government of that State obtained
right and title to the Campbell lands, situated to the north of
Vaal River.
On the resignation of President Pretorius in 1863, a new election
was held, and President Brand, one of the leading barristers of
the Supreme Court in the Cape Colony, assumed ofiice as the
chosen of the people in February, 1864. The peace secured by
the treaty of Aliwal proved a hollow one, and as the Basutos not
only repudiated their treaty engagements, but continued their
depredations and committed various outrages on the burghers
inhabiting their frontier, President Brand's first endeavours were
directed to the attainment of a satisfactory settlement of the
boundary line, and he succeeded in getting this defined by the
arbitration of Sir Philip Wodehouse, Governor of the Cape of
Good Hope, in October, 18G4, whose award was entirely in favour
of the Orange Free State. Notwithstanding this peaceful solution
of the question, the attitude of the Basutos grew daily more and
more threatening, and the Orange Free State saw itself forced to
The Ora.nge Fkee State. 5
arms, and took the field in May, 1865. The struggle lasted
eleven months, and then hostilities ceased, a treaty of peace, on
very advantageous terms for the Orange Free State, being signed
at Thaba Bosigo, Moshesh's stronghold on the 3rd April, 1S6G,
by which, among other conditions, a large tract of country was
ceded to this State.
The new territory was inspected by commissioners, and divided
into farms which were granted and sold on conditions of military
tenure, and as Basuto squatters had here and there re-occupied
portions of this tract, it became necessary to clear the country of
them by a commando called out for that purpose on the i2th
March, 1867. But this measure had not the desired effect, for in
the months of June and July following, parties of Basutos re-entered
the territory, and murdered two subjects of the Orange Free State
named Bushe and Krynauw, and defiance was flung at its Govern-
ment when it demanded the delivery to justice of the murderers.
Consequently, in the month of August, 1867, the Commando of
the Orange Free State burghers took the field afresh, and soon
victory crowned the Free State cause, as stronghold after strong-
hold was taken from the enemy, and there remained now only to
Moshesh his own fortress of Thaba Bosigo, when hostilities were
brought to a close by the intervention of the British Government,
according to proclamation of His Excellency Sir Philip Wode-
house, dated 12th March, 1868, whereby Moshesh and his subjects
were declared to be British subjects.
An armistice was agreed upon, during which this contravention
of Article 2 of the Convention of the 23rd February, 1854, formed
the topic of a lengthy correspondence, and it was only alter a
deputation from the Orange Free State was sent to England that
a satisfactory settlement of the question was arrived at, as defined
in the Convention of Aliwal North, dated 12Lh March, 1869,
whereby the terms of peace and a definite boundary line to the
new territory were finally fixed, as agreed upon between Her
Majesty's High Commissioner and the Orange Free State
Government.
Immediately after this settlement had been arrived at, negotia-
tions were carried on with the Transvaal Fvcpublic which resulted
in a Deed of Slibmission by which the definition of the boundary
line between the two Republics was confided to the arbitration of
6 The Okaxge Fiiee Stape.
Lieutenant-Governor Keate, of tlie Colony of Natal, and his
decision was communicated to the respective Governments in
February, 1870 ; and the award, although virtually at variance
with the object for which the arbitration was agreed on, was never-
theless, in the interests of peace and a good understanding with
its sister Republic adopted by the Orange Free State.
But another boundary question which had from time to tim3
engaged the attention of the Volksraad — viz. : that between the
Orange Free State and Nicolas Waterboer — now assumed pro-
minence owing to the discovery of diamonds on the Vaal Pv-iver,
near Pniel, a mission station ot the Berlin Mission Society in the
district of Jacobsdal. A Deed of Submission had been agreed
upon between the Orange Free State Government and Captain
Nicolas Waterboer, whereby the then Governor of the Cape
Colony, Sir Philip Wodehouse, was appointed to arbitrate as to
the claims set up on behalf of Waterboer to the Campbell Lands
to the north of the Vaal River, which had been purchased from
Captain Adam Kok by the Free State Government ; but the deed
was rendered nugatory by the removal of Sir Philip Wodehouae to
the Governorship of Bombay in British India.
Under these circumstances every endeavour was made to bring
the matter to a satisfactory solution, without further loss of time,
but without avail ; and at last the Orcin^e Free State Government,
after a meeting with Waterboer and his Council at Nooitgedacht,
on the Vaal River, on the 18th August, 1870, from which meeting
the latter unceremoniously withdrew, saw itself constrained to
proclaim the territorial boundaries of the Campbell Lands to the
north of Vaal River purchased by it from Adam Kok, as heir to
Cornells Kok, in 1861.
Meanwhile, a large influx of people from all parts of the Cape
and Natal colonics and from foreign countries, to the Diamond-
fields on the banks of the Vaal River, took place, and gradually
spread itself to tlie dry diggings at Du Toit's Pan, Bultfontein,
and Vooruitzigt, in the districts of Pniel, which had been newly
created out of the districts of Jacobsdal and Boshof, in order to
provide for the establishment of a more efficient control and
special regulations for the moral and sanitary condition of the
mining population ; and while the Orange Free State Government
was engaged in the consideration of the required measures to
The Orange Free Statn. 7
meet the altered circumstances of this portion of its territory,
Waterboer, urged on by his agent, presented a petition to the
British Government representing that a great portion of the
territory had been encroached upon by the Orange Free State
Governm-ent, and requesting its acceptance of himself and his
people as subjects, and its intervention on his behalf.
Lieutenant Governor Hay, then Acting High Commissioner
of the British Government, thereupon identifying himself with
Waterboer's representations, and without awaiting an answer to
his ofEclal inquiries as to the right and title of the Orange Free
State Government to the lands claimed by Waterboer, forthwith,
in violation of the second and other articles of the Convention of
23rd February, 1854, appointed commissioners and empowered
them with authority over the diggers, which authority was at first
only exercised on the north side of the Vaal.
On the arrival of Governor Barkly at the Cape in 1871, a pro-
clamation was issued on the 27th October, 1871, declaring Water-
boer and his people British subjects, and claiming as his territory
not only the Campbell Lands, to the north of the Vaal, but also
all the territory on the south side o€ that river up to a straight
line from Platberg to David's Graf, at the junction of the Riet and
Modder Rivers, and thence in a straight line to Ramah and the
Orange River. This proclamation was followed up by forcible
possession being taken of the lands in question, in a time of pro-
found peace ; and in order to avoid a collision and the dire effects
which a war with a consanguineous race in the Colony would
inevitably entail, the Government of the Orange Free State with-
drew its authority and officials from that portion of its territory
by proclamation of President Brand, dated 8th November, 1871,
under solemn protest against this invasion of its rights. It has
since endeavoured to obtain justice for the violation of its territory
in arbitration, and deeds of submission thereto, on the merits of this
question, are still under discussion and correspondence between
the Government of Her Majesty and that of the Orange Free
State.
Many events have occurred in conDection with this question, each
in its turn threatening to disturb the peaceful relations between
the parties concern'eH in it ; but sufficient proof has been given
that the terms of the Conveutiou of 1854 have not received that
8 The Orange Fkee State.
due regard which a weaker power may with the more justice
expect from the stronger, and that the endeavours of the Govern-
ment of the Orange Free State to secure the definition of the
boundary line made over to them, with all its attendant difH-
culties, by that Convention, have but too often been thwarted
by those from whom it had a right to expect every possible co-
operation.
Such, then, are the principal events which have occupied the
Orange Free State Government to such a degree that the internal
affairs of the State have not received that attention which many
important branches urgently demand ; and to this it is owing that
the judicial, administrative, and educational departments still call
forth the earnest study of every well-meaning citizen with a view
to their establishment on the best possible footing.
Being a Kepublican, I necessarily took a deep interest in the
Orange Free State and Transvaal Republics. A system may be
good in theory but very defective in practice, or in consequence
of the imperfect way in which the system is carried out.
The Trek Boers who had left the Colony in haste, as they said
through fear of the English, in reality did so because they w^ere
no longer allowed to do as they liked in stealing, first the cattle,
then the land, and finally the persons of the natives to make them
slaves under the guise of indentured servants, whom they agreed
to pay wages either in money or in kind. It invariably happened
however that the Boers, lacking common honesty, dismissed their
victims without paying them ; and thus they goaded the unfor-
tunate natives to help themselves, which resulted in their being
called a band of thieves ; whereas, to speak truthfully, the Boers
were the thieves in the first instance. I know there are some who
will, upon reading this statement, indignantly challenge its truth ;
to them I say, "reserve your judgment until you have followed
me to the end of this chapter and book."
" Land and loot" have been the watchwords of the Dutch from
the time they occupied the Cape ; and Mr. Merriman, of the Cape
Government, said as much in the House of Assembly in the
Session of July, 1SS3, after the Dutch Emigrants had trekked into
Tembuland, and were backed up by the Dutch Members of Parlia-
ment, who advised them to resist lawful authority and defy the
Government.
The Orange Free State. 9
This was only on a par with the movement in Stellaland where
a number of families moved " to fields afresh and pastures new,"
and without any definite idea of government, banded themselves
into a sort of community, and for general practical purposes elected
a Head ; and according as they prospered or otherwise, this man
was remunerated or discarded — a mode of procedure that after all
was but a repetition of the method in vogue in old times.
I don't deny that many of the old leaders were brave men, who
with full confidence in the rifles and powder supplied them by
England, boldly went into the forests, risked their lives among
the native tribes, and in many cases, as in Weenen in Natal, be-
came the victims of treachery ; but still with marvellous pluck
they continued to face their enemies, whom they relentlessly mowed
down with their rilles and elephant guns until they ultimately
attained their ends.
There was nothing at all wonderful in this ; the Dutch only
know one book — the Bible — from which they gather, and don't
want to learn anything beyond what is to them the all-important
fact, that they are the Elect of God, and that the sons of Ham are
to be their servants for ever. In this they are in no way different
from many who make use of that unfortunate book solely for the
purpose of upholding their own special views and interests ; and
who, without so much as having heard of Tamerlane or Suarrow
of Catherine's time, would in imitation of them even " make a
desert " of either of their so-called Republics if they thought it
necessary to do so in order to put down opposition and remove all
obstacles from their path. Now, starting with the idea that they
are of the House of the Lord and all others are but interlopers,
they take possession of the land for their daily sustenance ; then
all they ask is to be left alone to carry out their •* advanced
mission" or — as it really means — extermination in their own
way.
In the very Free State where I penned these words, the Dutch
had to be restrained by the English, who refused to abandon that
sterile mountain-top part of Africa until they had obtained from
the Dutch a promise of protection for the natives. Notwithstand-
ing their solemnly reiterated pledges, such were the encroachments
of the Dutch upon the natives at Philippolis and in Griqualand
West, that the English had again to step iu and protect the natives
10 The Orange Fkee State.
once more from what would eventually have been extermination.
That they are trying to repeat the process is to be seen by those
who read in this year 1883 — 4, in Mackarani country on the other
side of Kimberley, where they have attempted to set up a miniature
Kepublic to the detriment of the natives and also of the white
population. I know that the Dutch will swagger and maintain
that they are the victims of England's greed ; but nothing of
the kind. I, living on the spot, had good, full opportunities of
finding out — and I took the trouble to ascertain — the truth ; and
I fearlessly assert that history and all the facts of the case give
the lie to the pretensions of the Dutch.
The Free State, as a Republic, possessed the basis of the best
possible form of government ; but all its real advantages were
entirely ignored, both by the Raad and the Executive. The prin-
ciple of the sovereignty of the people was tacitly understood, and
by the people cherished in good faith. AVithin the last few years
they had no standing army, every burgher being at all times
liable to be called upon for service. What is known there as
" commandeering " — a system somewhat similar to the " requisi-
tioning " practised by the Germans in the war with France in
1880-81 — was carried on in the Free State; and in most cases was
neither more nor less than spoliation or repudiation, unless the
victims were prepared, by way of compensation, to occupy lands
conquered, or to receive cattle that had been looted, with a certain
quantity of " black ivory " thrown in as future slaves. The
equality of man is at no time recognised, and to such a pitch of
frenzy have they arrived, that they are now disposed to shout
Africa for Africanders of European descent, totally ignoring the
Africanders of the soil. As it is possible that the natives may
determine to resist these raids upon their lands and cattle, the
Republic now maintains a standing artillery force, and keeps on
hand a supply of dynamite wherewith to attack the natives in
their hills and strongholds if they object to give up their lands
and cattle, or pay taxes as tributaries.
The Raad, or Parliament, is constituted mainly of farmers, and
they meet annually. Dignity and honour are to them words with-
out meaning. In order to give no cause for complaint, they as-
semble in the winter months, when pastoral and agricultural
operations generally cannot be undertaken, receiving for their
The Okaxge Free State. U
services the sum of £2 per day ; and I fearlessly assert that but
for this public bribe, not a tenth part of their number would leave
their homes. I am a supporter of the principle of payment of
Members of Parliament, but then I expect they will give an
honourable return for their remuneration. The bulk of these men
never understand the questions brought before them unless they
relate to cattle or pounds, but are entirely guided by their Predi-
kant and the few leaders, so that in reality they might as well
vote by proxy ; and they would do so were it not that they must
be present in order to secure the £2 per day. Such is their joy
at getting the same to take back to their wives and children, and
their greed to increase the amount, that they unnecessarily prolong
every Session, and even have extraordinary Sessions so as to make
it more ; whilst their travelling expenses are allowed them at all
times. In almost all cases these men free the farming interest
from taxation, and lay it heavily upon the commercial portion of
the community, who generally are not of Dutch extraction, and
they feel the burden most acutely.
Once in every five years, the Kaad or Parliament nominate one
of their body for election as their President, and he is ilnally
chosen by the general population ; but such is the supineness of
the rural inhabitants that they never question what is provided
for them, thus opening the way for any unprincipled advsnturer
who may be proposed as their President to assist in the nefarious
designs of the Assembly.
The Republican is the highest form of Government by virtue of
the fact that it requires the highest form of intellect to understand
and follow it up to its final conclusions. This truth should com-
mend itself to the whole world ; a properly constituted Govern-
ment can only exist where the people are thoughtful and honest,
and where they manifest fidelity to the principles of honour and
the service of public utility ; and I fearlessly say that these
elements of sound political character are not to be found either in
the Free State or Transvaal Republics. Attached to both Re-
publics are a number of Hollanders and Germans, who thrive upon
the credulity of the Dutch, so that you may say in reality of the
Free State that it is governed by foreigners, who maintain their
position by traducing the English and levying all the taxes upon
imported goods ; and thus it will continue until they eat up the
12 The Orange Free State.
native-born Dutch, wlio must continue to suffer unless they again
ask and obtain protection from England.
The Late Session of Volksraad.
The various Acts ot Legislation recently passed tbrougb the
Volksraad aie so entirely at variance with the best interests of
the community at large, and so obviously caused by the utter
ignorance of, or indifference to, the real condition under which alone
a young Colonial State can prosper, that we cannot refrain from
trying to point out where, in our opinion, the root of the evil lies,
with a view of eliciting an exhaustive discussion of the whole
matter ; which may eventually lead to the improvements in our
general position — the imperative necessity of which everybody
will admit. Amongst the many bad acts of commission and omis-
sion lately passed of which we have great reason to complain,
are : —
1. The refusal of admission to foreign Banks, excepting the
Bank of Africa.
2. The refusal of the veto right to the President.
3. The bad principle of favouritism by giving out, contrary to
law, important Government contracts without calling for tenders;
which bad example is bound to act as a very bad pattern and
precedent.
oA. The neglect of suitable Postal arrangements.
4. The new liquor-law which aims at destroying the liberty of
the subject, and inaugurates the antiquated and ridiculous attempt
of improving morals by an act of law.
5. The highly important decision of the hon. Volksraad in the
matter of compulsory working of claims in the Free State diamond
mines, the consequence of which will be to destroy all faith in the
validity of our titles or tenure of property under Free State laws.
Our hon. Volksraad being chiefly composed of farmers without
any experience of business, or any wide range of knowledge be-
yond that of the immediate requirements of their own class, it
cannot be wondered at that their deliberations on these important
measures are so wide of the mark, as these matters would tax to
the utmost the best powers of men who are endowed with the
The Orange Feee State. 13
liigliest intellect, and alive to tlie interests of a progressive new
country. At present the farming interest is the only one which
can be said to receive any special attention at the hands of our
Legislative Assembly. Whenever questions concerning any other
class of burghers, be they business men or diggers, are to be regu-
lated by law, experience has shown the majority of members of
the Volksraad to be altogether ignorant of the simplest questions
involved, and their interference has naturally had the effect
of making a mess of these matters to the detriment of the best
interests of the whole State.
Now it is our opinion that this deplorable state of affairs is
principally due to the great indifference shown to the political
institutions by the more enlightened inhabitants of the State and
to their political duties and rights. Up to within the last few
years legislation in this country was carried on in a rather noise-
le.ss way, without interfering much with the rights of those classes
of the community who were not farmers ; but the result of the
war in the Transvaal has entirely altered the aspect of affairs, and
the formation of the Africander Bond has tended to bring to bear
a very decided and strong influence on legislation, with the object
of ruling all classes of the community, regardless of their legisla-
tive needs, according to the ill-considered views of the more unen-
lightened class of farmers. To put the case briefly, an intelligent
minority and their interests — which are likewise very important
interests, common to all burghers of the State — are at present not
represented in the Volksraad at all ; and it is of the highest im-
portance that they should exert whatever influence they may have
to mend this great grievance. There is not, in our opinion, any
complaint of malice or ill-will against the majority of the present
legislators ; it is principally their want of knowledge of the real
bearings of the cases not immediately connected with farming
interests which leads so often to those bungles in law-making, and
a remedy can only be effected by strenuous efforts which, however,
may be easily made successful.
It is suggested that the classes most interested, all over the
State, should iorthwith be communicated with to send delegates
to Bloemfontein with a view of discussing the above matters, and
either of forming a separate association, for the protection of the
injured vested interests by the aid of supporting a good newspaper
14 The Orange Free State.
and au agitation for the purpose of returning more suitable mem-
bers for the Volksraad at all future elections ; or of joining the
Africander Bond in a body for the purpose of guiding its inlluence
in the proper direction for the development of the best interests of
all classes of the community. The necessary agitation to be decided
upon by a Central Committee, the members of which to be resident
at or near Bloemfontein, and immediate measures to be taken in
order to bring the worst grievances before the impending extra
Session of the Volksraad.
While I write, these flattering foreigners, finding that the pro-
spect is not so bright, have conceived anew idea ; and in conjunc-
tion with the Dutchmen of the Colony hold it over the heads of
the colonists in terrorevi. Having no money of their own,
depending upon an English currency, not possessing too much
natural wealth, and not knowing yet how to make or construct
their own railways and other public works without bonds, loans
or mortgages, as I have in my other works explained, they have
conceived (more especially since the Majuba affair in the Trans-
vaal, which I will discuss hereafter) the idea that the colonists
ought to pay black- mail, on what they are pleased to call a rebate
on Custom dues, which if they were such fools as to do, they say
would enable them to pay interest for the money to build their
railways ; and led on by the foreigners, I have named, cry out
like spoilt children for English gold, irrespective of justice, or
without giving any sound reason for the same. They ignore the
fact, or rather choose to forget that it is the colonists that jiave
incurred debts — over twelve millions — to make harbours and
breakwaters, railroads, and main roads, to facilitate transit up
and down, and that in reality it is but an insurance fund to guard
the outside of the Colony, positively making it possible for the
Dutchman to live on his farm, and these political impostors to
fatten on the credulity of the farmers.
Of course as might be expected, there is to be found all sorts of
money agencies at work, to get enriched at the expense of the
community ; and it may virtually be said that there is not one
farmer out of ten who is not under some monetary obligation to
these agencies, and simply because the foreign governors ask to
share the plunder with their friends at home. It is not too much
to sav that the?e suckers and parasites are beginning to think
The Orange Free State. 15
that the Free State is played out, and I must admit they are not
far wrong. The EngUsh market at Kimberley and the late wars
have enriched all, but as these circumstances are not likely to last
or occur again for some time to come, they are packing up their
trunks and making their way to the Transvaal, to bamboozle and
persuade the rotten G-overnment there to pass away in the form
of Conventions, valuable tracts of land which they say are the
exact spots where the Queen of Sheba got all her treasures.
What wonderful faith some people have in these days. If I was
disposed to give an opinion, I should say that in her wisdom Her
Sheban Majesty took all away from that spot long long ago, but
such is the simplicity of some people in haste to get rich, that they
will give away, like the dog over the brook, the substance for the
shadow ; and will only realise that they are dupes when they, like
the South Sea Bubble-believers, find themselves deficient of all
their means.
The present leaders of the Transvaal are but the accidental out-
come of the mistake made at Majuba by that unfortunate impul-
sive man, Sir G. P. Colley, and afterwards overlooked and condoned
by the weak and vacillating policy of a false, peace-at-any-price,
paltry, party Government ; and which has had the result not only
of making the very name of Englishmen a bye-word in both Re-
publics, bnt has brought about the positive ruin of thousands
through putting faith in the words of Sir Garnet Wolseley, that
" as long as the sun shone, no alteration could take place or cause
the removal of the British Flag;" and yet in the face of all these
promises, a most unjustifiable peace was proclaimed. One could
have tolerated much, if the Transvaal leaders had started with
honour and dignity, and if, having been saved from bankruptcy and
native devastation, they had oflPered to re-coup the outlay of the
British Government. Such a course would have been decent and
becoming, but to attempt to repudiate all the advantages given,
was the act of blackguards and blacklegs ; and the sudden attack
on the troops, while playing a parade tune, was an act of infamy
that no future apology can wipe out. It was simply a wild-animal
blood-seeking attack, which no Government ought to have over-
looked, much less the English Government. The whole campaign
including the conclusion of peace by telegraph was so disgraceful,
that in very shame Englishmen try to forget the bitter humiliation
IG The Orange Free State.
they were subjected to, and sucli a wretched makeshift for right
will yet necessitate the alteration of the whole of the conditions, if
Englishmen are to be respected.
This peace gave birth to a wretched compound called an Afri-
cander Bond, ostensibly got up by the Germans in order to stir
up the Dutchman to get rid of the English — and to make way for
an offshoot of the German Empire. At the Congress at Richmond,
a resolution was moved to encourage patriotism as a preparation
for a United Flag of Africa.
The States of Africa can never be independent while their
natives increase and multiply as they do, any more than India
could be governed by its white population. In India the experiment
was tried and it failed, so that at last the whole had to be ruled
as a conquered province. It is true that the Whig, to save expense
desires the Colonies to take care of themselves ; but Africa is not
like our other Colonies where the native population decreases,
making it possible for white occupation. On the contrary, the
Kaffir increases, notwithstanding the various epidemics and the
many wars that have taken place time after time.
It would be a sad day for all the Dutch, if ever the English
Flag was lowered, for even now the Boers are regretting that the
English are gone, and many would be glad if they would but
return. The fact is only now and then let out, so don't tell it in
Gath, or make it known in Ascalon — they do love the English
golden sovereigns. But for the last few years Africa has stank in
the nostrils of Great Britain. The English people have spent
millions to assist in putting down native disturbances in the
Colony, Zululand and the Transvaal, principally for the benefit of
steam companies, controllers, tariffs, contractors, and officers ;
and for all this outlay, they should have had peace and good- will
among all the people. It is also my firm conviction notwith-
standing all the past loss and mismanagement, England would
spend millions more, if it ■« as needed, to prevent the overwhelming
of the white population by the black ; but if she does, it will be
in her own way, and for the benefit of the whole, not a part.
Tlie wretched attempt of a Sprigg to control the Basutos by
unjustifiable means, cost the Colony over three millions, and then
such was the stand made by the Basutos, for what even the
colonists (not Spriggites) considered they were not entitled to, that
The Orange Free State. 17
the party of land and loot had at last to ask the English Govern-
ment to take over a land that they could not control and govern.
The acceptance of this duty by England is the one gleam of light
through many a long day of gloom. Once let the English flag fly
as representative of England's might, and all will be well from
the Drakensberg to the Zambesi. This prospect has called forth a
howl of fright, and even the gallant so-called reliant Free State*
that prided itself upon beating what they are pleased to call a
nation of thieves — after having robbed the Basutos of the land as
well as the geese and cattle that were sustained upon it — shout
out for mighty England to protect, not only the Colonial Border,
but even their's, for fear it might cost them too much to do so
themselves. Bah ! the Free Staters are like their Transvaal
brethren, very, very brave behind rocks and stones — but perfect
cowards in the open. This assumption of Basutoland may event-
ually lead to the amalgamation of the Transkei, Nomansland,
Natal and Zululand, as a whole Province to the advantage of all,
if wisely carried out — after the style of the old Romans. Once
let England plant her flag there should be no retreat, let the con-
sequences or expense be what it might. For England there is no
retreat, but after death ; let who may say to the contrary. This
is a view by no means impossible, and even the Free State is
alarmed, and in addition to asserting that they have paramount
claims to be considered, they have the impudence to say it was
Colonial mismanagement that brought the Free State into
jeopardy, and that the taking over of the Basutos was a breaking
of the Aliwal Treaty. The despatches, on the taking-over question
prove nothing of the kind. They simply reminded the Orange
Free State of certain conditions contained in the Convention
which they would have to fulfil ; and one of these conditions was,
that they should not invade Basutoland, or wink at its principals
— German, Pinch-Us, Boo- Man, Green and traders in its Capital
and elsewhere, supplying the Basutos with arms and ammunition,
as the President had done for a long time, as well as al-cwirjs-
his own sons — who rented or owned farms in the conquered terri-
tory—to do the same for many years with impunity. Methinks,
I see an attempt to deny all this ; but having lived in the Free
State, when the Colonial Government stopped their ammunition
supply, I can hurl the lie in their teeth. I boldly assert, and
B
18 The Orange Free State.
could prove that it was mainly due to the large supply of ammu-
nition and the very best arms by the Free Staters, that the war
was so prolonged, and which caused the Colonists to depart from
Basotoland in disgrace. The Free State Government lent and
sold ammunition to the Transvaal Government, to compel the
Mapochs to surrender, and what with the help of the English
volunteers and others — whom they had compelled to enter their
ranks — notwithstanding that the Convention specified that British
subjects should be exempt, they did at last make the poor wretches
after many, many months of besieging, deliver themselves up —
some to be shot, others to be transferred as servants among the
farmers, to be articled, they say, for a number of years, to sow
again dissention aud revolt among the native tribes. Although
it may be a fact, that the natives will settle down where there is
water and grass, still they remember the land of their birth and
the mountain stad of their chief. The close proximity of the British
flag seems to many to forebode the beginning of the end of Dutch
rule in South Africa, with the top of the wedge at Masaru and
Cape Town as the future New York of South Africa, with its
railway right up to Kimberley — supplying from the Western Pro-
vinces the whole of the interior trade, with the prospect of the
Bechuanas, placing themselves under British protection, and after-
wards the line of railway round on the Colonial side of the Trans-
vaal to the Garden of Rustenburg, and finally on to Pretoria, will
keep the Free State out in the cold, and without her railways, en-
girdle her still more with British influence and might.
The Natal and Zululand and Delogoa Bay or St. Lucia's Bay-
Railway on the Eastern side will also encircle the whole ; and
thus at last it will drop imperceptibly as it were into the hands of
the Englishman. A gleam of this strikes the Dutch already, and
they are even suspecting the Germans of being two-faced, watch-
ing which pays the best, to take advantage of England's gold or
■Germany's poverty. To such a length has their fear gone that, a
Moses — the leader of the Exjjress — feels somewhat astonished at
such treatment. The best to command are they who know best
how to obey, independent of consequences.
Chapter II.
PIE Fiee State Express is very indignant at Dr.
Jorissen being dismissed from his position of State
Attorney of the TransvaaL
"Nothing short of high treason," it says, " could
surely justify such treatment of a man who has so
eminently served the Transvaal. Dr. Jorissen was
the guiding mind in the war of liberty. It is all
but impossible to believe that — in return for his zeal, devotion,
and patriotism — he should have been treated so outrageously. In
either case, it shows anything but a healthy state of political life,
and it is most painful for a staunch friend of the Transvaal and
its people to have to say this."
Bat the Transvaalers are only true to the policy of the Dutch
party throughout Soath Afriea. The cry of the party is " Africa
for the Africanders." The leaders declare that the people born
of the soil are quite able to goversi themselves, and they ask all
other people to leave alone. Dr. Jorissen, is a foreigner ; he is a
Doctor of Theology, brought to the Transvaal by President
Burghers to be Superintendent of Education. The Volksraad do
not want him, they feel strong in themselves ; and hence give him,
as they gave other foreigners, notice to quit. Tliere are a few
demented men who think differently ; as did the Boer on the Pre-
toria Market, who when failing to get a bid for his produce, ex-
claimed, — " Where are the English people ?" He was but a Boer,
with a lamentable weakness for sterling money, and may be passed;
but to find the B!oemfontein Exjiress holding up its hands in token
of horror, is astonishing. The Editor called it " base ingratitude,"
but in so doing forgets his party, like the Boer farmer, perhaps
because of personal interest. There may be base ingratitude ;
there may be treason ; but the dismissal of Dr. Jorissen is only
carrying out the policy of the self-styled Africander-party ; which
is to get rid of everyone whose family is not of Dutch extraction
b2
20 The Orange Feee State.
•with, several generations buried in colonial soil. The indignation
of the Express is amusing ; apparently it has not before under-
stood the doctrines it has diligently proclaimed. When they are
understood by others, a similar effect will be produced, and Free
State farmers may give notice to a German Borckenhager to
clear out immediately.
The Transvaal have lost faith in Foreign Hollanders, and under
the cover of needing a legal Attorney-General, have got rid of
one of their ablest men, who acted so shamelessly against the
English at the time of hostilities.
All this indignation is truly laughable, «oming as it does from
the German-Holland Jewish, faction, who doubtless see in this
removal, notice to quit likewise, and perhaps they will feel some
day like the engineer " hoist with his own petard."
The President of the Free State has made his arrangements for
future office; and longs for a trip, to Old England to recruit his
health and air his new Sir-Ship in company with her who is now
not only his wife but his " lady " also, and once a Cape Town
dressmaker ; who after fluttering in England during their brief
holiday will return once more to disgust the stout dames of
South Africa, and when the services of her husband are no longer
required, they can retire upon a pension to some more congenial
clime.
The President of the Transvaal having thanked God for victory
over the black sons of Ham, shot the leaders, and taken possession
of the land, cattle, &c., of the conquered, put their eight thousand
prisoners all out to a life-long service. Then, being in need of a
holiday, the President instead of going to Holland to be congratu-
lated, or Germany to be tabooed, goes to England in the vain hope
that he will there receive some honour and secure an alteration of
the terms of the Convention. Whilst there he laid in a stock of
bell-toppers, white ties, and black suits to strut about in during
the remaining brief period of his authority in the Transvaal Pre-
sidency ; for, according to Mr. Hofmeyr, the Republican President
and members of Parliament are most particular about being
dressed in English court-costume when performing their Senatorial
duties. Truly this portion of the world, like many other parts is
governed by precedent but with very little wisdom, and without
going to the root of things.
The Orange Free State. 21
These men — to keep up an appearance of decency, and to
satisty the cant and humbug of those who in lawn- sleeves, with up-
turned eyes, bless flags and arms — go to their places of worship
and call upon the God of battles to help them to crush out their
enemies. Acting in this contemptible spirit, Joubert, the Com-
mander of the Transvaal, went to a spot where no white man
had ever stood, and in full consciousness that the God of battles
was on their side a volley was fired, and then in a stentorian voice
he gave out the first verse of flie Psalm No. 134, after singing
which they retired thinking they had done a noble work. The
President of the Transvaal was but a successful farmer, and an
accidental leader — the outcome of Boer savagery, in the war as
they call it, of independence against the English. This war was
undertaken to enable them to repudiate the debts they had con-
tracted, and to take possession ot English spoil in the Free State
in the shape of buildings and the portable wealth and the gold,
the result of fancy and impartial prices, and which they secured
during the English occupation, after the English had destroyed
ecocone and paid off all their liabilities.
It is said in private life, if you want to make a man your enemy
— place him under a money obligation. This was their exact
position — without means or credit— prior to the English going to
the Transvaal. Directly the Boers waxed fat, through such occu-
pation, they began to kick ; such is the usual way of men,
especially where there is no sense of honour or dignity.
The President of the Free State is a well-meaning gentleman,
originally a practitioner in the Colonial courts, but not a prominent
or successful one. He was requested to accept the Presidency, in
the hope that his knowledge of English good-nature would enable
him to secure from them English means, as John Bull was known,
when in a good humour, to be rather soft and liberal. The President
is a decent country gentleman, with ordinary lawyer-official-like
ability, but possessed of no genius and without any special aptitude
for governing. His special advantage over more intelligent men, is
the silent unconcerned manner in which he takes all matters, and
his undoubted faith in the pure simplicity of John Bull. The one
grand speech of his life, which ought to be placed on his tomb when
translated into English, was, " all shall right come ;" and I must
admit his unbounded faith in his own words, forjudging by the
22 The Orange Free State.
little improvements that have taken place, during the last twenty-
years, no one will credit him with aiding in any way to produce
two blades of grass, where one only grew before. To live, and be
merry, and to secure the good thin gs of this life for hi mself and family,
is a paramount desire on his part and as I shall have later on to
show, in this, he has been exceptionally successful ; but even all
this would have been impossible, if it had not been for the close
proximity of the diamond-fields, enabling the Dutch to sell at very
high prices, but alas ! for which they are not even thankful or
grateful.
" A President'^is not a necessary feature of Eepublicanism, but
rather, an offshoot of Monarchical power reproduced in an elective
form. In my opinion, a Republic would be better without a Pre-
sident. As Goldwin Smith remarks ; ' A single head of the
State is a fancied necessity.' The Swiss Constitution, which in- '
stead of a single man, has a Council with a President whose func-
tion is only to preside, presents great advantages in this respect, and
is the safest model for adoption. A single head is certainly not a
universal necessity, since Switzerland does without one. An office
such as the elective Presidency is at once the grand prizeand the most
powerful stimulant of faction ; it keeps selfish ambition and intrigue
constantly at work ; it breeds and advances to influence a crowd of
men skilled in bad electioneering arts. Every four or live years
it brings burning questions to a dangerous head The
periodical revolution which it involves is fatal to anything like
stability of policy or forecast on the part of the Government.
Why should we not all do as Switzerland does, with an Executive
Council elected by the national Legislature ? Harmony between
the Executive and the Legislative might be preserved, and steadi-
ness of policy secured at the same time, by having the Council
elected — not all at once, but by periodical instalments. The first
ol these two essential objects would, perhaps, be better secured by
such a system than it is by the present."
In recording thus of the political situation of Republics in the
United States, it must not be supposed that any depreciation of
Republicanism is intended. I regard Republican institution's, if
wisely used and morally and intellectually enforced, as the model
of all true government. But the ideal Republic should be [the
outcome of the mental vigour and unfettered freedom of the[people
The Orange Free State. 23
whose genius and honour should protect its purity and maintain,
its strictest integrity. That such a Eepubiic will ultimately
obtain recognition I firmly believe. All nations have the proper
foundation, and are not deficient in the materials with which to
construct a solid and harmonious edifice. All nations are but
comparatively young. Increasing in age, they will also accumulate
experience ; and disassociating themselves from Monarchical in-
fluences inherited from their mother countries, they will flourish
upon their own merits and be sustained upon their native re-
sources, the catholicity of their institutions, the breadth of their
political rights, and the discrimination, loyalty and infefelligenee of
their liberty-loving people.
The Kind of Government Wanted in the Free State.
" Sir, — I have been wondering whether a few thoughts from an
absent Englishman on the best kind of Government for any
country generally, and England particularly, to have would be
acceptable to you and your readers, and whether it would help to
solve the problem before you as a country at no distant future.
I presume, and take for granted, that the people are in favour of
.a free government. They believe that a free government means
a government by the jjeople for the people. I take it to be doubt-
ful whether such a government in its purity can exist where there
is any one man power, let the government be called a ' Republic'
'Limited Monarchy,' or by any other name whatever.
" A single ruler, although elective by the people, is actually a
monarch pro tern., and he is apt to become more or less a despot
according to the measure of ambition and cupidity that reigns in
his heart.
" The people should be represented in the Executive branch as well
as in the Legislative, and the best representation to meet such an
end would be by an Executive Council of three, five, seven or nine.
" This would liberalise the government effectively, make it truly
representative, and do away with ' rings,' * cabals,' and ' back-
stairs influences ' behind the throne, and greater than the throne
itself.
24 The Orange Fkee State.
" The members of the Executive Council should be equal ia
authority and power, and decide all questions by vote, of which a
public record should be kept.
" The argument of the Monarchist is that one man must govern
ex necesdtate. Two or more would differ, quarrel, and never agree
about anything : therefore the Avorld must ever be governed by
the one-man power. If this were true, then the Legislative branch,
and also the judicial branch should be governed by one man.
The principle is the same in either case. If a difference of opinion
can be settled by a vote of the majority in the one branch, it can
be equally so in either of the others. Parliament has its difier-
ences, but readily settles all questions by a vote. The judges have
their differences, but come to a decision with amity, dignity and
decorum. And to say an Executive Council could not do the
same would be absurd and wrong. The history of the world is
against the argument of monarchists. All the Republics of the
ancient world had plural executives.
" Some had ten archons, and Rome had two Consuls to admin-
ister the executive power ; and Switzerland — the model Republic
— has a diief Executive Council of seven, which has successfully
administered their executive power for over five hundred and
seventy years.
" The Executive power in Great Britain has been in reality
administered, and most efficiently, by the Cabinet composed of
twelve members of the Ministry.
" The change could easily be made by substituting an Executive
Council for the Crown, and making the Council elective by the
people or Parliament.
*' With the present system of government a great many reforms
are impracticable, and the whole fabric will sooner or later topple
over of its own weight of errors.
" England, and all countries will have soon to consider the ques-
tion seriously."
With reference to the election of barristers or lawyers I am
distinctly of opinion that their presence in the House is inimical
to the simplification of the laws and I believe my views on this
question are held by many of our leading politicians, their judg-
ment being founded on past experience of the conduct of legal
members of the Legislature. Nevertheless, I can admit that a
The OpvA-Nge Frek State. 25
lawyer's genuine opinion may in some cases be of value, but the
difficulty lies in the fact that one is so seldom sure of this genuine-
ness. The people would do far better if they returned scientists
and medical men. Questions of health, hygiene, the sexual
relationships, and other cognate subjects, can only be perfectly-
understood by these gentlemen. There are few questions com-
paratively, which do not involve considerations of health, life,
disease and death. In all these matters, tbe voice of the doctor
must be above every other ; and the judgment of a lawyer, as
such, would be of no more use or value than that of a bricklayer.
A German Republican cannot swear allegiance to a King or
Queen, and their heirs for ever ; and, if this is needed, he cannot
sit among the Commons so-called. It is the duty of a Republican
to serve to the best of his ability his constituency and country,
and if he can sit among those who are elected to serve their
country, all is well ; but if he cannot sit without giving or taking
oaths, to some one on a throne, then let him like the "grand old
men " in and out of France, who being elected to serve in the
French Assembly, declined to sit, rather than swear allegiance to
that arch-traitor, perjurer and bedizened villain, N^ipoleon the
Third, but the Little.
It must never be supposed that John Braiid, now Sir John
Brand, can in any sense be likened to William the Sueuc oi Urange
of the Old Dutch Republic. This giant's words were indeed silvern
and his silence golden — just the thing at that time when a mighty
work had to be done, and for anyone to criticise and make speech
thereon was only to bring about their own discomfiture.
I don't allow these men to misunderf^tand or judge me ; to
allow them tc do so, would but admit that Lilliputians had the
right to judge giants. What I have written is after due care and
consideration, and for any to dispute the same would be the out-
come of fear or ignorance.
The Capital of this Republic has not too much to boast of. The
Public Offices are a lasting monument of disgrace to the architect,
and being built in the " West End " of the town, among the aris-
tocratic houses, their appearance is anything but dignified. The
church-home and hospital, close to the public buildings, were the
result of charity and debt. The " sisters " admitted that they
were always in a chronic state of poverty, so much so, that even
26 The Oeange Feee State.
clothes, — sent out by the charitable from England for the poor
blacks — were sold at a public church bazaar to assist in paying
the interest on their accumulated liabilities, which, if not stealing,
is certainly raising cash under false pretences. Getting into debt
with the tradesmen and not paying twenty shillings in the pound
if possible to avoid doing so is carried on here upon the
principle of robbing mammon, and making friends with the child-
ren of this world. But even this now has its limit, and the
children of this world begin to look upon its holy, idiotic, itinerant
bishop and his wretched acolytes, that officiate in white and black
surplices, as so many walking impostors — youthful shams. Its
cathedral is the outcome of the success of its Bishop and of the
old ladies of England, and it would starve if it had to depend upon
the contributions of its members. The church members amuse
themselves, as elsewhere, in looking after each other's bonnets
and making up general scandal of their neighbours, who don't go
to church or subscribe to their follies, I myself came under the
lash of their small talk, because I exposed their littleness and
would not bow down to their little men nor attend their insane
meetings. The Dutch-church, an imposing two-tower building,
is the outcome of beef, mutton, and farming produce, begged out
of the Dutchmen by their Pastors. The Dutchman does like to
get hold of English gold, but he does not like to part with it, so
he satisfies his conscience by giving a few heads of cattle and
sheep, sending them on as his paying passport to Heaven, and the
Pastor sells them on the public market, time after time, as he
stands in need. The Pastors bless and curse in accordance with
their needs or satisfaction.
The city boasts, after twenty years of prosperity, of a Public
Library, that any literary man would feel ashamed to own, and
which is the result of weekly entertainments. The public Post
«and Telegraph Office has yet to be built. Its Building Society is
a delusion and a snare, a ricb investment for those who never buy
out of the society, but for those who build, the old adage is well
proved that " fools build houses, and wise men occupy and own
them "for certainly, almost all — after miserable efforts to keep up
subscription and house-payments and fines — have at last to sell out
for the benefit of the money classes. But the time must come for
the public building of houses,' as I_have_drawn' attention to in my
The Orange Free State. 27
later chapters on house building. Strange to say, that although
a Dutch Capital, out of five thousand inhabitant?, not a tenth are
Dutch, the remainder are all of different nationalities. It boasts
ol its Rag Alley — its Petticoat Lane ; its poverty, disgu.-ting, and
its immorality and disease are simply an eyesore to decei.t people.
Dr. Stollreither drew attention to ifc in its most glaring forms ; its
sluits are hotbeds of all kinds of diseases, until its young victims
in diptheria, scarlet fever and opthalmia reveal it in all its
intensity and in all its horrors.
I may say, about the same of all towns in the Free State
and the Transvaal, with very few differences, let who may say to
the contrary. I have written this true history without malice or
prejudice, although I know some will say to the contrary : but
all past historians have desired to flatter. I write as I found, and
defy anyone truthfully to dispute all and everyone of my well-
authenticated facts.
Of course, where there are so many churches there must be a
gaol ; but such was the condition of this building, that the most
desperate characters made a boast, that directly they so desired,
they could take off their irons and bolt, once more to prey upon
Society. This was specially so with horse-stealers ; till, at last,
those who had a steed — either for pleasure or every day work —
never were certain of finding the same in their stable. And such
was the care of the Government, that one well-known horse-stealer
got his liberty because the gaoler could not produce the warrant
authorising the detention of his person, revolver or clothes ; and
such was the order in the Records of the Courts in this much be-
lauded Republic, with the " all right shall come " man at its head,
that even the officers could not produce the committal documents,
so that there was no power to hold one of the most unprincipled
men of his day — according to his own confession published, alter
he was set at liberty, in the Laily News of iHSo. The bulk of the
officers at the gaol are lazy brags and, in some cases, understood
thieves.
The following will so well illustrate the condition of the gaols
in South Africa, that I feel it incumbent to print the Same, as it
shows the illogical position taken up by the Judge — one of the
attorneys pitchforked into a judgeship.
" The prisons are filthy in the extreme. x\t night, for elevtn
28 The Orange Free State.
hours, a tub is placed in the cell for all common purposes, where
perhaps ten men are stowed in a space of about ei^^ht feet by
sixteen.
" A water tub in the centre of the yard, into which all filth can
pour, and out of this tub the prisoners drink their water and wash
their persons and clothes. Talk of the gaols of Bomba, in Naples;
in comparison they were superior. At no time did the Gospel
preachers think it their duty to call, unless some poor wretch had
to be hung up, so that the prisoners had no opportunity to com-
plain or get redress. The food was at times disgusting to look at,
much less eat ; but this was nut to be wondered at, when gaolers
so manipulated it that they fed their families out of the cost of
the prisoners' rations, and then, like the gaoler of Fauresmith, re-
tired upon the plunder. Doctors, with no bowels of compassion,
gave no help or redress ; they were like so many hogs on a visit,
when they had to call at the prison to entitle them to their fees.
No division of prisoners ; so that murderers, thieves, perjurers, and
unfortunate, accidental, or innocently suffering prisoners were all
crowded together — the latter being in simple torture, and passed
their time as if in a living hell."
If Judges were capable of feeling, they would indeed hesitate in
their sentences. What a year in prison, even to the guilty, must
be, is horrible to contemplate ; but in the case of an innocent man,
nothing can repay him for the constant physical and mental torture
and insults heaped upon him.
Could juries and judges think what a year in prison means,
— the isolation from a man's family, that cuts out a year from a
man's life, a year from a man's work, a year from a man's tongue,
— is a penalty so terrible, that if madness or suicide ensues no one
need wonder. When will it be understood, that half, if not more,
ot our man-made laws are man-made crimes, that only indicate
the savage nature of one portion of society to the other. May
the time arrive, when Nature's laws being recognised and carried
out, there will be no need for Judges or prisons; and then, no future
Howard will find the work of visiting prisons needful.
The Oeange Free State. 29
Judge or Jury.
Mr. Justice Shippard has during the present Circuit started
or re-started the question of Judge or Jury, by finding it to be his
duty in more than one town to dissent from some verdicts returned
by Juries. At Colesberg, Peter Albertus Hanekamp was charged
with " assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm." The
evidence was conflicting, and the Advertiser reports :
"At about 1.30 the Court adjourned for luncheon, and the jury-
were locked up and luncheon provided for them. On the Court
resuming at 3 p.m. the jury had not agreed, and saw" no prospect
of agi'eeing on a verdict. His Lordship in discharging them, re-
marked somewhat severely on what he considered a failure of
justice, owing to no verdict having been returned, and said this
added another to a list of cases in which he considered that the
ends of justice had been defeated owing to the defective working
of the system of trial by jury in this colony."
A good many persons who do not think, are too x'eady to pro-
claim that the learned Judge would have done better ; but even
so able a jurist as Mr. Justice Shippard is not beyond the liability
to give a contradictory, and hence, unsatisfactory verdict. As some
persons are aware, a Judge on Circuit visits the public prisons,
and, on the 7th of March last, Judge Shippard visited the Fort
Beaufort gaol, and gave the following document (which we hud
printed in the Jouryial) to the gaoler : —
[Copy.]
" I have this day visited the Fort Beaufort gaol, and find every-
thing remarkably clean. The prisoners have no complaints to
make, and the general state of the prison does very great credit
to the gaoler.
" I would suggest that the ceilin^gs and roofs be looked to, especi-
ally with a view to destroy the bugs that infest the ceilings, and
drop on the prisoners at night.
" (Signed)
" S. G. A. Shippard,
"Judge oa Circuit.
" Fort Beaufort, March 7, 1S34.
30 The Orange Fbee State.
" Certified a true copy."
" B. W. Holland, Kesident Magistrate."
Everything in the gaol was found " remarkably clean," but
" bugs infest the ceilings and drop on the prisoners at night."
No more contradictory verdict, no verdict more against the evi-
dence, has ever been given by a colonial or any other jury ; and
we fail to understand how the learned Judge could have written
such a report, indeed we would not now believe that it was written
Irom his pen, had we not the certificate of the Resident Magistrate;
lor how can a place infested by bugs be clean — remarkably clean?
And in truth, a Judge's verdict is not of necessity better than
the verdict of a jury. We believe that some Judges now on the
Bench would try crimiDal cases impartially ; but enough is known
oi Judges to prove fhat there are among them men who could not
he less impartial in some cases than juries are. While we say
this we repeat what was written lately, that jwrors should be more
carefully selected, and also be paid for their work. There is no
reason in the world tor making some thirty men attend court, and
there do the most important work of the court, without any re-
muneration,' when every one else is handsomely paid for what he
does.
It is niiite a mistake to suppose that always, and everywhere,
inrors are against the natives. At Uitenhage, last week, a labourer
named Andries Booke was arranged and charged with stealing two
head of cattle from Daniel Foxcrot't, a farmer, but the jury gave
the man an acquittal ; and James Magoba, a native doctor, who
(Mve a native woman a dose of medicine which killed her, was also
lound " not guilty " of culpable homicide. There are many such
verdicts given in this Colony. Whether they are, or are not, such
as should be given is an open (piestion, ami when the Judge
happens to endorse, or when he disapproves ot a verdict, there are
some, who having heard the case, disagree with the Judge ; and
facts so much depend upon the way they are looked at, and upon
their surroundings that courts of law will not hear an appeal, if it
uieans reconsidering anything but points of law.
One reason for some verdicts may be ionnd in the practice of
the Courts. WMien nine men are calle<l upo?i — some for the first
time in their lives — to hear a case, tliey are contused by the ad-
dresses for the crown, and lor the defence, and the directions of the
The Orange Free State. 31
Judge, and forget the evidence upon which alone their verdict
ought to be based. .Then there is, we fear, a growing habit with
Judges to tell juries a great deal too much. They announce so many
times what the finding should be, or they so often tell jurors to
give prisoners the benefit of the doubt, that an independent jury
put up their backs ; or a weak jury lets the prisoner go, to find
then that there was no doubt to which the prisoner was entitled.
Occasionally, too, a Judge is so obscure in his address as to make
it impossible for any jury to understand what he is really driving
at.
Another fact must also be remembered. The general public
— from whom the jurors are drawn — believe that the prison which
may appear remarkably clean, has been whitewashed specially for
the Judge, and that it is not a fit place for any decent European to
be kept in. It is also notorious that no classification is made at
Convict Stations, which may also be " remarkably clean " with
" bugs that infest the ceilings and drop on the prisoners at night;"
and jurors who know a European prisoner, or who see that he is
respectable in appearance, decline to have him punished, when it
is known or assumed that the sentence will be imprisonment with
hard labour. The time has now fully come for appointing visitors
to every gaol, who shall have access at any hour of the day or
night, and be compelled to report en every part ol the prison once
a month ; and the time has more than come for separating black
and white convicts. Until this is done, jurors will decline to find
every white man guilty who has committed crime ; but better
■this sometimes, than doing away with trial by jury, and leaving
prisoners to a Judge Menzies or a Justice Bell.
Chapter III.
% HE extortion of the lawyers and agents and the
Government protesting of Bills was so well re-
cognised, that in the year 1883 memorials were
sent to the Volksraad praying for a reduction of tarifi'
Of course with so many in the house interested
in keeping up prices there was not much chance
for the public. This memorial was mainly brought
about by the excessive charges in mine promoting and diamond
stealing defending, and it would be simply disgusting to
wive the particulars of the extortion practised. In one case
of Company-defending, charges amounting to over twelve
hundred pounds were incurred, and a governmental reduction of
five hundred pounds occurred in the case of two Kaffirs wherein
a lawyer's charge of eight hundred pounds was made, and a set-
off of five hundred pounds allowed. Can anyone wonder after
this that lawyers and doctors, procureurs and agents build fine
houses, enclose lands, and become sheep-farmers, fare sumptuously
every day, and wear fine linen, and boast that they have my Lord
Beaconsfield's carriage and other vehicles belonging to the aris-
tocracy of England to ride in ?
Political judges were another nuisance in the Free State ; talk-
ing their insolent bunkum in person under the Cape Colony flag,
and spouting treason in a criterion, public hotels, with a Cape
political mountebank and Dutch enthusiast as a companion. This
companion, for the purpose of tickling his Dutch and German
audience, lied about his neighbours of the Colony, and his com-
peers in the Cape House of Assembly.
Political judges have in. times passed disgraced their countries
in England as elsewhere, and I protest against the Chief Justice
of the Free State going into the Cape Colony and taking an active
part in setting up a '* Bcshmr " — which means setting up some
The Okange Free State. 33
other form of Government, although it was only attributable to
his want of wisdom. As a genial dinner-eating individual no one
•can find fault with him, but it is time to speak when ho sets up as
a general leader, the coming light of the South African world and
the future President of the Free State. One is perhaps expecting too
much in comparing him with the enlightened men of the Western
world, but it is truly lamentable what a few years of easy official
•authority will do for a man of small parts. Conceit in some men
has been likened to an egg full of meat, and it is no less true of
this Judge Reitz, the foreigner, who being fully persuaded that the
Presidency of the Free State was a better position than its Chief
Judgemisfitship, stuck at no meanness to secure so good a future
income as £3,000 for doing so little, and the prospect of so many
other fat things.
Mr. Hofmeyer says that his compatriots cannot read English,
which certainly does not speak very highly for the Dutch colonists,
and one can only feel for and pity the unfortunates who have not
learnt to speak the commercial language of the world ; but how
any man can ask that the Dutch jyatois should be continued,
would almost puzzle a native of Tasmania, for a more wretched
mode of expressing one's desires, feelings, and thoughts, is not
continued in any other part of the globe. This upholder of
Dutch conversation, commonly known as kitchoi-Dutck, publicly
lied when he stated that better manners and order were to "be
found in the Free State Parliament than in that of the Cape Town
House of Assembly. Also when he assured his hearers it was a
treat to see its members all dressed in black coats, white ties, and
tall hats. Well, if being dressed like waiters in a French restau-
rant is delightful, then they are welcome to look upon themselves
as things to be admired, as " a thing of beauty is a joy for ever."
But I, who have also looked upon these unfortunates when dressed-
up, as it was called, was convinced that they must have felt as
uncomfortable as the old soldier did in his stiff cravat and tall
busby in the days gone by, and that for these honourable gentle-
men and other public officials, to ape the worst style of our
officials in England, did not in any way add to their Senatorial
dignity, but rather to their discredit.
Another item is worth noticing. This speaker intimated that
the burghers were a fine body of men ; but the artillery was made
84 The Orange Free State.
in England, and manned by young Dutchmen too lazy to work on
their farms, who were specimens of humanity by no means to be
envied. The artillerymen were certainly not fit for much better
than targets to be shot at, and so far as the burghers were con-
cerned, certainly, if turning out when they spied plunder was to
be considered manly and national, and to be admired, well and
good ; and when the opportunity occurred for shooting down
KafHrs, women and children, and securing cattle and land, I must
admit they are willing to show up, but always with the under-
standing that substitutes and Englishmen, a« in the late Transvaal
War with Mapoch, go to the front, do all the fighting, and get
killed, leaving all the plunder for the Dutchmen afterwards. Such
plunder consisted of their lands, cattle, men, women and children,
who, being prisoners, virtually became their slaves on the^r own
farms, notwithstanding all they may say to the contrary. I know
that many will assert that the Dutchman is better than the
English soldier in buck-shooting. This is true, but he could
never compete at the target ; that he held Majuba Hill is also
true, but this was one of the accidental victories due the folly of a
commander, who paid for his folly with his life, but alas, his
conduct gave the opportunity to a Governor to degrade the
English name in the face of all, and to forget the slaughtering of
Englishmen on their way to Pretoria, and thus, by their unsatis-
factory settlement of the Transvaal country, leaving for the future
another crop of slaughterings to come, and all the ills of bad
government, for the sudden attack on Colonel Anstruther, was
simply sudden murder,— don't forget, not fair fighting. I repeat
it, sudden murder, which ought never to be forgotten.
To verify my remarks on the Free State doctors, I record the
fact that the chief municipal officer was but a travelling quack,
who, by dint of flattery and funniness, got a document from the
State President authorising him to physic and kill without enquiry ;
and who, to keep up his character of the successful quack, while
in his capacity of Mayor, by building a huge barn, dignified by
the name of Town-House, involved the town in debt, almost to the
verge of bankruptcy, in fear and trembling left in haste, but not
by the way of the Colony, his old ground of quackery and failure,
but by way of Natal on his road to England, in the hope that
by some fluke he might be dubbed M.D., and thus be made
The Orange Free State. . 35
respectable ever after. By leaving just before the time of open-
ing the New Town Hall he escaped being greeted with the curses
of those he had helped to impoverish. But then this man was ia
no way different from most of his fellow-practitioners, whose
stock-in-trade for the most part consists of impudence and a few
bottles with Latin inscriptions upon them, to awe the ignorant if
necessary. One could give the history of the Free State's wealthiest
doctor, so-called, one who had learnt the art of calling twice a day
upon all his patients to swell his account, and who could with
Free State impudence charge twenty-five shillings for a single
visit, and seven and sixpence for a box of pills. If he prescribed
a dose that deprived a man of life and a family of their bread-
winner ; thus creating a condition of life-long sorrow for this
family — of course, it was only a case of " death by misadventure.'*
This man in his early career, when just emerging out of his mis-
sionary chrysalis state, was the principal cause — of course in
ignorance of the nature of the deadly poisons, and the means of
detecting the same — of helping the Dutch, out of spite to the
English, to get an Englishman sent to glory in a few days after
trial by meana of a rope round his throat. As a rule, all these
officials are of the German and Jewish nationality, who havin"-
liberty to enter and live in English colonies, take advantage of
English protection, and afterwards traduce the country that shel-
tered them ; and when found out they go their way and commence
the same practice elsewhere.
