The Press. SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1897. ENGLAND AND THE TRANSVAAL.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9763, 26 June 1897, Page 6

The Press. SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1897. ENGLAND AND THE TRANSVAAL.

The unconditional release of Messrs. Sampson and Da vies, the Johannesburg " Keform" prisoners, in connection with the Queen's Jubilee, was a graceful act of which one would hardly have thought President Kru ger capable, more especially after his recent ungallant references to the Queen, and the still more disrespectful manner in which he allowed his nephew to speak of her Majesty without any reproof worthy of the name. Within the last lew weeks, how* ever, there have been several indications of a desire on the part of President Krtjger not to provoke Great Britain too far. Probably few people are aware how grave the situation between England and the Transvaal had grown during last April and May. There was a time when for some days it seemed a tossup whether war would or would not be declared. Mr. Chamberlain sent to President Kruger what was practically an ultimatum in regard to the Aliens Law and other infractions of the London Convention. As already mentioned in these columns the English Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget speech asked for £200,000 to be spent in strengthening the defences of South Africa. It became known that Germany, not content with'" egging on" the Transvaal, was also endeavouring to excite opposition to Great Britain on the part of Portugal. The South African squadron was therefore ordered rouud to Delagoa Bay, and for a time as we have said, the situation was full of perii. The prompt and decisive attitude of Mr. Chambkrlain, however, had its effect. After the despatch of the squadron it seems to have dawned upon the President that, in relying upon German support, he was simply leaning upon a broken reed. It was not, however, until the new High Commissioner, Sir Alfred Milnbb, reached the Cape that the'situation began to clear. Immediately on his arrival friendly greetings were exchanged between the High Commissioner and President Krugbr and the President of the Orange Free State. More import-ant than this, the Transvaal Folk&vaad, on the instigation of President Kiivavn, repealed the obnoxious Aliens Immigration Law. From that moment the tension ,was relieved, and ii was gauerally concluded that, despite the extensive military preparations which had been going on nt Pretoria, the Transvaal Govet-unens idid not want a complete . rupture with Englaud if it could be avoided. That ail cause of uneasiness has

now been removed is too much to say. A* correspondent of The Times, after spending twelve months in South Africa, seeing it at its most interesting crisis and traversing every part of the country, recently gave an exceedingly able and judicial summing up of the position. "As a seething mass of unassimilated elements," he tells us, " it would be hard to equal the South Africa of the present day. From the Zambesi to Cape Colony there is unrest. Nowhere does there appear coherency, unity, or security, and what chance there was of the various antagonistic elements slowly settling down has been incalculably thrown back by the Raid, the Ml results of which are only now being duly realised." Going more into details he explains that "the British settlers believe the preposterously heavy arming of the Boers means that they intend to assume the offensive. The Transvaal suspects that an attack is about to be made upon it. The Boers, and especially their President, regard Mr. Rhodes as their implacable enemy. They believe that the British people and British Government iv heart support him, and they require no pressing to obey Mr. Kruger's recently expressed injunction to 'prepare for war.' The sister Dutoh republic of the Orange Free State would like to hold aloof from auy disturbance, but feels that this may be impossible. It fears that, if the Transvaal lost its independence, its own independence would soon go likewise. So the Free State joins with the Transvaal in its preparation for war. Again, whatever tends towards a conflict between the Dutch and the British in the Republics tends to division in the Cape Colony and Natal, with their white population half British and half Dutch; and in the former colony, especially, according to The Times correspondent, there is a marked accentuation of that racial feeling which for some years yet must inevitably exist. The Cape Dutch sympathised with the Uitlanders in their grievances, but the supposed attack upon the independence of the Transvaal roused all their national sympathy with men of their own blood, and the feeling amongst perhaps the majority of them is that, if any unprovoked attack were now made, they would have to join their compatriots in a struggle against British interference. Added to all this we have the fact that dissension between the two great divisions of the white population of South Africa necessarily tends to oause unrest among the more numerous black populations held in subjection by the whites.

Looking to the prospects for the future the writer from whom we Lave quoted shows very clearly that the three great disturbing factors are the progressive nature of the British, the wealth of the.Transvaal, and the fact that the latter country is in the hands !of an essentially slow and baokward 'people, namely, the Dutch. The Boers, j impelled by an instinct of self-preset'-. Ivation, are afraid of being squeezed out of their country. They will fight, we are assured, for their independence to tho last. They will nofc, unless absolutely compelled by force, allow strangers any share in the control of the country. Further than this, the object of passing the Aliens Immigration Act was probablytomake matters so uncomfortable that aliens will have no wish to settle in the country. Many Englishmen in South Africa—especially those who own property in the Transvaal—are only too anxious that Great Britain Bhould " have it out" with the Transvaal, and they argue that there will be no peace or foeling of security until this is done. That Great Britain could easily subjugate the Transvaal if it set itself ■ to the task goes without Saying. At the same time there is cpnsiderablG danger that such a conflict would hot be confined to the Transvaal, but would produce a racial war between the English and Dutch throughout South Africa, attended by complications among the native races. It is here the,unfor;t.iinate, consequences of the Raid mate themselves most evident. Before that, untoward event, as already explained, the sympathy of the Cape Dutoh was witl? the Uitlanders. A Cape Dutch Afrikander—T/w Times cori respondent tells us—was excluded from .the rights of citizenship in the Transvaal just as rigorously as the rest of the Uitlanders. Their produce was as heavily taxed, and "most cruel of all, Dutchmen from Holland were imported for servloe in the Government offices in the Transvaal, when Dutch Afrikanders had, apparently, all the necessary qualifications tof language and education and compatriotism." With all these grounds for dissatisfaction the Raid 4at once threw the Cape Dutch into strong>sympathy with the Transvaal Boers. "Blood is thicker than water," and the Cape Dutch did not at all relish the idea of their compatriots being attacked and their independence taken away from them by the British. The Raid has evidently thrown back the cause of South African unity for many years. The true policy now would seem to be to insist on lhe observance of the London Convention, but to abstain- from any direct interference with the internal affairs of the Transvaal. Left to themselves the Transvaalers are very prone to fall into disunion/while in course of time the weight of Dutch colonial feeling may again be transferred to the British side. Then it may W possible to secure the opening of the Transvaal to Afrikanders of every part of SouthAfrica. This is the policy which, if we mistake not, Sir Axfaed Milnsb is to carry out. . J ; '