LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE UNREST IN THE TRANSVAAL.
[To TUE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The mail yesterday brought us the Spectator of April 29th containing an article on " The Unrest in the Transvaal " which suggests that the Imperial Government, " if they feel obliged to take some step," should give the Transvaal Government a fixed period, say of four years, in which to set their house in order. If the writer of that article had lived here for the last ten years, I doubt if he would have suggested four months ! In January, 1899, we took arms and were willing to fight for our just rights, as, I hope, Englishmen will ever do,—that was before we knew the Raid was organised by Cecil Rhodes. We took arms because we were oppressed. Her Majesty's Agent, Sir Jacobus de Wet, spoke to us from the Rand Club on January 7th, and told us that unless we listened to his advice (i.e., to lay down our arms) we must sacrifice what hope there was of arriving at a peaceable and generous settlement, and we should take the power out of the hands of the High Com- missioner to mediate on our behalf. Then Sir Sidney Shippard addressed us, and said that, as her Majesty's servant, he could not take part in the agitation resulting from our wrongs; but—to quote his own words—" I sym- pathise deeply with you in my heart in your struggle for what I believe to be your just rights." The important point to remember is that we, the people, honestly believed at that time that we were agitating for our rights as Englishmen, not with any idea of benefiting the Rhodes party or capitalists —they can come and go as they like—but we, the workers, have our all, homes, families, and what little money some of us possess, here. We have waited three years for the generous settlement, and have sunk deeper in the mire ; twenty-one thousand of us have petitioned her Majesty this year to obtain a redress of our grievances ; and now you recommend in cold blooel a further wait of four years ! Recently one of our number wits foully murdered by some of the illicit liquor gang, a gang that flourishes in spite of the law, simply because some of the officials' interests are better served by accepting bribes than attending to duty. Are we to watch the intrigues of a corrupt Government, see our hard-earned money squandered on secret service, &c. (why, the fort they have built to overawe us is built with revenue from our work) still longer ? Have we, the providers of the State's revenue, to sit still for another four years ? Here such a suggestion seems monstrous,—impossible !—I am, Sir, &c.,
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