Ebook The Transvaal From Within

It is realized that much of what might properly appear in a private record will be considered rather super?uous in a book designed for wider circulation. For instance, a good deal of space is given to details of the trial and the prison life of the Reformers, which are of no interest whatever to the public, although they form a record which the men them selves may like to preserve. These might have been omitted but that the writer desired to make no alterations in the original text except in the nature Of literary revision. The writer may be charged by the peace party with deliberately selecting a critical and anxious time as oppor tune to contribute a new factor to those already militating against a peaceful settlement. Two replies could be made to this: one an excuse and one an answer. It would be an excuse that the writer did not deliberately select the time of publication, but that the Transvaal Government in its wisdom chose to impose silence for three years, and that the project with which their action had interfered was resumed at the earliest possible moment. The coincidence of another crisis with the date of emancipation may be an unlucky coincidence, or it may be a result. But there is neither necessity nor intention to Offer excuses. The responsibility is accepted and the answer is that a case so sound needs only to be understood, that a recital Of the facts must help to dispel the mists Of race prejudice and mis understanding which are obscuring the judgment of many; and that a firm but strictly just and dignified handling of the question by the Imperial Government is the only possible way to avert a catastrophe in South Africa. It is essential therefore that first of all the conditions as they are should be understood; and this record is Offered as a contribution to that end. Let the measure of its truth be the measure of its usefulness'