-V
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 Bell's Colonial Editions. 
 
 THE NEW NATION 
 
 A Survey of the Condition and Prospects of 
 South Africa
 
 THE NEW NATION 
 
 A Survey of the Condition and Prospects of 
 South Africa 
 
 BY 
 
 H. E. S. FREMANTLE. M.A., 
 Member of Cape Colony Assembly 
 
 LONDON 
 GEORGE BELL & SONS 
 
 1909
 
 This Edition is intended pr circulation only in India 
 and the British Colonies
 
 THIS BOOK is DEDICATED 
 To THE MEMORY, 
 
 NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN BY SOUTH AFRICANS, 
 OF 
 
 SIR HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, 
 WHO GAVE PEACE TO SOUTH AFRICA, 
 
 AND ESTABLISHED THERE 
 THE MORAL AND POLITICAL POSITION OF ENGLAND 
 
 BY TEACHING HER 
 NOT TO FEAR HER OWN GREATNESS. 
 
 1174685
 
 POST TENEBRAS LUX
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 I. THE CASE FOR UNION I 
 
 II. COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 15 
 
 III. EXPANSION AND DISRUPTION 40 
 
 IV. ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 54 
 
 V. THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 89 
 
 VI. THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 113 
 
 VII. NATIONAL FINANCE 151 
 
 VIII. THE COLOURED RACES 176 
 
 IX-. WEALTH OF THE NATION 220 
 
 X. THE NATION'S FUTURE 239 
 
 XI. THE NATION'S PLACE IN THE WORLD 269 
 
 APPENDIX A 285 
 
 APPENDIX B 308 
 
 INDEX 323
 
 35
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE emergence of a new nation must always be an 
 event of importance. That the new nation should 
 be an addition to the family of nations which make 
 up the British Empire must be a source of pride 
 to citizens of that Empire, and may well challenge 
 enquiry in the world at large. That it should 
 appear in South Africa and at the present time 
 must make its advent a matter of special gratifica- 
 tion and wonder gratification because this happy 
 vent marks the end of a century of trouble, pro- 
 claims the occupation of the greatest sentinel's 
 lodge and citadel of the world by a permanent 
 garrison, and formulates the most definitive claim 
 that has yet been made by civilization to a resting 
 place and basis of operations in the dark conti- 
 nent; wonder because the consummation follows 
 so hotly on the peace made at Vereeniging in 
 1902. 
 
 To South Africans, thwarted for generations in
 
 xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 their endeavours after union, progress and pros- 
 perity by external interference, often well-intended, 
 but almost always pernicious, the realisation of 
 the long dream of national union and the acqui- 
 sition of unchallenged freedom to work out a 
 great destiny carry with them such relief and 
 joy as make the strongest words seem weak. This 
 fulfilment of the earnest expectation of South 
 Africans, this triumph of the tolerant statesmanship 
 of England, this fresh vindication to the world of 
 the undiminished potency of old principles form 
 the occasion and theme of the following pages, in 
 which an attempt is made to read the horoscope of 
 the new nation. 
 
 It follows that this book is but little concerned 
 with bygone controversies, perhaps least of all with 
 those which have produced the most violent convul- 
 sions. When the first Napoleon had established 
 his authority in France an eminent writer produced 
 a volume tending to vindicate the cause of the 
 Revolution against the Royalists. It was received 
 with much disfavour by the Emperor, who declared 
 that he had no wish to see the foundations of the 
 existing settlement exposed and subjected to fresh 
 question in order to furnish the periods of a 
 rhetorician. The foundations of the settlement in 
 South Africa are made of far more durable stuff
 
 INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 than those of the First Empire, but there are few 
 South Africans who would not agree that dying 
 controversies must now be left to care for them- 
 selves, and dead controversies to find burial as they 
 may. 
 
 No doubt, ignorance with regard to South Africa 
 may still sometimes be seen stalking and parading 
 itself abroad, and doing positive harm by creating 
 disquiet where there is no cause for disquiet, or by 
 arousing ill-feeling where justice and truth would 
 command peace. For instance, it is sometimes 
 whispered in South Africa that England never 
 paid the amount stipulated for the definite cession 
 of the Cape in 1815, although the curious history 
 of the Russo- Dutch loan, by which the payment 
 was duly made, is open to all. To be sure, in a 
 country where there is so much to learn, and where 
 so much lies below the surface, the wisest are most 
 conscious of their ignorance, and to those who 
 look at it from a distance it must be almost 
 impossible to distinguish between the mountains 
 and the clouds. As a result of all this, the satis- 
 factory elements in the South African situation 
 are very generally overlooked, and consequently 
 they have repeatedly been arrested and paralysed 
 by importunate interference designed to create 
 them.
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Let us see how this works. Thirty years ago 
 Lord St. Aldwyn, then Sir Michael Hicks- 
 Beach, was Colonial Secretary, and had a 
 hand in shaping the history of South Africa in 
 regard to the position of the Transvaal and the 
 question of Federation. Ten years ago, speaking 
 at Bristol, he very generously admitted that in 
 dealing with South Africa as Colonial Secretary he 
 had been guilty of serious mistakes. Two years 
 ago, speaking at East London, he expressed 
 cordial approval of the speech in which General 
 Botha had just enunciated his policy on taking 
 office as Prime Minister of the Transvaal. It 
 may have been impossible for an English States- 
 man in 1879 to discern certain essential elements 
 in the South African situation which existed 
 already in germ, and which are now plainly 
 apparent. But if the Colonial Secretary had re- 
 cognised the germ in 1879, many brilliant but 
 costly pages of history might have been spared. 
 
 Even now there are many who look on South 
 Africa with misgivings, and impart their misgivings 
 to others, through failure to gauge the strength of 
 the forces which ensure and guarantee the reality 
 of South African peace. It may therefore not be 
 amiss to preface the examination of the question of 
 South African consolidation by a statement of the
 
 INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 situation on the eve of the contemplated union. 
 Many books have been written about South Africa. 
 Notable contributions to the literature of the sub- 
 ject have been made by illustrious visitors, such as 
 Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Bryce, who have 
 surveyed the country with a sympathetic and 
 penetrating gaze. There have also been books 
 by South Africans, written for the most part under 
 the influence of a controversial fever, which has 
 precluded them from a just appreciation of men 
 united with them as South Africans, but separated 
 from them by race and language. There is still 
 much unoccupied space left for the writings of 
 South Africans who can sincerely say : " Afri- 
 canus sum ; Africani nihil a me alienum puto." 
 " We are South Africans, and in our hearts we 
 regard none of the people of South Africa as 
 alien." 
 
 This book starts with the assumption, grounded 
 on knowledge of both parties, that, speaking 
 generally, the South Africans who speak English 
 are now at peace with the South Africans who 
 speak Dutch. Three years ago Lord Crewe, the 
 present Colonial Secretary, said that the Imperial 
 Government was neither pro-Boer nor anti-Boer. 
 In South Africa we have now advanced far beyond 
 this, and there are few who would not acknowledge
 
 xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 that in order to be really pro-Boer a man must be 
 pro- British also, and in order to be pro- British he 
 must be pro- Boer. It would hardly be an 
 exaggeration to say that we are all pro- British and 
 all pro-Boer. 
 
 We have undergone a marvellous change, and 
 can now even afford to look back upon it. As 
 late as 1905 a singularly acute observer,* reckoning 
 the figures of the white population in South Africa, 
 declined to include the people of the Orange River 
 Colony and the Transvaal on the ground that after 
 the war they could no longer be counted as part 
 of the dominant race. All through South Africa 
 the bulk of the English-speaking people were 
 arrayed against the bulk of the Dutch-speaking 
 people. The different parties in each of the three 
 larger Colonies made no secret of their sympathies 
 with the corresponding parties among their neigh- 
 bours, and in England the South African parties 
 were habitually, though inaccurately, described, 
 the one as British and the other as Dutch, and 
 the former was sometimes exclusively described 
 as Loyalist. Some of its leaders in the Transvaal 
 openly expressed their profound suspicion of their 
 opponents, even in regard to those basic questions 
 
 * H. Speyer. " La Constitution Juridique de 1'Empire 
 Colonial Britannique."
 
 INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 about which in a peaceful community all parties 
 are admittedly at one. In the Transvaal, the 
 Orange River Colony, and even the Cape Colony, 
 trivial police affairs were represented as threaten- 
 ings of insurrection. Altogether, it is hardly 
 surprising that some critics pronounced the day of 
 national union in South Africa to be still far off. 
 
 But from the first the division of South Africans 
 on racial lines was believed by many to be 
 unnatural, seeing that the interests of the two races 
 are not conflicting but complementary, so that the 
 question at issue was not whether the interests of 
 the one or the other should be pursued, but 
 whether the Dutch could be relied upon to work 
 for the interests of all and not for themselves in 
 particular. Nearly three years ago a milder tone 
 began to pervade the utterances of those who have 
 been doubtful on this point. They were defeated 
 at the polls in 1907 and 1908, not because the Bri- 
 tish vote was outnumbered, but because they were 
 not sure of their own ground, and because the Bri- 
 tish vote was deeply divided. In the Cape Colony 
 especially the number of Englishmen who felt able 
 to work harmoniously with the men of Dutch speech 
 has always been considerable, and has made such 
 rapid advance in recent years that of the fifty-one 
 English South Africans elected as members of the
 
 xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 House of Assembly in 1908, nineteen, or over 
 thirty-seven per cent., are supporters of a ministry 
 which enjoys the confidence of practically the 
 whole Dutch-speaking section of the people. 
 Without the support of these nineteen their allies 
 would be in a minority. Before the year was over 
 expressions of distrust by over-zealous partisans in 
 England were rebuked by the leading organs of 
 what was the opposition in South Africa, and in 
 Natal the press as a whole had ceased to allow simi- 
 lar expressions by local politicians to pass without 
 protest. It would be too soon to say that the spirit 
 of distrust is dead in South Africa. There are ebul- 
 litions from time to time on both sides which the 
 friends of peace in South Africa deplore. Nor 
 can peace be hurried. During the electoral 
 struggle in the Transvaal in 1907, General Botha 
 announced that he had offered to form a coalition 
 government with his opponents, who had rejected 
 his overtures. But as between South Africans 
 of English and Dutch speech there are already 
 oalition governments in each of the three largest 
 Colonies, and the whole movement of events is 
 a\\ ay from suspicion and towards mutual tolerance 
 and respect, resulting not, directly at any rate, from 
 victory and defeat, but from a genuine convergence 
 of view, as urgent national questions begin to fill
 
 INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 men's minds, leaving no room for merely sectional 
 considerations. 
 
 This great forward movement cannot be wholly 
 attributed to any single event. There are three 
 general causes for the decay of suspicion, only one 
 of which at most is concentrated in a single inci- 
 dent. Suspicion of the Dutch-speaking people 
 has languished, and must continue to languish ; 
 first, because the heart of this people is essentially 
 sound and fit for the fullest interchange of friend- 
 ship with men of English origin; secondly, 
 because the people have made great progress in 
 education and appreciation of education, so that 
 unenlightened views are less and less current 
 among them, and their leading men are increas- 
 ingly well able to explain their real position and 
 objects to their supporters ; and, thirdly, because 
 the grant of self-government has forced all sections 
 to meet, with the result that the good qualities of 
 each and the groundlessness of suspicion have 
 become apparent to all. The first point hardly 
 admits of direct argument. The essential char- 
 acter of a people is not a matter of ponderable 
 fact, although men who have seen them and mixed 
 with them freely may fairly express an opinion, 
 and it will be found that, when second-hand opinion 
 has been eliminated, there is not much divergence
 
 xx INTRODUCTION 
 
 of view about the character of the Dutch-speaking 
 section of the South African people. But, after 
 all, that character is best illustrated by the policy 
 which the people supports, and for the present it 
 shall be left to speak for itself through the char- 
 acter and actions of the recognised leaders. This 
 brings us to the second point. 
 
 Everyone is aware of the loss which the war 
 inflicted on all concerned. But it would serve no 
 good purpose to deny that some good has come 
 out of that great evil. The endurance and per- 
 tinacity of the Boer have won him an immortal 
 name and silenced his detractors in South Africa 
 and elsewhere. On the other hand, he has not 
 failed to appreciate the good qualities of the British 
 troops, and the private soldier in particular has 
 strewn the whole of South Africa with admired 
 memories of his dauntless courage and his unfail- 
 ing good humour. The war has proved the virility 
 of both sides. But this is by no means all. It 
 has done more to win respect for education than 
 all our compulsory clauses and all our homilies. 
 General De Wet has lost no opportunity of saying 
 that in the war it was the educated men who showed 
 the greatest determination and did most to make 
 their people famous. This fact is universally 
 admitted, and its force is everywhere felt. In
 
 INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 consequence unlettered men, whose worth was too 
 often hidden behind a screen of narrow opinions 
 and uncouth demeanour, have been replaced in the 
 position of leaders by men who are familiar with 
 the modern world and readily intelligible to its 
 children. Some time ago Mr. Esselen, since the 
 war, as before it, one of the most influential men 
 in the Transvaal, declared that all the leaders of 
 " Het Volk," the great political association of the 
 Dutch-speaking people of the Transvaal, were 
 anti-Krugerites before the war. No doubt they 
 admired President Kruger, and appreciated his 
 strength and determination and his ardent love of 
 South Africa; but they believed before the war 
 that a liberal policy towards the new population 
 of the country ought to have been followed, and 
 certainly nothing that has happened since has 
 tended to weaken that view. 
 
 In the Orange River Colony General Hertzog 
 and others have declared that they welcome 
 English settlers on the land, although the country 
 is not in a position to pay for introducing them 
 at the present time. Throughout South Africa 
 the leaders of the old population recognise that 
 they must earn the cordial goodwill of English- 
 men, not only because without substantial English 
 support they cannot hope to remain in power, 
 
 B
 
 \.\11 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 but also because with half the people of the 
 (ountry discontented the country cannot enjoy 
 peace, and every material cause for discontent 
 must mean the shutting-out, in one way or 
 another, of the stream of wealth and prosperity. 
 
 There is even now a tradition current in 
 some South African circles that the Boers are 
 wedded to obsolete methods of agriculture, and 
 that their leaders are set on entrenching them in 
 their resistance to the progress of efficiency. 
 General Botha, as Secretary for Agriculture in the 
 Transvaal, and General De Wet, who holds the 
 same post in the Orange River Colony, have fin- 
 ally disproved these accusations, having acted 
 throughout with the utmost determination in 
 support of sound farming. In short, one of the 
 main reasons for the better understanding between 
 the different races in South Africa is that it is not 
 now possible to attribute to any one of them as a 
 whole a perverse devotion to exclusive politics or 
 obsolete methods. 
 
 It is not too soon to do the Governments of the 
 new Colonies the justice of pointing out that they 
 have belied the fears of those who believed that 
 they would exercise their power without regard to 
 the interests of the British section. Those 
 interests are at present almost entirely confined
 
 INTRODUCTION xxiii 
 
 to the mining industry and the Civil Service. The 
 mining industry is now more productive and on a 
 sounder basis than ever before. Its captains have 
 generously acknowledged the generous help given 
 them by the Government in recruiting the neces- 
 sary labour. The last of the Chinese will soon be 
 gone ; but no place vacated by a coolie has been 
 left vacant ; no agitation now disturbs the security 
 of the industry ; no unjust taxes have been imposed. 
 On the contrary, the Transvaal Government has 
 done its best to lighten the taxation on the indus- 
 trial community. Justice cannot do less than 
 pronounce that the Botha Government has been a 
 good friend of the mining industry. As regards 
 the Civil Service, it has to be remembered that 
 many of the Dutch-speaking people find an official 
 life attractive. In the Cape Colony racial distinc- 
 tions are almost unheard of in the Civil Service ; 
 in all ranks and in all offices men of different race 
 are freely intermingled. Bearing this in mind, the 
 reader will appreciate the force and meaning of a 
 few plain facts which will now be stated. First, 
 the population of the Transvaal is about equally 
 divided between English and Dutch. Secondly, 
 judging by the University examinations, the Dutch 
 section of the population is at least as well edu- 
 cated as the English. Thirdly, after the war it
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 considered necessary to disregard all the 
 rights of the old Civil Servants, who had been far 
 too exclusively Dutch, and to substitute an almost 
 completely new Civil Service, not much less exclu- 
 sively English. Fourthly, the Botha Government 
 was compelled by financial exigencies to carry on 
 th- measures of retrenchment very properly 
 initiated by Lord Selborne, and as the Civil Ser- 
 vice was almost wholly English, the men dismissed 
 were much oftener English than Dutch. Fifthly, 
 among the names of the Civil Servants appointed 
 by the Botha Government the English outnumber 
 the Dutch by a hundred, or nearly 50 per cent. 
 Sixthly, in the latter part of 1908 it was found that 
 on the list of Transvaal Civil Servants there were 
 7 J7 Dutch names, while 3,870, or more than five 
 times as many, were English. Finally, the Oppo- 
 sition in the Orange River Colony has openly 
 confessed that the Government there has not shown 
 any tendency to bestow special favours on men of 
 their own race. But, indeed, in South Africa 
 itself very little is heard of these charges of racial 
 favouritism in the Civil Service. 
 
 If it were necessary, it would be easy to show 
 that the British section of the people, as repre- 
 sented by politicians of different parties, is no more 
 inclined to proscribe Civil Servants with Dutch
 
 INTRODUCTION xxv 
 
 names than General Botha is inclined to penalise 
 Civil Servants with English names. But the 
 suspicions of the past have been directed against 
 one side only, and it is not therefore necessary to 
 defend those who have not been attacked. It 
 must not, however, be supposed that the Dutch- 
 speaking people have not had difficulties of their 
 own. Soon after the war Mr. Vorster, a leading 
 Minister of the smaller Dutch communion, com- 
 monly, though improperly, known as the " Dopper 
 Church," published some remarkable open letters, 
 declaring with great force that there were but three 
 courses open to the Dutch-speaking people : they 
 must become English, or they must live as a 
 separate community, or they must leave the country 
 and find some other home for their race. The 
 first of these three alternatives he regarded as 
 inadmissible, the second he saw to be impossible, 
 the third he proclaimed as necessary. Accord- 
 ingly an organisation was established, and a large 
 number of families shook the dust of a too English 
 South Africa from their feet and endeavoured to 
 form a settlement in Argentina. The country 
 where they settled was unpropitious. Many of 
 them have perished ; their leader, once a friend 
 of Rhodes and member of the Cape Parliament, 
 is dead ; some have found their way back to South
 
 \.\V1 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Africa; and the last trek is over. Nevertheless, 
 Mr. Vorster's views represented the feelings of a 
 v rv considerable number of the people. Of his 
 three alternatives the third as well as the second 
 has now been proved impossible ; there remains 
 the first that the Dutch should become English. 
 This, according to his letters, was the universal 
 tendency. Everyone, he said, was now learning 
 English. The Dutch people, the Dutch papers, 
 the Dutch political leaders, all seemed bent on- 
 Anglicisation. Indeed, to tell the truth, Mr. 
 Yorster himself was master of the English as well 
 as of the Dutch language. In short, Mr. Vorster 
 knew that he was on the losing side, and because 
 he knew it he unconsciously produced the most 
 cogent evidence to break down the suspicion of the 
 English section that the Dutch section was essen- 
 tially antipathetic, and so to facilitate that very 
 drawing together which he regarded with so much 
 a; -prehension. 
 
 The Argentine trek, however, plainly showed 
 that there was a real force behind Mr. Vorster's 
 th- ories. Nor was it all on one side. Indeed, 
 this remarkable incident brought to a head the 
 o ntral problem thrown up by that seething 
 turmoil of blind principles violently warring against 
 each other in the dark which is the history of South
 
 INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 Africa. Can English and Dutch blend without 
 offering up on the altar of Peace sacrifices more 
 precious than Peace herself? Is the man of Dutch 
 speech who mixes freely with the man of English 
 speech thereby becoming an Englishman, as Mr. 
 Vorster averred? Or is the man of English 
 speech who learns to feel at ease among men of 
 Dutch speech thereby becoming a Dutchman, as 
 others have not less vehemently contended ? It is 
 vain to dismiss such questions as absurd. South 
 Africa has long wrestled with them, sometimes 
 without recognising them, and England has halted 
 between two opinions about them at least as much 
 as South Africa. But at last, left to face them in 
 solitude, South Africa is answering them with a 
 confident negative, and it is the shout of this 
 triumphant assurance that calls the new nation to 
 its birth. 
 
 This great discovery of the mutual compatibility 
 of the two races, the revelation that the essentials 
 of national character on either side are not exclu- 
 sive of the essentials on the other, the recognition 
 that beneath and behind divergency there lies an 
 identity insensibly and inevitably resulting from 
 increasing attachment and adaptation to a common 
 country which possesses and imprints upon its 
 children marked characteristics of its own all this
 
 xxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 has been brought about by the grant of self- 
 government to the new Colonies. That it might 
 have come about in another way, through the 
 beneficent persistence of nature triumphing over 
 the infatuations of politicians, is not impossible. 
 But had the issue been staked on that chance the 
 change might probably have come in the form of 
 an earthquake, or it might not have come at all. 
 The significance of the grant of self-government 
 t<> the new Colonies was immediately apprehended 
 in South Africa. Both in Cape Colony and in 
 Natal the people, through their representatives in 
 Parliament, expressed their cordial gratification. 
 General Botha, Mr. Steyn, General de Wet, Mr. 
 Fischer, now Prime Minister of the Orange River 
 Colony, in fact, all the leaders of the Boer people, 
 have given the most generous expression in public, 
 as in private, to their sense of the greatness of that 
 act of audacious justice. Most of them have 
 emphasised its generosity, and made it plain that 
 unflinching generosity on one side creates lasting 
 generosity on the other. Mr. Steyn takes his 
 stand on even firmer ground. Self-government, 
 he says, was promised at Vereeniging ; the pro- 
 mise has been fulfilled in the spirit and in the 
 letter. Thus the whole people is now bound in 
 honour to show justice as it has received justice,
 
 INTRODUCTION xxix 
 
 and the grant of self-government has purchased 
 the faith of a nation as a guarantee of peace. The 
 appeal to the sense of justice and generosity has 
 certainly aroused a decisive response ; nor can 
 there be any mistaking the fact that this comes 
 from the heart of the people. Mr. Bosnian, the 
 Moderator of the Dutch Reformed Church in the 
 Transvaal, declared in a sermon that he now 
 thanked God for the British flag, which had made 
 possible the union of the South African people. 
 " De Fakkel," the organ of the Dutch Reformed 
 Church in the Orange River Colony, expressed in 
 language of touching simplicity the gratitude of 
 the people. The Transvaalers have marked their 
 sense of the greatness of the boon by presenting 
 to the King the richest diamond ever discovered 
 in the world, as a token of loyalty so the official 
 text reminds us and in commemoration of the 
 grant of responsible government to their country. 
 The immediate effect was stated with the elo- 
 quence of precision by the Chief Justice of the 
 Cape Colony, Sir Henry de Villiers, perhaps the 
 most experienced of South Africans, at the great 
 celebration of the Tercentenary of the founding 
 of Quebec. Standing up as the appointed spokes- 
 man of the four Colonies of South Africa, in the 
 presence of the Prince of Wales and the represen-
 
 xxx INTRODUCTION 
 
 tatives of the whole Empire and of the great 
 American and French Republics, he said : " A 
 policy of trust was adopted, with the novel result 
 that a sullen and discontented people were, as if 
 by magic, changed into law-abiding and loyal 
 subjects." 
 
 This great achievement, sublime in its simpli- 
 city, is of more than South African and more than 
 Imperial significance. It is an event which must 
 always stand out in the history of government and 
 indeed in the history of the world. Only the future 
 can write down the bountiful total of its pregnant 
 consequences. But already it marks the end of 
 an epoch of strife. It operates with the supreme 
 efficiency of supreme simplicity. " The quarrels 
 of men," says Mr. Balfour, " are not due to the 
 fact that mankind are bad, but to the fact that 
 mankind are ignorant." But ignorance is not com- 
 patible with collaboration, and, as a whole, men 
 are not obstinate enough to remain ignorant of 
 their comrades in the work of self-government. 
 The grant of self-government is destroying the 
 mutual suspicion of South Africans, because it is 
 dispelling their mutual ignorance by making them 
 co-partners and colleagues. Moreover, it has 
 already made itself felt in the outer world. In 
 expounding the great decision of the Imperial
 
 INTRODUCTION xxxi 
 
 Government, Mr. Churchill did not shrink from 
 expressing the hope that the example thus set 
 might be followed elsewhere. Since then Parlia- 
 ments have been re-established in Russia and in 
 Turkey ; in Germany, in China, and in Persia the 
 encroaching cause of Parliamentary Government 
 is making itself felt ; the Congo has been trans- 
 ferred from the control of a King to the control of 
 a Parliament ; in India and in Egypt the 
 Government is becoming more representative. 
 Altogether, there has been a marked revival of 
 Parliamentary ideals, and in place of the dis- 
 couragement which appeared to be coming over 
 the world some years ago, it is growing clear that 
 Parliamentary institutions are defective instru- 
 ments of government only in the hands of those 
 who are incapable of using them. 
 
 As it learns the extent of its fortune as the bene- 
 ficiary of the English example, the world will 
 pardon the pride of citizens of the British Empire 
 who exult in the contemplation of the part their 
 country has played, and is still playing, in the pro- 
 pagation of the healing plant of freedom. " There 
 are States," so Prince Billow declares, " which are 
 strong enough, to their own advantage, to do with- 
 out a futile and petty prestige policy." To States 
 which have this strength more strength is added,
 
 xxxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 and it is a strength which has this advantage, that 
 it evokes no bitterness and creates no rankling 
 sense of wrong, and no lurking passion for revenge. 
 It appears in its most uncompromising form 
 in British Colonial policy when it disarms discon- 
 tent by trust and uproots it by giving it freedom 
 and responsibility. And it is precisely in this form 
 that it reaps its richest reward. The impartial 
 spectator is forced to acknowledge that of all the 
 factors which have contributed to the pacific 
 development of the British Empire the most 
 potent is the political and economic liberty insured 
 by its system of institutions. One such spectator, 
 before the grant of self-government to the new 
 Colonies, anticipated the possibility that "the 
 Imperial Government will conciliate the confidence 
 of the Boers by scrupulous respect for their 
 manners, language, and religion, as it has con- 
 trived to engage the affection of the French 
 Canadians, who to-day have become the firmest 
 supports of English power in America." It has 
 done this by one stroke of policy, by one display 
 of that supreme strength which shows itself in for- 
 bearance and manly confidence. Once again the 
 reward is not kept back, and the first rich instal- 
 ment is already paid. 
 
 The first fruit of the establishment of complete
 
 INTRODUCTION xxxiii 
 
 self-government in South Africa is the definite 
 settlement of the South African question. There 
 is no question known as the Canadian or the 
 Australian or the English question. This phrase 
 is reserved for countries whose whole status is in 
 doubt. For a hundred years the South African 
 question has perplexed and harassed English 
 statesmen. To-day that question does not exist 
 except for historians and antiquaries. So far from 
 needing protection against the Boer people as a 
 symbol of domination and ascendancy, the British 
 flag commands their consent as the emblem of 
 freedom and union, while racial animosities are 
 forgotten in the spirit of comradeship engendered 
 by a great and united endeavour to elaborate insti- 
 tutions adequate to the patriotic ideals which all 
 South Africans share. 
 
 The full reward of British policy will come later, 
 and will increase with the years, as there grows 
 up in the stimulating air that breathes upon South 
 Africa's rugged breast a hardy people, united and 
 strong enough to grapple with its problems and 
 to tame every part of the land for their service, 
 owning no other home and with every heart 
 enamoured of the bold and varied witcheries of 
 their imperious mother-country, but looking over 
 the seas to England with eyes of devoted gratitude
 
 xxxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 and sympathy. Then, at last, will justice be 
 done to the men who have made possible this great 
 consummation, and, not least, to those who worked 
 many years ago 'for South African freedom and 
 union, but only lived to see their counsel set aside, 
 men such as Sir George Grey and Sir Henry 
 Barkly, whose far-seeing sagacity has won them 
 an immortal place in the temple of South African 
 worthies. 
 
 Apart from living statesmen, the chief authori- 
 ties I have consulted have been the official Blue 
 Books, the Votes and Proceedings of the Imperial 
 and Cape Parliaments, and the reports of debates ; 
 ' The .Frame-Work of Union," " The Government 
 of South Africa," and the various publications of 
 the Closer Union Societies in South Africa; 
 the biographies of Sir John Molteno, Sir John 
 Robinson, Sir George Grey, Sir Bartle Frere, 
 Bishop Colenso, Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Hugh 
 Childers, and the writings and letters of Lord Car- 
 narvon, Lord Blachford, and General Cathcart. 
 I am also under obligation to many general 
 publicists, notably M. Speyer, author of " La 
 Constitution Juridique de L'Empire Colonial 
 Britannique," and to Mr. P. A. Molteno, M.P., 
 author of "A Federal South Africa" (1896) and 
 the " Life of Sir John Molteno " ; and I have found
 
 INTRODUCTION xxxv 
 
 much profit in the study of the constitutions and 
 records of other countries which have had to deal 
 with the problems of national consolidation, espe- 
 cially Canada, Australia, and the United States. 
 But this volume makes no pretence to historical or 
 legal erudition. It is based mainly on experience 
 and study of contemporary events, and I have 
 learned most of all first from my pupils at the South 
 African College, and afterwards from my constitu- 
 ents in town and country at Uitenhage, to whom I 
 owe an infinite debt for their much-tried kindness 
 and constancy, and, above all, for helping me in 
 my efforts to interpret South Africa with sym- 
 pathy and justice. 
 
 H. E. S. FREMANTLE. 
 February, 1909.
 
 THE NEW NATION 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE CASE FOR UNION 
 
 FREEMAN, in his History of Federal Government 
 in Greece and Italy, remarks that disunion seems 
 stamped upon the soil of Switzerland by the very 
 hand of Nature. " Every valley seems to ask for 
 its own separate Commonwealth." It is not less 
 true that union is stamped on the soil of South 
 Africa, and that every element of Nature seems to 
 deride our political separatism. The several 
 Colonies of Australia look outward in different 
 directions ; South Africa inward to a centre not 
 less productive than the circumference. Apart 
 from politics, South Africans have always felt and 
 assumed the unity of their country, and acted on 
 the assumption. No more local name has ever 
 been able to maintain a serious competition with 
 the name of South Africa as the national designa- 
 
 c
 
 2 THE NEW NATION 
 
 tion of any of them. Their chief churches in the 
 several States are already federated or united. 
 Their agricultural, commercial, and municipal 
 congresses represent the whole country. Even 
 before the war there were Customs and railway 
 conventions, which formed between different 
 Colonies and States unions perfectly natural, but 
 juridically anomalous. Since the war practical 
 necessities have forced the various Governments 
 to hold conferences, some of them periodic, not 
 only about Customs and railway matters, but also 
 about defence, education, estate duties, appellate 
 jurisdiction, immigration, public health, stock 
 diseases and other agricultural questions. It 
 must be abundantly evident to all that there is a 
 natural instinct for union in South Africa. 
 
 President Roosevelt has said that the chief 
 reason that led to union in the United States was 
 the sense of the necessity of national rather than 
 State control over inter-State and foreign com- 
 merce. In South Africa many reasons have been 
 put forward for union. In introducing his Bill pro- 
 viding for the Federation of South Africa in 1877, 
 Lord Carnarvon said that there was a general feel- 
 ing in South Africa that it was desirable to 
 establish uniformity in regard to police, the sale 
 of arms and spirits, industrial education, and, in
 
 THE CASE FOR UNION 3 
 
 fact, " many of the primary and most important 
 elements of a common government." He himself 
 commended the project of union on the ground 
 that it must add strength to South Africa, give its 
 people larger objects, a higher policy, a wider 
 political life, and offer better security for the right 
 treatment of the native races. Five years earlier, 
 in recommending South African union to the Cape 
 Parliament, Sir Henry Barkly, then Governor of 
 the Cape, spoke of " the benefits which would 
 accrue therefrom in respect of uniformity of legis- 
 lation, simplification of legal procedure, facilitation 
 of postal and telegraphic communication, as well 
 as of the construction of bridges, railways, and 
 other public works." Earlier still, Sir George 
 Grey insisted that union was essential to peace 
 and prosperity, and that disunion was alike 
 unnatural and dangerous. 
 
 Almost all the arguments which have been put 
 forward in favour of federation since the question 
 was first raised in 1854 have force in them to-day, 
 but the driving power behind the movement for 
 union is attributable to three general arguments, 
 which are now familiar to all South Africans, but 
 which may be briefly stated and illustrated afresh 
 here. South Africa requires unity first, because 
 the absence of a general authority is a constant
 
 4 THE NEW NATION 
 
 inconvenience ; secondly, because without such an 
 authority there is serious danger that certain urgent 
 questions will end in a violent rupture between the 
 different Colonies; and, thirdly, because the 
 national aspirations of the people demand a body 
 of institutions corresponding to them. 
 
 The absence of a general authority is a constant 
 inconvenience. Only the other day the experi- 
 ence of practical requirements brought together at 
 Pretoria a Veterinary Congress, attended by repre- 
 sentatives of all the Colonies of British South 
 Africa, of German South-West Africa, of the 
 Portuguese province of Mozambique, of the 
 French Colony of Madagascar, and of the Belgian 
 Colony of the Congo. This congress made plain 
 the greatness of the common interest of certain 
 stock diseases to the whole of the vast territories 
 named. In particular, it was decided that the 
 whole of British South Africa ought to assist Natal 
 in stamping out the pestilent cattle disease known 
 as East Coast fever. But British South Africa 
 has no common fund and no federal authority, and 
 it is only by the clumsy and erratic process of con- 
 ferences that such a matter of urgent common 
 interest can be arranged. 
 
 Again, in the details of railway management, 
 the treatment of the staff, the rates and fares, the
 
 THE CASE FOR UNION 5 
 
 concessions, the classification of goods, and count- 
 less engineering and financial technicalities, great 
 inconvenience is occasioned by divergency of 
 system, quite apart from the question of inter- 
 colonial rivalries or competition. It is not neces- 
 sary to multiply instances. In almost every 
 department of administration the serious incon- 
 venience of disunion is felt. In some cases this 
 has resulted in attempts to forestall political union. 
 For instance, there is a South African University, 
 on the governing board of which all the four South 
 African Colonies are represented. But the result 
 of this is that University reform is almost impos- 
 sible, because the University is a federal institution 
 and there is no federal legislature to deal with the 
 question. 
 
 Every attempt of this kind only displays the 
 impotence and inadequacy of arrangements made 
 by intermittent conferences, which have ceased to 
 exist before criticism of their work can begin, and 
 which no one has any desire to call together oftener 
 than necessary. But it must be obvious at a glance 
 that a country having common interests is certain 
 to suffer grave inconvenience if it has no common 
 authority ; and if there is anyone to whom this is 
 not immediately obvious, there is abundant evi- 
 dence to prove it in the case of South Africa.
 
 6 THE NEW NATION 
 
 Without such an authority there is serious 
 danger that certain urgent questions will end in a 
 violent rupture between the various Colonies. At 
 present the Customs tariff is framed by occasional 
 conventions nominated for the purpose. The 
 different Parliaments accept or reject, but cannot 
 amend, for none of them represents all the parties 
 concerned. There is no way of securing amend- 
 ment except by convoking a fresh convention. 
 The members of the convention are not chosen 
 directly by the electorate ; nor do they debate in 
 public. The interests and opinions of different 
 localities and individuals as regards the tariff are 
 violently antagonistic, and between these the tariff 
 itself forms a feeble compromise, devoid of prin- 
 ciple and settled by adjustments which the public 
 cannot understand, and the reasons for which can 
 only be conjectured. The result is universal dissat- 
 isfaction, approaching despair as it becomes more 
 and more apparent that all the ordinary avenues 
 of healthy reform are blocked and guarded by the 
 dispiriting necessity of deciding questions of first- 
 rate public importance in the dark. Forces 
 which make for Free Trade and forces which 
 make for high tariffs cannot indefinitely be 
 leashed together in this way, and recently it has 
 become almost impossible to prevent their going
 
 THE CASE FOR UNION 7 
 
 each its own way, and adding to the troubles of 
 South Africa the menace and the ignominy of 
 inter-colonial Customs Houses. 
 
 Even more serious is the question of railway 
 rates from competing ports. Foul ports, two 
 Colonies, and one foreign State wrangle for the 
 carrying trade of Johannesburg. Most of the 
 combatants also have an eye to the trade of the 
 Orange River Colony and Rhodesia. The people 
 of Kimberley, which by a dexterous piece of 
 negotiation has been kept outside the zone of com- 
 petition, complain that they have to pay far more 
 for the carriage of goods from the coast than people 
 whose goods may travel by the same route past 
 their doors and on to Johannesburg. These dis- 
 putes are of great moment both to the people and 
 to the various Governments which control the 
 railways. To prevent a war of rates, more con- 
 ferences have to be called together, and as often 
 as not peace is made over the prostrate and unde- 
 fended body of the consumer, who being only a 
 producer in another aspect cannot be injured with- 
 out detriment to the productive powers of the 
 whole country. 
 
 When railways are built in South Africa all the 
 Colonies enter into negotiations about the rates 
 to be charged when the nascent lines are com-
 
 8 THE NEW NATION 
 
 pleted. When the lines are ready it is sometimes 
 found that some important rate questions have 
 been forgotten, and accordingly one party steals 
 a march on another; if not, there is the question 
 whether undertakings given on the turning of the 
 first sod on the railway track are binding for ever, 
 and supposing that none of these points arises to 
 create disputes and recriminations, it is always pos- 
 sible that at any moment the shipping companies 
 may upset the carefully adjusted balance of trade 
 between the different ports by giving a turn to the 
 freight rates by a stroke of the pen in some 
 London office. 
 
 The problems of railway management in Eng- 
 land are not greater than in South Africa; the 
 directors and officials are not less competent ; it is 
 infinitely easier to negotiate on behalf of share- 
 holders whose interest lies in silence, than on 
 behalf of Parliaments, whose business is debate. 
 Yet in England the most experienced railway men 
 are coming to regard the amalgamation of the rail- 
 ways as a necessity. How much more is it a 
 necessity in South Africa! In 1895 tne question 
 of the rates on rival railways brought the country 
 within measurable distance of armed conflict. It 
 is only a little time since the Government of one 
 Colony embarked on a war of rates, and pro-
 
 claimed a Jehad against a sister-colony. More 
 than once a rates war has only been averted by 
 the energetic intervention of the inland Colonies. 
 
 So uncertain and slippery is the position that 
 Lord Selborne had only been in the country a few 
 months before he recognised the urgent necessity 
 of amalgamating the railways, and in his despatch 
 on closer union, written in 1907, he insisted on the 
 same point in the language of emphatic conviction. 
 The experience of the Customs Convention does 
 not lend attractiveness to proposals for pooling the 
 railways without at the same time creating a Par- 
 liament representing all the Colonies which own 
 them, and when Lord Selborne suggested a mere 
 railway union in 1 905 the proposal met with a very 
 lukewarm reception. Thus the solving of the rail- 
 way problem in South Africa drives us to the 
 recognition of the urgent practical necessity of 
 union, and forces us to see it not through a glass 
 darkly, but face to face. 
 
 The national aspirations of the people demand 
 a body of institutions corresponding to them. This 
 is no vulgar adoration of gross figures and dimen- 
 sions. When Froude was in South Africa he 
 urged federation on the ground that " small States 
 make small men," and that " the greater the coun- 
 try, the greater the statesmen." The contrary
 
 io THE NEW NATION 
 
 statement would hardly be more reckless. Cer- 
 tainly the world as a whole is not conscious of 
 owing more to ancient Persia or modern China 
 than to ancient Greece, or republican Rome, or 
 Palestine, or Elizabethan England, or the Holland 
 which shook off the Spanish giant's yoke. Nor 
 does South Africa hold with Froude, for it believes 
 that the history of the little Free State is more 
 precious than the vast emptiness of the Bechuana- 
 land Protectorate, and cherishes the memory of 
 certain small bands of pioneers in the eastern pro- 
 vince of the Cape Colony, in Natal, in the old 
 republics, and in Rhodesia, more fondly than the 
 records which contain the swollen statistics of the 
 population of New Rush before it was pruned 
 down into the Kimberley of to-day. 
 
 But perhaps, if we must have a generalism, we 
 might venture on the assertion that small questions 
 make small men, and as a rule, and in the long run, 
 the greater the question the greater the statesmen. 
 Certainly the great questions of South Africa can- 
 not be dealt with piece-meal ; nor can there be any 
 greater question than that of devising institutions 
 to fit the character of a people so strong, so diver- 
 sified already, and so big with promise of varied 
 development in the future as the people of South 
 Africa. It is the essential unity of the people
 
 THE CASE FOR UNION n 
 
 a unity only enriched by diversity that creates 
 the necessity of institutions to express it and serve 
 its purposes. As the people grows into a nation it 
 reaches out its hands for national institutions. The 
 task of framing such institutions cannot fail to test, 
 challenge, and evoke the rarest qualities of states- 
 manship, inspired by the deep consciousness of a 
 national mandate. The task of working them 
 must bring together talents hitherto scattered 
 among separate Colonies, and so bind the country 
 together by the powerful ties which make them- 
 selves felt when the most influential men from 
 every part of the country are associated in the 
 common work of shaping the destinies of the 
 whole. 
 
 However, arguments of this kind, cogent as 
 they are, hardly account for the determination and 
 energy with which the machinery of union is being 
 constructed and brought into operation. South 
 Africa has not in the past been habitually guilty 
 of precipitation, and Olive Schreiner has charged 
 some of the advocates of union with " a most un- 
 South African haste." The same charge was 
 brought against Lord Carnarvon more than thirty 
 years ago. At that time the spokesman of the 
 Government in the House of Commons declared 
 that the reason for haste was the growing power
 
 12 THE NEW NATION 
 
 of the Kafirs and the paramount necessities of 
 union for defence. Is there a more substantial 
 and less imaginary reason now? South Africa is 
 not threatened by any external foe; profound 
 peace reigns within its borders ; the relations 
 between English and Dutch, and between white 
 and black, are better than they have ever been 
 before. Why, then, this haste to accomplish so 
 great a task? 
 
 The answer is twofold. First, the pinch 
 of poverty is acutely felt in every Colony in 
 South Africa, and in three out of the four trea- 
 suries. Rightly or wrongly, it is believed that 
 union will ease the financial position, and the 
 country is being driven forward by opportune 
 poverty. Secondly, South Africa now has its 
 chance. More than once before the cup which 
 seemed to be approaching its lips was dashed 
 away. Past disappointment, present occasion, the 
 uncertainty of the future, all these command haste 
 not, indeed, the haste which glosses over pitfalls 
 calling out for more thorough methods of treat- 
 ment, but the haste which leaves for to-morrow the 
 things of to-morrow, and counting to-day's task as 
 sufficient, sets about it with the resolution of men 
 who know that, little as we can foresee it, the night 
 may be coming when no man can work.
 
 THE CASE FOR UNION 13 
 
 For these reasons South Africa is set on union, 
 and union this year. The geographical limits of 
 this union are clearly defined. Two provinces of 
 South Africa, in the largest sense of that name, 
 are separated from the rest, the one under the 
 German, the other under the Portuguese flag. 
 With both British South Africa is associated in 
 several ways. The native troubles of the Ger- 
 mans have been brought to a conclusion by the 
 remarkable gallantry and resolution of small 
 detachments of Cape Police. The Transvaal 
 mines provide employment for large numbers of 
 natives from Mozambique. There are also stock 
 diseases which are common property, and the port 
 of Delagoa Bay is often said to be the natural port 
 of the Rand. In the future there may be more 
 matters of common concern. But at present there 
 is not much to act as a living reminder to South 
 Africa of its sincere regret that circumstances now 
 preclude the possibility of including these two pro- 
 vinces in the union. 
 
 As regards the north the case is different. 
 Some are able to rouse themselves to enthu- 
 siasm over the prospect of including in the 
 union various tropical provinces north of the 
 Zambesi. Since South Africa promises to 
 provide a home for a great white race, the attrac-
 
 i 4 THE NEW NATION 
 
 tiveness of this proposition seems questionable. 
 Fortunately it must remain for the future to decide. 
 Meanwhile, Southern Rhodesia is naturally part 
 of South Africa. After the war it was suggested 
 that the Chartered Company should be expro- 
 priated by funds to be derived by the Imperial 
 Government from the Transvaal. The gold 
 mining industry of Rhodesia is large and progres- 
 sive. Its hopes of agricultural development are 
 considerable. It already has a certain measure 
 of representative government. Strong expres- 
 sions in favour of union with the rest of South 
 Africa have been uttered by the administrator and 
 some of the representatives of the Chartered Com- 
 pany and the people ; and the general sympathy 
 which holds South Africa together does not stop 
 short at the southern border of Rhodesia. Altogether 
 it is permissible both to hope and to believe that 
 the time is approaching when the relations between 
 the Chartered Company and the people will be 
 adjusted in such a way that Southern Rhodesia will 
 be able definitely to take its place as part of the 
 self-governing union of South Africa.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 
 
 WE read that on the evening of the day in which 
 He made man, God saw everything that He had 
 made, and behold it was very good. No doubt, 
 to the eye of Providence all the races of men were 
 already present in embryo, and over them all this 
 startling judgment was pronounced among them 
 the South African Dutchman, the South African 
 Englishman, and the South African native. It 
 was never less difficult than it is to-day to perceive 
 the justice of that hopeful verdict. 
 
 We will look at the Dutchman first, because he 
 stands first, to quote the Aristotelian phrase, alike 
 in the order of nature, of logic, and of time. The 
 present generation has seen the Dutchman of 
 South Africa definitely take his place among the 
 recognised actors in the drama of the world's
 
 16 THE NEW NATION 
 
 history, but he is still very little known. Even 
 now he is concealed, often from his own neigh- 
 bours in South Africa, by the veil of his 
 characteristic peculiarities of language and tradi- 
 tion, through which only the patient eye of 
 sympathy can penetrate to the natural man behind. 
 There is little or no literature to assist in the 
 search for the real Dutchman, for from the first he 
 has been too busy in establishing himself in South 
 Africa to do much writing. Nevertheless the 
 literature of the Dutch in South Africa is not to be 
 despised, nor is it despised except by those who do 
 not know it. Some of it, no doubt, is crude, and 
 some is artificial, but some of the songs are instinct 
 with animation and force, and some of the topical 
 writings of Mr. Melt Brink and others, both in 
 prose and in verse, are rich in genuine local colour, 
 and in the distinctive patriotism, pathos, and 
 humour of South Africa. For example, no one 
 can read Mr. Cachet's " Sewe Duivels " without 
 owning its power, and feeling that, if literature is a 
 mirror of human nature, this book must surely be 
 counted deserving of a place among the classics of 
 young nations. Still, such writings do little to 
 make the Dutchman better known, for the 
 language in which they are written puts them out 
 of the reach of almost all but those who know him
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 17 
 
 already ; and they cannot illuminate the darkness, 
 because they are separated from it by an opaque 
 partition. 
 
 Even in South Africa the Dutchman is still a 
 mystery to many of the English. They see 
 occasionally some large-limbed farmer appearing 
 in their streets, and recognise that he is not exactly 
 as they are ; probably he speaks English, and does 
 his business with them, and perhaps talks with 
 them, and seems, more or less, to enter into their 
 lives, but they feel throughout that his heart is in 
 a world which they do not know, that his thoughts 
 are not their thoughts, and that after all they do 
 not really understand him. Even the Dutchman 
 who lives among them sometimes leaves them with 
 the sense that besides the interests which they 
 share he has other interests which keep them aloof. 
 In short, they are tempted to feel that, however 
 much they would wish to have it otherwise, there 
 are in South Africa two peoples and not one 
 people. 
 
 But if the Dutchman is unknown to some 
 of his neighbours, how much more must he seem a 
 stranger when he appears, as he does from time 
 to time, usually in moments of excitement and 
 public passion, on the larger stage, where he comes 
 before the eyes of the world ! Yet in reality he is 
 
 D
 
 i8 THE NEW NATION 
 
 a child of nature, and of his own circumstances and 
 history, and it is only because those circumstances 
 and that history have been in the making when 
 South Africa was a secret to mankind at large that 
 the simplicity of the Dutchman sometimes baffles 
 the curious observer who has not learned to take 
 account of these facts. 
 
 The South African Dutchman is generally 
 known by two names, of which he himself uses 
 neither as a national or racial title. The name 
 which he uses to describe himself is rapidly becom- 
 ing more and more erroneous, if meant to apply 
 exclusively to him, and accordingly he is beginning 
 to give it a wider interpretation. The result is that 
 he now has no name at all to describe his race. 
 
 He is generally known as a Boer or a Dutchman. 
 " Boer " is the Dutch for " farmer," and in South 
 Africa no one would ever call himself a Boer unless 
 he happened to be a farmer. Moreover, there are 
 many Englishmen whom the Dutch South African 
 would always call Boers. The word, therefore, 
 has no racial significance in the language to which 
 it belongs. There being no name for the Dutch- 
 speaking people, we are sometimes compelled, in 
 order to avoid awkward circumlocutions, to use the 
 word Dutchman, but the South African Dutchman 
 never under any circumstances calls himself a
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 19 
 
 Dutchman. He has a word to describe the 
 Dutchman of Holland, but he would no more think 
 of applying this to himself than of appropriating 
 any other national name, for he has not the least 
 sense of unity with the Dutchman of Holland, 
 except sometimes when he is highly educated, and 
 has begun to have a fancy for theories. He calls 
 himself an Afrikaander, that is a South African, 
 but he applies the word also to people of English 
 origin who have been born in the country, and 
 sometimes to people whose birthplace was else- 
 where, but who have become permanent residents 
 in South Africa. Even this name therefore lacks 
 distinctive meaning, and it is coming to be 
 considered that the person known to the world as 
 the South African Boer or Dutchman is only to be 
 described as " a Dutch-speaking South African." 
 Greater brevity entails less propriety, and also a 
 real risk of gratuitously wounding susceptibilities 
 which deserve respect. If in these pages a shorter 
 term is sometimes used perhaps this statement of 
 the facts will be taken as a sufficient apology. 
 
 The South African of Dutch speech is not 
 always Dutch he may have nothing but French, 
 or German, or Scandinavian, or even Polish blood 
 in his veins, and sometimes enquiry proves him to 
 l>e more than half English or Scotch nor is he
 
 20 THE NEW NATION 
 
 always a Boer, or farmer, although the purely 
 Dutch farmer is the foundation of the race, if such 
 it can be called. He has two essential character- 
 isticsthe first, that he cares for South Africa as 
 his mother country, the second, that he cares for 
 Dutch as his mother tongue. This is the old 
 white population of South Africa, which, having 
 been established in the country for more than a 
 century and a half before the English element 
 began to enter it, has a certain solidarity peculiar 
 to itself. 
 
 There is one further fact which has to- 
 be borne in mind. The South African farmer is 
 the owner of the land on which he lives. He may 
 be poor, or he may be rich. In any case he has 
 no one above him in rank. In this respect it would 
 be erroneous to compare him with the yeoman of 
 England in former generations. If in some 
 respects he corresponds to the English farmer and 
 to the English yeoman he no less corresponds to 
 the English squire, whom indeed he resembles in 
 many essential particulars. There is now growing 
 up a considerable class of landless men, who in 
 the country are called bijwoners, and corres- 
 pond to none of the ranks in the hierarchy 
 of the English country, so that this title does 
 not admit of an English translation. There
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 21 
 
 is also a large and growing number of 
 the Dutch-speaking people in the towns. But 
 the outstanding and characteristic figure is still the 
 farmer who owns the land he cultivates, and in him 
 are writ large the marks which distinguish the 
 whole people as far as they can be distinguished 
 at all. 
 
