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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 1
+(of 6), by Louis Creswicke
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 1 (of 6)
+ From the Foundation of Cape Colony to the Boer Ultimatum
+ of 9th Oct. 1899
+
+Author: Louis Creswicke
+
+Release Date: December 3, 2007 [EBook #23692]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOUTH AFRICA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Brownfox and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: LIEUTENANTS MELVILL and COGHILL (24th REGIMENT) DYING
+TO SAVE THE QUEEN'S COLOURS.
+
+An Incident at the Battle of Isandlwana.
+
+Painting by C. E. Fripp.]
+
+
+
+
+ SOUTH AFRICA
+ AND THE
+ TRANSVAAL WAR
+
+ BY
+ LOUIS CRESWICKE
+ AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC.
+
+ WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
+
+
+
+ IN SIX VOLUMES
+
+ VOL. I.--FROM THE FOUNDATION OF CAPE COLONY TO
+ THE BOER ULTIMATUM OF 9TH OCT. 1899
+
+
+
+ EDINBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK
+ 1900
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY NOTE
+
+
+In writing this volume my aim has been to present an unvarnished
+tale of the circumstances--extending over nearly half a
+century--which have brought about the present crisis in South
+Africa. Consequently, it has been necessary to collate the opinions
+of the best authorities on the subject. My acknowledgments are due
+to the distinguished authors herein quoted for much valuable
+information, throwing light on the complications that have been
+accumulating so long, and that owe their origin to political
+blundering and cosmopolitan scheming rather than to the racial
+antagonism between Briton and Boer.
+
+ L. C.
+
+
+
+
+
+ CONTENTS--VOL. I.
+
+ PAGE
+CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE ix
+
+INTRODUCTION 1
+
+
+ CHAPTER I
+
+ PAGE
+
+THE GROWTH OF THE TRANSVAAL 13
+
+THE BOER CHARACTER 15
+
+SOME DOMESTIC TRAITS 18
+
+
+ CHAPTER II
+
+ PAGE
+
+THE ORANGE FREE STATE 24
+
+THE GRONDWET 26
+
+TRANSVAAL DISSENSIONS 29
+
+ZULU DISTURBANCES 30
+
+THE POLITICAL WEB 33
+
+THE WEB THICKENING 36
+
+THE ZULU WAR 38
+
+ISANDLWANA 40
+
+AFFAIRS AT HOME 43
+
+TOWARDS ULUNDI 49
+
+THE VICTORY 57
+
+
+ CHAPTER III
+
+ PAGE
+
+SIR GARNET WOLSELEY AT PRETORIA 62
+
+GLADSTONE OUT OF OFFICE AND IN OFFICE 65
+
+COMMENCEMENT OF REBELLION 69
+
+THE FATE OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT 73
+
+LAING'S NEK 77
+
+INGOGO 84
+
+MAJUBA 86
+
+THE SIEGE OF PRETORIA 95
+
+RETROCESSION 99
+
+THE BETRAYED LOYALISTS 101
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV
+
+ PAGE
+
+THE CONVENTIONS 106
+
+MR. KRUGER 110
+
+GERMANS AND UITLANDERS 114
+
+
+ CHAPTER V
+
+ PAGE
+
+MR. RHODES 118
+
+RHODESIA--UNCIVILISED 120
+
+RHODESIA--CIVILISED 124
+
+GOLD 127
+
+DIAMONDS 131
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI
+
+ PAGE
+
+THE TRANSVAAL OF TO-DAY 136
+
+ACCUMULATED AGGRAVATIONS 138
+
+MONOPOLIES AND ABUSES 143
+
+THE FRANCHISE 146
+
+THE REFORM MOVEMENT 149
+
+THE CRITICAL MOMENT 153
+
+THE RAID 156
+
+AFTER DOORNKOP 172
+
+THE FATE OF THE MISCREANTS 177
+
+THE ULTIMATUM 178
+
+
+APPENDIX--CONVENTIONS OF 1881 AND 1884 191, 197
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--Vol. I.
+
+1. _COLOURED PLATES_
+
+ PAGE
+
+DYING TO SAVE THE QUEEN'S
+COLOURS. An Incident of the Battle
+of Isandlwana. By C. E. Fripp _Frontispiece_
+
+COLONEL OF THE 10TH HUSSARS
+(H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES) 16
+
+2ND DRAGOONS (ROYAL SCOTS GREYS) 32
+
+OFFICER OF THE 16TH LANCERS 64
+
+DRUM-MAJOR AND DRUMMERS, COLDSTREAM
+GUARDS 80
+
+COLOUR-SERGEANT AND PRIVATE,
+THE SCOTS GUARDS 104
+
+SERGEANT AND BUGLER, 1ST ARGYLE
+AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS 140
+
+COLOUR-SERGEANT AND PRIVATE (IN
+KHAKI), GLOUCESTER REGIMENT 172
+
+
+2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_
+
+ PAGE
+
+CAPE TOWN, DEVIL'S PEAK, TABLE
+MOUNTAIN, AND LION'S HEAD,
+FROM TABLE BAY 10
+
+A KAFFIR KRAAL IN THE TRANSVAAL 20
+
+BLOEMFONTEIN, FROM THE SOUTH 26
+
+THE DEFENCE OF RORKE'S DRIFT.
+By Alphonse de Neuville 42
+
+THE BATTLE OF ULUNDI: THE FINAL
+RUSH OF THE ZULUS. By R. Caton
+Woodville 58
+
+THE ORANGE RIVER AT NORVAL'S
+PONT 74
+
+THE BATTLE OF MAJUBA HILL. By
+R. Caton Woodville 90
+
+WHERE COLLEY FELL. Rough Cairn
+of Stones on Majuba Hill 92
+
+THE MATABELE WAR--DEFENDING
+A LAAGER. By R. Caton Woodville 118
+
+"TO THE MEMORY OF BRAVE MEN."
+The Last Stand of Major Wilson on
+The Shangani River, 1893. By Allan
+Stewart 124
+
+A MATABELE RAID IN MASHONALAND.
+By W. Small 128
+
+KIMBERLEY, AS SEEN FROM THE
+ROCK SHAFT 132
+
+PRETORIA, FROM THE EAST. 138
+
+SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVES--BOUND
+FOR THE GOLDFIELDS 148
+
+JAMESON'S LAST STAND--THE BATTLE
+OF DOORNKOP, 2nd January 1896.
+By R. Caton Woodville 160
+
+JOHANNESBURG, FROM THE NORTH. 166
+
+
+3. _FULL-PAGE PORTRAITS_
+
+ PAGE
+
+SIR HENRY BARTLE FRERE, Bart 48
+
+GENERAL SIR EVELYN WOOD, G.C.B.,
+V.C. 96
+
+PAUL KRUGER, PRESIDENT OF THE
+TRANSVAAL REPUBLIC 112
+
+RIGHT HON. CECIL JOHN RHODES,
+P.C. 144
+
+DR. LEANDER STARR JAMESON 152
+
+RIGHT HON. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN,
+M.P., Secretary for the Colonies 176
+
+SIR ALFRED MILNER, K.C.B., High
+Commissioner for South Africa 184
+
+VISCOUNT WOLSELEY, Commander-in-chief
+of the British Army 188
+
+
+4. _MAPS_
+
+ PAGE
+
+MAP OF BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA _At Front_
+
+MAP OF THE BOER REPUBLICS "
+
+MAP OF ZULULAND AND THE ADJOINING
+PORTIONS OF NATAL 41
+
+MAP OF COUNTRY ROUND LAING'S
+NEK AND MAJUBA HILL 81
+
+PLAN OF DISPOSITION OF FORCES
+ON TOP OF MAJUBA HILL 89
+
+MAP OF MATABELELAND 121
+
+MAP ILLUSTRATING THE JAMESON
+RAID 163
+
+CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE--VOL. I.
+
+#1851.#--First Basuto war.
+
+#1852.#--Sand River Convention, granting independence to Transvaal
+Boers.
+
+#1853.#--Province of British Kaffraria created.
+
+Introduction of representative government in Cape Colony.
+
+#1854.#--Convention of Bloemfontein and Treaty of Aliwal, granting
+independence to Orange Free State.
+
+Free State abandoned to Dutch.
+
+#1855.#--Establishment of a Constitution for South African Republic;
+not completed till 1858.
+
+#1856.#--Natal created a separate Colony. 2000 German legion and
+2000 German labourers arrived.
+
+#1858.#--War between Orange Free State and Basutos.
+
+#1859.#--First railway constructed.
+
+#1865.#--British Kaffraria incorporated with Cape Colony.
+
+War between Free State and Basutos.
+
+#1867.#--First discovery of diamonds near Orange River.
+
+First discovery of gold in Transvaal.
+
+#1868.#--Annexation of Basutoland.
+
+#1869.#--Discovery of diamonds near Lower Vaal River, where
+Kimberley now stands.
+
+Commercial Treaty concluded between Portuguese Government and the
+South African Republic, which led to British claims to Delagoa Bay.
+
+#1871.#--Annexation of Griqualand West (Diamond Fields). Basutoland
+added to Cape.
+
+#1872.#--Responsible Government granted to Cape Colony.
+
+Cetchwayo succeeds his father, Panda, as king in Zululand.
+
+#1872-75.#--Delagoa Bay arbitration.
+
+#1874.#--Ichaboe and Penguin Islands annexed.
+
+#1875.#--Delagoa Bay award.
+
+#1875-80.#--Lord Carnarvon's scheme for making the different
+colonies and states of South Africa into a confederation with common
+administration and common legislation in national matters.
+
+#1876.#--Fingoland, Idutywa Reserve, and No-Man's-Land annexed.
+
+Acceptance by Free State of L90,000 for Griqualand West.
+
+Khama, Chief of Bamangwato, seeks British protection against Boer
+aggressions.
+
+#1877.#--Annexation of Transvaal by Sir T. Shepstone, after the
+country had been reduced to a state of anarchy by misgovernment.
+
+#1877-78.#--Gaika and Gealika rebellion.
+
+#1878.#--Walfish Bay proclaimed a British possession.
+
+#1879.#--Zulu war. Transvaal declared a Crown Colony.
+
+#1880.#--Basuto war. Sekukuni campaign.
+
+Boer protest against British rule at a mass meeting held in December
+at Paardekraal (now Krugersdorp).
+
+They seize Heidelberg.
+
+South African Republic established.
+
+December 16.--Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius proclaimed South
+African Republic by hoisting flag on Dingaan's Day. Kruger made
+President on December 17. British treacherously surrounded at
+Bronkhurst Spruit, December 20, when about 250 of 94th Regiment,
+after losing nearly all their men, surrendered. Colonel Bellairs
+besieged in Potchefstroom, but Boers retire when shelled. December
+29.
+
+--Captain Elliot treacherously murdered while fording the Vaal.
+
+#1880-81.#--Reinforcements sent out December and January.
+
+Griqualand West incorporated with the Cape.
+
+#1881.#--Transvaal rebellion. Pretoria Convention, creating
+"Transvaal State" under British suzerainty.
+
+Sir George Colley takes command of our troops, January. His attack
+on Laing's Nek repulsed with heavy loss. Colonel Deane and Majors
+Poole and Hingiston killed.
+
+#1881.#--Severe engagement near Ingogo River, Feb. 8. British
+repulsed after 12 hours under fire. Sir E. Wood joined Colley with
+reinforcements. Orange Free State neutrality declared. Colley and
+Majuba Hill, Feb. 27; Colley killed with 3 officers and 82 men; 122
+men taken prisoners.
+
+Sir F. (now Lord) Roberts sent out, Feb. 28.
+
+Armistice proposed by Boers, March 5; accepted March 23.
+
+Peace proclaimed, March 21.
+
+Potchefstroom surrendered with honours of war in ignorance of
+armistice, April.
+
+Commission appointed to carry out Treaty of Peace, April 5.
+
+Convention agreed to, ceding all territory to Transvaal, with the
+Queen as suzerain, and a British resident at Pretoria, Aug. 8.
+
+Convention ratified, Oct. 25.
+
+Evacuation of Transvaal by British troops began on Nov. 18.
+
+#1884.#--London Convention restoring to the Transvaal the title of
+"South African Republic."
+
+Annexation of Damaraland by Germany.
+
+Boer Republics of Stellaland and Goshen set up in Bechuanaland.
+
+Boers seize and annex Montsioaland; sanctioned by proclamation;
+withdrawn on remonstrance.
+
+Ultimatum by Sir H. Robinson, requiring protection of frontiers.
+
+British annexation of Southern, and protectorate of Northern
+Bechuanaland.
+
+Basutoland made independent.
+
+Port St. John annexed.
+
+British flag hoisted in Lucia Bay, Zululand (ceded to England in
+1843, by Panda).
+
+#1884-85.#--Sir Charles Warren's expedition.
+
+#1885.#--Annexation of Bechuanaland to Cape Colony.
+
+#1885.#--British protectorate over Khama's country proclaimed as far
+as Matabeleland.
+
+Discovery of great goldfields in Witwatersrandt, Transvaal.
+
+#1886.#--Opening of principal goldfields in Transvaal.
+
+British Government put a stop to Boer raids into Zululand, and
+confined them to a territory of nearly 3000 square miles; to be
+known as the "New Republic."
+
+#1887.#--British annexation of the rest of Zululand.
+
+British treaty with Tonga chiefs, in which they undertook not to
+make treaties with any other power.
+
+#1888.#--"New Republic" annexed to South African Republic.
+
+Treaty concluded between British and Lo Bengula, the Matabele king,
+in which he undertook not to cede territory to, or treat with, any
+foreign power without British consent.
+
+#1889.#--Charter granted to British South Africa Company.
+
+#1890.#--First Swaziland Convention, giving Boers certain rights to
+a railway to the coast.
+
+British and German "spheres of influence" defined by formal
+agreement.
+
+#1891.#--Southern boundary of Portuguese territory fixed by treaty
+with Great Britain.
+
+#1893.#--Responsible government granted to Natal.
+
+Matabele war.
+
+#1894.#--Malaboch war.
+
+Question of "commandeering" British subjects raised in South African
+Republic.
+
+Second Swaziland Convention, placing Swaziland under Boer control.
+
+Annexation of Amatongaland.
+
+Annexation of Pondoland.
+
+British subjects exempted from military service by Transvaal
+Government, June 24.
+
+Protest by British Government against closing the Vaal Drifts, as
+contrary to Convention; Nov. 3. Agreed to Nov. 8.
+
+#1895.#--Crown Colony of Bechuanaland annexed to Cape Colony.
+
+Proclamation of Reform movement by Uitlanders in Johannesburg
+(National Union), Dec. 26.
+
+Jameson Raid--he crossed the frontier with a force from Pitsani
+Pitlogo, Dec. 29.
+
+Sir H. Robinson telegraphed to Jameson to retire, Dec. 30.
+
+Mr. Chamberlain and Sir H. Robinson sent order to stop hostilities,
+Dec. 31.
+
+#1896.#--Dr. Jameson's party, outnumbered and without resources,
+defeated by Boers near Krugersdorp, Jan. 1.
+
+Fight at Vlakfontein, and surrender of Jameson, Jan. 2.
+
+Johannesburg surrendered unconditionally by advice of British
+Government, Jan. 2.
+
+Dr. Jameson and other prisoners handed over to Sir H. Robinson, Jan.
+7.
+
+#1897.#--Judicial Crisis in South African Republic.
+
+Annexation of Zululand to Natal.
+
+#1899.#--Petition of Uitlanders to the Queen, May 24.
+
+Conference, at Bloemfontein, between Sir A. Milner and Kruger, May
+30. Terminated without result, June 6.
+
+British Despatch to Transvaal, setting forth demands for immediate
+acceptance, Sept. 8.
+
+Unsatisfactory reply, Sept. 16.
+
+Troops despatched to Natal, Sept. and Oct.
+
+Insulting Boer Ultimatum, making war inevitable, Oct. 9.
+
+Orange Free State joins with the Transvaal.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF THE BOER REPUBLICS.]
+
+[Illustration: GENERAL MAP OF BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA]
+
+
+
+
+ SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+The Transvaal War--like a gigantic picture--cannot be considered at
+close quarters. To fully appreciate the situation, and all that it
+embraces, the critic must stand at a suitable distance. He must gaze
+not merely with the eye of to-day, or even of the whole nineteenth
+century, but with his mind educated to the strange conditions of
+earlier civilisation. For in these conditions will be found the root
+of the widespread mischief--the answer to many a riddle which
+superficial observers have been unable to comprehend. The racial
+hatred between Boer and Briton is not a thing of new growth; it has
+expanded with the expansion of the Boer settlers themselves. In
+fact, on the Boer side, it is the only thing independent of British
+enterprise which has grown and expanded since the Dutch first set
+foot in the Cape. This took place in 1652. Then, Jan Van Riebeck, of
+the Dutch East India Company, first established an European
+settlement, and a few years later the burghers began life as
+cattle-breeders, agriculturists, and itinerant traders. These
+original Cape Colonists were descendants of Dutchmen of the lower
+classes, men of peasant stamp, who were joined in 1689 by a
+contingent of Huguenot refugees. The Boers, or peasants, of that day
+were men of fine type, a blend between the gipsy and the evangelist.
+They were nomadic in their taste, lawless, and impatient of
+restrictions, bigoted though devout, and inspired in all and through
+all by an unconquerable love of independence. With manners they had
+nothing to do, with progress still less. Isolation from the
+civilised world, and contact with Bushmen, Hottentots, and Kaffirs,
+kept them from advancing with the times. Their slaves outnumbered
+themselves, and their treatment of these makes anything but
+enlivening reading. From all accounts the Boer went about with the
+Bible in one hand and the _sjambok_ in the other, instructing
+himself assiduously with the Word, while asserting himself liberally
+with the deed. Yet he was a first-rate sporting man, a shrewd
+trafficker, and at times an energetic tiller of the soil. The early
+settlements were Rondebosch, Stellenbosch, and Drakenstein, in the
+valley of the Berg River. Here the Dutch community laboured, and
+smoked, and married, multiplying itself with amazing rapidity, and
+expanding well beyond the original limits.
+
+Dutch domination at the Cape lasted for 143 years after the landing
+of Van Riebeck, but gradually internal dissensions among the
+settlers resulted in absolute revolt. Meanwhile the Dutch in Europe
+had lost their political prestige, and the country was overrun by a
+Prussian army commissioned to support the House of Orange. In 1793,
+in a war against allied England and Holland, France gained the day,
+and a Republic was set up under French protection, thereby rendering
+Holland and her colonies of necessity antagonistic to Great Britain.
+After this the fortunes of the Cape were fluctuating. In 1795
+Admiral Elphinstone and General Craig brought about the surrender of
+the colony to Great Britain. Later on it was returned to the
+Batavian Republic at the Peace of Amiens, only to be afterwards
+recaptured by Sir David Baird in 1806. Finally, in 1814, our claim
+to the Cape and other Dutch colonies was recognised on payment of
+the sum of L6,000,000 sterling.
+
+Now for the first time began the real emigration of the British.
+They settled at Bathurst, near Algoa Bay, but though their numbers
+gradually swelled, they never equalled the number of the inhabitants
+of Dutch origin.
+
+At this time South Africa was an ideal place for the pioneer. The
+scenery was magnificent. There were mountain gorges or kloofs,
+roaring cataracts, vast plains, and verdant tracts of succulent
+grasses. There was big game enough to delight the heart of a race of
+Nimrods. Lions, elephants, hippopotami, rhinoceroses, antelopes, and
+birds of all kinds, offered horns, hides, tusks, and feathers to the
+adventurous sportsman. All these things the nomadic Boer had
+hitherto freely enjoyed, plying now his rifle, now his plough, and
+taking little thought for the morrow or for the moving world outside
+the narrow circle of his family experiences. With the appearance of
+British paramountcy at the Cape came a hint of law and order, of
+progress and its accompaniment--taxation. The bare whisper of
+discipline of any kind was sufficient to send the truculent Boer
+trekking away to the far freedom of the veldt. Quantities of them
+took to their lumbering tented waggons, drawn by long teams of oxen,
+and put a safe distance between themselves and the new-comers. All
+they wanted was a free home, conducted in their own gipsy
+fashion--their kraals by the river, their camp fires, their flocks
+and herds, and immunity from the vexation of monopolies and taxes.
+And here at once will be seen how the seeds sprang up of a rooted
+antagonism between Boer and Briton that nothing can ever remove, and
+no diplomacy can smooth away. The Boer nature naturally inclines to
+a sluggish content, while the British one invariably pants for
+advance. The temperamental tug of war, therefore, has been one that
+has grown stronger and stronger with the progress of years. The
+principles of give and take have been tried, but they have failed.
+Reciprocity is not in the nature of the Boer, and without
+reciprocity society and States are at a standstill. The Boer is
+accredited with the primitive virtues, innocence, sturdiness,
+contentment. If he has these, he has also the defects of his
+qualities. He is crafty, stubborn, and narrow, and intolerant of
+everything beyond the limits of his native comprehension.
+Innovations of any kind are sufficient to fill him with suspicion,
+and those started by the British in their first efforts at Cape
+government were as gall and wormwood to his untrammelled taste.
+These efforts, it must be owned, were not altogether happy. There
+was first a rearrangement of local governments and of the Law
+Courts; then, in 1827, followed a decree that English should be the
+official language. As at that time not more than one colonist in
+seven was British, the new arrangement was calculated to make
+confusion worse confounded! The disgust of the Cape Dutch may be
+imagined! The finishing touch came in 1834. By the abolition of
+slavery--humane though its object was--the Cape colonists were
+exceedingly hard hit; and though the owners of slaves were
+compensated to the tune of a million and a quarter (the slaves were
+valued at three millions sterling), they continued to maintain a
+simmering resentment. Added to this came the intervention of the
+missionaries, who attempted to instil into the Boer mind a sense of
+the equality, in the sight of Heaven, of the black and the white
+races.
+
+At this time 12,000 Kaffirs had crossed over the border and invaded
+the settlements, dealing death and destruction wherever they went.
+They were finally repulsed by the British, and Sir Benjamin D'Urban,
+the Governor at the Cape, proclaimed the annexation of the country
+beyond the Keiskamma, on the eastern boundary of the Colony, as far
+as the Kei. But no sooner had he accomplished this diplomatic move
+in his wise discretion, than orders came from the British Government
+to the effect that the land was to be restored to the Kaffirs and
+the frontier boundary moved back to its original place--Keiskamma.
+Sir Benjamin D'Urban carried out these orders much to his disgust,
+for he deemed the annexation of the province to be necessary to the
+peace of all the surrounding districts. But this was neither the
+first nor the last occasion in the history of Cape government on
+which men of practical experience have had to give way before wise
+heads in Downing Street arm-chairs.
+
+This action on the part of the Government was as the last straw to
+the overladen camel. The patience of the Dutch Boers broke down. The
+introduction of a foreign and incomprehensible tongue, the abolition
+of slavery, and finally the restoration to the despised Kaffirs of a
+conquered province, were indignities past bearing. There was a
+general exodus. Off to the neighbourhood of the Orange and the Vaal
+Rivers lumbered the long waggon trains drawn by innumerable oxen,
+bearing, to pastures new and undefiled by the British, the irate
+Boers and their household gods. It was a pathetic departure, this
+voluntary exile into strange and unknown regions. The first
+pioneers, after a long and wearisome journey to Delagoa Bay, fell
+sick and retraced their steps to Natal only to die. The next great
+company started forth in the winter of 1836. Some went to the
+districts between the Orange and the Vaal Rivers--the district now
+known as the Orange Free State; others went into the country north
+of the Vaal River--the district now called the Transvaal; while
+others again went beyond the mountains to the district now named
+Natal. Here the Boer hoped to lead a new and a peaceful life, to
+encamp himself by some river course with his kraal for his sheep and
+his goats, the wide veldt for his carpet, and the blue dome of
+heaven or the canvas of his waggon for his untaxed roof. But his
+hopes were of short duration. The poor trekker--to use the vulgar
+phrase--had fallen out of the frying-pan into the fire. He had fled
+from the "British tyrant" only to encounter the Matabele Zulu
+savage. A terrible feud between the Bantu tribes was then causing
+much violence and blood-spilling, and the Zulu chief Moselekalse,
+having driven the Bechuanas beyond the Limpopo, had established the
+kingdom of the Matabele. With this chief, the Boer Potgieter and a
+party of burghers, on exploration intent, came suddenly into
+collision. Some of the Boers fled, the rest were promptly massacred.
+Those who remained alive made plans for self-defence. They lashed
+their waggons together to form a laager, and within it placed their
+women and children in partial safety. They then gave the warriors of
+Moselekalse a warm reception. The fight was maintained with great
+energy, the Zulus raining assegais over the waggons, while the Boers
+returned the compliment with their firearms. For these they had
+plenty of ammunition, and relays of guns were loaded and handed out
+gallantly by their women from within the laager. The Boers were
+victorious. Their aim was true, their pluck enormous, and after a
+sharp engagement the enemy were forced to retire. The savages were
+not vanquished, however, till terrible damage had been inflicted on
+the laager. Not content with the loss of many of their number, their
+sheep and their cattle, the plucky Boers started forth to punish the
+Matabele. Though few in number the burghers had the advantage of
+rifles, and succeeded in triumphing over the enemy and establishing
+themselves at Winburg, on the Vet River, to west of Harrismith.
+Later on the Boer farmers prepared to trek into Natal. They had
+prospected the place and found it entirely suited to their
+agricultural needs. Water and game were plentiful, and the whole
+country was fertile as a garden. Here they proposed to settle down.
+At Port Natal--now known by the name of Durban--was a party of
+Englishmen with whom the Boer explorers got on friendly terms. Both
+Englishmen and Boers were aware that the district was under Zulu
+sway, and it was decided that the chief, Dingaan, should be
+interviewed as to the approaching settlement of the Boers. The wily
+Zulu received his late enemies with every show of amity. He offered
+them refreshments, he made entertainments for their amusement. He
+finally agreed to cede such territory as was demanded by the Boers,
+provided they would secure to him certain cattle that had been
+stolen from him by a chief named Sikonyela. This the Boers agreed to
+do. They promptly travelled to see Sikonyela, and by threats,
+persuasions, or other mysterious means, extracted from him his
+ill-gotten gains. With the restored cattle the whole party of Boers
+then passed on their way from Drakensberg to Natal, full of the hope
+of finally making a settlement in a region so well suited to their
+pastoral instincts.
+
+On again visiting the chief Dingaan, they were again received with
+honour. More festivities were arranged, and the date of the signing
+of the treaty was fixed for the 4th of February 1838.
+
+The day came. The burghers arrived in the customary picturesqueness
+of woollen shirts, round hats, rough coats, and leathern
+veldt-broeks. Dingaan, amiable to excess, insisted that they should
+accompany him to his kraal, and there make a formal leave-taking.
+They were requested to leave their arms outside as an earnest of
+good faith, and, with some suspicion, they acceded. Their reception
+was splendid. Their health was drunk, the calabash passed round, and
+then--then, at a given signal from the chief, the Zulu hordes rushed
+in, fully armed and raging. In less time than it takes to describe
+the deed, the defenceless company of Boer farmers were slaughtered
+in cold blood--slaughtered before they could lift even a fist in
+self-defence! This horrible act of treachery served to do away at
+one fell swoop with the whole Boer party. Their bones, piled in a
+heap without the kraal, alone remained to tell to their kindred the
+tale of their undoing. The Zulus then proceeded in their tens of
+thousands to attack the nearest encampment, and cut down all who
+came in their way. Men--women--children--they spared none. The
+tidings being carried to the outer encampments of the Boers, they
+prepared themselves for the worst. They and their gallant _vrows_,
+who fought with as cool and obstinate a courage as their husbands,
+resisted the onslaught staunchly and successfully; but they paid
+dearly for their boldness. Their cattle were demolished, and their
+numbers were miserably thinned. Some thought of retiring from Natal;
+some contemplated revenge.
+
+The pathetic state of the Boers attracted the sympathy of the
+Englishmen then in Natal, and they joined hands. Potgieter and Uys
+then commanded a force, and marched out on the enemy, but
+unfortunately fell into an ambush and were slain. Among the dead
+were the commandant Uys and his son.
+
+Then the Englishmen, not to be behindhand in the fray, came to the
+rescue. Though there were but seventeen of them, they went out
+accompanied by 1500 Hottentots to meet the enemy. They followed the
+retreating savages beyond the Tugela, when suddenly they found
+themselves face to face with a fierce multitude of 70,000 Zulus. A
+conflict of the most terrible kind ensued: a conflict the more
+terrible because at the same time so heroic and so hopeless. From
+this appalling fight only four Englishmen escaped. These had
+succeeded in cutting their way through the enemy; the rest had been
+surrounded, and died fighting valiantly, and were almost buried
+among the dead bodies of their antagonists.
+
+But this was not to be the finale of the Boer resistance to the wild
+Zulu. The above tragic engagement between the Englishmen and Zulus
+took place in April 1838. By December of the same year they had
+gathered themselves under the banner of their fine leader Andries
+Pretorius, a farmer from the district of Graff Reinet, and started
+forth again to meet the treacherous Dingaan, and pay him the debt
+they owed him.
+
+A word or two of this Pretorius, after whom the now notable town of
+Pretoria was named. He was a born leader of men: he was a Cromwell
+in his way. At that date he was forty years of age, in the prime of
+strength and manhood. He was tall, and vigorous in mind as well as
+in body, calm and deliberating in counsel, but prompt and fiery in
+action. His descent is traced from one Johannes Pretorius, son of a
+clergyman at Goeree in South Holland, one of the very early
+settlers--a pious and worthy man, whose piety and worth had been
+inherited by several generations. Like the rest of his countrymen,
+Pretorius would brook no control. Though he was indubitably brave
+and immensely capable, he had the conservative instincts of his
+race. He shrunk from all innovations, he disliked everything
+connected with civilisation that might in the smallest degree
+interfere with the personal liberty of the individual. Freedom was
+as the very breath of his nostrils, and here was the great link
+between this really exceptional man and the body of his pastoral
+followers.
+
+Pretorius, bent on the punishment of the treachery of Dingaan, set
+out, as has been said, with his expedition in the winter of 1838.
+This expedition has been named by the Boers the Win Commando. He had
+but three small pieces of cannon and a force composed of about four
+hundred white men and some native auxiliaries, yet the admirable
+tactics of Pretorius, the stout hearts and fine shooting of his
+followers, combined to bring about a victory over the Zulus. These
+were totally routed, and lost one third of their number.
+
+The bravery and splendid persistence of the Boers filled all hearts
+with admiration, particularly when, after several well-directed
+attacks, they eventually succeeded in utterly breaking the Zulu
+power. Dingaan was dethroned and driven into exile, and his kraal
+and property burnt. A Christian burial service was read over the
+place where lay the bones of the assassinated Retief and his
+companions. The date, the 16th December 1838, on which the Zulu
+power met its first check from white men, is one ever remembered in
+Boer history. It goes by the name of Dingaan's Day, and is annually
+celebrated with great rejoicings throughout the Transvaal.
