IsiXhosa Intellectual Traditions (IsiXIT) Digital Archive

NATIVE VOTES. THE question of the Native Vote is a very important one, and we are pleased to see that some of our friends are paying so much attention to it. We believe that when it is better understood the fears which have been expressed will disappear. Some have been afraid that a few Europeans who may have influence in a Division, especially missionaries, will be able to drown the voice of the white population through the ''blanket vote.' We do not intend to deny that there are likely to be some men whose advice on such matters will be res- pected. Indeed we believe that the majority of European voters have always been guided by such advice : and if such organisations as the Bond mean anything at all, they mean that the majority of those who are connected with them are to vote as they may be ' directed ' or ordered by the ' heads ' We suppose that no one who has followed the history of the Bond will deny that such has been the case. It has often appeared strange to us that the Native vote should be opposed on such a ground, and that the existence or, rather, the suppose I existence of such influence should be referred to as if it was singular. Those who speak or write in this way must surely either be ignorant of the history of elections, or they must have a low estimate of the audiences they address. What we wish specially to point out. however, is that in so far as the natives have voted, it appears that there is no real ground for such fears as have been expressed from time to time. We may illustrate our meaning by a reference to the Victoria East election of 1884. An election which was more significant and more instructive than many suppose. We may refer to this election again if it be necessary, and point out one or two lesssons which do not seem to have been understood, although that election should have made them plain to all. What we wish to insist upon today is that at Victoria East no such ' European ' or ' missionary ' influence was exercised. We believe that in. some quarters the worthy principal of the Lovedale Institution was blamed for the result by those who thought the election of Mr. Advocate INNES a misfortune. The truth however, is that in the Victoria East District you have a large number of intelligent natives. Some of these have had their training in Kafir courts, or inkundla, and can grasp a political situation much more intelligently than some whose right has not been questioned, and who have gone with a party who wish to decrease British influence in South Africa. The other voters have received their training in some of the Institutions and in the towns. Well, then; when the elections came the natives held meetings among themselves, and fully discussed their grievances, and the kind of man they required. There were 'local' meetings and there were general meetings. Questions aftecting the District, and questions affecting the Colony—such as Education—were gone into. Among other things it was agreed, though not by a formal resolution, that the natives were not to bind themselves to any candidate until such a candidate was beard when address¬ing bis countrymen, and when ad¬dressing the natives. The' man' was to be estimated, his opinions carefully noted on both occasions, and minutely compared. As it was supposed that the Town Hall of Alice would not contain all the Victoria East electors, men who could be relied upon were sent to take 'notes,' and report. These reports were compared and it was only then that a decision was arrived at. All this, we repeat, was done without the help of these dreaded influential missionary wire-pullers; and as the discussions were very free it will appear that the native voters deserve to be called 'inde¬pendent electors' The country generally has, we think, acknow¬ledged that the natives in this in¬stance did good service to the colony in sending Mr. Advocate INNES to Parliament. We believe that Mr. INNES as well as the rest of the European community is not aware of the close examination they had to undergo; for although the Natives are regarded as children, like other children they form an estimate of their own of what the grown-up people are. We fear that like other children they are not always wrong. We have been shown some notes which, we can assure our readers, were taken down on the occasion of the last general election, and which give a bona fide native's im¬pression of the state of things then or during that examination. These notes were not intended for publica¬tion; but they were widely circu-lated among those concerned, and they were compared with the esti¬mate of old men and 6f the young men who were present. We, that the natives will exercise the privilege of voting intelligently, although, of course, they cannot be always right or so fortunate as in the Victoria East case. On other grounds we believe that the follow-ing extracts will be found inter¬esting and, we hope, useful to those who may wish to gain native votes. The writer proceeds thus : ' November, 1883 I may here note for my information hereafter that (1) Stephen Johnson, or ' I Stephen Johnson,' as he is fond of calling himself, gave me the impression that he was reading a speech which had been composed or dictated by somebody else. The speech, as written, seemed to be very long, and he seems to have seen or felt that it would be too long for his audience; but he did not seem to know what to leave out or how to condense what was written. ... It was distress¬ing to notice how he glanced at his papers backwards and forwards, while repeating that he was not going to deliver all his speech.