'[Gold] is the vitalising source of African trade and African
progress. It pays the interest on nearly all South African Railways,
is responsible for a large portion of the costs of Government in the
Cape Colony, Orange States, Natal as well as Pretoria.
And yet the working bees--the white British community of
Johannesburg--who have helped to enrich the hive containing the
whole of South African interests, have been neglected, if not
betrayed, by the Mother Country. They have been deprived of arms, of
liberties,--they have suffered insult and disdain, and Great
Britain, until forced to do so, has moved not a finger in their
defence.
The Transvaal, one of the richest districts of the world, merely
wants good and sustained government--a government that will grant to
all respectable white men free and equal rights. When this shall
come to pass, its splendid resources will be developed. The Indian
Ocean trade will be supplied with steam coal. The country will
sustain itself, and will also export food stuffs, and trade in iron,
hide, wool, tin, and quantities of other things, whose value has
hitherto been ignored.
All that is needed is a dignified acceptance of British
responsibilities. South Africa was bought by the paramount Power
nearly an hundred years ago, and has since then been
administered--if not entirely wisely and well--at least
administered, by that Power.
British sweat has rained on the country, British muscle has toiled
in the country, British blood has flowed in streams over its face,
and British bones are mixed with the shifting grains of its sand. It
now remains for British sovereignty to wield its sceptre and make
its presence felt.'