The South African War of 1899 grew out of racial conditions and national considerations far apart from, and long precedent to, the growth of Kimberley and Johannesburg or the discovery of diamonds and gold. It arose, primarily, from racial tendencies which had grown more and more opposed to each other as the climate and conditions of South Africa accentuated their peculiarities. History and tradition had early driven into the Boer's heart an intense intolerance of religious thought to which the isolation of the veldt added an almost incomprehensible ignorance. A wider survey of the world and a fuller grasp of the essentials of liberty had, meanwhile, developed in the Englishman's mind[[1]] a love for free religious thought and practice to which his belief in schools and his affection for literature and the press added strength and character. The Dutchman was nomadic in life, pastoral in pursuit, lazy and sluggish in disposition. The Englishman was at times restless in seeking wealth or pleasure, but upon the whole he liked to settle down in a permanent home and with surroundings which he could make his own in ever-increasing comfort and usefulness. He drew the line at no single occupation and made, as the case might be, a good farmer, or artisan, or labourer, or merchant. And he was usually of active mind as well as body.
[[1]] I use the word Englishman here in a general sense, and inclusive of the Scotchman or Irishman.
Two Opposite Views of Liberty
The Dutchman in South Africa wanted liberty to do as he liked and to live as he chose, but he did not wish to accord that liberty to inferior races, or to attempt the training of them in its use and application. The Englishman, on the other hand, loved liberty in a broad way, and wanted nothing better than to see it applied to others as freely and fully as to himself. The one race looked upon the negro as only fitted to be a human chattel and as not being even a possible subject for improvement, education or elevation. The other, in all parts of the world as well as in the Dark Continent, believed in the humanity of the coloured man, whether black, or red, or brown, and looked upon him as fitted for civilization, for Christianity and for freedom. He considered him as material for good government and for fair play. Both views, however, have been carried to an extreme in South Africa and upon either side evil resulted. The Boer treated the native from the standpoint of an intolerant and ignorant slave-owner. The Colonial Office tried to treat him solely from the standpoint of the sympathizing and often prejudiced missionary. Hence, in part, the Great Trek; hence some of the Kaffir raids and consequent sufferings of the early settlers; hence an addition to the growing racial antagonism.
Two Opposing Views of Government
The principles of government believed in and practiced by the Dutch and British in South Africa have been and are diametrically opposed. The one took territory from the natives wherever and whenever he could and used it without scruple, and without return in the form of just government, for his own purposes. The latter, time and again, avoided the acquisition of territory; experienced war after war which might have been averted by the prompt expression of authority and strength; gave up regions to native chiefs which had afterwards to be conquered by force of arms; tried every phase of policy in the form of alliances, protectorates and "buffer" states in order to avoid increased responsibilities; gave up the Orange Free State to an independent existence under circumstances of almost incredible insistence; annexed the Transvaal with indifference, and gave it up without serious thought; in later days allowed German East Africa to be established, and at one time practically declined the acquisition of Delagoa Bay; permitted the Boers of the Transvaal to annex part of Zululand and to take almost the whole of Swaziland at the expense, even, of possible injustice to the natives. And all this from an honest though mistaken desire to avoid unnecessary expansion of authority or extension of territory. In those departments of Government which are apart from questions of acquiring or ruling dependent states there was the same antagonism. Boer Ideas of Democracy Equality being an unknown principle to the Boer, it was, perhaps, natural that he should endeavor to make his own language and laws and institutions the pivot of administration in any country under his control; that he should regard with suspicion and fear any attempt to raise the status of surrounding natives; and should reject with contempt, in the Transvaal at least, later efforts on the part of civilized aliens to obtain equality of political rights. The Dutchman in South Africa knew, in earlier days as well as at the present time, absolutely nothing of democracy in the British sense of the word. Republicanism, in the sense of Government by the majority, he does not even now understand—unless the majority be Dutch. To dream of convincing, or trying to convince others, by argument and discussion that some particular policy is better than another has always been far from his point of view. He has been too long accustomed to using the shot-gun or whip upon inferior races to deem such a policy either desirable or possible.
Varied Opportunities for Settlers
The region these two races were destined to dominate was, and is, a splendid one. It had an infinite variety of resource and tropical production and temperate growth. Within the million and a half square miles of South African territory were room and verge for a vastly greater white population than has yet touched its shores; while every racial peculiarity or pursuit could find a place in its towns and farms and mines and upon its rolling veldt. To the lover of quiet village life and retirement nothing could be more pleasant than parts of Natal and Cape Colony, and of the two Republics. To the keen business man, eager for gain and intent upon quick returns, the rapid and wealth-producing progress of the great mining towns gave all that could be desired. To the adventurous spirit, willing to suffer hardships and endure labor in its severest form for a possibly glittering return, the diamond and gold fields offered untold opportunities. To the hunter and tourist and traveller the myriad wild animals of the interior gave a pleasure only second to that felt by the Kaffir and the Boer when hunting the lion to his lair or the elephant in its native jungle. To the man fond of country life the vast plains, stretching in varied degrees of value and elevation from Cape Town to the Zambesi, afforded room for pastoral occupation and the raising of cattle and sheep upon a veritable thousand hills. To the seeker after new industries, ostrich farming, mohair, the feather industry and diamond mining have from time to time proved the greatest attraction. To the farmer or planter parts of the region were eminently fitted for the raising of wheat and other cereals, and the cultivation of tobacco, cotton, sugar and rice. To the restless and wandering Boer, South Africa seems to have given for a time everything that his spirit desired—isolation, land, wild animals to hunt, independence of control, freedom from the trammels of education and taxation and civilization. To the quieter Dutchman of Cape Colony has been given every element of British liberty and privilege of British equality; as well as land in plenty, and for thirty years, at least, the pledge of internal peace.
Statistics and Finances of South Africa
According, also, to the latest figures[[1]] the material progress and recent position of all these countries has been good. Cape Colony, in 1897-98, had a revenue of $36,940,000, an expenditure of $34,250,000 and an indebtedness of $136,400,000; a tonnage of British vessels, entered and cleared, amounting to 12,137,000, together with 2,835 miles of railway and 6,609 miles of telegraph; exports of $108,300,000, and imports of $90,000,000; and 132,000 scholars in its schools. Natal and Zululand, combined, had a revenue of $11,065,000, an expenditure of $8,120,000 and an indebtedness of $38,720,000; a tonnage of British vessels, entering and clearing, of 2,132,000, together with 487 miles of railway and 960 of telegraph; exports of $8,100,000 and imports of $30,000,000; and 19,222 scholars in its schools. The exports of Basutoland, under purely native control, had grown to $650,000 and its imports to half a million. The length of railway in the Bechuanaland Protectorate was 586 miles and in Rhodesia 1,086 miles; while the telegraph lines of the former region covered 1,856 miles. The South African Republic, or Transvaal, had a revenue of $22,400,000, an expenditure of $21,970,000 and an indebtedness of $13,350,000; announced imports of $107,575,000 and no declared exports; railways of 774 miles in total length and telegraph lines of 2,000 miles; and scholars numbering 11,552. The Orange Free State had a revenue of $2,010,000, an expenditure of $1,905,000 and an indebtedness of $200,000; imports of $6,155,000—chiefly from Cape Colony—and exports of $8,970,000, which were divided principally between Cape Colony and the Transvaal; 366 miles of railway, 1,762 miles of telegraph and 7,390 scholars in its schools. The following table[[1]] gives an easily comprehended view of South Africa as divided amongst its Kaffir, Dutch and English communities in respect to mode of government and measure of British responsibility: