TROUBLE IN THE TRANSVAAL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1423, 8 June 1899, Page 16

TROUBLE IN THE TRANSVAAL.

MEMORIES OF 1896. AND STILL NO REAL REFORMS. Three years ago this week the members of the Reform Committee of Johannesburg were releasee! from prison. In the interval, the outlanders have gained no substantial concessions from the Transvaal Government. A British Commission is once again visiting the Republic on their behalf. Mrs John Hays Hammond, wife of a leader of the Reform Committee, in her book, “ A Woman’s Part in a Revolution,” vividly sketches the incidents of the movement which was defeated by Dr Jameson’s “ raid.” It may not be unfitting, in view of the present position, to look back on history with the assistance of Mrs Hammond’s narrative.

Johannesburg, she says, had grown tired of sending petitions in to the Government, to be answered by promises which were never redeemed. An appalling death-rate of fifty-six in each thousand, directly traceable to lack of proper sanitation, resulting from bad government. spurred the general discontent, and a number of representative citizens, unwilling longer to wait upon gods and Government, finding all attempts to obtain redress of their grievances by constitutional means ineffectual, determined to enforce their demands for right by arms if necessary. As arras for the outlanders under the law of the Transvaal could only be obtained by a permit, guns and ammunition were smuggled into the country, hidden away in oil tanks and coal cars.

The Leonard manifesto was published on the 26th December. 1895, setting forth the demands of the outlanders. ■ “ We want,” it read : “ 1. The establishment of this Republic as a true Republic. “2. A Grondwet constitution which shall be framed by competent persons selected by representatives of the whole people, and framed on lines laid down by them; a constitution which shall be safeguarded against hasty alteration. “ 3. An equitable franchise law and fair representation. “4. Equality of the Dutch and English languages. “5. Responsibility to the Legislature of the heads of the great departments. “ 6. Removal of religious disabilities. “ 7. Independence of the Courts of Justice, with adequate and secured remuneration of the Judges. “8. Liberal and comprehensive education.

“ 9. An efficient Civil Service, with adequate provision for pay and pension. “10. Free trade in South African products.”

Later in December a Reform Committee was formed of the leading men. in Johannesburg. Its members in a body swore allegiance to the flag of the Transvaal. Then came the “ raid ” (not authorised by the Reform Committee) and the proclamation by the Governor of Cape Colony as British High Commissioner. The Reform Committee, on the 3rd of January, 1896, issued the following notice :—“ Resolved : That in view of the declaration by the Transvaal Government to Her Majesty’s Agent that the mediation of the High Commissioner has been accepted,and that no hostile action will be taken against Johannesburg pending the results of these negotiations, the committee emphatically direct that under no circumstances must any hostile action be taken by the supporters of the Reform Committee, and that in the event of aggressive action being taken against them, a flag of truce/be shown, and the position explained. In order to avoid any possibility of collision, definite orders have been given. The matter is now left with the mediation of the High Commissioner, and any breach of the peace in the meantime would be an act of bad faith.” The Government, on the 6th of January, issued an ultimatum that Johannesburg must lay down its arms. The letter of invitation, signed by members of the Reform Committee, to Dr Jameson to come to the succour of Johannesburg under certain contingencies were picked up on the battlefield. Two messengers from the High Commissioner, Sir Jacobus de Wet (the British agent), and Sir Sydney Sheppard were received by the Reform Committee, which, after much discussion, agreed to lay down its arms.

In spite of assurances to the contrary, members of the Reform Committee were arrested and thrown into gaol on the charge of rebellion and high treason. The committee consisted of seventy-eight members; sixty-four were arrested. There were on the committee men of many nationalities and various professions—lawyers, doctors, and, with only one or two exceptions, all the leading mining men on the Rand. The Young Men’s Christian As.sociation was well rep” resented, and a Sunday School superintendent was one of the list.

On the morning of the 10th January— Johannesburg disarmed, and the Reformers in prison—the President of the Transvaal Republic issued a proclamation offering pardon to all who should lay down their arms, and declaring them to be exempt from prosecution on account of what had occurred at Johannesburg—- “ With the exception of all persons or bodies who may appear to be principal criminals, Waders, Instigators, or perpetrators of the troubles at Johannesburg suburbs. Such persons or bodies v/ill justify themselves Before the legal and competent Courts of this Republic.”

