A
LETTER FROM THE STATES-SECRETARY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC TO THE
BRITISH AGENT AT PRETORIA
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,
PRETORIA, 9th October, 1899.
SIR,—
The Government of the South African Republic feel themselves compelled to
again refer the Government of Her Majesty, the Queen of Great Britain, to
the London Convention of 1884, concluded between this Republic and the
United Kingdom, which in Article XIV. guarantees certain specified rights to
the white inhabitants of this Republic, to wit:—
"All those who, although not born in this Country, yet abide by the laws of
the South African Republic, (a) shall have full freedom to come with their
families into, to travel in, or to reside in any part of the South African
Republic; (b) shall be entitled to hold in possession their houses,
factories or warehouses, shops, and allotments, either on hire or as their
own property; (c) may transact their business, either in person or through
agents, to their own satisfaction; (d) shall not be subjected to any other
general or local taxation—with regard to their families or properties, or
their commerce or trade—than those which shall be laid on the burghers of
the said Republics."
Our Government wishes also to draw attention to the fact that the
above-mentioned rights are the only ones which Her Majesty's Government, in
the above-mentioned Convention, has stipulated for the foreign inhabitants
in this Republic, and that only contravention of these rights can give the
British Government the right of diplomatic intervention; whereas, further,
the adjustment of all other questions concerning the position, or the
rights, of the foreign inhabitants under the said Convention is vested in
the Government and National Representatives of the South African Republic;
among the questions the adjustment of which comes exclusively under the
authority of the Government and the Volksraad, are those of the Franchise
and representation in this Republic.
Although, therefore, the exclusive right of this Franchise and
representation is indisputable, our Government has approved of discussing in
a friendly way the Franchise and the representation with Her Majesty's
Government; without, however, acknowledging by so doing any right thereto on
the side of Her Majesty's Government. Our Government has also, by the
wording of the already existing Voting Law, and the decision concerning the
representation, always kept this friendly consultation in view.
On
the side of Her Majesty's Government, however, the friendly manner of these
consultations has made way for a more threatening tone; and the minds of the
people of this Republic, and of the whole population of South Africa, have
been brought into a state of apprehension; and a state of unusual tension
has been created by the action of Her Majesty's Government, in no longer
abiding by the laws concerning the voting right, and the decision concerning
the representation of this Republic; and lastly, as is expressed in your
letter of the 25th of September, 1899, in breaking off all friendly
communication, giving us to understand that Her Majesty's Government were
about to formulate their own proposals for final arrangement. Our Government
can see in the before-mentioned notification nothing less than a new
violation of the Convention of 1884, which does not reserve to Her Majesty's
Government the right of a one-sided adjustment of a question which belongs
exclusively to the inner policy of our Government, and has been already
settled by them.
On
the grounds of the tension, the considerable loss arising therefrom, and the
interruption of business in general, which is caused by the correspondence
on the Franchise and the representation of this Republic, Her Majesty's
Government has not long ago insisted on a speedy adjustment, and finally,
through your intervention, insisted on an answer—within forty-eight
hours—(later on somewhat amended)—to your Memorandum of the 12th of
September, which was answered by the Memorandum of our Government of the
15th of September, and by the Memorandum of the 25th of September, 1899; on
which other friendly negotiations were interrupted, and our Government
received notice that the proposal for final arrangement would be made within
a short time; but although these promises were repeated, no such proposal
has as yet reached our Government. When the friendly correspondence was
still going on, a great increase of troops was made by Her Majesty's
Government, which troops were drawn up in the neighbourhood of the frontiers
of our Republic. Taking into consideration certain events in the history of
our Republic, which events need not here be recited, our Government found
themselves compelled to look upon the Army in the neighbourhood of the
frontier as a threat to the independence of the South African Republic,
because they were not aware of any circumstances which could justify the
presence of such a force in South Africa and in the neighbourhood of their
frontier.
