A Winter Tour in South Africa Part 5

While speaking of this subject, I should like to mention a suggestion for a system of special colonisation, which may well attract the serious attention of the Home Government, with the view of encouraging and promoting it.

In the military garrisons, comprising the British troops, quartered in South Africa, there are a considerable number of steady, and well-conducted married men, non-commissioned officers and soldiers, who, having been stationed for some time in the midst of its genial climate, and pleasant surroundings, would, I feel satisfied, like, if sufficient inducement were offered them, to make South Africa their permanent home.

If, therefore, a military colony were established at the expense of the Home Government in a well and wisely-selected spot and under proper and judicious arrangement, it would probably be, not only a great boon to a number of deserving British subjects, but would be attended with success, and be a politic, and interesting factor in the art of colonisation.

I earnestly commend the idea to those, who would have to deal with it, as an experiment, eminently worthy of their attention and support.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Decorative]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Decorative]

THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

The political situation of South Africa is the last subject to which I shall refer. I am quite aware that this is a very difficult and delicate question to touch upon, but it would be impossible for anyone like myself, to whom it has presented itself so prominently during my tour, to avoid some allusion to it. I shall endeavour to state my impressions impartially and fairly.

Before I went to South Africa I had formed a general opinion on this vitally important and very critical subject. My previous views have been most thoroughly confirmed, and painfully accentuated by all I have seen, and heard, and gathered, on the spot. The mournful mismanagement of South African affairs during the last twenty-five years, and most especially during the last decade, has been truly lamentable, and cannot fail to awaken the saddest feelings on the part of every loyal Briton, and true-hearted patriot.

The absence of continuous, wise, and statesmanlike policy, which has for the most part marked the tone of those, who have had the Imperial guidance and control of South African affairs in the past, has had the effect of sowing the seeds of enmity to the Government of the Mother Country, which it will require all the wisdom, and tact, and conciliatory sympathy possible to be displayed in the future, in dealing with this magnificent part of the Empire, to allay. It will demand the greatest skill to prevent the permanent alienation, and estrangement of South Africa from Great Britain.

This has all been brought about by our unaccountably careless and culpable want of accurate knowledge at home, of the actual situation. We lost a splendid chance of consolidating South Africa in a h.o.m.ogeneous union under the British crown. Our insular in difference, our ignorance, the fierce animosity of our party political prejudices, made us neglect the opportunity. It has had the effect of creating the sorest feelings against us, on the part of the large English population, spread over the land, which is uncontaminated and uninfluenced by the party spirit of local colonial politicians. It is melancholy, and most deplorable to observe the indications of this feeling, which are constantly apparent.

The old love for the British flag is still widely cherished; but it was impossible for me to shut my eyes to the evidence so continually brought before me, that the British Government is neither loved nor respected. No confidence whatever is felt in it--and no wonder!

Everywhere there are proofs of how all have been allowed to suffer and smart under it.

Either from ignorance, or carelessness, or indifference--probably from all combined--and perhaps even unconsciously, but at the same time as surely, we have deceived the Natives, the Boers, and the Colonists. This is only the natural consequence of the feeble, vacillating, uncertain course, which is followed, when the State machine is guided without compa.s.s, and where there is no firmness, nor courage at the national helm. What we have to do, however, now, is to advocate union and co-operation between the two dominant races--the British and the Dutch--and to do all we can to promote harmony and goodwill between them. True, their mental character, and natural instincts are different. Our own race is essentially energetic and progressive; while theirs is slow, unemotional, and phlegmatic. But if sympathy, and tact, and cordial good temper, are invariably practised in our intercourse with them, I am persuaded it will ultimately have the effect of promoting co-operation in securing their mutual interests. This, I trust, will ultimately neutralise the effect of the fatal course of past political action, which unnecessarily developed race jealousies, and stimulated national friction and animosity; and will bring about in the future, a blending of the Dutch in friendly union and fellows.h.i.+p with the British, such as has been undreamed of in the past.

Among many expressions of opinion on the subject of the political situation made to me while I was in South Africa, I received the following communication from a gentleman of prominent position in one of the princ.i.p.al towns of the Cape Colony. It appears to me of such importance that I avail myself of this opportunity of giving publicity to it.

"The fact of your arrival at very short notice, combined with the fact that there are only a few Fellows of the Royal Colonial Inst.i.tute resident here, will probably prevent the presentation of any formal address of welcome to you.

"Nevertheless, to a section of the community which is animated by patriotic jealousy for the rights and dignity of the Crown throughout South Africa, your visit is regarded with feelings of genuine satisfaction, and our hopes are encouraged, that your visit may result in some good to the cause, which we have at heart.

"You are doubtless acquainted well enough with the princ.i.p.al events of great national moment of recent years in South Africa. From whatever point of view politicians may like to regard the end of the Transvaal war, any resident in this country can be only too well aware of the fact that one result of that terrible experience has been, a material weakening of respect for English people, and for the rights of the Crown throughout the Cape Colony.

