It
was at this stage in May, 1894, that a monster petition with some 25,000
signatures was presented to the Volksraad, setting forth the entire
position, and praying for a commission to be appointed to examine the merits
of the Uitlander complaints, and to frame a programme of reforms, the
interests of the mining community needing such in a most urgent degree, not
only for the sake of its own prosperity, but for the welfare of the entire
State. A commission was indeed appointed, who reported in favour of the
petitioners, and suggested a series of reforms; but the final Volksraad vote
resulted in an angry rejection of the petition and denunciation of its
organizers.
As
on the occasion of previous memorials, some few abuses were redressed, but
those benefits were made worse than nugatory by enactments in other
directions of a still more galling nature. The petitioners found themselves
snubbed and in the position of humiliating defeat.
Treatment of Coloured British Subjects
A
glaring instance of oppression practised by the Transvaal Government was its
cruel treatment of coloured British subjects who had been admitted into the
State. Among these figured some thousands of educated Asiatic traders,
including numerous cultured Indian and Parsee merchants with large stakes in
the State and well-appointed residences, people whose very religion exacted
the most scrupulous cleanliness and who had all proved themselves obedient
and law-abiding. These were classed under one rubric with the vastly
inferior coolie labourer, with Kaffirs and Hottentots, and actually
compelled to abandon their stores and residences to reside in one common
ghetto upon the outskirts of the towns, a measure which entailed great
losses apart from the gratuitous humiliation—to many it involved ruin and in
fact meant their expulsion.
It
will be remembered that some years before already the English Government had
felt it incumbent to advocate the cause of coloured British subjects and to
remonstrate against their ill-usage. The matter was ultimately submitted to
arbitration at Bloemfontein, under the umpireship of Sir Henry de Villiers,
whose award, contrary to expectation, was adverse to the coloured people.
Here was indeed a unique occasion for the Transvaal Government to exercise
geniality upon a point sorely felt by the British Government; but the very
contrary course was adopted under the ægis of that notorious award, and upon
the untenable plea that sanitation and regard to public health necessitated
that measure of segregation.
Despite the fact that no royalty was yet exacted upon the gold output,
probably to please French, American, and German investors, there seemed to
exist a veiled hostility against the representatives of mining capitalists,
as if the Government regretted to have allowed the exploitation of the mines
to fall into private hands and would welcome an opportunity to take them
under State control altogether.
The Uitlander Press vented public sentiment and denounced the Government
attitude in unmistakable terms; there were besides some angry public
demonstrations. It was an alarming time of impending crisis, rife with signs
of open revolt; the Government looking calmly on awaiting developments. It
was then that the President's since famous saying was pronounced, viz.,
"that the tortoise must first be allowed to put out its head before it could
be struck off, and that he was ready for any emergency."
The situation had a truly anomalous aspect. More discoveries of gold and
even of diamonds followed apace, and the scope for mining, commercial and
industrial enterprises expanded to an incalculable magnitude. All that was
needed was a stable and good Government to encourage the needful
investments. A most tantalizing picture indeed, based upon undeniably
well-grounded facts.
As
it was, the situation was one of alarm for capital already invested—a stake
then of over 300 millions sterling in a country where more than half of the
population were in almost open revolt against a Government commanding very
large repressive forces, and resolved to maintain its stand.
British intervention appeared to be the only means of salvation to restore
security, and to give a fillip to the brilliant prospects of the country,
for the good of the burgher estate as well as for the sake of Uitlanders.
As
the Government continued deaf and obdurate to representations, other means
were sought for. No wonder the Uitlanders longed for a change, not by any
means with the object of altering the style of Republican status, but to get
the Augean stable of misgovernment cleansed, to escape oppressive and
rapacious Boer domination.
The farcical failure of Dr. Jameson was the outcome of those endeavours. The
unspeakable cowardice of his Johannesburg confederates was the chief feature
of that puny attempt. Laurels, like those gained by Lord Peterborough,
Warren Hastings, or Lord Clive, were not decreed to that ill-advised
emulator.
Nothing could have been more propitious than that very Jameson incursion to
fan race hatred and to advance the projects of the Afrikaner Bond—"Afrika
voor de Afrikaners," for, whilst no one acquainted with the facts can for a
moment doubt the guilt of the Transvaal Government for having systematically
provoked that attempt at revolution, "Bond" propaganda and paid journalism
had a rare chance to set up the theory that annexation on behalf of Great
Britain had been foully planned—the Prince of Wales even being an abettor of
the attempted coup d'état purely to gratify the lust of greed for the gold
and diamonds of the poor innocent Boers. No terms were too vituperative to
denounce the enormity. Millions of honest persons all over the world were
deluded —there was a bitter cry of almost universal indignation. The Boer
Government posed as innocent; the designs of the Afrikaner Bond were not
even suspected—its ranks, in sympathy with those delusions sped on filling
up faster than ever, and the father of lies was scoring another very
sensible triumph.
In
lieu of reforms, Bond projects and armaments were secretly pursued with
redoubled vigour towards the climax which should install Afrikanerdom
supreme in South Africa, financially as well as politically.