+
+The Boers had now succeeded in inspiring wholesome awe in the heart
+of Panda, the new chieftain who occupied the place once held by his
+brother, the exiled Dingaan. He was not a person of bellicose
+disposition, and thinking discretion the better part of valour, was
+ready enough to swear to keep peace with his late enemies. In these
+circumstances the Boers with prayer and thanksgiving were able to
+pursue the promptings of their long-checked ambition. Soon several
+hundreds of waggons drawn by long teams of oxen came lumbering into
+Natal, for the purpose of establishing there the Republic, which had
+so often been planned out in imagination and never yet found any but
+an abortive existence. This ideal State was eventually formed and
+called the Republic of Natalia, and it enjoyed for several years an
+independent existence.
+
+As Natal became the first cause of armed conflict between the
+British and the Boers, its then position in regard to the
+authorities at the Cape may as well be reviewed. Though the new
+Republic maintained its perfectly independent existence, its
+inhabitants were still mentioned by the Governor of Cape Colony as
+British subjects. It must be remembered that prior to the
+occupation of Natal by the Boers, and the formation of their
+cherished Republic, the Governor of Cape Colony had issued a
+proclamation announcing his intention of occupying Natal later on,
+and stating that the emigrants--who were then making active
+preparations for the attack of Dingaan--- were British subjects. In
+Great Britain, however, the authorities had not yet decided to
+follow the advice so often given by their representatives at the
+Cape. They were still declaring it inexpedient to extend their
+territory, and likewise their responsibilities, in South Africa. But
+the incursion of the Boers in the neighbourhood of Port Natal put a
+new complexion on affairs. The British Government began to open its
+eyes to the value of a seaport, with two good harbours on the South
+African coast, as a colonial possession. It could not fail to
+recognise also that the members of the new State were already bitter
+foes to the British and their ways; and that it would be dangerous
+to allow them to establish themselves as an independent power on the
+coast, and entirely throw off their duty of allegiance. Accordingly
+Sir George Napier, the then Governor of the Cape, sent troops to
+occupy Natal. He remained undecided as to the mode of dealing with
+the emigrant Boers, however, for, while declaring them British
+subjects, he yet was not prepared to afford them protection from
+attacks of the natives. It is scarcely surprising that this
+half-and-half paternity of the Government failed to satisfy the men
+whose kith and kin had fallen in their numbers at Weenen and the
+Hill of Blood, and the consequent disaffection of the Boers grew
+deeper as signs of British authority increased.
+
+But at first, in the rest of their territory outside Natal the Boer
+Government remained unmolested. Their district was bounded by the
+sea and the Drakenberg mountains, the Tugela and Umzimubu Rivers,
+and there for a time things went well. Pretorius was Commandant
+General in Natal, Potgieter Chief Commandant in the allied Western
+Districts. The legislative power was in the hands of a Volksraad of
+twenty-four members, whose ways were more vacillating and erratic
+than advantageous. "Every man for himself and God for all" seemed to
+be the convenient motto of this assembly, except perhaps on urgent
+occasions, when Pretorius and Potgieter were called upon as joint
+dictators to settle some knotty problem relating to external
+affairs.
+
+At the close of 1840 this Volksraad commenced negotiations with the
+Cape Government with a view to getting their independence formally
+recognised. The Governor at the Cape was again in the old quandary.
+While he personally desired to put an end to troubles from within
+and without by establishing a strong government over the whole
+country, he was crippled by the Ministry at home, which was
+consistent in maintaining its policy of inconsistency, and tried to
+maintain its hold on the Cape, while steadily refusing to increase
+Great Britain's responsibility in South Africa.
+
+The demands of the Volksraad (presented in January 1841) were
+scarcely acceptable at headquarters. The nature of them is
+interesting, and shows the then attitude of people who described
+themselves as "willing and desirous to enter into a perpetual
+alliance with the Government of Her Majesty."
+
+They bargained that the Republic of Natalia was to be acknowledged
+as a free and independent State, in close alliance with the British
+Government. If attacked by sea by any other power, Great Britain
+might interpose either by negotiation or arms. If Great Britain were
+at war, however, the Republic was to remain neutral. Wine, strong
+liquors, and articles "prejudicial to this Republic," were to be
+taxed more highly than other things, which would be taxed as for a
+British Colony. British subjects residing in the Republic would have
+equal protection, and the same taxes as burghers, while in case of
+war every assistance would be given to a British or Colonial force
+marching through the territory. The slave trade would not be
+permitted, and every facility for the propagation of the Gospel
+among the neighbouring tribes would be afforded. The Republic
+guaranteed to make no hostile movements against natives in the
+direction of the Colony without permission of the Governor, unless
+circumstances of violence, or the inroad of tribes, rendered
+immediate action obligatory.
+
+There were other clauses of less importance which need not be
+specified. Suffice it to say, that while these terms were being
+considered, a cattle and slave-stealing Boer raid, headed by
+Pretorius, took place. The excuse for the proceeding was the lifting
+of certain of their own cattle, but the action served as an object
+lesson for those in power at the Cape. The Volksraad was politely
+informed that the Boers were still British subjects, and a letter
+from the Home Government to Sir George Napier was received, stating
+that Her Majesty "could not acknowledge a portion of her own
+subjects as an independent Republic, but that on their receiving a
+military force from the Colony, their trade would be placed on the
+footing of the trade of a British possession." But the Boers flouted
+authority--they refused to accept the situation. They put forth a
+proclamation appealing against the oppression of man and to the
+justice of God, with all the fervour of the Old Testament Christians
+they were.
+
+The arrogance of Pretorius and his crew had now so seriously
+increased that Sir George Napier, seeing danger ahead, decided to
+establish a camp near the border of the State, and Durban was
+occupied. Captain Smith, in command of some three hundred men, made
+a rapid march across country to Natal, merely to be informed that
+the Boers had placed themselves under the protection of Holland.
+
+It may be noted that when this statement reached the ears of the
+King of Holland, he emphatically repudiated it. He addressed the
+British Government, saying "that the disloyal communication of the
+emigrant farmers had been repelled with indignation, and that the
+King of Holland had taken every possible step to mark his
+disapproval of the unjustifiable use made of his name by the
+individuals referred to." Captain Smith, who fortunately had not
+been imposed upon by what the Boers considered their neat ruse, made
+preparations to attack them. But he overestimated his own or
+underrated his adversary's strength. He fell into ambush and lost
+heavily. He was then driven to entrench himself in Durban. One of
+his men managed to escape, however, and by riding to Grahamstown
+through dangerous country, contrived to convey the intelligence of
+Captain Smith's misfortune, and to bring reinforcements to his aid.
+These reinforcements arrived in Durban harbour on the 25th of June
+1842. At sight of the British frigate and the goodly display of
+redcoats, the Boers, who had been besieging Captain Smith for a
+month with three guns and six hundred men, made good their escape,
+leaving Pretorius no alternative but to make terms. Thus Natal
+became a British possession.
+
+In 1844 the place was declared to be a dependency of Cape Colony.
+Many of the emigrants admitted themselves to be British subjects and
+remained there, but the great majority took to their waggons and
+lumbered back across the Drakenberg to their old settling-place.
+
+There the original Voortrekkers had scattered themselves on both
+sides of the Vaal River, and helped to found the Transvaal and the
+Orange Free State. As may be imagined at this juncture, the natural
+hostility to the British, which has now become part of the Boer
+character, was growing apace. The voluntary exiles from Natal, on
+moving to the north of the Orange River, determined to evade the
+British, and proclaim the whole of that locality an independent
+Republic. The authorities at the Cape, however, frustrated the new
+struggle for independence. They laid claim for Great Britain to the
+whole territory east of E. long. 22 deg. and south of S. lat. 25 deg., with
+the exception of the land already owned by Portugal or by friendly
+native chiefs.
+
+[Illustration: CAPE TOWN, DEVIL'S PEAK, TABLE MOUNTAIN, AND LION'S
+HEAD FROM TABLE BAY.
+
+Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen]
+
+It may be remembered that one of the causes of the great Trek was
+the restoration of their province to Kaffirs, thereby according
+to the blacks an independence that was not enjoyed by the Boers.
+No astonishment, therefore, will be felt at the exasperation of the
+Boers when they found that the Cape Government had entered into
+treaties with the Griquas--treaties which seemed to them to promise
+more freedom to the savage than was accorded to themselves.
+Grievances of many kinds--some real and some ridiculous--continued
+daily to occur. Things serious and things trivial were liable to
+cause them equal indignation. According to Livingstone, the ignorant
+followers of Potgieter--who were posted at Magaliesberg, a thousand
+miles from the Cape--were moved to wrath merely by the arrival of
+Herschel's great telescope at the Cape Observatory! What right, said
+they, had the Government to erect that huge instrument at the Cape
+for the purpose of seeing what they were doing behind the Kashan
+mountains?
+
+But of just grievances they had several, and these Pretorius, as
+spokesman of his people, wished to lay before the Governor at the
+Cape. Sir Henry Pottinger, who occupied that post in 1847,
+unfortunately declined the interview; consequently affairs went from
+bad to worse. In the end of the year Sir Henry Smith arrived as
+Governor of the colony, and great things were expected of him. He
+knew the native races, he knew the Boers, and they both knew him.
+Pretorius, who was arranging a final emigration from Natal, was
+summoned to confer with the new Governor. Sir Henry wished to gauge
+the feelings of the farmers prior to issuing a proclamation (dated
+February 3, 1848), declaring the Queen's sovereignty over the whole
+country between the Orange and Vaal Rivers to eastward of the
+Quathlamba Mountains. According to Pretorius, the conference was an
+unsatisfactory one. He assured the Governor that his people would
+never consent to it. Sir Henry Smith nevertheless considered himself
+justified in taking the step, and the Home Government, whose policy
+it had been to consolidate the peaceful native States along the
+border, eventually coincided with his view.
+
+No sooner was the proclamation generally known than the horde of
+Pretorius' followers flew to arms. They swept southward, driving
+every British official beyond the Orange River. Major Warden, the
+Resident at Bloemfontein, where a British fort and garrison had been
+placed some two years before, was forced to capitulate.
+
+Sir Harry Smith, on becoming acquainted with the news, at once
+offered a thousand pounds for the arrest of Pretorius. He also began
+a march to the front. The Governor thought that he had but to come,
+see, and conquer; but he was mistaken. He had tough work before him.
+The Boers, about a thousand strong, had entrenched themselves in a
+formidable position. They were superior in point of numbers, horses,
+and guns to Sir Harry's forces; but he pursued his way, nothing
+daunted. He stormed the position, and, after a hard fight, scattered
+the enemy. They fled from Boomplaats, where the engagement had taken
+place, and hastened back across the Vaal to their native haunts. The
+date of the battle was the 29th of August 1848, and the father of
+President Kruger is said to have been the first man to fire a shot
+at the British on that occasion!
+
+After this period various dissensions arose in the Boer camp between
+Pretorius, who styled himself "Chief of the whole united emigrant
+force," and Potgieter, who looked upon himself somewhat in the light
+of a rival. While these worthies fell out Sir Harry Smith saw the
+annexation carried through, and the territory of the modern Free
+State was united to Cape Colony, under the title of the Orange River
+Sovereignty. The contumacious Boers took themselves off with their
+leader across the Vaal, and fresh European settlers came in and
+established themselves in the fertile plains that were deserted. For
+some time after this things prospered, and Sir Harry saw before him
+the prospect of a new self-governing Dutch colony, which would
+resemble and equal those of Natal and the Cape. But he reckoned
+without his host, and all that he had taken the trouble to do was
+ultimately undone. In 1852 the Government at home declared its
+policy to be the ultimate abandonment of the Orange River
+Sovereignty. For this pusillanimous policy there were several
+reasons, the greatest being a fear of a Basuto rising and the
+trouble it would entail. The British Government therefore decided to
+maintain its rights over the Transvaal no further, and by the Sand
+River Convention, signed on the 17th of January 1852, the emigrant
+farmers beyond the Vaal River were given the right to manage their
+own affairs, subject only to the condition that they should neither
+permit nor encourage slavery.
+
+About this time commenced the threatened rise of the Basutos in the
+neighbourhood of the Orange River territory. The Basutos are a
+branch of the Bechuana race, who had been formed by their chiefs
+Motlume and Moshesh into a powerful nation, which could hold its own
+against Boer or Zulu. With this race the Home Government desired to
+have nothing to do, and the Colonial Office, viewing the political
+game as not worth the candle, definitely withdrew from the Orange
+River Sovereignty, leaving the Free State to come into being, and
+devise its own plans for overawing its enemies on the other side of
+the border. Accordingly, in 1854, Sir Harry Smith's programme of
+annexation was entirely wiped out, British sovereignty renounced,
+and the Orange Free State left to become a Republic and take care of
+itself!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE GROWTH OF THE TRANSVAAL
+
+
+Fifty years ago there was no Transvaal. To-day its area is rather
+larger than Great Britain. It extends over some 75,000,000 acres.
+
+Originally, at the time of the great Trek, a small portion of land
+was seized from natives who fled before the pioneers, and settled in
+what is now known as Matabeleland. Other Boers soon joined their
+comrades, and, by applying the steady policy of "grab and hold" (a
+policy that, unfortunately, has not been imitated by ourselves),
+they gained strip on strip and acre on acre of land till the
+Transvaal became the vast province it now is. It expanded first into
+a portion of Zululand; later on, lapped over into Swaziland. By
+degrees it encroached on the British boundaries, and most probably
+would have gone on encroaching had not active steps been taken to
+save the north from the invaders.
+
+The original _Voertrekkers_, or pioneers, came in three detachments.
+British-born subjects, but discontented with British civilisation,
+they moved on from Natal, whence they were chased by the Union Jack,
+and settled themselves first in land captured from King Umziligatze,
+secondly in Lydenburg and Dekaap, and thirdly in the Zulu country.
+The history of this Zululand expansion remains to be told. At
+present it is interesting to follow the geographical growth of the
+state which has become so troublesome, and whose self-assertion has
+increased according to its size.
+
+Originally each Boer was entitled to a farm with a minimum of 6000
+acres of the "Transvaal," and this custom of apportioning 6000-acre
+farms lasted as long as the Kaffir lands lasted. The Boers, always
+working on the principle that "God helps those who help themselves,"
+helped themselves freely, sometimes with bloodshed and sometimes
+without, until they became owners of vast tracts of country, whose
+boundaries had never been discussed, far less fixed.
+
+Land was apparently cheap at that time, for trustworthy authorities
+declare that it was purchasable at from a farthing to a penny per
+acre.
+
+The area of the Transvaal before the Boers began to migrate there
+has been eloquently described as the hunter's Arcadia. Mr. Gordon
+Cumming gives a graphic account of the scene:--
+
+"It was truly a fair and boundless prospect. Beautifully wooded
+plains and mountains stretched away on every side to an amazing
+distance, until the vision was lost among the faint blue outlines of
+the distant mountain ranges. Throughout all this country, and vast
+tracts beyond, I had the satisfaction to reflect that a never-ending
+succession of herds of every species of noble game which the hunter
+need desire pastured there in undisturbed security; and as I gazed I
+felt that it was all my own, and that I at length possessed the
+undisputed sway over a forest, in comparison with which the tame and
+herded narrow bounds of the wealthiest European sportsman sink into
+utter insignificance."
+
+The number of elephants and lesser game bagged by Mr. Gordon Cumming
+after this touching meditation fully bore out his hopes.
+
+But the most interesting account of the Transvaal, before the
+invasion of white men, is to be found in Captain William Cornwallis
+Harris's account of his expedition into the interior of South Africa
+in the years 1836 and 1837. He paints the new country in colours
+lively and alluring:--
+
+"Instead of the dreary waste over which we had lately passed, we
+might now imagine ourselves in an extensive park. A lawn, level as a
+billiard-table, was everywhere spread with a soft carpet of
+luxuriant green grass, spangled with flowers, and shaded by
+spreading _mokaalas_--a large species of acacia which forms the
+favourite food of the giraffe. The gaudy yellow blossoms with which
+these remarkable trees were covered yielded an aromatic and
+overpowering perfume--while small troops of striped quaggas, or wild
+asses, and of brindled gnoos ... enlivened the scene.
+
+"I turned off the road," he continues, "in pursuit of a troop of
+brindled gnoos, and presently came upon another, which was followed
+by a third still larger--then by a vast herd of zebras, and again by
+more gnoos, with sassaybys and hartebeests pouring down from every
+quarter, until the landscape literally presented the appearance of a
+moving mass of game."
+
+Further on he describes the extensive and romantic valley of the
+Limpopo, "which strongly contrasts with its own solitude, and with
+the arid lands which must be traversed to arrive within its limits;
+Dame Nature has doubtless been unusually lavish of her gifts. A bold
+mountain landscape is chequered by innumerable rivulets abounding in
+fish, and watering a soil rich in luxurious vegetation. Forests,
+producing timber of the finest growth, are tenanted by a multitude
+of birds, which, if not generally musical, are all gorgeously
+attired; and the meadows throughout are decked with blossoming
+geraniums, and with an endless profusion of the gayest flowers,
+fancifully distributed in almost artificial _parterres_. Let the
+foreground of this picture, which is by no means extravagantly
+drawn, be filled in by the animal creation roaming in a state of
+undisturbed freedom, such as I have attempted to describe, and this
+hunter's paradise will surely not require to be coloured by the
+feelings of an enthusiastic sportsman to stand out in striking
+relief from amongst the loveliest spots in the universe."
+
+A recent traveller discourses pathetically over the changes that
+have come over the country, which at that time was described as "the
+Zoological Gardens turned out to graze." He says the lawyer and
+financier thrive where in recent years the lion and the leopard
+fought for food, and townships have sprung up on spots where living
+Boers have formerly shot big game.
+
+As an instance of the truth of this lament, one may make some
+quotations from Mr. Campbell's valuable article, "The Transvaal, Old
+and New." He says, "The advent of British folk and British gold and
+brains led to a change, and land, by reason of British purchases,
+became more valuable, and beacons and boundaries became necessary."
+Here we may see the thin end of the wedge. We may picture the first
+lawyer and the first financier advancing with Arcadia parchment and
+bank-note in hand.
+
+The Boers steadily sold their best and surplus lands, and these the
+British as steadily bought, till the value rose from their original
+price of one penny an acre to half-a-crown, and then five shillings.
+Subsequently, in many cases, as much as ten, and even twenty
+shillings an acre was offered for ordinary raw arable land. But of
+that time too much has to be said to be recounted here.
+
+
+THE BOER CHARACTER
+
+In discussing the events of the past with a view to obtaining light
+on the development of the present, it is needful, and indeed just,
+to inquire into the character of the Boers as a race. It is a
+complex character, with multitudinous lights and shades, so subtle
+and yet so marked, that they are difficult to define accurately. It
+is therefore necessary that the opinions of many writers on the
+subject of the Boer temperament should be taken--of writers who have
+made it their business to look upon the subject with the eye of the
+historian rather than the eye of the advocate, and who may be
+trusted to have given their verdict without passion or favour.
+
+But regarding one fact connected with the case, all writers of
+practical experience are inclined to agree. They declare that the
+Boer of the past was a very much finer fellow than the Boer of the
+present--finer morally and physically; and that in his obstinate
+determination to resist the march of progress he has allowed himself
+to suffer deterioration. The reason for this deterioration is not
+difficult to comprehend. In the first place, as we all know, nothing
+in creation stands still. We must advance, or we go back. Both in
+moral and in mental qualities we must maintain our vitality, or
+practically ossify!
+
+The Boer, from having been essentially a sporting man and a free and
+a robust tiller of the soil, has come under the influence of
+schemers, who have played upon his natural avarice, and polished his
+inherent cunning, till these qualities have expanded to the
+detriment of those earlier qualities for which the Boer of to-day
+still gets credit, but which are fast dying out of the national
+character.
+
+In one respect there has been little change. In the matter of his
+native piety he remains as he was. The Boer, if one may use a phrase
+recently coined by Lord Rosebery, is an "Old Testament Christian."
+No one can describe his race better than the writer who says of the
+original settlers in 1652, that "they are a mixture in religion of
+the old Israelite and the Scotch Covenanter." There is some question
+about Boer hypocrisy, and Dr. Theal says on the subject, "Where side
+by side with expressions of gratitude to the Creator are found
+schemes for robbing and enslaving natives, the genuineness of their
+religion may be doubted." But it must be remembered that in bygone
+centuries the world's morality differed much from that of the
+present day, and therefore the Boer, who has not progressed in
+proportion to the world at large, can scarcely be judged by the
+ethics of the world at large. To be just, we must look at him as a
+being apart, and place him always in the frame of the seventeenth
+century. Some historians declare that the Boer borrowed from the
+French refugees much religious sentiment. Other authorities--and
+these, considering the Boer disinclination to expansion, seem to be
+right--declare that under the French influence he deteriorated.
+
+[Illustration: COLONEL of the 10th HUSSARS.
+
+(H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.)
+
+Photo by Gregory & Co., London.]
+
+He was by nature bloodthirsty and cruel, but these qualities always
+found for themselves a comfortable apology in the Old Testament. The
+Boer prided himself on his likeness to the Israelite of old, and his
+enemies to the Canaanite, whom it was doing God a service to
+destroy. He kept all the rites of the Church with rigid punctuality.
+He partook of the Communion (the Nachtmaal) once every three months,
+and the whole community gathered together from great distances to
+share it. The observances were made the occasion for rejoicing and
+merrymaking, for the holding of fairs, the transfer of cattle,
+the driving of bargains in hide or ivory, or other goods necessary
+to traders. He has been described by a friend of his people "as,
+according to his own lights, a citizen pioneer, a rough,
+God-fearing, honest, homely, uneducated Philistine."
+
+The opinion of his ancient enemy, Cetchwayo, differs, however, from
+this estimate. Sir Frederick Godson has told us that this potentate
+informed his brother, who was his captor, that the Boers were "a
+mean, treacherous people, people who trusted no one, not even each
+other, and their word was not to be trusted." He had had ample
+opportunities of forming a judgment by experience. And there are
+many of us nowadays who are inclined to agree with him. Cetchwayo
+further asserted that "the British were making the greatest mistake
+they ever made in befriending them; for if they had not rescued the
+Boers from him, he would very soon have eaten them all up."
+
+As regards the military organisation of the Boers, it may be
+described as similar to that of the Republic of Greece or that of
+mediaeval England. Every man, from the age of sixteen to sixty,
+considered himself a soldier. Every man, when the country demanded
+his services, was ready to get under arms--to protect his hearth and
+home in the face of a common enemy.
+
+The country was divided into districts, and these districts were
+subdivided into wards. To each of these wards was appointed a
+field-cornet, who had military duties when a commando was called
+out. The officer who took the chief command of the field-cornets was
+styled the commandant. This arrangement first originated in the
+early days of their emigration to the Cape, when the natives,
+lawless and inimical, were perpetually bursting out without rhyme or
+reason. Naturally prompt defence became necessary. To many people
+the Boer appears to be a "first-class fighting man." Certainly he is
+determined, obstinate, and, in his peculiar fashion, brave. But
+there are others who can recall events in the battle with Dingaan,
+in the tragedy of Majuba Hill, which scarcely add to the honour of
+the Boer as a soldier. It has been said that the Boer prefers to do
+his fighting without risking his skin, but this may be somewhat
+unjust. He is ready enough to risk his skin, but he is equally ready
+that some one shall pay for the risk, and he makes him pay by fair
+means if he can--if not, by foul.
+
+However, Livingstone knew his man, and thus it was that he wrote of
+him: "The Boers have generally manifested a marked antipathy to
+anything but 'long shot' warfare, and sidling away in their
+emigrations towards the more effeminate Bechuanas, have left their
+quarrels with the Kaffirs to be settled by the English, and their
+wars to be paid for by English gold." Obviously their methods of
+warfare were, to say the least of it, curious. Sometimes they would
+drive a battalion of friendly natives or slaves in front of them,
+and shoot down their enemies from behind the shelter of these
+advanced guards. Occasionally they employed a method similar to that
+used against the Zulus of Dingaan. According to Livingstone's essay,
+written in 1853, and not published till after his death, "the Boers
+approach the Zulus to within 300 or 400 yards, then fire, and retire
+to a considerable distance and reload their guns. The Zulus pursuing
+have by this time come sufficiently near to receive another
+discharge from the Boers, who again retire as before. This process
+soon tires out the fleetest warriors, and except through an
+accident, or the stumbling of a horse or its rider's drunkenness, no
+Boer ever stands a chance of falling into their hands. The Boers
+report of themselves that they behaved with great bravery on the
+occasion." In fact they said that they had killed from 3000 to 5000
+Zulus, with the loss to themselves of only six men. Mr. Fisher, in
+his book on "The Transvaal and the Boers," avers that in the
+subsequent war with the Griquas--who, being the bastard children of
+the Boers, possess many of their peculiarities--the two opposing
+parties kept at such ludicrous distances that the springboks quietly
+grazing on the plains between were frequently shot instead of the
+combatants.
+
+
+SOME DOMESTIC TRAITS
+
+For the domestic character of the Boer we will consult the
+Scandinavian traveller Sparrmann, who gives us one of the earliest
+sketches of the Boer "at home." Though the illusion that the
+industrious and cleanly Hollander was merely transplanted from one
+soil to another is somewhat dispelled, the picture is generally
+acknowledged to be a true one.
+
+"It is hardly to be conceived," he wrote in 1776, "with what little
+trouble the Boer gets into order a field of a moderate size ... so
+that ... he may be almost said to make the cultivation of it, for
+the bread he stands in need of for himself and his family, a mere
+matter of amusement.... With pleasure, but without the least trouble
+to himself, he sees the herds and flocks which constitute his riches
+daily and considerably increasing. These are driven to pasture and
+home again by a few Hottentots or slaves, who likewise make the
+butter; so that it is almost only with the milking that the farmer,
+together with his wife and children, concern themselves at all. To
+do this business, however, he has no occasion to rise before seven
+or eight o'clock in the morning.... That they (the Boers) might not
+put their arms and bodies out of the easy and commodious posture in
+which they had laid them on the couch when they were taking their
+afternoon _siesta_, they have been known to receive travellers lying
+quite still and motionless, excepting that they have very civilly
+pointed out the road by moving their foot to the right or left....
+Among a set of beings so devoted to their ease, one might naturally
+expect to meet with a variety of the most commodious easy-chairs and
+sofas; but the truth is, that they find it much more commodious to
+avoid the trouble of inventing and making them.... Nor did the
+inhabitants exhibit much less simplicity and moderation; or, to
+speak more properly, slovenliness and penury in their dress than in
+their furniture.... The distance at which they are from the Cape
+may, indeed, be some excuse for their having no other earthenware or
+china in their houses but what was cracked or broken; but this,
+methinks, should not prevent them being in possession of more than
+one or two old pewter pots, and some few plates of the same metal;
+so that two people are frequently obliged to eat out of one dish,
+besides using it for every different article of food that comes upon
+the table. Each guest must bring his knife with him, and for forks
+they frequently make use of their fingers. The most wealthy farmer
+here is considered as being well dressed in a jacket of home-made
+cloth, or something of the kind made of any other coarse cloth,
+breeches of undressed leather, woollen stockings, a striped
+waistcoat, a cotton handkerchief about his neck, a coarse calico
+shirt, Hottentot field-shoes, or else leathern shoes with brass
+buckles, and a coarse hat. Indeed, it is not in dress, but in the
+number and thriving condition of their cattle, and chiefly in the
+stoutness of their draught oxen, that these peasants vie with each
+other. It is likewise by activity and manly actions, and by other
+qualities that render a man fit for the married state, and the
+rearing of a family, that the youth chiefly obtain the esteem of the
+fair sex.... A plain close cap and a coarse cotton gown, virtue and
+good housewifery, are looked upon by the fair sex as sufficient
+ornaments for their persons; a flirting disposition, coquetry and
+paint would have very little effect in making conquests of young men
+brought up in so hardy a manner, and who have had so homely and
+artless an education as the youth in this place. In short, here, if
+anywhere in the world, one may lead an innocent, virtuous, and happy
+life."
+
+When viewing this study of rustic indolence, we must remember also
+the conditions under which it was found. The natural fertility of
+the country, the demoralising influence of slave-owning, the great
+heat of the climate, were responsible for the change that so soon
+came over the primitive Dutch character. Dr. Theal's account of the
+Boer adds colour to the picture given by the Swede, and shows us
+that a certain sense of refinement was lurking in the stolid and
+not too picturesque disposition:--
+
+"The amusements of the people were few.... Those who possessed
+numerous slaves usually had three or four of them trained to the use
+of the violin, the blacks being peculiarly gifted with an ear for
+music, and easily learning to play by sound. They had thus the means
+at hand of amusing themselves with dancing, and of entertaining
+visitors with music. The branches of widely extended families were
+constantly exchanging visits with each other. A farmer would make
+his waggon ready regularly every year, when half the household or
+more would leave home, and spend a week or two with each relative,
+often being absent a couple of months. Birthday anniversaries of
+aged people were celebrated by the assembling of their descendants,
+frequently to the number of eighty or a hundred, at the residence of
+the patriarch, when a feast was prepared for their entertainment.
+These different reunions were naturally productive of great
+pleasure, and tended to cement the friendship and love of those who
+otherwise might seldom see each other. The life led by the people
+when at home was exceedingly tame. The mistress of the house, who
+moved about but little, issued orders to slaves or Hottentot females
+concerning the work of the household. If the weather was chilly or
+damp, she rested her feet on a little box filled with live coals,
+while beside her stood a coffee-kettle never empty. The head of the
+family usually inspected his flocks morning and evening, and passed
+the remainder of the day, like his helpmate, in the enjoyment of
+ease. When repose itself became wearisome, he mounted his horse,
+and, with an attendant to carry his gun, set off in pursuit of some
+of the wild animals with which the country then abounded. The
+children had few games, and, though strong and healthy, were far
+from sprightly."
+
+[Illustration: A KAFFIR KRAAL IN THE TRANSVAAL.
+
+Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]
+
+A dislike for the English seems to have been felt by the Cape Dutch
+very early. This dislike later hostilities must have heightened; but
+as far back as 1816 we learn that even shrewd and sensible farmers
+were heard to declaim against our methods of scientific agriculture,
+and resist all efforts at its introduction into their work. One of
+them, when informed of the saving of time and labour that certain
+implements would effect, answered with characteristic conservatism.
+"What," said he, "would you have us do? Our only concern is to fill
+our bellies, to get good clothes and houses, to say to one slave,
+'Do this,' and to another, 'Do that,' and to sit idle ourselves and
+be waited upon. As to our tillage, or building, or planting, our
+forefathers did so and so and were satisfied, and why should not we
+do the same? The English want us to use their ploughs instead of our
+heavy wooden ones, and recommend other implements of husbandry
+than those we have been used to; but we like our old things best."