 National characteristics are not easy to define. 
 When men characterise their own race they 
 usually ascribe to it all the virtues which are not 
 unamiable, and having then confessed, on its 
 behalf, to some of the more attractive vices, lay 
 claim to impartiality. On the other hand, when 
 animated by prejudice against a race they produce 
 a list of vices of which every country affords 
 specimens, and some of which beset the whole of 
 mankind, and leave a black picture composed 
 entirely of truths tortured into mendacity. Indict- 
 ments of this kind have been drawn up against 
 the South African Dutchman, usually by persons 
 who have had a very narrowly limited experience 
 of him, and before whose unfriendly gaze he has, as 
 is his wont in the presence of unsympathetic 
 strangers, retired upon himself and interposed the 
 barrier of proud and inscrutable reserve. But it is 
 not such experience that gives any real knowledge 
 of the Dutch. That knowledge can only be
 
 22 THE NEW NATION 
 
 obtained by close and constant experience of them 
 in different capacities; by moving freely among 
 them ; by staying often in their homes ; by coming 
 on them unexpected; by being up and down 
 among them in their ordinary business ; by seeing 
 them stirred by various and profound emotions ; by 
 being admitted to be present at the most sacred 
 scenes of their lives ; by learning to anticipate their 
 thoughts and actions, and, while not necessarily 
 agreeing with them always, by feeling the force and 
 directness with which these simple and manly 
 people appeal to every chivalrous instinct. 
 
 It is not the opinion of men who have this 
 knowledge that the Dutchman is, as he is some- 
 times alleged to be, less truthful than other men, 
 nor less capable of reverence, nor more sullen, nor 
 more disposed to surrender his judgment to his 
 minister or anyone else, nor more selfish in his 
 political aims, nor more suspicious of new-comers 
 or of new methods, nor less considerate in his 
 treatment of natives. There are poor, ignorant, 
 and depraved people among the Dutch as among 
 others. In the ignorant section of the Dutch 
 people proper methods of caring for infants and of 
 training children are neglected ; mutual suspicion 
 is rife ; intrigue is relished for its own sake ; the 
 instinct of honour and fair play is not highly
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 23 
 
 developed ; strength occasionally degenerates into 
 brutality. Another section, considering itself 
 enlightened, tends to fall a : prey to drink, and is 
 indifferent to principles of any kind. There are 
 also some who think, with Mr. Theron, the late 
 Chairman of the Afrikaander Bond, that there is 
 a growing tendency to lean more on Government, 
 and to be less self-reliant. But after all, is there 
 any people in the world of which all this cannot 
 fairly be said? Surely these vices and faults are 
 not the property of the Dutch, but failings general 
 among mankind. 
 
 If the Dutch-speaking people have character- 
 istic faults, they are of a very different kind. They 
 are slow to move, and not therefore apt to take the 
 initiative in great causes, though when once roused 
 they do not lightly relinquish their purpose. They 
 are slow to speak, though many of them are natural 
 orators, and thus too often allow judgment 10 go 
 against them by default, or unwittingly mislead 
 those who assume that silence implies assent 
 They are lovers of compromise and of peace, and 
 as a result they have often failed to recognise es- 
 sential antagonism of principle, and lent their trust 
 too lightly to men unworthy of it, and having in 
 due course been betrayed, blamed the fickleness 
 of men instead of their own easiness. Resenting
 
 24 THE NEW NATION 
 
 interference on the part of others they are them- 
 selves reluctant to interfere, and tend too much to 
 let nature and man go their own way. On the 
 whole it may be said that they are the reverse of 
 Englishmen, for they are prone to offend, not in 
 doing and saying what they ought not to do and 
 say, but in leaving undone and unsaid what they 
 ought to do and say. 
 
 On the other hand there never was a manlier 
 race. Their fathers were not afraid of isolation in 
 unknown lands, which they tamed to the use of 
 man, wrestling unaided with nature, and defending 
 themselves at the same time against the attacks of 
 wild beasts and savage men, undaunted by the 
 scantiness of their supplies, and their remoteness 
 from the possibility of assistance. The wives of 
 the pioneers were of a not less dauntless spirit, and 
 to-day their sons and daughters are the same, as 
 every test hitherto has shown, and any further test 
 would show afresh. Drawn together by mutual 
 reliance, they hold up the sanctity of the ties of 
 family life ; they maintain undimmed a simple 
 religious faith ; naturally self-supporting and 
 strongly individualistic, they nevertheless pay the 
 greatest respect to authority which they have once 
 recognised as established, and are exceptionally 
 governable and orderly; they love their country
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 25 
 
 with an intensity which makes them ready at its 
 call to offer up without flinching even the supreme 
 sacrifice of Abraham ; accustomed to direct and to 
 command, they have that high sense of dignity 
 and of responsibility which is the first requisite of 
 statesmanship ; habituated to the slow and sleep- 
 less work of nature, they possess an almost inex- 
 haustible patience, and so long as they are assured 
 that the right seed has been rightly sown, are 
 content to leave the harvest until it ripens in its 
 due season. It is no shame to cherish esteem for 
 a people with national qualities of this order. 
 
 Nor is this all. They are as handy as sailors, 
 and indeed sometimes regard resourcefulness as 
 the first characteristic of a true South African. 
 They are also exceedingly thrifty, so that they can 
 live in a country which other Teutonic peoples 
 would discard as uninhabitable. Among them- 
 selves their habits are democratic; indeed one of 
 them, an educated and able gentleman, once 
 complained to me of this, saying that in his opinion 
 the people's progress is retarded by the custom 
 which freely admits the poorest relations to the 
 homes of their prosperous kinsmen. The whole 
 people has an extraordinary respect for learning, 
 and a craving for education as intense as that of the 
 Scots. Some show a tendency to an assertive and
 
 26 THE NEW NATION 
 
 undiscriminating belief in the superiority of the 
 human and other products of the country ; at least 
 as many others depreciate themselves unneces- 
 sarily, being more alive to the value of the higher 
 education they lack than to that of the sterling 
 qualities they possess. To real sympathy they 
 quickly open their hearts, and when once they give 
 their trust they give it without stint. The 
 discipline of their homes is generally strict, but it 
 is a sheer mistake to regard them as dour or 
 taciturn ; on the contrary among themselves they 
 are, as a rule, gay and light-hearted, and not easily 
 oppressed with care. By the simple and unas- 
 suming grandeur of their character at its best they 
 have stolen the hearts of many Englishmen. Lord 
 Carnarvon, for example, when he saw something 
 of them in 1888, at once recognised their great 
 and charming qualities. In a paper which he 
 wrote on his return to England he recorded his 
 admiration for them as a people, and particularly 
 for their grave decorum. " England," he said, 
 " if well advised in her policy, may, I feel sure, 
 look with confidence to the true and loyal support 
 of the able and eminent leaders of Dutch opinion 
 at the Cape." 
 
 To the somewhat passive power of the Dutch- 
 speaking people the enterprising and aggressive
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 27 
 
 qualities of the Englishman are a natural, a 
 healthy, and at times an amusing complement. 
 He also has no proper name. He is not an 
 Englishman, for quite as often as not he is a Scot. 
 He is not a Briton, for he may very probably be 
 Irish. He or his father came from the United 
 Kingdom, which has not yet elaborated a name to 
 designate the whole of its people. So once more 
 we must content ourselves with a circumlocution 
 if our aim is propriety, and an impropriety if our 
 aim is brevity. We can with propriety speak of 
 the English-speaking people of South Africa. 
 Briefly, and not without an inward sense of shame, 
 we sometimes speak of them as Englishmen. 
 Indeed such are the unhappy exigencies of 
 language that the Englishman is almost forced to 
 call his neighbour a Dutchman in spite of his- pro- 
 tests, and the Dutchman is equally constrained to 
 call his neighbour an Englishman, though perhaps 
 everyone of his male ancestors wore kilts or 
 pursued the cult of the shamrock. 
 
 The Englishman is the same all the world over, 
 and he is far too well known a figure to need 
 anything like an introduction. But it is essential 
 to remember that, though there are a good many 
 English farmers in the country, the characteristic 
 Englishman of South Africa lives in a town. His
 
 28 THE NEW NATION 
 
 faults are the obverse of his virtues. His restless 
 energy and instinct for adventure lead him at 
 times into questionable enterprises, and make him 
 at his worst as unattractive a figure as anyone else, 
 and doing little credit to his race. Sir George 
 Clerk, the Special Commissioner sent out by the 
 Duke of Newcastle in 1853 to get rid of what is 
 now the Orange River Colony, drew a lurid picture 
 of what he found there, and his report was con- 
 firmed, both in public despatches and in caustic 
 private letters by General Cathcart, the gallant 
 English gentleman who was then Governor of the 
 Cape. Speaking of the Dutch, Sir George Clerk 
 said : "Nor is it with complacency they view the 
 presence of those of the British population whose 
 sole purpose in coming here is to speculate in land 
 sales. They live on terms of friendship with the 
 few who reside among them, engaged in the same 
 occupations, and evincing no disposition to over- 
 reach them ; but they feel that they were the 
 pioneers who, having in a manner settled this 
 country, waste as much of it still is, and must 
 remain, owing to its sterility or their inertness or 
 both, can perceive no advantage to themselves in 
 the introduction of British energy, which, to their 
 comprehension of what is passing there, aims at 
 no permanent home or settled habits of life, but
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 29 
 
 with the rare exceptions to which I have referred, 
 is chiefly displayed as to farming in the purchase 
 and sale of unseen lands, and as to trade in the 
 continual importation of tons of bullet lead." 
 
 This picture would be a most gross libel of the 
 English South Africans of to-day, most of whom 
 are as firmly rooted in South Africa as the Dutch. 
 Moreover, many who are still only regarding South 
 Africa as an experiment and a venture are never- 
 theless excellent people. But it remains true up 
 to the present time that the exuberant English 
 spirit when it gets into wrong channels results in 
 much dubious and unscrupulous speculation, the 
 habit of treating the country merely as a place in 
 which to make a fortune, and out of which, when 
 this is done, to decamp, the sooner the better, not 
 to mention a partiality for reckless gambling of 
 every kind, and a contempt for every sort of 
 religious or moral precept. These blots only dis- 
 figure a section of the English people, but it is a 
 noisy and ostentatious section, and because it is so, 
 and because its conduct is so well calculated to 
 cause the deepest offence to the best of the Dutch, 
 both in itself, and because it is always dragging 
 down the weaker Dutchmen to its own level, these 
 people are a grave menace to the reputation and 
 standing of their whole race, which can only be
 
 30 THE NEW NATION 
 
 upheld by constantly reminding the Dutchman 
 that, despite their vociferous outcries on the 
 subject, they do not properly represent the real 
 Englishman. 
 
 The real Englishman is, of course, one of the 
 greatest figures in the world, which he has covered 
 with proofs of his indomitable daring and force. 
 In South Africa he supplies exactly what the 
 Dutchman lacks. The one is slow, the other 
 prompt and decisive ; the one is cautious, the other 
 adventurous ; the one patient and persistent, the 
 other impetuous and aggressive. English assert- 
 iveness, English quickness to resent injustice, the 
 English passion for sport, for fair play, indeed the 
 very loftiness of English intolerance, all these are 
 assets which South Africa could very ill afford to 
 part with. Wherever he goes the Englishman 
 carries freedom about with him, not because he 
 cares for any theoretical philandering after 
 freedom, but because he is not accustomed to be 
 interfered with except by his own consent, and 
 will not brook any innovation in this respect. To 
 the old American States the Englishman brought 
 constitutions written not on paper, but in his own 
 unyielding habits and temper. In South Africa 
 he may sometimes be precipitate and wrong- 
 headed, and being cooped up in the towns he may
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 31 
 
 in the past have failed to appreciate the essential 
 Dutchman, and have allowed himself to brood over 
 absurd suspicions ; but essentially he is still the 
 same as the Englishman who has made so much 
 work for historians, and he is indispensably 
 necessary in South Africa to assert its freedom, to 
 be an attacking force on behalf of its ideals, and to 
 give it impetus and motion. 
 
 To be sure, these pictures of the real English- 
 man and the real Dutchman are idealistic, but if 
 they contain the truth of idealism they are truer 
 than any pretentious realism, for after all idealism 
 is but a realism deeper than that of the police-court 
 and the gutter. A more important objection to 
 them would be that no just portraits are possible 
 because the characters to be portrayed are chang- 
 ing so rapidly as to make all portraiture fallacious, 
 and blur the work of the most cunning 
 kinematograph. Let us endeavour to make these 
 pictures less statuesque and more dynamic. 
 
 The most important changes which are develop- 
 ing themselves in the characters of the two great 
 sections of the white people of South Africa have 
 been mentioned already. Without in either case 
 losing anything that is essential, the Englishman 
 in South Africa is becoming a South African, and 
 the Dutchman is being modernised. As children
 
 32 THE NEW NATION 
 
 are born in the country their parents insensibly 
 take root in it; as the regulation of the forces of 
 production proceeds, the scramblers after fortune 
 become fewer and less important, and their noise 
 abates ; as people learn to settle in the country, 
 the natural influences assert themselves over 
 them ; and when the ears of the deaf are unstopped, 
 there steals upon them from time to time the 
 alluring call of rural life. 
 
 On the other hand, as the locomotive and 
 the school-master penetrate into the back 
 blocks; as the long arms of the Cape Univer- 
 sity, of Oxford and Cambridge, of Edinburgh 
 and Dublin reach out over the land with 
 undiscriminating fingers for the souls of young 
 men and maidens ; as experience establishes 
 the naturalness of wedlock between the new 
 science and the old manliness, endurance and 
 patriotism, and indeed proves that these latter 
 qualities cannot now survive apart from their new 
 bride ; and as inflexible economic necessities drive 
 the children of many country people into the towns, 
 attachment to manners and methods only 
 suitable to the circumstances of an hon- 
 ourable past relinquishes its hold, and the 
 virility which gave it its force transfers 
 its support to the cause of a progress which
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 33 
 
 is careful to carry with it all the worthiness of the 
 old heroic temper, and leave behind nothing but 
 its worn out integuments, not even failing to store 
 up the fond memory of things which have now 
 lost their usefulness, but which in their day served 
 well the high purposes of past generations. 
 
 Considering how large a proportion of the Eng- 
 lish population dates its settlement in South Africa 
 from a time not earlier than the discovery of the 
 diamond fields, that the old population had never 
 been in close touch with the outer world until the 
 railways began to spread, and that we still have 
 among us the remnants of the generation before 
 that of men like Mr. Merriman, who was in 
 Parliament before the discovery of the diamond 
 mines, and was the minister responsible for the 
 railways when the first large scheme of railway 
 construction was set on foot in South Africa con- 
 sidering all this, the Englishman is surprisingly 
 South African, and the Dutchman astonishingly 
 modern. 
 
 Fortunately for South Africa there is no 
 exclusively English, and no exclusively Dutch, 
 province. In the Orange River Colony there are 
 not very many English people, but there is a very 
 old tradition of mutual good-will and forbearance. 
 In Natal a profound and considerable change has
 
 34 THE NEW NATION 
 
 been made by the annexation, after the war, of the 
 Dutch districts in the north. The improvement 
 of methods of communication is rapidly tending to 
 make the different sections of South Africa mutu- 
 ally acquainted. The result is that each is deeply 
 influencing and affecting the other. : ' The vigour 
 of freely-governed English Colonies is likely to 
 draw new national character from the new scenes 
 and circumstances in which it has to develop 
 itself." The tendency, thus stated by Lord 
 Norton forty years ago, is now operating vigor- 
 ously in South Africa, and the best qualities of 
 both the white races may be seen united in the best 
 members of either, while misunderstandings 
 founded on mutual ignorance are already shaking 
 at their base. Intermarriage is frequent: it is 
 said that twenty per cent, of the marriages 
 registered in Johannesburg in the last Christmas 
 week were unions between English and Dutch. 
 Two years ago a team of South African footballers 
 was touring in England. Some were English, 
 some were Dutch. The team was noted for work- 
 ing together, and won golden opinions not only by 
 its unusual persistence, but even more by its 
 eminently honourable and sportsmanlike spirit, and 
 by its singular good humour. South Africa is 
 ready to show that this incident was no freak
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 35 
 
 of nature, but a true augury of its national 
 destiny. 
 
 It would, of course, be foolish to expect that the 
 slow transformations worked by natural causes can 
 be expedited for the benefit of the present genera- 
 tion. South Africa will ripen slowly, and wise 
 men will be content to believe that the ripening 
 fruit is healthy, and that there is abundance of sun 
 and sufficient rain. The two great agencies of 
 development are the churches and education. 
 Churches do not always lead, sometimes they are 
 too apt to follow, and even to act as a drag on the 
 wheel of genuine progress, and it might be well if 
 the English churches in South Africa were more 
 forward to insist on South African nationalism, and 
 the Dutch churches to preach the necessity of 
 keeping abreast of the onward-flowing tide of 
 knowledge and thought. But there is much in 
 the church life of South Africa for the eye of hope 
 to feed upon. A gradual tendency to draw 
 towards each other is slowly making itself felt 
 among the different sects, not through any 
 latitudinarian indifferentism, but because a com- 
 mon service tends to throw into relief central 
 principles generally shared ; and so, for instance, 
 the various churches have managed to agree on 
 .a scheme of divinity degrees, for which the Cape
 
 36 THE NEW NATION 
 
 Parliament has readily made provision. For more 
 than two hundred and fifty years the Dutch Church 
 has used its utmost efforts to promote the spread 
 of education, and the standard of education among 
 its own ministers, already high, is constantly grow- 
 ing higher. The same upward tendency is 
 evinced by the English churches as a whole. 
 Altogether the churches of South Africa must be 
 credited with doing much, and may be expected 
 to do more and more, towards raising the people r 
 and in this and other ways making fast the friend- 
 ship now growing up between its different sections. 
 The importance of education in carrying on this 
 healing work is now plain to all. It was preached 
 fifty years ago by Sir George Grey, of whose far- 
 seeing bounty the Grey College at Bloemfontein 
 is a noble monument. The progress of education 
 is now assured, and already we can see enough to 
 be confident that an educated South Africa will be 
 a united South Africa. 
 
 But how is it, the reader may ask, that so little 
 has been said of the Dutch language? We have 
 already noticed the supreme importance of this 
 point, the difference between English and Dutch 
 in South Africa being far less a matter of race than 
 of speech. But, if possible, it is well to leave this 
 business to be decided when we have fully recog-
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 37 
 
 nised the natural tendency of the country itself to 
 draw the races together, and the futility of strife. 
 We can then trust ourselves to consider the 
 question of the Dutch language calmly. 
 
 This is not the place to examine the character of 
 the language minutely. Suffice it to say that it is 
 more like the language of Holland than most 
 English dialects are like the language of St. 
 James', that, like English, it has shed most of the 
 tiresome inflections which still clog more conserva- 
 tive languages, that it is singularly rich in 
 expressive phrases, and that it is perfectly capable 
 of being used as the vehicle of the most exact and 
 the most exalted thought The difference between 
 the three sets of doctors who have strong opinions 
 as to the propriety of insisting on certain particular 
 forms and rules is not really important in its 
 bearing on the general question. What is im- 
 portant is that half the white people of South 
 Africa cling to Dutch as their mother tongue, and 
 cling all the closer when they see that it is 
 threatened or feel that it is despised. Considering 
 the depth of their feeling for it, every Englishman 
 with a spark of chivalry or gallantry must resent 
 disparagement of what is so dear to the heart of 
 his brother South Africans as promptly and 
 vehemently as they.
 
 38 THE NEW NATION 
 
 But except for occasional rudenesses the 
 language question may now almost be said to be 
 out of the range of dispute. Every Dutch- 
 man recognises that it is to the interest of his 
 children to know English, and does his best to 
 secure that they shall know it. Most Englishmen 
 recognise that it is to the interest of their children 
 to know Dutch, and try to arrange for them to 
 learn it. Last year a representative Select 
 Committee of the Cape House of Assembly 
 unanimously agreed to insert clauses in an 
 Education Bill providing that from the earliest 
 stages every English or Dutch child should learn 
 both languages, and this recommendation aroused 
 no hostile criticism. There may still be room to 
 differ about the language question, but the main 
 principle, already very widely acknowledged, is 
 coming near the attainment of a place among the 
 axioms, and the other points in dispute are not 
 really serious. With mutual good-will the two 
 sections will easily deal with this question ; a bi- 
 lingual South Africa will succeed a South Africa 
 divided in its language, and the chief rampart 
 which separates the people into two camps, and 
 condemns both to the impotence of division, will 
 be removed for ever. It was only by scrupulous 
 respect for the language of the French habitants
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE NATION 39 
 
 that the wisdom of her statesmen consolidated 
 Canada. In South Africa the language question 
 is not more difficult, the solution not less obvious, 
 the promised reward not less great. Educated, 
 bilingual, and united, the white South African 
 people of the next generation, schooled and dis- 
 ciplined as it will be by the long sustained 
 effort of forbearance, by which alone it will have 
 achieved its identity, will be well qualified to act 
 wisely by those other elements of the population 
 the Malays, the natives, the coloured people who 
 rightly claim a part in the nationalism of South 
 Africa. But this great matter belongs to a later 
 chapter.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 EXPANSION AND DISRUPTION 
 
 IN Peel's first ministry Mr. Gladstone was Under 
 Secretary for the Colonies. He died the year 
 before the outbreak of the South African War. 
 During the whole of this period the South African 
 question was the recurrent nightmare of British 
 statesmen. In 1834, when the first Peel ministry 
 quitted office, Lord Glenelg became Colonial 
 Secretary, a name of bitter memory in South 
 Africa. In 1845, at the end of the second Peel 
 ministry, Mr. Gladstone was Colonial Secretary, 
 and he was succeeded by Lord Grey, who gave 
 the Cape its constitution. Speaking as Prime 
 Minister in the House of Commons nearly forty 
 years later, Mr. Gladstone summed up the experi- 
 ence of British statesmen in regard to South 
 Africa as follows : " It has been the one standing
 
 EXPANSION AND DISRUPTION 41 
 
 difficulty of our Colonial policy which we have 
 never been able to set right. In other parts of 
 the world difficulties have arisen in India, in 
 Canada, in New Zealand and every one has been 
 dealt with and satisfactorily disposed of, but never 
 in South Africa. It was my lot in the latter part 
 of the administration of Sir Robert Peel to be 
 Secretary of State, and I then told Lord Grey 
 that the case of South Africa presented a problem 
 of which I, for one, could not see the solution, and 
 so it has continued from that day to this 
 difficulties always recurring, never healed." It is 
 the purpose of this chapter and the next to trace 
 the progress of this malignant growth ; of the rest, 
 -to explain the operation of the sovereign remedy 
 which the bold physicians of empire have dared 
 to apply. 
 
 Every country has its difficulties, but for the 
 most part these are not alarming, attract little 
 attention in the outer world, and in due course 
 vield to treatment. The more fundamental South 
 
 j 
 
 African difficulties of which Mr. Gladstone spoke 
 are ascribed by common consent to disunion. It is 
 not, however, sufficiently recognised that the mere 
 existence of separate colonies and states is not in 
 itself a serious difficulty. The root of the difficulty 
 is a deeper disunion of sentiment, and the re-
 
 42 THE NEW NATION 
 
 suiting growth of states, separated not only by the 
 artifices of political geography, but also by the 
 more formidable barriers of national resentment. 
 Without this territorial division need never have 
 caused anxiety. With the removal of this the 
 re-establishment of political unity follows without 
 delay. 
 
 Self-government has been from first to 
 last the real question at issue. It was the blind 
 adoption of a policy contrary to what was just in 
 the demands of the South African people that led to 
 the disruption of South Africa, and the consequent 
 collisions between its divided members. It is the 
 final establishment of self-government that leads to 
 the spontaneous generation of a National Union. 
 Attempts to heal the disease of disunion without 
 having resort to this medium have invariably 
 failed. Only the decision to leave the people 
 alone results in closing the breach which mis- 
 guided interference caused, and which no 
 interference could repair. 
 
 It would, however, be an injustice to suppose, 
 as some do suppose, that the whole history of 
 British statesmanship in South Africa since the 
 middle of the nineteenth century is a series of 
 blunders, or that when mistakes were made they 
 were as palpable as they have since become.
 
 EXPANSION AND DISRUPTION 43 
 
 Several Colonial Secretaries have done their 
 utmost to quiet unrest, and to establish confidence 
 by fostering and scrupulously respecting the 
 struggling plant of self-government in South 
 Africa. Had their policy been pursued with con- 
 sistency and patience, South Africa might perhaps 
 have dispensed with war a generation ago ; but 
 consistency and patience are rare virtues in men, 
 and rarer yet in nations. Never was a steady and 
 vigilant wisdom more required than after the 
 establishment of the Cape Parliament in 1854; 
 yet in the following year, owing to circumstances 
 wholly unconnected with South Africa, five 
 Colonial Secretaries passed through Downing 
 Street in brisk procession. At other times 
 Colonial Secretaries have held the seals and Under 
 Colonial Secretaries the power. Nor are these the 
 only clogs which hinder the progress of Imperial 
 statesmanship. No doubt they are the incidents 
 of the system of Parliamentary government, to 
 which is also due all, or nearly all, the 
 wisdom which has successfully dealt with 
 great problems of the Empire, but they 
 do not make for patience and consistency in 
 national policy, and it is only just to remember 
 them when in looking back over the past we note 
 here and there the conspicuous absence of uniform 
 design.
 
 44 THE NEW NATION 
 
 It is also right to remind ourselves that 
 from the time of Sir George Grey no opportunity 
 of effecting a final settlement by a single stroke of 
 policy presented itself till after the peace made at 
 Vereeniging in 1902. The spectacle of British 
 South Africa enjoying unquestioned and complete 
 self-government for a long period of years under 
 the general protection of an Imperial power 
 steadily resolved not to interfere in the domestic 
 affairs of South Africa might in time have led to 
 the voluntary accession of the Republics to the 
 Union, but certainly this could not have been 
 brought about in a single day, nor in a single year. 
 Now, a single bold stroke has sufficed to cut the 
 knot, but the present generation has little reason 
 to upbraid past generations because they did not 
 exhibit rare and difficult qualities which it has not 
 been called upon to display, and did not seize an 
 opportunity which was never open to them. 
 
 Nor would it be reasonable to despise the 
 memory of an old school of statesmen because 
 they had not acquired the lessons made obvious to 
 us by later accumulations of experience. No one 
 would now misunderstand the rights of self- 
 governing Colonies as they were misunderstood a 
 generation ago, but how many would understand 
 them now if they had not the last generation's
 
 EXPANSION AND DISRUPTION 45 
 
 experience to guide them ? And who can estimate 
 the value of the examples given by Canada and 
 Australia alone in the last half century? 
 
 Finally, we must not let ourselves forget the cir- 
 cumstances of the past when we wonder how its 
 foremost men failed to foresee or provide for the 
 circumstances of a succeeding age. It is easy for 
 us to define what we would have wished to find 
 done for us by our ancestors, but it does not follow 
 that it was possible for them either to foresee the 
 advantage of doing it or to do it if they had 
 recognised its advisability. For instance, it is 
 often said that a great blunder was committed 
 when the Orange Free State was made independ- 
 ent a step on which all English parties were 
 agreed but it is seldom remembered by those 
 who say this that a good deal happened in 1854 
 besides the abandonment of the Orange River 
 Sovereignty. In March General Cathcart, then 
 Governor of the Cape, wrote from Cape Town 
 rejoicing that " the foolish sovereignty farce is at 
 length over, and we have done with it." In 
 November he fell at Inkerman. The fact that 
 England was engaged in a gigantic struggle in 
 the Crimea must surely be remembered when judg- 
 ment is given on her resolution to restrict her 
 responsibilities in South Africa. All these
 
 46 THE NEW NATION 
 
 considerations must tend to temper our judgments 
 on the history of the past with charity, and this 
 conclusion should not be unwelcome, for it 
 suggests the possibility of regarding Imperial 
 policy as a plant which develops with circum- 
 stances and time, as experience fashions out of the 
 calamities of the past the materials for an im- 
 perious warning against the repetition of its errors. 
 When the Batavian Government was in 
 possession of the Cape at the beginning of the 
 nineteenth century, the authorities, who tended to 
 regard South Africa merely as a means and not at 
 all as an end in itself, were concerned to find that 
 there was a constant eastward movement among 
 the people. This movement was quite spon- 
 taneous and natural, and it did not cease when the 
 English Government was finally established at 
 the Cape in 1806, by which time settlements in 
 the Eastern province of the Cape Colony had 1 
 already taken root, notably at Graaff-Reinet and 
 Uitenhage. The movement was mainly due to 
 the simple facts that the land was not permanently 
 occupied, and the settlers were attracted by it. 
 Of the older inhabitants, the Bushmen were practi- 
 cally nomads, and the Hottentots had but a feeble 
 hold on the soil of the country. Until the eastward 
 movement of the Dutch brought them into conflict
 
 EXPANSION AND DISRUPTION 47 
 
 with the westward movement of the Kafirs, they 
 met with nothing like organised opposition. No 
 doubt there are dark pages among the heroic 
 annals of these pioneers. The question of right is 
 not here under discussion. Right or wrong, the 
 instinct for expansion had declared itself in the 
 eighteenth century, and was bound to develop in 
 the course of nature until sooner or later the whole 
 of the country now known as the Cape Colony, 
 Natal, the Orange River Colony and the Trans- 
 vaal was occupied. 
 
 The movement was, however, expedited by 
 discontent. The extreme political reaction in 
 England which was one of the immediate results 
 of the French wars was felt for nearly thirty years 
 in South Africa, and when a reforming ministry 
 came into power in England it made the emanci- 
 pation of slaves the first great work of the reformed 
 Parliament. It was natural enough that the 
 sympathies of that Parliament and its immediate 
 successor should be on the side of the Kafirs in 
 South Africa, and it is not surprising that Lord 
 Glenelg, who was Colonial Secretary from 1835 
 to 1839, turned a deaf ear to the representations 
 of the Governor and people ( of the Cape Colony, 
 and refused to sanction the annexation of territory 
 inhabited by Kafirs, necessary as it was then
 
 4 8 THE NEW NATION 
 
 believed and afterwards proved to be for the 
 maintenance of peace, and for the security of the 
 settlers, both English and Dutch. That as between 
 the Kafirs and the Boers there were wrongs on both 
 sides cannot be disputed. That in regard both 
 to the emancipation of the slaves and the arrange- 
 ments on the frontier of Kaffraria less than 
 justice was done to the South African Dutch by- 
 Lord Glenelg must now be admitted. The result 
 was the great trek of 1836-40, when some ten 
 thousand people left the Colony and moved north- 
 wards and eastwards in search of new homes. It 
 is impossible now to go behind the sentence of the 
 Governor, Sir Benjamin D'Urban, who described 
 the emigrants as " the flower of the frontier 
 farmers," and as " a brave, patient, industrious, 
 orderly, and religious people, the cultivators, the 
 defenders, and the tax contributors of the colony.'^ 
 In what is now Natal a few English settlers had 
 established themselves in 1835. They asked for 
 the recognition of their Colony, which they called 
 Victoria, and they founded Durban. Their 
 request was not granted, and shortly afterwards the 
 Dutch pioneers appeared in the country. Their 
 claim to independence was never admitted, and in 
 1842 Natal, which had been occupied by a British 
 force in 1838, and vacated the following year, was
 
 EXPANSION AND DISRUPTION 49 
 
 annexed to the Cape. In 1856 it became a separ- 
 ate Colony, and in 1 893 it acquired full responsible 
 government. Dispersed in Natal, the Boers who 
 had established themselves there retired for the 
 most part to what is now the Orange River Colony. 
 This was annexed, not without a sharp struggle, in 
 1848, but six years later its independence was 
 restored and it became the Orange Free State. 
 Its history as an independent state, on the whole 
 wonderfully peaceful and happy, was terminated 
 by the war of 1899-1902. The Transvaal was 
 declared independent in 1852, but it was not till 
 1864 that the people succeeded in establishing a 
 Government exercising authority over the whole 
 State. The story of the annexation of the Trans- 
 vaal in 1877, the restoration of its independence 
 in 1 88 1, and its varying fortunes from that date to 
 the close of the great war which ended in the 
 Peace of Vereeniging in 1902, need not be told 
 here. It is sufficient to remember that from 1852 
 till 1902 republican flags were to be seen in South 
 Africa, and that since "1856 the four chief States 
 of South Africa have existed as separate communi- 
 ties. 
 
 Treaties were made by the British authorities 
 with most of the important native chiefs the 
 Matabele, the Griquas, the Basutos, and the 
 
 F
 
 50 THE NEW NATION 
 
 Pondos between 1834 and 1844. Ten years 
 later these were for the most part denounced, but 
 since then ail the native territories have been 
 brougnt under the sovereignty of Great Britain 
 Basutoland in 1868, Griqualand West in 1871, 
 Bechuanaland in 1885, Zululand in 1887, Rhodesia 
 in 1889, Amatongaland in 1895, an d Swaziland 
 (which had been ceded to the Transvaal in 1894) 
 at the end of the great war, and the whole of 
 Kaffraria between 1847 an d J 894- Despite 
 repeated representations from South Africa to the 
 Colonial Office, Damaraland was left unclaimed 
 until it was annexed by Germany in 1884, but 
 Walfisch Bay was annexed in 1878, and the Guano 
 Islands had already become a British possession in 
 1867. Both Walfisch Bay and the Guano Islands 
 were united with the Cape. Apart from them 
 there are in South Africa twelve territories with 
 separate histories, provided we count the whole of 
 Kaffraria as one. Since 1884 Basutoland, which 
 was governed by the Cape from 1871 to 1884, 
 has been under the direct control of the Imperial 
 Government, and Swaziland and the Bechuanaland 
 Protectorates are in the same position. But 
 Griqualand West was annexed to the Cape in 
 1880, British Bechuanaland in 1895, an d Kaffraria 
 between 1876 and 1894. Amatongaland was
 
 EXPANSION AND DISRUPTION 51 
 
 added to Zululand in 1896, and both were united 
 with Natal in the following year. There remain 
 the four Colonies the Cape, Natal, the Orange 
 River Colony and the Transvaal ; the three 
 protectorates Basutoland, Bechuanaland, and 
 Swaziland ; and Rhodesia. These together fill 
 the map of British South Africa as it is to-day. 
 
 All this expansion and development might have 
 come about peaceably, and without any complica- 
 tions of flags or politics. Instead of this the 
 natural progress was embittered by incessant dis- 
 putes and wars, and the problem of consolidation, 
 which would have presented no very formidable 
 difficulties if the separate States had been formed 
 as a result of orderly expansion, was almost 
 indefinitely complicated by the development of 
 separatist policies, traditions, and tempers. The 
 pity of this is plain to all who contemplate the facts. 
 " I think with regret," said Lord Carnarvon in 
 1877, "of these communities going out into the wil- 
 derness alienated from English feeling and policy, 
 alienated, too, under the sense of injustice and 
 wrong." 
 
 But what does this really mean ? It is not that 
 " English feeling and policy " ought to be elimin- 
 ated from South Africa, or that the judgments of 
 South Africans never need modification. Extreme
 
 5 2 THE NEW NATION 
 
 doctrines of this kind are sometimes put forward, 
 but they will not commend themselves to calm 
 reason. Nor on the other hand is it possible to 
 maintain that English feeling and policy can with 
 advantage to South Africa or to England be 
 allowed to decide without check the course of 
 events in South Africa. Between these opposing 
 extremes there is a middle path which cannot be 
 departed from without peril. After eliminating 
 the violence of outrageous partizanship on either 
 side, it will be found that the essential element in 
 the sentiment which underlies the opinion of 
 responsible men in South Africa is wholly just, and 
 that the kernel of English policy is wholly reason- 
 able. It may require patience to effect an 
 adjustment between the two, but the effort is worth 
 making, for without it wisdom is blindfold and 
 wars with itself. Unfortunately for South Africa 
 the Colonial policy of England seventy-five years 
 ago was not what it is to-day. English policy was 
 put forward by the highest authority in an unneces- 
 sarily extreme form ; no effort was made to ascer- 
 tain or attend to the responsible judgment of South 
 Africans ; their views were dismissed as merely 
 unjust, and in consequence English policy was 
 scouted in South Africa as essentially unreason- 
 able. The result was that extreme views on each
 
 EXPANSION AND DISRUPTION 53 
 
 side unconsciously gave each other momentum a 
 phenomenon which has been seen more than once 
 in South Africa and the final outcome of unreas- 
 onable insistence on English policy was that in half 
 South Africa it was altogether eliminated. The 
 natural unity of the South African people was thus 
 disturbed by the artificial creation of unnecessary 
 antipathies, and when these had once been aroused 
 they found a good deal to sustain them in the 
 rivalries of ports and the conflicts between the 
 apparent interests of town and country. They 
 were restrained by the natural gravity and modera- 
 tion of the people, but it was evident from the first 
 that the violence of disruption had thrown together 
 all the materials necessary for a great conflagration, 
 and that these could only be dispersed with safety 
 by undoing the work of disintegration and re- 
 establishing the political union which had been 
 broken up as a result of unwise, inconsiderate, and 
 unnecessary insistence on extreme views.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 
 
 THE disease of disunion had no sooner attacked 
 South Africa than the case was correctly diagnosed 
 and the appropriate remedy prescribed. The 
 Cape Parliament met for the first time in 1854, the 
 same year as the abandonment of the Orange 
 River Sovereignty, and two years after the Sand 
 River Convention, which established the qualified 
 independence of the Transvaal. In his address 
 to the electors of Cape Town Mr. Saul Solomon, 
 afterwards for many years one of the leaders of 
 opinion in Parliament and in the country, declared 
 in favour of union. From that time forward the 
 question has never been entirely forgotten, but for 
 some critical years, when union might without 
 much difficulty have been effected, the preoccupa- 
 tions of England in the near and far East, and
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 55 
 
 afterwards in the West, made her stubborn against 
 proposals which seemed to involve the possibility 
 of new entanglements in South Africa. The 
 Governor of the Cape, Sir George Grey, more than 
 once recommended reunion, but his words fell on 
 deaf ears in Downing Street, and no interest was 
 taken in the question in the House of Commons. 
 
 In 1858 Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, afterwards 
 Lord Lytton, became Colonial Secretary, with 
 Lord Carnarvon as Under-Secretary. They were 
 in office just over twelve months, during the latter 
 part of which the Colonial Secretary was ill, and a 
 good deal of power fell into the hands of the 
 Under-Secretary, who was quite a young man and 
 appears to have been less schooled than most of 
 his contemporaries by the chastening contact with 
 the world of men. In July Sir George Grey had 
 written to Lord Stanley, Lytton's immediate 
 predecessor, informing him that a petition was 
 being signed in the Free State expressing the 
 " earnest opinion that, unless this country called 
 the Orange Free State is allied in federal union 
 with our parent colony, it never will enjoy the 
 blessings of peace and prosperity." A month 
 later the Governor informed Lytton that a 
 memorandum had been presented to him by the 
 people of Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free
 
 56 THE NEW NATION 
 
 State, asking him how the cause of federation 
 could be promoted, to which he had replied that he 
 could not take any action unless approached by 
 the Government of the State. In September 
 Lytton invited him to give his opinion on the 
 question of effecting a permanent reduction in the 
 Cape garrison, of uniting Kaffraria and Natal with 
 the Cape, of separating the Eastern and Western 
 provinces of the Cape Colony, and of establishing a 
 federal union in the event of separating the two 
 provinces. He raised these questions in a series 
 of interrogations. 
 
 The last two were not the least interesting. 
 " Are your opinions on these subjects in any way 
 modified by consideration of the policy to be 
 adopted towards the two free states? And what 
 is the permanent line of policy which you would 
 recommend towards those States, consistently 
 always with the maintenance of public faith 
 pledged by the existing treaties ? " To these 
 questions Grey replied in the eloquent despatch 
 which has given him a place as one of the chief 
 pioneers of the Closer Union movement, and 
 which, despite vast changes of circumstance and 
 some peculiarities in the despatch itself, must 
 always rank among the classical texts of South 
 African history. The essential unity of the South
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 57 
 
 African people and the progressive tendencies at 
 work among them have never been more forcibly 
 explained. The case for union as the solution of 
 colonial, inter-colonial, and native troubles 
 has seldom been presented with so much 
 cogency. The importance of self-government 
 could hardly be more insistently advocated. No 
 doubt some of the questions which Grey proposed 
 to solve by union have been solved without it, but 
 at what cost! The natives as a whole are no 
 longer distrustful of the white man's government, 
 nor are they a public danger, but the settlement of 
 this question, which the recent history of Natal 
 shows to be not even yet quite complete, has been 
 arrived at through a long series of bloody and 
 expensive wars. The inland States now receive 
 their full share of the customs duties collected at 
 the coast, but they have been taught to use a 
 foreign port as a lever for compelling the maritime 
 colonies to do justice, and they have not succeeded 
 in exacting their dues without nursing up a port 
 and railway under another flag with energy and 
 capital which might have been used to enrich and 
 strengthen British South Africa. 
 
 Grey knew very well that the opportunity which 
 presented itself in 1858 might not recur. He 
 himself seems to have thought that the Free
 
 58 THE NEW NATION 
 
 Staters were opposed to the retrocession of 1854, 
 but it is not easy to shake the evidence of his 
 predecessor, General Cathcart, who, writing to Sir 
 Charles Trevelyan in 1853, said: "You must not 
 mind the open-mouthed clamour of the Cape Press 
 about giving up the Sovereignty. . . . The 
 Dutchman has no newspaper, and has not had 
 time to open his mouth yet; but he is not of the 
 same way of thinking." However this may be, 
 Grey recognised that the excellence of his oppor- 
 tunity was largely due to circumstances not 
 unlikely to change, for he said : " Recently there 
 has been, from the difficulties which have prevailed 
 in the country, a very general desire to see such a 
 measure adopted as I have now proposed." 
 Certainly there was no possibility of mistaking the 
 opinion of the Free State in 1858. We have 
 already referred to the petitioners who approached 
 Grey on the subject, and to his reply that he could 
 not move until approached by the Government. 
 Before the end of the year the Volksraad passed a 
 resolution declaring itself in unison with the large 
 number of burghers who were " convinced that a 
 union or alliance with the Cape Colony, either on 
 the plan of federation or otherwise, is desirable," 
 and requesting the President to correspond with 
 the Governor of the Cape, suggesting the appoint-
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 59 
 
 ment of a joint Commission to draw up a scheme 
 of union for the consideration of the Governments 
 concerned. President Boshof duly communicated 
 with the Governor, who, in his speech on the 
 opening of the Cape Parliament in 1859, strongly 
 urged the proposal of a joint commission, and 
 added : " You would, in my belief, confer a lasting 
 benefit upon Great Britain, and upon the inhabi- 
 tants of this Colony, if you could succeed in 
 devising a form of federal union." 
 
 Sir Edward Lytton considered that Grey had 
 acted contrary to his instructions. In reply to the 
 despatch addressed to Lord Stanley, which has 
 been already referred to, Lytton had directed him 
 to inform all enquirers as to his intentions with 
 regard to federation that he must await instruc- 
 tions from the Imperial Government, and Grey 
 had received this reply before he answered 
 President Boshof, and long before he made the 
 speech to Parliament. Grey repudiated the charge 
 of insubordination, which was, however, endorsed 
 by Lytton's successor, the Duke of Newcastle, 
 who was decidedly friendly to Grey, had appointed 
 him in the first instance, and reinstated him when 
 Lytton and Carnarvon had recalled him. But it is 
 not necessary to examine the points of this dispute 
 now. Before any dispute arose Lytton informed
 
 6o THE NEW NATION 
 
 Grey that, after weighing his arguments, Her 
 Majesty's Government was u not prepared to 
 depart from the settled policy of their predecessors 
 by advising the resumption of British sovereignty 
 in any shape over the Orange Free State." In 
 this Newcastle fully concurred. Grey consented 
 to resume the governorship" on the distinct under- 
 standing that he was not to oppose the settled 
 policy of both parties in England, and so ended the 
 first attempt at reconsolidating South Africa. 
 
 It is true that the form of union is a matter of 
 small importance compared to the main principle 
 of union, but there are three special points in 
 Grey's despatch which deserve particular notice. 
 The first is that Grey was a determined advocate 
 of federation as opposed to unification. He was 
 the author of the federal constitution established in 
 New Zealand in 1853. Nine years later, during 
 his second period of office as Governor of New 
 Zealand, the Province of Auckland expressed a 
 desire to form a separate Colony. Newcastle, 
 then Colonial Secretary, was in favour of more 
 concentration, and refused to grant the Auckland 
 petition. This separatist agitation led to a move- 
 ment for unification in New Zealand, but so much 
 way this opposed to the views held by Grey, who 
 had ceased to be Governor, but continued to live
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 61 
 
 in New Zealand, that he threw himself into 
 Colonial politics. He became Prime Minister, but 
 he was too late to avert the unification of 1875, 
 and he was compelled to accept the new constitu- 
 tion. But the incident shows how much attached 
 he was to the principle of federation, and his 
 emphatic recommendation of the principles of the 
 New Zealand constitution of 1853 as tne model for 
 South Africa must be borne in mind in considering 
 the policy of the Colonial Office under Lord 
 Carnarvon eighteen years later. 
 
 The second special point to be noticed in Grey's 
 attempt to unite South Africa is that he suggested 
 the passing of an Enabling Act through the British 
 Parliament. He was careful to explain that whatever 
 measures were taken in England should not go 
 beyond the point of simply enabling the people 
 of South Africa to form " a federal union such as 
 their several interests would show them to be for 
 the common good." Nor did he press for an Act. 
 Still, he was the first to suggest an Enabling Act, 
 and it was no doubt this suggestion that became 
 the parent of Lord Carnarvon's Act of 1877. 
 
 The third point to observe is that Grey's pro- 
 posals were shaped with the definite consciousness 
 that they were expressly fitted to the circumstances 
 of his time and to' these alone. He was well aware
 
 62 THE NEW NATION 
 
 that the opportunity of union which offered itself 
 in 1859 was exceptional. He attributed it to the 
 temporary circumstances of the country, and when 
 he received the despatch announcing the refusal 
 of the Imperial Government to accede to his 
 proposals he wrote: " I, however, much fear that 
 the opportunity of establishing such a federation as 
 I had proposed has now been lost for ever." If 
 the present situation in South Africa proves that 
 a marvellous destiny has averted the literal reali- 
 sation of Grey's apprehension, it will not be 
 forgotten that for fifty years there was no 
 recurrence of the opportunity which was thrown 
 away in 1859. Sir George Grey left South Africa 
 in 1861. 
 
 His immediate successor, Sir Philip Wodehouse, 
 became involved in the dispute between the Free 
 State and the Basutos, and moreover was con- 
 stantly engaged in a struggle with the Cape 
 Parliament, which he finally attempted to emascu- 
 late by a Bill abolishing one house and strengthen- 
 ing the official element in the other, while the 
 leading members of Parliament were working for 
 full responsible government. He explained to 
 Parliament that in his opinion a colony should 
 properly be called a dependency, and that 
 responsible government implied eventual separa-
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 63 
 
 tion and independence, since a ministry responsible 
 to a Parliament representing colonial constituencies 
 could not likewise be obedient to an Imperial 
 Government. His Bill was rejected by the Cape 
 Parliament, and his views on the effect of 
 responsible government by the Secretary of State, 
 Lord Granville, who, however, treated him with 
 the greatest indulgence. But the policy which he 
 pursued during the nine years of his governorship 
 did much to break down the confidence which the 
 more enlightened administration of Sir George 
 Grey had built up. Indeed he was not careful of 
 local susceptibilities. Once, when he paid a visit 
 to a frontier town, much indignation was excited 
 by the rumour that an address presented to him 
 on the occasion by the local dignitaries was dis- 
 covered on his departure in his waste paper basket. 
 There were even some who watched with amused 
 sympathy the symptoms of his whole-hearted 
 indifference to public opinion. He himself, as he 
 informed a friend, derived consolation from the 
 reflection that at any rate he was exempt from the 
 curse denounced against those of whom all men 
 speak well. 
 
 From 1869 onwards the project of South Afri- 
 can union has attracted general support in England. 
 Sir Charles Adderley, who stood up alone in the
 
 6 4 THE NEW NATION 
 
 House of Commons to protest against the aband- 
 onment of the Orange River Sovereignty in 1854, 
 wrote in 1869: "A federation of districts under 
 local government may, very probably, become 
 ultimately the best arrangement for the whole of 
 South Africa." In South Africa the agitation for 
 Responsible Government at the Cape did much to 
 advance the cause, and in 1871 a unanimous wish 
 for federation was expressed at a banquet given to 
 Sir Henry Barkly, the new Governor of the Cape, 
 in Bloemfontein, the President of the Free State, 
 Sir John Brand, being present. In the same year 
 Sir John Molteno, the leader of the Responsible 
 Government Party at the Cape, carried in the 
 Legislative Assembly a motion in favour of 
 responsible government, but was only able to do 
 this by adding to it a rider declaring that federation 
 was also desirable, and asking the Governor to 
 appoint a Commission of Inquiry. This was 
 suggested by members from the Eastern Province, 
 where an agitation for separation from the Western 
 Province had long enjoyed considerable vogue. 
 Accordingly the Governor appointed a Commis- 
 sion. One of the commissioners, now Sir Henry 
 de Villiers, has lived to act, thirty-seven years 
 later, 'as the President of the National Convention, 
 which has at last, in the years 1908 and 1909,
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 65 
 
 succeeded in framing the constitution of a United 
 South Africa. 
 
 The work of the Commission in 1871 was only 
 to consider the subdivision of the Cape Colony and 
 the federal union of the new provinces, but in 
 August Sir Henry Barkly, who had succeeded Sir 
 Philip Wodehouse as Governor, wrote to the 
 Secretary of State, Lord Kimberley, representing 
 to him that, though the project of union with 
 Natal and the Transvaal was looked on with much 
 indifference, there was a strong feeling on the part 
 of Cape Colonists in favour of union with the 
 Free State ; that Mr. Hamelberg, late a leading 
 member of the Executive Council of the Free 
 State, had told the Commission that, if self- 
 government were established at the Cape, the 
 main difficulty in the way of union would be 
 removed ; that Mr. De Villiers had made an 
 authoritative statement to the same effect in Par- 
 liament ; that circumstances had changed since 
 1859, and that it might be well for the Governor 
 to have instructions in case he should be invited 
 to re-open the question of union. The despatch 
 concluded by suggesting that the Colonial 
 Secretary, Lord Kimberley, might consider 
 whether to ask Parliament to pass an Enabling 
 Bill, or to await the introduction of responsible 
 
 G
 
 66 THE NEW NATION 
 
 government, and the acceptance by the Cape 
 Parliament of a definite scheme of union. 
 
 Lord Kimberley's reply marks the turning point 
 of British policy. It expressed general concurrence 
 in the Governor's views, and it authorised him to 
 act in case the question should be raised. As 
 regards procedure Kimberley did not favour an 
 Enabling Act, but the passing by the Colonial 
 Parliament of a resolution which could be 
 embodied in a Bill to be submitted to the Imperial 
 Parliament. Nor was the Colonial Secretary 
 isolated, for in 1872 the House of Commons 
 unanimously, though somewhat languidly, declared 
 that " it is desirable that facilities should be 
 afforded by all methods which may be practicable 
 for the confederation of the Colonies and States 
 of South Africa." 
 
