house of commons, december 17, 1906

letters patent have been issued during the last week conferring a constitution upon the transvaal colony. these instruments have now been for some days at the disposal of the house, and this afternoon affords an occasion for their discussion. other letters patent conferring a constitution upon the orange river colony are in an advanced state of preparation, and i think it would be generally convenient if i were to make a statement as to the character and scope of that constitution. with that view i have, by the direction of the prime minister, placed upon the paper a resolution which i now move, permitting a general discussion upon the constitutional arrangements which we are making both in the transvaal and in the orange river colony. now, sir, by the treaty of vereeniging, [46]great britain promised full self-government to the peoples of the two boer republics which had been conquered and annexed as the result of the war. this intention of giving responsible government did not arise out of the terms of peace, although it is, of course, solemnly expressed in them. it has always been the settled and successful colonial policy of this country during the last fifty years to allow great liberties of self-government to distant communities under the crown, and no responsible statesman, and no british cabinet, so far as i know, ever contemplated any other solution of the south african problem but that of full self-government. the idea which i have seen put forward in some quarters, that, in order to get full satisfaction for the expense and the exertions to which we were put in the war, we are bound to continue governing those peoples according to our pleasure and against their will, and that that is, as it were, an agreeable exercise which is to be some compensation for our labours, is an idea which no doubt finds expression in the columns of certain newspapers, but to which i do not think any serious person ever gave any countenance. no, sir, the ultimate object, namely, the bestowal of [47]full self-government, was not lost sight of even in the height of the war; and as all parties were agreed that some interval for reconstruction must necessarily intervene, the only questions at issue between us have been questions of manner and questions of time.

how much difference is there between parties in this house as to time? it is now more than three years since lord milner, speaking in the inter-colonial council, bore emphatic testimony to the faithfulness with which the boers—those who had been fighting against us—had observed their side of the terms of peace. lord milner said:

"it is perfectly true that the boer population, the men who signed the terms of peace at vereeniging, have loyally observed those terms and have carried them out faithfully. they profess to-day, and i absolutely believe them, that no idea of an armed rising or unlawful action is in their minds. i may say i am in constant, perhaps i should say frequent communication with the men who in the war fought us so manfully and then made manful terms. we differ on many points, no doubt, and i do not expect them to rejoice with [48]us in what has happened, or to feel affection for a man who, like myself, has been instrumental in bringing about the great change which has come over the constitution of the country. but i firmly believe their word when they come forward and meet us, and, without professing to agree in all respects with the policy of the government, declare that they desire to co-operate in all questions affecting the prosperity of the country and the maintenance of public order. i accept the assurance they give in that respect, and i think it is practically impossible to put your hands on anything done by myself or any member of the government which can be regarded as a manifestation of distrust of the men who have shown themselves, and do show themselves, men of honour. let me say, then, i am perfectly satisfied that so great is the influence of their leaders over the minds of the main section of the boer population that so long as those leaders maintain that attitude a general rising is out of the question."

those are the words which lord milner used three years ago, and i think they are words which do justice to the subject and to the speaker. but more than two years [49]have passed since the representations were made to the right hon. gentleman the member for st. george's, hanover square, which induced him to confer a measure of self-government on the transvaal. those representations laid stress on the fact that the desire for self-government was not put forward only by the boers, but that both sections of the community in the transvaal desired to take the control of affairs into their own hands. the right hon. gentleman published a constitution. that constitution conferred very great and wide powers. it conferred upon an overwhelming elected majority the absolute power of the purse and control over legislation. but it has always been my submission to the house that that constitution had about it no element of permanence, that it could not possibly have been maintained as an enduring, or even a workable settlement; and i am bound to say—i do not wish to be controversial this afternoon if i can avoid it—that, when i read the statement that this representative government stage would have been a convenient educative stage in the transition to full self-government, the whole experience of british colonial policy does not justify such an assumption. the [50]system of representative government without responsible ministers, without responsible powers, has led to endless friction and inconvenience wherever and whenever it has been employed. it has failed in canada, it has failed in natal and cape colony. it has been condemned by almost every high colonial authority who has studied this question. i do not think i need quote any more conclusive authority upon that subject than that of lord durham. lord durham, in his celebrated report, says of this particular system:

