he borders into the gold-fields, they
desired to have a town somewhat nearer to the Rand and the gold-fields
than Pretoria was, so they founded Johannesburg.

This town flourished amazingly, and soon far outstripped Pretoria in size
and importance, just as the Uitlanders had outstripped the Boers in point
of numbers and wealth.

The native population of the Transvaal is very scattered. They are a
nation of farmers, and at the present time there are only about 15,000
Boer men in the whole territory, while of the English-speaking Uitlanders
there are more than five times that number.

No sooner did Johannesburg grow to be a powerful city, than the
Uitlanders, her citizens, demanded that they should have a voice in the
government of the country.

They complained that they were hardly used by the Boers, and made to pay
heavy taxes.

The taxes are certainly heavy, but they are levied upon the gold miners,
who have come to the Transvaal for the sole purpose of making fortunes out
of the gold deposits; these fortunes they wish to carry away with them to
their own country.

The Boers, very naturally, think that some portion of these riches should
be paid to the country which gave them, and they cannot see by what right
these foreign gold-hunters expect to have a voice in the government.

One of the great grievances of the Uitlanders is that the Boers will not
have English taught in the schools, and that their children are obliged to
learn the language of the country if they go to the public schools.

These demands of the Uitlanders will seem all the more absurd when it is
understood that they do not ask for a voice in the government as citizens
of the country. None of these English-speaking people have so much as
offered to become citizens of the Transvaal. They are not even willing to
be. They wish to keep their right of citizenship in their own country,
that they may have the protection of England, and be able to return there
as soon as they have made their fortunes.

However, while they are in the Transvaal, digging their gold out of its
soil, they want to be able to govern the country in their own way, and are
loud in their outcries against the Boers for preventing them from doing
so.

Under the laws of the Transvaal it is very easy to become a citizen.

A man has only to live there two years before he can become a citizen, and
have all the share in the government that he is entitled to.

But this the Uitlande