In
answer to a question concerning this, addressed to His Excellency the High
Commissioner, our Government received, to their great astonishment, the
covert accusation that from the State of the Republic an attack on Her
Majesty's Colonies was being arranged, and also a mysterious hint of coming
possibilities, by which our Government were strengthened in their suspicion,
that the independence of the Republic was threatened.
As
a measure of defence, they were, therefore, compelled to send a body of
burghers to the frontiers in order, if required, to be able to resist such
an eventuality. The unlawful interference of Her Majesty's Government in the
inner policy of our Republic, in defiance of the London Convention of 1884,
which interference consisted in the exceptional strengthening of troops in
the neighbourhood of the Republic's borders, has thus created an unbearable
state of affairs, of which our Government—not only in the interests of our
Republic, but also in the interests of the whole of South Africa,—feel it
their duty to bring to an end as speedily as possible, and consider
themselves called upon to insist emphatically and energetically on an
immediate conclusion of this condition of things, and to ask Her Majesty's
Government to give them the assurance (a) that all points of mutual
difference shall be adjusted by friendly arbitration, or by any other
amicable way that may be agreed upon between our Government and that of Her
Majesty; (b) that the troops on the frontiers of the Republic shall be
recalled at once, and that all reinforcements which, after the 1st of June,
1899, have arrived in South Africa, shall be removed within a time agreed
upon with our Government,—with the counter assurance and guarantee from our
Government that no attack on, or hostilities against, any part of the
possessions of the British Government shall be undertaken by the Republic
during the further negotiations within the time which shall be agreed upon
by the Government—our Government shall, in accordance with this, be ready to
call back the armed burghers of the Republic from the frontiers; (c) that
Her Majesty's troops, which are now on the high sea, shall not be landed in
any of the harbours of South Africa.
Our Government has to insist on an immediate and favourable answer on the
above four points, and urgently requests Her Majesty's Government to give an
answer in this spirit before, or on, Wednesday, October 11th, 1889, before 5
o'clock in the afternoon. They wish to add further, that in case, against
their expectations, no satisfactory answer within this time should be
received by them, that they, to their great sorrow, would be obliged to look
upon the actions of Her Majesty's Government as a formal declaration of war,
for the consequences of which they do not consider themselves responsible;
and, in case further movements of troops should take place within the
above-mentioned time in the direction of our borders, that our Government
will be compelled to look upon this also as a formal declaration of war.
I
have the honour to be, etc.,
F.W. REITZ,
State-Secretary.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S TELEGRAMS:—
FROM MR. CHAMBERLAIN TO THE HIGH COMMISSIONER, SIR ALFRED MILNER.
(Sent 7.30 p.m. 10th October, 1899)
"10th October, No. 7. The British Agent has, in answering the demands of the
Government of the South African Republic, to say that, as the Government of
the South African Republic have declared in their dispatch, that they will
look upon a refusal to consent to their demands as a formal declaration of
war, he has received orders to demand his passport."
FROM MR. CHAMBERLAIN TO THE HIGH COMMISSIONER, SIR ALFRED MILNER.
(Sent 10.45 p.m. 10th October, 1899)
"10th October, No. 8. The Government of Her Majesty has received with great
sorrow the determined demands of the Government of the South African
Republic contained in your telegram of the 9th of October, No. 3. You will,
as an answer to the Government of the South African Republic, communicate to
them that the conditions put forward by the Government of the South African
Republic are of such a nature that the Government of Her Majesty cannot
possibly think of taking them into consideration."
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE TWO PRESIDENTS AND LORD SALISBURY
FROM THE STATES-PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC AND THE ORANGE FREE
STATE TO HIS EXCELLENCY LORD SALISBURY, LONDON.
"BLOEMFONTEIN, 5th March, 1900.