One of the most important outcomes of public feeling, was the
exposure of certain doings in connection with a mine which I have
said I thought had been salted. I allude to Jagersfontein, and
the occurrence took place in June, 1883, in that so-called rising
township. The whole position of this town and neighbourhood
shows the want of wisdom of the President and its insolvent in-
spector. The President ought never to have appointed this man,
who has since been removed from his position ; and who, though
knowing the law, yet for some selfish end did not note and acquaint
the President with its evasion. The mining Ordinance specified
that all claims must be worked or forfeited in a given time. Now
the evading of this, simply threw the land into the hands of
speculative men, who ignoring the original conditions, held and
passed on until the bubble burst and exposed the trickery.
C2
36 The Orange Free State.
It was held to be the redeeming feature of this raine, that there
was a chance for the working men, but the men who salted it with
diamonds got from the illicit trade in Kimberley, principally Jews,
as is now proved by the numbers of these roving tribes at the
breakwater at Cape Town. The scricp successors now maintain
that the mine will never be a poor man's working ground, and
that therefore this clause is useless. Of course, some men are
sanguine if allowed to work there, and had the Government notice
of April, 1879, signed by the Inspector, been enforced regarding
compulsion of work in one claim, in a block of ten, that protest
and meeting need never have been made or held. One Beddy, a
successful speculator, contended that capitalists would not invest
their money in the mine, unless it was bona fich property. He
further said that no Company had proved the mine payable. Mr.
Quinlan said did they think, after the experience capitalists had
had of the Jagersfontein mine that they would make further in-
vestments ? Before that day arrived his hair would be white.
James Armstrong intimated that as labour was wealth, and that
by labour the soil became productive — the profits of such labour
should be to the workman's advantage. If the mine was thrown
open to workers, they would have a class of men there who had
made Australia, California, and New Zealand ; and as the com-
panies had failed, it was but fair that the working men should
have the opportunity of trying ; that they should try and not
allow, as at present, so much ground to be idle. Labour meant
success, and a future prospect for the Free State mines.
Now all this might have been accomplished if the President
had but seen the claim law enforced ; but this is on a par with
most things in this delightful very, very Free State. It would
have been a delightful free pastoral country, but for the natives,
Germans and Jews ; but supposing the Government to know that
this place was in reality diamondiferous they should work it out
as a national speculation, either with convict or free labour, and
then picture the future.
The Unworked Claims of Jagersfontein.
The question as to the enforcement of the clause relating to un-
worked claims is now mooted, and it is hoped to prevent this
The OK.A.NGE Free State. 37
place being turned into a mere speculator's playground. " You
will drive away capitalists," is the cry of those who are opposed
to the measure. If so, so much the worse for the capitalists, is
my reply. The interests of a moneyed few should not be studied
to the detriment of the hard-handed toiling many. What capital-
ists call " the mine of the future " is now lying idle and unworked,
while hundreds of men with small means, willing to work, are
eating their hearts out in sickening despair, at want of any outlet
for their energies. From Pretoria and Kimberley, to Durban and
Cape Town comes the cry : " What can we do ? Where can we
go to better ourselves ? " The Free State has always had an un-
enviable name as a mere grazing run, a Boer's paradise ; now is
the chance to show otherwise. Throw open the doors to any and
every man willing to work the precious soil, which waits only to
be wooed to enrich the wooer. Look to the future, and imagine
what a successful Jagersfontein means. A splendid revenue, a
large and prosperous township enriching the neighbouring iarmers
and encouraging them in the paths of industry. Avoiding the
mistakes of Kimberley, profiting by its errors, and building on its
experience — what a glorious career is open ! A busy Anglo-Saxon
town, bustling streets, the clang of workshops, the hum and roar
of industry, the firm establishment of English ideas in the very
heart ot Boerdom — a continual stream of native industry and the
enormous increase in the value of property 'for miles around !
What blessings are to be gained ! The surrounding farms would
be thoroughly prospected by adventurous spirits seeking for
wealth. The rich mineral wealth concealed by our jealous mother
earth would be brought to light, new mines would certainly be
worked. Every kopje and kloof would be ransacked by the class
of men who in a few years converted Australia from an unknown,
dark, savage continent to a glorious, rich, proud and enlightened
group of colonies, superior in magnificence to many an ancient
European kingdom. The railway would be a necessary adjunct to a
town of such importance, and the increased revenue and value of
pio^jerty would enable the Government to extend the iron-road from
length and breadth of this country — a country which is a " rail-
way engineer's paradise," so few are the natural obstacles (alas,
that the dull, heavy, prejudiced minds of many of its inhabitants
are indeed natural obstacles). This large country^now lies a vast
■38 The Okange Free State.
sullen, monotonous, and barren flat. But let Anglo-Saxon energy
and indomitableuess have fair play, and in a few years how this
scene will change. The restless Transvaal, the childish Natal
and Exeter Hall ridden Cape Colony will look with envy on this
compact and wealthy Free State.
If the mine is as rich as made out, let the Government take
over and work it, and give the benefit to the Republic at large,
and thus save taxes ; it will then pay better, and give more satis-
faction all round.
During the sitting of this ever-to-be-remembered Session of
1883, while discussing the frontier and the Basuto question, one
of the uninformed well-dressed black shining hat members of the
Kaad, who certainly showed a tendency to become an occupant of
one of the rooms of the new lunatic asylum that the Free State
had constructed, desired that an amendment be put at once to the
eflPect that if certain things were not done, the Free State Govern-
ment would annex the Cape Colony. The President facetiously
reminded the member that all strong men were merciful, and
objected to such remarks lor fear that it might be thought they
represented the feeling of the Raad. Truly, in his latter days the
President desires to make jokes. One thing he well knows, that
but for the strong Englishman being merciful to the Dutch in-
habitants of the Free State, the English would have been seen
over the plains and mountains long before this. Some people say
that the Free State farmer, since the abandonment, has bred his
own horses, shorn his own sheep, raised his corn, planted his or-
chards, lived prosperously and undisturbed, while wars have raged
all around him, with the exception of his little war with the
Ba,8utos in 18G8. This is not strictly true. During this time the
farmer himself has done but little. As a matter of fact, a lazier
man does not exist ; he grows but little, and depends upon the
foreigner for agriculture, and other countries for food supply ; but
owing to the diamond-fields and Cape wars, he has been able to
sell his miserable sheep and cattle for fancy prices, and John Bull,
in the Colony, like a fool, allowed him to have unlimited supplies
of ammunition, which he sold at fabulous prices to the Basutos
and Transvaalers, making the fortunes of the Bloemfontein Lady-
brand and Ficksburg German and Jewish merchants, and of which
the border farmers had their share. But since this, as all failed.
The Orange Free State. 39
general bankruptcy has followed. The summer heat is intolerable,
the winters are cold and unbearable to any man that can possibly
spare the means to travel to the Cape sea-board or remove out of
the Cape Colony. Whatever grass or vegetation may be grown in
the summer to fatten the cattle, the frost destroys in the winter,
and the wind blows away for ever ; and yet the conceit of these
unfortunate men, who cannot leave for elsewhere, enables them,
like puppies, to snarl at John Bull's dog. Truly, this big dog is
merciful to the weak, but as usual, the little dogs cannot under-
stand such mercy. I know this will make the little dogs squeak
and howl at being found out, but while they continue to do such
•dirty deeds and credit my countrymen with them, I will never
spare the lash. One had the insolence to move as a resolution,
" that owing to the inherent weakness of the Colony, they, the Free
State, had better annex the Cape." I refrain from giving this
madman's name. There is no lear of this while its legislators
take their £2 per day and live in a small room upon a loaf, sar-
<iine, and a bottle of Cape brandy daily. Their want of good
treatment made known their little weaknesses.
The telegram announcing that Gladstone contemplated taking
•over the Basutos, created an excitement among the German and
Jewish fraternity that was quite repelling to any decent English-
man contemplating the possibility of John Bull starting once more
upon a Quixotic campaign, and spending in iSouth Alrica, the taxes
fio easily raised in England at the point of the bayonet or the
stafi of the policeman. It is something disgusting to notice with
what eagerness the Germans and Jews openly tell you they hope
that those who control the nation of shopkeepers will spend
lavishly John Bull's money, and who so insolently remind an
Englishman that they have no love for him. but that is the Eng-
lish money that they hunger after. Upon my objecting to this low
estimate of my countrymen, and reminding them of obligations
that the Continental nations were under to the English during
the Peninsular wars, one of my hearers intimated that the soft
and good-natured Englishman had been taken in, to which I re-
plied, '* True, on the principle that honest, simple men were often
fleeced by swindlers and blacklegs, and that the Hanoverian con-
nection and German intermarriage combination with our people
was not a connection that reflected any credit on us, but that the
4P, The Orange Free State.
time was coming when we would either send them back to eat
their sour-Jcrout, or ship them all off in company with the Nor-
man aristocracy to some island, where they might prove them-
se,lves useful in their lifetime, a new order of things for them,
and highly advantageous to other people."
It was quite a pleasant relief to read the utterances of Mr.
Abram Barend de Villiers, a son of one of the Uugenot families,
that, after being compelled to leave France on account of
their advanced views on the Government arrangements, settled
in the Cape at the time the Dutch held possession, and
whose rule they found almost as intolerant as that of their native
country, ^even if it was not worse. This descendant of a French-
man, aid a large winemaker, after he had grown the grape
on one of his large estates, having time at his disposal for study-
ing the improvement of his country, advocated among his schemes
for t-ie advancement of the Colony, the right of the colonists to
settlj ail " native" disputes as they might deem b^st, seeing that
the '• had to pay the expenses and suffer the loss of life from
a"a ng their burghers ; a proposition that was but fair from the
Suiih African point of view.
There can be no doubt that Downing Street is a curse to all our
colonies. The frequent transfer of office from Tory to Whig and
vice-versa, brings in its train all kinds of change and new situations
to the detriment of the colonies.
The most important change that Mr. De Villiers asked for was,
the issue of ten millions of Cape notes on the security of real
property, for the construction of Municipal and Governmental
woidis, in order that they might free themselves from the ever-
lasting extortion of the foreign banks. The notes to be legal
tender for all purposes.
The education of this gentleman had undoubtedly made him
acquainted with the money system of France during her revolu-
tionary epochs, as well as at the present time, and he could well
testify to rhe advantages of the same in freeing the agriculturist,
the manufacturer, and the merchant from the imposition of banks
in general.
Of course, like all good things, this was pooh-poohed by the
combined forces of tha bank interest ; but it was indeed a plea-
sure to read the utterances of an Abram, crying in the wilderness
The Orange Free State. 41
to carry out the right, and if ever one regain faith in South fVfrica,
it will be when men of all parties send to their HouSf of Assembly
advocates who will fearlessly tell the Colony that they are being
shorn, year, after year, by the foreign money owner, and that for
the sake of the present and all future generations, this public
robbery by Act of Parhament must cease to continue.
It is truly painful to read time after time of concessions and
gifts ot public domains on this African continent, to be held by
speculators and sheep farmers in the Gape Colony, and especially
in the Transvaal at the present time, when they need the legal
tender to carry on their government, and assist the country to
emerge from its late troubles.
The last concession of mining rights in the Transvaal has drawn
from the Volkstem the following protest : — " The most significant
comment on, and at the same time the most cutting condemnation
of this most unfortunate practice of indiscriminately granting
concessions on mining rights, is an observation of a gentleman
who is himself part holder of a concession on other property, and
which has been reported to us. When the Volksraad's resolution
was passed, this gentleman is said to have made the following re-
marks : — ' Well, I am glad I have got my concession ; but I must
6ay I am surprised to see a people selling its birthright so cheaply.'
We said above that we would not add much to what has been said
the "^'olksraad Hall upon the matter, and we abide by this re-
solution. We shall, therefore, ask only two questions of the
Government and the majority of the Volksraad members, who are
all of them so eager to grant away immense tracts of public pro-
perty to any and every applicant. The first question we wish to
put to them is this : — Have they ever considered the cost of either
protecting the numerous gold concessionaires in, or compensating
them for their reserved and guaranteed rights should the conceded
areas be rushed by a large population of diggers ? And the second
question is this : — Have they ever considered whence the capital
has been derived for all the concessions, without distinction,
granted hitherto, and have they forgotten what British capital has
done for Egypt barely two years ago ? The Egyptian illustration
may not be of much account, but it is certain that the Transvaal
Volksraad are squandering valuable assets, and it is to be feared
that amongst those who promote this extravagance motives
42 The Orange Free State.
are at work in some instances of a not altogether disinterested
character."
For the sake of all interests, these continual practices of parting
with public wealth must be discontinued. They have produced un-
told misery, an awful increase of immorality in the Colony, and
station after station of convicts. The convicted have in some way
inwardly decided that dame Nature never recognised the giving
away of her wealth under such conventual arrangements to one in
preference to another. The taking away of what is known as the
outcome of men's brain and labour, is understood to be robbery,
and no one sympathises with a thief ; but the accidental picking
up of Nature's diamonds or gold, when the picked-up is not within
the circle of conventual arrangements, is not to be acknowledged
or countenanced as a theft, much less as a crime. The fact is, we
must break down, by education, the notion that the wealth of the
world must be in the hands of monopolists. All mineral wealth
in England and elsewhere must be public property, worked for the
benefit of the nation at large for the advantage of all. and not to
the enriching of a few, who in securing the same become the task-
masters of their fellow- man, and. destroy the liberty and independ-
ence of their fellow countrymen.
Compulsory Working of Claims.
The question whether the Government shall allow claims to lie
fallow, or compel owners to work them has been discussed in some
circles a good deal of late. Jagersfonteiu has not been a success
— at any rate, it has not been profitably worked. Legislation has
been invoked several times to its aid. The I. D. B. traffic was
supposed to be the cankerworm, which was eating the very vitals
of the diamond-mine industry, so laws were passed to suppress it.
Now, it is discovered that no company pays expenses. Indeed, as
far as we can gatlier, every joint-stock company in the mine is in
liquidation. Formerly it was asserted that private digging would
not pay because very few men commanded sufficient capital to
work on a large scale. Those who advocated joint-stock com-
panies, rather more than two years ago, said a company which
could wash ten times as much as a private individual, might, with
The Orange Free State. 43
the improved machinery and working a large block of ground,
make it pay where small men would starve. Now, it is maintained
that companies are too cumbrous and too expensive for Jagersfon-
tein, and only private diggers (like the Kerr Brothers and a few
others) can make working pay in the mine. It is diSicult to say
whom we are to believe. It appears to us, however, that the men
required for Jagersfontein, are people possessing the number of
claims and the money of the companies, with the thrift and the
knowledge of private diggers like those mentirned above. Reck-
less extravagance, and ignorance of practical mining have been
the main causes of the failure of diamond-digging by joint-stock
companies.
Now the question arises how to benefit the few people who are
nearly destitute at Jagersfontein. As companies do not pay,
many wish to have a law making it compulsory on all claim-
holders to work their claims, it this law were passed by the Volks-
raad, it would soon be discovered whether the mine would be payable
or not. It is thought by many, however, that the tenure of the
claims will not allow of the Raad declaring them "jumpable," for
not working them. By Ordinance No. 19, — 1881, provision was made
for registering the transfer and hypothecation of claims by the
Registrar of Deeds. Some hold that as this law has been passed,
it would be absurd to allow claims to be forfeited simply because
they were not worked ; what use would it be to have a bond on a
property which could be "jumped" at a moment's notice?
They naturally ask where is the security ? No doubt the Raad
will have to be exceedingly careful of what they are about before
they interlere with vested rights and interests, for owners of claims
will not lightly give up property which has cost them thousands
of pounds. We take it, the question at issue can be decided by
referring to the original Ordinance on diamond-mining, under
which Jagersfontein and the other mines were thrown open to the
public, viz., Ord. 3, — 1871. Ordinance No. 19, — 1881, only provides
for the transfer of claims and the registration of the bonds on
them, but it cannot in any m ay affect the original tenure. This
being the case, the Raad will have to be guided by the former
Ordinance. If the Ordinance of 1871 made it lawful that claims
should be either worked or be forfeited, then there is no necessity
to pass any more Ordinances on the .subject ; but if, on the other
44 The Orange Free State,
hand, every claim-holder has a freehold, or copyhold right in the
ground, we do not see how the Volksraad can force the working; of
claims under penalty of forfeiture. It seems neither law nor
common sense to do so. The lawyers will, however, most likely
he called upon to decide this knotty question, and to make their
profit out of the swiiidle.
e^p^%C^
^-<7)-
Chapter IV.
NE of the most extraordinary pieces of hasty legislation
was passed by the Raad in June, 1883, at the sugges-
tion of many of its country inhabitants. It is often
said that the gods make mad those whom they wish
to destroy, and it would almost appear as if the
Dutch were rushing on to their own destruction, as
they have never been known to accomplish any
sensible things except when sitting side by side with Englishmen.
So many unwise arrangements have been made by them that
Englishmen, in a short time, will leave them to experience once
more the meaning of ruin and want in their midst. The following
taken from the Friend explains all :
The New Wine and Spirit Okdinance.
" The Raad is not doing anything by halves this Session. Tht^
Ordinance which passed its second reading yesterday, with only
nine dissentients, will be almost as stringent in its operation as the
famous Maine Liquor Law. So many complaints have been made to
the Executive and the Raad by the Dutch Church Synod, and by
the Wesleyan district meeting, of the great harm done to the
people of this country, and especially to the natives, by the reck-
less manner in which ardent spirits have been sold in the country
canteens, that the Raad had to take cognisance of the evil, especi-
ally as the Good Templars are very active in getting up memorials
on the subject. Our landfathers do not care to place drinking
shops under surveillance^ any more than they wish to guard the
frontiers of the State, so they proceed on the principle of the man
who cured the tooth-ache by cutting off the patient's head ! They
have accordingly made most stringent laws against the sale of
strong drink. In future, no person can procure a licence for the
46 The Orange Free State.
sale of strong drink by retail or wliolesale except in towns and
acknowledged villages. No shopkeeper in any town or village
will be entitled to obtain a licence for the sale of liquor, either by
retail or wholesale ; neither must he allow spirituous liquors, with
or without any money consideration, to be given away or consumed
on the erf or premises where the business is carried on, under a
penalty of £25, or in default imprisonment not to exceed three
months. No native is to be allowed to buy " drink," whether he
is provided with an order from his master or not. No doubt this
latter provision is a good one, for many of our canteen-keepers
made a multitude of natives drunk under the colour of one such
order. We have frequently written against the way in which the
old law is hourly broken by the canteen-keepers, who apparently
do the principal part of their business with the coloured popula-
tion. If the new law is carried out, we iancy the occupation of
the canteen-keeper will be, like Othello's, gone."
I am not the man to complain of all and any fair attempts to
enable people to be temperate, but in the name of common honesty
it is advisable at all times that legislators should be considerate —
not hasty — and honest towards their fellow-countrymen and others.
Men who have invested means and time in their wayside proper-
ties, in the belief that they and their houses are wanted to accom-
modate the public, and in the legitimate expectation of a fair return
for their investment, ought not to be exposed to ruin by any sudden
act of Legislation. Now, it happens that most of these legislators-
are of the pastoral, coffee and biltong-eating class ; men who from
their birth, have no love but rather a hatred towards the trading
class, and would destroy what they conceive to be the interests of
the small wayside hotel-keepers and traders, at whose establish-
ments iheir young men in a social manner meet to chat about the
topics of the day over the genial glass of friendship. True, it will
always be the case that some men will waste their time and means,
in constant tippling ; but this is no reason why the public are not
to be accommodated on public roads.
I know of one case in which a lease was taken for ten years and
an outlay of over £300 in stone buildings, besides other liabilities
incurred in the very natural hope of reaping the usual advantages
from such an outlay. By hasty legislation, however, as described
in the beginning of this chapter, all these hopes were destroyed
The Orange Free State. 47
in a week by an Act passed in a passion, and the unfortunate in-
vest.or a loser of £600 or £1000 ; and yet these men expect to be
honoured, when by a public Act they rob and plunder without
even as much as suggesting compensation. Drunkenness and
debauchery is one thing, the glass of good-fellowship another ; and
the following words of Maccall explain the whole position so well,
that I cannot refrain from printing them, in the hope that they
will guide men to be temperate at all times, and liberal-hearted
likewise : —
Temperance.
"We take over, for the benefit of fanatical Good Templars, the
following well-written and sensible letter, addressed to the editor
of an English journal : —
" Sir, — Plato, a great Greek philosopher, saith, * Wine fills our
souls with courage.'
" Pliny, a great Roman naturalist, saith, ' By wine the blood
and the hearts of men are nourished.'
" Saint Chrysostom, a great Christian orator, saith, ' Wine is
the gift of God : drunkenness is the work of the devil.'
" Luther, a great Protestant reformer, saith, ' Who loves not
woman, wine and song, remains a fool his Avhole life long.'
" The Eddo, that great treasurer of Norse poetical traditions,
saith, ' Wine is the joy of man.'
" I take these sayings as texts for a brief discourse on a subject
not much understood.
Temperance is either the wise and moderate use of things allow-
able and desirable, or the balance and harmony of a man's whole
faculties. The one kind of temperance implies the other. A man
who has the sweet and melodious equilibrium of nature can never
be led to excessive indulgence in anything ; and a man who in all
things shuns excess spontaneously and habitually harmonises his
own character.
In regard to wine and alcoholic drinks it is manifest that the
temperate man is he, not who abstains from them, but he who
uses them commensurately with the health and the harmony of
his entire being. Who can in reference hereto be another man's
judge ? The German poet, Goethe, who was as famous for his
48 The Okange Free State.
Olympian calm as for his brilliant genius, was in the habit of
drinking every day after dinner four or five bottles of Rhenish
wine. His brain, nevertheless, remained clear to the last, and he
was in his eighty-third year when he died. On the other hand, a
very small quantity of drink confused and vanquished Charles
Lamb. If Goethe could drink immensely and be all the brighter
and better for it ; and if Lamb could not put drink to his lips
without being intoxicated, it was obviously Lamb and not (ioethe
who was the drunkard. Thomas Carlyle, who died in his eighty-
sixth year, drank very moderately, but smoked ten or twelve
pipes daily. He disliked drinkers as much as Goethe disliked
smokers, but each of them took the enjoyment which suited best
his taste and constitution.
Drinks, however, and drinking have reference not to the indi-
vidual alone ; they play a grand, and, on the whole, a beneficent
part in social existence. At this aspect of the matter fanatical
teetotallers refuse to look. Public feasts have enormous sympa-
thetic influences. Working men eater taverns not because they
are fond of drink, but because they rejoice in each other's com-
pany. When they meet and take a glass together, they are
induced to feel an interest in each other, and to be mutually
helpful. Working men are more hospitable, especially to rela
fives and friends, than any other class. The moment they turn
teetotallers they cease to be hospitable ; and cold, covetous, and
canting, they shut themselves up in the gloomy circle of sordid
cares.
A community of total abstainers would be the dreariest, the
most monotonous of all communities, because everythins; would
be sacrificed to prudence and calculation. When the generous
instincts are annihilated, holiness, heroism, the divinest virtues,
the sweetest charities perish.
The Blue Ribbon and other noisy, silly, pretentious pharisaical
movements, give under the guise of temperance, birth and
nourishment to the worst forms of intemperance ; to bigotry, to
slander, to monstrous spiritual presumption.
I am not aware that teetotallers abstain from beef because
some men are gluttons, or from marriage because some men are
debauchees or systematic seducers. But if consistent they ought
to do so. Perhaps a time is near when Local Option is to deter-
The Oka:?ge Free State. 49
mine a man's right to eat a mutton chop or to marry. Woe to
the butchers and the pretty girls when that season comes.
Yours obediently,
A Minorite Brother."
Mr. Matthew Arnold says he drinks wine not because he finds
it indispensable, but because it seems to him to add to the agree-
ableness of life. Society generally has discovered that moderation in
its cups adds also to the agreeableness of life; in other words, that
there is more pleasure to be got out of existence by refraining from
■excess, than indulging in it. Gradually the lower class are learn-
ing the same lesson, and are beginning to understand that habi-
tual sobriety pays and conduces to the constant agreeableness of all
life. The young official men who either as past or present Land-
drost clerks, and who gradually get reduced and become stamp-
sellers, because they lost their heads whet: otherwise acting in
public life, must be put out of consideration, although one could
fill sheet after sheet with their silly, mouthy remarks. They are
simply so many walking, touting, smoking, tailor-made men who
certainly will never shine as lights of the world, no never, nor
even as decent citizens of Bloemfontein.
The general ignorance of the members of the liaad is so dense,
and their stolid obstinacy so great, that even the President with
all his general knowledge, is often unable to move them from a
position once taken up by them. The general success — due to
England's purchasing power — has at last converted many to the
belief that they are miniature God- Almighties, and since the defeat
of the English at Majuba Hill, some of these antediluvian black-
coat, tall-hat, rough, Boer-farmers, have several times burned to
declare war against England, feeling sure that they could beat, and
then — what a prospect ! come into her possessions ! The free-
livers and reformed drunkards in the pei'sons of several lawyers
and other officials do their best to increase this conceit in them for
their own selfish purposes.
CHArTER V.
■^.r /rlif UST prior to my leaving Bloemfontein for the Colony^
I witnessed several cases of injustice that reflect upon
the character of the State i-n a very unsatisfactory
way.
Thanks to the Patch Legislators having no more
sense and enlightenment than the world's law-manu-
facturers generally, in an evil moment, and in the
short space of a week, without previous discussion on the part of
the people, the Government passed a Bill giving power to proceed
summarily against those who might be found in possession of
diamonds. Although there was no clause in the Bill giving the
right to entrap — trapping being in opposition to old Free State
ideas — after the Act in question came into operation, it became a
common thing for men, priding themselves upon being considered
gentlemen, to assist in trapping their fellow-men by means of
trap-stones sold in the dark by Kaffirs. It was said and sworn
that they gave the stones for the purpose referred to, and although
in several cases no such stones could be found in the possession of
the accused, three ordinary men, acting as judges, sentenced these
luckless victims of perjury and treachery to ten years hard labour
and fifty lashes.
This was done by men who looked upon Englishmen as fools ;
and not a single word of protest against the injustice and cruelty
was ever uttered by any member of the Legislature or by the
Officials, including the President himself.
Again, to enable a magistrate to ingratiate himself with the
Dutch population, and to share with an informer to add to the
Government chest, a trap is set to help him, or them, to get into
their possession a sum of ten pounds. This magistrate — the chief
one of the Free State — accepts the evidence of a white German, a
mail who swears that while buying goods for the road, to go to
The Orange Free State. St
Pretoria, he also bought a bottle of brandy. This is denied by the
respectable store-keeper, who stated that, in kindness, he gave
him the bottle of brandy as a present, he being an old customer.
Here we find an individual, who is but an indifferent inhabitant
of a large town, allowed to swear against a responsible, respectable
man, whose word is not permitted to weigh against that of a com-
mon informer ; and the occupier of the seat of justice with such
evidence before him, fines the defendant — thus placing him in a
false position with his neighbours. He was desirous of procuring
the annual licence, but owing to Dutch and German jealousy, and
the vote of a boy acting as clerk to this Landdrost at the time —
his application for the same trade liberty as others failed. Justice
is rarely administered in the Orange Free State to an Englishman,
and since Gladstone's Ministry trailed the English flag in the dust
to be scoifed and laughed at in the Transvaal, Englishmen put up
with losses rather than appeal to the Courts of Justice, so called,
in which men sit who are hardly fit for clerkships, and who if
tested for competency in any other country would be sent back to
school again. Very little can be said in favour of the judges for
ability ; they are simply good-natured, simple-minded gentlemen,
good for a feast where neither wit nor flow of good language is
needed.
So far as the Free State lawyers and attorneys are concerned,
the less said the better. Their ability is limited, but their extor-
1 ion is positively unlimited ; as a rule, like the doctors, they are
old missionaries, who have found it pay better to doctor and advise
than to remain followers of the gentle Jesus. They know this so
well, and the fact is so patent, that they chaff each other on their
antecedents. An instance occurred in which one lawyer accused
another of always making his account equal to the receipts, whem
lie had clients soft enough to get him to collect their over-due
iiccounts. He was known as the "black sheep," and kept himself
handy to do the dirty work of the other lawyers in town and about
the Courts. One lawyer held a bill of sale over this ''black
sheep " to keep out his creditors, while he was doing their dirty
work, to save their reputation. Several lawyers never thought it
wise or worth their while to pay any debts, in the hope that their
creditors would need some legal adviser, or assistance, and thus
enable them to levy their " black-mail."
d2
52 The Orange Free State.
I can quite endorse all this from i^ersonal experience. I was
more than black-mailed in pocket, I was black-mailed in my feel-
ings : for under a kind of friendship, I gave an account to collect
and to sue for. I keep that account as a warning, and intend
framing the same as a memento of the Free State lawyers' way of
making Englishmen pay, if they happen to be fools enough to
dwell there in opposition to Germans and Jews. My own case
was not an isolated one, for well do I remember a friend, who to
recover £40, was eventually let in for the whole of his opponent's
■expenses as well as his own, which amounted to nearly £200.
While dealing with legal subjects, I may mention that a prece-
dent was established in the Supreme Court one Saturday morning
which has considerably exercised the gentlemen of the long robe.
Ever since the appointment of Sheriff Crosby as Taxing-master,
war has been waged between him and the advocates on the ques-
tion of costs, and although several appeals have been made against
his decisions, the Bench has almost invariably supported him. A
practice has lately sprung up of dragging in a junior counsel to
assist in cases of the most unimportant character, thereby greatly
swelling the bill of costs and giving the juniors a job — and sadly
they need one, as any one can testify who spends any time in
Court. Against this, and other extortionate attempts, Mr. Crosby
has taken a determined stand, and the thanks of the public are
due to him for the bold front he has presented. On the Saturday
morning referred to, Mr. Attorney Leonard presented himself and
informed the Court that not one of the advocates would take up
his brief — in fact, had struck work. Anticipating that there
would be a hitch, the advocates to a man were in their seats, pre-
pared to enjoy the discomfiture of the attorneys, and, through the
attorneys, Mr. Crosby. Judge of the surprise of the advocates
when the Chief Justice blandly told Mr. Leonard to step forward
and conduct his own case ; which he did, and succeeded in defeat-
ing Mr. Upington, Q.C., ex-Attorney-General, and his able coad-
jutor, Mr. Innes. Further, the Court awarded Mr. Leonard five
guineas for arguing the case, and ordered that the briefs should be
paid for, as the attorneys were not to know that the Counsel would
refuse to act. A meeting of the Bar was held afterwards, but with
closed doors, so that I am unable to give the result ; but the
sympathies of the public are entirely with the other side, and the
The Orange Free State. 5
discomfiture of tlie Bar has been the cause of great merriment and
jubilation.
But there, what can one expect in a State that possesses a man
at its head who for twenty years sat as its President, had received
sevez'al farms as a public gift, and had always had a good income
from the Dutch legislators (for as a matter of fact the Dutch popu-
lation never troubled themselves about governing), and who in the
fourth epoch of his presidency had £3000 a year, a house found
him, and travelling expenses paid at all times — yet had the mean-
ness when proposed for the fifth time at a salary of £3000 and all
found, to ask like a pauper for a gift, and make it a condition
of his accepting the ofhce to have £2500 given him when sworn
in on the fifth occasion. Such is the influence of the example of
our Crowned Heads and Presidents of the Old and New Worlds,
that even the little men of these small pastoral States have the
impudence and audacity to ask alms m so barefaced and public a
manner as to convey the impression that they are needed. Per-
sonally this man is no worse than hundreds of others in the Free
State. As a rule all the members of their Volksraad accept the
honour of sitting, for the sake of the £2 a day and travelling ex-
penses allowed, for about sixty or eighty days.
These men were so ignorant of the common wants of civilised
people, that they opposed telegraphs, railways and road-making
for years, and whose remarks were so absurd that for the dignity
of the House, I refrain from giving them ; but one can quite be-
lieve that, but for the sake of the £2 per day, they would put
themselves to n© inconvenience to assist in misgoverning and
living upon bread, sardines and brandy when sitting in the Raad.
It is often said that, but for President Brand, the State could
not have weathered the storms that assailed it. Possibly so ; but
it is at least a question whether this so called safe man has been
quite of the advantage that some people suppose. Like the late
Bishop of London, he has the reputation of being a good man,
simply because he is a quiet, safe man, whom no active change
would allow to lose his position, and some maintain that but lor
his timely aid the State would have been ruined. One thing is
certain, that if he had persisted in his unrighteous demand for the
diamond fields, the men of action on that spot would have annexed
the Free State, and thus he knew that his callinc; would have
54 The Orange Free State.
gone. The whole of tlie Free State is prosperous, owing to its
•connection with the English colonies and nation ; and although
they protest against the influence of the English, they hunger after
English sovereigns. A.h ! well it is but a question of time for the
Dutch even to ask for the protecting arm of Englishmen, if it is
only to save them from Hollanders, 'xermans, and the worse class
of Jews who trade upon their credulity. Even now, they are
beginning to see that, under the sneaking " ferneuking " Jew,
German and Hollander, they are in the hands of Shylocks, and
that in having their pound of flesh, they lose their farms, and
that the Hebrews are their masters, while the English would be
generous and give new life to their country by their speculative
feeling and the prospect of obtaining money 'and credit from
England, which would be far prelerable to the treatment they get
from their German false friends. It is astonishing, and can only
be due to the general simplicity of the rural mind, that they have
been so blind to the fact, that while the Jews and Germans have
been speaking falsely of the English, those ^;/w?^*s of society have
gradually absorbed the land, and that in future it will be well to
free themselves from these Eastern strangers, who while being pro-
tected by the might of the English, have shamelessly traduced
them, and who, to use the language of the poet Heron, will,
after they have served the inhabitants, as he describes, leave them
to fall before the natives, as they have ever done Irom the time of
borrowing from the Egyptians, and never honestly repaying : —
" These Jew men owe no duty to the land they drain,
They see no home where they collect their gain,
They're keen, because they've nothing else to do ;
They're shrewd, since nothing else distracts their view."
The argument advanced that it was for the good of the whole
country that the President should have been so often nominated
and elected, on the assumption that it was for the benefit of the
Kepublic at large, is open to doubt. The country at large had no
opportunity of showing whether this sum of £2,500, voted by the
Volksraad, was a spontaneous gift or substantial expression of
gratitude and affectionate regard, or a sign of the helplessness of
the Republic and scarcity of men fit to take the helm ol State,
rather than a proof of statesmanship appreciated.
Thb Okange FiiEE State. 55
To prove their utter reliance upon this man they — after passing
a vote that he should not accept a title offered him by the English
Government for assisting them in their dirty, dishonourable work
in degrading the English nation in the Transvaal — at his earnest
request, re-opened the subject so that he might accept the cheap,
muddy glory from a bastard Government, ate their leek and huge
humble pie by giving him the option of accepting or refusing.
Picture, if possible, the head of an independent State asking
and begging to be allowed to accept a title to rank no higher than
a successful butterman of an English city might attain. When
the Free State produces men of ability, it will no longer need such
men, who are practically but simple executive officers. As a proof
of want of good generalship, up to 1882, the post office was
•officered by boys, and public robbery was a constant practice ; the
telegraphs were constructed in the State by the Colonial Govern-
ment ; the money collected ior road-making used for other pur-
poses, and road-repairing rarely undertaken; yet this man — for
being well paid, sanctioning the large pay to the forty odd mem-
bers of the Raad, and at all times flattering his subordinates so
that in turn he could command their votes, and the money of the
State — is to be lauded as a little god, and all are to fall down and
find no fault, but worship him. Truly, with what little wisdom
is the world governed !
The material prosperity of the State is due to the diamond
fields of the English, as will afterwards be seen. The farmers
give no special care to their breeding of anything, and their
agriculture is simply of the rudest and most meagre kind. The
very territory that they took in violence from the Basutos, which
they hungered after, — like David did for the vineyard of Naboth
— was taken simply because it was the garden of the Basutos
'territory, although they justified the seizure on the ground that
the Basutos were a nation of thieves, ignoring the fact that they
themselves had not only stolen the cattle on a thousand hills, but
like our Norman conquerors, had also robbed the inhabitants of the
land on which the cattle grazed ; and when the rightful owners
asked for restitution they were designated rebels, thieves, and
vagabonds. The " garden " stolen from the Basutos by this much
vaunted Free State, was considered the Alsatia of Basutoland, full
■of land, cattle and merchandise thieves and swindlers, and with all
56 The Oea^'ge Free State.
the opportunities it presented for men who woukl work for an,
honest living, it was in one state of crime and insolvency. When
the Government refused to help them to continue the robbery, like
the Israelites of old, they borrowed right and left from their
English neighbours, started with their ill-gotten wealth over the
Border, and jumped the lands of Mankoroane, and to give their
deed a high recognition, called it Stellaland. They thus again
proved how Dutchmen or Bastards, — who while called after their
fathers' name, and never knew or liked to tell who were their
mothers, — could go into a land where neither magistrates were
nor policemen needed, and in the name of brute force, secured by
past robberies, set up a form of Governmant. They elected for
their Landdrost, or chief magistrate — a man who deliberately took
out a load of goods from an English firm, in Bloemfontein to trade
with, and who started in life there as a capitalist with the proceeds
of this robbery. For these facts and particulars, I refer my readers
to the public papers of the years 1880 to 1883. These things
occurred with the full knowledge of the Dutch Thunderer, or pro-
perly speaking the Ex'press liar paper, edited by a Jew and owned
by a German, — who secured by flattery and sycophancy a contract
for three years printing. So well were these facts known, that
even the Judges complained of the difficulty ot obtaining convictions
against some Dutch horse-thieves and traders, who were afterwards
requested by their Dutch brethren of the jury to clear out for fear
that they (the brethren aforesaid) should have to bow to public
opinion and convict, and thus get Dutchmen on the roads for hard-
laboui'.
To give a further illustration of the abilities of the members of
the Volksraad. They were memorialised to assist the Burghers
with a sum of money to help them out of their monetary difficulties
brought about by the mine fiends who had offered such tempting
baits as to induce many to open their leather sacks and invest,
and who in so ^doing impoverished themselves and enriched the
German and Jewish fraternity. These men asked ibr a loan in.
Free State paper-money, giving as security to the State the
deeds of their lands and other property, only stipulating that as
the money would be Free State made, only a small interest or
rent should be charged for the same. This reasonable request was
pooh-poohed, and even the proposed notes were classed as "blue-
The Orange Free State. 57
backs " that never had the same kind of security, and for want of
sense, the members could not comprehend the difference between
such notes and their security, and the old paper-money of the State.
Let it never be forgotten that the old Free State notes were issued in
good faith upoh farms and the public domain, which were after-
wards sold by a dishonest Government, making these notes occupy
the same position as the assicpiats did in France after the first
revolution, when the political vagabond Pitt issued surreptitiously
into France assi{j>iats that were produced in England, and thus
created panics in France in opposition to the genuine assignats
that represented the public domain. For proof of all this, see
Doubleday's history, which so fully describes the particulars of
Pitt being sued in the King's Bench to recover the engraver's
charges for making the same. No wonder that Pitt and the officials
of his time got rich, when for engraved paper they secured the
wealth of France to the loss of Frenchmen. No depreciation could
finally be effected by the issue of a State's paper-money, if secured
at all times upon positive property, and redeemable year after
year out of the income of the farmers.
Their Bank, called national, owes its existence to money given
by England in a fit of generosity at the expense of the Colony —
which by a system of double rates and extortion, secures them a
considerable annual income.
The financial problem solved, means the redemption of the
farmers and manufacturers, not only in the Free State, but in the
wide, wide world. It is to the interest of gold owners and hard
money supporters to oppose sound monetary arrangements. A&
gold monopolists they get rich, and nowhere so readily as in the
Free State, where the normal condition is ten per cent., which
means that any bank or individual bringing in £1,000,000, can
in ten years take out in production the £1,000,000, and still have
in their hands for future financial gold plunder their original
£1,000,000. No wonder that bankers retire with colossal fortunes
and build palatial residences ; but don't let it be forgotten, all at
the expense of the labourers of all climes, and let it also be fur-
ther remembered, that no alteration will take place until the
workers understand the dodge, that while they are working and
sleeping, the gold owners, — who neither toil nor spin, but simply
look on, — are getting richer and richer, while they are getting
58 The Okange Free State.
poorer and poorer, and work harder and harder than ever and
fare worse. But once let them comprehend that money should be
representative, that it should be created as fast as worked-up pro-
ductions demand the medium of exchange, thus making it as easy
to sell for money loJcens based on wealth, as it is n9w to buy with
the money in existence — and labour becomes emancipated from all
unrighteous demands. To prove their ignorance, at the very time
that the discussion occurred in the House, the Report of tha
National Bank was before them, and was afterwards printed in
the papers of the town on June 24th, 1883.
Therein is the distinct item of £55,000 as Notes which they
have a Government right to use, and through which they exact
from the borrowers a large interest when they lend. Now what
are these but " blue-backs ?" They are not representing gold, but
simply are issued as a credit capital upon which they secure an
interest, that pays all their ofEcials, and leaves an interest of eight
per cent, on the original capital given them by the Colony at the
dictation of England, the interest of which again pays the salaries
of the Executive servants ; so that in reality the people in direct
taxation pay nothing for the Government ; it is really secured out
of England's gift and their issue of " blue-backs." If this is not
public robbery with a vengeance, we must invent a new name for
it. Good heavens ! when will the eyes of the public be opened to
such infamy ? Many, Sunday after Sunday, utter the words :
" Thou shalt not steal," and implore the Lord to enable their
hearts to keep this law, but never ask that their hearts should be
kept from public money stealing. With such facts as these before
us, can anyone wonder, that we write so strongly ? Don't let it
be suppased that the Free State is the only place where such deeds
are done ; in England and in all our Colonies the same system of
robbery is going on, as I have and am showing in my past and
present works on political, social and other kindred topics.
Chapter V.
HE first week in July, 18S3, was a red-letter week in
the history of the inhabitants of Bloemfontein.
After many efforts on the part of the foreigners,
backed up at last by the English — who constituted
the go-ahead portion of the community, and assisted
by the high prices realised by the sale of Erven for
building purposes in the town, the Town Council
were enabled to build a very line Hall out of the proceeds of the
money so raised.
To give an idea of the anomalous position of this much vaunted
Free Slate, it is a remarkable fact, that the capital of this Dutch
State is principally peopled by English, Germans, and foreigners ;
nine out of every ten are aliens. The town councillors are not
Dutch, and in no way do the Dutch control the internal or exter-
nal condition of the town. As a matter of fact it would have re-
mained a dirty " dorp " had not the English had the go in them
to give the Capital some dignity in its public and private buildings;
for deny it who may, there is no onward tendency in the Dutch
community.
Even with an allowance of £2 a day, their Legislators will buy
a tin of sardines and a sixpenny loaf, carry the same under their
arms to some out-room attached to some friend's house, for which
they pay no rent, and there regale themselves with the same in
common with some other Legislators provided with some similar
refreshment, supplemented perhaps with a bottle of two-shilling
common Cape smoke. When these articles are purchased by them
with English money, change must be secured with plenty of
three-penny pieces amongst it for the religious service on the
following Sunday. One could admire these men for their economy
if they gave their services for their country free of charge.
60 The Orange Free State.
No doubt many ^vill howl witli I'age when they read this state-
ment, and inwardly wish the writer was in their hands, but the
Free State is still a heathen country — a land still occupied with
both white and black barbarians, and although some may call me
an Anglo-maniac for uttering these things, the truth shall be
spoken and made known.
It is a common thing to speak kindly of the Free State Dutch-
man ; but this is the courtesy of men at a distance, who would
rather speak well of all than ill of any ; but lor one who has
ridden with them, travelled through their land, eaten and talked
with them, these kindly sentiments must be dispensed with. They
only appear to be possessed of any sense of justice when they are
near neighbours of the English, and cannot get outside their in-
fluence or do without their assistaiice. Many an Englishman has
met foul play at their hands, and at this they rather rejoice than
otherwise ; and they would feel no compunction in bemg the
death of all the English but for the difficulty of burying them on the
quiet, which is all that troubles them. They would not consider
it any crime to tree their land from the " intruders," as they
describe and profess to conceive them, but they dread being lound
out.
This may seem too horrible for belief, but I speak without fear
or favour, and tell the truth honestly. The Free State Dutchman
is dirty, mean, and cruel ; he isolates himself as much as pos-
sible, rarely goes now to " Nachtmaal," and when he does,^he
thinks he does his part if he buys a tickey-worth of sweets to eat
while at the Kirk, and a tickey for the plate on retiring from the
place of conventual meeting, or house where young men may look
out for wives and the young women sigh for husbands — i.. is
virtually a courting-house.
The modern Dutchman stands in no fear of his " Predikant "
until on his death-bed, and then his only trouble is, who will get
his land, flocks and herds after his decease.
With the usual courtesy of the English, the President and the
members of the Raad, the judges and other public officials were
invited to take part in the opening ceremonies. The opening was
a small matter, but my I the prospect of an after-meal of the
most sumptuous kind, washed down at the expense of the rate-
payers, principally English, with all kinds of delicate wines and
The Orangje Free State. 61
champagne was a glorious opportunity, causing even the stohd
Dutchmen to indulge in a hearty laugh at the folly and generosity
of the councilmen, which they availed themselves of to the utmost to
drink all they possibly could, even at the risk of a headache next
morning, if the conduct of some of them at the evening concert,
and their appearance on the following morning, afforded any
indication as to their condition. Their gluttony and headache
were compensated by the knowledge that these two festive days,
at the expense of the public were in addition to the £2 per day
they received out of the coffers of the State funds.
Such was the well-known obstinacy and meanness of these
members of the Raad, that an Act that can only be known as one
of legislative public swindling, was allowed to pass without any
public expression of indignation, or even protest, lest in their
hatred, and passion they should pass a more stringent set of laws
against the English trading classes. This small body of farmer-
legislators, were under the impression that God had in some way
or other fitted them to be the regulators of the children of Ham as
their bondmen for all time. For proof of this assertion see their
strong, earnest effort to annex the Barolongs, (since accomplished)
an independent tribe at Thaba 'Nchu, whose independence was
arranged for, when the English gave it over to these Dutchmen.
Although this land is in winter one howling wilderness, it is
coveted by the land-hungering Boer, who, if he dared, would smite
hip and thigh the, to him, English Philistines, who oppose this
tribal robbery — in the high veld near the Capital of the Free
State.
I have met many traders and merchants in the Colony, and I
was commercially connected with a German who also was a Jew ;
but owing to his talking, walking, eating, and living amono-
-civilised English people he was a gentleman. The Free State from
the beginning was the Alsatia of the Colony and Natal, and was
free indeed to all the rascals of the neighbouring Colonies, who
there had space to melt in their own fat, and thus in time cease to
be an abomination to other people.
The procession on the occasion of the opening of the Hall was
headed by a band, the inhabitants all marching round the Market
Square and finally mounting the steps leading into the Hall, the
band, which was composed of the younger portion of the Grand
62 The Orange Free vState.
Army of the Free State, with no musical taste whatever in them,
meanwhile playing the Free State God /Save the President. Thus^
it can be fully imagined by those who have heard the German
Bands that howl in every street in London that there was a general
wish that the whole of them had been transported out of the Free
State at their Country's expense, long ere the conclusion of their
brass-mouthed discords. The President made an earnest appeal
to Dutchmen, and a still stronger one to the English and foreign
portion of the burghers, to amalgamate their interests a;:d feelings^
and create a nation of Dutchmen. This no doubt was highly
flattering to the Dutchmen ; but what an invitation to the English
to lower themselves by conforming to this " rest and be thankful "
policy. The feeling on the part of the English go a-head
burghers was " not if they knew it : " rather than sink into the
narrow-minded Dutch element, they would abandon all they
valued and betake themselves to some of the other Colonies
of Greater Britain. As it is, they are as the salt of the
Free State ; but only let them leave it in disgust, and the
Boers will find themselves socially, commercially, and politically
ruined.
After sundry appeals to the egotism of the listeners, and the
impatience of those who had free tickets to eat at the expense of
the rate-payers, — and who had purposely refrained from several
preceding meals in order that they might enjoy free gifts the
better, — the President moved towards the tables groaning with the
good things of life. Once more the band blew its brass-windy
discord to the torture of all, and then with all haste the consump-
tion of eatables took place, followed by the usual toasts.
If, cm a certain memorable occasion, the ghost of Banquo gave
trouble at the festive board, no less did the spirit of Bloemfontein's
late Mayor, Dr. Exton, give torture to the councilmen over this
prandial feast. The vast expenditure had been sanctioned, be-
cause this man had pledged his honour that the money borrowed
would be sufficient for all purposes ; but his honour was like his
promises, of very little account, as was afterwards painfully ex-
perienced by the soft confiding burgesses. " May his shadow-
never be seen again," was the earnest prayer of many of the
Councilmen, who had no funds even to pay for the feast, and who,
in a perfect perspiration, contemplated the pay-day to come.
The Orange Free State. 63
The proposer of the toast of " The hea'th of the President," had
the ignorance and presumption to say that it was due to him (the
President), that the Free State had prospered, and attained its
high position ; his benign and wise rule had done it all. What a
false and anti-historical statement ! The diamond fields alone-
had been the source of its prosperity ; and as for wisdom, if speech
is silvern and silence golden, and it is desirable to observe such
rules as the rules " do nothing that you can get another to do
for you, or put off to-day what can be done to-morrow," then
indeed praise him for his wisdom, &c. Nothing was expected of
the Presideut,. owing to his late bereavement. Fancy, what bun-
kum ; as it is as certain we have all to die, as that we are born.
Wisdom teaches us to look forward to expect this of all our
friends, and our own future passing away.
An elderly sister-in-law had died a few days before, and if there
was anything to distress him upon this bereavement, it must
have been the regretful thought that whilst he had chosen, out of
many others, one dress-maker of Cape Town, all mankind had
passed this other by, and in consequence thereof she had not had
the opportunity of fulfilling legitimately woman's mission of adding
to the world's numbers. It might have been different, in many
parts of the Free State. To have a plurality of natural wives is
not considered a crime, and although polygamy is not sanctioned
by law in the Capital, it is often practised. The one thing that
the President might feel bitterly and often grieved about, was the
uselessness of his sons, who as farmers, traders and citizens caused
him constant anxiety and expense ; compelling him to go hat in
hand, after having had over £30,000, to his Parliament for a gift
to pay their debts. It is truly disgusting, this apeing older
countries in their follies and practices, and deserves — and so far
as I am concerned shall have — denunciation at all times.
The toast to the Judges was a capital joke, and must have been
given ironically. To be told that the Bench possessed a number
of men of unsullied integrity, and that the Bar was composed of
men of erudition and honesty, was to most people a surprise ; and
ii some of the more important cases of late years are considered,
the statement was of somewhat more than doubtful accuracy.
Judge Keitz — the chief Justice, as a private gentleman, is not
to be reproached ; but as a judge and a candidate of the future for
64 The Orange Free State,
Presidential honours, he has no special qualifications. His past
work seemed principally to be to flatter the Dutch population,
that they were the coming race, and like most insignificant
politicians, he used the class prejndices of the Dutchman. His
ideas and knowledge were so limited, as to lead him to advocate
the Africander Bond, and say, that he believed it possible to
create out of the mongrel white population of South Africa, a
nation of men, who could defy the outer world and hold their own
without external assistance. No such population could exist, for
even if they killed all the natives off, and made tne land a perfect
desolation and wilderness, the whites could not toil in an African
sun for many generations to come. All this public bunkum proves
the need to " tell the truth and shame the devil." This successful
son of a Swede is a fortunate mechanical sitter on the Bench, but
a man of no genius.
The seconder of the toast, was the son of a quack-doctor, who
for many years ate the bread of idleness and pleasure in London
to give him dignity at our Inns of Court, and who on his return
to his father's land of adoption — the native land of the black, to
whom his father was sent out as a missionary, but Avho found it
paid better to practice in physic than divinity — through his
father's influence, was allowed to practise in the Free State, and
act as its Solicitor-General, and with all the base insolence of his
German fathers, he talks and uUcrs nothing but common-place
O'emarks.
" This is the crew I fly from — sliall I see
Hybrids like these take precedence of ine ?
Sliall these adveuturers strive, and take our place ?
These men of guttural names and dubious race,
Who a few years smcc made a noise —
Went round the world with Hambro' Sherry, hemp and toys ;
Is it no matter that such iOugiisli stock as ours,
That have been the source of ail this country's power,
Have laid the broad foundation of many a State,
I'uilt up our nation, and made Kugland great :
Tiiat now, like vultures scenting out a prey,
These supj)le tradesmen hustle us away,
(Jive them their way, in every Knglisii place
Tiie rarest sight will be an Knglish face.
(Jive them their way, and the oceans o'er —
Self-banished — the knglsiiinan will seek another shore •
Where for some time, until there's cream to skim.
These keen-eyed cornuu-ants will not follow him."
The Orange Free State. 65
Sucli is the class of men who hope to rule and control the Free-
State when they gammon Dutchmen to give them lull power, and
thus make way for the Hollander and German to be their future
task-masters and regulators in all social, theological and political
conditions.
The toast to the clergy was replied to by the Revs. Messrs.
Morgan and Oroghan. The proposer of the toast, Councillor
Cheap Jack's-son, stated that the clergy of South Africa had
always been a fighting clergy and remained so to-day ; a fine
character of the followers of the lowly Jesus. Certainly brother
is against brother, and a sword seems to be in the hands of those
who differ in matters theological, and ignore the human brother-
hood of man. But the insolence and lyiiig of those who replied
to this toast was most bare-faced. Surely they could never have
supposed that they would be reported, or their exuberance of ver-
bosity would have been drowned in the champagne cup. These
men maintained that the Church of Christ had always been aiding
in the spread of civilisation, the arts and sciences, and social
order.
So utterly untrue is this, if history is to be relied upon — as in
Mosheim's E cclcsiasticcd History fully shown, also in Buckle's
Mistory of Civilisation, and Leeky's General Ivforniation jor the
People. It is high time that any clergyman, so-called, of any
denomination speaking in the name of the past or present, should
cease lying ; but it seems as though they could not help it and
that the father of lies-r-the devil — is their great god in this world;
they are eaten up with the Mammon of unrighteousness — they
are the public advocates of lying, hypocrisy and stealing. The time
was, when " thou shalt not steal," or " bear false witness against
thy neighbour," and " love your neighbour as yourself " was con-
sidered the duty of men ; but since the teachers of Christianity
as they teach it, and call it, strive after the good things and
the portions of this world, they have converted themselves
into liars and receivers of stolen property. To those who can see
with their eyes, and hear with their ears, these things are not un-
known ; and these reverend old fossils of the past hope I shall oo,
and if they had the power they would send me, where the bad
niggers go. They must teach this doctrine of eternal torture if
they want to keep up their position, and continue to trade upon
E
<3-6 The Orakge Free State.
the credulity of their worshippers ; but I have no fear of their
thunderings, and am fully determined to expose them in all their
deceit, seeing that they are becoming as leeches and consumers of
the people. Truly they are the blind of this world ; but instead
of making a happy despatch of themselves, before they lead other
blind people into the ditches, they guard and truly make them-
selves friends of the children of this world, condone their faults,
enter into their houses, feast themselves to the full, and, in reality,
let the more simple folk fall and obliterate themselves.
My contention cannot be more forcibly illustrated than in the
following lines : —
If, as you brood upon the ills you see,
The grip of greed, the wrath of misery :
If, as you count the force on either side.
The rage which frets against the hand of pride,
And as you watch the mischief, it may seem
Your Church can heal it, scout the idle dream.
Time was, when they who preached could rouse the soul,
And make the tide of misery backward roll ;
Time was, when men were dough, and words were leaven,
And the voice seemed to issue forth from heaven —
When his strange message the bold preacher brought,
And staked his life upon the truth he taught ;
When, meditating on his sacred page.
He woke the slumbering spirit of his age ;
When, seeking anxious hearts and greedy ears.
He stirred their anger or dispelled their fears ;
Telling his moving tale to every sense —
The tale of sorrow, wrong, and recompense —
Of how God's arm was bared to ease their grief,
Of how His Spirit aided their relief,
Of how the enemy must turn and fly
Before the strong right hand and kindling eye ;
Of how men fought for God in ancient days.
