THE TRANSVAAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2370, 3 August 1899, Page 25

THE TRANSVAAL.

PKESIDENT* KRUGEK RESIGNS.

SPEECHES IN PARLIAMENT.

BRITAIN WILL NOT TUKN HACK LONDON, July 25. To-day's telegrams from Capetown confirm the news of President Kruger's resignation. Colonel Dcs Vceux, commandant of the Queensland forces, has written to the Queensland Agent-general offering to lead any troops sent by Queensland to the Transvaal. July 26. The Indian Government are ready to send 10,000 troops to the Transvaal. The Colonial Office appreciates the offer from New South Wales, but hopes that it will not be necessary to accept it. July 28. Speaking at the luncheon given at a gathering of the Midland Conservative Association, Mr Balfoiu* said that he attributed the difficulties in the Transvaal to the refusal of the Boer Government to concede the Uitlanders equal privileges with the burghers, in accordance with the terms i and pledges contained in the Convention of 1881. If the resources of diplomacy were ineffectual in cutting the knot other means would be adopted. He said it was impossible for freeborn Englishmen to be permanently treated as an inferior race. Since the principle of immediate representation had been conceded he hoped, despite indications to the contrary, that the Transvaal Government would not be so ill-ad-vised as to withdraw the privilege in detail. Most English newspapers consider Mr Balfour's speech as satisfactory, and declare it is & plain but momentous warning j to President Kruger. July 29. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, speaking in the House of Commons, admitted that the Transvaal was a constant source j of danger to the peace of South Africa, ' but denied that the case was one for armed | intervention. He thought the Jameson raid justified suspicion of such a step. The Government must use moral suasion and enlist the aid of enlightened Dutchmen at the Cape. Mr Chamberlain, in reply, said the Government had four titles to interfere. It was the right of every Power to protect oppressed subjects. He had the rights of a suzerain. The conventions had been broken both in spirit and letter, while the promise on which the conventions had been granted had been falsified. He had no desire to haggle over trifles, but was bound to see the thing through. He offered to submit the new franchise to legal experts in South Africa, to ascertain if it secured the Uitlanders adequate representation. He thankfully recognised that the colonies were willing to give active support in a time of difficulty. He declined to make pledges with regard to ulterior action. He considered the Colonial Office had displayed excessive patience and moderation. No one desired to annex the Transvaal or lessen its independence. He was still hopeful of a solution, because President Kruger seemed aware that the Government and country were in earnest. The speech was received with cheers. — Mr Griffithe, Liberal member for Anglesey, supported Mr Chamberlain. No division was taken in the matter. In the HonsA oS. [Lords. Viscount Sel-