— Conclusion : he is no speaker. (2) A pronouncing dictionary would be of immense advantage to this ' I, Stephen Johnson.'' Alice, I notice is HAlice, and origin is oreegin. So the future represen¬tative of Victoria East is to be a truly original man; a man who is to do justice to all men and to all things except the Queen's English. (3) He is one of the best men I ever listened to so far as promising is con-cerned. He began with promising and ended with promising. There are to be railways and bridges for Alice, and so far as I could make out, there will one day be a railway for any place that las votes. (4) The man 'I, Stephen Johnson,' must be a great genius. He declared as plainly as language can make it, that ' I am Liberal i* principle and Conservative in politics.' This definition of what the man is bfats me altogether. It is either too deep or too high for a native. 1 Do in Rome as the Romans do,' a saying which was quoted by 'I, Stephen Johnson,' perhaps throws some light on this Liberal. Conservative doctrine. (5) He is very clever in answering questions. I for one could not disagree with any of his answers. They are generally long and neatly worded, and as a rule they did not do away with the necessity of repeating the question. As an instance, someone asked him what he thought of the Transkei being taken over by the Imperial Government, and 'I, Stephen Johnson,' said he would by all means agree to the Imperial ' Government taking over the Transkei, • on the terms that 'I would dictate to them in twenty minutes! What this answer amounted to I dare not say; but I could scarcely picture to myself the Earl of Derby by sitting at a side table with pen, ink, and paper, ready for a dictation exercise of twenty minutes, and 'I, Stephen Johnson,' sitting in an easy chair 'dictating terms!' (6) Mr. Johnson professes to be very straightforward in all he says, and his agent (to whom I felt inclined to say, 'why don't you speak for yourself' man,) tried to impress this truth on all present. And yet when one question was put, near the close of the meeting, Mr. Johnson, before answering, said he had been answering in a straightforward way, and that he would answer the said question 'straighter.' One felt that there was room for what we used to call the comparative degree; and I felt that there was room for the other degree oo. It was a great pleasure to see that he ecognised the necessity of answering freighter. (7) While in| the meetings he , seemed to be convinced of three points only, viz.: (a) That he is Stephen Johnson ; (b) That he is very rich ; (c) That he is the best representative Victoria East can have. The second point especially was repeated again and again with increasing emphasis, and my impression was that it was a power, ful point with the audience, and that it will probably help him out of his present diffi- culties. My own preference would certainly be for a man who had his treasures in his head than in the pocket, especially for the business in hand, viz.: making laws for a colony such as we live in. Perhaps Mr. Johnson has treasures both in the head and in the pocket. ... (8) My conclusion at the close of the meeting was that the chief requirement of the colony at the pre¬sent moment is MEN.' ' YOUNG. — Now what about you Mr. Young ? About you, too, I must record my judgment, a judgement which is worth nothing to you, but is something to me. (1) I am of opinion that your chances or prospects are not very bright, and that you have damaged your own cause. In your speech you put in too much matter for, let us say, the younger portion of our audience. They cannot assimilate all you say in so short a time, and they must consequently ' kick up a row.' If you had only put in some water in your condensed milk we would have enjoyed it; as it is, it is too thick, and we refuse to drink it. In plain, you are a dull speaker. (2) You seem to me to grapple fairly enough with difficulties. You appear to have an opinion, and to be ready to express it, and to stand by it even in Rome. (3) I am relieved, and glad to see that you do justice to all classes of men in the colony. (4) You are very sparing with your promises, and you don't say much about your riches, and yet you want our votes ? You are a