TOPICS OF THE DAY.
TREASON AND LOYALTY IN SOUTH AFRICA.
IF things are no better in South Africa they are certainly no worse, and we can still say that the Transvaal has not definitely refused to yield to that pressure of public opinion to which Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman has very properly appealed. In this interval of comparative calm, which we most sincerely trust and believe will not prove the lull before the storm, there are two points which we are anxious to place before our readers. The first of these concerns the accusations which are so freely made use of in regard to the so-called disloyalty of the Dutch Afrikanders in Cape Colony. In our opinion, these allegations are usually quite un- founded, but even if they were true it would not only be most impolitic, but, what is of far greater importance, most unjust, to make use of them. As our readers know, we hold that the British Government has a moral right to insist, and ought to insist, upon an extension of the franchise to the Outlanders ; but the holding of that view, even at the risk of war, does not blind us to the fact that a large portion of the Dutch population in the Colony have an intense feeling for their kinsmen in blood in the Transvaal, and would be sure to sympathise with them strongly should hostilities take place. We do not think that the existence of that feeling in any way binds us not to insist that what we believe to be justice must be done to the Outlanders, but we do feel that this race-sentiment of which we have spoken is per se an honourable feeling, and ought to claim our respect, even if we have to meet it and overcome it in the field. If the Cape Afrikanders are carried away into committing overt acts against the Imperial Govern- ment, such overt acts must, of course, be treated with all the vigour—nay, sternness—required ; but it seems to us monstrous to talk about Afrikauder treason and disloyalty merely because the imperious sense of race makes men inclined to shut their ears to reason, and to sympathise with their own flesh and blood even in a- bad cause. We cannot, and we ought not to, expect those inhabitants of the Colony who are by birth and breeding allied to the Boers to take our side in the case of hostilities. We shall, of course, require them to abstain from affording physical assistance of any kind to the Transvaal. More than that we have no right to do. If, then, we wish to treat the Dutch Afrikanders of the Colony with justice, we shall neither at home nor at the Cape indulge in "heady" talk and un- worthy sneers about treason and disloyalty. We must do what we ourselves think right, but we should compel no man's conscience, and as long as the Cape Dutch act in a peaceful and law-abiding way, we should respect, not trample upon, their racial feelings.
If this attitude of strong, calm, and dignified tolerance is demanded by justice, it is even more demanded by con- siderations of policy and expediency. As our readers know, we have for the last three years, and, indeed, ever since the Raid, urged that the essential thing to keep in view throughout the Transvaal difficulties is the future of South Africa as a whole. That is the point which must never be allowed to be pushed out of sight and obscured, either by Mr. Rhodes or Mr. Kruger. It must give place neither to the unworthy and inefficient scheming of a bastard Imperialism, nor to the madly obscurantist policy of an ignorant and intolerant oligarchy. If the future of South Africa is to be prosperous and secure, the Government must take the form of a Dominion like that of Canada, or a Commonwealth like that which Englishmen have learnt this week with such intense satisfaction is now certain to be established in Australia. But though the Dutch race in South Africa cannot be allowed to domineer over the rest of the white population, and to deprive them of the rights of free men, the Dutch must always be a most important element in the population. Whatever happens, we shall have the Dutch to deal with, and we ought accordingly to treat them in such a way that when the battle is over (if battle there must be), Dutch and English can shake hands and be friends again without any loss of honour and self- respect. No doubt the Cape Afrikanders in their speeches and in their newspapers often say very offensive and very unfair things about "British perfidy" and "British tyranny," but do not let us be so foolish as to retort with "Dutch treason " and " Dutch disloyalty." Let us instead turn a deaf ear to all such talk, and absolutely refuse to see traitors and rebels unless and until we meet them with rifles in their hands. Then we shall know how to deal with them. Till then, every British subject of Dutch race, whatever tall talk he may indulge in, should be treated as a loyal man. Depend upon it, under such treatment the number of " traitors " will quickly shrink, while the opposite treatment will call them forth by the thousand. Men born in free communities and with the blood of free men in their veins are sure to make it a point of honour to be traitors if, when they are in a dissatisfied and excited mood, they are told that they are suspected of disloyalty, and that they will be watched and their sayings and doings noted. Loyal as the popu- lation of England is to the Crown, you could manufacture so-called traitors by the thousand, and in every class of the community, rich and poor, by penalising offensive words, and, as it were, daring men to speak disrespectfully of the Monarchy and the Royal Family. Let us, then, do whatever work the Imperial Government may have to do in the Transvaal as quietly as possible, and without any unnecessary rhetoric about treason and disloyalty. Depend upon it, firm action in grim silence will not have an exhilarating effect upon the Cape Dutch, but rather the reverse, and when peace is restored there will be far less to forgive and forget. After every great political upheaval, such