THE EVOLUTION OF THE BOER.

Evening Star, Issue 11453, 22 January 1901, Page 7

THE EVOLUTION OF THE BOER.

The Rev. James Green, one of the chaplains with the New South Wales Bushmen at the front, writes to the 'Australian Chnstnn World' from Pinaars River under elate 2x ovember 14 :

To understand the situation in the Tran*IlnLJtr'r iy f Ti C T ds l 0 understand the character of the Boer. Of this there arc £th fn r VT P* triot to the nrl f wV I,VeC l C ? ntr y- until 1» seems bv\ rt nS en ™™nt as yet untouched by a contaminating civilisation. Others ad ecrivfrf ln , hIm u a, , KI CrJlaust aU the r character, are represented amount the th" f th?' ai l d ifc be also that the modern Boer is a strange mixture of extremes of good and evil, ami S"el tL - f t , h ° evolllli °n of the average Boer from his h-storv. and present fuels ?^Z°\ th Z SP ,°. U Tll ° Dutcb colonv Wa JtS f at be . Ca T PV" 1652 as a calling station for their Indian traders, and the hrst settlers were the servants of the company As time went on the company <mvc grants of and to their employes, and ame 01 them became amateur farmers. settlement proceeded the Dutch population was increased by deserters from (he naval and mercantile services, ;uid bv others who found it necessary to seek sancluarv from debtors and difficulties, in a distant clime, and thus the Cape became a dumping ground lor undesirables. Som? 0 f the b-tter-ch-« settlers were men who had been forced into iJutcli oversea service by the brutal means of the press-gang, which was common in those days alike in Holland and England. The nest step was even worse. The youthful colony was turned into a Dutch convict station, which brought the usual and inevitable train of vicious consequences upon the settlement, which had alreadv had had so inauspicious a start. Language is a sure indicath-e of natural progress' forward or backward, and already the degeneration which had set in was indicated by the shrinking of the vernacular into a patois—the Taaf. The necessity of introducing a higher type of character and craftsmanship was now recognised, and a good number of skilled farmers of a better cla-<s were sent out from Holland. But the new strain of blood was not powerful enough to stand alone or to uplift the mass. The High Dutch speech and the superior character of the emigrant was absorbed bv the lower type, and the Taal survived the higher language without receiving much of its richness. During the early period of -Dutch history in South Africa the sexes were quite out of proportion to each other among whites, with the perhaps inevitable result that the colonists consorted with the female slaves (slavery was common in many lands, find even under the British flag in those nays), and a system of concubinage was set up. The half-caste tribes of Griqiiiis and Bastaards, and the tinge, of black color and blood in the Boers themselves is the result. To counteract this evil and obviate further dangers, arrangements were now made for the importation of Dutch women to the Colony with a view to marriage among the settlers. These women were selected from the orphanage at Amsterdam. They had known little of the sacred influence of home life, and thev had no patrio ic instinct which swells the heart at th» thought of fatherland. The freedom and comparative ease and prosperity of their new circumstances were a decided advance on their old life, and they readily fitted in to their new condition and said : " This is Ourland "—our country. It will be seen that most of these circumstances were against the development of high character, but now there was a change for the bett jr. In 1685 the Edict of Nantes drove numbers of irench Huguenots who had taken refuse in Holland to emigrate to South Africa A strain of better blood and a higher n po of character was thus introduced ; but, alas: with strange short-sightedness the Dutch to a large extent thrust this blessing from them. They would not allow the reli<nva.: refugees even to worship in their own" language, and they adopted means which have been repeated since in their treatment of the Uitlanders to compel disintegration of the new moral force and absorption into the common stock. During the early days a sifting process was always going "on which preserved the equipoise of the young community. The wilder and more lawless of the Dutch were ever going further afield, trekking from law and order, and taxes, 10 which the Boers have never become reconciled. They sought a license which thev called liberty, and their contact with the native races, together with the ease with which they lived upon the virgin country, cannot but have had a demoralising effect upon their character. It also sapped that industry which is so characteristic of the Hollander life in Europe. The better class usually settled nearer the coast, and made beautiful homes for themselves,, and Cape Dutch have always been a higher grade than the Dutch of the interior, who went further and further northwards among the moving mass of big game and the thousands of natives, which both alike fell to their guns if need be. The word "Boer" simply means "farmer," and was first used to describe the word "trekker," but now the word covers all countiy Dutch. The Dutch in the towns would'be insulted to have the name applied to them. They call themselves Afrikanders, Transvaalers, or Free Staters, as the case mav be. The " voortrekker" (pioneer) always represents the lowest type of Boer. . Now", the English had come setting up amongst the Dutch a different mode of living, which for its comfort and stability was the envy of the Boer—an envy mixed with contempt. The difference is most marked. Away in the north, at Salisbury and Bulawayo, in the west, at Mafeking, you see something of home comfort, and more than an attempt at the beautiful in domestic and city architecture. .Within thirty miles of English settlements you can see' thd&Boer methods, which are those of the seventh centurv. I used to ride out into the country and' look over their places and fraternise 'with them in the dajs before they took ujj arms acain