+
+This preference for the old instead of the new has been the rock on
+which friendship between Briton and Boer has split. All ideas of
+reform have been met with suspicion--a kind of suspicion that,
+though now confined to the Boers, was very prevalent in Europe a
+hundred years ago. The present writer in extreme youth met here, in
+advanced England, a grandam of ninety (the mother of a very
+distinguished politician), who stated that she could "never make a
+friend of a man who took a bath." It will be seen by this how
+prejudice may become a matter of habit all the world over.
+
+Mr. Nixon tells a story of an equally conservative Boer. This worthy
+went to a store at Kimberley with bundles of tobacco for sale. The
+Boer carefully weighed them out with some scales of his own that
+were evidently an heirloom. The storekeeper reweighed the bundles,
+remarking on the antiquity of the scales, and observing that they
+gave short weight. He suggested the use of the store scales as the
+standard for computing the price, which was to be fixed at so much a
+pound. But the Boer would not hear of it. "No," said he, "these were
+my father's scales, and he was a wise man and was never cheated, and
+I won't use anybody else's." The storekeeper dryly remarked that he
+did not desire to press the matter, since he found himself a gainer
+by L12 in consequence of the Boer's conservative instincts!
+
+Many writers urge that the Boer is naturally uncivil, that he lacks
+the true feeling of hospitality. The original Boer, before he was
+seized with a hatred for the British, was more justly speaking
+lacking in civility than what we term uncivil. He knew nothing of
+the art of being obliging to his fellow-creatures, merely because
+they were his fellow-creatures. He would entertain a stranger, and
+ask nothing in return, but he would do so without courtesy, and
+would put himself out of the way for no one. The traveller might
+take him or leave him, conform to his hours and habits entirely,
+and, to use the vulgar phrase, "like them or lump them" as his
+temperament might decide. "Africanus," who, in his book on "The
+Transvaal Boers," writes of them with judgment and without
+prejudice, gives a very true sketch, which exactly describes the
+strange blend of piety, indolence, ignorance, and ferocity which we
+are endeavouring to study. He says--
+
+"The Dutch farmer is in some respects very unlike his supposed
+counterpart in England. His pursuits are pastoral, not agricultural,
+for in most parts of South Africa the want of irrigation renders the
+cultivation of cereals impossible. His idea of a 'farm' is a tract
+of at least 6000 acres, over which his flocks and herds can move
+from one pasture to another. His labourers are all natives, and
+though, before the advent of storekeepers, he used often to make his
+own clothes, boots (veld-schoen), and harness, he looks on actual
+farm-work as a menial pursuit. He was, and is, wont to pass whole
+days in the saddle, but, to an English eye, his horses seem unkempt
+and often ill-used. The magnificent herds of game which wandered
+over South Africa sixty years ago tempted him to become a keen
+sportsman, but he has never shown much 'sporting instinct,' and the
+Boer is responsible for the wanton destruction of the African fauna.
+The unsophisticated Boer is a curious blend of hospitality and
+avarice; he would welcome the passing stranger, and entertain him to
+the best of his ability, but he seized any opportunity of making
+money, and the discovery that hides and skins were marketable
+induced him to slaughter antelopes without the slightest
+forethought. That the Boer is no longer hospitable is very largely
+due to the way in which his hospitality has been abused by stray
+pedlars and ne'er-do-wells of various kinds. He still retains a
+sincere and primitive piety, but his belief that he is a member of
+the chosen people has sometimes tended to antinomianism rather than
+to strict morality. His contempt and dislike for the Kaffir has
+preserved the Dutch stock from taint of black blood, and although
+there is a large Eur-African population, it has sprung partly from
+the old days of domestic slavery, partly from the laxity induced by
+the recent influx of low-class Europeans. The Boer has a strong
+national feeling, and although not exactly daring as a rule, he is
+perfectly ready to risk his life in what he believes to be a good
+cause. He fights better behind cover than in the open, and has a
+profound contempt for soldiers who expose themselves unnecessarily.
+At the same time, he is capable at times of embarking on a forlorn
+hope. As regards his private character, his notions of honesty and
+of truth are lax. But then, from bitter experience, he assumes that
+the stranger will try to cheat him, and it is not surprising that he
+should consider a certain amount of _finesse_ justifiable. He is
+comparatively free from that drunkenness which is the besetting vice
+of the low-class Englishman in Africa.
+
+"Although he is incredibly ignorant, and very self-satisfied, it is
+somewhat irritating to notice the way in which the town-bred
+Englishman is apt to depreciate him. It is not so certain as the
+latter thinks that an ignorant peasant is necessarily a lower type
+of man than a 'smart' and vicious shop-boy.
+
+"The most unpleasing trait in the Boer character is his callousness,
+amounting to brutality, in the case of natives and of animals."
+
+It must always be remembered that in discussing the early Boer we
+are discussing the peasant, and that neither his ignorance nor other
+shortcomings must be viewed in comparison with the failings of
+persons of a higher social grade. When the Boers left the Cape
+Colony they had no knowledge of what the word education meant. The
+state of public education in 1837 was deplorable. There were
+missionary schools and a few desultory teachers, who had in very few
+cases the mental or the moral qualities to fit them for the task of
+instruction. The most they did was to teach the young idea how to
+read or scribble its name. For this they received trifling fees, but
+doubtless these fees were no more trifling than the services
+rendered. Such free schools as existed, and were nominally supported
+by Government, were so indifferently managed that they were treated
+with contempt, even by the farmers. So long as they could thumb out
+their favourite passages of the Psalms, and sign what few documents
+they required, they were content. Of their ignorance they were even
+inclined to be proud. Their own notions of geography and history
+seemed to them infinitely preferable to any that might be offered,
+and in this state of blissful ignorance they trekked away from Cape
+Colony to learn no more. When they started forth, some, it is
+averred, imagined by steadily working north they would reach
+Jerusalem; others, covered with faith, and armed with gospel and
+sjambok, sincerely believed that eventually they would reach the
+Promised Land.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE ORANGE FREE STATE
+
+
+The young State, almost before it was fledged, found itself engaged
+in military operations with the Basutos, and an arbitrator nominated
+by the British Government was appointed. But the good offices of the
+commissioner were to no purpose; despite the defining of boundaries
+and the laying down of landmarks, the natives broke out afresh. An
+engagement followed, and the Basutos were defeated. As a
+consequence, a large tract of land (the conquered territory) was
+annexed by the Free State, yet even this was insufficient to quell
+the fury of the farmer's inveterate foes, and later on they broke
+out afresh, only to be again overthrown. In the year 1861 they
+appealed for help to the Governor of the Cape and were declared
+British subjects. It was then that a definite boundary line between
+Basutoland and the Orange Free State was laid down. The population
+of Basutoland is estimated at about 130,000. The people are by
+nature warlike and energetic. Some authorities declare them to be
+the most intelligent of the Kaffir tribes. They are a branch of the
+Bechuana race who were formed by their chiefs, Motlune and Moshesh,
+and held their country--the Switzerland of South Africa--against
+both Zulu and Boer. This aggressive and ferocious tribe was devoted
+to plunder, and remained well-nigh exempt from punishment in
+consequence of its mountain fastnesses, which were almost
+impregnable. The Basutos formed a continual menace to the Boers of
+the Free State until Great Britain assumed their direct control in
+1884. It is now governed by a Resident Commissioner under the High
+Commissioner for South Africa. It is divided into seven districts,
+and subdivided into wards, presided over by hereditary chiefs allied
+to the Moshesh family. Laws are made by proclamation of the High
+Commissioner, and administered by native chiefs. Europeans are not
+allowed to settle there.
+
+But to return to 1854. The relations between the two Boer States
+soon became strained. Jealousy commenced and continued to simmer.
+Then the Boers, alarmed lest the Government would again follow them
+up, and lest their treatment of the natives should be investigated
+and stopped, began to discourage the presence of visitors across the
+Vaal. Of course missionaries were the most unwelcome of all.
+
+With the terms of the Sand River Convention they had soon become
+impatient, and to help to an understanding of this impatience some
+of the Articles of the Convention may be quoted:--
+
+_Article 1._--"The Assistant-Commissioners guarantee in the fullest
+manner on the part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers
+beyond the Vaal River the right to manage their own affairs, and to
+govern themselves according to their own laws, without any
+interference on the part of the British Government, and that no
+encroachment shall be made by the said Government on the territory
+beyond, to the north of the Vaal River; with the further assurance
+that the warmest wish of the British Government is to promote peace,
+free trade, and friendly intercourse with the emigrant farmers now
+inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit that country, it being
+understood that this system of non-interference is binding upon both
+parties."
+
+_Article 2_ arranges, in case of misunderstanding, for a subsequent
+delimitation of boundaries.
+
+_Article 3._--"Her Majesty's Assistant-Commissioners hereby disclaim
+all alliances whatever, and with whomsoever of the coloured nations,
+to the north of the Vaal River."
+
+_Article 4._--"It is agreed that no slavery is or shall be permitted
+or practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the
+emigrant farmers."
+
+_Article 5_ provides for mutual facilities and liberty to traders
+and travellers on both sides of the Vaal River.
+
+_Article 6_ allows the "emigrant Boers" to obtain ammunition in
+British colonies and possessions, "it being mutually understood that
+all trade in ammunition with the native tribes is prohibited both by
+the British Government and the emigrant farmers on both sides of the
+Vaal River."
+
+_Article 7_ stipulates for the mutual extradition, "as far as
+possible," of criminals, and mutual access to courts of justice.
+
+_Article 8_ validates, for purposes of inheritance in British
+possessions, certificates of marriage issued by the proper
+authorities of the emigrant farmers.
+
+_Article 9_ allows free movement of all persons, except criminals
+and absconding debtors, between the British and the Boer
+territories.
+
+As we see, the Convention had declared that slavery would not be
+practised in the Transvaal, but though the original declaration may
+have been made in all good faith, the Boer by degrees, and after the
+lapse of years, found it expedient to acquire native "apprentices,"
+who could not change master nor task without permission. They began
+to fear that these natives could not be dealt with, as they were in
+the habit of dealing with them, without fear of comment from such
+British visitors as came across them; and they therefore attempted
+to block up the path of travellers, refusing them a passage through
+the Republic, and in some instances ordering the expulsion of
+visitors across the Vaal. About this time one of the most gruesome
+of all the many massacres in which the Boers were concerned took
+place. One Potgieter (not the Potgieter who was the rival of
+Pretorius), in charge of a small party of thirty men, women, and
+children, went forth to barter ivory unlawfully with Makapau, a
+Kaffir chief. The Kaffirs, owing the Boers a grudge for many a day,
+pounced on the whole party, leaving not one behind to give an
+account of the awful tragedy. The chief Potgieter was flayed alive,
+and his skin made into a kaross or cloak. The Boers were swift to
+revenge. President Pretorius, with an army of some four hundred, set
+himself to track down the assassins. The Kaffirs fled at the
+approach of the enemy, enclosing themselves in a huge cave, where
+they hoped to escape detection. This cave was blockaded by the
+Boers. Here the unhappy blacks went through all the horrors of
+famine and thirst, and when their agony became unbearable, and they
+sallied forth in desperation in search of water, they were
+remorselessly shot down one by one. Nine hundred in all were killed
+outside the cave. Within was more than double that number who had
+perished in the frightful agonies of starvation. President Kruger
+himself was a witness of the terrible scene, and took an active
+share in his countrymen's revenge. And this was not the first nor
+the last time in which he figured conspicuously in the bloody
+records of his country's history. It was only on the occasion of the
+Jameson Raid that Oom Paul awakened to sentimental qualms regarding
+the spilling of blood.
+
+[Illustration: BLOEMFONTEIN FROM THE SOUTH.
+
+Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]
+
+
+THE GRONDWET
+
+To thoroughly grasp the methods of the New South African Republic,
+it may be interesting to study some of "the Articles" of a Grondwet
+or Constitution, which superseded those originally adopted by the
+Potchefstroom Raad. The Grondwet was started in 1857, and was framed
+entirely to suit the then condition of the Boer community. The
+ordinary idea of a written constitution was at that time unknown,
+and the meaning of such words as "rigid" or "elastic" was, of
+course, beyond their comprehension. These only developed a
+significance when the judicial crisis of 1897 put a fresh face on
+Republican affairs.
+
+_Article 4_ states that "the people desire no extension of
+territory, except only on principles of justice, whenever the
+interests of the Republic render it advisable."
+
+_Article 6._--"Its territory is open to every stranger who submits
+himself to the laws of the Republic; all persons who happen to be
+within the territory of this Republic have equal claim to protection
+of person and property."
+
+_Article 8._--"The people claim as much social freedom as possible
+(_de meest mogelyke maatschappelyke vryheid_), and expect to attain
+it by upholding their religion, fulfilling their obligations,
+submitting to law, order, and justice, and maintaining the same. The
+people permit the spread of the Gospel among the heathen, subject to
+prescribed provisions against the practice of fraud and deception."
+
+_Article 9._--"The people will not allow of any equality between
+coloured and white inhabitants, either in Church or in State."
+
+_Article 10._--"The people will not brook any dealing in slaves or
+slavery in this Republic (_will geen slavenhandel, noch slaverny in
+deze Republick dulden_)."
+
+Before passing on to other sections, Article 10 calls for attention.
+In spite of its terms, the Boers of that period had a practice which
+might be described as sailing very near the wind. The "apprenticeship"
+of children taken prisoners in the native wars was uncommonly like
+slave-owning. They were called "orphans"--sometimes they had been made
+orphans by the conquerors--and they were then "apprenticed" to the
+Boer farmers till grown up. Though opinions differ on this point, it
+has been asserted by those who know that there was a curious system of
+"transfer" connected with these so-called apprentices, and that even
+when grown they seldom gained their liberty save by escape.
+
+Further articles entrust legislation to a Volksraad chosen by vote
+of the burghers, providing at the same time that the people shall be
+allowed three months' grace for intimating to the Raad their views
+on any prospective law, "those laws, however, which admit of no
+delay excepted." Others constitute an Executive Council, "which
+shall also recommend to the Raad all officers for the public
+service"; others refer to the liberty of the press; restrict
+membership of the Volksraad to members of the Dutch Reformed
+Congregations; state that "the people do not desire to allow amongst
+them any Roman Catholic Churches, nor any other Protestant Churches
+except those in which such tenets of the Christian belief are taught
+as are prescribed in the Heidelberg Catechism"; and give the
+Volksraad the power of making treaties, save in time of war or of
+imminent danger.
+
+The members of the Raad were to be twelve in number at least, and
+were to be between the ages of thirty and sixty. They must be
+burghers of the Dutch Reformed Church, residents, and owners of
+landed property in the Republic; no native nor bastard was to be
+admitted to the Raad. At the age of twenty-one every burgher,
+provided he belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church, was entitled to
+the franchise. The election of the President to a five years' term
+of office was in the hands of the burghers, and in this office he
+was to be supported by an Executive Council consisting of the
+Commandant-General, two burghers qualified to vote, and a Secretary.
+All the able-bodied men of the Republic, and if necessary natives,
+were liable to military service.
+
+No sooner was the Grondwet arranged than Marthinus Wessels
+Pretorius, the son of the chief Andries Pretorius,--who died in
+1853--was elected President of the South African Republic. The next
+few years were spent in internal dissension, consequent on the
+ambition of the President and the jealousy of his political rivals.
+Finally Lydenburg, which had struggled to proclaim itself an
+independent Republic, yielded, and affairs relating to the
+government of the country seemed to be mending. Still there were
+always Messrs. Kruger and Schoeman, two adventurous politicians, who
+kept things lively in the councils of the State. On the retirement
+of Pretorius from the Free State Presidency in 1864, and his
+re-election to that of the South African Republic, Mr. Kruger was
+appointed Commandant-General, and for the time being his ambitious
+longings were appeased.
+
+At that period the white population consisted of merely about thirty
+thousand all told. The native community almost trebled the Dutch.
+Mr. Bryce, in his "Impressions on South Africa," describes the then
+state of the affairs of the Republic as anything but satisfactory:
+"There were hundreds of thousands of natives, a few of whom were
+living as servants under a system of enforced labour which was
+sometimes hardly distinguishable from slavery, while the vast
+majority were ruled by their own chiefs, some as tributaries of the
+Republic, some practically independent of it. With the latter wars
+were frequently raging--wars in which shocking cruelties were
+perpetrated on both sides, the Kaffirs massacring the white families
+whom they surprised, the Boer commandos taking a savage vengeance
+upon the tribes when they captured a kraal or mountain stronghold.
+It was the sight of these wars which drove Dr. Livingstone to begin
+his famous explorations to the north. The farmers were too few to
+reduce the natives to submission, though always able to defeat them
+in the field, and, while they relished an expedition, they had an
+invincible dislike to any protracted operations which cost money.
+Taxes they would not pay. They lived in a sort of rude plenty among
+their sheep and cattle, but they had hardly any coined money,
+conducting their transactions by barter, and they were too rude to
+value the benefits which government secures to a civilised people."
+
+
+TRANSVAAL DISSENSIONS
+
+Among other things an attempt was made on the part of the Boers to
+annex the Orange Free State. President Pretorius crossed the Vaal in
+1857, at the head of a large commando, with the intention of seizing
+on the neighbouring territory. He was doomed to disappointment,
+however, for his intended raid was stopped by the timely resistance
+of the forewarned President of the Orange Free State. An encounter
+was happily avoided through the intervention of Mr. Kruger, and
+finally the two Republics decided to mutually recognise each other's
+independent States.
+
+But the ambitions of Pretorius merely smouldered. He still kept a
+greedy eye on the Orange Free State, and machinated for the union of
+the two States into a gigantic whole. He therefore refused the
+Presidency of the Transvaal for that of the Free State, in the hope
+of gathering into his own hands the reins of both governments. He
+was again disappointed, however, and in 1864 he returned and was
+re-elected President of the Transvaal.
+
+The return of Pretorius was the signal for temporary peace. During
+his second Presidency, however, the little rift within the lute--the
+rift of insolvency, which eventually wrecked South African
+independence--began to be observable.
+
+Mr. Nixon, who took great pains to acquaint himself with the true
+state of the country, says "that the intestine disturbances and the
+incessant Kaffir wars had well-nigh exhausted the finances of the
+Republic. The exchequer was only tardily replenished under a loose
+system of taxation. The Boers have never been good taxpayers, and no
+Government has been able to enforce the proper payment of taxes due
+to the State. A decade after its establishment the Republic was
+practically insolvent. Even as early as 1857 the Government was
+compelled to issue _mandaten_, or bills, wherewith to raise money to
+buy ammunition, and to pay its servants. In 1866 a regular issue of
+paper money was sanctioned by the Volksraad. This was followed by
+further issues, until, in 1867, a Finance Commission found that
+there were more notes in circulation than had been authorised by the
+Volksraad. Nevertheless, the financial requirements of the State
+became so pressing that still more issues had to be made, and in
+1870 there were over L73,000 worth of notes in circulation. The
+notes were declared a legal tender, but the Government were unable
+to keep up their value by artificial methods. They fell to a low
+ebb, and passed from hand to hand at a discount of about 75 per
+cent, from their nominal value."
+
+In 1867 occurred two events which served to change the whole
+political and financial outlook of the Transvaal. Diamonds were
+discovered in the district of Kimberley. Gold was unearthed in
+Lydenburg. From that hour a procession of European miners began
+slowly to march north from the Cape. A highway was opened up between
+the two promising districts, and diggers of every race, pioneers
+bent on the propagation of modern ideas, teachers, missionaries, and
+traders of all kinds, attracted by the promise of wealth, flocked to
+the scene and settled themselves among the trekkers.
+
+
+ZULU DISTURBANCES
+
+After this period, when, as stated before, small but promising
+quantities of gold had been unearthed, it was no longer possible to
+prevent parties of miners and speculators from trickling into the
+Transvaal, to the annoyance of its inhabitants. Outside, too, there
+were troubles, disputes, and skirmishes with the Zulus, and further
+north was waged a fierce fight between the Boers and the chief of
+the Bapedi, one Sekukuni, whose father had signed away his
+independence to the Boers, and who refused in his turn to abide by
+the conditions of the compact. In this fight Sekukuni was
+successful, and the Boers, worsted and discontented, and believing
+that the Almighty was displeased with them and with their President,
+Mr. Burgers, retired from the campaign. At the same time, in the
+south, Cetchwayo was itching to be on the warpath, and the general
+state of affairs suggested a possible annihilation of the Transvaal
+by an uncontrollable horde of natives. Things went from bad to
+worse, and in October 1876 Lord Carnarvon remonstrated with the
+President of the South African Republic regarding the unprovoked
+barbarity of the Sekukuni war, which had again been renewed. The
+reason for the interference of Lord Carnarvon is to be found in the
+following despatch, forwarded by Sir Henry Barkly, the then Governor
+of the Cape:--
+
+"As Von Schlickman has since fallen fighting bravely, it is not
+without reluctance that I join in affixing this dark stain on his
+memory, but truth compels me to add the following extract from a
+letter which I have since received from one whose name (which I
+communicate to your lordship privately) forbids disbelief:--
+
+"'There is no longer the slightest doubt as to the murder of the two
+women and the child at Steelpoort by the direct order of Schlickman,
+and in the attack on the kraal near which these women were captured
+(or some attack about that period) he ordered his men to cut the
+throats of all the wounded! This is no mere report; it is
+positively true." And in a subsequent letter the same writer informs
+me that the statements are based on the evidence, not alone of
+Kaffirs, but of whites who were present.
+
+"'As regards the even more serious accusations brought against Abel
+Erasmus' (the Kruger's Post field-cornet), 'as specially alluded to
+in my letter to President Burgers, on the 28th ult.' (viz. of
+treacherously killing forty or fifty friendly natives, men and
+women, and carrying off the children), I beg to invite your
+lordship's attention to an account derived, I am assured, from a
+respectable Boer who accompanied the expedition, and protested
+against the slaughter and robbery of friendly Kaffirs, committed by
+order of the above-named field-cornet.
+
+"'Should I not shortly receive such a reply from the President to my
+letters of last month, as to convince me that his Honour has taken
+effectual steps to check such outrages and punish the perpetrators,
+I will enter another protest, if only for form's sake.
+
+"'Seeing, however, that Aylward, who is said to boast, whether truly
+or not, that he took part with his brother Fenians in the murder of
+the police constable at Manchester, as well as in the attempt to
+blow up the Clerkenwell prison, had succeeded Schlickman in the
+command of the Steelpoort Volunteers, I question whether the
+Government of the South African Republic has the power, even
+supposing it to have the will, to put a stop to further atrocities
+on the part of this band of "Filibusters," as they are commonly
+styled in the newspapers.
+
+"'In my opinion it will be requisite to call in the aid of British
+troops before this can be done, and I am not without hope that one
+of the results of the mission on which Sir T. Shepstone is about to
+start, will be a petition from persons of education and property
+throughout the country for such an intervention on the part of her
+Majesty's Government as will terminate this wanton and useless
+bloodshed, and prevent the recurrence of the scenes of injustice,
+cruelty, and rapine, which abundant evidence is every day
+forthcoming to prove, have rarely ceased to disgrace the Republics
+beyond the Vaal ever since they first sprang into existence.'"
+
+Von Schlickman was an ex-Russian officer, commanding a force of
+filibusters which had been engaged by the Transvaal Government, and
+his men being unpaid, were allowed to reimburse themselves by cattle
+or land seized from the natives.
+
+As a natural consequence, the war assumed a character of
+unrestrained ferocity. On receiving this information Lord Carnarvon
+wrote that his Government "could not view passively, and with
+indifference, the engagement of the Republic in foreign military
+operations the object or the necessity of which had not been made
+apparent."
+
+The quarrel with the chief had originated, as stated, in a Boer
+claim to his land, and the Boer President in replying urged the
+natural right of the Boers to all the land of the Transvaal. The
+chief magistrate at that time was President Burgers, a man who, if
+report may be believed, was far superior to those with whom he
+associated. This man, a Cape Dutchman, and sometime minister of the
+Reformed Church, had been called to the onerous post of President of
+the South African Republic in 1872. He was bent on the advancement
+of his nation, and his intelligence was remarkable. He was a man of
+sterling character, fanciful, enthusiastic, an idealist even, with a
+horror of slaveholding, and a hankering for the pure life of the
+humanist. In a measure he was too much in advance of the people with
+whom he was connected. To them he was something of a Freethinker, a
+man too ready to judge for himself while the Gospel was at hand to
+judge for him. Such liberal views were not in accord with peasant
+limitations. His desire to raise his country to the level of other
+nations, to bring commerce and railways within touch of his people,
+savoured of heresy. The appreciation for civilisation was so strong
+within him that he is even said to have carried it to extremes, to
+have favoured the prompt and regular payment of taxes, and to have
+executed an elaborate design for an international coat-of-arms! Now
+this reformer, like most reformers, was not appreciated among his
+own people. He had no police to support him, no means of putting
+pressure on those who should have served his cause. The Conservative
+party, with Mr. Kruger at their head, did their best to circumvent
+every innovation and to save themselves and the country from what
+they believed to be the dangerous inorthodoxy of their President.
+Mr. Burgers in his posthumous "Vindication" outlines some strange
+hints regarding the character of his compatriots, which outlines may
+now be readily filled in by personal experience. He therein asserts
+that had he chosen to publish to the world a faithful description of
+the Transvaal Boers, they would have forfeited the appreciation
+gained from the Liberal party in Europe. Mr. Burgers' reserve is
+much to be regretted, as a few sidelights thrown on the Boer
+character at that period might have helped to educate the Liberal
+party of whom he spoke, and thereby saved much of the vacillation of
+policy for which the country now has to suffer.
+
+[Illustration: SERGEANT-MAJOR of the 2nd DRAGOONS.
+
+(ROYAL SCOTS GREYS.)
+
+Photo by Gregory & Co., London.]
+
+
+THE POLITICAL WEB
+
+Before going further, we must examine the situation between the
+Governor of the Cape, the President of the South African Republic,
+and the Home Government.
+
+When we look back at Boer history, we find the details of annexation
+and restoration repeating themselves with the consistency of the
+chorus of a nursery rhyme. What the Government of the Cape
+accomplished the Government at home proceeded promptly to undo, till
+the problems connected with Boer liberty and British rights became
+so tangled and so intricate that they could only be solved by the
+sword.
+
+It may be remembered that in 1854 Sir George Grey, the then Governor
+of the Cape, applied himself to the puzzle. He started with the best
+hopes. He saw before him a vista of labour, of argument, of
+contradiction, but the tangles, he believed, could eventually be
+smoothed out. In the anxiety to avoid trouble and responsibility,
+and possibly in an amiable desire to conciliate the parties at home,
+the Imperial Government had conceded territories and alienated
+subjects without having made an effort to discover the wishes of the
+people, or to try a free form of government suited to South Africa.
+He was in favour of a Federal Union wherein the separate Colonies
+and States, each with its local government and legislature, should
+be combined under one general representative legislature, led by a
+responsible Ministry, specially charged with the duty of providing
+for common defence. This plan of Federal Union seemed to appeal to
+the Burghers of the Orange Free State, for the Volksraad decided
+that "a union of alliance with the Cape Colony, either on the plan
+of federation or otherwise, is desirable." Sir George Grey was not
+permitted to pursue his policy, for the British Government decided
+against the resumption of British sovereignty over the Orange Free
+State. The same forward and backward movement, the same sort of
+political _chase et croise_, was again carried on from 1876 and 1877
+to 1881. It was decided that a Federal Union should be created
+between such African Colonies as were willing to join. To further
+this scheme Sir Bartle Frere, after a long and arduous career in
+India, was appointed Governor and High Commissioner by Lord
+Carnarvon, the then Colonial Secretary. But Sir Bartle was too late.
+Sir Theophilus Shepstone, who had been sent out to the Transvaal on
+Special Commission to confer with the President on the question of
+Confederation, had already annexed the Transvaal. The reasons for
+the annexation were many and excellent. Firstly, the Transvaal
+Republic, vulgarly speaking, was out at elbows. It was bankrupt,
+helpless, languishing. The sorry sum of 12s. 6d. represented the
+entire wealth of the Treasury. The Zulu chief Cetchwayo was waiting
+to "eat up" the Boers, and the Boers were unceasing in their efforts
+to encroach on Zulu territory. But the deplorable state of affairs
+is better described by quoting Sir T. Shepstone's letter on the
+subject.
+
+"It was patent to every observer," writes Sir T. Shepstone, "that
+the Government (of the Transvaal) was powerless to control either
+its white citizens or its native subjects; that it was incapable of
+enforcing its laws or of collecting its taxes; that the Treasury was
+empty; that the salaries of officials had been and are months in
+arrear; that sums payable for the ordinary and necessary expenditure
+of government cannot be had, and that such services as postal
+contracts were long and hopelessly overdue; that the white
+inhabitants had become split into factions; that the large native
+populations within the boundaries of the State ignore its authority
+and laws; and that the powerful Zulu king, Cetchwayo, is anxious to
+seize upon the first opportunity of attacking a country the conduct
+of whose warriors has convinced him that it can be easily conquered
+by his clamouring regiments." He again writes: "I think it necessary
+to explain, more at length than I was able to do in my last
+despatch, the circumstances which seem to me to forbid all hope that
+the Transvaal Republic is capable of maintaining the show even of
+independent existence any longer, which induced me to consider it my
+duty to assume this position in my communications with the President
+and Executive Council, and which have convinced me that, if I were
+to leave the country in its present condition, I should but expose
+the inhabitants to anarchy among themselves, and to attack from the
+natives, that would prove not only fatal to the Republic, but in the
+highest degree dangerous to her Majesty's possessions and subjects
+in South Africa."
+
+The proclamation of the annexation of the Transvaal was issued on
+the 12th of April 1876, and on the previous day Sir T. Shepstone
+wrote: "There will be a protest against my act of annexation issued
+by the Government, but they will at the same time call upon the
+people to submit quietly, pending the issue. You need not be
+disquieted by such action, because it is taken merely to save
+appearances, and the members of the Government from the violence of
+a faction that seems for years to have held Pretoria in terror when
+any act of the Government displeased it. You will better understand
+this when I tell you privately that the President has from the first
+fully acquiesced in the necessity for the change, and that most of
+the members of the Government have expressed themselves anxious for
+it--but none of them have had the courage openly to express their
+opinions, so I have had to act apparently against them, and this I
+felt bound to do, knowing the state and danger of the country, and
+that three-fourths of the people will be thankful for the change
+when once it is made."
