THE VOICE OF THE TRANSVAAL IMPERIALISTS. [TO THE EDITOR OP
THE usracraros..1 Sna—There is a small class of Transvaal ex-burghers whose case, and it is a sad one, is but little, if at all, understood by the English public, and which consists of persons who mostly are unable to plead their own cause, partly from being un- accustomed to formulate their ideas in such a manner as to be able to obtain a hearing, and yet more from a defective political education. The class I allude to is composed of men of English extraction, who have always under the most trying circumstances remained true to the Empire, and have always and rightly considered themselves as owing allegiance to it. According to English law, subjects cannot be released from their allegiance except by words of explicit signification. I believe that I am correct in stating that no such release was given to the people of the Transvaal; they were never declared to be not British subjects, although freedom to choose their own form of government was granted to them. There was a marked difference in this respect between the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, for the people of that State were distinctly freed from their allegiance to the Empire. Bearing this in mind, let us trace the history of those whom I may call the Transvaal Imperialists. They emigrated to the Transvaal from England, Cape Colony, or Natal before the annexation. They, as was the custom, reported themselves to the veld-cornet of whatever district they settled in, he inscribed the name of such in his official book, and there the matter ended ; there was no oath of any kind. When the annexation took place, these people rejoiced; and when the Boers rose in revolt, they were faithful to the Empire, staking their property and the lives of themselves and their families on their faith. The Retrocession ruined them. It broke the fortunes of all, but it did worse ; it shook their faith in England. Yet their love for the Old Country, which most of them had never seen, or seen but in early youth, remained. They could not leave the Transvaal. Their homes were desolated, their crops ravaged, their movable property appropriated by the Boers, and few of them had any reserve capital to speak of; but the Convention saved whatever land they possessed from confiscation, and, being unable to realise on it, owing to land in the Transvaal being practically un- saleable for some time after the Retrocession, they had per- force to remain and try to make a living ; almost starving in the meanwhile, waiting wearily for the tardy compensation for losses sustained during the war that was sparingly dealt to them, by the British Government, and subjected to the jibes and petty tyrannies of the Boers amongst whom they dwelt. Then they were notified that lists were to be prepared of all residents in the Transvaal, whereby each man would have the option of registering himself an a British subject or as a burgher. Registration as a British subject excluded a man from all political rights in the Transvaal; even in a municipal election he would have no vote. It carried with it one immunity. No man so registered could be personally commandeered, although value could be commandeered from him. Few, of course, registered themselves as British subjects. Believing that by the very terms of the Convention the Transvaal Republic was a vassal State of the Empire, and having no premonition that registration as a burgher would involve being commandeered in a war against that Empire, it was not likely that men would barter the right of trying to regulate the government of the country they had to live in for the apparently empty title of British subject, and exemption from military service against rebel- lious Kaffirs. During the years which intervened between the Retrocession and the Bloemfontein Conference of 1899 these men and their sons learned painfully how little the vote availed them under a Government that was based on and maintained by corruption ; and how greatly their avowed claim to be Englishmen although burghers exposed them to frequent petty insults and injuries and to occasional gross injustice. Yet they remained true to the Old Country, and brought up their children to be proud of their descent, to reckon themselves English men and women, and to hold an insult offered to England or to the Queen as a personal insult, while it seemed possible that their country had for- gotten their very existence. A most curious state of things political, having no parallel but in things social,—the status of some disowned children ! They had yet to learn that what had seemed to them almost a mockery, the registration as a British subject, was all that separated any of them from the Boers in the eyes of the British Government. The opinion of Sir William Conyngham Greene on this subject was explicitly given to those who sought his advice when war was imminent. Registration as a burgher was allowed by the Boer Government to any Outlander who was qualified according to their regulations, although until the eve of war he had not availed himself of his right, but no facility was offered to the Transvaal Imperialists to rectify a mistake which those even who registered themselves as burghers eighteen years before had fallen into unwittingly, and which many were in no way responsible for, having been under age when their fathers registered. And so these men had to remain, to be forced to assist the enemies of England. Personally, many could have left the Transvaal by stealth, but their families and their substance would have had to remain. Practically they had no choice; their case was desperate. Threats of death and confiscation were used to compel them to take up arms when war was declared. It is true that, according to martial law as officially published, fines and imprisonment were to precede extreme rigour ; but all residents in the Republic are well aware that small de- pendence could be placed on Boer law, even when it was civil and not martial law. It was pitiable to witness. Men bade their wives and children good-bye, calling God to witness that they would go to the front and face death, but never aim at an Englishman. They dropped or buried their cartridges surreptitiously, so that it might not be known how few they used; they bribed their veld-cornets, did menial services for the Boers, did all they could to avoid being placed in the fighting lines; surrendered arms, took the oath, and assisted the British in whatever way they could; and are paying the penalty even now in the midst of the guerilla warfare which is distracting the Transvaal, for these men are mostly farmers or wayside storekeepers, and have no protection from Boer violence when the district they live in rises in insurrection after having treacherously submitted. It is for the English public to consider, when the war is over, whether these Transvaal Imperialists ought not to be recognised as a peculiar class, and dealt with accordingly. It is pretty generally admitted now that the Retrocession was a blunder, the wording of the Convention of 1881 a blunder, and the various attempts at patching up these blunders still further blunders. There is small cause to question whether the action of the British Government in the matter of registration was not a blunder also. It will be unjust to let the onus of these blunders fall more than is absolutely inevitable on the Transvaal Imperialists. They have been, and still are, innocent, silent, and even heroic victims of them. To do justice to them will involve the careful sifting of evidence in each case, for the Transvaal is full of turncoats, who are already posing as old Imperialists. But it is not only just, but expedient, to spend much trouble and care in discriminating between the true and the false; and by showing practically, in the matter of compensation, and also of appointments under Government, that a different measure is meted to the easy-going time-server or subjugated Boer, and to the truly loyal-hearted men who have never wavered from their allegiance to England, much good will be done.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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