strange man, and I must refuse to promise you my vote, if I have one, until I consider the situation a little more, and hear what other candidates have to say on the great questions of the day, viz., their money and the railway bridge across the Tyume. But more especially your information on native mat¬ters is defective. If you would take the trouble to ascertain from the natives them¬selves, what they think and say, instead of the farmers in congress assembled you would find it better for y out self. Anyway I would advise you so to do if you wish us to take you for an authority and guide ou native matters, as you seem to be anxious that we should. Perhaps such a vote as I command will be given'to 'I Stephen Johnsen,' 'for I admire his daring.' ' INNES.—Is this the man we have heard so much about. Then I shall look at him. He seems to be young. As he stands I notice that he has not much sympathy from the audience, and as he proceeds I fancy he has less from the chair. He proceeds never¬theless, there is surely some stuff in this young mau. His manner is not very attrac¬tive, but he speaks with ease, and nothing seems to put him out. He is inclined to speak fast, but his brain appears to be always ahead of his mouth. As he goes on I entirely forget that he appears to be young, and I am taken up with what he says. And here I wish to record more par-ticularly, (1 ) That he does not give us con¬densed milk, like the last candidate I listened to, nor water like the first, but sweet milk. The result is that I can drink with pleasure, and so far as I can see, he has compelled even those who did not wish, to pay attention to what he is saying. (2 ) He is a colonial, as distinguished from a local, man. Unlike the others he seems to call on us to consider the interest of the Colony, instead of asking the Colony to con- sider our need. A fine state of matters indeed. (3.) His views are pronounced and he pronounces them. So far as we natives are concerned he seems to be the man. He is against ' vigour,' as it is now understood ; there is a ring of an Englishman's love of fair play, and above all he is for handing back the Transkei to the Queen. Yes, we sigh for the Queen. (4 ) He faces all diffi¬culties manfully, and gives reasons for his opinions. He is evidently well informed and one can respect his opinion, even where he may not agree with it. He is a ready speaker, and those who interrupted him only seemed to give him breathing time, and enable him to take a fresh start and make a more vigorous onslaught on Mr. Sprigg's policy. (5 ) Perhaps what I like mos about him is that he does not promise that he will do everything. Then he is frank enough to state that he is anxious to get to Parliament, and that he will be disappointed if he does not get there. The rest will be so too I fear, although they don't say so. If, when you meet the natives, you speak as you have done now, it will not be your fault if you are disappointed. I conclude that you are a man, and that you are a man of the right sort.' We need add nothing more to these extracts. It is be regreted that the writer was not present when the other candidates delivered them¬selves. We may only here assure Mr. STEPHEN JOHNSON that the way his name is referred to in the notes is not due to want of respect Let us hope, too, that it will be recollected they were written before the election day, and that they were not intended for publication. We have no doubt that a great many notes of this kind were taken by the natives, and they sufficiently show that they made an effort to make a bona fide choice, which is, so far, a guarantee that the next choice will be of the same cha¬racter. Seeing, moreover, that the matter of the representation of the Transkei will shortly engage the attention of Parliament, these ' notes ' will not have been given in vain if only to show the country what an ordeal candidates for legis¬lative honours go through among Native Electors. MABANDLAS CASE. WITH his usual uprightness and decision, Mr. DE WET, THE Secretary for Native Affairs, has acceded to the demand for an inquiry from those who thought MBOVANE MABANDLA had been arbitrarily dealt with by the Government in the matter of his dismissal, and Mr. DICK, the Special Magistrate, has been appointed to conduct the inquiry, which, we may depend upon it, will be strictly impartial. In interesting ourselves in the case of this Native chief we have been urged only by a desire to see that justice, which is the boast of every Englishman, and which Natives are not incapable of understand-ing or being grateful for, measured out to one of Her Majesty's liege subjects. And as we have known the present Secretary for Native Affairs for years as a man keenly sensitive of committing an injustice we knew we would not appeal to him in vain. We shall watch, as every Native will do, the progress and result of the inquiry with rapt interest, only fervently desiring that justice may be done.