+
+As a matter of fact the annexation was received with rejoicing all
+over the country. "God save the Queen" was sung, and special
+thanksgiving services were held in many of the churches. The Union
+Jack was run up, the Republican flag hauled down without a
+dissentient voice. The arrival of British troops--the first
+battalion of the 13th Regiment--was hailed with curiosity and
+pleasure, the Boers with their women and children turning out to
+meet it and hear the band play. The financial effects of the new
+departure were magical. Credit and commerce were at once restored.
+Valueless railway bonds rose to par, and the price of landed
+property was nearly doubled. On the Queen's birthday, the first
+after the annexation, the 24th of May 1877, the native chiefs were
+invited to attend, and the Union Jack was formally hoisted to the
+strains of the National Anthem. This same flag was within a few
+years ignobly hauled down during the signing of the Convention at
+Pretoria, and formally buried by a party of Englishmen and loyal
+natives. But for the time being all seemed pleased with the new
+state of affairs. As Mr. Haggard says, it is difficult to reconcile
+the enthusiasm of a great number of the inhabitants of the Transvaal
+for English rule and the quiet acquiescence of the remainder at this
+time, with the decidedly antagonistic attitude subsequently assumed.
+His description of the situation in "The Last Boer War" seems to be
+more near the truth than any forthcoming: "The Transvaal, when we
+annexed it, was in the position of a man with a knife at his throat,
+who is suddenly rescued by some one stronger than he, on certain
+conditions which at the time he gladly accepts, but afterwards, when
+the danger is passed, wishes to repudiate. In the same way the
+inhabitants of the South African Republic were in the time of need
+very thankful for our aid, but after a while, when the recollection
+of their difficulties had grown faint, when their debts had been
+paid and their enemies had been defeated, they began to think that
+they would like to get rid of us again, and start fresh on their own
+account with a clean sheet."
+
+In the management of affairs it appears that Mr. Burgers began to
+set an example of the policy which Mr. Kruger has since followed:
+the policy of trying to sit on either side of the fence. Mr. Kruger
+has struggled more and more violently to accomplish this feat as the
+years advance and he advances in years. He has tried to grab the
+advantages attendant upon the possession of gold mines and schemed
+to acquire a great financial status, and yet at the same time to
+keep up his affectation of piety and to maintain his pristine
+condition of bucolic irresponsibility. Brought face to face with Sir
+T. Shepstone's scheme for annexation, Mr. Burger privately
+encouraged the proposed action of the Government--he and his
+colleagues even stipulating for pension and office--while publicly
+he lifted up his protest against the innovation.
+
+The Boer, with his usual craft, had decided that the British
+Government should set him financially on his feet, which feet he
+meant promptly to use for running away from his responsibilities.
+Some declare that the policy of Sir T. Shepstone was premature, that
+he should have waited until the Boer had soaked further in the
+slough of insolvency into which he was fast sinking. But Sekukuni
+was threatening, and on the south-eastern frontier Cetchwayo, with a
+force some thirty thousand strong, was waiting his opportunity. The
+promise of the future was a general holocaust, in which Boer men,
+women, and children, farms and flocks would be annihilated. Sir T.
+Shepstone, had he been other than a Briton, might have stayed his
+hand and waited till the Boers were effectually swept away, but
+being a Briton he acted as such, doubtless arguing that,
+
+ "As we under Heaven are supreme head,
+ So, under him, that great supremacy,
+ Where we do reign, we will alone uphold."
+
+
+THE WEB THICKENING
+
+It must be remembered that between the Zulus and the Boers no
+boundary line had ever been fixed, and that for over a dozen years
+the Zulu chiefs had repeatedly implored the British Governor in
+Natal for advice and help in their dealings with these aggressors.
+It had been part of the Dutch policy--if policy it may be called--to
+force the Zulu gradually to edge further and further from the rich
+pasture lands sloping eastward of the Drakensberg Mountains, and
+spreading to right and left into the north and west of Zululand.
+Little notice had been taken of their petitions, and the Zulus had
+determined to take the law into their own hands. Cetchwayo,
+therefore, when the news of our annexation of the Transvaal reached
+him, was like a wild beast baulked of its prey. He was anxious for
+an occasion for his young warriors "to wash their spears" in the
+gore of his enemies, and was naturally disappointed to find them
+under the protection of the white man. The Natal Government
+attempted to soothe him--to promote peace. He remained sullen and
+simmered. He vented his spleen by putting several young women to
+death for having refused to marry his soldiers. On being
+remonstrated with by the Natal Government, he expressed himself with
+engaging candour. His own words, without comment, describe the
+character with which we had to deal.
+
+"Did I ever tell Mr. Shepstone," his Majesty cried, "that I would
+not kill? Did Mr. Shepstone tell the white people I made such an
+arrangement? Because if he did he deceived them. I do kill; but I do
+not consider that I have done anything yet in the way of killing.
+Why do the white people start at nothing? I have not yet begun. I
+have yet to kill. It is the custom of our nation, and I will not
+depart from it. Why does the Governor of Natal speak to me about my
+laws? I shall not agree to any laws or rules from Natal, and by so
+doing throw the large kraal which I govern into the water. My people
+will not listen unless they are killed, and while wishing to be
+friends with the English I do not agree to give my people over to be
+governed by laws sent to me by them. Have I not asked the English to
+allow me to wash my spears since the death of my father, Upandi, and
+they have kept playing with me all the time, treating me as a
+child?" ... A good deal more followed in this strain. Since his
+accession the gallant Cetchwayo had decided to "wash his spears" in
+the blood of his neighbours, and whatever the British might have to
+say in the matter, wash them he would. It was obvious, therefore,
+that a ruffian of this kind, backed by a bloodthirsty following, was
+a permanent danger to our Colony of Natal and to its white
+inhabitants. Something must be done to remove the disquiet caused by
+the utterances of the savage. Sir Henry Bulwer (the Governor of
+Natal)--to conciliate the king and to allay his fears lest his
+territory, like that of the Boers, should be annexed--proposed that
+a commission should investigate the rival claims of Boers and Zulus
+on border questions, and settle them by arbitration. But what Sir H.
+Bulwer proposed Sir Bartle Frere, High Commissioner in South Africa,
+disapproved. He felt that Cetchwayo and his host would be a standing
+menace to the borders of Natal. Nevertheless he agreed to a
+discussion of the vexed boundary question between Boer and Zulu, in
+which the commissioners declared unanimously against the claims of
+the former. Certain land only to west of the Blood River, held by
+the Boers and unchallenged by the Zulus, was confirmed to the Dutch
+settlers in their occupation of the same. But to this decision Sir
+Bartle Frere considered it expedient to add some saving clauses.
+These demanded, first, that Cetchwayo should adhere to the
+guarantees he had given and not permit indiscriminate shedding of
+blood; second, that he should institute from his existing military
+system the form of tribal quotas; third, that he should accept the
+presence of a British Resident; fourth, that he should protect the
+missionaries and their converts; and lastly, that he should
+surrender certain criminals and pay certain fines. His Zulu Majesty
+was given thirty days to consider the subject. Instead of
+considering he flouted it. The result was war.
+
+
+THE ZULU WAR
+
+According to the opinion of Sir Bartle Frere there was, and for a
+long time had been, a growing desire on the part of the great chiefs
+to make this war into a simultaneous rising of Kaffirdom against
+white civilisation. A spirit of mutiny had been in the air since the
+terrible events in India in 1857, and there was a general conviction
+among the native tribes that the authority of Great Britain would
+eventually be overthrown. Now the most powerful of all the native
+tribes in South Africa were the Zulus, whose military organisation
+had long been celebrated, and who had earned a great reputation
+since the days of Gaika, and more especially in the time that
+followed when Chaka, who was a born warrior, brought the gigantic
+army into a state of marvellous efficiency.
+
+A few words regarding the career of this great chieftain may be
+found interesting, for to him is accorded the credit of the
+indubitably warlike and brave disposition of his countrymen. This
+man, who has been at times called the Attila and the Napoleon of
+South Africa, was born in 1783. He became chief officer to
+Dingiswayo, a man of remarkable ability, who studied European
+military systems and modelled on their principle a highly efficient
+army. Chaka, heir to a chieftainship of the Amazulu tribe (the Zulus
+proper), took the fancy of Dingiswayo, who elevated him first to a
+post of high command, and eventually to the vacant Zulu
+chieftainship. On the death in battle of Dingiswayo, Chaka assumed
+the command of both tribes, to which he gave his name. The already
+excellent army he proceeded to improve till it became one of the
+most efficient military organisations ever originated in an
+uncivilised country. The whole kingdom was ordered on a military
+footing, and expanded so wondrously that the original two tribes at
+first commanded by Chaka became an hundred, each tribe having been
+defeated in warfare and incorporated in the Zulu nationality. His
+policy, unlike that of Cetchwayo later on, was not to destroy but to
+subdue, and thus he soon ruled with undisputed sway over a complete
+empire covering the desolated regions of Natal, Zululand, and the
+modern Boer States. His methods of military training were entirely
+Spartan; his discipline was a discipline of iron. Disobedience was
+met with the penalty of death. To tread out a roaring bush-fire, or
+capture alive a wild beast, were some of the tasks imposed as daily
+training for his would-be warriors. An order was an order, and this,
+however dangerous or seemingly impossible, had to be obeyed by
+individual or regiment on pain of the most horrible forms of death.
+It may easily be imagined that this stern regime was calculated to
+create a military following of the most brave and adventurous order.
+Naturally enough, all the other Kaffir tribes looked to the Zulus as
+their leaders and champions in the contest. Captain Hamilton Parr
+tells a tale of an old Galeka warrior who said to a native
+magistrate, "Yes, you have beaten us--you have beaten us well; but
+there," pointing eastward, "there are the Amazulu warriors. Can you
+beat them? They say not. Go and try. Don't trouble any more about
+us, but go and beat _them_ and we shall be quiet enough." This
+anecdote serves to describe the general sentiment of disdain for
+British authority which Sir Bartle Frere detected almost immediately
+after his arrival among the natives, and to account in a measure for
+what has been declared to be his high-handed policy. He was
+convinced that we could never expect peace among the chiefs until we
+had satisfied them who was master. A lesson was necessary to show
+that the British Government could govern and meant to govern, and
+that lesson he felt must be taught sooner or later. For a long time
+Cetchwayo had been instigating rebellion and preparing for war. As
+may be seen from Lord Carnarvon's letter of the 24th of January 1878
+to Sir Bartle Frere, the Government was fully conscious of the
+existing necessity to protect the Transvaal and to maintain British
+prestige in South Africa. The despatch runs: "It seems certain that
+the Zulu king has derived from his messengers the unfortunate idea
+that the Kaffirs are able to cope with the Colony on more than equal
+terms, and this belief has, as was inevitable, produced a very
+threatening change in his language and conduct towards the Transvaal
+Government. It is only too probable that a savage chief such as
+Cetchwayo, supported by a powerful army already excited by the
+recent successes of a neighbouring tribe over the late Government of
+the Transvaal, may now become fired with the idea of victory over
+her Majesty's forces, and that a deliberate attempt upon her
+Majesty's territories may ensue. Should this unfortunately happen,
+you must understand that at whatever sacrifice it is imperatively
+necessary that her Majesty's forces in Natal and the Transvaal must
+be reinforced by the immediate despatch of the military and naval
+contingents now operating in the Cape, or such portion of them as
+may be required. This is necessary not only for the safety of the
+Transvaal, for the defence of which her Majesty's Government are
+immediately concerned, but also in the interest of the Cape, since
+a defeat of the Zulu king would act more powerfully than any other
+means in disheartening the native races of South Africa."
+
+On this subject Sir H. Bulwer wrote: "There has been for the last
+eight or nine months a danger of collision with the Zulus at any
+moment." And in November 1878 he said: "The system of government in
+the Zulu country is so bad that any improvement seems hopeless. We
+should, if necessary, be justified in deposing Cetchwayo."
+
+Consequently, Sir Bartle Frere was not surprised when all efforts to
+reduce Cetchwayo to yield to British demand failed. As time went by
+it became clear that enforcement of these demands must be placed in
+the hands of Lord Chelmsford and the military authorities, and
+accordingly, on the 10th of January 1879, the Commander-in-Chief of
+the forces of South Africa crossed the frontier.
+
+As the frontier extended for some two hundred miles, to assume a
+purely defensive attitude would have been impossible. Our forces so
+placed would not have been sufficiently strong to resist an attack
+made at their own time and place by a horde of some ten to twenty
+thousand Zulus. Lord Chelmsford had no alternative, therefore, but
+to invade Zululand.
+
+
+ISANDLWANA
+
+The force under Lord Chelmsford's command was divided into four columns.
+These were composed partly of British soldiers, partly of Colonists, and
+partly of blacks. The first column, under Colonel Pearson, crossed the
+Lower Tugela; the second, under Lieutenant-Colonel Durnford, R.E.,
+consisting of native troops and Natal Volunteers, was to act in concert
+with column three; the third, under Colonel Glyn--but directed by the
+General, who assumed all responsibility--crossed the Buffalo River; and
+the fourth, under Colonel Evelyn Wood, entered Zululand from near
+Newcastle on the north-west. The plan was for the four columns to
+converge upon Ulundi, in the neighbourhood of the king's kraal, where
+fighting might be expected to begin.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF ZULULAND AND ADJOINING PORTIONS OF NATAL.]
+
+The crossing of the Buffalo River was effected without difficulty or
+resistance, and ten days after the central column formed a camp at
+the foot of the hill Isandlwana (the Little Hand). On the morning of
+the 22nd the Commander-in-Chief advanced at daybreak, for the
+purpose of attacking a kraal some miles distant. The camp at
+Isandlwana was left in charge of a force of some eight hundred mixed
+troops--regulars, volunteers, and natives. Strict orders to defend
+and not to leave the camp were given, but in spite of these orders
+portions of the force became detached. Suddenly, unobserved by them,
+there appeared a dense impi of some twenty thousand Zulus. The
+savage horde rushed shouting upon the small British detachments,
+rushed with the swiftness of cavalry, attacked them before they
+could unite, and swooping down with tremendous velocity, seized the
+camp and separated the British troops from their reserves of
+ammunition. In face of this warrior multitude our troops were
+defenceless. A few moments of wild despairing energy, a hand-to-hand
+struggle for life between the white man and the bloodthirsty savage,
+groans of wounded and yells of victory, and all was over. Of the six
+companies of the 24th, consisting of more than half the infantry
+engaged, but six souls escaped. The rest died where they fell, with
+no kindly hand to give them succour, no British voice to breathe a
+burial prayer. But some before they dropped managed to cut their way
+through the ring of Zulu spears. Two gallant fellows, Lieutenants
+Melvill and Coghill, almost succeeded in saving the colours of the
+first battalion of the 24th Regiment. They made a bold rush, but
+merely reached the Natal bank of the Buffalo to be struck down. The
+colours, wrapped round Melvill's body, were discovered in the river
+some days afterwards.
+
+The Zulu plan of fighting, in this case so successful, is curious.
+The formation of their attacks represents the figure of a beast with
+horns, chest, and loins. While making a feint with one horn, the
+other, unperceived in long grass or bush, swoops round and closes in
+on the enemy. The chest then advances to attack. The loins are kept
+at a distance, and simply join in pursuit.
+
+The news of the disaster spread fast. Sir Bartle Frere, on the
+morning of the 24th, was awakened by the arrival of two almost
+distraught and wholly unintelligible messengers. Their report, when
+it could be at last comprehended, seemed too horrible for belief.
+That they had escaped some terrible ordeal was evident; that they
+were members of the company of naval volunteers that formed part of
+the General's army, their uniform proclaimed. But of the General
+they could say nothing--he might be dead, he might be missing--all
+they knew was of their own miraculous escape from a scene of
+slaughter. Colonel Pulleine they declared was dead, but further news
+had to be awaited with anxious hearts.
+
+Meanwhile Lord Chelmsford had heard the horrible news. The camp had
+been seen in the possession of the Zulus. Worn and weary with heavy
+marching in a baking sun, he and his troops began to retreat. At
+nightfall, thoroughly jaded, they returned to a grim scene. All
+around lay the still silent dead--the corpses of the comrades they
+had parted with but a few hours before. There, amid the pathetic
+wreckage, were they forced to lay them down to rest!
+
+Fortunately the Zulus, having plundered the camp, had made off, and
+the British force was able the next day to proceed to the relief of
+Rorke's Drift. At Rorke's Drift the now world-celebrated defence of
+Lieutenant Bromhead, of the 24th, and Lieutenant Chard, R.E., took
+place. These young officers had been left with one hundred and four
+soldiers to take charge of a small depot of provisions and an
+hospital, and to keep open the communication with Natal. Some hours
+after the disaster of Isandlwana their post was attacked by
+Dabulamanzi (brother of Cetchwayo) and over three thousand of his
+finest warriors. The little garrison had made for themselves a
+laager of sacks of maize and biscuit-boxes, and behind these they
+defended themselves so stubbornly and so heroically throughout the
+night of the 23rd, that the Zulu chieftain, discomfited and
+harassed, eventually retired. For their magnificent pluck the two
+young officers received the Victoria Cross. Their action had saved
+Natal from invasion by the enemy. Of the little garrison seventeen
+fell and ten were wounded. The loss of the Zulus was about three
+hundred.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEFENCE OF RORKE'S DRIFT, 22nd to 23rd JANUARY
+1879.
+
+Painted by Alphonse de Neuville, Etched by L. Flameng.
+
+Reproduced by special arrangement with the Fine Art Society,
+London.]
+
+Colonel Pearson's column, as we said, crossed the Lower Tugela near
+the sea, with the intention of joining the other columns at Ulundi.
+On the way thither he was attacked by a Zulu force at Inyesani. This
+force, though it more than doubled the strength of his own, he drove
+back with heavy loss, and marched to the Norwegian Mission station,
+Eshowe. On his arrival there on the 23rd of January, he learnt the
+awful news of the disaster, and instantly sent his cavalry back to
+Natal, fortified his station, and waited there the arrival of
+reinforcements.
+
+The third column, commanded by Colonel Evelyn Wood (consisting of
+1700 British soldiers, 50 farmers under Commandant Pieter Uys, and
+some 300 blacks), reached Kambula in safety, and fortified a post
+there. Colonel Wood harassed the enemy by frequent sallies, however,
+and on one occasion the attack on the Zlobane Mountain lost about
+ninety-six of his men. Among these were Colonel Weatherley, his
+young son, and Commandant Uys. The following day the British laager
+was attacked by a horde of Zulus, who were routed. In this
+engagement Colonel Wood, Colonel Buller, and Captain Woodgate
+especially distinguished themselves.
+
+Lord Chelmsford, with a force of soldiers and sailors, marched in
+April from Natal to the relief of Colonel Pearson at Eshowe. He
+arrived there in safety, after having encountered and beaten back
+the Zulus at Ginginlova: yet it was not until the 4th of July that
+the troops eventually reached Ulundi, where the final battle and
+victory took place. But of this later.
+
+
+AFFAIRS AT HOME
+
+Two days after the arrival of the news of the disaster at
+Isandlwana, Parliament met. The reverse in Zululand naturally
+engrossed all thoughts. Questions innumerable were addressed to
+Government, as to the strength of reinforcements to be sent out--as
+to the further necessity for war at all--as to the so-called
+high-handed action of Sir Bartle Frere, and the so-called blunders
+of Lord Chelmsford. Scapegoats were wanted, and, as a natural
+consequence, the two most energetic and hard-worked of the Queen's
+servants were attacked.
+
+A political pitched battle was imminent. The Ministers declined to
+withdraw their confidence from the Lord High Commissioner, though
+they passed on him censure for his hasty and independent
+proceedings. That the members of Government had a high appreciation
+of his great experience, ability, and energy was apparent, for they
+declared they had "no desire to withdraw in the present crisis of
+affairs the confidence hitherto reposed in him, the continuance of
+which was now more than ever needed to conduct our difficulties in
+South Africa to a successful termination." On the 19th of March 1879
+the Secretary of the Colonies wrote to Sir Bartle Frere, to the
+effect that Ministers were unable to find, on the documents placed
+before them, "that evidence of urgent necessity for immediate action
+which alone would justify him in taking, without their full
+knowledge and sanction, a course almost certain to result in a war."
+
+The day for discussion of South African affairs in the Upper House
+arrived.
+
+Lord Lansdowne moved, on the 11th of March, "That this House, while
+willing to support her Majesty's Government in all necessary
+measures for defending the possessions of her Majesty in South
+Africa, regrets that the _ultimatum_, which was calculated to
+produce immediate war, should have been presented to the Zulu king
+without authority from the responsible advisers of the Crown, and
+that an offensive war should have been commenced without imperative
+and pressing necessity or adequate preparation; and the House
+regrets that, after the censure passed upon the High Commissioner by
+her Majesty's Government, in the despatch of March 19, 1879, the
+conduct of affairs in South Africa should be retained in his hands."
+
+A keen debate ensued. The Opposition clamoured for the recall of Sir
+Bartle Frere, as the example of independent action set by him might
+be followed by other and more distant representatives of the Crown.
+The war was ascribed to Lord Carnarvon's impatience for South
+African confederation and his "incurable greed" for extending the
+limits of the Colonies, and the annexation of the Transvaal was
+declared to be a mistake, unless the Government was prepared to send
+out a large military force to South Africa.
+
+The Government combated these arguments. They denied they had
+censured Sir Bartle Frere, and stated that they had passed no
+opinion on his policy, but merely asserted as a principle that "Her
+Majesty's advisers, and they only, must decide the grave issues of
+peace and war."
+
+It was argued that war with Cetchwayo was inevitable sooner or
+later, and that the Lord High Commissioner had thought it advisable
+to be prompt in the matter. His conduct, it was true, had not the
+entire approval of the Ministry, but every one knew it was unwise to
+change horses in crossing a stream, and his action had not been such
+as to outweigh the many considerations which required the
+continuance of his service in South Africa.
+
+Lord Beaconsfield, addressing the House, defended Sir Bartle Frere,
+and expressed opinions on the policy of confederation as opposed to
+that of annexation, opinions which afford so much instruction in
+regard to our relations with the Transvaal that they are best
+repeated in their entirety.
+
+"I generally find," he said, "there is one advantage at the end of a
+debate, besides the relief which is afforded by its termination, and
+that is that both sides of the House seem pretty well agreed as to
+the particular point that really is at issue; but the rich humour of
+the noble duke (Duke of Somerset) has again diverted us from the
+consideration of the motion really before the House. If the noble
+duke and his friends were desirous of knowing what was the policy
+which her Majesty's Government were prepared generally to pursue in
+South Africa, if they were prepared to challenge the policy of Sir
+Bartle Frere in all its details, I should have thought they would
+have produced a very different motion from that which is now lying
+on your lordships' table; for that is a motion of a most limited
+character, and, according to the strict rules of parliamentary
+discussion, precludes you from most of the subjects which have
+lately been introduced to our consideration, and which principally
+have emanated from noble lords opposite. We have not been summoned
+here to-day to consider the policy of the acquisition of the
+Transvaal. These are subjects on which I am sure the Government
+would be prepared to address your lordships, if their conduct were
+clearly and fairly impugned. And with regard to the annexation of
+the province, which has certainly very much filled the mouths of men
+of late, I can easily conceive that that would have been a subject
+for fair discussion in this House, and we should have heard, as we
+have heard to-night, though in a manner somewhat unexpected, from
+the nature of the resolution before us, from the noble lord who was
+recently the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the principal
+reasons which induced the Government to sanction that policy--a
+policy which I believe can be defended, but which has not been
+impugned to-night in any formal manner.
+
+"What has been impugned to-night is the conduct of the Government in
+sanctioning, not the policy of Sir Bartle Frere, but his taking a
+most important step without consulting them, which on such subjects
+is the usual practice with all Governments. But the noble lord
+opposite who introduced the subject does not even impugn the policy
+of the Lord High Commissioner; and it was left to the noble duke who
+has just addressed us, and who ought to have brought forward this
+question if his views are so strongly entertained by him on the
+matter, not in supporting a resolution such as now lies on your
+lordships' table, but one which would have involved a discussion of
+the policy of the Government and that of the high officer who is
+particularly interested in it.
+
+"My noble friend, the noble marquis (Lord Salisbury), who very
+recently addressed the House, touched the real question which is
+before us, and it is a very important question, although it is not
+of the expansive character of the one which would have been
+justified by the comments of the noble lords opposite. What we have
+to decide to-night is this--whether her Majesty's Government shall
+have the power of recommending to the sovereign the employment of a
+high officer to fulfil duties of the utmost importance, or whether
+that exercise of the prerogative, on their advice, shall be
+successfully impugned, and that appointment superseded by noble
+lords opposite. That course is perfectly constitutional, if they are
+prepared to take the consequences. But let it be understood what the
+issue is. It is this--that a censure upon the Government is called
+for, because they have selected the individual who, on the whole,
+they think is the best qualified successfully to fulfil the duties
+of High Commissioner. The noble lords opposite made that
+proposition, and if they succeed they will succeed in that which has
+hitherto been considered one of the most difficult tasks of the
+executive Government; that is to say, they will supersede the
+individual whom the sovereign, in the exercise of her prerogative,
+under the advice of her Ministers, has selected for an important
+post. I cannot agree in the general remark made by the noble duke,
+that because an individual has committed an error, and even a
+considerable error, for that reason, without any reference either to
+his past services or his present qualifications, immediately a
+change should be recommended, and he should be recalled from the
+scene of his duties.
+
+"I remember myself a case not altogether different from the present
+one," continued Lord Beaconsfield, alluding to Sir James Hudson, who,
+when Minister at Turin, had been charged with having expressed himself
+unguardedly upon the subject of Italian nationality. "It happened some
+years ago, when I was in the other House. Then a very high official--a
+diplomatist of great eminence, a member of the Liberal party--had
+committed what was deemed a great indiscretion by several members of his
+own party; and the Government were asked in a formal manner, by a
+Liberal member, whether that distinguished diplomatist had been in
+consequence recalled. But the person who was then responsible for the
+conduct of public affairs in that House--the humble individual who is
+now addressing your lordships, made this answer, with the full
+concurrence of his colleagues--denied that that distinguished
+diplomatist was recalled, and said that _great services are not
+cancelled by one act or one single error however it may be regretted at
+the moment_. That is what I said then, with regard to Sir James Hudson,
+and what I say now with regard to Sir Bartle Frere. But I do not wish
+to rest on that. I confess that, so keen is my sense of responsibility,
+and that of my colleagues, and I am sure also that of noble lords
+opposite, that we would not allow our decisions in such matters to be
+unduly influenced by personal considerations of any kind. What we had to
+determine is this, Was it wise that such an act on the part of Sir
+Bartle Frere as, in fact, commencing war without consulting the
+Government at home, and without their sanction, should be passed
+unnoticed? Ought it not to be noticed in a manner which should convey to
+that eminent person a clear conviction of the feelings of her Majesty's
+Government; and at the same time was it not their duty to consider, were
+he superseded, whether they could place in his position an individual
+equally qualified to fulfil the great duties and responsibilities
+resting on him? That is what we had to consider. We considered it
+entirely with reference to the public interest, and the public interest
+alone; and we arrived at the conviction that on the whole the retention
+of Sir Bartle Frere in that position was our duty, notwithstanding the
+inconvenient observations and criticisms to which we were, of course,
+conscious it might subject us. And, that being our conviction, we have
+acted upon it. It is a very easy thing for a Government to make a
+scapegoat; but that is conduct which I hope no gentleman on this side,
+and I believe no gentleman sitting opposite, would easily adopt. If Sir
+Bartle Frere had been recalled--if he had been recalled in deference to
+the panic, the thoughtless panic of the hour, in deference to those who
+have no responsibility in the matter, and who have not weighed well and
+deeply investigated all the circumstances and all the arguments which
+can be brought forward, and which must be appealed to to influence our
+opinions on such questions--no doubt a certain degree of odium might
+have been diverted from the heads of her Majesty's Ministers, and the
+world would have been delighted, as it always is, to find a victim. That
+was not the course which we pursued, and it is one which I trust no
+British Government ever will pursue. We had but one object in view, and
+that was to take care that at this most critical period the affairs of
+her Majesty in South Africa should be directed by one not only qualified
+to direct them, but who was superior to any other individual whom we
+could have selected for that purpose. The sole question that we really
+have to decide to-night is, Was it the duty of her Majesty's Government
+to recall Sir Bartle Frere in consequence of his having declared war
+without our consent? We did not think it our duty to take that course,
+and we do not think it our duty to take that course now. Whether we are
+right in the determination at which we have arrived is the sole question
+which the House has to determine upon the motion before it.
+
+"The noble duke opposite (the Duke of Somerset) has told us that he
+should not be contented without being made acquainted with the whole
+policy which her Majesty's Government are prepared to pursue in
+South Africa. If the noble duke will introduce that subject we shall
+be happy to discuss it with him. No one could introduce it in a more
+interesting, and, indeed, in a more entertaining manner than the
+noble duke, who possesses that sarcastic faculty that so well
+qualifies him to express his opinion on such a matter. I think,
+however, that we ought to have had rather longer notice before we
+were called upon to discuss so large a theme, which has now been
+brought suddenly before us. If the noble marquis who introduced this
+subject had given us notice of a motion of this character, we should
+not have hesitated for a moment to meet it. I have, however, no
+desire to avoid discussing the subject of our future policy in South
+Africa, even on so general a notice as we have in reference to it
+from the noble duke. Sir Bartle Frere was selected by the noble lord
+(Lord Carnarvon), who formerly occupied the position of Secretary to
+the Colonies, chiefly to secure one great end--namely, to carry out
+that policy of confederation in South Africa which the noble lord
+had successfully carried out on a previous occasion with regard to
+the North American Colonies.
+
+"If there is any policy which, in my mind, is opposed to the policy
+of annexation, it is that of confederation. By pursuing the policy
+of confederation we bind States together, we consolidate their
+resources, and we enable them to establish a strong frontier; and
+where we have a strong frontier, that is the best security against
+annexation. I myself regard a policy of annexation with great
+distrust. I believe that the reasons of State which induced us to
+annex the Transvaal were not, on the whole, perfectly sound. But
+what were the circumstances under which that annexation was
+effected? The Transvaal was a territory which was no longer defended
+by its occupiers. The noble lord opposite (Lord Kimberley), who
+formerly had the Colonies under his management, spoke of the conduct
+of Sir Theophilus Shepstone as though he had not taken due
+precautions to effect the annexation of that province, and said that
+he was not justified in concealing that he had not successfully
+consummated his object. The noble lord said he had not assembled
+troops enough in the province to carry out properly the policy of
+annexation. But Sir Theophilus Shepstone particularly refers to the
+very fact to show, that so unanimous and so united was the sentiment
+in the province in favour of annexation, that it was unnecessary to
+send any large force there to bring it about. _The annexation of
+that province was a necessity--a geographical necessity._"
+
+[Illustration: Sir HENRY BARTLE FRERE, Bart.
