Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/145

 1899.] Mr. Chamberlain on the Trcmsvaal. [137

had been made since the conference broke up, and that many interests were now working with increased pressure in favour of concession. What was there, then, in the situation justifying the senseless appeal to arms which was only allowable as the last hateful alternative when all peaceful methods had failed ?

Mr. Chamberlain, addressing the Liberal Unionist Associa- tion at Birmingham (June 26), gave a wider scope to his remarks, going back to the early days of Transvaal independence, and to the efforts made by its rulers to establish arbitrary government. The controversy with the Transvaal was not a mere squabble over the suzerainty, over the pecuniary interests of the Outlanders, or even over the franchise. It was the situation created by the policy of the Transvaal Government with which they had to deal. Mr. Chamberlain proceeded to trace the history of our relations with the Transvaal, and to show how we had four times been on the verge of war. In 1885, at the time of the Warren Expedition ; in 1894, when, during the late Administration, President Kruger attempted to forcibly enlist British subjects ; in 1895 over the drifts question ; and in 1897 over the Alien Immigration Law. Next, Mr. Chamberlain dealt with the raid, and declared that the Johan- nesburg people had as good a case for revolution as any men over had, and if the movement had been spontaneous they would have had the sympathy of all Englishmen. But as to the raid, nothing could be said in its excuse. The raid, however, had been sufficiently atoned for. Mr. Chamberlain next insisted that Sir Alfred Milner had been selected and sent out as the best man to deal with a difficult question, and that " now he is there in the midst of intrigue and hatred we intend to support him." Sir Alfred Milner had been abused in certain quarters for making the franchise the essential question ; but he was right, for it was by the franchise — fairly granted and freely exercised — that the gradual redress of grievances might be obtained without appealing to any external power, but at the present time a state of feeling had been brought about which seemed to render such a remedy futile. Mr. Chamberlain ended his speech by asking how the race animosities which unfortunately existed could be allayed. It could only be by going to the root of the mischief. " The misgovernment of the Transvaal is a festering sore which poisons the whole atmos- phere of South Africa/ ' What was the duty of the Govern- ment? Their first duty was to try to secure an amicable settlement. The Government were absolutely unanimous as to the policy to be pursued. They would neither be hurried nor held back, but having undertaken the business they would see it through. "I hope," added Mr. Chamberlain, "that the efforts of our loyal Dutch subjects in Cape Colony — of men, for instance, like Mr. Hofmeyr, who has deservedly a great in- fluence with his fellow-countrymen — I hope that his efforts and those of the Government, and especially of the Prime Minister