bourne, Parliamentary Secretary for the.j Colonies, said that the minimum representation asked for by bir Alfred Milner at • the Bloemfontein conference was still the minimum of the Cabinet. Lord Salisbury, who adopted Viscount Selbourne's description of the minimum, said that President Kruger's systematic , policy of encouragement of racial feeling had reduced the English to the condition of a conquered race. He concluded : "We have put our hands to the plough, and will t not turn back." j July 30. I In the House of Lords Lord Salisbury l said that the conventions with the Transvaal must not be considered immovable landmarks, but if they are disturbed something must be substituted which will not allow a revival of the old formidable difficulties. CAPETOWN, July 26. j It is believed President Kruger will with- ' draw his resignation, and that amicable ; relations with the Volksraad will be re- J newed. Sir Alfred Milner has declared that the imputation cast on Mr Schreiner, the Premier, is unjust. It is said President Kruger wished to | buy out the dynamite monopoly. j In the Assembly, Mr Rhodes declared '. that he intended to tax Transvaal pro- i ducts entering Rhodesia until Cape pro- j ducts were admitted to the Transvaal i free. July 29. * Within ten days 48,000 signatures have ; been received at Capetown to the petition j claiming equal rights for Uitlanders. ] July 31. The Uitlanders and the Cape Imperial- . ists are delighted at Lord Salisbury's firm- ] ness. < PRETORIA, July 25. I Reluctance on the part of the Volksraad to concede President Kruger a free hand in regard to the Johannesburg fort and the dynamite monopoly has caxrsed the President to attend no executive meetings since Friday, believing that he has lost their confidence, thus causing rumours of his resignation. Yesterday General Joubert and Herr Schalk, chairman of the Volksraad, assured President Kruger that they still had the utmost confidence in him. They persuaded him to attend a secret session when the Volksraad adhered to the j cancellation of the dynamite monopoly. i July 26. i The Johannesburg conspirators have been released, and the charges abandoned. x July 27. The company holding the Transvaal dynamite monopoly have offered a reduction of 15s per cwt, but the Volksraad favours the cancellation of the monopoly. July 28. At a meeting of 7000 Uitlanders at Johannesburg resolutions were passed condemning the franchise concessions as inadequate, and demanding workable reforms Imperially guaranteed. The new franchise law, as recently I passed by the Volksraad, has been officially proclaimed, and comes into operation at once. July 30. Great satisfaction is expressed here at the tone of the Imperial debate on the present difficulty. It is considered that Mr Chamberlain suggested that the joint inquiry in reference to the franchise ought !Lo be extended to all existing disputes. Mr Tosen, a member of the Volksraad, has suggested cutting through (sic) the Johannesburg sedition-mongers. July 31. [ Mr Reitz, interviewed, expressed himself i pleased with Lord Salisbury's speech. Un- ! less the joint commission inquired into the question of arbitration and the scope of the existing conventions besides the franchise, it would be tantamount to legislating on the internal affairs of the Transvaal through the commission, thus infringing the independence of the Republic. SYDNEY, July 28. •Mr Chamberlain, in his reply to the offer of New South Wales to send troops to the Transvaal, said that the Imperial Government highly appreciated its loyalty and patriotism, and that full consideration would be given to it if the necessity arises. The Natal Mercury, discussing the situation, Fays: — "Sir Alfred Milner's despatch of the 4th of May shows very clearly that in his opinion the main point at issue is very much wider in its range than either the franchise or the grievances. ' The spectacle of the Uitlanders appealing in vain to Great Britain,' he says, ' iot redress was undermining the influence and reputation of Great Britain, and disaffecting the Dutch colonists.' We feel inclined to go further, and say that it is straining the loyalty of the British colonists. That it is disaffecting the Dutch colonists is, however, not open to question. We have heard it at the Bond meetings, and heard it in all its openness at the recent Burghersdorp meeting in the Cape Colony, where open sedition was so freely spoken. The Dutch colonists have seen the Uitlanders of the Transvaal ruled with a rod of iron and cudgelled with the stick of oppression without any very pointed remonstrance from Great Britain. They have been told that England is impotent, and what they have seen within the past 20 years in South Africa has led them to believe ■^at such is the case. What bettei proof do

• they want than this extract from -the speech 1 of the Rev. Vorster, the Dutch Reformed Church minister at Burghersdorp : — 'He did ' not believe England desired to make war, for she had not enough men to conquer the Transvaal. It might be a bloody war ; it might last for years, but the Transvaal aucl the Free State could raise 80,000 men, and to conquer these England would need a force lof 150,000. Where would she get ships enough i to convey suph an army? Where horses, an<\ where provisions. . . . England's threat was only a threat, the talk of a man with an unloaded gun. One hundred Transvaalers would shoot 1000 Englishmen dead. — (Loud , applause.) All their Maxims would not take j the Transvaal.' Here we have a man who has presumably been educated talking of J England with the most utter contempt. How 1 has this come about? We believe because of the forbearance and magnanimity of England. It has been mistaken grievously in the past, and any repetition of it now would not only make Great Britain more contemptible in the eyes of the Dutch colonists, but still further encourage them in bending to the view of one of the speakers at the same meeting, who said, 'He prayed to the Almighty j that the day might come when the whole of j Africanderdom would be freed from the foreign yolk.' This is the gratitude for all ; the freedom and liberty England has given I her Dutch subjects in the British colonies, and this shows the disaffection Sir Alfred Milner alludes to in its most pronounced form. But what of the British colonists and inhabitants of South Africa? At the. present time, they are as loyal as the subjects of the Crown beneath the walls of Windsor Castle, j but if England is to confess to them that she ! cannot secure for her subjects in the Transj vaal the rights they are justly entitled to, \ and cannot secure for South Africa thoee i equal political privileges that a per- ! manent peace and the future of j the whole country so imperatively • demand, then a very severe strain will be put on their loyalty. To find themselves abandoned by the Imperial Power they have j so long. regarded with pride, affection, and im- • plicit trust will make them also disaffected, ■ and endanger more seriously than ever the j prestige of England in South Africa, and j eventually lead to a racial war of the worst j description. Heaven forbid war, but we canI not go on as we are going. A climax has j been reached, and England must either show \ that she is the paramount Power in South « Africa, or else the British name will suffer I another humiliation that even time may not : obliterate."