+
+Photo by Maull & Fox. London.]
+
+
+TOWARDS ULUNDI
+
+It may be remembered that Lord Chelmsford's original idea had been
+for Colonel Pearson's column to march from Eshowe to the chief's
+kraal at Ulundi. In consequence of the disaster, however, Colonel
+Pearson decided to remain where he was. He constructed a fort for
+the protection of the garrison against an army of some 20,000 Zulus
+lying in wait between Eshowe and Tugela. On the 30th of January all
+the troops came within this embryo fort, and as tents were
+forbidden, officers and men had to make the best of what shelter the
+waggons afforded. The troops spent the time in completing the fort
+and cutting roads, and early in February excellent defences were
+completed. Though in hourly expectation of attack they seem to have
+kept up their spirits, for an officer in Eshowe wrote:--
+
+"The troops inside consisted of three companies of the 99th
+Regiment, five companies of the second battalion of the 3rd Buffs,
+one company of Royal Engineers, one company of the Pioneers, the
+Naval Brigade, a body of Artillery, and nineteen of the Native
+Contingent, amongst them being several non-commissioned officers,
+whom we found exceedingly useful, two of them being at once selected
+as butchers, whilst two were 'promoted' to the rank of 'bakers to
+the troops.' Others attended to the sanitary arrangements of the
+garrison, and altogether they were found to be also exceedingly
+useful. As a portion of the column, the company of Pioneers under
+the command of Captain Beddoes did a great deal of very important
+work. This company was composed of ninety-eight natives, one
+captain, and three lieutenants, and their proceedings in connection
+with the making of the new road were watched with much interest.
+They worked with the Naval Brigade, about three companies of
+soldiers, and several men of the Royal Artillery. This road was
+found useless, in consequence of the numerous swampy places at the
+foot of each of the numerous hills which occurred along the route.
+Very thick bush had to be cut through, and at first but slow
+progress was made. The road, as is generally known, took a direction
+towards the Inyezane. Whilst out on one occasion, the road party saw
+a torpedo explosion which took place about three miles from where
+the party was working. It had been accidentally fired by Kaffirs,
+who were unaware of the clangers connected with the implement, and
+it is believed that several of them were killed. The road was
+altogether a bad one. The relief column used it on their way up, but
+only the Pioneers and the mounted men went by that route on the way
+back. In fact, it would have been useless to have attempted to use
+it for the passage of waggons. Whenever the road party went out they
+were fired on by Kaffirs, but of course shots were returned, and
+many a Zulu warrior was knocked over whilst the work was being
+proceeded with. Everything in camp was conducted in a most orderly
+manner. We were roused at half-past five sharp, and at eight
+o'clock, sharp, lights were out. For one month we existed very
+comfortably on full rations, but at the end of that time we were put
+on short rations, made up as follows:--One pound and a quarter of
+trek-oxen beef, six ounces of meal, one ounce and a quarter of
+sugar, third of an ounce of coffee, one sixth of an ounce of tea,
+one ninth of an ounce of pepper, and a quarter of an ounce of salt.
+
+"Life of course was very monotonous. The bands of the two regiments
+played on alternate afternoons, and every morning they were to be
+heard practising outside the entrenchment. The most pleasant part of
+the day was just after six o'clock, when we used to be enlivened in
+the cool of the evening by the fife and drum band playing the
+'Retreat.' The water with which we were supplied was indeed
+excellent, and the bathing places, I need not say, were very
+extensively patronised. The grazing was not nearly sufficient for
+the cattle, and from the first they must have suffered very much
+from want of nourishment. You will have heard of the fate of the
+eleven hundred head of oxen and the span of donkeys which we sent
+away from the camp in expectation of their reaching the Lower
+Tugela. They left us in charge of nineteen Kaffirs, but at the
+Inyezane they were attacked by a large body of Kaffirs. The natives
+in charge of the cattle decamped and reached the fort in safety, and
+the enemy got possession of the whole of the cattle, which they
+drove off. The donkeys were all killed with the exception of one,
+and this sagacious animal surprised everybody in camp by returning
+soon after the Kaffirs had come back."
+
+The prices of food at this time were scarcely in keeping with those
+of the London market. A bottle of pickles fetched 25s., and a ham
+L7, 10s.! Milk was purchasable for 23s. a tin, and sardines for 12s.
+
+As may be imagined, the arrival of Lord Chelmsford at Eshowe was a
+matter for general thanksgiving. One who was present records in
+_Blackwood's Magazine_ the joy on the arrival of the first
+outsiders: "On the afternoon of the 3rd of April, the column
+detailed on the 31st of March (about 500 whites and 50 blacks, and
+the mounted infantry, with one gun) left the fort under General
+Pearson, to meet the relief column.... A solitary horseman was seen
+towards 5 P.M. galloping up the new road to the fort. He had an
+officer's coat on, and we could see a sword dangling from his side.
+Who is he?... He proved to be the correspondent of the _Standard_.
+'First in Eshowe,' he said, 'proud to shake hands with an Eshowian.'
+A second horseman appeared approaching the fort, his horse
+apparently much blown, Who is he?... The correspondent of the
+_Argus_ (Cape Town). They had a race who would be first at Eshowe,
+the _Standard_ winning by five minutes!" Thus ended happily the
+crushing anxiety under which Colonel Pearson and his party had
+lived, and the foretaste of the future triumph seemed already to
+remove the memory of many weeks of bitterness.
+
+Serious differences of opinion soon arose between Lord Chelmsford
+and Sir Henry Bulwer, the Governor of Natal, but on the intricacies
+of these it is unnecessary to dwell; suffice it to say, that they
+were in a measure the cause of Sir Garnet Wolseley's arrival on the
+scene somewhat later, as Sir Garnet united in his own person both
+supreme civil and supreme military power.
+
+A complete account of the movements of the various columns during
+the dreary months that elapsed before the final victory at Ulundi on
+the 4th of July cannot be attempted here. The history of skirmishes
+and raids, of daring sorties, of captures of cattle, and gallantry
+of troops, of hopes and disappointments, of successes and scares, of
+hardships and horrors, would fill many pages that must be otherwise
+occupied.
+
+Yet one tragic and memorable event of the war cannot be passed over,
+for we lost a gallant volunteer whose young life was full of promise
+and distinction. At the beginning of June the Prince Imperial of
+France, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, having studied at the Military
+College at Woolwich, and desiring to see war in all its reality, was
+attached to the Quartermaster-General's department at General
+Newdigate's camp. He set out with a reconnoitring party consisting
+of Lieutenant Carey of the 98th Regiment, six men of Bellington's
+Horse, and a Kaffir. The place they intended to reach was situated
+between the camps of Lord Chelmsford and General Wood. Having gained
+a picturesque spot near a brook which forms a tributary to the
+Tlyotyozi River, the Prince decided to sketch. He was a clever
+draughtsman, and had some ability in recognising the capabilities of
+positions. The party afterwards moved on, examining various empty
+kraals by the way. At one of these they halted, and the Prince gave
+orders to "off-saddle" for an hour. The place seemed deserted; there
+were remains of a recent cooking fire, and a stray dog or two
+sniffed suspiciously at the strangers. Round this spot near the
+river tambookie grass about six feet in height formed a screen. The
+officers made coffee, turned out their horses to graze, and lay for
+a short rest in the peaceful security of a complete, or seemingly
+complete, desolation.
+
+But unknown to them, fifty Zulus, tiger-like, had crawled from
+ambush and were preparing to spring. It was from the cover of the
+river vegetation that they eventually burst forth. A hurried order
+to remount, and the crash of rifles at a distance of twenty yards
+followed. The tragic scene is well described by Mr. A. Wilmot in his
+"History of the Zulu War":--
+
+"At this time the party were standing in a line close to their
+horses, with their backs to the kraal and their faces turned
+eastward, the Prince being in front and nearest to the Zulus. Then
+with a tremendous cry, 'Usutu!' and 'Lo, the English cowards!' the
+savages rushed on. The horses immediately swerved, and some broke
+away. An undoubted panic seized the party; every one who could
+spring on his horse mounted and galloped for his life. There was no
+thought, no idea of standing fast and resisting this sudden attack.
+The Prince was unwounded, but unable to mount his charger, which was
+sixteen hands high and always difficult to mount. On this occasion
+the horse became so frightened by the firing and sudden stampeding
+as to rear and prance in such a manner as to make it impossible for
+the Prince to gain the saddle. Many of the others saw the
+difficulty, but none waited or tried to give the least assistance.
+One by one they rushed their horses past, Private le Tocq exclaiming
+as he went by, lying across his saddle, 'Depechez-vous, s'il vous
+plait, monsieur!' The Prince, making no reply, strained every nerve,
+but, alas! in vain, to gain the back of his horse, holding his
+stirrup-leather with his left hand and the saddle with his right.
+With the help of the holster he made one desperate effort, but the
+holster partially gave way, and it must have been then that the
+horse trod upon him and galloped off, leaving his master prostrate
+on the ground. The Prince then regained his feet and ran after his
+friends, who were far in advance. Twelve or thirteen Zulus were at
+this time only a few feet behind him. The Prince then turned round,
+and, sword in hand, faced his pursuers. From the first he had never
+called for help, and now died bravely with his face to the foes,
+fighting courageously to the last.
+
+"It is thought that the Zulus hurled their assegais at him, and that
+he quickly fell dead, pierced through the eye by a mortal wound."
+
+There is a certain sad satisfaction in remembering that this noble
+youth, the hope of France, the worthy descendant of a great name,
+should have died as a soldier and without more than a moment's
+suffering.
+
+The rest of the party had galloped off at full speed, thinking each
+was engaged in the business of getting away. Lieutenant Carey, who
+has been blamed for not having stood by the Prince in his perilous
+position, shouted orders and imagined they were followed, and in his
+hasty retreat had not time to do more than believe the whole party
+thus surprised were galloping away together.
+
+Arguments regarding this deplorable affair have been so many that it
+is best to quote the evidence taken at the court-martial and the
+statement of Lieutenant Carey:--
+
+"The Court is of opinion that Lieutenant Carey did not understand
+the position in which he stood towards the Prince, and, as a
+consequence, failed to estimate aright the responsibility which fell
+to his lot. Colonel Harrison states that the senior combatant
+officer, Lieutenant Carey, D.A.Q.M.G., was, as a matter of course,
+in charge of the party, whilst, on the other hand, Carey says, when
+alluding to the escort, 'I did not consider I had any authority over
+it after the precise and careful instructions of Lord Chelmsford as
+to the position the Prince held.' As to his being invariably
+accompanied by an escort in charge of an officer, the Court
+considers that the possibility of such a difference of opinion
+should not have existed between two officers of the same department.
+The Court is of opinion that Carey is much to blame for having
+proceeded on the duty in question with a portion only of the escort
+detailed by Colonel Harrison. The Court cannot admit the
+irresponsibility for this on the part of Carey, inasmuch as he took
+steps to obtain the escort and failed in so doing. Moreover, the
+fact that Harrison was present upon the Itelezi range gave him the
+opportunity of consulting him on the matter, of which he failed to
+avail himself. The Court, having examined the ground, is of opinion
+that the selection of the kraal, where a halt was made and the
+horses off-saddled, surrounded as it was by cover for the enemy, and
+adjacent to difficult ground, showed a lamentable want of military
+prudence. The Court deeply regrets that no effort was made after the
+attack to rally the escort, and to show a front to the enemy,
+whereby the possibility of aiding those who had failed to make good
+their retreat might have been ascertained.--Signed by General
+MARSHALL; Colonel MALTHUS, 94th Regiment; Major LE GRICE, R.A."
+
+On this report a court-martial was summoned by Lord Chelmsford for
+the trial of Lieutenant Carey for having misbehaved before the enemy
+on the 1st June 1879, when in command of an escort in attendance on
+the Prince, who was making reconnaissances in Zululand; in having,
+when the Prince and escort were attacked by the enemy, galloped
+away, and in not having attempted to rally them or otherwise defend
+the Prince. The Court, under the presidency of Colonel Glyn,
+consisted of Colonels Whitehead, Courtney, Harness, Major Bouverie,
+and Major Anstruther.
+
+Judge-Advocate Brander prosecuted, and Captain Crookenden, R.A., was
+for the defence.
+
+When the Court opened the plan of the ground was proved.
+
+Corporal Grubb said the Prince gave the order "Off saddle" at the
+kraal, and "Prepare to mount." The Prince mounted. After the volley
+he saw Carey putting spurs to his horse, and he did the same. He saw
+Abel fall, and Rogers trying to get a shot at the Zulus. Le Tocq
+passed him and said, "Put spurs to your horse, boy; the Prince is
+down!" He looked round and saw the Prince under his horse. A short
+time after the Prince's horse came up, and he (Grubb) caught it. No
+orders were given to rally.
+
+Le Tocq was called and said: The Prince told the natives to search
+the kraals, and finding no one there they off saddled. At the volley
+he mounted, but, dropping his carbine, stopped to pick it up. In
+remounting he could not get his leg over the saddle. He passed the
+Prince, and said in French, "Hasten to mount your horse." The Prince
+did not answer. He saw the Prince's horse treading on his leg. The
+Prince was in command of the party. He believed Carey and the Prince
+would have passed on different sides of a hut in fast flight, and it
+was possible that Carey might have failed to see that the Prince was
+in difficulties. It was 250 yards from where he saw the Prince down
+to the spot where he died.
+
+Trooper Cochrane was called and said: The Prince was not in the
+saddle at the time of mounting. He saw about fifty yards off the
+Prince running down the donga with fourteen Zulus in close pursuit.
+Nothing was done to help him. He heard no orders given, and did not
+tell Carey what he had seen until some time after. He was an old
+soldier. He did not think any rally could have been made.
+
+The Court then adjourned to the next day. On reassembling, the first
+witness called was
+
+Sergeant Willis, who stated that he had seen Trooper Rogers lying on
+the ground by the side of his horse, close to the kraal, as he left
+the spot. He thought he saw the Prince wounded at the same time that
+Trooper Abel threw up his arms. He thought the Prince might have
+been dragged to the place where he was found after death, and that a
+rally might have been made twenty yards beyond the donga.
+
+Colonel Harrison being called, stated that Carey was senior
+combatant officer, and must therefore have been in command of the
+party. Carey volunteered to go on the reconnaissance to verify
+certain points of his sketch. The Prince was ordered to go to
+report more fully on the ground. He had given the Prince into
+Carey's charge.
+
+Examined by the Court, Colonel Harrison stated that when the Prince
+was attached to his department he was not told to treat him as a
+royal personage in the matter of escort, but as any other officer,
+taking due precaution against any possible danger.
+
+Dr. Scott (the Prince's medical attendant) was then called, and
+stated that the Prince was killed by eighteen assegai wounds, any
+five of which would have been fatal. There were no bullet wounds.
+The Prince died where the body was found.
+
+This closed the case for the prosecution.
+
+The defence called again Colonel Harrison, who testified to Carey's
+abilities as a staff officer, and said he had every confidence in
+him.
+
+Colonel Bellairs was also called, and stated that it was in
+consequence of the occurrence of the 1st June that Carey had been
+deposed from his staff appointment the day previous to his trial.
+
+Lieutenant Carey here submitted that his case had been pre-judged,
+and that he had been punished before his trial.
+
+The following is Lieutenant Carey's statement:--
+
+"On the 31st May I was informed by Colonel Harrison, A.Q.M.G., that
+the Prince Imperial was to start on the 1st June to ride over the
+road selected by me for the advance of the column, for the purpose
+of selecting a camping-ground for the 2nd June. I suggested at once
+that I should be allowed to go with him, as I knew the road and
+wanted to go over it again for the purpose of verifying certain
+points. To this Colonel Harrison consented, reminding me that the
+Prince was going at his own request to do this work, and that I was
+not to interfere with him in any way. For our escort, six Europeans
+of Bettington's Horse and six Basutos were ordered. Bettington's men
+were paraded at 9 A.M., but owing to some misunderstanding the
+Basutos did not turn up, and, the Prince being desirous of
+proceeding at once, we went without them. On arriving at the ridge
+between Itelezi and Incenci, I suggested waiting for them, but the
+Prince replied, 'Oh no; we are quite strong enough,' or words to
+that effect. We proceeded on our reconnaissance from there, halting
+about half-an-hour on a high hill overlooking the Ityotyozi for the
+Prince to sketch. From here the country was visible for miles, and
+no sign of the enemy could be discovered. We then descended into the
+valley, and, entering a kraal, off saddled, knee-haltering our
+horses. We had seen the deserted appearance of the country, and,
+though the kraal was to the right, surrounded by mealies, we thought
+there was no danger in encamping. If any blame is attributable to
+any one for this, it is to me, as I agreed with the Prince that we
+were perfectly safe. I had been over this ground twice before and
+seen no one, and the brigade-major of the cavalry brigade had ridden
+over it with only two or three men, and laughed at me for taking so
+large an escort. We had with us a friendly Zulu, who, in answer to
+my inquiries, said no Zulus were about. I trusted him, but still
+kept a sharp look-out, telescope in hand. In about an hour--that is,
+3.40 P.M.--the Prince ordered us to saddle up. We went into the
+mealies to catch our horses, but took at least ten minutes saddling.
+While doing so, the Zulu guide informed us he had seen a Zulu in the
+distance, but as he did not appear concerned, I saw no danger. The
+Prince was saddled up first, and, seeing him ready, I mounted, the
+men not being quite ready. The Prince then asked if they were all
+ready; they answered in the affirmative, and he gave the word,
+'Prepare to mount.' At this moment I turned round, and saw the
+Prince with his foot in the stirrup, looking at the men. Presently I
+heard him say, 'Mount,' and turning to the men saw them vault into
+their saddles. At this moment my eyes fell on about twenty black
+faces in the mealies, twenty to thirty yards off, and I saw puffs of
+smoke and heard a rattling volley, followed by a rush, with shouts
+of 'Usutu!' There was at once a stampede. Two men rushed past me,
+and as every one appeared to be mounted, I dug the spurs into my
+horse, which had already started of his own accord. I felt sure no
+one was wounded by the volley, as I heard no cry, and I shouted out,
+'Keep to the left, and cross the donga, and rally behind it!' At the
+same time I saw more Zulus in the mealies on our left flank, cutting
+off our retreat. I crossed the donga behind two or three men, but
+could only get beyond one man, the others having ridden off. Riding
+a few hundred yards on to the rise, I stopped and looked round. I
+could see the Zulus after us, and saw that the men were escaping to
+the right, and that no one appeared on the other side of the donga.
+The man beside me then drew my attention to the Prince's horse,
+which was galloping away on the other side of the donga, saying, 'I
+fear the Prince is killed, sir!' I immediately said, 'Do you think
+it is any use going back?' The trooper pointed to the mealies on our
+left, which appeared full of Kaffirs, and said, 'He is dead long
+ago, sir; they assegai wounded men at once.' I considered he had
+fallen near the kraal, as his horse was going from that direction,
+and it was useless to sacrifice more lives. I had but one man near
+me, the others being some 200 yards down the valley. I accordingly
+shouted to them to close to the left, and rode on to gain a drift
+over the Tombokala River, saying to the man at my side, 'We will
+keep back towards General Wood's camp, not returning the same way
+we came, and then come back with some dragoons to get the bodies.'
+We reached camp about 6.30 P.M. When we were attacked our carbines
+were unloaded, and, to the best of my belief, no shots were fired. I
+did not see the Prince after I saw him mounting, but he was mounted
+on a swift horse, and I thought he was close to me. Besides the
+Prince, we lost two troopers, as well as the friendly Zulu. Two
+troopers have been found between the donga and the kraal, covered
+with assegai wounds. They must have fallen in the retreat and been
+assegaied at once, as I saw no fighting when I looked round."
+
+The court-martial condemned Lieutenant Carey, and he was sent home
+under arrest. But eventually, owing to the intervention of the
+bereaved Empress, and many sympathetic friends, the unfortunate
+officer was released. The news of the calamity was received with
+profound grief throughout the country. Some mourned the death of a
+Prince, some sighed over the extinction of Napoleonic hopes,
+officers regretted the loss of a promising comrade, and mothers
+spent tears of sympathy for the great lady, Empress and mother, who
+had thus been bereft of her only child.
+
+
+THE VICTORY
+
+To return to the progress of the war. On the 26th of June the
+long-expected junction of the columns was on the eve of being
+effected. Cetchwayo was pretending to make overtures for peace,
+though at the same time his people were endeavouring to enter into
+alliance with rebellious Boers. He even sent the sword of the Prince
+Imperial as a peace-offering. On the envelope, however, his
+amanuensis, one Cornelius Vjin (a Dutchman), pencilled the fact that
+the king had 20,000 men with him. The reply of Lord Chelmsford was
+as follows:----
+
+"If the Induna, Mundula, brings with him the 1000 rifles taken at
+Isandlwana, I will not insist on 1000 men coming in to lay down
+their arms, if the Zulus are afraid to come. He must bring the two
+guns and the remainder of the cattle. I will then be willing to
+negotiate. As he has caused me to advance by the great delay he has
+made, I must now go to the Umvolosi to enable my men to drink. I
+will consent, pending negotiations, to halt on the further bank of
+the river, and will not burn any kraals until the 3rd of July,
+provided no opposition is made to my advance to the position on the
+Umvolosi, by which day, the 3rd of July, at noon, the conditions
+must be complied with. If my force is fired on, I shall consider
+negotiations are at an end, and to avoid any chance of this, it is
+best that Mundula come to my camp at daybreak or to-night, and that
+the Zulus should withdraw from the neighbourhood of the river to
+Ulundi. I cannot stop the general in command of the coast army until
+these conditions are complied with."
+
+Of course nothing was seen of Mundula, and preparations were made
+for the reception of the enemy. Newdigate and Wood laagered their
+waggons and prepared for the arrival of an impi of some 20,000 Zulus
+advancing from Ulundi. On the following day a large force under
+Colonel Buller advanced to Nodwengu kraal, and some stragglers were
+killed. One of these was struck by Lord William Beresford, who, in
+the sporting manner characteristic of him, cried, "First spear, by
+Jove!"
+
+On the morning of the memorable 4th of July the army, crossing
+Umvolosi River, marched to a higher plateau--where once the Zulus
+had vanquished the Boers--there to prepare for battle. The Zulus,
+some 20,000 strong, after many war dances and cries, were marshalled
+forth by their king to an open plain between the Nodwengu and Ulundi
+kraals. Our troops were formed up in a hollow parallelogram, in the
+centre being the native contingent with ammunition waggons. The four
+sides of this parallelogram were formed of eight companies of the
+13th Regiment, five of the 80th Regiment, the 90th, 58th, and 34th
+Regiments, together with the 17th Lancers and the mounted
+irregulars. At the corners and centre artillery was placed.
+
+The Zulus advanced steadily, in horn fashion, with their
+characteristic coolness and courage. The deadly fusillade from our
+guns had no perceptible effect. On and on they came, surging in a
+dense brown crescent, till within twenty yards of the British lines,
+when, with the hail and storm of bullets crashing and blinding them,
+they hesitated! That moment's hesitation was fatal--their one chance
+slipped! A few warriors rushed onwards, many wavered, and gradually
+the powerful horns were broken and disorganised. Then our Lancers
+with a gallant charge dashed into the fray, plunging into the black
+swarm that still met fury with fury. Captain Edgell was killed, and
+many other officers had miraculous escapes. Once the enemy strove to
+rally, but the effort was hopeless, and the magnificent Zulu
+warriors were forced at last to turn and flee. Their defeat was
+signal. Though the enemy numbered 20,000 to 5000 of our troops, the
+Lancers with the Irregular Horse did splendid work, and ere all was
+over 1000 Zulus bit the dust.
+
+Then came the final march to Ulundi. This place, wholly deserted,
+was fired, and while the sky glowed with red and gold reflections of
+the conflagration, the victorious forces, worn out yet triumphant,
+returned to the laagered camp they had left at daybreak.
+
+[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF ULUNDI--FINAL RUSH OF THE ZULUS. THE
+BRITISH SQUARE IN THE DISTANCE.
+
+Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.]
+
+The first news of the victory was carried to the Colony by Mr.
+Archibald Forbes, the war correspondent of the _Daily News_, who was
+himself wounded in the struggle. Starting instantly after the
+decisive battle, in fourteen hours he rode a distance of 110 miles
+to the nearest telegraph station at Landman's Drift, on the Buffalo
+River. In thus exposing his life in the interests not only of his
+journal but his country, he for ever associated himself with one of
+the most interesting and thrilling campaigns of the century.
+
+Lord Chelmsford's despatch gives a concise description of the day's
+work:--
+
+"Cetchwayo, not having complied with my demands by noon yesterday,
+July 3, and having fired heavily on the troops at the water, I
+returned the 114 cattle he had sent in and ordered a reconnaissance
+to be made by the mounted force under Colonel Buller. This was
+effectually made, and caused the Zulu army to advance and show
+fight.
+
+"This morning a force under my command, consisting of the second
+division, under Major-General Newdigate, numbering 1870 Europeans,
+530 natives, and eight guns, and the flying columns under
+Brigadier-General Wood, numbering 2192 Europeans, 573 natives, four
+guns, and two Gatlings, crossed the Umvolosi River at 6.15, and
+marching in a hollow square, with the ammunition and entrenching
+tool carts and bearer company in its centre, reached an excellent
+position between Nodwengu and Ulundi, about half-past 8 A.M. This
+had been observed by Colonel Buller the day before.
+
+"Our fortified camp on the right bank of the Umvolosi River was left
+with a garrison of about 900 Europeans, 250 natives, and one Gatling
+gun, under Colonel Bellairs. Soon after half-past seven the Zulu
+army was seen leaving its bivouacs and advancing on every side."
+
+"The engagement was shortly afterwards commenced by the mounted men.
+By nine o'clock the attack was fully developed. At half-past nine
+the enemy wavered; the 17th Lancers, followed by the remainder of
+the mounted men, attacked them, and a general rout ensued.
+
+"The prisoners state that Cetchwayo was personally commanding and
+had made all the arrangements himself, and that he witnessed the
+fight from Gikarzi kraal, and that twelve regiments took part in it.
+If so, 20,000 men attacked us.
+
+"It is impossible to estimate with any correctness the loss of the
+enemy, owing to the extent of country over which they attacked and
+retreated, but it could not have been less, I consider, than 1000
+killed. By noon Ulundi was in flames, and during the day all
+military kraals of the Zulu army and in the valley of the Umvolosi
+were destroyed. At 2 P.M. the return march to the camp of the
+column commenced. The behaviour of the troops under my command was
+extremely satisfactory; their steadiness under a complete belt of
+fire was remarkable. The dash and enterprise of the mounted branches
+was all that could be wished, and the fire of the artillery very
+good. A portion of the Zulu force approached our fortified camp, and
+at one time threatened to attack it. The native contingent, forming
+a part of the garrison, were sent out after the action, and assisted
+in the pursuit.
+
+"As I have fully accomplished the object for which I advanced, I
+consider I shall now be best carrying out Sir Garnet Wolseley's
+instructions by moving at once to Entonganini, and thence to
+Kmamagaza. I shall send back a portion of this force with empty
+waggons for supplies, which are now ready at Fort Marshall."
+
+All were rejoiced that Lord Chelmsford should have been able to gain
+this victory before the arrival on the scene of Sir Garnet Wolseley,
+and there were many among his friends who regretted when he
+resigned.
+
+The following quotation from the _London Gazette_ explains the most
+conspicuous of the brave deeds that were done during this campaign,
+though there were many more which came near to rivalling them, so
+many, indeed, that it would have been impossible to have given
+honours to all who deserved them:--
+
+ "WAR OFFICE, _June 17_.
+
+"The Queen has been graciously pleased to signify her intention to
+confer the decoration of the Victoria Cross on the undermentioned
+officers and soldier of her Majesty's army, whose claims have been
+submitted for her Majesty's approval for their gallant conduct
+during the recent operations in South Africa, as recorded against
+their names, viz.:--
+
+"Captain and Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel Redvers H. Buller, C.B., 60th
+Rifles, for his gallant conduct at the retreat at Zlobane on the
+28th of March 1879, in having assisted, while hotly pursued, by
+Zulus, in rescuing Captain C. D'Arcy, of the Frontier Light Horse,
+who was retiring on foot, and carrying him on his horse until he
+overtook the rear-guard; also for having on the same date and under
+the same circumstances conveyed Lieutenant C. Everitt of the
+Frontier Light Horse, whose horse had been killed under him, to a
+place of safety. Later on Colonel Buller, in the same manner, saved
+a trooper of the Frontier Light Horse, whose horse was completely
+exhausted, and who otherwise would have been killed by the Zulus,
+who were within eighty yards of him.
+
+"Major William K. Leet, first battalion 13th Regiment, for his
+gallant conduct on the 28th of March 1879, in rescuing from the
+Zulus Lieutenant A. M. Smith of the Frontier Light Horse, during the
+retreat from Zlobane. Lieutenant Smith while on foot, his horse
+having been shot, was closely pursued by the Zulus, and would have
+been killed had not Major Leet taken him upon his horse and rode
+with him, under the fire of the enemy, to a place of safety.
+
+"Surgeon-Major James Henry Reynolds, Army Medical Department, for
+the conspicuous bravery during the attack at Rorke's Drift on the
+22nd and 23rd of January 1879, which he exhibited in his attention
+to the wounded under fire, and in his voluntarily conveying
+ammunition from the store to the defenders of the hospital, whereby
+he exposed himself to a cross fire from the enemy both in going and
+returning.
+
+"Lieutenant Edward S. Browne, first battalion 24th Regiment, for his
+gallant conduct on the 29th March 1879, when the Mounted Infantry
+were being driven in by the enemy at Zlobane, in galloping back and
+twice assisting on his horse, under heavy fire and within a few
+yards of the enemy, one of the mounted men, who must otherwise have
+fallen into the enemy's hands.
+
+"Private Wassell, 80th Regiment, for his gallant conduct in having,
+at the imminent risk of his own life, saved that of Private Westwood
+of the same regiment. On the 22nd of January 1879, when the camp at
+Isandlwana was taken by the enemy, Private Wassell retreated towards
+the Buffalo River, in which he saw a comrade struggling and
+apparently drowning. He rode to the bank, dismounted, leaving his
+horse on the Zulu side, rescued the man from the stream, and again
+mounted his horse, dragging Private Westwood across the river, under
+a heavy shower of bullets."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+SIR GARNET WOLSELEY AT PRETORIA
+
+
+Our disaster at Isandlwana caused enormous excitement in Pretoria.
