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A CENTURY OF WRONG

ISSUED BY

F.W. REITZ

State Secretary of the South African Republic

WITH PREFACE BY

W.T. STEAD

"Audi Alteram Partem"

LONDON:

"REVIEW OF REVIEWS" OFFICE, MOWBRAY HOUSE, NORFOLK STREET, W.C.

CONTENTS

PREFACE.

"In this awful turning point of the history of South Africa, on the eveof the conflict which threatens to exterminate our people, it behoves usto speak the truth in what may be, perchance, our last message to theworld."

Such is the raison d'être of this book. It is issued by StateSecretary Reitz as the official exposition of the case of the Boeragainst the Briton. I regard it as not merely a duty but an honour to bepermitted to bring it before the attention of my countrymen.

Rightly or wrongly the British Government has sat in judgment upon theSouth African Republic, rightly or wrongly it has condemned it to death.And now, before the executioner can carry out the sentence, the accusedis entitled to claim the right to speak freely—it may be for the lasttime—to say why, in his opinion, the sentence should not be executed. Aliberty which the English law accords as an unquestioned right to thefoulest murderer cannot be denied to the South African Republic. It ison that ground that I have felt bound to afford the spokesman of ourDutch brethren in South Africa the opportunity of stating their case inhis own way in the hearing of the Empire.

Despite the diligently propagated legend of a Reptile press fed by Dr.Leyds for the purpose of perverting public opinion, it is indisputablethat so far as this country is concerned Mr. Reitz is quite correct insaying that the case of the Transvaal "has been lost by default beforethe tribunal of public opinion."

It is idle to point, in reply to this, to the statements that haveappeared in the press of the Continent. These pleadings were notaddressed to the tribunal that was trying the case. In the British pressthe case of the Transvaal was never presented by any accredited counselfor the defence. Those of us who have in these late months beencompelled by the instinct of justice to protest against the campaign ofmisrepresentation organised for the purpose of destroying the SouthAfrican Republic were in many cases so far from authorised exponents ofthe South African Dutch that some of them—among whom I may be reckoned