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See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1896 (JUNE-NOVEMBER); and 1900 (MAY-NOVEMBER).
SI-NGAN-FU, SINGAN FU, The Chinese Imperial Court at.
See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1900 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).
SIRDAR, Egyptian.
See (in this volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1885-1896; and 1897-1898.
SLAVERY: A. D. 1885. Emancipation in Cuba.
See (in this volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1868-1885.
SLAVERY: A. D. 1895. New anti-slavery law in Egypt.
See (in this volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1895.
SLAVERY: A. D. 1896. Abolition in Madagascar.
See (in this volume)
MADAGASCAR: A. D. 1894-1896.
SLAVERY: SLAVERY: A. D. 1897. Abolished in Zanzibar.
See (in this volume)
AFRICA: A. D. 1897 (ZANZIBAR).
SLAVERY: A. D. 1897. Compulsory labor in Rhodesia.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY): A. D. 1897 (JANUARY).
SLAVERY: A. D. 1897. Subjugation of Fulah slave raiders in Nupé and Ilorin.
See (in this volume)
AFRICA: A. D. 1897 (NIGERIA).
SLAVERY: A. D. 1899. Forced labor in Congo State.
See (in this volume)
CONGO FREE STATE: A. D. 1899.
SLESWICK: Complaints of German treatment.
See (in this volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1899.
SMOKELESS POWDERS, Invention of.
See (in this volume) SCIENCE, RECENT: CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS.
SOCIAL DEMOCRACY, Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo XIII. on.
See (in this volume)
PAPACY: A. D. 1901.
SOCIALIST PARTIES.
See (in this volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1897, and after;
BELGIUM: A. D. 1894-1895;
FRANCE: A. D. 1896 (APRIL-MAY), and 1900 (JANUARY);
GERMANY: A. D. 1894-1895, and 1897 (JULY);
ITALY: A. D. 1898 (APRIL-MAY);
SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1894-1898;
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1896 (JUNE-NOVEMBER), and 1900 (MAY-NOVEMBER).
SOKOTO.
See (in this volume) NIGERIA: A. D. 1882-1899.
SOLOMON ISLANDS, The: Definite division between Great Britain and Germany.
See (in this volume) SAMOAN ISLANDS.
SOMALIS, Rising of, in Jubaland.
See (in this volume) BRITISH EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE: A. D. 1900.
SOUDAN.
See (in this volume) SUDAN.
"SOUND MONEY" DEMOCRATS.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1896 (JUNE-NOVEMBER).
{456}
AFRICA: Start--------
SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Colony: A. D. 1881-1888.
Organization of the "Afrikander Bund."
The "Afrikander Bund" or National Party was formed in Cape Colony in 1881, but held its first Congress, or convention, in 1888, at which meeting the following platform, or formal statement of objects, was adopted:
"1. The Afrikander National party acknowledge the guidance of Providence in the affairs both of lands and peoples.
2. They include, under the guidance of Providence, the formation of a pure nationality and the preparation of our people for the establishment of a 'United South Africa.'
3. To this they consider belong:
(a) The establishment of a firm union between all the different European nationalities in South Africa, and
(b) The promotion of South Africa's independence.
4. They consider that the union mentioned in Article 3 (a) depends upon the clear and plain understanding of each other's general interest in politics, agriculture, stock-breeding,
trade, and industry, and the acknowledgment of everyone's special rights in the matter of religion, education, and language; so that all national jealousy between the different elements of the people may be removed, and room be made for an unmistakable South African national sentiment.
5. To the advancement of the independence mentioned in Article 3 (b) belong:
(a) That the sentiment of national self-respect and of patriotism toward South Africa should above all be developed and exhibited in schools, and in families, and in the public press.
(b) That a system of voting should be applied which not only acknowledges the right of numbers, but also that of ownership and the development of intelligence, and that is opposed, as far as possible, to bribery and compulsion at the poll.
(c) That our agriculture, stock-breeding, commerce, and industries should be supported in every lawful manner, such as by a conclusive law as regards masters and servants, and also by the appointment of a prudent and advantageous system of Protection.
(d) That the South African Colonies and States, either each for itself or in conjunction with one another, shall regulate their own native affairs, employing thereto the forces of the land by means of a satisfactory burgher law; and
(e) That outside interference with the domestic concerns of South Africa shall be opposed.