And having won their battle, sang His praise ;
Or, if their sorrows found no mortal friend,
God's self would give them vengeance in the end.
Preachers like these have, in their darkest hour.
Given men n^w hopes and made their Church a power.
# * * »
What is the union of your Church and State ?
Your priests are merely lackeys of the great.
Your bishop is a prince — a lord, a peer, —
A man of several thousand i)ounds a year.
The Oeange Fkee State. 67
"Whom kindly Providence permits to hive
A copious family, and make it thrive.
Ohosen to fill his see on no pretence
Of courage, foresight, learning, or eloquence ;
A scboolnnaster, an ignorant cadet,
A priest with kinsfolk near the cabinet,
A pompous don, of kindly, stupid face.
These, Paul and Peter ! occupy your place.
There, though we miss the groaning voice of Trench,
One Irish howl still issues from the bench.
* * * *
To the dry bones of dogma can they give
The prophet's power, be clothed with flesh and live ?
Can they perform the work which has been done,
Revive the nation's faith and make it one ?
Can they do that which Knox anl Melville did,
And make the people follow as they bid ;
Lay down a policy, exact its laws.
And win all hearts to struggle for the cause ?
Of course not ; and they know it. Not a word
For Justice, Right, and Truth is ever heard
From that Right Reverend Bench, on whose soft perch
Roosts the fine linen of the English Church.
They know it ; grateful Ellicott displays
The saintly gifts for which the nation pays,
When, raising up his apostolic hand.
He spoke in scorn of those who own no land.
Blessed the good food, consigned the poor to God,
And mindful of the child, spared not the rod ;
Bade the bluff farmers try the good old rule
And duck their critics in the nearest pool ;
Those evil men, who seek to cut the knot
Which ties the peasant to his wi'etched lot.
Such speeches, if that peasant ever sees,
How must he bless that prelate on his knees,
And thank the destiny which lets him live
Where farmers hear the advice which bishops give.
— Edwin Heron,
The other toasts were too commonplace to notice, and, as the
•wine got in, there was no possibility of any display of wit or flow
of soul from any of the revellers. Not a member of the Kaad
uttered a word of wisdom, and at last the body being satisfied, and
there being no food supplied for the mind, the party adjourned for
the foot-ball match, and the coming concert in the evening. The
balls, and other matters connected with this week's rejoicing, wero
j:2
68 The Orange Free State.
all of the usual kind, and need no telling, as they had no special
feature in any case.
The opening the day after of the new Public Libiary so-called
was another effort on the part of the English and foreign portion
of the inhabitants. To give it an appearance of magnitude, the
President, his ofEcials, and members of the Raad were invited
to take part in the ceremony. The President and a few of the
officials assisted ; perhaps all would, but for the fact that, like
many others, the members of the Kaad had not recovered from the
effects of their indulgence the day before. They would have made
a supreme effort to be there, if the opportunity had been given
them to indulge in unlimited eating and drinking again at the
expense of the ratepayers : for, deny it who may, the tradesman
knows as a fact that the Dutchman dearly loves to eat, drink, and
get into debt, but never makes much effort to get out of liability.
" Opschrijven " is his motto and practice all the days of his life ; and
when he has well-nigh overwhelmed himself in debt, and had the hint
given him by his friend, a Dutch sheriff, that the indignant trader is
about coming down upon him, he gathers together under cover of an
ante-nuptial contract, with his wife, all his cattle and sheep, and
places his household goods in his waggons, that are not paid for,
and passes on to some lands that his less fortunate brethren have
previously taken from the natives, squats himself, and builds a
" Hartebeest " house, near good grass and water, and, with this
stolen property, lives in a new Stellaland.
As time passes on, and population increases, his wealth gives
him a position that, to those who knew not of his previous move-
ments, magnifies him into a wealthy man, and the original process
is repeated, either by himself or his grown-up sons, who have, on
the faith of their father's supposed wealth, got other cre'dulous
men to "opschrijve," or give credit. Hard work and the Dutch-
man fell out at the very beginning of his Cape career. If kind
Nature in her grasses and water favours him, all may be well ; if
not, a state of chronic starvation ensues, and contracting debts and
repudiating the same is his constant practice. No one can deny
that there are many rich Boer farmers ; but they are so more
from good luck than good management, some of them by living
near old markets, or where the English have created new ones, or
being near the seat of war could not fail to amass wealth.
The Orange Fkee State. 69
As a fact, such now is the well-known meanness, trickery, and
bad settlements to be expected from the Dutch customers, that all
honest traders try to get into a centre of natives, who, until they
are impregnated with the practices of the Dutchman, are always
ready to pay punctually in cash, cattle, grain, or some other com-
modity. Their natural in-born sense does not allow them to stink
in the nostrils of the white merchant, and, for fear that my readers
might misunderstand me, this characteristic is not confined to the
Boer farmer, but applies ec|ually to the white trash to be found in
all the up-country divisions ; to suppose otherwise would be to
know only half the facts.
In the capital of their Free State the lucky men of land and
houses and official position, if not worse, were as bad. I
myself inspected school and other accounts that had been running
for years, and which no amount of dunning had any effect in
securing; and not even raising a blush of shame when repeatedly
requested to pay up. One can pity and sympathise with men who
have struggled for many years and cannot possibly pay, but only
bitter contempt can be felt for those who will not, but who, if they
would only cease from personal indulgence, could pay up honestly.
One fool, with one-half of black blood in his veins, nearly related
to the public sheriff-hangman, and who certainly would be more
in his place as positive hangman, if such work was needed, month
after month imposes upon the school authorities by taking un-
limited credit, with the intention of finally repudiating the same.
When requested to pay a private account of three years standing,
and for a small acnount, this worthy lied repeatedly in saying that
it had been paid, whereas it remains unpaid to this day. But
what must we say of a man who, holding a near position to the
Solicitor-General, owed over three hundred pounds for school fees
and was deeply in debt all over the town, although in receipt of
seven hundred a year, in addition to having the right of private
practice and an income from house property '! This was the way
with many officials in receipt of good positive pay in English
sovereigns — men with large fixed incomes, and who, owing to
the depreciation of all goods, could live for one-half less than
in more prosperous times, and yet were unwilling to pay up ; thus
it is that Hollanders and Dutchmen stink in the nostrils of the
English.
70 The Orange Free State.
It may be said truthfully that this represents the exact position-
of hundreds of officials in the Free State. Debt and dishonour
are constant companions to them all, from the President and his-
sons down to all his army of supporters ; these are the ofhcials who
believe in putting off till to-morrow what they ought to do to-day,,
and never doing anything themselves that they could get another
to do for them. How like the officials of other climes, and how
catching in old and young communities is this man-made disease !'
It but proves to what a low level these men have sunk, when they
allow their flesh and blood, in the form of their own likenesses, to
be in such a false position in these public schools, in one sense-
almost eating the bread of charity!
I know that many of these fathers and mothers, if allowed to
give vent to their cruel tendencies, would willingly rend me limb
from limb ; but they say there are devils to shame by speaking the
truth. I dare do so, but with no hope that these well-dressed
paupers will alter their ways, or cease to treat unkindly their
neighbour, who acts honestly, though not so showily^ at the ex-
pense of baker, butcher, bootmaker, dressmaker, tailor, linendraper,.
greengrocer, etc.
-^=^^^W^^
Chapter VII.
HE speeches at the opening of the library were com-
mon and untruthful on the part of the officials. The
honesty of the Dutch borrowers was once more to be
tested, but, as this was suggested by one of them-
selves, we will pardon his mistake. The well-knowu
trait of "jumping" in the Dutch settlement, dignified
by the name of " kleptomania '' in other parts of the
world, is so well known that it is well understood that it is the com-
mon, every-day practice for storemen to watch their customers,
and to charge them considerably over the original price, to make
up for what they do not detect. The morality of the Dutch people
in Africa is so low, that it is now understood to be the fashion to
rob and steal from counters, and then laugh at the trader boldly in
the face ; and this accounts for so many Public Library books being
found on the market stalls, bought by Dutch and other travellers,
when passing through the towns from whence the books have-
been purloined, and afterwards sold for the benefit of the
"jumpers."
Nothing too earnest can be said in support of Public Libraries ;
they are the future homes of all classes, who will be able to read
the thoughts and emulate the actions of the Great Dead of the
past — to follow whom would indeed be an honour. It should be
the ambition of all towns and villages to have their sanctuary of
books, where on all days, Sunday included, the old and young of
both sexes could study the teachings of the illustrious dead, made
imperishable by the printer's art, and, when means permitted, a
home of painting, sculpture, and all our fine arts. These public
repositories of imperishable things, and our museums will form
our future churches, where all really divine things can be seen^
72 The Orange Free State.
marked, and inwardly digested, to the future sharae of the
preachers of all denominations.
The President congratulated the Town Council on their liberality
in giving the old Town Hall for the use ot its Public Library, and
lie drew their attention to the gift of that noble Englishman, Sir
George Grey, who, with exemplary liberality, gave books of great
value to Cape Town — a gilt unequalled, and which no Dutchman
lias ever imitated, and, unless they graft or get grafted on some
English stock, they never will. In the good old timee, men con-
sidered it the greatest act ot their lives to give the greater portion
of their individual wealth for public purposes, to be handed down
for the benefit of future generations ; but it is not so now. In these
degenerate days it is only in some fit of weakness or on a dying-bed.
that men whose fears are moved by some witless clergyman to
leave to their particular sects some means to ex'ect a home, not to
the honour of the true living God of creation, but to the gratifying
of their votaries, in perfumes and costumes and their own glorifi-
cation. Good heavens! When shall we have more living for
others, and the continuity of humanity ? Are we everlastingly to
see such shams officiate in our public offices and protest not ? If
it was necessary in the first century for a Christ to turn money-
changers out of a building that was devoted to the Highest, as
they then conceived it, the time has now come, if words will not
do it, when a little compound out of an illicit chemi.st's shop
might be used to advantage in the removal of houses dedicated to
error and folly.
The Chief Justice drew their attention to a gift, namely a Bible,
that had been used in the Dutch Church for many years, and said
it was the best book of all, which was another proof of his incapa-
city and deficiency of good faith. No intelligent man in this age
would, in the face of our scientific works, put the superlative to
the Bible, a record of tyrannical and filthy acts committed by that
unfortunate race, the barbarous Jews. Then again its ".science"
and its " history " are totally unreliable. No one can consider it was
an ordinary book, written in an age of manly effort to find out
some of Nature's secrets, with merely a peculiar mode of explain-
ing things in general, whilst lor truth, morality, or any high form
of thought, no parent would place it in the hands of his boys, much
less of his daughters, with any degree of confidence, without first
The Orange Fkee State. 73
pasting together its objectionable pages, containing its false cos-
mogony, history, science, so called, its account of many public
prostitutions, its harlotry, its seductive but lascivious poetry, and
its erroneous false teaching in general. I of course allude to that
■old Jewish compound, known as the Old Testament. I would it
were unknown, and yet to know it is all that is really wanted now
for it to be discarded. My space and time do not allow me to
■discuss this matter fully ; but my earnest desire is, if this book
must be read at all, that all should read it carefully, and see if I
have not truthfully depicted its salient features.
In these remarks I do not include the New Testament. The
supposed Founder of Christianity, who taught the Fatherhood of
'God to us all, and desired the human brotherhood of man, has my
profound reverence ; but, through not being understood, He is
worshipped like a fetish, by those who live upon a Church called
Christian, but which, in reality, is Faulian, with this difference,
that Paul lived by his hands, i?nd made it his boast while teaching,
as he conceived, a higher ideal of life. His successors live without
work, upon public gifts, and robberies of the past ; and by the aid
of bayonet and staff, they are the recipients of public plunder, in
face of their Sunday utterances, " Thou shalt not steal," &c. I can-
not allow this opportunity to pass without protesting against the
black-robed gentlemen, who ofliciate in the various places of public
worship, and do their best to repudiate the giants of science, of
history, and of travel — men who have even fallen martyrs to their
endeavours to find out Nature's laws and ways ; while these pig-
mies are incapable of so much as giving a lecture on astronomy,
geology, history, or any other subject calculated to raise man's
hopes, or give their Church a power. AVhy, even their best, the
son of a nobleman — a little-town — can only give, as an evening's en-
tertainment, for the elderly ladies of the gushing sisterhood, some
of his college experiences, but only that portion thereof that grati-
fies his vanity by enabling him to indulge in self-praise. Away,
away with such things ; they constitute but our human lumber.
Are such as these to be the teachers of our children, and our fellow-
citizens' children ? Not if Ihnoxv or can prevent it, and in support
of my views, I submit the subjoined testimony of recognised theo-
logical disputants : —
74 The Orange Free State.
A Plea for the Free Discussion of Theological Lifficuliies.
At the beginning of the English Eeformation, when Protestant
doctrine was struggling for reception, and the old belief was merg-
ing in the new, the country was deliberately held in formal sus-
pense. Protestants and Catholics were set to preach on alternate
Sundays in the same pulpit ; subjects were discussed freely in the
ears of the people ; and, at last, when all had been said on both
sides, Convocation and Parliament embodied the result in formulas.
Councils will no longer answer the purpose ; the clergy have no-
longer a superiority of intellect or cultivation ; and a conference
of prelates from all parts of Christendom, or even from all depart-
ments of the English Church, would not present an edifying
spectacle. Parliament may no longer meddle with opinions unless
it be to untie the chains which it forged three centuries ago. But
better than councils, better than sermons, better than Parliament,
is that free discussion through a free Press, which is the fittest-
instrument for the discovery ot truth, and the most effectual
means for preserving it. — Iroude, irt. " Sliort Studies on Great
Subjects.
TJce Philosophy of Secidarism.
Peal life — that is, an original relation to man and to the universe,
worship of one's own ideal, consecration by one's own love — has
for ages been postponed by despairing hearts to another world, and
thither where their hearts were their treasures iollowed. But that
waking dream grows dim. The future is all unsure. Lost oppor-
tunities are lost for ever. He who throws away his life upon
dogmas or dreams is as one who throws life away in dissipation.
Let every heart arise and claim its lull measure of existence ! The
weakest will is strong enough to select its right elements and.
organise its fair life, if it be only free — free to concentrate itself
each instant upon the nearest need of life — the essential condition,
of every farther step. It is the single, simple will, intent each
moment on its truest and best, which finds those moments ever
weaving the general Hfe into beauty, and virtue into joy. — Moncure
D. Oonway.
Ortliodoxy and Agnosticism.
" On my side,'' said the Rev. Mr. Lascelles, " I affirm a personal
The OR.A.NGE Free State. 75
God, the inspiration of the Bible, and the truth of revealed re-
ligion ; the separate and distinct acts of creation ; the miracle of
the sacrifice and the atonement; an immortal soul, to be judged
at the last day according to the deeds done in the body ; and a
future life of bliss or woe." " On my part," responded Mr. Richard
FuUerton, " I deny all these articles but one, and that I neither
deny or affirm. It belongs to the domain of the unknowable ;
and neither you nor I know what comes after the death of the
body — if anything, or nothing but the disintegration of the forces
which made what we call life. Scientific analogy is against you,
universal belief is with you ; but in this, as in many other things,
the confession of ignorance is the greater wisdom and the truer
modesty. — Mrs. Linton, in " Under ivhiclt Lord ? "
Revelation.
Men admit that all knowledge of " philosophy, politics, medicine
and the like," has been slowly gained by the experience of man
and his own toilsome efforts, unaided by any supernatural power ;
but they say religion has been revealed to man direct from a per-
fect omniscient God. We find, however, that men are no more
agreed about religion, which has been revealed, than about science
— which has not been revealed. Of what advantage, then, is
revelation ? And is it not derogatory to God to suppose he could
reveal what men cannot understand ? The fact that men differ
about religion, philosophy, politics, and medicine, proves that
God has never given direct, positive instruction on these subjects.
It seems, to my mind, that religion rests on just the same authority
as science — namely, human experience and research ; and God
has never spoken about religion in any way, that he may not be
said to have talked politics or given medical lectures. " The Lord
spake unto " Solon and Galen as truly as unto Moses. When men
recognise the truth that religious ideas have no higher
authority than medical ideas possess, they will become
as charitable about theological differences as they now are about
varying medical theories. Will it not be a social improvement ?
B. G. Adams, in the " Lndex.''
I know that for writing all this, that they (the pigmies) will try
and find out my vulnerable part, maintain that I must have
76 The Orange Free State.
murdered my grandmother, robbed a bank, or committed some
other horrible deed, which will yet bring me to condign punish-
ment. Try again ; come on ye manikins, and tax your little brains
to injure me ; but it will all be of no use.
The minister of the Wesleyans never did, and never will, " set
the Thames on fire " or IluH anything or anyone ; there is but
one thing he fully understands, and that is the universal law of
■"increase and multiply" — and understanding it thoroughly, like a
big man, he practised it diligently ; and though in poverty, he
lived in hope. As the President said, " All shall right come " —
and for which, as an anti-Malthusian, he has my best respects ;
but he would have had my esteem if he had followed some useful
profession, enabling him to provide for his children, and preached
— as he and others called it — for the love of the cause. It is no
use hauling in the sentence that " the labourer is worthy of his
hire."
In these modern days, Paternoster Row supplies the world with
any quantity of ready-made sermons for all seasons and conditions.
A full portmanteau of these, when starting with a constant monthly
supply, will always fill up an hour's reading without any effort ;
if not to the edification of the listeners, to the passing away of
the allotted time. There are no Oracles of Delphi to consult in
these»days. Paternoster Row is a never- failing well to all the
talking cripples that go out to South Africa and our other
Colonies, which supply out-door relief and a refuge for the incap-
ables'of England ; to the relief of the heads of missionary societies
in England, on the same principle that Governors not wanted, are
sent to some parts of India or the West Coast of Africa to be got
rid of, so that they should not trouble their theological and
political friends any more. .
This much I must say, that of all jeligious and scholastic bodies
in the Capital, the only party out of debt, and that pays its way,
is the so-called Roman Catholic — in practice not catholic. They
are too poor to be dishonest, as no one trusts or even fears them
in these days. They have a full conviction that there is a veritable
hot place called Hell, and that it is in the exact middle of this
earth, where the Devil is constantly tormenting and worrying the
unfortunates that they say are there. In the case of the man who
<lid not want to go to the wedding-feast, but when forced in, upon
The Orange Free State. 77
being found witliout a" wedding- garment " that he could or would
not buy, and that others did not, was turned into outer darkness,
as some sav to dwell with devils — we are furnished with a proof
of the justice of a man having no free will. The outcome of these
unfortunates damned below (if all is true they say), to be con-
stantly tortured and stirred up, appears to me to be not for the
glory of Heaven's God, but for the gratification of the Devil — the
god of this world. As might be supposed — the devotees of this-
church, of the humbler ranks, are incapable of thinking — in fact,
their priests maintain that they have no occasion to think^ all
thinking was done many centuries ago for Popes, priests and
peoples.
All that need be done in these days is to pay up, and be in the
hands of Mother Church, the Infallible from birth, until death ;
but if they desire a good seat in heaven after they are out of Puro-a-
tory — an intermediate place they have provided to enable them
to use it as a toll for the sustenance of the priesthood— they must
pay up heavily to get in early. Good gracious ; can all this be
believed in the nineteenth century ? Why, if it was true I should
be disposed to exclaim with Tennyson who says in his poem of
" Despair " : — " If there be such a God, may the Great God curse
him and bring him to naught."
The following, which illustrates the ancient and modern position
taken up by the Catholic priesthood to the enthralment of their
■worshippers, is from Longfellow's Golden Lnicnd, wherein Lucifer
when acting as the Priest says : —
" And hei'e, in a corner of the wall,
ShadoNvj% .silent, apart from all,
Witli its awful portal open wide,
And its latticed windows on either side,
And its step well worn by the bended knees
Of one or two pious centuries.
Stands the village confessional !.
Within it, as an honoured guest,
I will sit me down awhile and rest !
\_Secds himself in the Confessional.^
Here sits the priest ; and faint and low,
Like the sighing of an evening breeze,
Conies tlu-ough tliese painted lattices
The cea.scless sound of luiniau woe ;
78 The Orange Free State.
Here, while her bosom aches and throbs
With deep and agonising sobs,
That half are passion, half contrition,
The luckless daughter of perdition
Slowly confesses her secret shame !
The lime, the place, the lover's name !
Here the grim murderer, with a groan,
From his bruised conscience rolls the stone,
Thinking that thus he can atone
For ravages of sword and flame !
Indeed, I marvel, and marvel greatly,
How a priest can sit here so sedately,
Reading, the whole year out and in,
Naught but the catalogue of sin.
And still keep any faith whatever
In human virtue ! Never ! never !
I cannot repeat a thousandth part
Of the horrors a,nd crimes and sins and woes
That arise, when with palpitating throes
The grave-y<i'<l in the human heart
(Jives up its dead, at the voice of the ]niest.
As iif he were an archangel, at least.
It makes a peculiar atmosphere,
This odour of earthly passions and crimes,
Such as I like to breathe, at times.
And such as often brings me here
In the hottest and most pestilential season.
Many and many a time I have walked on to tlie hill at the back
of the town, and wondered, if I set up a " hue-and-cry " that the
Devil was in the street, and all the ministers of Bloemfontein had
but to go out, and — they knowing full well that the time was come
when the Devil had to be chained for that thousand years talked
about — whether they would, like old Nelson, look with both eyes
shut, and feel that they must not see, knowing that if he was
caught and chained, their calling would be gone : for, if the Devil
was caught, he would no longer be part of their stock-in-trade.
I quite feel that, had I uttered these thoughts in the days gone by,
I might have found a home in some dungeon, controlled by what
were called God's chosen ministers, but who, for cruelty in using
the thumb-screw, racking the body, or dropping water on the head,
until madness or death ensued (also fully described in Scott's
Kokeby), acted more like ministers of the Devil. Thanks, how-
The Orange Free State. 79
•ever, to the efforts and deeds of the men of thought, of light, and
of learning, though bought at the price of martyrdom, these con-
ditions are past, and it is now possible, in good faith, to criticise
such questions, without fear of being made an inmate of the new
Bloemfontein lunatic asylum, to be laughed at by the men I have
spoken of as specimens of the inhabitants of the Free State.
I have purposely avoided saying much of the women at the head
of the schools, convents, and other institutions, as, in most cases,
they are but the creatures of circumstances. The least said about
them the better, beyond the fact that, with my universal love for
women, I very nearly lost that love by the miserable exhibitions I
■came across during my stay in Bloemfontein ; but, as they are
more to be pitied than blamed, one cannot but hope that they will
pass on to scenes more congenial to Nature's laws.
Little need be said of the children's fancy ball, beyond the fact
that, for once in their lives, they fancied they were part of
bygone ages. Their different characters brought up a perfec!;
torrent of historical remembrances, which, alas ! so few in Bloem-
fontein had the slightest knowledge or conception of. One can
■quite understand that the "Follies " — Tom Thumbs, and the other
senseless imitations would amuse and please little minds. I well
remembered the observation of Dante, when Delia Scala, standing
among the courtiers, and the royal jester making him heartily
merry — turning to Dante — he said, " Is it not strange, now, that
this poor fool should make himself so entertaining, while you, a
wise man, sit there, day after day, and have nothing to amuse us
with at all ? " Dante answered, pityingly, as all earnest men
must : " No, not strange, if your highness is to recollect the
proverb, ' like unto like ' — given the amusers, the amusement must
also be given."
Such a man, with proud, silent scorn in his eye, with his
■sarcasms, and sorrow, and losses, had no resting-place or hope of
benefit on this earth. Such was the bitter feeling I had towards
the fathers and mothers of these children — parents that could
shamelessly get into debt, and skin the widow and fatherless to
make their dresses, and then afterwards fail, even to pay
the debts contracted to deck out their children, and yet smile and
smirk one to another. " How pretty, how tasty, how delightful ! "
and yet in their hearts a burning jealousy and hatred, that their
80 The Orange Free State,
neighbours' cliildren were better liked, and thought more of, and
were, through some more fatherly and motherly care, in better
health and looks than their " Nestle's-Food " brought-up, pale-
faced little manikins.
" A. mad world, this, my masters ! " has been often said. No-
wonder that even in the sanatorium, so lyingly called of the world
— Bloemfontein, that they even must build, as an eye-sore, a
lunatic asylum — ^^just a part of the town to receive some of these
soft and brainless offspring. It was often a marvel to me how
men, who had previously helped to bring into existence such
unfortunate, puny creatures, had the shamelessness to — keep up
the supply. " Truly the lower the form of life, the greater the
increase," was here fully exemplified in the many forms you met
in Bloemfontein, whether official or otherwise, and human lumber
and crippled beings are to be seen, at all times, in the Free State,
more especially among its Dutch and foreign population.
Not being a Mason — objecting in principle to belonging to a
secret sign society, and not believing that men join such without
a belief or hope that some advantage will accrue to them at some
time — I did not accept an invitation to join their maze of figures,
thinking it undignified for one who somehow has got a belief that
he, in sight of so many shams, has constantly to turn Mentor, to
take part in such frivolity.
" The mechanics' ball, of its kind, was a perfect success, and
compared most favourably with those which preceded it. When
the Town Council prepared the programme for the week they
acted wisely, and with consideration, by placing at the disposal of
what is to our mind the most important section of the community
the Hall for their night of enjoyment and dancing.
In every town and district of the civilised and even uncivilised
world the real back-bone of all countries are the working classes,
and whatever form of Government they live under we recognise no
other aristocracy than that of merit. Hence the man who to-day
works at his daily duty at the bench or lathe, or any other toil
that his hand findeth to do, may aspire to become a leader among
men. This is no ideal — because as a fact all great men remind
us that they come from humble stock. Our unrivalled singer and
poet, Shakespeare, was but a butcher's son ; our Cromwell but
the son of a meicer, and it will always be true that from the
The Orange Free State. 81
working classes will arise the men among men. It is not now my
task to write the biographies of past working men ; that is au un-
dertaking I have yet to accomplish ; but the truth is becom-
ing a recognised fact that to labour we owe all, and, in this
mechanical age, the creators of our wealth are to be considered in
all matters.
The last of this memorable sv^eek's entertainment was a com-
pound of amusement, instruction, and insolence. The authors of
the " Pirates of Penzance " certainly must be credited with great
powers of burlesque ; they catch at passing events and the actions
of many, and portray the dumb feeling in Society in an articulated
form.
The " hit," that a pirate's life may be as good as many
others, is so true, that one has almost daily recognised as a fact
that, with all our civilisation, there are hosts, not only of coast,
but of town and inland pirates also ; and, notwithstanding the
supposed intelligent army of policemen, and other safeguards in
the people's midst, thousands are constanly being wrecked, robbed,
and murdered.
But when we know that, from the throne downwards, a system
of public pillage is consecrated, there is no wonder that so little
effort is made to stop such wrecking as is well known to exist
among stock and share controllers, the legal profession and others
constantly adding, in one form or another, not only to wreck men
and women's estates, but their fair fame and name. The bank-
ruptcy trustees, and agents who get control of estates, are another
set of wreckers, that, compared with the coast wreckers, are perfect
vagabonds.
With smooth face, they will persuade creditors that it
is better to place themselves in their hands, and, once so arranged,
instead of the 12s. 6d., or even 20s. in the pound, the debtor would
fully pay, if time were but given him, the things are sold, wrecked,
and destroyed, and perhaps 2s. 6d. in the pound paid. If you ask
where the original capital is gone, echo answers, into the hands of
a gang of vile blacklegs, such as lawyers, agents, auctioneers, &c.,.
who will wreck honest men's estates, widows, and the fatherless'
homes, and their fair fame and name ; smirk and smile, subscribe
to this charity and church out of such proceeds, and generally be
called respectable characters ; while the man who does neither.
S2 The Orange Free State.
but out of his little store pays his way honestly, helps the widow
and fatherless, and occasionally a needy elderly friend, but never
goes to church, is not counted worthy to be known.
The tone of amusement all through the piece is so significant of
the jiublic feeling, that one cannot but rejoice. The Gregorian
church music of the day, introduced as a subject of ridicule, only
proves that the time has arrived when people begin to see the
folly of the imaginary feeling constantly excited at our churches.
Truly the author of the " Pirates " but utters truth when, iu com-
parison, he says, " Away to the cheating world ; go all where
pirates are well to do." Well do I remember an old Gray's-Inn
pirate of the Pottery stock, who, while jirofessing to be a kind of
grandfather and grandmother to me, not only robbed me with my
eyes oi'>eii, but even a^^propriated securities handed to him by
another.
Thus he doubly robbed me, and, to this day I feel, may
he go down doubfy damned, as a warning to others ! Duty and
obedience, in a burlesque form, is advocated under a.l conditions.
Would that this one fact and idea was made more prominent in all
our modes of life and action !
In the Free State, it seemed to be the rule to ignore duties, not
fulfil them. This one fact must never be lost sight of, however it
may be violated by others — there is no sacrifice when duty is not
fulfilled. I do not advocate here what I myself have not carried
out. Ten years of self-expatriation at the shrine of duty must
testify for me ; and to-day I feel a giant, with the strength of an
old god, in the consciousness that I have, in my humble way,
performed mine.
The insolence in the last scene is too much for my nature. It
is a common cvery-day lie to say that no Englishman hears un-
moved the statement, " for, with all their faults, we love our
House of Peers." It is with bitter contempt that all true English-
men look upon such a house of hereditary vagabonds, and to
illustrate them by the book through which the bishops hold their
positions " they reap where they have not sown, and gather
where they have not reaped." After asking us to express loyalty
to a Queen that is only a figure-head, and in no case useful, in
place of being loyal to our country, rather than to a foreign hordi-i
of Germans; with all this, we are to be told that we love this
The Okange Free State. 83
House of Peers ! When shall we have true dignity, freedom, and
independence sufficient to remove the whole, and in their place
have true heroes and great men, whom we can reverence, honour,
love and obey cheerfully, and at all times ?
-^^^^i^^^^r^^
f2
Chapter VIII.
T last, in the early days of June, some of the Members
of the Free State Raad discovered that they stood in
need of telegraphs, bridges, and other public works ;
and, in a moment of enthusiasm, they elected a com-
mittee to arrange to borrow from one or other of the
European Powers, by Debentures as a first charge on
Public Ptevenues, the sura of £100,000, at six per
cent, interest, to be repaid by yearly instalments in gold, at the
Treasury of the Free State.
No one can complain of the erecting of public buildings ; but
the modern system of borrowing gold from European countries, is^
so ruinous to any State — whether large or small — in comparison
with the safe and easy mode of each State making its own public,,
legal tender paper-money, wherewith to pay for the construction
of its public works of utility, and so important is the whole ques-
tioa, with all its future possibilities, that, at the request of many
friends in Bloemfontein, I here draw attention to a " paper " I had
the pleasure of reading at a meeting of the Literary Society, in the
old Hall, Chief Justice Reitz in the chair, when my ideas, as ex-
pressed therein, were fully approved, and endorsed by a ma-
jority of those present, and the " paper " itself I have since had
printed.
The same views are advocated in my pamphlet entitled Hoio to
colonize South Africa, and by wliorn ; also in my Jottings hy the
Way in South Africa, and Hoio to Construct Free State Bailways,
(fc, dc, wherein will be found an explanation in exienso of the
Money, and other social and political questions, aflecting the past,
present, and future of South Africa ; and the plans I proposed are-
The Okange Free State. 85
3'et bound to be acted upon by the people of tlie future in tbe Free
State and elsewhere.
Many and many were the observations on my retired existence
and absorption in my business, whilst in the town of Bloemfontein ;
but to make acquaintances was positively dangerous.
One German failure, whom I had helped considerably, I fournl
out afterwards had been discarded by his countrymen, on account
of his dissipation and cruelty to his wife and family. I was, how-
ever, desirous of assisting him once more, and did so ; but, not-
withstanding my kindness, he took most unwarrantable liberties
with my establishment, using my name as an introduction and
cover, and even borrowed money from my friend Thomas, by the
impudent representation that he was my commercial traveller and
very intimate with me ; and, although he was earning consider-
able sums on commission at the same time, he never returned the
cash to me. This man was a well-dressed libertine, and a dis-
grace to his nation ; and I found at last that isolation was my
only safety from such people; to be friendly was to be imposed
upon.
It was even so among my neighbours. One German-born
Jewish lady — at least she said she was born a lady — constantly
maligned me, because in free trade I had made my business on the
premises she had formerly occupied ; such was her jealousy of my
success in business — entirely due to my untiring exertions — that
she assailed me with all the fury of a virago ; until at last, in
self-defence, I had to tell her that, if born a lady, she had out-
grown the early conditions; in fact, although I am a man of
peace, had it been her husband — a poor hen-pecked, unhappy
mortal, that could call neither body nor soul his own — instead
o: herself who abused me, I certainly should have gone for him.
Although I gave this wretched man and his termagant wife
credit, and helped them in various other ways, they did nothing
but try to injure me in return for all my kindness ; but I forgive
even them, for I blame the conditions of life, as arranged by " the
powers that be," as the cause of so much uncharitableness and
ill-feeling amongst neighbours.
This couple, like many others in times of prosperity, thought a
time of slackness would never overtake them. They went in for a
large mansion and store, which they erected by means of the
86 The Oeange Free State.
Building Society, and the proceeds of some 'land wliicli had-
originally been granted to the husband as one of the old German
Legion. This land, in reality, belonged to his colonial creditors,
but he had contrived to keep it in his own possession, and ulti-
mately sold it, furnishing their home with the proceeds. But,
with ail this, they got involved with the building societies, until
at last they were eaten up with the enormous interest these asso-
ciations demand from their victims.
It will thus be seen that the old adage. '• tools build liouses. but
wise men occupy them," still holds good in some cases — although
I pitied these people, on account of the losses they had sustained'
by reason of my competition with them in business ; so disgusting,
was their conduct to me that I felt 1 could know or help them no
longer.
All this was aggravated by the conduct of another German firm,
and especially by the half-black compound, who was at the
Beck of this man, the well-known Yernenk-Hard, near the Dutch
Church.
So intermixed are many of the colonists, that it is impossible to
know who have not African blood in their veins, and when they
are the outcome of past mesalliances and take it into their heads-
to injure an Englishman, they — through their influence with the
official compounds like themselves — act so that they make it
almost impossible for an Englishman to exist among them.
Africa is peculiarly a blackman's playground. An English-
man's sense of justice is annoying to them ; cheating and lying is
inborn in them.
Well do I remember the Wool Scandal by a German firm, who
deliberately cheated one of their customers, which led to blows
from their rival black-blooded competitor, and finally landed them
in a libel and assault case that cost the cheating firm over £1500,
which all said served them right. In fact, Africa is a place for
no honest man ; to cheat and be cheated is the system all around ;
honesty is positively unknown. I have met men-Ansell's who
boasted openly that they had done their creditors, and were known
to live ever after upon the plunder. I have no hesitation is say-
ing that the Boers, Germans and Jews think it smart to lay it on
the Englishman whenever they have the opportunity, and I know
of no remedy for this evil but to let them stew in their own
The Orange Free State. 87
chicanery, until tlie roguos so fall out, that there will be a chance
for honest men to come i?ito their own and the jnst reward ol
their honest toil.
I was often sympathised with over my losses due to the faith I
had put in man ; but somehow or another, I had in all my walks
of life been fortunate in securing affection from friends, and at
times great help, and although enemies and those who did me
harm, multiplied as fast ; still the fact that I had the love of
many, would never allow me to lose that faith in my fellow-man
— that is as the salt of the earrh.. Without this ennobling senti-
ment, we should but find ourselves in the midst of human devils,.
making it impossible for the pure and good to stop upon this ter-
restial globe.
I well remember one clergyman, much better than his creed,
trying to comfort me in the midst of my annoyances and losses,
with the reflection that alter all, I had had to bear nothing com-
parable with what his Saviour had suffered for his fellow man.
The very fact of drawing my attention to such a case roused me
somewhat from my lethargy, and I could not help reminding him
that he must never have read the history of Christ out of the
authorised version of His life ; and that taking the life as there
portrayed, was not so bad as our modern lives. The fact of being
able to live away from the city — the ease with which locusts and
wild honey could be procured — a place with no rent for Him to
pay, surrounded by nature in all her beauty, must have made it
an earthly Palestine-Paradise to Him.
The fact is we do not get the true life and history of Christ.
No wife and children depending upon Him for sustenance, no
landlord to worry Him, His wants but few, and in every way and
contrast different to our modern life of everlasting "go " and risk.
That He had His idea of a higher life, which gave Him the heart-
ache and produced many a bitter hour, when He with His Light
would have altered things for the best, must be admitted ; but all
this was cut so short that it cannot be compared to any of our
experiences.
The commercial and agricultural conditions of that age, allowed
men great latitude, but all is now so narrowed that men are always
being ground on every side to the exclusion of all country-life ;
and then there is no ending so quietly in these days, as Christ's
■■88 The Orange Free State.
pain and suffering was. Accusation, trial and death all over in
less than a week. Why, compared with modern sufferings and
crucifixions, sudden death, if not sudden Glory, cez'tainly was
sudden releasement from ail persecution.
Far be it from me to repudiate the sufferings of One who was a
Hero in His time, but modern facts and experience prove that in
the heart of our man-made cities, there is a multiplied torture to
'the souls of men who think and would act out of the ordinary run
of life that positively makes this earth a hell to dwell in.
True it is, there are men who tell us, that it is due to Lucifer,
or the devil, — as described in Longfellow's Golden Legend — that
he is the author of all this sin and trial.
Lucifer (fying over the city).
.Sleep, sleep, O city ! till the light
Wakes you to sin and crime again,
"Whilst on your dreams, like dismal rain,
I scatter downward througii the night
My maledictions dark and deep.
I have more martyrs in your walls
Than God has ; and they cannot sleep ;
They are my bondsmen and my thralls ;
Their wretched lives are full of pain.
Wild agonies of nerve and brain ;
And every heart-beat, every breath,
Is a convulsion worse than death !
Sleep, sleep, O city ! though within
The circuit of your walls there lies
No habitation free from sin,
And all its nameless miseries ;
The aching heart, the aching head,
Glrief for the living and the dead,
And foul corru|ition of the time,
Disease, distress, and want, and woe,
And crimes, and passions that may grow
Until tliey ripen into crime !
Now if these lines indicate a fact, what a horrible state of things
it must be that the god of this world, as they say, can commit
Buch,havoc. I think I have read somewhere in the Old Testa-
ment, that " If there is evil in the city have not I the Lord caused
it ? " Now, this alters the case again ; but if the view is a cor-
The Okange Feee State. 89
rect one of tlie clergyman, then no wonder that men can use the
following words of Tennyson, and iclth all their Jieart wish its
ACCOMPLISHMENT.
But the God of Love and hell ogether
They caunot be thought,
If there be such a god, may the
Great God curse him, aud bring him to uaught !
— Tknnyson.
What shall I say of those who write or prate
Of social scieuce and your social state ?
Who draw dark pictures of the ills they see,
And talk tlie cant of cheap philanthropy,
Who rave about the griefs which men endure,
But never venture to disclose the cure;
• Who never touch the vices of your laws,
Who never probe the sore, nor show its cause ;
Who either do not know, or will not see,
Since mischief works, the mischiefs remedy ;
Who tell the world the thing it sadly knows.
Its ceaseless sorrovv's, and its helpless throes ;
Who deal in sentiment, but never seek
How to chastise the spoiler, aid the weak?
The Priest and Levite look, and turn aside,
The scorn they feel they do not care to hide ;
The poor Samaritan does all he can.
Stoops to assist and heal the wounded man.
Those creatures whine a dirge, and scold apace,
And tell the story of the mournful case ,
But touch and tend him, and thair lingers soil ?
No ; better save their twopence, wine and oil.
What earthlj' benefit do they afford
To Ginx's baby, and to Bantam's lord.
Who never strive to plaee before your view
Why Ginv's baby is, and Bantam too?
It is the doubts concerning life and existence that make the
future so uncertain, and men so desparing — almost creating in
■every breast a desire for annihilation.
The Religious Orders and churches in Bloemfontein are com-
pounded of idotcy, poverty and commercialism. Idiotcy may be
fairly represented in the persons of the Hon. Little-Town, of Miss
Grimes, her " sisters " and associates. A more wretched, sham-
bling, shuffling, canting pair of imbeciles in gait, manner and
90 The Orange Free State.
style than the two named are not to be found in South Africa.
Theyjhead their respective bodies and homes, and it may be sup-
posed what they are like, to be guided by such a pair. Poverty
is the badge of the Sisterhood, but when it is known that not a
single institute under their care is out of debt ; that the buildings
are in a state of decay ; that their educational institutions are but
poorly appreciated, that they have but one poor student who can
tolerate such a home in which to be made into a mechanical par-
son, all is said that is necessary.
The Theological College is a disgrace in every respect. A Miss
German Busybody is at the head of its culinary management — a
common cook at ten pounds a year would manage better. It
would have been an advantage if the college had missed her so-
called services and superintendence.
The commercial element is represented by the Bishop and his
Archdeacon, who by their dress, so out of harmony with these
modern times, not only make themselves Guys on the fifth of
November, but are a source of amusement to the inhabitants all
the year round.
The Bishop started with a few pounds in addition to his wife's
means, and together they for a time ceased to be shepherds of
their Flocks, and amused themselves in sheep-farming, and even
set up a mill to grind corn in opposition to a neighbour, entered
into keen competition with those in the district as vegetable
growers, fruiterers and brickmakers. All this was done for the
glory of the Bishop, the associates, and the dearly beloved sister-
hood, in more senses than one, if the kiss of sisterhood, and after-
pleasures are taken into account, on the principle that carnal pleasures
increase their spiritual delights. " How shocking ! " I fancy I
hear some of them say ; but this much may be relied upon, that
with the exception of the Bishop, who is a married man, the Hon,
Little-town, who is totally incapable, Miss Grimes, whose age
prohibits, all the younger ones do it, when the opportunity offers,
although they may afterwards rue it.
Another instance of their commercialism is the selling for gold
the gifts of clothes sent from England to be given to the Kaffirs
and the poor generally, and using the proceeds of these sales for
maintaining purposes. Old, and foolish, idiotic women arc per-
suaded to lend money to build institutes to be carried on as
The Okange Fkee State. 91
boarding houses, in opposition to other private enterprises. Dutice
parties for juveniles and adults arranged tor in front of the Ark
of a cathedral so-called, to the inexpressible pain of the pious
beholder. Card-playing and even billiards are allowed, within sound
of the cathedral bell, to make this commercial speculation succeed,
and add to the general funds of the Bishop, who has no need to
account for the same, not being responsible to anyone, nobody
having the right to demand an explanation of how the funds are
gathered or how they are spent.
I know of very little to the credit of the Wesleyans, Baptists,.
Lutherans, or the ancient know-little, but bigoted Catholic
Church ; but the English Church, which I did know, is in
Bloemfontein a monstrosit}'. It is but the out-door relief-station
for the unfortunates who would not be fit to occupy a decent
clerkship in England. It is astonishing what social station the
title " Rev." will give, even if possessed by the dullest in some
out-of-the-way place ; with what unction and persuasion they
can influence the middle-aged spinster to give ot the wealth she
has inherited to assist as they tell them in the Lord's vineyard.
They never seek the poor spinster, but the rich widow and
sisters, and the well-to-do are always welcome as pillars of the
Church in all or any station wherever the bastard English
Church is found.
But why say anything of all this ? The Cathedral, its Bishop,
its " reverends," its clerical and lay officials, Dutch or otherwise,
all are but the off-shoots of the system in England, and paraded
in all our colonies to the digust of decent, and the contempt of
intelligent men. Their stock-in-trade is the same in all countries,
an old but present devil and a future salvation. Without a devil
there would be no religion. Once free the world from the fear
of the devil, who is called the God of this world, and there will
be hope for humanity at large, and the brotherhood of Christ and
the son-ship of God will be possible. Peace and good-will then
will have a chance among the world's inhabitants.
I had often asked what information these men were prepared
to give to the rising generation of both sexes, but could never
get an intelligent reply. One man gave his college-life, and being
the son of a poverty-stricken peer, indulged in strong abuse of
the sons of buttermen and railway contractors, to the delight of
92 The Orange Free State.
his sisters. It was simply an exliibition of himself ; of what a
*' goody-goody " boy he bad been, or, in other words, an ignorant
sneak and fool ; but " what a dear man he was," cried Miss
Grimes, to resist such constant temptation ; but ask these men to
give a lecture on history or any other subject for the instruction
of youth, and from sheer incapacity they remained dumb.
The only man who could rant was a Father Douglas, who, it is
to be hoped, in his seclusion with his young men, has not the
tastes, habits, or the manners of Dr. Twells — a former Bishop of
Bloemfonteim — with the young half-blood Beck and his com-
panions. To teach the youngsters the Prayer-book, and who was
their Godfather and Godmother was indeed their delight ; but
how to raise them in manhood, and thus qualify them to become
good citizens and good men was out of their power altogether.
Their knowledge was a most limited thing, confined within
themselves at all times.
July was certainly a most remarkable month in the history of
Bloemfontein. Scarcely had the festivities ended, before there
arrived one of Rome's itinerant lunatics — a man who in madness
had perambulated the world, and brazenly went about proclaiming
it as truth that the Church which, three centuries ago, called
itself Christian, had then and since been known by reasonable
men as a falsehood. In those days of old the Priests of Rome
openly preached that sins could be forgiven for metallic-coined
money, and these priests did much else then that in face of the
wonderful discoveries of modern science they dare not assert or
do now.
The Eoman Catholic Church, so called, is powerless now lor
harm owing to its weakness, and as it cannot now apply the fire
or shut up in dungeons and immure alive in vaults, as so well
described by Scott in Rohehy, it raves and struts its knowledge
of a place they still call hell. This^;fellow of a lunatic asylum
who had travelled a world so full of light and knowledge,
described the devil as so careless, that when walking in hell, he
missed his path, and trod on the burning fuel, and even made his
audience laugh in church when he described, with a strong Irish
brogue, how he jumped and spluttered in pain at his lolly in
stepping on hot coals. Not content with harrowing up their
feelings in an ordinary way, he publicly informed his hearers that
The Orange Free State. 93
there are more women in hell for lying than men, sending many
home in a state of terror and half madness. He then, in powerful
tones, invoked his listeners to bring each two sinners, and he pro-
mised them not only a full account of the lower regions, but even
to make them smell hell.
Good heavens ! what have we arrived at in these days? — that
decent men should be harassed by such a sight as this Rome's
mountebank, fed by the income that people in fear gave him, to
wander about seeing the sights of the world, and adding nothing
to its enlightenment, and only fit to sit in a confessional, as below
described : —
Edwin Heron on the Confessional.
Here mumbUng out his histrionic mass,
His rival chants, here " ass intones to ass : "
Sets up, with folly which is half sublime,
The withered fetish of a bygone time,
States that the priest alone can loose and lock
Who proves his pedigree from Peter's Stock ;
Curses without remorse, or stint, or doubt,
All who don't make the thousand quarterings out ;
And fancying Paradise a strict entail,
(xrauts hope to those whose lineage does not fail.
Of course asserts that he can ban and bless,
Give or witlihold eternal happiness,
Bids women bow before the sacred priest,
Adore Ids functions and confess at least.
But that this worship of the past should give.
One worthy aim for which to work and live,
( tr fancy seek that Empire to renew
Which the strong Saxon smote and overthrew ;
That gewgaws such as these should even be
Anything but a refuge for ennui.
That monks can save the world, or ever could,
That a/ichorite and fakirs do you good.
Is to bring Buddha back before your gaze,
Wen do not cat the Lotus in our days.
To be sure that I did not judge this man unfairly, I determined
to waste an hour to hear him. I lound an excitable, spasmodic
man, more intense than strong, with no depth or breadth of
thought. One cannot call vehemence stiength ; a man is not
■94 The Orange Free State.
.strong who talks in convulsive fits. We need in these days
to remember that shrieking is not indicative of manliness and
wisdom, but rather of weakness and imbecility. For three hours
did this semi-acting go on ; and, to give the audience a change
;ind a something to do and look forward to, they had in the
morning been reijuested to bring with them in the evening matches
and a baptismal candle, which, at a given time, they were all
called upon to stand up and light, and hold heavenward, while
some questions were put, and answered in due form. At length
this was enough, and they were told to blow the candles out, and
.sit dov/n, and then they were solemnly assured that to keep these
candles would drive the demons away, and that held in the hands
of the dying, they would contain certain virtues. Now, having
worked up their lioi;e.s, they were regaled with a special rescript —
a blessing direct from the Holy Father, used at all times and on
iill occasions by this itinerant priest ; after which, being in a
satisfactory humour with themselves and their church, their ordi-
nary priest informed them that this man of God had need of
ttavelling expenses, and their libei-ality of the morning not being
enough, their assistance was once more solicited to help him on
his way.
In the old days, priests, to show their zeal and love for their
church and cause, thought it not derogatory to their dignity to
take their staff and wallet and march on foot to perform their
holy mission ; but, in these degenerate days, these livers on
human credulity must ride in the best conveyances, live sumptu-
ously, and dress in fine linen and black cloth.
This holy man of God! — oh, what mockery! — bitterly com-
]ilained that the Church was not earnest enough, that Catholics
were too (|uie.scent, that the members would fall in love with out-
siders, that to such marriages was to be traced much of the cool-
ness to Mother Church, that the youth of both sexes would read
the books of men of light and learning, and that in doing so, they
would sell themselves to the devil.
I felt thankful for his admission, and rejoiced that at last the
writings of men of light and learning were influencing even these
j'^-ople. But what must we think of such members of such a
church who could listen to these mutterings ? When Lucifer was
t'.iriied out of heaven and dropped into hell, that alighting upon
The Oeange Fbee State. 95
live coal, he hopped and danced in pain, and that he still so
dances, and then to state that was the origin of dancing !
Surely this man must have had the lowest type of intellect or
of hearers that they could possibly take all this in, and pay reve-
rence to the utterer as a man of God. Surely the spasmodic
attempt and sing-song in the strains of the well-known nursery
rhyme, repeating time after time, " This is the cow with the
crumpled horn," &c., sending almost all asleep, aided by the
incense. But it was truly pitiable to see what is called the house
of God, turned into a house of begging. The appeal for money to
take this man of God out of the town, at such a time, was a crime
and robbery. My sense of justice to myself and the town woald
not allow me to part with a single coin, although the missionary
himself, with the wicked, piercing eye, as some Catholics called
him, placed the plate before me ; and it grieved me when I saw a
tradesman, who neither properly attended to his business, nor paid
his debts, give a donation to help this man to ride out of the town
in the best conveyance. Willingly would I have given a crown
that he should never have appeared in Bloemfontein, adding one
more to the charlai,ans who play upon the feelings of the women
and the terrors of the men.
Did such missions make all more moral, honest, and truthful,
■one would not complain ; but I, myself came into contact with
many Catholics like the Cor-Bitts, who were most particular in
iheir attendance at church, but perfect humbugs towards their
tradesmen ; while I must say, that those who were not so anxious
to confess, and had lost faith in their so-called and nicknamed
holy men of their God, did keep their words, and j^ay their debts,
proving that they were superior to their creed.
Alas ! alas ! that it is possible in the Nineteenth Century for
such shriekers and babblers to go about and talk of a veritable hell,
and how so many are in its tortures, and yet teach that the God
of the^universe is a just God! Surely thfe time has arrived when
such imbeciles ought to be taken care of, and that such simple
monstrosities no longer parade our public streets. I call upon all
good men to renew their efforts to make known eternal truths, and
thus defeat such wretched teachings, for the sake of the rising ami
unborn generations.
Such works as " Under which Lord ? " by Mrs. Linton, has
96 The Orange Free State.
exposed the trickery, and the system as adopted by these men to
gain their unholy ascendancy.
At the church I noticed one old gentleman hold up his candle
the highest, and appear most devout, but this exercise did not
make him more human and less grasping : for, a few days after,
when a small favour, in the form of the loan of a horse for a
sudden journey was needed for an important matter, he would not
lend, although I offered to pay most liberally for its use, but,
seeing my great need, would sell, and that at an exorbitant price ;
and such v;as my urgent want of this horse for a night ride — for
a seventy-miles' journey — that I had to submit to this extortion,
for which he deserved Lyneh-Ing. Let me here say, that men
with no profession of religion, are more considerate, kind, and
obliging, to men in need.
The Decline of Orthodoxy.
It has almost become a proverb that the age of miracles is past,
and many people suppose that it is a very long time since orthodox
people believed that miracles might and did occur around them.
But two hundred years ago a man who had denied contemporary
miracles would have been handled almost as roughly as an
Atheist. Only one hundred and fifty-six years ago a woman was
burnt in this country for witchcraft ; and only one hundred and
ten years ago the divines of the Associated Presbytery passed a
resolution, declaring their belief in witchcraft, and deploring the
general scepticism on the subject. Belief in providential miracles
was orthodox in the early part of our own century. It disappeared
only after a stormy struggle, and then only to hide in many
popular superstitions, and to recur occasionally in such move-
ments as Spiritualism. The departure out of respectable ortho-
doxy of the belief in modern miracles was a much longer stride
towards radical unbelief than theologians are willing to admit.
Its results have only in these last years begun to make themselves
apparent. A Christianity whose deity does not interfere with the
laws of Nature or with the government of the world, is only a kind
of Deism. It may claim that once upon a time he did interpose
in human affairs, eighteen centuries ago, and that, after the lapse
of further centuries, he will interpose again ; but none the less are
men in the present time left to administer their world without
The Orange Fkee State. 97
Divine interference. That is now orthodoxy, but it is unbelief.
In is contrary to the faith of the Bible, contrary to Christ's pro-
mise of continued miraculous power to his Church. And this
unbelief is only bearing its fruits in the wrath and denunciation
with which orthodoxy is compelled to defend the faith and the
altar which its deity abandons to their fate. — Moncure D.
Conway,
Protestants and the Bible.
Protestants have committed the truths of Christianity to a theory
of their own creation, and when they find themselves in difBculties
they fall back on sophistry. The six days of creation are defined
precisely by the writer of the Book of Genesis, The period
between evening and morning could have been meant only for a
day, in the ordinary sense of the word. Science proves unanswer-
ably that the globe has grown to its present condition through an
infinite series of ages ; and Protestant theologians, entangled with
their own fancies, have imagined that " day " may signify a million,
billion, or quintillion of years. Construing literally the vehement
expression of St. Paul, they have insisted that death originated in
Adam's sin. They are confronted with evidence that death has
reigned through all creation, through the earliest periods of which
the stratafied rocks preserve the record. They hesitate, they equi-
vocate, they struggle against the light ; they do anything save
make a frank confession of their own error. — Iroude, in " Short
Studies on Great Subjects."
The Triumph of Truth.
In the end, the people who now murmur and ridicule what they
do not understand will be grateful for the real manhood that has
been revealed to them. In the end, truth alone will command
respect, truth alone will prevail ; and, in the end, in the far-off
time, truth shall make every heart of man its empire and its
throne. — Felix Adler, in " Radical Fulpit."
The Feligion of the Future.
The coming man's religion will have no theology in it. All
Q
98 The Orange Free State.
questions as to the origin of things, the nature of life, final causes,
and the first great cause (least understood), the coming man will
naturally pass over. Such subjects have nothing to do with reli-
gion. They are questions of science and curiosity, to be elucidated,
if at all, by ages of investigation, experiment, and thought. It is
not necessary to expound the universe, to assert or to deny a
deity. It is only necessary for us to perceive that the question of
the final cause is not pressing, not important to us — a matter of
curiosity, no more. It is only necessary to agree that no opinion
concerning it can be guilty or odious. — James Parton " The
Coming Man's Religion.
What we Need.
What we need is an ethical movement, a system of moral inspi-
ration, a method of education based on the radical principle that
the highest honour is to be a man. What we want on our side is
the moral power. That is always supreme. The first thing essen-
tial is to destroy the illusion with which the priests and ministers
cheat the people. As long as they bow the knee to powers above,
they will yield their necks to earthly oppressors and masters.
The morality of Christianity must be destroyed. We must cease
our submission to the powers that be. We have nothing to hope
from poverty of spirit, but everything from wealth of spirit. Out
of a blood-stained cross can come for us nothing but misery.
" Blessed are they that mourn and weep " must be blotted out of
our beatitudes. In the place of this false morality we must put
that which is true. True morality is equal and universal rights.
Hence the second principle of every true Kadical is the right of
every man to be and belong to himself. This implies perfect
liberty of thought and action, so long as you do not trample on
the equal rights of anyone else. — George G. Chainey.
Press On I
Struggle, often bafHed, sorely baffled, down as into entire wreck ;
yet a struggle never ended ; ever will bear repentance, true, un-
conquerable purpose, begun anew. Poor human nature ! Is not
a man's walking, in truth, always that — " a succession of falls " ?
