THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLICS.
What Lord Salisbury meant by his Guildhall speech is, as we have just hinted, quite obvious to those who are content to give words their obvious meanings. He clearly meant us to understand that while he could not and would not pledge himself to any detailed scheme, it was possible to state the general principles of the only settlement which could be permanent, and so satisfactory. The first of these principles, as indicated by Lord Salisbury, is that after the war is over the whole of South Africa must be within the Empire, and not in any sense whatever outside it. This means, of course, that dwellers in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal will be as much citizens of the Empire as the inhabitants of Cape Town, Melbourne, or Quebec. The next principle of action, which is absolutely clear from Lord Salisbury's speech, is that the settlement, while one within, and not outside, the Empire, shall be a liberal settlement, and one consistent, to quote Lord Salis- bury's actual words, with " the uniform traditions of our Colonial government." This clearly means that there shall be no attempt to set up any permanent system of government in the Republics of the kind which we used to employ, but finally discarded some fifty years ago and more as dangerous,—nay, impossible. As soon as that period of quasi-military rule is over which must be employed while the ashes of war are still hot, we shall establish in the Republics as complete autonomy as exists in any part of the Empire. Let those who doubt whether this is Lord Salisbury's meaning pause for a moment to consider what are "the uniform traditions of our Colonial government." The chief of them is, whenever a community of white men within the Empire are sufficiently advanced in wealth and numbers to be able to stand alone, to give them the fullest possible measure of self-government, and to give it not grudgingly and with limitations and restric- tions, but fully ind freely. Take the most recent case of Western Australia. Till the discovery of gold brought wealth and population to Western Australia our settlements there were governed as a Crown Colony, under the authority of the Imperial Government. When, however, the gold discoveries made Western Australia rich and prosperous, what did the rulers of our "pirate Empire " do ? Instead of grabbing the gold, as according to certain leaders of Liberal opinion is the wont of Englishmen, and keeping it for themselves, they endowed the people of Western Australia with complete and absolute self-government. The only reservations they made—those in reference to the Northern territories— were made not in our interests but in those of Australia as a whole. The case of Natal was similar. When Natal had risen to man's estate the Colony took its place in the constellation of the Empire, the constellation in which these islands are not the sun but merely the greatest of the planets.—Primus inter Tares. If, then, Lord Salisbury meant anything by his "uniform traditions of Colonial government," he meant _that, subject to the necessary interval of quasi-military rule, we should act in the Republics as in Western Australia. We suppose that this determination to place both the Republics within the Empire—one of them is within it already—but to endow them with self-government, will be described in certain irreconcilable quarters as a gross and scandalous breach of magnanimity and liberal feeling, and we shall be told in effect that, as soon as we have knocked over the Humpty-Dumpty of the Pretoria gang, we ought to put them up again and allow once more the Boer oligarchy, like Saturn and Ops, to begin their golden reign. 'We shall be content, however, to let the common- sense of the country judge whether there would be any real magnanimity in leaving a condition of things which must almost certainly again plunge South Africa into civil war. If the Republics are allowed to remain outside the Empire, it is certain that they will once again attempt to pursue their old ideal of racial supremacy, and of placing the Boer above the Englishman, whom they will still con- tinue to regard as an Outlander,—i.e., an interloper, and a person who cannot be received as an equal by the lords of the soil. They will, in fact, continue to set all South Africa by the ears. From such magnanimity as this may God preserve South Africa. Since mankind is nothing but illogical, we shall no doubt be told that, at any rate, it will be illiberal not to allow the Boers their old Con- stitution,—that is, a Constitution designed to keep the power in the hands of the minority. Well, if it is illiberal to insist that there shall be no racial ascendency ; that all the white inhabitants in a country ought to have equal rights ; that the judiciary should be independent ; that all the white people, and not merely a. section of the community, should be allowed to carry arms ; and that the Anglo-Saxon, and not the Continental, ideas as to liberty of public meeting, free speech, and a free Press should prevail, then all we can say is that we are quite content to be classed as illiberal and the upholders of illiberal ideas.
We are quite aware that we shall not satisfy the more angry critics of the policy of the Government, even if we show that Lord Salisbury and his colleagues are determined that though the settlement is to be within the Empire it shall be on liberal lines. They will say that the sullen hatred of the Dutch population will not be appeased by self-government, and that we shall therefore be unable to extend self-government to the Republics. That is, we shall be told that the Boers will use the rights of self- government to rise against and resist their inclusion in the Empire. We do not believe it. No doubt if we tried to rule South Africa from Downing Street we should soon find ourselves face to face with a Boer rising, but we shall do nothing of the kind. We shall place the government in the hands of the majority of the inhabitants, and in the ease of the Transvaal, as soon as the refugees have returned and the new influx of white people has taken place, the majority will be of a kind with which it will be perfectly possible for us to work. When men have votes and are allowed to use them freely, they may talk a good deal of rebellion, but they seldom act up to their talk. They prefer the arbitrament of the ballot-box to that of the rifle. Depend upon it, if President Kruger had given the vote to the Outlanders there would have been no war, even if the Outlanders had found that the vote did not give them quite all they wanted or expected. The Dutch in the Transvaal may grumble, as they have grumbled at the Cape for the last fifty years, but they will not act as long as they can vote. People talk, again, about the racial hatred being kept up for generations. No doubt it might be if we established a new racial ascendency. If we establish racial equality, as we shall, it will soon die out. In our belief the most serious difficulty in regard to reconstruction is the question of areas. The proverbial three courses are open to us. We may treat the two Republics separately. We may lump them together. Lastly, we may combine the two Republics and Natal into one Government. Personally, we cannot help think- ing that this will be the best plan,—granted always that Natal is willing. The Transvaal is destined to be the most prosperous and most populous white community in South Africa. That being so, it is as well that it should possess direct access to the sea, and not be liable to be squeezed as purely inland communities are sometimes squeezed by their neighbours. In a. great State composed of Natal and the two Republics the two races would be fairly well balanced, and, under a free Colonial Consti- tution neither would be able to lord it over the other. Such amalgamation, again, would be no impediment to Federation, which, though it is to be worked for and hoped for, must never be hurried, and. must be a spontaneous and local act, not a movement made in Down- ing Street. In a Federation it is a great thing to have the communities more or less equal in size. A Federation composed of (1) the old Colony, (2) the new State we have just been suggesting, and (3) Rhodesia—freed, of course, from the Chartered Company—would make a very good "United States of South Africa." It is not necessary for a Federation to be composed of many members, and. Switzerland would. doubtless be just as secure and well- governed if she had only three cantons. No doubt the politicians of Cape Colony, both Dutch and English, would not favour the establishment of the new State we have suggested, but their opinion, though it would, of course, have great weight, cannot be final in such a matter. Natal might justly claim to veto the proposal, but not Cape Colony.
Previous page
