VIEWS ON THE AFRIKANDER,S.* Iris recorded in the Life of
Macaulay that a prize was once founded, at Cambridge for an annual essay on William m. Sir %erg* Trevelyan, if we remember right, comments on the portentous scrutiny thus brought to bear on the career of a great man who, in spite of it all, remains somewhat of an enigma. One wonders whether King William's more or less distant kinsman, the Boer, is really being made manifest to future generations by the flood of books that the last two Years have seen. We do not by any means bold them super-
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b• .24 Wrecking the Empire. By J. Id. Robertson. London Grant Richards. 6:•.1,..--(2.) Britain's Title in South Africa; or, The Story of Cape Colony to the as of the Great Trek:. By James Cappon. London Macmillan and Co. [Gs.] —ill South Africa a Century Ago : Letters Written front the Cape of Good Hope 11y the Lady Anne Barnard. Edited, with a Memoir and Brief Notes, by W. H. riilkiEs. London : Smith, Elder, Ana Co. [6s.]—(4.) GeograPhie Univerulle ilktique Auetrale. Par On4sime Reclus. Paris: Librairie Hachette. [10s.] 154 Vengeance as a Policy in 41frikanderland a Pica for a New Departure. rrancis J. Dormer. London : J. Nisbet and Co. [Gs.]—(6.) The New South Africa : its Value end Drceopml loamy nos.i en!. By W. Bloloch. London : W. Heine. fluons ; any one who is aware how little acquaintance with South African problems existed in England in 1881— or even in 1895—must welcome any honest attempt to dis- seminate real information. We cannot, however, think that Mr. Robertson's Wrecking the Empire falls within this category. The book is nothing more than a laborious collection of instances in which, during the war and rebellion in Cape Colony, individuals were harshly or hastily treated by the authorities. Mr. Robertson is very violent, and his animus is evident throughout; but we do not hesitate to say, after reading his book carefully, that the conduct of the South African War has been far better than that of any campaign on record. Of course mistakes have been made, but we should be tempted to fall into Mr. Robertson's style if we were to express plainly our opinion of an Englishman who deliberately conceals any- thing that might tell in favour of his country with the object of proving that a campaign conducted with notorious leniency has been so brutal as morally to wreck the Empire. It is quite clear that he knows nothing of the American Civil War, the Franco-German War, or indeed of warfare anywhere except in South Africa recently. He has no standard of corn. parison, and therefore his painfully selected facts are of little interest. He cannet produce anything to Show that the Dutch have been systematically treated with harshness.
A controversialist on the other aide is Mr. Cappon, a Pro- fessor at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. Having read the works of another Canadian, Dr. Theal, he has found that they betray a consistent anti-English bias. The present book is a review of early Cape history designed to restore the true balance. Mr. Cappon is perfectly straightforward, but we admit we do not greatly care for books like .
Britain's in South, Africa. The author has to depend mainly on Dr. Theal for his materials. We do not by any means endorse all Dr. Thears views, and his compressed his- tory of South Africa in the "Story of the Nations Series" is in places open to serious objection. But the worst Mr. Cappon can prove of the larger works is that Dr. Theal, stating all important facts, arranges them so that the reader's eye is often caught by features that reflect on British policy. One cannot help remembering the pseudo-Plutarch's De Maligni- tate Herodoti, which Herodotus's work has survived. The importance of Dr. Thears life-work can only be estimated by those who know how utterly careless of the past most people are in South Africa. But for him it is not too much to say that a great chapter of history would have been lost to the world. Mr. Cappon's book, though sometimes discursive and flippant, is not uninteresting. But a writer who thinks that up to the time of the Great Trek (why does Mr. Cappon stop just where the history of the Boers as a nation begins ?) every- thing we did was right is trying to prove too much. Lord Glenelg's policy, which he praises, was justly condemned as hotly by English Colonists as by Dutch. If—which Mr. Cappon cannot deny—the opinion of English Colonists is worth taking in 1901, why should it have been worthless in 1835, when none of the shadier elements existed?