Man can do no other. In this wild element of a life he has to
The Orange Free State. 99
struggle onwards — now fallen, now deep-abased, and ever with
tears and repentance, with bleeding heart, he has to rise again
and struggle again still onward. That his struggle be a faithful,
unconquerable one ; that is the question of questions. We will
put up with many sad details if the soul of it be true. — Carlyle, in
" Hero- Worship.^'
g2
Chapter IX.
HE second and third weeks in July were productive
of experiences in the uncertainty of the law. I had
been told that there was too much law and very
little equity ; in fact, no court of equity, and truly
I found it so. The Roman, Dutch, and a compound
of English, and no-country law, anything and every-
thing to suit the bias of the sitting Landrost, Judge,
and the nationality brought before him. With my usual simpli-
city, I could hardly suppose such acts and deeds could be com-
mitted by persons who pride themselves upon being a God-fearing
people. In reality I acquit the simple Dutchman of being a party
to all this infamy and base iniquity. It is the outcome of the
Hollander and German arrangement to fleece all producers, what-
ever nationality or class they might belong to.
In the case of the manager of a store of mine, stock-taking
revealed a deficiency of one hundred and eighty pounds on his
part, after being but eight months in my service, This alone was
enough to give a shock to any man who desired to pay twenty
ehillings in the pound. Acting upon the advice of a Maitland
Street post-cart-contractor-of-an-attorney, he was urged on, before
he rendered any account of - his stewardship, or gave any explana-
tion of the loss, to demand of me a certain sum as commission on
sales and salary, although dismissing himself from my service on
the last day of the month. In the first place a reconvention was
allowed, but with the understanding that I, the wronged one, must
take my demand into the higher court, where, if I gained the day,
I must pay the costs for the benefit of the legal profession and the
Government, in stamps (the Dutch Government does believe in
stamps).
The Orange Free State. 101
Now, what respect can men — I say, and mean, men, have for
such iniquitous conditions, that, if one is in the right, he must pay
so expensively for proving it before men, who call themselves
judges ? Truly it would be well if we knew upon what principle
these men were made judges ; certainly it is not by acting equit-
ably that they possess the right to sit in judgment. They may
argue that they do not sit to make laws, but to administer them,
which means that men who swear to act justly and to give no
favour, may, like legal highwaymen, enforce black-mail whenever
they have the opportunity. The indignation a man feels at being
wronged impels him to seek redress rather than submit to being
swindled.
The legal adviser of the man that robbed me would have settled
all for a certain sum. Accepting this proposal would, on my part,
virtually have been condoning the wrong, and publicly saying to
my other employees, •' Go, and do likewise ; you need not take
any care of the man's goods, and if you allow them to be taken,
and receive the benefit afterwards, no responsibility can attach to
you ; rob and plunder ! your master cannot punish you."
Truly the time has come when all judges must rise above mere
considerations of pay, and advocate a cheap system, such as the
Code Napoleon, that will enable almost any man to have his
case judged fairly, or else let a body of practical mercantile men
arbitrate in all cases before an appeal to the judgment seat.
A land without righteous judgments is a piteous sight for the
gods, and can only mean its downfall. I feel that injustice is more
certain to be done when it is an Englishman who asks for right ;
and yet it is from England that the Free State owes all its ad-
vantages. Mu^h of the food, almost all the clothing, their arms
and ammunition, machinery, and, in fact, all that tends to civilise
them, is obtained from England. It may be asked, Why employ
such men to take charge of stores, or assist in any business ?
The truth is that it is a case of " Hobson's choice " — these men
or none.
The white adult Africander population are lazy, thriftless, and
roguish ; the climate is calculated to cause them to call upon the
black population at all times for the most trivial things. The
tropical heat, with its consequent bounteous natural productions,
makes them entirely careless as to the future ; and when Nature
102 The Orange Fkee State.
gives of her plenty for seven years in succession, all goes on v^^ell,
as may be supposed. Wool, sheep, and cattle, are plentiful for
all ; but let seven years of drought come, and then starvation and
death set in all over the country. Then it is one vast plundering
from those who have by those who ha 76 not, until Nature is kind
once more, and man ceases to be in want. There is no exaggera-
tion in all this ; it is the oft-repeated experience of dwellers in the
Cape Colonies and the surrounding States ; and it has been
proved that asses, mules, swine and bastards, are the only animals
that seem to increase and flourish.
No one can honestly recommend the Cape as a land to emigrate
to. It is only a half-way place to India ; and after all it is a
question whether, considering the other and more attractive colo-
nies that England has, if it would not be better to simply hold the
Coast towns, well guarded as is done by the Portuguese, and
letting the natives trade for what they require, and leaving all in-
ternal arrangements to them. What have we to do with their
fighting and slaveholding ? That is their business. Leave them
to make their own terms with each other as older nations have in
Europe ; but, in any case, I emphatically say, Africa is not, and
never can be, the home of the white man. He may try for many
years, and even centuries, to master its climatic conditions, but in
the end he will fail. Nature, the mighty, is against him there,
just as she would in Europe be against a colony of blacks. It
would be well if the English withdrew all protection, letting those
remain who so desired, to take their risk with the natives, or find
a home in some more suitable place.
The very animals and seeds we send out fail constantly to in-
crease and supply ; all try to run back to their African origin,
and such will be the experience in the future. The country can-
not be relied upon for the growth even of its own grasses, and it is
constantly importing provisions in order to exist ; and, as for its
diamonds, man, when wise, will not think it worth his while to
barter health and life for them, as they are, alter all, only orna-
ments to feed the vanity of women, and show the folly of man.
But even this is a failure now, and once more the country must
depend upon its natural supply, or be doomed to become a howling
waste, for what stock the farmer breeds in the summer he loses in
■winter.
The Orange Free State. 103
The second demand of this Dutch employee was as bad as^the
first, if not worse, and in which the post-cart contracting attorney,
of Maitland Street, was again the active supporter. Although the
plaintiff proved he had dismissed himself, this French-Dutchised
attorney, in the hope of getting the expenses of both sides out of
me, availed himself of all the well-known legal tricks to secure
the same ; but my evidence was so convincing that the Solons
could not give a verdict against me.
To give an idea of the intelligence of these men : I claimed in
my usual way to affirm — to speak the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth ; and, while uttering the same, the man,
who sat as Chief Judge for his fellow-man shouted out at the end,
*' So help you God." Now, as I had no help from a god to speak
the truth, this was pure ignorance on his part, and could have
only been introduced for the purpose of making me say too much, or
too little, or to trip me up and prevent me giving evidence. I
admit, without shame, that I did not appear to heed him, and,
so uncertain was he of his ground, that he failed to grasp the
details of the subject. In fear I awaited the verdict, the whole
of the judge's summing up being so much in favour of the delin-
quent, it quite took me by surprise that he accepted my evidence,
and gave a verdict in my favour.
It was just at this time that I bought a business in the country,
and, after stocking the concern, I engaged the late owner to
manage it. After releasing the original bond of seven hundred
pounds, I bought the man right out, and, finding that he was no
better in management than in ownership, I gave him notice that
his services would not be required after three months, as agreed
upon. Judge of my surprise, when I found that thia man, to in-
jure me, had permitted a summons to go by default, and then
allowed the sheriff to take possession of my lawful property, thus
compelling me again to employ the lawyers and sharks in making
affidavits, costing me the sum of £45. But this was not the worst
part of this vagabond's tricks ; for it turned out that this judg-
ment being out against this man in February, he committed a
fraud on me, in causing to be passed away a considerable quantity
of goods in settlement of other people's claims, so that he could
give me a general bond upon all at his place. Finding that all
-did not work satisfactorily, I then, for a further consideration,
104 The Orange Free State.
bought him entirely out. Execution for the judgment got in
February was put in force in July upon my property, and then,
when I appeared in opposition, I heard, for the first time, that
this German had given the bond fraudulently, therefore the after
sale was illegal, and my goods must pay the debt and expenses.
Such was the anxiety and determination on the part of the Dutch
authorities at Ladybrand to injure me, that they postponed their
decision, in the hope that I should not be able to protect myself^
or to stop such public robbery and spoliation. Fortunately, how-
ever, in three hours I was enabled to get all things in order
and completeness, to stop any further sale on the part of this
thief ; but to do so, I had to buy an expensive horse to get over
the seventy-five miles in sixteen hours, on a moonless night, in
clouds descending, and to ride as if one had a reprieve to deliver
before ten o'clock the next morning.
This brawling G-erman thief was but the outcome of the con-
ditions surrounding him. When in business in Bloemfontein, he
always paid me honestly for all he bought ; but going out among
the vile horde of his countrymen, who lived in that Alsatia of the
Free State, he learnt from them the tricks common to such people,
and put into practice the maxim, that it was more profitable to
cheat than to be honest. Taking example from the Russians, that
all was fair in war, fraud, or marriage, even to stealing your
neighbour's land, as was done by them in Europe during the last
and present century, and by their fellows in other countries, and
thus they and he carried out their nefarious ways over here. I
must say here, that they, thinking they had got a simple, honest
man to deal with, resolved to take all the advantage possible of
him ; and, although this was my misfortune, and loss to soma
hundreds of pounds, don't let it be supposed that it was an isolated
case. I give my experience as a warning to others that they may
know that the Free State is not a place for honest traders. It is
full, and is the home of immoral, dishonest, German traders ; and
I can almost forgive the simple Boer farmers for their action
against those country shops, where they are always taken in by
this dishonourable class.
Perhaps some may say passion guides my pen, and that I speak
in fierce hate, owing to my losses. Nothing of the kind. I will
admit that I feel savage when I see these foreigners take such.
The Orange Free State. 105
advantages of decent people under the flag of England and her
dependencies. I also admit that, as an Englishman, I cannot
allow my country for ever to be robbed and plundered by these
roving vagabonds, who as a rule are too lazy to work, but not too
degraded to steal, and are to be found in all ranks — from the
Guelphs, on what they call the Throne of England, which is a
standing shame to an Englishman, and must be wiped away, even
to the latest impostor that crosses the German Ocean.
No wonder the Russians wish to get rid of such ruling pests.
The time must come when they either must stop in their own
Fatherland, or give some security for their honesty, if allowed to
make a stay in England or her colonies ; and, until this occurs, up
to my latest breath, in speaking and writing, I will urge that these
iniquities be abolished, and such monstrosities no longer be per-
mitted to inhabit England's sacred soil, or that of her colonies or
dependencies.
That men with honest intentions could get a living, there is my
own case to prove, but it was only by constant, hard, toil from
morn until late at eve, and strictl}' following the advice given me
in Aliwal by an old Bloemfontein trader that I was able to do so.
That advice was to stand behind my own counter, and look after
my own till, and then all would be right. Immediately that my
business increased so as to need assistance to carry it on, virtually
making me a prisoner in my front store, then I became subject to
the jumping proclivities of Free- State-born assistants, for I can
testify that, neither for the home nor for the store, could I find
persons possessing common honesty, notwithstanding the faet that
I paid higher salaries than was usual.
The inhabitants were no better in other respects ; to get into
debt was the rule, from the President, members of Parliament, &c.,
downwards ; in fact, I was delighted to leave the capital of the
Free State, as a nest of polite and unpolite robbers. They would
get into your debt, rob you, and afterwards laugh at you, or trek
into the next town to repeat the process all over the State ; when
they could not secure credit, they slandered you in no measured
degree. It was truly laughable to notice with what unction they
(finding that they could not steal your purse, not that they con-
sidered it trash) would steal a character, as described in im-
mortal poetry by Shakespeare, till at last, in self-defence, one
106 The Orange Free State.
had to act on the old advice of the Greek philosopher : " live it
down."
The slanders were not of the old women's gossip type only ; for
when the little satellite of the mongrel church got to know that I
did not " swear," but acted on their advice repeated Sunday after
Sunday, not to take the name of the Lord in vain, and I
" affirmed " to speak the whole truth and naught but the truth, I
was immediately christened without godfather and godmother the
" atheist." Although they were repeatedly assured that they were
in error, I being a positivist and an all-round protestor ; such
was their enlightenment, that the names of Auguste Comte, Lewis,
Congreve, &c., were unknown to them, much less did they know
what true religion consisted of.
Then I found the town was puffed up in England as the heal-
thiest spot in Africa, to inveigle invalids suffering from pulmonary
disease to end or spend some of their days in — to enrich the
doctors of the town where even quacks, made respectable by long
residence (as mentioned in the Express of May 22nd, 1884) charge
a guinea for a visit, and seven and sixpence for a box of pills.
The genuine doctors at Bloemfontein did profess to believe that it
was a veritable health resort, as described, and offered to accom-
modate the sick for a stipulated sum per month, as they do at
Malvern, Torquay, and other places in England, and I know that
•when these well-to-do wretches read this they will call a meeting
and pass condemnation upon me, and maintain that I must have
murdered my grandmother, or committed some other heinous
crime ; for what they all lack in intelligence, they make up in
spite and dog-like cruelty. My own experience proved, as all can
testify, that Bloemfontein is a most unhealthy spot.
The " Queen City " of Cesspools, Cow- Kraals and Pigsties.
Bloemfontein, March 8th, 1881.
To the Editor of the Friend.
Sir, — For some time past so much has been said by the leading
English Medical Journals, and others, about Bloemfontein, as a
" Health resort and Sanatorium," that no wonder so many per-
sons, ourselves included, have been anxious to avail themselves of
The Orange Free State. 107
the great advantages held out to delicate constitutions if they
could only get here. We therefore made an effort a few months
ago and did get here ; bat if, in describing our disappointment in
the place, and attempting to describe it fairly, we should displease
those who hold opposite opinions, we shall only be too pleased to
be corrected in our judgment ; hear the other side of the question
and, if possible, be convinced that this place is all that has been
represented. Upon entering the town by the Monument we were
surprised to find it situated in a hollow which naturally must be
anything but a salubrious position, for, during the summer months,
the sun pours down with an intensity, having no chance of the
heat being counteracted by the breezes around, and in damp
seasons there is a fcetid miasma arising from the town in such an
insanitary condition that the wonder would be if it were not the
fruitful source of blood poisons of every character. You have re-
cently informed us that diphtheria and scarlet fever have made
their appearance in the town, but let us be warned, for these dis-
eases admonish us and tell us of typhoid lurking in the back
ground, and no wonder, for lately we breathe nothing but the
poisonous foetid exhalations from filthy cowkraals, stinking pigsties,
and old standing cesspools. Whilst medical and scientific men
are at present engaged in enquiring into the meteorological
changes of the atmosphere in the locality, I would suggest that
they immediately set about to ascertain how many cows, goats,
sheep and pigs sleep every night in our midst, — to say nothing of
the dogs and cats innumerable. In the present defective state of
our sanitary arrangements it is more than difficult to get rid of
the filth necessarily made by the human population ; but when
there is unnecessarily added to this the abominable filth made by
the above-named animals it is a problem how to keep disease out
of the town. There is, within six yards of my own windows in the
centre of the town and a closely populated neighbourhood, a yard,
converted into a cow kraal ; here, every night, th ere are between
thirty and forty head of cattle sheltered. During the late rains
the place is some feet deep in filth — issuing a most abominable
stench — and the only way the owner drains it is by surreptitiously
making a bole at the bottom of the yard wall, so it runs into the
neighbouring yard, and from thence into the back street — his own
street, of course, being too aristocratic for him to venture upon
108 The Orange Free State.
such a mode of procedure. Then there are the pigsties always
to be met with in the most thickly populated neighbourhoods. If
you can't see them you may always smell them, and these
wretched animals are allowed to go about the streets rooting up
every bit of garbage, and adding filth to filth. Goats innumer-
able also add to the odour of the town ; so what with one animal
and another we are nearly reduced to a sort of animal existence
ourselves.
It is not sufficient to expect that one man, a sanitary inspector,
can properly see into and arrange these matters. Generally
speaking, one man don't care — even though he may be well paid
for it — to be looked upon as the obnoxious individual prying into
the privacies of every home ; — besides, a sanitary inspector might
perhaps be a cow-keeper himself, and, in such a case, it certainly
would not be to his interest to interfere with cow kraals. What
really is wanted is a sanitary committee, consisting of several men,
who really, thoroughly understand the laws pertaining to hygiene
and have some power to enforce them. The town really is about
one of the best doctored in the country, judging from the number
of medical men ; but then, in these places, it pays far better to
cure disease than to prevent it, and we must not look to them for
suggestions.
I have seen cases of typhoid in this town, and only one common
cesspool between two houses, with a wooden partition at the top
only, and the poisonous evacuations thrown down the cesspool.
Can we wonder how fever is generated ? But is it nobody's
business to look very deeply into these matters ? How dirty-
water is to be got rid of, is another question. The Sanitary In-
spector very properly tells us it must not be thrown into the
street, and we very properly tell ourselves it must not be thrown
into our yards, and the landlord informs us it must not go down
the cesspool, so where is it to be got rid of ? But everyone does
get rid of it, somehow, nevertheless, and the town and spruit is
often in a very unpleasant condition. I would therefore urge
that the Municipal authorities take means to prevent any filth being
made in the town that is positively unnecessary, such as that
which is accumulated by allowing kraals and pigsties of any
kind.
When Bloemfontein is spoken of as a resort for Pulmonary
The Orange Free State. i09
invalids, I often ask, wherein lies the advantage ? But suddenly
I remember what an old woman in England told me many years ago
viz., that "cow-dung and milk " was the sure and only cure for
consumption, and, nasty as I then thought it, and much as I
laughed, I can begin to see there must be some truth in her state-
nt, i,e., if Bloemfontein really offers, as it is stated, a specific
for this disease — it must be its "cow-dung and milk :" very large
and nauseous doses of the former and sometimes very little of the
latter. But to this " Queen City " of cesspools, cow-kraals, and
pigsties, I must soon bid adieu, and look in another direction for
a "health resort" — a " Sanatorium." — Yours, &c.,
Hygiea.
Its extremes of cold and great heat, want of rains, dirty erfs
yards, and kraals in the town, and a most foul sluit in the centre
— all breeding diphtheria, scarlatina, and other contagious diseases,
— drove me at last, for fear that my own family should become
victims, to send thorn once more to the Colony.
In my bachelorhood I was compelled to engage assistance to
keep my rooms and linen clean, but in doing so, I was subjected
to all kinds of inuendoes. Living in the heart of the town, and
many of the fair sex being my customers, gave the opportunity,
when I would not give them my goods on credit, to call me names,
maintaining that I was a Mormon in heart and a Turk in practice.
Truly through all the petty wars, Bloemfontein became the home
of the vilest and most contemptible set of wretches it was ever my
lot to fall among, and in very joy I shook the dust off feet, and
was glad to bid such a spot a last farewell.
" Good gracious ! " I hear some say, " what an unfortunate
man." Stay, my friends ; I was not more so than others. I but
give an experience that many could, but dare not. To plunder,
cheat, and lie was the every day practice, and if not to be done in
the light, then in the dark.
The cruel wrong that I had suffered in the Colony through put-
ting faith in human nature forcibly brought to my recollection my
dear old mother's words, when I was in my early manhood and
releasing myself from the swaddling clothes of my early religious
training — and emerging in light through my reading and studying
nature and life, with its many vicissitudes, and thinking out the
no The Orange Free State.
problem of existence. She told me then, my unbounded faith
and confidence in human nature would be my constant ruin.
Truly (as all will feel if ever I do write my autobiography) I
have been the sport of many in whom I have had faith, and yet
with all this I always seem to be perpetrating some Quixotic blun-
der, from the belief that men are only waiting for a guiding light,
in order to climb to a grander and nobler life ; and strange to say,
no experience, however bitter and discouraging, seems to shake this
faith or make me feel in the words of the poet Heron : —
" Make it a golden rule, and keep it so,
Trust none you know not, and trust none you know.''
Many were the sympathisers and even opponents who, like all
others who are wise only after the event, expressed their surprise
that I should be so taken in ; to whom I could only reply by
shrugging my shoulders and expressing myself to the eflFect, that
if they were so wise why did they not tell me before the event — it
was a known thing to all ajter it had occurred.
I was momentarily pained by one with whom I had had many
a confidential chat and even taken counsel over all my transactions.
This man had always expressed his unbounded confidence in my
customer's honesty, if not in his ability, yet he had the courage
and impudence to say, when I expressed my indignation that a
countryman of his — in whom he took such interest — had failed in
such a manner, that it was not owing to his own independent
judgment that he had faith in him, but because I reposed confi-
dence in the man. Good heavens ! What desertion from his
previous views. I felt, after such a statement, a bitter contempt
for this former friend.
Truly a man's friendship is proved if he helps in time of trouble,
and proves a friend in deed or counsel when a man is in need
thereof ; but then, as Carlyle says — when speaking of the wretched
mistakes which different ages make concerning the best and
greatest — " Why the Jews took Jesus for a scoundrel, and thought
all they could do with Him was to nail Him up on a gallows.
Ah ! that was a bad business ; and so He has returned to heaven
and the descendants of the murderers go wandering about the
streets buying old clothes ! Is was truly a bad business that the
working out of a Divine plan, so stated, of Salvation, should
The Orange Free State. Ill
depend upon a wretched mistake committed by such Jewish fiends
and yet we must press on, struggle on, often baffled sorely — baffled,
down, as into entire wreck. Yet a struggle never ended, ever will
bear repentance, true unconquerable purpose, begun anew.
Poor human nature ! Is not a man's walking in truth alwavs
that — a succession of falls ? Man can do no other. In this
wild element of a life he has to struggle onwards : — now fallen,
now deep debased, and ever with tears and repentance, with
bleeding heart, he has to rise again and struggle again, still
onward. That is, struggle, be a faithful unconquerable one. That
is the question of questions. We will put up with many sad
details if the soul of it, and man be but true."
In this age when the true Gospel of man is well known — and
which, if acted upon, would make all feel their existence to be a
much richer, and grander and more valuable inheritance, if pro-
perly used, than ever dreamt of, and if believers in such were
scrupulous in their engagements, loving fathers, faithful husbands,
honourable neighboujs, and as just citizens as are to be found in
other creeds and beliefs — let us advocate the brotherhood of man
and the fatherhood of God, and all will be well, and notwithstand-
ing the general laxity of faith, which is the characteristic of our
age, the moral sentiment of our day is growing broader and better.
There is more charity, more sympathy, more love and tenderness,
a greater desire to know the truth, and be guided by it, a stronger
hatred of injustice, tyranny and wrong, and a deeper love of the
true, the beautiful and the good than ever was known before.
But morality is not Christianity. It is common to all religions.
The fundamental principles of morality are everywhere, and at all
times the same. The coming man's religion will have no theology
in it ; all questions — as to the origin of things, the nature of life,
the duration of life, final causes, and the first great cause — the
coming man will naturally pass over. Such subjects have nothing
to do with religion.
Self- Improvement.
Whoever improves his own nature improves the universe, of
which he is a part. He who strives to subdue his evil passions,
vile remnants of the old four-footed life, and who cultivates the
112 The Orange Free State.
social affections ; he who endeavours to better his condition and
to make his children wiser and happier than himself, whatever
may be his motives, he will not have lived in vain. But if he
acts thus, not from mere prudence — not in the vain hope of being
rewarded in another world, but from a pure sense of duty, as a
patriot of the planet upon which he dwells, then our philosophy,
which once appeared to him so cold and cheerless, will become a
religion of the heart, and will elevate him to the skies ; the virtues
which were once for him mere abstract terms will become endowed
with life, and will hover around him like guardian angels, con-
versing with him in his solitude, consoling him in his afflictions,
teaching him how to live and how do die. — Eeade, in " Martyrdom
of Manr
The Morality of the Future.
Of one thing we may be perfectly sure : the coming man's
religion will inculcate and actually produce a genuine and high
morality. Much more is requisite, but this is preliminary and
indispensable. Philosophers and litterateurs, who survey the
scene of human life from a library window, may not know that
the practice of the homely moralities is the first condition of all
welfare and all excellence. It is the fact, nevertheless. For my
part, I avow my conviction that the most blind and bigoted
religionist, Catholic or Protestant (Buddhist or Mohammedan),
who performs with loyalty and diligence the duties of his sphere
and home, is not only a better man, but, in truth, a more intel-
ligent man, then the most brilliant philosopher who does not. —
Parton, in " The Coming Man's Religion.'"
I had once more from compulsion — not in love or confidence —
to apply to the lawyers for legal assistance to prove my case
— knowing but too well that like crows or dasvogels smelling a
carcass, they would help until they had devoured the meat, and
then, when no more flesh in the shape of gold could be found in
my clothes or on my bones, they would leave me to dry up. It
has often been said that very few lawyers ever get to heaven.
Certainly my experience tells me that they are only fit for that
period of torture described by Dante in his Inferno, if being paid
The Orange Free State. 113
beforehand and then getting incapable through the luncheon, &c.,
indulged in, or forgetting a duty — or how to defend — when the
liberty of a man is at stake, without taking into consideration his
prospects of the future, deserves punishment ; then many have my
best wishes for some punishment, in a warm place, as a warning
to their brethren.
I witnessed conduct on the part of legal gentlemen robbers,
during the Transkein war that was perfectly shameful. After
taking all the money they could get from their clients, and smirk-
ing and bobbing their assurances that nothing should, be left un-
done to maintain their rights, when it suited their purpose to do
so they deserted their victims in the most heartless manner ; and
yet these men were afterwards made judges of the land, and even
sat in Parliament to make fresh enactments giving them additional
facilities to rob and plunder ; and what makes the matter more
disgusting is, that it is all done in the name of justice, truth, and
right.
Napoleon the First ! If for naught else, I remember thee as a
hero for thy " Code, Napoleon." Would that we had such in our
country, and the same opportunity for asking and getting advice
and help before it was possible for any fool or rogue to drag us
into the meshes of what is called the law. Gilbert and Sullivan !
your names must go down to posterity for describing so nicely
how much of modern law is fudge, and how so many in similar
ways become judges.
By way of illustration and in corrobation of my views I submit
the following extracts from the Express and Mercury : —
A great deal of feeling has been evoked by the discussion of
the Draft Ordinance which deals with the prosecution or punish-
men of legal practitioners and other professional men who carry
on their business under the provisions of Ordinance No. 6 — 1884
(Tariff Ordinance). It is held by this new measure that a legal
practitioner, who has drawn up a summons in a careless manner,
causing absolution from the instance ; or who has brought a
trumpery case into any Court, or neglected a defence, causing
thereby loss of suit to his client ; or who has advanced silly ex-
ceptions to delay the case, shall be mulcted in the costs of the
case, with the right of an appeal to a higher tribunal. Further,
that any person practising under the provisions of Ord. No. 3
114 The Orange Free State.
1880, shall be bound to the tariff fixed therein, and shall not be
. allowed to enter into a private contract for the purpose of evading
such tariff. Those acting contrary to this provision shall be
deprived of their licence, and shall have no legal redress to recover
the amount of such private contract. A defendant in any case
shall have the right to demand from plaintiff's attorney security
for costs in the case. If any moneys shall have been collected by
or entrusted to a legal practitioner, and he shall fail to render an
account when called upon, he shall be brought up for the embezzle-
ment of trust moneys. The above provisions are severe, and in
some instances unduly so, and we have every hope that the feel-
ings of our legislators, outraged as they have been by innumerable
instances of carelessness, over-charges, and embezzlement, will not
carry them from one extreme to another. For this would result
in a del eat of the good the Raad aims at, and which in the public
interest is moreover indispensable. At the same time there is no
use disguising the fact that the iniquities, that have been perpe-
trated upon an unprotected public cry to heaven for redress and
protection. Who is there in this State that cannot point to some
abuse, by means of which he has been robbed of hard-earned
gains ? To instance cases would require volumes. Who, again,
has not the knowledge of the fact that the medical profession (so-
called only in many instances) counts amongst its members men
who have abused the ignorance and helplessness of their patients
to a most fearful extent ? Before us lies a Doctor's account for
£78 Is. 6d", for work done in one of our towns during fourteen
days ! How many such accounts are there ? Is their number
not legion ? And will any real professional man say, that he has
a right to such a charge — to a charge of £11 Is. 6d. for one day
for visits and medicines ? We should like to know the gentleman
who would come forward to claim it. And the legal profession ?
In our own experience we have smarted under treatment that
deserves no other name than theft, and how are we to protect our-
selves ? By employing only honest people ? That's just what
we did in the instance that stands before our minds' eye, when we
had occasion to employ an agent, but our opponent was not what
we should have desired, nor had the Magistrate much idea of law.
As a result we were on trifling exceptions mulcted in a much
arger amount than was represented by our claim, and we had to
The Orahge Free State. 115
bear it, in the hope that one day the legislature would think of
these things and make an end of them. Thus, as we say, there
can be no question of the necessity for some means by which the
public shall be protected, as little as there can be that thesa
enactments should not take the form of provisions calculated to
drive honest and able men out of the country. There is no country
on earth, certainly no civilised country, where the various profes-
sions are not bound down by law to remain within the limits of
honesty and reason. At the same time it is left to any able man
to either fix the price of his work, or refuse to do work, and why
should he not ? A man's brains are as much his own as his house
or lands, consequently he can make his price for either ; and a law
prohibiting good men from making the most of their capabilities
drives good men out of the country. By this means we return to
a state of things such as we had in the early days of this country
— when anyone became a lawyer and anyone a doctor. Besides,
there is another diiSculty in the matter, and it is this : If a person
going, or dragged, into Court has to give security for costs, the
rich man has all the chances, and the poor man none. With the
aims of the law we have all sympathy; with the means very little.
For the indifference and stupidity of the public, no laws can be
made ; and it is a fact which stands out prominently in this dis-
cussion, that in spite of all the swindling, no doctor has yet been
brought before a Court (at least not to our knowledge) because he
attempted to swindle his client. It is just as rare an accurrence to
see a dishonest lawyer figuring before a Judge to answer for his
misdemeanours. What should be done is, that the legal and medi-
cal professions obtain a status and legal enactments, enabling therii
to take cognizance of the abuses, and to remedy them by the ex-
pulsion of the offender. If the general public co-operates by giving
due notice of the abuses to which they are exposed, there is little
doubt but that this remedy will be effective.
We were unable to make any reference on Friday to the very
remarkable charge delivered by the Chief Justice on opening the
last criminal sessions in Cape Town ; but the address deserves
careful attention. It is in part an answer to Mr. Froude's last
article, but we agree with much that is in that article, and also
with a good deal that Sir Henry de Villiers said. Mr. Froude
thinks that in this Colony justice is not often by white juries to
h2
116 The Orange Free Htatb.
natives, but tbat the charge as he makes it is by far too sweeping.
There is often occasion to complain of this, but it arises very fre-
quently from the absence of newspapers. In most of the circuit
towns there are no journals, and in these courts the press is not
represented. Occasionally a barrister will supply reports, but
these are such as lawyers would make, and the jury do not feel
that their conduct will be made public and commented upon when
the court rises. At other times the fault lies with the presiding
judge who shows that he is in a hurry, that he is not well, that he
has lost his temper, or that he has made up his mind as to the
verdict, and means to have it so. Ordinary citizens know very
little about the rights and privileges of jurymen ; but they have
vague ideas of the tremendous powers of a judge, and when he
bullies a witness, or shows his temper to the jurors, they submit
under the impression that it is their duty to do so. It is true, as
the Chief Justice says, that the Supreme Court has been adorned
by a succession of judges who were both lawyers and gentlemen ;
as it is true that Sir Henry de Villiers sustains the reputation of
his court ; but there have been judges of but slender fame, and
there still are judges who would benefit the country by attempting
to adorn the life of common citizens. If it were necessary we
could find a number of cases in which the injustice that has been
done nominally by juries, is due to the conduct of the judges.
While waiting at the Court House I had an opportunity to
note how the Landdrost treated a case of trespass and assault
preferred against a man who had reason to suppose that another
trespassed on his conjugal rights, and in the attempt to find this
out, walked into the yard of the house where this wife dwelt. The
man had, as I afterwards learnt, committed himself, while in the
colony, and had to flee from the punishment that his employers —
the Government — would have meted out to him, and left his wife
and children to the mercy of a cold world, and in the immediate
care of his mother-in-law — a hard-working body, who did her best
for all this family. Now, unfortunately, this man was a human
cripple : once out of Government employ, he was physically and
mentally incapable of recovering himself, and, instead of being a
help and a breadwinner for them all, he simply underwent a
caving-in through his intemperate habits, and at last became a
nuisance. In a fit of generosity the wife allowed him to dwell in
The Orajige Feee State. 117
her mother's house, and thus, to her misfortune, she gave light to
a child, and in consequence became reduced to a wretched state of
poverty, which was so degrading an experience to her as a sensitive
woman, that she determined never to live with him again, unless
he could provide for them, and had an assurance that she was not
to be only a child creator without the means of being properly
supported.
For a long time, in conjunction with her mother, they kept a
roof over their heads, and clothed her children, but thfe income
and profits did not enable her to pay all, and, therefore, it was a
loss to the tradesmen of the town. Now this human skunk having
failed to find means of subsistence for his family, and, having
learnt of the death of his wife's mother, at once returned, and
claimed conjugal rights. To this the woman very properly
objected, and, to prevent violence, a young man, in a moment of
chivalry, protected her from his repeated annoyance. The assump-
tion that the husband rushes at is, that his wife must, of necessity,
be encouraging immoral attentions on the part of this young man
— a position by no means certain.
I grant that the Free State is not the most moral ; its farmers
are like the old generation called " Bucks " ; their constant eating
of dried and fresh meats, without a fair proportion of vegetables,
increases the animalism of the Free State burghers, and the same
may be said of the women. Animalism is rampant all over the
State, and, strange to say, the Dutch pretend to be ruled by
Koman-Dutch law, and they carry this out so far as to lend their
wives to each other ; but not as the old Romans did — as a token
of respect and regard for their special friend, and a proof of their
esteem, inasmuch as it enabled them to part for a time even from
what they held most dear.
Whether it is due to some climatic influence in the tropics or not
I cannot say, but that warm climates do produce a looseness of
life and disgusting immorality is undeniable, and the polygamy
of the natives, and the giving of their women simply to be mothers,
has intensified the lusttulness of the Dutch farmers, and it is no
uncommon thing, as in the old slave states of America, to find
likenesses on the farm, in the shape of two-legged bastards, but of
-a darker colour.
To bear this out as a truism, and an indisputable fact, the
118 The Orange Free State.
Griquas, whom I met fifteen miles from Kokstadt, and who were-
on the point of slaying me while passing over that district, on my
way to the Colony, at the time I took a sea passage to Natal, and
returning by way of Kokstadt and Uemtata to King "William's
Town, with the families of Garbutt, Smith, and myself, mustering
in all, three women, four men, and twenty- seven children.
These people, who were living among the Bastards of the old
Cape Dutch colonists, who were called Griquas, with Adam Kok
as their chief, and who, becoming a constant peril from their
numbers and general intelligence to the Dutch of the Free State,
were eventually persuaded by the Colonial Government to sell
their possessions in Philippolis and trek over Basutoland, into
what at that time was known as No-Man's-land, and at the foot
of the Drakensberg, near Natal. After twenty years, fearing that
they again would lose their all, and be absorbed by the white
man, they rose suddenly under the leadership of one Smith
Palmer.
Now, it so happened, that I was in the immediate neighbour-
hood of their principal town, called Kokstadt, and, on the advice
of their chief magistrate, Captain Blyth, hastily retraced our foot-
steps to Harding for protection and certainty. It was never ex-
pected that we should pass out of No-Man's-land alive, and I fear-
lessly say that, but for the coolness of Mr. Garbutt, who came out
of Natal to settle there, we should never have had a tale to unfold.
I then, and often since, have felt for all who in after years were
surrounded by savages. The horror that one felt when in the
presence of naked men with assegais in their hands, cannot be des-
cribed, and only one false move at that time on our parts, would,
in all probability, have ended in a general massacre of our
little party.
Captain Blyth, after three hours' fighting at Kokstadt, was en-
abled to drive these Griquas away, but not without a heavy loss
in killed by the blowing up of the magazine in the town. Three
days after Smith Palmer was shot, and we were once more enabled
to return over Pondoland to the Colony ; but I have often thought
since what little incidents prevent us getting into positive danger.
There was I, a perfect stranger, in a No-man's land, and bewail-
ing my fate that I was unable to get on. Now, had I entered
Kokstadt before the engagement, so few were its defenders, that I
The Orange Free State. 119
should, of necessity, have been pressed into service ; and who can
tell but what I might have been one of the blown-up victims ?
Truly, at that time, I passed through the bitterness of death, and
that at the hands of the unfortunate descendants of Dutch and
native liaisons.
x^fterwards I never saw a " Bastard " or Griqua, either in the
Free State or the Colony, but a shudder ran through me, and when
I came to know the true history of this people, I often felt that
animalism and lust on the part of the Dutch had produced a fruit-
ful crop of active agencies to bring about a fearful reckoning on
the innocent and weak, At the present time the Dutch are in-
creasing their " Bastards " as fast as the half-breeds are begotten
in America, and the time must come when they will be a scourge
to the Dutch themselves.
I am not exaggerating when I say that the Dutch are both im.-
moral and vicious, and that they look upon all black women as
mere instruments or beings for their lustful delights, and then
afterwards treat their progeny as slaves for their profit. This is,
perhaps, a fearful thing to say, but it is only too true, as could be
proved in all the Dutch districts of South Africa.
I am no advocate for women leaving their homes, even though
they may be unhealthy spots to live in, unless under some special
pressure, and I feel that a man so left is placed in an unfair posi-
tion ; he is tempted of all who do not hold the Seventh Command-
ment in awe, but the many many evidences I had of the cruel
treatment, by lustful men, of women who, in many cases, worked
and supported the families that the men should have sustained,
compels me to give credence to a woman's word rather than to
that of the men-husbands ; let a man once get lustful and drunken,
and he becomes brutal, so that the sacredness of woman is for
ever lost.
Will the day ever dawn when men and women, calling them-
selves Liberals, shall understand the issues at stake in all these
fights for larger liberty, and comprehend the principles of purity
and justice for which you are so gloriously labouring, and cease
discolouring by their own perverted mentalities, thus representing
white as black, and purity as filth ? Oh, for a race of men born
of free mothers, conceived in love, and because desired ; gestated
in knowledge and observation of natural laws ; reared in the sun-
120 The Oraijge Feee Statb.
shine of happy homes ; nourished on a diet of pure and simple
food ; supplied with air to breathe, free from the contamination
of alcohol and tobacco ; educated according to the laws of evolu-
tion ; body and brain developed in harmony ! Such a race would
know no sickness, misery, nor crime, but would bring the kingdom
of heaven down to earth, where it belongs, and usher in the Mill-
enium morn. To bring about such a consummation it were the
greatest honour to suffer persecution, scorn, or ostracism from a
society too corrupt to perceive purity and recognise self-sacrifice
But glory will in the future crown 'the noble workers who, with
bleeding feet, clear away the brambles and make easy the pathway
for future generations.
I do not speak without having well observed, and I am sure
that England and other countries will bear out this view. I have
said somewhere that women should not be the breadwinners ; they
are far more helpless than men, and are far more tempted by men.
I have met men who would be horror-stricken with their wives if
they went astray, but who, in their very lustfulness, would think
it no sin to set traps for other men's wives. I know it may be
argued that men love women for themselves, while women love to
know that men love them ; but, so long as man remains the
stronger, it is his duty to curb his passions and lusts, and guard
and protect the weak.
Marriage to me is a holy and sacred condition ; and in such a
state for men and women to forget themselves, is a prostitution of
the word Love. Let us at once call it by its right name — Lust !
and on whichever side it is shown, call them wild animals, that,
for. the sake of the morals of others, and of rising generations,
should be kept in check, even to confinement or isolation, if neces-
sary. Parties, when married, should regard the agreement as
sacredly binding, should guard its sancity, and seek to carry it
out ; and in another way men should band themselves as of old,
to guard the helpless, the widow, and the orphans from the liber-
tine and devourer. "While I uphold the sacredness of the marriage
tie, I cannot forget there are conditions in marriage that make it
desirable to disunite ; and, while condemning the loose way divorce
is carried out in the United States, I must admire the conditions
recently proposed by the French Assembly, and which I here
annex for the reader's information : —
The Orange Free State. 121
" The French Senatorial Committee on Divorce have agreed to
M. Eymard-Duvernay's scheme, which allows divorce for deser-
tion, adultery, or scandalous misconduct, and an attempt on the
life, health, liberty, or honour of the husband or wife. It likewise
admits divorce after three years' judicial separation, but forbids
the respondent to re-marry in the petitioner's lifetime, unless with
the consent of the latter."
Whilst supporting such a rational system of divorce, I protest
against any sympathy being given to men who do not protect or
guard themselves from committing violence against, or fail to pro-
vide for, their wives and children ; and it behoves us at all times,
if we have any chivalry in us, to specially hesitate to condemn a
woman without positive proof.
The man whose conduct led me to write these rambling remarks,
did not deserve the slightest sympathy ; he failed in all that
denotes true manhood, and would have lived upon his wife's earn-
ings, and enjoyed, in his way, his sensual appetites. Such men
are better buried, and that their children know them not — their
acts and uncertain conduct. But alas ! they too often leave their
nature in their children, and it is for this reason I preach these
lessons. May their shadows grow less, and may the true pro-
tection of all women continue to grow greater in pure love and
unselfishness.
1 may here mention that this woman kept a house that was
visited by some of the most particular of her sex. She was also
scrupulously particular in the education and bringing up of her
children, and in no way was there positive proof that she at any
time misconducted herself, and, under such circumstances, I felt
it incumbent to protest against the inuendoes and statements of
her husband, who was well known to be most unreliable in his
walks and habits of life. Lustful, drunken, and unreliable men
are not the best judges, and cannot be expected, therefore, to look
aright, and should be the last, without positive proof, to destroy
the reputation of their wives, and bring everlasting disgrace upon
their ofFspring.
Chapter X.
HILE penning these tlioughts I had hoped that my
application for a board of arbitrators would have
been granted, and that the possibility of being
dragged into court, and thereby partially ruined
in the attempt to prove my rights, would have
been prevented ; but alas ! here, as elsewhere,
victims must be had to fatten the lawyers' trade
union — one of the vilest combinations against the life, liberty, and
property of the subject ever allowed to exist.
Although, time after time, a demand has been made for a confi-
dential public servant, who could advise a man how to act, with
power to stop litigation until he had investigated the cause of dis-
pute ; no such man or friend has been appointed. The absence
of such a person might be tolerated if lawyers were held respon-
sible for the advice they charge for ; but, as matters stand at
present, if they are wrong, a man may be ruined in endeavouring
to prove he is right ; and yet we are told that justice is open to
all — to poor as well as to peer.
What vile untruthfulness ! the facts are all the other way. The
liberty of the subject is constantly threatened and violated, and the
victim has no redress. Let a man but speak the truth, and a con-
spiracy will be formed to convict him of some misdemeanour, out-
lawing him from all civil rights, and the very conviction used
against him to prove that he is a vile scoundrel. Many and many
a time have judges been proved drunken and idiotic — (see Mercury
reports on Fitzgerald), and yet they will sit, and (as they say),
dispense justice. Good heavens ! when shall the earth be covered
with righteousness, and such impostors be impossible ?
The Oranse Free State. 123
The late cruelties in connection with the victims of the Blas-
phemy LawB — Foote and others — feeding the pretentions and
cruelty of one class to satisfy the cant and hypocrisy of another,
is proof positive that, in England, the judges are not always ap-
pointed on account of their capability, but in consideration of their
political party services ; and thus it is we see such injustice
flourish.
The same my be said of many of the judges of South Africa, in
the Free State. The Chief Justice made a journey into the
Colony to stir up strife between the races, as a party " move," for,
in reality, the Dutch and English are but a part of the great
Scandinavian race, and, in conjunction with a Mr. Hofmeyr,
•they desired Africa for the Africanders. The Dutch and English
could live side by side happily ; but it is German, the Hollander,
and the Jew that cause strife, as I will show before this history is
finished.
They say the Dutch cannot read the printed reports of Parlia-
ment because they are in a language they do not understand
(which says little — worse than little — for the Zuid Afrikaan, and
the three or four gentlemen who so diligently report for Dutch
papers) ; but English journalists may well complain to Mr. Hofmeyr
that they cannot read the reports of his " Bestuur " meeting, as
they are in Dutch.
We do not know what part Chief Justice Eeitz took in the
debates on the resolutions that England should leave Basutoland
to the colonists ; that unnecessary trains should be stopped ; or in
advocating protection for Colonial industries ; but the Chief
Justice of the Orange Free State was present, and must be held
responsible for such resolutions. What he has to do with Colonial
industries we do not know — though, when a judge becomes a party
politician, he may also be interested in trade ; and we cannot quite
comprehend what it matters to a judge in the Free State whether
trains run on Sundays or not.
It has been asserted, with some authority, that the President of
the Free State informed the English Government that he looks to
them to fulfil the Treaty of Aliwal ; and, that treaty being fulfilled.
Sir John Brand, in his opening speech to the Raad, gave it to be
clearly understood that the Stale he presided over had nothing to
say about the future of Basutoland. Is Chief Justice Reitz to be
124 The Oeanqe Fbee State.
allowed by his own Government to come into the Colony, and
assist in carrying a resolution, which, if accepted by the Home
Government, must involve the Free State in a Basuto war? This
question is one that might very well be asked of the English
Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Possibly he may be questioned
about it in the House of Loids ; and we agree with the Argus in
thinking that some enquiry will be made in the Colonial Legisla-
ture when it meets.
Mr. Hofmeyr has recently been telling some friends in Bloem-
fontein how far advanced in civilisation the Free State is as com-
pared with_ the Colony. Cape Town has not such Houses of
Parliament as adorn Bloemlontein ; the senators do not dress
themselves as elegantly, or as sombrely, as do the members of the
Kaad, and more in the same alter-dinner style. When running
down his countrymen, Mr. Hofmeyr might have added that the
Cape Colony had not a Chief Jusdce who would so far forget him-
self, and so besmirch his ermine, as to visit the Colony to assist
in organising a " Bestuur," with the object of disturbing and,
perhaps, of destroying its established Government. There are
some things done in the Colony that are not altogether to
its credit.
As far as we know, all the English organs of public opinion in
the Colony have of late years given expression to the most kindly
sentiments towards the Orange Free State. They have drawn
comparisons most favourable to the Republic, and have held up
its example as one which, in many respects, deserves to be followed.
"Whatever unplesant things may have been said about the Free
State by a section of the Colonists in times past, in these days we
feel confident that Mr. Hofmeyr would have to search long for
statements derogatory to that State, and, if he should succeed in
finding them, he will only succeed in proving the rule by the
exceptions.
The second statement of Mr. Hofmeyr, which calls for notice, is
that, " The Rules of Order in the Free State Volksraad are superior
to those of the Cape Parliament, and are better observed than is
the case in the Cape Legislature. As to the superiority of the
Volksraad Rules, we can express no opinion, not having seen them.
Mr. Hofmeyr, who attended the Volksraad deliberations on one or
two occasions, is, of course, in a position to judge ; but to the
The OsXnqe Free State. 125
assertion, or to the insinuation, that in the Cape Parliament the
Eules of Order are but indifferently observed, we must take ex-
ception. Hitherto we have always been told, and we never have
seen anything to persuade us into the belief that it was meant as
an idle compliment or mere flattery, that the Cape Parliament is
an exemplary body among colonial legislators ; nay, when we call
to mind the scenes which in the British House of Commons have
made the Cloture Bill a necessity, we do not see why we should
not plainly say that, as to orderly conduct, the Cape Legislature
is not inferior to its great model. Mr. Hofmeyr, who has been
several years a member of the House of Assembly, may have
noticed flagrant breaches of decorum and disregard of the rules of
the House ; we must admit that they have altogether escaped our
attention.
Then a comparison is drawn between the dress of the Volks-
raad members and that of our members. " The members of the
Volksraad," says Mr. Hofmeyr, " are all properly dressed in black,
while members of Parliament appear in fancy costumes, orna-
mented with neckties, which display the colours of the rainbow *
nay, some even enter Parliament House in buttermilk trousers "
(whatever this may mean).
It is certainly a novelty to have a legislature judged by the
garments of its members ; and if there was any reason for pre-
suming that a man is in a better position to vote for or against a
new bridge, or for or against a Municipal Bill, when clothed in a
black coat than he is in his every-day suit, then we also would
declare in favour of black coats ; but, in our abject ignorance, we
fail to see the connection between a black suit and a clear brain
and we, therefore, are profoundly indifferent about the colour of a
legislator's wearing apparel.
" If, in the Free State," Mr. Hofmeyr goes on to say, " an elec-
tion is going on, burghers come and they vote for their candidate.
With us, in the Colony, it is not practicable, when the utmost
trouble is taken, to bring the farmers to the polling place." This
was the case in the years gone by ; but a vast change, for the
better, has in this respect taken place during the last few years,
and Mr. Hofmeyr, of all men, knows this. He has, therefore, been
most unfair to his countrymen, when, in a neighbouring state, he
painted them as so callous and indifferent. He surely must re-
The Oeange Fr^e State.
member all the recent elections, that, at Oudtshoorn, the two at
Swellendam, the one in the Midland Circle — where was the
apathy with which he charges the farmers of this colony ? If at
Montagu, for instance, on an occasion when two gentlemen, who
are both members of the Farmers' Protection Association, con-
test a seat, 261 out of 263 registered electors think it worth
while to record their votes, we may safely challenge the Free State,
or any other country under the sun, to compete with us in poli-
tical activity.
And Mr. Hofmeyr proceeds to give the reason for this political
torpor. " It is the language," he says. " The Boer in the Colony
receives a notice, in English, at his residence to vote. He does
not understand it, and he does not think it worth while to have it
translated. He begrudges the money which he would have to pay
an agent for translating." It is not clear to us what Mr. Hof-
meyr means by the " notice " left at the Boer's residence ? In the
Govern7nent Gazette, these election notices are published in Dutch
as well as in English, and though but few farmers ever see the
Gazette, they are informed in the Dutch newspapers when the elec-
tion takes place, and who the candidates are. The notice sent to
their residences, referred to by Mr. Hofmeyr, can only mean notices
sent round by the candidates themselves. And surely these men
have sense enough not to send English notices to Dutch Boers !
When men are anxious to obtain votes, they are obliging enough
as a rule, and they will be particularly careful not to offend any
prejudices. But even supposing there were such fools in existence,
■will Mr. Hofmeyr seriously contend that there are any Dutcli
farmers in this country who will require a translator to tell them
wbat "■ Vote for Barry " means ? Really the Colonial farmers
have little reason to feel flattered with the picture which Mr. Hof-
meyr has seen fit to draw, and with the small modicum of intelli-
gence with which he has credited them when he addressed an audi-
ence in a neighbouring state.
Inexplicable to us again is the next sentence. " The farmer takes
not the least interest in the politics of his country ! What then is
the meaning of the numberless meetings of the Bond and of the
Farmers' Associations ? What means the innumerable resolutions
discussed and passed at those meetings, dealing with every imagin-
able political question which now engages the attention of Par-
The Orange Feee State. 127
liament and of the public ? The farmers of the Colony are repre-
sented by the leader of the farmer party as taking " not the least
interest " in the politics of their country ! Are " visions about ? "
And then it is said they do not take that interest, because the Par-
liamentary reports are published in English ! Is there no Zuid
AjriJcaan, and is there no Volhshlud -which inform them in the
vernacular of what takes place in Parliament ? And does not
every Dutch newspaper in the country republish these reports ?
Nay, are not even the laws passed by Parliament published in
Dutch also, and obtainable by every person who desires to pur-
chase them ?
We must conclude. Mr. Hofmeyr's peroration is devoted to the
" United States of South Africa, extending from the Cape of Good
Hope to the Zambesi." We must co-operate to bring that about,
he says, and for that purpose the population must be reconciled
and work in harmony. But we fear that if the men of the Free
State do not take this after-dinner speech with a grain of salt,
they will feel little inclined to ally themselves with so miserably
ignorant and backward a lot as their Colonial brethren are. on
the authority of Mr. Hofmeyr, M.L.A., the reputed leader of the
Colonial party.
Time — the tyrant of us all — will wait for no man ; no, he would
not even wait for the virgin Queen Elizabeth, though she offered
to bribe the venerable scythe-bearer with pounds of the earnings
of her subjects, for one day more, in order to enable her to satisfy
lier mind, and to put her affairs, as she called them, in order — a
warning to us all not to put off till to-morrow what we can
do to-day.
I was summoned by a stern demand to appear on the 16th of
August, to resist a claim of £32. Although the man who made
this claim had, as he himself swore, in his possession more money
than the amount of the claim — money that I had entrusted him to
collect for me — I was compelled to take him before three judges,
in what is styled a High Court of Justice, to demand an
account of him for a deficiency amounting to about one hundred
and eighty pounds.
These judges, as in most other countries, turn what they desig-
nate their High Courts of Justice into halls of injustice — plenty of
senseless form, ceremony, delay, and expense, but very little regard
128 The Orange Free State.
to the comfort and convenience of plaintiff, defendant, or witnesses.
Why are magistrates and judges so unjust (seeing that they are
not the masters of the people, but the servants of the inhabitants
of a country that pays them enormous salaries for doing but little
in return) as to allow a day to be named for the hearing of a case,
and, when that day arrives, to hear actions of all kinds that could
be disposed of in Chambers, thus causing delay, and multiplying
the expenses and anxiety of both sides ? Many other questions
might be asked, such as, Why don't the judges move for the ex-
penses to be reduced, and security given for the costs by all who
will rush into litigation, regardless of consequences, thereby en-
couraging lawyer-sharks to take up cases in the assurance that
their expenses will be met by the man who defends his right, who,
unlike his assailant, is not a man of straw, and who cannot disobey
without fearful penalties the mandate of any court ? Why don't
they move to allow merchants, or other competent inhabitants,
with one judge or legal assessor to preside over them, to go into
all commercial disputes and questions, with power to decide
whether or not there exists any cause of action, and to take security
for costs before any action can be brought in any court of law or
equity whatever.
Of course, to all these questions, if I paused for a century, I
should get no satisfactory answer. If they did answer, and truth-
fully, I should be told that they did not wish to prevent litigation ;
that, in reality, it is their business to increase it, if possible,
for the benefit of their numerous relations and the land mono-
polists in general.
To this I reply, we must reduce, as speedily as possible, these
legal confiscators of our wealth ; take away their power, and the
possibility of their ruining any man, who, by industry and careful-
ness, may have saved a little money, and who, in the present state
of things, becomes a mark for all the lawyer-sharks who scheme to
compass his ruin. Pass a law to make it compulsory to arbitrate
outside the court of injustice, and give men of business a chance
to settle commercial disputes, and a jury of inhabitants to arrange
causes of quarrels before proceedings are allowed to be instituted
elsewhere to incur expenses, and, it may be, ruin the defender of
the right. Then there would be less wailing and gnashing of
teeth from robbed merchants, and, as a possibility of getting rid
The Orange Fkee State. 129
of land and lawyer-sharks, and the numerous exploiters who so
readilly assist the land, money, mercantile, agricultural, home and
share-making monopolists to confiscate, by a legal ruse, the pro-
ducers' wealth, and, in so doing, reap where they have not sown,
and are the main causes of the poverty which we find side by side
in our midst, with the so-called rich, who are but living upon what
they have stolen from labour's ranks. Once remove these un-
numbered monopolists, and there will be a chance for the wealth
producers ; but I trust, in my Political Economy, to elucidate all
these questions to the entire satisfaction of all who want to know
the truth.
The disproportionate increase in the number of men who make a
living by " business " other than that of productive industry, is be-
ginning to be recognised as one of the greatest evils of the modern
economic and social system. It is seen, of course, in its fullest
development, in the United States, and fresh statistical instances
of it are always coming to light. In 1856, for instance, there
were 23,939 lawyers in that country ; in 1870, 40,786 ; in 1880,
64,187; a supply quite out of proportion to the needs of the popu-
lation. Once past a certain point, and the more lawyers the worse
law. It it perfectly obvious that the object of a large number of
these men must be not to do business, but to make it. "We see the
same phenomenon in other directions. The number of bankers,
brokers, agents, and other auxiliaries of productive industry is out
of all proportion to the regular army . If the time ever comes, as
at the present rate of income it will come in half a century, when
the States boast 200,000 lawyers, this new army of locusts will have
become an even greater pest than the host of monks and friars
who infested Europe on the eve of the Reformation ; and the re-
forming of them will be no easy matter.
At last, after one day's waste of time for all parties concerned,
and the best part of another, occupied in hearing motions, &c., I
was called upon to give evidence. Wishing to affirm, to speak the
truth, and not to swear, the judges referred to the law on the sub-
ject, but found no exemption clause, except for those goody, goody
people, the Moravians and Quakers ; so I had to give evidence in
the usual way.
