LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE MOTIVE OF THE FREE STATE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—The vehemence of President Steyn and the suicidal conduct of the Free State Government in the present South African crisis have occasioned much perplexity and no little misgiving in this country among people who feel that their information concerning the dispute is scanty and, such as it is, of late acquisition. And although the facts have been much discussed and illustrated from many points of view, there is one fact, possibly the most important of all, as leading to the explanation sought, which has not, so far as my reading goes, been brought to light by any English writer. It is commonly enough assumed in these discussions that the Boers are a coherent body of men united by strong patriotism and enthusiastic pride of race in such a brother- hood as precludes any serious internal division. Hence they are always spoken of under a collective name, and thought of as actuated by a common impulse. The absence among them of true political parties, and, in the case of the Transvaal Boer, his unqualified submission to the Pretoria oligarchy, favour this impression. But when the Boers as a whole, including those of the Colonies and the Free State, are taken into consideration it is wholly incorrect. In this community the fissiparous tendency is very marked, and rivalries—religious, local, family, and personal—abound. It is in one of these rivalries, if I am not greatly mistaken, that the secret of the Free State aberration is to be found. I describe its present conduct as an aberration because it is manifestly injurious not only to the State itself, but also to the cause of Dutch influence in South Africa, to which the State has offered itself up a willing sacrifice. It is so manifest that the Free State in the present difficulty could have served its neighbour more effectively by friendly neutrality and surreptitious aid than by throwiig its own territory open to the British advance, that mere sympathy with the Transvaal, however keenly felt, could never have prompted it to stand in the forefront of the battle. But a glance back at the history of the relations of the two States during their brief career brings to light a very powerful reason why the more masterful of the Free Staters should ardently desire not only to aid, but actually to lead the Transvaal at the present conjuncture. In a word, noblesse oblige.
Let me try to make this clear. Prior to the diarzsvery of gold upon the Rand, when both Republics were pastoral States, the Free State Boer enjoyed a very considerable prestige among Boers. He was, speaking generally, a man of greater substance than the Transvaaler, he had better opportunities of intercommunication with the old people— the Colonial Dutch—and with the external world, and in par- ticular he was much better educated. He was an aristocrat among the Voortrekker Boers ; and against the Colonial Boer, who was hie personal equal, to say the least, he could boast that he ruled in his own house. Thus he came to be ex- tremely well satisfied with himself, and to claim as his right the place of the elder brother. In this rank his position seemed assured, and he proved himself not unworthy of it, as witness the urbane and liberal Government of Bloemfontein. This domestic economy was rudely disturbed by the founda- tion and growth of Johannesburg. The uncouth Transvaaler became suddenly the predominant partner, and developed in luxuriant abundance the graces of the parvenu. Bitterness ensued, but it did not modify the Transvaaler's manners or diminish his prosperity, and the unpleasantness began to be felt at Bloemfontein of the rule that "the elder shall serve the younger.'' Such was the relation of the two Republics when the Jameson Raid electrified Dutch South Africa, and effected a reform in the Transvaalers' manners such as a century of education, conducted by Professors from Holland, could not have brought about. They turned in meekness and simplicity to their kinsmen in the Colonies and the sister Republic, and sought the sympathy which their earlier conduct had nearly extinguished. What could a proud people do in such a case bat respond, as the Free State did in fact respond, with words of reconcilement and promises of aid? So far all is simplicity itself. But, for all that, the position was a false one. The Free State became the patron of the Transvaal, interesting itself for the benefit of its client in a controversy in which its own material interests were not involved ; but it could not control that client. An ineffectual attempt was made to limit its respon- sibility by the provision that it should act with the Transvaal for defence,—not for attack. The Transvaal attack was con- centrated on Johannesburg, and conducted without reference to the elder brother. When the reprisal came it would have seemed unhandsome to discriminate between a provoked and an unprovoked attack. The generous fallacy that blood is thicker than water was conclusive on that point. But if the Free State, with its tradition of primacy and its aristocratic pride, was to join at all, there was but one position worthy of its pretensions ; it must needs stand in the forefront.
Xublesse oblige.—I am, Sir, &c., J. W. GORDON.
Savage Club, Adelphi Terrace, KC., October 17th.
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