"it is difficult to understand how any english statesmen could have imagined that representative and irresponsible government could be successfully combined. there seems, indeed, to be an idea that the character of representative institutions ought to be thus modified in colonies; that it is an incident of colonial dependence that the officers of government should be nominated by the crown without any reference to the wishes of the community whose interests are entrusted to their keeping. it has never been very clearly explained what are the imperial interests which require this complete nullification of representative government. but if there [51]is such a necessity it is quite clear that a representative government in a colony must be a mockery and a source of confusion, for those who support this system have never yet been able to devise or exhibit in the practical working of colonial government any means for making so complete an abrogation of political influence palatable to the representative body."

i contend that the right hon. gentleman's constitution would have broken down in its first session, and that we should have then been forced to concede grudgingly and in a hurry the full measure of responsible government which, with all due formality, and without any precipitancy, the letters patent issued last week have now conferred. but even the right hon. gentleman himself did not intend his constitution to be a permanent settlement. he intended it to be a transition, and a brief transition; and in the correspondence which passed on this subject two or three years is sometimes named as the period for which such a constitution might conveniently have endured—two or three years, of which, let me point out to the house, nearly two years have already gone. seeing how little difference there is between us upon that question, i [52]dispense with further argument as to the grant of a transvaal constitution, as i see the course we have adopted does commend itself to the good sense of all parties in this country and is sustained at almost every point by almost every person conversant with south african affairs.

it is said, however, we have heard it often said, "it may be wise to grant responsible government to the transvaal, but it is not wise to give it to the orange river colony. why should you give it to the orange river colony too?" i say, "why not?" let us make it quite clear that the burden of proof always rests with those who deny or restrict the issue of full parliamentary liberties. they have to make their case good from month to month, and from day to day. what are the reasons which have been advanced against the issue of a constitution to the orange river colony? various reasons have been put forward. we have been told, first, that the colony is not ripe for self-government. when you have very small communities of white men in distant and immense territories, and when those communities are emerging from a wild into a more settled condition, then it is very necessary and very desirable that [53]the growth of self-governing institutions should be gradual. but that is not the situation in the orange river colony. the orange free state was the model small republic of the world. the honourable traditions of the free state are not challenged by any who take the trouble to study its history, either in the distant past, or in the years immediately preceding the south african war. the right hon. gentleman the member for west birmingham himself, speaking in this house on december 7, 1900, used language which, i think, should go far to dissipate the idle fears which we hear expressed in various quarters upon the grant of self-government to the orange river colony:

"we do not propose," said the right hon. gentleman, "that the constitution of the orange river colony should necessarily be the same as the constitution of the transvaal colony, either at starting or in the immediate future. it will be dealt with upon its own merits, dealt with separately, and we think it possible"—i ask the house to mark this—"from the circumstances with which every one is familiar, that an earlier beginning to greater political liberty may be made in the orange river [54]colony than in the transvaal. that is due to the fact that the government of the orange river colony previous to the war was by common consent a very good government, and consequently, speaking generally, of course, and not of individuals, we shall find there probably the means to creating a satisfactory administration more quickly than we can do in the case of the transvaal colony."

then we have been told that responsible government presupposes party government, and that in the orange river colony there are not the elements of political parties, that there is not that diversity of interests which we see in the transvaal, that there are not the same sharp differences between town and country, or the same astonishing contrasts between wealth and poverty which prevail in the transvaal. and we are told that, in order that responsible government should work properly, and party government should be a success, there must be the essential elements of party conflict. i suppose we are, as a majority in this house, admirers of the party system of government; but i do not think that we should any of us carry our admiration of that system so far as to say that the nation is unfit to enjoy [55]the privilege of managing its own affairs unless it can find some one to quarrel with and plenty of things to quarrel about.

then we are told that—"the country is prospering as it is. why change now? the land is tranquil, people are regaining the prosperity which was lost in the war. it is a pity to make a change now; now is not the moment." i admit the premise, but i draw exactly the opposite conclusion. it is just for that reason that we should now step forward and, taking occasion by the hand, make an advance in the system of government. how often in the history of nations has the golden opportunity been allowed to slip away! how often have rulers and governments been forced to make in foul weather the very journey which they have refused to make prosperously in fair weather!

