ment, so long as they are allowed to pursue their regular vocation of gold mining, is simply ridiculous. These men went to the Transvaal for gold. They are engaged in digging gold. All that they care for, the large majority of them, is gold. They intend to leave the Transvaal, as soon as each of them has collected his bag of gold. If the Johannesburg mines should cease profitable production, practically the whole of this motley crowd would leave the Transvaal as soon as they could get out of it. They have never signified any wish, or intention, the large majority of them, to take upon themselves any of the burdens of citizenship in the Republic, or to give up the benefits of citizenship in the countries which they have left. All of this talk about the desire of the Uitlanders to be admitted to citizenship in the Transvaal is a mere manufacture for foreign consumption, for the purpose of justifying the aggressions of Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Chamberlain. It has no foundation in fact. Mr. Chamberlain is well aware of this. So is Mr. Rhodes.

So late as the 27th day of January, 1899, the British Resident at Pretoria, who was stationed there for the express purpose of protecting the rights of British subjects, who was fully conversant with their situation and needs, had written officially of the political conditions of the Uitlander population. It is now well understood, that the real purpose of all this agitation about the Transvaal franchise has been the ultimate overthrow of the present Transvaal government. The purpose has been, to get the franchise for this large number of foreigners who live in Johannesburg, in order thereafter to get the control of the entire government of the Transvaal Republic. In other words, the purpose of Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Chamberlain has been to compel a fundamental change in the existing institutions of the Transvaal Republic; to require the government of that Republic to make a complete subversion of its existing constitution in its most important feature, that is, in the conditions on which new-comers can have the rights of citizenship. In view of this fact, it will perhaps be somewhat of a surprise to persons who have not taken the trouble to investigate the official documents, to learn that the British Resident at Pretoria so late as the 27th of January, 1899, in an official letter, gave a statement of the

political desires of the Uitlander population in the following words:*

"The Acting British Agent, Pretoria, to the High Commissioner, Cape Town.

SIR :

HER MAJESTY'S AGENCY, PRETORIA, JANUARY 27, 1899.

I have the honor to enclose a summary of the Annual Report of the Transvaal Chamber of Mines for the year 1898, as well as an able essay upon the general situation of the gold mining industry and its relations with the Government, which was read by the President, M. Rouliot, at the annual meeting on the 26th instant.

The principal points dealt with in the Report, and by the President, are the regret of the mining industry at the recent refusal by the Volksraad to consider the Chamber's proposal, for the formation of a local board, even composed only of government nominees, to control the workings of the laws dealing with native labour supply, liquor traffic, and gold thefts, although the Chamber acknowledges that it has hopes of better things if the recent proposal to place the control of the detective department under the State Attorney is approved by the Raad. Suggestions are again made for the reduction of railway rates, and the dynamite monopoly is again attacked at considerable length by M. Rouliot, who warns the Volksraad in the strongest terms against the recent scheme-to be laid again before the Volksraad in February-for prolonging for fifteen years beyond the present concession, what can only bring loss both to the State and to the industry, a proposal which M. Rouliot terms iniquitous. The accusation which has been brought against the mining companies of late, namely, that they keep up depression in trade by ordering their supplies direct from abroad, to the detriment of the Transvaal merchants, is refuted by convincing statistics; and I may add that I myself have heard no good reason alleged in proof of this accusation, which I regard as wholly unfounded. The recent gold taxes are likewise discussed, with the conclusion that the principle of a gold tax may be a reasonable one, but not under existing circumstances here, when more revenue is not needed by the State, but only better financial administration, and when no reductions in existing taxation have been effected in compensation for the increased burden from the gold taxes. The failure of recent State loan proposals is touched upon in connection with the assertion that the industry might have helped the government to obtain the capital it required; and reasons are given why such assistance was not forthcoming, not the least of which was that it was not asked. The supposed connection between political agitation and the capitalists is repudiated, and I myself believe this repudiation and the proofs given to be the

* British Blue Book, C. 9345, p. 49.

