The South African Problem.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 9939, 10 December 1900, Page 5

The South African Problem.

[to the editor.] Sir,—The letter of Mr Blignault, of ' the Orange Free State, referred to in your Saturday's cables, proves conclasively that the leaders of the Boers wer<e not really desirous of preventing war by accepting frankly the olive branch which M.r De Villiers 3tated in I his letter before tbe war Mr Chamberlain ] was offering to them. I feel certain that' even in the country districts of Cape Colony among the Dutch farmers, long before the- war and right up to the present time, there has always been a feeling of great dislike to British rule, priucipill'y on account of the question of the abolition of slavery and of granting the vote to those colored people who were legally qualified to accept it. The simple fact that they always n?,med the worst bullock in a team as the Englander, and when the driver was out of temper he would show it by cursing and flogging that unfortunate beast, although apparently a slight -hing, nevertheless it proved to me that there existed long ago a fixed det-Tmi-nation to revolt if ever the opportunity should arise. But that did not appear until the miners discovered the rich gold mine 3of Johannesburg. Then the Trarjsvaal Government taxed them heavily, with the avowed attention of effeetualJy arming the whole of the Dutch population, and having done so the only fear they had was, as Mr Blignault says in his letter, that " Chamberlain may cheat us out of a war and so deprive us of an opportunity of annexing Cape Colony and Natal, and thus forming "a Repulican United States of South Africa." We should recollect that this letter was written by an Orange Free State official, with whom we had no quarrel, and not by a Transvaaler with whom we had the dispute. Some letters about the commencement of the war appeared in the London Hmes from Cape Colony Dutchmen which openly stated that the Dutch intended to drive the British out of South Africa entirely, and had intended to do co on the first opportunity for thirty years past, and that now they had the power they would certainly use it. We British are usually of opinion that in spite of some disadvantages in government that arise from our extreme freedom, on whioh we pride ourselves, nevertheless the British Empire is the best instrument that exists on the face of the world at the present day for protecting all the people in their joint rights irrespective of creed, color, or nation, and for that reason we do not intend to permit it to be overthrown without a strugglel Even the worst of Governments, such as Turkey, would be excused for fighting fairly :n defence of its own territories, and therefore the British people may well be excused in defending themselves against the Dutch, who forced ou and declared war, and who were threatening and most certainly were intending to thrust the British .entirely out of the country. Now that we have conquered, it ia unreasonable to expect that we shall have the conquered party in a position to rebel again. Therefore I think it quite wise, as the Cape loyalists desire, to entirely establish the English language as that of the legislature and courts of law and of the national schools, and that the practice of saluting the flag should also be introduced whereever it is possible to do so, at any rate in the schools that are established in districts that are populated by the Bdtish people, for attention to these little matters will greatly assist in keeping up the admirable spirit of loyalty in British freedom that now animates the people of the Empire. All the nations that have free institutions have copied more or less those of Britain, and have incorporaied many of its wise laws and customs in relation to politics and government, and it is to be hoped that eventually even the Dutch Afrikanders will see that it is so and will frankly join in the defence of true freedom for all men who are fitted for it irrespective of creed, color, or nation, along with our own people.—l am, etc., ' L.S. Napier, Dec. 10th, 1900.