South Africa and the Boer-British War Part 1

South Africa and the Boer-British War.

Volume I.

by J. Castell Hopkins and Murat Halstead.

PREFACE.

To measure the South African War of 1899-1900 merely by the population of the two Boer Republics, would necessitate its consideration as an unimportant contest in comparison with the great international conflicts of the century. To measure it by the real power of the Dutch in South Africa, under present conditions, and by the principles involved in its inception and prosecution, makes it a struggle which rivals in importance the Crimean War, the American Civil War or the Franco-Prussian conflict. In the first of these, Great Britain, France and Sardinia united to resist the dangerous designs and aggressive policy of Russia which threatened their power in the Mediterranean and the British route to India through its intended seizure or acquisition of Constantinople. In the second, the United States was fighting a great conflict for national unity. In the third, Prussia averted a campaign of "On to Berlin" by speedy and successful military action.

All of these elements find a place in the South African War. The policy of President Kruger, President Steyn and the Afrikander Bund, of Cape Colony, has been developing for years into a dangerous and combined effort for the creation of a United Dutch South Africa and the seizure of Cape Town--one of the chief stations of British commercial and maritime power. Mr. Chamberlain precipitated matters, so far as the Cape Colony Dutch were concerned, by a policy of firmness to which they were unaccustomed at the hands of the Colonial Office and which, cautious and conciliatory as it was, forced the hand of the Transvaal President before his general policy was quite matured. As the diplomatic negotiations proceeded and the war itself developed it became a struggle for Imperial unity as truly and fully as was the American Civil War. Two great Colonies of the Empire were threatened, the principles of equal right and equal liberty upon which its entire self-governing portions have been built up and maintained were spurned, and the feeling of unity which has latterly grown so amazingly amongst its various countries was openly flouted by the treatment of the Uitlanders and the attack upon Cape Colony and Natal. Backed by the undoubted ability of President Kruger, the sentiment of racial unity amongst the Dutch of all South Africa, the swords and science of European officers and experts, the immense sums drawn from the Uitlanders and possibly from Europe, the armaments prepared during a long term of years with skill and knowledge, the characteristics of a people admirably adapted through both knowledge and experience for warfare on South African soil, the Boer cry of "On to Durban" was really more menacing to British interests and conditions of unpreparedness than was the cry of the Parisian populace, in 1870, to the Kingdom of Prussia. A war with France might not have been nearly as difficult or as serious a matter to Great Britain under existing conditions as the war with the Boer Republics has turned out to be.

The loss of South Africa, or the failure to a.s.sert British supremacy as the Paramount Power in that region, would not only have humiliated Great Britain in the eyes of rival nations everywhere and precipitated peril wherever aggressive foreign ambition could find a desirable opening, but it would have lost her the respect, the admiration or the loyalty of rising British nations in Australia and Canada; of lesser Colonies all over the world; of swarming millions of uncivilized races in Hindostan, China and Northern Africa. Its influence would have been a shock to the commercial and financial nerves of the world; a blow to the independence and liberties of the "little peoples" who now rest securely under the real or nominal guarantee of British power. In the Persian Gulf and on the borders of Afghanistan, upon the frontiers of Siam and the sh.o.r.es of the Bosphorus, in the waters of Australasia and on the coasts of Newfoundland, upon the banks of the mighty Nile and along the borders of Canada, the result would have come as the most menacing storm-cloud of modern history. The power of a great race to continue its mission of colonization, civilization and construction was involved; and would be again involved if any future and serious European intervention were threatened.