6. While they acknowledge the existing Governments holding rule in South Africa, and intend faithfully to fulfil their
obligations in regard to the same, they consider that the duty rests upon those Governments to advance the interests of South Africa in the spirit of the foregoing articles; and whilst, on the one side, they watch against any unnecessary or frivolous interference with the domestic or other private matters of the burgher, against any direct meddling with the spiritual development of the nation, and against laws which might hinder the free influence of the Gospel upon the national life, on the other hand they should accomplish all the positive duties of a good Government, among which must be reckoned:
(a) In all their actions to take account of the Christian character of the people.
(b) The maintenance of freedom of religion for everyone, so long as the public order and honor are not injured thereby.
(c) The acknowledgment and expression of religious, social, and bodily needs of the people, in the observance of the present weekly day of rest.
(d) The application of an equal and judicious system of taxation.
(e) The bringing into practice of an impartial and, as far as possible, economical administration of justice.
(f) The watching over the public honor, and against the adulteration of the necessaries of life, and the defiling of ground, water, or air, as well as against the spreading of infectious diseases.
7. In order to secure the influence of these principles, they stand forward as an independent party, and accept the cooperation of other parties only if the same can be obtained with the uninjured maintenance of these principles.
SOUTH AFRICA: The Transvaal: A. D. 1884-1894. The restored independence of the Boers and their dissatisfaction with its terms.
Frustration of their desire for extended territory. The London Convention of 1884.
After the British-Boer War of 1880-81 (see, in volume 4, SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1806-1881), which had been caused by an arbitrary annexation of the Transvaal State to the dominions of the British crown, the sense of justice in Mr. Gladstone led him to restore to the Transvaal Boers (by the Convention or Treaty of Pretoria, 1881) their right of internal self-government, with a reservation of "the suzerainty of Her Majesty," supposably relative to nothing but foreign affairs. The Boers were not satisfied with that concession, and began at once to strive for the complete independence they had previously possessed, under a Convention agreed upon and signed at Sand River, 1852, which guaranteed (quoting its precise terms) "in the fullest manner, on the part of the British Government, to the emigrant farmers (boers) beyond the Vaal River, the right to manage their own affairs and to govern themselves, without any interference on the part of Her Majesty the Queen's Government." To regain that status of complete independence became the first object of the Boers. They went far towards success in this endeavor, as early as 1884, when the British Colonial Secretary, Lord Derby, was induced to agree to a new Convention with the South African Republic (as it was then styled) which superseded the Convention of 1881. The terms of the later instrument are given below. The second aim of the Boers appears to have been the widening of their territory, by advances, in the first instance, southward into Zululand and westward into Bechuanaland. In the former movement they had success; in the latter they were thwarted. English missionaries complained of their treatment of the natives, and stirred up the British government to take the Bechuana tribes
under its protection. Their eastern frontier they succeeded, after long controversies with Great Britain, in stretching beyond Swaziland, but they were not allowed to push it to the sea. Northward, they would provably have gone far, had it not been for the appearance, at this time, of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, who came upon the scene of South African politics with imperial ambitions, with great energies and capabilities, with few apparent hesitations, and with a vast fortune acquired in the Kimberley diamond mines. He organized the British South Africa Company, under a royal charter, got some settlers into the country north of the Limpopo and set up a government there, in 1890, just in time, it appears, to forestall the Boers
See, in volume 4, SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1885-1893.
{457}
Of the effect of the two conventions, of 1881 and 1884, on the relations of the British government to the South African Republic, the following is an English view, by a well-known publicist: "In the Treaty of Pretoria, bearing date the 5th of April, 1881, it is stated that Great Britain guarantees 'complete self-government, subject to the Suzerainty of Her Majesty, to the inhabitants of the Transvaal.' … Article 15 declares that 'the Resident will report to the High Commissioner, as representative of the Suzerain, as to the working and observance of the provisions of this Convention.'
… On the 31st of March, 1881, Lord Kimberley, who was then Secretary of State for the Colonies, used these words in the House of Lords with reference to the terms of the Convention, upon which the Treaty of Pretoria was afterwards based: 'I believe the word Suzerainty expresses very correctly the relation which we intend to exist between this country and the Transvaal. Our intention is that the Transvaal shall have independent power as regards its internal government; and we shall only reserve certain powers to be exercised by the
Queen. … With respect to our control over the relations of the Transvaal with foreign Powers, … it is quite clear there ought to be, as regards foreign relations, only one Government in South Africa; that there ought to be no communication with foreign Powers upon any subject except through the representatives of the Queen.'
