Evening star., 1909-06-06
SOUTH AFRICA, A NEW NATION

less surprises. Yesterday II was the
peaceful revolution of
Latest Turkey. the evolution
from the old to the new;
S"i ipiiSe' again it's counter revolu
ton, and then again Its miraculous res
toration despite the crafty genius of the
wicked Abdul Hamid. Today South
Africa challenges our credulty. for who
could imagine that Boer and Briton might
ever conjoin to establish a South African
union? And yet unanimous report
by the South African national con-
vention has been published announcing
the establishment of national South
African government.
The question is one that Is almost as
sudden and unexpected as meteor that
shoots out from clear sky. and occa-
sions almost as much surprise in South
Africa itself as In England. which will
be called upon after the reference to the
referendum at Natal to accept or reject
the nation born OF the convention at
Bloemfontein.
The Outlook of London writes: "A
great factor has been added to the I'M
perial system. To South Africa herself
the result must be momentous. The jar
ring war of interests and the interstate
jealousies which have crippled her trade
and checked her expansion are over.
Fluctuating conditions Of commerce cre-
ated by frequent revisions Of customs
tariffs and railway rates will give place
to more equable conditions and will gen
crate greater commercial stability. The
maritime states will exchange a financial
situation of extreme insecurity for a po-
sition in which development will not be
hindered at every step by carking worry
and pecuniary embarrassment. Projects
of national development will no longer be
handicapped by narrow and parochial
politics which hung Improbable schemes
like millstones on the neck Of the COM
munity. The union, therefore, is sub
ject of congratulation."
commenced among the commercial men
of the four chief prov
Commercial inces-the Cape Of Good
Hope, Natal. the Orange
An1tlatlVe. River state and the
Transvaal The authority. 1t is proposed,
is to be vested in a governor general ap-
pointed by King Edward at q salary of
SOC, 900 per annum. The king appoints
eight senators. The colonies elect each
eight others, making forty. These sena-
tors hold office during ten years. The
lower house consists of 121 members
elected on the basis of population for a
term Of five years. The governor general
appoints cabinet officers who tshall be
members Of the executive council and
who shall have a voice, but no vote. In
eit4e house of parliament. All financial
bills shall originate in the assembly, but
it may not appropriate any money unless
first recommended by the governor
general.
The governor general likewise appoints
judges Of the supreme court of South
Africa and the judges of the provinces.
The members of the provincial council
are appointed for term of three years.
senator shall be Of European descent
and worth 5000 of unincumbered real
his seat is vacated at once. All members
of the parliament are to be white men of
European descent. 1t denies the right OF
suffrage to negroes, except as to those in
the Cape Colony who are holders of real
estate. 1t is worthy OF remark. however,
that the constitution would have watch
full care Of the native negroes. 1t pro-
vides that four of the eight senators ap-
pointed by the governor general shall be
selected because of their thorough ac-
quaintance and official experience with
the wishes and wants OF the colored races
Of South Africa.
X
Gen. de villa,rs. now attorney general,
once a valiant defender of the Boer cause.
recently said: South At
Hint to rica should present a
Dreadnought to the en-
oeIhahy' pire, but a better gift
would be a unified South Africa And
he added with bitterness at the recolec-
ton of the historical Kruger dispatch:
This Is a fitting time to say that in the
all unlikely or improbable. a certain
European power which thinks it might
look for help from a portion OF the In
ha bitants of South Africa would look In
vain. 1t would find all South Africans
standing four square with the rest of the
empire
The subject of Greater South Africa"
was discussed at length at a meeting
of the Royal Colonial Institute in Lon
don April g. 1909. Among others, Sir
Lewis Mitchell read a paper which con-
veys a lesson to all governments engaged
in colonial enterprises. The Royal Co.
lonial is a sort of free institution where
things may be said which. however dis
agreeable to government. inure in the end
to the good of government 1t is, in
fact, sort of private colonial congress.
Washington should possess a like CO.
lonial center, which might take the title
of the American Colonial Association.
Sir Lewis Michel explained in the COM
mencement the legal and moral claims
of Great Britain to ownership OF South
Africa. To any one but Briton. it may
be remarked, the claims are not very
clearly established.
The speaker recalled the war which
France declared against Great Britain
and Holland in 1893, and In 1895 that at
the demand of the Prince of Orange, a
fugitive in England. the latter sent arm
ed forces and occupied the Cape of Good
Hope. Early in 1903, under the pro-
visions of the peace of Amiens, England
relinauished her hold and restored the
| colony to the Dutch. But on January
| 10. 1906. Great Britain again occupied
Cape Town.
With apparent frankness the speaker
presented the Dutch side of the question.
They were the -.rst set
The Dutch tiers and had been in
possession since 1857.
spirit. with their weapons in
their hands and the Old Testament in
their wagon. they and their wives and
children literally fought their way in
land. They were freemen. Taxation
was tyranny. Again and again the
British government attacked them and
they "trekked.' I'VE acquired the odous
habit of annexing their territory, restor-
ing 1t and annexing 1t again. Thy had
not that deep reverence for parliament
airy government. which l venture to as
sumo is held by all my hearers tonight.
that t.ey never knew ours" The speak
er passed in review the Zand river con-
yention Of 1852 the clerk convention Of
1854, the Aliwal convention of 1863. the
Basutoland annexation act Of 1871. the
Pretoria convention of 1881, the Keate
award, the Warren expedition and the
London convention. These are but a few