MR. CRONWRIGHT-SCHREINER AND THE DUTCH.
[To THE EDITOlt OP TIIE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—May I be permitted to criticise the following sentence in the speech of Mr. Cronwright-Schreiner as reported at the Café Atonic() dinner ?—" It would startle those people who took the other side [i.e., to Mr. Schreiner] to find that the Dutch put the native champions into Parliament, and the same people who had alienated the natives were also alienating the Datch,—those Dutch who gave a contribution of £30,000 towards the Fleet." I suppose that Mr. Schreiner alludes especially, although he does not mention names, to Mr. R. Solomon, the Member for the native constituency of Tembuland, for he can mean no one else. If we ask why Mr. Solomon won against Sir Gordon Sprigg by 811 to 749 in the last election, it certainly was not through any love for the Dutch on the part of the natives of Tembuland. Fingoes and Kaffirs know the gentle and philanthropic Boer too well. Mr. Solomon had a particular personal qualification, being nephew of that late well-known Cape philan- thropist and politician, Mr. Saul Solomon, and it was upon the strength of this connection, I feel sure, that the balane, turned in his favour. When I was out at the Cape there was no man more cordially hated and disliked by the Dutch for his philanthropy towards the natives than Mr. Saul Solomon. To turn round now and say that the Duteh are converted to his views and are putting "native champions" into Parlia- ment is a most preposterous statement. Given five years of Dutch " Afrikander " rule, and I venture to prophesy that not only Tembuland would be disfranchised, but that the whole work of native regeneration, which has been taken in hand for so many years by British missionaries and British statesmen, would be ripped up and undone, and the natives reduced to the ranks of " Vibeonites " of society. We have only to look to the Transvaal and watch the gentle (?) methods of spoliation of the native that have taken place there since the declaration of war. I have some knowledge of the working of the Glen Grey Act, and also of John Jabavu, the latter an advocate for native rights, and a learned Fingo, I believe, educated for some time at the Gill College. It is just possible that some party capital may have been made out of the working of the "Glen Grey Act," which to my mind should be regarded as a tentative measure in native politics rather than "a law of the Medea and Persians." But in spite of possible imperfections, there is a sound principle underlying "the Glen Grey Act." It would be useful to get an explicit statement or two from the Member for Tembuland, if he boasts of having the mantle of his uncle, Saul Solomon. But I for one must most strongly protest against Mr. Cronwright-Schreiner's par- ticular methods of treating this South African question, and trying to make people in England believe that the Dutch are putting "native champions into Parliament." Let us have fuller reasons, more names, and more light and illustration
all round. Such a circumstance as "the Tembnland Election," for instance, should be thoroughly explained. With regard to the statement, "alienating those Dutch who gave a contribution of if.10,000 towards the Fleet," am I not right in saying that it was Sir J. Gordon Sprigg who, at the Jubilee of 1897, promised on behalf of the "Progressives" in South Africa a warship, an offer afterwards commuted to 17:10,000 annual subsidy ? The Dutch or "Bond" party could hardly well refuse their consent to ratifying such a just measure of coast protection when the word of the Cape Ministry had been given. Moreover, had not some of the Afrikander Bond leaders trained their willing dupes to shout for complete independence, with only "British coast protec- tion "as long as it suited them, until, perhaps, Kruger had got his own warships, as he notified he might, in a well-known conversation with Lord Loch ? Looked at from a business, and not a sentimental, point of view, the naval subsidy, as voted for by all parties at the Cape, was a method of marine insurance. If there was any credit to be assigned to any particular party, it must be given to the Progressives and Sir j. G. Sprigg.—I am, Sir, &e.,
WILLIAM CrIZESWELL, M.A.
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