+Great and unconcealed rejoicing among the Boers took place; work was
+suspended, all heads were put together to make capital out of Great
+Britain's misfortunes. Notices were sent out on the 18th of March,
+summoning the burghers to a mass meeting to be held some thirty
+miles from the town. These meetings, it must here be noted, were
+scarcely attended by invitation. A large number of the people
+appeared on compulsion, brought "to the scratch" by threats. One of
+the menaces, a favourite one according to Mr. Rider Haggard, was
+that those who did not attend should be made "biltong" of when the
+country was given back. Biltong is meat cut into strips and hung in
+the sun to dry. The result of the notices, backed by threats, was a
+meeting of some three thousand armed Boers, who evidently meant
+mischief.
+
+The threatening aspect of the Boers caused the corps known as the
+Pretoria Horse, a corps raised for the purpose of acting as cavalry
+on the Zulu border, to be retained for service in and around the
+capital. While matters stood thus, and the general discontent seemed
+to portend even further hostilities, Sir Bartle Frere went to
+Pretoria for the purpose of discussing affairs with the Boer
+leaders. These all clamoured for their independence. They had gone
+as far as to assert it by stopping posts, carts, and persons, and
+sending armed patrols about the country.
+
+Nothing definite resulted from this attitude, however, for before
+very long the conclusion--the successful conclusion--of the Zulu war
+appeared imminent, and those in revolt against British authority saw
+plainly that there would shortly be troops in plenty at hand to
+restore law and order. Consequently for the time being they
+subsided. The loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal entertained Sir
+Bartle Frere prior to his departure, and at the public dinner given
+on that occasion at Potchefstrom, he took the opportunity to assure
+them that the Transvaal would never be given back! It may be
+interesting to some to know, that at a public meeting on the 24th
+of April in Pretoria, within a week of the breaking up of the camp
+which had been threatening its safety, the following resolution was
+passed:--
+
+"This meeting reprobates most strongly the action of a certain
+section of the English and Colonial press for censuring, without
+sufficient knowledge of local affairs, the policy and conduct of Sir
+Bartle Frere, and it desires not only to express its sympathy with
+Sir Bartle Frere, and its confidence in his policy, but also to go
+so far as to congratulate most heartily her Majesty the Queen, the
+Home Government, and ourselves, on possessing such a true,
+considerate, and faithful servant as his Excellency the High
+Commissioner."
+
+Having made allusion to Sir Bartle Frere's departure, it may be as
+well to explain that before the battle of Ulundi it was arranged
+that Sir Garnet Wolseley should be sent out from home to supersede
+Lord Chelmsford in the command of the army, Sir H. Bulwer as
+Governor of Natal, and Sir Bartle Frere as High Commissioner of the
+Transvaal, Natal, and all the eastern portion of South Africa. Sir
+Garnet reached Cape Town on the 28th of June, and proceeded without
+delay to Natal. But, as we know, before he could reach the seat of
+war the battle of Ulundi was won.
+
+The fighting was now at an end; the Zulus expressed themselves
+beaten, and Cetchwayo, after an exciting chase, which space does not
+permit us to describe, was taken prisoner on the 28th of August. He
+was afterwards removed to Cape Town, and rooms were given him in the
+castle. Hostilities having happily terminated in Zululand, Sir
+Garnet Wolseley then started for Pretoria. He there finally set up
+the government of a Crown Colony with a nominative Executive Council
+and Legislative Assembly.
+
+One of his first acts on reaching Pretoria was to issue a notable
+proclamation. It ran thus:----
+
+"Whereas it appears, that notwithstanding repeated assurances of
+contrary effect given by her Majesty's representatives in this
+territory, uncertainty or misapprehension exists among some of her
+Majesty's subjects as to the intention of her Majesty's Government
+regarding the maintenance of British rule and sovereignty over the
+territory of the Transvaal: and whereas it is expedient that all
+grounds for such uncertainty or misapprehension should be removed
+once and for all beyond doubt or question: now therefore I do hereby
+proclaim and make known, in the name and on behalf of her Majesty
+the Queen, that it is the will and determination of her Majesty's
+Government that this Transvaal territory shall be, and shall
+continue to be for ever, an integral portion of her Majesty's
+dominions in South Africa."
+
+On the same subject Sir Bartle Frere, writing to England, said that
+he was very certain "that to give up the Transvaal is as little to
+be thought of as surrendering Ireland or India." In his opinion the
+Boer malcontents were few and inconsequential, most of the leaders
+and instigators being foreigners, who were personally interested in
+making themselves prominent, owing to the prevailing notion that the
+country would be given up. As to the effect of the abandonment of
+the Transvaal on the prospects of confederation he said: "To every
+colony concerned such a step would appear as a confession of
+weakness, of infirmity of purpose, and of disregard for solemn
+pledges and obligations, which would destroy all respect, all wish
+to belong to a Government which could so behave."
+
+In writing to Sir M. Hicks Beach, in December 1879, Sir Bartle gave
+his personal impression of the feeling in Pretoria at the time of
+the annexation:--
+
+ "When our power of enforcing the law and upholding the authority of
+ Government were at the lowest, in April last, ... experienced men
+ at Pretoria gave me, through Colonel Lanyon, the following estimate
+ of the strength of parties in the malcontent camp. The educated and
+ intelligent men of influence, who advocated the most extreme
+ measures, or were prepared to acquiesce in them, were reckoned at
+ not more than eight. Three, or perhaps four, were men of property
+ in the Transvaal; the rest foreign adventurers, with no property
+ and little weight beyond that due to their skill as political
+ agitators. Their unflinching and uncompromising followers in the
+ Boer camp were not reckoned at more than eighty. The disaffected
+ waverers who, according to circumstances, would follow the majority
+ either to acts of overt resistance to Government and lawless
+ violence, or to grumble and disperse, 'accepting the inevitable,'
+ were reckoned at about eight hundred at the outside. The rest of
+ the camp, variously estimated as containing from sixteen hundred to
+ four thousand in all, but probably never exceeding two thousand
+ five hundred present at one time, were men brought to the camp by
+ intimidation, compulsion, or curiosity, who would not willingly
+ resist the authority of Government, and would, if assured of
+ protection, prefer to side with it."
+
+Viewed in the light of later events, these opinions are extremely
+interesting and cannot be disregarded.
+
+[Illustration: OFFICER of the 16th LANCERS.
+
+Photo by Gregory and Co., London.]
+
+Before passing on, it is necessary to state that during the period
+from 1878 to 1879, the native chief Sekukuni--Cetchwayo's dog, as
+the blacks called him--had become obstreperous. He had been engaged
+in raids into the Transvaal--raids of the same character as those
+which, as has been already mentioned, had helped to bring about the
+collapse of the Republic. Colonel Rowland's expedition, which
+started in November 1878 for the suppression of this ruffian, was
+baffled by fever and horse sickness. Colonel Lanyon in the following
+June returned to the attack, and was on the eve of success, when Sir
+Garnet Wolseley (who arrived late in that month) sent orders to
+cease operations. These orders he found, on reaching the
+Transvaal, to be a mistake. Sekukuni was not a person to be trifled
+with nor ignored, so the campaign began again in November, with the
+result that within a period of eight days the chief's stronghold was
+taken and himself made prisoner. About fifty Europeans and some five
+hundred Swazi allies were killed or wounded.
+
+Here we see, within one year, how much was done for the protection
+of the Transvaal at the cost of British money and British blood.
+Looking back, it is easy to perceive that, but for our intervention,
+the South African Republic would have been slowly but effectually
+swallowed up. Cetchwayo and Sekukuni between them would have made a
+meal of the Transvaal.
+
+The brilliant and complete success of Sir Garnet Wolseley was highly
+praised, and the names of Colonel Lanyon, Captain Clark, R.A., and
+Captain Carrington especially mentioned as deserving a share of the
+credit for the accurate information they had collected during the
+previous months.
+
+So much having been done for the security of the Boers and for the
+maintenance of British prestige, it is no marvel that Sir Garnet
+Wolseley thought himself justified in expressing the trend of
+British policy in plain terms. At the dinner given at Pretoria on
+the 17th of December 1879 he took the opportunity of making the
+British programme well understood. He declared with emphasis that
+there could be no question of resigning the sovereignty of the
+country. "There is no Government," he said, "Whig or Tory, Liberal,
+Conservative, or Radical, who would dare under any circumstances to
+give back this country. They would not dare, because the English
+people would not allow them!" At that time it was evident that Sir
+Garnet had never heard the story of the philanthropic Belarmine, an
+individual who gave himself to the she-bear to save her and her
+young ones from starvation. Or, if the tale was known to him, he
+probably took it for what it was worth, and never foresaw that the
+British Government would emulate the action of the self-sacrificing
+lunatic, and spend precious blood for the sole purpose of nourishing
+and resuscitating the powers of a languishing enemy.
+
+
+MR. GLADSTONE OUT OF OFFICE AND IN OFFICE
+
+But British speeches and proclamations had ceased to impress the
+Boers. They had had too many of them, and they began to think the
+British Government a somewhat knock-kneed institution whose joints
+had ceased to hold together. Sir Garnet Wolseley, however, with
+characteristic energy and determination, dealt with the malcontents
+one by one, converting them, and causing them to sensibly consider
+on which side their bread was buttered. Indeed, so diplomatically
+did he conduct his work, that a sop was given to the aggressive
+Pretorius, who, instead of being put in prison as he deserved, was
+offered a seat on the Executive Council, with a salary attached.
+This he was inclined to jump at, but, at the time, public feeling
+ran too high to allow of his making a decision. The fact was that
+the political speeches delivered by Mr. Gladstone in the south of
+Scotland, during the months of November and December 1879, were
+putting a new complexion on affairs. They were reprinted all the
+world over, and they were profusely circulated among the Boers. The
+Boer leaders and obstructionists at once saw in this British
+statesman their saviour, and were convinced that, on the return of
+Mr. Gladstone to power, their independence would be assured. They
+therefore sent Messrs. Kruger and Joubert as a deputation to the
+Cape, and these two gentlemen persuaded the Cape Parliament to
+reject the Confederation Scheme then being proposed by Sir Bartle
+Frere. Selections from the attacks on the Government, from which the
+Boers then derived their encouragement and support, are here
+reprinted in order that the sincerity of Mr. Gladstone's attitude
+may be examined.
+
+Speaking in Edinburgh, he said of the Government:--
+
+"They have annexed in Africa the Transvaal territory, inhabited by a
+free European, Christian, Republican community, which they have
+thought proper to bring within the limits of a Monarchy, although
+out of 8000 persons in that Republic qualified to vote upon the
+subject, we are told--and I have never seen the statement officially
+contradicted--that 6500 protested against it. These are the
+circumstances under which we undertake to transform Republicans into
+subjects of a Monarchy."
+
+Now, Sir T. Shepstone's despatches show that the ground on which the
+Transvaal was annexed was because the State was drifting into
+anarchy, was bankrupt, and was about to be destroyed by native
+tribes. He said "that most thinking men in the country saw no other
+way out of the difficulty," and Carlyle has taught us what is the
+proportion between thinking men and the general public. He also
+said, in the fifteenth paragraph of his despatch to Lord Carnarvon
+of the 6th of March 1877, that petitions signed by 2500 people,
+representing every class of the community, out of a total adult male
+population of 8000, had been presented to the Government of the
+Republic, setting forth its difficulties and dangers, and praying it
+"to treat with me for their amelioration or removal." He likewise
+stated, and with perfect truth, that many more would have signed had
+it not been for the terrorism that was exercised, and that all the
+towns and villages in the country desired the change.
+
+Mr. Gladstone went on to say:--
+
+"We have made war on the Zulus. We have thereby become responsible
+for their territory; and not only this, but we are now, as it
+appears from the latest advices, about to make war upon a chief
+lying to the northward of the Zulus; and Sir Bartle Frere, who was
+the great authority for the proceedings of the Government in
+Afghanistan, has announced in South Africa that it will be necessary
+for us to extend our dominions until we reach the Portuguese
+frontier to the north. So much for Africa."
+
+At Dalkeith he remarked:--
+
+"If we cast our eyes to South Africa, what do we behold? That a
+nation whom we term savages have, in defence of their own land,
+offered their naked bodies to the terribly improved artillery and
+arms of modern European science, and have been mowed down by
+hundreds and by thousands, having committed no offence, but having,
+with rude and ignorant courage, done what were for them, and done
+faithfully and bravely what were for them the duties of patriotism.
+You may talk of glory, you may offer rewards,--and you are right to
+give rewards to the gallantry of your soldiers, who I think are
+entitled not only to our admiration for courage, but to our
+compassion for the nature of the duties they have been called to
+perform--but the grief and pain none the less remain."
+
+At Glasgow he continued in the same strain:--
+
+"In Africa you have before you the memory of bloodshed, of military
+disaster, the record of 10,000 Zulus--such is the computation of
+Bishop Colenso--slain for no other offence than their attempt to
+defend against your artillery, with their naked bodies, their
+hearths and homes, their wives and families. You have the invasion
+of a free people in the Transvaal, and you have, I fear, in one
+quarter or another--I will not enter into details, which might be
+injurious to the public interest--prospects of further disturbance
+and shedding of blood."
+
+These speeches, as may be imagined, did an incalculable amount of
+mischief. Besides fanning the smouldering sparks of discontent, they
+served up catchwords wholesale for that section of the British
+public whose political machinery is largely fed by catchwords. But,
+as has been decided by axiom, "any stick will serve to beat a dog
+with," and the Transvaal difficulty was a convenient weapon for the
+attack on the Government. The real feeling of the Boer community was
+an outside matter, and, as we shall presently see, had nothing to do
+with the case, though in March 1880 Mr. Gladstone had the
+satisfaction of receiving a letter from a committee of Boer
+malcontents, wherein "he was thanked for the great sympathy shown in
+their fate." The thanks were a little premature. In April 1880 the
+elections took place, and Mr. Gladstone came into power with a
+large majority. Then he was asked the great question: Would he
+maintain his oft-repeated pledge to retain the Transvaal, or would
+he continue to take up the tone of his Midlothian denunciations?
+
+The riddle was shortly to be solved. In the debate on the Queen's
+Speech the Prime Minister thus expressed himself: "I do not know
+whether there is an absolute union of opinion on this side of the
+House as to the policy in which the assumption of the Transvaal
+originated. Undoubtedly, as far as I am myself concerned, I did not
+approve of that assumption. I took no part in questioning it nor in
+the attempt to condemn it, because, in my opinion, whether the
+assumption was wise or unwise, it having been done, no good but only
+mischief was to be done by the intervention of this House. But
+whatever our original opinions were on that policy--and the opinions
+of the majority of those who sit on this side of the House were
+decidedly adverse to it--we had to confront a state of facts; and
+the main fact which met us was the existence of the large native
+population in the Transvaal, to whom, by the establishment of the
+Queen's supremacy, we hold ourselves to have given a pledge. That is
+the acceptance of facts, and that is the sense in which my right
+honourable friend, and all those who sit with him, may, if they
+think fit, say we accept the principles on which the late Government
+proceeded. It is quite possible to accept the consequences of a
+policy, and yet to retain the original difference of opinion with
+regard to the character of that policy as long as it was a matter of
+discussion."
+
+And shortly after he wrote to Messrs. Kruger and Joubert:--
+
+"It is undoubtedly matter for much regret that it should, since the
+annexation, have appeared that so large a number of the population
+of Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed to the annexation of
+that territory, but it is impossible to consider that question as if
+it were presented for the first time. We have to deal with a state
+of things which has existed for a considerable period, during which
+obligations have been contracted, especially, though not
+exclusively, towards the native population, which cannot be set
+aside.
+
+"Looking to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the
+rest of South Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal
+of disorders, which might lead to disastrous consequences, not only
+to the Transvaal, but to the whole of South Africa, our judgment is,
+that the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish her sovereignty over
+the Transvaal, but, consistently with the maintenance of that
+sovereignty, we desire that the white inhabitants of the Transvaal
+should, without prejudice to the rest of the population, enjoy the
+fullest liberty to manage their local affairs. We believe that this
+liberty may be most easily and promptly conceded to the Transvaal as
+a member of a South African Confederation."
+
+
+THE COMMENCEMENT OF REBELLION
+
+When the Liberal Ministry came into power, it will be observed, Mr.
+Gladstone's attitude changed, and that he was compelled to abandon
+the sympathetic tone of his Midlothian speeches. How far he really
+meant to be bound by the promise made that "the Queen cannot be
+advised to relinquish her sovereignty over the Transvaal" is not
+known, for later on, in June 1881, in a letter to the Transvaal
+loyalists, he explains that there was "no mention of the terms or
+date of this promise. If the reference be to my letter of the 8th of
+June 1880 to Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, I do not think the language
+of that letter justifies the description given. Nor am I sure in
+what manner, or to what degree, the fullest liberty to manage their
+local affairs, which I then said her Majesty's Government desired to
+confer on the white population of the Transvaal, differs from the
+settlement now about being made in its bearing on the interests of
+those whom your committee represents."
+
+This letter was a masterpiece of one whose talent for ambiguity was
+becoming world famous, and a stone in shape of a loaf was thus
+hurled at the heads of the expectant loyalists.
+
+But to return to the events of 1880. Finding that the Premier was no
+longer to be the mainstay of their hopes, the Boers began to renew their
+agitations. These agitations, it will be remembered, during the end of
+the Zulu war and Sir Garnet Wolseley's arrival in the Transvaal, were
+merely suppressed, because at that time British ascendency throughout
+the country seemed to be established. An excellent opportunity for
+rebellion now suggested itself. The Cape Government was engaged with the
+Basuto war. Sir Owen Lanyon, who succeeded Sir T. Shepstone in March
+1879, had supplied a body of 300 or more volunteers--mostly
+loyalists--to assist in the military operations, while the only regiment
+of cavalry had been sent elsewhere by Sir Garnet Wolseley. Big things
+have often small beginnings, and the Boer rebellion, that has brought so
+many complications in its train, commenced with a very small incident. A
+certain Bezeidenhout, having refused to pay his taxes, had, by order,
+some of his goods seized and put up to auction. This was the signal for
+the malcontents to attack the auctioneer and rescue the goods. So great
+became the uproar and confusion, the women aiding and abetting the men
+in their disobedience of the law, that military assistance was summoned.
+Major Thornhill, with a few companies of the 21st Regiment, was sent to
+support the Landrost in arresting the rioters, and special constables
+were enrolled to assist him in restoring order. But these united
+exertions were unavailing. All attempts to carry out the arrests were
+openly set at defiance. This scene occurred on the 11th of November
+1880. On the 26th Sir George Colley--who had relieved Sir Garnet
+Wolseley as Commander-in-Chief--was applied to for more troops. Sir
+George, who was daily expecting an outbreak of Pondos, and a possible
+appeal for help from Cape Colony, merely suggested that the "authorities
+should be assisted by the loyal inhabitants." This, it must be owned,
+was hard on the royalists, who from that time to this have had to pay
+dearly for their allegiance to the Crown. A mass meeting was held at
+Paade kraal, where Krugersdorp now stands, and the rioters unanimously
+decided to commit their cause to the Almighty, and to live or die in the
+struggle for independence. Thereupon Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and
+Joubert were elected a triumvirate to conduct the Government, and on the
+16th of December 1880 (Dingaan's Day) the Republic was formally
+proclaimed, and its flag again hoisted. The proclamation, dealing with
+the events of the preceding years, and offering terms to her Majesty's
+Government, was forwarded to Sir Owen Lanyon. The Boer leaders therein
+expressed their willingness to enter into confederation and to guide
+their native policy by general rules adopted in concurrence "with the
+Colonies and States of South Africa," and at the same time declared that
+they had no desire for war or the spilling of blood. "It lies," they
+said, "in your hands to force us to appeal to arms in self-defence."
+
+On the very day of the proclamation, however, blood was shed.
+Commandant Cronje, with a party of burghers, marched into
+Potchefstroom for the purpose of printing the proclamation. They
+promptly seized the printing-office, and Major Clarke, who thought
+it advisable to interfere, was refused admittance. Soon after a Boer
+patrol fired on our mounted infantry, who returned the compliment.
+That was the signal for the opening of hostilities. On this matter
+it may be urged that Boer reports differ from ours, but Boer
+veracity may be defined by the algebraic quantity _x_, and cannot be
+accepted. Lieutenant-Colonel Winsloe, of the 21st Regiment, who was
+commanding at a fort outside the village, signalled orders to Major
+Clarke to begin firing. This officer was fortified in the Landrost's
+office with a small force of some twenty soldiers and twenty
+civilians, while the Boers occupied positions in the surrounding
+houses. The siege lasted two days (during the 17th and the morning
+of the 18th), and then when one officer (Captain Falls) and five men
+had been killed and the thatched roof fired, Major Clarke deemed it
+best to surrender. Colonel Winsloe held the camp throughout the war,
+surrendering only after an armistice was declared.
+
+A still more terrible disaster was in store. Mr Rider Haggard, who is
+perhaps the best authority on the subject, describes it as a "most cruel
+and carefully planned massacre." Other writers, however, hold that the
+outrage could scarcely be called a massacre, since Colonel Anstruther
+had been fully warned of the risks he ran of Boer treachery and Boer
+artifice. It appears that Colonel Anstruther had received orders from
+Sir Owen Lanyon to concentrate his forces in Pretoria. Accordingly, he
+marched from Lydenburg--situated about 180 miles from Pretoria--with
+such troops as he had at his disposal. These were two companies of the
+94th Regiment. They were accompanied by three women, two children, and a
+ponderous train of luggage-waggons. Their progress was necessarily slow,
+but the Colonel, in spite of having been warned of Boer ways and Boer
+tactics, evinced no anxiety. Indeed, from all accounts it appears that
+he followed the good old British habit of under-estimating the enemy's
+physical, while over-estimating his moral, qualities. For this reason he
+probably disregarded the precautions necessary after the warnings he had
+received on starting. Be this as it may, on the 20th of December he and
+his long waggon-train were nearing a point called Bronker's Spruit,
+about thirty-eight miles from Pretoria, when suddenly there appeared a
+huge crowd of some five hundred mounted Boers. From this crowd a man was
+seen approaching with a white flag. The column, about half a mile in
+length, halted; the band ceased; Colonel Anstruther advanced to the
+parley. The messenger then handed a letter. It was an intimation of the
+establishment of the South African Republic, and declared that till Sir
+Owen Lanyon's reply to the proclamation was received, and they were
+aware whether war was or was not declared, they could not allow the
+progress of troops. The Colonel's reply was plain. He was ordered to
+proceed to Pretoria, and proceed he would.
+
+Then, before Colonel Anstruther had rejoined his column, a volley
+was poured in on them by the farmers, who, emerging from the cover
+of rocks and trees, had gradually closed round the troops. A
+vigorous but short resistance followed. The Boers, skilled by long
+practice in marking their most cherished enemies, picked off the
+officers one by one. Seven out of nine dropped to their guns, while
+a perpetual hailstorm of bullets beat over men, women, and waggons.
+In a few minutes so many were disabled that the Colonel, himself
+mortally wounded, had to surrender. Out of the party 56 were killed
+and 101 wounded. One of these was a woman.
+
+A great deal was said at the time by British sympathisers of the
+kindness of the Boers to the prisoners and wounded of their
+antagonists; but the opinions of Mr. Rider Haggard and Sir Owen
+Lanyon are worth considering. The former, in writing of this
+engagement, says that "after the fight Conductor Egerton, with a
+sergeant, was allowed to walk into Pretoria to obtain medical
+assistance, the Boers refusing to give him a horse, or even allow
+him to use his own.... I may mention that a Zulu driver, who was
+with the rear-guard, and escaped into Natal, stated that the Boers
+shot all the wounded men who formed that body. His statement was to
+a certain extent borne out by the evidence of one of the survivors,
+who stated that all the bodies found in that part of the field,
+nearly three-quarters of a mile away from the head of the column,
+had a bullet-hole through the head or breast, in addition to their
+other wounds." The Administrator of the Transvaal in Council thus
+comments on the occurrence in an official minute: "The surrounding
+and gradual hemming in under a flag of truce of a force, and the
+selection of spots from which to direct their fire, as in the case
+of the unprovoked attack of the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther's
+force, is a proceeding of which very few like incidents can be
+mentioned in the annals of civilised warfare."
+
+Sir Owen Lanyon, writing from the scene of action in Pretoria,
+says--"The Boers were very clever in being kind to our wounded
+soldiers, for they well knew that such action would obtain sympathy
+at home. But where it was impossible for their deeds to become known
+their conduct was far from creditable to them. Poor Clarke and Raaf
+were kept for two months in a dark room, and were only allowed out
+twice for exercise. Barlow was robbed of everything, and only left
+the clothes he stood in. A Hollander, who is secretary to Cronje at
+Potchefstrom, is still wearing the rings of poor Captain Falls, who
+was shot. Englishmen have been murdered, flogged, and robbed of
+everything. The Boers at Potchefstrom forced the prisoners of war to
+dig their trenches, and some were shot from the Fort while so
+employed. Woite and Van der Linden were shot as spies, because they
+had been in the Boer camp and left it some days before they
+proclaimed the Republic. Carolus, a Cape boy, was shot by Boer
+court-martial because he left the Fort when food became scarce. A
+white man and nine natives were similarly shot without any trial.
+Explosive bullets were used, notwithstanding that Colonel Winsloe
+pointed out to the Boer leader in a letter that such was against the
+rules of war."
+
+There is ample evidence that acts of treachery and barbarity similar
+to and worse than those mentioned by Colonel Lanyon were perpetrated
+by the insurgents.
+
+
+THE FATE OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT
+
+The sole officer who escaped from the massacre at Bronker's Spruit
+was Captain Elliot, who was subsequently treacherously murdered
+while crossing the Vaal. The account of this tragedy was given by
+Major Lambart in a report to Sir George Colley, and should be read
+by all who wish to get a fair view of the events of that period,
+particularly by those who insist on our brother-relationship to the
+Boers:--
+
+"SIR,--I have the honour to report, for the information of his
+Excellency, that as I was returning from the Orange Free State on
+December 18 (where I had been on duty buying horses to mount
+Commandant Ferreira's men for the Basuto war, and also remounts for
+my troop of Mounted Infantry and the Royal Artillery), when about
+thirty miles from Pretoria, on the road from Heidelberg, I was
+suddenly taken prisoner by a party of twenty or thirty Boers, who
+galloped down on me (all around), and, capturing the horses, was
+taken back to Heidelberg. After being there some six or eight days,
+I was joined by Captain and Paymaster Elliot, 94th Regiment (the
+only officer not wounded in the attack on the detachment of the 94th
+Regiment), who arrived with some forty prisoners of war of the 94th
+Regiment. On the following day (the 24th of December) we received a
+written communication from the Secretary of the Republican
+Government, to the effect 'that the members of the said Government
+would call on us at 3.30 that day,' which they did. The purport of
+their interview being 'That at a meeting of Council they had decided
+to give us one of two alternatives. (1) To remain prisoners of war
+during hostilities in the Transvaal. (2) To be released on _parole,
+d'honneur_, that we would leave the Transvaal at once, cross into
+the Free State under escort, and not bear arms against the
+Republican Government during the war.' Time being given us for
+deliberation, Captain Elliot and myself decided to accept No. 2
+alternative, and communicated the same to the Secretary of the South
+African Republic, who informed us, in the presence of the
+Commandant-General, P. Joubert, that we could leave next day, taking
+with us all our private property. The following days being
+respectively Christmas Day and Sunday, we were informed we could not
+start till Monday, on which day, having signed our _parole
+d'honneur_, my horses were harnessed, and we were provided with a
+duplicate of our parole or free pass, signed by Commandant-General,
+and escort of two men to show us the road to the nearest drift over
+the Vaal River, distant twenty-five miles, and by which P. Joubert
+personally told us both we should cross, as there was a punt there.
+We started about 1 P.M. from the Boer camp, passing through the town
+of Heidelberg. After going about six or eight miles I noticed we
+were not going the right road, and mentioned the fact to the escort,
+who said it was all right. Having been 'look-out' officer in the
+Transvaal, I knew the district well. I was certain we were going
+wrong, but we had to obey orders. At nightfall we found ourselves
+nowhere near the river drift; and were ordered to outspan for the
+night, and next morning the escort told us they would look for the
+drift. In spanning at daybreak we again started, but after driving
+about for some hours across country, I told the escort we would stop
+where we were while they went to search for the drift. Shortly after
+they returned and said they had found it, and we must come, which we
+did, eventually arriving at the junction of two rivers (Vaal and
+Klip), where we found the river Vaal impassable, but which they said
+we must cross. I pointed out that it was impossible to get my
+carriage or horses over by it, and that it was not the punt the
+General said we were to cross. The escort replied it was to
+Pretorius' Punt that the General told them to take us, and we must
+cross; that we must leave the carriage behind and swim the horses,
+which we refused to do, as we should then have had no means of
+getting on. I asked them to show me their written instructions,
+which they did (written in Dutch), and I pointed out that the name
+of Pretorius was not in it. I then told them they must either take
+us back to the Boer camp again or on to the proper drift. We turned
+back, and after going a few miles the escort disappeared. Not
+knowing where we were, I proposed to Captain Elliot we should go to
+the banks of the Vaal and follow the river till we came to the
+proper punt. After travelling all Monday, Tuesday, and up till
+Wednesday about 1 P.M., when we found ourselves four hours, or
+twenty-five miles, from Spencer's Punt, we were suddenly stopped by
+two armed Boers who handed us an official letter, which was opened
+and found to be from the Secretary to the Republican Government,
+stating that the members were surprised that as officers and
+gentlemen we had broken our _parole d'honneur_ and refused to leave
+the Transvaal; that if we did not do so immediately by the nearest
+drift, which the bearers would show us, we must return as prisoners
+of war; that as through our ignorance of the language of the country
+there might be some misunderstanding, they were loth to think we had
+willingly broken our promise. We explained that we should reply to
+the letter, and request them to take it to their Government, and
+were prepared to go with them at once. They took us back to a
+farmhouse, where we were told to wait till they fetched their
+Commandant, who arrived about 6 P.M., and repeated to us the same
+that was complained of in our letter of that day. We told him we
+were ready to explain matters, and requested him to take our answer
+back to camp. He then ordered us to start at once for the drift. I
+asked him, as it was then getting dark, if we could start early next
+morning, but he refused. So we started, he having said we should
+cross at Spencer's, being closest. As we left the farmhouse, I
+pointed out to him that we were going in the wrong direction, but he
+said, 'Never mind, come on across a drift close at hand.' When we
+got opposite it, he kept straight on; I called to him, and said this
+was where we were to cross. His reply was, 'Come on.' I then said to
+Captain Elliot, 'They intend taking us back to Pretorius,' a
+distance of some forty miles. Suddenly the escort (which had all at
+once increased from two to eight men, which Captain Elliot pointed
+out to me, and I replied, 'I suppose they are determined we shall
+not escape, which they need not be afraid of, as we are too keen to
+get over the border') wheeled sharp down to the river, stopped, and
+pointing to the banks, said, 'There is the drift; cross.' Being
+pitch dark, with vivid lightning, the river roaring past, and as I
+knew impassable, I asked, 'Had we not better wait till morning, as
+we do not know the drift?' They replied, 'No; cross at once.' I
+drove my horses into the river, when they immediately fell; lifted
+them, and drove on about five or six yards, when we fell into a
+hole. Got them out with difficulty, and advanced another yard, when
+we got stuck against a rock. The current was now so strong, and
+drift deep, my cart was turned over on to its side, and water rushed
+over the seat. I called out to the Commandant on the bank that we
+were stuck, and to send assistance, or might we return? to which he
+replied, 'If you do we will shoot you.' I then tried, but failed to
+get the horses to move. Turning to Captain Elliot, who was sitting
+beside me, I said, 'We must swim for it,' and asked could he swim?