 But South Africa was no more in a mood to 
 dance to the piping of England in 1872 than 
 England was ready to respond to the music of 
 South Africa in 1859. The Cape Commission 
 produced a report which was not calculated to 
 rouse enthusiasm, and did not touch on the rela- 
 tions of the Cape with other Colonies and States. 
 The unfortunate effects of Sir Philip Wodehouse's 
 administration were accentuated by the disputes 
 with the Free State about the newly discovered
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 67 
 
 diamond fields; the sudden access of wealth re- 
 moved many of the difficulties which had made the 
 project of union popular in the Free State 
 fourteen years before ; the new responsible 
 government in the Cape was preoccupied with the 
 work of administration, and the development of 
 the country's resources, and the entanglement of 
 the question of union with the question of sub- 
 dividing the Cape obscured the issue, and stopped 
 progress. 
 
 Despite all the energetic recommendations 
 of the Governor, no action was taken by the Cape 
 Legislature on the report of the Federation 
 Commission, and once again the question of union 
 faded into the back-ground. It is difficult to say 
 what might have happened if Lord Kimberley had 
 remained in Downing Street. Both he and 
 Barkly were convinced advocates of union, and 
 pursued a sound policy with prudence and 
 persistence. The first Prime Minister of the 
 Cape, Sir John Molteno, enjoyed in a singular 
 degree the confidence of the rural population. He 
 was not favourable to federation, but believed that 
 if the Cape prospered and enjoyed unchallenged 
 freedom under responsible government the other 
 States would gradually come to recognise the 
 advantage of joining it. Whether this policy
 
 68 THE NEW NATION 
 
 would have succeeded, had it been allowed scope, 
 will never be known. In 1874 Lord Kimberley 
 quitted office, and was succeeded by Lord Car- 
 narvon, whose appointment marks the end of a 
 chapter containing much promise, and the 
 beginning of a new one not richer in good inten- 
 tions than in disasters. 
 
 It is not necessary to delay very long 
 over the unhappy history of the period 
 between 1874 and 1880. Carnarvon had 
 had a large share in thwarting Grey in 
 1859, but, as we have seen, English opinion had 
 veered round in the interval, and Carnarvon had 
 no doubt been influenced by the movement for 
 federation in Canada, which had been fostered by 
 Cardwell as Colonial Secretary, but did not come 
 to a head till 1867, when Carnarvon had succeeded 
 him in Downing Street. Unfortunately he had 
 not understood the lesson, and appears to have 
 supposed that the Canadian settlement was in some 
 way due to the minister who proposed the Bill in 
 the Imperial Parliament rather than to the 
 Canadians who drew it up, or the minister who 
 left them free to do so. Accordingly he set about 
 the South African business with a strange per- 
 versity. 
 
 He began by allowing his better judgment to-
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 69 
 
 be influenced by the historian Froude, who had 
 spent a few months in South Africa, where he had 
 formed some erratic opinions on native and other 
 questions, and sent him out again with an unofficial 
 and undefined commission, rendering him inde- 
 pendent of the Governor of the Cape, who was also 
 High Commissioner. Guided by Froude, he 
 endeavoured to bring together a conference repre- 
 senting the different Colonies and States in South 
 Africa, and a sort of conference was finally held in 
 Downing Street. An Enabling Bill was then 
 drafted in the Colonial Office, and after some 
 modifications in deference to South African 
 criticism, submitted to the House of Lords. By 
 a peaceful passage through that House, and a 
 tempestuous passage through the House of 
 Commons, it found its way to the Statute Book, 
 upon which it fell lifeless and stillborn. Various 
 efforts were made to galvanize it into life, and 
 induce South Africa to make use of its provisions, 
 but neither the character of the Act itself, nor the 
 occasion of its appearance, nor the mode of its 
 introduction forwarded its prospects of usefulness, 
 and the fact that it was dead was made public long 
 before the law pronounced that it had expired in 
 1882. In view of the important principles
 
 7 o THE NEW NATION 
 
 involved it will not be amiss to review the leading 
 incidents of this history in rather more detail. 
 
 The whole story is so extraordinary that were it 
 not authenticated by official records it would appear 
 incredible. A great deal of allowance is no doubt 
 due to Carnarvon. The responsible ministry at 
 the Cape was opposed to dividing up the colony, to 
 convoking a conference representing the different 
 States, to federating rather than uniting South 
 Africa, and to passing an Enabling Act through 
 the British Parliament before South Africa itself 
 had agreed upon the terms of union. But none of 
 these suggestions originated with Carnarvon. All 
 had been put forward before either by Grey, or by 
 Barkly ; some by both. None had been definitely 
 repudiated by South Africa, though Kimberley 
 had expressed his preference for the sound method 
 of waiting for South Africa to produce a constitu- 
 tion rather than the dubious method of passing an 
 Imperial Enabling Act in advance. It would not, 
 therefore, be just to represent Carnarvon as their 
 author. What was peculiar to him was his method 
 of putting the proposals forward, and his singular 
 feat of first creating difficulties in the way of any 
 scheme of union, then proposing an unattractive 
 scheme, and finally selecting the most controversial 
 means of forwarding it.
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 71 
 
 Immediately before the launching of his con- 
 federation proposals the greatest excitement and 
 unrest was created throughout South Africa by 
 Carnarvon's conduct in the case of Langalibalele, 
 a chief whom the Natal authorities wished to have 
 interned outside Natal. The Cape Parliament 
 agreed to locate him in Robben Island, whereupon 
 Carnarvon, without consulting the Cape authori- 
 ties, disallowed the Cape Act, and issued 
 instructions that the prisoner was to be removed 
 to a location in the Cape Colony. A storm at 
 once arose, not because of his care for Langaliba- 
 lele, but because of his uncalled-for attempt to 
 over-ride and dictate to the authorities in a 
 self-governing Colony. The Prime Minister, Sir 
 John Molteno, encountered the storm in deference 
 to Carnarvon's wishes, and persuaded Parliament 
 to pass a new Bill in accordance with the views of 
 the Imperial Government, but though this saved 
 Carnarvon from his immediate difficulties a great 
 shock had been given to the confidence of South 
 Africans in the reality of self-government, and the 
 cause of federation was correspondingly damaged. 
 
 Carnarvon next proceeded to bring about a 
 change in the government of Natal, where for some 
 time there had been friction and public paralysis; 
 but the new constitution reduced the powers of the
 
 ? 2 THE NEW NATION 
 
 people's representatives, and this strengthened the 
 suspicion that the Secretary of State was no friend 
 of Colonial liberty. Moreover, the angry con- 
 troversy about the possession of the diamond fields 
 was not yet settled. It was this moment that 
 Carnarvon selected for his endeavour to unite 
 South Africa. 
 
 Without consulting either the High Commis- 
 sioner or the Cape Ministry, or, apparently, anyone 
 at all except Froude, he wrote a despatch directing 
 Sir Henry Barkly to summon a conference of 
 delegates from all the different Colonies and States 
 to discuss matters of general South African im- 
 portance, including federation. He proposed that 
 the two provinces of the Cape Colony should be 
 represented separately, and that the Prime 
 Minister of the Colony should represent one, and 
 one of his prominent opponents the other. And 
 he sent out Froude to superintend the arrange- 
 ments, and to represent the Imperial Government 
 at the proposed conference. Froude had no 
 political experience, and only the scantiest 
 acquaintance with South Africa. He acted as 
 might have been anticipated, and before very long 
 found himself the centre of an agitation which de- 
 rived its energy impartially from all the opposing 
 forces of discontent in the country, but which he
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 73 
 
 simply regarded as flattering to himself and his 
 mission. Carnarvon showed little more knowledge 
 of affairs than Froude, and disregarding the 
 decided utterances of the Governor, the Ministry, 
 and the Parliament, almost lent credence to 
 Froude's assurance that the real opinion of the 
 country was represented not by these but by the 
 plaudits which greeted his speeches, and by the 
 petitions which poured in upon him. But the 
 Cape authorities were firm. Parliament finally 
 decided by 35 votes to 22 not to send delegates 
 to Carnarvon's convention, which, according to a 
 later despatch, was to meet in London, and the 
 Republics refused to consider any proposal involv- 
 ing the loss of their independence. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, Carnarvon went forward 
 with his conference, which was actually held in 
 London in August, 1876, and discussed various 
 questions of South African interest. It was 
 attended by delegates from Natal, where the pro- 
 ject of federation was popular, as it was hoped that 
 union would give security to a community hardly 
 strong enough to stand alone, and would ensure 
 immediate self-government. President Brand, of 
 the Free State, was also present. He had just 
 agreed to an arrangement of the dispute about the 
 diamond field's, and signed a document expressing
 
 74 THE NEW NATION 
 
 his " cordial satisfaction " with it " as a just and 
 fair settlement in full of the question," and 
 declaring that, " all ground for controversy now 
 being removed," his Government would seek to 
 co-operate with the British authorities in the 
 common interests of their respective countries. 
 But he was not empowered or prepared to discuss 
 federation, so that when the conference approached 
 that topic he left the room, and the only persons 
 present who had any claim to a representative 
 character were Mr. Akerman and Mr. Robinson, 
 the two delegates from Natal. The conference, 
 therefore, could do nothing to expedite federa- 
 tion. 
 
 Carnarvon, however, appears to have had no 
 appreciation of the situation. He had expressed 
 himself as quite willing to proceed, if necessary, 
 without the Cape Colony. He cared so little for 
 the opinion of the Free State that, although he 
 published his own speech to the conference, he did 
 not publish Sir John Brand's. He now decided to 
 go forward undeterred by what had passed, and he 
 proceeded to add to his difficulties by announcing 
 his intentions not through the High Commissioner 
 but through a deputation of Cape merchants led by 
 Mr. Paterson, one of the chief opponents of Sir 
 John Molteno. He resolved to ask Parliament to
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 75 
 
 pass an Enabling Bill, and before the end of the 
 year he sent a draft to South Africa. The Bill was 
 on the Canadian model, and it is impossible to read 
 it now without recognising that it had many merits. 
 But, considering that it emanated from the Colonial 
 Office, it was too much like a constitution, and too 
 little like a Bill enabling South Africa to make its 
 own constitution. It was a good deal criticised in 
 South Africa, and in Cape Colony the whole design 
 was viewed with disfavour by the ministry, which, 
 as we have seen, had a different plan for bring- 
 ing about union. Carnarvon improved his Bill 
 by modifying it in accordance with many of the 
 criticisms passed upon it in South Africa. But he 
 did not relinquish his design, and in 1877 ne intro- 
 duced his modified Bill into the House of Lords. 
 
 These remarkable proceedings had not passed 
 without protest in England. Lord Blachford, who 
 was the permanent head of the Colonial Office 
 from 1859 to 1871, watched them with growing 
 misgivings. His official position had given him 
 an unique opportunity of understanding the forces 
 which led to union in Canada. He did not 
 approve of what he called " Lord Carnarvon's Cape 
 of Good Hope agitation," nor of the change in the 
 Natal constitution, and he regarded the Froude 
 Mission as an error, and Froude himself as
 
 76 THE NEW NATION 
 
 " merely scenic," and as singularly unpersuasive to 
 judicious minds. He wrote to Dean Church: 
 " Lord Carnarvon has, it seems to me, dropped 
 into a scrape in South Africa." Mr. W. E. 
 Forster, who had been Under Colonial Secretary, 
 and was now one of the Liberal leaders, in an 
 address to the Colonial Institute, declaimed against 
 the attempt to force federation, declaring that it 
 was a fallacy to suppose that a constitution for 
 South Africa could be framed in England ; and 
 Lord Granville, speaking in the House of Lords, 
 made a weighty protest against the irregular 
 methods of the Colonial Secretary. 
 
 When Carnarvon's Bill came before Par- 
 liament the way had been prepared by 
 the diffusion of much rather highly col- 
 oured matter presented as South African 
 intelligence, and the oracles were dumb. The 
 only protest in the House of Lords came from the 
 aged Lord Grey, who did not approve of 
 Responsible Government, and who was effectively 
 answered by Cardwell. In the House of Commons 
 it was different. The Liberal leaders, including 
 Forster, lent their support to the Government, but 
 a vigorous opposition was offered by a little group 
 in which Mr. Courtney, Sir Charles Dilke, and Mr. 
 Parnell were the most active. The Bill reached the
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 77 
 
 House of Commons at the end of the Session, 
 and the House as a whole was jaded. Only a 
 hundred members voted in the division on the 
 second reading. At the Committee stage the main 
 principles of the clauses were not discussed, and 
 most of the attention of the House was directed to 
 the proceedings of Parnell and a few other Irish 
 members, who did their utmost to prevent the 
 passage of the Bill, and were only borne down after 
 an all-night sitting. ' The Bill," said Car- 
 narvon, in assenting to the amendments of the 
 Commons, " will live in the Parliamentary history 
 of England as much as in the history of the 
 Colony." 
 
 In forwarding the Act to South Africa the 
 Colonial Secretary made some slighting remarks 
 on the opposition of the Irish members, which, he 
 said, was dictated by party considerations, and not 
 by regard for the interests of South Africa. Mr. 
 Butt said that if he believed Parnell's following to 
 represent Ireland he should retire from Irish politics 
 as a vulgar brawl in which no one could take part 
 with advantage or honour to himself. The leaders 
 of both British parties vied with each other in 
 denouncing trie small band of men who opposed 
 the Bill. But in the calmness of retrospection it 
 is impossible to withhold the acknowledgment that
 
 7 8 THE NEW NATION 
 
 the real honours of the debate rested not with the 
 big battalions, but with the thin and despised 
 squadrons opposing them. 
 
 " He refused to support this Bill, be- 
 cause there was no proof that the South 
 African Colonies desired the proposed con- 
 federation, and because he maintained that any 
 confederation of the kind ought to be voluntary 
 and spontaneous and not forced." " I consider that 
 with this Bill closes, so to speak, the most import- 
 ant era of the modern history of South Africa." 
 Which of those two utterances was the wiser? 
 Which would statesmen prefer to call their own 
 now after the test of a generation's experience? 
 Which rings truer to South African ears? The 
 first was spoken by Parnell; the second by the 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 Among those whose attitude during the 
 debate has been justified by events are 
 Lord Courtney and Sir Charles Dilke. The latter 
 declared that "he should continue to vote against 
 the Bill, because he believed that it was a fancy 
 of Lord Carnarvon's, and that it had been forced 
 upon the Colonies from the outside, 'and was not 
 spontaneously originated by them." It may be 
 well to remember these things for the warning of 
 too complacent occupants of front benches and as
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 79 
 
 a challenge to the belief that general unanimity 
 implies wisdom. 
 
 Some important amendments were brushed 
 .aside without discussion. An overwhelming 
 majority defeated the proposal that there should be 
 no union apart from the Cape. An even larger 
 majority decided that Colonies might be included 
 in the union without the consent of the elected 
 representatives of the people. But two amend- 
 ments of first-class importance were agreed to. 
 One provided for the " due representation of the 
 natives in the Union Parliament, and in the Pro- 
 vincial Councils, in such manner as shall be 
 deemed by Her Majesty to be without danger to 
 the stability of the Government." Another pro- 
 vided that the powers conferred on the Government 
 'by the Act should not be exercised after August 
 ist, 1882. For both these amendments Mr. 
 Forster was mainly responsible. The first never 
 came into operation. It is impossible to say how 
 much South Africa owes to the second. 
 
 Lord Courtney said that " the Bill, after all, if 
 passed, would be a dead letter." Mr. Lowther, 
 the spokesman of the Government in the House 
 of Commons, professed " every confidence that it 
 would prove acceptable to the inhabitants of the 
 .'South African Colonies." Carnarvon expressed
 
 8o THE NEW NATION 
 
 the belief that the Bill " would go out to the Cape 
 with greater weight than had been attached to any 
 former measure relating to the colonies." At the 
 end of the Session the Queen was made to say, 
 after a reference to the Secocoeni War : " I trust 
 that the measure which has been passed, to enable 
 the European communities of South Africa to 
 unite upon such terms as may be agreed on, will 
 be the means of preventing the recurrence ' of 
 similar dangers, and will increase and consolidate 
 the prosperity of this important part of mj 
 Dominions." The hope thus expressed was not 
 realised ; Lord Courtney's prophecy was fulfilled, 
 and this despite the fact that for the next three 
 years both parties did their utmost to induce South 
 Africa to bring the Act into operation. 
 
 Six months after the Bill was passed Carnarvon 
 resigned office, and his career in Downing Street 
 came to an end. His settlement of the diamond 
 fields dispute must be counted to his credit, and 
 he had many amiable qualities. Nor must it be 
 forgotten that England had not at that time 
 learned to doubt the doctrine, stated by Froude 
 as an axiom, that "a colony has no external 
 policy " ; that the question of federation was one 
 of relations with States under their own flags ; and 
 that, therefore, it was a natural mistake on the
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 81 
 
 part of Carnarvon to act without asking advice 
 from the Ministers of the Crown in South Africa. 
 But when all this has been said, it is difficult to 
 contemplate without disquiet the fact of an 
 Imperial Minister's setting about delicate negotia- 
 tions as he did, and then obtaining in both Houses 
 of Parliament the amount <3f support which he 
 enjoyed, and this hardly a generation ago. Alike 
 in the matter of federation, and in the equally 
 grave matter of the annexation of the Transvaal, 
 his behaviour betrayed that inclination for short 
 cuts which wisdom abhors as her chief enemy. To 
 South Africa his administration proved costly; 
 to England, costlier still ; to both, far less costly 
 than its consequences. Those who knew South 
 Africa best most decisively condemned him. 
 Those who know it best to-day will be most eager 
 to shun his example. 
 
 The rest of the history of the Enabling Act is 
 mainly the history of Sir Bartle Frere. Frere was 
 appointed by Carnarvon in 1876 "nominally as 
 Governor, but really as the statesman who seems 
 to me most capable of carrying my scheme of 
 confederation into effect, and whose long adminis- 
 trative experience and personal character give me 
 the best chances of success." Carnarvon added 
 that he did not estimate the time required for 
 
 H
 
 82 THE NEW NATION 
 
 uniting South Africa at more than two years, but 
 would wish Frere to remain two or three years 
 more as the first Governor General of the South 
 African Dominion. Frere replied that he 
 recognised " the Imperial importance of your 
 masterly scheme." ' When he arrived in South 
 Africa, he found both the Cape Ministers and the 
 Free State set against further action on Carnar- 
 von's lines, the Volksraad of the Free State 
 declaring " that the cherished jewel bestowed by 
 Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen of Great 
 Britain on this State, viz., the independence of its 
 inhabitants, is too highly esteemed by them easily 
 again to abandon that valued treasure." After 
 the Enabling Act was passed Frere had some cor- 
 respondence with the Lieutenant Governor of 
 Natal about summoning a convention, but by this 
 time he was already embarrassed by the first of 
 the series of native wars which marked his tenure 
 of office, and by the entanglement of the 
 Transvaal. 
 
 Marked reference was made to the subject 
 of federation in all but one of the Governor's 
 speeches at the beginning and end of the sessions 
 of the Cape Parliament in 1878, 1879, and 1880. 
 Sir Michael Hicks Beach, who succeeded 
 Carnarvon in 1878, endeavoured to expedite
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 83 
 
 matters by a despatch written in the following 
 year suggesting prompt action by the Cape 
 Ministers and Parliament. But, though federa- 
 tion had been brought prominently before the 
 electors at the recent general election, and though 
 there was a new Ministry specially attached to 
 Frere, the Ministers declared that, deeply inter- 
 ested as they were in the cause of confederation, 
 they could not advise its consideration as a 
 practical question at a time when the whole of 
 South Africa was absorbed in the anxieties of the 
 Zulu war. Frere himself ascribed their inaction 
 to the general fear that further encroachments on 
 the self-governing powers of the Colonies might 
 be intended, similar to that which had debased the 
 constitution of Natal in 1875. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone returned to office in 1880 
 as Prime Minister, with Kimberley as Colo- 
 nial Secretary. Many of their supporters 
 were eager to secure Frere's recall. The 
 Queen was anxious that he should remain 
 in South Africa. Gladstone held that the 
 Government had found no reason to distrust his 
 proceedings or views with regard to confederation, 
 which were the pole-star of the Government's 
 South African policy, but he informed the Queen 
 that "the only chance of Sir Bartle Frere's
 
 84 THE NEW NATION 
 
 remaining seems to depend upon his ability to make 
 progress in the matter of confederation," and for 
 a few months he remained. The hope that he 
 could advance the cause of federation was not well 
 grounded, for when the Cape Ministers submitted 
 to Parliament resolutions approving of a confer- 
 ence to consider the question these met with so 
 little support that they were rejected without a 
 division. Frere was then recalled. But in the 
 meanwhile Gladstone had informed the people of 
 the Transvaal that he proposed to give them 
 self-government by making that country a pro- 
 vince in a federal union. This decision not to 
 give self-government at once, trusting the 
 people to join in a union afterwards, was the 
 immediate cause of the first Boer War and all 
 that grew from it. So disastrous were the results 
 of relying on the name of federation rather than 
 on the living reality of self-government! 
 
 In the last days of 1 880, when the Transvaal was 
 already in revolt, Lord Kimberley issued instruc- 
 tions to Sir Hercules Robinson, who was about 
 to succeed Frere in South Africa. He remarked 
 that the Act of 1877 had received very general 
 support in England, that it appeared impossible to 
 govern South Africa efficiently except by a central 
 authority, and that the Imperial Government was
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES 85 
 
 strongly in favour of consolidation in some form. 
 But he reverted to the sound principles which he 
 had laid down when he was last in office. The 
 Government, he said, was " disposed to think that 
 for various reasons it will be more convenient that 
 any fresh movement for confederation or union 
 should be initiated spontaneously by the Colonies, 
 from the conviction that their own political and ma- 
 terial interests demand it." At the same time the 
 Imperial Government would consider any such 
 scheme that came from South Africa "with an 
 ^earnest desire to be able to give it their sanction." 
 He suggested that it might be possible to create 
 a union for some special purposes, such ab 
 customs, ports or defence. Unhappily this was 
 too late to be immediately effective. The mis- 
 chievous results of the long reign of an interfering 
 policy were not to be annulled by a single 
 despatch. Instead of closer union there was fresh 
 disruption, and for many years little was heard of 
 federation. 
 
 But the wisdom of Kimberley's policy has been 
 amply proved. After some years of wise adminis- 
 tration by Sir Hercules Robinson a better spirit 
 began to manifest itself in South Africa. In 1889 
 Sir Charles Mitchell, the Governor of Natal, on 
 the occasion of his turning the first sod of the
 
 86 THE NEW NATION 
 
 railway connecting Natal with the Free State, 
 declared his belief that " the occasion would prove 
 the prelude of the day, so ardently desired by all 
 true lovers of this country, when South Africa 
 would be one, when all the States would be one 
 politically, as they are in race, country and 
 religion ; in. that love of freedom which dis- 
 tinguished both they would join hands and say 
 that they were brothers in all that was necessary 
 to advance the country, and make it take its place 
 amongst the nations of the world." These senti- 
 ments were at once reciprocated by the 
 representative of the Free State. A Customs 
 Union between the Cape and the Free State had 
 been established in the same year, and before 
 the outbreak of war in 1899 Bechuanaland, 
 Basutoland, Natal, and Rhodesia had joined. The 
 Afrikaander Bond, which was established mainly 
 in order to quicken political interests among the 
 farmers, always regarded federation as a matter 
 of principle. Had not fresh troubles intervened, 
 the naturally centripetal instincts of the people 
 and the harmonising influence of the country 
 itself would no doubt have asserted themselves 
 further, as they always have whenever they have 
 been allowed to operate unimpeded, and the for-
 
 ATTEMPTED REMEDIES' 87 
 
 ward movement which began in 1880 might have 
 gradually led to union by a peaceful path. 
 
 Immediately after the war of 1899-1902 an 
 attempt was made to suspend the constitution of 
 the Cape Colony, and carry through federation 
 without allowing the people to express any opinion 
 about it through their representatives. This 
 movement was stopped by the wise refusal of Mr. 
 Chamberlain to entertain any such proposal. In 
 1905, shortly after arriving in South Africa as 
 High Commissioner, Lord Selborne suggested the 
 unification of the different railway systems, but 
 the new Colonies had not yet received their con- 
 stitutions, and the High Commissioner's proposal 
 was not taken up. Next year was enlivened by a 
 factitious agitation for union between the Trans- 
 vaal and Natal. So little have the lessons of 
 history been laid to heart. 
 
 Indeed so simple is the teaching of the past in 
 certain respects that it baffles some refined 
 intelligences. But the plain man, looking back 
 over the record of those frequent and futile 
 attempts to unite South Africa, will find that the 
 moral of them all is singularly clear and easy to 
 grasp. South Africa is not to be hurried, and will 
 not have her business done for her. These 
 characteristics are not peculiar to her, but they are
 
 88 THE NEW NATION 
 
 strongly marked in her nature, and on her records. 
 A South African ,can now point them out with the 
 greater complacency because his country is 
 engaged in proving that, when the opportunity so 
 long desired is at last presented, she knows how to 
 avail herself of it with decision and despatch.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 IT is not easy to keep pace with the changes which 
 come over such a country as South Africa. 
 Within eighteen months of the discovery of 
 diamonds at what is now Kimberley the Governor 
 officially informed the Secretary of State that there 
 had been a depression there, but that there were 
 still at least twenty-five thousand diggers. 
 According to Froude there were 40,000 British 
 subjects settled on the diamond fields at the end 
 of 1874; according to a ministerial minute there 
 were not above 6.000 white people in the whole 
 of Griqualand West two years later. Since then 
 the population of that part of the country has 
 twice risen and twice shrunk, the change in each 
 case being rather violent than gradual, so that in 
 the first forty years after the public announcement
 
 90 THE NEW NATION 
 
 of its existence Griqualand West has passed 
 through seven stages of fortune. When the Cape 
 Colony agreed to annex it, it agreed reluctantly, 
 and as a favour to the Imperial Ministry. Since 
 then it has several times been regarded as the 
 most splendid of the colony's assets. In the 
 same way, according to the testimony of the 
 Governor, Sir Henry Barkly, the Transvaal was 
 looked upon by the people of the Cape with much 
 indifference in 1871, and for years afterwards it 
 was completely overshadowed by the Free State. 
 Suddenly the whole position was reversed by the 
 discovery of the gold fields, and for nearly twenty 
 years the Transvaal has been able, when so dis- 
 posed, to regard the elder sister almost as a poor 
 relation. 
 
 In such a country it is wise to put a bridle on 
 the confidence of prophecy. In 1859 Sir George 
 Grey, no mean observer, insisted that within a few 
 years the countries beyond the Orange River 
 " must, in products, resources, and number of 
 inhabitants, far surpass the united Colonies of the 
 Cape of Good Hope and Natal." Since then the 
 Cape Colony has certainly extended north of the 
 Orange River, but at the census of 1904 the white 
 population of the territories thus annexed was not 
 half the white population of Natal, and that of the
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 91 
 
 portion of the Cape Colony south of the Orange 
 River was very considerably larger than that of 
 all the territories of British South Africa north of 
 the Orange River taken together. For years 
 inability to foresee the future was displayed in an 
 indifference on the part of English statesmen to 
 the ownership of provinces, some of which have 
 been subsequently acquired at prodigious cost, 
 while others are now the cherished and sometimes 
 coveted possessions of foreign powers, and also in 
 even more serious mistakes of policy. 
 
 But the moral of experience stated at the end of 
 the last chapter clearly points to a sufficiently 
 trustworthy diagnosis of the present position. The 
 importance of leaving the work of consolidation to 
 South Africa itself has long been admitted in 
 theory. As we have seen, this principle, remem- 
 bered only by a small minority in the House of 
 Commons in 1877, was adopted afresh by Lord 
 Kimberley in 1881. In May of that year one of 
 his colleagues, Mr. Childers, writing to Sir Henry 
 Parker about the Australian Conference on closer 
 union, said that he had always favoured union in 
 Australia, but that it was best for English people 
 to be silent on the subject for fear of raising in 
 Australia a suspicion that English politicians had 
 some interest of their own in the question. He
 
 92 THE NEW NATION 
 
 added : " I hope that you will not move until public 
 opinion in the colonies has been unmistakably 
 and almost unanimously expressed in your favour. 
 Our recent total failure in South Africa is a 
 decided warning." This utterance is the more 
 interesting because in early days Mr. Childers had 
 held office in Victoria, and because, notwithstand- 
 ing this, he had been one of the Liberal leaders 
 who had helped in passing Carnarvon's South 
 African Bill in 1877. But the most important 
 confession of all is that of Lord Carnarvon 
 himself. He visited South Africa in 1888, and 
 wrote down his impressions on his return. As to 
 the fate of his Act, he considered it " sufficient to 
 say that the Imperial proposals did not secure the 
 necessary loyal concurrence." He says that he 
 was often pressed to speak on the subject, but that 
 his "invariable answer was that proposals for 
 confederation now ought to proceed from South 
 Africa herself, or to be the spontaneous outcome 
 of her own desires and public interests." On the 
 whole we may safely regard it as an axiom, 
 admitted in calm moments by English statesmen 
 of both parties, that the first condition of success 
 in the work of effecting South African union is that 
 the work of formulating proposals should be left 
 to South Africans, English statesmen agreeing in
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 93 
 
 the meanwhile to submit any impulses which 
 prompt interference to the rigid discipline of self- 
 control. 
 
 It evidently follows that the grant of full 
 self-government is the essential preliminary of 
 union. This is the share which had to fall to the 
 Imperial Government. It may perhaps be urged 
 that the Imperial Government had another task v 
 namely, to break down the barrier created by the 
 existence of different flags. This contention 
 would evoke the reply that no interference was 
 necessary ; that South Africa always tended to 
 draw together whenever it was left to itself for any 
 considerable period; that South Africans at heart 
 care more for their country than for anything else, 
 and that had there been no interference union 
 would have been effected, perhaps already, with- 
 out a struggle, and in a way wholly satisfactory to 
 all concerned. This argument would in turn 
 arouse a rejoinder. Perhaps the most effective, 
 though not the most common, retort would be that, 
 although in 1854, and for a long period afterwards, 
 the Imperial Government was anxious to see a 
 union between the two republics, no such union 
 was ever effected. But all this is in the uncertain 
 region of speculation. The alternative to war was 
 not seriously attempted, for full self-government
 
 94 THE NEW NATION 
 
 was only given to Natal in 1893, and the raid 
 followed at the end of 1895. The question, 
 therefore, whether war was necessary is not only- 
 one which it is wiser to pass over at the present 
 time because it rouses passions best left undis- 
 turbed, but also one which can never be answered 
 with certainty, because in the nature of things it 
 could only be answered by experience, and war 
 intervened before experience had had time to 
 formulate its reply to that once momentous inter- 
 rogation. We must therefore begin by simply 
 accepting the fact of the war and the settlement 
 made at Vereeniging, and having accepted it we 
 revert to the solid rock from which we set out into 
 the shifting and treacherous sands of speculation. 
 After 1902 then the essential preliminary of union 
 was that South Africa should possess full self- 
 government, and it was the Imperial Government's 
 share in the work of effecting union to secure this. 
 We have already seen how this principle had 
 been grasped in earlier days. In connection with 
 the question of South African union Sir George 
 Grey wrote a panegyric of freedom as warm as the 
 glowing sentence pronounced by Herodotus. 
 Barkly insisted in 1871 that "the control of their 
 own affairs by colonists ought in every case to 
 precede federation." The sagest men of all
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 95 
 
 parties at the Cape urged the same principles in 
 connection with the Transvaal between 1877 and 
 1880. Sir Bartle Frere, after all his experiences 
 in South Africa, spoke to the same effect in a 
 vigorous address to the Colonial Institute. " The 
 question of responsible government," he said, " is 
 a vital one as connected with any union of the 
 South African Colonies. . . . Whether we 
 look to the present efficiency of local colonial 
 government or to any prospect of future union 
 between any two or more colonies, I regard the 
 grant of responsible government to Natal as the 
 key of the whole position." 
 
 It may be remarked that the principle of self- 
 government means more than the mere grant of a 
 particular form of constitution. The Cape had 
 responsible government in 1875, but Froude's 
 agitation in the colony, considering his position as 
 in some respects the official representative of 
 the Imperial Government, was an invasion of the 
 colony's rights as a self-governing state. The 
 influence of English politicians who call one party 
 British as if its opponents were in some way 
 opposed to British interests, of those sections of 
 the English Press which pursue the larger half of 
 the European population of South Africa with 
 incessant suspicions and insinuations calculated to
 
 96 THE NEW NATION 
 
 envenom feeling at the Cape, of financiers who 
 hold out to the country the prospects of special 
 favours subject to the condition that one set of 
 politicians is returned to power and not another, 
 all this has not been unknown to South Africa in 
 the past, and as far as it has existed it has hindered 
 the healing operation of self-government, and the 
 resultant movement towards union, because it has 
 limited self-government itself in substance if not 
 in form. This does not mean that English 
 opinion on South African affairs is necessarily 
 intrusive, but it does mean that as far as it tends 
 to identify one party with England and to fasten 
 on the other a charge of disaffection or lukewarm- 
 ness towards England, so far it discounts the 
 grant of self-government, and is as mischievous 
 as self-government is beneficial. 
 
 The circumstances of South Africa since the 
 war have been singularly favourable to the healthy 
 operation of freedom. The country now knows 
 no frontier disputes, though it has had many in 
 the past. In the new colonies the war has 
 resulted in the replacement of old institutions by 
 new ones, which have not yet had time to attach 
 to themselves all the associations of long 
 habituation. The jealous insistence on individual 
 rights and the suspicion of authority which led to
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 97 
 
 the creation in the United States of a system of 
 checks and counterchecks so elaborate as to 
 impede the free movement of national life are 
 almost too little known in South Africa. The racial 
 mistrust and antipathies of the past never had 
 any solid foundation, and were bound to pass 
 away as mutual acquaintance dispelled imaginary- 
 suspicion, while for the time being there are no 
 other great questions on which the people is 
 deeply divided, so that for the moment, at any rate, 
 it is able, when the opportunity offers, to devote 
 its almost undivided energy to the work of consoli- 
 dation. It may be added that the serious financial 
 difficulties which throughout South Africa have 
 been the aftermath of the war are at any rate 
 favourable to the creation of a temper hostile to 
 extravagance, and that such a temper in the 
 authors of a constitution may spare the generations 
 which have to use it endless anxiety and embar- 
 rassment. South Africa then is fortunate in the 
 circumstances under which she at last finds her 
 opportunity. 
 
 This opportunity is now before her. Here 
 again it is not necessary to go beyond a simple 
 statement of fact. The constitutions of the new 
 colonies provide, it is true, for second chambers, 
 which are in no way representative, but with the
 
 9 8 THE NEW NATION 
 
 appointment of the nominees for these chambers 
 the control of Imperial officers ceased, and the 
 chambers themselves have shown no disposition 
 to thwart the popular branches of the legislature, 
 nor indeed would they have had sufficient weight 
 to fit them for an encounter, even had they other- 
 wise been minded to try the venture. As far as 
 the constitutions of South Africa are concerned 
 self-government is practically complete. At the 
 same time, although there are still some English 
 extremists who occasionally endeavour to 
 implicate England in the party contests of South 
 Africa in such a way as to make one party ortho- 
 dox and to place the others under a ban, there has 
 on the whole been a marked diminution in the 
 volume of these interludes, which have been left 
 more and more to persons of little account. At 
 the present moment there is very little that tends 
 to impair, directly or indirectly, the freedom of 
 South Africa to shape her course as she considers 
 best. 
 
 The opportunity was given to South Africa 
 by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and his 
 colleagues. The full account of their action will 
 no doubt be written by future historians. At the 
 present time it is enough to state the plain fact 
 that the first Transvaal Parliament met on March
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 99 
 
 3ist, 1907, and the first Orange River Colony 
 Parliament on December i8th of the same year, 
 and that from that moment the liberty of South 
 Africa to govern itself was assured. History 
 records many instances of the loss of great national 
 opportunities. It records some instances of 
 nations which have seized the opportunities 
 offered them. Let us see how South Africa 
 acquitted herself at the critical hour when, 
 for the first time in her history, the responsibility 
 for shaping her course devolved upon her. 
 
 It was in February, 1907, just two months after 
 the definite announcement of the terms of the 
 constitution about to be conferred on the Orange 
 River Colony, that Mr. Steyn, late President of 
 the Free State, and second to no South African 
 in influence and sagacity, startled South Africa by 
 declaring that federation would, in his belief, be 
 accomplished within the next five years. This de- 
 claration was made in a manifesto addressed to the 
 people of the Orange River Colony, to whom Mr. 
 Steyn explained his reasons for not becoming a 
 candidate for a seat in Parliament. General 
 Botha, who spoke a few days later, immediately 
 after becoming Prime Minister, was less definite, 
 but expressed the hope that federation would be 
 well advanced before his Government's term of
 
 ioo THE NEW NATION 
 
 office expired. At the end of March the congress 
 of the Afrikaander Bond recommended the 
 appointment of a commission of investigation. 
 But in some ways the most remarkable statement 
 of the connection between self-government and 
 closer union was contained in the Governor's 
 speech on the opening of the Natal Parliament's 
 session in June. This declared that with the grant 
 of responsible government to the new colonies 
 had arrived, in the opinion of the Government of 
 Natal, the time to discuss federation. Meanwhile 
 Dr. Jameson and his colleagues in the Cape 
 Ministry had invited Lord Selborne to give ex- 
 pression to his opinions on the subject ; and this 
 invitation having been endorsed by the other 
 South African Governments, the High Com- 
 missioner complied, and wrote a remarkable 
 despatch in which he insisted with great force on 
 the danger of disunion and the cogent difficulty of 
 avoiding incessant friction between the different 
 Governments, and no less forcibly pronounced 
 that closer union must spring from the people 
 themselves. There can be no doubt that this 
 despatch did much good, not only by drawing 
 general attention to the necessity of change, but 
 also by conciliating many who were disposed to
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 101 
 
 look askance at the projected union as a project of 
 questionable advantage to Imperial interests. 
 
 A motion had been brought before the Cape 
 Parliament in 1906, suggesting that the Govern- 
 ment should approach the Governments of the 
 other British South African Colonies, and invite 
 their co-operation in the appointment of a joint 
 commission to inquire into the question of 
 federating all the colonies " with the view to 
 economy in administration." This proposal was 
 not adopted, as it was felt that the time for action 
 had not yet arrived, neither of the new colonies 
 having as yet elected representatives to express 
 their views. But in the middle of 1907 the Cape 
 House of Assembly unanimously resolved that 
 the Government " should, during the recess, 
 approach the Governments of the other self- 
 governing British Colonies in South Africa to 
 consider the advisability of taking preliminary 
 steps to promote the union of British South Africa, 
 the result of such negotiations to be laid before 
 the next Session of Parliament." This was pro- 
 posed by Mr. Malan, who a few months later 
 became Secretary for Agriculture in the Merriman 
 Ministry, and seconded by Dr. Jameson, then 
 Prime Minister. But it was agreed to without 
 general enthusiasm, because it was widely felt that
 
 102 THE NEW NATION 
 
 it was premature to move before the Orange River 
 Colony had obtained its Parliament, and also that 
 the Cape Parliament, which had been elected 
 early in 1904, before the excitement due to the war 
 had subsided, had now ceased to represent the 
 country, and that the work of union ought to be 
 left to a Parliament elected without reference to 
 past disputes ; so that even if the same members 
 were elected, they would represent a calmer mood 
 than that of the years immediately succeeding the 
 war. However, the resolution of the Cape 
 Parliament was unanimously endorsed by the 
 Natal Parliament, and fortunately the Cape Parlia- 
 ment was dissolved, and the Orange River Colony 
 Parliament elected before the end of the year. 
 The effect of the resolution was that the arrange- 
 ments for a preliminary conference were partly 
 made by the outgoing Cape Ministry, which was 
 a real advantage, as the question of closer union 
 was thus definitely placed outside party politics. 
 
 In September, 1907, the Cape House of 
 Assembly unanimously agreed to a resolution 
 " that the Government should take steps to secure 
 the better preparation and dissemination, especi- 
 ally among members of the Legislature, of 
 statistical and other official information regarding 
 the condition of the various colonies of South
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 103 
 
 Africa," and strenuous efforts were made by 
 individuals in different parts of South Africa to 
 study South African affairs as a whole with a view 
 to the approaching union. 
 
 By this time it was abundantly clear that South 
 Africa was about to move. In the House of 
 Commons Mr. Churchill said that the Imperial 
 Government would watch the decision of the 
 colonies, but would make no attempt to take the 
 initiative. This resolution was scrupulously 
 adhered to. 
 
 A conference of leading representatives of 
 the different colonies was held at Pretoria early in 
 May, 1908, as soon as the Cape elections were 
 over and a special session had been held to enable 
 the new Ministers to explain their intentions. 
 The conference was in the first instance rather an 
 illustration of the necessity of union than anything 
 else. Great dissatisfaction had been felt on 
 account of the existing Customs Tariff which had 
 been arranged as recently as 1906, and in terms of 
 the Customs Convention, and in deference to 
 pressure from almost all sections of the people, the 
 Transvaal Government had given notice of its 
 intention to terminate the agreement. The agree- 
 ment about railway rates had also broken 
 down, and in 1907 a sudden and violent
 
 io 4 THE NEW NATION 
 
 crisis was precipitated by the shipping 
 companies, which unexpectedly modified their 
 freight rates, and thus threatened to upset 
 the balance of trade, and divert traffic from 
 channels to which it had been consigned by 
 elaborate inter-colonial and inter-state arrange- 
 ments. In both cases a railway war between the 
 two impecunious maritime colonies was only 
 averted by the energetic intervention of the 
 authorities in the inland states, which imposed a 
 truce upon the combatants. The conference of 
 1908 met primarily to deal with such matters as 
 these, and it must have met in any case, even if 
 there had been no thought of closer union. On 
 the other hand the forces making for union were 
 much deeper than a mere consciousness of 
 administrative difficulties, and it is not only pos- 
 sible, but probable, that the National Convention 
 would have met in October even if the difficulties 
 of administration had been less obstinate than 
 they proved to be. However this may be, it was 
 soon found that the harrassing financial questions 
 which the conference had been invited to dispose 
 of could only be dealt with at the root, and there- 
 fore the conference resolved not to attempt any 
 serious alteration of existing arrangements, but to 
 recommend their temporary continuance with some
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 105 
 
 modifications of no very great importance, and at 
 the same time, with a view to providing not only 
 for the eventual settlement of questions such as 
 these, but also for the satisfaction of the 
 nationalist impulse which had laid hold of the 
 whole people, and not least of the delegates them- 
 selves, to ask the Parliaments of the different 
 colonies to appoint delegates to a National 
 Convention authorised to draw up a definite 
 scheme of closer union. This decision was 
 arrived at without loss of time, and before the 
 middle of July all the four South African Parlia- 
 ments had agreed to k, and appointed their 
 representatives. The Administrator of Southern 
 Rhodesia had also declared in his speech on the 
 opening of the Legislative Council in June that 
 Rhodesia was in full sympathy with the project of 
 South African Union, and hoped to take her place 
 in it in due course. 
 
 There are several points calling for special 
 notice in connection with these proceedings. In 
 the first place the experience of the Conference of 
 May, 1908, was the first genuine proof that South 
 Africa could not solve the administrative problems 
 without union. There had been many inter- 
 colonial conferences since the war, but none of 
 them had been attended by elected representatives
 
 io6 THE NEW NATION 
 
 of the people in the new colonies, except a hurried 
 and informal conference held in 1907 to deal with 
 the situation created by the unexpected action of 
 the shipping companies. That conference had 
 dealt successfully with a very difficult problem in 
 a few hours. At the beginning of 1908, therefore, 
 there was not more than a presumption that a self- 
 governing South Africa could only deal with its 
 difficulties by establishing a central Government. 
 But the conference of May, 1908, at once recog- 
 nised and admitted its inability to adjust the 
 conflicting interests which it represented 1 . In one 
 sense it broke down ; in another it triumphed. It 
 did not succeed in solving the practical problems 
 of the country, and indeed it openly confessed that 
 it could not do so, under existing circumstances ; 
 it did suceed in pointing out the way by which 
 those problems could be solved that is, not only 
 recommending union, but suggesting the steps by 
 which union could be attained. 
 
 In the second place, it must be observed that 
 this advance was made solely by South Africans. 
 At previous inter-colonial conferences since the 
 war the High Commissioner had presided. On 
 this occasion no Imperial officer was present, and 
 the chair was taken by Mr. Moor, the Prime 
 Minister of Natal. A similar course was followed
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 107 
 
 later in the year by the National Convention which 
 formulated a draft constitution. Lord Selborne and 
 the other Governors were at hand to give advice, 
 but they were not members of the convention, and 
 did not attend its sittings. So rigorously, and with 
 such good effect, was the decision of the Imperial 
 Government to refrain from interference, and to 
 throw the whole responsibility of formulating 
 proposals upon the people of South Africa, 
 insisted upon and adhered to. 
 
 Thirdly, the forbearance of the different 
 Governments and of the parties supporting them 
 demands recognition. The labour party, it is true, 
 has justly represented that no place was left for it 
 at the convention, but as between the ministerial- 
 ists and the regular opposition the greatest 
 consideration was shown, and in the Cape 
 especially the number of opposition delegates sent 
 to the convention was out of all proportion to the 
 strength of the opposition in Parliament. Yet not 
 one word of complaint on this score was heard, and 
 the forbearance of the majority met with its due 
 reward in the confidence with which the people as 
 a whole have regarded the convention, and in its 
 consequent freedom from disturbance by conten- 
 tiousness within or unrest without. 
 
 Finally it is interesting to observe that the only
 
 io8 THE NEW NATION 
 
 opposition offered in the South African Parlia- 
 ments came from a small band of five extremists 
 in Natal, and in the Transvaal from Mr. 
 Wolmarans, the lingering representative of the 
 traditions which were specially associated with 
 President Kruger in the minds of his keenest 
 opponents. The drawing together of the great 
 mass of the nation was not unfittingly marked by 
 the meeting of these attenuated remnants of 
 opposing extremes. 
 
 When once the National Convention had been 
 decided on, the powerful forces which were behind 
 the movement for union immediately became 
 apparent. Not only was the nationalist senti- 
 ment of South Africa stirred, but it was found that 
 the business community had become convinced of 
 the advantage of union on purely financial and 
 commercial grounds. In particular, the spokes- 
 men of the great mining houses declared strongly 
 for union. Societies were formed in many 
 different parts of the country to study the problems 
 of South Africa and to organise the forces favour- 
 able to union in case of any serious opposition. 
 Not only in Cape Colony and the new colonies 
 but also in Natal these societies rapidly attracted 
 a large measure of public support. Nor were the 
 churches indifferent to the work of consolidation.
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY 109 
 
 The Dutch Reformed Church issued a call to 
 prayer on the eve of the meeting of the convention, 
 and the Bishops of the English Church sent a 
 message expressive of their interest and sympathy. 
 It would not be easy to find better evidence to 
 show how the meeting of the National Convention 
 was regarded in the heart of the people, and it 
 may therefore be well to cite the words of these 
 utterances. The heads of the Dutch Church 
 published a translation of their Call to Prayer, 
 which read as follows : 
 
 " Shortly the National Convention will (D.V.) 
 be held in Natal, and what will be discussed, 
 decided, and undertaken there will likely be full 
 of importance for every portion of South Africa, 
 and for its whole population. The future of our 
 people in every respect will, under God's guid- 
 ance, greatly depend upon the resolutions which 
 will be adopted there. Who can calculate what 
 influence those resolutions will have, not only 
 on commerce and industry, on legislation and 
 justice, but especially on the educational, the 
 moral, and the religious interests of our people, 
 and on the relations of the different sections of 
 the population with one another? Who can 
 calculate of how much importance these resolu- 
 tions will be with reference to the whole native 
 question on which so inexpressibly much depends
 
 no THE NEW NATION 
 
 for South Africa and for God's Kingdom ? God 
 has His plans for South Africa ; He is willing and 
 able to use the National Convention to carry out 
 His plans. There is, however, a great danger 
 that His will may be resisted at the deliberations. 
 He promises to hear the prayer of His people. 
 Therefore it is meet that God's people should 
 pray earnestly, unitedly, and continuously, and 
 in faith, that it may please God to guide the 
 delegates to the Convention by His Holy Spirit, 
 in order that the resolutions which will be 
 adopted there may be in accordance with His 
 will, may redound to His glory, and may tend to 
 promote the highest and holiest interests of the 
 whole population of South Africa. We, there- 
 fore, recommend that on Sunday, October 11, 
 special prayer be made in all the congregations 
 of our Church that God's blessing may rest on 
 the Convention, and on all its proceedings. (I. 
 Timothy ii., 1-4, Matt, xxi., 22)." 
 
 The message of the English Bishops was agreed 
 to by resolution : 
 
 "The Bishops of the English Church in South 
 Africa assembled in Synod desire to express to 
 the President and members of the South African 
 National Convention their deep interest in the 
 noble work in which the Convention is engaged, 
 and their earnest hope that God will guide its
 
 THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY in 
 
 labours to a successful issue in the establishment 
 of unity, concord, and co-operation between all 
 the sections of the South African nation." 
 
 The Convention met at Durban on October 
 1 2th, the anniversary of the beginning of the great 
 South African War nine years before. The 
 solemn recollections which the day called up will, 
 no doubt, remain ; the bitterness in them has now 
 been done away for ever. The King sent a 
 message assuring the members of the Convention 
 of his deep interest and cordial good wishes. The 
 Imperial Government expressed its profound 
 sense of the importance of the occasion, its confi- 
 dent hope of the results, and its conviction that all 
 His Majesty's self-governing dominions would 
 share in the feelings which prompted the 
 message. When the Convention set to work it 
 proceeded with a rapidity which, considering the 
 circumstances and the precedents set by other 
 countries, must be acknowledged to have been 
 extraordinary. From October i2th to November 
 5th it sat at Durban; from November 2$rd till 
 December i8th, and again from January nth, 
 1909, till February 3rd, at Cape Town. On the 
 latter date it terminated its work, and the draft 
 constitution was published on February 9th. So 
 prompt, so decisive, so practical was the prepara-
 
 ii2 THE NEW NATION 
 
 tion which South Africa made for formulating her 
 answer to the question how she would use her first 
 national opportunity.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 
 
 THE work of national consolidation is not neces- 
 sarily completed when a national constitution has 
 been formulated. 
 
 It may take many years to bring into line the 
 different provinces of a nation formed by the union 
 of component elements. Moreover, there are, of 
 course, many practical questions which reformers 
 of different kinds are anxious to deal with as soon 
 as possible. It would have been easy for the 
 National Convention to lose itself in an attempt 
 at universal rectification or even universal con- 
 solidation. Its first claim to respect and gratitude 
 is on the ground that it has resolutely avoided this 
 danger, and confined itself to the task of deciding 
 questions which could not be left over. 
 
 The Constitution recommended by the Con- 
 ic
 
 ii4 THE NEW NATION 
 
 vention aims at creating an instrument of 
 government and nothing else. The Constitution 
 of the United States laid down several general 
 principles, declaring what were believed to be the 
 essential rights of man. Except for two words 
 in the preamble, the draft Constitution of South 
 Africa is severely laconic, and contains no state- 
 ment of the principles of government, and no word 
 calculated in itself to stir popular emotions ; nor 
 does it deal with one single question which is not 
 essentially connected with the work of creating 
 new machinery of government. 
 
 If the reader is moved to enthusiasm, it is not 
 by the contemplation of any amelioration likely 
 to result immediately from the passing of the 
 South African Act, but by the thought of the use 
 which may be made of the unimpassioned 
 machinery which the Act is to set up. 
 
