THE TRANSVAAL.
(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—May I again ask for the hospitality of your columns in order to reply, very briefly, to the criticism of my letter by " Africanus " in the Spectator of October 14th? I coupled the names of Shepstone and Jameson in illustration of my assertion that "our hands were not clean" as regards our past relations with the Boers. " Africanus " is indignant, on the ground that Sir T. Shepstone was a good public servant, who only carried out the orders of the British Government. Surely this is not the point at issue. Our hands are not clean, because, in the one case, we unjustly annexed the Transvaal, and, in the other case, a British public servant, aided by British officers, made an attempt to invade the Transvaal by force and fraud. As to the character of the former proceeding, I will only quote the words of Mr. Chamberlain himself. He said that the Govern- ment we then set up in the Transvaal was distinguished by " force, fraud, and folly." Regarding Shepstone himself, my mention of his name with that of Jameson is declared to be an illustration of that want of "mercy and fairness " which distinguishes Liberals in their treatment of officials with whose policy they disagree. " Africanus " must try to find some other proof of this evil conduct on the part of Liberal politicians. In 1883 the present Lord Welby, writing on behalf of the Treasury, had to expose the emi- nently unsatisfactory character of Sir T. Shepstone's accounts, inasmuch as he bad disregarded "the elementary rules which ordinarily govern men in their dealings with money other than their own." It was therefore decided to recoup the State in the loss it had sustained by a heavy deduction from his pension. Absence from England prevents my replying to certain historical points raised by my critic, but they do not directly affect the great political question now under discussion.—I
P.S.—Since writing the above, I remember seeing it stated, on the best authority, that Sir Theophilus Shepstone was sent by the British Government to simply report on a request from English emigrants that the Transvaal should be annexed, that he then annexed the country without instruc- tions, and that out of eight thousand males six thousand five hundred and ninety-one voted against annexation. This history is strangely at variance with that of "Africanus," and completes the likeness between Shepstone and Jameson. —H. P.
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