The origin of the question itself is too wide and complicated to treat of in a few brief words. To some superficial onlookers it has been a simple matter of dispute as to franchise regulations between President Kruger and Mr. Chamberlain. To the enemies of England it has been a wicked and heartless attempt on the part of Great Britain to seize a Naboth's vineyard of gold and territory. To a few Englishmen, even, it has seemed a product of capitalistic aggression or of the personal ambition of a Rhodes or a Chamberlain. To many more it has appeared as a direct consequence of the Gladstone policy of 1881 and 1884. In reality, however, it is the result of a hundred years of racial rivalry, during which the Boer character has been evolved out of intense isolation, deliberate ignorance and cultivated prejudice into the remarkable product of to-day, while the nature of his British neighbor has expanded in the light of liberty and through the gospel of equality, of labor and of world-wide thought, into the great modern representative of progress in all that makes for good government, active intellectual endeavor, material wealth and Imperial expansion.

Stagnation as opposed to progress, slavery to freedom, racial hatred to general unity, isolation and seclusion to free colonization and settlement, the darkness of the African veldt to the light of European civilization--these are the original causes of the war. British mistakes of policy in defending the Boer against the Kaffir or the Kaffir against the Boer; political errors in making the Conventions of 1852 and 1854, of 1881 and 1884; hesitancy in the annexation of territory and indifference in the holding of it; have increased the complications of South African life and government, but have not affected the root of the evil--the fact of two absolutely conflicting social and political systems developing side by side during a century of difficulty and racial rivalry. This antagonism has been absolute.

The Boer love for liberty or independence became simply a love for isolation from the rest of humanity and a desire to imitate the slave-owners of Old Testament history. The final result has been the creation of a foreign, or Hollander, oligarchy in both the Dutch republics for the purpose of preserving this condition. The British ideal is freedom in government, in trade, in politics, for himself and for others, regardless of race, or creed, or color. The Boer principle of morality has always been a mere matter of color; that of the average Englishman is very different. The Boer religion is a gospel of sombreness wrapped in the shadow of Hebrew seclusion and exclusiveness; that of the true Englishman is a gospel of love and the light of a New Testament dispensation. Side by side these two types have lived and struggled in South Africa, and to-day the racial, national, individual and other differences are being thrown into the crucible of a desperate conflict. There can only be one local result--the ultimate organization of a united South Africa in which race and creed and color will be merged in one general principle of perfect equality and the practice of one great policy of liberty to all, within the bounds of rational legislation and honest life. A second and more widely potent consequence will be the closer constructive union of the British Empire and the welding of its scattered and sometimes incoherent systems of defence and legislation and commerce into one mighty whole in which Canada and Australia and South Africa and, in some measure, India will stand together as an Imperial unit. A third and very important result, arising out of the policy of foreign nations during the struggle, should also be the drawing closer of existing ties of friendship and kinship between the British Empire and the American Republic.

J. CASTELL HOPKINS.

Part I.

LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS

CHAPTER I.

Early Scenes of Settlement and Struggle.

The Dark Continent--The Old-time Natives of the South--The Bantu, Hottentots and Bushmen--The Portuguese of South Africa--The Dutch East India Company--A Dutch Colony at the Cape--The First Slaves--Introduction of Asiatics--The Boer Pioneer Farmer--Arrival of the Huguenots--Wars with the Bantu or Kaffirs--Extension of Settlement and Exploration--The First British Occupation--Final British Conquest--The Dutch, the English, the French and the Natives--Birth of the South African Question

CHAPTER II.

The Dutch and the Natives.

The Early Dutch Character--Contempt for Coloured Races--The Commencement of Slavery, Its Nature and Practices--The Wandering Native Tribes Learn to Hate the Dutchman--English and Dutch Views in Antagonism--The Missionary Interferes--Unwise Action in Some Cases--Policy of Dr. Philip--Dutch Hostility to England Increased by Dislike of Mission Work and Antagonism to Slavery--Missionary Influence upon the Latter--The Dutch and the Kaffir Wars--Hardships of the Settlers--Rise of the Zulu Power under Tshaka--The Matabele and Moselkatze--Moshesh and the Basutos--A Second Period in the South African Problem Begins

CHAPTER III.

The Great Trek and its First Results.