"Since the period referred to, a very powerful Dutch-Africander combination has come into existence, and there can be no doubt but that one object of such a body, is the severance of all but nominal ties between the Cape, and Great Britain.

"However visionary such hopes as these must for a long series of years remain, the fact of their existence, and of their being in a variety of ways advanced from time to time, has a very marked influence upon all cla.s.ses of people in this country.

"For instance, the youth of the country are influenced to hope for a time, when they shall be members of an independent State; and while on the one hand they may not see any immediate prospect of a change in such a direction being effected, nevertheless they lessen their interest in, and their respect for, the Crown of England and its attributes, and thus grow up comparatively devoid of any sound patriotism, even to their native country; and, above all, without any touch of that enthusiasm, which is ever engendered by high national traditions.

"That some momentous changes are likely to occur in South Africa, and that possibly, before very long, all are agreed. The question only remains in what direction will these changes tend?--towards some Foreign Continental Power, towards a Confederation with the existing Dutch Republics, or in the direction of a strengthening of the union with England?

"It is sometimes surmised, and this not merely by extreme men, but by quiet and experienced observers of events in this country, that the large population, mainly British, which has been attracted to the Gold Fields of the Transvaal, is unlikely to endure much longer the systematic misgovernment and suppression, to which they are subjected by men of avowedly anti-English sympathies, and pledged to a policy directed to check British progress by all means.

"What form the suggested revolt in the Transvaal may take is not likely to be revealed, until some overt step towards its execution has been taken. We would all desire that the end in view should be secured by peaceful means, and that the Transvaal should become a part and parcel of British territory.

"To effect a revival of loyalty to England in the Cape Colony, and to influence the destinies of other States in the direction of union with England, should surely be the hope and endeavour of all true Englishmen, whether in this Colony, or elsewhere.

"And the end in view is not an easy one to attain in a country, where the majority of Europeans consider that they, or their compatriots, inflicted disgrace, and a permanent loss of influence upon the Imperial Troops on the one hand, and the Imperial British Government on the other.

"The application of any remedy seems to lie more with the Sovereign personally, or Her Majesty's immediate advisers in England, than with any Governor, and High Commissioner, or Cabinet of Cape Ministers.

"For _qua_ Governor, the Queen's Representative at the Cape, is necessarily checked, or controlled by the Ministry of the day, his Const.i.tutional advisers, and the presence in the Cape Parliament of a dominant force of the essentially non-English, or Africander party, must necessarily also have a very material influence upon Ministers, who depend upon a majority of votes for the retention of their office.

"In short, the problem in the Cape Colony is one, which happily does not exist in either of the other great dependencies of the Crown; it is altogether peculiar to South Africa, of which, after all, England acquired possession by conquest, and, having acquired it, has never completely won the adhesion of the Dutch inhabitants, who resent such acts of Government as the abolition of slavery, the introduction of the English principle of equality before the law, and, above all, an unsettled vacillating policy, which last has the worst possible effect upon all the nationalities, European, as well as native, throughout South Africa.

"The present att.i.tude of even British South Africa, is one, not of expectancy, but of slight hope, mingled with distrust, and after such conspicuous events as the dismemberment of Zululand, the retrocession of the Transvaal, in addition to the ineffective efforts towards confederation, he would be a bold man who, as an Englishman, would dare a.s.sert either that his country protected her children, or her dependent races, or that there is any settled British policy in the very Continent, where vigour, firmness, and consistency, combined with mere justice, seem to be absolutely essential.

"South Africa has yet to be won over to England, or, in other words, confidence has to be restored. The effort is surely worth making, and anything like a determined effort on the part of the Sovereign, and Her Majesty's immediate advisers would find a most vigorous and cordial response.

"The idea of confederation seems to be quite dependent upon such preliminaries, as mutual confidence, and a measure of common necessity, in order to such a question being seriously entertained.

"The Colonial Conference of two years ago, seems however to have paved the way for effective development in the direction of confederation.

"For it must be remembered, that the somewhat complex British const.i.tution is not the creation of any one Monarch, or Parliament.

It has grown to its present dimensions little by little, influenced always by the necessities of particular cases. The House of Peers has ever been summoned by writ, and early precedents indicate, that the Sovereign was not always limited to a particular cla.s.s of Barons, who alone could be invited to the deliberations of the nation.

"Although it is not admitted, it is nevertheless the fact, that, at the present time, all who are most anxiously desirous of seeing a way to establish a means of drawing together, in Council, the Colonies and the Mother Country, are quite disagreed, as to what is the best means to this end.

"A formal confederation is desired, but all are agreed upon the difficulties which, for the present, at any rate, stand in the way of completing an exactly defined treaty, or definition, to confederate as between the Mother Country, and the Colonies.

