THE SITUATION IN THE TRANSVAAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11884, 6 May 1899, Page 7

THE SITUATION IN THE TRANSVAAL.

Within the last few months the tension

in the, Transvaal has, .nearly reached the breaking point. • There is* a general, impression that the Uitlandere’., fate hangs upon the petition to,the Queen, signed by 20,000 ' residents, and setting forth their well-known The petitioners/ a triajority of the Englishmen "who have inade, the -wealth of the, country, have no voice in either the local or the general government. The President’s show of granting reforms and concessions has been mere evasion. Even more ■ burning than the question of the political franchise is that of the 1 police administration. It was this which was the immediate cause of framing the petition. When we'consider that ;tha control of the police is entirely in the hands of the Boers, and that , the constables have a Tania! antipathy, to the community in! their charge, it is nob difficult to understand the system of justice. Kef erring to the case of Edgar, the “African Star ” has'again reiterated the question whether it is the duty of the police to break into the houses of, citizens without a warrant and shoot'them dead. It is impossible from the partisan, {recounts that have reached us, to know exactly what did occur, or what provocation Edgar gave. But the incident waS sufficient to set a torch to the smouldering discontent, and the Johannesburg, riots immediately followed. The President’s dis-persal-of meetings held in‘protest against his policy have only added one more to the long list of? grievances. Tho Uitlandera now declare their position intolerable, since .they may.not/Ven ventilate their wrongs. Mr Chamberlain’s attitude at the present juncture is very important. If the Secretary of State really did represent.the Government ~~ in bolo Sal matters, British intervention would already be assured, and only the details would require to be arranged. If he were himself a sufferer, he could hardly have espoused the cause of the Uitlanders more warmly. In a public speech he has declared the President’s promises illusory, the Uitlanders’ grievances -worse than, ever-; he has advocated their claim for a real municipality in Johannesburg, with the control of education, the police and sanitary matters, and he has stated that the British Government would bo doing only its duty in receiving the petition. Unfortunately for the Uitlanders, Mr Chamberlain's professions have before now outrun his Government’s performances. * If. is liOrd Salisbury who > really holds the reins, and he is a far more * cautious man than his Colonial Secretary. Uitlanders. may remember that they counted upon him ’rather too far in the Jameson raid. But since that tyme European senti- . ■ ment has drifted right round. The German Press,* so bitter then, cow professes agreement with Mr Chamberlain’s speech, and assert? that the desire “ to see a legitimate share in the administration accorded to the more intelligent foreigners is • universal in Europe.” .Even the French Press is on the same side", arid the “Liberte”, warns the President of the Transvaal that he cannot indefinitely disregard the Uitlanders’ just demands. ’ ’ ■ . ’ On the pthey side, President Kruger is a strong man, ond.be stands firm. * Last January he met,the agitation by renewed taxes. Xn a recent* speech at Heidelberg, likely to become historical. in South African annals, ha appeared—bub only appeared—to be mere conciliatory* Qom Paul is almost as great a master of the art of evasion as Sultan Abdul Hamid. His concessions were meant to be a cheap bargain for the support of South African magnates in getting the dynamite monopoly transferred from its present holder to.his own Government., In return, he-magnanimously offered to reduce the term of residence necessary for aliens, to- -. qualify as burghers from • fourteen to nine years,, with the stipulation that .they should never vote for the President. This is how matters stand at present. The Boer Government -is strong, self-contained, exclusive, and a century behind the time. It is almost unaffected by European public opinion, and any pressure will have’ to be very palpable before it affects the Boer intelligence. The improgressive and ignorant people have constituted themselves a political aristocracy,: the .privileged paupers of a much more enlightoßedVraoe* from whom they-draw their ; tpvenue without .granting any representation. [.The'technical right of Great-Britain; tp interfere clear as the moral right.The. Convention of ..London, on which the Transvaal Republic takes its stand, distinct- ■ Jy limits, the suzerainty, to . foreign treaties. !Tho prevailing sentiment jn Great Britain,* however, is unmistakable, and the erection of military barracks at Cape Town may oe taken to indicate that the Home Governpient means to prepare for*a, possible conflict. ..