Native Life in South Africa [109]
African Native. He has no vote and no friends -- only his labour, which the white man wants on the cheapest terms. And the white man has got this by taking his land and imposing on him taxes that he cannot pay. In fact, the black man is `rounded up' on every side, and if, as the deputation suggest may be the case, he is forced to acts of violence, it will not be possible to say that he has not had abundant provocation.
Rights to the Soil
"There is only one principle that can be applied for his protection. It is the principle that he has rights in his native soil. Perhaps segregation is the only remedy now, but if so the reservations allocated to him in the Union area ought to have some relation to his needs. We cannot do much for him there, but we should do what we can." ==
Mr. Advocate F. A. Silva wrote to the `Daily News': --
== AN APPEAL FOR JUSTICE
Sir, -- Will you please allow me space, while appreciating your editorial of this date, to bring to the kind notice of your readers the distinction between "British justice as supposed to be" and "British justice as it is" with regard to the subject races, especially the black men?
If even the "hair" of a "white" British subject were to be touched in China or Japan or Turkey or Russia, the whole of the political parties of England, with their usual patriotism, will rise to the occasion, and with one accord demand the use of physical force against that country.
But here in South Africa, on the day the "Act" came into law, all agreements with regard to land were terminated, and thousands of the Natives found themselves ruined and homeless. From tenants they have become serfs.
If the Imperial Parliament looks with complacency on these tyrannical proceedings of a local Parliament, then the British public should not be surprised if the intelligent and thoughtful among the subject races of "Britain" consider "British justice" and "Russian tyranny" to be synonymous terms. ==
Let us draw attention to one more letter, by an Anglo-African to the `Daily News', which was typical of the rest: --
== THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Sir, -- Those of your readers who, like myself, have some first-hand knowledge of the Natives of South Africa, know that this grievance voiced by the native deputation is a very real one. That such a deputation should have to come to England to urge such a plea is humiliating enough to them and to us. That their plea should be urged in vain would be disastrous to the last degree.
If the Natives' Land Act is the best thing the Union Government can do in the discharge of its responsibilities to the native tribes placed under its care by the King, then many of us would have to revise our faith in self-government as a fit instrument of national evolution; and would, moreover, strenuously resist the ultimate incorporation of the northern territories within the Union as being infinitely worse for the black man than even government under Chartered Company control.
One hopes that it is not yet too late for both Boer and Briton in South Africa to see that this debasement of the whole idea of self-government is to affront and discourage all in Great Britain who saw in the grant of its own political freedom to that great country a healing for its many woes. In the meantime Liberalism must back the native deputation at all costs, and it is well that `The Daily News and Leader' should lead the way. ==
== ONE OBJECT OF THE S.A. WAR: THE LIBERATION OF THE NATIVE
One object of the South African War was to liberate the Native in the Transvaal. One result of it is that we have practically less opportunity to interfere in his behalf than we had under the Convention with the South African Republic. Interference in the internal affairs of a self-governing colony -- in this case a colony in which a small number of white men govern a large number of black -- has ceased to be within the realm of practical politics. But if this political interference
Rights to the Soil
"There is only one principle that can be applied for his protection. It is the principle that he has rights in his native soil. Perhaps segregation is the only remedy now, but if so the reservations allocated to him in the Union area ought to have some relation to his needs. We cannot do much for him there, but we should do what we can." ==
Mr. Advocate F. A. Silva wrote to the `Daily News': --
== AN APPEAL FOR JUSTICE
Sir, -- Will you please allow me space, while appreciating your editorial of this date, to bring to the kind notice of your readers the distinction between "British justice as supposed to be" and "British justice as it is" with regard to the subject races, especially the black men?
If even the "hair" of a "white" British subject were to be touched in China or Japan or Turkey or Russia, the whole of the political parties of England, with their usual patriotism, will rise to the occasion, and with one accord demand the use of physical force against that country.
But here in South Africa, on the day the "Act" came into law, all agreements with regard to land were terminated, and thousands of the Natives found themselves ruined and homeless. From tenants they have become serfs.
If the Imperial Parliament looks with complacency on these tyrannical proceedings of a local Parliament, then the British public should not be surprised if the intelligent and thoughtful among the subject races of "Britain" consider "British justice" and "Russian tyranny" to be synonymous terms. ==
Let us draw attention to one more letter, by an Anglo-African to the `Daily News', which was typical of the rest: --
== THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN
Sir, -- Those of your readers who, like myself, have some first-hand knowledge of the Natives of South Africa, know that this grievance voiced by the native deputation is a very real one. That such a deputation should have to come to England to urge such a plea is humiliating enough to them and to us. That their plea should be urged in vain would be disastrous to the last degree.
If the Natives' Land Act is the best thing the Union Government can do in the discharge of its responsibilities to the native tribes placed under its care by the King, then many of us would have to revise our faith in self-government as a fit instrument of national evolution; and would, moreover, strenuously resist the ultimate incorporation of the northern territories within the Union as being infinitely worse for the black man than even government under Chartered Company control.
One hopes that it is not yet too late for both Boer and Briton in South Africa to see that this debasement of the whole idea of self-government is to affront and discourage all in Great Britain who saw in the grant of its own political freedom to that great country a healing for its many woes. In the meantime Liberalism must back the native deputation at all costs, and it is well that `The Daily News and Leader' should lead the way. ==
== ONE OBJECT OF THE S.A. WAR: THE LIBERATION OF THE NATIVE
One object of the South African War was to liberate the Native in the Transvaal. One result of it is that we have practically less opportunity to interfere in his behalf than we had under the Convention with the South African Republic. Interference in the internal affairs of a self-governing colony -- in this case a colony in which a small number of white men govern a large number of black -- has ceased to be within the realm of practical politics. But if this political interference