Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/161

 1899.] Transvaal Affairs. [153

mine owners in Johannesburg were solely responsible for the unrest of the past few years, and for the crisis which had now arisen. With a view of placing before the public another version of the case, the Imperial South African Association organised a series of meetings throughout the country, engaging competent speakers versed m South African affairs to explain the situation. The inaugural meeting was held at Sunderland (July 24) (and it may be taken as typical of the series), when the speaker was Mr. T. E. Dodd, Hon. Secretary of the Transvaal Province of the South African League, but previously connected with the Badical party in north-eastern England. He began by saying that he was as much a Badical as he was four years ago. It was because he was a Badical that he felt so keenly the con- ditions under which men were compelled to live in the Transvaal. They were told by some people that there might be certain grievances in the Transvaal, but why should they appeal to Great Britain to repeal those grievances? They were also asked if we were going to interfere in order that Johannesburg millionaires might make more money than they had made already. The grievances, he might tell them, were not griev- ances which had been proclaimed by capitalists. They were serious economic grievances, which would not be tolerated in England or a British colony for twenty-four hours. The ad- ministration was inefficient, expensive and corrupt. Although the bulk of the taxes were paid by the Outlanders they had no representation whatever. Every concession promised by President Kruger was given with one hand and taken back with the other. Always behind his words of address to the Outlanders there was some mental reservation, which they were accustomed to in the Transvaal. The last great appeal to Pretoria was in 1895, when the petition of 40,000 Outlanders was presented to the Baad and rejected. They appealed for clean administration, for political liberties and privileges, but they appealed in every case in vain. Now they had decided to appeal to the paramount Power * in South Africa. Sir A. Milner had said the case for intervention was overwhelming, and he felt proud to stand there and know that Sir Alfred had stood as a Liberal candidate for an English constituency, and that after studying the thing for three years he had said the case for intervention was over- whelming. They asked them to give them a measure of justice that would enable them to work out their own salvation. Force was the only weapon to which Pretoria had no answer. Force was the only paramount law that President Kruger understood. Unless they were prepared to back them with force let them keep their sentiments to themselves.

There were not, however, wanting men of ability — Conser- vatives as well as Liberals — who on platforms and in the press were urging the war party to pause before taking an irretrievable position. The publication of Sir A. Milner's despatch (printed elsewhere) had not rendered negotiations with the Transvaal