. It is just possible that that presumptuous
act of wanting to improve upon the Lord's work will result in trouble
and prove to our sorrow that we have simply tampered and tinkered with a
good thing and spoilt it to our hurt.

"'Thou shalt not provoke thy children to wrath lest they be discouraged
and be tempted to do evil,' applies specially also to the duties of
Governments. Our rulers need wisdom in this direction, and will be
responsible if our strangers are subjected to unfair laws. The older
people here will call to mind, when the old voortrekkers were obliged to
go hundreds of miles, as far as Pietermaritzburg, for their supplies,
that we prayed for shopkeepers in our land so that we might be spared
those long journeys. What was done soon after we had attracted strangers
to establish businesses with us? We were seduced to deliberately attempt
their ruin by starting those _nationale Boerenwinkels_ (national Boer
stores), supported by our own capital, but governed by Hollanders who
eventually squandered our money. Was that dealing fairly by confiding
strangers? Later on, again in response to our prayers, we got railways;
skilled men and much capital from foreign countries, first to prospect
for gold and then to develop and exploit the mines. Their labour and
hard-earned money were risked when the return was still problematic.
Shall we begrudge them their successes now, seeing that our whole land
is equally enriched at the same time, and but for them and their
enterprise the gold would still be lying uselessly hidden in the depths
of the ground? There are now, in 1890, over 100,000 such strangers in
the land, and probably over 200 millions capital invested. Shall they be
treated in a manner to justify the accusation that they were inveigled
into our land with the object of despoiling them afterwards after the
style of 'Come into my parlour, says the spider to the fly'? These
people count upon our honest friendship, especially the many English
among them who ground that confidence upon the honourable peace accorded
us in 1881. Shall we deceive them? May we hate them for old questions
which that peace was intended to bury for ever? Think of the Lord's
dealings with our people--poor, wandering, and despised at first. He had
blessings in store for the tried voortrekkers and their children. 'The
beggar was raised from the dunghill [_asch-hoop, i.e._, ash-heap, was
the word he used] to sit with princes'--'a table laid for