 The questions to which the Convention has pro- 
 posed answers are those connected with this 
 machinery, and no others. Is the Constitution to 
 be elastic or rigid? Is power to be concentrated 
 in the central authority, or divided ? Are there to 
 be provincial authorities or not? If there are, 
 what are to be their powers? How are the pro- 
 vincial Legislatures and Executives to be formed 
 and financed? As regards the central authority,
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 115 
 
 how is the National Parliament to be constituted? 
 How many members are there to be, and what con- 
 stituencies are they to represent ? Who is to elect 
 them, and how are the electors to vote ? Is there 
 to be a second Chamber? If so, how is it to be 
 elected? What are to be the qualifications of 
 members of Parliament, and what the relations 
 between the two Houses, if there are two ? How 
 is the National Executive to be composed? How 
 are the national finances to be managed? What 
 are to be the Courts of Law? How is a National 
 Civil Service to be created ? Where is the capital 
 to be ? What shall be the title of the new nation ? 
 What provision is to be made for the inclusion of 
 provinces not incorporated at the outset? And 
 finally what is to be the procedure for bringing 
 about the necessary changes? These, and these 
 alone, are the questions which had to be answered 
 by the Convention, and which the Convention 
 has in fact answered. 
 
 When Sir Henry Barkly appointed a commis- 
 sion to enquire into federation in 1871, the first 
 question which he put to it, after the question of 
 the boundaries, was whether the Canadian model 
 should be followed. The commission reported 
 that the Canadian Act was not, in its leading 
 features, applicable to the Cape. The circum-
 
 n6 THE NEW NATION 
 
 stances of South Africa are essentially different 
 from those of Canada with its English and French 
 provinces, or Australia with its centrifugal 
 tendencies resulting from its geographical 
 circumstances, or the United States in the 
 eighteenth century with their separatist traditions 
 and theories, or Switzerland with its mountainous 
 partitions, or Germany with its numerous and 
 ancient courts and capitals. A constitution suited 
 to any of these countries would not be suited to 
 South Africa, and accordingly the Convention has 
 boldly struck out on new lines, and drafted a 
 constitution in the light of the experience of other 
 countries, but with a view to the needs of South 
 Africa. The draft constitution has more resemb- 
 lance to the constitution of Canada tnan to that of 
 any other country, but it differs from the Canadian 
 constitution in essential particulars, and it would 
 be an error to suppose that the South Africa 
 Act is modelled after the British North America 
 Act. 
 
 Perhaps the most important clause in the new 
 constitution is the last, which gives the Parliament 
 of South Africa full power to amend the 
 Constitution Act, except that certain provisions 
 cannot be amended for some years, and the clauses 
 securing the native vote at the Cape and the
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 117 
 
 equality between the English and Dutch 
 languages can only be altered if two-thirds of the 
 total number of Members of Parliament agree. 
 This clause provides South Africa with the means 
 of readily adapting its constitution to its circum- 
 stances. 
 
 It is not to be found in federal constitutions, and 
 some publicists who are suspicious of democracy, 
 notably Sir Henry Maine, have admired consti- 
 tutional rigidity which makes change difficult or 
 impossible, and holds down national expansion 
 with the clutch of a dead hand. But in Germany, 
 the United States, and even Canada this rigidity 
 has created difficulties, and especially financial 
 difficulties, so numerous and so considerable that 
 South Africans who remember how rapidly their 
 country changes, and how difficult it is to foresee 
 the lines of its development, will welcome for its 
 own sake a provision additionally welcome because 
 it implies confidence in the people. It is fair to 
 remember that full power to amend the constitu- 
 tion was provided for in Carnarvon's Bill of 1877, 
 except that Bills amending the constitution were 
 to be reserved, and not brought into force until 
 the Imperial Government had expressed assent 
 to them, but that this liberty to amend was 
 objected to by Mr. Forster, with the result that a
 
 n8 THE NEW NATION 
 
 new clause appeared in the Act as passed, allowing; 
 the South African Parliament to pass laws repug- 
 nant to the Act, subject to the assent of the 
 Imperial Government. This curious arrangement 
 had previously been recommended by the Cape 
 Federation Commission of 1871. 
 
 The first advantage resulting from the provision 
 for future reform is that the dispute between 
 unificationists and federationists at once loses its 
 poignancy. The debate has been maintained for 
 many years, and with considerable ardour. During 
 the last general election at the Cape, Mr. Sampson, 
 the Attorney General in the Jameson Government, 
 endeavoured to make it a party question, repre- 
 senting his party as being committed to federation, 
 and his opponents as advocates of unification, but, 
 though Dr. Jameson gave some support to this 
 contention, it quickly broke down, some of his 
 leading supporters declaring for unification, while 
 Mr. Hofmeyr, the veteran chief of the Afrikaander 
 Bond, pronounced in the most emphatic way for 
 federation, and was supported by many of his 
 followers. Among these was the authoress, Olive 
 Schreiner, who published a powerful plea for 
 federation, urging that it would provide for a freer 
 and more organic national life, and that small 
 nations have done most for the world. It may be
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 119 
 
 remembered that in 1877 Parnell and the other 
 Irish members, who withstood Carnarvon, ex- 
 pressed determined hostility to the Cape policy 
 of unification, arguing from their experience of the 
 union between England and Ireland. On the 
 other hand no South African wishes to see the 
 central power enfeebled or to reproduce in South 
 Africa the condition which existed in America 
 before federation, when the Congress was so weak, 
 that a handful of riotous soldiers was able to eject 
 it from its place of assembly. The experience of 
 Australia has been so unfavourable to the doctrine 
 of state rights that Mr. Watson, who has been 
 Prime Minister of Australia, in an interview which 
 he had when on a visit to South Africa, spoke most 
 emphatically on the point, while Mr. Fisher, the 
 present Prime Minister of Australia, has said, in 
 commenting on the decisions of the South African 
 Convention that Australians " will be delighted if 
 South Africa avoids our errors and takes advan- 
 tage of our experiences." 
 
 We have already seen that as early as 1875 the 
 Cape Ministry was in favour of unification. This 
 tradition has been steadily carried on, and for 
 years past Mr. Merriman, the present Prime 
 Minister, has preached unification. Lord Milner, 
 too, lent support to the same cause, and declared
 
 120 THE NEW NATION 
 
 his sympathy with it in a speech made while he was 
 High Commissioner. 
 
 The judgment of the Convention is not uncom- 
 promising, but it is decidedly in favour of 
 unification. Existing inter- colonial boundaries 
 are not to be swept away ; there are to be 
 Provincial Legislatures and Executives, and the 
 Senate, or Upper House, of the National 
 Parliament is in the main to represent the pro- 
 vinces as such. But the National Parliament is 
 to be omnipotent; the states are to be called not 
 colonies, but provinces ; their legislatures, not 
 parliaments, but councils ; their legislative enact- 
 ments, not acts, but ordinances. Their legislatures 
 are to be single chambers, elected for three years, 
 possessing no exclusive powers, and liable to have 
 their ordinances either vetoed by the National 
 Ministers or over-ridden by Acts of the National 
 Parliament. They are to deal with public works 
 designed for local purposes, with local 
 government, with matters which the National 
 Ministers regard as merely local or private, and 
 with others matters which may be delegated to 
 them by Parliament. Members of Provincial 
 Councils and Executives are to be ineligible for 
 Parliament. The head of the Provincial 
 Executive is to be called not a governor or lieu-
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 121 
 
 tenant governor, but an administrator; he is not 
 to be elected, as Lord Courtney proposed in 1877, 
 but nominated by the National Government ; and 
 he is to be assisted by an executive committee of 
 three, four, or five elected by the Provincial 
 Council, of which, however, they need not 
 necessarily be members, on the system of 
 proportional representation, so that if there are 
 parties in the Council they are to share the respon- 
 sibilities of administration, and party government 
 in provincial matters is not to be recognised by 
 the constitution. The financial relations of the 
 provinces are to be considered by a commission, 
 and are not, therefore, at present defined. But in 
 part at any rate the provincial estimates are to be 
 approved by the National Ministry, which will also 
 appoint the auditors of provincial accounts, and 
 even the allowances paid to members of the 
 Councils will be subject to the control of the 
 central government. 
 
 Altogether the national authorities are to be 
 invested with ample power, including the power of 
 taking more power, should they wish to do so, by 
 amending the Constitution Act. 
 
 There are, however, two important duties which 
 are assigned to the Provincial Councils. For at 
 least five years education other than University
 
 122 THE NEW NATION 
 
 education is to be controlled by the provincial 
 authorities, and the Provincial Councils are also 
 to have power to examine private Bills, and to 
 take evidence and report upon them, after which 
 Parliament may pass them without further 
 enquiry. In this respect the Provincial Councils 
 will act as committees of Parliament, and the fact 
 that they exist and can deal with local matters and 
 with private Bills will no doubt go far to relieve 
 the pressure of business in Parliament. 
 
 The relegating of education at the present time 
 to the Provincial Councils is not unlikely to be 
 criticised with effect, and it may seem strange 
 that a matter of so great importance should be left 
 to provincial authorities whose action in other 
 respects is so rigorously confined and controlled. 
 But this recommendation, due, no doubt, to the 
 difficulty of immediately adjusting the differences, 
 and especially the financial differences, between 
 the educational systems of the four colonies, at any 
 rate shows how easily the power and importance 
 of the Provincial Councils may be increased. It 
 must be remembered that at present there are not 
 more than 1,200,000 white people in the whole of 
 South Africa. This fact clearly lends weight to 
 the arguments of unificationists. But if the 
 population expands and its interests increase as
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 123 
 
 South Africans hope and expect, then it is likely 
 enough that in the future devolution may be 
 desirable. There is nothing in the constitution to 
 prevent it, if it should prove so. Thus on the 
 whole the Convention has clearly interpreted what 
 appears to be the real feeling of the people. In 
 the main to-day is a day for unification ; to-morrow 
 may be a day for federation. The draft constitu- 
 tion provides for to-day's needs, and leaves 
 to-morrow free to provide for its own. 
 
 Meanwhile the supreme power is to be in the 
 hands of the National Parliament. Its constitution 
 is clearly of the utmost importance in itself; in 
 addition to which it has to be remembered that 
 questions connected v/ith the franchise and the 
 distribution of seats have been foremost among 
 the subjects of dispute which have torn South 
 Africa in the past. There are three principles of 
 dealing with the question of distribution ; there 
 may be automatic distribution on the basis of 
 voters ; there may be automatic distribution on the 
 basis of population ; and there may be distribution 
 according to what is felt to be the comparative 
 importance of the several parts of the country. In 
 recent times it has been represented that the only 
 just system is the first of the three named, but this 
 is by no means self-evident. It has also been
 
 i2 4 THE NEW NATION 
 
 represented that in South Africa one particular 
 party stands to gain, and another to lose, by dis- 
 tribution on this principle, but this is not the fact. 
 It must be confessed that English statesmen have 
 usually advocated the third alternative, except for 
 South Africa, and have adduced many weighty 
 considerations to show why numbers should not be 
 the only point to be considered. 
 
 When the Cape constitution was given, this 
 view was insisted upon by successive Colonial 
 Secretaries, and there was no provision for 
 automatic redistribution in South Africa until the 
 grant of the constitutions to the new Colonies. 
 There are indeed weighty reasons against such a 
 system in South Africa. The whole population 
 being comparatively small, stability is threatened 
 by sudden and violent movements of population 
 in the mining centres, now up, now down, as in 
 the case of Kimberley, where in less than eight 
 years the population rose to something like 40,000, 
 and fell again to 6,000. In such a case fluctuation 
 is too rapid even for quinquennial censuses, and 
 the result of automatic distribution of seats would 
 be that the forty thousand would be unrepresented, 
 and by the time the considerable number of seats 
 proportionate to their numbers was given there 
 would only be the six thousand to vote for them.
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 125 
 
 Moreover, in a country where political problems 
 are difficult and peculiar, and where the towns are 
 always liable to be flooded by a sudden influx of 
 floating population having no intention of settling 
 in the country, neither the justice nor the wisdom 
 of numerical distribution is obvious. Above all, 
 when population is very sparse the people cannot 
 be kept in touch with the Government except by 
 arrangements which offend against the strict law 
 of numerical proportion. 
 
 But experience shows that no Parliament can be 
 trusted to do justice in this matter without a fixed 
 rule. In Cape Colony the large towns have consider- 
 ably fewer members than their numbers entitle 
 them to, and on the other hand places like 
 Grahams Town and Maf eking are largely over- 
 represented. In Natal the contrast is even more 
 marked, and whereas in Alfred County there is- 
 one member to every 195 voters, in Durban there 
 is only one to 1,500. Redistribution Bills are 
 extremely difficult to steer through the shoals of 
 prejudice and intrigue, and therefore on the whole 
 wisdom will perhaps pronounce, though in halting 
 accents, for automatic redistribution. 
 
 The next point to decide is whether the basis 
 of distribution is to be the number of the popula- 
 tion or of the voters. It is plain that in South
 
 126 THE NEW NATION 
 
 Africa population alone cannot be taken as the 
 basis, because of the large numbers of uneducated 
 and imperfectly civilised natives. Nor can the 
 number of voters alone be taken as a basis, 
 because there are differences between the franchise 
 laws of the different colonies. The question, so 
 far as South Africa as a whole is concerned, thus 
 narrows itself down to a choice between distribu- 
 tion on the basis of the European population and 
 distribution on the basis of the number of 
 European male adults. 
 
 To ignore the women and children altogether is 
 strange procedure, and it gives to an unsettled 
 population a weight which would never be assigned 
 to it if the question were one of abstract justice. 
 Indeed, experience shows that in South Africa, 
 owing to the migratory character of some sections 
 of the urban population, a considerably larger 
 proportion of the registered voters record their 
 votes in the country, where distances are great and 
 voting difficult, than in the towns, where distances 
 are small and voting easy, so that if every vote 
 given is to have the same value the number of 
 voters or of adult males cannot be taken as the 
 basis of distribution. But great importance has 
 been attached to the principle of distribution based 
 on the number of voters not only in South Africa,
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 127 
 
 t>ut also, curiously enough, in England, which is 
 far better suited for such a provision than South 
 Africa, but has hitherto resisted the application of 
 any such principles to herself. The Convention 
 has recommended the adoption of the number of 
 European male adults as the basis of distribution. 
 It is not easy to defend this decision on principle, 
 but it is hardly likely to produce bad effects in 
 practice, and it puts an end to a long and unprofit- 
 able controversy. 
 
 A somewhat serious departure from this 
 principle is made at the outset with the object of 
 placating the smaller colonies, and especially 
 Natal. According to the basis agreed upon Natal 
 should have 12 members; it has 17. The Orange 
 River Colony should have 14; it, too, has 17. 
 The Transvaal has 36 instead of 37, and the Cape 
 51 instead of 58. Considering that in the Senate 
 the direct representation of the Colonies is to be 
 equal, the decision to import provincial considera- 
 tions into the question of distribution for the 
 Legislative Assembly can only be defended by 
 reference to practical exigencies. 
 
 At first sight it may seem strange that South 
 Africa, which gives the provinces less power than 
 the states or provinces have in Canada or 
 Australia, should consider them more in distribut-
 
 128 THE NEW NATION 
 
 iner the seats in the National Parliament than either 
 of these countries do ; but reflection will show that 
 these two decisions explain each other. In order 
 to induce the smaller colonies to agree to 
 unification it has been necessary to give them a 
 number of representatives in both Houses of 
 Parliament disproportionate to their population. 
 It must be added that this is only for a time. 
 After every census each of the colonies will be 
 entitled to an extra member in the Legislative 
 Assembly for every increase in the number of its 
 European adult males equal to the quota formed 
 by dividing the number of European adult males 
 in the four colonies at the census of 1904 by the 
 number of members of the first Assembly. 
 In 1904 there were 349,837 European adult 
 males in the four colonies 167,546 in the Cape 
 Colony, 106,493 m the Transvaal, 41,014 in the 
 Orange River Colony, and 34,784 in Natal. The 
 number of members of Parliament is to be 121. 
 The quota is, therefore, 2,891, or 1.8 per cent, of 
 the European adult males in the Cape Colony in 
 1904, 2.7 per cent, for the Transvaal, 7.0 per cent, 
 for the Orange River Colony, and 8.3 per cent, for 
 Natal. When the total number of members has 
 been increased in this way to 150, it is to be fixed, 
 and the distribution between the colonies is to
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 129 
 
 follow the strict rule of proportion. On the whole 
 this arrangement appears to be an ingenious com- 
 promise, and deserves to be regarded with general 
 satisfaction. 
 
 So far we have only spoken of the number of 
 seats assigned to the different colonies. The 
 arrangement of the constituencies in the colonies is 
 to be according to the number of registered voters 
 in each constituency, deviation from the strict rule 
 being, however, permitted to the extent of 15 per 
 cent, either way where circumstances warrant it. 
 Thus in the Cape Colony there are 152,121 voters, 
 and there are to be 51 seats and approximately 17 
 constituencies. The average would be 8,948 
 voters to a constituency, but the constituencies 
 may include as many as 10,290 or as few as 7,606. 
 This arrangement follows principles already dis- 
 cussed, and will be accepted by those on both sides 
 who consider a peaceful settlement of an old and 
 rankling dispute more valuable than the principles 
 which they hold in regard to parcelling out 
 constituencies. 
 
 We have already mentioned that the franchise 
 laws in the different States vary. In the new 
 colonies there is manhood suffrage for Europeans, 
 while in the Cape Colony and Natal there are 
 property qualifications, and in the Cape an educa- 
 
 L
 
 130 THE NEW NATION 
 
 tional qualification. There are other divergences 
 of minor importance, but behind and beyond all 
 these there is the towering fact that in the Cape 
 natives and coloured men vote, whereas in the new 
 colonies they are excluded by law, and in Natal 
 partly by law and partly by administrative usage. 
 It would have been well if the Convention could 
 have devised a common franchise such as would 
 satisfy all reasonable requirements, but this was 
 not essential, and it is hardly astonishing that it 
 was not done. 
 
 Instead, the existing franchise laws are to be 
 maintained until Parliament otherwise decides. 
 Parliament is free to legislate on the subject, but 
 no Act disfranchising inhabitants of the Cape 
 Colony merely on account of their race or colour 
 can be carried unless it is passed by both Houses 
 of Parliament sitting together, and unless at the 
 third reading at least two-thirds of the total num- 
 ber of members agree to it, and no Act can remove 
 voters from the register merely on account of race 
 or colour ; nor can the former of these two 
 safeguards be removed except by the same 
 procedure which it prescribes for passing the Bills 
 to which it refers. 
 
 It is highly unlikely that any serious attempt 
 will be made for many years to re-open burning
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 131 
 
 franchise questions. To be sure, there are in 
 South Africa, as elsewhere, firebrands who natu- 
 rally delight in questions of this kind ; but it is to 
 be expected that the sober sense of the great mass 
 of the people will prevent any rash attempts to 
 disturb the compromise which has been arrived 
 at. If so, the various franchise systems will have 
 for the first time an opportunity of proving them- 
 selves under the scrutiny of the whole of South 
 Africa, and those who, like the present writer, 
 believe that what is essential in the Cape system 
 namely, the granting of the franchise to natives 
 and other coloured persons who are otherwise 
 properly qualified 1 to exercise it is not only just, 
 but also expedient, and believing this, believe also 
 in the justice and reasonableness of the European 
 population of South Africa, may well be content 
 to await the result in the patience which springs 
 from confidence. 
 
 The mode of election is to be the system of 
 proportional election with the single transferable 
 vote. This system is simpler than its name, but 
 its application to South Africa is one of the most 
 questionable provisions in the draft constitution. 
 Lord Courtney proposed proportional representa- 
 tion for the Senate in 1877, and a singularly simple 
 .,and effective system of proportional representation
 
 132 THE NEW NATION 
 
 has been used for many years at the Cape in elec- 
 tions for the Upper House. But it offers no great 
 advantage, and it entails at least one disadvantage, 
 which, if the system were applied in elections for 
 the popular House, would be most serious and 
 dangerous. 
 
 At the last general election for the Legislative 
 Council the minorities failed to return a representa- 
 tive in three of the seven electoral circles contested, 
 and three of the others were four-member consti- 
 tuencies in which the opposing parties were not 
 far from being equal. In each circle where the 
 minority is represented by means of the system of 
 proportional representation in the Upper House, 
 it is at least equally well represented by the 
 ordinary system in the Lower House; nor is it 
 possible to say that at the present time the system 
 of proportional representation makes any material 
 alteration in the personnel of Parliament. What 
 it does is to make the constituencies so large that 
 members can know but little of their constituents. 
 At present this is no great drawback, for the mem- 
 bers of the Lower House are in close touch with 
 the people. But under the proposed arrangement 
 this system applies to the only elective house. It 
 is true that an exception may be made " in special 
 cases of sparsely populated areas," but the fact
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 133 
 
 remains that the general rule is to be the 
 creation of constituencies with three or more 
 members. 
 
 At the Cape there are now 107 members of the 
 Legislative Assembly. The Cape is to send 51 
 elected members to the National Parliament. 
 This means, according to the present figures, that 
 outside the four large centres of population the 
 Cape Peninsula, Port Elizabeth, East London, 
 and Kimberley there will be only 34 members 
 and, unless the general rule is departed from, only 
 ten or eleven constituencies, instead of thirty-nine 
 as there are at present. These constituencies will 
 extend on an average over some 23,000 square 
 miles. In the Transvaal, outside the Rand and 
 Pretoria, the constituencies will extend over some 
 18,000 square miles apiece. 
 
 There is reason to fear that this arrangement 
 may tend to confine membership of Parliament to 
 rich men and, what is much worse, the agents of 
 rich men and richer corporations. But there is a 
 still weightier reason for apprehension. Nothing 
 could be more disastrous for South Africa than a 
 divorce between the people and the Parliament. 
 Yet it would seem clear that members cannot 
 maintain the personal relations with their consti- 
 tuents which are requisite in a country like South
 
 134 THE NEW NATION 
 
 Africa if they have to represent areas so vast as 
 those now contemplated. No doubt the proposed 
 system of proportional representation offers many 
 advantages in thickly populated countries and 
 districts ; nor is there any great objection to it in 
 elections for second chambers anywhere. But no- 
 popular demand for it has hitherto been heard in 
 South Africa ; the present circumstances of the 
 country seem singularly unfavourable to its work- 
 ing, except, possibly, in a few large towns ; the 
 present moment exceptionally inopportune for its 
 introduction. 
 
 All this must induce cautious men to pause and 
 consider whether it is possible to make this change 
 at the same time as the Cape Upper House 
 (hitherto directly elected by the people) ceases to 
 exist, and the Lower Houses all over South Africa 
 are replaced by a single Assembly, to which the 
 different Colonies are to send less than half the 
 number of members they send to their Legislative 
 Assemblies at present, without seriously weaken- 
 ing the ties between the people and the Legis- 
 lature, and thereby bringing about consequences 
 not the less grave because their operation may be 
 too subtle to be quickly detected and assigned to 
 their proper cause. 
 
 The method proposed for constituting the
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 135 
 
 Senate is not less ingenious, and is far more satis- 
 factory. Carnarvon's original Bill provided that 
 the Upper House should be nominated, as in 
 Canada. Sir Henry Barkly cautiously expressed 
 a preference for an elected Upper House, and 
 mentioned that the Cape favoured nomination by 
 the Provincial Councils, as in the United States. 
 In the Act of 1877 this question was left open. 
 Since then the Canadian system has been emphati- 
 cally condemned by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and at 
 the present time an attempt to reform it is being 
 made. The old Cape policy has been adopted in 
 the main by the National Convention. Each of the 
 four Colonial Parliaments is to nominate eight 
 members to the first Senate, which is to last for ten 
 years, and afterwards the Provincial Councils are 
 to elect. The system of proportional representa- 
 tion is to be followed. The National Cabinet will 
 nominate eight more senators, four of whom are 
 to have special acquaintance with the reasonable 
 wishes of the coloured races. The usefulness of 
 an Upper House is not now as clear as it once was, 
 nor is it easy to say what its objects ought to be, 
 and therefore how it should be constituted. Shorn 
 of effective financial power, Upper Houses some- 
 times become effete, and it is possible that this fate 
 may overtake the Senate of South Africa.
 
 i 3 6 THE NEW NATION 
 
 But for the present it has two plain duties. It 
 is to protect the interests of the provinces and of 
 the natives. For these purposes its composition 
 should make it eminently fit, and here again the 
 Convention appears to have arrived at a thoroughly 
 satisfactory settlement. 
 
 Members of either House of Parliament are to 
 be paid ^300 a year, of which they will forfeit 2 
 for every day they fail to attend. There is a small 
 property qualification for Senators. Otherwise, 
 the only specially remarkable provision about 
 members of Parliament is that only Europeans 
 are to be qualified to act as members. For over 
 fifty years natives have been free to sit in the Cape 
 Parliament if elected. Not one has taken advan- 
 tage of this provision. It would, therefore, appear 
 that there is no practical reason for either support- 
 ing or opposing the recommendation of the 
 Convention in this particular. 
 
 The relations between the two Houses are care- 
 fully defined in the draft constitution. The Senate 
 is narrowly limited in its treatment of financial 
 bills, the unwritten law of the British Constitution 
 being incorporated in the written constitution of 
 South Africa. If the Senate comes into conflict 
 with the Lower House by rejecting a money bill, 
 or by rejecting any other bill in two sessions, or by
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 137 
 
 insisting on unacceptable amendments, there may 
 be a joint sitting of the Houses, at which the point 
 at issue will be decided by the majority of members 
 of the two Houses combined. This promising 
 provision is on the lines of one inserted in the 
 constitution of the Transvaal and Orange River 
 Colony ; its place of origin is the Australian Com- 
 monwealth Constitution. 
 
 The executive power is to be in the hands of a 
 ministry formed on the English plan. As at the 
 Cape at present, Ministers are to be allowed to sit 
 and speak, though not to vote, in either House of 
 Parliament. They must be members of one 
 House or the other a rule which is generally 
 recognised in the self-governing countries of the 
 British Empire, but was broken in the case of Mr. 
 Gladstone when he was Colonial Secretary. The 
 authors of the Australian Commonwealth Constitu- 
 tion were the first to embody it in a legislative 
 enactment. 
 
 The financial clauses of the constitution make 
 over all the assets and liabilities of the four Colo- 
 nies to the national authority ; establish a board 
 of commissioners to control the railways, under 
 the general directions of a Minister ; provide that 
 the management of the railways is to be on busi- 
 ness lines, due regard being had to the importance
 
 138 THE NEW NATION 
 
 of agricultural and industrial development through- 
 out the country ; divert part of the Rand traffic 
 from Delagoa Bay to Natal and the Cape ports; 
 make the expense of school education, which is to 
 be managed by the provincial authorities, a charge 
 on the National Exchequer, the estimates of 
 expenditure being consequently submitted to the 
 National Ministry for approval ; and create the 
 offices of an Auditor-General for the nation and 
 Auditors for each of the provinces, all appointed 
 by the central government. The provinces are to 
 raise their revenues by direct taxation within the 
 province concerned, and a Commission is to inves- 
 tigate their financial position. 
 
 It is very unlikely that any serious opposition 
 will be offered to these proposals. South Africans 
 who are interested in finance are not unacquainted 
 with the history of the financial relations between 
 the States and the nation in Canada, Australia, 
 and the United States, and dread federation. They 
 will therefore welcome the uncompromising uni- 
 fication of the finances. 
 
 The decision of the Convention about the Courts 
 of Law will surprise no one. Matters are to be 
 let alone as far as possible, but there is to be a 
 Supreme Court of South Africa, of which the exist- 
 ing Supreme Courts will be divisions. There is
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 139 
 
 to be an appellate division, to which all appeals 
 in South African cases will go, and from which 
 there will be no appeal to the Privy Council unless 
 the Privy Council grants special leave. Parlia- 
 ment may make laws limiting the matters in regard 
 to which such leave may be asked and given, but 
 such laws will be reserved and not brought into 
 operation until they have received the express 
 assent of the Imperial Government. This arrange- 
 ment is in the main on the lines of the proposal 
 agreed to at the Colonial Conference in 1907. 
 
 One other effect of the new constitution con- 
 cerning the Courts of Law may be mentioned. 
 Advocates and Attorneys now qualified to prac- 
 tise before the Supreme Court in any of the 
 Colonies will in future be free to practise before 
 the Appellate Division of the new Supreme Court, 
 and before the Division formed out of the Colonial 
 Supreme Court before which they are entitled to 
 practise at the present time. But this will not 
 give them the right to practise before other Divi- 
 sions. In fact, the differences which separate the 
 legal profession in the different Colonies will for 
 the present continue. No doubt they will be 
 removed in due course. 
 
 A Commission is to be appointed to make 
 recommendations for the organisation of the Civil
 
 i 4 o THE NEW NATION 
 
 Service, and the general control of the service will 
 be assigned to a permanent Public Service Com- 
 mission. The rules of the Civil Service differ in 
 the different Colonies, and considerable skill will 
 be needed to adjust diverging or conflicting ten- 
 dencies. It is, of course, impossible to anticipate 
 the recommendations of the Commission and the 
 decisions of the Government; but it is already 
 clear that everything is to be done which can be 
 done to fence the Civil Service round with 
 barriers calculated to be proof against sinister 
 influences. 
 
 The question of the capital has roused strong 
 feelings, and excited very general interest. 
 Durban is a singularly well-ordered town ; Bloem- 
 fontein is central ; Pretoria is the capital of the one 
 Colony with a financial surplus ; Cape Town is 
 the parent city, more settled, more beautiful and 
 better suited to be a residential centre than any 
 of her daughters. The cost of living is far less in 
 Cape Town than in the interior, so that there are 
 strong financial reasons for making it the 
 capital. But Cape Town is in a corner, 
 far removed from the mines and more difficult of 
 access from Natal, from the inland States, and 
 even from large parts of Cape Colony herself, than 
 any of her rivals. The two strongest States in
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 141 
 
 South Africa are the Cape Colony, which is large, 
 populous and rich in permanent resources, and 
 the Transvaal, whose Treasurer is in the enjoy- 
 ment of great affluence derived from the gold 
 mines. It was therefore natural that the main 
 contention should be between Cape Town and 
 Pretoria. 
 
 The compromise which makes Pretoria the 
 administrative and Cape Town the legislative 
 capital, and awards financial compensation to 
 Bloemfontein and Maritzburg seems a not unsatis- 
 factory solution of the difficulties resulting from 
 rivalry between the different states. It must 
 entail large expenditure, the duplication of many 
 public and private establishments maintained, 
 directly or indirectly, out of the public Treasury, 
 difficulties of administration not making for 
 efficiency, and so forth. But it offers the important 
 advantage of bringing different parts of the 
 country into close contact with the Government; 
 the administrative difficulties which it creates 
 appear not to be insurmountable, judging by the 
 experiences of India and Ireland, and must tend 
 to diminish as methods of communication improve, 
 and on the whole there appears to be good reason 
 to hope that the proposed arrangement may not 
 only prove suitable to the present circumstances
 
 142 THE NEW NATION 
 
 of South Africa, but become increasingly satisfac- 
 tory as time goes on, and amply justify the 
 considerable expenditure which it must entail. 
 
 Many titles have been proposed for the new 
 state. Thirty years ago it was to be a dominion ; 
 .afterwards a commonwealth. Some have 
 suggested the use of the much abused, and there- 
 fore uninspiring, word union. Others again would 
 have borrowed the ominous phrase, the United 
 States. The Convention proposes the simple 
 title, South Africa. It would be much easier to 
 lengthen this than to improve it. 
 
 The draft constitution provides for the ultimate 
 inclusion of states not embraced in the original 
 union, and also for the transference to the union 
 of the government of native territories now under 
 the protectorate of the Crown. The terms in the 
 one case are to be arranged when the movement 
 of incorporation approaches ; in the other they are 
 contained in the schedule dealing with the protect- 
 orates. This provides that the Government is to be 
 carried on after the transfer on the same lines as 
 before : there is to be a resident commissioner ; 
 native councils, where they exist, are to continue ; 
 the revenue derived from each protectorate is to 
 be spent upon it; and the same proportion of the 
 .customs revenue of South Africa is to be paid to
 
 143 
 
 the treasuries of the protectorates as belongs to 
 them at the present time. The control of the pro- 
 tectorates is to be in the hands of the Prime 
 Minister, assisted by a council of not less than 
 three permanent commissioners. The Govern- 
 ment can legislate for the protectorates, when 
 transferred, by proclamation, but all laws thus 
 passed are liable to be vetoed by the Imperial 
 Government. In the same way all laws amending 
 the schedule referring to the protectorates will be 
 reserved, and will not be brought into operation 
 without the consent of Downing Street. The 
 schedule also prohibits Europeans from acquiring 
 land in the native reserves, and from selling him 
 strong drink. It is not easy to find a theoretical 
 justification for the fixing of the proportion of the 
 customs revenue of South Africa payable to the 
 protectorates. 
 
 It is clear that circumstances may change ; the 
 protectorates may develop either more or less 
 rapidly than the rest of South Africa, and one may 
 advance faster than another. But it is also clear 
 that some rule must be adopted, and it would be 
 difficult to find one which would satisfy a demand 
 for precision. Until a more scientific plan is pro- 
 posed the Convention's proposal holds the field, 
 and owing to the provision for amendment
 
 144 THE NEW NATION 
 
 there is no reason to fear that it will not deal out 
 substantial justice. Altogether the provisions in 
 regard to the protectorates are all that the 
 most ardent protector of the natives could 
 desire. 
 
 Such are the main provisions of the draft con- 
 stitution. It is proposed that it should be passed 
 as an Act of the Imperial Parliament, as soon as 
 possible after it has been consented to by South 
 Africa. In 1877 the Irish members and others, 
 including Lord Courtney, urged that the constitu- 
 encies in South Africa should be consulted before 
 union was actually effected. In Natal pledges 
 have been given that the question of union is to be 
 referred to the people for decision. If the people 
 are directly consulted at all, a referendum would 
 seem to be the best course. A general election 
 might dangerously obscure the issue, and it would 
 cause unnecessary disturbance and expense. A 
 referendum would have the advantage of silencing 
 separatist agitation in the future, should such 
 agitation spring up after the inevitable discovery 
 that union brings with it some practical incon- 
 veniences as well as advantages less apparent to 
 the impatient eye. But even a referendum may 
 fail to represent the feeling of the people. 
 
 In Australia, when the constitution was referred
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 145 
 
 to the people direct in 1898, the number of those 
 who voted was less than half the number on the 
 registers and less than the number of those who 
 had voted at the recent general election. Electors 
 who are dissatisfied naturally vote. Those who 
 are not are naturally tempted to abstain. The 
 merits of the referendum are not, therefore, 
 unlimited, and the desirability of employing it 
 must depend to a great extent on the feeling of the 
 people. The sentiment expressed by a member 
 of the Cape Parliament who declared that he was 
 ready to vote for whatever form of union the 
 National Convention recommended is widely pre- 
 valent in South Africa, and such opposition as 
 there is to the scheme as a whole appears to be 
 rather thin and theoretical. 
 
 It must also be remembered that the Parlia- 
 ments have all been elected since the question of 
 closer union entered the sphere of practical politics. 
 On the whole, therefore, the submission of the 
 question to the direct judgment of the electors 
 seems unnecessary, but may be prudent, should 
 any serious opposition manifest itself. 
 
 There seems no reason to apprehend that great 
 objection will be made to the scheme in the United 
 Kingdom. Suggestions have been made in South 
 Africa that the constitution should be given by 
 
 M
 
 146 THE NEW NATION 
 
 Order in Council rather than by Act of Parliament. 
 It is now thirty-eight years since Lord Kimberley, 
 as Colonial Secretary, declared in favour of an 
 Act, and this has been the view of the Colonial 
 Office ever since. Probably the changes pro- 
 posed could not legally be made in any other way, 
 and the alternative seems to be both unattractive 
 and dangerous. However, since this point is now 
 agreed upon it is not necessary to discuss it 
 further. 
 
 South Africa requires a constitution which will 
 be effective and economical, and which will create 
 national institutions corresponding to the genius 
 of the people', and moving the people not to awe 
 but to co-operation. The constitution proposed 
 by the Convention certainly seems likely to be 
 efficient. The central power which it sets up will 
 not go upon crutches ; it is rather likely to prove 
 a powerful engine of government by which a de- 
 termined minister and a strong Parliament may 
 enforce their will. And though the new constitu- 
 tion is openly expensive, and will certainly not in 
 the first instance cheapen the machinery of 
 Government, yet the completeness of the control 
 which it gives to ministers is not unlikely to check 
 the more serious evils of secret waste that wait on 
 constitutions which weaken control by dividing
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 147 
 
 sovereignty between different parliaments, or water 
 down the responsibility of ministers to the 
 legislature. 
 
 The importance of enlisting the sympathy and 
 interest of the people can hardly be exaggerated. 
 It is this that makes wise men everywhere 
 advocates of local government, and in South 
 Africa this principle is especially important, 
 because many of the people are separated from 
 the seat of government by great distances, and 
 because to half the white population institutions 
 indifferent to them might present the appearance 
 of alien domination. 
 
 The history of South Africa is full of warnings 
 on this point. Without the active assent of the 
 people the best laws are of little value. For 
 instance, the system of public education devised by 
 Sir John Herschel for the Cape broke down solely 
 in consequence of its advocate's failure to attract 
 the co-operation of the people. In this connection 
 the clause in the constitution enacting that the 
 English and Dutch languages are to be equal is of 
 vital importance, and it is eminently satisfactory 
 that such a clause should have been agreed to. 
 On the other hand the method of electing members 
 to the Legislative Assembly must appear hazard- 
 ous to those who admit the importance of keeping
 
 i 4 8 THE NEW NATION 
 
 the people in touch with the legislature, and the 
 treatment of education is also unfortunate, for 
 little satisfaction can be derived from an arrange- 
 ment which makes a violent separation between 
 school and higher education, giving the control of 
 the latter to Parliament, and handing over the 
 former to provincial councils and executives hardly 
 constituted in such a way as to be likely to manage 
 with efficiency a national concern which comes so 
 near home to the hearts of the people. This, 
 however, may be rectified. 
 
 The whole constitution bears the stamp of 
 compromise, but the compromise effected is akin 
 to the highest statesmanship, for by concessions 
 not likely to be felt permanently it purchases 
 freedom for the eventual assertion of sound 
 principle. Thus nationalism yields something to 
 provincialism at the moment of union without seri- 
 ous prejudice to the future. In the same way the 
 overshadowing native question is left over, but 
 wisdom is given free scope to prove herself and 
 plead her own cause. Without moderation and 
 discretion in the working no good can come of any 
 constitution. But these qualities are conspicuous 
 among South Africans, and they have never been 
 more conspicuous than they have been in the work 
 of the Convention. If they are as conspicuous in
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF UNION 149 
 
 those who will work the national institutions as 
 they have been in those who have constructed 
 them, the new constitution should serve eminently 
 well as the instrument by which South African 
 statesmen may deal successfully with their 
 country's problems as they become ripe for 
 solution. 
 
 Among the earliest of these problems will be the 
 completion of the work of consolidation in regard 
 to certain matters most wisely left over by the 
 Convention. A vast work remains to be done in 
 the way of codifying the law of a United South 
 Africa, establishing a common system of defence, 
 bringing the taxation acts into accord, making the 
 mining law homogeneous, laying down uniform 
 principles for the control of the liquor traffic, of 
 immigration, and naturalisation, of trade and of 
 labour, devising adequate machinery for the joint 
 working of the railways and the posts and 
 telegraphs, and creating a National Public Service. 
 In all these matters the necessity of consolidation 
 and of controlling divergent systems pending the 
 completion of this task will tax the legislative and 
 administrative capacities of South African states- 
 men to the utmost. But the work of the 
 Convention enables them to set out on this great 
 enterprise with the happiest auguries, and in a
 
 THE NEW NATION 
 
 peaceful atmosphere well suited to long sustained 
 effort devoted to the practical work of government
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 
 
 IT is not easy for a country to be well governed 
 without a good constitution. But it is impossible 
 for a country to be well governed without sound 
 finance. 
 
 Good government means that all the energies 
 of the people are set free and stimulated to exer- 
 cise themselves in profitable work; but this is 
 impossible if the resources of the country are 
 wasted on administrative superfluities or unneces- 
 sarily costly methods of collecting taxes, or if 
 sectional interests are permitted to direct financial 
 policy so as to create or maintain among various 
 classes of the people habits of luxury and 
 self-indulgence which it is not to the advantage 
 of the nation to support. On the other hand there 
 can be no greater blessing than a patriotic policy
 
 152 THE NEW NATION 
 
 which pursues with sleepless vigilance and resolu- 
 tion the unswerving purpose of reducing 
 administrative expenditure to the lowest point 
 compatible with efficiency, and keeping it there, 
 securing that the amount which taxation costs the 
 people shall be as close as possible to the amount 
 which it yields to the treasury, and using the 
 engines of finance to bleed or break down every 
 excrescence which sucks up into itself national 
 vigour better employed in other ways, and squan- 
 ders it on the maintenance of foolish or unfruitful 
 exuberance. 
 
 Unfortunately the path of sound finance is 
 exceptionally arduous, because every suggestion of 
 bad finance presents to some section of the people 
 the prospect of immediate advantage, while the 
 disadvantages consequent upon it appear remote 
 and nebulous, so that there is nothing to set against 
 the glittering fascinations of public prodigality 
 except the austere verdict of patriotism. But for 
 these reasons finance is the surest test and touch- 
 stone of a nation's loyalty to itself. 
 
 In South Africa sound finance is especially 
 important, and especially difficult. It is especially 
 important because the country is not only poor, 
 and therefore unable to afford extravagance, but 
 largely dependent for such wealth as it has on
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 153 
 
 resources more or less precarious, so that if it lives 
 beyond its means now it is preparing a cataclysm 
 for the future when its temporary resources begin 
 to fail. For the same reason sound finance is 
 especially difficult in South Africa, because 
 caution in the management of South African 
 national finance is not caution unless it is such as 
 to appear unnecessarily cautious to those who fail 
 to allow for the transitory character of much of the 
 country's present wealth. 
 
 Sound finance is also impeded in South Africa, 
 perhaps more than elsewhere, by men whose only 
 care is their personal prosperity, and who 
 endeavour to secure the fullest opportunity for 
 carrying out their purpose in life without regard to 
 the interests of the future. Considering all this, 
 and remembering that without severely sound 
 finance the means of carrying out the projects of 
 enlightened policy in other matters are frittered 
 away so that they are not forthcoming when 
 needed, we must regard finance as the first, if not 
 the greatest, concern of the National Government 
 of South Africa. 
 
 Early in 1906 Mr. Abraham Fischer, the present 
 Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony, said 
 that the financial position throughout South Africa 
 was alarming. It is not less so now than it was
 
 154 THE NEW NATION 
 
 then. There have been large recurrent deficits 
 for several years in the Cape Colony and Natal. 
 It is true that the Orange River Colony has 
 hitherto paid its way, and that the Transvaal 
 exchequer is flourishing. But in 1907-8 the Cape 
 deficit was ,974,000, and the Natal deficit 
 ,179,000, while the Transvaal surplus, that is the 
 excess of revenue over ordinary and extraordinary 
 expenditure, was .391,000, and the Orange River 
 Colony surplus ,2,000. Therefore, taking the four 
 colonies together, there was a deficit of ,760,000 
 on the year's working, or more than 3f per cent, 
 of the total revenue. The estimates of the Cape, 
 Natal, and Orange River Colony Treasurers for 
 the year 1908-9 are being left far above high 
 water mark by the actual revenue, and though the 
 Transvaal is prospering it is becoming plain that 
 when the accounts for the year 1908-9 are closed 
 there will be a deficit for the four colonies together, 
 no't so serious as that for the preceding year, but 
 still uncomfortably large. Moreover the constitu- 
 tion puts a stop to railway surpluses, and 
 without such surpluses the Transvaal would be 
 as far from financial equilibrium as the rest 
 of South Africa. Southern Rhodesia has 
 at last emerged into a period of surpluses. It will 
 be strange if South Africa, to give the future union
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 155 
 
 its official designation, is unable to pay its way, 
 while Southern Rhodesia has an excess of revenue 
 over expenditure. 
 
 It is, of course, impossible to form a sound 
 judgment on the financial position of a country 
 without considering its economic position. 
 Unhappily there is much in the economics of 
 South Africa to darken still more the already 
 sufficiently dark picture of its finance. At the end 
 of 1907 the Surveyor General of the Orange River 
 Colony drew attention to the precarious nature of 
 revenue derived from the mines, and urged that it 
 should not be regarded as ordinary revenue. 
 The recent history of the diamond market has 
 amply justified this warning. During the session 
 of 1907 directors of the great De Beers Company 
 who sat in the Cape House of Assembly assured 
 Parliament that the Kimberley mines would be 
 working at full blast a century later. During the 
 ensuing year the market suddenly collapsed, and 
 the industry was forced to curtail its work and 
 dispense with crowds of its workmen. So 
 uncertain and so treacherous is the hope of revenue 
 derived from diamond mines. 
 
 As for the gold mines, they supply a steady and 
 steadily expanding market, and there seems no 
 reason to fear that the demand for bullion will
 
 156 THE NEW NATION 
 
 shrink. Yet in the five years following the war 
 there was a depreciation in the market value of the 
 shares of 102 Transvaal gold-mining Com- 
 panies amounting, according to an authoritative 
 computation, to ,73,000,000. Such facts are 
 surely ominous. Nor is this all. The gold- 
 mining industry is rapidly growing, but 
 it is only able to grow because working costs are 
 being reduced, and though this is in itself satis- 
 factory, it means that the net gain to the country 
 is not so large as might appear. Thus in the year 
 1908 as compared with the preceding year the gold 
 output increased by ,2,554,000. During the 
 same year the working costs were reduced from 
 255. 2d. to 175. lod. per ton. In dividends alone 
 there was an increase of ,1,653,000, leaving only 
 ,900,000 to account for increase in profits other 
 than dividends, and for additional expenditure on 
 stores (mostly imported) and on salaries and 
 wages. Indeed, according to the General 
 Secretary of the Transvaal Miners' Association, 
 the amount paid in wages to white men was very 
 much less than in 1907, though the number of men 
 was larger. 
 
 Of course nothing but praise is due to the 
 leaders of the mining industry for managing their 
 business with scrupulous economy, but an industry
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 157 
 
 which is reducing its wages account is not one 
 which a Treasurer who cares for the future of the 
 country can safely or prudently rely upon. For 
 the time being a profits tax may be productive in 
 such a case, but the general community gains little 
 from the increased prosperity of share-holders, 
 nearly all of whom live in other parts of the world, 
 nor does this in any way tend to create more 
 lasting industries to keep the exchequer supplied 
 when the profits tax ceases to yield revenue. 
 Fortunately South Africa has other resources 
 besides gold and diamond mining, but these 
 develop slowly, and will not for generations be 
 strong enough to support the fabric of public and 
 private expenditure erected on a foundation of 
 hope derived from the mines, and there can be no 
 doubt that the mining industry, great as it is, and 
 great as its prospects are, must nevertheless be 
 regarded as a temporary asset which even while it 
 lasts cannot be expected to do for South Africa 
 all that a more settled industry may do for the 
 country in which it is located. 
 
 We have seen that South Africa, as a whole, is 
 working on a deficit, and the considerations which 
 we have now examined must surely convince the 
 most careless that the country needs a surplus 
 sufficient to enable it to devote a large proportion
 
 158 THE NEW NATION 
 
 of the mining revenue to the redemption of debt, 
 at any rate until its liabilities have been reduced 
 to dimensions commensurable with its prospects, 
 exclusive of the prospect of revenue derived from 
 gold and diamond mines. 
 
 The new constitution will not immediately 
 improve the financial position. There have been 
 cases of consolidation which have resulted in large 
 economies in the cost of government. The 
 federation of the Windward Islands, for instance, 
 made considerable retrenchments possible. But 
 South Africa is not so easy to deal with in this way. 
 Carnarvon's scheme was pronounced mischiev- 
 ously costly in 1877, and now there is little reason 
 for believing that the scheme propounded by the 
 National Convention will do anything to cheapen 
 administration. Not only is the arrange- 
 ment about the divided capital likely to 
 entail the duplication of much expenditure, 
 but subsidies are to be paid to Bloem- 
 fontein and Maritzburg to compensate them 
 for any loss which they may sustain owing to the 
 partial concentration of government in Pretoria 
 and Cape Town, and the payment of subsidies 
 even to those two more fortunate cities is adum- 
 brated in the draft constitution of the union. 
 Nor is there any direct provision for economies
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 159 
 
 at all likely to outweigh these additional expenses. 
 The hope that the constitution will bring about a 
 great reduction in the expense of administration 
 has therefore proved deceptive. 
 
 On the other hand the union promises the 
 country financial benefits of a different and more 
 important kind. The sweeping away of inter- 
 colonial barriers and the substitution of uniformity 
 for bewildering and harassing multiplicity means 
 that industry and commerce will in future be far 
 better able to breathe and expand, and while it is 
 true that the new Parliament would be very 
 ill-advised in despising the work of curtailing 
 administrative expenditure, it is also true that the 
 more important part of the task of national finance 
 will be to secure the fullest advantages from the 
 opportunity offered to industry by union, and to 
 remove all the barriers to development which have 
 been built up by mistaken financial policy in the 
 past. The financial advantages offered by the 
 draft constitution are rather positive than negative. 
 It does not reduce administrative expenditure, 
 but it creates a strong central authority which will 
 be able to check extravagance ; by the diversion of 
 trade from Delagoa Bay it directly augments the 
 revenue of South Africa, and by the emancipation 
 of industry it clears the way for the opening up of
 
 160 THE NEW NATION 
 
 new sources of prosperity and of revenue. It 
 remains for Parliament to seize upon these 
 advantages and show that it knows how to make 
 use of them. 
 
 The proper control of expenditure will be no 
 slight task. There is a prospective deficit already, 
 before the constitution has been adopted, and this 
 prospect is enhanced by the fact that many 
 temptations to fresh expenditure are already pre- 
 senting themselves. Most of them are old and 
 familiar enemies of prudence. As far back as 
 1862 the House of Commons passed a resolution 
 declaring that the House " while fully recognising 
 the claims of all portions of the British Empire to 
 Imperial aid in their protection against perils 
 arising from the consequences of Imperial policy, 
 is of opinion that colonies exercising the rights of 
 self-government ought to undertake the main 
 responsibility of providing for their own internal 
 order and security, and ought to assist in their 
 external defence." 
 
 An Imperial garrison is still maintained in South 
 Africa, costing nearly ,2,000,000 a year, but this 
 is not for South African purposes, though most 
 South Africans are glad to have the troops among 
 them. A very simple system of defence is 
 sufficient to secure order in South Africa. It
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 161 
 
 would hardly be extravagant to say that, except for 
 its coast, South Africa is sufficiently defended by 
 the history of the Anglo- Boer war. However this 
 may be, it has been repeatedly proved twice quite 
 recently on the borders of German South West 
 Africa that a handful of resolute men well armed, 
 well mounted, well acquainted with the country, 
 and accustomed to take the initiative are more 
 effective in South Africa than thousands of much 
 better drilled regulars, and if the great mass of the 
 men of the country are ready at the call of 
 necessity to swell the handful into a commando, 
 and the commando into an army, the defence of 
 South Africa is secure against any other army in 
 the world. 
 