in the Zeerust-MaricO district, and it rll I seemed like an old Dutch picture. Oldfashioned water-mills of the rudest description, home-made furniture, clothing, and boots (veldt shbouett). They were also their own carpehtet'N and builder;!. "I make all dese mcsel," said a young Boer to mo ih his imperfect English, us ha painted to the twisted doors and windows of hi* two-roomed Jitnts?, and the rough furniture not good enough for ji stable. "I believe you djd," I rejoined with a smile, -'-l>Uh' he, well pleased, took for a compliment. Another factor in the position of the Boer to-day is the mistaken policy of the Dutch Reformed Church. It has been the aim of this powerful church to erect large churches at centres. This has been done, and perhaps nowhere in the world can you find such large church buildings in comparatively small towns. When you see a church which will hold 3,000 in a town of 2,000 inhabitants you wonder what it mean's. It means that tho church is not keeping pace .with settlement, for with the exception of four times a year, on the occasion of tract-maul, the building is comparatively empty, and with theexception of these quarterly periods tho Set* tiers are left without tho weekly ordinance- J of religion, the value of which 'is admitted by all who interest themselves in public affairs. True, they ate taught to conduct worship in their homes, but this too often lapses into a formalism of little- value. The other sido of the dual policy of the Dutch church is represented by the emphasis placed on the quarterly sacrament, which is " the way into tho kingdom." This has Come to mean more and more a religious white i washing, and the average Boer is well satisfied if he- can satisfy his "predikaut" (minister) on his quarterly visit to the "kerk." Then there must be taken into account the narrow exclusiveness of their extreme Cal- [ vinistic creed, which readily suggests that they are the " elect people," and English and other Uitla-nders are " outside tho covenant of God a creed which allows them to claim nil the patriarchal promises and shelter themselves beneath the ample folds of patriarchal morality, which at once heightens their self-esteem and covers their sine. The unprogrcssive nature of the Boer is evidenced by his willingness to accept the standards Which obtained in the grey dawn of antiquity, when as yet a mora! code had Hot been perfected. The two characteristics of the Boers are indolence and slimness (verneukerij). Both theso he has derived from his contact with the native races. The Lord has delivered the natives into his hand to ba hewers of wood and drawers of water, so tho Kaffir docs his work. In the old days there wa.s open slavery, to-day there is secret slavery under tho cover of the apprentice system. This is further illustrated by the practice which, obtains of making the natives who are trekking over to Kimberlev or Johannesburg work on the mines and toil on their farm's as a fine or fee for passing through their land. On the return of the natives with money in their pockets they have to pay for the privilege in hard cash. Their slimness they got from the natives in this way. In the old days dreadful punishments were meted out in the tribes for lying. But this docs not extend to their intercourse with whites. A Kaffirs principal idea is to try to please the white, and ho will usually try to say what he thinks you want him to say. Now, the Boer women delegate their nursing to their Kaffir helps, and the first playmates of the children are natives, and often they learn to speak Kaffir before' they learn the Taal. which is a mixture of Dutch, English, and Kaffir words, so thev learn lying and thieving from their youth," and so universal are their vices that the Dutch prodi- I kaut of Pretoria regretted in a sermon ' preached before the war, that in spite of ' generations of the church's teaching these were thc'Dutch national sins. Another fea- | ture of the development of Boer character, I especially viewing them as fighters, is hunt- i ing. The Boer does not tight as English | understand the word, but with. it. keen in- I stinct of self-preservation ; he seeks to catch his enemies in a position so that he can get a great "slaagtc" (kill), just as in the old '

days the big game were stalked or rounded up in tho vleis (valleys). The last element "in the defeneration of the Boer is Krugeristn. 06m Paul could only rctaih power by systematic pauperising of his " brave burghers." Government money was lent to the burghers, who repaid neither principal nor interest.' Statistics show that three-fourths of the Boer 9 obtained free education for their children by claiming that they were paupers. Gifts of donkeys, mules, and osen to RrugeriteS were common. "The President" distributed with one hand to his supporters a modicum of what he tOok from Uitlatiders and concessionaries with the other. ' "In the old days," said a twenty years' resident of the Transvaal to me, " there were many Boers sufficiently independent to scorn this Bort of thing, but apart from the better class in the towns I dda't think you could find one now." The consequence is that to-day the Boer is the victim of his own character. They live in self-imposed ignorance and believo a lie. To illustrate: Ere St*vn K»ffc Bloemfontelfl he published a list of bogus victories. At Johannesburg prominent leaders, haranguing tho crowd in the Market square, assured the burghers that Lord Roberts's army was on the. 6ther side of the Vaal, and arrangements were being made to keep it there. Whilst he spoke the British advance parties were preparing to enter the town. The Boers, in the Zcerust-Marico dintrict Were induced by one Pische, an exmember of the Raad, to take up arms again, because " Kruger was back in Pretoria and Roberts was a prisoner." The Boer women mocked Lord Methuen's column as it marched through Zeerust, They had been told '' it Was a defeated army going to Mafeldng to entraih for Cape Town, where the ships were waiting to take them home." Many Boer prisoners are amazed when they are brought in to learn the true state of things. And so the war drags on its weary length, and thousands of Boer women do not know that they are widows, and many Ceylon prisoners do not know that their property has been looted by their compatriots ; and though the forces occupy the towns and the reconstruction is steadily going on, the"end,is not vet. The Boers have lost another season, which means more poverty and desolation at the close of tho war, and if one should assume the role of a prophet and inquire "Lord, how long?" the answer must assuredly come back from the craggy Bochveldt and the fever-stricken vleis of the north as it came to a- self-deceiving people centuries ago: "Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land he utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed man far awar, and there be a great forsaking in the'midst of the land."