CHAPTER IX
THE NATIONAL UNION MANIFESTO
It is Christmas 1895.
Peace on earth, good-will to all men is supposed to prevail at this season; not so with the enemies of the country.
The President was away on one of his yearly visits to outlying districts. He would return on Boxing Day, expecting everybody to be indulging in the usual festivities of the season.
Alas! it is not so in a certain building in Johannesburg. A group of men are exulting over a document. It is a proof of the famous National Union Manifesto, issued by the chairman of the Union; issued in the name of the Uitlander population, without their consent. On their own responsibility, the chairman of the Union and a few of his fellow-conspirators issued a manifesto with the full and deliberate intention of causing a civil war in South Africa, a war of races—a war, the result of which, and the ending of which, no man could surmise.
Steve went to the station on Boxing Day to see the President arrive by train from his tour. As he was standing talking to an acquaintance about the air of mystery and expectancy on the faces of most people in the crowd, he heard a newsboy crying,—
‘The Star! The Star! National Union Manifesto!’
‘Hillo! I might as well buy a copy and see what they have to say,’ he remarked, calling the boy and buying a paper. He read it with the closest attention.
The manifesto was composed of several newspaper columns of close printing.
What struck Steve was that, of all the grievances detailed in the manifesto, only one was really worth complaining about, viz., the want of franchise. All the rest were open to difference of opinion, or did not exist at all. After a great deal had been said on one subject or another, a list of ten wants was given:—