 Such a scheme of defence, providing for a small 
 mobile police force, and holding in reserve the 
 entire manhood of the nation, trained to ride and 
 shoot and think beyond the immediate horizon, 
 would have been the delight of statesmen such as 
 Pitt and Wellington, and Palmerston and Disraeli, 
 who never hesitated to assert their country's will 
 abroad, but insisted that economy in times of peace 
 is the condition of strength in time of war. But 
 it offers no attractions to the eye of the statistician 
 or the enthusiast, and so it comes about that we 
 already hear of schemes for training 250,0x30 South 
 
 N
 
 162 THE NEW NATION 
 
 Africans as soldiers, and providing South Africa 
 with a formidable force for which it has no use or 
 desire, and the creation and maintenance of which 
 will seriously embarrass its treasury, stiffen its 
 taxes, and consequently stunt the growth of the 
 population, on which far more than on any 
 organisation the real military strength of the nation 
 depends. It is to be hoped that the new Parlia- 
 ment will not be beguiled by the glamour of 
 militarism into debilitating the nation by 
 circumstantial preparations against non-existent 
 enemies. 
 
 It is not difficult to perceive other avenues 
 inviting to perilous extravagance. In the Trans- 
 vaal there is free education already, and it will be 
 difficult either to go back upon this or to limit it 
 to the Transvaal. But the cost of extending it to 
 the rest of the country may be gauged by the fact 
 that in the Cape Colony alone the school fees 
 actually paid amount to over ,170,000 a year. 
 Compulsory education, too, has long been kept 
 back for financial reasons, despite urgent demands, 
 especially from the country districts, and much 
 remains to be done to bring education within the 
 reach of all the European children. Native 
 education also calls for further expenditure 
 throughout South Africa.
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 163 
 
 Altogether it would be very easy for South 
 Africa to increase its education estimates by 
 ^"300,000 a year. Further large sums are needed 
 for building and improving roads and bridges, for 
 deep boring, for erecting and equipping hospitals, 
 for agricultural research, and not least for collect- 
 ing and publishing adequate statistics. All these 
 things are in themselves good, but if the country 
 is to have them, and also to pay its way as it 
 should, it must make up an annual sum not 
 unlikely to exceed ; 1,000,000, either by increased 
 taxation, or by a reduction of administrative 
 expenditure, or by a judicious combination of the 
 two. 
 
 But there are plans of raiding the Treasury for 
 very different purposes, which possess dangerously 
 seductive powers. There is a vast Civil Service 
 for easy politicians to befriend at the expense of 
 the state. There are pension funds to neglect 
 until enormous deficits have been incurred as an 
 inheritance for future Treasurers. High officials 
 may be tempted to measure their consequence by 
 the scale of their expenditure, and will certainly 
 evince undiminished zeal for maintaining the 
 dignity of their positions when it has been 
 enhanced by the change from colonial to national 
 status. Indeed there is a danger that all South
 
 164 THE NEW NATION 
 
 Africa may be dazzled by the sudden transfigura- 
 tion which substitutes for the modest incomes of 
 the different colonies the imposing total of the 
 national revenue. 
 
 The future happiness of the country will depend 
 to a great extent on the strength and resolution of 
 its first Treasurer, and of the finance committees 
 of its first Parliament, for considering the resources 
 and the requirements of the country it is certain 
 that it will not be able to provide itself with 
 necessaries if it allows extravagance at the outset. 
 Only by the most diligent and ruthless economy 
 supplementing a determined and enlightened 
 policy in regard to taxation, can it keep its debt 
 within the bounds dictated by prudence, and 
 supply itself with the means of development which 
 it requires. And therefore every claim made upon 
 the Treasury for improper expenditure, and every 
 murmur against reasonable taxation must be met 
 by the uncompromising demonstration that such 
 claimants and murmurers can only be satisfied by 
 stopping at some point or other the healthy growth 
 of the South African nation. Fortunately South 
 Africa is rich in the asset of the traditional sim- 
 plicity of its people's manners, and if leading men 
 appeal to this sound tradition the people will no 
 doubt respond by a prolonged self-restraint which
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 165 
 
 -will make possible the satisfactory management of 
 national expenditure. 
 
 The problems of taxation will not be less difficult 
 to solve in a manner corresponding to the ideals 
 and principles which govern sound financial policy. 
 There is a strong, though local, agitation against 
 the excise on brandy in the Cape Colony, and for 
 many years there has been a movement in the 
 Transvaal for lightening the taxes which make 
 living expensive, and for generally readjusting the 
 incidence of taxation. Considering this, and con- 
 sidering that further taxation will be necessary in 
 order to establish a surplus, provide for the 
 amortization of the debt, and supply the country 
 with the aids to development which it requires, it 
 is obvious that matters cannot long be left as they 
 are. Admitting that parsimony is the best of 
 taxes, we are forced to allow that it will have to be 
 supplemented. 
 
 The financial history of South Africa, extremely 
 curious and extremely illuminating, is too little 
 known. It is vaguely recognised that a large part 
 of the public revenue is derived from the customs, 
 and that direct taxation is generally regarded in 
 South Africa as something of a novelty. But 
 these things cannot be understood without 
 reference to one or two facts of history. The
 
 166 THE NEW NATION 
 
 first is that there has never been an opportunity of 
 subjecting the customs tariff to effective criticism 
 in the Cape Parliament, where alone it might have 
 been thoroughly overhauled. 
 
 Until the discovery of diamonds direct taxation, 
 as now understood, was impossible, for communi- 
 cations were difficult and slow, and such wealth as 
 there was was very widely diffused. After the 
 discovery of diamonds, responsible government 
 was granted, and the responsible ministers were 
 preoccupied first with great schemes of railway 
 construction and public works, and then with the 
 agitations and wars which followed Carnarvon's 
 accession to office. From 1880 to 1889 the 
 country was struggling with financial difficulties, 
 and since then the customs tariff of the Cape and 
 the Free State has been fixed by negotiation and 
 not by Parliament. Secondly, it must be remem- 
 bered' that, though recourse has been had more 
 than once to direct taxation, nothing like the 
 modern income tax has been applied to South 
 Africa until quite recent times. The galling 
 inconveniences of the old-fashioned direct taxes 
 naturally produced discontent, and as soon as 
 prosperity revived they were swept away before 
 there was time to consider the reform of the 
 customs tariff.
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 167 
 
 The result is that South Africa now has a tariff 
 which has never really run the gauntlet of Parlia- 
 ment, and which is the product far more of 
 circumstance than of principles or convictions. 
 Hitherto it has been protected against its enemies, 
 but there are many fierce eyes fixed upon it, and it 
 remains to be seen what will become of it when 
 for the first time it is exposed to the wolves of free 
 debate in the new Parliament. 
 
 Two things are generally agreed upon in South 
 Africa. First, the tariff must produce revenue. 
 Secondly, it must, for a time at any rate, protect 
 those of the country's weaker industries which have 
 a national importance. But the tariff is inflated 
 with multitudes of petty imposts which yield little 
 more than the cost of collection, and which cost 
 merchants and the public more in time and trouble 
 than in customs dues. Hundreds of items on the 
 tariff might be swept away with little loss to the 
 Treasury, and great gain to the public. 
 
 As regards the future, it is not unlikely that the 
 cause of free trade will advance. When an 
 industry begins to export, its interests are opposed 
 to protection, and in such matters opinions 
 and interests generally tend to coincide. 
 The whole mining industry tends to favour free 
 trade. The pastoral industry, which already
 
 1 68 THE NEW NATION 
 
 exports wool and feathers and mohair and hides 
 and skins, having at last driven imported meat out 
 of all but a corner of the home market, has ceased 
 to have any great interest in protection. The 
 export of maize, oats, and lucerne has begun. 
 There is every reason to believe that within a few 
 years the country will supply its own demands in 
 the way of eggs and dairy produce. It is therefore 
 probable that before long the interests of both the 
 mining industry and the farmers, other than the 
 wine and wheat farmers, will be on the side of free 
 trade. 
 
 The protection of the wine farmer does not tend 
 to make living necessarily expensive, and is not 
 likely to be seriously disputed. If wheat stands 
 alone, it cannot be long before some alternative to 
 protection by means of the customs is very 
 seriously considered. The interests of the farmers 
 and the miners will then be completely identified 
 as far as the tariff is concerned, and it is not 
 unlikely that the next generation of farmers will 
 be as staunch to free trade as the older generations 
 have been to protection. The attitude of the 
 farmers in the United States and Canada lends 
 probability to this conjecture. Hitherto the pro- 
 tection of the farmer has been justified in the eyes 
 of many by the special difficulties which have
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 169 
 
 embarrassed him, particularly in consequence of 
 war, and the protection of the farmer has neces- 
 sitated the protection of industries in the towns. 
 How far it will be possible in the future to expedite 
 the growth of industrialism by protective tariffs 
 without hampering the elementary productive 
 powers of the country, and thus checking the 
 natural growth of the people, it must be left to the 
 future to decide. 
 
 No doubt, in deciding the question account will 
 have to be taken of existing conditions, and the 
 evil and injustice caused by sudden reversals of 
 policy will be recognised, and as far as possible 
 avoided. But for the present there is no necessity 
 to debate the comparative merits of free trade and 
 protection, for the work which lies to hand is that 
 of abolishing multitudes of small and vexatious 
 duties which neither produce much revenue nor 
 sensibly protect industry, but which choke up the 
 stream of commerce, and so keep back the natural 
 expansion of the country. Here, at any rate, pro- 
 tectionists and free traders may well join hands. 
 
 It may be necessary while doing this work to 
 stiffen up some of the revenue duties, and also the 
 protective duties. If this is done then the customs 
 revenue will be at least as large as it is now, and 
 far more buoyant. But we have already seen that
 
 i;o THE NEW NATION 
 
 South Africa has genuine needs which prudent 
 finance will endeavour to satisfy in order to stimu- 
 late the country's productive powers and reduce 
 the debt to manageable size, and which, even if the 
 severest economy is exercised in administration, 
 may demand in the near future as much as 
 ; i, 000,000 a year, to which must be 
 added the amount of the railway surplus 
 doomed by the constitution to extinction. 
 Even supposing that the tariff is not altered 
 in such a way as to reduce the yield 
 of the customs revenue, it is plain that further 
 taxation will be required. Revenue might be 
 raised by an excise duty on tobacco or by a state 
 tobacco monopoly, and it is far more likely that an 
 excise duty will be imposed on wine than that the 
 present duty on brandy will be reduced. But it is 
 tolerably certain that after all increased direct 
 taxation will be inevitable. 
 
 A good deal can be done with little difficulty. 
 The Cape income tax is now very severe, but it does 
 not apply to incomes derived from sources outside 
 the colony, nor are landed proprietors assessed on 
 the value of urban property on which they reside. 
 There are no estate duties in South Africa, and no 
 house duties levied by the state. If moderate 
 estate and house duties were imposed and the other
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 171 
 
 direct taxes now in existence in any part of South 
 Africa were applied to the whole country at the 
 same rate as the highest at which they now stand 
 in any part of it, it is certain that the additional 
 yield would be very considerably in excess of 
 i ,000,000 a year. It ought not, therefore, to be 
 impossible for a South African Treasurer to frame 
 a budget which will give substantial relief through 
 the customs in the manner described, and which by 
 the help of direct taxes applied at a uniform rate 
 over the whole country, and not unduly burden- 
 some to any part of it, will yield a revenue 
 sufficient to meet the requirements of the state. It 
 should also be possible to twist taxing measures, 
 necessitated and justified by purely financial 
 considerations, into a scourge for the back of 
 prodigality, and make them serve incidentally as 
 an inducement to simplicity of life. A good 
 budget must naturally be a drastic sumptuary law. 
 It would be superfluous to add that the framing of 
 such a budget would be no light undertaking, and 
 that it would be impossible to carry it through 
 unless the spirit of Parliament were both 
 enlightened and patriotic. 
 
 Direct taxation has in the past given rise to not 
 inconsiderable controversies between the Imperial 
 and the colonial authorities. The Imperial
 
 i;2 THE NEW NATION 
 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer naturally taxes 
 income derived by inhabitants of the United 
 Kingdom from investments made outside the 
 country. Seeing that these investments amount 
 to something like ,3,000,000,000, fully half of 
 which has gone to British Colonies and posses- 
 sions, it is impossible to question the justice ot 
 making the income derived from them contribute 
 towards the maintenance of the government which 
 protects their owners in their enjoyment of 
 it. A similar principle must be held to justify 
 colonies in taxing absentee companies and 
 individuals doing business within their borders. 
 Nevertheless many questions in regard to the 
 operation of these admitted principles can only be 
 solved by the exercise of patience and forbearance 
 on both sides. 
 
 There are even more complicated questions which 
 arise in connection with death duties, for if a man 
 resident in England has shares in a company 
 carrying on business in South Africa, it is easy 
 for the South African government to tax his 
 income, but it is not nearly so easy to tax his 
 capital when he dies. Yet it is clear that he owns 
 property in South Africa, and it is not unnatural 
 that his estate should pay death duties. 
 
 For some years past there has been a one-sided
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 173 
 
 arrangement between the United Kingdom and 
 the Cape, each Government foregoing all claim to 
 death duties on the estates of persons who die in 
 the other's territory. Of course the number of 
 Englishmen who die owning property in South 
 Africa is incomparably larger than the number of 
 South Africans who die owning property in 
 England. The Cape has therefore terminated this 
 arrangement, but the collection of duties levied on 
 the estates of absentees will be very difficult when 
 the property in question is represented by scrip, 
 and it is probable that there will have to be fresh 
 negotiations and a fresh agreement dealing with 
 this point. It is worth noticing that the general 
 tendency to rely more on direct taxation is leading 
 to international treaties designed to bring about 
 co-operation between different governments in 
 collecting their revenues. It will not be astonish- 
 ing if the rise of direct taxation in South Africa 
 leads 'to a similar arrangement between South 
 Africa and the United Kingdom. 
 
 The importance of reducing the debt has already 
 been mentioned, and need not be insisted upon 
 afresh. The constitution provides for pooling all 
 debts and all assets. No doubt the stocks will be 
 consolidated as opportunity offers. It will be no 
 small advantage to the country if South Africans
 
 i 7 4 THE NEW NATION 
 
 can be encouraged to take up and hold national 
 stock. At present a considerable part of the debt 
 is held by South African governments on behalf of 
 various trust funds, but very little indeed is held 
 by individual South Africans. 
 
 Some years ago the Italians set about buying 
 up their stock from foreign holders, and now very 
 little of their stock is held abroad. The govern- 
 ment might do much to promote a similar 
 tendency in South Africa, by offering enticements 
 particularly to the small investor, especially when a 
 new loan is being floated. The present moment 
 would be opportune for launching such a policy, 
 as capital is plentiful in South Africa, and the 
 accumulations in the banks are large. The experi- 
 ence of France shows that the small investor gives 
 strength and stability to stock, and moreover it is 
 difficult to exaggerate the good effects indirectly 
 resulting from a system which makes many men 
 all over the country creditors of the nation. 
 
 We can now see the controlling elements in the 
 situation which will confront the first Treasurer of 
 South Africa, and the main lines which sound 
 financial policy will prescribe for the nation to 
 follow. He will find that South Africa has set 
 out with a considerable deficit, and that further 
 expenditure is required for accelerating the repay-
 
 NATIONAL FINANCE 175 
 
 ment of debt, and for educational improvements 
 and other means of expediting the development of 
 the country. 
 
 The constitution will provide, not indeed for any 
 automatic reduction of expenditure but for effective 
 control over the spending departments, for some 
 increase of revenue and for the abolition of many 
 obstacles to expansion. It will be necessary to 
 curtail expenditure on administration and defence 
 with a jealous rigour, to sweep away large numbers 
 of trumpery duties which encumber the customs 
 tariff without either yielding any substantial 
 revenue to the treasury or affording any real pro- 
 tection to the producer, to devise a justly balanced 
 scheme of uniform and moderate direct taxes, in 
 the collection of which it may be necessary to 
 negotiate for the co-operation of the Imperial 
 Government, and finally to set on foot a movement 
 for bringing the national stocks into South African 
 hands. 
 
 Happy is the country which owes a debt to many 
 of its sons and has no other creditor. And thrice 
 happy is the finance minister who knows that if he 
 appeals to the spirit of sober patriotism and to the 
 traditions of austere simplicity he will not appeal in 
 vain.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 
 
 THERE is hardly any South African question which 
 is not complicated by the fact that South Africa is 
 neither an exclusively white man's country nor an 
 exclusively black man's country. In the past the 
 native question has been the root of immense 
 trouble ; in the present it is an anxious and 
 perplexing problem; over the future it throws a 
 cloud of impenetrable mystery. 
 
 All agree that it is the most difficult and the most 
 important of South African questions. It is further 
 becoming apparent that it is the most critical part 
 of one of the chief ethnical problems concerning 
 the whole world. For the question of the future 
 of the South African native is one in which all 
 mankind has an interest, not only because all 
 civilised nations have some direct responsibilities
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 177 
 
 in Africa, either as partners in the sovereignty 
 of the continent or as signatories to such 
 international agreements as that which estab- 
 lished the Congo State, but also because the 
 African natives form one of the great branches of 
 the human race, so that their fortune cannot be a 
 matter of indifference either to London and 
 Washington or to Yokohama and Pekin. But as 
 the empty spaces of the world are shrinking it is 
 becoming impossible for any race to exist in 
 solitude, and the crisis in the fate of the African 
 native is reached when he comes into contact with 
 other men and meets the test of competition. 
 
 In the United States there are more Africans 
 than in South Africa, but there they are an exotic, 
 wrenched away from the parent stem, whereas in 
 South Africa they form an integral part of the dark 
 population of the continent, and are connected with 
 some of the races of the interior by ties which 
 cannot always be traced, but which nevertheless 
 impart to them an added strength and stability. 
 For this reason, if for no other, the native question 
 in South Africa is more important than the negro 
 question in the United States, the only other 
 country which has to deal on a large scale with the 
 question of the African races in contact with the 
 races of Europe. 
 
 o
 
 178 THE NEW NATION 
 
 One of the last speeches made by Mr. Roosevelt 
 as President of the United States showed how 
 broad this question is, and how wide the sphere in 
 which it is felt. In dealing with it South Africa is 
 the First Minister of civilised humanity. The 
 responsibility is heavy, and the world owes her at 
 least some sympathy as she grapples with this 
 tremendous problem and endeavours to discharge 
 the chief part of the duty of mankind in the dark 
 continent. 
 
 It has always been recognised that if South 
 Africa is federated the native question must be in 
 the hands of the central authority. Lord Kim- 
 berley insisted on this as early as 1870, and there 
 has never been any dispute on the point, although 
 in 1875 the Cape Ministry urged that the circum- 
 stances of different parts of South Africa varied, 
 so that a uniform native policy might be 
 inadvisable. Uniformity does not, however, 
 necessarily follow from unity. A single purpose 
 need not neglect diversity of conditions. On the 
 contrary a common design will more naturally 
 produce various shapes when it works among 
 various circumstances. But South Africa must 
 unite its forces if it is to supply sufficient wisdom, 
 knowledge and resolution to deal rightly with the 
 native question in all its different forms. It is
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 179 
 
 therefore to be regretted that the draft constitution 
 apparently proposes to hand over the control of 
 native school education, perhaps the most moment- 
 ous part of the native question, to Provincial 
 Councils constituted with a view to purely local 
 considerations. 
 
 It will be well to preface the discussion of the 
 native question by a plain statement of certain 
 facts. The following table shows how the 
 population of South Africa was composed in 1904, 
 when the last census was taken : 
 
 POPULATION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 European. Coloured. Total. 
 
 Cape Colony 579*74* 1,830,063 2,409,804 
 
 Transvaal 297,277 972,674 1,269,951 
 
 Orange River Colony 142,679 244,636 387,315 
 
 Natal 97 I0 9 1,011,645 1,108,754 
 
 Total 1,116,806 4,059,018 5,175,824 
 
 (four Colonies) 
 
 Basutoland 895 347>953 348,848 
 
 Bechuanaland 
 
 Protectorate .... 1,004 U9772 120,776 
 
 Swaziland 890 84,601 85,491 
 
 Total 2,789 552,326 555"5 
 
 (three protectorates) - 
 Southern Rhodesia 12,623 593, H 1 605,764 
 
 Grand Total 1,132,218 5,204,485 6,336,703
 
 i8o THE NEW NATION 
 
 The vast majority of the coloured population 
 consists of natives (including Hottentots), but in 
 1904 there were also some 290,000 persons of 
 mixed race in the Cape Colony and 101,000 
 Indians in Natal. Apart from these there were no- 
 large coloured communities in any of the colonies, 
 but particular mention should perhaps be made of 
 the 15,000 or 16,000 Malays in the Cape Colony. 
 The Chinese miners have for the most part both 
 come and 1 gone since the census, and are now of 
 little interest to anyone except historians. 
 
 These figures show that there is a very large 
 native population in all parts of South Africa, a 
 considerable half-caste population in the Cape 
 Colony, and a considerable Indian population in 
 Natal ; while other elements in the coloured 
 population, however curious and interesting, are 
 hardly large enough to arrest much general atten- 
 tion in normal times. The figures also show how 
 marked is the preponderance of the Cape Colony 
 in regard to coloured as well as white population. 
 More than half the white people of South Africa 
 are Cape Colonists, and more than a third of the 
 coloured. In Southern Rhodesia there are more 
 dark-skinned men than in the three protectorates 
 together, and in Cape Colony there are three times 
 as many as in Southern Rhodesia. South Africa
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 181 
 
 must be regarded as a whole, but these figures are 
 worth noticing if only as a warning to those who 
 think that the native question is little more than 
 a question of the protectorates and Zululand, and 
 forget that the statesmen of Cape Colony have very 
 considerably more experience of South African 
 natives and coloured people than those of any other 
 state in South Africa, not excluding the Imperial 
 authorities themselves. 
 
 The natives of South Africa are a remarkable 
 people. They are sometimes referred to as 
 aborigines, and sometimes compared with the 
 negroes of America erroneously, either way. The 
 original South African was not the Kafir, nor even 
 the Hottentot, but the Bushman, who appears to 
 have inhabited the country for centuries, but has 
 now almost completely disappeared. His history, 
 little known as it is, is calculated to excite strong 
 and conflicting feelings ; fortunately it need not be 
 discussed here. The Hottentots, stronger than 
 the Bushmen, are yet too weak to flourish in the 
 presence of more powerful races, and they, too, are 
 ceasing to be a distinctive people. But the Kafir 
 is in South Africa as a conqueror, and he is not to 
 be understood unless this fact is remembered. 
 The hottest opponent of militarism will recognise 
 what it implies, namely that the Bantu as a people
 
 182 THE NEW NATION 
 
 have proved their mettle. It is not less important 
 to remember that they have never been slaves, a 
 fact of which they are keenly conscious. They 
 are only now beginning to taste European 
 civilisation, but at least they have not been 
 corrupted by the degrading apprenticeship of 
 slavery, and they look out upon the modern world 
 with the eyes of men whose fathers have 
 bequeathed to them an indefeasible title to the 
 heritage of freedom. In short, the Kafir has all 
 the manly instincts of a race with a proud history. 
 
 The half-castes, or coloured people, as they are 
 generally called, have more civilisation, though not 
 more character. They are showing good capacity 
 as artisans, and although their position as the lower 
 class in the towns, the dubious origin of their race, 
 and the absence of such primitive but effective 
 discipline as controls the Kafirs in their tribal state 
 do not conduce to high standards of life, it cannot 
 be said to have been proved that they are essen- 
 tially lacking in the moral qualities which 
 distinguish strong and virile peoples. The 
 Malays, too, exhibit not only intelligence, but 
 perseverance and industry. Crime is almost 
 unknown among them, and drunkenness unheard 
 of. They are, however, a strangely contented 
 people, and do not possess the insistent enterprise
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 183 
 
 and audacity which lead to fortune. As regards 
 the Indians in South Africa, few of them are really 
 settled. Almost all come for a little time, and then 
 return to the East. To be sure, there are excep- 
 tions, but on the whole the Indian section of the 
 community, considerable as it is, especially in 
 Natal, hardly claims a place in the South African 
 family. 
 
 There is still much groundless fear of the native. 
 Not long ago an ingenious alarmist calculated that 
 before the end of the present century there will be 
 thirty million black men in South Africa and only 
 two million white. It is sufficient to say that such 
 calculations usually proceed on the hypothesis that 
 circumstances will not influence the birth rate 
 among the native people, and that economic 
 pressure will have no effect on the habits of the 
 Europeans. In 1905 there were rumours of seri- 
 ous unrest among the coloured races in the South 
 West of the Cape Colony, and it was found 
 necessary to despatch contingents of police in 
 order to ascertain that there was no substantial 
 foundation for alarm to rest upon. In Natal and 
 Zululand the case has been different, but the 
 Natal Native Commission has proved that the 
 natives there have been much provoked by 
 unscrupulous individuals. The same must be said
 
 1 84 THE NEW NATION 
 
 of what is sometimes known as the black peril. 
 Crimes of violence are less common among the 
 natives than among most labouring classes. 
 
 The South African Press is not slow to mark 
 what is done amiss by the natives, but its pages are 
 pale compared to the lurid stream which daily 
 gushes from the Press in England 1 ; and consider- 
 ing that in all the large South African towns most 
 of the rough labour is done by young natives who 
 have been incited to leave their homes for the 
 purpose of finding work, and who are therefore 
 without any of the salutary restraints imposed by 
 home life whether in a palace or in a kraal, it is 
 astonishing that the number of assaults is not far 
 greater than it is. Hideous in its nature and con- 
 sequences, the black peril is very small in volume 
 compared to the white peril. What there is of it 
 ought surely to be dealt with not by fitful acts of 
 vindictiveness, but by deliberately removing, as 
 far as they can be removed, the causes which 
 create and maintain it. 
 
 More disquieting, perhaps, than the fear of 
 mutiny or violence is the fear of what is known as 
 the Ethiopian movement. There certainly are a 
 few natives, mostly the product of indifferent train- 
 ing in some of the least reputed of the Universities 
 of the United States, who feed their minds on a
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 185 
 
 theoretical disaffection, pondering the proposition 
 that Africa belongs by natural law to the dark 
 races. But such suggestions can only appeal to 
 a very few. Uneducated 1 men cannot understand 
 them. Educated men cannot long escape the 
 knowledge that their teaching is contradicted alike 
 by history and by common sense. And therefore 
 disaffection of this kind is not a formidable form of 
 folly, for it can never touch either the heart or the 
 brain of the people. 
 
 The Native Affairs Commission which investi- 
 gated the whole question four or five years ago, 
 found that the Ethiopian movement was not 
 alarming, and this judgment meets with the assent 
 of almost all South Africans experienced in native 
 affairs. If there is danger to white South Africa 
 in black South Africa it is economic and not 
 military or political, and there can be no economic 
 danger unless there is serious inefficiency on the 
 part of the European. Those, therefore, who 
 believe in the European stock will not be quick to 
 lend their ears to the fables of panic-mongers 
 which have no substantial basis in fact unless there 
 be some radical flaw in the white man. 
 
 Equally unjust are the undiscriminating sus- 
 picions of the native policy of white South Africans 
 which are sometimes entertained and expressed in
 
 1 86 THE NEW NATION 
 
 England and elsewhere. In 1877 the old Lord 
 Grey, the author of that cross-legged form of 
 constitution known as Government with Represen- 
 tative Institutions, whereby Ministers nominated 
 by the Crown were left to struggle with 
 Parliaments representing the people, declaimed 
 against granting Responsible Government to 
 South Africa on the ground that it was impossible 
 to enfranchise all the natives, and that Responsible 
 Government is a great tyranny where only a section 
 of the population is represented, and expressed the 
 fear that a great war of races was inevitable in 
 South Africa. No doubt some colour is given to 
 this view by violent utterances, like that of the 
 South African Mayor who declared that his 
 political motto was all whites against all blacks. 
 
 But such excesses are not unknown in older 
 countries. Lord Cardwell at once replied to Lord 
 Grey, declaring that in his opinion Responsible 
 Government would lead to a juster treatment of the 
 natives, and there is much more to corroborate this 
 view than Lord Grey's. To begin with, justice is 
 compelled to record that of the native troubles in 
 South Africa a generous share is directly due to 
 Imperial authorities. It was a High Commis- 
 sioner who embarked on the policy of disarming 
 the natives which brought about so many native
 
 wars, which kept Basutoland in unrest for years, 
 and which at last had to be abandoned. It was a 
 Secretary of State who alarmed the natives 
 throughout South Africa by the form of his Con- 
 federation scheme in 1875. It was the Cape 
 Ministry which protested that the danger of a 
 general native rising was imaginary, and it was Sir 
 John Akerman, of the Natal Parliament, who 
 summed up the results of Carnarvon's policy by 
 the assertion that " on a platform of ten millions 
 of pounds had been raised a hecatomb of ten 
 thousand human bodies in support of the policy of 
 Confederation." 
 
 Moreover, the administration of native affairs in 
 Natal when it was under the direct control of 
 Downing Street was quite as harsh as it has been 
 since. In more recent times natives and their 
 friends in Basutoland and Bechuanaland have 
 sighed aloud for the more liberal policy of native 
 education which is to be found in the Cape. 
 Altogether the supposition that what is done in the 
 interests of the native is done by the Imperial 
 Government, and what is done against their 
 interests is done by South Africans, would appear 
 to be a fiction. 
 
 It must indeed be admitted that justice is not 
 always done to natives in South Africa. There
 
 1 88 THE NEW NATION 
 
 have been ugly cases in which juries have refused 
 to convict white men for assaults on natives in 
 Rhodesia, in Natal, in the Orange River Colony, 
 and even in the Cape Colony. All these have 
 been exposed and denounced by South Africans, 
 but it would be an insincerity to affect to under- 
 estimate their seriousness. At the same time it 
 would be equally wrong to pretend that they 
 represent the view of responsible South Africans 
 or of the white people as a whole. Even when 
 they appear most harsh, the practices approved by 
 men of any consequence in South Africa are not 
 indefensible. None of these practices was more 
 open to question than the system of apprentice- 
 ship which was permitted to exist in the republics 
 a generation ago ; yet Froude at any rate not only 
 approved of it, but advocated it in South Africa 
 with so much eloquence that a deputation from 
 Grahams Town, where Froude had been speaking, 
 waited on Mr. Merriman, then a member of Sir 
 John Molteno's Ministry, and entreated the 
 Government to introduce a scheme of compulsory 
 labour. 
 
 The Government declined, but the Secretary of 
 State did not consider that this incident disqualified 
 Froude for acting as his personal representative. 
 Bishop Colenso, certainly a staunch friend of the
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 189 
 
 natives, wrote : " Here are the English papers 
 reaching us full of ravings about the treachery, 
 cruelty, blood-thirstiness, etc., of the Boers, of 
 which, when the facts are thoroughly known and 
 fairly considered, hardly a trace remains.'" 
 
 In 1 880 Sir Bartle Frere wrote : " The general 
 temper of the European colonists, when not 
 excited, is the reverse of cruel. They have more 
 patience and toleration, I think, as a rule, for 
 native shortcomings than people fresh from 
 Europe." And in an address to the Colonial 
 Institute he was even more emphatic. " I am con- 
 vinced that a very few months of sojourn in South 
 Africa would convert any reasonable observer to 
 the conviction at which I have myself long since 
 arrived, that in South Africa, and especially in 
 the legislature of the Cape of Good Hope, there 
 may be found men as thoroughly conscientious 
 in their dealings with the natives, as influential in 
 their own legislature, as fully alive to the best 
 interests of the natives, and as determined to 
 secure those interests, as far as they can be secu- 
 red by Government action, as any member of the 
 Imperial Parliament, whilst, of course, they pos- 
 sess infinitely greater superiority in the knowledge 
 of the facts of the case, and of the real require- 
 ments of all concerned. I will therefore only
 
 THE NEW NATION 
 
 conclude by once more expressing my deliberate 
 conviction that the best interests of the natives 
 in the Cape Colony are quite as safe in the keeping 
 of the Cape Parliament as they could be in that 
 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom." 
 
 At the present time all the men who have most 
 power in South Africa hold temperate, if not 
 liberal, views about the natives. General Botha, 
 in the statement of his policy which he made imme- 
 diately after his accession to office, announced 
 that he should pursue a moderate course designed 
 to develop the natives on sound lines. In the 
 Orange River Colony Mr. Steyn has openly 
 declared for a liberal policy. In the Cape Colony 
 Mr. Merriman and Mr. Sauer, the chief of his col- 
 leagues, maintain a tradition of life-long devotion 
 to the proved policy of the Cape, and outside Par- 
 liament a potent influence is exercised by Mr. 
 Hofmeyr, who has repeatedly shown that the 
 natives may safely rely upon him. In 1908 
 Mr. Theron, Chairman of the Afrikaander 
 Bond, died. At his graveside the minister 
 of his church told how for many years Mr. Theron 
 had quietly cared for the coloured people of the 
 Karoo village where he lived, and when they had 
 no other minister had himself conducted religious 
 services for them. In Natal, too, the Govern-
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 191 
 
 merit has shown its good intentions, notably by 
 the appointment of a Commission of investigation 
 and by sending some of the most active of the 
 native leaders to examine the working of the Cape 
 system in the native territories east of the Kei. 
 
 On the whole, there is a strong tendency towards 
 a mild native policy in South Africa. To ignore 
 this and to back the suggestion that natives should 
 look over the sea for friends, would be to alienate 
 local sympathy and check its growth ; and on the 
 other hand the best service that English friends of 
 the natives can do to their cause is to abstain from 
 interference, and to emphasise the symptoms 
 which indicate that white South Africa is 
 recognising its responsibilities and is becoming 
 increasingly determined to do justice. Happily 
 for the natives, many of their most influential 
 friends in all parts of the world are well aware of 
 these facts. 
 
 The general attitude of South Africans towards 
 the coloured 1 population naturally decides their 
 policy in all questions concerning any section of it. 
 Before considering the questions concerning the 
 natives and coloured people, it may be well to 
 examine the Asiatic question, which is in several 
 ways distinct. It is an old question in South 
 Africa. The descendants of the slaves introduced
 
 192 THE NEW NATION 
 
 from the Malay States in the eighteenth century 
 have now become an integral part of the popula- 
 tion, but though they have mixed their blood with 
 that of other races, they maintain their distinctive 
 religion, dress, and manners, and as late as 1866 a 
 curious correspondence appeared in official pub- 
 lications showing that the Porte had appointed a 
 member of the Cape Parliament as its representa- 
 tive in Cape Town to assist the Malays in a period 
 of financial distress. 
 
 One of the leading Malays, Imaum Hadje 
 Magadien, actually wrote to the Governor and 
 enclosed a letter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs 
 at Constantinople, asking for some recognition by 
 the Porte of the services of its representative in 
 Cape Town. The Governor forwarded the letter 
 to Downing Street, but declined to ask the 
 Sultan's Government to assist in the relief of the 
 poor in Cape Town, and the Secretary of State 
 replied that he could not be a party to forwarding 
 an application for marks of distinction from the 
 Turkish Government. This strange incident 
 might suggest that the Malays are too good 
 Mohammedans to be good South Africans, but the 
 inference would be unjust. 
 
 With the Indians the case is different; the 
 importation of Indians did not begin until com-
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 193 
 
 munications had become easy and cheap, and it 
 would hardly be too much to say that, except 
 perhaps in Natal, there is no permanent Indian 
 settlement in South Africa. 
 
 The Asiatic question is in two parts one con- 
 cerning the importation of indentured Asiatics, 
 the other concerning the influx of Asiatic immi- 
 grants. More than once proposals have been 
 made for importing indentured Asiatics to work 
 on the farms in the Cape Colony, but these have 
 never had any practical result. In Natal it was 
 otherwise. Numbers of coolies were imported to 
 work the tea-plantations, and some of these 
 remained after the period of their indenture was 
 over. So important was the system of indentured 
 labour considered by the tea-planters, and so 
 much was it disliked in the rest of the country, 
 that during the great war Sir John Robinson, the 
 first Prime Minister of Natal, declared that it was a 
 bar to the union of South Africa. It is worth 
 observing that the view of the Natal tea-planters is 
 shared by German advocates of colonial expansion, 
 for at the German Colonial Congress in 1907 it 
 was resolved that Indians could not be expelled 
 from German East Africa without injury to the 
 economic life of the Colony. 
 
 In fact, the dispute was one of principle between 
 
 p
 
 i 9 4 THE NEW NATION 
 
 those who regarded the Colonies as mere pro- 
 ducers of wealth and those who regarded them as 
 the home of a young nation. In Natal the Indian 
 population has grown so rapidly, in consequence 
 of the indenture system, that it now outnumbers 
 the European population, and it is said that two- 
 thirds of the stores in Natal, including some of the 
 largest, are owned and managed by Indians. But 
 the Natal Parliament has at last decided to put a 
 stop to the importation of Asiatics, and therefore 
 this part of the question may be said to have been 
 closed. 
 
 The experience of Asiatic immigration was the 
 main cause of the profound and vehement appre- 
 hension excited in South Africa by the importation 
 of indentured Chinese for the Rand mines. How 
 deep and intense the feelings which prompted the 
 South African opposition to that policy were is 
 known only to those who were in touch with the 
 rural population at the time. How much South 
 Africa owes to it will never be known. There 
 were at one time some 54,000 Chinese on the 
 Rand. The last will be gone before the new con- 
 stitution can be proclaimed ; and thus the policy 
 of importing indentured Asiatics into South Africa 
 may now be said to have been definitely aban- 
 doned.
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 
 
 There remains the question of Asiatics who 
 immigrate, or have settled, spontaneously. There 
 is a strong feeling, especially in the towns, that 
 the immigration of Asiatics should be stopped, and 
 that those who are already in the country should 
 be strictly controlled. This feeling is mainly due 
 to the alarm of small traders, who find themselves 
 unable to compete with the Asiatics. But it is 
 reinforced in the minds of responsible men by the 
 experience that as a rule the Asiatics do not settle 
 in the country, but come for a few years and 
 afterwards return to Asia with their savings. The 
 records of the money transactions of the Post 
 Office show that a large sum is annually drained 
 away from South Africa to India in this way. It 
 is difficult to resist the conviction that in a country 
 like South Africa it is right to prevent the extru- 
 sion of genuine settlers by Asiatics whose definite 
 object is exploitation and not settlement. This 
 principle is now generally conceded, and the 
 Colonies are therefore free to exclude Asiatics. 
 
 The question of the treatment of Asiatics who 
 are actually in the country and do not wish to leave 
 it is much simplified by the elimination of the ques- 
 tions of indentured labour and 1 Asiatic immigration. 
 If these are once out of the way and South Africa 
 is free to take whatever steps are necessary to
 
 ig6 THE NEW NATION 
 
 prevent their reappearance, there is not likely to 
 be any serious difficulty about Asiatics in the 
 country. Those who remain permanently will 
 probably become, like the Malays, loyal to South 
 Africa, and separate only in traditions and cus- 
 toms. There is a general disposition to treat with 
 consideration all who have really settled in South 
 Africa, and thus the question of the Indians, like 
 that of the Malays, may come to be only a part 
 of the general problem of the coloured population, 
 of which the Asiatics are likely in the future to 
 form a not undistinguished part. 
 
 So much sentiment attaches to the native ques- 
 tion that its discussion is seldom illuminated by 
 clear thinking. Yet there is no subject which 
 more urgently calls for the piercing rays of truth. 
 A breath is sufficient to dismiss policies which pay 
 no regard to the interests of the natives, for they 
 fail to allow for essential facts, and are therefore 
 impracticable and only tend to defeat their own 
 ends. 
 
 But apart from such absurdities, the direction of 
 native policy is claimed by two great principles, 
 which at first appear to help each other, but after- 
 wards violently conflict. The first is that of 
 protection ; the second is that of development. If 
 native policy is guided by the ideal of develop-
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 197 
 
 ment it will, as long as the native is in a primitive 
 condition, prescribe measures for protecting him 
 against himself and others ; but it will never be 
 satisfied with them, and will always look to the day 
 when the native is ready to assume the responsibili- 
 ties of manhood, including the control of himself. 
 On the other hand, if the thought of protection 
 dominates, it may suggest the education of the 
 natives ; but it recoils from the consequence, and 
 ends by a collision with the objects of its care when 
 it endeavours to restrict their adult impulses within 
 barricades proper only to the nursery. There is 
 thus a radical antagonism, long latent, but none the 
 less essential, between the policy of equal rights 
 and the policy of cloistered virtue. The latter 
 protests the more loudly, but there is no doubt that 
 it is far the nearer to the policy which disregards 
 native interests altogether. 
 
 However, for a time at any rate and in some 
 degree the protection of the native is necessary 
 and is common cause to the rival policies, which 
 therefore make their first appearance in coalition. 
 The most definitely protective measure which has 
 been devised on the native's behalf is the creation 
 of reserves, which are secured to him against Euro- 
 pean enterprise or cupidity and his own weakness. 
 Some of these are under direct Imperial control,
 
 198 THE NEW NATION 
 
 and the Bechuanaland Protectorate receives an 
 annual grant in aid amounting to some ,40,000. 
 
 Some apprehension has been expressed in Basu- 
 toland at the prospect of being transferred from 
 Imperial to South African hands, but this is, no 
 doubt, due to the unhappy circumstances under 
 which Basutoland passed from the control of the 
 Cape after years of war, for which, however, the 
 colonists were not more responsible than the 
 Governor. It is fair to remember what Sir Henry 
 Barkly wrote in 1876 of Basutoland, then under 
 the Cape : " Probably no administration of native 
 affairs in any part of the world has been attended 
 with greater comparative success, and there can 
 be few more gratifying spectacles than that of a 
 tribe numbering some 150,000 souls, who a few 
 years ago were the terror of their neighbours, 
 living peacefully, contentedly and prosperously 
 under the rule of half a dozen magistrates of Euro- 
 pean extraction, unsupported for some time past 
 by a single white policeman." This testimony and 1 
 the present condition of the Transkei clearly show 
 that the principle of the native reserve can be 
 successfully carried out by South Africans. 
 
 In 1906 Sir Charles Dilke and others presented 
 a memorial to the Imperial Government urging 
 that the existing protectorates should be under the
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 199 
 
 direct control of the Crown ; but the approach of 
 union has changed the situation, and in 1908 the 
 House of Commons unanimously resolved, at Sir 
 Charles Dilke's suggestion, " That this House, 
 recognising signs of a growing opinion, on the part 
 of the self-governing Colonies of South Africa, in 
 favour of safeguarding the rights and future of the 
 natives in any scheme of political unification or 
 federation, expresses its confidence that His 
 Majesty's Government will welcome the adoption 
 of provisions calculated to render possible the ulti- 
 mate inclusion of British South Africa in federal 
 union." This motion reads strangely, but its form, 
 as originally put upon the paper, shows it to mean 
 that the House of Commons looks forward to the 
 inclusion of the protectorates in the Union. 
 
 Much of the best land in South Africa is in the 
 native reserves, and cannot be alienated. This 
 allows native tribes to live and multiply without 
 interference on the part of Europeans. As the 
 reserves become full, the people feel the pressure 
 of economic necessity, and it is believed' that this 
 must result in less slovenly cultivation and in an 
 increase in the number of natives who go to the 
 labour centres in search of work. It is certain that 
 the maintenance of the system makes for peace, 
 since it is agreed that the native would not quietly
 
 200 THE NEW NATION 
 
 allow himself to be dispossessed of his land even 
 by the system of voluntary purchase, nor is it easy 
 to suppose that peace would be secure if hordes 
 of landless natives were scattered about the 
 country. Accordingly the system is accepted, and 
 the reserves are made into regular native nurseries, 
 where everything possible is done to shield the 
 people from bad influences. It is, however, very 
 questionable whether this system can be inde- 
 finitely maintained. For better, for worse, 
 individual tenure of land is gradually taking the 
 place of tribal tenure ; if natives are encouraged to 
 go to the labour market and earn money for them- 
 selves this tendency is bound to go on, and it 
 would not be safe to assume that the principle of 
 the inalienability of land to Europeans will long 
 survive the introduction of the system of individual 
 tenure. 
 
 Next to the system of reserves the most striking 
 point in the protection of the natives is the prohibi- 
 tion of the sale of strong drink to them. It is well 
 to remember that Lord Carnarvon's London Con- 
 ference in 1876 agreed that natives should have a 
 moderate quantity of liquor, but that great care 
 must be exercised in carrying out this provision. 
 Nevertheless, the sale of liquor is prohibited in all 
 the reserves, and in 1908 the Cape Parliament,
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 201 
 
 finding that natives were importing into the terri- 
 tories large quantities of certain patent medicines 
 for the sake of the alcohol which is an important 
 ingredient in them, passed a law putting a stop to 
 this traffic. Outside the reserves the sale of liquor 
 to natives is prohibited in the greater part of South 
 Africa, though not in the Cape, where, however, 
 licensing courts are empowered to impose special 
 restrictions on the sale of liquor to aboriginal 
 natives. The advantage of this restrictive system 
 must not be exaggerated. It is impossible to con- 
 trol the making of Kafir beer, which is sometimes 
 decidedly alcoholic, and the native makes himself 
 stimulants not less noxious than wine brandy from 
 prickly pears, honey, and golden syrup. The 
 attempt to prohibit the sale of liquor to natives also 
 results in a flourishing illicit traffic throughout the 
 country, and it sometimes seems that the main 
 effect of the system is to make white people cri- 
 minals in order to make black people hypocrites. 
 
 The alternative policy would be that of the 
 Carnarvon Conference. Yet when a similar policy 
 was proposed by the Transvaal Government 
 there was so alarming an outcry in England that 
 the project was dropped and smuggling continued. 
 An attempt is being made in Natal to regulate the 
 manufacture and distribution of Kafir beer, and
 
 2O2 
 
 the results of this deserve watching. But the most 
 notable breach in the wall of liquor restrictions was 
 made by Mr. Hofmeyr, who induced the Cape 
 Parliament to pass an Act exempting such natives 
 as are registered voters, and must therefore have 
 some property and some education, from all special 
 legislation, including that contained in the liquor 
 laws. The motives which induced Parliament to 
 pass this Act may be a fair matter for dispute, but it 
 is certain that the Act is the highest flight of a 
 liberal native policy, which aims not only at 
 restraining the native, but at teaching him to 
 restrain himself. On the whole, it appears that 
 the policy of prohibition is extremely questionable, 
 except in the reserves, where it produces few evil 
 consequences, strict control of the liquor traffic 
 being possible, and fits in with the general policy 
 on which the existence of the reserves depends. 
 
 Another attempt to protect the native has taken 
 the form of laws designed to limit usury. These 
 are too recent for their effects to have become 
 apparent. The history of usury laws has not, as 
 a rule, been happy, and although the native may 
 be relied on as much as anyone else to pay his 
 debts if he can, he is liable to many accidents, and 
 lending money to him is certainly risky. More- 
 over, he often needs accommodation, whether he
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 203 
 
 is a small farmer sharing the experiences of small 
 farmers all over the world, or a labourer anxious 
 to make his way to some labour-centre. All this 
 was fully recognised by the authors of the legisla- 
 tion designed to check usury. On the other hand, 
 there have been outrageous cases of plundering 
 natives in the name of money-lending, and these 
 certainly seem to justify the attempt made to pro- 
 tect the native in this particular. 
 
 A not less effective method of helping the native 
 is the system of encouraging and assisting him to 
 find work. For several years the potential supply 
 of rough labourers in South Africa has been in 
 excess of the demand, but there has also been a 
 demand for farm-labour which has not been met. 
 The magistrates and the leading officials have 
 joined in making the path easy for the Kafir who 
 desires work. No doubt this is in the interest of 
 others as well as of the Kafir, but it deserves men- 
 tion as part of the general policy which aims at the 
 protection of the native. 
 
 It may be thought that the native's lot is happy 
 enough if he is secured in the possession of his 
 lands, preserved from the snares of the liquor 
 dealer and the money-lender, and assisted to find! 
 work when he requires it. But there is another 
 side to the picture. There is, after all, a consider-
 
 204 THE NEW NATION 
 
 able element of truth in the pedagogic theory 
 propounded by Mr. Anthony Weller in the " Pick- 
 wick Papers," when he said that he took a good 
 deal of pains over his son's education, having 
 allowed him to run in the streets when he was very 
 young and shift for himself. This, if extreme, 
 is not more so than the theory of the reserves which 
 locks the natives in and the world out, but periodi- 
 cally shoots out numbers of voung men about 
 
 J JO 
 
 twenty years of age to find work far away from 
 their homes in the great industrial centres. It is 
 hardly surprising that under these circumstances 
 the health of the natives is showing signs of 
 deterioration, and that syphilis and tuberculosis 
 have taken root in the kraals to which these young 
 men return. 
 
 Nor is this all. The theory of the reserves is 
 based on the hypothesis that the native is an 
 inferior being demanding special treatment. A 
 whole system of native laws springs from this 
 principle. Missionaries ask Parliament for ex- 
 ceptional powers to deal with the people in 
 their mission stations. In some parts of South 
 Africa natives are not permitted to own land. 
 In the towns the native labourers are com- 
 pelled to live in separate locations, usually in the 
 form of barracks. Discrimination is made against
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 205 
 
 them in the Workmen's Compensation Acts of the 
 Cape and the Transvaal. Coloured people ask in 
 vain to be allowed to form voluntary corps. Pass 
 laws and curfew laws for natives alone abound. 
 Drastic measures are passed to prevent the natives 
 from living in idleness on other people's farms and 
 from trespassing. Punishments sometimes little 
 less than ferocious are dealt out for stock-theft, the 
 native's besetting sin. Impediments are put 
 in the way of his ox-waggon, which carries so 
 cheaply that the railway cannot compete with 
 it. 
 
 Almost all these things are necessary, and are 
 thoroughly justified by present conditions. But 
 to regard them as in themselves satisfactory, and 
 to admire a protection policy inspired by a prin- 
 ciple which leads to all these other consequences 
 hardly seems to be the part of the natives' friend. 
 It would rather seem to be the work of wise policy, 
 not indeed to discontinue special arrangements as 
 long as the condition of the natives calls for them, 
 but to concentrate effort on the alteration of those 
 elements in the condition of the natives which 
 make them necessary. 
 
 It cannot be too strongly urged that the main- 
 tenance of special protection implies inferiority, 
 and lends immense weight to the arguments of
 
 206 THE NEW NATION 
 
 those who would keep the natives in an inferior 
 position. The only satisfactory solution of this 
 difficulty is to recognise frankly that special pro- 
 tection is inconsistent with equality, and that it is 
 merely a temporary measure designed to tide over 
 the period while the native is being raised to a 
 state in which he will renounce special protection, 
 and claim equal rights on his own merits. 
 
 The excellence of the native policy of the Cape 
 has been very generally recognised. When 
 Carnarvon's Bill was before the House of 
 Commons the House inserted a clause providing 
 that, while the Crown should be empowered to 
 annex new territory to the Cape by Order in 
 Council, this power should not be given in the case 
 of Natal, then practically a Crown colony. But 
 the distinctive character of the Cape's native policy 
 is not so widely understood, and as a result English 
 opinion on native affairs is too often vague or even 
 altogether misdirected. The distinctive character- 
 istic of Cape policy is that it aims at developing, 
 and is not content with repressing or protecting 
 the natives, and that it not only pursues this aim, 
 but also accepts the logical conclusion, and pre- 
 pares for the developed native a place worthy of a 
 grown man and a citizen. Accordingly it is in the 
 Cape that we find the greatest activity in native
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 207 
 
 education, the strongest growth of native local 
 self-government, and finally the native franchise. 
 
 The importance of native education has always 
 been plain to South African statesmen. Fifty 
 years ago the Fingoes of Grahams Town sent a 
 petition to Queen Victoria urging that Sir George 
 Grey should not be recalled. "He built us great 
 schools," they declared, " that our children might 
 enter them, and learn nicely like the children of 
 English people." 
 