as a civil war or a revolution, there are always thousands of men who will confess that their heart's were never " in it," and that they only "acted" because they found that they were not allowed to remain neutral, and were incurring the odium of disloyalty just as much by keeping quiet as by shouldering a musket. We trust, then, most sincerely that our statesmen and leaders of public opinion, both here and at the Cape, will most sternly discourage the manufacture of artificial traitors, and will treat with the utmost consideration and gene- rosity men like, say, Mr. Hofmeyer, who cannot justly be expected in case of war to go against their own flesh and blood, be the merits never so great on the other side. We shall not, if the dread necessity arises, deal one whit more easily with the Boers because we have been indulging in taunts of disloyalty at Cape Town. But our firm belief that we should respect most fully the Cape Afrikander's right to sympathise with his own flesh and blood does not in the very least impel us to think that we ought not to insist upon the grant of the franchise to the Outlanders.—We dwell so strongly upon the franchise because it includes all the other rights and is the essential thing.—We hold, on the contrary, that it is necessary for us, in the interests of the Dutch Afrikanders as well as of the British in South Africa, to insist upon the inclusion of the bonei-fide resident Outlanders among the full citizens of the Transvaal. From this position we shall not be moved by the remembrance of Mr. Rhodes's misdeeds or stupidities, though none have denounced them more openly than we, or hold more strongly at this moment that Mr. Rhodes is the Empire's greatest enemy. In the same way we shall not allow our judgment to be warped by rhetorical talk about the Outlanders being the scum of the earth,—talk which we believe is grossly unjust to the majority of the Outlanders, who moved to Johannesburg just as men move to a town in England, because work is plentiful there and well paid, and not in the least because they are gamblers and " gold-bugs." In any case, the Raid cannot be played off against the Outlanders. They must not be made to pay for Mr. Rhodes's faults, nor can justice be denied to the mass 6f the working population of the Transvaal because a certain number of the middle-class capitalists are reckless and unscrupulous gamblers and speculators.
Before we leave the subject we should like to say a word as to the point of view of those who maintain the cause of the Transvaal in England, and who are opposed to any active support being given to the demands of the Outlanders. We do not in the least agree with the persons who hold these views, and we are quite prepared, if necessary, and after a reasonable delay, to use force, but we consider that it is doing the English supporters of the Boers a cruel wrong and injustice to denounce them as bad. Englishmen and as wanting in patriotism. That they most certainly are not. Mistaken they may be, and we firmly believe are ; but their attitude is adopted not only conscientiously, but also from a sincere desire to see their country acting as they think justly and rightly. But what can be more patriotic than that ? To cover such persons with ridicule and abuse is to fall into the hideous error of the French, who always call every man a sans-patrie if he does not adopt the popular battle-cry of the moment. England, we trust, will never be without men who will be prepared to take an unpopular side, and to speak out strongly and fearlessly when they conscientiously believe their country to be in the wrong. To try to silence them is as monstrous as to try to stop the mouth of the prisoner's counsel because the Judge and the people in Court believe the prisoner—and very likely quite correctly—to be guilty. Do not those who abuse the advocates of the Transvaal see the enormous moral advantage that is gained by hearing the other side ? After that side is heard we who reject its views can feel far stronger and more resolved in our own opinion. If we have heard patiently and weighed carefully the view opposite to our own, and yet still feel confident that right is on our side, we are infinitely stronger for action than if haunted by the notion that we are possibly ignoring some essential point. Remember, too, that when there is talk of war in the air the side of peace is never the popular side, never the side that it is easy and pleasant to put and that is sure to win applause —so strong is the combative instinct in man. Those, then, who persevere in obtaining a hearing for the unpopular side should receive our respect, even when they cannot receive our agreement. All honour to those who have the courage to stand up and put the Boer case to the people of England, and to insist upon that case having a hearing. Even if their voices are sometimes a little misunderstood abroad, and even if they occasionally lose self-control, we can well bear with such exaggerations.—For example, Mr. Page Hoppa in Wednes- day's..Echo says of .our last week's article on the Transvaal, " Was there ever such a piece of devilry perpetrated ? "- The inconveniences flowing from such suggestions are as nothing compared with the evil that would arise were men to be afraid to speak opt on an unpopular subject. While, then, we disagree profoundly with those who defend the doings of the Transvaal Government, or declare that we have no right to interfere even if they are acting unjustly, we rejoice to see the other side put vigorously and bravely, and we trust most sincerely .that such voices of honest even if mistaken protest will never fail in England. It is utterly absurd to say that they weaken us, or confuse the mind of the nation, or stultify us before the world. The Judge is not weakened and confused, but can act, as we have said, far more strongly and certainly after he has heard counsel for the prisoner.
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