.

truth in every respect. The Chamber, in fact, states again emphatically that it takes its stand upon a purely economic platform, and has no desire to alter any of the institutions of the country, if only its voice against monopolies, concessions, and other well-known abuses, were listened to. In conclusion, M. Rouliot alludes to a recent campaign carried on by some of the Government subsidized organs, against the capitalists, and points out the near connection between this campaign and the existence of the wealthy syndicates who support the illicit liquor traffic, which is perhaps at present the chief enemy of the capitalist, and the one they certainly mean to be untiring in their efforts to attack. I regret to say that I myself entirely agree with M. Rouliot that all those attacks upon the capitalist here (without whom not one mine in the Transvaal could be worked at a profit) are merely the outcome of the wealthy influence of the Jews, who grow rich in a few years by the enormous profits of the sale of poisonous alcohol to the native labourers on the mines, a traffic which incapacitates perhaps a permanent twelve per cent. out of 88,000 natives from doing any work. The Volksraad even threatened to introduce a flogging, to help the enforcement of the liquor laws; and the illicit dealers have now combined to utilize the press, of a certain shade, in order to attack the capitalist who makes their evil deeds so patent. The whole report and speech of the President are very instructive summaries of the industry's position both politically and economically, and the statistics for the last year's gold production being also laid out at considerable length in the enclosed speech.

I have

His Excellency the High Commissioner."

EDMUND FRASER.

In short, the topics, which engrossed the minds of the Uitlanders, were labor, rum and gold.

That statement is of authority. It is made by an official of the British government. It is made with complete fullness of knowledge. The fact is, that at no time since the opening of the Johannesburg mining camp has there been the expression of a wish, on the part of any considerable number of the inhabitants of Johannesburg, for any considerable reform of the laws or institutions of the Transvaal Republic, except in the matter of taxation. It is no doubt the fact, that they have asserted that taxation pressed unduly upon the mining interests. They have also, at one time and another, complained of the inefficiency of the administration of existing laws. On many occasions, however, they have formally conceded that the laws were reasonably good,-were as good as could have been expected under existing circumstances, and that the only practical difficulties

of their situation lay in the inadequate enforcement of those laws.

That fact is one of which complaint has been made in many of the cities of the United States. No one will pretend that a matter of that nature furnishes the slightest ground for the interference of a foreign power in the internal affairs of the South African Republic.

It is time that we heard the last of this talk of the grievances of the Uitlanders. The Uitlanders knew whether or not they had grievances. The British Agent at Pretoria knew whether or not they had grievances. What the Uitlanders wanted was gold. They came to the Transvaal for gold. They were getting gold-with rum-to the full measure of their wishes. They cared nothing for the franchise, or religion, or for education, in either language, English or Dutch. These continued assertions, reiterated month after month by Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Rhodes, and by many Englishmen who honestly believe the truth of the assertions, are manufactured out of whole cloth. No doubt, there have been petitions and manifestoes, signed by men who have lived in Johannesburg, asking for the franchise, and for many other rights and privileges. No doubt, too, there have been public meetings, in Cape Colony and elsewhere, protesting against the "intolerable grievances" of the Uitlanders. Those petitions and manifestoes, and those public meetings have been got up by Mr. Rhodes and his friends, aided in London by Mr. Chamberlain, by dishonest means, for dishonest purposes. They do not represent the genuine wishes, or acts, of any considerable number of honest men.

THE BOERS, AND THEIR RIGHTS.

But then we come to other questions: Who are the Boers? What is the nature of their title to the territory which they now inhabit? Whereon do they rest their right to self-government?

The answer to these questions requires a statement, at no

great length, of some historical facts. The statement will be taken entirely from British sources,-from sources of authority.

To the full consideration of these questions it will be necessary to give a short history of the relations between Briton and Boer during the last century. The facts stated are gathered from British sources. As to the history of the earlier years down to the discovery of the Rand gold mines, the facts stated will be taken in the main from books written by two high British officials from "The Story of the Great Boer Trek" by the Honorable H. Cloete, LL. D., Her Majesty's High Commissioner for Natal in 1843 and 1844-and the " Story of South Africa," by George M. Theal of the Cape Colonial Civil Service. Both books are recognized as authorities. As to the events since the discovery of the mines, and especially as to the Jameson Raid, the statements of chief importance here made will be based on original documents from the British Blue Books.

The authorities for the statements, then, would seem hardly open to question.

The first question, which we must answer, is, Who are the Boers?

As to ancestry, as to blood, the Boers are Dutch and French Huguenots. Their blood is that of lovers, and defenders, of civil and religious liberty for centuries. In this respect, their record is without a break. It furnishes a striking contrast to the record of the British hereditary official class. Of this lastthe record has been one of continuous cruelty and tyranny, in their own land, and in other lands. In this respect, and throughout this study, we must at all times keep clearly before our minds the essential fundamental distinction between the English hereditary official class, and the grand old liberty loving English people. But the Boers, in the persons of their ancestors in Europe, and in their own persons in South Africa, have at all times been the bulwarks of civil and religious freedom.

We come, then, to the history of the political relations of Boers and Britons.

Any history, however short, of the relations of the Boers to British rule would omit nearly the most important feature of their story, if it gave no account of the exhibition of British