 Not only at the Cape, but also in the Orange 
 River Colony and elsewhere the natives are 
 anxious for education. This fact has sometimes 
 been exaggerated. The native parent is not 
 regular in the payment of school fees, even where 
 the curious system obtains of charging all parents 
 the same fee, without regard to the size of the 
 family, but as a whole the people cheerfully submit 
 to a school rate, and the consequence is that there 
 is now free education in large parts of the native 
 territories, whereas in the rest of the Cape Colony 
 that great boon has not yet been granted. What- 
 ever may be said of the native as a parent, it is 
 undeniable that as a ratepayer he readily shows a 
 power of appreciating education. It does not, of 
 course, follow that education is an unmixed 
 benefit. The education of non- European races
 
 208 THE NEW NATION 
 
 is now a common-place of discussion. There 
 is indeed so general an agreement about the main 
 principles that nearly all the statesmen who discuss 
 them conspire in a docile defiance of pedagogic 
 doctrines alleged to be orthodox, but really the 
 creatures of their assailants' imagination. 
 
 There have recently been discussions in both 
 Houses of the Imperial Parliament on Indian 
 education ; there have been reports on education 
 in the Soudan and the Gold Coast; there have 
 been numerous books and papers by Mr. Booker 
 Washington, Professor Du Bois, and others in the 
 United States ; there have been reports on educa- 
 tion in Basutoland and the Bechuanaland 
 Protectorate, and in 1908 the whole subject of 
 native education was examined and reported upon 
 by a powerful Select Committee of the Cape 
 House of Assembly, the conclusions of which have 
 been hailed with delight by the natives of South 
 Africa, and have generally been considered 
 reasonable by the Europeans. 
 
 It is tolerably safe to say that the following 
 propositions in regard to native education in South 
 Africa will command general assent. Firstly, a 
 great work has been done for native education by 
 Missionaries, who must, however, look forward to 
 the time when they will have to hand over the
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 209 
 
 management of the schools to Committees 
 representing the parents and ratepayers. Secondly, 
 there is not as yet sufficient evidence to prove that, 
 apart from isolated and exceptional cases, the 
 native mind either is or is not capable of the higher 
 developments attained by the European mind. 
 Thirdly, existing systems of education, imperfect 
 as they necessarily are, do undeniably tend 1 to make 
 the native more intelligent and more loyal. 
 Whether they also make him more moral and more 
 industrious is a disputed question. Fourthly, 
 education, especially in dealing with natives, must 
 aim principally at producing intelligence and 
 character. It must therefore insist throughout on 
 thoroughness. Fifthly, the educational course 
 should provide at every stage for manual training, 
 and especially for training in agriculture, not so 
 much for the sake of its utility as its discipline ; it 
 should include systematic moral and religious in- 
 struction; it should make universal a knowledge 
 of the simple laws of health, and it should work to 
 a great extent through the vernacular, and by 
 means' of a curriculum specially adapted to the 
 needs of the natives, and designed to bring all the 
 subjects taught as far as possible into direct rela- 
 tion with the life of the people. 
 
 A policy on these lines would certainly meet the 
 
 Q
 
 210 THE NEW NATION 
 
 wishes of the natives. It would probably also 
 secure the approval of most responsible South 
 Africans. If carried out it would not quickly 
 reveal its full effects, but it would in the course of 
 two generations produce a very large coloured 
 population trained to labour, well equipped with 
 knowledge, spirited, yet easy to govern, and intel- 
 ligent. In the main the Cape system tends in this 
 direction already, and a movement of this kind 
 when it has once gained momentum cannot be 
 reversed or arrested. 
 
 The system of local self-government which is to 
 be found in the Transkeian territories of the Cape, 
 and the chief part of which has been introduced 
 more recently in Basutoland, is particularly im- 
 portant, because it is a conscious development of 
 a primitive Kafir institution. Where there is 
 individual tenure of the land there are elected 
 members ; where there is communal tenure the 
 headmen nominated by Government represent the 
 people. The magistrates are also members. 
 There are district Councils, and there is a general 
 Council in which these are represented. The 
 Councils are in all cases purely advisory, but it is 
 very seldom that any step is taken contrary to the 
 wish of the Council, and indeed one of the main 
 advantages of the Council system is that it gives
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 211 
 
 the Government an admirable opportunity of 
 teaching the natives to understand its policy. 
 Another is that it brings home to the magistrates 
 the opinions of the people. A third is that it 
 trains the people in the understanding and 
 management of affairs. As education does its 
 work among the natives the Council system 
 will receive an immense accession of vigour. 
 By it South Africa is deliberately training the 
 native in the delicate art of government. And 
 here again it is neither possible to halt nor to 
 retire. 
 
 The question of the franchise does not stand 
 .alone. It is much prejudiced in advance by the 
 decision made in regard to native education and 
 native Councils. But it is the centre of the wide 
 battlefield on,which the great issue of native policy 
 is being decided. In the Transvaal, and particu- 
 larly, perhaps, in Johannesburg, there is violent 
 opposition to proposals of enfranchising the 
 natives ; but on the eve of the meeting of the 
 National Convention Mr. Lionel Phillips, then 
 Chairman of the Chamber of Mines, spoke 
 sympathetically of liberal native policy, and 
 addressed his speech to the Rand Pioneers, 
 probably the fiercest opponents of the native vote. 
 In 1876 Carnarvon made no provision for the
 
 212 
 
 native franchise in his Confederation Bill, and said 
 that for a time it would be best that the natives 
 should not be directly represented in the Legisla- 
 tive Assembly, though they might vote for the 
 provincial legislatures, and it might be well to have 
 men specially appointed to represent them in the 
 Upper House. These expressions were much 
 commented on at the time, and eventually, as we 
 have seen, the House of Commons inserted an 
 amendment providing for " the due representation 
 of the natives in the Union Parliament and in the 
 Provincial Councils, in such manner as shall be 
 deemed by Her Majesty to be without danger to 
 the stability of the Government." 
 
 This is, no doubt, a sound principle, but it is not 
 clear how it is to be translated into actual regula- 
 tions. There are several alternative courses open,, 
 even when it has been decided to allow the natives 
 to vote for members of Parliament. It is possible 
 to give them separate representation, as the Maoris 
 have in New Zealand. It is possible to have the 
 same law for natives as for Europeans : this is the 
 Cape system. Or it is possible to discriminate 
 and exact special qualifications in the case of the 
 natives. 
 
 The first of these alternatives was recommended 
 by the Native Affairs Commission in 1905, but it is
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 213 
 
 difficult to see how it can be defended. In New 
 Zealand, where the Maoris are few, there are not 
 so many objections to the system, but even there 
 it is said to have outlived its usefulness. In South 
 Africa it would involve enormous and unmanage- 
 able native constituencies, so that the natives 
 would never really know their representative. 
 But the chief objection is that it would be impos- 
 sible to fix the number of members to be elected 
 by the natives without falling into the most serious 
 danger. If the numbers were proportionate to the 
 number of registered electors at the Cape, the 
 coloured population would elect a sixth of the 
 House, which they would often be in a position to 
 control. If the number were smaller than the 
 number of the coloured electors warranted, a patent 
 grievance would be created. In the one case the 
 Europeans would certainly insist on a change ; 
 in the other the natives would inevitably demand it. 
 This proposal, therefore, cannot be regarded as 
 acceptable. 
 
 The Cape system has lasted for over half a 
 century. In a minute dealing with Carnarvon's 
 Bill the Molteno Ministry at the Cape recorded 
 their opinion that the system had worked well. 
 And there is certainly force in the argument 
 recently advanced by the educated natives in the
 
 2i 4 THE NEW NATION 
 
 Transvaal, when they urged the extension of the 
 franchise to natives and coloured people in the 
 Transvaal on the ground that the franchise had 
 made the natives loyal at the Cape. 
 
 It may be remarked that, whereas the native 
 franchise is the corollary of native education, 
 native education without the franchise is a danger. 
 In South Africa, as in India, young natives learn 
 to read the great English publicists, but in India, 
 where there is no franchise, these books are found 
 to be, in Lord Morley's phrase, " explosive books," 
 and at the Cape, where there is a native franchise, 
 these same explosive books become the very 
 cement of government. It may be added that at 
 the Cape there is at present no great increase in 
 the coloured vote. Even in the great native con- 
 stituency of Tembuland the European vote has 
 grown much faster than the coloured vote. It is 
 indeed astonishing to observe how the European 
 vote advances, not only in numbers but in pro- 
 portion to the total. Here are the figures 
 showing the number of registered voters at the 
 last three registrations : 
 
 REGISTERED VOTERS (CAPE COLONY). 
 
 European. Native. Coloured Total. 
 
 J9<H "445o 10,556 10,162 135,168 
 
 1905 119,906 10,408 12,625 142,939 
 
 1907 129,337 10,978 11,806 152,121
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 215 
 
 These figures clearly show that for the present 
 at any rate the Cape system is " without danger to 
 the stability of the Government." 
 
 Hitherto there has been no suggestion of a 
 native party. The native votes as a citizen and not 
 as a native, and the same is true of the coloured 
 man. Nor is there any substantial foundation to 
 the theory that the dark vote is degrading to can- 
 didates. It is instructive, for it compels candidates 
 and Members of Parliament to acquaint them- 
 selves at first hand with the circumstances and 
 needs of the dark section of the people, but the 
 coloured voter is well qualified to put a just 
 value on the protestations of insincerity, and 
 in actual experience it is found that the dark 
 vote is only degrading to those who cannot be 
 prevented from degrading themselves in any 
 case. 
 
 But the Cape system could not be applied to 
 the whole of South Africa, because in the new 
 colonies there is manhood suffrage for Europeans. 
 It would be impossible to go back on this in the 
 new colonies, and it would be no less impossible to 
 give manhood suffrage to the natives. But in the 
 case of Europeans there is a strong presumption 
 that men are civilised and educated, whereas in 
 the case of natives there is not. It would there-
 
 216 THE NEW NATION 
 
 fore seem that there might well be special qualifica- 
 tions for natives, with manhood suffrage for 
 Europeans. In the former case it might be well 
 to insist on a more searching educational test than 
 is applied at the Cape at present. If this policy 
 could be carried out all over South Africa there 
 would be good reason for satisfaction. But for 
 many years to come it may be wisest to leave 
 matters as they are. 
 
 There are two general remarks which apply to 
 the whole field of the native question. Wise 
 native policy will in the first place study the 
 interests of the people rather than the chiefs ; and 
 in the second, differentiate in favour of civilised 
 and educated natives. The downfall of Dingaan 
 was at least as great a blessing to the natives as to 
 the Europeans. There is no good' reason for 
 supporting the red, or uncivilised, Kafir who 
 objects to native education because it teaches girls 
 to choose their own husbands rather than accept 
 those who can bring additions to their father's 
 herds. Friends of the native will do well to 
 remember that he has had worse enemies than 
 the white man. As regards the second point, it is, 
 of course, essential that those who have to deal 
 with the natives should thoroughly understand 
 their customs, and it is no doubt right that native
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 217 
 
 law should be observed and enforced as far as 
 it is compatible with justice. 
 
 But the native ought to be encouraged to rise, 
 and where he does rise he ought to be made to feel 
 that he belongs in some sense to the governing 
 class. To confuse all classes of the natives in one 
 indiscriminate phrase is neither wise nor accurate. 
 Thirty years ago the Natal Government insisted 
 on this principle. It was the inspiration of Mr 
 Hofmeyr's Act, which exempted registered voters 
 from all special laws affecting natives. Beyond 
 this it is impossible to go, for this is the culmina- 
 tion of sound native policy, which will give the 
 native special protection as long as he needs it, but 
 will aim at so developing his powers that in the 
 future he will be able to protect himself, and will 
 offer him the full privileges of citizenship when 
 he attains the full qualifications which citizenship 
 presupposes. 
 
 It may be said that in these pages, too, little 
 attention has been paid to the coloured people as 
 distinct from the natives. But the principles 
 which apply to the one apply to the other also. 
 The coloured people are at present on the whole 
 the intellectual aristocracy of the dark-skinned 
 population, and as a matter of fact little differenti- 
 ation is made between them and educated natives.
 
 218 THE NEW NATION 
 
 In both cases the policy of protection first assists 
 and then wars against the policy of development, 
 and both, but especially the latter, conflict with 
 policies which disregard natives' rights altogether. 
 It would be unwise to give the coloured people as 
 such a separate legal status. It is imprudent to 
 refuse full citizenship to civilised and educated 
 men, whatever their colour. 
 
 What the ultimate relation between white and 
 black will be in South Africa it is impossible to 
 conjecture. Racial amalgamation is repugnant to 
 the instincts of the best men of unmixed blood on 
 both sides of the colour barrier. Social equality 
 cannot be thought of, at any rate as long as the 
 mass of the dark population is uncivilised. But 
 wise men will not repine because they cannot 
 foresee the solution of problems which belong to 
 the future. It is enough to know that if a policy 
 at once liberal and cautious is definitely adopted 
 and steadily pursued, the dark-skinned people will 
 become an increasingly valuable section of the 
 nation ; and, as they advance, their economic de- 
 velopment in particular cannot fail to react upon 
 the Europeans, who will be compelled to bestir 
 themselves when the upper division of the labour 
 market is invaded by the Kafir artisan. The 
 native's prospect is assured, and it is plain that he
 
 THE COLOURED RACES 219 
 
 can afford to wait. Agitation on his part at the 
 present time would but create alarm and hinder 
 its own purpose. The path of the white South 
 African is less clear, but some parts of it are 
 already visible. He cannot see far into the future, 
 but he knows that his people's reputation in the 
 world depends on the handling of the native 
 question ; he knows that the development of the 
 natives can not be stopped ; and he knows that in 
 the past he has always prospered' most when he has 
 adhered most faithfully to the path of moderation.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE WEALTH OF THE NATION 
 
 " AFTER all," wrote an eminent British Minister to 
 a gentleman who had been offered the governor- 
 ship of the Cape, but had lost the appointment 
 in consequence of a change of Government, 
 "was it worth your while to worry yourself with 
 Dutchmen and Kafirs ? " 
 
 It is now apparent that Dutchmen and Kafirs 
 are well worth worrying about, and that there are 
 other great elements in the population which is the 
 real wealth of the South African nation. The 
 character of the various sections of the people has 
 been already described. The present chapter will 
 be devoted to an examination of three practical 
 questions connected with the well-being of the 
 people the rescue of the poor whites (the sub- 
 merged tenth of white South Africa), education 
 and immigration.
 
 WEALTH OF THE NATION 221 
 
 The problem of the submerged tenth, distressing 
 in any country, is doubly distressing in a country 
 where the whites form a natural aristocracy. So 
 low have some of the whites of South Africa fallen 
 that on one occasion Mr. Hofmeyr, speaking to 
 an audience of coloured people, warned them that 
 if a wrong decision were taken in regard to one of 
 the questions of the day they might sink to the 
 level of the poor white. The question has been 
 investigated by Commissions in the Transvaal and 
 the Orange River Colony, and by Select Com- 
 mittees of both Houses of Parliament at the Cape, 
 one of which was presided over by the Chief 
 Justice. 
 
 The poor white is the European who is 
 permanently incapable of maintaining for himself 
 and his family a standard of living which can be 
 regarded as decent for white people. Life can be 
 sustained in the genial climate of South Africa 
 with far less trouble than is required to provide 
 the barest necessaries in Northern Europe. 
 In some parts of South Africa healthy natives 
 are to be found living in huts which cost at most 
 only a few days' labour to construct, sparsely 
 clothed, if clothed at all, and subsisting for a con- 
 siderable part of the year almost entirely on the 
 fruit of the prickly pear. There are also white
 
 222 THE NEW NATION 
 
 people who approach too nearly to this style of 
 living. It may be said that some of the greatest 
 souls in the history of the world have been those 
 of hermits who have done much the same. But the 
 poor white is not a hermit ; he is not actuated by 
 commanding ideas ; he is devoid of aspiration ; 
 indeed it is agreed that his malady is even more 
 moral than economic, and that the most disheart- 
 ening characteristic he has is his careless 
 contentment. 
 
 In the towns there is now a good deal of distress. 
 There is the urban as well as the rural poor white, 
 and as living in the towns is not so easy as in the 
 country the condition of the urban poor white is 
 thoroughly miserable. The distinctive problem of 
 unemployment has also made its appearance in 
 South Africa, and that alone is sufficiently perplex- 
 ing. Relief works hardly touch the surface of the 
 disease, for which indeed no effective remedy has 
 yet been discovered. Something may perhaps be 
 done by the forestry department, for there is no 
 country where afforestation promises more than in 
 South Africa, nor is there any work which is better 
 fitted to provide against the chronic evils of 
 unemployment. But the sovereign remedy in 
 South Africa would be some medicine which would 
 make farm labourers of those of the unemployed
 
 WEALTH OF THE NATION 223 
 
 who have no real prospect of finding regular work 
 in the towns, and such a medicine has not yet been 
 discovered either in South Africa or elsewhere. 
 
 It is not, however, impossible that prolonged 
 and patient insistence may produce among the 
 people a temper more favourable to rural occupa- 
 tions. If this can be done there need be no 
 insuperable difficulty in the way of devising an 
 adequate organisation for bringing the superfluous 
 labour into touch with the crying necessity of the 
 farmers. Organised labour bureaus might then 
 suffice to deal with the greater part of the unem- 
 ployment which is merely occasional, and for the 
 rest labour colonies on the German plan, possibly 
 under the control of the great municipalities, might 
 prove an effective remedy. 
 
 The poor white who can be dealt with in any of 
 these ways is not the worst case. Probably there 
 are a good many who might emerge from their low 
 condition if they could be transported to places 
 where their services would be welcome on the 
 land. Suitable work may be found for others in 
 the mines. But for the poor white who lacks not 
 only the opportunity but also the spirit of work, 
 nothing but a more drastic remedy is possible. 
 The Dutch Reformed Church has worked wonders 
 with some of these unfortunate people, whom it
 
 224 THE NEW NATION 
 
 has drafted to its labour Colony of Kakamas, on 
 the Orange River, far away from the entangle- 
 ments of large towns. In this colony the strictest 
 discipline is enforced ; the lessons of simple but 
 efficient agricultural methods are inculcated ; 
 invigorating moral influences are brought to bear, 
 and in one way or another thoughtless and 
 improvident and listless people, without hope and 
 without even despair, have been gradually trans- 
 formed into vigorous men and women. But these 
 miracles are few in number, and they cannot be 
 effected except under conditions to which many 
 will not submit. The only real hope of rescuing 
 the poor white as a class lies in the children. If 
 these can be removed from the benumbing 
 influence of their homes, and provided for in suit- 
 able schools, and especially industrial schools, the 
 spectre of congenital destitution may be exorcised, 
 and the poor whites of South Africa cease to exist. 
 It is not only in connection with the poor whites 
 that education surpasses every other national 
 agency in the force of its influence. Indeed the 
 schoolmaster is by far the most important 
 personage in South Africa. On the whole the 
 machinery of South African education may be said 
 to be efficient, but great improvements are very 
 generally demanded, not so much in the system of
 
 WEALTH OF THE NATION 225 
 
 educational organisation, as in the character and 
 spirit of the training itself. Respect for education 
 is widely diffused in South Africa, and we have 
 already seen that the war has deepened it by 
 securing for its object the authoritative testimony 
 of the most decisive experience. These facts are, 
 of course, redoubtable auxiliaries to the cause of 
 education. 
 
 Nor do they stand alone. In the Cape Colony 
 the Dutch Reformed Church has always supported 
 the state system of schools, and in the Transvaal 
 General Smuts had no great difficulty in inducing 
 the ministers of the Church to acquiesce when he 
 decided to withold financial aid from Church 
 Schools. Unfortunately considerable discontent 
 has recently sprung up at the Cape, and the Dutch 
 Teachers' Association has declared in favour of 
 Church Schools. But hitherto the state has been 
 able to rely on the co-operation of the Dutch 
 Church, and while the Roman Catholics, and in 
 some instances the Anglicans, tend to hold aloof, 
 the other Christian Churches are convinced allies 
 of the state system. On the whole, therefore, the 
 nation is fortunate in having the churches with it 
 in this great undertaking, so often elsewhere the 
 occasion of conflict between church and state. 
 
 In form there is a general resemblance between 
 
 R
 
 226 THE NEW NATION 
 
 the school systems of the Cape and the two new 
 colonies, where the example of the Cape was very 
 generally followed in the re-organisation after the 
 war. For some forty years the schools in the 
 Cape Colony were managed 1 , under the general 
 control of the central government, by local 
 committees elected by persons who undertook to 
 defray, if necessary, part of the expenses. On the 
 whole this system worked well, but, apart from the 
 theoretical objection that it imposed local financial 
 burdens on a few volunteers instead of on the 
 whole community, it was deficient in two ways : 
 it made no provision either for starting new schools, 
 or for co-ordinating education. Accordingly in 
 1905 a system of school boards was established, 
 each board having the control over a whole 
 district. School rates took the place of voluntary 
 subscriptions, and though the committees remain 
 they have been shorn of most of their authority. 
 
 This scheme remedies the defects of its prede- 
 cessor, but the school boards are not in personal 
 touch with the people of the country districts as 
 the old' committees were, and the result is that the 
 new scheme has gone far to alienate the sympathy 
 of the rural population as a whole. Moreover, 
 except in the large towns, it has proved expensive 
 and cumbrous. It would not, however, appear to
 
 WEALTH OF THE NATION 227 
 
 "be impossible to devise a scheme which, while 
 correcting the faults of the old system, will avoid 
 those of the new without contributing fresh ones 
 of its own. If so, it might very well apply to each 
 of the three large colonies. 
 
 In Natal there is a system of state-aided 
 voluntary schools, and to bring about an adjust- 
 ment between this system and that of the rest of 
 South Africa would, no doubt, require considerable 
 delicacy of touch. It would be a calamity if the 
 national system of education were regarded as 
 alien and antipathetic by any considerable section 
 of the people in any part of the country; and it 
 would be a calamity in which the Government 
 responsible for it could 1 expect little pity, for it 
 would follow on the creation of discord where all 
 the elements of harmony are present and only 
 .await the summons of a discreet composer. 
 
 The question of compulsory and free education 
 is in South Africa mainly one of finance. As far 
 as European children are concerned, the country 
 is ready for cumpulsory education, although, of 
 course, it cannot be applied where schools are 
 leagues apart from each other. But at the Cape 
 there is not accommodation for all the children 
 within reach of the schools, and although the 
 number of white children who grow up without
 
 228 THE NEW NATION 
 
 any education is extremely small, the provision of 
 the funds requisite to remedy this defect will be 
 difficult as long as the finances of the country are 
 embarrassed. All over South Africa the Dutch 
 Church applies an ingenious but effective compul- 
 sion of its own, by declining either to admit to 
 confirmation (anneming) young people who can- 
 not read and write, or to marry those who have not 
 been confirmed. Nevertheless, there is still too 
 much semi-illiteracy in the country. It is now 
 some years since compulsory education for boys 
 was enforced by the Emperor Menelik, and it is 
 hardly fitting that South Africa should lag behind 
 Abyssinia. 
 
 A system of free education is usually the 
 corollary of compulsion. It already exists in the 
 Transvaal, and in the Cape provision is made for 
 lowering or remitting fees in the interest of neces- 
 sitous parents. This naturally gives rise to 
 jealousies and discontent, and it is not improbable 
 that when next prosperity visits South Africa it 
 will bring with it universal free and compulsory 
 education. It would, however, be difficult to 
 confine this to European children, and it is possible 
 that this consideration will delay progress on the 
 lines which naturally suggest themselves in 
 countries not embarrassed by this protean compli-
 
 WEALTH OF THE NATION 229 
 
 cation. Still, if native education is reformed, and 
 if a fair share of the cost is paid by the natives 
 themselves, it may be that within the life-time of 
 the children of to-day a system providing suitable 
 education for all classes, compelling attendance 
 and dispensing with school fees, may be cheerfully 
 accepted in the interests not of any particular 
 section but of the whole nation, whose main hope 
 lies in the effective training of all classes of the 
 people for their work in life. 
 
 But a system of this kind, however cunningly 
 devised, is of no value unless it is made the engine, 
 not of a formal pedagogic tradition, but of a living 
 national purpose. Enormous progress has 
 already been made, and an immense amount of 
 good work is now being done in the schools, 
 especially, perhaps, the girls' schools, of South 
 Africa. 
 
 It is no disparagement of this work, but rather a 
 recognition of its distinctive excellence, to require 
 of South African education definite and conscious 
 conformity with the national will, which demands 
 that the schools of the country shall so influence 
 its children as to give them a spirit of ardent 
 patriotism, reverence, an appreciation of high 
 things, a practical bent, and an adequate equip- 
 ment of knowledge, not indeed to carry them
 
 230 THE NEW NATION 
 
 through life, but to take them past the gates of the 
 fuller knowledge which they will subsequently 
 need, and must know how to acquire as the need 
 arises. If at the present time there is a certain 
 discontent with the work of the schools, this is 
 mainly due to the feeling that they do too little to 
 imbue South Africans with a love of their own 
 country, and with that peculiar desire and instinct 
 for understanding it, which come of affection 
 More than once since the failure of De Mist's great 
 education ordinance in 1 804 education has suffered 
 because it has not satisfied the religious and ideal- 
 istic sense of the people. No doubt, these essen- 
 tial elements patriotism, reverence, apprecia- 
 tion of high things are more in the spirit and 
 atmosphere than in the curriculum of a school, and 
 more in the personality of the teacher than in the 
 syllabus or scheme of study ; but this only means 
 that they are the most important part of the whole 
 system, for is not the life more than meat and the 
 body than raiment ? 
 
 Keeping these principles in view, we cannot 
 fail to reach three conclusions. First, considering" 
 the depth of the passion with which half the people 
 of South Africa are attached to the Dutch 
 language, and the vital connection which there is 
 in their understanding between their language
 
 WEALTH OF THE NATION 231 
 
 and their patriotism, the schools cannot answer 
 the national purpose unless they impart to all the 
 children, whether the Dutch language is their 
 mother tongue or not, a quick appreciation of its 
 virtues. The same is true of the English language, 
 and must, if necessary, be no less insisted upon. 
 Secondly, considering the supreme importance of 
 the teacher's personality, it must be given free 
 scope, and not be crushed by the dull machinery 
 of examinations and of what is known as individual 
 inspection an uninteresting survival, now almost 
 peculiar to South Africa, which turns school 
 inspectors into itinerant examiners, compelled to 
 assess the work of a year by half a dozen questions 
 and answers. Thirdly, for the same reasons, South 
 Africa must redouble its efforts to train teachers 
 to meet its needs, and must devote special atten- 
 tion to the production of teachers capable of 
 carrying out the purpose of the nation in the lonely 
 homes scattered about the great expanses of terri- 
 tories like Namaqualand and Zoutpansberg. 
 And having produced its teachers it must see to it 
 that the conditions of their work are such as to 
 retain them in its service. 
 
 South Africa is feeling the truth of Cardinal 
 Richelieu's doctrine that in a well ordered state 
 there are more teachers of mechanical than of
 
 232 THE NEW NATION 
 
 liberal arts. Every subject must indeed be 
 quickened and lighted up by being made the 
 vehicle of a high national will. But more children 
 must find the opportunity of furthering that will in 
 agricultural and industrial work than in the pro- 
 fessions. There is a vigorous demand for the 
 teaching of elementary agriculture in the schools ; 
 commercial education is putting forward its claims, 
 and the training of mechanics has begun. The 
 University has undertaken to give School Leaving 
 Certificates to children with a general education 
 supplemented by special knowledge of subjects 
 directly connected with the work of life, and out- 
 side the ordinary schools more has been done on 
 these lines than in them. 
 
 Schemes of agricultural education have been 
 propounded, aiming at the diffusion of an 
 elementary knowledge of agricultural science and 
 economics among the rural population, and the 
 training of expert farmers and of such specialists in 
 agricultural science as the country needs. White 
 men are being trained for work in the mines, and 
 the chiefs of the mining industry are beginning to 
 recognise the advantage of making the most of the 
 local supply. The enterprise and devotion of 
 Miss Hobhouse have created schools for spinning 
 and weaving all over the country, and in the
 
 WEALTH OF THE NATION 233 
 
 Transvaal a school has been established for the 
 training of diamond-cutters. In the Cape 
 Colony the school boards were last year em- 
 powered to organise industrial schools. There 
 are technical schools organised by the railway 
 authorities. 
 
 All these things need co-ordination and 
 encouragement. If South Africa recognises the 
 power of education, formulates her ideas, and 
 insists on their realisation through the schools, then 
 there is no reason why its people should not be in 
 the future more patriotic, more aspiring, more 
 cultured, and more efficient than any people the 
 world has yet known ; and the common pursuit of 
 these high ends cannot fail to draw together the 
 different sections of the people and weld them into 
 an indissoluble union of heart and spirit and 
 endeavour. 
 
 The inspiration of this great work ought 
 naturally to come from the University. In 
 theory this is already a national institution, but it is 
 itself the chief authority for the statement that it 
 needs reform. It co-ordinates and tests the work 
 of the colleges and the chief schools of the country, 
 and has performed this duty with discretion and 
 justice. But it is not sufficiently alive to the 
 dominant nationalism of the time and is too often
 
 234 THE NEW NATION 
 
 a reluctant follower rather than a confident leader. 
 The different colleges which do the work of 
 University teaching are hindered by lack of 
 resources, and by the absence of national 
 co-operation. The result is that, while in the 
 teaching of many subjects there is a lavish 
 reduplication of staff, there is no medical school, 
 no school of economic and political science, and no 
 real law school. Fortunately University educa- 
 tion is to be in the hands of the National 
 Parliament, which will certainly know how to 
 mould it into symmetry with its national designs 
 and make it, as it should be, a powerful agent in 
 advancing them. 
 
 If the system of South African education is 
 made effective it will produce in due course the 
 national vigour and compactness which South 
 Africans have long desired. Immigration will 
 then assume an aspect which it has not always worn 
 in South Africa. It will mean not the introduction 
 of fresh feuds consequent upon the contempt of 
 immigrants for national traditions and characteris- 
 tics which float and conflict in the air, but the 
 accession of new auxiliaries in the work of the 
 country, willing not indeed to abandon their own 
 characteristics, but to be suffused in the influences 
 which have made South Africa a nation,
 
 WEALTH OF THE NATION 235 
 
 contributing something themselves and receiving 
 no less in return. 
 
 For many years the people of South Africa did 
 their utmost to stimulate immigration into their 
 country. Sir George Grey, in his speech at the 
 opening of the Cape Parliament in 1856, preached 
 the policy of immigration, and declared that in his 
 opinion South Africa offered immigrants as many 
 advantages as Australia. Large numbers of 
 juvenile immigrants were introduced for work on 
 the farms, and some of them prospered exceed- 
 ingly. Between 1873 and 1884 nearly 24,000 
 immigrants came to the Cape with the help 
 of Government funds, and for a long time 
 there was an Immigration Office working 
 on behalf of the Cape in England. At the 
 present moment the Chartered Company is making 
 a great and laudable effort to attract settlers to 
 Rhodesia. All this is quite apart from the earlier 
 efforts of the Imperial Government in the same 
 direction. 
 
 Undoubtedly South Africa is not without a 
 proper fastidiousness in these matters. The Cape 
 refused to accept convicts sixty years ago, and has 
 heard with gratitude of the recent decision of the 
 Imperial Government to warn British Magistrates 
 against the practice of remitting sentences on con-
 
 236 THE NEW NATION 
 
 dition that the prisoners concerned emigrate to 
 one of the colonies. Nor is immigration possible 
 when the country is staggering under accumulated 
 financial disasters, and therefore in 1906 Dr. 
 Jameson, then Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, 
 warned English people against emigrating to the 
 Cape. Much is also to be said for the view of the 
 labour party, which desires to exclude men brought 
 in on a contract of service at a rate of pay lower 
 than that current in the colony. It was with a view 
 to considerations of this kind that clauses 
 applicable to Europeans were included in recent 
 South African Immigration Acts. 
 
 But although South Africa is not prepared to 
 welcome immigrants who come in a hostile spirit, 
 or who would be likely to add to the embarrass- 
 ments of the country rather than to its strength, 
 it will open its arms to immigrants who come as 
 settlers, and who are qualified to make their way. 
 Even at the present time young Englishmen with 
 a little capital can without difficulty find a career 
 waiting for them on the land 1 in South Africa, on 
 condition that they are prepared to learn the 
 business of farming before they begin to farm on 
 their own account, and that they will take the 
 trouble to learn to appreciate the country and 
 people before they buy any land or stock. Nor
 
 WEALTH OF THE NATION 237 
 
 would it be easy to find a more useful or a more 
 hopeful career in any other part of the world. It 
 is also possible that juvenile immigration may once 
 more do much to supply the farmer's demand for 
 labour. With tact and patience an immense 
 amount of good might be done in this way. For 
 some time to come the country will need to 
 import a good many teachers, journalists and 
 engineers. 
 
 Finally, as industries develop in South Africa 
 a stream of immigrants will, no doubt, be attracted. 
 In all these cases, if the immigrants come to make 
 a home in South Africa they will find it a hospitable 
 land, and everyone who settles, and is numbered 
 among the friends of the people is smoothing the 
 path of those who come after. Already General 
 Hertzog has said that settlers on the land will be 
 welcome unless they are made a charge on the 
 depleted Treasury. In Canada, as in the United 
 States, men of every European race are swelling 
 the population, and adding to the . country's 
 resources. If they sometimes introduce into the 
 new world the disputes of the old, they generally 
 tend before long to forget the preoccupations of 
 the old world in the engrossing interests of the 
 new. It may be that the turn of South Africa is 
 yet to come, and that a century hence it will be
 
 238 THE NEW NATION 
 
 thickly peopled by a race drawn from many lands, 
 but all South Africans, owning true allegiance to 
 their new home, and indissolubly blended into the 
 Avealth of the nation.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 
 
 IT would save much trouble if impatient politicians 
 could remember that it is not possible to make 
 the present resemble the future, and contumacious 
 politicians that it is not possible to bind the future 
 to resemble the present. 
 
 There are South Africans who cannot rest 
 because their country at present contains no Man- 
 chester or Leeds. There are others who make 
 themselves uneasy for fear that great industries 
 may one day spring up in South Africa and change 
 the character and spirit of its society. The first 
 are set upon forcing energy into unnatural chan- 
 nels ; the other on hindering its natural overflow. 
 Neither obey the first principle of sound policy, 
 which is to ascertain the natural capabilities of the 
 country and exhaust all means of developing them. 
 Throughout the Old World there has been an
 
 2 4 o THE NEW NATION 
 
 industrial revolution. The causes which have 
 produced it must in course of time produce its 
 counterpart in South Africa, but at present they 
 are not operative there, nor is there any likelihood 
 that they will be felt in the near future. 
 
 It must also be remembered that there are not 
 wanting signs of a coming counter-revolution 
 which will eventually fill up once more the depleted 
 rural population of old countries. For instance, 
 some years ago Mr. James J. Hill, one of the chief 
 railway financiers of the United States, raised 
 afresh the cry, " Back to the Land," showing that 
 the world is threatened with a shortage of wheat, 
 if that can be called a threat which promises to 
 force people back into the country. Clearly the 
 growth of industry cannot go on indefinitely with- 
 out a continued growth in the output of raw 
 materials, and if far-seeing men are beginning to 
 cry, " Back to the Land," it is because there is a 
 prospective shortage of wheat, of wool, of timber, 
 and, indeed, of all those things which a new country 
 is especially well qualified to produce. 
 
 If South Africa should think of artificially 
 diverting energy from the primal industries of 
 mining and farming to the secondary industries of 
 manufacture, she would surely be very ill-advised. 
 Industrialism is bound to come in due course
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 241 
 
 in South Africa as the population increases, and 
 meanwhile there are some simple industrial arts 
 which naturally spring up in the wake of the 
 farmer and the miner ; but for the present, and for 
 many years to come, South Africa must be in the 
 main a country of farms and mines, and the more 
 she devotes herself to the work for which her 
 circumstances suit her, the faster will be her 
 development along the only road which leads to 
 a healthy industrialism. 
 
 Agricultural progress is not easy to measure. 
 Diffused over great spaces, it often eludes the 
 careless eye. But it cannot be doubted that 
 immense progress is being made by agriculture 
 in South Africa. Farms are being subdivided and 
 fenced ; innumerable small irrigation works are 
 being constructed ; rivers are being dammed ; 
 stock is multiplying, and increasing care is being 
 taken in the selection of stud animals ; hundreds 
 of fruit trees are being planted annually ; the acre- 
 age of land under the plough is growing, and 
 payable crops are taking the place of unpayable ; 
 co-operative methods are slowly coming into 
 operation ; machinery is everywhere in evidence ; 
 more efficiency is being displayed throughout ; and 
 science is gradually establishing its claim to the 
 confidence of the farmer. 
 
 s
 
 242 THE NEW NATION 
 
 The result is that in several parts of the country, 
 and especially near the coast and wherever the 
 rainfall is fairly steady, cultivation is more intense, 
 and population less sparse, than it was a few years 
 back. New agricultural settlements are now to 
 be found where a little time ago there were lonely 
 farms, though sometimes, to be sure, the new 
 hamlets have old names. For instance, there is 
 in the district of Uitenhage a farm which, until 
 within a year or two ago from now, bore the name 
 of Rietfontein. Past it flows the Sunday River, 
 and its owner, Mr. Ferreira, is a man of enterprise 
 and courage. Quietly and without any stir he 
 brought together a few friends, who formed with 
 him a little syndicate, and raised the capital neces- 
 sary for taking water out of the river in a canal 
 and using it on the land. Now the place seems to 
 have an assured prospect. After much consulta- 
 tion it has been called Selborne, and so a quiet 
 English village has through the present High 
 Commissioner passed on its ancient and melodious 
 name to a district never dreamed of by Gilbert 
 White. 
 
 But Selborne is not alone. A few miles above 
 it is the Jesuit Mission settlement of Dunbrody, 
 and above that again the flourishing agricultural 
 township of Bayville, formed on the scheme of a
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 243 
 
 Mr. Kirkwood, a far-seeing and large-hearted 
 merchant of Port Elizabeth. All this has been 
 done in a few years, and has attracted little general 
 attention. But it is part of a movement which is 
 going forward by insensible steps all over the 
 country, and transforming the waste into a garden. 
 
 The two farming industries which are most 
 uncertain about their future in South Africa are 
 those concerned with corn and wine. Excellent 
 wheat is grown, but the supply is little more 
 regular than the rainfall, and hitherto no satisfac- 
 tory antidote to rust has been found. Much of the 
 test corn country, too, is in the native reserves 
 and is largely wasted. It is not improbable that 
 the difficulties in the way of the corn farmer may 
 eventually be overcome, but at present it would 
 seem premature to assert that South Africa will 
 be able in the near future to meet its own de- 
 mand for bread. The production of maize and 
 lucerne is, however, almost sure to increase 
 largely, and already there is a surplus of oats for 
 export. 
 
 With wine the case is different. Speaking of 
 the Western Province of the Cape Colony in 1876 
 Froude said : " There are the vineyards which 
 produce the Cape wine, palatable and even excel- 
 lent in the cellars of the growers, and only
 
 244 THE NEW NATION 
 
 execrable when it has been adulterated for the 
 foreign market." Three or four years ago Dr. 
 Jameson sent some white wine from the Cape to 
 Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada. It 
 was christened Cape Hock, and is said to have 
 been much praised at the vice-regal table. 
 
 There can be no doubt that there is in South 
 Africa an ample supply of good wine. But the 
 market for wine in South Africa itself is narrow, 
 and there seems to be no great prospect of any 
 considerable export trade, and therefore there is a 
 serious over-production of wine, and unless the 
 market can in some way be enlarged it will be 
 necessary to restrict the production. 
 
 The prospects of the fruit-growers are far 
 brighter. The consumption of wine is decreasing 
 in the world; that of fruit is increasing. The 
 Argentine is likely to prove a formidable competi- 
 tor ; otherwise South Africa is in an advantageous 
 position compared with any other country for 
 supplying Europe with fruit during the winter, 
 and although the consumption of fruit in winter 
 is, no doubt, less than in summer, it is very large,, 
 and is constantly growing. South Africa is 
 rapidly extending its orchards. It remains to be 
 seen whether the peach can be produced cheaply 
 enough to become part of the people's food in.
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 245 
 
 Europe, but apart from the supply of choice fruit 
 for the few, there is every reason to hope that a 
 generation hence South Africa may be supplying 
 the masses in Europe with very large quantities 
 of fresh apples, pears, oranges, lemons, plums, 
 grapes, raisins, prunes, and perhaps bananas, as 
 well as dried and canned fruit. South African 
 tobacco, too, has a flavour compared with which, to 
 a palate once accustomed to it, all other tobacco 
 seems flat and stale. Good cigarette tobacco has 
 been grown in several districts. It is less easy to 
 speak with confidence of the sugar and tea planta- 
 tions of Natal, as these depend very largely on 
 protective customs duties. There seems little 
 likelihood that these industries will swell the 
 export trade of the country, and an industry which 
 depends entirely on a protected home market in 
 South Africa is not in a sound condition. 
 
 Since the war the flocks and herd's of South 
 Africa have not only driven imported meat almost 
 entirely out of the market, but have increased 
 prodigiously at the same time. In a very little 
 while cold storage meat is likely to be unknown to 
 South Africa. At present little is done in the way 
 of producing ham and bacon, but it is impossible 
 to believe that this can long continue, and on the 
 other hand South African meat has begun to
 
 246 THE NEW NATION 
 
 insinuate itself, though rather shyly, into the 
 English Market. Great progress has been made 
 in building simple but effective dams, so that 
 drought is far less destructive than it was. 
 Altogether South Africa is already in a fair way 
 towards becoming a great producer of meat. 
 
 A beginning, not much happier, but also not 
 much unhappier, than similar beginnings in othei 
 countries, has been made with co-operative 
 dairies, and it is certain that there has been a great 
 improvement in the quality as well as the number 
 of the milch-cows. If cattle diseases can be 
 checked, as seems probable, the day when South 
 Africa will produce large quantities of milk, cream, 
 butter and cheese cannot be far off. 
 
 It has been noticed in Yorkshire that South 
 African wool has recently been better than it used 
 to be. Increased attention is being paid to mohair, 
 and in both cases the output is increasing fast. 
 There is good reason to believe that the world will 
 depend increasingly on South Africa for its sup- 
 plies of both. Hides and skins are also better in 
 appearance than they were. As more lucerne is 
 grown, the production of ostrich-feathers becomes 
 more and more lucrative, and here, too, a large, 
 expansive, and permanent market is open. South 
 African horse-breeders have not yet recovered
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 247 
 
 from the appalling losses which they suffered 
 during the war, but a great deal of lee way has been 
 made up already, and it is not unlikely that the day 
 will before long dawn when South Africa will once 
 more supply remounts to the Army in India. 
 Altogether the prospects of the pastoral industry 
 are clear. Its potential wealth is enormous. It is 
 said that one ostrich-farmer alone has an income of 
 ,20,000 a year, but on the whole the pastoral 
 wealth of the country is very widely diffused, and 
 this is one of the facts which make this industry 
 so precious an asset to the nation. 
 
 The planting and preservation of forests natur- 
 ally belong to the Government, for the whole 
 community is concerned in their welfare, and the 
 yield on the capital invested in them is so long 
 deferred that few individuals have sufficient 
 patience, patriotism, or resources to undertake the 
 work. President Roosevelt has said that the 
 United States are now within measurable distance 
 of a timber famine. Certainly the forests of South 
 Africa are quite inadequate for her needs. But 
 many parts of the country are eminently suitable 
 for afforestation, and for many years the subject 
 has engaged the attention of public men. A good 
 deal has been done already. For instance, several 
 of the slopes of Table Mountain are now covered
 
 248 THE NEW NATION 
 
 with trees. If the financial difficulties of the 
 country can be surmounted, afforestation may 
 become an important part of national policy, and 
 there seems to be no reason why in days to come 
 the forests of South Africa should not be sufficient 
 to supply the country with its timber, and help to 
 feed the markets of the world. 
 
 These vast developments are not a mere matter 
 of conjecture. They are already within sight. 
 But they can be expedited by wisdom or retarded 
 by folly. There are two alternative policies 
 between which the Government will have to choose 
 one a policy of mere protection, the other a 
 policy of development, including a certain amount 
 of protection at first. 
 
 Let us look at the dispute in some detail. Much 
 controversy has long raged round the question 
 whether Government should, or should not, offer 
 financial rewards for the destruction of jackals and 
 baboons. It must be remembered that carnivor- 
 ous animals inflict prodigious loss on the whole 
 country. They often breed on Crown lands or in 
 districts where there is little stock, and from these 
 they spread over the country and prey upon the 
 flocks of pastoralists. Not only do they kill enor- 
 mous numbers of lambs and kids, and even full 
 grown sheep and goats, but they make it necessary
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 249 
 
 to drive the stock every night into shelters or 
 kraals, and 1 this means first that the eradication of 
 scab is almost impossible, and secondly that every 
 stock farm is scored over by sheep tracks, which 
 the torrential rains make into water-courses, carry- 
 ing away the rain-water, instead of allowing it to 
 soak into the ground, and with the rain-water large 
 quantities of valuable soil. The evil and danger 
 of this have long been recognised. Much may be 
 done by care in stopping sluits, ,and preventing 
 them from becoming channels. But it will be 
 hard to put a stop to this evil until the jackals are 
 destroyed, and the stock are able to spend the 
 nights on the veld. 
 
 Considering all this, it is not difficult to make 
 out a strong case for the payment of rewards for 
 the destruction of vermin. As a rule these rewards 
 are claimed by very poor men, some white and 
 some dark, who are glad to devote themselves to 
 this work for weeks together. The farmer can 
 seldom spare time for it, and when he does he does 
 not always claim the rewards, still less keep them 
 for himself. But the Cape Government has now 
 put a stop to this system, and it is hardly likely to 
 be revived. It seems to follow, however, that the 
 different governments are bound at least to clear 
 their own lands of vermin, and not to continue
 
 250 THE NEW NATION 
 
 breeding jackals to the detriment of their neigh- 
 bours. 
 
 Another more or less questionable piece of 
 protection is the sale of guano from the islands 
 to farmers at a price which pays the cost of main- 
 taining the necessary establishments on the islands, 
 but is considerably lower than the market price. 
 More serious is the differentiation in railway rates, 
 which means that a lower rate is charged for South 
 African than for imported products, and the 
 charging of specially low rates for farmers' 
 requisites, and especially for materials needed' in 
 the construction of irrigation works. The differ- 
 ential rates are, of course, part of the general 
 policy of protection in the strict economic sense, 
 but -they are particularly objectionable, as the 
 burden of them falls exclusively on the up-qountry 
 consumer, the consumer in the coast-towns not 
 being affected. 
 
 It ought, therefore, to be agreed that, where 
 protection is judged necessary, it should be given 
 through the customs and not through railway rates, 
 and this doctrine is now very generally accepted. 
 The carrying of farmers' requisites at especially 
 low rates is evidently a matter to be decided on 
 ordinary business principles. If low rates 
 encourage traffic they are an advantage to the
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 251 
 
 railways as well as the farmers ; if not, it is clear 
 that they are doing no good. As usual, the proper 
 rate to be charged is the highest that the traffic will 
 bear. 
 
 For some time to come protection through the 
 customs will be insisted 1 on. It is justified mainly 
 by the war. The wholesale destruction of agri- 
 cultural capital was clearly an interference with 
 the orderly working out of economic principles, 
 and a corresponding interference is necessary to 
 restore the balance. However, the considerations 
 advanced in a previous chapter suggest that the 
 cause of protection is likely to lose ground, and 
 even if it is maintained in theory it will not be 
 operative if agriculture prospers as there is reason 
 to hope that it will. No import duty affects an 
 exporting industry at ordinary times, and in fact 
 protection is for the weak and not for the strong. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain's proposal to protect colonial 
 products in the English market hardly affects 
 South Africa. No preference can be given on 
 gold or diamonds or ostrich feathers. If duties 
 are imposed on wool, or meat, or fruit, or timber, 
 or maize, it is difficult to believe that they could 
 long be maintained 1 or that history could be re- 
 strained from repeating itself in this matter. The 
 only agricultural industries in South Africa to
 
 252 THE NEW NATION 
 
 which this policy offers any hope are tobacco and 
 wine farming. The former is still in its infancy ; 
 the latter is decaying not only in South Africa, but 
 all over the world. More than once in the days 
 when the United Kingdom did give preference to 
 colonial wine there was great depression and dis- 
 tress among the wine-farmers of the Cape, and the 
 industry oscillated between prosperity and men- 
 dicancy without respect to the English duties. 
 
 It is true that several advocates of the wine 
 industry have spoken with approval of the scheme 
 of preference in the English market, and some 
 years ago the Bond Congress declared in favour of 
 it. But in Parliament the vast majority of farmers' 
 representatives have shown themselves hostile to 
 this project, and a dispassionate examination of the 
 facts makes it plain that the Cape wine farmer 
 would have very little to gain by English prefer- 
 ence, even if it could be regarded as permanent. 
 
 It must be remembered that in the course of a 
 single generation, while the population of the 
 United Kingdom has grown from 33,000,000 to 
 44,000,000, the annual consumption of wine has 
 declined from 18,000,000 to 11,000,000 gallons. 
 Even in France a similar movement has begun to 
 manifest itself. Under the circumstances it is 
 surely the dream of a visionary to suppose that a
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 253 
 
 trifling preference will even give the Cape wine- 
 farmer, who has hitherto hardly succeeded in hold- 
 ing his own in the home market, despite enormous 
 protective duties, a foot-hold in the restricted, 
 shrinking and fastidious market of England, for 
 which the whole world competes, and in which he 
 would have to face the competition of neighbouring 
 countries spurred on by ever-increasing over-pro- 
 duction, and enjoying the incomparable advantage 
 of proximity to the market. 
 
 The case of tobacco is different. At present it 
 is too soon to prophesy, but it appears possible 
 that, whether with or without preference, South 
 African tobacco may one day successfully assert 
 its claim to a considerable place in the world's 
 markets, and that preference might do something 
 to assist it. There are, of course, other considera- 
 tions involved in the question of preferential 
 tariffs. Something will be said of these, as far as 
 they affect South Africa, in the last chapter of this 
 book. Meanwhile, looking at the question from a 
 purely economic stand-point and with a desire 
 simply to appreciate the effect which the proposed 
 preference would probably have on the primal 
 industries of South Africa, it is sufficient to say 
 that preference to the English market might 
 benefit the tobacco growers of South Africa but
 
 254 THE NEW NATION 
 
 could not be expected to be of any real advantage 
 to any other section of the South African farmers. 
 It should be added that infinite mischief might 
 result from uncertainty as to the continuance of 
 preference, so that it would be contrary to the 
 economic interests of South Africa to introduce 
 the proposed system unless it were approved not 
 merely by a temporary party majority but by 
 a national conviction common to all who are at 
 all likely to exercise power in the United King- 
 dom. 
 
 A more effective way of artificially protecting the 
 wine-farmer would be to differentiate between 
 South African and imported liquor in the issue of 
 licenses for the sale of strong drink. The 
 Jameson Government at the Cape proposed to 
 cheapen licenses for the sale of South African wine 
 and brandy, but this Bill perished' amidst the out- 
 cries of the temperance party and the tumult which 
 led to the dissolution of Parliament in 1907. The 
 succeeding Government introduced a Bill provid- 
 ing for cheap wine-licenses, and this after being 
 considerably modified was eventually forced 
 through Parliament. 
 
