Ofye delation of tl)e
t&ritisl) (Bovernment
to tl)e Natives of
Soutl) fr ica
3Msl)0:p (T. S. Smltl)
THE RELATION
OF THE
BRITISH GOVERNMENT
TO THE
NATIVES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Address of Bishop C. S. Smith, resident
bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church in South Africa, 1904-1906,
delivered at the Negro Young People*®
Christian and Educational Congress, in
Convention Hall, Washington, D. C.,
Wednesday, August 1, 1906.
BISHOP SMITH.
ADDRESS.
The subject designated by the committee on program was
"The Relation of the British Government to the Negroes of
South Africa," but it best suits my purpose to speak of The
Relation of the British Government to the Natives of South
Africa, as the term Negro is not current in South African literature
—a term that is very distasteful to the natives and stoutly resented
by them.
ENTRANCE OF THE BRITISH INTO SOUTH AFRICA.
The entrance and advance of the British in South Africa
may be briefly summarized thus: The British flag was first
raised on Signal Hill near Capetown, in 1620, though final occupa¬
tion by the British did not take place until 1806, which was obtained
by conquest from Holland, and embraced Cape Colony. The popu¬
lation at this time numbered 26,700 whites, 29,300 slaves and
17,650 free Hottentots. August 8, 1843, Natal was proclaimed
a British Colony. The territory embraced in the Orange Free
State, now the Orange River Colony, was first settled by the Boers
in 1858. The term Boer means Dutch farmer. The Orange Free
State was annexed to the British Empire by conquest, May 24th,
1900, and its name changed to the Orange River Colony. In 1836
the Boers first crossed the Vaal into the territory out of which
was subsequently carved the Transvaal Republic. In course of
time a system of government was established, and in 1852 its
independence was recognized by Great Britain. October 11th, 1899,
witnessed the beginning of the British-Boer war, wrhich resulted
in the annexation of the Transvaal Republic to the British Empire.
Peace was agreed to, May 31st, 1902. This result gave the
British undisputed possession of all South Africa from the Cape
of Good Hope on the south to the Zambesi River on the north,
and made possible the Cape to Cairo railroad. British South Africa
now includes Cape Colony, Natal, Orange River Colony, the
Transvaal, Swaziland, Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate
and Rhodesia. Cape Colony includes the territories of East
Griqualand, Pondoland and British Bechuanaland. The total
area embraced in British South Africa may be estimated at 1,500,-
000 squares miles—one fifth the total area of North America.
POPULATION.
The population of South Africa is divided into four classes:
Europeans or whites, Aborigines or natives, colored or mixed
bloods of African and European descent, and Asiatics, of whom
there are about 110,000 chiefly from India. The latest census
gives the European population at 1,135,000, Natives 4,625,000,
Colored 324,000.
GOVERNMENT.
The colonies are divided into two classes—self-governing and
Crown. The self-governing colonies are Cape Colony and Natal.
The Crown colonies the Transvaal and Orange River. Rhodesia
is controlled by a chartered Company. Basutoland is governed by
a native chief according to laws and regulations approved by the
British Government, whose interests are guarded by a resident
Commissioner and assistant resident commissioners, all of whom
are Europeans.
It would be well for us to be informed that there is a sharp
distinction between a self-governing colony and a Crown colony.
The former has its own Parliament, which makes all the laws and
regulations for the government of its internal affairs; the ministers
being held responsible for the character of the laws and the execu¬
tion thereof. The members of Parliament are elected by the
qualified voters of the colony. The ministry is chosen from the
dominant party. The Governor is appointed by the Imperial
Government and is the only civil official thus appointed. In a
very large sense a self-governing colony sustains the same relation
to the Imperial Government that a state does to our own govern¬
ment. British self-governing colonies are vested with colonial
rights practically in the same sense that our states, are vested with
State's rights. The British Imperial Government does not aim to
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interfere, even were it possible to do so, with the laws and regu¬
lations of a self-governing colony so long as the life, liberty and
property of the inhabitants are not endangered, or Imperial inter¬
ests jeopardized. Hence the civilized world has been more or less
startled, if not horrified, at some of the results of the present
Zulu troubles in Natal. For instance, we were shocked when the
intelligence reached us that twelve natives had been condemned
to be shot to death as the result of the finding of a court martial.
