Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1899-11-02
FUTURE OF THE rRANsvAAL.
How the Beers viii be Treated After the
War is Over.

War is Over.
London Spectator
We do not want to shout before we are
out of the woods, but it is ilnpossible, even
though the first shot has not yet been
fired, to shut out wholly from ones mind
the consideration of what is to be done
when the war is over. Itwould, of course,
be most unwise to go into detail at the
present moment, but one or two general
propositions may, we think, be laid down
which should be kept in view by the
nation. To begin with, we must remem-
Der that the cry raised by Mr.. Morley and
others as to the terrible difficulties with
which we shall be faced even after ne
have conquered the Transvaal is based
upon delusion. Mr.. Merely apparently
forgels that after the war, and when the
unhappy people who have been driven
from their homes in johannesburg have
returned, the Transvaal will be one Of the
most British parts of South Africa.
MIR. Morley talks as if the difficulty
would be to maintain the Outlanders in
the position of equality we have won for
them. In reality the difficulty will be to
arrange that the Beers minority shall have
reasonable amount of influence on the
Government of the country. Granted
that we win, we shall, of course, as soon
as the last sparks of the war have been
trodden out, begin TO reorganize the State.
We shall no doubt do that by ultimately
establishing the freest possible form OF
self.government known to the Empire
taking care, of course, that the Beers
rights rs to representation and the con-
current use of their language are fully
guarded and protected, for we are not
going to turn the Beers into Outlanders.
Our object is to establish racial equality,
not racial predominance.
Perhaps the best way of ensurlng that
the Beers should suffer no disparity OF
treatment from the recently emanCipated
Outlanders would be to merge the Orange
Free State with the Transvaal, and thus
make the disparity of numbers in the
case of the Dutch less CONSPICUOUS. But
that ls obviously a matter not to be de-
cided off.hand. All that we want to in
sist on is that. as far as the Transvaal is
concerned, the talk about holding down an
unwilling province by military rule, and
loreboding, to our failure, are nonsense.
Once give the Outlanders-remember 1t
will be all the Outlanders, and not only
those who came before 1S94-votes and
allow them arms, and there will be no
more question Of holding down hostile
province than there is in Natal. The
Transvaal, in fact, will be another Natal.
After the war is over there will, no
doubt, be at once flood Of talk as to the
unifcation of the various provinces OF
South Africa into one great Dominion.
Unquestionably, that is the ideal goal,
the ultimate aspiration. Whether, how
ever, it would be wise to force it on in a
moment of crisis and reconstruction is a
different matter. Personally, we should
say that SO greatly to de desired consul
nation ought not to be put in jeopardy by
an action that might seem rash or horrid.
TO succeed, federation must be really de-
sired by all the constituent parts. We
would therefore wait until the period of
Reconstruction" had been got over in the
States now governed by the Beers, in order
that we might be sure that we had its
authentic voice, not something spoken in
heat OF enthusiasm, and possibly to please
the Imperial Government. The Imperial
Government wants federation, no doubt,
but only If all South Africa wants it also
for we want it not for our own sakes, but
solely for the good of South Africa.