e origin and the cause. Believe me, the
day on which F. W. Reitz sat down to pen his ultimatum to Great Britain
was the proudest and happiest moment of his life, and one which had for
long years been looked forward to by him with eager longing and
expectation.'

Compare with these utterances of a Dutch politician of the Cape, and of
a Dutch politician of the Orange Free State, the following passage from
a speech delivered by Kruger at Bloemfontein in the year 1887, long
before Jameson raids or franchise agitations:

'I think it too soon to speak of a United South Africa under one flag.
Which flag was it to be? The Queen of England would object to having her
flag hauled down, and we, the burghers of the Transvaal, object to
hauling ours down. What is to be done? We are now small and of little
importance, but we are growing, and are preparing the way to take our
place among the great nations of the world.'

'The dream of our life,' said another, 'is a union of the States of
South Africa, and this has to come from within, not from without. When
that is accomplished, South Africa will be great.'

Always the same theory from all quarters of Dutch thought, to be
followed by many signs that the idea was being prepared for in practice.
I repeat, that the fairest and most unbiassed historian cannot dismiss
the movement as a myth.

And to this one may retort, Why should they not do so? Why should they
not have their own views as to the future of South Africa? Why should
they not endeavour to have one universal flag and one common speech? Why
should they not win over our colonists, if they can, and push us into
the sea? I see no reason why they should not. Let them try if they will.
And let us try to prevent them. But let us have an end of talk about
British aggression, of capitalist designs upon the gold fields, of the
wrongs of a pastoral people, and all the other veils which have been
used to cover the issue. Let those who talk about British designs upon
the republics turn their attention for a moment to the evidence which
there is for republican designs upon the colonies. Let them reflect that
in the British system all white men are equal, and that in the Boer one
race has persecuted the other; and let them consider under which the
truest freedom lies, which stands for universal liberty, and which for
reaction and racial hatred. Let them ponder and answer all this before
they determine where their sympathies lie.

Long