The Chief Justice said that the law upon the subject ought to be
altered for the benefit of all, and I have no doubt that when the
I
130 The Okange Free State.
Free State comes once more, by request of its inhabitants, under
the control of the English, the law will be so modified as to meet
all requirements; but certainly not before, for it seems, in this Free
State, nobody's business to see that they keep pace with civilisa-
tion. The Dutchmen don't want change, so long as they can live
on their farms, tax the commercial classes, forego paying for years
their quit rents, enslave or apprentice their blacks, or shoot them
down as thieves for taking cattle, because they had not paid them
their wages. Living like Africanders, which means — eat, drink,
and be merry with the women, they are content ; and so long as
the foreign judges and officials can rob and plunder in the name of
the Dutch, all things have, as the Cape Town President says, " to
right come," and no change is desired. A change, however, ')nust
come ; but the intervening period will be short or long, in pro-
portion to the poverty of the Free State in general, and its officials
included.
On the 20th, the mountain, with its three judges, brought forth
its mouse, in the form of the following decision, to the surprise of
everyone who really expected a compromise to please the Dutch
element : —
" M. J. Boon v. V. Van Eeenen.
'* After hearing counsel on behalf of both parties, the Court de-
cided that, after allowing for natural waste, and deducting the
amount for which defendant had given credit to customers, contrary
to orders, and lor which he acknowledged his liability in the present
case ; there still remained a deficiency of some £110, in the amount
of stock in the business not accounted for ; and that the defen-
dant was liable for such deficiency, whether the loss arose from his
having giving other credits, or from errors, thefts, and the like ;
but that there was no reason to suppose that the deficiency was
due to any dishonesty on the part of the defendant ; and gave
judgment in favour of plaintiff to the amount of one hundred and
fifty pounds, with ccsts."
The Court dismissed the claim in reconvention, with costs ; but,
as the man was not worth a farthing, the costs fell upon me, and,
as I was supposed to be able to pay the lawyer, he did not forget
to charge rae. It is this and other experiences that compel me to
demand that no one sliguld be allowed to bring an action into
The Orange Free State. 131
Court unless lie or they can give satisfactory security for costs.
I know that the law is as uncertain in England and in other
countries, as will be shown by the following extract from an
English newspaper : — ■
" We are occasionally having striking examples of the certainty,
cheapness, and charm of justice, as administered in our law courts.
Perhaps the following is about the most striking : A Mr. Smither-
man was killed in 1878, in attempting to cross the South-E istern
Railway, in front of a passing train. There were some circum-
stances which tended to show that the Company was in fault.
The widow brought an action for compensation, and recovered
£900 at the Assizes. The Exchequer Division thereupon granted
the defendant Company a new trial. This decision was reversed
by the Court of Appeal, and their decision was reversed by the
House of Lords. Thus the matter had been four times before a
judicial tribunal. This, however, turned out to be only a becrin-
ning. A new trial, in accordance with the decision of the Lords,
was held in London. Again the jury found for the widow, but
this time with only £700 damages. Unfortunately, wanting, as
juries do, to seem very wise, they appended to their verdict an ex-
pression of opinion that both the Company and the deceased had
been guilty of negligence. This opened a nice little question of
what lawyers call ' contributory negligence.' Application was
therefore made — first to the Queen's Bench, and then to the Court
of Appeal, to enter the verdict for the defendants on the findin<^
of the jury. This failed. The matter had now been seven times
in a court of law ; but the Company were not daunted. They at-
tempted to set aside the verdict, as being against the wei^-ht of
evidence. The Court of First Instance would not help them, nor
would the Court of Appeal ; but the House of. Lords has taken a
different view. Hence, after ten arguments, before I don't know
how many judges, and thousands had been spent in solicitors'
bills of costs and counsels' fees, the matter is — to beo-in all
over again ! "
A friend, who had lived in the Free State' told me that after
twenty years' experience, during which he had had twelve cases
in the Law Courts, and in which he always ought to have been
the gainer, he lost, owing to bad law, lawyers, agents, the poverty
of his assailant, or to the ar^te-nuptial cover of his opponent. The
i2
132 The Okange Free State.
following illustrates the ante-nuptial arrangements generally : —
" In our country," said tlie Englishman, as he leaned back in
his chair, " before we marry we arrange to settle a certain sum
upon the wife." " Yes, I know," replied the African, " but with
us it is different. It is after we are married that we settle every-
thing on the wife, and arrange to beat our creditors." *' Haw, I
see. And how do the creditors take it ? " " They never find any-
thing to take ! "
And such was my experience, after this decision. — I came across
the proprietor and editor of the Dutch Express, who, after ex-
pressing his sympathy, assured me that after all my " cases " and
unpleasant experience, there was the silver lining to the cloud in
the knowledge of the Free State Express. I smiled, and passed
on ; for at that time, I was not disposed to combat any argument
or statement ; but a few days afterwards I had an opportunity of
knowing that the Press can be a power to harass and injure as
we.l as to support ; but I protest against this common cry and
agree with the subjoined words of Edwin Heron :
Perhaps it may be thought you could discern
One other meaus by which to serve your turn,
And while these natural forces all confess
Are grown too weak, too sordid, try the Press,
If you believe the voice is talking still
Out of an honest heart and fervent will.
As when men spoke their thought, and when their word
Sounded like thunder, and the people heard ;
If you conceive that in the latter days
There burned one flicker of that ancient blaze :
When like a beacon on each lofty height
Each nobler spirit caught and gave the light ;
If you imagine that the hackney's pen
Can win its wages, and win also men.
Or that these sightless leaders of the blind
Can keep the trust, or gain it, of mankind ;
Dismiss the fancy, scout the idle dream.
And learn that things exist not as they seem,
I grant that men at the present hour.
The faded echo re-unites its former power ;
But just as trembling savages adore
The fetish worshipped by their sires of yore.
So though your fourth estate affects to rule.
Its bluster only serves to scare the fool.
piBtrust the moral that it fain would tell :
The Oxange Free State. 183
It does not write to teach — it writes to sell.
Trust me, a nation's teachers never stoop
To act the sycophant, to catch the dupe ;
Nor would they, if they held their vaunted power,
Retail the gossip of the passing hour ;
Nor in U sea of soft sensation splahh,
Nor vend a racing prophet's slangy trash,
Nor scribVjle cockney talk of fells and streams,
Nor dribble science and its airy dreams,
Nor twaddle on the marriage of a peer,
Nor meet stern anger with a clever sneer,
Nor always wait upon the •' upper ten,"
Nor write as " gentlemen for gentlemen,"
Nor chatter to a city of the dead.
And never touch one heart or teach one head.
Give me a man that loves, a man that hates.
And I may think he means the thing he states ;
What leisure or what patience serves to heed
The idle chat which languid quidnunces read ?
CHAPTER XI.
OME days after this, I learned that my own expenses,
in the lorm of a lawyers bill, were over £77*
and, by way of " adding insult to injury," the de-
fendant's hiwyer, after putting me to this expense,
had the impudence to ask whether I would not pay
him the amount of ten pounds odd, as expenses in-
curred. Really, I was so disgusted at his mercenary
begging disposition that 1 felt convinced the Maitland Street
would-be-lawyer for everybody would not be above stealing, if he
ran no risk of being found out, seeing that after urging my
opponent to sue me for what I did not owe, and then after putting
me to such an outlay for costs, yet had the audacity to prefer such
a request. Truly the Free State lawyers were, as one woman had
the courage to yay in open Court, only legal swindlers, thieves and
black-coated rascals.
Such was my indignation at this mean wretch that if I dared I
would have slain him, and the difficulty of burying such human
carrion alone stayed me from removing him from the midst of that
humanity his very existence disgraced and polluted.
Just on the eve of my leaving for the Colony, I experienced
another loss. I had a horse, tfiat cost me £25, to dispose of —
wishing to sell rather than feed the animal during my absence.
Picture my surprise when, alter handing over to two men the
horse to test its qualities, they simply cleared out of the town
without paying me ; and, to my further astonishment, I found
that they had lived upon the hotel-keeper for two months, and had
got deeply in debt all round the town. This was quite a common
thing out in that Free State, whence, al'tei taking all they could get
The Oi!,a.nge Free State. 135
hold of, they passed ou to steal the land and goods in Stellaland ;
and the corn-lanky Dutchman was no exception to this eating upon.
English importers.
Feeling outraged by such a bare-faced robbery I, acting upon
the advice of the Landdrost's clerk, declared that under a pretence
of examining the animal and an agreemsnt, if they approved of
it, to pay me the cash at a certain time, instead of which they
ran off with the horse, and having failed to pay their just debts in
town it was a fair inference that they had stolen the horse. The
clerk thereupon at once made out a warrant for their apprehension,
and owing to their being in debt to others — but from no desire to
help me on the part of the black-blooded Dutch Sheriff — the war-
rant was executed. The men, however, took the precaution of
providing the amount of cash, so that when in town — having ex-
plained that they had paid it in Lady brand — they were released.
A second warrant was at once issued against them upon another
charge, but this not being my business I dismissed them from my
mind. Judge then of my feelings, when I was threatened with a
law suit, for a £1000 damages, for — as they called it — false im-
prisonment.
This was the information I received on my return to Bloem-
fontein, and at a time when, to make me still more enraged, I had
to suffer from the robbery by the German villain at Paradise.
Truly this trading-place, called Paradise, was a Hell to me ; for I
had to make a claim against him for £1,042, and when other
incidental expenses were added bringing it up to £1,200 — which,
however, was a total loss to me ; for although there was £G00 in
bad debts due to him — which was never collected — and anything
else that remained was eaten up by the lawyer-sharks.
To make this matter even worse, the friend who had so mis-
managed the business, availing himself of the looseness of the
Dutch conditions, threatened me with a claim for damages, etc.,
which fortunately — like the threat for damage for false imprison-
ment — by sheer doggedness, on my part, came to naught ; but
only after months of annoyance to me in the attempt to still fur-
ther rob me of my small possessions.
The Judgment against my employee for £159 and costs, was
the finishing stroke to my patience. The lawyer-shark in defend-
ing this case brought me in the following bill of £77 lis.:—
]3r,
The Change Free State.
In the High Court of Bloemfontein,
In the Orange Free State.
In the case
F. Van Eeenen ... Plaintiff, in Eeconvention
against
M. J. Boon ... Defendant, in Reconvention.
Account of Disbursements made and salary earned by H. Bier,
Defendant's Attorney, in said case for the payment of
£100, real injuries, etc.
IDiebursements.
£ s. d.
Instruction to draw out Defence
Attending to hand over Defence to contra
party
Drawing out Defence
Original ...
Two copies at £1 Is. each
Drawing up Notice to make out taxation
Copies, at 2s. 6d....
Attending on receipt of claim in Recon-
vention...
Do. to hand in pleadings
Do. with resumption ol documents.
Do. to consult with Client ...
Do. to be present at Taxation of Ac-
count ...
Do. pleading case, first day ...
Making out account
Duplicate
Taxation ...
[Stamp 9s.] Total ... £11 12 6
Agreed, — Eleven pound, twelve shillings, sixpence sterling, against
the Plaintiff in Reconvention.
The 27th day of August, 1883.
(Signed) JAMES A. COLLINS,
Acting Registrar of the Court.
Salary.
£ s
d.
5
4
3 3
2 2
2 2
5
2
6
2
2
7
1 1
4
4
10
10
11 3
6
9
Salary.
£
s.
d.
5
4
5
4
The Orange Free State. 137
In the High Court of Bloemfonteiu,
In the Orange Free State.
In the case
M.J. Boon ,.. ... . Plaintiff
contra
F. Van Eeenen ... ... Defendant.
Account of Expenses and Salary earned by H. Bier, Plaintifi's
Attorney, in said case, for account to be rendered to, or
payment of £180 7s. lOd., etc.
Disbursement.
£ s. d.
Letter of demand
Copy
Drawing out Power
xVttendance to have the same signed
Instruction to Sheriff about serving of
Summons ... ... ... 050
Do. to pay Sheriff for serving
Summons
Ati;endance to take out Summons
Do. for handing same to Sheriff ...
Do. to pay Sheriff for serving
Summons
Do. for looking over his Keturn
Drawing out Summons ...
Original ...
Two copies at 10s. 6d. each
Paid to Sheriff for serving Summons ... 7
Notice requiring Defence (made out) ...
Two copies at 2s. 6d.
Making out Notice of Documents to be
handed in
Two copies at 28. 6d
Making out Notice of domicile
Two copies at 23. 6d.
Making out Notice i-equiring Rejoinder
Two copies at 2s. 6d. ... ... ...
4
2
4
4
4
1
10
1
1
1
1
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
Carried forward ... 7 7 13
Disbursements.
Salary.
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
... 7
7 13
De
15
5
5
2 6
138 The Orange Free State.
Brought forward
Making out Notice of Documents to be
handed in
Two copies at 2s. 6d
Making out Notice of Taxation . . .
Copy at 2s. 6d
Instruction to draw out Replication
Do. to Sherilf about serving do. ...
Attendance to hand over Replication to
contra party ...
Making out Replication ...
Original
Two copies at £1 Is. ...
Attending to receive Defence ...
Do. do. Notice of documents
to be handed in by Defendant..
Do. to receive Notice of Domicile...
Do. to hand in Pleadings ...
Do. with resumption of documents
Do. to consult with Client in Con-
vention ......... 110
Do. with two witnesses, at 7s. 6d.
each 15
Do. settling with two witnesses, at
4s. each ...
Do. case heard — twice postponed...
Do. settling with Defendant
Do. to be present at Taxation of
Account ...
Do. and Pleading case — 1st day ...
Do. do. do. 2nd day . . .
Do. Sworn Translator for translat-
ing one document
Do. to pay Sworn Translator
Copies ... ... ... 11
4
'S
o
o
2
2
2
2
o
o
2
7
8
1
1
4
4
5
o
6
6
4
4
Carried forward ... 11 'J 33 3 6
The Okange Free State. 139
Disbursements. Salary.
£ s. d. £ s. d.
Brought forward ... 11 9 33 3 6
Translations ... ... ... ... 5 12 6
Making out Account 10
Duplicate 10
Stamps £1 13
Power 16
Document ... 4
... 1 18 6
Paid to witnesses: —
H, Drinkwater, three days... ... 1 10
C. G. Hudgson, three days 1 10
22
33 13
6
55 13
6
1 7
33 13 6
Taxation
Total £57 6
[Stamp 7s.]
[Stamp 20s.]
Agreed to — Fifty-seven pound, — shillings', and sixpence sterling
against the Defendant.
The 27th day ol August, 1883.
(Signed)
JAMES A. COLLINS,
Actinj: Registrar of the Court.
In the High Court of the Oiauge Fies State,
At Bloemfontein.
lu the case
M. J. Boon
V.
V. Van Keenen.
Account of Disbursements made and Salary earned by H. Bier,
Attorney of Plaintiff, in said matter regarding the Fi-
ception : —
140 The Orange Free State.
£ s. d.
Instruction to Defend against the Exception ... 5
Drawing out DcCetice against Exception ... ... 3 8
Original do do. 2 2
Two copies at £1 Is. ... ... 2 2
Attending consultation with Client on Exception ... 10 6
Attending Taxation 4
Notice of Taxation, with copy ... ... •■• 07 6
Attending to the settlement ... ... ... ••■ 40
£8 18
Taxed at £8 18
(Signed)
JAS. A. COLLINS,
Assf. Reg. High Court.
From this my readers will have an abundant opportunity of
convincing themselves of accuracy of my assertions, borne out —
as they are — by the following remarks in the Friend of the Free
vState : —
" It did our hearts good when we read your leading article last
week, anent the monstrous charge a client is put to to have his
rights upheld by the law courts of this State. I am sorry you did
not express yourself in stronger terms. It is an admitted fact that
to obtain justice, in this State, costs money; and the Courts a3
constituted in Britain really give our law-makers in this State, if
they wish to tollow it up, an easy mode and cheap means of get-
ting rights upheld. To give you an instance of what recently
took place here in the Landdrost Court. A plaintiff appears.
He has two cases against the defendant, respectively £25 and £36
sterling. The Landdrost of Jacobsdal gave judgment. Plaintiff's
Attorney takes out a writ, and in each case the defendant has to
pay £22 sterling and £18, together with costs : £40 to recover
£60. Suppose now that the Sheriff brings a return of nulla bona,
plaintiff has then to pay costs — which otherwise defendant had to
pay. In case of no nulla bona, what does the plaintiff actually
gain ? for in these cases he has to pay all the attorney's travelUng
expenses, which will no doubt at the lowest come to £10. Execu-
The Orange Free State. 14l
tion will follow, proceeds of sale amount to nothing at all, simply
costs to pay the Sherifi for work, publication in the Courant, &c."
So that my legal robberies and my business robbery — mainly
due to the shark who drew up the bond, who misled me as to its
value, and which being written in Dutch gave no light to guide
me — cost me in a few months as under : —
Paradise-Hell robbery ... ... ... £1042
Employee in business ... ... ... 227
Personal and sundry expenses for the whole ... 330
In all £1500 odd, the cost of Private, Legal, Parliamentary, and
Public Robberies.
Now if, after this, anyone wonders at my condemnation of the
Free State managers, they need indeed eyes to see, ears to hear
and brains to understand. I have written strongly of the man
who so deceived me in the management of the business at Paradise;
but when I mention that he knew of the bond that was given to me
fraudulently — a judgment having been given against my original
debtor, but not executed until an opportunity occurred to put a
claim against my property — and that he was drunk at the time of
the Sheriff taking possession, and thus helped to rob me ; being
in hope, as I afterwards learned, of an opportunity of helping
himself at my expense, did not protect my interests, although in
receipt of £20 per month ; and thus my original desire to save
about J£2o0 was frustrated owing to my need of depending upon
outside help, and the impossibility of relying upon honest legal
help — and the hasty legislation of its Boer Parliament at £2 a
day, headed by its incapable President at j£3000 a year, in allow-
ing such legislation in a hurricane, to the injury of its English
supporters. The mere fact of writing strongly in the face of all
these facts, can be understood and felt for ; more especially when
it is known that it could all have been prevented if ordinary
arrangements, as in England, were followed out.
" Complaints are continually being made of the expensive
machinery of our Free State Courts. The rooted horror of law
induced by the fear of a lawyer's bill, often accounts for people
paying any moderate claim made on them, so long as it does not
amount to extortion, rather than run the gauntlet of an action-at-
law. And some do not care to press a just claim against a person
who may be of little means and of doubtful honesty, because the e^-
142 The Orange Free State.
penses of the winning party are often more than the sum in dispute.
We believe in the Colony there is a small debts Court. In Eng-
land there are County Courts, which are the machinery for
collecting a great number of small debts, and thousands of cases
are annually disposed of by these Courts. A judge presides and
business is carried on very expeditiously. Sometimes a jury of
five men, substituted for the traditional twelve, is called to the
Judge's assistance, especially if the case, being too trifling for the
higher tribunals, has been sent down to the Court below. An
appeal lies from the decision of a County Court Judge, if it can
be made out that a question of law is involved. The County Court
Judge not only gives judgment against a debtor, but he generally
breaks the blow of his judgment by allowing the defaulter to
satisfy the claim in easy instalments. We cannot help thinking
that something of this sort should answer well in the Free State,
The tariff is now so high as to be well-nigh intolerable. We have
heard of people suing a debtor for a few pounds in our lower courts
and being mulct in about £25 for law costs ! We are no well-
wishers to the lawyers and agents, and we think the line should
be drawn somewhere. It appears monstrous that justice should
not be often obtained simply because the costs in a case are so
high as to deter creditors from suing debtors. We are not aware
of the tariff of the Colonial lower courts, but we are led to believe
that it is considerably lower than ours. We shall proceed to give
a few of the charges for bringing, say a claim of £5 to £10, in our
lower court. There is first 12s. for the stamp on the summons ;
Is. 6d. stamp on every subpoena ; Is. on every translation, abstract,
or other document, delivered in ; Is. 6d. on every special power of
attorney ; retaining fee for agent lOs. ; letter of demand, 5s. ;
making out power of attorney, 5s. ; drawing summons, from half
a guinea to a guinea, for defending a case if witnesses are heard,
three guineas for the first day and two guineas for every subse-
quent day ; and 23. to the messenger for serving the summons.
Besides these there are the thousand and one little charges and
costs for stamps and salary, which anyone who has seen a lawyer's
bill of costs can readily understand. Now we consider this tariff
altogether too high for the lower courts. If parties have thousands
and thousands of pounds at stake they must expect to risk a few
pounds in recovering their own, but we maintain it is not only
The Orange Free State. 143
monstrous, but the ends of justice are defeated by the tariff being
so high that no one can sue a debtor for a small sum without
risking more than double the amount in doing so. We should
have thought it might have been possible to set apart one day in
the week for the hearing of cases similar to those brought before
a County Court at Home. There you do not require to be much
of a lawyer to carry your own case through, as there is not, as
in the High Court, any of the * preliminary skirmishing of
pleadings.' "
Draft Ord. No. 1,000. Al.
(For consideration by the Triumvirate, &c.)
The Volksraad being mindful of the provision in the now ex-
isting Constitution (adopted from the earlier Constitutions), that
" the law is for all equal," and desiring to compensate the sufferers
from the injurious consequences of contraventions of that principle,
enacts as follows : —
1. — That henceforth each stock farmer shall pay yearly, as
licence for freedom to earn his bread, the sum of ten
pounds sterling for each thousand morgen, or less, which
he possesses or uses.
2. — That henceforward each agriculturist shall pay yearly, as
licence to be allowed to work, the sum of ten pounds
sterling for each acre or less, sowing or garden ground
which he cultivates.
3. — That as stock farmers and agriculturists have hitherto (for
30 years) escaped payment of licences to carry on their
occupations, each stock farmer and each agriculturist shall
within one year pay thirty times the sum claimable frcm
them respectively, under the foregoing articles ; and the
sum to be collected under this article shall be equitably
divided among the shopkeepers, canteenkeepers, and others
who formerly paid licences contrary to the provision that
" the law is for all equal," to compensate them for all the
licences heretofore paid by them. Where such licence
payers are already deceased, their shares can be claimed
by heirs and creditors.
4. — That whereas hitherto has been exacted from practitioners
144 The Obanise Free State.
in the law, contrary to the Constitution, four per cent, on
the amount of their bills of costs for their earnings, hence-
forward to make all square the same rule will be applied
to all officials, stock farmers, agriculturists, and others who
have hitherto escaped taxation upon their income, and they
shall now pay four per cent, on the amount of their yearly
income, while practitioners in the law shall be freed from
the tax alluded to for thirty years.
Lrajt Ordinance No. 1,001. AAl.
The Volksraad, desiring to do right and justice, enacts as
follows : —
1. — The Judges, high and low, including Landdrosts whose
decisions have been, or shall be, set aside, or altered in
appeal, shall respectively bear the costs of suitors in the
original and appeal cases, and on non-payment they shall
be immediately dismissed from office and cast into prison
for the t^rm of their natural lives and no longer.
2. — All markets are abolished, and all stock and produce shall
be sold only according to valuation by a jury, consisting of
the person who wishes to buy and two of his friends.
Contraveners are to be hung without form of legal process.
3. — Any stock farmers or agriculturists, who shall be caught in
presenting for sale any deceased or crippled animals, un-
wholesome oat-sheaves, emaciated fowls or ducks, unripe
potatoes, rotten tobacco, unserviceable butter, dirty and
sandy wool, and such scandalous things, shall be banished
from the ^country and their property confiscated to the
State.
Draft Ord. No. The Last. A AAL
The Volksraad, considering that it is expected from the Legis-
lature that it shall make, repair, and patch laws, enacts as
follows : —
1. — That all laws regarding which any difference, in regard to
the interpretation or meaning thereof, can arise, are hereby
repealed and declared of no effect, and the makers of such
jocomprehensive laws, as (ar as they may be copie-^t-^bl©
The Orange Free State. 145
are lined each in the sum of one hundred pounds sterling in
favour of the treasury of this State. Such fine to be levied
without any form of legal process in execution against the
persons and properties of the guilty.
2.— That to obviate any further clashing in regard to the re-
maining laws ( if any) the Judges are commanded, on a
penalty of banishment in ease of non-compliance, to give
within one year one unalterable interpretation of all re-
maining laws. Such interpretation shall be printed in the
Govetmnent Gazette, and thereafter no earlier law-book
shall be taken into consideration.
3. — -That as probably all earlier judical sentences, civil as well
as criminal, were faulty, all decisions of Courts or Judges
are hereby repealed, and parties are invited except those
who have undergone capital punishment, to proceed at law
de novo.
■4. — That as it is advisable that legislators should study, and
as enough laws have been made, no further Ordinances
shall be discussed for one hundred years.
Supported by vai'ious Colonial organs of public opinion, extracts
wherefrom I have somewhat liberally quoted, I have in the im-
mediately preceding pages endeavoured faithfully, although — I am
painfully conscious — inadequately, to portray for the edification
and enlightenment of my readers the scandalous and disgraceful
condition of all things pertaining to the judicial office and the
legal profession generally — I had almost, and without any great
bre<=.ch of propriety or veracity, might have said univei'sally — in
that morally, socially, and professionally pestilent Republic known
as the Free State. With regard to the three Draft Ordinances —
1000 Al., 1001 AAl., and AAAl.,— the reader will experience
no difficulty in grasping the satire therein contained, and he will I
feel satisfied unreservedly admit its force and appropriateness to
the circumstances. These Ordinances were proposed by — satiri-
cally, of course — and printed in the Friend as a "perfect cure "
for all Legal, Clerical, Commercial, Agricultural, Legislative and
Presidential Kascality.
i4G The Orange Free State.
All these small matters can be settled by a Judge and at a little
cost in England, and wliy not in the Free State ':' Echo answers,
that for the sake of plunder the President, the Judge, and all the
Officials wink at such deeds, and sanction such bare-faced actions
and robberies in a " Free State " where a man should have full
faith in his fellow man. What a libel upon a Free State Republic;
and I fear this state of things will continue until the horror and
fear of losing all, the Boer and other inhabitants of the Free Statd
— like the Boers of the Transvaal — will cry out to the English to
come over and save them from their Presidents, Hollanders,
Grermans, and other robbing officials.
CHArXER XII.
HE President, as the fountain of Jwhonour, met the
old Dutch-£2-per-day-men and Town Council. A
congratulatory address was presented by the half-
idiotic Dutchmen — the opponents of all progress —
who reproach the inhabitants with their folly in
passing a law one year and altering it the next, and
who cost the taxpayers about £10,000 joer annum
— as will be seen by the following extract from the Fnend : —
'* Our Dear ' I/a/idvaders.' — Last year these ' precious gems '
cost the country £9,153. A memorial will, we understand, be
sent in to the Volksraad by the ' Landsmeeders,' oflering to do
the talkee-talkee for a third of that amount. That retrenchment
is imperative, is indicated by the debit balance of £84,000. There-
fore let the ' mother * try their hands at making both ends meet,
and permit the * Landsvaders ' for a while to enjoy their otium
cinn di(j."
These men are not elected for any ability, but simply because
they possess lands that they or their fathers stole from the natives.
This President, with his speeches of fulsomeness and " bunkum,"
only needed the services of a scene painter to make the whole
thing look thoroughly ridiculous. If the Council had made the
necessary arrangements for the amusement of the existent and all
future inhabitants, the artist might have painted a scene depicting
the President, with a well-worn shamboc in his hand, in the act
of conferring the honour (?) of knighthood. With a flourish of
the shamboc the President slashes across the back of the kneel-
ing old-fashioned God — Hard (for the time being the God- head of
the town), and ere the blow descends upon the postulant, he
k2
148 The Okange Free State.
promptly resumes the perpendicular in response to the President's
command " Rise, Sir Knight of the. Trowel and Fumigating
House ; " to Stock — alow-born German ostler — " Rise, Sir Knight
of the Brandy Bottle ; " to little Arthur — the mean dog of Petti-
coat Lane — " Rise, Sir Knight of the public Agapemone ; " to
Bloemingtone, " Rise, Sir Knight Panderer, Flatterer, and Tom
Noodle of my Court ; " to Clarkson, " Rise, Sir Knight of the
Deal Box ; may you, for this honour, bury me for nothing when I
cease to be an encumbrance upon this long suffering English
people ;" and so on for the noble vote of not to exceed £10.
This disgusting aping of the miserable customs of older countries
is simply so child-like and idiotic that one wonders how the hard
In-Man can tolerate it. He may explain it on the principle that
he never, after dessert, would expect to be paid for being Court
Milliner. It is said that the President flatters the Dutch on the
one hand, while he takes their money and that of the English on'
the ether, for fear that — at some future time — the Dutch, finding
out what an old woman they have had at their head so long, should
give him and his family their sudden discharge, and that then
being pensioned, like President Burger, he could go to the English
for support. Perhaps it may be said this is awfully strong language.
True, and I admit it ; but when I witness such base crawling to a
man of no genius — yet at the head of a people that dare to insult
Englishmen, after all the advantages reaped by them from English
capital and enterprise, both of the mother-country and her
colonies — I am filled with such loathing that I feel the time has
come to expose them in all their deformity.
I don't pretend to write gracefully, or to spare the feelings of
these heartless, cruel, mean Boers. I have felt degraded as an
Englishman, at the rough bully swart Dutchmen, who never knew
or wanted to know their mothers, but who had the audacity to tell
Englisnmen that they — the half blacks with Dutch names — were
better than the Saxon ; and that it was only through pity for our
families that we were not turned out homeless ; and when a
minister of the Dutch Church in Smithfieid urged the Dntch to
give notice to what they — in their impudence and insolence —
called uithxiider to clear out, my blood boiled to know that much
of this was due to the folly of a Colley and the weakness of a
Gladstone.
The Okaxge Free State. 149
The following from the Friend will doubtless prove interesting.
.4 Modern Daniel.
"We iieai' that the Rev. Mr. van Niekerk, of Smithfield,
preached on the occasion of Independence Day a most spiteful
sermon against all Europeans in general, and the English in par-
ticular, and that the * discourse ' gave great offence to the public.
It is said, he expressed himself to the effect that no Europeans
ought to have a seat again in the Volksraad or in the Cape Parlia-
ment ; and that, in a couple of years, the prayer that every
uitlander should be out of office — or words to that effect — would
be answered and his prophecy fulfilled. This is the same reverend
gentleman who did his level best to bring our Dutch Reformed
Minister into hot water at the Synod, in May last, for using the
English language in the pulpit; and he would no doubt have made
himself conspicuous if he had been among those degenerate
uitlanders — Peter and the Apostles, on the day of Pentecost — by
' mocking ' because they spoke other tongues than the mellifluous
landstaal ! This reverend gentleman draws a salary from the
State Exchequer and then uses his pulpit for political purposes
and to vent his hatred against Europeans generally. We think it
is high time that the Synod or the Volksraad took notice of his
desecration of God's house. He should not forget that millions of
Europeans belong to his Church, and that the good old failh was
kept pure by the uitlanders, who finally planted the Chureh in
this land — the Church of which he is a minister."
Perhaps some one will say, " all this language will help to bring
on a civil war among the white races in xifrica." Granted ; so
much the better, I am not one to ask for the deluge in our child-
ren's time, and *' Peace in our time, Lord." The time has
arrived when the English, representing all that is grand, enterpri-
sing, and loyal to law and order, must not be spat upon by the
bastards of the Colonies, who dare to reproach and use even our
own weapons against us. This is not a work of love on my part ;
it is the work of necessity, the outcome of watching and of facts.
The time has come for no more pandering to prejudices, and
fawning upon Germans, Jews, or Hollanders, with all their blatant
loud-mouthed impudence. It was not possible for an Englishman
150 . ' The Orange Free State.
to be treated i'airly in any sense, and at last it was considered
legitimate conduct to plunder and annoy any Englishman, until
through very want he failed to express his manliness and nation-
ality. These results were mainly due to the outrageous folly in
the Transvaal and of the fools in power at that period. It may
be said that my self-esteem has been wounded. Granted ; I feel,
as an Englishman, we should hold the front place on the Conti-
nent of South Africa, by virtue of the many, many sacrifices made
by the English nation, individually and collectively, as all history
proves ; and are we to be driven out of our Colonies, as we have
been out of England, by the Germans, Jews and other foreigners ?
I feel that I must, at all times, expose these impostors at English
expense, aided by the folly of our Premier Gladstone, &c.
Idolatry.
John Bull is very much addicted to idolatry in one shape or the
other. His present weakness is the Eight Hon'ble. W, E.
Gladstone, better known in the Colony as the " Wizard of the
North." We have the idol at Leeds, and the calves of the bull
sucking in every frothy utterance, as children suck honey. A
man in his position must speak, and that plentifully. He has to
study hi.^ audience, and coin sentences to suit the hour and the
people. A very pleasant game of excitement to play, especially
to a man fertile in resources, and mentally endowed with great
and versatile gifts. But even this picture has an opposite side
The man who is constantly haranguing people as to what he has
done, and what he intends to do, speaks advisedly of the future,
and plays fast-and-loose with the interests of a great empire, such
a man I say, has much to answer for, because his listeners, as a
rule, have more tenacious memories, and are more or less im-
pressed with the idea. The man means what he says, and intends
to fulfil what he so unctuously promises. As time wings its flight,
and events occur exactly opposite to what was predicted by the
idol, then the multitude, by some process known only to them-
.selves, gradually come to the conclusion that they have been
bowing to a false idol, and immediately the people who were so
lavish in their praises of the said image, forthwith merge into
iconoclasts, and down goes the great idol, amid howls and execra-
The Orange Free State. v ir)l
tions. The people, as a natural rule, then cast about for a new
thing to worship. Idols have ever been plentiful, and the void is
presently filled, to end in the same result. The present British
idol came in with a great flourish of mob music and much eating
of humble pie. I allude to his wild assertions anent Austria,
when in Midlothian, and to his ultimately eating the largest leek
ever swallowed by an English prime minister in London. It has
«ver appeared to my obtuse faculties something of the marvellous
that a man should be convinced, and then convince his audience
that such and such things pertain to Austria, and when he is
questioned, after a few miles of travel to London, distinctly pleads
previous ignorance, and forthwith abases himself in " sackcloth
and ashes." The least that can be said is that it is good evidence
of an intemperate-minded man. A chilly unbelief steals over one,
when one contemplates such a man being at the helm of the State
ship. It would be too lengthy a subject to follow the idol through
all the tortuous, word-twisting casuistry, sophistry, cajolery, &c.,
which he has displayed since assuming office. I shall content
myself with airing a few of the remarks made by the idol at
Ouildhall. The idol was safely delivered of a long speech on
things in general, and nothing in particular. Amongst other
golden sentences which fell fi'om this most wonderful piece of clay,
was the following, in relation to African affairs : " He was happy
to say he had initiated a policy which would reconcile all the con-
flicting races and blood in that hitherto unhappy country." Then
later on, he assured the mayor and audience '' that he could not
speak with certainty as to the future ; in fact, he had no control
over the future." This is about equivalent to a schoolboy saying
he could not conti'ol the sun. The view I take of the matter is
this ; "When the idol takes so much credit to itself and party for
the great good they have vouchsafed to the people of Africa, and
becomes elqouent on the lasting peace which is to settle over the
land; that it never occurred to the idol and satellites that the very
great and good work they have accomplished here is but the
foundation of the fabric which is to rise in the future, over which
the " People's William " confesses he exercises no control.
The utterances, both wild and reckless, about " reconciling
races " and " lasting peace " are taken by Colonial-bred men to
mean an immense mirage, interwoven with gross delusions. It
152 The Orange Fkee State.
was a saying of the late Abraham Lincoln that " you should not
.stop to swop horses in the stream." Unfortunately for South
Africa, that is Just what has occurred. When we had one of the
most eminent Colonial statesmen that England can produce among
us, a man with a comprehensive grasp of mind, and a varied ex-
perience amid the native races of the earth, with a Colonial prime
minister in accord with him, and a great Englishman statesman at
the "head of affairs in England — when the horizon appeared to
indicate that peace, formed in stability, and not the phantom of
of jugglers, would serenely lie like a morning cloud over this
country, — who, but the party now in office, with their belongings
and hangers on, clamoured for the recall of Frere and the installa-
tion of peace. And it must not be forgotten that the said party
in England was ably seconded by a large part of the Press in
South Africa. When I say the Press I include the many abortions
that the name of Press covers. And to " what complexion have
we arrived ? " The question is easily put, but it requires careful
thought to answer it. The outlook to an African or Colonial
born man, is not by any means assuring It cannot for a moment
be supposed that we can take the coleur de rose view that the Eng-
lish people do. Colonial wars with them mean taxes, with us they
signify supremacy — life or death. When the idol tells them that
he has settled the Colonial bill, and assures them there Avill be no
wars, and they will not be constrained to dip into their purses, it
is only natural that they will believe such a golden statement in
preference to a statistical argument that Great Britain must
disburse thirty or forty millions to put African affairs on a firm
and safe basis. To the Africans we are forcibly reminded of
vEsop's fable of the " Boys and the Frogs." After much stone-
throwing between political parties in England, during which each
side appears to have enjoyed it immensely, we are very apt to say,
" What is sport to you is death to us." But is time to nutshell
the whole matter ? War in Africa has not ceased ; it exists
among the black races at present, with power to extend to the
white ditto. The Basuto peace is still in the purchase stage, the
bargains so far being all on the one side. Loyalty has had the
most crushing defeat at the hands of the Gladstone Ministry that
loyalty ever received from any ministry, barring the Scanlen Min-
istry. The Transvaal peace hinges on how much the idol v,'ill allow
The Orange Free State. 158
them yearly to behave tliemselves, and also how much he is pro-
pared to wink at, supposing the Boers think fit to sweeten up our
black brethren. To my mind, it appears very doubtful, whether
if a collision took place between the Dutch and blacks, " which
always was and always will be," uladstone would interfere.
His genius would most assuredly point out that the Dutch had no
other course to pursue, that for the very existence of- the Eepublio
it was necessary to subdue the natives. He (the idol) would call
them rebels in this case. Certainly Gladstone would not send
troops. That would mean expense, and he kindly tells Britons
every day he won't put them to such horrible suffering. And
after the exhibition of the British army in Africa, it would, no
doubt, be to our benefit to keep such luxuries (useless as they are
expensive) at home. In the meantime, who is to allay the storms
awaiting us in the dim future ? Are we, the people of Africa,
shivered into atoms by prejudices and jealousies, to rule coming
events ? Are the political mountebanks, now in ofllce in England
going to hush the elements ? Query. I want Free Englishmen
to chew the cud of reflection, and not call each other ugly names
Chapter XIII.
N August the 5th Sepinare, the Free State made Chief
ol the Barolongs, arrived in Bloemfontein to complete
a Treaty of Amity with the Fj-ee State ; the said
Treaty to be broken, and advantage taken of the
same, whenever it might please the Dutch Govern-
^fk ment, Hollanders and Germans to do so. This
'^ ^ Sepinare was not the rightful heir ; but simply made
the Chief for the time being and to be removed at the will or
caprice of the Free State Governors.
To »ive to the proceedings an appearance of legitimacy, a Resi-
dent was appointed at a salary of twelve hundred a year, paid by
the Barolongs and levied by this Sepinare. One bully of a lawyer
was silenced on behalf of the Barolong Gover)iment by having
given to him the use of a sheep-i'arm, which, when the end of this
Chief arrives, will be made over in due course— another mode of
plundering the natives. In proof that this was all arranged
for we refer the reader to the following extract from the JPriend
of September 20th, 1883 :—
The Barolong Commotion.
There has been no end of rumours afloat during the week re-
specting a threatened invasion of the Barolong tenitory by some
of Samuel Moroka's partisans. One account was that some of the
Barolongs over the Vaal-river had crossed that river armed to
the teeth, with the intention of succouring Samuel and deposing
Sepinare. It may bo true that some of Moshette's or Montsioa'e
men, who are geting tired of being pushed from pillar to post by
The Orange Free State. 15o
the gentlemen volunteers who fought for those chieftains, are
trekking to either Samuel or Sepinare with no hostile intentions
to the one or other, and that some people have ascribed this move-
ment on the part of the Transvaal Barolongs to the intrigues of
Samuel. Another rumour current was to the effect that some of
our burghers were behind Samuel, and were egging him on to
try conclusions with Sepinare. We understand that the Govern-
ment received information that a rumpus was brewing ; conse-
quently, steps have been taken to secure the neutrality of the
State. Sepinare is also not asleep. He has, we are assured,
strong armed parties out on the watch on the border, and has
entrusted the defence of his whole territory to that well-known
officer, Commandant P. RaafF, C.M.G. ; so a warm reception will
be given to any who may have the temerity to dispute the
authority of Sepinare by crossing the border with any hostile
intention. It is said that some of our burghers, who are suffering
from earth-hunger to a considerable extent, are anxious to set the
Barolongs by the ears, in the hope that a partition of the country
would soon alter take place. And it is even asserted that some
farmers who live not many hours from the Barolong border, have
promised Samuel something more than their good wishes in the
event of a scramble taking place. Material support is wanted,
and farms are to be given as payment. We do not think for one
moment that the Government would ever consent to Free State
soil being made the base of military operations against the Chief
with whom have just concluded a Treaty of Amity. The Free
State Government have always been mindful of the good turn done
by the late Chief Moroka to the Emigrant Boers when they were
•spoiled by Moselekatse, and will support the reigning Chief in his
i awful undertakings. Besides, the President is far too wise and
.sagacious a statesmen, and too amenable to public opinion, to
allow any part of the Free State to become a " Palfontein " or
" Rooigrond," as did the Transvaal authorities about eighteen
months ago. If it is true that any of our burghers are inciting
.Samuel to abuse the hospitality of our State, an example should
be made of them. And if Samuel, whilst living under our protec-
tion, is proved to be scheming to overthrow the authority of the
Barolong Chief Sepinare, he should be banished from the State.
It is so difficult to get at the truth of all the rumours abroad that
I-'jC) The' Okange Free State.
yamueJ is moving at all. So far as we kaow, it may be only a
concoction of lies by interested parties to create a bad feeling
between either Samuel Moroka or our Barolong allies and our-
selves. When men hunger and thirst for farms what will they
not do ! A Commission of Enquiry should be instituted by the
Executive ; for these rumours do a great deal of harm to the
country, and place the Government in a wrong position. We
understand, too, that the cost of maintaining a force on a war
footing is a severe strain on the revenue of Sepinure, which has
already many claims upon it, for the Barolong Chief is governing
his country with more expensive machinery than is usual with
native rulers.
Since writing the above we have seen Mr. M. Steyn, Member of
the Executive Council, who left town on Thursday last to make
enquiries into the cause of the commotion prevailing in the neigh-
bourhood of the Barolong boundary. He reports that the rumours
arp much exaggerated, and brings evidence that several of the
farmers of this district have openly sympathised with Samuel
Moroka, and that one or more have called for volunteers, a la
Moshette and Mossouw, to assist the Pretender. Mr. Steyn, who
took with him, for the sake of distribution, copies of the Treaty of
Amity recently entered into between this State and the Chief
Sepinare Moroka, warned the partisans of Samuel that they were
violating the laws of the land, and would be held responsible (or
the consequences. He states that Samuel is at present at Kruid-
fontein, some distance from the line ; but that about thirty Baro-
longs, with passes from Moshette, vver outspanned in three or
four wagons near the boundary of Moroka's territory. Their
passes, which were for Kruidfontein, had been countersigned by
the E., J. P. of Bultfontein. Mr. Steyn complains that the Pass
Law, 60 far as Samuel Moroka's Barolongs are concerned, is a
dead letter. This shows clearly that many of the border farmers
are siding with the Pretender. Mr. M. Steyn, on his way back,
passed through Thaba 'Nchu, and found Sepinare fully prepared
to give a warm reception to any one who attemj)ted to dispute his
authority. Mr. Commandant EaafT has white ofhcers under him,
and has enlisted a corps of Bastards, so that things are pretty
snug in Morako's territory. We are of opinion that things will
blow over ; and commend the action of the Government in nipping
The Orange Free State. 157
the affair in the bud. His Honour ihe President, who has been
on a tour to Ladybrand, will, we understand, pass through Thaba
'N.hu to-morrow or Saturday, and will, doubtless, give confidence
to Sepinare and his tribe.
Thus we have the testimony of one of the Executive, that
Dutchmen were doing their best to get the rightful heir to the
st-at of the Chieftainship ; and if successful, to take farms as pay-
ment ior services rendered. Now mark what happens. It was
well known that efforts wc.uld be made by Samuel to drive out
fet-pinare, whom he and many other Barolongs knew to be an
usurper, who would be upheld by the Free State authorities so
long as it suited their purj^ose.
For some years (as I have explained in my South Africa and
Jutiings by the Way), it was well known, that Sepinare had given
Jarms to lawyers, missionaries, and to the Bishop of Bloemfontein
to use, on condition that they would support him at all times ; but
he did not give them liberty to sell the land.
It 18 also a fact that some thousands were extorted out of the
Barolongs to pay the Kesident, and the white forces with Com-
mandant liaaff at their head to uphold Sepinare's power ; but the
time having arrived when the users of the farms, with the relio-ious
b"dies at their head, desired to sell the lands as private property,
they winked at all that was done to get rid of Sepinare ; and thus
it happened, that when the attack was make upon Sepinare at
8nnri.^e, and for hours afterwards, not a white — Commandant,
Missionary, Resident, or trader — helped in any way to defend
him.
Now what happens after the chief ami his head councillor were
slain ? The Free State burghers are summoned by President
Biaiid, and — to show how insignificant was the whole affair — he
with a lorce of a hundred men, takes possession of Samuel and his
followers; and then, without taking counsel with the Raad, this
man— who so loudly protested against the English Government
Inking possession of the Transvaal without the consent of the in-
habitanrs — immediately annexes the whole to the Free State, not-
withstanding the fact that there was a son of the Chief Sepinare
livmg. and under the care of the Free State Government.
Although this was one of the most barefaced robberies of native
lauds on record, it surprised nobody. Of course not ; because in
58 The Orange Fkee State.
various ways it was known to li-ive been arranged for, and all the
parties implicated were acquitted — the whole thing being settled
in the hope of (as I stated in my " Jottings," while passing through
this spot the year before, would come to pass) the Dutch obtaining
own ership of the land, which, if sold, would defray the cost of
constructing the Free State railway ; or if not sold, but let, would
pay the interest of the Free State Debt. Under the circumstances
can anyone doubt that the whole was an official and unofficial
arrangement ?
For confirmation of my views I again quote from the Fiiend,
of Juljr 17th, 1884 :—
Tkc Barolong Disturbances.
" The unexpected." says Beaconsfield, " always happens," Little
did any of us think that Sepinare — to whom had been awarded
the chieltainship of the Barolongsby the President, some few years
ago, on the death of the old Chief Moroka, and who had been
recognised by our Government, which entered into a defensive
treaty with him in August last, which treaty was ratified by the
Volksraad in February at its Special Session — would now be no
more and that the country he used to govern would be Free State
territory. Sepinare not only at the time of the last disturbance
managed to defeat and scatter his enemies, but secured the good-
will and amity of his surrounding neighbours. It will be remem-
bered that the claimant to the Chieftainship, Samuel Moroka,
failed recently in getting his claims acknowledged by the British
Government, to which he applied in proprlu persona in England.
Thus Sepinare seemed likely to " live for ever." The fates, how-
ever, decreed otherwise. A plot was so secretly and quietly
hatched, that none of his councillors and officers, or any Free State
officials, knew anything about it until it was carried into execu-
tion. Viewed in the light of a successful undertaking, it was
simply perfect. Bogachu, the Councillor and General of Samuel,
it is supposed with the assistance of some petty chief of the Basutos,
and aided by a handful of white men, managed to enter the Baro-
long territory from three or four points and ride across it a distance
of three or four hours, and strike a blow at the Head of the coun-
try. To prevent suspicion, Samuel, it is said, remained on the
The Opv.\xge Frek State. loO
farm where he has been located for some time, and only repaired
to Thaba 'Nchu after the cotcp d\tat. Although we cannot in any-
way approve of the deed committed by Samuel and the conspira-
tors who acted in his name, some allowance must we think be
made for the way in which the acknowledged Chief by the great
majority of the Barolongs was despoiled of his goods, and the
heartless manner in which the followers of and sympathisers with
the Chief had been literally " eaten up " by the, to them, Usurper.
No doubt Samuel had been goaded on by his people, who became
outcasts in the land, especially when they saw the country of their
fathers portioned out to strangers — men of another race — for
bolstering up the Usurper. It is not for us to say who was the
rightful chief : that has been decided by competent judges ; but
we have only to state facts, and they are, that the Samuelites far
outnumber the followers of Sepinare, who by his harsh treatment
of " suspects " rendered his name an abomination to a great por-
tion of his tribe. White men who love to fish in troubled waters,
lent their aid. The consequence is we have to chronicle what is
considered by Europeans as " a most unnatural murder." No one
who knew the two men, Sepinare and Samuel, could have the
least doubt who was the most fitted to govern. The late lamented
Chief Sepinare was born to rule. He was a man of much dignity,
and although, we believe, of little or no education, was possessed
of great information in history and in the art of governing. He
was commanding in stature, straight, well-made, and handsome,
and had a most kindly presence. He was brave in the field and
a leader of men. Samuel, on the other hand, although educated
in England, is a man of far inferior caste of mind and body.
Moroka shortly before his death, it is said, pointed Sepinare out
as his successor. No doubt the sagacious old Chief knew he was
far more competent than his son Samuel. The evil has been that
the common people among the Barolongs thought differently.
Sepinare, from a young man, has taken part in the councils of the
tribe, and has led his men in the field. During the last Basuto
war, he commanded the Barolong contingent, and was present at
the conchision of peace in April, 1866, at Thaba Bosigo, and his
name appears among the r/itnesses to the signature of that im-
portant document. All Europeans who came in contact with
Sepinare were much impressed with his dignity of manner and his
IfiO The Okange Fkee .State.
gentlemanly bearing. He was of generous disposition and liberal
as became a chief, and many poor people of the Caucasian race
were recipients of his bounty. There is no doubt that the attempt
to govern his people on enlightened principles was one of the
causes of his sudden downfall. The system was too costly, and
his people were heavily taxed to bring up the revenue required to
carry on a government with expensive white ofiicials. The conse-
quence was that many of his people were compelled to leave the
territory, and many more would have left but passes were refused
them. Those v^rho had nothing — or next to nothing — to lose, left
the country, and many others were eaten up for going without
leave. The country about here is full of Barolongs, ninety-nine
out of every hundred of whom tell lieartrendering tales of how
their cattle have been taken from them by the deceased Chief.
Many whites, who were well-disposed towards Sepinare, advised
him to be more lenient. His Honour the President, in speaking
with the Chief, requested him to deal more humanely and leniently
with his people. The Chief replied that the President did not
understand a native as he did, saying that a Kaffir would not listen
to smooth words, but could only understand a strong hand. We
sincerely regret the death of the late Chief, for he was in many
ways a noble specimen of a Bechuana chief : and we fear, too,
that the tribe, by his removal, will be scattered even more than
before, for the territory is now Free State soil, and our burghers
are not likely to allow natives to congregate in any great numbers
without working for them. We take it Sepinare will be the last
of the Moroka, or Seleka, line of the tribe of Barolongs.
The Annex'mg oj the Barolong Territory.
It has been said that " the days of small States are over." The
Barolong Territory, ever since the close of our last Basuto war,
has been an anomaly. It was surrounded by this State, and retained
its independence simply because it was always lelt that Moroka,
who had been a faithful ally to us through the whole of the war,
was deserving of very great consideration at our hands on account
oi the way he treated the Emigrant Farmers in their hour of need.
After his death, when Sepinare was awarded the Chieftainship by
His Honour the President, the Volksraad and people were intent
The Orange Free State. 161
on honouring the memory of the good old Chief, and of protecting
the tribe so long as they behaved themselves well. Since that
time there has been so much plotting on the part of the claimant,
Samuel — and more by his pseudo friends — that it was becoming
well nigh intolerable. So much was this fe!t by the Eaad in their
special session in February last that it almost refused to ratify the
Treaty entered into by the President in the preceding August.
The events ot the past week have proved to be like the " last
straw which breaks the camel's back." It was not only vexatious
to us that our burghers should be every now and then called into
the field to act as policemen in preserving the peace of our sable
neighbours, but there was the constant danger of the territory of
our ally becoming the theatre of a war in which other tribes than
the Barolong might take part. There was also the constant dan-
ger of our burghers enlisting themselves on the side of one or other
of the Chiefs. No doubt some white men (citizens of this State)
were among the ringleaders and actual leaders in the late disturb-
ance. It has been a too common practice in South Africa of late
for white men to espouse the cause of some native chief, and, like
the cuckoo who kicks the young sparrows out of the nest when it
gets big enough, or the nest is too small, they turn the natives
out, and possess the land. There have been far too many free
lances and freebooters in this part of the world lately, and we are
glad that this State has put its foot down and refused to counte-
nance any such evil. We hold this State guilty of allowing the
late Chief of the Barolongs to employ white mercenaries to
" slaughter " his kindred. What that Chief sowed he unfortun-
ately reaped. We pointed out at the time that the policy of
allowing any Chief to employ white men to fight for him was as bad
as bad could be, for the end of it would be that white men would be
found fighting against other white men — as .in Bechuanaland.
Besides it is very lowering to the character of white men, in the
eyes of the natives, to hire oneself to be shot at by their enemies.
The territory of the Barolongs has been occupied by that tribe
a litble over half a century. At the close of 1833, the Wesleyan
Missionary Society bought " all that spacious country designated
Thaba 'Nchu, with all that extensive range of hills on the north,
south, east, and west, with all their plains, extending on the
north to the ford called Farmer's Ford, or Boeredrift; on the west
L
162 The Okange Free State.
to the summit on the mountains on the west side of Modder- river,
or Eiver Khaba ; on the south to half of the distance between
Mount Moriah and Thaba 'Nchu, and forming a circle to join the
western limit ; and on the east to the river passing through the
mountains near Maquatling, and called , and passing along
the hills in a circular direction to Boeredrift, the northern limit,"
from Moshesh and one of his subordinate Chiefs, named Moseme,
for the price of 7 young oxen, 1 heifer, 2 sheep, and 1 goat.
In 1849, Major Warden fixed tha boundary with Moroka of
his territory. Before that time many of the Barolong kraals were
between here and Modder- river, being many miles on this side of
that stream, and others as low down on the other side of Modder-
river as Doornspruit. The tribe at that date was estimated to
number 14,000 souls. This boundary was confirmed in 1862 (in
Pretorius' time) by this State, the late Mr. Allison having
been instrumental in settling what was then a rather vexed
question.
Diplomatic Relations.
The unfortunate tragedy enacted at Thaba 'Nchu ; the arrest of
Samuel Moroka, together v;ith a number of his coadjutors, both
black and white ; the unusual undiplomatic manner hostages from
Bering Letsea were taken over by a commanding ofiicer of a
Burgher Force ; and the fact that direct communications took
place between His Honour the President and His Excellency the
High Commissioner — have all had their share of criticism. The
action of our Government has been much extolled by the Natal
and Colonial press for annexing the Barolong territory and for
dealing out summary justice against the raiders. In these days of
vacillation and temporising of the British Government, the ready
action and the strong hand are much admired. No doubt men
like to see the leaders of the people take the bull by the horns,
and exhibit a firmness, especially in dealing with natives. There
appearing to be Basuto complications connected with the raid, the
authorities of the State bad to deal with matters of very grave,
moment. The decisive measures taken to prevent a Basuto raid
thought then to be imminent, commended themselves to Colonial
men, who are used to witness a vacillating policy ; and the ready
The Orange Free State, 163
spD nse of our Burgliers to the ap];eal made to them by the Exe-
cutive is deserving of all praise, and naturally is contrasted with
the tardy action of the Colonial burghers when they were wanted
to subdue the Basutos during the late war. While fully approving
of the vigorous policy pursued in the matter of the late raid, we
quite think some of the minor details are open to criticism. In
saying thus much we think the suddenness of the attack, the very
imperfect information to hand, and the great difSculty of obtaining
reliable news from the scene of the disturbance, all made it ex-
ceedingly difficult to grasp the situation. As a party of Basutos
had just previously been implicated in a cattle raid on one of
Sepinare's posts, and as Commandant Peter RaafF brought the
news that the Basutos were mixed up in the affair, the President and
others naturally thought there ^2.^ prima facie evidence that the
"Nation of Thieves" was making common cause with Samuel
Moroka. Even the missionaries and the white inhabitants of
Thaba 'Nchu, although witnesses of the disturbance from a dis-
tance, thought the whole of the morning and a part of the after-
noon that the Basutos were taking an active part in the affair.
The Executive naturally thought that Samuel was not strong
enough to oust Sepinare without assistance. The consequence of all
this was, that as time went on, the plot thickened. Men who had
been to Thaba 'JSchu, we believe, assured His Honour that the
Basutos were implicated. As we have before stated, the Basutos,
rightly or wrongly are thought by certain people in this State to
be plotting the destruction and spoliation of our frontier country.
