ways the classes which are economically the most important in the community are receiving an inadequate share of the general profits.

Without pretending to trace the working of a process so subtle as the "appreciation" of gold, or the acquisition of an artificial value by money under the present monometallic system, it is impossible not to connect this fall in prices with the absolute decrease of 20 per cent., and the far higher relative decrease in the output of gold shown by the period 1875-1891 in comparison with the period 1850-1875. If this be so-if the remedy for the partial paralysis of our agriculture and of our commerce be an increased supply of gold-we may take heart, for this remedy is surely at hand.

To

Africa, says Pliny, semper aliquid novi refert. relieve the congested commerce of the world will be the latest and most splendid of these African surprises.

CHAPTER X.

CONFLICT OF NATIONALITIES AND RACES.

ASSUMING the population of South Africa * to be

4,000,000, this total would be composed of 650,000 Europeans and 3,350,000 coloured people. The numerical relationship of the Europeans to the coloured people varies in the several colonies, states, and territories.

In the Cape Colony the Europeans are to the coloured people in the proportion of one to four; in Natal they are as one to twelve; in the Free State, as one to two; in the Transvaal, as one to four; in the Crown Colony of Bechuanaland, as one to ten; and in the territories of the Chartered Company, as one to one hundred.

Neither the coloured nor the European population is homogeneous.

The composition of the former is approximately shown by the subjoined table :—

Aborigines (Hottentots and Bushmen)

Bantu

(Military: i.e. Kafirs, Zulus,

50,000)

Mixed Races (Cape "boys")

Malays

Of the 650,000 Europeans, if we omit to take account of other nationalities, probably 400,000 would be Dutch and 250,000 English. The two sections would approxi

* As previously defined: Africa south of the Zambesi, omitting the German and Portuguese territories.

mately be distributed as follows:-in the Cape Colony, as eleven to nine; in Natal, equally; in the Free State, as nine to one; in the Transvaal, equally, although, ten years ago, the Dutch were to the English as seven to one. These three main elements, Bantu, Dutch, and English, are organised into a variety of communities:

The relationship of these states to England as paramount power, of course, varies very considerably.

In the Cape Colony and Natal the Governor is the "link" by which this relationship is maintained. The political functions of the Governor of a Parliamentary Government have been aptly compared by Lord Dufferin to the duties performed by "the man with the oil can in tending a piece of machinery. Sir Hercules Robinson, in a speech delivered at Kimberley in 1884, described the more obvious duties of his office in some detail. Those duties, he said, were negative rather than positive. In case of a difference of opinion between the Governor and the Ministry, he could say "No." If the ministers then resigned, the appointment of the person to be entrusted with the formation of a new Ministry rested with him.

In

case of a disagreement between the Ministry and the Parliament, the Governor must decide whether it is best for the public interests that there should be a new Ministry or a new Parliament.

The Governor acts as a link between the colony and the mother-country in so far as he is himself advised by an Imperial Minister, the Secretary of State for the colonies, in giving advice to the colonial ministry. Moreover, he is in all things political and social the representative of the Sovereign, and as such he exercises the peculiar prerogatives of the Crown.

It must be remembered that the Governor of the Cape Colony fills two distinct and sometimes conflicting offices -those of Governor of the Cape Colony and High Commissioner for South Africa.

In his capacity of High Commissioner he gives effect immediately to the views of the Imperial Government. Through the High Commissionership the Crown Colony of Bechuanaland and the territory of Basutoland are kept under the direct control of the Imperial Government. The Government of Zululand is also similarly related to the Imperial Government; for the Resident Commissioner in that country represents the Governor, not the Government, of Natal.

The control which England exercises over the Republics is based partly upon the position of the former as paramount power in South Africa, and partly upon rights definitely reserved by the terms of the successive Conventions.

As paramount power the Imperial Government has (and exercises) the right to interfere in cases where the action of an otherwise independent state would endanger the common interests of the Europeans in South Africa.

Under the Conventions, the ultimate control of the relationships of the two Republics with foreign powers is maintained by special clauses, which render the assent

of the Imperial Government necessary to the validity of treaties respectively concluded between the Republics and such foreign powers.*

The ultimate control of the Imperial Government over the administration of the Chartered Company's Territories is maintained by the conditions which regulate the appointment and removal of the Administrator. This officer is appointed by the Directors of the Company with the approval of the Secretary of State for the colonies: but, I whereas he can be removed by the Directors only with the consent of the Secretary of State, he can be removed by the Secretary of State immediately and without the assent of the Directors. †

Here, then, is a great country in the making.

Did ever history present a more amazing picture of political complexity? Was there ever a single country, or rather a single province of an Empire, that consisted of such diverse elements and showed so great a variety of political and social organisation?

I speak of South Africa as one country. Am I justified in so doing? Yes, because there exists a principle of unity which cannot be overlooked or forgotten the paramount power of England. Its present divisionswhere such divisions are real and not apparent—are due to the neglect of this principle in the past, and its future progress and ultimate consolidation depends upon the maintenance of this principle in full vigour and in full operation in the future.

But the paramount power of England was not effectively exercised in South Africa until a comparatively recent period -the period of the Bechuanaland Settlement (1884-5). Then for the first time the policy of the Imperial Govern

* By article IV. of the London Convention the South African Republic is prevented from making treaties without the assent of the Imperial Government with foreign powers other than the Orange Free State. See p. 105, and full text in Appendix. + Clause III., Agreement of May, 1894.