CHAP. 1] ORIGIN AND HISTORY 55 
federation, for naturally the other powers in South Africa 
could not be expected to tender the same respect to a 
possession administered under Imperial control as to a self- 
governing Colony. 
In the case of the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, 
it was agreed in the terms of surrender of the Boer forces 
in the field that the conquered Colonies should be granted 
representative institutions leading up to self-government of 
the usual Colonial type at as early a date as possible! In 
the case of the Transvaal it was proposed to carry into effect 
this undertaking by the letters patent of March 31, 1905, 
which were designed to establish in the Transvaal a represen- 
tative legislature consisting of thirty to thirty-five elected 
members and not more than nine or less than six nominees, 
who would have been officials of the Government. The consti- 
tution was in some ways one which might have been expected 
to be acceptable to the Boer section of the population, for 
they had never enjoyed under the previous republican régime 
what would be deemed self-government in accordance with 
English views. But it was fated to meet with disapproval : 
the progressive section of the Boers had, under the régime of 
President Kruger, aimed at securing a fuller measure of 
responsible government, and naturally they saw no particular 
advantage in a system which had admittedly been a failure 
in the case of the Cape and Natal. In these cases, indeed, 
it had been no doubt a necessary preliminary to full responsi- 
bility, but in the Transvaal there were already many people 
accustomed to responsible government. Again, the British 
element in the population saw without much enthusiasm 
the continuance of a rule that would keep them under 
the control of an Executive which they could not hope 
to influence in any adequate degree? On the other hand, 
the Executive Government were not likely to be successful 
in managing the affairs of the Colony under a system which 
left, them in a hopeless minority in the Legislature, so that 
they would probably be reduced to ruling by a coalition with 
& minority in that body. There was, indeed, present every 
* Parl. Pap., Cd. 1096. * Thid., Cd. 2400, 2479, 2482, 2563, 3250.