We have also been shocked by the more recent report that no
quarter is being shown wounded natives; that not even a flag of
truce is respected when exhibited by them. It will be remembered
that when the British Imperial Government ordered a stay of the
execution of the twelve natives just referred to, until due inquiry
could be made as to the justice and righteousness of their con¬
demnation, that the ministry of Natal promptly resigned, which
was followed by a hurried apology on the part of the Imperial
Government that interference with the affairs of Natal was not
intended, and the execution of the twelve innocent natives was
allowed to take place. I say innocent natives because my knowl¬
edge of the present temper and attitude of a large portion of the
white people of South Africa toward the natives warrants me in
asserting that in my opinion the former, particularly in the Trans¬
vaal, Orange River and Natal colonies, are seeking some pretext
to make a general onslaught on the natives; chiefly for two
reasons: First, to get control of certain lands now allotted to the
natives; second, to check the growing aspiration of the natives for
larger opportunities for the betterment of their condition. We
know how in this country the white man readily found a pretext
to slaughter the Indian when his lands were wanted. Some one
has said, referring to the first act of the Pilgrim Fathers after
they had landed at Plymouth Rock, that they fell on their knees
and then on the aborigines. It is the wish and purpose of a large
quantum of the white population of South Africa, outside of Cape
Colony, which is the Massachusetts of South Africa, to create
and maintain such a condition as will finally force the expulsion
of the natives, except such as may be needed for industrial purposes,
north of the Zambesi River. It is the well defined and inflexible
7
purpose of the European element to make South Africa a white
man's country. In fact, the term a white man's country is as much
in vogue in South Africa as it is in Georgia or Mississippi. When
the Transvaal and Orange River colonies shall have obtained self-
government, the future of the natives in those colonies and Natal
will indeed be gloomy and foreboding. The affairs of the crown
colonies are directed and managed by the Imperial Government
by the aid of a Governor and a Legislative Council—the Governor
being appointed by the Imperial Government to whose approval all
the acts of the Legislative Council are subject, and without whose
consent no act can become effective.
LAND TENURE.
In no part of South Africa do the natives enjoy the right to
purchase and sell land. The nearest thereto is in Cape Colony,
but even there a restriction exists so that a native owner of land
cannot dispose of it without the approval of the Government. In
Natal natives can purchase land under restrictions. In the Orange
River Colony they can neither purchase nor lease land. In the
Transvaal the natives may acquire land, but the title thereto must
be registered in the name of the Commissioner of Native Affairs,
and cannot be disposed of without his consent and approval.
SUFFRAGE.
In Cape Colony and Rhodesia the natives and colored people
enjoy equal suffrage with the white. There are two qualifications
—education and property. Ability to write name, address and
occupation fulfills the educational qualification. Occupation of
building, or land, or both, for 12 months (in Rhodesia 6 months)
to the value of $375 meets the property qualification, though a
receipt for 12 months wages, at the rate of $300 per annum, will
be accepted in lieu of the occupation of building or land. In 1903
in Cape Colony there were 8,117 native voters, 1,226 Hottentots
and 10,162 colored. In Rhodesia there were 51 native voters. In
Natal the suffrage qualification is twelve years residence in Natal,
8
seven years' exemption from native law, certificate of good char¬
acter and the consent of the Governor. In 1903 there were but
two native voters in Natal. Practically speaking, it is only in
Cape Colony that the natives enjoy the right of suffrage to any
appreciable extent.
EDUCATION.
Schools for the training of native youth may be divided into
two classes, government and missionary. In 1903 there were
60,957 native youth in government schools in Cape Colony; 10^-
154 in Natal; 11,683 in the Transvall; 6,500 in the Orange River
Colony; in Basutoland, 10,484. The total amount expended per
annum is about $345,000; though the domiciled natives in those
colonies contribute $3,500,000 per annum in direct taxation. It is
a burning shame that only 10 per cent, of the amount annually
contributed by the natives in the way of direct taxation should be
applied to the education of their children.
MISSION SCHOOLS.
It is the crowning glory of the workers in foreign missionary
fields that they have always sought to enlighten the minds of the
benighted. Hence the mission schools have been a most potent
and valuable factor in the awakening of the native mind in South
Africa. The intelligent missionary has not been slow to recognize
that one sure way of access to the soul is through an open mind.