"On the 25th of June, 1881, Mr. Gladstone, while defending in the House of Commons an assertion he had made during the Midlothian Campaign about the blood-guiltiness of the war with the Transvaal, referred to our Suzerainty in the following words; 'I apprehend that the term which has been adopted, the Suzerainty of the Queen, is intended to signify that certain portions of Sovereignty are reserved. … What are these portions of Sovereignty? The portions of Sovereignty we desire to reserve are, first, the relations between the Transvaal community and foreign governments, the whole care of the foreign relations of the Boers. The whole of these relations will remain in the hands of the Queen.'
"From these quotations it is obvious that when we agreed to restore the independence of the Transvaal, the British public were led to believe, both by the then Premier and the then Colonial Minister, that this restoration left the control of all relations between the Transvaal and foreign Powers absolutely and entirely in the hands of Her Majesty's Government. … It is possible, or even probable, that at the time the Treaty of Pretoria was concluded, Mr. Gladstone, or at any rate several of his colleagues, imagined that our Suzerainty would really be made effective. But, when once the treaty had been signed and sealed, and the South African Republic had been granted absolute internal independence, it became evident that our Suzerainty could only be rendered efficacious, as against the sullen resistance of the Boers, by the exercise of force that is, by the threat of war in the event of Boer non-compliance with the demands of the Suzerain Power.
…
"For the first two years which succeeded our surrender the Boers were too much occupied in the reorganisation of the Republic to trouble themselves greatly about their relations to the Suzerain Power. … Disputes were mainly connected with the treatment of the native chiefs, residing either within, or on the borders of, the territory of the Republic, who asserted, with or without reason, that they were the objects of Boer hostility on account of the support they had given to the British authorities during the period of British rule.
"In May 1883 Mr. Gladstone stated in Parliament, in answer to certain protests about the proceedings of the Boers, that the British Government had decided to send a Commissioner to the Transvaal to investigate the working of the Convention concluded at Pretoria in 1881. This intention, however, was not carried out owing to the opposition of the South African Republic. In lieu of the despatch of a British Commissioner to the Transvaal, it was suggested at Pretoria that a Boer deputation should be sent to London. The suggestion, as usual, was accepted; and thereupon the Africander Bond in the Cape Colony forwarded a petition to the Queen, praying Her Majesty to entertain favourably the proposals of the Boer delegates for the modification of the Treaty of Pretoria. The deputation, consisting of President Kruger and Messieurs Du Toit and Smit, arrived in London in October, and submitted to the late Lord Derby, who had succeeded Lord Kimberley as Minister for the Colonies, a statement of the modifications they were instructed to demand. The memorandum in question distinctly declared that the alleged impracticability of the Treaty of Pretoria related, amongst other matters, 'to the extent of the Suzerain rights reserved to Her Majesty by Articles 2 and 18 of the Treaty of Pretoria, and to the vague and indefinite terms in which the powers reserved to Her Majesty's Government by the Convention are indicated.'
"To this memorandum Lord Derby replied, on the 20th of
November, 1883, admitting that 'expediency of substituting a new agreement for that of 1881 might be matter for discussion, but asking for information, in what sense it is wished that in such new agreement some connection with England should be maintained, and, if it is the desire of the Transvaal people that their State should hereafter stand in any special relation to this country, what is the form of connection which is proposed?' In reply to this request the Boer delegates answered as follows in the somewhat evasive fashion: 'In the new agreement any connection by which we are now bound to England should not be broken; but that the relation of a dependency "publici juris" in which our country now stands to the British Crown be replaced by that of two contractive Powers.'
"The above documents were submitted to the Governor of Cape Colony, the then Sir Hercules Robinson. Characteristically enough, Sir Hercules recommended the surrender of our Suzerainty on the ground that 'The Transvaal burghers obviously do not intend to observe any condition in it (the Convention of 1881) distasteful to themselves, which Her Majesty's Government are not prepared to insist on, if necessary, by the employment of force. Her Majesty's Government, I understand, do not feel justified in proceeding to this extremity; and no provision, therefore, of the Convention which is not agreeable to the Transvaal will be carried out.'