"Perhaps a means to this much-desired end may be discovered, by way of less formal, but almost equally effective, courses of policy as regards Colonial possessions.

"Every one feels the difficulty in the way of summoning Colonial Representatives to either the House of Lords or the House of Commons, for, while special provision would be required to increase the numbers of the House of Commons, there are apparent and real obstacles in the way of inviting Colonial Representatives to sit in the House of Lords, either as ordinary, or as _Life_ Peers.

"It does not seem too much to hope that, before long, the Crown, may desire to see a.s.sembled in London, during some period of the annual session of the Imperial Parliament a Council of Colonial Delegates, meeting in a place to be a.s.signed to them, who will have no voice in other than Colonial Policy, just as now, the House of Lords has no voice in the originating of Money Bills, who will be free to discuss any measure affecting Colonial Policy in general, or the affairs of any Colony, in particular, who will be ent.i.tled to forward their conclusions, requests, or opinions to Her Majesty's Princ.i.p.al Secretary of State for the Colonies, and who will const.i.tute a most effective means for ascertaining the current of opinion in any particular Colony for the time being.

"The Houses of Convocation might be referred to as an example of an extra Parliamentary Body of recognised position in the deliberations of the State.

"And, to revert to South Africa, the sympathies, and probably loyal adhesion of all the intelligent cla.s.ses of every nationality, would be elicited by nothing more than by the express personal interest of the Sovereign, and Her family in the Cape Colony. The occasion of the visit of Prince Alfred, when a mere child, elicited unbounded demonstrations of enthusiastic loyalty to the Crown, and those from Dutch and English alike. The name 'Alfred,' in honour of His Royal Highness, is to be everywhere met with in connection with all sorts of public bodies, Volunteer Corps, and other Inst.i.tutions.

"Personal influence goes for more than all the defined policies of successive administrations, or excellent theories of Government. A Prince is of more weight than the best of official Governors, and it is not likely that in medieval ages, or even at later periods, such an appanage of the Crown, as we desire South Africa to become, would be unvisited by either the Sovereign, or someone of the Sovereign's family. The visit of their Royal Highnesses Prince Albert Victor, and Prince George of Wales was limited to a brief sojourn at Cape Town, and did not extend to the Colony in general.

"The necessity for the employment, in the interests of the Empire, to use the phrase most practical,--uncouth, however, it may seem,--of our Royal Princes appears to be a very decided and certain means to the end we have in view, namely, the binding together, by means of sympathetic enthusiasm, the Colonies to the Mother Country, but most particularly the creating of a healthy common accord between South Africa and Great Britain.

"Let any Colony or Dependency feel a.s.sured that it is regarded as worthy of attention by those nearest to the Crown, and any sense of isolation, any suspicion that the people, or their country are regarded with any measure of contemptuous indifference must forthwith vanish. Sympathy, encouragement, personal contact, seem to be essential elements to the solution of what is admittedly a problem."

I regard this letter of my well informed correspondent as a most interesting and truthful expression of wide-spread opinion, among the intelligent cla.s.ses of Her Majesty's loyal subjects in South Africa.

I do not believe the South African political problem to be insoluble.

Two things are required to solve it satisfactorily. For the present,--I quote the eloquent words of a distinguished politician with whose wise and n.o.ble sentiments I cordially agree--"what we ought to do in a case of this kind is to send out a statesman of the first order of talent, patience, and truthfulness, irrespective of politics or prejudice. For it is an Imperial problem of the highest importance; and the powers of true patriotism and ambition should be amply gratified in dealing with it."

And for the future, let me add my own earnest conviction, that what is wanted is Imperial Federation, as the goal to be ultimately reached, to render South Africa politically satisfied and content.

Imperial Federation means a const.i.tutional system, under which she would be no longer misruled and misunderstood, by a Government, in which she has no share, in which she places no confidence, and by whom her wants and wishes are often ignored. It is not, as is frequently untruly a.s.serted by writers, and speakers, who have neither studied, comprehended, nor understood its theory and intention, its end and aim, that it means the subjugation of the independence of the Colonies to the control of the Mother Country.

As one of its most earnest advocates, I emphatically protest against all such erroneous interpretations, as a libel on the principle put forward, as a plan for the National Government. On the contrary, the project of Imperial Federation, without any _arriere pensee_, clearly and distinctly involves the condition, that the Colonies themselves are to take their adequate part, and share with the Mother Country in its future concrete const.i.tution. In the brief, but expressive phrase, I have already publicly adopted, Imperial Federation means, "the Government of the Empire by the Empire." In Imperial Federation, therefore, South Africa would be fairly and influentially represented, along with the other Colonies of Great Britain. In union with them she would take her part in guiding the policy, and directing the destinies of the whole British Empire.