 There would seem to be good reason for hoping 
 that discrimination in favour of wine as opposed 
 to brandy may be an effective temperance reform,
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 255 
 
 and that a policy of this kind may, by securing the 
 South African wine farmer in the possession of the 
 home market, go far to relieve his distress. 
 
 It has been proposed 1 that the Government might 
 assist the farmers by inspecting fruit for export and 
 putting a Government stamp on approved cases 
 or boxes. This has indeed been attempted, and a 
 similar attempt has been made with bark in Natal. 
 In both cases the resulting advantage has been 
 very small. Yet another device for protecting 
 farmers which may be mentioned is the proposal 
 that the local authorities should exercise some 
 control over the ostrich feather buyers, the less 
 considerable of whom move from farm to farm and 
 not infrequently over-reach the simpler farmers. 
 To the same category of legislation belong the 
 recent usury laws, as far as they affect the farmers. 
 
 On the whole all these devices, however neces- 
 sary for a time, are displeasing because they argue 
 weakness or excessive simplicity in those for whose 
 benefit they are devised. It would seem right that 
 the Government should undertake the destruction 
 of carnivorous animals on its own land, and arrange 
 licenses so as to encourage the drinking of wine 
 instead of ardent spirits. Nor is there any great 
 objection to the sale of guano at cost price. But 
 the railways must be run on purely business
 
 256 THE NEW NATION 
 
 principles ; generally speaking, protective customs 
 duties can only be justified as a temporary 
 measure ; the project of preference in England is 
 almost wholly nugatory as far as South Africa is 
 concerned, and the other protective measures 
 mentioned will become superfluous when education 
 has permeated the rural population. 
 
 On the other hand there is a great work for 
 Government to do in the way of clearing the 
 road for agricultural development. One of the 
 first needs of the farmer is a system of easy com- 
 munications. The Government ought not to rest 
 content until it has covered the country with a 
 net-work of railways, roads, and telegraph and 
 telephone lines, and built bridges and established 
 post-offices wherever they are genuinely required. 
 This does not mean that all these conveniences 
 ought to be supplied without regard to cost, but 
 that a deliberate policy should be pursued, and that 
 in following business principles the authorities 
 should take account not only of the present but 
 also of the future. 
 
 Moreover, in the management of the railways 
 special regard must be paid, as the draft constitu- 
 tion directs, to the development of the country, 
 and cold storage vans and similar contrivances 
 must be introduced wherever there is a genuine
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 257 
 
 prospect of their enticing into existence a volume 
 of production which will eventually defray the cost. 
 
 In the same way experiments in boring 
 artesian wells may well be undertaken by the 
 Government. Nor can it be denied that the 
 Government is within its proper province in pro- 
 viding some of the agricultural capital which is 
 required. It must be remembered that conditions 
 in new countries where the farmers own the land 
 are very different from those in older countries 
 where the farmers are merely tenants, and the land 
 is owned by a capitalist class. And therefore loans 
 for irrigation works, for well sinking, for fencing, 
 and for other permanent improvements may well 
 be advanced by Government in new countries, 
 provided, of course, that adequate security is in- 
 sisted upon. 
 
 Perhaps the best plan may be to encourage the 
 establishment of agricultural banks on the 
 Raiffeisen principle, according to which the 
 people in every small area combine to borrow on 
 their joint and several security, undertaking 
 unlimited liability, and managing the issue of 
 loans through an elected committee. It is certain 
 that this system would be slow in spreading in 
 South Africa; it is by no means certain that it 
 would not eventually meet the needs of the 
 
 T 
 i
 
 258 THE NEW NATION 
 
 country. Whether Government would also be 
 well advised in inaugurating such schemes as that 
 of insuring stocks or crops, where private enter- 
 prise is dilatory, is a question less easy to 
 determine, but well worth considering. 
 
 Certainly it is the plain duty of Government to 
 do what it can to stamp out animal and vegetable 
 diseases, such as tick, fever, and scab, or scale and 
 wine mildew ; to restrict the exuberance of dodder, 
 prickly pear, and jointed cactus ; and to put a stop 
 to adulteration of wine. These are little more 
 than police duties. It is said that Zoilus, 
 determined to admire nothing, was shown the 
 model of a superb house ; but he refused to admire 
 it, saying that it had no wheels and that there 
 might be bad neighbours, in which case it would be 
 useless. Certainly the same may be said of a South 
 African farm. Everyone familiar with the country 
 districts knows cases of enterprising farmers 
 who fence their land, clear it of vermin and noxious 
 plants, and having cleaned it, proceed to make the 
 most of it, but are compelled to spend much of 
 their time in destroying prickly pear and vermin 
 which come from a slovenly neighbour's ground. 
 It is right that Government should intervene here ; 
 and it is particularly necessary that while dealing 
 drastically with slovenly neighbours in general the
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 259 
 
 Government should make sure that it is not the 
 most slovenly of all neighbours itself. 
 
 Another task which naturally falls to the lot 
 of Government is the encouragement of science 
 applied' to the agricultural problems of the country. 
 The combination of effort in this direction is likely 
 to be one of the first advantages derived from 
 Closer Union. A central laboratory has long been 
 needed. Much may be done by dairy experts, 
 wool experts, and others in giving demonstrations 
 in the most approved methods. More good still 
 may come of a definite scheme of agricultural 
 education, providing for technical training not only 
 in agricultural colleges and vacation courses, but 
 also in continuation courses. Perhaps the teachers 
 in the ordinary schools may be led to do most of 
 all for agricultural progress, not in attempting to 
 teach infants how to farm, but in inculcating some 
 elementary truths, in training the powers of obser- 
 vation, in endowing farmers' children with a just 
 inquisitiveness about their own business, and in 
 teaching them how to set about satisfying it. 
 
 One of the besetting weaknesses of the poorer 
 South African farmer is a tendency to despise the 
 by-product and neglect such things as the pigs 
 and the poultry. This only needs exposing to be 
 cured, and by a little trouble Government might
 
 260 THE NEW NATION 
 
 easily ensure the diffusion of juster sentiments 
 among the farmers of future generations. 
 
 In all this vast enterprise it will be especially 
 necessary to pay due homage to two great general 
 principles of government in South Africa. The 
 first is, that the Government must carry the people 
 with it. The second is that the authorities must 
 practise the simplicity traditional to the country. 
 It is idle for governments to elaborate schemes for 
 ensuring the progress of the people and let them 
 loose to fly in the air, if the people regard them as 
 alien inventions which do not concern them. It is 
 foolish to suppose that the people can be taught 
 efficiency by officers who scorn to spend less than 
 two pounds in doing one pound's worth of work. 
 Yet what proportion of the Acts which have been 
 passed in South Africa would have been carried in 
 their present shape if the first of these two prin- 
 ciples had been observed? And what fraction of 
 the money spent by Government since 1902 would 
 have been disbursed if the second had been 
 insisted on? 
 
 Finally, Government may do much by throwing 
 open Crown lands for settlement. To bring 
 settlers from over the sea and attempt to plant them 
 at once on land in South Africa is indeed a peril- 
 ous adventure, for without experience farming in
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 261 
 
 South Africa, and not perhaps only in South 
 Africa, is an unpromising speculation. We have 
 already considered what may be done in the way 
 of stimulating immigration. But the question of 
 Crown lands is distinct. The Cape in particular 
 has long adopted a forward policy in this matter, 
 and the settlement of British Bechuanaland is a 
 monument of the prudent generosity of the land 
 laws of the colony. This far-sighted policy must 
 be extended and steadily pursued until the whole 
 country is covered with homesteads and farms. 
 Government attempts to construct great irrigation 
 works and establish irrigation colonies have not 
 hitherto been conspicuously successful, but this 
 subject demands further attention ; for every 
 attempt to conserve water in a dry land is a good 
 deed, and' every chance of strengthening the 
 nation's hold on the soil must be seized, and not 
 hastily relinquished. 
 
 In all these ways the national government will 
 be able to foster agriculture. If it chooses, it can 
 squander its energy and resources in attempts to 
 protect weakness, ignorance and prejudice by 
 devices for over-reaching nature and eluding the 
 operation of its laws. 
 
 The alternative policy is to aim at building up 
 strength rather than propping up weakness ; at
 
 262 THE NEW NATION 
 
 spreading knowledge rather than pampering 
 ignorance ; at turning the face of the people to the 
 light rather than fostering the belief that darkness 
 is patriotism; at enlisting the support of nature 
 rather than evading its justice. There are two 
 paths to choose between. Fortunately for South 
 Africa the tendency of all the most influential men 
 is to turn to the better and manlier course. This 
 does not mean that the Government will willingly 
 allow infant industries to be trodden down at the 
 outset by the unbridled competition of adults ; but 
 it does mean that there is reason to hope for the 
 adoption of a policy designed to promote the 
 development of the country's industries so that 
 they may be able to hold their own in the world 
 on their merits. 
 
 Side by side with agriculture is the great 
 industry of mining. This asks far less of Govern- 
 ment, because its capital is supplied privately, and 
 because it is far more concentrated. Enormous as 
 is the mineral output of South Africa, the agricul- 
 tural output probably surpasses it in money value, 
 but the earnings of one great mine may exceed 
 those of a large agricultural district, and so it 
 comes about that it is much easier for the mining 
 industry than for the farmers to dispense with the 
 assistance of Government.
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 263 
 
 However, there is much to be done both for 
 capital and for labour in connection with the mines. 
 Capital has had repeated shocks in South Africa, 
 and it is therefore timid about new ventures, and 
 dangerous mistakes are sometimes made, as when 
 successive Rand Companies dispensed with the 
 services of an eminent auditor, because he did not 
 agree with the directors about Chinese labour. 
 This might naturally lead capitalists at a distance 
 to suspect that the audit of Rand Companies is not 
 independent. It may become desirable for the 
 Government to appoint auditors to inspect the 
 accounts of all public companies. Certainly strin- 
 gent company laws are needed in order to prevent 
 unscrupulous financiers from giving South Africa 
 a bad name. The great object of the most efficient 
 company is to secure ample publicity, but provi- 
 sion might also be made for the adequate repre- 
 sentation of absent share-holders, whose interests 
 cannot be regarded as secure if they are unable to 
 make themselves felt except by a prodigious effort. 
 Something may perhaps be done to prevent the 
 locking up of potential mines by large companies, 
 and to encourage and help prospectors. Many 
 experiments in mining legislation have been tried 
 in Rhodesia, and much may be learned from its 
 experience of their operation.
 
 264 THE NEW NATION 
 
 We have already seen that the working expenses 
 of the mining companies are being reduced; and 
 in tnis connection it may be remembered that 
 before the war an authoritative circular was 
 issued promising a reduction of nearly ,4,400,000 
 as a consequence of the war. To protest against 
 this would be to adopt the mischievous principle 
 that business ought not to be conducted on 
 business lines. Responsible men will certainly 
 not lend themselves to this, and they will be glad 
 to see the National Government do all it can to 
 facilitate the supply of rough labour in abundance 
 for work in the mines. The first condition of 
 success in that respect is to make sure that the 
 state of the compounds is satisfactory. But at the 
 same time it would be unpatriotic to withhold 
 sympathy from those who urge that more of the 
 work in the mines should be done by white men. 
 Fortunately South Africans are now being trained 
 for work in the mines, and several of the companies 
 as well as the Government have taken a keen 
 interest in this enterprise. It is safe to prophesy 
 that this movement is bound to go on ; that, as 
 more local men are introduced into the mines, and 
 greater determination is shown in the enforcement 
 of salutary regulations, lower wages will suffice, 
 and that white men will gradually find that they
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 265 
 
 can do more of the work of the mines than is 
 generally conceded at present. It is no part of the 
 friend of South Africa to represent the Rand as 
 another Basutoland. 
 
 As white men strengthen their position in the 
 mines, the industrial population is bound to 
 increase. Apart from the mines the industrial 
 population is not large, but considerable numbers 
 of artisans and labourers are employed by the rail- 
 way and harbour departments, and the repairing 
 shops connected with these prove that high-class 
 work can be done at moderate cost in South Africa. 
 It is an encouraging feature in the situation that 
 many of the children of the poorer farmers are 
 taking to work of this kind, and showing great 
 aptitude for it, so that the races are blending by 
 the forge and the carpenter's bench. The whole 
 of the construction work on the Bloemfontein- 
 Kimberley Railway was done by white men, and 
 seems to have been done efficiently and cheaply. 
 
 Apart from the mines and the railways and 
 harbours, industries are developing slowly in South 
 Africa, but the development has begun and is 
 bound to continue, and there would seem to be 
 little reason to repine because it does not come 
 sooner or faster than is natural. It should be 
 sufficient that it is already possible to foresee the
 
 266 THE NEW NATION 
 
 day when there will be in South Africa a large 
 industrial population, attached to the country and 
 homogeneous with the rest of the people. 
 
 On leaving England after the Colonial Confer- 
 ence in 1907, General Botha gave a message to the 
 working men of Great Britain assuring them that 
 the position of the British working men in the 
 Transvaal would receive his best attention. It has 
 often been said that the only genuine workers of 
 South Africa are the natives, and in 1877 Lord 
 Courtney insisted that there could never be a large 
 white population in South Africa because white 
 men will not work by the side of black. At 
 present, it must be owned, the labour parties in 
 South Africa have a somewhat exotic air ; the day 
 of an industrial South Africa is not yet. But if 
 there is truth in the argument put forward in this 
 and previous chapters, South Africans are bound 
 eventually to be forced into industrialism whether 
 by each other's downward pressure, or by the 
 upward pressure of the native. Already we con- 
 stantly hear the most responsible and respected of 
 the Dutch-speaking people vigorously preaching 
 the gospel of work and of self-help. 
 
 Democratic policy is not only improving the 
 position of the British workers in South Africa, but 
 preparing the ground which half the nation will
 
 THE NATION'S FUTURE 267 
 
 one day have to occupy. The labour party calls 
 for adequate Workmen's Compensation Acts, 
 Factories and Workshops Acts, and a fair wage 
 clause in all Government contracts, the exclusion 
 of contract labour, and various purely political 
 changes. There is also a demand for the official 
 recognition of the Postal and Telegraph Clerks' 
 Association, and for allowing the men in the 
 executive branch of the service freedom to act as 
 they please in politics. All these things, with two 
 exceptions, have already been granted in the 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 The two exceptions are the exclusion of contract 
 labour a question peculiar to new countries and 
 the grant of political freedom. This is not the 
 place to discuss these matters in detail. But when 
 South Africans look forward they can hardly fail to 
 see that it concerns the entire nation to secure for 
 the industrial population conditions allowing for a 
 full and healthy life. The labour party may be 
 mistaken in some respects ; but at least it aims at 
 discharging a great national work, that of making 
 industry a vocation worthy of the best men. This 
 is too great a work to be left to a struggling party. 
 It must be taken up in earnest by the nation and 
 by the national government and the national 
 Prime Minister.
 
 268 THE NEW NATION 
 
 The British Colonies have as yet produced little 
 literature or art. South Africa has perhaps pro- 
 duced as much as the others, but the output of 
 this kind is small indeed compared to the riches of 
 its history in romantic and tragic incident. Here, 
 too, we must not wish to forestall nature, nor doubt 
 that a natural development will come in the natural 
 course. If no great catastrophe supervenes, the 
 agricultural and mineral industries of the country 
 will rapidly expand ; other industries will follow ; 
 idealism and democracy will join hands, and the 
 national muses will not long delay their coming.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE NATION'S PLACE IN THE WORLD 
 
 IN his volume criticising Lord Grey's book on the 
 Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell, Lord 
 Norton spoke of the relations between the United 
 Kingdom and the self-governing colonies in words 
 which forty years ago sounded paradoxical, but 
 must now be acknowledged wise, and will perhaps 
 hereafter seem prophetic. 
 
 "Self-sustaining colonies," he said, "are con- 
 nected by a living link. The connection with them 
 is an active partnership. England has the 
 advantage of a territorial extension, liberating, not 
 taxing, her resources ; and the colonies have the 
 credit and' good- will of England's trade and name. 
 This is an union not likely to dissolve itself, but 
 daily accumulating pledges for its continuance, 
 strengthening itself, and excluding instead of 
 inviting foreign aggression." This is the position
 
 2 ;o THE NEW NATION 
 
 to-day as regards South Africa, which is now more 
 intimately united with the British Empire than it 
 ever was before, because the connection is not 
 rigid but organic, so that the natural growth of 
 each nation in the Empire must tend to strengthen 
 the relationship instead ot making it irksome. 
 
 There is, however, a school of statesmen who 
 are not satisfied with this, and are set upon finding 
 artificial means of binding together the different 
 parts of the Empire which are growing together 
 without their aid. It is important to recognise 
 that in the case of South Africa at any rate there 
 is only one possible tie of Empire, and that is free- 
 dom. With this, other associations will gradually 
 and inevitably spring up. Without it, no 
 alternative is of the least efficacy, except indeed 
 superior force, which has (amongst others) the 
 disadvantage of being costly. The most important 
 of the proposed artifices of imperial consolidation 
 is the system of preferential tariffs. 
 
 We have already seen that, as far as this is an 
 economic question, the proposed policy offers 
 hardly anything to South African agriculture; it 
 offers nothing at all to the mines, nor to the 
 nascent manufacturing industries, but it might do 
 immense mischief if it were carried without such a 
 measure of general consent as would ensure its
 
 NATION'S PLACE IN WORLD 271 
 
 permanence. On the whole, then, in the eco- 
 nomic sphere it is far less likely to benefit South 
 Africa than to injure it, by enticing its people to 
 cater for a market which is sure to be closed agairtst 
 them as soon as there is any serious shortage in 
 the world's supplies. It will be generally conceded 
 that a policy which inflicts economic injury on a 
 great colony does not tend to draw it closer to the 
 rest of the empire. 
 
 But the political aspect of the question demands 
 closer attention on the part of South Africans. 
 Agreements involving preference are already in 
 existence as between South Africa on the one side 
 and Canada and New Zealand on the other. 
 As South Africa exports hardly anything to 
 those Dominions, and they send a good deal to 
 South Africa, the agreements are one-sided; as 
 far as can be gathered from the statistics, they are 
 not tending to develope the export trade of South 
 Africa, and this being so it can hardly be contended 
 that they are fastening the bonds of empire. 
 
 There is also mutual preference between South 
 Africa and Australia. This is hardly less one- 
 sided, and when at last South Africa was in a 
 position to take advantage of the arrangement by 
 sending a few ship-loads of oats to Australia the 
 Australian authorities found that there were dim-
 
 2/2 THE NEW NATION 
 
 culties about admitting them owing to the 
 existence of diseases in the same colony, though 
 not in the same neighbourhood, as the oats came 
 from. This led to a vigorous interchange of 
 messages, and such strong feeling was provoked 
 that the Legislative Assembly of the Cape 
 unanimously carried a resolution threatening to 
 withdraw the preference to Australia. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that this experiment 
 lends no countenance to the theory that preferen- 
 tial tariffs might bind the empire together. Nor 
 does the past experience of South Africa engender 
 confidence in this theory. Preferential tariffs 
 were in existence for a long time at the Cape, and 
 it would be impossible to pretend that they contri- 
 buted to good-will between the United 1 Kingdom 
 and South Africa. 
 
 The South African tariff now gives a consider- 
 able preference to British goods. This was 
 decided when the High Commissioner controlled 
 more than half the South African colonies. When 
 the preference policy was discussed in the Cape 
 Parliament before the meeting of the Inter- 
 Colonial Conference which agreed to it, all parties 
 united in condemning it. It would not, therefore, 
 be correct to say that in the first instance South 
 Africa gave a preference to the United Kingdom,
 
 NATION'S PLACE IN WORLD 273 
 
 but that the United Kingdom gave itself a prefer- 
 ence in South Africa. It is true that this 
 preference has now been continued for the time 
 being, but this is one of the worst features of the 
 case, for if the older population of South Africa 
 consents to preference, it does so, not because it 
 believes preference to be advantageous to either 
 party or likely to unite the empire, but simply 
 because it considers it judicious not to incur the 
 wrath of those who, rather paradoxically, regard a 
 belief in preference as an essential ingredient in 
 loyalty. In fact the preference policy compels 
 half the population of South Africa to choose 
 between a policy which they disapprove and which 
 they do not believe to be in the interest of either 
 South Africa or the Empire, and a reputation for 
 disloyalty. 
 
 Those who consider that this is consolidating 
 the Empire must be left to the enjoyment of their 
 comfortable faith. 
 
 But judicious men will certainly look askance 
 on proposals which aim at uniting the Empire by 
 methods likely to inflict economic injury on some 
 at least of its component parts, and to teach South 
 Africans that loyalty consists of cutting them- 
 selves with the knives and lancets of doctrinaire 
 tariffs. 
 
 v
 
 274 THE NEW NATION 
 
 It is generally supposed that certain institutions 
 are to be counted among the pillars of empire. 
 First of these is the system of appointing 
 Governors from England. This system has some 
 undoubted advantages, as it ensures the presence 
 in England of a number of men in high position 
 who have some experience of life in other parts of 
 the Empire ; and men of the class from which 
 Governors are usually drawn generally make many- 
 friends among South Africans if they live long 
 enough in the country. But the political value 
 of this system depends entirely on the character 
 of the men appointed. Speaking of the colonies 
 generally, it may be remembered that in New 
 Zealand Sir George Grey declaimed against the 
 appointment of needy noblemen who regard the 
 governorship as, amongst other things, a means of 
 repairing their family fortunes by the simple 
 method of not spending their very large salaries. 
 It would be a mistake to suppose that the founda- 
 tions of the Empire are ultimately strengthened by 
 vice-regal courts, or by futile magnificence. On 
 the other hand, when a Governor comes to a 
 country to understand it and to hold the balance 
 even between contending parties he may do much 
 good. 
 
 A very much more important link of Empire is
 
 NATION'S PLACE IN WORLD 275 
 
 the British Navy. But here again exaggeration is 
 to be deprecated. 
 
 The Navy is an Imperial institution in the sense 
 that it protects the whole Empire, but strategists 
 insist that the sea is one, that all the coasts in the 
 world are at the mercy of the power which is 
 supreme in the North Sea or the Mediterranean, 
 and therefore that the existence of the colonies has 
 no direct relation to the question of the proper size 
 of the British Navy, which must in any case be 
 paramount in order to defend the United Kingdom 
 and its trade, and being paramount impassively 
 protects the colonies by its very existence. Nor 
 can it be maintained that South Africa is bound to 
 belong to the strongest sea power. Its own history 
 sufficiently disproves this contention. But though 
 the Navy does not exist for the sake of South 
 Africa, and though South Africa might be free from 
 invasion without it, every responsible South 
 African recognises the immense debt which the 
 country owes it for giving it security, and is pre- 
 pared to express that recognition in proper form. 
 
 Something of the same kind may be said of the 
 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The 
 belief that the right of appeal to the King in 
 Council tends to uphold the Empire is little more 
 than a superstition. It is a right which gives an
 
 276 THE NEW NATION 
 
 advantage to the rich over the poor, for only the 
 rich can avail themselves of it, and therefore it is 
 dangerous to insist too much upon it, seeing that 
 there are more poor men than rich in the Empire. 
 But on the other hand the judgments of the Privy 
 Council command profound respect, not only 
 among lawyers, who may be suspected of judging 
 on purely technical grounds, but among men of 
 affairs in general ; the strength of the personnel of 
 the judges is also very generally recognised, and 
 on the whole it may be said that the court com- 
 mands confidence, though its distance heavily 
 discounts its usefulness. 
 
 If the Empire cannot be held together by 
 preferential tariffs, governors from Downing 
 Street, the Navy and the Judicial Committee of 
 the Privy Council, still less can it be held together 
 at the present time by schemes of political union. 
 It has been observed that there is some general 
 resemblance between the different parties in 
 different portions of the Empire. An English 
 Liberal or Conservative finds in Canada and South 
 Africa that there is a party to which he has a 
 natural affinity. But it would be unsafe to use this 
 as a basis for any general reference. It does not 
 hold in the case of Australia ; in South Africa party 
 divisions have been overshadowed, for a time at
 
 NATION'S PLACE IN WORLD 277 
 
 any rate, by the question of union ; and in Canada 
 the principles which separate the hostile parties 
 seem to be losing distinctness. 
 
 It is true that there are men in different parts 
 of the Empire who believe in leaving well alone ; 
 and others who cannot rest unless they are invent- 
 ing or applying artificial cords to tie the Empire 
 together, but at present parties are not formed on 
 these principles. In short, there are as yet no 
 imperial parties. The future will have its own 
 answers for its own problems, but at the present 
 juncture nothing but mischief can come of the 
 definite alliance between parties in one quarter of 
 the Empire with parties in another, especially if 
 the English parties are concerned, for if the 
 Colonial Office were to be used by colonial parties 
 for their own ends whenever their friends happened 
 to be in power in England, the Empire would 
 quickly become an intolerable tyranny. 
 
 Imperial parties would be dangerously premature 
 if they were formed before the present political 
 constitution of the Empire had been radically 
 altered. Nor has the time yet arrived for thinking 
 of constitutional changes of this kind. Even in 
 Canada opinion is not ripe, much less in South 
 Africa ; and nothing but disaster could come of 
 anticipating the real opinion of the colonies.
 
 278 THE NEW NATION 
 
 In order to frame a wise policy it is necessary 
 to make a precise survey of the line between the 
 essential and the unessential. Those who are 
 anxious to draw the Empire together must there- 
 fore begin by ascertaining exactly what is the 
 moving principle of union, so that they may insist 
 on that and not waste their efforts or defeat their 
 own purpose by blindfold impetuosity. It is on 
 this behalf that the foregoing considerations have 
 been advanced, not with any desire to minimise the 
 value of institutions and ideas, some of which are 
 among the proudest heirlooms of the British race, 
 but in order to throw into relief the one principle 
 which holds the empire together, and which must 
 therefore be emphasised by those who are anxious 
 to promote imperial consolidation. 
 
 In speaking on the Australian Commonwealth 
 Bill, Mr. Chamberlain declared that it was neces- 
 sary to realise once for all that the relations 
 between the United Kingdom and the Colonies 
 depend absolutely on their consent. Here is the 
 mainspring of empire the consent of the colonies ; 
 and here is the point upon which to direct imperial 
 policy the strengthening of the colonies' con- 
 fidence in the imperial system. 
 
 The great colonies are the homes of vigorous 
 and' growing nations, which are at present little
 
 NATION'S PLACE IN WORLD 279 
 
 interested in the international politics of the old 
 world, being wisely preoccupied in the conduct of 
 their own development, and therefore their main 
 concern is to secure internal freedom. The system 
 of the British Empire if judiciously administered is 
 perfectly adapted to safeguarding this. Hence 
 its potential greatness, because it makes unique 
 provision for the operation of the essential prin- 
 ciple of imperial growth and union. 
 
 It follows that as regards South Africa the point 
 on which imperial policy must press is the 
 strengthening of the conviction in South Africa 
 that the Empire provides for the perfect freedom 
 of national development. Everything which 
 strengthens this conviction makes for the consoli- 
 dation of the Empire ; everything which weakens 
 it impairs the vital bond of union. 
 
 Certainly this doctrine is not without authority. 
 On the eve of the Colonial Conference of 1907 
 Sir Wilfrid Laurier spoke of the supreme import- 
 ance of self-government as the bond of empire, 
 and added that the relations between Canada and 
 the United Kingdom were perfectly satisfactory. 
 In 1905 the House of Assembly in Natal recorded 
 the opinion " that Imperial and South African 
 interests will best be served by leaving South 
 Africa to work out its own destiny." In view of
 
 2 8o THE NEW NATION 
 
 the complexity both of British and of Colonial 
 problems, and the limitation of human powers, it 
 may also be apposite to quote Lord Cromer's 
 pregnant remark that it is wise for nations, as for 
 individuals, to mind their own business. 
 
 It must be added that the freedom of the 
 colonies sometimes has to be reckoned 1 with in 
 international questions. When the colonies are 
 directly concerned in negotiations with foreign 
 powers the Imperial Government must as far as 
 possible act as their agent; indeed, this is amply 
 recognised in the case of Canada. Froude pro- 
 nounced that "a colony has no external policy." 
 It would, perhaps, be truer to say that where 
 colonial interests are concerned the Imperial 
 Government has no policy but that of the colonies, 
 for this ought to hold good absolutely unless other 
 imperial interests are involved. If this principle is 
 granted the system of the empire is precisely 
 adapted to the needs of the colonies, and therefore 
 nothing is required to ensure imperial consolida- 
 tion except to protect the colonies from the inter- 
 ference of misguided politicians. 
 
 Evidently this is of peculiar importance in the 
 case of South Africa, where force has so recently 
 been used to draw a large part of the population 
 within the British Empire. If the foregoing argu-
 
 NATION'S PLACE IN WORLD 281 
 
 ment is just, if the union of the Empire depends 
 upon the consent of the colonies, and that consent 
 upon confidence that the Empire ensures full 
 liberty of national development, then it must plainly 
 be a matter of surpassing moment to leave the new 
 citizens of the Empire to their experience of its 
 working. This is the sovereign remedy of any 
 doubt which may still linger in South African 
 minds, and it must be the source of great and 
 ever-increasing wonder to the external world that 
 this sovereign remedy should be the peculiar 
 property of England. Some thirty years ago Sir 
 Bartle Frere discovered a paper by a German 
 resident in South Africa, advocating German 
 sovereignty over the whole country, and arguing 
 that the Germans are far better qualified to deal 
 with the problems of South Africa than " the more 
 inflexible and stiff-necked English." But it is 
 because of these qualities that England has 
 evolved the principle of self-government, and it is 
 because of that principle that South Africa can 
 fulfil its destiny as a part of the Empire, and that 
 the whole fabric of the Empire stands four-square. 
 Considering all this, it is evident that the 
 initiative in the work of imperial consolidation 
 ought to be left to the colonies, and that nothing 
 must be done which does not command the spon-
 
 282 THE NEW NATION 
 
 taneous and genuine consent of such elements in 
 the population of the Empire as the Canadian 
 French and the South African Dutch, for a true 
 consolidation can only come from a real conviction 
 permeating the people of the colonies, and to fore- 
 stall this by insinuations and suggestions from 
 England, perhaps conveyed through subterranean 
 and submarine connections between English and 
 colonial parties, would be to substitute the pretence 
 for the reality and to pawn away the Empire's 
 birthright in order to give immediate gratification 
 to a carnal appetite for display. 
 
 If British politicians are sage enough to leave 
 well alone in South Africa, and if no dispute arises 
 between the United Kingdom and nations to which 
 South Africans are naturally well disposed, a cen- 
 tripetal tendency may be expected to develop in 
 the normal course before many years are passed. 
 At first this may take the form of a hearty co-opera- 
 tion on the part of South Africa in such modest but 
 effective advances as the improvement and cheap- 
 ening of cable communications, the standardisation 
 of company law, agreement on uniform trade marks 
 and statistics, reciprocity in regard to land 
 surveyors, and perhaps the general recognition of 
 naturalisation in any part of the Empire. 
 
 In the United Kingdom good may be done by
 
 NATION'S PLACE IN WORLD 283 
 
 encouraging the study of South African history 
 and law, by the general diffusion of an active 
 interest in South African affairs, by sympathy, and 
 by frank hospitality. Afterwards, as liberty does 
 its healing and invigorating work, as confidence 
 passes into the settled temper of the people, as 
 the urgent pressure of South African problems 
 relaxes and the nation acquires leisure to look out 
 more upon the world, the natural instinct for taking 
 part in international politics may be expected to 
 show itself in a movement for the constitutional 
 reorganisation of the Empire. There is nothing 
 improbable in the supposition that the movement 
 which will bring about the political consolidation of 
 the British Empire may have its origin among the 
 Dutch-speaking people of South Africa. 
 
 It would be false to pretend that there are no 
 clouds in the South African sky. It is still 
 possible that the importunity of Imperial politicians 
 may mar the fortunes of South Africa and of the 
 British Empire. It is conceivable that the 
 National Government will not possess sufficient 
 determination to avoid shipwreck on the rocks of 
 finance, and will allow the nation's resources to be 
 wasted on administration, and its future to be im- 
 perilled by debt. It is imaginable that the good 
 sense of the leading men will not suffice to check
 
 284 THE NEW NATION 
 
 the hotspurs who would have the nation rush on 
 unspeakable calamities rather than accept the 
 settlement embodied in the draft constitution with 
 regard to the native question. If a wrong policy is 
 insisted upon in any of these matters it may prove 
 the death-blow of the bright hopes which are now 
 legitimate, and make of no account all the efforts, 
 all the struggles, all the greatness which have been 
 spent in the cause of South Africa. But if saner 
 counsels prevail, and if South Africa has the 
 sagacity and the self-restraint to avoid the 
 menacing dangers which are already visible behind 
 the entrance to the paths of folly, there need be 
 no pause in the nation's advance, and having 
 steered a safe course through its internal difficul- 
 ties, it may emerge fortified by trial, and ready to 
 fulfil the great trust which is committed to it in 
 Africa, and the destiny which awaits it in the world.
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Despatch from Governor Sir George Grey, 
 
 K.C.B., to the Right Honourable Sir E. B. 
 
 Lytton, Bart. 
 
 CAPE TOWN, 19 Nov., 1858. 
 SIR, 
 
 I have the honour to acknowledge the 
 receipt of your private despatch of the 6th of 
 September last, calling upon me for an expression 
 of my views upon the policy of incorporating 
 British Kaffraria with the Cape Colony, and, if 
 possible, of uniting all Her Majesty's dominions 
 in South Africa under some common, and, of 
 course, free Government. 
 
 2. When the policy was adopted of dividing 
 South Africa into many states, bound together by 
 no ties of union, it was thought that the mother 
 country derived no real benefit from the possession 
 of this part of the African continent, except in
 
 286 APPENDIX 
 
 holding the seaport of Simon's Bay. It was also 
 thought that peace was ruin to the Cape Colony ; 
 that the expenditure of the British money during 
 wars made the fortunes of its inhabitants ; that 
 they therefore encouraged such wars, often in the 
 most profligate and unscrupulous manner. 
 
 The European inhabitants beyond the Orange 
 River were believed to be really rebels. It was 
 thought that, even in Cape Town, it might at any 
 moment be necessary to employ a military force to 
 punish the inhabitants, and to prevent the com- 
 mission of disgraceful scenes. So strongly was 
 this apprehension of disloyalty felt, that even when 
 the countries beyond the Orange River were 
 thrown off, and the question of their federation 
 amongst themselves arose, it was thought that it 
 would be desirable to encourage such a measure, 
 not with a view to the interests of the inhabitants, 
 but because if they were united into one country 
 they would have but one Government and one 
 capital ; that therefore when it was necessary to 
 punish or re-conquer them, it would be only 
 requisite to deliver one blow at one point, instead 
 of several blows at two or more points. 
 
 3. It was further thought that the occupation by 
 Great Britain of the country beyond the Orange 
 River had been a bubble and a farce, in which the
 
 APPENDIX 287 
 
 Cape Colonists were all interested ; for that it was 
 to them a great gaming table, and out of the reach 
 of the police. That the country was itself, in great 
 part, a desert, and would hardly keep half-starved 
 antelopes. That it could never produce wool, as 
 the Boers were so prejudiced, that they would keep 
 nothing but hairy fat-tailed sheep. That the 
 labours of the missionaries amongst the native 
 tribes of Africa had produced no results, as no 
 instances were known of real conversions to 
 Christianity, and that it was a lamentable fact that 
 all the Christianity among the native tribes in 
 Southern Africa was purchased and paid for ; its 
 principal and sole object and end being the facility 
 which such means afforded of obtaining gun- 
 powder. 
 
 4. These opinions prevailing regarding the 
 country and its inhabitants, the necessary conse- 
 quence was, that Her Majesty's Government 
 determined to rid themselves of such costly and 
 troublesome possessions, and the measures 
 necessary for doing this were hurriedly caitied 
 out before any free form of government had 1 been 
 introduced into, or tried in any part of South 
 Africa. Necessarily, therefore, the wishes of its 
 inhabitants were in no way consulted in regard to 
 what was done.
 
 288 APPENDIX 
 
 5. The first step taken was to get rid of the 
 people beyond the Vaal River. A convention was 
 concluded with some people who lived there. The 
 majority of the inhabitants of that country were not 
 consulted on the subject, nor were the Legislatures 
 of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, the 
 Orange River Sovereignty, or Natal, or the chief 
 of the neighbouring native nations so consulted. 
 All these persons, therefore, justly or unjustly, 
 as may be, believed, and still believe, their 
 interests to have been injured by this convention. 
 It gave no satisfaction to the mass of the people 
 inhabiting the Transvaal country, who are now 
 trying to split into several republics ; and it left all 
 the boundaries of the Transvaal country but one 
 undefined, so that tne Government of Portugal, 
 the Government of Natal, and several native states 
 have, at various times, lodged complaints with this 
 Government in reference to the course Great 
 Britain pursued in making this convention, which 
 has in no respect promoted peace or union, but 
 has, apparently, sown seeds of many future dis- 
 agreements. 
 
 6. The next step taken, with the view of getting 
 rid of territory, was the abandonment of the 
 Orange River Sovereignty, a measure likewise 
 carried out in opposition to the wishes of nearly all
 
 APPENDIX 289 
 
 the wealthy and influential inhabitants of that 
 country, as also in opposition to the wishes of 
 nearly all the European and native inhabitants of 
 South Africa, who live without the Orange River 
 territory. In this case, also, the boundaries were 
 left unsettled, and many outstanding questions 
 with the neighbouring tribes left unadjusted, from 
 which constant difficulties have since sprung. 
 
 7. The treaties existing with Moshesh, Water- 
 boer, and other native chiefs, were then declared 
 to be at an end, Natal and Kaffraria became separ- 
 ate and independent dependencies of the Crown, 
 and the dismemberment of South Africa, as far as 
 it was then intended to carry it, became complete. 
 
 8. Great Britain, when this had been done, stood 
 in this position in reference to South Africa: She 
 had three several possessions here : the Colony of 
 the Cape of Good Hope, the Colony of Natal, and 
 the dependency of British Kaffraria. No mutual 
 relations whatever existed between these. They 
 were independent countries, which had no common 
 council which could arrange measures for the 
 general safety and defence, although they were 
 surrounded by barbarous enemies, to repel or 
 resist whom union was so necessary. Two of 
 them had free representative legislatures, between 
 which no mutual intercommunication existed. 
 
 w
 
 2 go APPENDIX 
 
 Then there were two or more independent 
 European republics lying beyond our borders, the 
 Governments and Legislatures of which were in 
 no way bound up with ours, and which, like all 
 bodies who have newly gained their freedom, were 
 likely to take opportunities of exercising it, as if 
 for the sole purpose of assuring themselves and 
 others that they really possessed it. It would 
 evidently have been a matter of the greatest diffi- 
 culty to induce all the above-named European 
 states, which had no common congress or council 
 belonging to them, to have agreed upon any 
 general plan of policy, or of mutual defence. 
 
 9. On the other hand, all the European states 
 had residing within their limits numbers of 
 dangerous barbarians, and were surrounded by 
 nations of wily and able enemies, who had, for a 
 series of years, been engaged in wars with them ; 
 and the usual difficulty had been created which 
 follows the abandonment of territory in the face of 
 a barbarous people. Prestige was lost, and the 
 barbarians hoped, if they pressed us hard, that still 
 larger tracts of country would be abandoned. 
 
 T o. At the same time Great Britain was believed 
 (rightly or wrongly, as may be) to be placed, by 
 the conventions she has made, in this anomalous 
 position: that she could conclude no treaty, form
 
 APPENDIX 291 
 
 no alliance with any native tribes, whilst the inde- 
 pendent republics could conclude such treaties and 
 alliances with them as they thought proper; and 
 that she was bound to prevent the native nations 
 from obtaining supplies of arms and ammunition 
 for the protection of life or property, whilst she 
 was bound to permit the inhabitants of the inde- 
 pendent republics always to obtain such supplies 
 of arms and ammunition as they might require, 
 without reference to the objects for which they 
 might be used. Hence arose a belief amongst 
 the native tribes that Great Britain had determined 
 to bring about, indirectly, their ultimate extermina- 
 tion, and that nothing but a general combination 
 amongst themselves could prevent this result from 
 being arrived at. 
 
 ii. The public revenues of all the great tract 
 of country occupied by the states and tribes alluded' 
 to consisted principally of duties of customs, which 
 might be levied at the ports of Simon's Bay, Cape 
 Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, and D'Ur- 
 ban. These duties were paid indifferently by all the 
 European and native inhabitants of the several 
 states into which the southern portion of Africa is 
 divided. But Great Britain made an arrangement 
 by which all the duties of customs levied at the 
 ports of Simon's Bay, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth,
 
 292 APPENDIX 
 
 and East London, were placed under the control 
 of the Legislature of the Cape of Good Hope, for 
 the sole benefit of that single colony ; whilst all the 
 dues levied at the port of D'Urban were placed 
 under the control of the Legislature of Natal, for 
 the benefit of that colony. Thus was estab- 
 lished a cause of jealousy, dissatisfaction and 
 future contention between the two colonies, 
 the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, and 
 the whole of the rest of Southern Africa. In the 
 case of the Orange River Sovereignty, one of the 
 reasons for abandoning it was that its revenues 
 were not equal to its expenses ; yet, when Her 
 Majesty's subjects were cast off, virtually nearly all 
 revenue was taken from them by any claim they 
 might have on the revenues of customs being 
 ignored. 
 
 12. The colony of Natal is very fertile, but it is 
 extremely limited in extent. The Colony of the 
 Cape of Good Hope is probably, as a whole, the 
 least fertile part of Southern Africa, and its 
 boundaries are now strictly defined, so that it 
 admits of no extension. The countries which lie 
 beyond the Orange River are very fertile and 
 productive ; some of them are so to the highest 
 degree. Their extent may be said to be bound- 
 less, and in many portions they are capable of
 
 APPENDIX 293 
 
 carrying a very dense population. The population 
 of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope is con- 
 tinually spreading into these countries. In a few 
 years, therefore, they must, in products, resources, 
 and number of inhabitants, far surpass the united 
 Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal. 
 
 13. Although these European countries lying 
 beyond our Colonies are treated as separate 
 nations, their inhabitants bear the same family 
 names as the inhabitants of this Colony, and main- 
 tain with them ties of the closest intimacy and 
 relationship. They speak, generally, the same 
 language, not English but Dutch. They are, for 
 the most part, of the same religion, belonging to 
 the Dutch Reformed Church. They have the 
 same laws, the Roman Dutch. They have the 
 same sympathies, the same prejudices, the same 
 habits, and frequently the same feelings, regarding 
 the native races, although marked and rapid 
 changes in public opinion, in relation to this sub- 
 ject, are taking place, as also in reference to the 
 increasing use of the English language, and the 
 adoption of English customs. 
 
 14. I think there can be no doubt that, in any 
 great public, or popular, or national question or 
 movement, the mere fact of calling these people 
 different nations would not make them so, nor
 
 294 APPENDIX 
 
 would the fact of a mere fordable stream running 
 between them sever their sympathies or prevent 
 them from acting in unison. I think that many- 
 questions might arise in which, if the Government 
 on the south side of the Orange River took a 
 different view from that on the north side of the 
 river, it might be very doubtful which of the two 
 Governments the great mass of these people would 
 obey. 
 
 15. The only bond of union which at present 
 hold's together these States, European and native, 
 is the High Commissioner. He must generally 
 be a stranger, unacquainted with the people, their 
 language, or forms of thought, and with no general 
 council to advise him,* nor with any means what- 
 ever of becoming acquainted with the general cur- 
 rent of public opinion or feeling throughout the 
 mass of States and people. A slight failure of 
 temper or judgment on his part might, at any time, 
 bring on a native w r ar, a general rising of the 
 natives, or a European rebellion. 
 
 1 6. The defects of the system thus described 
 
 Note. He has an Executive Council, as the Gover- 
 nor of Cape Colony; but these gentlemen know 
 little or nothing of the state of public opinion in 
 other Colonies or States.
 
 APPENDIX 295 
 
 appear to be that the country must be always at 
 war in some direction, as some one of the several 
 States, in pursuit of its supposed interests, will be 
 involved in difficulties, either with some European 
 or native State. Every such war forces all the 
 other States into a position of an armed neutrality 
 or of interference. For if the State is successful in 
 the war it is waging, a native race will be broken up, 
 and none can tell what territories its dispersed 
 hordes may fall upon. Nor can the other States be 
 assured that the coloured tribes generally will not 
 sympathise in the war, and that a general rising 
 may not take place. Ever since South Africa has 
 been broken up in the manner above detailed, large 
 portions of it have always been in a state of con- 
 stant anxiety and apprehension from these causes. 
 The smallness and weakness of the States, and a 
 knowledge that they are isolated bodies, bound 
 by no ties of interest or common government with 
 other States, has encouraged the natives to resist 
 and dare them, whilst the nature of the existing 
 treaties, and the utter abandonment of the natives 
 by Great Britain, to whom they had hitherto 
 looked up, has led the natives to combine for their 
 mutual protection, and thus to acquire a sense of 
 strength and boldness such as they have not 
 hitherto shown, so that whilst the Europeans have
 
 296 APPENDIX 
 
 appeared to grow weak, they have felt themselves 
 increase in strength and importance. 
 
 17. Again, such petty States must be constant 
 foci of intrigues and internal commotions, revolu- 
 tions, or intestine wars. The affairs which occupy 
 their legislatures are so small that they can raise 
 no class of statesmen to take enlarged and liberal 
 views. They can only inadequately provide for 
 the education or religious instruction of their 
 people. They can possess no able Bar, no learned 
 Judges, can have no efficient administration of 
 justice. Trade and commerce must, therefore, 
 necessarily languish. Their revenues will be so 
 small that they cannot efficiently provide for their 
 protection. Hence a new inducement is given to 
 the surrounding native races to attack them. Life 
 and property thus become insecure, and a general 
 lawlessness follows, the effect of which is most 
 detrimental upon the Government of this Colony, 
 and upon the interests of Great Britain. 
 
 1 8. In recommending a remedy for this state of 
 things, I would urge that experience has shown 
 that the views which led to the dismemberment of 
 South Africa were mistaken ones. That, in point 
 of fact, Her Majesty's possessions here are of 
 great and yearly increasing value to the trade and 
 commerce of Great Britain, and may be made
 
 APPENDIX 297 
 
 valuable to an almost indefinite extent. That 
 it has now been conclusively shown that the 
 people do not desire Kafir wars ; that they are 
 fully aware of the much greater advantages they 
 derive from the peaceful pursuits of industry, and 
 from cultivating their valuable exports. That they 
 are willing to contribute largely to the defence of 
 the portion of Her Majesty's possessions which 
 they inhabit, and would do so much more largely 
 if they were allowed to take a more direct share in 
 the administration of the affairs of this country, 
 and that Her Majesty has no more faithful and 
 loyal subjects than the inhabitants of this country 
 are. That missionaries have already produced, 
 and are producing, most beneficial effects and 
 influences amongst the tribes of the interior. 
 
 19. What, therefore, I would recommend would 
 be that an Act of Parliament should be passed, 
 or that some measures should be taken, which 
 would permit of the several States and Legisla- 
 tures of this country forming amongst themselves 
 a federal union, such as their several interests 
 would show them to be for the common good. 
 
 20. This union of federated States would pos- 
 sess a general Government administered by a 
 Governor, representing and appointed by Her 
 Majesty, assisted by a Legislature chosen by the
 
 298 APPENDIX 
 
 people of the several States, which would have 
 powers of legislation upon all points of general 
 interest, and relating to the proportions in which 
 the general revenues should be divided between 
 the several States. To the general Legislature 
 would also belong the duty of providing for the 
 general safety. 
 
 21. The Governor should, I think, be assisted 
 by what is called a responsible ministry, possessing 
 the confidence of the general Legislature, without 
 whose advice it would not be competent for him 
 to act. Such council would, probably, be made up 
 of the representatives of the several States, so that 
 a knowledge of the requirements and feelings of 
 every part of this vast country would be brought 
 to bear on each question which came under discus- 
 sion ; an advantage which only those who have to 
 carry on the government under the present system 
 could fully estimate. 
 
 22. The several States should, I think, through 
 their own local governments and legislature, have 
 full and free scope of action left to them in all 
 subjects which relate to their individual prosperity 
 or happiness. The heads of their local govern- 
 ments should correspond with the general Federal 
 Government upon all necessary points, so that 
 they might act in conjunction with that Govern-
 
 APPENDIX 299 
 
 ment in relation to all subjects which concerned 
 the general safety or weal. 
 
 23. Under such a form of government a large 
 number of persons in each State would be trained 
 to take general views upon the highest questions 
 relating to the common welfare. No war could be 
 entered upon but with the general consent of all 
 the States. If any dispute arose between one of 
 the States and a native chief, the demands made 
 upon such chief would be probably just ones, for 
 they would be considered by a large and impartial 
 body. They would, from this cause alone, com- 
 mand respect ; but I think they would not be likely 
 to be disputed, for it would be known that a 
 demand made in the name of such a large federa- 
 tion would certainly be ultimately enforced. 
 
 24. Under such a system I think it very impro- 
 bable that any large native war would again take 
 place ; but if it did, it would be entered upon with 
 enthusiasm by the people upon whom it had been 
 forced. It would have been determined upon by 
 their own representatives after every fitting effort 
 had been made to avoid it, and they would provide 
 large means for carrying it on. They could not 
 then say, as they might now say, it had been 
 brought on by the mismanagement of a High Com- 
 missioner or the Home Government, and that they
 
 300 APPENDIX 
 
 had nothing to do with the matter. I do not think 
 that such a system as I propose would immediately 
 relieve Great Britain from all military charges in 
 reference to this country, but I think it would, at 
 once, tend to diminish these charges, and ulti- 
 mately greatly to reduce them. 
 
 25. The Governor, acting also in accordance 
 with the advice of a responsible ministry, would 
 avoid all the hazards now incurred by the High 
 Commissioner of seriously involving Her Majesty 
 with the inhabitants of this country if he then 
 adopted any measures repugnant to their feelings. 
 His proceedings would simply lead to a change in 
 the administration, not to the very serious disputes 
 and differences with the home authorities which 
 might now take place. 
 
 26. I do not think it necessary to advert to the 
 additional security which would be obtained for 
 life and property under the system I have pro- 
 posed ; to the confidence which would then be 
 created in the decisions of the constituted courts ; 
 to the encouragement which would be given to 
 talent by the openings offered in the Administra- 
 tion, in the Senate, on the judicial Bench, at the 
 Bar ; to the encouragement and security which 
 would be given to trad'e and commerce by unifor- 
 mity of insolvency laws, and of laws regulating
 
 APPENDIX 301 
 
 bills of exchange, as also from the prevalence of 
 general peace and security ; to the prosperity and 
 contentment which would follow from a fair appli- 
 cation throughout the whole of South Africa to 
 great public works, and improvement of the general 
 revenues, to which all alike contribute ; and to 
 the great increase to the revenues which would 
 follow from the stimulus given to trade and indus- 
 try by peace and prosperity, so that the very States 
 which abandoned a share of the whole revenues 
 which they now enjoy might reasonably hope to 
 gain more than they lost ; these and like points will 
 suggest themselves to any one who considers the 
 entire plan now proposed. 
 