{458}
"A few days later the delegates submitted a draft treaty, in which the following clause stands first: 'It is agreed that Her Britannic Majesty recognises and guarantees by this treaty the full independence of the South African Republic, with the right to manage its own affairs according to its own laws, without any interference on the part of the British Government; it being understood that this system of
non-interference is binding on both parties.' To the letter enclosing this draft treaty Lord Derby replied that the proposed treaty was 'neither in form nor in substance such as Her Majesty's Government could adopt.' Meanwhile the discussion between the British Government and the Boer delegates seems to have turned mainly upon the extension of the territories of the Transvaal and the relations between the Republic and the native chiefs, subjects which had only an indirect bearing on the question of Suzerainty. It was only on the 25th of January, 1884, that the Colonial Office wrote to the delegates stating that if a certain compromise with regard to the frontier line were accepted, the British Government would be prepared 'to proceed at once with the consideration of the other proposals for the modification of the Treaty of Pretoria.' The delegates replied on the next day virtually accepting the proposed frontier compromise, and requested the British Government to proceed at once with the substitution of a new Convention. … The draft treaty was signed on the 27th of February, 1884. …
"The Convention of London did not repeat the preamble of the original Convention in which the words 'subject to the Suzerainty of Her Majesty' are to be found. Nor is the word Suzerainty mentioned in the Convention of 1884, which declares that the articles contained therein, if endorsed by the Volksraad, 'shall be substituted for those of the Convention of 1881.' No formal withdrawal, however, of the Queen's Suzerainty is to be found in the Convention of 1884. On the contrary, it is distinctly affirmed in Article 4 of the modified Convention that 'the South African Republic will conclude no treaty or engagement with any State or nation, other than the Orange Free State, until the same has been approved by Her Majesty the Queen.'"
Edward Dicey, British
Suzerainty in the Transvaal (Nineteenth Century, October, 1897).
In its preamble, the Convention of 1884 recites that "Whereas the Government of the Transvaal State, through its Delegates, consisting of [Kruger, Du Toit and Smit], have represented that the Convention signed at Pretoria on the 3rd day of August, 1881, and ratified by the Volksraad of the said State on the 25th of October, 1881, contains certain provisions which are inconvenient, and imposes burdens and obligations from which the said State is desirous to be relieved, and that the south-western boundaries fixed by the said Convention should be amended with a view to promote the peace and good order of the said State, … now, therefore, Her Majesty has been pleased to direct," &c. substituting the articles of a new Convention for those signed and ratified in 1881.
Article I. of the new Convention describes the lines of boundary as amended. Article II. binds the two governments, respectively, to guard said boundaries against all trespassing. Article III. provides for the reception and protection, at Pretoria, of a resident British officer, "to discharge functions analogous to those of a consular officer."
Article IV. reads as follows: "The South African Republic will conclude no Treaty or engagement with any State or nation other than the Orange Free State, nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the Republic, until the same has been approved by Her Majesty the Queen. Such approval shall be considered to have been granted if Her Majesty's Government shall not, within six months after receiving a copy of such Treaty (which shall be delivered to them immediately upon its completion), have notified that the conclusion of such Treaty is in conflict with the interests of Great Britain, or of any of Her Majesty's possessions in South Africa."
Articles V. and VI. relate to public debts. Article VII. guarantees the non-molestation of persons in the South African Republic who "remained loyal to Her Majesty during the late
hostilities." Article VIII. is a declaration against slavery in the Republic. Article IX. is in language as follows: "There will continue to be complete freedom of religion and protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the same be not inconsistent with morality and good order; and no disability shall attach to any person in regard to rights of property by reason of the religious opinions which he holds." Article X. relates to graves of British soldiers; XI. to former grants of land which the present arrangement of boundary places outside of the Republic; XII. to the independence of the Swazis; XIII. to non-discrimination in import duties on both sides.
Articles XIV. and XV. read thus: Article XIV. "All persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of the South African Republic, (a) will have full liberty, with their families, to enter, travel or reside in any part of the South African Republic; (b) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops and premises; (c) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; (d) they will not be subject, in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon citizens of the said Republic." Article XV. "All persons, other than natives, who establish their domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April, 1877, and the 8th day of August, 1881, and who within twelve months after such last mentioned date have had their names registered by the British resident, shall be exempt from all compulsory military service whatever." Article XVI. provides for a future extradition treaty; XVII. for the payment of debts in the same currency in which they were contracted; XVIII. establishes the validity of certain land grants; XIX. secures certain rights to the natives; XX. nullifies the Convention if not ratified by the Volksraad within six months from the date of its signature February 27, 1884.