The wire was put in motion. A Field-cornet on the border made
himself extra officious, sent spies into British Basutoland, inter-
viewed Bering Letsea, and received hostages from him that no
Basuto force should cross the Caledon Piver to take part in the
affair at Thaba 'Nchu. It is, no doubt, in times of emergency a
great thing to have good men on the border equal to any occasion
which might arise ; yet it is hardly respectful to our neighbours,
with whom we are on such good terms, to go past the head of that
Government and treat with understrappers who have no authority
ither from the Govei-nment or from the Chief. This is doubtless
what Colonel Clarke feels. It will be seen from the ofiicial cor-
respondence that the gallant Colonel thinks that he has been
snubbed by the Free State authorities from His Honour the Pre-
l2
I6i The Orange Free State.
■sident down to a Fieldcornet. This all comes from the miserably-
weak rule of the Colonial Government. Since Colonel Clarke has
been at Maseru, we do not think there have been any just causes
of complaint against the Administration being too weak ; but as
the Resident Commissioner has no force at his back, the people
•of this State naturally fear he has not sufficient moral power to
restrain the Basutos if they had made up their minds to make a
raid on this country. The President, who is usually the most
■cautious of statesmen, and who generally errs on the side of being
too extra-diplomatic, was carried away by the reports, and
appeared to forget for the nonce that there was any Eesident
•Commissioner at Maseru. This is a venial mistake, and under
the circumstances an allowance can be made for the excitement
the country was in — partly caused, we fear, by the spreading of
lying reports. As we pointed out in our issue of the 17th instant
— the massing of men on the border, nevertheless, made the
Basutos restless, and was anything but a good policy. The worst
of it is, the position of aflairson or about the lOth or 11th instant,
was, that the Basutos may or may not have contemplated joining
hands with Samuel. This is a debatable point, and, perhaps,
will never be satisfactorily cleared up, as it is difficult to go be-
hind a man's or people's intentions. But what is certain, is that
eleven — some say more — burghers of this State deliberately
plotted and carried out what the poor Basutos are accused of con-
templating ! So far this Government — although innocently — is
to blame ; and if Sepinare could rise from his grave, he would
accuse us, and not the Basutos, of his death and the partition of
his country. We grieve to write thus, but the truth must be told,
for some are making capital out of things which actually reflect
shame on us as a people.
The Beginning of the End.
The surrender of Samuel and his councillors on Saturday last
bas put an end to a threatened calamity which appeared to be
assuming great proportions. This day last week, a false move on
the part of the head of the State might have caused blood to be
spilt. And if such had taken place, who knows where it might
iave ended? The misguided followers of Samuel vainly imagined
Tee Orange Free State. Ifi5
that they had only to get rid of the Chief Avhom the President had
made, and then they would live in peace and security under the
protection of this State. But they reckoned without their host.
Deplorable as a raid by a party of semi-barbarians on a friendly
territory may be, it is nothing in comparison to the complications
which might ensue if the Basutos and others were allowed to take
part in the struggle for supremacy. For good or for evil, the
Barolong tribe of the line of Seleka are now dispossessed of their
territory as Jar as they understand the tenure of land. It must
have come sooner or later, and the death of Sepinare gives this
State a chance of stepping in and annexing the territory, and so
restoring peace and order there.
It is well-known and street talk that several burghers of this
State took an active part in the disturbance at Thaba 'Nchu.
Many natives and several white men, it is said, saw some of the
prisoners, and spoke to them soon after the killing of Sepinare.
Will the authorities allow these men — and others who are said to
be quite as guilty as they — to be only tried for breaking into a
shop ? If so, the raison d'etre of the annexation of the Barolong
territory is not such a good one as we were led to expect. The
looting of Abraham's store is a small matter compared to the
attack on Thaba 'Nchu and the slaying of Sepinare. It may be
that the authorities will bring other charges against the prisoners.
If so, there is, we understand, plenty of evidence to prove that if
they were not with the deceased Chief of the Barolongs, they were
against him. With regard to the complicity of white men in the
Thaba 'Nchu affair, an esteemed correspondent in this State writes:
" I suppose Samuel would never have acted as he has done unless
he had white backers. The whole affair is the result of the un-
punished action of our burghers helping Transvaal v. English
Government, Freebooters v. Chiefs in Stellaland and Goschen,
and Dinizulu v. Usibepu. The interference of white men in native
disturbances will, I suppose, go on to the end of time ; or till
there is no chance of loot of land or stock. The Governments
will, it is to be presumed, condone such action while it is profit-
able." We fear there is much truth in these observations.
166 The Orange Free (State.
Aiders and Abettors.
Eight white men are said to have led the Samuelites. Some of
them are known, and were seen at Thaba 'JNchu by the white
residents, who spoke with them. Warrants are, it is said, issued
for their apprehension. We trust for the sake of law and order
that an example will be made of these men.
" Is it Peace f "
A man bearing a white flag came out about a thousand yards
distance from the village, and met the commando as it was pro-
ceeding to the scene, shouting, " Vrede ! Vrede ! " (Peace !
Peace !) He was immediately referred to His Honour the Presi-
dent, who detained him until the camp was formed and our
cannons placed in a position ready for action. He then gave the
flag-bearer a copy of the proclamation requesting his messenger
(Harry Hanger) to accompany him to his chief and read and ex-
plain to him that he was about to annex the country. After
waiting some time the messengers returned with a letter from
Samuel to the President, stating that he wished to see the head
of the State. His Honour replied verbally : " I will see him on
Monday, and at the same time will require of him the delivery of
the murderers of Sepinare."
At four o'clock the President read the following proclamation
annexing the country, and the artillery fired a salute of three guns
as the flag was hoisted : —
Proclamation.
Whereas the Chief Sepinare Moroka was murdered in a treason-
able manner on the 10th July ;
And whereas the territory over which he ruled is now without
lawful government ;
And whereas, for the maintenance of law, order, peace, and
safety, it is necessary that a regular government should be estab-
lished without delay ;
And whereas this can best take place and be facilitated by
annexing the liarolong territory, over which the late chief Moroka
The Orange Feee State. 167
— and after liim Sepinare Moroka — ruled at Thaba 'Nchu, to the
Orange Free State ;
Therefore I, Johannes Hendricus Brand, President of the Orange
Free State, hereby annex the said territory to the Orange
Free State, and proclaim that the above-mentioned territory shall
form a portion of and fall under the authority, government, and
laws of the Orange Free State.
Everyone is hereby requested and commanded to take notice
hereof and govern himself accordingly.
This done and given under my hand and the Great Seal of the
Orange Free State at Thaba 'Nchu this 12th July, in the Year of
Our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-Four.
J. H. BRAND.
By order,
Thomas F. Brand, Private Secretary.
In our presence : — C Van der Wath, member of the Executive
Council ; Jan A. Prinsloo, Commandant of the district of
Bloemfontein ; E. Albrecht, Captain Artillery ; P. J.
Fourie, Fieldcornet Boven-modder-river.
Thus at last the one hope of the Dutch of Bloemfontein was
realised, and by a Treaty of Amity and Treachery the lands of the
Barolongs were stolen by violence, to the everlasting disgrace of
the President and the Orange Free State.
CHAPTER XIV.
HE year 1884 was a most unfortunate one for the Free-
State. The inhabitants had exhausted all their cash
and even their credit. In December, 1883, it was a
disgusting experience to pass through and notice
many, who would or could not pay their legitimate
accounts, freely expending money in luxuries and for
fireworks with which to usher in the new year.
Trade was at a standstill ; money, like the old year, seemed to
have passed away for ever ; and to drive hope still further away
from the Free State, the loan sought for from England was re-
fused ; a salutary rebuke to the insolence and impudence of the
Dutch, who thought the English would run to throw their cash
at them. However, the news came (to lower the pride of the
Hollanders) that the English knew not the Dutch, and refused to
advance them cash for their needs ; and then to make the blow
still heavier, the financial particulars threw the officials into a
perfect fright and placed them in a contemptible position ; for
the Free State had hitherto boasted that they not only had no-
National Debt, but could always show a large balance to their
credit.
It was a pitiable sight for the gods, to see all heads nodding at
this juncture and in fear whispering one to another " What
next ? " Then, to add to their discomfiture, the Government lost
their heads, and iu alarm called the members of the Raad together
at an expense of some thousands to decide the future arrange-
ments. On examination it was found that — like a iool that tried
to raise a loan on his estate without consulting his lawyer — the
President had had the temerity to attempt to float their loan
The Oeange Free State. 169
personally, instead of consulting and paying some Banks to do so;
and to show still further the utter ignorance of the President —
after twenty years of official life, with his communications with
the outer world and particularly with England — he was mad
enough to tell the hoped-for lenders that they could get the interest
for their money in Bloemfontein. Then, of course, all discovered
the blunder that the high and mighty Raad, with the " wisdom of
years " at their head in the person of the President, and their
Treasurer- General, assisted by the Executive, had committed ;
and which resulted in bringing upon the people at large the dis-
credit of official folly.
The Express Editor, fully believing in the gullibility of John
Bull, was simply astonished at the common sense displayed by
Englishmen in not lending their money to a bankrupt Dutch
State simply for the asking of the same ; and then, with the howl
of a mad dog, he charged all the officials with want of foresight in
not knowing better, — a charge which was as applicable to himself
as to any of the others, as will be seen by the following paragraphs
from his own paper : —
An extraordinary session of the Hon'ble Volksraad has been
called for Thursday, the 21st of February, 1884, to discuss matters
which, it only a serious attempt is made to deal with them, will
keep the members of the Legislature at least a month in our
midst. The reasons which prompted the Executive to call the
Raad together — notwithstanding the difficulties of the times, and
the serious expenditure necessitated by that step, are manifold.
In the first instance, the settlement of Basutoland (at least the
official announcement of such bemg brought about) necessitates
with regard to Art. 9 of the Alliwal Convention, the enforcement
of a Pass Law. Article 9 stipulates that no native living in
Basutoland shall be allowed to enter the Free State, and no Free
State burgher Basutoland, except under conditions and regulations
than already in force, or later to be enacted by the two contracting
Governments. Ordinance No. 5, 1866 — which provided the
terms of a Pass Law — became unworkable, however, through the
Basuto war, and the President has for some time been anxious to
replace that Ordinance by one suited to the altered circumstances
of the situation. The hon'ble Volksraad has thus far refused to
170 The Oeange Free State.
place this country, by means of a stringent Pass Law, in the posi-
tion of a policeman to another Government. In how far the
present settlement of the difficulty alters this conception we are
anxious to learn, as we feel little inclination to change our very
decided opinion on this point, remaining, as we do, of opinion
that any Pass Law on our side must be preceded by an actual
Government in Basutoland, for the evidence of which such clear
proof must be given as has hitherto been entirely wanting. The
next, and undoubtedly the main question the Eaad will have to
deal with in the ensuing session, will be the financial position of
the country. This, we regret to say, is by no means a satisfactory
one — comparatively speaking, and from a Free State point of
view we are in duty bound to add. The fact that our debentures
were not taken up in London has naturally thrown our Budget
out of gear — the public works, to be paid out of the loan, having
been entered upon, thus obliging the Government to defray their
cost out of a Eevenue already seriously embarrassed by the state
of agriculture and trade.
There is little doubt that the debentures — which the Government
failed to float, and which the National Bank is now attempting to
place on the money market — form the very best investment that
can possibly be offered to European capitalists. Four causes
militate against their finding favour. The first is that the coun-
try is little known, and as a Dutch Republic suffers under certain
prejudices ; the second, that the amount is somewhat small for a
State loan ; the third, that a rate of interest of 6 per cent, pre-
judices the transaction in the eyes of capitalists who are accus-
tomed to pay 4 per cent, to 4f per cent, for the very best State
debentures ; the fourth and main reason, that the capital and
interest is payable at the Treasury in Bloemfontein. It is asserted
by the very best authorities that Mr, Scanlen damaged the credit
of the Cape Colony seriously by offering 5 per cent, on the new
loan, an argument which is most likely to be brought forward in
the matter at issue.
It is thought here generally that principally through the above-
named provisions of the Ordinance — which made both capital and
interest payable in Bloemfontein — European investors were
deterred from entertaining the loan. Be this as it may. the
National Bank has certainly no ' light task to perform, especially
The Orange Free State. 171
if it is taken into consideration that a venture which, through
whatever cause, has — so to say — failed, requires careful handling
to gain the public confidence necessary for success ; and we can-
not refrain here for an expression of regret that the G-overnment
did not, in the first instance, avail itself of the agency of a mone-
tary insdtution — a course pursued by every Government in exis-
tence.
Without some connection, agency, or reference in London there
can be no question of any such transaction, (certainly not, if the
money, as was expected, is to be found there), and that our London
Consul is about the most unfit person to represent this Govern-
ment, inspire investors with confidence, and generally negotiate
a loan of this description, requires not our assurance. On its
merits, the loan without doubt should be a successful one ; how-
ever, there is no saying what reasons may weigh with investors m
England, and the Volksraad will at all events have to devise
means to provide tht Executive with the necessary funds to carry
out the existing contracts until such time as the loan, even if suc-
cessful, will be an accomplished fact.
Besides the small-pox epidemic and the means employed for
the prevention of the introduction of the disease into the State,
the treaty with Sepinare requires confirmation ; the appointment
of an Assistant-Landdrost at Wepener must be considered, which
appointment, for certain reasons, has not been made ; and the
establishment of a bi-weekly post between Bloemfontein and Coles-
burg. There is also a deal of arrear work which, according to its
own resolution of the 7th July last, the Volksraad will have to
deal with.
Finally, 15 memorials on sundry subjects are proposed to be
submitted. As we stated at the outset, the budget of the work is
a heavy one ; yet it is to be hoped that most of it, if not all, will
be done, so as least to give the country value received for an ex-
penditure which, however necessary, it can ill afford.
The Volksraad.
This hon Durable body had two very important subjects under
172 The Orange Free State.
discussion at the end of last week, viz ; the Eeport by the Commis-
sion on the Diggings, and the Allowance made to Members of the
Eaad. The Eaad very wisely, we think, refused to interfere with
the tenure, or to do away with the compulsory working of claims.
Although, if the diggings are any good, no compulsion need be
required to induce men to work the claims, yet it there be no
penalty, speculators would buy claims and allow them to lie fallow
— with the hope of their becoming one day valuable on account of
the others being worked by industrious and go-ahead owners.
We believe it has been the practice in all countries to compel
diggers to work claims which had been originally granted on appli-
cation. Indeed, the title, so to say, is embraced in the fact of
working. In California and Australia, where " Diggers' Law "
for the time took the place ot the law of the land, this was always
acknowledged by everyone to be the only fair, just, and equitable
way of dealing with the question of claim-rights. In those coun-
tries, the individual digger stood in the place of the rich — or sup-
posed to be rich — companies here. It would have been too intoler-
able for the poor hard-working digger to have borne the injustice
of a monopolist, or speculator, appropriating claim after claim to
himself to the injury of his fellow man. The injustice was too
self-evident, and as it affected the majority, the law being on the
principle of the axiom. Vox populi, vox JJei, no one questioned it-
It is a thousand pities that our Diamond-fields ever got into the
hands of the speculators ; for if they are payable at all, the poor,
industrious, hard-working digger ought to be able to make a living
out of working his claims. If, on the other hand, they will not
pay the individual digger or the companies, the sooner they are
shut up the better. More good money has been thrown away at
Jagersfontein, for instance, than there seems any chance of getting
out of the Mine for many long years to come. We are quite
aware that the " original shareholder" is an amiable fool, who has
done his work in his day and generation in other ventures and in
other parts of the world, yet there appears no hope of breathing,
life into the dry bones of any of our Diggings. Time, of course,,
will tell. Although this question affects the mining population
more directly than any other section ot our community, yet nearly
everyone in the State is, more or less, interested in the issue.
We therefore hope, when the whole question of our Mines comes
The Orange Free State. 173
on at tiie annual session in May next, the Raad will not " listen to
the voice of the charmer," but will strictly uphold all diggers'
rights, and do e^^ery thing which will conduce to the benefit of the
Diggings generally.
The second question more immediately affects the whole of the
burghers of the State ; for it must be admitted that the means
taken to secure good representation of the people in our Volksraad
is of paramount importance. Although there are certain property
qualifications required for those who are born out of the country
W'ho were not burghers in 1866, yet seeing that every person who
vs^as born in the State has a vote on attaining his majority, Man-
hood Suffrage may be said to prevail in this Republic. The pro-
perty qualification for a member is also exceedingly low — the
being owner of unencumbered fixed property of the value of £200
being quite sufficient to entitle one to a seat, if duly elected.
We thus see that our Constitution has made every provision for
the election and seat of the comparatively poor man. It has gone
further, and provides for the payment of our legislators. This
being the case, the only question to be considered is, What is a
sufiicient remuneration to our representatives ?
There can be no doubt, we think, that sufficient remuneration is
just so much that the members are not out of pocket by attending
the Raad, and compelled to spend more money in living than they
receive from Government. We take it, then, that £1 Is. per
diem would be quite sufficient to keep a member in any of our
hotels or lodging-houses, and have a little over for calls on his
charity on account of his position. We quite deprecate the idea
that the office of a member is an office of profit. It is not. It
is an office of honour, and an honourable office solely. We believe
that most people feel that £2, or even £5, per day would not be
too much for thoroughly competent men, but that 15s. is a waste
of money when paid to incompetent members. We for our part
think that the Chairman of the Raad should receive at least double
as much as ordinary members. He is known as the Chairman of
the Volksraad wherever he goes, and it is not too much to expect
that he must spend some of his private means in keeping up the
■dignity of the office. Our present head of the Raad is, we believe,
a wealthy man, but provision should be made for the time when
one may be elected, who is the fittest for the responsible situation
174 The Orange Free State.
but who is not so well-to-do that lie could afford to keep up the
position of Chairman of the Raad.
Although in England, where most of the members of Parliament
are wealthy men, who would scorn to receive a few pounds a day
for performing what they consider honorary duties, no compen-
sation is allowed for their services, yet the Constitutions of the
Colonies, to which we can be far better compared, provide for the
payment of legislators.
When the Constitution of the United States was drawn up, there
were not, of course, a tithe of the wealthy men in that country
there are now. The framers of that important political instrument
took care that good men should not be excluded on the score of
poverty, so the Constitution provides that " Senators and Repre-
sentives shall have a compensation for their serviees, to be ascer-
tained by law and paid out of the Treasury of the United States."
This system of payment for legislative services, which prevails
throughout the whole of the Union, has produced a class of pro-
fessional politicians, whose probity in some cases has proved
unequal to the strain put upon it by the power of dealing with the
public money and the public possessions of what will soon be the
wealthiest community in the world.
We think no one can doubt that we can pay far too much for
our representation. Perhaps, a good way out of the difficulty
would be, as suggested by some during the debate, to reduce the
number of the members. Two members for a district would be
ample. That would reduce the number of the members by half.
It is almost certain all the present good members would be re-
turned, and there would be more expedition, and we think better
laws, at half the expense to the country.
At the present moment we have about one member to every
thousand inhabitants, including men, women, and children. If
we had one member to about 2,500 or 3,000 inhabitants, it would
be ample. It will be easy to augment the number of members as
the population increases. We are afraid that the Raad, although
they have left this matter of allowances to members as it was
before, did not give the proper reasons for doing so. " The
labourer is worthy of his hire " ; and we trust Baadsleden will
not be found wanting when weighed in the balance of Public
Opinion.
The Orange Free State. 175
The Raad was closed yesterday, but before the members were
dismissed they passed the Debenture Ordinance, which will enable
the Government to float the loan of £100,000. We think the
country at large will commend the action of the Eaad in this
matter. The talk about Bluebacks has subsided, and business will
have a heatlhier tone now that all fears of a forced paper currency
have been dissipated by the line taken by our landsvaders.
We are sorry to say that some valuable time of the Raad was
taken up with tinkering with Ordinances. Nothing does so much
harm to the State as this eternal amending of our laws. The
want of finality shakes the confidence of the public. No doubt
some laws require revision, but the privilege accorded to private
members of proposing alterations to old-established laws, or to
Ordinances hardly yet promulgated, has the effect of making the
public think that our laws are the reverse of those of the Medes
and Persians. A few years ago, when everyone felt himself well-
off, a ridiculously high tariff was passed.
Now everyone is down in the dumps, retrenchment being the
order of the day, the tariff must be reduced. If the country were
governed by a party Government, there would not be so many
changes, for the political parties would support and oppose parti-
cular legislative measures, and we think this would give a greater
sense of finality to our legislation than at present obtains.
The way it " should " he done.
We direct the attention of our Government to a telegram which
appears in another column respecting a loan floated by the Standard
Bank for the Capetown Municipality. It makes us, as citizens of
a Republic, feel very small to think that an insignificant and by
no means flourishing corporate body can command a large credit
in the London money market, whilst, through gross mismanage-
ment, the Free State has not only not succeeded in raising a
loan, but has had its credit seriously damaged. We trust the
Government will ponder well over this matter, and next time it
attempts to float a loan, discard all private individuals from a
participation in its monetary affairs ; success will then be assured.
176 The Orange Free State.
Patent Lmv.
It is with regret that we notice the passing of the " Patent
Law " by the Hon'ble the Volksraad. Supporters of such laws
may fairly be called men who ride their principles to death without
just and proper application. We quite concede that an inventor
should have the full benefit of his enterprise and perseverance ;
and so he has, considering that there is hardly a country in the
world where Patent Laws do not provide for his protection. But
in a small and young country like ours — without rivers or forests
— water or wood — without regular rainfall — thousands of miles
from the seats of manufactures, and hundreds of miles from our
•own sea-border, — it seems an utter farce that our Legislature
should waste £50 to pass such a Law. It is a senseless apism of
circumstances utterly foreign to ours, a waste of money, and an
injury of all the greater weight to the country, when it is con-
sidered that u.seful legislation might have been undertaken in
the place of this " useless play." The next thing to be brought
before the Eaad will be a law punishing " Railway Excursions to
the Moon ! "
I had previously given him chapter after chapter of mj JVational
Faper- Money emel its Use, in which I had shown how easy it was
to make Imperial or Republican paper-money for all purposes of
■Government, to pay all their servants' salaries, and for the con-
struction of Public Works of Utility ; but of course this plan, not
feeding the class of robbers that live on usury, was passed by
as being of no account.
It was not for want of knowledge on the part of the Editor of
the Eiyress that my proposals were not a23preciated by him. Like
so many others, being in the hands of the ferneuk Hards, he
•dared not call his convictions his own, much less a thing he
pretended to own — called his soul — even if he had believed in
the right. He was on a par with the well-known legal thief
who began to ask for works on political economy to enable him to
argue on the subject at the forthcoming meeting of the Raad.
This individual was a generally recognised counterpart of the
The Orange Free State. 177
notorious Old Bailey legal black-slieep, who was up to every dodge,
equal at all times to any trickery, one who could manufacture a
witness to support his case by swearing without compunction, and
who if promised a handsome premium — as in the great Will Case
of Jajersfontein v. The Company of the Sluit— he (the legal thief)
would go to any length to secure success for the side on which he
happened to be retained. This man was a perfect buck animal ;
no woman was safe from him at any time, and his very blood
relations were contaminated by his immorality. Alas, he was not
the only Black German Buck who sat in that Assembly at £2 per
day. That the lawyers, conveyancers, auctioneers and doctors were
a curse to the town and State may readily be gathered from the
following from the Express : —
"Following up our remarks regarding the position the legal
profession occupies in this country in the public estimation, we
pointed out the necessity of steps being taken to remedy this
abnormity. In alluding to the principal remedy, we referred to
the establishment of a Law Society, the members of which would
be called upon jealously to watch, that the reputation of an hon-
ourable profession should not be dragged into the deepest mire of
public indignation by the constant malpractices of men, who
should occupy quite a different position towards Judges and Juries
than they do at present. The esjJrit de corps now wanting, and
thereby supplied, would, however, not be the only gain achieved by
the establishment of such a Society.
" A still greater advantage would be afforded by a Society — a
corporate body, taking upon itself, and that ' ofEcially,' a duty
which individuals shrink from, firstly, because they dread the
personal animus that might be suspected of them, even if it did
not exist, and secondly, because they look to the head of the Bar
for the performance of certain duties which are calculated to affect
the whole body. Not only, has the Attorney-General not displayed
overmuch anxiety to merit public and general applause by the
display of that jealousy, which would prove that the interests and
good name of the profession he leads and represents, are dear to
him, but we are given to understand that the official in question
has displayed a good deal of indifference, when the idea of co-
operation was mooted to him by individual members of the bar.
We regret this very much.
M
178 The Orange Feee [State,
" Certain oflSces and positions impose certain duties and obliga-
tions, and whatever Mr. Vels may think fit or unfit, the Attorney-
General has the distinct duty to lead in a matter of this kind.
We say this with the more emphasis, and the more freedom,
because we are conscious that the Attorney-General has enjoyed
so much forbearance at the hands of the press, that exactness in
this very matter cannot be considered, even by him, as severity
The times we live in, and things as they are, are unhappily not
what they should be, but we bear in mind, that the virtue ' pati-
ence,' is engraved upon our coat of arms, and calls upon us, to
wait and bear, in the hope that if * alles zal recht niet komen,'
many things will advance and improve with the gradual advance-
ment of the country. But, though we are ready to use such an
amount of patience, as will make us doubted in the eyes of
men, whose principles of right and wrong are not affected by cir-
cumstances, there is an end even to our patience, at the stage we
have arrived in the question at issue.
" Were the dignity of the legal profession alone at issue, we
might use, even now, more patience, and confine our emotions to
a strong feeling of regret, that men of conspicuous position are so
indifferent to what they owe to themselves. But ' since public
considerations are involved as well, we trust that the Attorney-
General will exercise the prerogatives of his position, and lead
in a strong effort to resuscitate the legal profession from its
present moral dilapidation. Extravagant as the various
popular remedies may seem, that have been suggested for
the purpose of confining the sphere o£ the lawyer to the smallest
compass imaginable, we could, ourselves, not be expected to resist
the ideas that have been advanced, if, in the case of nothing being
done by the members of the Bar, the next Volksraad decided to
follow up its actions of this session, for the purpose of placing
work that is now done by lawyers, in the hands of officials, paid
by the State, and whose earnings would, besides covering the
amount of their salary, benefit the State Exchequer."
The summons to the Eaad in February to meet in Bloemfontein
upon serious and urgent business gave such a shock to the nerves
The Orange Free State, 179
of the country members that even to this day they feel it in all
its intensity. Through very fear that before they could meet,
some earthquake might swallow up the Free State, they grew thin
and cadaverous in appearance ; and when they did meet over their
" talkee talkee," they were but skeletons' of their former obese
selves, such was their horror at the audacity of England in refus-
ing their loan.
Picture then, if possible, their chagrin and vexation when they
found that England readily offered to advance to Cape Town over
£500,000, when only £100,000 was asked for— although she had
refused to furnish a single farthing towards the loan asked for by
the Free State. Fearful of the results that might accrue from their
loss of credit in the financial world in consequence of England's
refusal, the Government made another and final appeal for help
to the amount of £200,000. This and some other law-tinkering
occupied the Eaad during the months of February and March ;
and then with the few pounds they had received for doing nothing,
the members ran away in haste to their Vrows and Kinders with
the fear in their hearts that the last days of the Free State had
arrived — a fear yet to be realised in sad and sober truth, as this
History will prove, and in support of my opinion I append the
Free State Balance Sheet : —
Our Balance Sheet.
The financial statement published by the Treasurer-General in
the Government Gazette of the 6th inst. indicates but too clearly
the severity of the monetary crisis through which the Free State,
in common with the whole of South Africa, is passing. The
receipts for the third quarter of the current fiscal year amounted
to £38,033 lis. 6d., whilst the expenditure reached £61,798 8s. 5d.,
— thus showing a discrepancy on the wrong side of the ledger of
£23,764 16s. lid. The revenue estimated for the year was
£222,360, or £55,590 per quarter, but the actual receipts will
probably not exceed £45,000 quarterly, or £180,000 per annum.
The disbursements, however, will overleap the estimates by at
least £20,000. This is a gloomy outlook ; especially when it is
taken into consideration that, on 31st December last, the Govern-
ment owed the National Bank £32,000, the Bank of Africa
m2
180 The Orange Feee State.
£20,000, and the Administrator of Funds £11,000 — altogether,
£63,000. By the close of the fiscal year on 31st March proximo,
we shall have outrun the constable to the tune of £100,000, which
the contemplated Debentures, if ever floated, •will ]ust cover. We
say advisedly, " if ever floated," because if the interest of the
debentures is not made payable in London, or some other
European capital, vfe may whistle to the winds for £100,000, or
even 100,000 pence. Men of substance know as little about
Bloemfontein and the Orange Free State, as they do of Jerusalem
the Golden or the Mountains of the Moon. Therefore it is
not to be wondered at that they are chary in subscribing
for debentures, the interest on which is payable in this city.
When the Debenture Ordinance, No. 17 — 1883, was passed, we
pointed out the gross absurdity of making the interest payable
here. Consequently it is not surprising that we are no nearer
obtaining the much-needed £100,000 than we were eight months
ago. We have acted like goats, and been punished for our folly.
The successful issue of two Colonial Loans in a single week for an
aggregate amount of nearly eight million pounds (£8,000,000),
indicates that there is no lack of money seeking investment in
England if only the right kind of security is offered to the public.
The Cape Colony has been borrowing of late years with startling
rapidity. Little more than ten years ago its debt was only a few
hundred thousands, and now it will reach to nearly twenty million
pounds. As the London Standard truly observes, there has been
no corresponding increase in its population, or its realised wealth,
in the course of that short time ; but Mr. Scanlen knew how to
" work the oracle," and readily obtained nearly £5,000,000 for his
bankrupt government ; while our Volksraad, understanding nothing
respecting the routine to be pursued in matters pecuniary, made
a dreadful mess in attempting to raise a paltry hundred thousand
pounds, and thereby impaired not only the credit of the State, but
every importer residing in it."
The truly and almost hopelessly deplorable position of the Free
State as regards its financial condition is so justly and tersely
described in the foregoing article that my readers will not only
The Orange Free State. 181
be enabled thereby to take a complete grasp of the gravity of the
situation— bad enough in all conscience of itself without taking,
into consideration the even more disastrous results quite within
the bounds of possibility — brought about by the incompetence or
corruption — perhaps both — of the Executive ; but they will, I feel
satisfied, admit that I had abundant justification for drawing
public attention thereto in the manner 1 have, and that although
I have expressed myself with more force than elegance, I have
" nothing extenuated nor aught set down in malice."
In dismissing this subject — at any rate jpro tern. — I commend
to the reader's attention the subjoined sound, common-sense letter
of " T. C." in reply to Mr. Higgo's suggestion for a Day of
Prayer and the article immediately following under the heading
" Hard Times."
Mr. Higgo and his Bay of Prayer.
" ' T. C writes with reference to Mr. Higgo's communication
which recently appeared in our columns : — Just a word to ex-
press surprise that one said to possess ' a vast fund of shrewd
common sense ' should rush into print to point out the urgency of
setting apart a day for prayer to get us out of our present crisis.
Instead of praying, we must set to and work, observe the inevit-
able laws of nature, and act in accordance with them. By praying
to God to remove our dire distress, do we not infei'entially blame
our Creator instead of ourselves ? No matter how deep and
strong our faith may be that we shall succeed by trusting to the
efficacy of prayer, we shall soon be in the Bankruptcy Court unless
we avoid bad debts. Let us hear no more of setting apart a day
for prayer, but manfully facing the perils of our country, investi-
gate, discover, and get rid of the effect by removing the cause."
Hard Times.
" In these days of complaining, and that too with some show of
cause, of the scarcity of money and food, one is frequently led to
think whether there might not be some method or other to allow
182 The Orange Free State.
the money to circulate more in the country, and thus to be kept
more in the hands of the people themselves, and, at the same tiW»
to strengthen and improve the agricultural interests upon which so
very much depends.
" Firstly, with regard to the circulation of money, one is
naturally led at once to inquire, where is this money you are going
to circulate amongst the people ? There is none in the hands of
the people themselves. True, and who is to blame for it ? No
one but the Government, not for inconsiderate recklessness of
expenditure or for thoughtlessly incurring debt, but simply and
solely for too much and ill-timed precaution.
" Let us look at the facts of the case. Money was growing
daily scarcer, when, to improve matters and put affairs on a firmer
basis, debenture bonds were put forward by the Volksraad to start
reproductive public works, such as bridges, telegraphs, &c., with
this result — that they fell through — and why ? There was no
money to be raised in the country : Well ! England and Holland
have money which they would be perfectly willing to lend at a
moderate interest ; but no, ' Out of debt, out of danger 1 ' said the
sages, and there they erred grossly, for no one can deny that money
makes money, and the countries that have the largest National
I)ebt are universally the greatest, most powerful and most wealthy,
for if a country has nothing it can gain nothing. ' Nothing
venture nothing win.' It were therefore far better to seek help
where it could be obtained, and do the best possible to raise the
status of things in the country than to sit with folded hands trusting,
like Mr. Micawber, that something may turn up. Nothing can
be proved worthless till tried, and we must confess that the very
many instances of countries raising money for public works have
been universally productive of public benefit — the rates, being
proportionate to the amount raised. (Observe, we use the term
Public Works, not money raised and then recklessly and uselessly
squandered as in the case of Turkey ; or as in the case of Eussia,
Spain, and the South American Republics — countries groaning
•under heavy National Debts incurred, almost solely, through ex-
• penses in the constant wars in which they are engaged, and which
lor ever wrack- the mind and harass the peace of the inhabitants
without benefiting either the public or private purses ; but money
raised to enable works to be put in progress for utilising the latent
The Orange Free State. 183
wealth of the country and encouraging the energy and skill of the
people.)
" To prove the above statement, let us compare the young,
though highly prosperous, colony of New Zealand with the Cape
Colony financially, and tabulating results, we find that New
Zealand has :
Area ... ... ... ... 106,000 square miles.
Population 530,000.
Public Debt £30,000,000.
Exports (1881) £6,000,000. •
Whilst Cape Colony has :
Area ... ... ... ... 240,000 square miles.
Population 1,250,000.
Public Debt £13,000,000.
Exports (1881) £4,000,000.
And here we must also note that New Zealand has had the full
benefit of her loans, the minor-portion only having gone in
expenses for the carrying on of war ; whereas, in the case of the
Colony, by far the majority has been used to defray expenses in-
curred in the continual struggles carried on between her and the
native races ; so that, in reality, her debt, with regard to the
extension of public works, becomes even still less in comparison
with that of New Zealand.
" Now this is how matters stand at present. Money is scarce in
the country, and two bad seasons succeeding each other swallow
up any overplus that may have lain accumulated, this money not
even circulating in the country itself, but being, for the most part,
sent out, directly or indirectly, to other countries, in payment for
goods imported thence, together with any product of these two
years, and losing, in its circuit, a large percentage. Inexperienced
men, too, thinking by speculation to better their affairs, borrow on
the security of their estates comparatively large sums ; their
speculation fails and they become bankrupt with great injury to
themselves, and, most probably, to a large proportion of their
neighbours. Continuing in this manner, it is easy to foresee
that in the end a country must either take a step (and that no
inconsiderable one) backwards in the course of civilisation, or put
184 The Orange Free State.
forth all its combined energies, as speedily as possible, to seek
measures for a bettering of its affairs. ' All things come to those
who wait ' may be a very wise old saw, but it is much better to
remember that 'God helps those who help themselves.' Money!
money ! is the cry. Well, raise it by loans, raise it anywhere,
but only raise it.
" Now, in the second place, let us consider the best methods of
using these moneys when obtained, so as to benefit the majority ;
and, certainly, amongst these the construction of public works and
the promotion of home productions stand highest.
" How often do we hear people complaining of the difficulty of
obtaining articles they require at stores and blaming the store-
keeper for it, who, already holding a large stock, owing to the
distance from the ports and the slowness of transport, is utterly
unable to keep it well sorted up owing to his inability, except by
some rare chance, to get transport for the comparatively small
quantities of goods he needs from time to time. Again, what
delays occur to up-country storekeepers in obtaining their goods
(to mention nothing of the risk of damage incurred) through
drought or sickness among the oxen ; or the inability or unwilling-
ness of transjport-riders to load on account of their own crops or
flocks requiring attention. A.11 these hindrances and difficulties
are so many checks on trade and advancement of the interests of the
country. What is the remedy for them ? There is but one. It
is the extension as widely as possible of railways, so as to open
direct and speedy communication between the ports and the
interior, thus enabling goods to be readily and in any quantity
obtained, and also dispensing with heavy stocks and consequent
risk, loss, and expense to the storekeeper ; and at the same time
allowing him to keep pace with progress and civilisation, and also
enabling him to sell his goods at a lower price.
*' There is no doubt, too, that the railway would be a great social
benefit, introducing greater energy into the country, and replacing
listlessness and carelessness with briskness and ambitious emula-
tion ; for there is no doubt had more energy and determination,
in a right groove, been exercised in times of prosperity, the
present distress and scarcity might have been much less. Know-
ledge too of other places and other people, and contact with the
highest branches of civilisation, cannot be without its effect. Man
The Orange Free State. 185-
— if he be worthy the name — always seeks to be better, nobler,
to do, at least as well, if not better, than other men have done.
Again, steam once in use, must eventually extend in use, and
become of inestimable benefit to the country, making present im-
possibilities possible. And, lastly, turning to the question which
at present agitates itself, the construction of railways throughout
the land increases the demand, stirs up energy to supply
that demand, and at the same time spreads money over the
tract it traverses in construction as a foretaste of the rich results
to follow,
"But some may argue that railways do not benefit a country, and
quote their apparent iailure in the Colony. If they do not
succeed as was expected, why is it ? Simply through want of
patriotism, through striving to benefit the few to the neglect of
the majority. Had there been two grand trunk lines from
Capetown to Port Elizabeth, say to some such centre as Colesberg,
and thence to the Diamond-fields ; instead of, as at present,
Capetown having its line to Beaufort West ; the Bay it's, to
GraafF-Reinet and Colesberg, and East London with its to
Queenstown, with the consequent increased expense, whilst the
goal (in all cases the Diamond-fields), is still unreached, we should
then have seen a different phase of things ; smaller and cheaper
lines could have been opened up to the other towns, and commu-
nication established iar more widely and with much less cost than
under the existing circumstances is possible, to say nothing of its
being far more remunerative. What we want is a trunk line
through the State, from the Orange-river at Colesberg, through
Bloemfontein, to Harrismith ; thus gaining, so to speak,
egress . at both ends : for in matters of public welfare the greatest
good for the greatest number should ever be the first consideration,
and will ever pay the best in the long run.
" But we would not advocate the spending of these moneys alone
on railway extensions ; there are other things equally worthy of
attention. Why should a country like the Free State import its
breadstuffs, its starch, its jams, its tobacco ? Decidedly not
because it cannot itself produce them — it has done and still con-
tinues to do so, but in unpayable quantities. Why should we not
have our own manufactories for these things, and men competent
to carry on the work be encouraged to come into the country.
186 The Orange Free State.
men with capital and energy and skill ? Let us no longer go to
other countries to seek what we ourselves are in every way sup-
plied with, let bonuses be given for home manufactures from
home products, as an example of which take the amount of
peaches that are yearly wasted and given away in this country,
which, prepared as a jam, could find a market in any country,
and be made most remunerative.
" We say distinctly let bonuses be given, not monopolies granted,
we decidedly do not advocate protection ; Free Trade is the thing
to promote the interests of a country. What has the Transvaal
gained by allowing Nellmapius to monopolise the manufacture of
brandy from anything but grapes for instance, with several other
things of a similar nature of a general use ? Monopolies simply
benefit the person who holds them, and who can thus ask what
price he likes for his goods, knowing there can be no competition.
" The demand for manufacture necessitates a greater supply being
ensured, and as this season has shown us in this country that
nature, unaided by art, cannot always render the due reward for
toil ; and, after the warning we have thus received, we cannot
help but see that to insure success in agriculture, the water supply
must first be ensured, and for this purpose we would advocate the
expending of a joortion of the promised loans on Government
irrigation works, or in lo\ns to farmers as bonuses for the erection
of dams, and for the best plans for watering the soil. At present
tons of water are daily being wasted, and, in fact, doing just as
much harm by forming bogs, &c., as they might do good, if only
■conveyed into proper channels and used for agricultural purposes,
thus nullifying, to a considerable extent, the severe effects of such
a dry season as we have experienced. There are many Boers to-
day who, if they had sufiicient capital, would carry this out —
they see the evil and its remedy, and are willing to undertake
the latter. Let them be encouraged and helped, and not only
they, themselves, but the whole country will be benefited, its value
will be increased ten-fold, its products more than doubled, its
people far more healthy, wealthy, and contented, and we shall
hear * no more complaining in our streets,'
" In point of fact, in these days, when everything progresses at
express rate, and the old saw as to the building of Rome occu-
pying more than the space of four and twenty hours seems, as
The Ojrange Free State. 187
it were, but a slur on the irrevocable memories of the past ; when
men fly along upon one, two and three wheels, and hold com-
munion as easily with a friend half-a-dozen miles off as if he were
at their own fireside, and when the barren wilderness, almost
before our very eyes, assumes the joyous garb of a fruitful field, to
succeed — whether as a State or an individual — one must be ever
in the van of that fierce struggle now raging amid the shouts of
Progress ! Science ! and Civilisation ! When once fallen back to
the rear, the difficulty becomes an hundred-fold magnified to take
a foremost stand, continual striving is the only way ; the strife
brooks no cessation. We are behind the times, things are now at
their worst, and we must now, once for all, make a grand rush for
the front, banish ' Failure ' from our lexicon, and with ' En
Avant' as our motto follow where Progress leads."
At no time within the memory of the oldest inhabitant had
trade been so bad as in the first three months of the year 1884,
which culminated in the downfall of many, notably of the Criterion
and of the Swindle and Thomas — the unbelieving one — in conjunc-
tion with the Sell the Hand, an old deserter from a Penge regi-
ment, who turned insolvent in a most shameless way. His friends
had duped a Port Elizabeth house and even boasted of the trick
and lived on the proceeds of the robbery for years after. He also
appropriated some diamonds entrusted to him to sell by a Ross-
shire man, saying that he had lost them ; and as they were the
property of an illicit gang, no procedings could be taken against
him. This kind of thing was repeated time after time, and the
man lives by such means to this day and the outcome of a Cameron
Estate.
This Jew then helped another Jew (the Moss) to raise among
his spirits the Fire King, and while taking his walk in the
Market Square he made a Fire Dragon, and but for the appear-
ance of a few Bloemlontein watchmen would have burnt down the
timekeeper. Finding fire would not succeed, he sold all his stock
by underhand means and then called his creditors together but
paid no dividend. In the meantime he visited his brother Jews
— who were introduced to him at the time he stole the wool money
188 The Orange Free State.
from poor Bee — — les — and then acting as the go-between and re-
ceiver of the illicits of Kimberley, accumulated his thousands out
of his dupes ; and at last, in fear, drew a draft for £500 on Cape
Town, sold his furniture for £20, and hastily assuming the guise
of a Rabbi, once more hid himself from all his victims and ever
after lived on the proceeds of his. plundering by means of the
usual cent, per cent, business.
Truly has it been said that no one could understand the ramifi-
cations of a brotherhood of Jews. If ever a Eace deserved the
hatred of mankind, it is the descendants of the Impenitent Thieves
of the Eoman Era. These two instances, added to by the rotten-
ness and fraudulent tricks "of the Old Sons from a fountain of
rascals, with the culpable insolvency of the Company of the
Crash Wells, gave a shock to the commercial morality of
Bloemfontein that it had not recovered from up to the time of my
departure, and which was of so foul a nature that I feel it my
duty to chronicle the same as a beacon light of the future to the
path of the honest merchants of England and South Africa.
^
Chapter XV.
HE wisdom of the Bloemfontein Town Council was so
apparent that they ceased to be respected, and be-
came the subject of many a " skit," one of which I
here reprint for the amusement of my readers from
the Friend of December 21st : —
Meeting Bloemfontein Council, in the Year oj our Lord^
i88t.
Present : —
Dramatis Personce.
Mayor ( Unrobed.)
COUNCILLORS. COUNCILLORS.
Muttonhead, The General.
Beefchops. Goathead.
Muddleton. Catchup
Bungleman Gaspipe.
Hazybrains.
Resolved by Councillor Beefchops and seconded by Councillor
Catchup :
" That we are the people."
The speaker then proceeded to point out to the august assembly
that were it not for the Municipal energy displayed in this city,
and the unique subtlety of their engineering plans, together with
the patriotic feeling shown by the members in their arduous
duties, Bloemfontein, ere this, must have died from mere debility
and " dry rot," trade would have languished, the clergy would
190 The Orange Free State.
have left, women would have eloped, and the Queen of the Prairie
would by degrees have become the habitat of the owl, the bat, and
apostate members of the Africander Bond. (The speaker was im~
mensely cheered during the safe delivery of this marvellous oratori-
cal display.) This resolution was carried nevi. con.
Resolution proposed by Councillor Goathead and seconded by
Councillor Hazybrains :
" That the building of culverts proceed on the plans laid
down by the Council, and hitherto carried out, with such
improvement as the Council may suggest — always keep-
ing revenue as the lode star in view."
The speaker then thumbed his waistcoat under his arms and
essayed to enlighten the members on the culverts. It had been
said that culverts ought to be arched and built by good tradesmen
instead of the genus " Mahowa." He could prove that he had
superintended the building of more culverts than any member
present ; and he was further prepared to prove that were it not
for said culverts, the financial difficulties of the Council would be-
fore this have reached that state that even Gladstone, or a Rivers
Wilson, would have failed in any endeavour to elucidate them.
There were members present he knew that from personal dislike
to himself advocated arched culverts, as they were stronger and
more scientific. He (the speaker) didn't believe in science ; he left
science to the doctors, and they pursued it so well that our under-
takers' " eyes were standing out with fatness." The reason he
advocated the present style of culverts was this — firstly, a
" Mahov/a " could build them cheaper than a mason ; secondly,
they were attractive to Jcurweyers ; thirdly, the carrier paid for
them. He had a good deal of experience in culverts, and he could
safely say that as soon as a culvert was finished the " hour would
bring the man." Some carrier would arrive with five tons on his
wagon, he would naturally make for a culvert, and certain as his
wagon covered it, the fabric would give way. Assuredly that
man was fined sufliciently to enable the Council to carry on public
trust. Councillors, he said, argued as St. Paul did against Alex-
ander, and no doubt wished as Paul did ; but he was resolved to
go on with his work, as his motto was the Corporation " expects
every man to do his duty." (Sensation.)
The Orange Free State. 191
The General assumed the perpendicular and assured the mem-
bers he entirely agreed with the resolution of Councillor Goathead,
providing that a culvert was built near his corner and gravel laid
on the approaches to his emporium. He did not care for the
argument used out of doors, that the Councillors only looked out
for themselves. How was the stranger to know, when he visited
the city, who was a " Roman of the Eomans," unless he had a
culvert and *' et ceteras " near his premises ? " Fair play " was a
characteristic of Britons. He might point out that Muttonhead,
Beefchops, and Muddleton had culverts near their winkels. Why
should he be left out in the cold ? Were they more patriotic than
himself ? Did they burn the midnight oil more than himself in
solving Municipal problems ? Then why, in the name of Justice,
should he not have a culvert ? The resolution was carried by a
majority of four.
Proposed by Councillor Bungleman and seconded by Councillor
Gaspipe :
" That the Council do appoint another Sanitary Inspector
with the title of ' Sub- Sanitary Inspector.' "
He (Bungleman) was proud to assure the Council that during
twenty years' residence in the city it had never been privileged to
him to witness such monuments of dead cats and such a varied
assortment of dead dogs, romantically varied with dead pigs, as
now adorned the purlieus of this Volksraad city. The present
Inspector had been scolded for collecting the departed in heaps
and placing them in pyramids opposite the houses of favoured
individuals. It was said the hygienic aiTangements were disturbed
and people suffered. He was not prepared to dispute with the
members as to the public health, but this much he could assure
them, that in the vicinity of the said pyramids peaches were found
to measure nine inches in circumference and pumpkins nine feet.
It Avas obvious that the market was improved and thereby the
revenue. He quite held with Councillor Goathead that revenue
was the cardinal point to keep in sight. A family or two disap-
pearing might inflict pain on a few, but a fat revenue brought
comfort to the many. He hoped the Council would appoint a man
to assist the present rabbit-faced Inspector, as he seemed to suffer
in health owing to his exertions in preserving the health of others.
192 The Orange Feee State.
The General again rose and plainly told the members that he
did not wish to be indicted for manslaughter.
Councillor Catchup said pyramids were no doubt essential to
gardeners, but he opined "chloride of lime" ought to be used on
these displays of architecture.
Councillor Hazybrain was of opinion that pyramids in a town
prevented small-pox and cholera, and he would vote for an Assis-
tant Inspector.
Councillor Beefchops was determined to take a more exalted
view of the situation. If a family was carried off by the collection
of cats before the front door, it was clear to his mind that it was
undoubtedly a moral wrong. If cats improved peaches and pump-
kins, then he was willing they should be ridden to his farm ad-
joining the town lands. (Cries of " Don't you wish you may get
it ? ")
The Mayor suggested that the resolution be delayed sine die.
He stated that he had received information that people were send-
ing their dogs and cats to the country ; and if so, an Assistant
would be unnecessary. Agreed to.
Proposed by Councillor Muddleton, seconded by Councillor
Muttonhead :
" That in the opinion of the Council it is highly necessary to
light the city after sundown, more especially the main
thoroughfares."
The speaker stumbled through a speech which ran as follows : —
He would not suggest an expensive system such as brush light,
electric, gas, or any of the modern lights. He held the Council
was bound to " creep before they could walk." A few blue-bush
poles and a requisite number of lanterns would answer all require-
ments. He was not a very fluent speaker, but he hoped the
Council understood him. He then sat down to the immense
satisfaction of the Councillor^.
Councillor Gaspipe called attention to the fact that Muddleton
had a large lot of lanterns, which he had been obliged to take
for a bad debt, and that was why he advocated that system. He
himself didn't believe in lighting the town. If people were nervous
to travel in the dark, let them get home early and stay there. If
men would stay out and drink brandy and soda, let them stay
The Orange Free State. 193
"tliere and take the consequences. Lighting the city would be
eimply destroying the morals of the people. He believed the
Council ought to sustain morality and not destroy it. He was a
soft- shell Kanter himself, and, perhaps, took a different view to
others.
The General thought the Council required some lighting them-
selves before illuminating the city.
Councillor Bungleman could not see the extreme hurry of the
•measure. We had a good moon just now which cost nothing, why
entail expense ?
Councillor Beefchops proposed, seconded by Goathead :
" That the question of lighting be put off until the next
meeting."
Carried by a majority of three.
Councillor Muttonhead called attention to the present state of
the trees in Mud Lane. They had now been planted twelve
months and were a very sickly sample of beauty. The Mayor
had told him confidentially that the said trees were of the order
" Cyclobranchiata," and would thrive better if the tops were
planted and the roots aired.
Here the Mayor jumped up and indignantly denied saying any-
thing of the kind about the trees — Muttonhead should be ashamed
of himself.
The Council came to the conclusion that if trees would not grow
with their roots soiled, they stood less chance if they reversed the
order of things.
Muttonhead seized the opportunity to state that the next time
the Mayor favoured him with scientific talk, he would take care to
liave witnesses.
Mayor, derisively, "order !'' "order !"
The Mayor then read the following resolution :
" That in the opinion of the Council it was incumbent on
that body to appoint a committee for the purpose of
passing such measures as would tend to the public
health."
Seconded by Gaspipe.
194 The Orange Free State.
The Mayor then proceeded to inform the Town Council that he
had not been installed in oiEce long, but during that time he had
tried to be impartial in his office. He wished that was the chief
trait in the character of the Council. He had been told by a
friend of undoubted veracity that old "Ironsides," who lives at the
extreme corner of the city verging towards Waaihoek, had assured
him that if a Town Councillor, or a road party, a city engineer, or
any of the plant belonging to the Council, were seen at that corner
they would be looked on by the inhabitants as a curioiSity ; and
yet they were not overlooked when rates had to be collected. The
only servant of the Council they knew was Zaccheus the tax-
gatherer. Things should not be so. It would be invidious to
point to any single Councillor as being more guilty than his
brethren, but it was notorious there more people than " Ironsides "
ready to empty their cups of woe when an opportunity afforded.
Shakespeare puts advice to a young man in the following way :
" To thine own self be true."
He (the Mayor) did not think Town Councillors ought to be
guided by that line ; but as regarded the health of the town, he
was prepared to lay before the Council many of the causes that
produced mortality amongst the citizens. He had observed that
whenever the North-East or Nor'- West wind blew, the air was
generally loaded with an impure gaseous substance called ozone,
which brought in its train diphtheria, neuralgia, and rheum. To
avoid the effects of these winds, the first thoughts of the Council
should be directed towards mitigating the evils. They should,
firstly, build an Ovipositor with a longitudinal inclination
towards a Libethenite formation or Luteolin, and also collect
lycodontes during every Novennial year, bearing in the direction
of the Nubigenous with a corruscation of infinitesimal radiations,
involving a complete phalanx of notoriousness. " Rara avis in
terris, nigroque simillima cygno" and further consolidate the
ramifications evolved from a distinct tracery of " tempus edax
rerum,'' which causes, I may say, " Voxfaucibus haesit."
At this stage the General found he was sesthetic in tastes and
travelled to Bridger's hotel. The rest of the Council settled one
by one into a deep, deep siesta, and the Mayor went in for tail-
The Orange Free State. ■■' 195
lashing on his darling subject. How long lie would have stayed,
and how long the Council would have slept, it is impossible to
say ; but a boy rushed in and called out " Fire !" " Fire !" The
Council was equal to the occasion, and walked in great dignity to
the burning store. And here they enjoy themselves by looking
on in an abject state of sheer helplessness. It was amazing to
some Councillors to note their ex-Mayor frantically rushing about
and spoiling a good tweed suit, worth £7 lOs., in order to save
half-a-dozen Kafir pots, worth 15s.
Wolsey's advice to Cromwell might have been quoted to the
ex-Mayor : —
" Cromwell, I charge thee fling away ambition,"
For by that sin the angels fell."
, Blikoor.
Gur Sanitary Surroundings.
Bloemfontein, 12th Dec, 1881.
To the Editor of the Friend :
Sir, — The impurity of the town spruit has been the hue and cry
of the inhabitants of this city for many years past.
The town spruit has been represented as the infested nest from
whence nearly all the diseases the town folk suffer, emanate from.
Only a few weeks ago we noticed in the local column of one of our
newspapers that a certain medical gentleman here had, under his
treatment, over fifty cases of diphtheria within two months ; these
facts speak for themselves, and certainly demand the prompt
interference of the Honourable Town Council of this city _^to see to
our sanitary surroundings.
The spruit, with all its stagnant waters and other objectionable
impurities, poisning the centre of our town, is bad enough, but
is the Honourable Town Council aware that nothing less than a hide
and skin curing establishment is added to the unpleasant and un-
healthy odours of the spruit, and that, in the very heart of our
town ? I, for one, begin to apprehend all^manner of calamities,
n2
196 The Orange Feee State.
sucli as " putrid typhus," or some other dire epidemic, to follow
the toleration of such sinks of impurity.
I believe it is the duty of our worthy Sanitary Inspector to
report to the Honourable Town Council the existence of such
nuisances as the above-named, which, if allowed, cannot fail to
vitiate the general health of the town. The Sanitary Inspector
being in default in this instance, allow me through the medium of
your valuable columns to call the attention of our worthy Corpor-
ation to the existence of such a public nuisance.
I am, &c.,
An Inhabitant.
Such was the want of common sense — especially on the part of
Ex — Ton — Mare that the town was in a constant state of insol-
vency and had to borrow at a high rate of interest from the
bankers.
Faying the Piper.
" The building of a Town Hall in excess of our requirements is
beginning to bear bitter fruit. The Corporation has already
borrowed £2,000 ; and now a public meeting of householders is
called for Wednesday next. May 9, at 8 o'clock, for the purpose
of appealing to the householders ' for power to borrow a sum not
exceeding =£3,000, to meet engagements for the current year.'
The placing of £3,701 10s. on the estimates to be ' derived from
prospective sale of erven,' was
' To swallow gudgeons ere they're catched,
And count their chickens ere they're liatch'd.'
And the piper must be paid somehow. Hence the Town Council
is in a quandary.
' So comes a reck'ning when the banquet's o'er,
The dreadful reck'ning, and men smile no more.'
