‘But, Steve, why are you such an intense Republican? why will you not be satisfied to live under the English flag? Then you would have the right to call upon the whole British Empire to protect you. Then you would be a member of the greatest nation on earth. Then you can say, “I am a subject to a queen upon whose dominions the sun never sets.” Is not that better than to have a second-rate republic, with no traditions older than say twenty years; with hardly any literature at all; what more would you have than I have said you would have as a British subject?’ ‘We would be FREE!’ was Steve’s curt reply. ‘Free! what is the good of being free in a country like this? As I have said, you can only hope to have a second-rate republic, the population of which at best is but a mongrel race.’ ‘A mongrel race!’ echoed Steve. ‘We _are_ a mixed race, if you like, but a mixture of the best blood of Europe. In our veins run the best blood of France, Holland and Germany. We are descended from heroes; our forefathers have been heroes ever since they left their ancestral homes in Europe for religion and principle: and we are heroes to-day, struggling, as we are, for national existence and freedom, and that against the mightiest empire on earth, as you describe it; but justice and right must prevail in the end. A mongrel race, you say? A race, I say, that has the grandest future before them of any race upon earth. Look at them; toiling sons of Nature! Do they not remind you of the rough diamonds dug out in Kimberley? hardy, strong, persevering, unpretending, but God-fearing as they are. Look at the few of them that have received the least bit of polish. Do they not shine enough to blind your eyes as you look upon them? Wait till they have all been polished and rubbed into shape, and then you will see what a race of men God has raised in this wilderness?’ Steve’s eyes were shining with enthusiasm. He seemed to see in imagination the future he was describing. ‘You have made out a very good case for your people as a nation, Steve, but what will you do with all the Englishmen in South Africa if it should become an Afrikander republic, as you seem to wish and hope? Will you drive them out of the country, or will you let them live an Uitlander race for ever here, as this Government is doing now? Will you exclude them from your future great South African nation?’ ‘Decidedly not. We should be only too pleased to have them unite with us. I don’t know why they should remain Imperialistic for ever. In America they did not remain so! _There_ they have united with other nationalities; why should they not do so here? Anyone who desires to become an Afrikander, be he English, Dutch, German, French, or even Russian by birth, all we should wish of them will be to have one object with us in promoting the happiness and peace of Republican South Africa.’ ‘In short, they may be of whatever European nationality they like, but they must be for _Republicanism_?’ ‘Even so!’