With considerable reluctance, the Convention was ratified by the Volksraad of the South African Republic in the following terms: "The Volksraad having considered the new Convention concluded between its deputation and the British Government at London on 27th February 1884, as likewise the negotiations between the contracting parties, which resulted in the said Convention, approves of the standpoint taken by its deputation that a settlement based upon the principle of the Sand River Convention can alone fully satisfy the burghers of the Republic. It also shares the objections set forth by the deputation against the Convention of Pretoria, as likewise their objections against the Convention of London on the following points:
1st.
The settlement of the boundary, especially on the western border of the Republic, in which the deputation eventually acquiesced only under the express conditions with which the Raad agree.
2nd.
The right of veto reserved to the British Crown upon treaties to be concluded by the Republic with foreign powers; and
3rd.
The settlement of the debt.
Seeing, however, that in the said Convention of London considerable advantages are secured to the Republic, especially in the restoration of the country's independence, Resolves, With acknowledgment of the generosity of Her Britannic Majesty, to ratify, as it hereby does, the said Convention of London."
Selected Official Documents of the South African Republic and Great Britain
(Supplement to the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, July, 1900).
Also in:
State Papers, British and Foreign, volume 75.
SOUTH AFRICA:
The Transvaal: A. D. 1885-1890. The gold discoveries on the Rand and the influx of Uitlanders (Outlanders or Foreigners).
"It was not until 1884 that England heard of the presence of gold in South Africa. A man named Fred Stuben, who had spent several years in the country, spread such marvellous reports of the underground wealth of the Transvaal that only a short time elapsed before hundreds of prospectors and miners left England for South Africa. When the first prospectors discovered auriferous veins of wonderful quality on a farm called Sterkfontein, the gold boom had its birth. It required the lapse of only a short time for the news to reach Europe, America, and Australia, and immediately thereafter that vast and widely scattered army of men and women which constantly awaits the announcement of new discoveries of gold was set in motion toward the Randt [the Witwatersrand or Whitewatersridge]. … In December, 1885, the first stamp mill was erected for the purpose of crushing the gneiss rock in which the gold lay hidden. This enterprise marks the real beginning of the gold fields of the Randt, which now yield one third of the world's total product of the precious metal. The advent of thousands of foreigners was a boon to the Boers, who owned the large farms on which the auriferous veins were located. Options on farms that were of little value a short time before were sold at incredible figures, and the prices paid for small claims would have purchased farms of thousands of acres two years before. In July, 1886, the Government opened nine farms to the miners, and all have since become the
best properties on the Randt. … On the Randt the California scenes of '49 were being re-enacted. Tents and houses of sheet iron were erected with picturesque lack of beauty and uniformity, and during the latter part of 1886 the community had reached such proportions that the Government marked off a township and called it Johannesburg. The Government, which owned the greater part of the land, held three sales of building lots, or 'stands,' as they are called in the Transvaal, and realized more than $300,000 from the sales. … Millions were secured in England and Europe for the development of the mines, and the individual miner sold his claims to companies with unlimited capital. The incredibly large dividends that were realized by some of the investors led to too heavy investments in the Stock Exchange in 1889, and a panic resulted. Investors lost thousands of pounds, and for several months the future of the gold fields appeared to be most gloomy. The opening of the railway to Johannesburg and the re-establishment of stock values caused a renewal of confidence, and the growth and development of the Randt was imbued with renewed vigour. Owing to the Boers' lack of training and consequent inability to share in the development of the gold fields, the new industry remained almost entirely in the hands of the newcomers, the Uitlanders [so called in the language of the Boers], and two totally different communities were created in the republic. The Uitlanders, who, in 1890, numbered about 100,000, lived almost exclusively in Johannesburg and the suburbs along the Randt. The Boers, having disposed of their farms and lands on the Randt, were obliged to occupy the other parts of the republic, where they could follow their pastoral and agricultural pursuits. The natural contempt which the Englishmen, who composed the majority of the Uitlander population, always have for persons and races not their intellectual or social equals, soon created a gulf between the Boers and the newcomers."
H. C. Hillegas, Oom Paul's People,
chapter 3 (with permission of D. Appleton & Co., copyright, 1899).
