THE. TRANSVAAL.
rE . news of • -the arrest of half- a dozen men from among the ranksof the poorer .Outlanders on a• charge of high treason • does not seem to us to affect the main issues at stake, except to show that the present status quo is be-. coming intolerable. We -do not yet know enough of the facts to be able to say whether the "plot" with which- the .prisoners are charged was the- result of a spontaneous or -a bon-fide .action, or whether it was the outcome of the. cryptic workings of agents provocateurs ; but in either ease the incident shows that the state of things at Johannes- burg is Most unsatisfactory. - If it was a real plot we have proof of the restlessness and discontent of the working popu-. lation . in the Transvaal, for it is, we think, admitted that the capitalists had nothing. to. do with the alleged conspiracy. If they were in it; it would not have been miners and- small shopkeepers and loafers who .would have been arrested, but the .men. behind them. • If, on the other hand, it can be proved that the secret service agents of the Transvaal Government, either with.or without orders, led on a certain number of Outlanders to commit themselves to treasonable words -and acts, it is equally clear, that the- .conditions prevailing in the Transvaal are in no sense sound and whole- some. •-• An able correspondent, whose letter we are not able to print for reasons of space, declares that it is not fair to condemn the Boer Government became it is not perfect. The country, he urges in effect; is-a young one, and perfection in its governmental arrangements must not be insisted on. In fact; he suggests that the standard of administration applied in, judging the Transvaal -would- bring- condemnation -upon almost any Government in the-world. • There is very possibly a good deal of- truth in this argument. We, at any rate, have always in these columns refrained from dwelling upon the details of administration, and have instead insisted that .the one thing needful was a liberal grant of the franchise. That is the essential point; and without it. the South. African Republic can - never prosper. -If the Outlanders. had. the ;vote the grievances produced by a rough and irregular administration would vanish, for they could be told, and indeed would feel, that if they did not put the house in order it was their own fault. . The effect of the grant Of the franchise on, say, the terms which obtain in the Orange Free State, would thus be. to a great extent to silence complaints now made by grievance- mongers. And not only would the grant of the franchise act favourably in this way. It would also help to create a better feeling between Boers and Outlanders by bringing them- more into contact. Before very long some sections of the Outlanders would be sure to combine at the polls with the Boers, and. some sections of the Boers with the Out- landers. Most important of all, the grant of the franchise would tend to soften the asperities of the present Adminis- tration. It must not be supposed that the grant of the franchise' would' immediately hand over the country to the Outlanders. For many years the Boers would probably still be the predominant partners, but the attitude of the Ad- Ministration would be bound ' to change. .Depend upon it, Boer officials and Boer policemen would treat Johannesburg men with.votes very differently than they treat Johannesburg men without votes. In a word, only through a liberal grant of the franchise will it be possible to place the Transvaal Government on a satisfactory footing.. If that is .01-anted, other things will in time right themselves, and the" tsting of degradation will be taken out of the position of the. Out- lenders. • - When, then, Sir Alfred Milner meets President Kruger at Bloeinfontein, it is greatly to be hoped that the discussion will: he strictly confined to the question of the franchise, and that alinther *ants will beleft in abeyance. Again, what sherd& be - insisted-upon by Sir Alfred Milner is a simple franatiise law, and that when the Outlander acquires the vote he shall acqnire it with thefullest rights and powers,—exactly as it is- enjoyed by the present burghers. If the grant of the franchise is obtained. now, we believe that the situation will be-almost Iinmediately cleared, and that slowly and steadily things will still further improve. The Outlander will find' the 'Boer a far more reasonable 'person .than he now suppases" him to be, and the Boer. will be surprised to find what a quantity of'. local patriotism there was latent in the Outlander. If,' however, President Kruger remains obdurate and will 'not Yield on- the point of the franchise, there can - only be one end. There will not be war at once, not perhaps for several years, but gradually things will grow worse at Johannesburg, until at last there will come an explosion of political feeling so strong that we as the paramount Power shall be forced to intervene by force of arms, and put matters to rights. In that event, it will not be a case of a gradual sharing of power between the Outlanders and Boers, but a complete revolution. We trust sincerely that this may not happen, for, though we do not like the Transvaal Govern- ment, we very greatly admire and respect its Puritan farmer- soldiers, and it is unfortunately these God-fearing, sturdy peasants, and not the Transvaal officials, against whom we -should have to fight. But our regret at the thought of war cannot hide from us the fact that war is in the end in- evitable if the South African Republic deliberately chooses -to withhold the franchise from the Outlanders.
Before we leave the subject of the franchise, we desire to say 'a word upon the vexed question of the oath. It -is said that the' Boers, not unnaturally perhaps from their point of -view, insist on exacting an oath of allegiance which will deprive those who take it of their British citizenship. That is, of course, a very serious matter ; for ' many men on various grounds of sentiment or interest refuse to give up permanently their British citizenship. • We were inclined to think that the position of paramountcy which England occupies in regard to the Transvaal would have made the acceptance of citizenship in the Transvaal inoperative to destroy British Citizenship. Professor Westlake showed, however, last week that this is not so, and that there would be a loss of -British citizenship. If that is the case, would it not be both right and proper to pass a short Act of Parliament;declaring that where a British subject becomes the citizen of any State over which the Queen exercises any rights of suzerainty, or which, by treaty or other- wise, is in any sense or particular dependent upon the power of the British Crown, the status of a British-subject shall only be dormant while he is domiciled in the said State, and that the said status of a British subject shall revive immediately on his becoming again domiciled in any British possession? This would prevent the dreaded loss of British citizenship - in case of a return to England or a British Colony, and yet would, while • the person was domiciled in the Transvaal, give the Beer Government full power and authority over him. He could not, that is, while domiciled in the Transvaal and in- the possession of 'a vote, appeal for protection to the British Agent at Pretoria. The result of such an arrangement, as far as Cape Colony, Natal, and the rest of British South Africa are concerned, would be excellent, and would provide a sort of half-way house towards that common citizenship for all South Africa which must some day take place. It will 'no doubt be said that such an Act as we have suggested would be disliked by the Transvaal,- and might be described as irritating; but we do not think the Republic would have any real grievance. As long as an Outlander who had accepted the Transvaal citizenship remained within the Transvaal. he would be completely subject to the Republic. The fact that if he returned to a British domicile he should regain his British rights of citizenship could not reasonably be said to injure in any way the interests of the Transvaal. The Republic cannot claim the right to prevent our Parliament providing a rapid and easy form of naturalisation for certain persons who had before been British subject& We should, in fact, in no way hurt the legitimate interests of the South African Republic by providing in the particular case a rapid means for the recovery of British citizenship.
Previous page
