100 
THE WITWATERSRAND AND 
The Dutch, or, as tliey are called in South Africa, the “ Hol- 
landers,” are not popular with the })rogressive party, which 
could fill many of the offices with its own members. Neither 
is it the policy of this party to foster the influence of the Nether- 
lands in the republic. The liberal party, as I gather, holds that 
so long as the control of the countiy is retained to the Burghers 
by limiting the franchise, any undue influence of the English 
can be obviated with little aid from Europe.* The mining com- 
munity detests the Hollanders, for it is through them that nearly 
all the obstructive policy of the government is carried out. It 
is cliarged that the Hollander officials are very corrupt, and that 
some of them are so is certain. It is not, however, to be su[)- 
posed that all of these members of an honorable nation are bad,t 
and that many of them are able is be3"ond question. Dr Le}'ds 
has shown himself a statesman of a very high order. Among 
the assistants he has chosen there must be many intelligent 
enough to appreciate the expedienc}’’ of honest3^ That bribery 
exists, however, and that mining companies bribe on a large 
scale is certain. Bribes are said to be indispensable. 
It may be suspected that a large part of the Hollanders are in 
Africa to make their fortunes, with the intention of returning to 
Europe when this end is accomplished. If so, they are most 
undesirable officials or even burghers. No man of ordinarv 
virtue who does not identify himself with the country in which 
he lives, to whom that country is not “ home,” will use official 
})Ower or the franchise consistently for the best interests of a 
community from which he longs to be gone. 
The Uitlanders of the Rand were, and are, extremely discon- 
tented under the Doj)per policy of exclusion, obstruction, and 
repression. The}^ considered themselves superior to the Burghers 
and a benefit to the country, and they were indignant at the 
favor shown to the Hollanders. The}^ desired to manage local 
affairs in their own way, and above all to be unobstructed in the 
accumulation of wealth and in the develoi)ment of the mining 
industrv. The waj^ to attain these desires which most naturall}" 
suggested itself to the Anglo-Saxon mind was to obtain the fran- 
chise on terms similar to those exacted in English colonies and 
in the United States. It is not clear that anj^ large portion of 
* At tlie last presidential election, in I89:t, Mr Kruger was elected by a majority of 
only 843 over General Joubert, the progressive candidate and now Vice-President, in 
a total vote of 14,944. 
t Mr Wessels says that among the Hollanders you will find “ worthy descendants of a 
race that can boast of Egmont and Horn, of Hugo de Groot and Olden Barneveld.” 