The British Abolition of Slavery--The Immediate Effects of the Measure Disastrous to Both Dutch and Natives--The Trek of 1836 Commences--The Emigrant Farmer, Qualities and Mode of Life--Nature of the Country Traversed Character of the Various Native Tribes--Ruthless Warfare--The Boer Skill in Marksmanship--The Boers North of the Orange River--Their Subjugation of the Matabele--Pieter Retief and His Party in Natal--Ma.s.sacre by Dingaan--Boer War with the Zulus--Conquest of Dingaan and His Followers by Pretorius--Dutch Treatment of the Natives--Boers Develop Strength in War But Show Signal Weakness in Government--Collision with the English in Natal--The Cape Governor Decides that the Natives Must be Protected--Conflict Between Boers and English--The Republic of Natalia Becomes a British Country--The Boers Trek North of the Vaal River and Colonize the Transvaal--Establishment of Moshesh by the British as Head of a Border Native State--The Griquas--A Third Phase of the South African Question

CHAPTER IV.

Birth of the Dutch Republics.

English Policy in South Africa During the Middle of the Century--Non-interference, no Expansion, Limitation of Responsibility--Brief Exception in the Case of the Orange River Boers--Annexation, in 1848, and Establishment as the Orange River Sovereignty--English Protection of the Boers Against the Natives--Rebellion of Pretorious and Defeat of the Dutch at Boomplaatz by Sir Harry Smith--A New Governor at the Cape and a Hastily Changed Policy--Independence of the Transvaal Boers Recognized in 1852--The Sand River Convention--English Campaign Against the Basutos in Defence of the Orange River Boers--Arrival of Sir George Clerk with Instructions to Withdraw British Authority from the Orange River Country--Protests of the Loyal Settlers--Formation and Recognition of the Orange Free State--A New Setting for an Old Problem

CHAPTER V.

Development of Dutch Rule.

Divergent Lines of Growth in the Republics--The Orange Free State and the Basutos--Early Difficulties and Laws--Rise of President Brand into Power--His High Character and Quarter of a Century's Wise Administration of the Free State--Diamond Discoveries and the Keate Award--Liberal Policy of the Free State and General Friendship with England--In the Transvaal--Troubles of the Emigrant Farmers North of the Vaal--Four Little Republics--Union Under Martin W. Pretorius, in 1864, after a Period of Civil War--Rise of S. J. P. Kruger into Prominence--Conflicts with the Natives--T. F. Bergers Becomes President--General Stagnation, Developing by 1877 into Public Bankruptcy--Failure to Conquer Sekukuni and the Bapedis--Danger from the Zulus under Cetywayo--Annexation to the British Empire--A New Link Forged in the Chain of Events

CHAPTER VI.

Development of Cape Colony.

Gradual Growth of Population after the Great Trek--Climate, Resources and Government--Agriculture and the Dutch Settlers--Lack of Progressiveness--The English and the Cultivation of Special Industries--Partial Self-government Granted to the Cape--Executive Council, Schools and Courts--English as the Official Language--Elective Council and a.s.sembly Const.i.tuted in 1853--Extensive German Colonization--Railways and Diamonds--Incorporation of New Territories--The Establishment of Responsible Government--The Dutch and the English in Politics--Representative Men of the Colony--Cecil Rhodes Appears on the Scene--Racial Conditions in 1877--The Confederation Scheme Defeated in the Cape Parliament--Religion, Education and Trade--The Afrikander Bund Formed at the Cape--It Becomes a Most Important Element in the South African Situation

CHAPTER VII.

Imperial Policy in South Africa.

