Transvaal (South Africa) -- History -- War of 1880-1881
hereditary, and is partly induced by the history of many a bloody
struggle. Also the native hates the Boer fully as much as the Boer
hates the native, though with better reason. Now native labour is a
necessity to the Boer, because he will not as a rule do hard manual
labour himself, and there must be some one to plant and garner the
crops and herd the cattle. On the other hand, the natives are not
anxious to serve the Boers, which means little or no pay and plenty of
thick stick, and sometimes worse. The result of this state of affairs
is that the Boer often has to rely on forced labour to a very great
extent. But this is a thing that an English Government will not
tolerate, and the consequence is that under its rule he cannot get the
labour that is necessary to him.
Then there is the tax question. If he lives under the English flag the
money has to be paid regularly, but under his own Government he pays or
not as he likes. It was this habit of his of refusing payment of taxes
that brought the Republic into difficulties in 1877, and that will ere
long bring it into trouble again. He cannot understand that cash is
necessary to carry on a Government, and looks upon a tax as though it
were so much money stolen from him. These things are the real springs
of the "sturdy independence" and the patriotism of the ordinary
Transvaal farmer. Doubtless there are some who are really patriotic;
for instance, one of their leaders, Paul Kruger. But with the majority,
patriotism is only another word for unbounded license and forced
labour.
These remarks must not be taken to apply to the Cape Boers, who are a
superior class of men, since they, living under a settled and civilised
Government, have been steadily improving, whilst their cousins, living
every man for his own hand, have been deteriorating. The old
Voortrekkers, the fathers and grandfathers of the Transvaal Boer of
to-day, were, without doubt, a very fine set of men, and occasionally
you may in the Transvaal meet individuals of the same stamp whom it is
a pleasure to know. But these are generally men of a certain age, with
some experience of the world; the younger men are very objectionable in
their manners.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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