 It may be sufficient generally to say that while 
 South Africa, now broken up into various Euro- 
 pean and native States, many of which are without 
 revenues, without firm governments, without hope 
 for the future, and are involved in intestine and 
 foreign disputes, appears to be drifting, by not 
 very slow degrees, into disorder and barbarism, 
 hopelessly giving itself up to an uncertain and 
 gloomy future, to provide against the exigencies 
 of which it is powerless, under such a system as I 
 propose, the inhabitants of all parts of the Con- 
 tinent generally, who are nearly allied to one 
 another by relationship or common interests,
 
 302 APPENDIX 
 
 would be enabled to unite for their common 
 interests and defence, and to provide year by year 
 for the varied exigencies of the country which may 
 arise either from their contact with the native tribes 
 or from some of the manifold chances to which all 
 nations, especially those inhabiting vast and popu- 
 lous continents, are liable. I feel sure that such 
 a system will save Great Britain from vast future 
 expense and anxiety ; if it is adopted, it will only 
 then be necessary for her to determine in each 
 case of difficulty which may arise (and I do not 
 think many such would arise) what aid it is in her 
 power to afford. 
 
 27. The general Government of this Colony, 
 when made acquainted with this, would then cal- 
 culate its own resources, and determine what it 
 was capable of undertaking. 
 
 28. Ever since I have been in this country I 
 have found an increasing willingness on the part 
 of the inhabitants to provide for their own safetv 
 and defence. I attribute this to their having only 
 lecently enjoyed a free legislature ; and I am 
 entirely satisfied that if, with a generous confi- 
 dence, they are permitted, upon a still larger scale, 
 to take such measures as they think necessary for 
 their own safety, and for that of their friends and 
 relations, whom they will never regard as a foreign
 
 APPENDIX 303 
 
 nation, they will make still more ample and willing 
 efforts to relieve Great Britain from all unnecessary 
 charges in relation to South Africa. 
 
 29. Such a proceeding as I advocate would also 
 prevent the advantage of sweeping away those 
 existing treaties which now embarrass us so much. 
 Hereafter, also, no treaties would be necessary. 
 The general Legislature would make all laws 
 which were necessary, relating to the subject 
 which the treaties now embrace. Such laws would 
 be subject to the confirmation or disallowance of 
 Her Majesty. The authority of Great Britain, in 
 relation to these subjects, would therefore be as 
 great as it is now ; but a law, not a treaty, would 
 fix these subjects. The law would have been 
 made by the people of the country, and must be in 
 conformity with their wishes ; not perhaps adverse 
 to these, as the existing treaties are. If the law 
 proved inconvenient in practice, as the treaties are, 
 the law could at once be got rid of by the same 
 power that made it. Treaties, on the other hand, 
 remain in force, and we are bound by them. 
 
 30. In answer to the several questions raised 1 in 
 your letter, I beg to state that I do not think that 
 Natal could conveniently be united in a federal 
 union with this Colony, unless the Orange Free 
 State was included in the same union, otherwise
 
 304 APPENDIX 
 
 it would be entirely separated from the Colony of 
 the Cape of Good Hope by large intervening 
 tracts of country occupied by another nation. 
 
 31. Nor do I think that Kaffraria would be 
 advantageously united with the Cape Colony, with- 
 out the consent of the Colonial Parliament having 
 been previously obtained. 
 
 32. But I think that if the several legislatures 
 of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, and the Orange 
 Free State were empowered to form a Federal 
 union, embracing Kaffraria within their limits, and 
 adopting into their union, either now or hereafter, 
 all such States as might see fit to join them, includ- 
 ing even native States, they would accept such a 
 measure. That probably the present Cape 
 Colony would be broken into two or three such 
 States, and that representatives sent from the 
 respective legislatures would, conjointly with the 
 Governor, settle all matters of detail, without giv- 
 ing further trouble to the Home Government in 
 relation to them. 
 
 33. Much, of course, depends on the circum- 
 stances of the country when it is first known here 
 that Her Majesty's Government would consent to 
 such a line of policy being pursued. Recently 
 there has been, from the difficulties which have 
 prevailed in the country, a very general desire to
 
 APPENDIX 305 
 
 see such a measure adopted as I have now pro- 
 posed ; but this has been, to a great extent, chilled 
 and repressed by the frequently expressed deter- 
 mination of Her Majesty's Government for the 
 future to avoid any changes in the line of policy 
 which they had adopted in regard to South Africa. 
 People, therefore, feared that no change would 
 be assented to, until some great difficulties had 
 arisen. 
 
 34. But I think the answer that should be made 
 to any objections raised to re-opening these ques- 
 tions should be that the arrangements now in force 
 in South Africa were not only necessarily made 
 without the sentiments of its inhabitants having 
 been consulted, but even against their well-known 
 wishes ; and that now that they have representa- 
 tive bodies, and have become used to self-govern- 
 ment, it is at once a generous and prudent line of 
 policy to readjust these, in conformity with their 
 well-ascertained desires, fortified as these would be 
 by local knowledge and experience. By adopting 
 this course all sympathies and interests would be 
 evoked in favour of the line of policy it was deter- 
 mined to pursue, and a willing people would strive 
 to make successful that which they had themselves 
 recommended. Now the difficult question con- 
 stantly arises, how are the inhabitants of this
 
 306 APPENDIX 
 
 country to be induced to give their personal 
 services, and to vote large sums of money, for the 
 promotion of objects which they deem unsuited to 
 their circumstances, and adverse to their interests : 
 and I fear that this difficulty will, year by year, 
 increase, and that England will find it more and 
 more difficult to retire from the costly system on 
 which it has entered. 
 
 35. It is also hardly possible to help wishing 
 that if ever England should be compelled to retire 
 from this country, and to throw its inhabitants 
 entirely on their own resources, it should leave 
 them in such a state that they could' provide, at 
 least, tolerably, for their own safety, and ultimately 
 attain to prosperity and greatness ; so that bless- 
 ings might follow the mother country as she 
 withdrew, and it might hereafter be admitted that 
 her rule had been beneficial and far-seeing. But 
 if she is ever forced to retire from this country 
 whilst South Africa is divided as it now is, a long 
 period of anarchy, confusion, and trouble must 
 prevail, and, it is to be feared, that sentiments of 
 indignation will rather be felt against Great Bri- 
 tain, which forced such difficulties upon the people 
 here, than those feelings of gratitude which it 
 would be so desirable to see entertained. 
 
 36. All the foregoing considerations, as they
 
 APPENDIX 307 
 
 successively arise, appear conclusively to show 
 how desirable it is to allow to the people of South 
 Africa an opportunity of exercising some influence 
 on their own future destiny. 
 
 37. I have not thought it necessary to trouble 
 you with any details of the form of government I 
 should propose for the States of the contemplated 
 Federal Union. The constitution of New Zea- 
 land embodies the model which I should propose 
 for adoption, and that form of government could 
 easily be so altered as to suit in every particular 
 the circumstances of South Africa. 
 I have, etc., 
 
 (Signed) G. GREY.
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 Lord Selborne's Despatch. 
 
 [Lord Selborne's Despatch was addressed by the 
 High Commissioner to the Governor of the Cape. 
 It was sent from the High Commissioner's Office, 
 Johannesburg, on January 7, 1907. The first and 
 the last two paragraphs are here omitted. The 
 first refers to the previous correspondence in 
 which Lord Selborne had been invited to write on 
 the subject: the last two refer to a memorandum' 
 not written by Lord Selborne, but edited by him, 
 and expressing more fully the views contained in 
 the body of the Despatch, as printed below.] 
 
 ...To review the present situation in South Africa 
 in such a manner that the public may be informed 
 as to the general position of affairs throughout the 
 country is a task which I should never have under- 
 taken had I not been requested to do so by those
 
 APPENDIX 309 
 
 who have a right to demand my services the 
 Ministers of the responsible governing Colonies of 
 Cape Colony and Natal. It is my dearest convic- 
 tion that no healthy movement towards federation 
 can emanate from any authority other than the 
 people of South Africa themselves ; but, when I 
 am called upon by those occupying the most repre- 
 sentative and responsible positions in the country 
 to furnish such material as is in my possession, for 
 the information of the people of South Africa, it is 
 clearly my duty to comply with the request. 
 
 The people of Cape Colony are, in respect of 
 the strictly internal affairs of Cape Colony, in the 
 enjoyment of as complete self-government as any 
 free people in the world. This is equally true of 
 the people of Natal, and' will presently be equally 
 true of the people of the Transvaal and of the 
 Orange River Colony, in each case in respect of 
 the strictly internal affairs of their Colony. But in 
 respect of the strictly internal affairs of South 
 Africa, the people of South Africa are not self- 
 governing. They are not self-governing in respect 
 of South African affairs because they have no 
 South African Government with which to govern. 
 
 In the nature of things, constant divergences of 
 opinion and of interest arise between the Govern- 
 ments of the Cape Colony, of Natal, of the Orange
 
 310 APPENDIX 
 
 River Colony, and of the Transvaal. How can 
 those divergences of opinion and of interest be 
 settled? At present they are settled through the 
 High Commissioner, not, of course, by the High 
 Commissioner. He simply represents the central 
 organisation in which the divergences of opinion 
 or of interest are focussed, and he acts as the 
 servant of the different Colonies in endeavouring 
 to facilitate arrangements and accommodations 
 among themselves. The High Commissioner, 
 however, is not an independent authority. His 
 action is subject to the control of the Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies in Westminster, who, in his 
 turn, is a member of a Government subject to the 
 control of the Imperial Parliament. As things, 
 therefore, are at present, in extreme cases of diver- 
 gence of opinion or interest between the British 
 South African Colonies, even in respect of affairs 
 which are strictly the internal affairs of South 
 Africa, the ultimate authority is the Imperial Par- 
 liament at Westminster. 
 
 It is as a remedy to this system that the minds 
 of men in South Africa are turning to some form 
 of union between the British South African Colo- 
 nies. True it is that there is another alternative ; 
 but it is one which has only to be cited to be 
 rejected. Those Colonies might develop into
 
 APPENDIX 311 
 
 States as independent of each other as the States 
 of Europe, which, in case of acute divergences of 
 opinion or of interest, have but two methods of 
 settlement open to them arbitration or the sword. 
 
 Three choices, therefore, lie before the people 
 of South Africa, the make-shift regime of the High 
 Commissioner, the jarring separatism of the States 
 of South America, the noble union of the States of 
 North America. 
 
 Of all the questions fruitful in divergence of 
 opinion or of interest to the Colonies of South 
 Africa, there is none so pregnant with danger as 
 the railway question. It is not an exaggeration to 
 say that a field more thickly sown with the seed of 
 future quarrel and strife than the railway systems 
 of South Africa does not exist. As long as the 
 Governments of the five British Colonies in South 
 Africa are wholly separated from, and independent 
 of, each other, their railway interests are not only 
 distinct, but absolutely incompatible. There is a 
 competitive struggle between the ports of Cape 
 Colony and of Natal to snatch from each other 
 every ton of goods which can be snatched. The 
 Orange River Colony desires as many tons of 
 good's as possible to be passed to the Transvaal 
 through its territory, but it is to the interest of 
 Cape Colony that no such tons of goods should
 
 3 i2 APPENDIX 
 
 pass into the Transvaal through the Orange River 
 Colony. On every ton which, on its way to the 
 Transvaal, passes into the Orange River Colony 
 at Norval's Pont, the Cape Colony loses revenue 
 compared with what she would receive if it passed 
 into the Transvaal by the Kimberley-Fourteen 
 Streams- Klerksdorp line. In the same way it is 
 to the interest of Natal to pass the goods consigned 
 to the Transvaal from Durban into the Transvaal 
 at Volksrust, and not at Vereeniging through the 
 Orange River Colony. Thus the interests of 
 Cape Colony, of Natal, and of the Orange River 
 Colony conflict the one with the other. But when 
 it comes to considering the railway interests of the 
 Transvaal, then it will be found that the interest 
 of the Transvaal is diametrically opposed to the 
 interests of Cape Colony, of Natal, and of the 
 Orange River Colony. The Transvaal loses 
 revenue on every ton of goods which enters the 
 Transvaal by any other route than that from 
 Delagoa Bay. This has been so from the day 
 when that line was opened to Pretoria. It was 
 this fact which made President Kruger close the 
 drifts in 1895. And the position to-day is exactly 
 what the position was then. If the Transvaal were 
 as indifferent to the welfare of the three sister 
 Colonies as every State in Europe is to the welfare
 
 APPENDIX 313 
 
 of every other State, the Transvaal would see that 
 all the trade to the Transvaal came exclusively 
 through Delagoa Bay. And what then would be 
 the position of the railways and the finances of the 
 three sister Colonies and of the ports of Cape 
 Colony and of Natal? 
 
 This divergence, this conflict of railway interests, 
 this cloud of future strife, would vanish like a foul 
 mist before the sun of South African Federation, 
 but no other force can dissipate it. There would 
 no longer be a conflict of interests between the 
 railway systems of Natal, of Cape Colony, and 
 of the Orange River Colony. Nor would it any 
 longer be to the interest of the Transvaal to lean 
 exclusively towards Delagoa Bay. The wealth of 
 the Transvaal would be used, not in enriching a 
 foreign port and a foreign country, but in building 
 up a great white population in the British ports of 
 British South Africa with interests identical with 
 her own. 
 
 If the possibility of railway rates being made a 
 weapon of international strife is a danger, what 
 would 1 be the danger of Customs war between the 
 British South African Colonies? Imagine each of 
 them with a separate tariff framed expressly with 
 the object of fostering the trade of one Colony to 
 the detriment of the trade of its neighbour ! I ma-
 
 3H APPENDIX 
 
 gine each Colony ringed round with a barrier of 
 internal Customs Houses! The result would be 
 the destruction of commercial stability, the stag- 
 nation of industrial enterprise, the creation of a 
 permanent depression. The sun of progress 
 would go back ten degrees on the dial of South 
 Africa. She would revert, and revert deliber- 
 ately, to the helpless impotence for national 
 advance to which the thirteen States of America 
 were condemned before the Union, and the King- 
 doms, Duchies, and Principalities of Germany 
 before the creation of the German Empire. What 
 a prospect of mutual heartburning and bitterness 
 does not the contemplation of such a catastrophe 
 present ! Yet the danger will be imminent unless 
 the Colonies take another step forward towards 
 union. Can they stand still on the compromise 
 embodied in the present Customs Convention? 
 That Convention does not represent a South Afri- 
 can Customs policy ; it is a compromise between 
 five Colonial Customs policies, almost universally 
 disliked, tolerated only because men shrink aghast 
 from the consequences of a disruption of the Con- 
 vention. The only path of safety is a forward 
 path to a South African tariff, based on the deli- 
 berate policy of the South African people, affording 
 permanent free trade to all South Africans within
 
 APPENDIX 3i5 
 
 South Africa, offering a stable basis of investment 
 to industry and commerce. 
 
 There are five systems of law and five organisa- 
 tions for defence. The expense is at the 
 maximum ; the return is at the minimum. South 
 Africans of every Colony are justly proud of their 
 system of jurisprudence, and the standard of the 
 Magistracy and of the Bench is second to none in 
 the Empire. But there is no South African Court 
 of Appeal, and so no harmonising co-ordination of 
 all South African law. In default of such a Court 
 of Appeal, the tendency must be towards discor- 
 dance of legal interpretation, with added obstacles 
 and instability to industry arid commerce. The 
 Police, Militia, and 1 Volunteers of South Africa 
 are renowned for their efficiency. In the aggre- 
 gate they represent a formidable power, but, if a 
 crisis were to arise, there is no machinery whatever 
 for applying that power instantly, and in over- 
 whelming force at the point of danger. 
 
 The two great industries of South Africa are 
 agriculture and the mines. In respect of both 
 alike, South Africa is unable to apply all her 
 resources to their development. No race of farm- 
 ers in the world have more natural difficulties to 
 contend with than those of South Africa. Scab, 
 rinderpest, East African coast fever, locusts, are
 
 3 i6 APPENDIX 
 
 each in their degree a constant menace to the 
 farmer. The plagues of nature know no artificial 
 boundaries between Colonies, and are impartial in 
 their visitations; the farmers, however, in their 
 warfare against these plagues, are heavily handi- 
 capped by the multiplicity of authorities. In 
 respect of the diseases of animals, five Agricultural 
 Departments formulate their own systems of pre- 
 vention, and each co-operates with the correspond- 
 ing Department of the other Colonies on the basis 
 only of mutual good sense and feeling. Any 
 misunderstanding, which resulted in want of 
 co-operation, might result in a new disease being 
 let loose on a Colony. Imagine the despair of the 
 farmer in the Transvaal, who has successfully 
 destroyed each swarm of locusts that has hatched 
 upon his farm, when he sees fresh swarms of locusts 
 appearing from a neighbouring Colony where the 
 same process of destruction has not been accom- 
 plished. Or is it wonderful that the farmers of the 
 Transvaal, of the Orange River Colony, and of 
 Cape Colony alike say, "What is the use of our 
 destroying all the swarms of locusts which are 
 hatched upon our farms when countless myriads, 
 which have been hatched in the Bechuanaland Pro- 
 tectorate, are sure to invade them ? " If one South 
 African authority, exercising undisputed powers
 
 APPENDIX 317 
 
 from the Cape of Good Hope to the Zambesi, were 
 to carry out one consistent policy in support of the 
 farmers, it is probable that, within a few years, not 
 only would dread pests like the East African coast 
 fever have disappeared, but scab might become 
 rare among South African sheep, and the scourge 
 of locusts might have passed 1 into the record of a 
 bad dream. 
 
 The prosperity of the mining industry, as of 
 agriculture, depends on an adequate supply of 
 competent labour. There is a large supply of 
 labour in South Africa, though to what extent it 
 is willing to work is not yet finally ascertained. 
 What is certain is that in many cases the demand 
 for labour is situated in one Colony, and the sup- 
 ply which might fulfil that demand, is situated in 
 another. Any attempt to bring the supply and 
 the demand together can only be made by private 
 individuals who are hampered by the existence of 
 different laws regulating labour questions in the 
 Colony of the demand and the Colony of the sup- 
 ply. What proportion the real supply bears to 
 the demand can never be known until there is one 
 authority in South Africa charged with the task of 
 regulating the labour supply as a whole. 
 
 But there are questions even more important 
 than these, which, if not settled by the people of
 
 . 3 i8 APPENDIX 
 
 South Africa, can only drift to a future fraught 
 with danger for their children. What is going to 
 be the policy of South Africa in respect of the 
 immigration of Asiatics ? What is going to be the 
 policy of South Africa towards the coloured 
 people? W 7 hat towards the natives? Those 
 questions are not for me to answer. They can 
 be answered only by the people of South Africa. 
 But I can point out to the people of South Africa 
 that at the present moment they are not answering 
 those questions at all. In respect of each branch 
 of these great human problems, the policy of each 
 Colony differs from that of the other. These 
 human beings are not pawns, and, whatever their 
 stage of civilisation, they will think and feel as 
 human beings. How is it possible that either of 
 these three great classes should be permanently 
 contented with the institutions under which they 
 live when those institutions are to them increas- 
 ingly unintelligible ? They know that each of the 
 Colonies in which they live own allegiance to one 
 King ; they know that the white men regard South 
 Africa as one country ; but yet, every time one of 
 them passes the unseen boundaries which divide 
 one Colony from another, he finds himself sub- 
 jected' to different treatment, he finds that he is 
 expected to conform to a different set of rules. In
 
 APPENDIX 319 
 
 his own mind he forms an opinion as to which 
 conditions are most favourable to him and to his 
 friends, and wherever he finds other conditions 
 prevailing, there he becomes increasingly discon- 
 tented. It cannot be wise that in one part of the 
 common country Asiatics should be admitted into 
 it on different terms, and under different conditions 
 from those which prevail in other parts. It can- 
 not make for the permanent contentment of the 
 Asiatic immigrant if, once he has been admitted, 
 he finds himself subjected to these divergent and 
 contradictory rules. 
 
 The coloured man is a son of the soil. In vary- 
 ing degrees he possesses white blood. He is per- 
 manently conscious of the fact that the infusion 
 of that blood differentiates him completely from 
 the natives who surround him. He feels that he 
 has a right to a definite place in the social struc- 
 ture of South Africa, and he is embittered by 
 finding that no such place is accorded to him. He 
 has a definite place in each Colony, but, as has 
 already been stated, he is subjected to different 
 rules in the different Colonies. South Africa, as 
 such, does not recognise him. And he, who ought 
 to be a permanent support to the influence of white 
 rule, is tempted to turn his face backwards to a 
 more sympathetic understanding with that native
 
 320 APPENDIX 
 
 population from which he is, in so large a part, 
 derived. 
 
 If this is the result on Asiatics with their old 
 civilisation, and on coloured people, some of whom 
 have achieved the complete civilisation of white 
 men, it must be equally true of the really educated 
 natives, a very small body compared with the great 
 mass of the South African natives, but a body 
 which has every claim to intelligent consideration, 
 and far more true must it be of that great mass of 
 natives, not yet emerged, or only just emerging, 
 from barbarism, or in every stage of intermediate 
 development. There are many South Africans 
 with a profound knowledge of the native character. 
 As is natural, they contain among them men of 
 many different opinions on the native question ; 
 but all agree in declaring that native policy, to be 
 successful, must be consistent and' continuous. 
 Folly or injustice may or may not provoke distur- 
 bances ; but doubt and change in respect of the 
 conditions under which the native lives are almost 
 certain to produce disturbances. All South Afri- 
 cans are agreed that the native question is at once 
 the most important and the most profoundly diffi- 
 cult question which confronts themselves and their 
 children; but, by the perpetuation of five or six 
 totally different native administrations and policies,
 
 APPENDIX 321 
 
 they are doing all that is in their power to make 
 the question more grave and the problem more 
 difficult. 
 
 What South Africa requires more than anything 
 else is stability stability in political conditions, 
 stability in economic conditions, stability in indus- 
 trial conditions. Stability alone will enable the 
 farmer securely to reap where he has sown ; stabi- 
 lity alone will give security to the investment of 
 the merchant and the producer ; stability alone will 
 improve credit; stability alone will tempt the 
 investor back to South Africa. But true stability 
 will remain impossible so long as there are five 
 separate governments in South Africa, each 
 developing a different system in all branches of 
 public life and each a potential antagonist of the 
 other, but no one national government with autho- 
 rity to harmonise the whole. 
 
 It is the profound belief of every Cape Colonist 
 that Cape Colony can only be wisely and success- 
 fully ruled by a Cape Colony Government chosen 
 from the elected representatives of the people. 
 What is true of the part is true of the whole 
 South Africa can only be wisely and successfully 
 governed by a South African Government, respon- 
 sible to a South African Parliament elected by the 
 South African people.
 
 322 APPENDIX 
 
 The past of South Africa has been the sport of 
 circumstances, because no human authority has 
 existed with both the opportunity and the respon- 
 sibility of moulding those circumstances to a 
 national purpose. The future of South Africa will 
 be what South Africans deserve.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abyssinia, 228. 
 
 Adderley, Sir Charles. See Norton. 
 
 Afforestation. See Industries. 
 
 Agriculture. See Industries. 
 
 Agricultural Loans and Banks, 257. 
 
 Akerman, Mr. (afterwards Sir) John, 
 74, 187. 
 
 Alfred County, 125. 
 
 Amatongaland, 50. 
 
 Argentine Republic, xxv., 244. 
 
 Asiatic Question 191 ; Asiatic Immi- 
 gration, 180, 183, 192-3, 1J40-6, 
 318-9 ; Importation of inden- 
 tured Asiatics, xxiii., 180, 
 193-4. 
 
 Auckland, Province of, 60. 
 
 Australia, xxxv., 1, 45, 116, 119. 127, 
 138, 144, 235, 271, 276; Com- 
 monwealth Constitution Act, 
 137, 278. 
 
 Balfour, Mr. A. J., xxx. 
 
 Barkly, Sir Henry, xxxiv., 3, 64-5, 
 
 67, 70, 72 ff, 90, 94, 115, 135, 
 
 198. 
 Basutoland, 50, 51, 86, 179, 187, 198, 
 
 208, 210, 265. 
 Bayville, 242. 
 Bechuanaland, 10, 50. 51, 86, 179, 
 
 187, 198, 208, 261. 
 Bijwoner, 20. 
 
 Bladiforcl, Lord, xxxiv., 75. 
 Black Peril 184. 
 
 Bloemfontein, 36, 55, 64, 140-1, 158. 
 Boer, The Name, 18. See also South 
 
 Africans. 
 Bond, The Afrikaander, 23, 86, 100, 
 
 118, 252. 
 
 Boshof, President, 59. 
 
 Bosman, Mr., xxix. 
 
 Botha, General L., xiv. , xviii., xxii, 
 xxviii., 99, 266; his policy 
 towards natives, 190. 
 
 Brand, Sir John, 64, 73, 74. 
 
 Brink, Mr. Melt, 16. 
 
 British Empire, xi., xxxi. ; Condi- 
 tions of Unity of, Ch. xi. 
 
 British North America Act, 116. 
 
 Bryce, Mr. J., xv. 
 
 Biilow, Prince, xxxi. 
 
 Bu'iwer-Lytton, Sir E. See Lytton. 
 
 Bushmen. See Native Races. 
 
 Butt, Mr. I., 77. 
 
 Cachet, Mr., 16. 
 
 Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 98. 
 
 Canada, xxxiv., 41, 45, 116, 127, 138, 
 168, 237,271, 276-7, 279; Con- 
 stitution of, 115, 135. 
 
 Cape Colony, 56, 71, 87, 90, 127 ff., 
 133, 154, 179, 227, 292-3, 304, 
 309, 321 ; and Carnarvon's 
 scheme, 74 ff. ; and Union, 
 65, 70, 107-8 ; Native policy of, 
 47, 130, 178, 187, 189, 206; 
 Parliament of, 35, 43, 54, 59, 
 62, 64, 66, 71, 82, 101-2, 189, 
 200, 202. Eastern Province, 
 10, 46, 64 ; Western Province, 
 64. 
 
 Cape Town, 111, 133, 140, 141, 158, 
 291-2. 
 
 Capital, Question of the national, 
 115, 140 ff. 
 
 Cardwell, Mr. (afterwards Viscount), 
 68, 76, 186.
 
 324 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Carnarvon, Lord, xxxiv., 26, 51, 55, 
 59, 119, 166, 211; his feder- 
 ation policy, 2, 11, 61, 68 5., 
 92, 187. 
 
 Cathcart, General, xxxiv. 28, 45, 58. 
 
 Chamberlain, Mr. J., 87', 251, 278. 
 
 Chartered Company, 14, 235. 
 
 Childers, Mr. Hugh, xxxiv., 91. 
 
 Chinese, Indentured. See Asiatic 
 Question. 
 
 Church, Dean, 76. 
 
 Churches in South Africa, 2, 36, 108, 
 225; "Dopper," xxv. ; Dutch 
 Reformed xxix., 36, 109, 223, 
 225, 228, 293; English 
 Church, 109-10, 225. 
 
 Churchill, Mr. W., xxx., 103. 
 
 Civil Service. National, 115, 139 ff., 
 149, 163; in Transvaal and 
 O. R. Colony, xxii-xxiv. 
 
 Closer Union, Societies for Promot- 
 ing, xxxiv., 108. 
 
 Colenso, Bishop, xxxiv., 188. 
 
 Colonial Office, 75, 146, 277, 310. 
 
 Coloured People, The, 39, 179, 182, 
 205, 217, 221, 318-9. 
 
 Commissions. Cape of 1871 on 
 Federation 64-7, 115, 118; 
 Natal Native , 183, 191; 
 on Native Affairs, 143, 185, 
 212; on Poor Whites, 221. 
 
 Communications, Need of Improved, 
 256. 
 
 Companies. De Beers. 155; Ship- 
 ping, 8, 104; Transvaal Gold- 
 Mining, 156, 263. 
 
 Conferences. Australian, on Closer 
 Union, 91 ; Carnarvon's, of 
 1876, 69, 73, 200-1; Colonial, 
 of 1907, 139, 266, 279; Inter- 
 Colonial, of 1908, 103, 105 ff. 
 
 Congo Free State, xxxi., 4, 177. 
 
 Congresses. Bond, 252; German 
 Colonial, of 1907, 193; Veter- 
 inary. 4. 
 
 Constituencies. Proposed Mode of 
 Division of under New Consti- 
 tution, 123 ff. 
 
 Constitution, Draft, of South Africa, 
 65, 111 ff., 158, 284; its 
 provisions examined, 114-144; 
 Possibility of amending, lib. 
 
 Corn. See Industries. 
 
 Courtney, Lord, 76 ff., 121, 131, 144, 
 266. 
 
 Crewe, Lord, xv. 
 
 Cromer, Lord, 280. 
 
 Crown Lands, Settlement of, 260-1. 
 
 Customs ; Convention, 2, 6, 9, 103, 
 314; Duties, 57, 256, 291; 
 Houses, 7, 314 ; Tariff, 6, 
 103, 166 ff., 272, 313-4; - 
 Union of Cape Colony and 
 Free State (1889), 86. 
 
 Damaraland. 50. 
 
 De Beers Company, 155. 
 
 Debt of South Africa, 165, 170; its 
 
 reduction, 173-5. 
 "De Fakkel," xxix. 
 Defence, 315; Organisation for, 149, 
 
 160. 
 
 Delagoa Bay, 13. 138, 159, 312-3. 
 De Mist's Education Ordinance, 230. 
 De Villiers, Sir Henry, xxix., 64-5. 
 De Wet, General C., xx., xxii., 
 
 xxviii. 
 Diamond Fields, Discovery of, 33, 
 
 66-7, 89, 166; Diamond Fields 
 
 Dispute, 72 ff., 80. 
 
 Dilke, Sir Charles, xv. ; on Federa- 
 tion, 76 ff. ; on Native Policy, 
 
 198-9. 
 
 Dingaan, Downfall of, 216. 
 Du Bois, Professor, 208. 
 Durban, 48, 111, 125, 140, 292, 312. 
 D'Urban, Sir Benjamin, 48. 
 Dutchman. See South African. 
 Dutch Teachers' Association, 225. 
 Duties, Customs , see Customs ; 
 
 Death, 172-3; Estate, 170; 
 
 Excise , see Excise ; House , 
 
 170 ff. 
 
 East London, xiv., 133, 291-2. 
 Education, 162, 224 ff. ; Agricultural, 
 
 232, 258; Compulsory and Free, 
 
 161, 227; University, 5, 232 ff. 
 Education, Arrangements for, under 
 
 new Constitution, 122, 148 ; 
 
 Education as a unifying 
 
 influence, xix., 36. 
 Education Bill, Cape, of 1905, 226. 
 Education Committees, 226.
 
 INDEX 
 
 325 
 
 Edward VII., King, xxix., 111. 
 Enabling Act Lord Carnarvon's, of 
 
 1877, 2, 61, 69-70, 75 ff., 84, 
 
 92, 117, 135, 211. 
 Esselen, Mr., xxi. 
 Ethiopian Movement, 184. 
 Excise Duties, on Brandy, 165, 170 ; 
 
 on Tobacco and Wine, 170. 
 
 Federation or Federal Union, xiv., 
 64, 304. See also Carnarvon, 
 Grey (Sir G.), Unification. 
 
 Ferreira, Mr., of Rietfontein, 242. 
 
 Finance, 97, 115, 137, 283; Difficulty 
 and importance of, in ts. 
 Africa, 151 ff. ; Need for 
 Economy, 164 ; Serious condi- 
 tion of, in S. Africa, 153-4; 
 under new constitution, 13Y-8, 
 159 ff. ; Provincial, 121. 
 
 Fischer, Mr. A., xxviii., 153. 
 
 Fisher, Mr. A., 119. 
 
 Forster, Mr. W. E., 76, 79, 117. 
 
 Franchise, 129 ff. See also Native 
 Franchise. 
 
 Freeman, Professor E. A., 1. 
 
 Free Trade, 6, 167. 
 
 Frere, Sir Bartle, xxxiv., 81-4 95, 
 189, 281. 
 
 Froude J. A., 9, 10, 69, 72-3, 75, 80, 
 89, 95, 188, 280. 
 
 Fruit-farming. See Industries. 
 
 German East Africa, 193. 
 
 German South-West Africa, 4, 13, 
 
 161. 
 
 Germany, 50, 116, 117, 314. 
 Gladstone, Mr. W. E., xxxiv., 40, 41, 
 
 83, 84, 137. 
 
 Glenelg, Lord, 40, 47-8. 
 Gold Coast, 208. 
 Gold Fields, Discovery of, 90. 
 Government, Batavian, 46 ; Imperial, 
 
 46, 84, 90, 93 4, 103, 107, 117, 
 
 143, 173, 187, 235, 280, !/ ; 
 
 Portuguese, 288 ; Responsible. 
 
 Movement towards at the 
 
 Cape, 64; National, of S. 
 
 Africa, 264, 283. 
 Governors, Appointment of Colonial, 
 
 from England, 274. 
 Graaff Reinet, 46. 
 
 Grahamstown, 125, 188. 
 
 Granville, Lord, 63, 76. 
 
 Great Trek, The 48. 
 
 Grey College, 36.' 
 
 Grey, Sir George, xxxiv., 68, 70, 90, 
 94, 235 ; on Education and 
 Union, 3, 36, 56 ff. (see also 
 Appendix A) ; in New Zealand, 
 61, 62, 273. 
 
 Grey, Lord, 40, 41, 76", 186, 269. 
 
 Griqualand West, 50, 89, 90. 
 
 Guano Islands 50. 
 
 Guano, Sale of, 250, 255. 
 
 Hamelberg, Mr., 65. 
 
 Herschel, Sir John, 147. 
 
 Hertzog, General, xxi., 237. 
 
 Het Volk, xxi. 
 
 Hicks Beach, Sir Michael. See St. 
 
 Aldwyn. 
 High Commissioner, as bond of 
 
 union, 294, 310. 
 Hill, Mr. James J., 240. 
 Hobhouse, Miss, 232. 
 Hofmeyr, Mr. J. H., 118, 190, 202, 
 
 217, 221. 
 Holland. 10, 19. 
 Hottentots. See Native Races. 
 
 Imaum Hadje Magadien, 192. 
 
 Immigration, 149 ; European, 234 ff. ; 
 Asiatic, see Asiatic Question. 
 
 Income Tax. See Taxation. 
 
 India, 41, 141, 195, 214. 
 
 Indians in S. Africa. See Asiatic 
 Question. 
 
 Industries, 239, 240, 265, 267, 315; 
 (i) Farming, xxii., 168, 169, 
 240, 316 ; Corn, 168, 243, 251 ; 
 Fruit, 244-5, 251, 2t>5; 
 Horses, 246; Ostriches, 168, 
 246-7, 251, 255; Tobacco, 245, 
 253; Wine, 168, 243 ff., 252 ff. ; 
 Pastoral, Dairy, 246, 259; 
 Meat, 245; Wool, 168, 246, 251, 
 259. (ii) Afforestation and Tim- 
 ber, 222, 247, 251. (iii) Mining, 
 xxii., 13, 108, 155 ff., 167, 251, 
 262 ff., 315, 317. 
 
 Industries, Mere Protection v. 
 Development of, 248.
 
 INDEX 
 
 International Policy, Colonies and, 
 
 279. 
 
 Ireland, 141. 
 Irrigation, 207. 
 Italy, Treatment of Public Debt in, 
 
 174. 
 
 Jameson. Dr. L. S. 100, 101, 118, 
 
 236, 244. 
 Johannesburg, 7, 34. 
 
 Kaffraria, 48, 50, 56, 285, 289, 304. 
 
 Kafirs. See Native Races. 
 
 Kakamas, Labour Colony of, 224. 
 
 Karroo, The 190. 
 
 Kei River, 191. 
 
 Kimberley, 7, 89, 124, 133, 155; New 
 
 Rush, 10. 
 Kimberley, Lord, 65 ff., 70, 83, 84, 91, 
 
 146, 178. 
 Kirkwood, Mr., of Port Elizabeth, 
 
 243. 
 Kruger, President, xxi., 108, 312. 
 
 Labour, 263 ff. 317; Coloured, 182; 
 
 Native, 203 ; White, 223, 264 it. 
 Labour Party, 107, 236, 266-7. 
 Langalibalele, 71. 
 Language Question, The, 117, 147; 
 
 Bilingualism, 38-9; Dutch, 
 
 20 ff.. 36, 230-1. 
 
 Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, 135. 279. 
 Law, 315; Codification of, 149; 
 
 Courts of, 115, 138-9; Supreme 
 
 Court, 138-9 ; Roman-Dutch 
 
 Law, 293. 
 
 Liquor Traffic, 149. 
 Lowther, Mr., 79. 
 Lytton, Sir E. B. (afterwards Lord). 
 
 55. 56, 59. 
 
 Madagascar, 4. 
 
 Mafeking, 125. 
 
 Maine, Sir Henry, 117. 
 
 Malan, Mr. F. S." 101. 
 
 Malays, 39, 180, 182, 192, 1%. 
 
 Maritzburg, 141, 158. 
 
 Menelik, Emperor, 228. 
 
 Merriman, Mr. J. X., 33 101, 119, 
 
 188, 190. 
 
 Milner, Lord, 119, 271. 
 Mines, 155 ff. See also Industries. 
 
 -Missionaries, 204, 208, 287, 297. 
 
 Mitchell, Sir Charles, 85. 
 
 Molteno, Sir John, xxxiv., 64, 67, 71, 
 
 74, 188. 
 
 Molteno, Mr. P. A., xxxiv. 
 Molteno Ministry, The, 188, 213. 
 Moor, Mr., 106. 
 Moshesh, 289. 
 Mozambique, 4, 13. 
 
 Namaqualand, 231. 
 
 Natal, xviii., xxviii., 4, 33, 48, 49, 50, 
 73, 85, 86, 94, 125, 127, 128, 154, 
 179, 206, 245, 288, 289, -JJ2, 
 312; Indians in, 193; i\atives 
 in, 57, 71, 130, 183, 187, 190-1, 
 201, 217; Schools in, 1^< ; 
 Natal and Union, 73, 86-7, 100 
 102, 108, 144, 309. 
 
 National Convention, 64, 104 ff., 123, 
 127. 135, 144. 
 
 Native Affairs Commission. See 
 Commissions. 
 
 Native Franchise, 116, 130-1, 207, 
 211 ff. 
 
 Native Locations, 204. 
 
 Native Protectorates, 142-3 179 ff., 
 197. 
 
 Native Question, The, 148, 176 ff., 
 196, 216, 320. 
 
 Native Races. 291, 318; Bushmen x 46, 
 181 ; Griquas, 49 ; Hotten- 
 tots, 46, 180, 181; Kafirs, 12, 
 47, 48 181, 220; Basutos, 49, 
 62 ; Matabele, 49 ; Pondos, 50. 
 
 Native Reserves, 143, 197, 199, 204. 
 
 Native Self-Government, 207, 210-11. 
 
 Natives, The, 15, 39, 57, 136, 181 ff., 
 320; Education of, 161, 179, 
 207 ff., 228; Policy towards, 
 186 ff., 196, 209, 216, 290-1, 
 ' 320 ; of the Cape, 130, 178, 187, 
 206, 210 ff. ; Representation of, 
 79, 136 ; Sale of drink to, 143, 
 200, 201. 
 
 Navy, The, as a link of Empire, 
 274-5. 
 
 Newcastle, Duke of, 28, 59, 60. 
 
 New Zealand, 41, 212, 271, iV-1 ; 
 Constitution of, 60. 
 
 Norton, Lord, 34, 63, 269.
 
 INDEX 
 
 327 
 
 Orange River, The, 90, 91, 224, 286. 
 294. 
 
 Orange River Colony, xvi., xvii., xxi., 
 xxiv., 33, 90," 127-8, 154, 179, 
 188, 312; Constitution of, 98-9, 
 102 137; Orange Free State, 
 10, 55. 58. 59, 66, 86, 90; ite 
 Volksraad, 58, 83; Orange 
 River Sovereignty 28, 154; 
 abandoned (1854), '45, 49, 54, 
 57, 64, 286-7. 
 
 Ostrich-farming. See Industries. 
 
 Parker, Sir Henry, 91. 
 
 Parliament Imperial, 66, 68. 77, 189. 
 208, 212; National, of South 
 Africa, 120, 123, 234. 321 ; its 
 Constitution, 115, 120; Mode 
 of Election to, 115, 123, 131, 
 147; Payment of Members of, 
 115, 136; Relations between 
 the two houses, 136 ; Repre- i 
 sentations of Colonies in, 133. ! 
 
 Parnell, Mr. C. S.. 76 ff., 119. 
 
 Parties, Unclesirability of connection 
 between Imperial and Colo- 
 nial, 276-7. 
 
 Paterson, Mr., 74. 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, 40, 41. 
 
 Phillips, Mr. Lionel, 211. 
 
 Police, 258, 315; Cape. 13. 
 
 Poor Whites, 221 ff. 
 
 Population. Asiatic, 179; Coloured, 
 179; Native, 179; White, 122, 
 127, 179. 
 
 Port Elizabeth, 133, 291. 
 
 Portuguese East Africa, 13. 
 
 Pretoria, 133, 140, 141, 158. 
 
 Press, The, in 8. Africa, xviii., 58, 
 184; in England, 184. 
 
 Privy Council, Appeals to the Judi- 
 cial Committee of, 139, 275-6. 
 
 Protection. See Industries, Tariffs. 
 
 Provincial Councils and Executives, 
 114, 120, 148. 
 
 Quebec, Tercentenary of, xxix. 
 
 Raid, The, 94. 
 
 Railways, 5, 87, 137, 149, 256, 265, 
 
 311 ff. ; Railway Rates, 7-8, 103, 
 
 250 
 
 Rand, The. 13, 133, 194, 264-5. 
 
 Referendum, 144. 
 
 Rhodes, Mr. Cecil, xxv. 
 
 P.hodesia. 10 14, 50, 51, 86, 188, 235, 
 
 263; Southern, 14, 105, lt>4, 
 
 179, 180. 
 
 Robben Island, 71. 
 Robinson, Sir Hercules, 84-5. 
 Robinson, Sir John, xxxiv., 193. 
 Roosevelt, President, 2, 178, 247. 
 Russell, Lord John, 269. 
 
 St. Aldwyn, Lord, xiv. 
 
 Sampson, Mr. V., 118. 
 
 Sand River Convention, 54, 288. 
 
 Sauer, Mr. J. W., 190. 
 
 Schreiner, Olive, 11, 118. 
 
 Selborne Village, 242. 
 
 Selborne, Lord, xxiv., 9, 87, 107; tua 
 Despatch, 9, 100, Appendix B. 
 
 Self-Government as a condition of 
 Imperial unity, 269-70, 279; 
 Beneficial consequences of 
 grant of, to the new colonies, 
 xxviii., 42. 
 
 Senate, The, under new constitu- 
 tion, 120, 135 ff. 
 
 Simon's Bay, 286. 291. 
 
 Slaves. Emancipation of, 47. 
 
 Smuts, General, 225. 
 
 Solomon, Mr. Saul, 54. 
 
 South African College, xxxv. 
 
 South Africans, i, xv. ; Dutch-speak- 
 ing, xxi., 15 ff., 58, 220, 281; 
 their characteristics, xix., 21 
 ff., 28; English-speaking, 15, 
 27 ff. 
 
 Speyer, M. H., xvi., xxxiv. 
 
 Stanley, Lord, 55, 59. 
 
 Steyn, Mr., xxviii., 99, 190. 
 
 Stock, Diseases of ; East African 
 Coast Fever, 4, 317; Rinder- 
 pest, 317; Scab, 217, 315. 
 
 Supreme Court. See Law. 
 
 Swaziland, 50, 51, 179. 
 
 Switzerland, 1, 116. 
 
 Tariffs, Preferential, 251 ff. ; Protec- 
 tive, 6, 169, 251, 256, 270. 
 See also Customs .
 
 328 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Taxation, Direct, 165 ff., 173; 
 History of, 165; incidence of, 
 165; Income-tax, 166, 170 
 (Cape); Problems of, 149, 
 164 ff. See also Customs, 
 Excise. 
 
 Tembuland, 214. 
 
 Theron, Mr., 23, 190. 
 
 Tobacco. See Excise, Industries. 
 
 Transkei, The, 198, 210. 
 
 Transvaal, xiv., xvi., xvii., xviii., 49, 
 65 84, 87, 90, 95, 103, 108, 127- 
 8, 141, 179, 309, 312; Independ- 
 ence acknowledged in 1852, 49, 
 54, 287-8; Annexation of, in 
 1877 49, 81, 84; Constitution 
 of, 1907, 98-9, 137 ; Natives in, 
 211 ff. 
 
 Transvaal Miners' Association, 156. 
 
 Trevelyan, Sir Charles, 58. 
 
 Uitenhage xxxv., 46, 242. 
 
 Unemployment, 222. 
 
 Union of South Africa, Natural 
 tendency to, 1-2, 86, 93; Bad 
 effects of absence of, 3-4, 41, 
 52, 53, 56, 63, 294-6, 299 ff. ; 
 Earlier attempts to procure, 
 54 ff., 63 ff., 68 ff. ; Present 
 movement towards, 13, 96, 
 101 ; Problems of, Chapter 
 VI. ; Self-Government as a 
 condition of, xxviii., 42, 93 ff. , 
 147. 
 
 Unification as opposed to Federa- 
 tion, 60. 118, 120. 122. 
 
 United Kingdom, The, 27, 145 173, 
 252, 267, 273, 278, 282. 
 
 United States of America, xxxv., 2, 
 116, 117, 138, 168, 237. 24U, 
 247, 311; Constitution of, 97, 
 114, 135; Negro Question, 177. 
 
 University of the Cape of Good Hope. 
 See Education. 
 
 Usury, Laws to protect Natives from, 
 202-3. 
 
 Vegetable Pests, 243, 258. 
 Vereeniging, Peace of, xi., xxviii., 
 
 44, 49, 94. 
 
 Vermin, Extinction of, 247 ff., 257. 
 Victoria (Natal). See Natal. 
 Victoria, Queen, 80, 83. 
 Vorster, Mr., xxv.-xxvii. 
 
 Walfisch Bay, 50. 
 
 War, First Boer, of 1880, 84 ; of 
 1899-1902, xx.. 40, 50, 87, 161, 
 193; Secocoeni, 80; Zulu, 83. 
 
 Washington, Mr. Booker, 208. 
 
 Waterboer, 289. 
 
 Watson, Mr., 119. 
 
 Windward Islands Federation of, 
 158. 
 
 Wine. See Excise, Industries. 
 
 Wodehouse, Sir Philip, 62, 65-6. 
 
 Wolmarans, Mr., 108. 
 
 Wool. See Industries. 
 
 Zambesi, The, 13. 
 Zoutpansberg, 231. 
 Zululand, 50, 51, 181, 183. 
 
 BENNETT'S PRINTING WORKS, PORTSMOUTH
 
 January, 1909 
 
 BELL'S 
 
 Indian $ Colonial Cibrarp 
 
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 AND THE COLONIES ONLY 
 
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 New Volumes Just Published 
 
 A TRIUMPH OF REALISTIC IMAGINATION 
 
 THE WAR IN THE AIR 
 
 By H. G. WELLS 
 
 Author of " The War of the Worlds," "The Time-Machine," etc. 
 With 16 Illustrations. By A. 0. MICHAEL 
 
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 " The most powerful of the many books of prophetic forecast that have recently 
 attracted attention. A book that enthrals and terrifies." Morning Pott. 
 
 " A striking picture, worked out with great power and imagination." Daily 
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 " A dazzling and bewildering romance." The Scotsman. 
 
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 A ROMANCE OF DUAL PERSONALITY 
 
 AN IMMORTAL SOUL 
 
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 " An exceedingly clever story." Evening Standard. 
 
 "This story is by far the most remarkable and impressive piece of English 
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 THE TRAMPING 
 
 METHODIST 
 
 By SHEILA KAYE=SMITH 
 
 " The title of The Tramping Methodist tells its own tale, but it hardly conveys 
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 DEVIL'S ACE 
 
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 THE SMALLHOLDER 
 
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 THE LUCK OF 
 
 NORMAN DALE 
 
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 A WHITE WITCH 
 
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 YOUNG NEMESIS 
 
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 THE STORMY PETREL 
 
 By L. T. MEADE 
 
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 THE LACKEY 
 
 AND THE LADY 
 
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 THE GREEN PARROT 
 
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 BY FAITH ALONE 
 
 By RENE BAZIN 
 
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 By SIDNEY HERBERT BURCHELL 
 
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 BELL'S COLONIAL LIBRARY 
 
 CATHERINE'S CHILD 
 
 By Mrs. HENRY DE LA PASTURE 
 
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 LOVE'S MAGIC 
 
 By Mrs. FRED REYNOLDS 
 
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 THE HOUSE OF 
 
 THE CRICKETS 
 
 By KATHARINE TYNAN 
 
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 has ever given. Once again her readers will be well pleased." The Academy. 
 
 THE BROAD ROAD 
 
 By ANNIE S. SWAN 
 
 Author of " Aldersyde," " Ursula Vivian," etc. 
 
 5
 
 BELL'S COLONIAL LIBRARY 
 
 THE SPIN OF 
 
 THE COIN 
 
 By E. R. PUNSHON 
 
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 " A quite absorbing story." Graphic. 
 
 THIS, MY SON 
 
 By RENE BAZIN 
 
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 THE IMBECILES 
 
 By L. LOCKHART LANG 
 
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 The Standard. 
 
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 " Those readers who regard amusement as the sole legitimate end of novel 
 reading will enjoy this book." Daily Telegraph. 
 
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 "The author has undoubtedly provided a story of unflagging vigour and 
 interest." Glasgmc Herald. 
 
 THE GORGEOUS 
 BORGIA 
 
 By JUSTIN HUNTLY McCARTHY 
 
 Author of "Seraphica," "Needles and Pins," etc. 
 
 " Mr. McCarthy has already won laurels by his historical romances. He has 
 not done worthier work than this stirring story of The Gorgeous Borgia." - 
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 BELL'S COLONIAL LIBRARY 
 
 ROUND THE FIRE 
 STORIES 
 
 By Sir A. CONAN DOYLE 
 
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 " The reader who takes up the book may make sure of having quite enough 
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 MR. BEKE 
 
 OF THE BLACKS 
 
 By JOHN AYSCOUGH 
 
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 to many readers." Morning Post. 
 
 THE END OF 
 
 THE JOURNEY 
 
 By EDWARD H. COOPER 
 
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 modernity." The Scotsman. 
 
 " A notable novel of its kind." Glasgow Herald. 
 
 PADDY=THE=NEXT 
 BEST=THING 
 
 By GERTRUDE PAGE 
 
 Author of " Love in the Wilderness," " The Edge o' Beyond," etc. 
 
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 reading." The Times. 
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 BELL'S COLONIAL LIBRARY 
 NEW AND FORTHCOMING VOLUMES 
 
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 The Luck of Norman Dale 
 Mr. Beke of the Blacks 
 
 The Broad Road (Dec. 14) 
 
 This, My Son (Dec. 14) 
 
 The Cannibal Crusader (Jan. 11) 
 
 Lady Jennifer (Jan. 18.) 
 
 Araminta (Feb.) 
 
 The Degenerate (Feb.) 
 
 The Disappearance of Lady Diana 
 
 The Half Moon 
 
 The Mantle of Ishmael 
 
 The Paladin (Autumn) 
 
 The Osbornes 
 
 Priscilla of the " Good Intent" 
 
 The Story of Hauksgarth Farm (Feb.) 
 
 Her Mother's Daughter 
 
 Teresa 
 
 Dorrien Carfax 
 
 Geoffrey Cheriton 
 Stranleigh's Millions 
 
 The New Andromeda 
 The Mikado Jewel 
 This Knot of Life 
 Bruised Lilies 
 Vicissitudes of Flynn 
 The Beckoning 
 God and the Bottle 
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 New Novel 
 New Novel 
 New Novel 
 New Novel 
 New Novel 
 New Novel 
 New Novel 
 
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