Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-04-17
AFRIcA'S UNREST.
England May Have to Reckon With an
Uprisinq Of Natives.

we IlOt lOO lLhPoA
tance should be attached to the pres
ent native trouble in Natal. So fal
as the facts appear, the disturbance:
would seem to be isolated and incon.
siderable. A poll tax has been re.
Gently introduced into that colony tC
supplement the hut tax, and is levied
upon the young bloods Of the tribe
who have kraals of their own
About fourteen miles from Pieter'
maritzburg there Is a small settle
ment of Christianized Kaffirs be-
longing to the Mvelis tribe, who an.
nounced their intention of resisting
the new levy. Accordingly, when or
Friday week a detachment of Nata
police were sent to collect 1t, some
forty natives ambushed the party
and In the fight which followed ar
Inspector and a trooper were killed
and another inspector was wounded
The rest made their escape, martial
ing day strong force Of Natal Car.
bineers went out to find the murder
ers, who had fled to the difficult bush
country around the source Of the
TInkomas river. Imperial troops
were offered from the Transvaal to
supplement the resources of the local
authorities. The other native tribes
have remained quiet and the Mvelis
chief has volunteered to assist in the
capture of the offenders, who are
said not to exceed fifty in number
So far the trouble seems nothing
more than a violent breach of the
peace by a few unruly natives. The
only sinister facts in the case are that
the Mvelis are Christianized, and ap-
parently under the influence of the
Ethiopian movement. Hitherto II
had been believed that Natal was al
most exempt from all ill-omened
propaganda, but II rumor speaks
true, it shows that 1t has wider rami-
fications than was supposed, and is
capable Of stirring It's votaries to
active rebellion.
The Importance of the event is the
light 1t casts on the position Of the
white population in South Africa.
We think and speak Of the sub-conti-
nent as a white mans country"
and SO 1t is II we look at its capacity
for supporting a prosperous white
race. But on the facts at the moment
the whites are small settlement in
the midst of a dense native popula-
ton. II such population should
combine to rise against their white
masters. obviously the risk Of anni-
hilation would be of the gravest. Ma
tai perhaps Is In the worst position.
She has no imperial troops and her
active militia do not exceed $500
men. The task of garrisoning towns
and villages, quite apart from that
Of conducting operations in the field,
would be beyond her power. She
has a purely native population of
over 100000, exclusive of Indians and
colored people, while the white race
does not exceed some $1,000, Or about
one-tenth of the whole. Elsewhere
in South Africa the disproportion II
not equally great, is yet more re-
markable. In Cape Colony three
fourths are colored and three-flfths
are pure Kaffirs. In the Orange Riv-
er Colony the natives are twice the
number of whites. In the Transvaal
the proportion is three to one, in
Rhodesia fifty to one. Then we have
the nativ reserves Of Swaziland,
Rasutoland and the Bechuanaland
Protectorate, where the white popu-
lation is about 5000 all told and the
native population more than $4,000.
Nor can we omit, in considering the
strategical features Of the situation,
the natives In the German and Portu-
gese possessions, who number at least
100000. In South Africa, therefore,
south of Zambese, the nations may
be taken as outnumbering the
whites by fiice to one. If there
should rise a leader among this vast
pople, or IL some commomn griev-
ance against their white masters
should coerce them into unity,
It is hard to see what could save
South African civilization except a
long and terrible determination OF
the malcontinents.
Those who take a hopeful view OF
the situation base their argument on
two grounds-the distance in space
from one blank space to another and
the strongly marked racial differ
ences. In Cape Colony the bulk Of the
natives are segregated in the Tran
skeian territories, and elsewhere they
are mere knots of farm laborers and
souatters. Basutoland Is separated
from Bechuanaland by some hun
dred of miles and from Rhodesia by
a thousand. In the Transvaal the ma
tives live for the most part in re-
serve at great distances from each
other. Swaziland, Basutoland and
Zululand are the only important ma
tive centers, and they are command
ed strategically by the white districts.
In the second place 1t is argued that
race hatred Is as strong between ma
dives as 1t can be between black and
white. Ever since Tchaka used his
Zulu imps to scatter the old popula-
tions Of the weld there has been an
abiding distrust between tribe and
tribe. The Swat has no dealings
with the Basuto; the Cape Colony
Kaffirs have nothing in common with
the Matabele; the tribes or the
northern Transvaal are despised by
the Zulus. In case Of tribal uprls-
ing it Is maintained, 1t would be easy
to keep the other tribes quiet and SO
isolate the offenders. 1t Is further
pointed out that in many parts or the
country the natives are without fire
arms, and that the assegias and knob
kerries which were so deadly fifty
wears ago, would stand small chance
against modern weapons Of precision,
however few the white defenders.
Further, long years of peace have de-
stroyed, save in Basutoland, any mil
itary organization, and the decay of
hunting has deprived the native OF his
veldt-craft and hardihood. All this is