take up what may be regarded as the missionary side should not forget
that they are preparing a rod for their own backs. The Aborigines
Protection Society has long had a quarrel with the Boers, but if our
Imperialists are going to adopt the platform of Exeter Hall they will
very soon find themselves in serious disagreement with Mr. Cecil Rhodes
and other Imperialist heroes of the hour. That the Dutch in South Africa
have treated the blacks as the English in other colonies have treated
the aborigines is probably true, despite all that Mr. Reitz can say on
their behalf. But, whereas in Tasmania and the Australian Colonies the
black fellows are exterminated by the advancing Briton, the immediate
result of the advent of the Dutch into the Transvaal has been to
increase the number of natives from 70,000 to 700,000, without including
those who were attracted by the gold mines. In dealing with native races
all white men have the pride of their colour and the arrogance of power.
The Boers, no doubt, have many sins lying at their door, but it does not
do for the pot to call the kettle black, and so far as South Africa is
concerned, the difference between the Dutch and British attitudes toward
the native races is more due to the influence of Exeter Hall and the
sentiment which it represents than to any practical difference between
English and Dutch Colonists as to the status of the coloured man. The
English under Exeter Hall have undoubtedly a higher ideal as to the
theoretical equality of men of all races; but on the spot the arrogance
of colour is often asserted as offensively by the Briton as by the Boer.
The difference between the two is, in short, that the Boer has adjusted
his practice to his belief, whereas we believe what we do not practice.
That the black population of the Transvaal is conscious of being treated
with exceeding brutality by the Boers is disproved by the fact that for
months past all the women and children of the two Republics have been
left at the absolute mercy of the natives in the midst of whom they
live.