THE RISE OF THE AFRICANDER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2425, 5 September 1900, Page 69

THE RISE OF THE AFRICANDER.

(Natal Mercury.)

The following is from the. pen of a German doctor, who gives his idea of the impartial English observer of the Boer character and contributing causes of the war. It will afford scope for thought: —

To the average critic the Boer is .a puzzle. He is different as he appears (1) to the "Englishman, (2) to the German and Hollander, and (3) to his own people. He has to be viewed, from these thres points. I can speak of how he apears to the German and his own people, as also to the English — for the feelings of the English gentleman are pretty much the same as those of the German gentleman. Aud I can well imagine how an Englishman feels when treated as I was — being thought to be an Englishman. |

In the days of the Great Trek the Boers rote with prayers and retired with thanksgiving. The present generation is a degradation. Today, the Boer relies more on himself- than -his God. I have made the discovery that the. good old Boer still calls himself Boer ; the degenerate calls himself Africander. This is a xule with hardly an exception. The Boer does not want a great South African Republic, governed by Dutch kings or ex-pre-sidents. For race hatred -neither Boer nor

Briton is to blame, eollectivelr. la "Briton** I here include all Uitlanders. Race liatred developed thus : Natives called in Great Britain's assistance against the Boers,' and the result was war. The Boer has no idea of diplomacy. He threw over- his former; Government, withdrew to new territory, and 1 asks why the British should take the land he 1 has colonised. He forgot, and cannot understand, that no new State can be formed l without affecting the old States. The Boer has to be taught that he, as member of it race, has obligations to others, and jannot live to himself. But the Boer, believing independence right, thinks England wrong. The simple woman whose husband dies in battle for his country says the English killed him, and generations go on to tell the story — and thereby is hatred fo&tered and diffused. ' War- resulting from, diplomatic difference is made individual feud, and offspring are vaccinated .with hatred against persons — as innocent of causing war as the Boer himself. After Majuba the older Boers ascribed their victory" to God; the younger Boers ascribed it to their personal prowess, and thus to hatred contempt was added. In peace the" Boer- is hospitable, and a-^way-farsr seeks and finds ab his hands both food and sheltei-. He shows his gratitude by spoiling liis daughters and stealing- his Such criminals among Englishmen are rare, but they all speak English. The Briton can~ not help it, nor can the Boer. And the Boer cannot distinguish French, Gernran, or American accent in the speech of the. sundowner. To him they are all English, and despised, as eucli. Now comes the discovery of 'gold.

British capital has built a city, opened a, market, and made the Boer rich. But adventurers swarm into the country, they drug and rob, gamble, fight, and drink, and the strange woman apears— - and all is hateful to the Boer. 'And they all speak English— the Englishman is a bad man. Thus the God-fearing, simplehearted, honest Boer shuns such company, and longs for the good Englishman, and Avhen he sees him he is reconciled and comforted that there are only a few bad among the good. . Did the British give this man a chance ot seeing the true, thorough Englishman?— that Englishman who fought under Nelson and '"Wellington, who would shudder at dishonour? No; and then came the Doctor's Raid, and mote food for race hatred. And thug the present wac was the natural consequence of a great misunderstanding, which Hollander and German money-grabbers work to their own ends. The Transvaal and Great Britain are cpendi'ng millions on warfare, and France, Germany, and Holland are making the profit. Tho raal Boer' is a good man— in its completest sense. The Africander, whose headquarters are in the south of the Cape "and bhe coast of Natal, is, wf .course, related to- the Boer. - Originally Boers, by the discovery of minerals o* the advent of the railway they became Africanders and parvenus. They began to read Marie Oofelli, study books- on etiquette, order Weltlon's Fashions, they even bought Pears' — bluemottled was too common ; they taught theirchildren the piano, got visiting' cards ajnd paid calls, organised "drawing-rooms" and "at homes," and held 5 o'clock teas and suppers en famine. The English colonist looked with contempt >on the newly self -created Boer aristocracy, and the Africander, in return, hated Englishmen the more. Hatied is not good form ; so^ they put it into the heads of tho back Boer- — who never uses gloves ; and the pimple-hearted iellow believed his enlightened broths Boer, and hated too, and openly. But in course of time the Africander really grew enlightened, and, though now able to see the real good, true, predominant character of the English people, he hid it from his ignorant brethrer>. The Africander won't believe an Englishman is good. He assumes to regard the bad as the rule, the good the exception. They look at the English through field-glasses — the magnifier is for the bad, and the minimise! 1 for the good.