PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE.
his best to avert the consequences. While he had no sympathy with the Transvaal in this matter, he, like any one else who had studied the history of the Boers, could not help feeling much sympathy with them in their reluctance to grant a franchise which would in time give to others the controlling influence in the State. The concession of an effective franchise, as Mr. Kruger knew full well, would be the beginning of the end the end of the present system of government in the Transvaal. The result of the ill-advised action of the Transvaal Government in past years, in imposing hard restrictions upon the attainment of the franchise by Uitlanders, was the almost total exclusion of the Uitlander population from any share in the administration or in the general government of the country; and from this Uitlander population at least nine-tenths—some said nineteen-twentieths—of the revenue of the country was drawn. Under such circumstances, was the great unrest in the Transvaal a matter for wonder? Reasonable concessions would have strengthened the independence of the Transvaal Government. A large proportion of the Uitlanders did not want British rule, which was absolutely proved at the time of the Jameson raid, when the Reform Committee split on the question of what flag they should hoist, and ended their dispute by hoisting the Transvaal flag, It was an idle contention to say that if it had not been for the Jameson raid, reasonable concessions would have been granted. The refusal to make concessions was the cause, and not the consequence, of the Reform movement in 1895; and the only chance of concessions being granted was during the Jameson raid, when Kruger thought 20,000 rifles were opposed
248
