TOPICS OF THE DAY.
BRITISH INTERESTS AND THE TRANSVAAL CRISIS.
WHILE we as a nation are considering the situation in South Africa, and doing our best to find a solution of the problem, nothing is more important than to clear our minds of all the conventionalities and un- realities with which the subject has been obscured. There is no greater cause of mental perplexity, no more fruitful source of unwise action, than the acceptance of mere con- ventional talk on political subjects. Take, as a first example, the stupid and mischievous assertions so often repeated, that we must show the Boers that we are the better men, that we must have our revenge, that we must wipe out Majuba Hill, that we must teach Kruger his place. All such talk is purely conventional and unreal, and does nothing towards solving the problem before us. British honour and the glory of British arms are not such poor, feeble things, such sensitive plants, that they want to be vindicated by a war with the Boers. To pre- tend so is to fall into a purely unreal and conventional way of approaching the subject. But if these conventions and unrealities are foolish and misleading, those used by the other side are even more mischievous. The conven- tions and unrealities relied an by the supporters of the Boers are much leas obviously unsound, and they are used by men of judgment and position. Thus they are far more capable of doing harm than the Majuba Hill and revenge talk, which after all is usually only found in the mouths of raw subalterns and music-hall patriots.
First among them is the often-repeated assertion that if we go to war with the Boers in support of the Out- landers it will only be a pretext, and that in reality we shall be engaged in a plundering expedition,—shall, in fact, be seizing some one else's property because it is rich and desir- able. This allegation seems so attractive, that it is very apt to run away with men altogether, and very soon those who are possessed by it begin to argue that the Government, and especially Mr. Chamberlain, are shamelessly and immorally bent upon conquering and annexing the Transvaal in order to promote the most sordid and selfish British interests. In the last stage the Government is suspected of "getting up a war" in order to relieve the British taxpayer by seizing the gold of the Boers. Yet in truth the whole of this monstrous superstructure is built upon the purely conventional allegation that if we go to war with the Boers it will be to further our own selfish ends. If those who cloud their minds with this conventional cant would only look at the facts for five minutes they would see that it is absolutely impossible that our sordid and selfish interests can be served by a war with the Transvaal. As a matter of fact, if we were to think solely of purely British interests we should steadily refuse to pay the slightest attention to the prayers and complaints of the Outlanders. The people of these islands can gain nothing material for themselves by a war with the Trans- vaal, though it is certain that they would lose a great deal by reason of the expenditure on military operations. Think of what would happen in case of a successful war with the Transvaal. Our very first act would be to establish the Transvaal as a self-governing community, in which all the white inhabitants would be on a footing of equality, and would share equally in the government. We should no more dream of keeping any of the Trans- vaal gold for ourselves than we should of claiming a share of the gold in Klondike or in Western Australia. The Transvaal after our intervention might become part of the Empire, and so might claim after the way of Colonies to influence our home policy, but it would certainly not be interfered with by us, and would be no more a feeder of the British Treasury or a. help to the British elector than Canada or Australia. The notion, then, of our "grabbing" the Transvaal because there is gold there, and because we think it would serve our material interests to possess it, is simply nonsense, and if men did not let their minds be perplexed by the cant of convention they would never entertain an idea so preposterous. If we are obliged to go to war in order to get justice for the Out- landers we shall not further our material interests one jot. Our object will not be gain, but to show the British race throughout the Empire and the world that it is no empty boast when the people of the home islands proclaim them. selves Imperial trustees. But it is our dnty as Imperial trustees to see that (taking each case on its merits) no body of British citizens shall anywhere be allowed to suffer permanent wrong, and to make any sacrifice to prevent conditions prevailin in an essential part of the Empire (such as South Africa) which must in the end mean severance and disruption. That is a burdensome duty if you will, though a duty which, in our opinion, it is good for the British people to undertake ; but to say that in fulfilling it we shall be acting a, selfish and sordid part is utterly without foundation.
