it must appeal irresistibly to every impartial and right-minded
person.

During this century there have been three periods which have been
characterised by different attitudes of the British Government towards
us. The first began in 1806, and lasted until the middle of the century.
During this period the chief feature of British policy was one of utter
contempt, and the general trend of British feeling in regard to our
unfortunate people can be summarised by the phrase, "The stupid and
dirty Dutch." But the hypocritical ingenuity of British policy was
perfectly competent to express this contempt in accents which harmonised
with the loftiest sentiments then prevailing. The wave of sentimental
philanthropy then passing over the civilised world was utilised by the
British Government in order to represent the Boers to the world as
oppressors of poor peace-loving natives, who were also men and brethren
eminently capable of receiving religion and civilisation.

It may seem inexplicable that the Power which stood up boldly at the
Treaty of Utrecht as the shameless champion of negro slavery was the
very one which was celebrated in South Africa for its morbid love of the
natives; the explanation, however, is that it was not so much love for
the native that underlay the apparent negrophilistic policy as hatred
and contempt of the Boer. As a result of this hatred of the Boer,
disguised under the veneer of philanthropy in regard to the aborigines,
the natives were employed as police against us; they were provided with
arms and ammunition to be used against us; they were incited to fight
us, and, wherever it was possible, they murdered and plundered us. In
fact, our people were forced to bid farewell to the Cape Colony and all
that was near and dear to them, and seek a shelter in the unknown
wilderness of the North.

As an ultimate result of this hatred, our people had to pursue their
pilgrimage of martyrdom throughout South Africa, until every portion of
that unhappy country has been painted red with the blood, not so much
of men capable of resistance as with that of our murdered and
defenceless women and children.

The second period lasted until the year 1881. The fundamental principle
then underlying British policy was no longer one of unqualified hatred.
Results had already proved that hatred was powerless to subdue the
Africander; it had, on the other hand, contributed largely to the
consolidation of Africanderdom and to th