Transvaal Quotes
The Boer war broke out when the Afrikaners of the Transvaal would not give suffrage and equality to the new British immigrants . However, Blacks were in even worse shape in the Transvaal. The British Colonial Minister had urged reform in this arena, but the British had fought an ugly war and settled for a non-Black Reform, platform assuring suffrage and other rights for the white English but assuring nothing for the Blacks. This set the stage for apartheid. In the settlement of the Boer War, England would not prolong the fighting and the casualties to gain civil and equal rights for the Black population which they had argued for and was one of the causes of the war. Just what Chamberlain warned about came to pass.
He was not supported and a peace was negotiated with the British. De la Rey became a Senator and later was shot while trying to organize another rebellion.
The American Indian protection assurances from demagogues and ghost dancers, had a parallel among the white Afrikaners. Many who believed him died from bullet wounds.
The whites had come to South Africa by sea—English and Dutch. Many settled at the Southern Shore—Capetown area. The Dutch Boers however were more interested in farming and commerce and moved North taking land from the natives who sparsely populated the interior of the land. At the same time the aggressive and sophisticated Zulus came from the North. Like the Boers, they were after land and seized it from the natives. It was inevitable that the two conquering, land grabbing groups would run into each other. The English had had a number of wars with the Zulus, but the English were not real competitors with the Zulu for land. So when England annexed the Tranvaal area, the Zulus were pleased as the English would control the Boers and the Zulus did not have to be contesting every bit of ground. However, the Boers and the English split over the English restricting the Boers from seizing native and Zulu land (which the Zulus had seized just like the Boers). The Boer War resulted, and to this day the Zulus and the native Black tribes are more comfortable with the South Africans of English extraction than those who are in the Boer community.
1st Viscount Millner. A gold strike was causing many British subjects to immigrate to the Transvaal, but the Boers did not want the newcomers to be able to vote and dilute their power. Meanwhile the two cultures--British and Boer--had very different values and differed especially on how they should deal with the indigenous Blacks. The Boers would not reform in the Transvaal as the British wanted, and the Boer War ensued.
In 1896 a group of South African settlers raided the Boer Republic in the Transvaal. The raiders were apprehended by the Boers and Kaiser Wilhelm II sent a congratulatory telegram to President Kruger. However, both the republic and South Africa were part of Queen Victoria’s Empire and the Kaiser was interfering in the internal affair of Britain. To make matters worse, Wilhelm was Victoria’s grandson. The British press was aghast and called for reprisals. The Kaiser wrote a letter to “Grandmama” claiming that he was only endorsing “peace” and “stability” for the German investors in the Transvaal and hadn’t intended any interference, an obviously lame explanation. The Queen sought the advice of the Prime Minister who wanted to avert an international cause celebre over the matter.
Henry Bartle Edwards. Actually, Shepstone had the support of the Colonial Secretary, Lord Carnarvon and Prime Minister Disraeli had deferred to him.