+to which he replied, 'Yes.' I said, 'If you can't, I will stick to
+you, for I can.' While we were holding this conversation, a volley
+from the bank, ten or fifteen yards off, was fired into us, the
+bullets passing through the tent of my cart, one of which must have
+mortally wounded poor Elliot, who only uttered the single word 'Oh!'
+and fell headlong into the river from the carriage. I immediately
+sprang in after him, but was swept down the river under the current
+some yards. On gaining the surface of the water, I could see nothing
+of Elliot; I called out his name twice, but received no reply.
+Immediately another volley was fired at me, making the water hiss
+around where the bullets struck. I now struck out for the opposite
+bank, which I reached with difficulty in about ten minutes; but as
+it was deep, black mud, on landing I stuck fast, but eventually
+reached the top of the bank, and ran for about two thousand yards
+under a heavy fire the whole while. The night being pitch dark, but
+lit up every minute by vivid flashes of lightning, showed the enemy
+my whereabouts. I found myself now in the Free State, but where I
+could not tell, but knew my direction was south, while, though it
+was raining, hailing, and blowing hard, and bitterly cold, an
+occasional glimpse of the stars showed me I was going right. I
+walked all that night and next day till one o'clock, when I
+eventually crawled into a store kept by an Englishman called Mr.
+Groom, who did all in his power to help me. I had tasted no food
+since the previous morning at sunrise, and all the Dutch farmers
+refused me water, so without hat or coat (which I had left on banks
+of Vaal), and shoes worn through, I arrived exhausted at the above
+gentleman's place, who kindly drove me to Heilbron, where I took the
+post-cart to Maritzburg. I fear that Captain Elliot must have been
+killed instantly, as he never spoke, neither did I see him again. I
+have to mention that both Captain Elliot and myself, on being told
+by South African Republican Government that the soldiers who had
+been taken prisoners were to be released on the same conditions as
+ourselves, expressed a wish to be allowed to keep charge of them,
+which was refused, but we were told that waggons, food, and money
+should be supplied to take them down country. But when they reached
+Spencer's Punt over the Vaal were turned loose, without any of the
+above necessaries, to find their way down country. They met an
+English transport rider named Mr. F. Wheeler, who was going to
+Pietermaritzburg with his waggon, which had been looted by the
+Boers, and who kindly gave them transport, provided them with food,
+and is bringing them to the city, which, as I passed them at the
+Drakensburg on Tuesday, they should reach on Sunday next--consisting
+of one sergeant and sixty-one men, all that remain of our Leydenburg
+detachment and headquarters of the 94th Regiment.--I have the honour
+to remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
+
+ "R. H. LAMBART,
+ _Captain Royal Scots Fusiliers_."
+
+
+Major Lambart's report speaks more eloquently than many descriptions
+as to the character of the "simple-minded Boer." We discovered to
+our cost during the Indian Mutiny that the "gentle native" was not
+all our fancy painted him, and it may be as well to realise that our
+simple-minded and pious brother in the Transvaal is scarcely so
+righteous as we have been led to suppose.
+
+[Illustration: THE ORANGE RIVER AT NORVAL'S PONT.
+
+Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]
+
+
+LAING'S NEK
+
+Since we have been tracing the causes of the Boer rebellion, it may
+be advisable to refer to a letter written on the 28th of December
+1880 by Sir Bartle Frere to Mr. F. Greenwood, editor of the _St.
+James's Gazette_. He therein throws a most important light on the
+political position. He wrote: "In 1879, when I was among the Boers
+in the Transvaal, I found that the real wire-pullers of their
+Committee were foreigners of various nationalities, notably some
+Hollanders (not Africanders), imbued with German Socialist
+Republicanism, and an Irishman of the name of Aylward. I was told he
+was a man of great natural ability, educated as a solicitor, an
+ex-Fenian pardoned under another name (Murphy, I think), for turning
+Queen's evidence against others who had murdered the policeman at
+Manchester. Emigrating to the Diamond Fields, he was tried,
+convicted, and suffered imprisonment there for homicide. When he
+came out of prison he betook himself to the Transvaal and had a
+command of foreign free lances under Mr. Burgers, then President of
+the Transvaal Republic, in his unsuccessful attempt to take
+Secocoeni's stronghold. After the annexation of the Transvaal he
+came to England and published one of the few readable books on the
+Transvaal, and went out to Natal during the darkest hours of our
+Zulu troubles, seeking employment; but he was an impossible man, and
+was urging the Boers to rise at the same time that he was offering
+his services to me and Lord Chelmsford. Finally he settled at
+Pietermaritzburg, where he was, when I last heard of him, as editor
+of the _Witness_, writing anti-English republicanism and sedition
+with much ability, especially when opposing the Cape Government and
+its governor, whom he never forgave for warning the Boers against
+following Fenian advice. When I was in the Transvaal and afterwards
+I found him always connected with any opposition to the English
+Government. He knew all the leaders of the simple-minded but very
+suspicious Boers, and had gained their ear, so that he had no
+difficulty in persuading them to reject any good advice I offered
+them--'Wait-a-bit' being always the most acceptable suggestion you
+can offer to a Boer.
+
+"Directly I heard of the attack on our troops in the Transvaal, I
+felt assured that my old acquaintance was pulling the wires with a
+view to create a diversion in favour of his old colleagues in
+Ireland.
+
+"The attack took place apparently near the farm of Solomon Prinsloo,
+one of the most bitter malcontent Boers, who was always a firebrand,
+and who, when I visited the Boer camp in 1879, was with difficulty
+held back by Pretorius and Kruger from directing an attack upon us
+in Pretoria. I very much doubt whether, without some such external
+instigation, the Boers would have broken out....
+
+"The facts I have mentioned and many more about Aylward are on
+record in Scotland Yard, and in the Colonial Office, and I am
+anxious you should know the truth and not attribute too much of the
+blame in this sad business to the unfortunate, misguided Boers, the
+victims of his bad advice, still less to any fault of Colonel
+Lanyon's administration."
+
+Sir Bartle was right in his conjecture, for Aylward had joined the
+insurgents and was one of the acknowledged leaders of Joubert's
+staff.
+
+Major-General Hope Crealock, in a letter to Sir Bartle, wrote
+(January 7, 1881): "A young Irishman named S----, who knew Aylward
+in Natal, and who was under my command in the Natal Pioneers, called
+on me to-night and told me Aylward formerly used to boast of being a
+Fenian, and vowed he would pay the English Government off for what
+he had got, by raising the Boers whenever Ireland was rising; and
+within the last few days has written to him saying he gloried in
+being one of the instigators of the present Boer revolt, &c., &c. He
+wrote from Utrecht...."
+
+It will be seen from these quotations that our relations with the
+Transvaal, hostile as they may have been, were scarcely true
+relations--that the real enmity and rancour, the blood-spilling and
+wretchedness that commenced at this period, and are at the moment of
+writing still continuing, were due, firstly, to party spirit in
+Great Britain, and secondly, to the machinations of adventurers,
+who, having no status elsewhere, put the ignorance of a race of
+farmers to their own vile uses.
+
+To return to the events of the last chapter. When Sir Owen Lanyon
+heard of the misfortune that had befallen Colonel Anstruther's
+troops, he issued a proclamation placing the country under martial
+law, and Sir George Colley, dreading the results of bad blood raised
+between Boers and British soldiers by the affair at Bronker's
+Spruit, caused the following general order to be published:--
+
+ "HEADQUARTERS, PIETERMARITZBURG,
+ _December 28th, 1880_.
+
+"The Major-General Commanding regrets to inform the troops of his
+command, that a detachment of 250 men of the 94th Regiment, on its
+march from Leydenburg to Pretoria, was surprised and overwhelmed by
+the Boers--120 being killed and wounded, and the rest taken
+prisoners. The attack seems to have been made while the troops were
+crossing a spruit, and extended to guard a long convoy. The
+Major-General trusts to the courage, spirit, and discipline of the
+troops of his command, to enable him promptly to retrieve this
+misfortune, and to vindicate the authority of her Majesty and the
+honour of the British arms. It is scarcely necessary to remind
+soldiers of the incalculable advantage which discipline,
+organisation, and trained skill give them over numerous but
+undisciplined forces. These advantages have been repeatedly proved,
+and have never failed to command success in the end against greater
+odds, and greater difficulties, than we are now called on to contend
+with. To all true soldiers the loss we have suffered will serve as
+an incentive and stimulus to greater exertions; and the
+Major-General knows well he can rely on the troops he has to
+command, to show that endurance and courage which are the proud
+inheritance of the British army. The stain cast on our arms must be
+quickly effaced, and rebellion must be put down; but the
+Major-General trusts that officers and men will not allow the
+soldierly spirit which prompts to gallant action to degenerate into
+a feeling of revenge. The task now forced on us by the unprovoked
+action of the Boers is a painful one under any circumstances, and
+the General calls on all ranks to assist him in his endeavours to
+mitigate the suffering it must entail. We must be careful to avoid
+punishing the innocent for the guilty, and must remember, that
+though misled and deluded, the Boers are in the main a brave and
+high-spirited people, and actuated by feelings that are entitled to
+our respect. In the operations now about to be undertaken, the
+General confidently trusts that the good behaviour of the men will
+give him as much cause for pride and satisfaction as their conduct
+and gallantry before the enemy, and that the result of their efforts
+will be a speedy and successful termination to the war."
+The proclamation had a good effect, particularly among the Dutch,
+who, though loyal to the Crown, were much in sympathy with their
+kinsmen in the Transvaal. On the 23rd of January 1881, General
+Colley sent an ultimatum ordering the insurgents to disperse. Of
+this no notice was taken until General Joubert, from Laing's Nek on
+January the 29th, sent the following reply:----
+
+ "_To_ SIR GEORGE P. COLLEY.
+
+ "We beg to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 23rd. In reply, we
+ beg to state that, in terms of the letter, we are unable to comply
+ with your request, as long as your Excellency addresses us as
+ insurgents, and insinuates that we, the leaders, are wickedly
+ misleading a lot of ignorant men. It is nearly hopeless for us to
+ attempt to find the proper words for reply; but before the Lord we
+ would not be justified if we did not avail ourselves of this,
+ perhaps the last, opportunity of speaking to you as the
+ representative of her Majesty the Queen and people of England, for
+ whom we feel deep respect. We must emphatically repeat, we are
+ willing to comply with any wishes of the Imperial Government
+ tending to the consolidation and confederation of South Africa;
+ and, in order to make this offer from our side as clear and
+ unequivocal as possible,--although we have explained this point
+ fully in all our documents, and especially in paragraphs 36 to 38
+ of our first proclamation,--we declare that we would be satisfied
+ with a rescinding of the annexation and restoration of the South
+ African Republic under a protectorate of her Majesty the Queen, so
+ that once a year the British Flag shall be hoisted, all in strict
+ accordance with the above-mentioned clauses of our first
+ proclamation. If your Excellency resolves to reject this, we have
+ only to submit to our fate; but the Lord will provide."
+
+Sir George Colley started on the 24th of January from Newcastle for
+the border. The road from Newcastle to Laing's Nek runs up a
+precipitous hill for three miles, and thence leads down the steep
+mountain of Skheyns Hoogte. The movement of the column was slow and
+laborious, the roads, if roads they could be called, were almost
+impassable owing to great ruts, mud-holes deep enough to bury a
+waggon up to the bed-planks, with boulders and other impediments
+thrown in.
+
+Here, as Laing's Nek is so prominent a feature in our history, it
+may be well to give Mr. Carter's concise description of the
+geographical nature of the position:--
+
+"Laing's Nek is the lowest point in an unbroken ridge which connects
+the Majuba Mountain with hills running right up to the banks of the
+Buffalo River. A slight cutting, not more than four or five feet
+deep, forms the waggon road over this ridge; from the waggon road on
+either side the ground runs up somewhat abruptly, and is stony and
+irregular. How gentle the rise is to the Nek from the level ground
+in front of it towards Newcastle (and along which the approach is by
+the main road), may be judged from the fact that a horse can canter
+easily up the slope, or for the matter of that, over the two miles
+of ground which lead to the foot of the slope. From the top of the
+ridge to the level ground at the base is not more than five hundred
+yards. The chain of hills, in the centre of which is the Nek, is
+semicircular, the horns of the crescent pointing towards Newcastle,
+and offering strong positions for any force intent on defending the
+only practicable approach to the Nek; but to occupy these flank
+positions a large body of men would be necessary, as the area from
+point to point is great. On the reverse, or Coldstream side of the
+Nek, the ground at the foot of the incline is broken and marshy, a
+regular drain for all the water running from the surrounding hills."
+
+[Illustration: DRUM-MAJOR and DRUMMERS, COLDSTREAM GUARDS.
+
+Photo by Gregory and Co., London.]
+
+To return to the troops. While this column was advancing, the Boers
+were also advancing in a parallel line to the Nek. The following
+day, 25th, the British column reached the high ground overlooking
+the Ingogo River, where they encamped (here the engagement of the
+8th of February took place). At dawn on the 26th the column again
+laboriously mounted the terrible steeps leading to Mount Prospect,
+and fixed their camp about four miles from the Nek. Owing to the
+abominable state of the weather the nearing of the Nek was not
+attempted, and attack was postponed till the following day. The
+night was passed at Mount Prospect, and a laager made.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+At six o'clock on the morning of the 28th the advance was sounded,
+and at 9.55 A.M. the guns began shelling the Nek. The Boers were not
+yet ready. Some took shelter behind the walls of Laing's Farmhouse,
+while others kept on the heights above, covered by the ridge from
+shells. Those in Laing's kraals had a warm time when the Naval
+Brigade began to play on them with their guns, and they soon
+evacuated the place.
+
+Those on the Nek, after being for twenty minutes under a hot fire,
+were beginning to think they had had enough of it, when our lines
+ceased firing, and the mounted squadron advanced to take a
+hillock--the most advanced spur of the Boer left flank position. The
+58th also prepared to charge. The officers commanding the mounted
+squadron were Major Brownlow and Captain Hornby, while Colonel
+Deane, Major Essex (an officer with a charmed life, who survived
+Isandlwana and the engagement at the Ingogo heights), Major Poole,
+Lieutenant Elwes, and Lieutenant Inman were in front of the 58th.
+The leading companies of the 58th having got half-way up the rise--a
+heavy business considering the slipperiness of the slopes--the first
+troop of the mounted squadron charged the kopje, going to right and
+left of the lines taken by the 58th. No sooner were they within
+sight of the Boers than they were greeted by a heavy fire that
+emptied half their saddles. Still, those who were left mounted,
+reformed in a pouring shower of bullets, and again charged.
+
+But gallantry was of no avail, for there was no reserve to back up
+the charge of mounted troops. Seventeen men were killed and wounded,
+and thirty-two horses killed.
+
+The repulse of this charge took place just as the 58th gained sight
+of the foe, who, flushed with triumph, could now turn their
+attention from the mounted troops to the right flank of the 58th.
+The men, worn out with their sufficiently arduous task of climbing,
+crushed together, in consequence of their not having been ordered to
+deploy before making the ascent, dropped like nine-pins under the
+heavy fire of the Boers. Before the order to deploy could be carried
+out, volley after volley was delivered into their ranks, and an
+enfilading fire was opened by the Boers on their right flank with
+disastrous results. Meanwhile the Boers were well under cover behind
+their sheltered trenches, and it was impossible, while the 58th were
+coming to closer quarters with them, to fire from the plains below
+without risk to the assailants. As a natural consequence, therefore,
+the Boers, skilled as they are in marksmanship, were able at their
+leisure to pick off each man as he approached.
+
+Seeing that the Boers were more than a match for him, Colonel Deane
+resorted to the bayonet. But, just as the order was being obeyed his
+horse was shot under him. Rising again on the instant, and crying "I
+am all right," to encourage his men, he rushed on, heading his
+regiment, and again fell, this time mortally wounded. Major
+Hingeston, who then took command, fell also, and his gallant brother
+officers, Major Poole and Lieutenant Dolphin, shared the same fate.
+They were at that time within some thirty yards of the enemy. So
+great was our loss that the charge could not be sustained, and many
+officers, who still persisted in emptying their revolvers on the
+enemy, were severely wounded. At last there was nothing for it but
+to fall back. The Boers, intoxicated with victory, now boldly came
+out from cover, and poured volley after volley on the retiring men.
+But for the guns at the base of the hill, which were now able to
+play on the enemy, these must have been entirely swept away. So
+small was the margin between our men and the victors, that but for
+the nicety of this artillery practice many of the men of the 58th
+must have been accidentally killed. During the retreat Lieutenant
+Baillie, carrying the regimental colours, was mortally wounded. Such
+magnificent deeds of heroism took place on this occasion that of
+themselves they would form an inspiriting volume. Lieutenant Hill of
+the 58th earned the Victoria Cross by his repeated deeds of valour
+in saving soldiers under heavy fire.
+
+The whole force fell back towards the camp, the casualties amongst
+the 58th being seventy-three killed and one hundred wounded. A flag
+of truce was sent forward to the enemy, and both parties engaged in
+the sad work of burying their dead and removing the wounded.
+
+Report says that on this occasion Kaffirs or Hottentots were seen to
+be fighting among the Boer ranks.
+
+Very pathetic and very manly was the speech addressed by Sir George
+Colley to the camp on the evening after the fight:--"Officers,
+non-commissioned officers, and men,--I have called you together this
+evening, being desirous of saying a few words to you. I wish every
+one present to understand that the entire blame of to-day's repulse
+rests entirely upon me, and not on any of you. I congratulate the
+58th Regiment for the brave and noble manner in which they fought
+to-day. We have lost many gallant men, and amongst them my intimate
+friend, Colonel Deane. (Emotion.) I might say, however, that
+notwithstanding the loss of many troops to-day, we have not lost one
+atom of the prestige of England. It is my duty to congratulate Major
+Brownlow on the gallant charge he made this day. Owing to the loss
+we have suffered, I am compelled to await the arrival of
+reinforcements, but certainly we shall take possession of that hill
+eventually, and I sincerely hope that all those men who have so
+nobly done their duty to-day will be with me then. Good-night."
+
+Of the mistakes that marked this attack it is unnecessary to write,
+for they have been freely discussed, and those who were responsible
+have laid down their lives in payment of whatever errors in judgment
+they may have committed.
+
+
+INGOGO
+
+Life in camp continued as usual until the 7th of February, when an
+escort proceeding with the post from Newcastle to the General's
+camp, having encountered the enemy, been fired at, and forced to
+return, Sir George Colley thought a demonstration in force would be
+sufficient to deter the Boers from further interference with the
+line of communication. Consequently the next morning, the 8th of
+February, he marched with five companies of the second battalion of
+the 60th Regiment, four guns and thirty-eight men of the Mounted
+Squadron. The force crossed the river Ingogo, then only knee-deep,
+and gained a plateau in shape like an inverted L, the base being the
+side nearest Newcastle. On arrival here an orderly suddenly reported
+that the enemy, concealed among boulders and large blocks of
+granite, was waiting in great force. Almost immediately afterwards
+about a hundred mounted Boers became visible on the right. The order
+was given to prepare for action, and, just as the guns were on the
+point of firing, the Boers wheeled round and went off. They galloped
+away to the bottom of the ravine, followed by a shell which,
+unfortunately, burst beyond them. The Rifles were also firing, but
+unsuccessfully, at the retreating riders. Soon it became apparent,
+however, that the British party was surrounded on all sides by the
+enemy, who were comfortably screened by the tall tambookie grass and
+the immense boulders that were to be found in clumps all round the
+position. Our men were also hiding behind rocks and boulders, and
+firing whenever a Boer head became visible. Soon after, the
+engagement opened in earnest. A hot fire was kept up by the
+9-pounder in charge of Lieutenant Parsons, R.A., to which the enemy
+replied, directly the gun was discharged, by a hail of bullets aimed
+at the gunners while they reloaded.
+
+In order to rout the Boers from their cover, an order was given to
+the mounted men to charge. At that moment the Boers fired a heavy
+volley, which incapacitated most of the horses and forced Major
+Brownlow to retire to the plateau. Fortunately only one of the men
+was wounded. The artillerymen now suffered considerably, having no
+shelter but the doubtful shelter of their guns, which afforded a
+convenient mark for the Boers. As soon as the General, who was going
+from point to point with his usual coolness, saw the state of
+affairs--ammunition and even gunners having run short--he sent to
+Mount Prospect camp for reinforcements. Still the fight continued.
+The Boers now steadily and surely crept to close quarters, while the
+British columns became momentarily thinner and thinner. Yet every
+man continued to hold his ground till hopelessly struck down.
+Hopelessly is a word used advisedly, for many who were struck down
+rose several times and continued to fire till mortally wounded.
+
+Of the splendid gallantry of the force it is impossible to say
+enough. The fighting continued for six terrible hours through rain
+that fell literally in torrents, in an arena where wounded and dying
+lay thick, their despairing cries mingling with the continued growl
+of thunder interspersed with the roar of artillery. Then a white
+flag was displayed by the Boers. But, when the Rev. Mr. Ritchie in
+return displayed the British white flag, he was instantly fired
+upon. The object of the use of the white flag on the part of the
+Boers was to enable them to take advantage of the temporary inaction
+to make rushes to cover nearer to the British lines than that they
+had previously occupied! The fighting began, and, for the small body
+of British troops, continued disastrously. At last, when darkness
+came on, both sides were forced to cease firing. Now and then, only
+when a flash of lightning lit up the terrible scene, the firing of
+bullets demonstrated that the Boers were still thoroughly on the
+alert.
+
+The darkness descended, and in the middle of the pouring rain and
+the murky obscurity the noble British dead were counted. The wounded
+were also tended as well as it was possible to tend them when water
+and restoratives were wanting, and the only relieving moisture had
+to be sucked from the storm-drenched grass. Finally, the General,
+viewing the deplorable state of the men, decided to withdraw the
+force from the field. It was plain that any renewal of attack on the
+morrow by the reinforced Boers could but mean annihilation or
+surrender. So the remnants of the force started on their return
+journey. This was now a terrible task, the Ingogo, which had been
+crossed at knee-depth, had swollen dangerously; the gentle stream
+had become a torrent. The bed of the river being full of holes, it
+was in some places some ten to twelve feet deep.
+
+Of the perils by field and flood it would be impossible to speak at
+length. Mr. Carter, who was present at the melancholy fight and a
+witness of all connected with the reverse, gives in his wonderful
+narrative of the Boer war an interesting description of the misery
+of that return march:--
+
+"Knowing that moments were precious in the then state of the river,
+I went ahead with the advance guard and crossed the stream; it was
+then nearly up to my armpits, and running very swiftly. By holding
+my rifle aloft, I managed to keep it dry, but every cartridge in my
+pockets was under water. Only with the greatest care, and thanks to
+a knowledge of the whereabouts of the treacherous hole in the
+drift, did I manage to keep on my legs. On gaining the opposite
+bank, I scooped up and drained off a helmetful of the precious
+fluid, and then urging on through the next ford--an insignificant
+one compared to the first--gained admission at Fermistone's hotel,
+after being duly cross-questioned through the keyhole of the door.
+Some hot tea and whisky was recommended by the host, and palatable
+it was. In a short time the other "Correspondent" arrived, _minus_
+his rifle. He had been carried down the stream like a cork, and only
+saved from drowning by being washed against some reeds at a bend of
+the river. He decided that he had had enough of the march for that
+night, and elected to go to bed. Next came in the General, and a
+gentleman who claimed to be a surgeon (a Transvaal surgeon) escaped
+from the Boer lines. He had been allowed free access to the camp at
+Mount Prospect, and had accompanied the Ingogo expedition, but not
+as a surgeon. From the General I learnt that there had been some men
+washed down the stream in spite of the precaution adopted of joining
+hands."
+
+The return to camp was still more trying. The roads were slippery as
+glass, and men and horses, thoroughly worn out, dropped exhausted by
+the way. But it is needless to dwell on this melancholy event--an
+event rendered so much more melancholy by regret for sublime effort
+wasted in the support of a Government that was at that very moment
+entertaining the proposals for craven surrender.
+
+
+MAJUBA
+
+On Sunday, the 27th of February, Sir George Colley made his last
+move. During the afternoon of the previous day the General, who was
+a great theorist, had been cogitating some scheme which he only
+communicated to Colonel Stewart, and to one or two others. No sooner
+had "lights out" been sounded, than an order was passed round for
+detachments of the 58th, third battalion of the 60th Rifles, Naval
+Brigade, and Highlanders, to parade with three days' rations. Then
+the order came that the force was to form up by the redoubt nearest
+the main road on their left. At ten a start was made, the General
+and staff riding in front, with the 58th leading, followed by the
+60th, and the Naval Brigade in the rear. The direction taken was
+straight up the Inguela Mountain. Arrived on a plateau about
+half-way up, the troops proceeded by a path, narrow almost as a
+sheep path, which winds across the steepest part of the mountain.
+Great boulders edged the hillside, and masses of rock hung
+perpendicularly above the surface of the ground. One false step and
+the climber would have been hurled down some thirty feet, to be
+dashed to pieces against the stones, or entangled in the bush. This
+march was conducted in strict silence, no voice being raised, and
+indeed not a breath more than was required for climbing expended.
+Men and officers, all were bent on the one great feat of mounting
+and gaining the summit. The march continued over loose stones, and
+boulders and obstacles multifarious--sometimes round wrong tracks,
+owing to mistakes of the guide, and sometimes over grass and glassy
+slopes, where a man could make progress merely by means of hands and
+knees. Thus the force stealthily ascended, creeping up in ones and
+twos, the General and staff leading the way in ever-increasing
+darkness and silence.
+
+So heavy was the work of ascent that, when at last they reached the
+top, the troops almost dropped from exhaustion. It was this
+exhaustion that is said by some to have influenced the General's
+plans, but others declare that he was not likely so to be
+influenced. Instead of attempting at once to throw up a rough
+entrenchment, he refused to permit it, declaring that the men were
+already over fatigued. A slight entrenchment might have made all the
+difference in the sad history of Majuba, but the General gave no
+orders to entrench, and thus the troops were left open to the enemy.
+
+At early dawn, on looking towards the Nek, it was obvious that a
+large Boer force was there congregated, while at the base of the
+mountain was the right flank of the Dutch camp. Gazing down from the
+great height which had been so perseveringly gained, all hearts
+warmed with a glow of triumph and of anticipation. The rocket tubes
+and Gatlings would soon arrive, and then those below would be
+awakened to the tune of the guns! From their point of vantage it
+seemed as though the British had the Boers at their mercy.
+
+The hilltop of Majuba was hollowed out basinwise, and there seemed
+only a necessity to line the rim of it in the event of a rush from
+the enemy. But the suspicion that the Boers would creep from ridge
+to ridge, and mount the crest, never dawned on any one. In the dense
+darkness it was impossible to become acquainted with the nature of
+all sides of the hill, and the troops imagined them all to be
+equally impregnable.
+
+Mr. Carter, who was there, says that at this time some twenty
+Highlanders stood on the ridge watching the lights of the enemy, and
+pointing to the camp below them, and laughingly repeating their
+challenge, "Come up here, you beggars." They never imagined it would
+be possible for them indeed to come! He further states his belief
+that the reason why no entrenchments were attempted was that every
+staff officer on Majuba felt certain "that the Boers would never
+face the hill--entrenchments or no entrenchments on the summit--as
+long as the British soldier was there." For this almost fatuous
+belief in their own security these gallant soldiers were destined to
+pay heavily.
+
+So soon as daylight served to show our troops standing against the
+sky-line, the enemy began to advance at the base of the mountain.
+The first shot on that eventful day was fired at a Boer scout by
+Lieutenant Lucy of the 58th, but the General, hearing it, sent word
+to "stop that firing." Silence again reigned. But in the meantime
+the Boers were crawling cautiously up the hill after leaving their
+horses safely under cover. About 6 A.M. they opened a steady fire,
+to which the British troops responded cordially. The Boer bullets,
+though doubling those of the British, did little damage, as the
+troops were partially sheltered within the basin of the hilltop.
+Thus the fight continued till nine, none of the officers at that
+time even suspecting that the enemy would venture to "rush" their
+stronghold. No one was wounded, and nothing was to be seen on any
+side of the hill, as the Boers kept closely under cover. At this
+juncture many men, worn out and fatigued, laid themselves down to
+sleep. Suddenly Lieutenant Lucy appeared asking for reinforcements,
+and saying that the fire was "warming up" in his direction. Some
+minutes later the General, who was perpetually moving round the
+line, cool, collected, and calculating as ever, flashed a message to
+Mount Prospect camp, ordering the 60th Rifles to be sent from
+Newcastle to his support.
+
+Later the General espied two Boers within 600 yards or so of him
+mounting the ravine, and pointed them out. He had scarcely done this
+when Commander Romilly fell. This gallant sailor was deservedly
+popular, and gloom suddenly spread over the hitherto cheerful force.
+Still, no one dreamed that the Boers would really get to close
+quarters. The first awakening came when the firing, which had been
+till then in single shots, poured upwards in volleys. From the sound
+it was evident that the enemy was much nearer than had been
+supposed. The Highlanders, who were facing this unexpected
+fusillade, were soon reinforced by the reserves which had been
+ordered to their assistance.
+
+[Illustration: TOP OF MAJUBA]
+
+The 58th, 92nd, and Naval Brigade disappeared over the ridge to meet
+the enemy, and vigorously returned their fire. For one moment that
+of the Boers appeared to slacken; then suddenly there came a
+precipitate retreat of our men, the officers shouting, "Rally on the
+right! rally on the right!" This order was obeyed, the troops
+describing a semicircle and coming back to the ridge to a point at
+left of that from which they had been so suddenly driven. But the
+momentary retreat had been demoralising. At this standpoint the men
+had become hopelessly mixed up--sailors, Highlanders, and 58th men
+all in a wild melee. Over this heterogeneous mass the officers had
+lost their personal influence. While order was being restored the
+Boer firing ceased. The pause was just sufficient to allow breathing
+time, for they almost instantaneously reopened with redoubled
+vigour. Their shooting was scarcely successful, but a hail of lead
+from the upturned muzzles of rifles continued to traverse the thirty
+yards which now separated the foes. The enemy numbered only about
+200, but they hoped by rapidity of fire to hold the British in check
+till their comrades should come to the rescue. Mr. Carter thus
+graphically describes what was really the last despairing effort of
+our men:--
+
+"The order was given in our lines, 'Fix bayonets,' and immediately
+the steel rang from the scabbard of every man, and flashed in the
+bright sunlight the next second on the muzzle of every rifle.