then we are told that imperial interests will be endangered by this grant. i do not believe that that is so. the boer mind moves by definite steps from one political conception to another. i believe they have definitely abandoned their old ambition of creating in south africa a united states independent of the british crown, and have accepted that other political ideal which is [56]represented by the dominion of canada and the commonwealth of australia. at any rate, no people have a greater right to claim respect on the ground of their loyal adherence to treaty engagements than the people of the orange river colony; for every one knows that it was with a most faithful adherence to their engagements, with almost quixotic loyalty, that they followed—many of them knowing where their fortune was going to lead them, knowing full well what would be the result of their action—their sister state into the disastrous struggle of the south african war.

it is quite true that there is in existence at the present time—and i think lord milner has pointed it out—no bond of love between the men who fought us in that war and this country. i was reading the other day a speech by mr. steyn. mr. steyn is, of course, one of the most clearly avowed opponents of the british power. but mr. steyn is quite clear upon this point. he says there is no bond of love, and it would be untruthful and dishonest on their part to say that such a bond existed. but, he says, there is another bond; there is such a thing as a man's word [57]of honour. "we gave our word of honour at vereeniging, and it is our intention to abide strictly by that." i state my opinion as to the safety of the step we propose to take, but i cannot expect the members opposite to set much store by that, although it is an honest and sincere opinion. but i will quote them an authority which i am sure they will not dismiss without respect. as soon as the right hon. member for west birmingham returned from south africa, while his experiences in that country were fresh in his mind, while he had but newly been conversing with men of all parties there on the spot, the scene of the struggle, he made a speech in this house which really ought not to be overlooked by persons dealing with this question.

"great importance," said the right hon. gentleman, "seems to be attached to the view that in the interests of the two colonies it is desirable that a certain time, not a long time in the history of a nation, but still a certain time should elapse before full self-government is accorded. whether a long time will elapse i really cannot say. one thing is clear: if the population of the transvaal and orange river colony, both boer and briton, by a large majority, [58]desire this self-government, even although it might seem to us to be premature, i should think it unwise to refuse it. i do not myself believe there is any such danger connected with imperial interests that we should hesitate to accord it on that ground. the ground on which i should desire that it might be delayed is really the interest of the two colonies themselves, and not any imperial interest."

the peace and order of the orange river colony establish this case on its merits. it is a state bound to moderation by the circumstance of its geographical position. in all its history in south africa it has been largely dependent on the goodwill of its neighbours—goodwill and friendly relations maintained with natal and the transvaal, on the one hand, and with the cape colony on the other. it is inconceivable that a state so situated in regard to its railways and its economic position generally should be a disturbing influence from the point of view of the different states of south africa. but there is another fact which justifies this grant, and that is the extraordinary crimelessness in a political sense of the whole of that country. let the house remember that there had been three [59]years' war, of which two years were fierce guerilla fighting, and that on all sides there were to be found desperate men who had been for a long period holding their lives in their hands and engaged on every wild and adventurous foray. peace is agreed on, and what happens? absolute order exists and prevails throughout the whole country from that moment. there has not been a single case of violent crime except, i believe, one murder committed by a lunatic—hardly a case of sedition—and not a single case of prosecution for treason of any kind. i say without hesitation that in order to find a similar instance of swift transition from violent warfare to law-abiding peace you have got to look back to the days when the army of the parliament was reviewed and disbanded at the restoration.

i submit to the house that a case for conferring responsible government on the orange river colony is established on its merits. but that is not the whole question before us this afternoon. we have not merely to decide whether we will give a constitution to the orange river colony, but whether, having given a constitution to the transvaal, we will deliberately [60]withhold one from the orange river colony; and that is an argument which multiplies the others which i have used. on what ground could we refuse that equal treatment of the orange river colony? there is only one ground which we could assign for such a refusal, and that is that in the orange river colony there is sure to be a dutch majority. i cannot conceive any more fatal assertion that could be made on the part of the imperial government than that on this specific racial ground they were forced to refuse liberties which otherwise they would concede. i say such a refusal would be an insult to the hundreds and thousands of loyal dutch subjects the king has in all parts of south africa, i say that this invidious treatment of the orange river colony would be the greatest blunder, a fitting pendant to all that long concatenation of fatal mistakes which has marked our policy in south africa for so many years; and i say it would be a breach of the spirit of the terms of peace, because we could not say, "we promised you self-government by the terms of peace, but what we meant by that was that before you were to have self-government, enough persons of british origin should have arrived in the country [61]to make quite sure you would be out-voted."

