Page:The truth about the Transvaal.djvu/12

 Transvaal, wherein reside the more civilised portion of the community, the desire was strong for that British rule which alone appeared likely to procure for the country order and good government. The farmers who were scattered throughout the country, and who understood by "independence" the non-payment of taxes, wished neither for British nor for any other rule, and it has been upon those ignorant and credulous men that interested agitators have been able to work with but too much success. At the time of annexation, however, there is little doubt that public feeling in the Transvaal approved of the action of Sir T. Shepstone. He himself says that every effort was at that time made to stir up the Boers against him "by inflammatory language in printed manifestoes," but in vain. His proclamation in Pretoria was received with hearty cheers for the Queen, whilst Mr. Burgher's protest was listened to with respectful silence. Moreover, within the next few weeks many hundreds of signatures were attached to addresses of approval of the step which had been taken and of loyally to the Queen.

What, then, has caused the change, if change there has been, in the feelings of the Transvaal people? It is very probable that mistakes have been made in the administration of the province since 1877. The dislike of the Boers to military government has not been sufficiently understood and appreciated. There has also been an unfortunate delay in establishing those free representative institutions which were promised at the time of annexation, and which were delayed by the wars with the natives which the previous policy of the Boer republic had made necessary. Meanwhile, those interested agitators who always opposed that annexation, which, establishing order and obedience to law, would soon have reduced them to their proper and natural insignificance, have not only been assisted in their continuous work of disloyalty by the circumstances above named, but have received great aid from two especial sources. First of all must be reckoned this fact, that whereas at the time of annexation the Zulu power was unbroken and other native tribes were threatening the very existence of the Republic, between 1877 and 1880 Cetewayo had been subdued and the other tribes overcome by British valour and the expenditure of British money. Gratitude is not a characteristic of the Dutch Boer, and when the danger no longer hung over his head, he was the more easily persuaded to rebel against the Government whose power was at the moment no longer necessary for his protection. Yet, in all probability, had the action of the British Government been consistently firm, and due encouragement given to loyal colonists, the discontent of the Boers would gradually have passed away and a future of prosperity have already commenced for the Transvaal. Unhappily, in the second place, the disloyal agitator found powerful auxiliaries where they should least have been expected. Mr. Courtney, the present Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, who had