Transvaal (South Africa) -- History; Transvaal (South Africa) -- Politics and government
"Throughout the land there are juries"; yes, but juries made up of Boers
who try Uitlanders, treat them as enemies, and find that the policeman
Jones acted rightly in killing Edgar. That way of constituting a jury is
a certainty of injustice to the Uitlanders, and not a guarantee of
justice.
President Krueger promised to do something for the municipal organisation
of Johannesburg; this is how he keeps his promise. Each division of that
town elects two members, a Burgher and an Uitlander; according to the
last census, the burghers living in Johannesburg, numbered 1,039; the
Uitlanders 23,503; thus 1,039 burghers had as many representatives in
the municipal Corporation as the 23,503 Uitlanders. The Mayor, who was
nominated by the Government, had the right of absolute veto.
In modern law there exists a principle introduced by England, which is
the true basis of representative Government: "no representation, no
taxation." It is the right of every citizen who contributes to the taxes
to approve of them and to control the use of them.
In autocratic governments, he has no such right. In oligarchic
governments, the governing class imposes burdens upon those it governs.
This is the case in the Transvaal.
In an oligarchy, taxes are not levied with a view to the general good of
the community, but for the benefit of the ruling class; and this is the
political conception of the Boers.
Dr. Kuyper says, in speaking of the Uitlanders:
"No one invited them here; they came of their own accord."
Therefore they possess the right to be taxed, but nothing else.
Dr. Kuyper's assertion is not strictly correct; for he forgets the
invitation addressed by Mr. Krueger, in London in 1884, to all who were
willing to take their abilities and their capital to the Transvaal, in
which he promised them rights of citizenship and assured them of his
protection.
But the matter of invitation is of little account. Let us allow that
there was no invitation. Neither did Fra Diavolo invite the travellers
he despoiled; _ergo._, according to Dr. Kuyper, he had the right to
despoil them. The Uitlanders are travellers, at whose expense the
government of Pretoria has the right to live, and to support the Boers.
Such is plainly the idea of Mr. Krueger and of the majority of the 29
members of the Volksraad, and we shall see that that idea underlies the
whole of its political economy.
Mr. Krueger was, however, in error in supposing that he could practise
this system indefinitely in these times of ours, and with respect to the
citizens of a country which represents the modern conception of
industrial civilization.
Professor Bryce, a strong opponent of the present policy of England,
says in his _Impressions of South Africa_ (p. 470):
"A country must after all take its character from the large
majority of its inhabitants, especially when those who form that
majority are the wealthiest, most educated, and most enterprising
part of the population."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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