I have already attempted to
bring the problem home to an American by suggesting that the Dutch
of New York had trekked west and founded an anti-American and
highly unprogressive State. To carry out the analogy we will now
suppose that that State was California, that the gold of that State
attracted a large inrush of American citizens, who came to
outnumber the original inhabitants, that these citizens were
heavily taxed and badly used, and that they deafened Washington
with their outcry about their injuries. That would be a fair
parallel to the relations between the Transvaal, the Uitlanders,
and the British Government.
That these Uitlanders had very real and pressing grievances no one
could possibly deny. To recount them all would be a formidable
task, for their whole lives were darkened by injustice. There was
not a wrong which had driven the Boer from Cape Colony which he did
not now practise himself upon others - and a wrong may be excusable
in 1885 which is monstrous in 1895. The primitive virtue which had
characterised the farmers broke down in the face of temptation. The
country Boers were little affected, some of them not at all, but
the Pretoria Government became a most corrupt oligarchy, venal and
incompetent to the last degree. Officials and imported Hollanders
handled the stream of gold which came in from the mines, while the
unfortunate Uitlander who paid nine-tenths of the taxation was
fleeced at every turn, and met with laughter and taunts when he
endeavoured to win the franchise by which he might peaceably set
right the wrongs from which he suffered. He was not an unreasonable
person. On the contrary, he was patient to the verge of meekness,
as capital is likely to be when it is surrounded by rifles. But his
situation was intolerable, and after successive attempts at
peaceful agitation, and numerous humble petitions to the Volksraad,
he began at last to realise that he would never obtain redress
unless he could find some way of winning it for himself.
Without attempting to enumerate all the wrongs which embittered the
Uitlanders, the more serious of them may be summed up in this way.
1. That they were heavily taxed and provided about seven-eighths of
the revenue of the country. The revenue of the South African
Republic - which had been 154,000 pounds in 1886, when the gold
fields were opened - had grown in 1899 to four million pounds, and
the country through the industry of the newcomers had changed from
one of the poorest to the richest in the whole world (per head of
population).
2. That in spite of this prosperity which they had brought, they,
the majority of the inhabitants of the country, were left without a
vote, and could by no means influence the disposal of the great
sums which they were providing.
