354 
THE WITWATERSRAND AND 
on a par with men of any nationality. The struggle for exist- 
ence and for freedom has saved them from mental stagnation. 
That the}" are l)ackward as a race, according to our standards, 
is true. Much of the seventeenth century still clings to them, 
Imt they have lost none of the ca])acity for advance.* The 
most imi)ortant of all the characteristics of the Transvaal Boer 
is his passion for freedom or, what in his case is tantamount to 
the same tiling, his horror of British domination. In 1880 the 
women of tlie Transvaal urged their sons and husbands to arms, 
bidding tliem die like patriots, if need were. This passionate 
horror of English rule is an historical development. The Boers 
have had little opjiortunity to observe how mild and beneficent 
English rule can lie under certain circumstances. 
Cajie Colony passed into the possession of the British Crown 
by force of arms in 180(5, and was formally ceded by the Prince 
of Orange in 1814. The white population of the Cape at that 
time consisted of the descendants of Dutch colonists and French 
Huguenots. The latter had found their way to Africa through 
Holland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in l(58o. At 
no time did the Huguenots exceed one-sixth of the colonists, or, 
if the Dutch East India Company’s servants are counted, one- 
eighth of the total European populalion. The colonists had 
little intercourse with Euro])e during the 18th century. Like 
other colonists of the time, they owned slaves, their lives were 
pastoral and agricultural, and, excej)t for the Biljle, their studies 
were confined to woodcraft. The petty imi>ositions of the Dutch 
East India Company had made them unscrupulous so far as 
transactions with the government Avere concerned ; the incorrigi- 
ble carelessness of Hottentot servants had weakened the habits 
of cleanliness Avbich they had brought from Holland, and the 
possession of slaves had produced its usual deleterious effects. 
♦ Mr John Nixon, in his Story of the Transvaal, 1885, which certainly cannot be ac- 
cused of partiality to tlie Dutch colonists, says : “I have the pleasure of numbering 
many intelligent and educated Boers among my acquaintance, and I desire to put on 
record my opinion that a ‘good’ Boer is quite equal to a good Englishman. Nay, in 
one respect he is better, for lie adds to the virtues of an Englishman an unbounded 
and generous hospitality. . . . The educated Boer is a splendid stock No 
one can deny that on that day [.Majuba] the Boers fought bravely and well.” 
Tlie Uitlanders commonly form an extremely unfavorable opinion of the Boer. 
They do not desire Hoer hospitality and they see nothing of his qualities as a pioneer, 
while in business they fin<l him suspicious, untrustworthy, and behind the age; but it 
would not be fair to judge of a people like the Boers entirely from a commercial 
standpoint. The Boer, on the other hand, is not without justification for suspecting 
English designs on his independence, and he can point to many promises of the 
British government which have not been fulfilled ; but it is not fair to judge a people 
like the English entirely from a political standpoint. 
