It was originally designed to compile a statement of the occurrences of
1895-6 in the Transvaal and of the conditions which led up to them, in the
hope of removing the very grave misunderstandings which existed. Everybody
else had been heard and judged, the Uitlander had only been judged. It
therefore seemed proper that somebody should attempt to present the case for
the Uitlander. The writer, as a South African by birth, as a resident in the
Transvaal since 1884, and lastly as Secretary of the Reform Committee, felt
impelled to do this, but suffered under the disability of President Kruger's
three years' ban; and although it might possibly have been urged that a
plain statement of facts and explanations of past actions could not be
fairly regarded as a deliberate interference in politics, the facts
themselves when set out appeared to constitute an indictment so strong as to
make it worth while considering whether the Government of the Transvaal
would not regard it as sufficient excuse to put in force the sentence of
banishment. The postponement of publication which was then decided upon for
a period of three years appeared to be tantamount to the abandonment of the
original purpose, and the work was continued with the intention of making it
a private record to be printed at the expiry of the term of silence, and to
be privately circulated among those who were personally concerned or
interested; a record which might perhaps be of service some day in filling
in a page of South African history.
The private circulation of that work during June of the
present year led to suggestions from many quarters that it should be
supplemented by a chapter or two dealing with later events and published;
and the present volume is the outcome of these suggestions.
It is realized that much of what might properly appear in a private
record will be considered rather superfluous in a book designed for wider
circulation. For instance, a good deal of space is given to details of the
trial and the prison life of the Reformers, which are of no interest
whatever to the public, although they form a record which the men themselves
may like to preserve. These might have been omitted but that the writer
desired to make no alterations in the original text except in the nature of
literary revision.
The writer may be charged by the "peace" party with deliberately
selecting a critical and anxious time as opportune to contribute a new
factor to those already militating against a peaceful settlement. Two
replies could be made to this: one an excuse and one an answer. It would be
an excuse that the writer did not deliberately select the time of
publication, but that the Transvaal Government in its wisdom chose to impose
silence for three years, and that the project with which their action had
interfered was resumed at the earliest possible moment. The coincidence of
another crisis with the date of emancipation may be an unlucky coincidence,
or it may be a result. But there is neither necessity nor intention to offer
excuses. The responsibility is accepted and the answer is that a case so
sound needs only to be understood, that a recital of the facts must help to
dispel the mists of race prejudice and misunderstanding which are obscuring
the judgment of many; and that a firm but strictly just and dignified
handling of the question by the Imperial Government is the only possible way
to avert a catastrophe in South Africa. It is essential therefore that first
of all the conditions as they are should be understood; and this record is
offered as a contribution to that end. Let the measure of its truth be the
measure of its usefulness!
The reader is not invited to believe that the case is presented in such
form as it might have been presented by an impartial historian. It is the
Transvaal from within, by one who feels all the
injustice and indignity of the position. With the knowledge, however, that a
good case is spoiled by overstatement and with the desire to avoid injustice
to others an earnest attempt has been made to state the facts fairly. In how
far that attempt has been successful the reader must decide for himself.
J.P.F.
July, 1899.
It has been impossible to avoid in this volume more or less pointed
reference to certain nationalities in certain connections; for instance such
expressions as "the Boers," "the Cape Dutch," "the Hollanders," "the
Germans," are used. The writer desires to say once and for all that unless
the contrary is obviously and deliberately indicated, the distinctions
between nationalities are intended in the political sense only and not in
the racial sense, and if by mischance there should be found something in
these pages which seems offensive, he begs the more indulgent interpretation
on the ground of a very earnest desire to remove and not to accentuate race
distinctions.
General references are also made to classes—"the civil service," "the
officials," &c. There are officials in the Transvaal service who would earn
the confidence and esteem of the public in any administration in the world.
It is hardly necessary to say that there is no intention to disparage them.
