Abstract
Though the Dutch were determined not to deviate from the policy of neutrality and isolation, they did not accustom themselves easily to their new position and their new policy. They looked back with longing on their golden era in the days of the Republic when the Netherlands played a leading role in the political and economic life of Europe. As a result of the Napoleonic Wars their colonial possessions had shrunk. With the cession of Ceylon and South Africa they had lost strategic positions on important sea lanes on the route to the Indies. Until 1854 the Netherlands had been the sole connection between the Western World and Japan, but this survival of its proud earlier days was now likewise gone.
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Quite naturally the Dutch language had become somewhat corrupted and the Dutch culture modified by the South African environment.
The official name of the country was changed in 1884 from “Transvaal” to “South African Republic.”
De Beaufort, J. A. A. H., Vijftig jaren uit onze geschiedenis, 1868-1918, 1, p. 98.
See for example the passionate open letter to the Duke of Devonshire from the editor of Het Algemeen Handelsblad in the Jan. 7, 1900, issue of his paper. The letter covered two pages of newsprint.
Bryce refers to Leyds, while the latter was still State Secretary, as “an able and resolute man” who confirmed Kruger in his policy of resistance to the Uitlanders. Bryce, James, Impressions of South Africa, p. 435. Leyds was accredited to and received as the diplomatic representative of the South African Republic by Russia, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal.
Leyds, W. J., Tweede verzameling, Deel I Eerste Band, pp. 5–8.
Op. cit, pp. 427 8. At about the same time Jan Christian Smuts, then a young lawyer in Cape Town, in articles in Cape newspapers criticized the Transvaal Government for employing Hollanders in preference to South Africans. A year or two later Smuts himself replaced a Netherlander as Attorney-General of Transvaal. See Crafford, F. S., Jan Smuts, A Biography, p. 13.
For example, Kuyper, the leader of the Anti-revolutionary Party, was a great admirer of the British system of government but because of his ardent pro-Boer sympathies he turned anti-British. Of the German Emperor’s telegram to Kruger he wrote as late as 1916 that while its sending was a dangerous act it “nevertheless gave evidence of his noble heart.” Anti-revolutionaire staatkunde, I, p. 407.
Lord Newton, L. Lord Landsdowne, p. 145, quoted by de Leeuw, A. S., Nederlandin de wereldpolitiek, pp. 21-22.
Much light is thrown on the incidents of this period by J. A. A. H. de Beaufort in Vijftig jaren uit onze geschiedenis 1868-1918. Extensive use is made of the papers of his father, W. H. de Beaufort, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1897-1901.
February, 1900. Later published in the Netherlands in Dutch in pamphlet form. An English edition went into 16 printings.
To deliver the Stone Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Kuyper apparently concluded that Chamberlain, who was in the United States about the same time, had won the McKinley administration to the British point of view. Morley assured Kuyper that Chamberlain in no event would dare to push through his “evil plans.” Anti-revolutionaire staatkunde, I, pp. 405, 416.
Handelingen, Tweede Kamer, 1898-1899, pp. 950-53.
A battle between the Boers and the British.
Handelingen, Tweede Kamer, 1898-99 pp. 953-54.
Handelingen, Tweede Kamer, 1899-1900, pp. 493, 612. The attitude of the members of the States-General toward the Conference can be gathered from the reply of the members of the First Chamber to the Speech from the Throne and the Budget. Many members regretted that the South African Republics and the Papacy had not been invited and felt the Government should not have reached out so eagerly for the Conference. Other members pointed to the difficulties of a small power in the conduct of its foreign policy and the great caution with which it must move. They were of the opinion that those condemning the Government in respect to the extension of invitations to the Conference had failed to keep this in mind. The Government had to be guided not by sympathy for these states, but by prudence. If the Government had dealt with the matter differently and difficulties had arisen, these same critics would have reproached the Government. Some members were of the opinion that the prestige of the Netherlands had been raised by the Conference. Handelingen, Tweede Kamer, 1899-1900, p. 16.
Anti-revolutionaire staatkunde written in 1916. This book must be used with care; it contains many inaccuracies. For his statement on the Boer Republics and the Conference see I, p. 416.
“De Zuid-Afrikaansche Republieken en de Vredes-Conferentie van 1899,” De Gids, 1916, II, pp. 465-78.
For debates on the Convention, see Handelingen, Tweede Kamer, 1899-1900, pp. 1360-78.
Among whom was the historian and jurist, Frederic Harrison.
De Beaufort’s son, however, states that he learned from trustworthy sources that the Queen did write such a letter to Queen Victoria. De Beaufort, J. A. A. H., op. cit, I, footnote p. 229.
Leyds, W. J., Eenige correspondent uit 1899, Eerste Verzameling, p. 87. The date of the meeting was August 3, 1899.
Leyds, Tweede Verzameling, Deel I, Tweede Band, p. 468; Derde Verzameling, Deel I, pp. 8-18. That the letters were sent without the knowledge and at least tacit approval of Minister de Beaufort seems unlikely.
Die grosse Politik der Europäischen Kabinette 1871-1919, XV, pp. 535-39.
The deep attachment of Queen Wilhelmina to the Boer cause is reflected in a story told about a meeting between her and Field Marshall Smuts in London in World War II. She apparently regarded Smuts as somewhat of a Quisling for making his peace with Britain. Though the Boer and Commonwealth statesman spoke and understood Dutch very well, she conducted the conversation in English. She is reported to have said to him, “I shall just speak in English to you.” “Wist U dit van Koningin Wilhelmina?” Knickerbocker Weekly, September, 1948, p. 29.
De Beaufort, J. A. A. H. op. cit, I, pp. 233–34. Foreign Minister de Beaufort apparently believed that the Boers by an appeal to British public opinion and a more conciliatory tone could have made it impossible for Chamberlain to declare war.
Ibid, I, pp. 234-35. Also Leyds, op. cit., Derde Verzameling, Deel II, pp. 24-25.
De Beaufort’s son states that his father did not inform the British Government of his act until after he had tendered Kruger the courtesy. The British Government regretted that the offer had been made; nevertheless, it interposed no objections. In the discussion with Sir Henry Howard, the British minister to The Hague, about the matter, the latter laughingly remarked “ça vous fera beaucoup de bien ici.” Op. cit, II, pp. 140-41.
Handelingen, Eerste Kamer, 1900-1901, pp. 10-12.
A month later a recently retired military attaché at the British legation at The Hague, by the name of àourt, urged the Netherlands foreign minister to take steps to the same end. Letter in the Archives of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
See Leyds, Vierde verzameling, II, Bijlagen, pp. 171-74. See also Kuyper, Anti-revolutionaire staatkunde, I, pp. 414-16. For the Nethelrands aid memoire and the British Government’s reply see Orange Book, 1901-1902 Zuid-A frikaansche aangelegenheden
Kuyper, Anti-revolutionaire staatkunde, loc. cit
De Gids, 1916, II, pp. 465-78.
Anti-revolutionaire staatkunde, I, p. 406.
Quoted by de Beaufort, J. A. A. H. op. cit, II, p. 7.
Leyds, Vierde Verzameling, Deel I, p. 10.
Handelingen, Tweede Kamer, 1904-1905, p. 591.
Kuyper, Anti-revolutionaire Staatkunde, I, p. 585.
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© 1959 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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Vandenbosch, A. (1959). The Boek War. In: Dutch Foreign Policy Since 1815. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6809-0_6
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