Qualifications for Citizenship
At the second meeting the President talked about the strengthening of the British garrison at the Cape, and referred to other military preparations of the English, of which mention had been made in the newspapers. The Commissioner denied the accuracy of the press in that particular; and then the President returned to the petition from Johannesburg to Her Majesty the Queen, and said the English proposition to "enlarge the franchise of the strangers" would do away with the independence of the Republic, and he added, "would be worse than annexation." His Excellency, the Commissioner, remarks that the President was "reluctant to come to close quarters" on the franchise proposition, but at last asked for a proposal of that which would be satisfactory to the Uitlanders and the English Commissioners, who said: "I proposed that the full franchise should be given to every foreigner who—
(a) "Had been resident for five years in the Republic.
(b) "Declared his intention to reside permanently.
(c) "Took an oath to obey the laws, undertake all obligations of citizenship, and defend the independence of the country.
"The franchise to be confined to persons of good character possessing a certain amount of property or income."
Finally it was proposed that a small number of new constituencies should be created. That which was vital in the plan of peace, Sir Alfred said, "was the simplification of the oath and the immediate admission to full burghership on taking it. Knowing as I do the feeling of the Uitlander population, and especially of the best of them, in these points, I felt and feel that any scheme not containing these concessions would be absolutely useless. The most influential and respectable sections of the Uitlander community feel strongly the indignity and injustice of asking them to denationalize themselves for anything less than full burghership—which in the South African Republic carries with it, de ipso facto, the right to vote for the First Volks Raad and the President. They will not accept citizenship of the Republic on any other terms." And Sir Alfred continues: "The President at once objected very strongly to my proposal, saying that it would immediately make the Uitlanders a majority of enfranchised burghers, who by the constitution formed the sovereign voice, and so controlled all legislation."
Milner's proposition Absolutely Fair
The President was evidently alarmed by the idea that a majority of the Europeans might, under the proposition urged by the British Commissioner, become the rulers of the land, and he stuck to his objection after it was explained that the new burghers who would appear, if the franchise arrangements were made, could have only a minority of seats in the first Volks Raad, and therefore they could not control the State. In fact, the President was not in favor of allowing the Uitlanders any political power whatever without a long intermission after the abandonment by the Uitlanders of their rights as British subjects. The proposition of Sir Alfred was absolutely fair, reasonable and moderate. Its acceptance would have prevented war. There was time given by the Commissioner to the President for full consultation and consideration—that is there was no effort to rush him. Sir Alfred says in his communication to the Colonial Secretary Chamberlain, that he felt here he "had reached the crucial point," and he alleges that the Boer President endeavored to make the matter one of bargaining, wanted to talk away from the real issue, and desired to speak of what he called "grievances," wandering far from the main matter, which was in its simplicity whether the great community of Johannesburg and the surroundings in the gold mines, constituting a very large majority of the Europeans and white men in the Transvaal, should have any representation at all in the Volks Raad.
Self-Government desired by all