THE TRANSVAAL

How the Transvaal was Formed

THE Cape of Good Hope is one of the earliest colonies in the true sense of the word. As a rule, the bands of adventurous Europeans who began to scour the globe in search of fortune at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries had no intentions of settling, and were glad to get back to their own country as soon as possible. But in the Cape, as early as 1652, some hundred Dutch families came to stay, devoting themselves to cattlefarming and agriculture.

A few years later, in 1685, bands of Huguenot refugees, driven from France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, sought a home in Holland, but were sent, often against their will, to the Cape. They strengthened the little band of immigrants already settled there, and with whom they soon became incorporated, owing to the injunctions laid upon them never to preach in French nor to teach that language to their children.

Of the actual Boer population of South Africa, a third is supposed to be directly descended from the

B

old Huguenots. Their origin is traceable not only in their features, some of which recall those of the natives of the South of France, but in the thoroughly French names of Joubert, de Villiers, Duplessis, Dutoit, Marais, Maré, Naudé, Théron, Celliers, Malherbe, Taillard, and a number of others.

Great Britain seized the Cape in 1795, abandoned it in 1802, but again took possession-this time for good-in 1814.

This change of rule was not hailed with unalloyed satisfaction. The Boer population-the name Boer (meaning a peasant or farmer) applies more especially to the descendants of the first settlers, whilst by Afrikaanders is meant the descendants of all other Europeans born in Africa-the Boer population showed great hostility to the British from the outset, and in 1815 a large number of these sturdy and formidable rebels met with their death not only on the field of battle, but also on the scaffold at Slagtersnek.

This and the forced manumission of their slaves without adequate compensation are two matters which have ever since rankled in the Boer breast, and were the principal reasons that led to their exodus from Cape Colony in 1834 and 1836. Some of them trekked across the Orange and Vaal rivers, whilst large numbers went to Natal, where, after defeating Dingaan, an important native chief, they founded a Republic. They were not left in undisturbed possession long, for the Republican territory was annexed by Great Britain on March 12, 1843.

The Boers once more trekked, this time to rejoin their old comrades who had settled north of the Orange River, and, rapidly spreading, rounded first the ORANGE FREE STATE-seized by the English in 1848 and abandoned in 1854-and then the SOUTH AFRICAN or TRANSVAAL REPUBLIC. The absolute independence of the latter State was recognised by the Convention of Zand Rivier, signed on January 17, 1852, by the representative of the British Government and the Boer delegates.

The new era ushered in by the proclamation of independence was not one of undisturbed tranquillity or prosperity. There was frequent bloodshed caused by risings of the natives, raids of neighbouring tribes, and internal dissension. The latter even rose to such a pitch as to give birth to two fresh republics-those of Lydenburg and Utrecht, which, however, returned to the common fold in 1860.

It will thus be seen that the stolid but stouthearted Boer has not been sparing of his blood in defending the soil to which he lays claim. Unfortunately for him, the incessant struggles have proved not only a serious obstacle to the development of his country, but a constant cause of growing weakness. In 1876 things had come to such a pass that the Republic, after having triumphantly repulsed all former attacks, found itself powerless to hold out against Sekukuni, the chief of the Bapedi.

England, fearing that this might inspire the natives with inordinate confidence in their own power, and bring about a general rising of the Kaffirs

throughout South Africa, thought it incumbent upon her to interfere. She was somewhat strengthened in this resolve by the reports-happily found to be untrue that the Boers were still allowing slavery to go on in their State. On April 12, 1877, the Transvaal territory was quietly annexed by Great Britain. without a blow having been struck.

The English dominion was not of long duration, for the Boer patriotism, though momentarily crushed, soon reasserted itself. The internal dissensions that had divided the nation were laid aside, the standard of independence was again hoisted, and, after a three months' struggle and the disasters to the British. arms at Laing's Neck and, Majuba Hill, the country was given up to the Boers by the Pretoria Convention of 1881.

For a few years after their struggle for freedom the Boers had a hard time; their commerce was destroyed, their land diminished in value, and their populace discouraged. But suddenly came the discovery of the Lydenburg and De Kaap gold mines and the rush to Witwatersrand. In a moment the whole situation was changed. Men and capital flowed into the country, commerce rose by leaps and bounds, and new towns sprang up and grew with surprising rapidity, whilst each year's budget showed an increasing surplus.

How the Present Troubles Began

The accession to the population of the State of so large a number of persons of alien birth and race, and the important part they took in developing the resources of the country, the heavy contributions levied upon them towards the general revenue, and the pressure put upon the Government in various ways to concede to them some share in the government of the country, induced President Krüger to give consideration to the best means of making some political concessions to them. The first announcement of the form such a concession would take was made by Sir Donald Currie, at a banquet given in his honour at Johannesburg, during his visit to that place at the latter end of 1887. This announcement was made on the authority of the President. It foreshadowed the provisions of the Bill passed during the 1890 session of the Volksraad, by which a second chamber was erected, in which the newcomers were to have a voice upon such subjects as most closely concerned the mining industry.

A residence of two years, naturalisation, and the taking of an oath of allegiance were made the conditions of admission to the franchise, while a residence of five years and membership of some Protestant Church was made the qualification for candidature for the newly erected chamber. As, however, naturalisation was contingent upon payment of a fee of 5., in addition to the taking of what some considered