Speech of Three Trans vaal "I would rather be a policeman under a strong government than the President of such a state. It is you-you members of the Raad and the Boers-who have lost the country, who have sold your independence for a drink. You have ill-treated the natives, you have shot them down, you have sold them into slavery, and now you have to pay the penalty." "If you ask what the English have to do with it, I tell you that as little as we can allow barbarities among the Kaffirs on our borders as little can they allow that in a state on their borders anarchy and rebellion should prevail." "We should not delude ourselves by entertaining the hope that matters would mend by and by. It would only be self-deceit. I tell you openly, matters are as bad as they ever can be; they cannot be worse. These are bitter truths, and people may perhaps turn their backs on me; but then I shall have the consolation of having done my duty." 66 To-day a bill for eleven hundred pounds was laid before me for signature; but I would sooner have cut off my right hand than sign that paper, for I have not the slightest ground to expect that when that bill becomes due there will be a penny to pay it with." Thus spoke the last President of the first Transvaal Republic to his own countrymen concerning their shortcomings and their responsibility for the loss of their country's independence. In a statement made by President Burgers just before his death he accused the pro-English party in the Transvaal of urging forward anFactions. nexation, and the Dopper party, under the leadership of Paul Krüger, of siding with the pro-English party to overthrow the ruling party. Thus it would appear that three factions in the Transvaal favored annexation-the official faction, the pro-English faction and the Dopper faction. There was a fourth faction, called the "Irreconcilables," composed of the back-country Boers, who opposed annexation. Burgers's Although accepting the inevitable and acting in full accord with Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the Governor of Cape Colony, President Burgers regretted at heart the loss of his country's independence, which he blamed on the three ruling factions. To appease the Irreconcilables, whose opposition he feared, he published an "official protest" against annexation, to which Sir Theophilus Shepstone consented for appearance sake and to prevent armed opposition on the part of the Irreconcilables, though the British would have been ready to put down such minority opposition by force had it been attempted. The Act of Annexation was officially proclaimed on April 12, 1877, and immediately was put in operation peacefully; Sir Theophilus Shepstone being supported at Pretoria, the Transvaal capital, by the presence of twenty-five policemen. Soon afterward the principal Transvaal officials, Paul Krüger among them, accepted office under the British government; the only Boer official refusing British favors being Petrus Jacobus Joubert, the late Vice President of the Transvaal Republic and Commandant-General of its military forces. President Burgers retired to Cape Colony. Act of Annexa tion. Boer bility for Annexation. Thus, after an independent existence of twenty-five years (1852– 1877), the first Transvaal Republic was extinguished by annexation to ResponsiBritish South Africa. Its unfortunate end was the fault of its own people, being the result of its helpless situation in consequence of its defenseless condition against powerful native negro tribes whom its people had wronged, and in consequence of its bankrupt treasury, caused by years of civil war and anarchy and by wars with its kindred neighbor, the Orange Free State, and with the powerful neighboring native black tribes. nate Result for Great Britain. This action of Great Britain in coming to the rescue of the Trans- Unfortuvaal Boers to save them from extermination by the negro tribes whose people they had enslaved and massacred was the greatest and most unfortunate of all the mistakes which she ever had made in South Africa, as it involved her in bloody wars with the Zulus, the Kaffirs and other negro tribes under the leadership of Cetywayo and Sikukuni, which cost her ten million pounds sterling (about fifty million dollars) and many precious British lives, besides the two wars which she since has waged against the Boers themselves, which also cost her heavily in blood and treasure, for all of which she received no thanks, as we shall soon see. Thus, politically and in a military point of view, Great Britain's rescue of the Boers was a great blunder, of which she since has sadly reaped the fruits. Her correct policy in 1877 would have been not to interfere in favor of the Boers, but to allow the negro tribes whom they had outraged to wipe them entirely out of existence, as that would have been just retribution for their outrageous and inhuman treatment of the negroes, and as it would have saved Great Britain the thousands of precious lives and the millions of money which she sacrificed in the wars with the Zulus and the Kaffirs in 1879, the war with the Boers in 1881 and the last great war with the Boers. Had she allowed the negro tribes to wipe the Boers entirely off the face of the earth in 1877 there would have been no Transvaal Boers left to fight her in 1880-'81 and 1899-1902. It was very foolish and suicidal for Great Britain to save Boers in 1877-79 so that they would be left to fight her in 1880–281 and 1899-1902. Transvaal Prosperity under British War Zulus. SECTION III.-THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH THE difficulties of the Transvaal immediately ended upon its annexation to British South Africa. The interest on the public debt was paid, and the civil service was reorganized. An influx of traders and others willing to invest capital and energy under the guarantee of the British flag brought an era of industrial prosperity to the Transvaal. The British troops who occupied the country protected it against negro risings. In consequence of protecting the Transvaal Boers against exterminawith the tion by the Zulus under Cetywayo, the British became involved in a bloody war with that warlike and powerful negro nation which lasted several years, ending in 1879, in the conquest of the Zulus and the capture of Cetywayo, the war costing the British eight million pounds sterling (about forty million dollars in United States money)—a war altogether brought about in the first place by Boer aggressions on the Zulus. Boers Saved from The British also broke the power of the Kaffirs under Sikukuni, thus saving the Boers from annihilation by another powerful negro tribe, Extermi- whom they likewise had wronged; and by the close of 1879 all the nation by dangers which had menaced the existence of the Transvaal Boers had Annexa- been removed in consequence of the annexation of the Transvaal to British South Africa, thus restoring order, peace, prosperity and abundant revenue to the country. British tion. Boers British Rule. The happy turn in the affairs of the Transvaal caused a great Tired of change in the sentiment of the Transvaal Boers. They now had reaped all the benefits and profited by all the advantages of annexation. Great Britain had crushed their black foes at her own expense and had paid all the Transvaal's debts out of her own pocket, so they had no further used for Great Britain. They gladly had accepted all these favors in the time of their distress; and, having been put on their feet again through British aid and protection, they coolly resolved to throw Great Britain overboard. Great Britain was good enough for them to save them from destruction and pay for it out of her own pocket and at the cost of the lives of her own people, and that was all they wanted. Having willingly sacrificed their independence to obtain all the Petition benefits and advantages of annexation, and having now obtained these pendence. benefits and advantages, the Boers again longed for the independence which they had given up so readily a few years before. The very annexationists among the Boers in 1877 became the independents in 1880. They accordingly prepared a monster petition with six thou Boer for Inde |