"The blood and tears of the thousands who have suffered through this war,
and the prospect of all the moral and material ruin which now threatens
South Africa, render it necessary for both parties carrying on the war to
ask themselves calmly, and in the faith of the Trinity, for what they are
fighting and if the aims of both justify all this horrible misery and
devastation. On this account, and with an eye to the assertion of several
English Statesmen that the war was begun and carried on with the determined
end to undermine Her Majesty's authority in South Africa, and to establish
in the whole of South Africa a Government independent of Her Majesty's
Government, we consider it our duty to declare that this War was only
commenced as a measure of defence and for the purpose of obtaining a
guarantee for the threatened independence of the South African Republic, and
was only continued in order to ensure the indisputable independence of both
Republics as Sovereign International States, and to obtain the assurance
that the subjects of Her Majesty who have taken part with us in the war will
not suffer the least hurt either in their lives or their possessions. On
these conditions alone we demand, as in the past, to see peace restored in
South Africa, and an end made to the wrong that now exists there. But if Her
Majesty's Government has decided upon destroying the independence of the
Republic, nothing remains to us and our people but to persist to the bitter
end on the road now taken, notwithstanding the overpowering might of the
British Empire, trusting that God, who has lit the inextinguishable fire of
the love of liberty in our hearts, and in the hearts of our fathers, will
not abandon us, but will fulfil His work in us, and in our descendants.
"We hesitated to lay this declaration earlier before Your Excellency,
because we were afraid that as long as the advantage was on our side, and
our Army had in their occupation positions of defence far into the British
Colonies, such a declaration would have hurt the feelings of the English
nation; but now that the prestige of the British Empire may be considered to
be restored, through the capture of one of our armies, and we are compelled
by this to sacrifice other positions which our armies occupied, this
difficulty is removed, and we can no longer hesitate to tell you, in the
face of the whole civilized world, why we are fighting, and on what
conditions we are prepared to make peace."
FROM LORD SALISBURY TO THEIR EXCELLENCIES THE STATES-PRESIDENTS OF THE SOUTH
AFRICAN REPUBLIC AND ORANGE FREE STATE.
"LONDON, 11th March, 1900.
"I
have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Honour's cable, dated 5th
March, from Bloemfontein, of which the purport is principally whether Her
Majesty's Government will acknowledge the indisputable independence of the
South African Republic and Orange Free State and treat them as Sovereign
International States, and will offer to conclude the war on these
conditions.
"In the beginning of October of this year, there was peace between the Queen
and the two Republics, under the Convention which then held good. There was
a discussion carried on during a few months between Her Majesty's Government
and the South African Republic, of which the purport was the amendment of
very serious grievances under which English inhabitants suffered in the
South African Republic. In the course of these negotiations, the South
African Republic obtained the knowledge that Her Majesty's Government had
made considerable preparations for war, and had taken steps to provide the
necessary reinforcements for the English garrisons at Cape Colony and Natal.
No inroad on the rights guaranteed by the Conventions had, until then, taken
place on the English side. Suddenly the South African Republic, after having
two days previously issued an insulting ultimatum, declared War on Her
Majesty; and the Orange Free State, with which there had been no
disagreement, took a similar step. Thereupon an inroad was made into Her
Majesty's territory by the two Republics; three towns within the British
frontier were besieged, a great part of the two Colonies was over-run, with
great destruction of property and life, and the Republics claimed the right
to treat the inhabitants of Her Majesty's territory as if this territory had
been annexed by one of these States. The Transvaal having these actions in
view, had for years stored up, on an enormous scale, military provisions,
which could only have been destined for use against England.
"Your Excellencies made some remarks of a negative nature concerning the aim
for which these preparations were made. I do not consider it necessary to
discuss the question which you have thus raised, but the consequences of the
preparations, made in great secrecy, have been that the British Empire has
found itself forced to repel an inroad which has brought on a costly war,
and caused the loss of thousands of valuable lives. This great misfortune
has been the punishment that Great Britain has had to undergo during the
last few years for having suffered the two Republics to exist. Keeping in
sight the use which the two Republics have made of the position presented to
them, and the misfortunes which their unprovoked attacks on Her Majesty's
territory have brought, Her Majesty's Government can only reply to Your
Honour's telegram by saying that they are not prepared to acknowledge the
independence either of the South African Republic, or of the Orange Free
State."