There is another conventional allegation much used in the present controversy which is equally unreal. It is the amazing statement, often most sincerely believed, no doubt, that the Government is "bent" on war, and that they are determined to pick a quarrel. It would be far more true to say that the Government (like, in reality, most Governments) is " bent " on peace,—if only they can secure peace without sacrificing anything which is essential to the welfare of the Empire. Think for a moment what a war with the Transvaal must mean to the present Govern- ment. To begin with, it would be-most unpopular with a large section of their own followers, and it would at once give the Opposition the rallying-point they require. Next, every Department would be embarrassed by it. Lord Salisbury would find that in all minor foreign wstions he would be expected by foreign Powers to give way ; and the necessary embarrassment of even a successful war would be made the excuse for numberless squeezes. The Colonial Secretary, again, whose duties are not, as the public seem sometimes to imagine, confined to South Africa, would find inconveniences and perplexities every- where, for while we were at war with the Transvaal the War Office would not be able to supply the military forces which are always being wanted in various parts of the Empire. Still greater would be the annoyance caused to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. To him personally a war would mean the destruction of all his most cherished financial schemes, and to the Government the odious task of imposing fresh taxation. Depend upon it, the Cabinet are not in the least anxious to rush into war, and if in the end they decide for war it will be with regret, and only because they dare not sacrifice the interests of the Empire to selfish and party considerations. The Government as a Government have, in a word, everything to lose and nothing to gain by war. Successes in the field would be put down, and rightly, to the prowess of our soldiers irrespective of party. Failures and disasters, and the pangs of paying the bill, would, on the other hand, all be credited, to what the Opposition would be sure to ,call "this guilty and incapable Administration." Considering that the Government know this perfectly well, are they likely to rush into war ? There is yet another convention which is often repeated, and which does great harm in obscuring the verities of the situation. In the cant phrase of- the supporters of the Boer oligarchy, the Outlanders are described. as "the scum of the earth." Now in our belief this special piece of conventional talk is very cruel and very unfair nonsense. We are quite aware that there are a great many very undesirable people connected with Johannesburg, and, as our readers know, we have never spared the gold-mining capitalists who follow Mr. Rhodes's lead. But the gamblers, speculators, company promoters, and financial tide-waiters are not as a rule the Outlanders who now claim to be placed on a footing of political equality with the Boers. The men who would get the vote are for the most part hard-working English- men of the artisan and middle-class type,—men whom it is an outrage to describe as "the scum of the earth" merely because their work is concerned with gold-bearing quartz. The engineer who works a gold-crushing machine is not morally contaminated, and may be just as bouourable and good a man as one who runs an engine in a copper-mine. To repeat what we have said above, it is a. pure piece of conventional cant to say that we ought not to help the Outlanders because they are the scum of the earth, for in truth the majority of theni are nothing of the kind.
Yet one more piece of political conventionalism requires to be dealt with. It is often asserted that the Govern- went "got up the whole of the Outlander agitation, and that if they had not "encouraged it," the nation would not now be in the present unpleasant position. If that is not so,' it is asked, 'how and why has the present agitation grown up ?' The answer is not difficult. The present bitter agitation is not in any sense due to en- couragement on the part of the Government, but rather to the fact that during the last three years they have done nothing to help the Outlanders. We have always held, and still hold, that the British Government should long ago have taken up the case of the Outlanders, and should have seen that right was done them. Unfor- tunately, the Government seemed to think that in view of the Raid they were bound to wait and to put off pressing the claims of the Outlanders. In our opinion, that was a fatal mistake. After the Raid was over our Government should have dealt with Mr. Rhodes and with the Chartered Company with the utmost sternness, should have made it clear that Mr. Rhodes had forfeited for the future all hope of Imperial countenance and support, and should have annulled the Charter of his Company. Then the Government should have turned to President Kruger, told him that two wrongs do not make a right, and, point- ing out that his misgovernment gave the excuse for the Raid, should have insisted upon the Outlanders receiving their full share of political rights. Unfortunately, how- ever, the Government did not do this. They struck neither Mr. Rhodes nor Mr. Kruger, but tried half- measures with both, with the result that the Outlander agitation was not put an end to, but only dammed up. Naturally enough it has now broken out with increased fury. However, it is no use now to cry over spilt milk or to go back to 1896. Our business is with the present, and with the fact that President Kruger is trying to make the least possible concessions, while we are insisting on terms which, however inadequate from the point of view of abstract equity, may give some sort of satisfaction to the Outlanders. We can only pray that the outcome of this situation may not be war, but if war is the only means by which some modicum of justice can be secured to the Outlanders, then war it must be, and the blame will rest not on our heads, but on those who deny the rights which all free men claim whenever they settle down to live in new lands. Many of our readers will doubtless altogether dispute such a con- clusion, and will declare that our whole position is erroneous and without foundation. They have, of course, as good a right to their opinions as we to ours, but at least we implore them to banish from their minds as the merest conventionalism the notion that the Government or any responsible person, public or private, wants to conquer the Transvaal in the hope of furthering the selfish, sordid, and material interests of Great Britain.
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