LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE EXPLOSION IN THE TRANSVAAL.
[To THI EDITOR OP TIM " Sr8CTATOR.".1
fin,—History is making itself so rapidly just now that it is somewhat perilous work to forecast the future, but it is pos- sible that the impressions of one who has spent nearly five years in South Africa, and of these three amongst the Boers of the Drakensberg mountains, where the proportion of Dutch farmers to other nationalities was commonly reckoned as eleven to one, may interest your readers.
The Boers, as a body, are not, I believe, now as ignorant or as hostile as is commonly supposed. Education, thanks largely to the untiring efforts of Dr. Langham Dale, has made extraordinary strides. There is, of course, a large mass of unintelligent and uneducated men, who can un- derstand little beyond the two historical facts that England treated their country ill and with slight regard to her promisee, and that she suffered defeat at their hands. This dell, ponderous, and, though not always actually, yet ever ready to be, hostile element, ties the bands of President Kruger, with whom they have as little sympathy
as he has with them. On the other hand, he is heavily weighted by the impatience of the more hot-headed Uitlandera, who are thinking of little beside their own self-interest. Between the two, the wheels of the chariot of reform, in which the President really wishes to remain seated, drag heavily.
Grievous as has been Dr. Jameson's blunder, and lament- able as have been its results, there is good reason to hope that it may be the instrument of final good. The intelligent Dutch element, and the more moderate of that cosmopolitan body, the Uitlanders, already seem to recognise clearly that• the English Government has had neither part nor lot in this, illegal violence. The extreme section of the foreigners will at the same time probably be awed by what has taken place,. and become less irreconcilable. Out of such a combination of circumstances, a peaceful arrangement, in the interests of the mining population, and therefore really to the advantage of the whole State, might, and I confidently believe, will, be effected.
One thing may be reckoned as certain, and that is that what- ever has prompted the Emperor of Germany's action (it is possibly a response to pressure of German opinion created by jealousy of our Colonial success as compared with their failure), it is simply inconceivable that "the Transvaal and Orange Free State, pressed by the much hated British influence, should in the end declare themselves German Colonies." This, as yon say in your " News of the Week " in your issue of January 4th, may be the German idea ; if it be it is a vain illusion. The German shopkeeper, usually a Jew, is not deeply loved by the Dutch farmer.
When I left South Africa, nearly eight years ago, the Orange Free State was rapidly falling under the influence of the German storekeepers, and in that country their vote• would have no insignificant weight; but no South African German would care to return to German rule. The love of Fatherland is not inconsistent with dislike of the too paternal flag. I have conversed, in almost every part of old South Africa., with Germans of almost every class, and their unanimous expression was, "Any rule but that of Germany.' There seems no real reason why the Transvaal should not, as- the result of this crisis, take its place as a sound and healthy Republic, under whose rule all nationalities may live in peace and contentment, as they have done for so many years in the sister State.—I am, Sir, &c., St. Jean de Luz, France, Jan. 6th, 1896. T. J. CoorEn.
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