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I.-INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

THE relations existing between the British Government and that

of the South African Republic are now in a state of extreme and critical tension. The present crisis is not the event of a day; it is the direct and often-foretold outcome of a condition of affairs in South Africa, which has long been almost intolerable, and has now ended by becoming impossible. Its history is that of a contention between a free monarchy, which is virtually a republic, on the one hand, and a republic in name, which is, in simple fact, a rigorous oligarchy-all but an absolute despotism-on the other.

At the moment of publication has come the lull before the storm. The British Government, through Sir Alfred Milner, has made demands on the South African Republic, embodying the unalterable minimum of what can be accepted. President Krüger has replied by offering to concede something quite different.

On many hands, people are beginning to speak of peace as already, in sight. As a matter of fact, it is farther off than ever. We can accept nothing less than the five-year franchise: the Boer Volksraad will yield nothing more than a seven-year franchise. One side must give way, or war will inevitably follow.

The seven-year franchise, we may take it, is the Boer ultimatum to England, and the ultimatum of the Afrikander Bond.

If our statesmen were so mad, or so cowardly, as to yield to the Boer ultimatum, they would be abandoning Sir Alfred Milner in the most shameful manner; but their betrayal of the Uitlanders, and of all loyalists at the Cape, would be still more ignominious. For these

two classes and, in short, all loyal people in South Africa-have given their hearty support to our demand for the five-year franchise. The acceptance of the Boer propositions by the English Government would therefore fill the hearts of all our friends in South Africa with bitterness and despair; but all our enemies, silent or overt, would be filled with mingled scorn and rejoicing.

As our statesmen are neither insane nor weak, they will insist on exacting to the uttermost the literal fulfilment of their demands.

As President Krüger has declared that, under the five-year franchise, the Uitlanders' votes would outnumber the votes of the Boers in the State, he will not yield without war.

There is hence not one chance in three that war will be avoided Between this country and the Transvaal.

It is hoped that this publication may assist in consolidating public opinion in the matter. An attempt has been made in it to set forth plainly and sincerely the issue between the two parties to the dispute, and to show that England has already waited long enough-almost too long, indeed; and that Right must be done, quickly and well.

Many serious charges will be found herein against the Boer Government, and against its head and front, President Krüger. For these, and for all other important statements which will be made it is desired to give chapter and verse; and as a just survey of the position cannot be taken without reference to the history of the British and Dutch in South Africa, a brief record and commentary is first given, dealing with the events which have led up to the present state of affairs. To this the attention of the reader is urgently directed.

II.-ANNALS OF SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY.

1620

The commanders of two fleets of English ships took formal possession of the Cape in the name of King James of Great Britain.

1655

The

A Dutchman named Van Riebeck took possession of the Cape on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. regular Dutch occupation now began.

A strong English force being landed at the Cape, the 1806 Dutch capitulated. The population at the time consisted of 26,000 white men-mostly Dutch, but with a sprinkling of Huguenots-and about 47,000 natives.

Formal cession of the Cape Colony was made to the 1814 British Government by the Dutch Stadholder. The

country beyond the coast settlements remained an open hinterland, similar to the great western tracts of North America in the days when the United States occupied only the eastern portion of its present territory.

The affair of Slagter's Nek. The British Government 1815 having punished a Boer* for cruelty to slaves, a rising of Boer farmers took place, ending in the execution of some of the rebels at Slagter's Nek.

1820

Five thousand English and Scotch emigrants were landed in South Africa by the British Government.

In this year what is called the Great Trekt took place.

1836 Its direct cause was the granting of freedom to the slaves in the country by the British Government, and its direct result, after three-score years, is the present crisis. The analogy of the

*The word "Boer," it should be noted, simply means, in a literal sense, a farmer or peasant; or, as we generally say in England, a "countryIn South Africa, however, it has come to have almost a racial significance; so that any naturalised burgher of the Transvaal would be called a "Boer."

man.

+ A "Trek" is simply a journey across the open country, or veld.

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