THE BOER REBELLION.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 23 March 1881, Page 2

THE BOER REBELLION.

[Christcbureh Press.) Hie Boer Kebellion, as the outbreak in the Transvaal .is called, with very questionable justice or propriety, is rapidly assuming a large degree of political importance. It is not really a re* bellion at all, but is simply a war reso.lt- ' ing from the determination of Great ; Britain to annex the whole territory of a previously friendly State. The politU : cal position of the South African settlei | meats is so little nnderstood that many > I people suppose the Boers of the Transvaal to be British subjects in the same sense that the Boers of the Cape Colony or the French Creoles of the Mauritius are British subjects. The Trnnsvaal, in. short, is confounded with the Dutch colonies, which came to us by right of conquest at the beginning of the present century. Such, however, is by no means the case. The Transvaal Republic is an indc pendent State, founded in 1848 by Dutch Boers, who preferred \o make a home for themselves in the wilderness, rather than remain under our rule, as it then was. at the* Cape of Good Hope. The Boern of Natal did exactly the same thing when, they founded the Orange Free States, and there is nothing that we are aware of, to prevent any people from doing so, provideJ they can arrange mat* ters with the original inhabitants of the country where they choose to establish themselves. For five and twenty years the Transyaal enjoyed its independence and made very fair progress, and during all that time nobody pretended that Great Britain had any claim either upon its territory or upon the allegiance of its inhabitants. It is only within the last three or four years that sach a claim has been set up, and it certainly has not to this day been established in any sort of conclusive way. The Transvaal was nominally " annexed,'" that is to say, it w»s proclaimed to be British territory, as part of a policy of which Sir Theophilus Shepstone was the chief exponent, arid the ostensible object of which was to draw together the European states of South Africa, with a view to establish' ing satisfactory relations with the Dative peoples. The semblance of a plebiscite was taken on the question of annexation, but there is no doubt that the Boers were dead against it from the beginning and that they have never consented to it, either by public announcement or by the act of submission. The truth is, that the proposal made to them for coming under British rule was never given effect to. The essence of that proposal was, first, that the Boers should voluntarily abandon the independence of the Transvaal, Bnd secondly, that they should have a representative Government of their own under the Empire. Neither of these things has been done. The Boers did not resist the I British occupation ; but neither did they consent to it. They were quite a peace* ful people at that time, with a strong attachment to the British arising from the common danger from the native races; and when Sir Tbe->ihi[us Shepstone proclaimed the annexation of the Transvaal, the Boers, through their pres!» dent Burgers, expressly declared that they only submitted in order to prevent bloodshed, at the same time protesting in the most earnest terms against the depi ivation of their national rights. They at once appealed to the Imperial Govern* ment, and to this day they have never ceased to demand the restitution of iheir independence. As for representative government, there has never been anything of the sort since the Boer Volkraad ceased to sit. British rule has been ropresented simply a council of irresponsible officers, who did exactly what they pleased; and otherwise there has been no government at all. It is true that Sir Bartle Frere asserted the au« thority of the Queen when he visited the Transvaal, and that he was at least respectfully treated by the inhabitants But there are two circumstances con» vected with his visit which should not be lost sight of, First, the Boers were in considerable fear of the Zulus, whore quarrel with the British in Natal placed all the white settlers of the interior in imminent danger. To a certain extent the BoeJs, but more particularly tbe timid inhabitants of the towns, looked to tbe British for protection, Secondly, Sir Bartle Frere freely promised that the wrongs of the Transvaal should be remedied. The apparent submission of the Boers at that time, therefore, amounted to nothing more than a temporary postponement of the question of annexation, pending the Zulu war, and the consideration of the claims of the Transvaal by the Imperial Government. Undoubtedly the conclusion of the Zulu war ought, on every ground of justice and policy, to | *.

have been followed by tlie complete re-, establishment of the independence of the Transvaal, on terms of friendship and co-operation with the neighboring British colonies. Instead of that, however, the outrageous course was pursued of treating the Transvaal Eepublic as if it had been a conqnred country. The liberties of the peoplo were entirely taken from them. The promises made at tho so-called annexation, continued to be wholly ignored, and the Government was left in the bands of British officer?, some of whom certainly were quite unfis to be entrusted with arbitary power*. Collisions naturally enough ensued and it remains quite uncertain whether the officers or the people were responsible for the acfu.ll catastrophe. Suffice it to say i hat the Boers found British rule under such conditions intolerable, and that a long series of disputes led at last to tlit> disturbance at Potcbefetroom, where tie British troops fired on the pepulace. After that, of course, the insurrection spread like wild»fire, and the British be* ing in miserably small force, tbe Boera easily regained possession of their country. Now, after losing a great number of officers, and about tbe strength oC one whole regiment of men, the Imperial Government are sending out . a powerful army to eonquor a country which they have no more right to than they have to France.