In a telegram which we published on Saturday last it was stated that Mr. Chamberlain had received no reply to his despatch in reference to the troubles in the Transvaal, dated the 4th of February. the despatch in question, which was addressed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the High Commissioner for South Africa, Sir Hercules Robinson, is given in full in the Zimes of the 8th of February, where it occupies more than four columns. The object of his despatch, Mr. Chamberlain says, is "to review the situation, to trace the causes, as I understand them, which have given rise to it, and to explain the policy of Her Majesty's Government." Mr. Chamberlain begins by going back to 1881, when the population of the South African Republic was small, and composed chiefly of burghers and their families. About ten years ago the discovery of gold deposits at the De Kaap Fields, of gold at the Witwatersrand, and of reefs at the Rand brought in a gold-fever, followed by the usual reaction. From such reaction the industry was saved by the foresight andi ment nor Sir Hercules Robinson had financial courage of certain of the capitalists most interested, and since 1890 the progress has been uninterrupted and rapid. In gold-mining the Boers take no interest; that is left for the Outlanders, and in consequence a sharp line of cleavage has been created within the Republic, the Outlanders being chiefly resident in the industrial and mining centres, and the burgher population dispersed through the country districts, 'I'he white population along the Rand is estimated at something like 100,000, and it is believed that the aliens, who are mostly British subjects, outnumber the burghers. In other communities where there is much immigration the policy is to admit the immigrants to citizenship as soon as possible; a successful policy, because it is found that such immigrants are soon as patriotic as the natural-born citizens. Butin the Transvaal, whereas in 1882 an Outlander could obtain full rights of citizenship in five years, he can now never hope to obtain them in full, and can only get them partially after a long term of probation; while his children, though born on the soil, remain aliens, if he omits to naturalise himself. hus the whole government is a monopoly of a decreasing minority of agriculturists; while the men who by their exertions have raised the revenues of the country from £75,000 to about £2,000,000, and who contribute 95 per cent of the revenue, are denied any voice in the management of affairs, can get no redress of grievances, and are insulted when they ask for it. In the face of repeated insults from the Volksraad, the Outlander leaders have hitherto kept within -the limits of constitutional agitation, At a meeting of the National Union at Johannesburg in 1894 the demands of the Outlanders were formulated and the Transvaal Government was warned that bloodshed might be the result, but there was hope that the then imminent elestions would result in the return of a progressive majority to the Raad, Nothing, however, came of this. The speech of Mr. Lionel Phillips at the Chamber of Mines—which we sumwarised vot long since—last November marked a reversion to the policy of active agitation; but neither in that, nor in the manifesto issued by the National Union on the 27th of December last, was any hint given of an intention to resort to force. 'I'hroughout the agitation was open and above-board, and the home Government had not interfered because the Outlanders had always deprecated the introduction of the "Tuperial factor." here were rumours from time to time that violent measures were in contemplation, but it was generally believed by all concerned that
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.