Many great and good men have given long years of service in
noble and persistent effort to advance the native youth of South
Africa intellectually. Notably among them the Rev. Dr. Stewart,
lately deceased, and who for thirty years was the principal of the
famous Lovedale Industrial Institute lin Cape Colony. Lovedale was
founded in 1841, long before Hampton or Tuskegee was thought
of, and during the sixty-five years of its existence has proven a
wonderful source of help and inspiration to thousands of native
South African youth, over 7,000 of whom have received training
thereat. About 1,100 of these are engaged as missionaries, evan-
9
gelists, teachers, interpreters, clerks to magistrates, assistants in
postal and telegraph work, law agents and clerks and employees
in railway and police work. About 1,500 others are engaged in
farming, general labor, transport and in the diamond and gold
fields. Three have become editors and four hotel proprietors. The
chief work of Lovedale is industrial, which includes printing, book¬
binding, carpentering, wagon-making, blacksmithing, telegraph
and postoffice work; and various domestic industries, such as laun¬
dering and sewing work for girls. From the Lovedale press a
large number of native school books, hymn books for use in con¬
gregations, several editions of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress in
Kaffir, and other publications have been issued, as well as several
English works. The annual expense is now about $50,000, nearly
one-half of which is realized from amounts paid by the natives
themselves. The London Missionary Society has recently laid the
foundation of an industrial school in Bechuanaland, mainly for the
education of the sons of native chiefs. It is to cost $50,000. A
similar institution is now under course of erection in Basutoland
under the auspices of some French Catholic missionaries. Twenty-
five thousand dollars, one-half the cost of its construction, was
raised by the late paramount chief of Basutoland from among his
own people. To this amount the government added $25,000. The
American Board of Foreign Missions has a number of mission
schools in Zululand which have been operated since 1834. Zonne-
bloem College, located within the corporate limits of Capetown, is,
in one respect at least, a most unique institution. Unique in this,
that it is an inter-racial institution. Inter-racial in that it provides
for the education of white, colored and native students. There are
separate dormitories for each, and the annual expenses are differ¬
entiated, the whites paying the highest and the natives the lowest.
It is one of the institutions of the Anglican church, and one in
which the Archbishop of Capetown takes a great deal of interest.
It has a complete college curriculum, and the professors are grad¬
uates of Oxford and Harvard Universities.
10
NO GREAT INTELLECTUAL NATIVE LUMINARIES.
South Africa has not yet produced any great native intel¬
lectual luminaries. The day of opportunity has been too brief for
such. There are three newspapers conducted by natives, one by a
colored man and one by a native of west Africa. Thus far but
one native, the Rev. John Dube, of Natal, has distinguished him¬
self by founding an institution of learning. He is a product of
the mission schools maintained by the American Board of Foreign
Missions, has made several visits to America and is well known in
Congregational circles in various parts of New England. The
present tendency is to repress the aspirations of the native youth,
rather than to encourage them. This is due to the salubrity of the
South African climate which makes it possible for the white man
to live there and to thrive and propagate his species. It is to be
noted that in any clime where the cereals, such as wheat, rye, oats,
barley, corn, etc., and cattle can be successfully raised there the
white man can exist and increase his kind. Added to the salubrity
of the climate of South Africa is its vast mineral wealth. It may
indeed be spoken of as a land of untold wealth. In order to make
his future in South Africa secure the European is planting and
extending all the agencies and equipment of modern civilization.
There are now over 5,000 miles of railroad in operation. The
trolley car and the automobile are in evidence in all the centers of
population, while the telegraph and telephone extends to the
remotest rural districts. That the Europeans may be secure
against any possible general uprising on the part of the natives,
the latter are corralled in locations and must obtain a pass before
they can go from one colony to another, even in search of work.
The natives cannot live where they please, but must live in such
locations as the Government may designate. An universal system
of espionage prevails over the general movements of the natives.
The universality and effectiveness of the system is marvelous. The
European has energetically addressed himself to the task of making
South Africa a white man's country in fact as well as in sentiment.
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A DISTURBING FATOR.
Within recent years a disturbing factor has made its appear¬
ance in South Africa in the person of the American Negro. He
has not proven a disturbing factor because he has in truth or
reality incited the natives to sedition, disloyalty or rebellion, but
because he has impressed the natives with the need of organizing
a native church largely under their own direction and control.
The alarmists declare that the greatest evil that has befallen South
Africa is the organization of a black church, for which the African
Methodist Episcopal church of this country stands sponsor. The
alarmists argue that independence in church on the part of the
natives ultimately means independence in state. In other words,
native domination in governmental affairs. Every effort is being
put forth to repress the natives' aspiration for an independent
church. Natal has led off by the adoption of an ordinance that
no native minister shall be allowed to hold services in a native loca¬
tion, unless he is subject to a white male missionary who himself
must reside in the location; a most radical measure, subversive of
religious if not of personal liberty. It is quite possible that when
the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies shall have obtained
responsible government that they will enact a similar ordinance.