The Orange Free State. 197
We were always averse to the expenditure of so large a sum as
£15,000 on a Town Hall, and looked upon it as the hobby of a few
ambitious bat irresponsible citizens who had become ' too big for
their boots.' Such has been the prodigality of our ' guardians '
that the town is now £5,500 in debt — a debt that will probably
be augmented by £2,000 before the current year has expired. All
our available resources are exhausted, and Bloemfontein will be
like a lame dog limping over a style for the next ten years. Re-
trenchment, therefore is imperative ; and we trust the householders
in public meeting assembled will discountenance the reckless game
of burning the candle at both ends, which has been going on of
late so consumedly. The virtues of economy must be impressed
upon the minds of the Town Councillors, and the folly of ' out-
running the constable ' dilated upon. In these hard times frugality
must be practised : it is the only safe card we can play. We are
in debt, and it behoves the town to get out of the quagmire, and
not sink deeper into it."
Now all this could have been prevented if the State and Council
had but understood how to build and construct public Municipal
waterworks, &c., by means of public National Paper-money. They
could not plead ignorance, because I specially drew their attention
to the subject when I read my paper on " How to Construct Free
State Railways and other Public Works without the burden of
Loans, Bonds, Mortgages or Interest " — since printed and to be
had from all booksellers with my other works. Time after tim»
suggestions were made for the storing up of water for the use of
the citizens, and notably the scheme here appended.
Gwr Water /Supply.
" We have always advocated a good water supply for this town.
When we considered that the town was likely to ' outrun the
constable ' in building the new Town-hall, we said we should not
so much mind the extravagant expenditure if the Municipality
spent a pound upon securing a good water supply for every twenty
shillings it expended upon the new building. But, we are sorry
198 The Orange Feee State.
to say, our advice was not heeded. We have now an expensive
structure — very useful no doubt, but not a neccessity — but very
little money has been expended on securing a supply of water.
Now, the Corporation are in the position of the man who gave
his children a stone when they asked for bread. They have
secured, by boring at the Park Springs and at Kafirfontein, an
ample supply of water, but the expense of bringing it into town
baffles them. An Engineer has been consulted. An elaborate
plan has been drawn up. We have been made to long for the rich
store of the precious element which we can have simply by paying
for it, but, alas our spending power is exhausted ! Although we
should be glad to witness the supply of water running through our
streets as promised by the scheme of Mr. Schurmann — and should
not object even to the Modder-river being brought into town — we
really do not see how our finances are to stand it.
' Utopia is a pleasant place,
But how shall I get there ? '
It strikes us that a much more modest scheme, would have sufficed
the inhabitants of this town for many years to come. Our Town
Council has evidently lost its head in financial matters. Erven
have in late times been sold at such ridiculously high prices ; the
morning market dues have brought up such a pretty figure ; the
rateable property, as we have previously pointed out, has by a
sleight-of-hand trick been increase nearly double ; so our town-
fathers think that there is money in galore. Wij zwemtnen in het
geld !
But they should remember that the times, instead of im-
proving, are decidedly getting worse. That it is no use in going
too fast. ' Go slow,' should be their motto. These are the times
of retrenchment, rather than of increased expenditure. It seems
to us a rather reckless spending of money to give any local man
£200 for any scheme for supplying water. No body of men who
cared for the pockets of their constituents, unless they had the
funds of the City of London at their command, should have voted
such a large sum of money merely for a scheme, before they had
ascertained that there were means sufficient to carry out the plan
■J^hen brought to maturity. If the Corporation had been in funds,
The Orange Free State. 199
then the competitive principle should have been brought into
vogue. A reward of £100 in these hard times would have brought
plenty of schemes to the fore. Mr. Schurmann in his Report
According to measurements taken by me at different times
during the last four months the undermentioned springs
are able to give the following mean number of gallons per
day : — Ist, Park Springs every 24 hours about 50,000
gallons ; 2nd, Kaffirfontein every 24 hours 150,000 gallons;
3rd, Bloemfontein every 24 hours about 100,000 gallons.
Together about 300,000 gallons per day, which quantity is
quite sufficient for ten thousand inhabitants.
So that it appears there is no want of water in and around our
town for our population, which is probably under 2,000. After
stating that the amount of rainfall in the town of Bloemfontein
during a certain number of years has averaged about twenty inches
per annum, Mr. Schurmann proceeds to say :
If the same quantity of rain water falls on the area of the
above-mentioned kloof [between Tempe-road and the
Spitskop], which may be reckoned on, and from this rain
water 8 inches only are caught, this will give a quantity
of not less than 76,554,240 gallons of water per year,
and if all is stored up, an average of 209,710 gallons
per day.
At present a reservoir to store up 20,000,000 gallons of water
will be sufficient for the town supply, if the Town Council
is willing to adopt a combined water scheme, according to
the plans and specifications.
In accordance with the above-mentioned scheme, all parts of
the town, which are lower than 50 feet above a certain 0,oo
point shown on plans, will be supplied with spring water
from the Park, by means of the 50,000 gallon tank ; all
parts of the town which are on a higher level than 50 feet
above the 0,oo point, will be supplied with water from the
High Level Reservoir.
200 The Orange Free State.
The fire hydrants as shown on the plan, can be used under high
pressure only; the above-mentioned reservoir will give th&
pressure required, and will save the cost of a fire-engine.
The tap-posts as shown on plan are made for the public in
general, as well as for those who can afford the expense-
of having the water from the main pipes laid into their
houses.
The following is the plan proposed by Mr. Schurmann for
paying for the outlay necessary for this large undertaking : —
According to the valuation roll, the value of property in Bloem-
foiltein is about £500,000, and if the Town Council adopts
the scheme with the High Level Reservoir, which will
cost about £35,000, the water rates must be l^d. in
the £.
£35,000 at 6 per cent, interest will give £2,100 interest per
year. l^d. in the £ on £500,000 will give about £2,600
per year.
From this can be repaid in the first year £500, and in the
following years more, so that in a certain number of years
the Waterworks will be the absolute and free property of
the Municipality.
The scheme matured by Mr. Schurmann in accordance with an
order of the Mayor and Town Council is no doubt as good as could
be devised under the circumstances, but we maintain that there is
no necessity for such a grand undertaking, and if there were, there
are no funds at the disposal of the Corporation to pay for the
carrying out of the same. What we want is a small practical
scheme to cost at the outside about £5,000. We believe the rate-
payers never dreamed that the Council ever intended to clap three-
pence in the £ in perpetuity on their erven. We say, threepence
in the £ ; for the estimate of l|d. would never pay the interest.
A penny rate on the present fictitious value of property brings up,
according to the published Estimates, £1,720 ; therefore, a penny
farthing rate would produce £2,150. There would be expenses
Che Okange Fkee State. 201
attending the reservoir and pipes, as well as the salary of another
water bailiff to be provided for, which might be set down at £500
or £fiOO a year. If this were added to the interest of £2,100
per annum (which our readers will observe is reckoned at the rate
of 6 per cent, per annum only, whilst the cheapest money the Town
Council can get is at 6f per cent.), it would bring the yearly
charge up to £2,700. Before the ratepayers agree to such a
scheme a re-valuation of property is sure to take place, and that
would probably bring down the receipts 25 per cent. We note
that Mr. Schurmann in his report says that 1 Jd. in the £, is equal
to £6 per erf, which would be a very high rate for landlords to pay
on small tenements. And how about the hundreds of vacant erven ?
Would their proprietors be called upon to pay their quota ?
Although their value is included in the rateable property, it
surely would not be fair to tax the proprietors if no water was
consumed.
In addition to the above, other schemes were proposed, but to
please the Ex — Ton — Mare, a sum of about a thousand pounds was
speilt in digging a trench to drain a hollow, born of bog and
always dissipated by drought. I am bold enough to state that
it is not for want of water that prosperity does not follow the
white man in South Africa. It is want of wisdom in not knowing
how to gather up Nature's solid stone and other material and
storing up the waters that run to the rivers and seas. Of course,
the one thing needed in South Africa or elsewhere is money, or
exchange mediums, to enable the people to carry out all undertak-
ings necessary for their comfort and welfare ; and this necessity,
with its attendant train of discomforts, will always exist so long
as we place our sole reliance upon bankers or gold money.
The ancients knew nothing about our modern system of money,
and yet, by their labour, they constructed aqueducts and other
public works as can be seen to this day, as I have fully explained
in my National Paioer-Money and Its Use. If, in the past, the
ancients could construct such works without money, surely we,
the scientific moderns, can do so ; and, with our improved system
of legal tender paper notes, even much better.
By adopting this course we should free ourselves and our child-
ren from being debt-slaves to the gold money-holders. It must
and will be done when the light dawus upon our State and Town
202 The Orange Free State.
Councillors, and then there will be a chance for all to have pure
water in their houses and in the streets. It is quite saddening to
think of the want, waste and deaths that result from the want of
a supply of pure water. With a large dam at the top and bottom
of the town, millions of gallons of the precious fluid could have
been blocked back by simply pulling down and removing the big
hills at the back of the town by gravitation. The one could have
been placed in the way of the water, and finally banked up by
stone work, that it would at all times — by means of gravitation —
have supplied the whole of the town for drinking and all other
purposes, and thus the whole district might have been converted
into a beautiful garden. But no ; though the hills were crying
out, " Come and take us : " and the water asking to be stopped
and used for the benefit of man and cattle whilst rushing away in
sufiicient volumes to supply the whole country, and for want of
gold money the unemployed were standing still and living upon
charity.
With a sufficient supply of water, and manure from the waste
materials of the town, the lands of Bloemfonfcein could have grown
all the food that was needed, and thousands of pounds would have
been saved, — that were lost through cattle dying in the winter for
want of food in consequence of the insufficient water sapply.
These facts being known, one can only feel contempt for men who
sit on Town Councils — not only in Bloemfontein but all the world
over. In the days to come these are the works that will remove
all want and trade depression and give everlasting work to all our
workers, and thus : —
In our distress bid Legal tenders chase
All fear of want from Labour's hardy race,
Bid Aqueducts be form'd to bring the rills
Of purest water from from the neighbouring Hills ;
Bid Lakes expand where youth may safely float ;
Bid deepen'd Streams the Health of Towns promote.
Bid Harbours open, public Works and ways extend.
Bid Temples worthier of Art and Science ascend ;
Bid the broad Arch the dangerous Flood contain,
The Mole projected, break the roaring main.
Back to her bounds the subject Sea command.
And roll obedient Kivers through the Land.
Lastly, let Government such Wages give
The Orange Free State. 203
On Public Works, that all may toil and live :
Then, all who toil will find life pass alon'4,
Happier sustained by Labour than by wrong ;
Then, will our Virtuous Poor be better fed,
Nor workhouse test, — nor destitution — dread ;
And all around them rising in the scale
Of Comfort, show that humanity's Laws prevail.
Chapter XVI.
HE month of May was an important month in the-
history of the Free State. For twenty long years
John Brand had served the Free State as the State
figure-head ; but certainly not as the head of the
State. For many reasons he had been chosen : but
I am prepared to vouch for the truth of the assertion
that, in no sense, had these reasons been verified. I
have already made frequent allusion to this man, and shall have
to continue to do so ; but, in the first place, let me say there is no
desire or intention, on my part, to draw attention to him in his
private capacity. I consider him to be, like thousands more, a
good husband, a good father, and a good man ; but goodness in
private life is not all that is needed in a public official.
On the eve of his fifth election occurred one of the most convin-
cing proofs imaginable that — after twenty years of official life —
he was a complete failure in his public capacity, an opinion that
is thoroughly borne out by the following article from the Friend^
of May 8th :—
The Vclksraad.
" Pursuant to notice, and in accordance with the Constitution,
the honourable Volksraad assembled at ten o'clock on Monday
last. There were about forty members present. It being the
annual session, a Chairman for the year was elected. The
choice fell on Mr. J. George Fraser, the member for Bloemfontein.
" Mr. Tobias De Villiers, who has acted in this capacity since
the death of Mr. Gert Visser in 1879, said his health did not
The Orange Free State. 205
permit him to accept the high and honourable situation. Many
members, notwithstanding the expressed wish of Mr. De Villiers,
voted for him as Chairman, twenty-three voting for Mr. Fraser,
and nineteen for Mr, De Villiers, We cannot but commend the
Eaad upon its choice, for Mr. Fraser's legal knowledge, tact, and
husiness capabilities, pre-eminently qualify him for the responsible
position. He is also thoroughly conversant with the new rules of
order, and it is thought that public business will be much ex-
pedited by his election. Mr. De Villiers has done his work in his
day and generation, but his friends have lately observed that the
new rules of order were very trying to the old Chairman, whose
health has been failing recently.
" Messrs. Louw and Kruger were appointed as a Commission to
escort His Honour the President to the Council Chamber, and the
Eaad adjourned.
"At 2.15, the President arrived, the Band striking up the
Volkslied.
" The Eev. C. S. Morgan offered up a fervent prayer to the Most
High that He would pour down on the assembly the continual
dew of His blessing.
" His Honour, who was in good voice, then delivered the opening
address, a copy of which, and a translation of the same, our readers
will find in other columns.
" The Eaad has made some progress with the public business
brought forward in the Speech by His Honour. We are sorry to
observe, however, that the low state of the Treasury Chest is
having its effect on the legislature, for it has not only refused to
entertain the question of building a new Presidency, which
can be done without for a time, but it refused to consider the
subject of building a new Post Office, of which there is much
need.
" The Eeport of the Treasurer-General on the past financial
year and the Draft Estimates of revenue and expenditure for the
year 1884-5 were laid on the table. The latter was referred to
the Commission on the Estimates. The Treasurer-General esti-
mates the revenue from all sources at £229,598 10s. lOJd., and
the expenditure at £269,827 15s. 2d., showing a debit balance of
£39,729 4s. 3^d. This statement will no doubt frighten some of
our landsvaders, who have been used to an annual surplus of
206 The Oeange Feee State.
nearly the like amount. It must not be forgotten, however, that
£84,157 lis. is brought up as an item of expenditure. This
large amount appears to have been obtained during the past
financial year, as follows : — Promissory Note, National Bank,
£7,000 ; Loan from said Bank to Treasurer-General, £40,000 ;
overdrawn account in the said Bank, £26,057 lis. ; and borrowed
from the Government Loan Funds, £11,100. Of this amount,
£40,001 Is. 5d., which sum has been paid for reproductive works,
will be repaid from the Debentures when floated. The Treasurer-
General having brought ■^l^is amount of £40,001 Is. 5d. up as
revenue, it therefore follows, that the debit of balance of £39,729'
odd is a serious deficiencyvfor us.
"The great depression of trade has a very injurious influence
on the revenue ; and the tightness of the money market and the
low price of all kinds of farm produce at present ruling do not
allow the usual sales of land to take place. It therefore appears
that the Raad will have to ' cut its coat according to its cloth,' and
retrench as much as possible. We trust, however, that all
reproductive works will be allowed to be carried on as promised."
The Bad Times.
" Never since March, 1854, when the British garrison marched
out of the Fort, has Bloemfontein presented such a wobegone
appearance as it now does. Never since the epoch of the Aban-
donment, has the capital exhibited such a list of empty tenements.
Never since the country was thrown overboard by its sovereign,
have ' sovereigns ' been so scarce. Never since the establishment
of the Free State, have * establishments ' been so pitilessly reduced.
Never since President Brand secured for us peace and plenty by
the subjugation of the ' nation of thieves ' and the circulation of a
forced paper currency, have trade and enterprise been at so low an
ebb and " accommodation ' at such a high consideration. Never
did the cheery motto of our blithe-hearted Chief Magistrate (* Alles
zal regt komen ') sound so vapid and meaningless as it does
in these 'hard times' when an almost imperceptible rise of the
The Orange Free State. 207
commercial barometer would be hailed with inexpressible delight
by the entire community."
" The speech of His Honour the State President and that of the
Governor of the Cape Colony offer much scope for the discussion
of questions that may justly be called burning questions. Both
are characterised by wh3,t we may be allowed to call, in opposition
to the progressive legislation of former years, a tendency to con-
solidate existing measures and provide for a period of difficulties
and short comings. To exult in the position now occupied by this
State and the Cape Colony would be sheer madness, yet it may
be sound sense to acknowledge that nations as well as individuals
derive incalculable benefit from being subject to laws as natural as
they are necessary.
"One of those laws is, that unnatural growth is followed by
disease or decay, that upon every period of inflation follows one of
depression. But the lesson would be a vain one, if the latter
state was not really acknowledged and truly made use of to return
to life's real and best objects, which are so often overlooked in
the race for what is called in this world success. Thus, both the
Free State and the Cape Colony will be occupied with legislation
that concerns the regulation of their finances upon a more sound
basis, and touch the prosperity of the country by an attention to
questions, that are too easily disregarded and overlooked as lonw
as each country — out of a sense of independence and selfishness
is mindful only of what it deems its own profit.
" The contemplation of what is of mutual interest to both coun-
tries forces two or three questions to the foreground, which we in-
tend to discuss on this occasion. Looking at the securing of peace
as a main condition of prosperity, the question of Basutoland
deserves to rank foremost in our consideration. Colonel Clarke's
visit to Bloemfontein and his journey thence to confer with the
Governor of Capetown, regarding the immediate measures calcu-
lated to ensure peace and good government shows the mutual
interest both countries take in the future of Basutoland. We have
been told that his intention is to raise a force of something like a
thousand volunteers — here and in the Cape Colony — destined to
208 The Orange Feee JState.
protect our boundary and to enable him to govern Basutoland, if
need be, by an application of force. We are again told that the
Colonel has bluntly refused to lend a shadow of his authority to
Jonathan, and that in consequence thereof the chief, loyal to the
cause of his countrymen's enemies, is on the verge of ruin.
" The two statements, coming as they do from trustworthy
sources, do not harmonize, and we feel at a loss to offer advice to
our Government, except to postpone action until the policy of the
Administrator has passed the limit of intentions, and has made
itself apparent in measures. The danger of a sudden change of
policy, to which we are now as subject as we always have been, is
too apparent to allow of our leaving the strict confines of caution
and prudence. The more so as the imminent change of Ministry in
the Cape Colony threatens to influence the position of the Colony
towards Basutoland. Though we may at once add that we should
hail the change, promising as it does the constituting of a Ministry,
which will lay greater stress upon our needs and what is due to us
than the present Ministry has exhibited.
" A new Ministry in the Cape Colony means, if not a Dutch
South African Ministry, certainly one in which that party — our
party — will have a decided influence. It means consequently a
reversed policy in the native question, and that is necessary. It
means the retention of the Transkei, and a check upon ' the new
departure,' by which colonists are placed in opposition to natives,
and unmethodical philanthropy takes the place of a practical
policy. It means the avoidance of complications in Stellaland, an
eventuality in which we, as well as the whole of South Africa,
are more deeply concerned than appears on the surface. It
means that this country will have reason to expect justice from a
sister State that has preyed upon us and abused our natural
weakness.
" Thus we come to the second point, in which both countries
are alike deeply interested. His Honour the State President and
the Governor alike touch upon the question of a rebate on customs,
the former in an appeal to the sense of justice of the colonial
people, the latter in an acknowledgment that the colonial trade
will be benefited by such a concession. It matters little whether
feelings of honour or self-interest dictate the actions of the Cape
Colony in this matter, as long as justice is done to us. This we
The ORA.NGE Free State. 2()9
fondly hope, for the sake of the Colony as well as our own. For
the refusal to listen to the dictates of common justice will be fruit-
ful of disappointment and distress, and we think it will not bo out
of place to quote here an extract from the JSatal Witness bearing
upon Railways, a question that is entirely dependent upon that of
Rebate of Customs : —
The railway question, however, as is well known, touches the
financial question, and the financial question touches also
the Customs question. These are also points that have to
be kept in view in respect of any plan for the future. In
discussing this on former occasions, we have spoken of it
as the interest of Natal to assist in railway construction
from her own border as far as Bethlehem, and as the
interest of the Cape Colony to assist in railway construction
from Colesberg to Bloemfontein. This is, no doubt, a
convenient mode of stating the problem so long as we are
arguing on the basis of the rival interests of the Cape
Colony and Natal. There can, however, be little doubt
that, viewing the question from the basis of the general
interests of South Africa, a different and more comprehen-
sive view will have to taken. It will be necessary to follow
the system adopted in Algeria by dividing'raiiways into two
classes, viz., " lines of general interest," and " lines of local
interest," the former cared for by the South African
communities in common, and the latter by the local
Government by which they were constructed. The classi-
fication would not be diflicult to arrive at. " Lines of
general interest " would be clearly those which connected
the diflferent communities together, and brought their
centres of population into communication with each other.
" Lines of local interest " would be lines other than these.
Hence the lines from Capetown to Kalk Bay, from Cape-
town to Malmesbury, from Capetown to Stellenbosch, from
Port Elizabeth to Graaff-Reinet, from Port Elizabeth to
Grahamstown, from Durban to Verulam, from Durban to
Isipingo, and from Lady smith to Newcastle would un-
doubtedly all be " lines of local interest." Probably the
same classification would apply to the line from East
2l0 The Orange Peee State.
London to Aliwal North ; possibl}' to the line from Cape-
town through Beaufort West. It would be at least impos-
sible for South Africa at large to recognise as '• lines of
general interest " lines which have been notoriously con-
structed as competing lines to serve party purposes. The
individuals who have profited by the construction of such
lines should pay for them themselves, if they can. They
cannot expect South Africa to pay for them. So, too, the
line from Pretoria to Delagoa Bay could only be regarded
as a "line of general interest" as far as the Portugese
boundary. Within that boundary it is Portugal's concern.
On the other hand, it is very plain that the lines con-
structed within the Free State would be all of them " lines
of general interest," inasmuch as they would all be lines of
intercommunication between the different South African
communities. The importance of recognising this principle
will be at once admitted, while the effect which it cannot but
exercise on the future of the whole South African question
will be very great. In all probability it be will found both
desirable and necessary for united South Africa to under-
take the responsibility for all money spent in the construc-
tion of " lines of general interest," and there can be no
doubt that the Customs receipts at the various ports will
rightly constitute the fund out of which liabilities of this
kind are to be met.
The three questions of Native Management, Customs Dues,
and Railways, seemingly unconnected and independent of each
other, are thus brought under one focus. If an attempt is made
to deal with them on a broad and liberal basis, the times that are
and have been will soon be forgotten, in an era of true prosperity
and progress. Alas, if to our present troubles should be added
the result consequent upon a disregard of what concerns South
Africa's best interests !
The above forms so serious an indictment that people may well
wonder at the glowing eulogies that had been heaped u])on the
TiiK Okange Free State. 211
President. The fact is, that but for the connection with England,
the Free State would have become an uninhabited wilderness. The
diamond fields were the one cause of an appearance of prosperity
in the past ; and, as I shall afterwards prove, not one single effort
was made on the part of the officials to improve the condition of
the people.
But for the golden shower of English sovereigns, the Dutch, aa
of old, would have been but mealy eaters, with now and then a
piece of biltong as a relish, and the wearers of leather breeches.
All this may be repudiated by the brainless lads born since the
the abandonment, but it will certainly be endorsed by those who
recollect the period of the English occupancy, and who long once
more for the power, protection and wealth of the English nation ;
and now that money is so scarce the people are having their eyes
opened to the truth. It may well appear that it was owing to
some special merit that President Brand was elected for the fifth
time ; but it was nothing of the kind, as all who know the cir-
cumstances are fully aware.
The Dutch are proverbially slow, and history proves that it is
only on such occasions as when they feel the pinch of hunger, or
property or life is endangered, that they can be moved 1o
energetic action. During the whole of the President's career
the Dutch had made money out of the English and that to them
was sufficient. During this period, the German and Hollander
have rushed into the Free State, and having occupied the ofhcial
positions they are determined to keep the man in power that helped
them into such good quarters at the expense of the Dutchman.
The inhabitants of the Free State are getting so poverty-stricken
that they will not stand another term of five years for Brand or
any other President with a horde of German and Hollander human
asvo^als, who look upon the Dutch people as so many carcases
with which to gorge themselves for the remainder of their lives
and their children after them. The Dutch have been and are
good natured ; but they cannot stand the beaks of these wretches
at their very vitals without turning like the worm when trodden
upon, and in their turning I feel that they will smite hip and
thigh the settled and roving vagabonds all over the country
eating them up so continuously.
The month of May was tho official May Day. Having a holi-
o2
212 The Okange Fkee IState.
day, I determined to see tlie sights provided for the Dutch people
by the official Hollander class. Children are at all times pleased
with firearms, and if not a living then a ?'ocZ;m^-horse. Now you
cannot move the youth of the Dutch inhabitants so readily as to
mount him on a horse and give him a gun with an inexhaustible
supply of powder to blaze away. Now this was the great enjoy-
ment of the day. The show^ so far as the bunting was concerned
was a sight not fit for niggers much less the gods. It was not of
sufljcient quality even to please the children, and must have dis-
gusted the men.
Simple-minded women will laugh and giggle at a little, and for
an opportunity to show up and be admired will risk any amount
of disappointment. But the miserable, ludicrous figure that the
aspiring officials cut was something so saddening that one wondered
how they could expose themselves before the conquered natives in
such a burlesque. It was a daylight, walking pantomime of the
grotesque order.
To parade the streets, to conduct the President to the Dutch
Church to swear an allegiance for another five years of good
things in the shape of £3,000 a year and an honorarium of £2,500
to clear himself of debt after the many thousands he had had
during the past years of his Presidency. It was quite annoying
to me to see how happy he looked as he passed along thinking
how nicely he had made the Free State a " Tom Tiddlei*'s ground "
ior picking up English gold and silver at the expense of the Dutch.
One wag facetiously intimated that he would swear and fulfil the
office for a third of the sum.
What a vile thought of a Radical in a Republican State — but
really this aping of older countries is truly disgusting. A big
show may be possible in a European country, but the attempt to
parody the swindling ceremonies of Europe is something out-
lageous. At a given time the burghers on their nags in some of
the most wretched clothing and " show ups " that it has ever been
my lot to witness were proud to salute their chief. The word of
command was given by a half-blooded Sheriff RufF, for the time
being made Commandant because he had a splendid mount. Then
the march commenced to the Dutch Church. We passed, on the
way, the Town Hall, near which were placed some damaged
salmon tins charged with fat for the evening illuminations.
The Orange Feee State. 218
The poverty of tlie town was sucli that the Town Council voted
the magnificent sum. of £10 to celebrate the occasion. Think of it
ye gods ; £10 for a National day of rejoicing. glorious sim-
plicity of a Republic.
Arrived at the Church, in the midst of guns firing, the officials
at last entered the church of man — it had long ceased to be the
Church of God — and then commenced a combination of blasphemy
and eulogy that was simply a compound of insolence and audacity.
Thanks to the conceit and narrow-mindedness of the Dutch, the
minister was no longer allowed to speak in English in this struc-
ture — so that I, not having learned the patois of these simple
Dutch farmers and their kitchen Dutch, was not able to follow all
the orders of the Masters of the Ceremonies ; reserving to myself
the pleasure of its translation in the Friend afterwards. Having
sat through the mimic torture of a spurious Republican swearing-
in, I retired in the midst of guns firing to my tiffin, hoping to en-
joy that better than all this childish mimicry.
The Sivearing-in
of
HIS HONOUR J. H. BRAND
as
President.
On Friday last, the 9th May, the town presented quite a gala
appearance — flags waved in the wind from every flagstafl^, pennants
and banners hung out from many a building, and the streets were
thronged with people in holiday attire. Soon after sunrise
horsemen galloped about the city — some with rifles with which
they ever and anon fired off a feu dejoie, and others bearing the
Free State colours unfurled. About nine o'clock the armed and
mounted burghers, who had arrived in town on the previous day,
began to muster under their different field-cornets. These came
from the four wards and the town, and were distinguished by
different coloured puggarees. The town burghers, numbering
about 60, under Mr. Nicolas RaafF, wore orange ; the Boven-
modder-river wore green ; the Middle-modder-river, red ; Ihe
214 The Orange Free State.
Kafir-river, blue ; and the Kaal-sprnit, orange. Mr. Field-com-
mandant Prinsloo, who was in command, wore an orange scarf.
At ten o'clock the President in his carriage, accompanied by Messrs.
Roux and Siebert, two of the oldest members of the Raad, especially
selected to accompany His Honour, arrived on the Market-square
under an escort of about 500 armed and mounted burghers, en
route to the Council Chamber, where it was arranged the Volks-
raad would receive him, and the procession should be formed. As
soon as His Honour arrived, the school-children sang the " Volks-
lied." Six masters of ceremonies, appointed by the Raad, and
twelve assistant masters of ceremonies, after some little time,
formed the procession as follows :
The Town Burghers under command of Mr. N. Raaff.
The Artillery Band.
Two M.C.'s (Dr. Krause and Mr. Salzmann).
The Chairman and secretary of the Volksraad and the Minister
of the D, R. Church, Bloemfontein.
The Members of the Volksraad.
Judge Reitz and State- Attorney Vels.
Armed and HIS HONOUR Armed and
Mounted THE PRESIDENT Mounted
Burghers. and Messrs. Souz and Siebert. Burghers.
Members of the Executive Council.
Consuls of Holland, Germany, and Portugal.
The Moderator of the Synod.
Ministers of the various congregations and Members
of the Synod.
Heads of Departments and the Rector of Grey College.
The Mayor and Town Council,
Officials and school teachers of Grey College.
School children.
The Orange Free State. 215
Burghers on foot.
Armed and Mounted Burghers.
The head of the procession, which had come down Maitland-street,
arrived on the Market-Square exactly at ten o'clock. It turned
to the right, passed in front of the Club, went down the south side
of the Square, traversing the east side by the Free State Hotel,
and then by the Irimd oflSce to Upper Church-street, It was
about 400 yards long, and reached from the Club corner to the
Police-station. The public walked four deep and mounted burghers
six deep. Whilst the procession was moving along minute guns
were fired. The President alighted at the Dutch Church at about
half-past ten o'clock. About 500 persons were assembled at the
building, the inside of which was crowded, space only being left
for the Members of the Volksraad, the Executive, and other
privileged persons. The Chairman of the Volksraad received His
Honour at the Church and led him to his appointed place,
followed by the two delegates from the Raad, the organ playing a
voluntary in the meantime ; after which the swearing-in ceremony
was commenced by the Minister of Bloemfontein offering up
prayer. An eloquent address was then delivered by the Chairman
of the Raad, who requested the Volksraad's Secretary to read the
oath. It having been demanded of the Psesident whether he was
prepared to take the oath, His Honour replied in the afErmative,
took the oath, and signed the same. The " Volkslied" was played
on the organ, and a salute of 21 guns notified the enactment of
this part of the proceedings. After an address from the Eev.
C. S. Morgan, to which His Honour the President replied, the
solemnities were closed with prayer, and the Raad adjourned to
the Council Chamber. The Chairman and Secretary of the Raad
and the Landdrost of Bloemfontein escorted His Honour to his
carriage, and he was accompanied to Government House by the two
delegates from the Raad, under escort of the whole of the mounted
burghers. The Chairman and Members of the Volksraad returned
in the same order in which they came to the Council Chamber.
There was no real recession, as the President proceeded to the
Presidency by one route, and the Members of the Raad took
another to their destination ; while the other bodies returned
home without any formation M'hatever. A great number of
216 The Orange Free State.
people who fully expected that there would be a recession similar
to the procession, and who had been waiting for an hour-and-a-
half — the time the ceremony occupied — were, in consequence,
disappointed in missing a view of the expected pageantry.
Soon after His Honour had returned home, the Chairman and
Members of the Eaad repaired to the Presidency and presented
the President with an address from that honourable body and the
gift of money voted last annual session. At half-past one the
W.M.s. of the two Masonic Lodges in this town presented an
address from the members of the Craft, to which His Honour
replied in cordial terms. Then Mr. Attorney Mathey, the Agent
for the Chief Sepinare, handed in an address from that Chief con-
gratulating His Honour upon his election for the fifth time as
President, and expressing the wish that the cordial and friendly
relations which had always existed between the Barolongs and the
Free State would long continue. His Honour, who appeared
much gratified with this thoughtful token of respect of the Chief
Sepinare, said he trusted that the friendly relations which had
hitherto existed between the two people would last, for the Baro-
longs had always been allies of the State, and in the early days
had much befriended the original settlers in this country. This
deputation was no sooner bowed out than the Mayor and Corpor-
ation waited upon His Honour and presented an address to the
President, to which he gave a gracious reply. The Chairman and
Committee of the Bloemfontein Club then presented an address to
their Honorary Chairman, and were cordially received. The
Moderator and Ministers of the Dutch Eeformed Church also
presented an address on behalf of the Synod, now in convocation.
The amusements and illuminations of the evening were posi-
tively marvellous. I may truly say that the English at their
clubs and houses were as fawning as the Germans and Hollanders.
The Jew — as ever, parsimonious in the land where he gathered up
his wealth, even the bankrupt unbelieving Thomas and the German
Old — Sons of the fountain of dishonour — again went into debt at
somebody's expense to lighten their residence, but no longer their
house. May they never know what it is to own another place is
The Orange Feee State. 217
all the harm I wish them after all my special kindness. The
town, like the unfortunate land, is full of sycophants who, believ-
ing that John Brand can help them in getting hold of English
money, fawn and flatter without stint.
The Germans and Jews are low and grovelling when poor, and
insolent and snobbish when well supplied with English money.
The Dutchman may love his Africa with all his heart and would
perhaps fight for his land, but the Germans and Jews, directly
they find there is nothing to be gained from the Free State, will
leave all to their wretched fate.
Chapter XVII.
ROM the time when the Colonial Government gave
to the Free State the sum of £100,000, as compen-
sation for the supposed loss of the diamond fields
at Kimberley, the banking power there has been
to all intents a monopoly. That money was made
the means of taxing, under another form, the in-
habitants, and the income derived from usury was
devoted to the payment of the Free State officials.
In the early days of the Orange Free State, the then Govern-
ment issued on the public credit, and the security of what were
at that time known as the public lands, a sufficient number of
paper notes called " Bluebacks " ; but as time rolled on, these
lands were stolen, or passed away to private holders ; thus, the
security, upon which the notes were issued, vanished, and as a
matter of course the market value of the notes diminished. This
was just the result any sane person would expect. Destroy all or
part of the securities, whether moveable or unmoveable property,
upon which the English or any other Government made an ad-
vance and the whole value would at once depreciate to the exact
amount of loss by such destruction.
Although this was well known, the Government gold Bank, the
one private bank of Africa, and other interested parties opposed
the issue of paper- money ; but I am bold enough to assert that in
futuie the English Capitalists will not lend to the Dutch Free
State ; and they, like many others, will have to consider the ex-
pediency of making their own money for home use, and the pro-
ducts of the country — whether many or few — will have to be the
purchasing modiuni lor foreign goods.
The Orange Free State. 219
Gold money has been the cause of the downfall of all ancient
Empires, and as it was in the past so will it be in the future.
Thus it becomes the duty of all statesmen to consider well the
present money and exchange conditions if they desire to prevent
the destruction of the governing classes.
The legal humbugs in Bloemfontein were so unreliable that it
was impossible to secure an honest opinion from o?ie. This is not
to we wondered at when we consider how they constituted them-
selves black ornaments to their profession. The original history
of the whole is so peculiar that posterity must not lose the advan-
tage of watching how, under a Dutch Republic, such things could
be possible.
First and foremost, the President — a Cape Town lawyer, a
failure in Cape Town — a place-man from the beginning in Bloem-
fontein. The Attorney-General, so rank an impostor and swindler
that no one desired his services ; and, with £700 a year, always
in debt, and being a lawyer no one " went for him " for fear of
losing in any just cause of complaint they might have against him.
The keenest and most successful lawyer was a most immoral and
outrageous man ; always in debt, and, as a retired German mis-
sionary and KafSr killer and an ex-policeman, was very little
respected. Another was so black a sheep, that even his black
brethren did not care to know him ; who, although at one time I
paid him £100 for services not worth twenty pounds, never
finished the work for which he received the sum above-mentioned,
and at last sent me a most piteous letter begging the loan of two
pounds, which was never repaid. Perhaps Mr. What-is-the-
matter and the Future will accept this as a gift to buy a Bier for
him when he ceases from troubling. The magistrates of the Free
State were totally unqualified for their office, as the constant
appeals against their decisions in the High Court (so called) bear
witness.
The Hat — Ton of Bloemfontein was a most miserable man both
in and out of office. With all the impudence of a Dutch Boer he
offered an Englishman, who needed work and help, 1().~. a month,
to work in his garden; mark it well, — less pay than that given to
a black man. This man for two months refused to issue a warrant
for the apprehension of a man who outrageously robbed me of
over £1000. It was suggested that a fellow-feeling would not allow
220 The Orange Fkee State.
him to be liard upon this vagabond. At last, under the influence
of public pressure, he consented to see into it ; but when I respect-
fully accosted him about the matter, he assured me that he was
not sure if he had the power to do as I wished, but would look up
the " authorities " on the subject.
Fancy, the Chief Magistrate not knowing his duties ; no wonder
it was said that he was an ofBcious fool, making up in bluster, for
lack ot knowledge : —
This state of things becoming intolerable, I demanded justice
from the State Attorney, who wrote for the warrant to be issued
immediately, with results that will be seen later on.
In December at the introduction of a broker, I sold to a man
who called himself a merchant, £142 worth of flour on a
month's Promissory Note. This man was dishonourable enough
to attempt to assign his estate, the very day after this transaction,
and never paid the balance remaining. Finding I could get no
satisfaction, I at last secured compulsory power of sequestration,
and then the Law wreckers carried on their work of destruction.
Think of the conditions that could allow such damnable conduct
on the part of a trader !
" Victim " on Commercial Trickery.
" The worth of a State in the long run is the worth of the com-
mercial individuals composing it."
Pietermaritzburg, Oct. 2oth, 1883.
To the Editor of the Frimd :
Sir, — Having noticed some very trenchant remarks in your local
column of the 18th inst, relative to the unsatisfactory manner in
which business is transacted in the Free State, I shall esteen it a
great favour if you will allow me a space for these few lines
apropos of the subject.
It hcxs been a matter of great surprise to many for some years
that in the face of such apparent rascality and business trickery that
has, and is still taking place within the South African Colonies,
that merchants are not more careful in the entrusting of their
wares to the credit of petty shop-keepers throughout the
country.
The Orange Free State. 221
It is a generally admitted fact that the existing laws between
the creditor and debtor will bear a deal of modifying, for the
former's better security, but at the same time it is passing strange
that a trader upon finding his business proving an unpayable one, is
privileged with the consoling expedient that he has only to stow
away to some distant part a third of his stock, and declare him-
self insolvent when he may shortly reappear upon the scene
affluently circumstanced with his name visibly untarnished. Others
with a fiendish longing to obtain gold at any cost, speculate in a
fire 'insurance policy, and cruelly charge the domesticated animal
of their household with having set the matches in a blaze, thereby
causing them to become " burnt out of house and home." Lor'
how pitiful a story to work upon the feelings of a compassionate
community ! !
How easily the Fire Insurance Agent's warm sympathies are
touched too, so much so that he actually will not waste time duly
investigating the fire's cause, but out of pity for the homeless
shopkeeper, " shells out " like a lamb without further delay.
It is indeed a cold country for an honest man where the
great majority of men would sooner be calculating the money
in your pocket than the virtue in your breast, but truly this is
the general characteristic of a very large proportion of our shop-
keepers.
We hear so much of illicit diamond buyers and their severe
sentences, but is the crime of the I.D.B. an iota worse than the
shop-keepers ?
Then why are our merchants not alive to the necessity of
forming some means of detecting or preventing this accursed and
doubly illicit system of roguery ?
And I may further ask why are the Fire Insurance Agents not
more alert to the cunning speculators upon their policies ?
Hoping these home-thrusts will not fail to reach the many for
whom they are intended, and that men of recognised probity and
thorough straightforwardness will endeavour to impede the further
increase of this gentlemanly clothed system of swindling by
bringing the matter out more forcibly and thoroughly ventilating
it through the medium of the Press, —
I remain, &c.,
A Victim.
222 The Orange Free State.
It has often been said that lawyers have no conscience, and that
very few of them can possibly enter heaven. If making a hell lor
other men is worthy of reward, then indeed these men deserve a
future hell, as we have proof of from the time ot Judge Jeffries.
Some may say we complain too much. Good heavens ! whatever
we may say of the legal profession, can hardly be too strong when
we have been victimised in Parliament, out of i?arliament, and in
every turn of life by these legal swindlers.
There may be a few honest men among lawyers, but in these
days no honest man would care to belong to the legal profession.
Even the simple-hearted Boer-farmer has felt his swindling prac-
tices so long that in very self-defence he has had to pass the most
stringent measures to protect himself from being ruined in the
Free State by the army of foreign-German lawyers.
CnArTEK XVIII.
'' \W-^^JS[ May it became necessary for me to settle with my
so-called landlord, but who in reality was nothing
better then a " house thief." The reader will as he
follows the narrative be able to form some idea of
what this German missionary, Freemason, inhuman
legal and illegal shark and exploiter — who assured
me that Equity was not understood in the Free State
— was like.
During my tenancy of three years and a half he had received
from me over £800 in rent, and more than £1,000 from the
previous tenant, these two sums defraying the cost of the property
for which he now demanded £2,500. During my occupancy I
had erected on the premises at considerable expense an iron
building which upon my leaving he refused to allow me to remove,
claiming the same as his own property under what he called the
Roman-Dutch law, and which even he admitted was in no sense
of the word — Equity. What a land to live in altkough with a
man at its head who had not only secured his legal right to
absorb other people's chattels in Cape Town, but, it is said, sat
his terms in one of the English Inns of Court, during the twenty
years he was president of this Free State Alsatia no laws were
passed upon which any man could look with pride, nor could the
head of the State say with Solon " I left them a guide to regulate
them." To resume : — I at last had to agree either to pay him
( my landlord) the sum of £25 for permission to remove what by
all moral right was my own property or to allow the same
amount out of the original purchase-money from my successor ;
and as he required the structure, and to save myself from further
224 The Okange Free State.
plunder, I allowed him that amount of money. To embitter me
the more and ultimately cause me to leave the Free State with
feelings of hatred against all such barefaced robberies, this man
was a member of the Legislature, and a constant attendant at
Church, where equity was preached but not practised. Truly the
world needs the removal of these inhuman skunks — a Deluge or
earthquake to swallow up the whole of them with all their wick-
edness and injustice.
Notwithstanding these facts, this swivel-eyed thief declared in
the presence of others that he did not wish to deprive me of a
single sixpence that I had worked so hard for, and then tried
to gloss over his plunder and robbery of myself by flattering me,
somewhat as follows : — " no man had ever stepped into the Free
State who had worked harder, or did more to enlighten the public
upon all matters pertaining to the improvement of their condi-
tion, &c., &c." Still, all this did not prevent him robbing me in
as shameless a way as ever an Irish landlord robbed his tenants
who improved their properties at their own expense and
could get no compensation. The insolence and impudence
of the demand I was compelled to submit to was almost unbear-
able, and if ever I felt hatred towards a squint-eyed man, it was
at the moment when I recollected a former robbery on his part,
wherein he gave me a further display of legal treachery by the
monstrous charge of £55 for what was simply three days work on
the part of his clerk ! To slay such men would almost be a
public blessing. No law worthy of the name, no justice, no equity.
— Advocates pretended to sympathise with me in my heavy losses.
Death is the only justice for such wretches !
This swindler admitted that I had always paid him honourably
and yet he was low enough to rob me at the last moment. Per-
sonally, I might have passed even this over, but my case was by
no means the only one. This defender of Kaffir cold-blooded
murderers, illicit Jew diamond stealers, a supporter of the tyrant
Sepinare, because he, like the missionaries in the territory, I'eceived
grants of land plundered from the general domain of the tribe, a
mean despicable detainer of the ill-gotten wealth of these mur-
derers, and who, upon being compelled to disgorge the same,
imposed upon his brother Masons by borrowing from them with
all the effrontery of a practised beggar. Truly the Free State —
The Okange Free State. 225
from the President downward — was but a home for all the mur-
derers, thieves and vagabonds of South Africa. With fear at my
heart that I should be skinned of my very all, I held my peace
for the time, knowing that with such a monster of iniquity, and in
their Courts of in- Justice I had no chance. Surely such vile acts
must ultimately compel men to rise and with sudden power crush
and stamp out such man-devils.
Perhaps it may be asked why I submitted to such extortions ?
In reply I would ask, after all the experiences I have related,
would anyone think itpossible to contend against such odds single-
handed ? The intormation vouchsafed to me and others was that
although it was not lecjal to rob me in such a way, still — even if
I gained a formal judgment in Court — he would find out some
Eoman-Dutch arrangement whereby to fleece me and turn me
out of the Free State shorn of the results of all my many years of
self-denial and hard work. I could enumerate other cases, but
they only sicken me. The examples I have given are more than
enough.
In order to prove that the record of these gross and seemingly
incredible villainies is thoroughly well-founded I append, for the
satisfaction and instruction of my readers, the following extracts
from the Friend and the Express of the Free State : —
The Free State branch of the Africander Bond is reported to
have passed a resolution : " Whereas lawyers are not among the
necessaries of life, this meeting of Bondsmen hereby pledges itself
to use every constitutional means to extirpate them, and calls
upon all affiliated members of the Bond to do likewise. Our
reason for this course is, that, in the Orange Free State, lawyers
of every grade in the profession unite marked professional
incapacity with a great power of bloodsucking, and this is being
borne in upon the community in a manner no longer to be
tolerated."
There is little doubt that there has been for some considerable
time a feeling growing in the country so adverse, and we may
almost say hostile, to the legal profession that if to-day a plebiscite
226 The Orange Free IState.
were taken, the great majority would undoubtedly vote in favour
of the abolition of a profession which, under ordinary circum-
stances, men are too apt to look upon as a necessary evil, but
which, under our present circumstances, is most certainly regarded
as something much worse. Whosoever doubts our statement
has not read the papers, and has not taken cognizance of what
goes on in the country. If he should not attach much weight to
these utterances he may go to the sittings of the Volksraad, and
listen attentively to whab is said there, and, looking upon that
Hon'ble body as as representative a one, as exists, he will without
hesitation endorse the view expressed above. In itself, and without
approaching the question as we do for the purpose not merely of
discussing the same, but with a view to advising measures calcu-
lated to effect an improvement, the prevailing sentiment is of
sufficient interest to a writer of contemporary history, to
note the same and to investigate its origin and the causes of its
development. If in doing so we should appear harsh, we may
be permitted to state at once that we write less with a view to
criticise than to improve. Dictated by such a sentiment, laudable
as it must be even in the eyes of the legal profession itself, the
statement will be accepted as correct, though very disagreeably
correct, that the legal profession, as a whole, occupies so low a
standard in this country that upon the raising thereof the very
first move towards amelioration depends. It would be unjust and
ungrateful if we omitted here to mention that our Bench of Judges
is of ■ as high a standing as that of any country, that we possess
members of the Bar and Side-Bar who would be an ornament to the
profession anywhere, and that the Judges, by their endeavours to
raise the standard of . efficiency, have already attained a marked
improvement. That, finally, the additions to the profession in
late years leave no doubt of a complete ultimate change. Thus,
all that remains, and indeed it is the burning point of the question,
is that the period of transition may not be too prolonged a one,
and that it should be marked by the utmost severity towards those
members, who, through want of proper qualification, are already
enjoying so much forbearance, that they should not bo permitted
to encroach further thereon through want of professional usages,
irregularity, and, finally, dishonesty. We are aware that we are
treading on delicate ground, and that we are dealing with a
Che Okange Free State, 227
militant profession. However, the truth must be told, and that
openly. As things have gone, it has not been an unusual occur-
rence that men who have held powers of attorney have abused
their power, to the detriment of their mandators. It has occurred
that men entrusted with the settlement of estates have used money
collected in those estates, for their own private ends, and could
only be made to disgorge after an appeal to th.e court. It has,
finally, frequently occurred, that men collected accounts, retained
1 he moneys, and that their clients are either still awaiting settle-
ment, or obtained such only after employing a second agent to
collect the money from the collector. That this was wrong, who
<loubts ? — that it was a grave wrong at the hands of men who
owned a position of trust who will gainsay ? — that it was a
wrong that threw discredit upon the whole of an honourable
profession the feeling of the entire country testifies to. Yet the
last is a fortunate accident, in spite of its misfortune. For it
suggests the only remedy extant. To think that oppressive laws
and a ruinous tariff will effect an improvement, people may believe
and hope. We share neither their hope nor their belief. In the
very fact of oppression there is the danger of illicit dealing, and
by the very act of oppression the man who never scrupled to act
■dishonestly, is challenged to extend his crooked and dishonest
manipulations, whilst the honest and upright lawyer, who is
indispensible to the community, is condemned to sufferance,
exposed to poverty, and forced to seek a living elsewhere.
The remedy lies with the profession, and from them the only
improvement can be expected. If honest lawyers wish to
protect themselves, they must do so by protecting the public.
They must combine and remove the cancer from their body,
and that without feeling or false comp)as3ion, and they must
do so without loss of time. To show neglect would be tantamount
to despising public opinion, and would only invite retribution and
defeat. For, whatever mode of expression is indulged in with
regard to this question, the feeling that the public must be pro-
tected is a general one. Who is to do it ? — we or the profession
itself ? That is, we repeat, the question, and we should trust that,
by a sincere efiort — for but the slightest effort has hitherto been
wanting — the legal profession will enlist on its side the sympathy
at least of all moderate men, which they cannot be said even
p2
228 The Orange Free State.
to possess now. How to do this, we need hardly say ; the viodus
operandi is better known to themselves than to us, and the example
of other countries shows clearly the road they have to follow. That
they may do so, is in their own interest first, though it is in ours
as well, and we therefore sincerely hope that they will do it soon,
and, moreover, do it well.
At this period of time, according to the Daily News and the Ex-
jyress of the Free State, the whole town — =from the highest oflBciaJ
of the land to the lowest, whether the municipal paid Page, a
sanitary scavenger or clerk of commissioners — stunk with rotten-
ness. It was supposed that with the exception of about ten
business houses, none could call themselves free men, and who
expected by every mail notice to shut up and clear out. The
credit of the State was nowhere. All were expecting the insolvency
of one another. Immovable property could not be sold for money,
and all trade was but a system of barter : the working and
principles of which are thoroughly explained in my JBoio to Con-
struct Free State Hailways — read before the Bloemfontein Literary
Association, Chief-Justice Kietz in the chair, when a resolution
was passed expressing entire approval of my views and proposals.
Mortgages did not buy, they simply absorbed ; and the con-
tinual cry was that John Bull alone could save them in that hour
of their extremity by a loan of his gold — and that as the Hollander
and German could not help them, England should be requested to
take charge of them once more and for ever.
Chapter XIX.
MAY here mention a case in which an unfortunate
wretch who through drunkenness allowed the Sheriff
to get into my business in the country — a business I
had bought right out — and in various other ways
helped to deprive me of my means.
Now it happened that in the course oi a conversa-
tion, I had spoken unkindly of his behaviour in
repeatedly making outrageous demands upon me, and stated that
I refused compliance with the same on the ground that during the
last twelve months. I had been victimised by a set of low scamps
and practical thieves.
This conversation reached his ears, and for his own knavish
purposes he asserted that I had used the offensive words men-
tioned—personally towards him ; and at the instigation of an
insolvent, lying builder, backed up (as he afterwards said) and
assisted by a juvenile shark of the law, he demanded of me for
loss of character the modest sum of five hundred pounds.
I was fortunate enough however to defeat this conspiracy ; for
it turned out that the very men he alleged had informed him that
I used the words reflecting upon his character, denied that I had
said anything of the kind, or that I had spoken otherwise than in
a general sense.
I afterwards found out that this fellow had neglected his wife
and subsequently been convicted of felony, so that he had to give
up as a bad job the hope of fleecing me upon the pretext of loss
of character. The afiidavits of several persons saved me from
having to eat a leek of such gigantic proportions as would be
230 The Okange Fkee State.
represented by the sum of £500, and a proportionate bill of costs
to the young shark of a limb of the law or justice of the Free
State.
I make bold to state that the hard times in Bloemfontein had
turned half the inhabitants into sharpers ; no one felt sure of his
neighbour, and the attempt to rob and plunder universally was
intensified among all. I was glad at last to wipe the dust of
Bloemfontein off my feet.
I may mention that the two others stated to have heard me
speak some truth of this human leper, afterwards denied that I
had used such words in the personal sense ; but finding that six
vagabonds were prepared to swear that I must have said so, and
knowing that if I got into the what is called the High Court of
Justice my means would have been eaten up by the lawyers, I
admitted that if I did so use the words I had no business to do so
— the law not allowing me to speak the truth in self-defence. If
this whitewashed the quondavi felon, he was welcome to the state-
ment ; and I felt that if any other six in any other made up six
cases had demanded of me to contradict anything that they were
prepared to swear and maintain, and if my whitewashing the
rascals, by so doing would save me from the money-stealing
sharks of lawyers of Bloemfontein, I would have saved my cash
from such swindlers and stated, that if Brutus was an honourable
man so were all these unfortunates.
What a hell of torture a place may be made to the man who
dares to speak against State, Church, Political and Social out-
rages.
The reformer who dares to open his lips may not in these days
find himself in a stone dungeon, but he is even now hunted down
by legal Inquisitions, and when unable to pay damages, thrown
into a gaol not fit for a " Christian martyr " — one who should turn
the other cheek when smitten on the one side, and give up his
coat if possessed of two — much less a rational truth utterer. It
was with perfect loathing against the shams, as I have yet to
describe, that I left Bloemfontein whose very atmosphere at last
was contaminating to me.
The Orange Feee State. 231
The Bejormer.
All grim and soiled and browned with tan,
I saw a Strong One, in his wrath,
Smiting the godless shrines of man
Along his path.
The Church, beneath her trembling dome,
Essayed in vain her ghostly charm ;
Wealth shook within his gilded home
With strange alarm.
Fraud, from his secret chamber, fled
Before the sunlight bursting in ;
Sloth drew her pillow o'er her head.
To drown the din.
Grey-headed Use, who, deaf and blind.
Groped for his old accustomed stone,
Leaned on his staff' and wept to find
His seat o'erthrown.
Yet louder rang the Strong One's stroke,
Yet nearer flashed his axe's gleam ;
Shuddering and sick of heart I woke.
As from a dream.
If the ra scality of the legal fraternity was intolerable, no less
had the medical profession become a huge system of thieving.
Quack doctors were continually running over the State, and to
cover their malpractices, they sent their sons over to England to
secure a diploma, under cover of which they hid their own mis-
adventures.
Dr. Carouser could not fill the position of Town Doctor, but as
a vendor of drugs he had amassed a fortune and- made his son an
M.D., and who, not finding his skill appreciated, was during the
small-pox scare appointed medical officer for the examination of
Kaffirs and others. Although he received three guineas per day,
or over ninety pounds a month, he failed to fulfil his duties and
finally got kicked out without notice through his want of skill and
decency. But these charges were moderate compared with some
of the ex-Lord Mayoress quacks of Bloemfontein who charged £17
232 The Orange Free State.
for two days' professional " kill or cure " services to a struggling
Winn of a baker.
The rascality at last, as previously mentioned, got so outrageous
that the members of the Raad, in self-defence, passed an Act im-
posing severe penalties — and not before it was time — which
brought down upon them the following letters which truthfully
depict the state of rascality and openly practised quackery then
existing in the Free State. I unhesitatingly say tliat all the
medical rnen thought it their duty to make fortunes as speedily as
possible, either by saving the living or arranging to make money
out of the dead.
One missionary quack bought of a patient — who thought he
was dying — his farm for a very small sum to be paid at his death
to his family, and although the man would not die for some time
after, this doctor secured a most valuable farm which he after-
wards sold at a very enhanced price and thus defrauded the man's
family.
Those who knew the doctors can quite understand the necessity
for legislation, but to enable them to expose themselves I reprint
the following letters that were written in the interest ot the
medical profession.
Medical Scandals.
We wish to draw the attention of our readers to the very great
injustice which has been, and is being, done to the medical pro-
fession in this State. As we have no medical schools as yet, we
are dependent on gentlemen who have had, at great cost of time,
money, and brain, to make themselves proficient in other lands.