As the influx of newcomers increased and advanced, "the Boers realized that the world and civilisation were once more upon them. In spite of all the opposition that patriarchal prejudice could muster, railways usurped the place of the slow moving ox-waggon, and in the heart of their solitude a city had arisen; while to the north and to the east between them and the sea were drawn the thin red lines of British boundary.
… A primitive pastoral people, they found themselves isolated, surrounded 'shut in a kraal for ever,' as Kruger is reported to have said, while the stranger was growing in wealth and numbers within their gates. Expansion of territory, once the dream of the Transvaal Boers, as their incursions into Bechuanaland, into Zululand, and the attempted trek into Rhodesia, all testify, was becoming daily less practicable. One thing remained, to accept their isolation and strengthen it. Wealth, population, a position among the new States of the world had been brought to them, almost in spite of themselves, by the newcomer, the stranger, the Uitlander. What was to be the attitude towards him politically? Materially he had made the State he developed its resources, paid nine-tenths of its revenue. Would he be a strength or a weakness as a citizen as a member of the body politic? Let us consider this new element in a new State how was it constituted, what were its component parts? Was it the right material for a new State to assimilate?
{460}
Cosmopolitan to a degree recruited from all the corners of the earth there was in it a strong South African element, consisting of young colonists from the Cape Colony and Natal members of families well known in South Africa and many of them old schoolfellows or in some other way known to each other. Then the British contingent, self-reliant, full of enterprise and energy Americans, for the most part skilled engineers, miners and mechanics French, Germans, and
Hollanders. A band of emigrants, of adventurers, and constituted, as I think all emigrants are, of two great classes the one who, lacking neither ability nor courage, are filled with an ambition, characteristic particularly of the British race, to raise their status in the world, who find the conditions of their native environment too arduous, the competition too keen, to offer them much prospect, and who seek a new and more rapidly developing country elsewhere; and another, a smaller class who sometimes through misfortune, sometimes through their own fault, or perhaps through both, have failed elsewhere.
"Adventurers all, one must admit; but it is the adventurers of the world who have founded States and Kingdoms. Such a class as this has been assimilated by the United States and absorbed into their huge fabric, of which to-day they form a huge and substantial portion. What should the Transvaal Boers have done with this new element so full of enterprise and vigour? This had been for the last ten years the great question for them to solve. … Enfranchisement, participation in the political life of the State by the Uitlander, this means, they said, a transference of all political power from our hands to those of men whom we do not trust. 'I have taken a man into my coach,' said President Kruger, 'and as a passenger he is welcome; but now he says, Give me the reins; and that I cannot do, for I know not where he will drive me.' To the Boer it is all or nothing; he knows no mean, no compromise. Yet in that very mean lies the vital spirit of republicanism. What is the position of the Boers in the Cape Colony? Are they without their share, their influence, their Africander bond in the political affairs of the country? And so it is throughout the world today, in the United States, in England, in France, in the British Colonies, wherever the individual thrives and the State is prosperous the compromise of divided political power among all classes, all factions, is the great guarantee of their well being. … That the enfranchisement of the Uitlander would mean a complete transference of political power into his
hands involves two assumptions: the first is that the Uitlanders would form a united body in politics; the second is that their representatives would dominate the Volksraad. The most superficial acquaintance with the action of the inhabitants of the Witwatersrand district on any public matter will serve to refute the first of these. … The second of these assumptions though it is continually put forward almost answers itself. The number of representatives from the Uitlander districts under any scheme of redistribution of seats which the Boer could reasonably be expected to make would fall considerably short of those returned from the Boer constituencies. Such was the attitude of the Boers on this vital question which led to the Reform Movement of 1895; and I have stated what I believe to be the injustice of it as regards the Uitlanders and the unwisdom of it in the true interests of the Boers."
A. P. Hillier, Raid and Reform, pages 24-29 (London: Macmillan & Co.).
SOUTH AFRICA:
Portuguese Possessions: A. D. 1891. Delagoa Bay Railway question.
See (in this volume) DELAGOA BAY ARBITRATION.
SOUTH AFRICA:
The Transvaal: A. D. 1894. Estimated population.
In October, 1894, the British agent at Pretoria, J. A. de Wet, estimated the population of the Transvaal (on the basis of a census taken in 1890) as follows: "Transvaalers and Orange Free Staters, 70,861: British subjects, 62,509: