THE SOUTH AFRICAN PROBLEM.* IT is not too much to
say of Captain Younghttsband's admirably fair and lucid book—largely a reprint of letters
written by him to the Times—that it is the sanest and most statesmanlike work that has yet appeared on the South African problem. Hitherto almost everything that has
been published on the subject has been marred by being written exclusively from one point of view. No doubt all the writers on South Africa have professed to be, and in many cases have genuinely tried to be, impartial, but as a rule they have either stated the case for Mr. Rhodes and the Chartered Company, or else have violently opposed Mr. Rhodes and his friends, and have represented the Boers as almost immaculate,—a race of William Tells in whom there is no guile. Captain Younghusband has the rare faculty of being able to see that there are faults on both sides, and he can manage to say—or perhaps we should use the word "infer"—very strong things against Rhodesian influences with- out becoming a blind partisan of the Boers. Again, there is nothing of the "inevitable foes" and "natural enemies" about his treatment of the race question. His clear and cool judgment enables him to see beyond the present squabbles and jealousies. He writes, that is, like a statesman and not like a partisan. This sobriety and moderation of tone makes Captain Young- husband's judgments, when he does give them, extremely valuable. He has no desire to prove a case for or against any one, but merely wishes to tell the truth about the matters which came before him when for the second time he visited the Transvaal, Rhodesia, and Natal, and did his best to take stock not only of the situation as it exists to-day, but of the possibilities of the future.
Among the first things that an English political inquirer asks himself when he considers the condition of South Africa are, " What sort of government is that which the Chartered Company has established in Rhodesia P How is the Company dealing with the natives under its control?" The second question must always be a matter of prime importance in a
country like Rhodesia, for, as we have seen, it is on a successful handling of the native problem that the peace, and so the prosperity, of the country depends. The natives are too numerous to be exterminated, and therefore, putting all questions of humanity entirely on one side, it is essential that they should be well managed. Here is Captain Young- husband's account of the way in which the Chartered Company manages its native affairs,—an account the significance of which is increased by the fact that, as far as we can judge by the general tenor of the book, Captain Younghusband is inclined to be favourable to the Company:— "The majority of their servants are men who take up employe meat for a few years while they can look about for more lucrative employment with mining companies. all are, more or less, engaged in speculation, and none of them can look to any higher appointment as a goal of ambition. There is no inducement, • South Africa of To-Day. By Captain Francis Younghusband. C.I.B. With Illustration.. London : Macmillan and Co. i83. 6d.1
therefore, for first-class men to enter the Company's Civil Service, and the evil effects of the want of efficient men are especially felt in the native department. To deal with natives men of the highest class are required. for the tendency to degenerate down to the level of the natives can be resisted only by the best. But the Company have hitherto used not the best class of men who come into the country, but almost the worst. A knowledge of the language was considered the primary essential. The field of choice was consequently limited, and the men who had the qualification were mostly small traders with little educa- tion, and quite unsuited to be put in positions of authority over men of a subject race. The result has been disastrous. But this defect the Company are now doing their best to remedy by intro- ducing men from Natal who know the Zulu language (which is, practically, the same as the Matabele), and have had experience in native administration. And very careful attention is being paid to the whole system of controlling the natives."
In another place Captain Younghusband speaks of the general state of the Chartered Company's administration, and of the way it is spoken of and regarded by those who ought to know it best, —its own settlers :— " Company rule is by no means held by them [i.e., the settlers] as a pattern of perfection. The general complaints against it, indeed, are often only a degree less fervid than the agitation against the Boers at Johannesburg. Some of the articles in the Salisbury papers before the arrival of Mr. Rhodes compared not unfavourably with articles in Johannesburg papers at the com- mencement of last year. The favouritism, the advantages given to men who may have influence in England. are often bitterly complained of by hardworking settlers. The personnel of the administration is recognised to be inefficient. Settlers are well aware of the number of incompetent and often dishonest officials there have been in the Company's service. They see how the Company is defrauded on every side. They know that the native administration has been grossly misconducted in the past, and they complain bitterly of the injustice done to themselves in withdrawing all police protection for a raid on the Transvaal Yet, in spite of these recognised shortcomings, and in spite of their loudly-expressed complaints, they prefer Chartered Com- pany rule to direct Imperial administration. Much is talked at home of these colonists being pioneers of Empire, but out there one bears very little of Imperialism. The men who come out do not come for the purpose of extending the Empire. The Empire is one of the last things they think of, though they would all join in heart and soul to assist England if she were ever in dis- tress. But what they do come for is to make a living. The guiding minds who direct the schemes of colonisation may, or may not, have the extension and welfare of the Empire as their ideal ; but the ordinary colonist settles in Rhodesia either because he thinks he can make money more rapidly there than else- where, or because he wants to lead a free, unfettered style of life."