Thanks to the general wealth of the country, men of good attain-
ments have been induced to settle here, and the State is all the
better for it in more ways than one. At the present time the
members of the medical profession can compare very favourably
with those of the Cape Colony or Natal for general proficiency in
their profession, and for honours obtained in the medical schools
and universities of Europe. This being the case, we should do
well to keep them in our midst. We should not lay upon them
burdens too grievous to be borne ; nor should we allow the quack
and the charlatan to sow tares while the husbandman sleeps. We
The Oka-nge Free State. 233
do not approve of the principle of taxing medical men at all ; but
if we do force them to pay a licence, we should extend to them
some protection. Of course, we know it will be said that some
one must pay the taxes, and the doctor — as he knows how to
make long bills— should be one. We quite see that the Raad is
going strongly on the principle that every interest but the farming
interest should be taxed. But even allowing that the Raad as a
body is particularly careful not to tax themselves, it might be just
in taxing others. It should place a tax on ignorance and presump-
tion by making all unqualified people who dispense medicines, or
give advice, for a monetary consideration, pay at lease five times
as much as a duly qualified man who is registered ; and it should
allow qualified men to charge such fees as a Board of medical
men would be satisfied with. We do not advocate that the fees
of medical man should be raised. Far from it. We only suggest
that gentlemen, who give their time, day and night, in wind and
rain, who have spent much money and many years in endea-
vouring to acquire knowledge of diseases, and skill in treating
them, should be paid as well as a journeyman bricklayer or joiner,
who pays at present no licence ; and that the public should be
protected from quacks and charlatans who have an immunity from
all taxes. We wish to draw the attention of our readers to the
letter of Dr. Brock, which appears in another column. The writer
has made out a good case for the doctors. He has shown the
injustice of reducing the tariff of iees, and the absurdity of
a,llowing quacks more privileges — except the very important one
of contributing to the State exchequer — than legally qualified
registered medical men. We know there is a weakness among a
good many of our legislators that the lai-ming population, which
is often few and far between, should have even the doubtful ad-
vantage of being attended by a quack when no qualified man is to
be got. This has, doubtless, much weight with many. There
might be some such plan adopted with qualified medical men as
the Government se'ects with bridges. To protect the tolls over a
bridge, the law stops all drifts ten miles on either side of it. If
the Government prevented a quack from practising five or six
hours from a licensed medical men, there would be some protection
for him. At present the licence carries nothing with it except the
forced acceptance of a tariff which is now bad enough, and may be
234 The Orange Feee State.
at any time made worse. If things do not soon mend, the qualified
men will have to change places with the quacks — pay no licence,
accept no district surgeoncies, and give no evidence or testimony
before a court of law. When the Kaad has duly licensed quacks
doing all this, they will perceive, when it is too late, that you
cannot measure a man's brains by a bucket, or his accomplish-
ments by a footrule. A memorial to the Volksraad has been drawn
up which will, doubtless, be generally signed by the medical
profession. The following is an English translation of this
document : —
That the Raad has passed in its Extraordinary Session of 1884 a
certain Tariff Ordinance, which was published in the
Government Gazette of the 12th March, 1884, and which
came into force directly after publication ; that in the
said Tariff, amongst other things, a Scale of Fees is laid
down for Medical men, and the said Scale of Fees not only
applies to the Criminal work for Government, but is also in
force as regards the relationship between doctor and patient;
that in the same Government Gazette above mentioned, a
certain Draft Ordinance is published, in which, amongst
other regulations, it is enacted that all qualified Professional
Men are prohibited from charging any fee above the
amount as laid down in the said Tariff Ordinance under
the penalty of being prevented from practising their pro-
fession in the Free State ; that your Memorialists feel
greatly aggrieved at the said Ordinance, on account of their
not being sufiiciently protected by this State, in which no
law exists against quackery by unqualified men ; that these
Quacks not only injure the public at large, and are directly
or indirectly the cause of a number of deaths, and of much
chronic ill-health, but also interfere greatly with the
proper performance of a medical man's duty to his patient ;
that the public, by the false representations of these men,
are induced to employ them to the damage of the health
and pecuniary well-being of the community ; that the said
Ordinance completely prohibits freedom of contract between
doctor and patient, and that the Scale of Fees laid down in
the Tariff Ordinance of 1884 is not sufiiciently high,
The Orange Free State. 235
especially with regard to extraordinary cases in Medicine,
in Surgery, and in Midwifery, to Journeys, and Expert
Evidence, to be an adequate remuneration for the trouble
and expenses to which a medical man is subject in such
cases; that your Memorialists consider that, if Quachen
were totally abolished, the Tariff in the main, with th.-
above exceptions, seems satisfactory ; that if this Draft
Ordinance becomes law, and Quackery be not abolished,
the Ordinance will materially affect the public as regards
the procuring of properly-qualified practitioners ; that
your Memorialists, considering their having to pay heavy
licences, ought to be protected by the State against
Quackery, against which there is no protection whatever a^
the present moment ; for which said reasons you)
Memorialists humbly petition the Volksraad that the said
Draft Ordinance be not extended to the Medical Profession,
and further that the Volksraad should introduce a measure
to totally abolish and prohibit the practice of Quackery, oi
the giving of advice or medicine for money or value by
non-qualified men.
Medical Tariff Ordinance.
Mayfields, dist. Eouxville, 7 April, 18S4.
To the Editor of the Friend :
Sir, — I, in common with I have no doubt the whole body of
qualified medical practitioners in the Free State, have read with satis-
faction Dr. "W. J. Brock's letter in the Friend of the 3rd inst., as^
well as the apposite remarks it has called forth from yourself:
respecting the unfair restrictions imposed upon them in the recent
tariff ordinance passed by the Volksraad. It is further satisfactor}
to note that action is being taken to bring our grievance in a
formal manner before the Eaad, and that our effort to obtain
fairplay is so heartily supported by yourself.
I fully concur in the observations of your Rouxville corres-
pondent both as regards the injurious nature of the enactment
236 The Orange Fkee State.
refeired to in its dealings with qualified men, and as to the urgent
necessity for legislation directed against the crying evil of
quackery. That the scale of fees set down in its ordinance by the
Volksraad is too low, I have not any hesitation in saying. The
restriction on fees for operations concerns the public perhaps more
than the profession, for in such a scattered population the amount
of surgical practice is small and counts for little in our income.
To the public, however, it is a serious matter, for where consider-
able risks are involved in any operation a surgeon is asked to
perform; in justice to himself he will probably refuse to undertake
it. But it is otherwise with the restriction on the charges for
travelling, since such a restriction must sweep away no small part
of a medical man's income. The sum of ten shillings per hour is
inadequate, and it would be safe to prophesy that the proposed
penalty for exceeding that charge in one or two instances, would
lead to a general exodus of the best men in the State.
For what attraction does the Free State offer for the carrying
on of medical pi'actice ? It has no natural beauty to recommend
it as a desirable residence. Such a thing as society, except
perhaps in your own favoured city, can scarcely be said to exist.
It is with the greatest difficulty and at a great expense that the
ordinary comforts of life can be obtained. From the sparseness
of the population, and consequently the paucity of patients, the
professional interest of practice is reduced to a minimum ; while
for the same reason and because his visits to them can only be
made at intervals of weeks or months, the study of special
diseases is rendered either impossible or very unsatisfactory.
The only really accurate means of studying disease, viz., by ex-
aminations {post tnorievi) is denied to the physician of this country
by the prejudice and ignorance of the people. Last, but not least,
we are precluded by distance from intercourse with our professional
brethren, and that interchange of ideas so stimulating to a faith-
ful and intelligent discharge of our individual duties. What
attraction then can the Free State ofier to induce good medical
men to settle within its boundaries, in spite of this species of
social and professional ostracism to which they are condemned ?
There is but one plain answer to the question : They must be well
paid.
Medical men are not more worldly than their neighbours, but
The Oeange Free State. 237
it is foolishness to think that good men — who are, of course, the
men to succeed wherever they go — will, out of choice, select foi
practice a field where, with actually less remuneration, the draw-
backs are so great and so numerous as they are in the Orange
Free State. Seeing what a large proportion of his earnings is
derived from journeys, I cannot but think that the new restriction
upon the doctor's rate of charging for them must have practically
the effect of preventing any man from practising in the State, who
can make his way elsewhere, say in the Colony or any othei
division of South Africa.
As to the unblushing quackery so freely carried on among the
farmers, every qualified man in the State can corroborate the
statements of your correspondent. I could cite only too many sad
instances of its miserable eflects in this same neighbourhood. The
indiscriminate use of the most potent drugs in the pharmacopeia
by these unscrupulous persons, whose only extenuating plea could
be their ignorance, is frightful to contemplate. It is not too much
to assert that quackery is often synonymous with culpable homi-
cide; and who can be sure that it does not sometimes cover murder
as well ?
It is sincerely to be hoped, Mr. Editor, that in the interests, not
only of medical men, but of the public at large, the Volksraad will
see fit to remove these irksome restrictions upon the freedom of
action of an honourable and hard-working class, and that instead
of indirectly setting a premium upon dishonesty and charlatanism,
our legislators will recognise the pressing necessity for some
stringent measure for the suppression of quacks and the proper
protection of those, who, under so many discouragements, place
their dearly acquired knowledge at the service of the community.
I ara, &c.,
Geo. S. Brock
M.B., Edinburgh CM., late Assistant
Professor of Pathology in the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh.
238 The Orange Free State.
How to put Down Quackery.
Orange Free State, 12tli April, 1884.
To the Editor of the Friend :
Sir, — Permit me a short space to ask Mr. E. H, Croghan, who
seems to take to heart the extensive system of " Quackery " being
sanctioned by the Orange Free State Government, how he would
deal with another "form" of " Quackery " of a worse kind, to
mv ideas of thinking, than that exposed by his letter in your issue
of the 10th instant, but which seems to have escaped his notice ?
I am morally convinced that if the form of quackery, to which I
refer below, is stopped by the O.F.S. Government, the real object
of the memorialists will be speedily attained and the respectability
of the medical profession in the Free State will be raised on a par
with the sister States.
Mr. Editor, I ask you, is it dignified, is it respectable for medi-
cal men to advertise their diplomas, their testimonials, their past
defunct appointments in the same manner as a merchant advertises
his soap, candles, tobacco and snuff ? Is it respectable for a
medical man to seize every opportunity of parading in print what
he is, what he has been, and almost what he will be ? " Only
come and try me," &c. This advertising by some Free State
doctors has assumed such extraordinary development of late that
one expects to see some famous nostrum or other added to the
list, such as inventor of the famous " wind pill," or the inventor
of the medicine that cures cancer, &c.
Fortunately — 1 say fortunately advisedly — very few inhabitants
understand the real meaning of half the alphabet being placed
after a medical man's name. Take for example what I mean — a
medical man signs L. & L.M., F.P S.G. & L.A.H.L after his name.
Probably, if ths O.F.S. inhabitants did understand what this
flourish of letters meant, those who use them would scarcely ven-
ture to tax your compositor's fingers again. However, this is
simply an example of advertising I refer to, and it would be inter-
esting to hear how Mr. E. H. Croghan would like the Free State
Government to deal with this kind of " Quackery."
There are reasons why a limited amount of modest advertising
should be looked upon in a favourable light in a country not
The Orange Fkee State. 239
having much local communication ; but it would be very useful
to hear Mr. Croghan's ideas upon this system of quackery in the
O.F.S., when I will trouble you with some further examples of the
system I refer to.
I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
M.D.
District Surgeoncies.
Rouxville, 5th April, 1884.
To the Editor of the Friend :
Sir, — May I be permitted through the medium of your paper
to call upon all my medical brethren in this State, who hold what
is euphoniously called the office of District Surgeon, to join me in
an attempt to get these so-called District Surgeoncies put on a
proper footing. There is now an Ordinance existing (which may
be found in the law-book) which says that District Surgeons may
be appointed in every district.
Now what is the present plan ? One quite undeserving the
notice of an honourable profession. Tenders are called for the
supply of drugs to the sick prisoners, and the lowest offer gets it.
Now, in the Colony and also in Natal (in both of which I have
held office) District Surgeons are appointed by the Government at
a fixed salary with stated duties, and with extra fees for certain
services, such as journeys, post-mortems, &c., and they hold office
during good behaviour.
Let everyone of us, in his respective district, see the member of
Volksraad for his town and get him to bring forward this Ordin-
ance. A District Surgeon properly appointed is a Government
official. He can be referred to by the authorities for information
on all matters respecting the public health, and holding some position
can speak with authority. He would have certain specified duties,
and would know what he had to do, and being a Government
official and appointed by the Government would be responsible to
them. Though we have no real existence, we are practically.
240 The Orange Free State.
recognised by being ex-officio members of the gaol committee as
District Surgeons. And in connection with this point the District
Surgeon should be a V.K.
How often is the D.S. perhaps sent out to see some serious case
of assault and finds his patient dying, and there is no one to take
the deposition ! Of course, all of us cannot write Dutch (I do
only in a way), but we all know enough to take the deposition and
can write " Afrikanse."
Now, Sir, through you I will ask all my brothers holding ap-
pointments to stir in this matter. It is a disgrace to us this ten-
dering business, and leaving out ourselves it would be a gain to
the public at large and a saving to the exchequer if permanent
appointments were made. Let each of us get his member to pre-
sent a petition to the Raad, praying them to put the Ordinance in
force, or to take steps for putting us in the same position as
our brothers in the Colony and Natal.
I really believe this is the only State in South Africa which
gives the right to medically attend the sick prisoners to the man
who tenders the lowest, even if he be the veriest ignoramus going.
The principle is thoroughly bad. If a man has done Government
work for some time and faithfully, he has certainly gained some
considerable knowledge of public medicine which enables him to
save the public purse ; and it is only a just reward to allow a man
to retain an appointment, the duties of which he has always faith-
fully fulfilled.
I shall be glad to hear from any of my brethren on this matter.
Yours truly,
Chas. Wm. Browne.
p_g. — The Ordinance above referred to is entitled: ♦' Ordon-
nantie No. 19, 1877 (Ordonnantie over Geneeskundigen
No. 2.). Volksraad's besluit dd. 24 Feb , 1866 :— De
Raad besluit dat er Districts Doctoren kunnen worden
aangesteld door ZHEd. den Staats-president, tegen een
salaris, niet te bovengaande £50 sterling per jaar."
The Orange Fkee State. 241
Having finally closed up my business, and during my close
attention, and family society and national banishment, having
expressed myself somewhat strongly, upon all things, I was urged
by many to give a parting lecture. At a great sacrifice of time
and attention, I at last prepared to do so, and such was the
strong feeling on the part of all who knew my peculiar manner,
that, as they expressed it, a farewell treat was expected.
My novel style of advertisements had given them an idea that
I should treat the subject of the lecture in an unusual but in all
points most edifying way, and when I announced the topic the
universal cry of the men of light and learning was one of satis-
faction ; and it was felt that it would be the lecture of the season.
In due course I waited upon the Town Clerk, hired the Hall
and gave him the subject—" The Rise of the European Dutch
Republic, and the Downfall of the South African Dutch Republics.'
Now this title fairly took away the breath of the Town Clerk, and
I had to explain that, although I used such strong expressions as
" the downfall, &c.," I did not advocate violence or dynamite, and
so well was this known that the Town Committee passed a reso-
lution to let me the Hall ; but the Ex-Groom of a Baumann, and
the successful house and rent exploiter, that was supposed to be
an old woman in most other things, showed himself in his proper
colours. Now this Hard-God. who with all his Chapel attend
ance was certainly God-less, got so alarmed, and so great was the
fear of Boon in his organ-called his heart-that he immediately
summoned a full meeting of the Town Council to decide whether
1, the Boon of Bloemfontein, should have the opportunity— in the
presence of the Town Raad and the Government in general-to
express myself on the old public aflfairs of Holland, and the
momentous questions affecting the South African Dutch Republics
I regret to state, that the fear of the Council was such that thev
decided to refuse to the Boon of the Free State, the right of free
speech in what is called the Free State, to the disgust of all riaht
minded men in the town. Others were surprised that a bankrupt
town should have refused good English sovereigns, but alas when
conceit and prejudice hold sway, there is no controlling ignorance
even when found in a Mayor like their God-Hard or their Ex-
Groom of a Stock who with all his German impudence believed in
free speech, but not in my speech of freedom.
242 The Oeange FpwEE IState.
It was well known that my lecture would have been the event
of the season, and being on the eve of my departure, a not to be
forgotten one ; and the subserviency of the Council was an out-
rage upon the freedom of the subject. May they never have
greater crimes to answer for. The same week, this same
Council could let the Hall to a black gang of lunatics, headed by
one not Pay-up, who on loafing around the hotels, at last was run
in to answer for his " op schrijven " propensities.
Another leader of this black gang of imbeciles, was the Son of
an old minister among the Settlers ; one who could mouth out on a
platform, with blackened face all the double entendres and look the
general fool and smut he was, cheat and swindle the Boer during
all the week, and then with his ugly face, make grimaces at the
girls, while singing at the Lord-be-praised church on a Sunday.
Such was the awful fear of these little men called a Council,
that they justified their action in refusing me the Hall by stating
that I should " go for " the humbugs in such a way that the
Germans would " go for " the English. Bah !
I here tender my thanks to the Hobbs and €o. of the town,
who would have protected me from the violence of such German
scum. It is something so disgusting to think that Englishmen
and Scotchmen should be so villified and set upon by the descendants
of the Prussian thieves, that I felt the time had some to denounce
and show them up in their right colours. They, under a pretence
of helping the Dutch, are always " egging them on " to insult the
English — using the Dutch and Africanders as monkeys to snatch
the chestnuts out of the fire, for the Germans to consume, and the
ignorance of the Dutch and Africander is such that they play
their part to the piping of the German band, that howls out at
every convenient spot that they can stand upon. In the Dutch
colonies they are doing their best to undermine English rights,
and influence to secure the lands for a Greater Germany, as they
are in Europe to secure Holland as their naval outpost to com-
mence a system of buccaneering all round the world, thinking
that they may be as successful as they have been with Austria,
and poor enslaved Poland. these lovers of Fatherland ; how
they do love to steal and rob in the lands of other fathers. In
other lands they may succeed for a time by sheer Bruit-force and
bullet-heads, and gross-animalism ; but the time will come when
The Orange Free State. 243
they will be found out, and known in their true colours and be
swept back once more to eat sour-cabbage and black-meal. In
English colonies they enjoy liberties that they never struggled
for, and with all the insolence of men suddenly made rich, not by
honest labour but by swindling and cheating at every opportunity,
they fancy with all their course natures, they are the Peculiar
People of Jehovah, to join company with the Jews, to plunder the
nations of the earth.
Let them take warning ; they are now found out, and being
found out, there is no chance for them to possess English colonies
or Dutch-Holland. The English may appear to nap and the
French to be quiescent, but the time will come when all old
wrongs will be righted.
In further illustration of my views anent the Prussians, I quote
the following by Edwin Heron : —
This is the crew I fly from. Shall I see
Hybrids, like these take, precedence of me ?
Shall these adventurers strive, and take our place,
These men of guttural names and dubious race ?
Who some years since, before they made a noise,
Come here with Hambro sherry, hemp and toys.
Is it no matter that such stocks as ours
Have been the source of all this country's powei"s ;
Have laid the broad foundations of the State,
Built up the Colonies, made England great ?
That now, like vultures scenting out a prey.
These supple tradesmen hustle us away.
Give them their way, in every English place
The rarest sight will be an English face ;
Give them their way, and then the ocean o'er
Self banished, he will seek another shore.
Where for some time, until there's cream to skim,
These keen-eyed cormorants will not follow him.
The Saint Edmond of the Council answered me that the refusal
of the Hall, was the saving of my life. Now, as I had no desire
tojend my existence in a German brawl. I suppose I must be
thankful ; and if such was the case, I trust that it may be a
source of thankfulness to England and the world in general.
q2
244 • The Orange Free State.
What to do with such a man as I was, was often asked, for they
knew, I would leave no wrong unchallenged and if they shut
me off the platform perhaps in the future, they would regret
having done so when they came to read my writings, and, again
ask : What shall we do with such a man ?
In confirmation of my statement concerning the action of the
Town Council, I herewith print the programme of the Enter-
tainment I proposed to give, together with the reply of the Town
Clerk to my application for the use of the Hall :
THE
ENTERTAINMENT
The Long Expected Come at Last.
By very special request
MAETIN JAMES BOON
Will Lecture in the Town Hall
On Tuesday, June the 3rd. Doors open at J-past 7, Lecture to
commence at 8.
On the following Subjects : —
'' The Rise of the European Dutch Republic,"
And the
" Downfall of the African Dutch Republics,"
With Special Reference to the Free State.
And a few personal remarks to ease his conscience before he
leaves these parts he hopes for ever.
At the close of Lecture opposition fearlessly solicited.
Reserve Front Seats, Ls. Body of the Hall and Gallery, 6d.
The above Charges to cover Expenses.
The Orange Free State. 245
Any surplus after all expenses will be handed to the Hospital
for Incurables, or for pocket money for the future occupiers of the
New Lunatic Asylum.
Town Office,
27 May, 1884.
M. J. Boon, Esq.,
Bloemfontein.
Dear Sir,
I have the honour to furnish you with the following
copy of the Council's Resolution, of this day, relative to the
letting of the Town Hall to you on Tuesday next, 2nd prox.
"Resolved that the use of the Hall, for the purposes
required by Mr. Boon, cannot be granted."
I am, dear sir,
Yours faithfully,
Geo. Edmond,
Town Clerk.
On Sunday, June the Ist, I, for the last [time, wandered over
the town, and finally on to the hill, and like unto one of old, looked
and mourned, and felt I too, would have gathered the people
under my wing, as a hen gathers her young, but eaten up with all
the vices of the Age they would not.
Drinking and smoking, had so eaten up, and into the nature of
the inhabitants of this Bloemfontein, and the Free State in general,
that they have become, like the Kaffirs, mere animals. The
eating up process had converted the whole, from the President
downwards, into one state of cannibalism, worse than the old
inhabitants. To sell was impossible, and therefore absorption
became the rule. It might be truly said that not one was a
freeman in the town, and this explains the fact that not even one
had the courage to express himself without fear. Freedom,
24:6 The Orange Free State.
Dignity and Independance — were no longer the boast of any man
in the Free State.
It was with a saddening of heart that my old customers bid
me adieu, many feeling that now their Boon was going, there
would be no longer light and sunshine in Bloemfontein ; truly if
darkness covered the earth eighteen centuries ago, a total eclipse
was now looked forward for when at last, I prepared myself for
my final departure.
Having completed my arrangements, in every particular, on
the Monday, I once more made ready to engage the ars-enp; r
cart to take me away, and although I heard the "away, away
with him, he knows too much to leave us alone." I felt that I
could forgive even them ; and when I witnessed the moistened
eye and faltering tongue I turned away with a full conviction
(though the little nobodies say to the contrary) that many felt
that it had been a good thing that I had spent three years is exile
in Bloemfontein and I felt that after all my struggles and disap-
pointments, that perhaps it was a good thing even for me that I
had spent time and gathered experience to be related, ever after,
while in Bloemfontein, of the Free State.
VALEDICTORY.
HE happy day of my departure from the Orange Free
State arrived at last, and I hastily ran round and
shook hands with all my friends in token of " good
bye." Without waiting for that day of judgment
and of doom which sooner or later will certainly over-
take the Free State, with hatred at my heart strangely
intermingled with feelings of delight at the prospect
of leaving for ever Bloemfontein — the city of legal and illegal ex-
ploiters, — I once more mounted the Post-cart for my last ride in
and out of the Orange Free State.
With the farewell cheers and heart-felt good wishes of my
friends, broken by ill-suppressed emotion at the thought of losing
their Boon perhaps for ever, still ringing in my ears I drove on,
inwardly resolving to carry out the behests of those friends who
urged and even implored me to strike and spare not, and thus
prove myself an ever living Boon — not for the Free State only,
but to all States and for all time.
In sadness too deep for utterance, and which even the efforts of
my follow passengers failed to shake off, I passed over the barren
common. But with me as with all others, the bitterest grief must
have its limits ; so that when we had passed through the desolate
country that met my view on all sides and at last arrived at the
first out-span, I had once more recovered my composure and flow
of spirits. All can understand the pain one felt parting from the
many associates one had met and made in a City like Bloemfontein ;
the breaking up of ties where one had made some successes though
they were more than counterbalanced by cruel, heavy losses.
All this transitory grief and every trace of gloom vanished how-
248 The Orange Free State.
ever as I realised the fact that I was on the way to meet loved
ones in the Colony and relatives in England — that dear old spot
the land of one's birth. My self communing was interrupted by
my arrival and alighting at the hotel of the Simon Pure on the
banks of the Modder River. Upon my attention being drawn to
the dry bed of the river all my indignation was once more aroused
as I remembered the possibility ol damning up all rivers and
thus storing their water for man's future use and gain. But alas,
there were no statesmen capable of grasping the subject and
appreciating the vital importance of providing irrigation works-
This and other kindred subjects might be enlarged upon, but I
have drawn special attention to them in my Ivimortal History of
iSoidh Ajrica and other works. I shall, if I am spared, in my
last but by no means least history of the Transvaal, Stellaland»
Kimberley, Griqualand West, and the western portions of the
Colony adduce further evidence o{ the true position and conditions,
of these parts in the one hope that as I write only to reform,
others will lollow in my footsteps and also use their pens so that
they too may leave the land of their adoption better than they
found it.
Paradoxical through it appears I beg to subscribe myself yours
with intense indignation but universal love,
M. J. B.
PAINTED BT
LONGMAN & DAVIES,
3, Jerusalem Passage.
London, E.G.
Advertisements.
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BOOKS FOR THE PEOPLE.
JOTTINGS BY THE WAY ;
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in the Orange Free State, Natal, and the Cape Colony.
PRICE, TWO SHILLINGS.
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BY
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Read before the Bloemjontdn Literary Association, 1883, Judge
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PRICE, SIXPENCE.
Advertisements
How to Nationalize England's Commons
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Dedicated to the Prime Minister, Reformers' Union and
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PRICE, SIXPENCE.
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PRICE, ONE SHILLING.
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Advertisements. iii.
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PRICE, SIXPENCE.
THE
RISE, PROGRESS AND PHASES
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HUMAN SLAVERY.
How it Came into the World, and How it Shall he made
to Go Out.
NATIONAL REFORMER. BRONTERRE O'BRIEN. B.A,
PRICE, THREE SHILLING^ & SIXPENCE.
iv. Advertisements.
Works l3y William laccall.
8. d. 8. d
National Mission (16 LeotnreB) 10 6 The Individuality of the Indi-
The ElementB of Indivi- vidual 6
dualism 7 6 Sacramental Services (sewed) 6
The Agents of Civilization. A The Lessons of the Pestilence 6
Series of Lectures 1 6 Creed of Man 4
The Education of Taste 1 The Unchristian Nature of
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MOODS AND MEMORIES
Being Miscellaneous Poems, by
WILLIAM MACCALL.
LoMDON : W. STEWART & Co, 41, Farringdon Street, E.G. Edinburgh
J. MENZIES a 06.
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HISTORY ALLEGORICAL & CATEGORICAL
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1. — The Dunhill Dancers.
2. — The Deification of Bestiality,
3. — The Creed of the Cesspool.
PRICE ONE PENNY.
Can be had of all AKTi-Malthusian Booksellers ; also at 108, Farringdon
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THE
IMMORTAL HISTORY
SOUTH AFRICA.
(complete in two volumes.
THE ONLY TRUTHFUL, POLITICAL, COLONIAL, LOCAL,
DOMESTIC, AGRICULTURAL, THEOLOGICAL, NATIONAL,
LEGAL, FINANCIAL AND INTELLIGENT HISTORY OF
MEN, WOMEN, MANNERS AND FACTS OF THE
CAPE COLONY, NATAL, THE ORANGE FREE
STATE, TRANSVAAL, AND SOUTH AFRICA.
By MARTIN JAMES BOON,
Author of
How to Colonise South Africa, and by whom ; Jottings by
the Way in South Africa ; Home Colonisation ; How to
Construct and Nationalise Raihvays ; National Paper Money,
to enable all Nations to Construct Public Works witliout Bonds,
Mortgages, or Interest, &c., &c., &c.
Vol. I.
London :
William Reeves, 185, Fleet Street ;
Martin James Boon, 170, Farringdon Road.
South Africa :
Hay Bros., Wholesale Agents, King William's Town.
1885.
CONTENTS
OF VOLUME I.
Chapter I. — Boon Starts on his Travels from Bloeni-
fontein — The Capital of the Orange Free State
Republic, South Africa — Describes the Town and
exposes its deplorable sanitary condition. i — 13
Chapter II. — Objections to youthful marriages —
Definition of a "gentleman" — Health and hap-
piness synonymous ■ — The distinctions between
pleasure and happiness — Education of the feelings
as well as of the intellect erects a temple of
virtue in every heart — Knowledge the ground-
work of virtue, and virtue the foundation of happi-
ness . - - . . i^ — 25
Chapter III. — The climatic conditions of Bloem-
fontein misrepresented by doctors to entice
visitors and secure patients — Cremation — The
Jews, the vilest race on earth : their money-
making dodges exposed — The Bible and the New
Testament — Jesus Christ as God and Man —
Christianity an instrument for degrading the
masses and for enriching the priests, pastors and
ministers of all sects — The pharmacopoeia of the
Church — Rationalism — Quackery : Medical and
Theological — Huxley's Lay Sermons — The Euca-
lypticus — Luther and Shakespeare — Human
Amelioration, Man's noblest work — Rainfall and
drought : their eftects on agriculture — Water
Storage and Irrigation — Sheep Farming : defects
and remedies - - - - 26 — 58
IV. CONTENTS.
Chapter IV.— Dutchmen's homes — Dutch Farmers
and Jewish Traders — Anti-Enghsh feeling of the
old Boers — The English language prohibited by
the Boers in their Schools — The fighting powers
of the Boers — The Colonial Government an
organised conspiracy of cheats — MiUtary bunglers
—An Officer burnt in effigy— Dutch greed and
mendacity — Sisters of Mercy — The Diamond
Fields — The Chiefs Sepinare and Samuel —
Dangers of the Road to travellers — Burning grass
— Forests and the drought — The Grahamstown
Scandal— Agricultural and industrial conditions —
The power of the pen — Boers and Basutos — The
Treaty of Ahwal North, vcrhatim et literatim 59—78
Chapter V. — Lord Derby and the Colonial Govern,
ment on the Basuto Question, official despatches,
&c., &c. 79- 99
Chapter VI.— Trouble in store for the Colony— The
Basutos our auxiliaries and faithful alHes — Cete-
wayo, John Dunn, and the Zulus— The Indenture
system pure and simple slavery — The British Lion
and the Transvaal — Execution of Mampoer :
shocking scene upon the scaffold — The G.O.M.
and President Kruger — The National Pitso-—
Starving, shooting, and mutilating the Chief
Morosi : horrible disclosures — Basutoland, the
natural granary of South Africa - 100— 112
Chapter VII. — From Aliwal North to St. James Town
— A genuine woman and good mother — Govern-
ment frauds — Districts and Reserves exclusively
for Natives — Missionaries the fomenters of rebel-
lion — Sprigg ; a placeman in a stateman's posi-
tion ; a land-hungerer, and selfish mercenary
failure — Sprigg's brother-in-law a disgrace to
human mind — General Gordon in Basutoland : his
masterly plans, and sweeping abolition of sinecures
and reduction of salaries, including his own, re-
sulting in his dismissal from the post of Colonial
Commandant . _ . - 113 — 127
IV. CONTENTS.
Chapter VIII. — The Coal Fields of South Africa —
King Alcohol capsizes Cobb's Coach, with some
serious, and many ludicrous results — The late
Prince Imperial and the Zulu Campaign — Human
Man-Eaters — Hereditary transmission of disease
- - 128-136
Chapter IX. — The Journey continued to Dordrecht
— A midnight bugler — Cattle-Lifting, the Dutch
and the Kaffir methods, and how to prevent the
same — Boon falls in with -'Satan" en route —
Dordrecht described — Wealth of the Dutch
Farmers — The Dutch Church : courting and pro-
posing therein — The Malpractices of the Jews in
the Colony — Gross official corruption — The great
mineral wealth of the district — Preference of the
Dutch girls for English settlers - 137 — 155
Chapter X. — Exeter Hall a curse to South Africa —
More about the Missionaries, Cetewayo and the
Zulus — The blood-sacrifice : terrible vengeance —
Monogamy and Polygamy — Isandula — Cetewayo
defended 156 — 175
Chapter XI. — A narrow escape — A contrast between
modern missionaries and the monks of old — The
Koranas or Bushmen — The Missing Link — Dr.
Brimstone's sermon — Over the Stormberg and
Bongola Mountains to Queenstown — Colonial
poverty and immorality-Gold-worship — Business,
the God in Queenstown — A protest against the
Emigrationists — A Market built for nothing
176 — 202
Chapter XII. — The Africander Bond — The future lan-
guage of South Africa— Triumphs of the English
language — English self-esteem - 203 — 225
Chapter XIII. — Land and money lords — Colonial
farming-Disastrous effects of the drought amongst
stock and sheep — The indolence and apathy of the
farmers contributing to their calamities — The
subjection of agriculture - - - 226 — 251
CONTENTS. V.
Chapter XIV. — The Waterford experimental farm —
Agriculture — Water- wealth — Colonial statistics —
The different Nationalities in the Colony— The
" Native" Question — The "pass" system— A Trek
threatened — Tree planting : what it will do for the
Country — The locust tree shown to be drought-
resisting 252—282
Chapter XV.—" The Fruits of Philosophy " and the
High Priest and Priestess of The Modern Pre-
cautionary 5r/ioo/— Modern Malthusianism exposed
—Theatricals in South Africa and the Morality of
Modern Stage Plays criticised— The Pastor of
Wheatlands and the Black Cabbage Seed— Edu-
cation and the State— The Schoolmaster and the
Conqueror . . - . 283—309
Chapter XVI. — On to King Wilham's Town— Land
Lords are bad, but House and Money Lords are
worse— The Christian Idea of Eternal Torture and
the Dante Purgatory-Science the Helpmate of Man
in Subduing the Earth — Production, Commerce,
and Finance — Producing Pilgrims and the Load
on their Backs — Bankruptcies and Suicide — The
War-Sprigg Party and the Scanlen Dodgers— The
Cape German Colony — Beaconsfield, Bismarck,
and Salisbury The German Emperor and Ig-
nobles of Germany — The German Connection a
Curse to Englishmen — Filthy Lucre-loving Par-
sons and German-Wastelings— The Unregarded
Toil of the Poor — A One-foot-in-the-grave Old
Man — A Never-satisfied, Asthmatical, Young-old
Man, and his Exhausted Wife and Young Family
of Consumptive, Asthmatical, Small, Puny,
Wizen Weaklings — The Union of Young Diseased
Persons and the Evil Consequences Thereof —
Bishops and Parsons Condemned for Marrying
them — Blue Stockings — Boon in the Jaws of a
Tiger — Sucking Poison— Boon's Remedy for Out-
cast London— A Second Daniel come to Judg-
ment — The Jews as Diamond Salters — The Truth,
the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth
- 310—344
— :0: —
IMMORTAL SOUTH AFRICA.
By Maetin James Boon.
" We have just had the pleasure of perusing the first volume
of one of the most remarkable, instructive, and entertaining
books ever presented to the public — Immortal South Africa —
by Martin James Boon. Past, recent, and current events, all
combine to enhance the interest and anxiety that we doubt
not exist in the public mind with regard to all that pertains
to the African Continent; and assuredly no Englishman,
worthy of the name, can look with indifference upon the
kaleidoscopic-like events now passing before his mental view
in that veritable terra incognita. Egypt, the Soudan, the
Transvaal, Basutoland, Zululand, Bechuanaland, &c., &c.,
are names now " Familiar as Household Words" in every
English- s])eakiug home, and naturally so ; for where is the
one to be found of the Anglo-Saxon race, from lisping infancy
to the threshold of the grave, who has not read or heard, and
on reading or hearing, of our African triumphs or disasters,
felt the warm glow of patriotism and pride suffuse the brow,
or sought refuge in tears from the agony of unavailing grief,
and mentally resolved that the transient stiiin upon the'
national escutcheon must be removed ? Under such influences
and conditions as these, we feel not only that no apology is
needed for inviting and commending to public attention
Immortal South Africa; but that it makes its appearance at a
singularly opportune and felicitous moment; and we confi-
dently hope that it will obtain what it undoubtedly merits —
the liberal patronage of the reading world. Although, as
indicated by its title, the work is mainly devoted to South
Africa, including the Orange lliver, Free State and Transvaul
Republics, nothing has been left untouched where "British
Tntereats" are concerned^and where are they not? Fevf
men have had better opportunities than Mr. Boon o acquiring
Te mate?ial7necessary to complete the Herculean task he has
o^suTcSy ^^co.pLhed ; 'nd -rtaialy - oon e^^^^^^^^^^^
writer has brought to bear upon the subject greater natural
TlSlt; and honesty of purpose or more ^a-tl^ss courage in
maintaining the right and denouncing the wrong^As^ a
resident in the country during a period of eleven years, Mr
Boon writes with all the authority of. Pe7-\-P;^;Smate
a sincerity as apparent as it is exceptional m the penultimate
derde"f\he nLteenth cent-y «' Fear tavou^^^^^^^
tion " on the one hand ; " malice, hatred or ill-wili on the
"her ; appear to be unlcno.n quanirUe. to M-^- ^^^^^^^^^^^
His de^cr ntions of the natural features ot the country are
rpllist^ca hbeautiful. His defence of the poor Abongines,
Tunde ed caioTed, goaded, banished, and at times wantonly
^m^rS^ i niai-vd of eloquent pleading, g.^t J^P^^ ^n
answerable on the part of the oppressors His denunciation
of tTe Je vs and their malpractices; of al shams,_ humbug ,
and impo tares, whether Governmental, official, or individual,
:re couched in language of crushing -P^tuo-ty convm^^^^^^^^
and overwhelming. With unerring precision, and resistless
?orce he strikes at every abuse; tearing away with the
m Ity po-^r of righteous'indignation, the mask that has too
bng concealed them^ and ruthlessly exposes them in alUheir
nude hideousness, to the scorn and contempt of the world.
Mr Boon is far t^o much of an Englishman to have left un-
touched the German element-a by no means unimportant
fictorin he oreat South African problem; more especially
now hat B smarck has shown the cloven hoof of acquisition
"nli Colonial Policv at Angra Pequena and New Guinea
&c combined with his ill-disguised hostility to -;n EgyP
-and with a master-hand, he has cleared away all the
obscurity in which that portion of the question was en-
'b on led- and by virtue of his rare powers ot_ pereeption
fnd dtription, pLen.ed it to us in a ^^^^^^^^^^
as the sub ect is interesting and important. Nothing ^'^'^^7
notice appears to have been overlooked. Poll .cs and ag -
culture in all their bearings; social, sanitary and domestic
tonicrtl^e "llace'- question, and a thousand and one other
mat Ss are dealt with in an able and comprehensive manner
S/vI^n' to the reader the miMuim of the conditions of
dallv life in South Africa, as distinctly as though he
Sd upon the sul>ject through the -d-- « sorne
powerful mental microscope. Throughout the entire work
— for we will take the public into our confidence, and say at
once, that we have enjoyed the pleasure of a peep into
the second volume, which is in an advanced stage of the
arrangements necessary to enable it to follow Vol. I. into the
" Hearts and Homes," doubtless waiting to welcome its arrival,
where we opine it will prove to be of " metal more attractive"
even than its predecessor — the readers interest is never allowed
to flag. The diversified contents of the book, and their mode of
treatment by the Author render Immortal South Africa a
mental pahdum upon which the appetite never palls. All
English-speaking folk who value the principles and attributes
of right and justice, truth and purity, will greet Mr. Boon's
book with a hearty welcome; whilst to the agriculturist, the
settler in South Africa, or the intending emigrant, it is of
supreme importance that "one and all" should be possessed
of it, as they undoubtedly will be, if they have any genuine
regard for their own interests. Although Mr. Boon makes no
pretensions to literary style or polish, he is a writer possess-
ing singular power and originality of ideas, fascinating by
reason of their very freshness, accompanied by a rich vein of
humour and keen sense of the ridiculous, whereby he at times
completely deprives us of all control over our risible faculties.
On the other hand we are now and again moved to the
tenderest of human emotions by his simple, pure and un-
afi'ected pathos. Neither can we pass over without notice his
trenchant criticisms of evil-doers in high places, his scathing
sarcasms when dealing with organised or individual hypo-
crisies, or his truly terrible power of invective when deliver-
ing an onslaught upon social, political or ecclesiastical
malefactors. With his perfect freedom from all conventu-
alism, Mr. Boon is a literary gem of the first water, a veritable
rough diamond ; and it requires no great stretch of imagina-
tion to picture his pen as the magician's wand, whose vigorous
strokes shall bring about the moral redemption of South
Africa, and hand down to posterity the name of Martin James
Boon, as the Nineteenth Century literary Bayard. Sans
peur et sans reprochey
MONEY AND ITS TJSE.
In these days, when " hard times" is the universal, and un -
happily but too well founded cry, certainly, any proposition,
that appears feasible, for the amelioration of matters must be
somewhat more than welcome. Whatever the cause, it is a,
9
fact, which cannot be gainaaid, for all of us are only too painfully
aware of it, that our country in common with others, is in a
state of commercial prostration, the like ot which has rarely,
if ever, been experienced ; and thousands upon thousands of
our "horny-handed sons of toil" are in a state of semi-
starvation through want of employment/ Of such gigantic
proportions is the evil, that private effort, however well
intended, is utterly helpless even to mitigate it to any appreci-
able extent, and our willfully blind or mentally paralysed
Government seems to be either unwilling or hopelessly incap-
able of grasping the difBcnlty, and dealing with it in an
effectual and statesmanlike manner. Innumerable plans and
suggestions — all of a more or less impracticable character —
have been promulgated by the Press, and mouthed from the
platform or in the Senate, but nothing — absolutely nothing
has as yet been done. The latest scheme for improving our
condition and exorcising from our midst, or stalling off that
rapidly approaching dread gaunt goblin Famine aye, famine ;
surrounded by plenty, wealth, luxury and sumptuousness,
appears to be the construction of subways in different parts
of the Metropolis, thereby providing employment for a con-
siderable number of our idle hands. Employment! Yes;
just the thing English working men want, and " don't they
wish they may get it? " Whilst our Municipal or Local
Government pettifoggers are discussing the matter, and turn-
ing about in all directions to find the ways and means — the
indispensable, the sine qua non, absolutely and indisputably of
our very existence on this sublunary planet, it is simply
but a repetition of the " old, old story " that while the grass
grows, the steed starves. What then is to be done ? Why
simply this: — Let every statesman, every politician, every
political economist, every philanthropist, the clergy and
ministers of all denominations, in fact, every man who wishes
himself and bis country well, procure at once the little
brochure, entitled " Money and Its Use," by Martin James
Boon, author of "The Immortal History of" South Africa,"
" History of tha Orange Free State," &c., &c., &c. Hiving
purchased it, let them read and ponder carefully its contents.
Having done so, we are persuaded that all then remaining to
be done, will be for every one in his respective sphere and
capacity to do all that lies within him to carry, or cause to
be carried immediately into practice the great and indisput-
able truths, and plans sketched out by the author. Let what
was done in Jersey be repeated to the extent necessary in
England, and then we shall have achieved our emancipation
10
for the greatest and grossest thraldom that ever disgraced,
outraged, and held in bondage the world of manhood — that of
the gold exploiters and monopolists. Then shall we have
effected, noiselessly and peacefiiHj% the greatest social revolu-
tion of this or any other age, and we make bold to prophesy
that the name of Martin James Boon will be hailed with
universal assent and acclamation as the talisman whereby this
wondrous transformation was brought about.
The rise, PROGRESS, AND PHASES of HUMAN
SLAVERY : How it Came into the "World, and How it
SHALL BE Made to Go Out. By James Bronterre O'Brien,
B.xi. London : "William Reeves, 185, Fleet Street, E.G. ;
G. Standing, 8 & 9, Finsbury Street ; Martin James Boon,
170, Farringdon Road, W.C.
This little Work, by an eloquent denunciator of the manifold
evils of Profitmongering and Landlordism, whose entire life
was devoted to the advocacy of Social Rights, is now given
to the world for the first time in complete form.
The Author, in his lifetime, was frustrated in his design of
finishing his History, through the ceaseless machinations of
working-class exploiters and landlords. This has been at
length accomplished by the aid of his various writings pre-
served inprint. The object steadily kept in view h;is been to
give the ipsissima verba of the Author, so that no foreign
pen may garble or mislead.
In order to provide room for so much additional matter as
was essential to the elucidation of the great reforms needed in
the subjects of Land Nationalisation, Credit, Currency, and
Exchange, it has been found expedient to omit from this
edition some disquisitions on subjects of ephemeral and
passing interest, not clostily connected with the scope of the
Work. Ample compensation lias, however, been given in the
additions which have had to bo made for the elucidation and
enforcement of the saving truths therein contained.
A man who lived for truth, and truth alore,
Brave as the bravest — generous as brave ;
A man whose heart was rent by every moan
That burst from every trodden, tortured slave;
A man prepared to fij^ht, jn-epared to die.
To lighten, banish, human slavery.
The mighty scorned hitu, villified, oppressed ;
The bitter cup of poverty and pain
Forced him to drink, lie was misfortune's guest
11
Thro' weary, weary years ; his angaished bi-ain
Shed tears of pity — wrath — for mankind's woe ;
For his own sorrows tears could never flow.
He loved the people with a brother's love :
He hated tyrants with a tyrant's hate.
He turned from kings below, to God above —
The King of kings who smites the wicked great.
The shame, the scourge, the terror of their race,
Those demons in earth's holy dwelling place.
Thou noble sonl ! Around thee gathered those
Who, poor and trampled patriots were like thee.
Thou art not dead ! Thy martyred spirit glows
In us, a band devoted of the free :
We best can celebrate thy natal day,
By virtues, valours, such as marked thy way.
WILLIAM JIACCALL.
We have been privileged with a sight of the proof-sheets of
O'Brien's " Rise, Progress, and Phases of Human Slavery,'
and are sure that the thousands of Socialists throughout
the world will hail with delight its appearance, for_ the first
time in a complete form. It seems to us as the rising from
the dead, after a long sleep, of the mighty great who
electrified his audiences with his eloquence. With what
convincing arguments does the writer show the horrors of
slavery, tracing its progress from brutal chattel-slavery down
to its more refined and diabolic form of wage-slavery. He
does not, however, leave us here ; but in fixing the evil, he
also, at the same time, gives the full and sufficient remedy.
It is like the voice of the Deity, speaking from the dead to
living. Let the people heed iha voice, and their redemption
draweth nish.
HISTORY OF THE OR. INGE FREE STATE.
Under the above title, another aspirant for public favour will
shortly make its appearance in the book market. The work
will be complete in one handsomely bound volume, and is from
the able pen of Martin James Boon, author of " The Im-
mortal History of South Africa," a work we had occasion to
notice with unqualified eulogy, some short time back —
" Money and Its Use," and other works on social and political
economy. " Immortal South Africa," with all its encyclo-
pcedic comprehensiveness, from the immense variety of subjects
it dealt with, could hardly do more than touch the fringe, as
it were, of that many-coloured geographical entity, the
Orange Free State. Those who have been fortunate enough,
or had the good sense, to read Mr. Boon's more general work,
cannot but have felt eager, when perusing the valuable and
12
interesting generalities, anent the Free State, therein con-
tained, for more detailed information from the same authori-
tative source ; and in the work under notice they will find it
in abundance, variety and beauty. Mr. Tjoon has handled hi<
subject, as only one in possession of absolutely personal
knowledge and great natural gifts, could. In thie book we
positively feel as though we were onlookers or participators in
the stirring events described. Public affnirs generally — State,
Local and Municipal — are treated with a copiousness that
leaves nothing to be desired, and with a boldness of assertion,
welcome and refreshing in these degenerate days of pandering
to " authority," and cloaking its manifold transgressions and
iniquities. Semitic and Teutonic rascality, appears to be
rampant in the Free State, and the victims thereof seem,
for the most part, to be Englishmen. So mean, con-
temptible, and dastardly ; so utterly abhorrent to all the in-
stincts of right and justice ; in short, so fiendish, one might
say, are the practices of these degenerate Cousins-German,
and nefarious descendants of Abraham, that the Orange Ke-
public must indeed be a sort of terrestial pandemonium. If
Mr. Boon is correct— and he certainly fortifies his assertions,
both by direct and collateral evidence — the malpractices re-
ferred to aie openly encouraged, or secretly connived at, by
the Free State officials of all grades Whilst the experiences
narrated, are engrossingly interesting, throwing a flood of
light upon that mysterious, but ever existent inner circle of
social and political life in the Free State ; the warnings given
should not only be read, but engraven upon the memory of
every Englishman contemplating a residence in that unfor-
tunate and really little-known Republic. Whether as a supple-
mentary, or companion work to " The Immortal History of
South Africa," or from its own inherent merits and attrac-
tions, " The Orange Free State " should find a welcome and a
home in every public and private library.
" HOW TO NATIONALIZE OUR COMMONS, WASTE
LANDS AND RAILWAYS."
Sucu is the title of a little work of very unpretending
appearance, but whose contents are of paramount interest and
importance to all classes, and especially to that unfortunate
stalking-horse of political parties— the working man. Whilst
the author, who has evidently studied the question carefully
and earnestly, expresses his views with all the energy of an
enthusiast who has unlimited confid(;nce in the soundness of
his conclusions ; he is remarkably felicitous in his mode of
13
illustration, which is characterised by such force andVper-
spicuity, that not even the humblest capacity can fail to grasp
his meaning. The author contends that the appropriation,
with the public money, of our Commons and "Waste lands is
the only way to work out the great Land Question ; and he
urges that it this were done, and the whole brought into a
proper state of cultivation, there would be no necessity for
our agricultural labourers to emigrate, and that our own
lands would yield sufficient sustenance for a population of
" one hundred and twenty millions." The historical and
legal bearings of the Commons Question are ably and copiously
dealt with ; and the statistics upon which the author bases
his deductions, are collated from the most authoritative
sources, including the report of the Enclosure Commissioners,
from which he estimates the annual loss of revenue to the
United Kingdom, through the present condition of our com-
mons and waste lands, at the enormous sum of forty millions.
Formidable as this amount appears, the author has something
Btill more astounding in store. He says that if these lands
were to be allotted to farm labourers for cultivation, they
would in a few years yield, in the form of rent, an annual in-
come to the State of " from sixty to eighty millions ! " Such
are a few only of the numerous items of interest contained in
this truly valuable pamphlet, which not only points out
existing evils, but — what is of infinitely greater importance —
it shows the way out of them, in " short, sharp and decisive'*
fashion; and greater, better, and more wonderous still —
" without a farthing's loss or cost to any one." Of the
" Hallway Question," the exigencies of space only permit us
to say — without intending a joke — that it is dealt with
exactly on the same lines. In conclusion, we cannot give
better advice concerning this marvellous little work, than that
contained in the words, " Go and buy it." The price places
this little treasure within the reach of all, and it is written
by that staunch, true friend of the working man, Mabxin
James Boon, author of the " Immortal History of South
Africa," "History of the Orange Free State," "Money and
Its Use," &c., &c., &c.
"JOTTING'S BY THE WAY, OR BOON'S MADNESS
ON THE ROAD."— By Maktin James Boon.
London : Geobge Standring, 8 & 9, Finsbury Street.
" This is a very remarkable book by a very remarkable man.
Hr. Boon is an ethusiast of the most indomitable type. He ia
14
irrepressible ia his hopefulness. He presents us, in this
volume, with a philosophical view of life — past, present and
to come — in the Orange Free State, Natal, and Cape Colony.
He has lived long and travelled much, and seen a great deal
in these parts ; and he believes that his thoughts, speculations,
fancies, and facts will be of service to Englishmen — hence
this work. Mr. Boon is a most pronounced Republican, and
an ardent advocate of the- nationalization of the land. He is
a reformer, and is never happy, but as he is either destroying
what he believes to be evil, or is uplifting and supporting
what he believes to be good and true. His volume is interest-
ing, instructive, and suggestive, and ought to be read by all
reformers and those who take any interest in foreign policy.
Mr. William Maccall, well known to advanced thinkers in
this religion, introduces this book of colonial genius. We must
not say, for the author is English born — but his ideas seem to
have been strengthened, if not developed, by his colonial life
and experience. In 1869 Mr. Maccall, at the Hall of Science,
London, delivered four lectures on Pauperism. Among his
hearers were the author of this book. The lecturer and his
boon companions recognised a kinship of spirit, and this kin-
ship has been strengthened by time. He is a merchant at
Bloemfontein, Orange Free State. His "favourite ideas"
do not let business muzzle his soul. Maworm, in the play
of the Hypocrite, boasted that " he extorted [exhorted] all
who came to the shop," and Martin Boon, who is a true man
and no hypocrite, finds that his ideas being freely communi-
cated and fearlessly maintained, do not hinder his progress in
business. As Mr. Maccall's name is a sufficient voucher for
the book we have only to add that it abounds with racy
writing, which will amuse the cursory reader, and with
thoughts that will interest the graver student of this mad
world." — Western Times.
George Standring, 8 & 9, Finshury Street, London,
publishes "Jottings by the Way," and "How to Construct
Free State Hallways," by Martin James Boon. Tliey are two
thoughtful, earnest, and vigorous works. They are fresh,
striking, drastic; brimful of all sorts of information and sug-
gestions, and ought to be read by all reformers. — The Propa-
gandist (Vail tfe Co,, 170, Farringdon-road), is a twopenny
monthly of the most advanced type, edited by Martin James
Boon. It is a fearless, outspoken, daring periodical, advoca-
ting views of the most uncompromising kind. Martin Boon
is far ahead of his age and country. — Oldham Chyonicle. ,
15
"A SCHEME OF IMPERIAL COLONIZATION:
How TO COLONINIZE SoUTH AFRICA, AND BY WhOM."
By Maetin J. Boon.
Many readers must recall with pleasure and esteem the name
of Martin James Boon, who, twelve years ago, played a con-
spicuous part as a social and political reformer, and who was
the first popular champion of what has recently attracted so
much attention — land nationalisation. The more disinterested
and devoted we are in the service of truth, the more we have
to suffer; and brave, benevolent Boon was not an exception.
His worldly affairs having fallen into confusion, he went,
early iu 1874, as a settler to South Africa. If in England
he had been a hero, in Caffraria he was destined to be a martyr.
Eor a considerable time he has resided as a merchant at
Bloemfontein, Orange Free State. His tribulations have not
diminished his enthusiasm, and he continues to write and
speak with the valiant zeal whieh he displayed in England.
His pamphlet, " How to Colonise South Africa," contains
many ingenious suggestions.
At the risk of being called a Jicg", I think that England
should have a great foreign policy and a great colonial policy,
and that England should be for the modern world what Home
was for the ancient world. I was amused the other daj',
when reading a lecture by Mr. Conway, to find Benjamin
Disraeli treated as an earnest man, with something of the old
Hebrew prophetic fire. It seemed to me the height of comi-
cality that the most detestable impostor of modern days should
be regarded as a serious and honest personage. It is enough
to make me hate Benjamin Disraeli that, by his contemptible
trickeries, he brought a vigorous foreign and colonial policy
into disrepute. To that policy we must return if England is
to maintain or to extend its place among the nations. When-
ever that policy is revived South Africa is sure to be sought
as an admirable field for colonizing experiments. Boon's main
idea includes the rapid extension of a peasant proprietary in
connection with an immense issue of redeemable paper money.
As all money is simply representative, I see no reason for
deeming Boon's plan unworkable. But I cannot discuss the
plan here, and must content myself with trying to excite the
interest of the reader in Boon's pamphlet. My own currency
has always been extremely limited ; and I might be too much
influenced by prejudices if I were to enter on the debate of
currency questions. That these questions have been pro-
foundly studied and are tlioroughly understood by Boon, I
am convinced ; and his sincerity and generositj are beyond
the reach of doubt. William Maccall.
16
HOW TO CONSTRUCT FREE TRADE RAILWAYS, &c.
*' The manifold advantages of a thorough system of railway
communication are so well known and appreciated in those
countries fortunate enough to possess this universally recog-
nised desideratum, that any recapitulation thereof is totally
unnecessary. The chief ground for surprise in connection
wilh the matter is, that any Nation or State, claiming to be
considered civilised, should be without, or inadequately pro-
vided with railways ; and as we cannot for a moment imagine
any people to be so blind to the interests of themselves and
their country as not to be possessed of an earnest desire to
have them, we are forced to the conclusion that the want of
means, rather than the want of wit, is the real stumbling
block in the way. We are led to these observations by the
perusal of a pamphlet bearing the title at the head of this
notice, written by that well known militant Apostle of Pro-
gress, Martin James Boon, author of the Immortal History of
South Africa, National Paper Money and Its Use, History of
the Orange Free State, &c., &c. The author having for a con-
siderable time been an observant resident in the Free State is
pre-eminently entitled to speak upon the question, which he
treats from the point of view that the railways should be
constructed by and become the property of the State, the cost
thereof being provided for by the issue of State paper-money
in the form of Notes, marked to denote the purpose for which
they were issued, and made legal tender for all purposes
within the confines of the Free State. The security upon
which the notes were issued would be the railway plant and
works themselves. Upon the completion of the line five per
cent, of the receipts after paying all expenses to be called in,
and notes representing that amount cancelled annually,
until the whole would be passed out of circulation and the
property left as a source of income, either to carry out other
works or to relieve the burdens of the taxpayers, and all
effected, entirely free of cost. Such is a brief outline of
the author's general idea, and it is worked out in detail
with admirable reasoning, illustrated by convincing examples.
Every member of that somewhat cosmopolitan community.
The Orange Free State, should invest sixpence, and study
the question for himself."
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
Los Angeles
This book is DUE on the last date stamped Mow.
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