The principal criminals, leaders, instigators or perpetrators were the same to whom was tendered the olive branch brought from Pretoria by Messrs Malan and Marais, acting envoys by the unanimous vote of the Executive; and three of these same principals, leaders, instigators or perpetrators were received in January, as representatives of the Rcform Committee, in a conciliatory spirit by the Government’s Special Commissioner, and told that their demands would be earnestly considered. During seven days Dr Jameson had been conquered at Doornkop and made a prisoner of the State. The Reform Committee, in obedience to Sir Jacobus de Wet’s long and prolix solicitation, and the strong appeal of Sir Sydney Shipparu, assuring them that Jameson’s life was in imminent danger, and the Government had made Johannesburg's disarmament the one condition of his safety, laid down its arms to preserve the life of a. man already protected by the terms of his own surrender. “Placing themselves,” cabled the High Commissioner, to the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, “and their interests unreservedly in my hands, in the fullest confidence that I will sec justice done them.” The sixty-four Reformers were then promptly placed in gaol, and their property placed under an interdict. Six months later, the four principal leaders were tried—by a Judge brought from a neighbouring Republic, the Orange Free State, for that purpose —and sentenced to be hanged by their necks until they were dead. At the trial of the Reformers a written paper was handed into the Court, which set out, among other things, that for a number of years the outlanders had earnestly and peacefully sought relief for their grievances by the constitutional right of petition. What they asked was only what was conceded to new-comers by every other South African Government. Petition after petition was placed before the authorities —one of them bore 40,000 signatures—asking alleviation of burdens and wrongs. The petitioners, so the statement continued, could never obtain a hearing. The provisions of law already deemed obnoxious and unfair were being made more stringent. In the end, realising that- they would never be accorded the rights they were entitled to receive, the outlanders had determined to make a demonstration of force in support of their just demands. The decision of the Executive to commute the death sentences was not made known to the condemned men till the following morning. In June the Reformers were released on paying fines and giving certain promises. The agitation by the outlanders for reform has gone on since 1896. With what success? Very little. In the British House of Commons at the end of March this year, Sir E. Ashmead-Bartlett called attention to tile state of affairs in the Transvaal, and expressed great dissatisfaction with the policy of the Colonial Office. Mr Chamberlain, in reply, said the hon member seemed to speak almost as the prosecutor of the Transvaal. It was perfectly true that at the time of the Jameson raid President Kruger made promises. He promised to forgive and forget: he promised to listen attentively and favourably to any representations that were made to him with regard tc actual grievances. He promised a municipality ; he promised to deal with several other of the leading grievances. Up to the present time, however, no one of those promises had been fulfilled —indeed, the grievances had increased rather than diminished, and so far as he could see, the. President’s recent promises were entirety illusionary. He did not think the change which the President suggested with reference to the franchise was of the slightest value. Ho observed that the dynamite monopoly, although taken into the hands of the Government, was still to be a monopoly. There would bo an easy way to remedy these grievances, or, at "all events, the most important of them, without endangering in any degree the interests of the Transvaal, the dignity of the Transvaal Government, or its desire for national independence: and that would be to give the people of Johannesburg, where the outlanders most congregated. a real municipality—a municipality in the sense in which they understood the word in Great Britain. The condition of the Transvaal must be regarded as unsatisfactory. It was most unfortunate that the Transvaal Government could not come to terms with the great majority of their white population, who contributed so largely to the prosperity of the State. So long as that condition of things continued it constituted a real danger. _ mie Government was watching the situation most carefully. Sir Alfred Milner was on the spot, and ho had every confidence in tu.s tact and discretion. But he did not feel that at the moment any cases had arisen which would justify him in taking the very strong action which seemed, at all events, to have been suggested by his hon friend. The stubborn denial by the Transvaal Government of the moderate reforms asked for by the outlanders has aroused indignation in all English-speaking countries, including Australia.