For an earlier view of Cape affairs one could not do better than consult Lady Anne Barnard's delightful letters, admirably edited by Mr. Wilkins. Few people know that Lady Anne Lindsay, who wrote "Auld Robin Gray," afterwards married a Mr. Barnard, and accompanied him when he became Secre- tary at the Cape (1797-1801) during the temporary British occupation. These letters were addressed to Lord Melville; they are charmingly written, they give a vivid picture of society under Table Mountain a century ago, and in them valuable political observations are artlessly mingled with more or less amusing gossip. Lady Anne liked the Dutch farmers, but did not so much care for townspeople tinged with Jacobin sentiments. Still, her tact seems to have done much to conciliate the Dutch, and South Africa a Century Ago leaves a clear impression of a charming and clever woman.
No very clear impression, on the other hand, is likely to be gained from M. Reclus's L'Afrique Av.strale. He has the light- ness of touch that French writers alone seem able to impart to " solid " books, but his encyclopmdic work is rather a medley of all sciences. His bias is frankly anti-British, and he permits himself such license as to talk of the " impitoyable cruaute " with which we suppressed the rising of 1815.
Moreover, it is amusing to find that whenever he hew to chronicle (which he attempts to do faithfully) the liar shness shown on various occasions by Boers to blacks, he is careful to describe the culprits by such ambiguous terms as "lea colons," or "lea blancs." But he tries, we think, to be fair, and there is much geographical and geological lore in his work.
It is not so easy to describe the two books on our list, Mr. Dormer's Vengeance as a Policy in Afrikanderland and Mr. Bleloch's New South Africa, which are of the most practical importance. Mr. Dormer's irritating way of arranging his re- printed newspaper articles may prevent readers from recog- nising the merits of his work. It is, we think, a pity that he did not write a new and more coherent book, but apparently the wish to show the world exactly what Mr. Dormer thought at various dates has overcome him. He may fairly be described as an anti-Rhodesian Outlander, and his arguments would carry more weight if they showed less personal animus. Still, he is a man of independent views, who knows South Africa well, and can write effectively. His work is, perhaps, valuable rather on the critical than the constructive side, but some of his criticisms are very interesting. He believes, for instance, that it was a great mistake ever to employ black labour in the mines, thus artificially raising the wages of white labour. He does not explain how it would have been possible to get white men in a hot climate to do unskilled manual labour which natives were willing to undertake for small wages. He is furious at the idea that the said mines should con- tribute anything to the cost of the war, because if England had never made mistakes in Africa, there would have been no war! He does not explain why the British taxpayer to-day, who, in an infinite majority of cases, personally gains no money from our new possessions, should pay for the mistakes of Lord Glenelg and Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Rhodes, while the Englishman in the Transvaal, who does expect to gain something, should go free. But his suggestions for federation, and for British colonisation, contained in the section called "The New South Africa" (pp. 67-121), should be carefully read, and we regret that want of space will not allow us to discuss them here.
Under the same title Mr. Bleloch has written a book of very great value, which we are compelled to describe briefly. He gives every careful and systematic account of the two new Colonies, their natural features, minerals, railways; and industries, and the book is really indispensableeto future Colonists. It is quite im- possible to summarise it, and we can only note one or two points.
• He considers it absolutely necessary that the Government • should survey all State lands and the more easily available properties, and should endeavour to acquire from the land companies areas suitable for settlement. The proposals made by Mr. W. P. Fraser for the settlement of Bechuanaland in 1895, here detailed, are in the main recommended for adop- tion. Thus he quotes with approval the suggestion that if we are to secure the country we should find "men accustomed to Colonial pursuits, and more or less trained in Colonial warfare, who will hold land under civil and military tenure, and be at all times liable to be called upon to perform police or military service until the term of conditional tenure shall have been exchanged for a Government grant." As regards the resources of the Orange River Colony, Mr. Bleloch is more hopeful than Sir David Barbour. As regards the Transvaal, he considers a 10 per cent. tax on mine profits as equitable, and makes various other important fiscal suggestions. The book is clearly written and well arranged; it is not light reading, but it will well repay study.
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