A problem of even more vital importance than that of the Chartered Company's administration is presented by the state of things that exists in the Transvaal. How long, the impartial observer must ask, is a minority to continue to govern a majority P Captain Yonnghnsband's observations on this question are most interesting. A part of them may be roughly summarised thus. He holds that the Transvaal has a very great future as a white man's country, and that even if and when the gold is exhausted it will be a rich and im- portant community. He holds also that it is impossible to accept the Boer theory that the Outlanders are mere birds of passage. They are instead, he holds, for the most part real and bonci-jide settlers. Another very interesting fact pointed out by him is the want of cohesion to be found among the Boers. It is practically only their dread of English interference which gives them sufficient coherence to deprive the Out- landers of their civic rights. As to the future of the Trans- vaal, Captain Younghusband seems to us to take a moat reasonable and statesmanlike view :— " By waiting on their opportunity the tritlanders will gradually gain their end. Their lot is not a desperate one. They run no immediate risk of being exterminated like Armenians ; and instead of hastily resorting to arms and reviving racial feeling, which impedes progress, they can well afford to wait a few years time till the Boers, not bound together in opposition as they are now through being attacked, have spread themselves out, and left interstices between them by means of which the process of a
new amalgamation may be carried out England, as the Power responsible for the peace of by far the greater portion of South Africa—of countries populated by as many Dutchmen as Englishmen-cannot afford to see her subjects in the Transvaal treated in such a manner as would cause disaffection likely to spread in racial strife throughout South Africa. Still less can she afford to see another European Power settling as a rival there. Neither, therefore, could the Transvaal be allowed to extend its territories towards the coast beyond the limits carefully defined in the Convention which restored the country to the Boers ; nor could the Germans be permitted to gain the footing they are believed to be seeking in Delagoa Bay. This much England in her own interests has need to look after. She mina keep et a
distance all rivals to the supremacy she has fought and worked for in South Africa, and she must see so far as is possible that no favour is shown to others over her own subjects. Provided she does this—provided she sees her subjects have fair play—the Uitlanders in the Transvaal may well be left to work out their own salvation in their own way. The British portion need expect no encouragement from the Boers, and they may indeed expect that the Government, in any quiet way it can, will favour Germans, French, and Hollanders with the object of lessening the preponderance of British influence and of driving away British capital, to see it replaced by German and French. But British investors, manufacturers, and settlers will always remember the immense future possibilities of the country, and persevere in their work of developing its wonderful resources. And every European nation equally with England should be interested in seeing that no unnecessary hindrance is placed in the way of its development, and should bring all the force of public opinion to bear upon the Boers to make them realise that at this stage of the world's history a mere handful of men cannot be permitted to obstruct the progress of a country so valuable to overcrowded Europe as is the Transvaal. The eventual product of this development is likely to be a State the majority of whose inhabitants will be British by birth, but Republican in their ideas and inclinations. Whether this, the most rich and populous of the South African States of the future, will preponderate over the rest will depend upon whether the Transvaal or Great Britain controls the outlet to the sea."
This, we confess, seems to us the common-sense of the whole matter. Leave the internal affairs of the Transvaal abso- lutely alone, except only when there is some breach of the Convention. At the same time maintain our general position of paramount Power in South Africa, and prevent any access of the Transvaal to the sea, for that might lead to our claim to be paramount Power being challenged in a way which would render war unavoidable.
We could fill many columns with extracts from and com- ments on Captain Younghusband's pages, but we can only find room for one more quotation. The advocates of the Chartered Company, in their zeal for that unfortunate and inept Corporation, are perpetually telling us that the Im- perial power has done nothing in Rhodesia, and that Rhodesia is, in fact, the sole creation of Mr. Rhodes, who first won it, and then reconquered it by his energy and by the zeal he inspired in his followers. In these panegyrics nothing is ever heard of the British officers and soldiers who did as brave and noble work there as was ever done under the British flag, and almost without recognition. Here is what Captain Young- husband has to say upon this subject, —one in regard to which, we freely admit, we find it difficult to keep cool and
patient:— "But it was not the settlers alone who pacified Rhodesia, and too little credit has been given to the part which Imperial officers and troops took in the war The 7th Hussars were handi- capped for many reasons, the chief of which was their arrival upon the scene of action when the enemy had retired into their rocky kopjes, and when, in consequence, the time for useful action by cavalry had passed. They only on one or two occasions had the opportunity of using their swords effectually, but they were able to establish a reputation for efficiency in rifle practice which few expected cavalry soldiers to possess. The Mounted Infantry were more fortunate, arriving in Mashonaland just when they were most wanted. Imperial troops have not a good name in South Africa. The raiders who marched to Doornkop are heroes, but Thomas Atkins finds little favour. It was refreshing, there- fore, to hear the praises bestowed on Colonel Alderson for the skill with which he planned an attack on Makoni's stronghold by a sudden detour at night from his apparent line of march, and for the bravery with which his troops stormed a position honey- combed with caves and much more adapted for the operations of ferrets than of soldiers. This, the first, and many other opera- tions which the Mounted Infantry had to conduct, sometimes under Colonel Alderson in person, sometimes under Major Jenner, an officer who gained the especial confidence of the settlers for his coolness and skill, and sometimes under Captain Macmahon and junior officers, led to the restoration of order in Mashonaland. and, what to some will be equally gratifying, the restoration in some measure of the prestige of the British soldier. Even Dutchmen acknowledged that these Mounted Infantry could shoot, and were astonished at the precision of the volleys which they poured in on the enemy's positions. The operations which these Imperial troops, Hussars as well as Mounted Infantry, had to undertake were conducted under con- ditions the trying nature of which may be appreciated by the fart that out of twelve officers and 150 men, seven officers and seventy-six men were at one time in hospital. The operations covered a period of several months, during the whole of which the troops had to march without tents, with little transport, with inadequate supplies, and with horses falling out from sheer impoverishment And they had to fight an enemy retired into bills of gigantic granite boulders, belched forth from the bowels of the earth apparently for the only useful purpose of hiding blacks between their crevices and interstices."
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