[Footnote 4:  “A Century of Injustice.”]

CHAPTER II.

ENGLISH AND BOERS.[5]

1.—­The Ideal of the Boers.

No French Pro-Boer has reproduced the portrait I have published, as given by Dr. Kuyper.  It disturbs the conception presented to their readers by journalists, whose dishonesty is only equalled by their ignorance.  Quoting his own statements, I have shown Boer relations with the natives; I will now proceed to show their relations with the English.

In addition to Dr. Kuyper’s evidence, I will avail myself of a document from Boer sources:  The Petition of Rights, addressed to the President of the Orange Free State, February 17th, 1881, and bearing Krueger’s name at the head of the list of signatures.  This document clearly shows not only the manner in which Boers write history, but also that, five years before the discovery of the Gold Mines, they cherished as their ideal, not only the preservation of their independence, but the driving out of the English from all South Africa:  “From the Zambesi to Simon’s Bay, Africa for the Afrikanders!” This is the rallying cry with which the document ends, and we find it repeated by Dr. Reitz, as the concluding words of his pamphlet, “A Century of Injustice.”

[Footnote 5:  Le Siecle, March 23rd, 1900.]

2.—­The English in South Africa.

Dr. Kuyper cannot forgive the English their occupation of the Cape.  Yet, they had only followed the example of the Dutch who, during their war with Spain, 1568-1648, had seized the greater portion of the Portuguese colonies, because Portugal had been an ally of Spain.  Holland had been forced into an alliance with France, and in exactly the same way, in 1794 and 1806, England seized the Cape.  In 1814 she bought it from the Prince of Orange.  Dr. Kuyper does not deny that the price was paid, but remarks that it did not replenish the coffers of the prince.  Be that as it may, the treaty is none the less valid, and the “Petition of Rights” begins by protesting against “the action of the King of Holland who, in 1814, had ceded Cape Colony to England in exchange for Belgium.”  The English valued the newly acquired colony only as a naval station; they did not endeavour to extend the territory they occupied.  Professor Bryce clearly shows in his “Impressions of South Africa” that if England had enlarged her possessions it had been in despite of herself, and solely to ensure their safety; although, from the treatise “Great Britain and the Dutch Republics,” published in The Times, and reproduced in Le Siecle, it is evident that she had always considered that her rights in South Africa extended to the frontier of the Portuguese possessions; that is to say, to the 25 deg. of latitude, in which latitude Delagoa Bay is situated.

Dr. Kuyper begins by himself putting us somewhat on our guard concerning his feelings towards England; for, not only does he decline to forgive her the occupation of Cape Colony, but also her triumph over Holland in the eighteenth century.