if we were to adopt such a course we should be false to that agreement, which is the great foundation of our policy in south africa. i hope the house will earnestly sustain the importance of that vereeniging agreement. for the first time in many years the two white races dwelling together in south africa have found a common foundation on which they can both build, a foundation much better than boomplaats, or the sand river convention, or the conventions of 1880 and 1884, far better than majuba hill or the jameson raid. they have found a foundation which they can both look to without any feeling of shame—on the contrary, with feelings of equal honour, and i trust also with feelings of mutual forgiveness.

on those grounds, therefore, we have decided to give to the orange river colony full responsible government. we eschew altogether the idea of treating them differently from the transvaal, or interposing any state of limited self-government between them and the full enjoyment of their right. there is to be a legislature which will consist of two chambers, as in the transvaal. the first [62]chamber will be elected upon a voters' basis and by manhood suffrage. the residential qualification will be the same as in the transvaal, six months. the distribution of seats has been settled by general consent. the committee which we sent to south africa, and which was so very successful in arriving at an adjustment between the parties in the transvaal, has made similar investigations in the orange river colony, and i think we may accept with confidence their recommendation. they recommend that the number of members should be thirty-eight. the old volksraad had sixty members, but it was found to be much too large for the needs of the country, and on several occasions efforts were made to reduce the representation. those efforts were not successful, from the fact, which we can all appreciate, that it is very difficult indeed to get a representative body to pass a self-denying ordinance of that character which involves the extinction of its own members. there will be separate representation of towns in the orange river colony. in the volksraad there was such a representation: there were forty-two rural members and eighteen urban members. out of the thirty-eight we propose that there [63]shall be twenty-seven rural members and eleven urban members; rather less than a third of the representation will be that of the small towns. that is a proportion which is justified by the precedent of the old constitution, and also by the latest census.

there will be a second chamber, and, as in the transvaal, it will be nominated, for the first parliament only, by the governor, under instructions from the secretary of state. it is not an hereditary chamber; and it may be, therefore, assumed that the distribution of parties in that chamber will be attended by some measure of impartiality, and that there will be some general attempt to select only those persons who are really fit to exercise the important functions entrusted to them. but even so protected, the government feel that in the ultimate issue in a conflict between the two chambers, the first and representative chamber must prevail. the other body may review and may suspend, but for the case of measures sent up in successive sessions from the representative chamber on which no agreement can be reached, we have introduced the machinery which appears in the constitution of the australian commonwealth, that both chambers shall [64]sit together, debate together, vote together, and the majority shall decide. the whole success of that operation depends upon the numerical proportion observed between the two chambers. in the australian commonwealth the proportion of the first chamber is rather more than two to one; in the transvaal the proportion will be more than four to one, namely, sixty-five to fifteen; and in the orange river colony it will be thirty-eight to eleven.

the other provisions of the constitution will mainly follow the lines of the transvaal constitution. the constitution of the orange river colony will become effective as soon as possible; and i should think that the new parliament might assemble in bloemfontein some time during the autumn of next year. when that work has been completed, and the new parliament has assembled, the main direction of south african affairs in these colonies will have passed from our hands.

sir, it is the earnest desire of the government to steer colonial affairs out of english party politics, not only in the interest of the proper conduct of those affairs, but in order to clear the arena at home for the introduction of measures which affect the masses of the people. we have tried in south [65]africa to deal fairly between man and man, to adjust conflicting interests and overlapping claims. we have tried so far as possible to effect a broad-bottomed settlement of the question which should command the assent of people even beyond the great party groupings which support us.

other liberties besides their own will be enshrined in these new parliaments. the people of south africa, and, in a special measure, the boers, will become the trustees of freedom all over the world. we have tried to act with fairness and good feeling. if by any chance our counsels of reconciliation should come to nothing, if our policy should end in mocking disaster, then the resulting evil would not be confined to south africa. our unfortunate experience would be trumpeted forth all over the world wherever despotism wanted a good argument for bayonets, whenever an arbitrary government wished to deny or curtail the liberties of imprisoned nationalities. but if, on the other hand, as we hope and profoundly believe, better days are in store for south africa, if the words of president brand, "all shall come right," are at length to be fulfilled, and if the near future should unfold to our eves a tranquil, prosperous, [66]consolidated afrikander nation under the protecting ?gis of the british crown, then, the good also will not be confined to south africa; then the cause of the poor and the weak all over the world will have been sustained; and everywhere small peoples will get more room to breathe, and everywhere great empires will be encouraged by our example to step forward—and it only needs a step—into the sunshine of a more gentle and a more generous age.