'If The Dutch Statesmen Of The Cape Have Induced
Their Brethren In The Transvaal To Carry Such A Bill, They Will
Have Deserved The Lasting Gratitude, Not Only Of Their Own
Countrymen And Of The English Colonists In South Africa, But Of The
British Empire And Of The Civilised World.'
But this fair prospect was soon destined to be overcast.
Questions
of detail arose which, when closely examined, proved to be matters
of very essential importance. The Uitlanders and British South
Africans, who had experienced in the past how illusory the promises
of the President might be, insisted upon guarantees. The seven
years offered were two years more than that which Sir Alfred Milner
had declared to be an irreducible minimum. The difference of two
years would not have hindered their acceptance, even at the expense
of some humiliation to our representative. But there were
conditions which excited distrust when drawn up by so wily a
diplomatist. One was that the alien who aspired to burghership had
to produce a certificate of continuous registration for a certain
time. But the law of registration had fallen into disuse in the
Transvaal, and consequently this provision might render the whole
Bill valueless. Since it was carefully retained, it was certainly
meant for use. The door had been opened, but a stone was placed to
block it. Again, the continued burghership of the newcomers was
made to depend upon the resolution of the first Raad, so that
should the mining members propose any measure of reform, not only
their Bill but they also might be swept out of the house by a Boer
majority.
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