This is regarded as the surest method of making impossible a
black man's church under native control. The presence of the
American Negro in South Africa, while a disturbing factor, has
been a source of positive helpfulness to a large number of the
natives and has awakened within them a spirit of laudable aspira¬
tion and ambition that cannot now be effectually suppressed. He
has awakened their minds to possibilities of which they had scarcely
dreamed. He has anointed their eyes with the balm of racial pride
and manhood and caused the scales of servility and self-recognized
inferiority to fall off. He has done more; he has practically forced
the various governments and religious denominations to take an
advance step in providing for the religious and educational welfare
of the natives. A movement is now on foot to found an inter¬
colonial and inter-denominational college for the higher education
of native youth, which will obviate the necessity of them going
either to Europe or America for classical training. In all proba-
12
bility this institution will embrace a course in medicine. This
movement is precipitated by the knowledge of the fact that a large
number of South African native youth are being educated in the
schools of the A. M. E. church of America. The American Negro
may now be debarred from South Africa, but the spirit of liberty,
independence and manhood that has been aroused among the
natives can never die. The American Negro is dreaded because
of his advanced position in civilization and because he hails from a
republican and not from a monarchial form of government. He is
considered to be the best and ripest fruitage that the African stock
has yet produced. No where on the face of the earth are there to
be found ten millions of Africans, or the descendants of Africans,
so far advanced in civilization; so well fed, housed and clothed;
and so strongly equipped with industrial, religious, moral, intel¬
lectual, scientific, political and economic acumen and energy as
the ten million of the descendants of Africa in America. It is this
unparalleled advancement that makes the American Negro such
an object of dread and suspicion in South Africa, there being great
fear lest he might instill into the minds of the natives that love of
liberty and independence so characteristic of a republican form of
government. The American Negro, whether a missionary, teacher
or trader, will find South Africa an unwelcome region. Present
conditions do not point to the successful operation of any Ameri¬
can Negro Church, conditions that will continue to exist until the
success or failure of the present fixed purpose to Europeanize South
Africa, and make it the permanent home of the white man, is demon¬
strated. If denied access to South Africa, the American Negro will
find abundant entrance into West and Central Africa, where he
can find ample room for the full exercise of his best and highest
physical, moral and intellectual energies. The little Republic of
Liberia, on the West coast of Africa, is in itself a most inviting
field. But of this I have not now time to speak at length.
Despite all opposing forces the American Negro has made
advances and will continue to do so, though as individuals we may
not reach our highest achievements on American soil. There are
doubtless times when some of us grow more or less discouraged
and feel the approach of the gathering shadows of grim despair.
13
Even in the hour of extreme discouragement, let us think of the
stirring and inspiring poetical tribute paid to the unflinching
courage and dogged persistency of Christopher Columbus by
Joaquin Miller.
Behind him lay the gray Azores,
Behind the gates of Hercules;
Before him not the ghost of shores,
Before him only shoreless seas.
The good mate said: "Now must we pray,
For lo! the very stars are gone.
Brave Admiral, speak; what shall I say?"
"Why, say, Sail on! Sail on!"
"My men grow mutinous day by day;
My men grow ghastly wan and weak."
The stout mate thought of home; a spray
Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.
"What shall I say, brave Admiral, say
If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"
"Why, you shall say at break of day,
"Sail on! Sail on! Sail on! and on!"
They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,
Until at last the blanched mate said:
"Why, now not even God would know
Should I and all my men fall dead.
These very winds forget their way,
For God from these dread seas is gone.
Now speak, brave Admiral, speak and say,
He said, "Sail on! Sail on! and on!"
They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate
"This mad sea shows his teeth to-night.
He curls his lip, he lies in wait,
With lifted teeth as if to bite!
Brave Admiral, say but one good word:
What shall we do when hope is gone?"
The words leapt like a leaping'sword:
"Sail on! Sail on! Sail on! and on!"
Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,
And peered through darkness. Ah, that night.
Of all dark nights! And then a speck—
A light! a light! a light! a light!
It grew, a starlight flag unfurled!
It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.
He gained a world; he gave that world
Its grandest lesson: "On! Sail on!"
14
And now I come to say to you, and through you to the young
American Negro at large, that however stout the opposition with
which you may have to contend, however formidable the obstacles
you may encounter, however dark the clouds of discouragement
which at times may hang o'er your pathway—somewhere there is
land ahead—therefore—
"Sail on! Sail on! Sail on! and on!"
IS