The Early Governors of Cape Colony and Their Difficulties--The Colonial Office and its Lack of Defined and Continuous Policy--Growth in England of Public Indifference to Colonies--Its Unfortunate Expression in 1852-54--Fluctuating Treatment of the Natives--Good Intentions and Mistaken Practices--Sir George Grey and South Africa--A Wise Statesman--His Policy of Confederation and Conciliation--Hampered by the Colonial Office and the Anti-Expansion School in England--The Non-intervention Policy and the Natives--Conditions in Natal--Importance of the Cape to the Empire--Importance of South Africa to the British People--Slow-growing Comprehension of these Facts in England--Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape--Eventual Repudiation of His Plans and Recall of the Best of South African Governors--The Gladstone Government's Responsibility for Succeeding Evils--The Absence of a Continuous Policy toward the Natives and Varied Questions of Territorial Extension Involve the Colonists in Constant Trouble and the Imperial Exchequer in Immense Expenditures--A Story of Imperial Burdens, Mistakes and Good Intentions; of Colonial Difficulties, Protests and Racial Complexities

CHAPTER VIII.

The Native Races of South Africa,

Origin, Character and Customs--The Bantu or Kaffirs--Offshoots Such as the Matabele and Zulus--Some Great Chiefs--Tchaka, Dingaan, Moshesh, Cetywayo and Khama--Merciless Character of Native Wars--Dealings with the English and the Dutch--Difference in National Methods of Treating Savages--Force, or Evidence of Power, the Surest Preservative of Peace--The Slaves of the Boer and the Slaves of the Savage--Result of Emanc.i.p.ation upon the Native--Result of Missionary Labour amongst the Tribes--Livingstone and Moffat--Imperial Problems in the Rule of Inferior Races--Strenuous British Efforts at Justice and Mercy--The Bible and the Bayonet, the Missionary and the Soldier--Extremes Meet in the Policy of the Dutch and English

CHAPTER IX.

Character of the South African Boer.

A Peculiar Type--Mixture of Huguenot and Netherlands' Dutch--Divergence Between the Permanent Settler at the Cape and the Emigrant Farmer in the Two Republics--Good Qualities and Bad Curiously Mixed--A Keen Desire for Independence in the Form of Isolation--A Patriotism Bred of Ignorance and Cultivated by Prejudice--A Love of Liberty for Himself and of Slavery for Inferiors--The Possessor of Intense Racial Sentiment and of Sincere Religious Bigotry--Modification of these Qualities in Cape Colony by Education and Political Freedom--Moderate Expression of them in the Orange Free State as a Result of President Brand's Policy--Extreme Embodiment of them in the Transvaal--The Dutch Hatred of Missionaries--Dr. Livingstone on Dutch Character and Customs--Throughout South Africa the Dutch Ma.s.ses are Slow and Sleepy, Serious and Somewhat Slovenly, Averse to Field Labour, Ignorant of External Matters and Without Culture--The Transvaal Boer the Most Active, Hardy and Aggressive in Character--Hatred of the English and His Wandering Life the Chief Reason--Morality and Immorality--Different Types of Dutch--Kruger and Pretorius, Joubert and Steyn--Hofmeyr and DeVilliers, Representative of the Higher Culture of Cape Colony

CHAPTER X.

The Annexation of the Transvaal.

Condition of the Republic in 1877--Dangers Without and Difficulties Within--The British Policy of Confederation--Public Opinion in England not Sufficiently Advanced--Lord Carnarvon, and Mr. J. A. Froude's Mission--Sir T. Shepstone Takes Action--A Peaceful Annexation Quietly Carried Out--Neither Force nor Serious Persuasion Used--The Ensuing Administration--Self-government not Granted--Sir Owen Lanyon's Mistakes--The Failure of the Confederation Scheme--Mr. Gladstone's Political Campaign in England--Effect of His Utterances in South Africa--He Comes into Power--Protests against Annexation Develop--Dutch Delegates in England--Refusal to Reverse the Annexation--Boer Rebellion and Ultimate British Repudiation of Pledges and Policy--Magnanimity Appears to the Dutch as Pusillanimity and Paves the Way for Years of Trouble and Much Bloodshed