Part 2 (1/2)
2.--_The English in South Africa._
Dr. Kuyper cannot forgive the English their occupation of the Cape. Yet, they had only followed the example of the Dutch who, during their war with Spain, 1568-1648, had seized the greater portion of the Portuguese colonies, because Portugal had been an ally of Spain. Holland had been forced into an alliance with France, and in exactly the same way, in 1794 and 1806, England seized the Cape. In 1814 she bought it from the Prince of Orange. Dr. Kuyper does not deny that the price was paid, but remarks that it did not replenish the coffers of the prince. Be that as it may, the treaty is none the less valid, and the ”Pet.i.tion of Rights”
begins by protesting against ”the action of the King of Holland who, in 1814, had ceded Cape Colony to England in exchange for Belgium.” The English valued the newly acquired colony only as a naval station; they did not endeavour to extend the territory they occupied. Professor Bryce clearly shows in his ”Impressions of South Africa” that if England had enlarged her possessions it had been in despite of herself, and solely to ensure their safety; although, from the treatise ”Great Britain and the Dutch Republics,” published in _The Times_, and reproduced in _Le Siecle_, it is evident that she had always considered that her rights in South Africa extended to the frontier of the Portuguese possessions; that is to say, to the 25 of lat.i.tude, in which lat.i.tude Delagoa Bay is situated.
Dr. Kuyper begins by himself putting us somewhat on our guard concerning his feelings towards England; for, not only does he decline to forgive her the occupation of Cape Colony, but also her triumph over Holland in the eighteenth century.
”Nowhere had resentment against 'perfide Albion' penetrated national feeling more deeply than in the Netherlands. Between the Dutch and English characters there is absolute incompatibility.”
As a rule, I attach little faith to such generalities; in this case, I am sure, rightly. Forgetting his dictum of ”absolute incompatibility”
(p. 449), Dr. Kuyper, at p. 520, shows that, as far as he is concerned, it is only relative; for in speaking of England, he goes on to say:--
”Were I not a Dutchman, I should prefer to be one of her sons. Her habitual veracity is above suspicion; the sense of duty and justice is innate in her. Her const.i.tutional inst.i.tutions are universally imitated. Nowhere else do we find the sense of self-respect more largely developed.”
Dr. Kuyper further admits that the ”incompatibility” is relative as far as Afrikanders are concerned, it is only ”absolute” as applied to the Boers. After giving us this example of the consistency of his views, Dr.
Kuyper speaks of the English as being ”un.o.bservant.” A reproach somewhat unexpected, when directed against the countrymen of Darwin. As a proof, he presents us with this metaphor, equally unexpected from the pen of a Dutchman--a dweller of the plains:--
”Because, in winter, the English had only seen in these insignificant river beds a harmless thread of frozen water, they took no thought of the formidable torrent which the thawing of the snow, in spring, would send rus.h.i.+ng down to inundate their banks.”
”The torrent” is of course the war now going on. Lord Roberts seems to be successfully coping with the ”inundation.”
3.--_”The Crime.”_
Dr. Kuyper approves of the ”Pet.i.tion of Rights” of 1881. It sets forth that the South African Dutch do not recognise the cession made by the King of Holland in 1814; it does not admit that he had the right to ”sell them like a flock of sheep.” There have been Boers in rebellion since 1816.
One of these was a man named Bezuidenhout. In resisting a Sheriff who tried to arrest him, he was shot. His friends summoned to their aid a Kaffir Chief, named Gaika. The English authorities condemned five of the insurgents to be hanged. The rope broke. They were hanged over again.
Dr. Kuyper, and the ”Pet.i.tion of Rights” found their indictment of the British upon this event which they denominate ”the Crime.” The scene of the execution was named ”Slachtersnek,” ”hill of slaughter.”
This act of repression was violent, but it may possibly have been indispensable. At any rate, it bears but a very far off relation to the events of to-day. Dr. Kuyper in resuscitating, and laying stress upon it, follows a method well known in rhetoric; he begins by discrediting his adversary. However, despite his good intentions, he has not increased our admiration for the Boers by pointing out to us that the most serious grievances they can allege against the English are the protection accorded by the latter to the natives and slaves, and the final emanc.i.p.ation of the latter.
4.--_British Sphere of Influence in 1838._
In a few lines Dr. Kuyper draws a conventional picture of British policy with regard to the Boers, making it out to be ever greedy of power. The contrary is the truth. A vacillating and timid policy has been England's great mistake in South Africa; it is this very vacillation that has brought about the present war.
Dr. Kuyper bitterly reproaches the English for having in 1842, six years after the Great Trek, claimed those emigrants as British subjects. The Great Trek was similar to the emigration of the Mormons. The United States have never admitted that they were at liberty to found a separate State within the limits of the national possessions. If on the same ground alone English had proclaimed their suzeranity over the Boers who were endeavouring to form States in Natal, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal, they would have been perfectly within their rights; but Dr. Kuyper forgets that as far back as 1836 England promulgated the _Cape of Hope Punishment Act_. The object of that Act was to repress crimes committed by whites under English dominion throughout the whole of South Africa, as far north as the 25 South Lat.i.tude; that is, as far as the Portuguese frontier; and it is so thoroughly imbued with that idea, that it specially excepts any Portuguese territory south of that lat.i.tude. It is thus proved that with the exception of the portions occupied by the Portuguese, England claimed, as comprised within her sphere of influence, the whole of the remaining South African territory.
A certain number of Boers, irreconcilably opposed to British rule, so fully recognised this, that they trekked as far as Delagoa Bay. Another object of the Act was the protection of the Natives against the Boers.
The constantly recurring and sanguinary conflicts between the Boers and the Zulus led England to extend her direct sovereign rights to Natal for the peace, protection and good government of all cla.s.ses of men, who may have settled in the interior or vicinity of this important part of South Africa.
5.--_England, the Transvaal, and the Orange Free State._
Far from being anxious to a.s.sume direct control over these territories, the Cape Government for a long time disregarded the pet.i.tions for annexation addressed to it by the inhabitants of Durban; until one fine day, a Dutch vessel laden with provisions for the Boers, arriving in Port Natal, the Captain, Smellekamp, took it upon himself to a.s.sure them of the protection of the King of Holland. Thereupon, England established a small garrison under the command of Captain Smith. It was attacked by the Boers; a volunteer, named d.i.c.k King, contrived to make his escape from the town, and after an adventurous journey reached Grahamstown.
Troops were despatched by the Government, and it was incorporated with the Cape Colony; some of the Boers left Natal, some remained; their descendants are there to-day.
In 1848 the Government entered into a series of treaties known as the ”Napier Treaties,” for the const.i.tution of Native States extending from Pondoland, on the frontiers of Natal, to the district of which Kimberley forms the centre (see _Great Britain and the Dutch Republics_). Great Britain demanded no more than peace and guarantees of security on her frontiers. Dr. Kuyper himself admits this, when he sums up in the following sentence, the history of the emanc.i.p.ation of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.