THE ANNEXATION OF THE TRANSVAAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 4899, 30 July 1877, Page 3

THE ANNEXATION OF THE TRANSVAAL.

Tjii: following interesting account of the new tcrritoiy over which i3ritain has assumed dominion, is sent by a gentleman well acquainted with the country ;—

Iu your very sensible article concerning the affairs of tfic fraufivaal Eepublic, you have, X think, considerably under-osti-mated both its extent, and the number of its native population. X know that since recent events have brought the Stato prominently into notice, its area has been repeatedly quoted as 70,000 square miles ; but an intimate acquainanee with ever}' portion of it, from the Limpopo to the Yaal, and from the Drakcnsberg—notDrankcnberg—to the Great Northern koad, through Matjens to the Zambesi, which is just outside the Republic iu the west, fully' warrants my estimating its extent as ccrtainly not less than 100,000 square miles. Your estimation of the number of its natives is far, very far, too small. Tho London Times of April oth ulfc., in a leader on the subject, says:—"Tho Euro peau adult males of the Transvaal number only 3,700, while the natives within the tcrritorj- of the Republic amount probably to one hundred times as many." Whether this statement intends merely to refer to the adult male natives as well as Europeans, is not clear, but I am of opinion that it does so, for from personal observations I should say that the native population amounts to most certaiuly not less than one million, and probably very considerably more. Iu the north-eastern portion of the State, from the Oliphants River to Zantpansberg, through which country I passed in the latter end of 1574 in returning from a hunting trip over the Limpopo, and which is little traversed by Europeans as out of all line of traffic, save the small amount connected with the Marabastadt Quartz Mining Company, the number of natives is prodigious, and m}' w.igoiis passed for days through long successions of villages which seemed to spread all over the country, some of them, as Zebedctdi's and Maleechi's, containing five or six hundred huts. It is the same iu other parts wh.-re there is not much traffic, and all over the State, except on the high grassy plateaus kuown as 4< Wilde Becete Flats," scattered villages may be seen. Tho annexation of the Transvaal was an absolutcneccssity which could notbo avoided, and the ouly wonder is that it was not brought about before. The Boers or Doppers, who aro an ignorant pastoral race, living* like the patriarchs of old with their flocks and herds, and refusing to contribute to the State revenue ; imbecile from continued consanguineous marriages ; scarcely able to read or write; hating innovations, and, therefore, bars to all progress, and dead weights on the country ; without any ideas, save a general belief that the English are a race of " verdommed verneukers," and that all black men were made to be slaves. They may be regarded as the lowest in the scale of all representatives of the white race. They have no knowledge whatever of the first ; principles of government, and with them it was a farce. There were no taxes save a quit rent, no customs, no excise, and almost the only source of revenue was the land fund and licenses, so that the State coffers were in a chronic state of vacuum, and the officials , were seldom paid, and could with difficulty ; liquidate their monthly grog scores at the j canteens ; for bo it known that it was a fear- j ful place for drink —not among the Boers theciselvcp, but among the English and ! Hollanders who inhabited the villages, and by whom most of the offices of State were held. So long as they had guns and the natives none, thoy were enabled to maintain their supremacy by tho dread which their weapons inspired ; but when, in tho small republic which was constituted in the disputed torritory in which tho diamond mines were discovered, free trade in firearms and ammunition was established, and probably little short of a million muskets were diffused far and wide among the South African natives, matters assumed a different aspect, and it was felt that in their first misunderstanding with their black neighbours, the Boers would be worsted. Tho result of tho affair with Sicocuni fully bore out j this, and had not it not been for I tho friendly and valiant Amasnagis — ! than whom a finer and more docile race does I not exist —and the few English present, the I Boer army would have been annihilated. The importance of preventing a similar oo« , eurrenco was paramount, for once let the j

*' reverential awo" of the white man in the native mind be undormiued by victory over them, thero would be no safety in Africa until the horrors of a bloody and extended war had reasserted it. it is true that the majority of the natives arc most friendly to the English, consequent on a great estimation of their wealth and power, but thev are lickle aud not to be depended on, as witness Cctgwayo, the Zuli King, and any disaffected and designing chief would iind it no dillioult matter to stir up a broil ; and their numbers is so gioafc—quite beyond any estimation—that it is absolutely necessary to keep them in subjection, and not let them become aware, that, by combination, they could drive us into the sea by sheor force of numbers. The only way to do this was to deprive them ot the chance of again demon strating their equality with tho white man, an represented by the Boer, by annexing the Transval. Apologising for the length of this communication, —1 am, etc., Lmplsl