THE SOUTH AFRICAN REBELLION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2283, 17 October 1914, Page 10

THE SOUTH AFRICAN REBELLION

THE NATIVE DANGER

(By J. F.'Hirst.)

There appears to bo a general conisensus of'_ opinion in this country that the Union Government will quickly crush the rebellion that has broken out in the North-West Province of Cape Colony. "While I will-not enter inwi detail on the matter, it must be "borne in mind that the country,in which the. operations are being conducted is. a vast one, stretching on every hand in almost unbroken and extremely impressive solitude for hundreds und hundrods ol miles, diversified by outcrops of diorite and dolorit© rock, the famous "kopje" of war literature; that.,,the, dying embers of revolt have recently been fanned into liame by the ftntiBritislr propaganda of.. General Hertzog and his .satellites; that tho present rebellion is the result of a carcfullyeiigiueefed campaign, arid/that ..the Gerr man the "Cape Times" estimates at 10,000 —is. furnished ivith all the latest patterns of artillery lnan-slaying devices. The rebellion is a serious matter, and will take some time to. utterly suppress. But the Goyciriiment have already demonstrated, by th'eir manipulation of tho great industrial upheavals' of the present year, and in.questions affecting native 'insubordination, that they are not to be'played with, and that condign." punishment awaits .those who' tamper.with the country's institutions or who seek to; disturb'the peaceful' development of the Onion. • : ;

I'hb present crisis brings once more into "prominence what is known as , the natiyo danger; Up till. that period, when the South African Republic and tlie Orange l |- reo' State "'were- merged permanently into the British Enipiro, the. native races were_ little better "off ttiah "wero the Israelites under the Egyptians;' they ■• were' the hewers of wood and: drawers of water' for tljeir overlords, the Dutch; they were the victims of harsh and cruel treatment, and always subject to the vengeful pas-, eions'of their taskmasters. ■ AYithiiv the' past ton years the position of'the iiulu and the Basuto, to mention two races only, Has appreciably improved, but even to-day the coloured man is forbidden to walk the pavements of Johannesburg, Pretoriaj arid other Central South African towns. He is.compelled to'be within doors at a certain hour each evening, and he is subject to other' restrictions which some people regard as pernicious,- but which the Sbiith African regards as essential to the' tranquility 'of the sub-continent." Ho. outnumbers the white man in the proportion of ten to one, and association with the towns he is little, if, any, removed from his wild and sav;nge'forebears. The native races undoubtedly feel thai they have, still, .some' grievances, old-scores to p&y'Offj and only those who have lived in South Africa can fully appreciate, the atmosphere,of apprehension- that surrounds the environment. The native is not allowed to possess firearms, and yet the Basutos to-day, in their own country,. are in possession of thousands of rijles and vast quantities of ammunition. In 1909, when I was living'in the back-veldt,, from 20 to:30 miles from the Basutoland border, it was. common talk among Dutch and English farmers that the Basutos were "arnied to the teeth." I did not believe that then! I scarcely credit it now. But I do say that there is' overwhelming confirmation of my : statement tfiat thousands of the. latest pattern of rifle are secreted in the fastnesses of that, mountainous country. A few clays ago the South African papers reported the capture of a number of gun-runners. They were caught red-handed, in the act. ' The penaltyl understand, for this offence is four years' imprisonment, or as' an alternative, a fine of £400. In' every case the fine, of course, is paid,. and there was no security that the persons implicated —Dutch farmers—would not immediately resort to the illicit practice. ; No wonder there is an atmosphere of nervous apprehension in South Africa, and no- wonder -that the Dutch ■ newspaper, the '"Volkstem," uttered an eni"pbatic protest' against such insane leniency! And, be it remembered, it is n:> easy task to run to earth.- gunrunners over an extensive and difficult, tsountry with an , enormous. border-line. If ever the black races rise in revolt it will not be when the-British, colonials'and Dutch are at peace. .It will be in a contingency such as has just arisen in the' Cape Province. It will be when White is in conflict with White; when rebellion is being spouted in Smithtield and Bethlehem, and the insurrectionary flag is flying in Calvinia. That will be the psychological moment. That these contingencies have been prepared for by General Smuts ie beyond' question, hut the South African' Defence Force is not a large one, and it will require a considerable effort'; to cope with the disturbances in . tho jicrth-wcst. Added to this we have "-"to recollect, that every available man would have to be called- up if the gloomy, and yet not exaggerated prognostications we are considering, wero to materialise. ' ,

So far as the future of South Africa is concerned an optimistic note may be sounded. This rebellion will be crushed, and. a period of repose will'follow. The overwhelming [majority ■of tho Dutch in the present crisis iwill support the Union Government. They nay-have much to forget;. they may deplore the'rapid obliteration of antiquated customs and tho destruction of antiquated beliefs; they may lament over the penetrative influences of modorn civilisation, and the introduction of new ideals, and a new standard of living. But they have learned to realiso that absorption in the British Empire is not incompatible with principles of civil' and religious liberty,, and that a country may grow great and rich, prosperous and contented, developing .to the fullest extent its resources/institutions and national life, under the Union Jack. Tho most hopeful sign, however, for the country's future is the obliteration of those hateful racial animosities that have been the curse and bane of South Africa in the past. To-day Dutch and English not only fraternise; they intermarry. And when two races, with identical aspirations and divided by no religious enmities, who have been warring one with the other for close upon two hundred years, intermingle, there is surely justification for the belief that South Africa will, at no distant date, he able to claim her legitimate inheritance as ono of tho most progressive and prosperous communities under the British flag.