+'That's right!' cheerily called Major Fraser. 'Now, men of the 92nd,
+don't forget your bayonets!' he added, with marked emphasis on the
+word bayonets. It was the bayonet or nothing now, and the officer's
+words sent quite a pleasant thrill through all. Colonel Stewart
+immediately added, 'And the men of the 58th!' 'And the Naval
+Brigade!' sang out another officer, Captain MacGregor, I think.
+'Show them the cold steel, men! that will check them,' continued
+Fraser, whilst volley after volley came pouring in, and volley after
+volley went in the direction of the enemy. But why this delay? The
+time we were at this point I cannot judge, except by personally
+recalling incidents in succession. When the bayonets rang into the
+rifle-sockets simultaneously with the reopening of the Boers'
+volleys, I felt convinced that in two minutes that murderous fire
+would be silenced, and our men driving the foe helter-skelter down
+hill. After the bayonets had been drawn and fixed, and remained
+fixed, our men still firing for at least four or five minutes, and
+no order came to 'charge,' I changed my opinion suddenly."
+
+Here we may imagine the agony--hope, doubt, suspense--that passed
+like a lightning flash through the minds of all who were present.
+
+The uproar at this time grew appalling. Commands of the officers,
+the crash of shot, the shrieks of the wounded, all helped to
+aggravate the din. Boers were fast climbing the mountain sides, and
+the troops, worn out and almost expended, were beginning to lose the
+spirit of discipline that hitherto had sustained them. The officers
+stepped forward boldly, sword in one hand and revolver in the other,
+but to no purpose. Only an insignificant number of men now responded
+to the command.
+
+[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF MAJUBA HILL.
+
+Drawn by R. Caton Woodville, from Notes supplied by Officers
+present.
+
+The officer to the left, with the glass in his hand, is General
+Colley, who, to facilitate his ascent of the hill, took off his
+boots, and, during the engagement, wore only socks and slippers. He,
+with others, is urging the soldiers to maintain their position. The
+Highlander with the bandage on his face was wounded, but bravely
+continued to fight. The Highlander on the right, apparently asleep,
+was shot dead while taking aim. The officer in the immediate
+foreground towards the right, to whom the doctor is offering a
+flask, is Major L. C. Singleton, of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, who
+died of his wounds. The figure pressing forward on the extreme left
+of the picture is the Special Correspondent of the _Standard_
+newspaper.]
+
+Mr. Carter declares that when Lieutenant Hamilton of the 92nd asked
+Sir George Colley's permission to charge with the bayonet, he
+replied, "Wait a while." Such humanity was almost inhumanity, for
+waiting placed at stake many lives that might have been saved. The
+correspondent says:--
+
+"Evidently Sir George Colley allowed his feelings of humanity to
+stand in the way of the request of the young officer. We were forty
+yards at the farthest from the enemy's main attacking party. In
+traversing these forty yards our men would have been terribly
+mauled, no doubt, by the first volley, but the ground sloped gently
+to the edge of the terrace along which the enemy were lying, and the
+intervening space would be covered in twenty seconds--at all events,
+so rapidly by the survivors of the first volley, that the Boers,
+mostly armed with the Westley-Richards cap rifle, would not have had
+time to reload before our men were on them. I am not sure that the
+first rush of the infantry would not have demoralised the enemy,
+and that their volley would have been less destructive than some
+imagined. If only a score of our men had thrust home, the enemy must
+have been routed. At a close-quarter conflict, what use would their
+empty rifles have been against the bayonets of our men, who would
+have had the additional advantage of the higher ground? If the
+bayonet charge was impracticable at that moment, then, as an
+offensive weapon, the bayonet is a useless one, and the sooner it is
+discarded as unnecessary lumber to a soldier's equipment the better.
+It was our last chance now, though a desperate one, because these
+withering volleys were laying our men prostrate; slowly in
+comparison with the number of shots fired, but surely, despite our
+shelter. Some out of the hail of bullets found exposed victims. In a
+few seconds our left flank, now practically undefended, and
+perfectly open to the Boers scaling the side of the mountain in that
+direction, would be attacked with the same fury as our front.
+
+"Looking to the spot Cameron had indicated as the one where the
+General stood, I saw his Excellency standing within ten paces
+directing some men to extend to the right. It was the last time I
+saw him alive."
+
+It is unnecessary to dwell further on the tragic events of that
+unlucky battle. After midday our troops retreated, and the retreat
+soon became a rout. At this time Sir George Colley was shot. Dismay
+seized all hearts, followed by panic. The British soldiers rushed
+helter-skelter down the precipitous steeps they had so cheerfully
+climbed the night before, many of them losing their lives in their
+efforts to escape from the ceaseless fire of the now triumphant
+enemy.
+
+[Illustration: WHERE COLLEY FELL.
+
+ROUGH CAIRN OF STONES ON MAJUBA HILL.
+
+Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]
+
+Before leaving this sad subject, it may be interesting to note a
+Boer account of the day's doings which is related by Mr. Rider
+Haggard in his useful book on "The Last Boer War":--
+
+"A couple of months after the storming of Majuba, I, together with a
+friend, had a conversation with a Boer, a volunteer from the Free
+State in the late war, and one of the detachment that stormed
+Majuba, who gave us a circumstantial account of the attack with the
+greatest willingness. He said that when it was discovered that the
+English had possession of the mountain, he thought that the game was
+up, but after a while bolder counsels prevailed, and volunteers were
+called for to storm the hill. Only seventy men could be found to
+perform the duty, of whom he was one. They started up the mountain
+in fear and trembling, but soon found that every shot passed over
+their heads, and went on with greater boldness. Only three men, he
+declared, were hit on the Boer side; one was killed, one was hit in
+the arm, and he himself was the third, getting his face grazed by a
+bullet, of which he showed us the scar. He stated that the first to
+reach the top ridge was a boy of twelve, and that as soon as the
+troops saw them they fled, when, he said, he paid them out for
+having nearly killed him, knocking them over one after another 'like
+bucks' as they ran down the hill, adding that it was 'alter lecker'
+(very nice)."
+
+A complete and reliable narrative of affairs on that fateful day in
+the ridge below Majuba was given in the _Army and Navy Gazette_. It
+is here reproduced, as it shows the finale from the point of view of
+an eye-witness of one of the most lamentable fights known in British
+history. The correspondent says:--
+
+ "As our mysterious march on the night of the 26th February began,
+ two companies of the 60th Rifles, under the command of Captains C.
+ H. Smith and R. Henley, were detached from General Colley's small
+ column, and left on the Imquela Mountain. These companies received
+ _no orders_, beyond that they were to remain there. The rest of the
+ column then marched into the dark night on their unknown mission,
+ our destination being guessed at, but not announced. The road was
+ rough, and at some places little better than a beaten track, and
+ the men found it hard to pick their steps among the loose stones
+ and earth mounds. But all were cheerful and ready for their work.
+ The ridge at the foot of the heights was reached at about midnight,
+ and here the column made a brief halt, to allow of one company of
+ the 92nd (which had lost its touch) coming up. Here one company of
+ the 92nd Highlanders, under Captain P. F. Robertson, was detailed
+ to proceed with Major Fraser, R.E., to a spot about one hundred
+ yards distant, General Colley himself giving the order that they
+ were to remain there, 'to dig as good a trench as time would permit
+ of,' and further to select a good position to afford cover for the
+ horses and ammunition, &c., that were to be left in charge of the
+ detachment. They were also desired to throw out sentries in the
+ direction of the camp, also a patrol of four men, with a
+ non-commissioned officer, to watch the beaten track along which we
+ had just come, and to act as guides for a company of the 60th
+ Rifles expected from camp to reinforce the Highlanders on the
+ ridge. These orders having been given, the column again moved off,
+ leaving the Highlanders to make their arrangements.
+
+ "The men had a brief rest after their walk, and then, assisted by
+ their officers--Captain P. F. Robertson and Lieutenant G.
+ Staunton--began the work of making their entrenchments. At about 5
+ A.M. the expected company of the 60th Rifles arrived, under the
+ command of Captain E. Thurlow and Second Lieutenants C. B. Pigott
+ and H. G. L. Howard. Surgeon-Major Cornish also accompanied this
+ detachment, with some mules laden with hospital requirements.
+ Captain Thurlow, who had received _no orders_, and who had brought
+ out his men without either their greatcoats or their rations,
+ joined the Highlanders in their entrenchments. They had to work
+ hard, so as to complete their work rapidly, and consequently the
+ men had little or no rest that night. At about 6 A.M. we were
+ visited by Commissariat-General J. W. Elmes, who was returning to
+ the camp, and promised to send out the 60th their rations. Shortly
+ afterwards a conductor named Field arrived with a led mule, laden
+ with stores, &c., for the staff. He was hurrying on to try and
+ reach the summit of the hill before day. Doubts were expressed as
+ to the advisability of his going on alone; but he had his orders,
+ he said (about the only man who had that day!), and so he went on
+ his way. About an hour afterwards a shot was heard, and we
+ afterwards learnt that the conductor had been wounded, and he and
+ his mule taken prisoners! By this time the day had quite broken,
+ the heavy curtain of the night had rolled away, and disclosed
+ before us the rugged and precipitous ascent to the Majuba Mountain,
+ which stood directly in front of us, about 1400 yards distant. It
+ stood out in bold relief against a blue-grey sky, and on the
+ summit, and against the sky, the figures of men could be distinctly
+ seen passing to and fro. These were only discernible with the aid
+ of field-glasses, and at that time no great certainty was felt as
+ to their being our own men.
+
+ "Away to the south of us, in the direction of the camp, sloped the
+ Imquela Mountain. The glasses were brought to bear on this spot
+ also, where a man was detected signalling with a flag. The officer
+ commanding our party (Captain Robertson, 92nd) then signalled the
+ question, 'Who are you?' and the answer returned was, 'We are two
+ companies of the 60th Rifles, who have been left here all night.' A
+ second message was then sent, asking what their orders were, and
+ the reply returned was, 'None.' Their position was consequently
+ much the same as ours. All the morning our sentries heard
+ occasional shots, and from time to time were seen small bodies of
+ mounted Boers galloping to and fro near our entrenchments,
+ seemingly to reconnoitre our position. At about eleven o'clock we
+ were joined by a troop of the 15th Hussars, who had just come from
+ the camp, bringing with them the rations for the 60th Rifles. This
+ troop was commanded by Captain G. D. F. Sulivan, and accompanied by
+ Second Lieutenant Pocklington and Lieutenant H. C. Hopkins, 9th
+ Lancers, attached. Captain Sulivan, having received no orders,
+ remained with our party, dismounting his men, and placing them
+ under cover on the slope, just in rear of our entrenchment. For an
+ hour or two afterwards all remained perfectly quiet. The distant
+ figures on the summit of the Majuba Hill could still be seen
+ passing and repassing against the grey sky. We had come to the
+ definite conclusion that they were our own men, entrenching
+ themselves on the top of the mountain. They had gained by strategy
+ a strong position; but could they hold it? Even then the question
+ was mooted. All at once, while we were quietly waiting, a
+ continuous and heavy firing broke out on the mountain. We saw the
+ blue smoke rolling across the still sky; we saw an evident stir and
+ excitement among the party on the hill. What was it? Were they
+ attacked, or attacking? Volley after volley rolled forth; it was a
+ heavy and continuous fire, never ceasing for a moment. All glasses
+ were brought to bear on the mountain, and every eye was strained to
+ catch a sight of what was going on. After a few minutes the figure
+ of a man hurrying down towards us was visible--a wounded man, no
+ doubt--and a mounted Hussar was sent out to bring him in. He proved
+ to be a wounded man of the 58th, and from him we learnt something
+ of the disaster which had befallen our column. The General was
+ dead, lying on his back, with a bullet through his head. Our men
+ were nearly all either wounded or taken prisoners. The hilltop was
+ covered with the bodies of the brave fellows, who had fought to the
+ last. Even while he spoke we could see the desperate retreat had
+ begun, and a few desperate figures were seen struggling down among
+ the stones and boulders. Our men were flying, there was no doubt
+ about that now. In a few minutes the enemy would be upon us, but we
+ were prepared for them. I never saw men steadier or more prepared
+ to fight, although, as I glanced round, I felt how hopeless such a
+ fight would be. My fear, however, did not seem to be participated
+ in by either officers or men, for Captain Robertson (the officer in
+ command) at once began his preparation for a determined resistance.
+ The ammunition boxes were opened, and placed at equal convenient
+ distances all round the entrenchment. Half the entrenchment was
+ manned by the Highlanders, and the other half by Rifles. These
+ preparations were quietly and promptly made. The men were silent,
+ but steady. Looking round, every face was set with a grave
+ determination 'to do,' and there was not a word audible as the
+ orders were spoken and the commands obeyed. The low (and to an
+ experienced eye) fragile turf walls that were to offer shelter
+ seemed but poor defences, now that they were to be tried. They were
+ only about four feet high by two feet thick, with one exit at the
+ rear, and could never have stood before a fire such as was even now
+ pouring down the slope of Majuba. The wounded were now being
+ brought in rapidly by our mounted Hussars, who did their work
+ steadily. Some of the poor fellows were terribly wounded, and
+ though Surgeon-Major Cornish did his best for them unassisted, many
+ had to lie unattended to in their suffering. All brought the same
+ bitter news of defeat and annihilation, not very reassuring to our
+ little force, which was now about to take its part in the day's
+ engagement. As suddenly as it began, the firing as suddenly ceased;
+ and we knew that the dreadful task of clearing the heights was
+ done, and our resistance about to begin. We could see the Boers
+ clustering like a swarm of bees at the edge of our ridge. Every
+ moment we expected a rush and an attack. But they hesitated. They
+ were waiting--waiting for the party of some 600 or 700 mounted
+ Boers, who presently appeared upon our left flank. Our entrenchment
+ was now almost surrounded. The mounted Boers were the first to
+ attack us on our left flank, and their fire was spiritedly replied
+ to by the Rifles. At this moment, and while we were actually
+ engaging our enemy, the order came from the camp desiring Captain
+ Robertson to retreat his force without delay. No such easy matter
+ now, for the order came almost too late; the Boers were within easy
+ range of us, and determined to attack. Nevertheless, in the same
+ orderly and steady manner in which the preparations for defence had
+ been made, the preparations for retreat were begun. Much credit is
+ due to Captains Robertson and Thurlow for the energetic manner in
+ which they helped to load the mules, securing a safe retreat for
+ the ammunition and stores, and then assisting Surgeon-Major Cornish
+ to get off the wounded. All this time we were under fire, and it
+ was while retreating that poor Cornish was killed. When our little
+ entrenchment had been cleared of its stores, the real retreat
+ began, made under a murderous fire, which followed us as we hurried
+ down the steep slope into the ravine below. Captain Sulivan, with
+ his troop of Hussars, was placed on the right flank to try and
+ cover the retreat in that direction. By this time the Boers had
+ partially occupied our entrenchment, having broken down its
+ defences easily enough. And we had scarcely retreated down the
+ steep slope and into the ravine before they occupied the ridge
+ above us in hundreds, sending volley after volley after our
+ retreating men. It was a case now of _sauve qui peut_, and to me
+ the only marvel is how we lost so few under the circumstances. Our
+ casualties were four killed (including Surgeon-Major Cornish),
+ eleven wounded, and twenty-two prisoners. The Highlanders suffered
+ the most. The officers were the last to leave the ridge. I saw
+ Captain Robertson standing on the crest of the slope giving some
+ final directions just a moment before the ridge was entirely
+ covered by the Boers, and his escape consequently was almost a
+ miraculous one. I was in the ravine before I heard our artillery
+ open fire upon the Boers. Second-Lieutenant Staunton, 92nd
+ Highlanders, was taken prisoner. We were never joined by the two
+ companies of the Rifles who were left on the Imquela Mountain the
+ night before, nor did I see them under fire at any part of the day.
+ Thus ended our brief battle, and only those who took part in it can
+ tell the bitterness of having to retreat, utterly routed and
+ defeated as we were."
+
+
+THE SIEGE OF PRETORIA
+
+As may be remembered, Sir Owen Lanyon's proclamation announcing
+martial law was read, and the town handed over to the military
+government. Colonel Gildea (introduced by Colonel Bellairs) acted as
+Commandant of the Garrison, Major F. Mesurier, R.E., was in charge
+of the Infantry Volunteers, and Captain Campbell, 94th Regiment,
+filled the post of Provost-Marshal. Sympathisers with the Boers were
+ordered to leave the place on pain of being handed over to the
+Provost-Marshal to be dealt with by military law.
+
+It was decided to evacuate the town, and form two laagers, one at
+the camp, and one between the Roman Catholic church and the jail. In
+the camp the women and children were to be placed, while the
+Infantry Volunteers garrisoned the convent laager. Within the
+convent, women and children were packed tightly as sardines, while
+the nuns turned out on errands of mercy. All night and all day,
+scarcely stopping to eat a mouthful, men worked, sandbagging windows
+and doors--building barricades and defences of various kinds.
+Waggons were sent round to gather all families within the shelter of
+the camp. Rich and poor, good and bad, some 4000 souls, were herded
+together in tents for their protection. Here they remained for three
+months, enduring hardships of the most variegated and worrying kind,
+and loyally waiting for the relieving column that never came.
+
+Descriptions of the rations served out to each man daily are not
+appetising: Bread, 1-1/4 lb., or biscuit, 1 lb.; coffee, 2/3 oz.;
+sugar, 2-1/2 oz.; meat, 1-1/4 lb.; tea, 1/6 oz.; and salt, 1/2 oz.
+These were reduced as the siege proceeded. The meat was _trek_ beef,
+a leathery substitute for steak, and the biscuits were veterans,
+having "served" in the Zulu and Sekukuni campaigns, and now being
+nothing better than a swarm of weevils. Life in Pretoria was
+enlivened by occasional sorties against the Boer laagers, where the
+enemy was supposed to number some 800 strong. The laagers were
+distributed at distances of four and eight miles from the town, and
+were connected by a system of patrolling, which rendered
+communication from within or without almost impossible. A few
+messengers (natives) occasionally came into the town, but these
+were mostly charged with the delivery of delusive messages invented
+for special purposes by the Boers. There was an ever-present
+difficulty--that of keeping the natives in check. Many examples of
+Boer cruelty to these poor blacks are recorded, and they naturally
+shuddered at the prospect of once more being delivered over to the
+rule of the sjambok.
+
+Mr. H. Shepstone, the Secretary for native affairs, took immense
+pains to keep things quiet among the various chiefs. He said he had
+but to lift his little finger, and the Boers would not hold the
+field for a couple of days. Almost every native he knew would be in
+arms, and by sheer weight of numbers would overpower the Boers.
+Several of the chiefs sheltered refugees, and Montsiwe gathered his
+force in the hope that he would be allowed to come to the relief of
+Potchefstroom. Government reports regarding the loyalty of the
+natives were numerous, and the natives' longing to come to the
+assistance of the British in fighting their ancient oppressors was
+obvious. The subsequent desertion of these people whom Great Britain
+had taken under her wing, is one of the most grievous of the many
+grievous things that accrued from the exercise of British
+"magnanimity." Sir Morrison Barlow and Sir Evelyn Wood both agreed
+that the natives were "British to a man!" They were thoroughly sick
+of Boer cruelty, and the Kaffirs and Basutos had learnt to look to
+Great Britain for a reign of peace. Rather than again be ruled by
+the Boer despots, they were ready to spill the last drop of their
+blood, and only the high principled, almost quixotic action of the
+British officials prevented the utilisation in extremity of this
+massive and effective weapon of defence. Besides the garrison in
+Pretoria there were other forts defended by soldiers and loyalists,
+forts which were none of them taken by the enemy. These were
+Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, Sydenburg, Marabastad, and Wakkerstroom.
+The fort of Potchefstroom was surrendered during the armistice by
+fraudulent representations on the part of the Boers.
+
+The absorbing topic of the time was naturally the future of the
+Transvaal. Hope warmed all hearts and helped every one to keep up a
+fictitious air of cheerfulness. All thought that the rebellion would
+serve to strengthen the British in their determination to establish
+an effectual Government in the country and promote an enduring
+peace. The suspicion that the territory would be given back would
+have come on these hoping, waiting, and longing sufferers like a
+blast from the pole. Fortunately it was not given to them to foresee
+the humiliating end of their staunch endurance. Anathemas long and
+deep were sounded at the mention of Dr. Jorissen, who was looked
+upon as the fuse which set alight the rebellious temper of the
+Boers.
+
+[Illustration: General Sir EVELYN WOOD, G.C.B., V.C.
+
+Photo by Maull & Fox, London.]
+
+The enemy, however, never directly attacked the town. They contented
+themselves with attempting to steal cattle and skirmishing, and
+generally harassing those within. Such fights as these were mainly due
+to British initiative, and these were not fraught with success to us. Of
+this period it is pitiful to write. British valour and endurance were
+exhibited to the uttermost, and many gallant actions at different
+sorties might be recorded. So also might be given, did space allow, many
+instances of Boer cunning and Boer treachery--notably the acts of firing
+on the flag of truce, and on ambulance waggons. There can be no doubt
+that the firing on the flag of truce by the Boers was intentional. Their
+own explanation of the cause of this uncivilised proceeding may be taken
+for what it is worth. It appears that their troops were divided in
+opinion--that one party wished to continue fighting while another wished
+to surrender. Hence the exhibition of double-dealing which had so
+confounding an effect on their enemies, and so convenient a one for
+themselves. The Boers on the Majuba Hill fired on a flag of truce, the
+attack at Bronker's Spruit was made under cover of the white flag, and
+delay at Ingogo, to cover their movement from shelter, was gained by
+means of the same vile expedient.
+
+When the news of the British reverses at Laing's Nek and Majuba
+reached Pretoria there was general consternation. But, as yet, none
+knew of the crushing blow that was still in store. On the 28th, 102
+days after the hoisting of the Republican flag at Heidelberg, there
+came the almost incredible news that a peace had been concluded
+involving the surrender of the Transvaal to the Boers. At first it
+seemed impossible that the British Government could have consented
+to leave its loyal supporters in the terrible position in which they
+now found themselves. All who had sat patiently through trouble and
+trial, working with might and main, suffering from endless ills, in
+peril of their lives, and deprived of property and home, now joined
+in one heartrending wail of woe and disappointment. The
+consternation that followed the announcement of the ignoble
+surrender is thus described by Mr. Nixon, who was an eye-witness and
+sharer of the general grief and humiliation:--
+
+"The scene which ensued baffles description. The men hoisted the
+colours half-mast high. The Union Jack was pulled down and dragged
+through the mud. The distinctive ribbons worn round the hats of the
+men as badges were pulled off and trampled underfoot. I saw men
+crying like children with shame and despair. Some went raving up and
+down that they were Englishmen no longer; others, with flushed and
+indignant faces, sat contemplating their impending ruin, 'refusing
+to be comforted.' It was a painful, distressing, and humiliating
+scene, and such as I hope never to witness again. While I write,
+the remembrance of it comes vividly before me; and as I recall to
+mind the weeping men and women, the infuriated volunteers, and the
+despairing farmers and storekeepers, half crazy with the sense of
+wounded national honour, and the prospect of loss and ruin before
+them, my blood boils within me, and I cannot trust myself to commit
+to paper what I think. The lapse of two years has but deepened the
+feeling which I then experienced. The subject may perhaps be only
+unpleasant to people at home, but to me personally, who have seen
+the ruin and dismay brought upon the too credulous loyalists, the
+recollections it stirs up are more bitterly mortifying than words
+can describe."
+
+Mr. Rider Haggard, who at this time was at Newcastle, has also
+recorded his experiences on the unhappy occasion. He says:--"Every
+hotel and bar was crowded with refugees who were trying to relieve
+their feelings by cursing the name of Gladstone with a vigour,
+originality, and earnestness that I have never heard equalled; and
+declaring in ironical terms how proud they were to be citizens of
+England--a country that always kept its word. Then they set to work
+with many demonstrations of contempt to burn the effigy of the right
+honourable gentleman at the head of her Majesty's Government, an
+example, by the way, that was followed throughout South Africa."
+Talking of the loyal inhabitants in the Transvaal on whom the news
+burst 'like a thunderbolt,' he explains that they did not say
+much--because there was nothing to be said! They simply packed up
+their portable goods and chattels, and made haste to leave the
+country, "which they well knew would henceforth be utterly untenable
+for Englishmen and English sympathisers." Here was another great
+trek--a pathetic exodus of British loyalists whom Great Britain had
+betrayed. Away they went, these poor believing and deceived people,
+to try and make new homes and new fortunes, for as soon as the
+Queen's sovereignty was withdrawn houses and land were not worth a
+song, and their chances of earning a living were now entirely over,
+on account of their mistaken loyalty.
+
+The condition of the town is thus described in a journal of the
+period:--
+
+"The streets grown over with rank vegetation; the water-furrows
+unclean and unattended, emitting offensive and unhealthy stenches;
+the houses showing evident signs of dilapidation and decay; the side
+paths, in many places, dangerous to pedestrians--in fact, everything
+the eye can rest upon indicates the downfall which has overtaken
+this once prosperous city. The visitor can, if he be so minded,
+betake himself to the outskirts and suburbs, where he will perceive
+the same sad evidences of neglect, public grounds unattended, roads
+uncared for, mills and other public works crumbling into ruin.
+These palpable signs of decay most strongly impress him. A blight
+seems to have come over this lately fair and prosperous town.
+Rapidly it is becoming a 'deserted village,' a 'city of the dead.'"
+
+
+RETROCESSION
+
+The Government, through the medium of the Queen's Speech, had
+announced its intention of vindicating her Majesty's authority in
+the Transvaal. This was in January 1881. About that time President
+Brand, of the Orange Free State, formed himself into a species of
+Board of Arbitration between the contending parties--Boers and
+British. The reason for this intervention was threefold--first, he
+genuinely desired to avoid further bloodshed; second, he as
+genuinely hoped, under a mask of neutrality, to advance the Dutch
+cause throughout South Africa; and third, he amicably wished to put
+himself in the good graces of the British Government. Prior to
+General Colley's death Mr. Brand had urged him to allow peace to be
+made, and to guarantee the Boers not being treated as rebels if they
+submitted. General Colley was no quibbler with words. He would give
+no such assurance. He proposed, in a telegram to the Colonial
+Secretary, to publish an amnesty on entering the Transvaal to all
+peaceable persons--excepting one or two prominent rebels. On the 8th
+of February (the day of the battle of the Ingogo), a telegram was
+received from home, promising a settlement upon the Boers ceasing
+from armed opposition. This showed that the Government had early
+begun to put their foot on the first rung of the ladder of
+disgrace--it can be called by no other term--and that the
+"climb-down" policy was already coming into practice. An unfortunate
+game at cross-purposes seems to have been going on, for Mr. Brand
+was proposing to Lord Kimberley that Sir H. de Villiers--the
+Chief-Justice of the Cape, should be appointed as Commissioner to go
+to the Transvaal to arrange matters, while at the same time Sir
+George Colley was telegraphing a plan to be adopted on entering the
+Transvaal, a plan which should grant a complete amnesty only to
+Boers who would sign a declaration of loyalty.
+
+Lord Kimberley welcomed the suggestion of Mr. Brand, and agreed, if
+only the Boers would disperse, to appoint a Commission with power to
+"develop the permanent friendly scheme"; and "that, if this proposal
+is accepted, you now are authorised to agree to suspension of
+hostilities on our part." At the same time the War Office informed
+General Colley that the Government did not bind his discretion, but
+was anxious to avoid effusion of blood. Lord Kimberley's telegram
+was forwarded to Colley and to Joubert. Colley was dumfounded. He
+telegraphed back: "There can be no hostilities if no resistance is
+made; but am I to leave Laing's Nek in Natal territory in Boer
+occupation, and our garrisons isolated and short of provisions--or
+occupy former and relieve latter?"
+
+Lord Kimberley's reply was characteristically ambiguous. The
+garrisons were to be left free to provision themselves, but Sir
+George was not to march to the relief of garrisons or occupy Laing's
+Nek if an arrangement were proceeding.
+
+Meanwhile President Brand and Lord Kimberley held an unctuous
+telegraphic palaver, which may diplomatically be viewed as the
+beginning of the end. This humiliating end was hastened by the
+fiasco of Majuba on the 27th of February, though before it came to
+pass Sir Frederick Roberts was despatched with reinforcements to
+Natal. Sir Evelyn Wood assumed temporary command of the forces after
+Colley's death. Colonel Wood was asked by Lord Kimberley to obtain
+from Kruger a reply to a letter General Colley had forwarded before
+Majuba, requesting a reply in forty-eight hours. The reply, an
+ingenuous one, came on the 7th of March. Kruger was glad to hear
+that her Majesty's Government were inclined to cease hostilities,
+and suggested a meeting on both sides. On the 12th of March Lord
+Kimberley telegraphed to Sir Evelyn Wood, saying that if the Boers
+would desist from armed opposition, a Commission would be appointed
+to give the Transvaal complete internal self-government under
+British suzerainty, with a British Resident to look after the
+natives.
+
+The Boers at the same time made a communication. They refused to
+negotiate on the basis of Lord Kimberley's telegram of the 8th, as
+it would be tantamount to an admission that they were in the wrong.
+They would accept nothing short of the restoration of the Republic
+with a British protectorate. This the Home Government accepted, and
+thus the "climb down" was complete.
+
+On the 23rd of March 1881, Sir Evelyn Wood, under orders from the
+Ministry, signed a treaty on behalf of the British, while the Boer
+leaders did the same on behalf of their constituents. By it, the
+Boers engaged to accept her Majesty as Suzerain "of the Transvaal,
+with a British Resident in the capital, but to allow the Republic
+complete self-government, to operate in six months' time. The
+Suzerain was to have control over the foreign relations of the
+Transvaal, and a Royal Commission for the protection of the natives
+and the decision of the boundary of the Republic would be appointed.
+Persons guilty of acts contrary to laws of civilised warfare were to
+be punished; and property captured by either party was to be
+returned." In conclusion, it was arranged that all arms taken by
+the British Government when they annexed the country were to be
+handed back.
+
+The Commission appointed by her Majesty's Government consisted of
+Sir Hercules Robinson, who replaced Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape;
+Sir Henry de Villiers, now Chief-Justice of Cape Colony; and Sir
+Evelyn Wood; President Brand was present in a neutral capacity.
+Though nominally under the control of the British Government, its
+actions were pro-Boer. In justice to Sir Evelyn Wood, it is
+necessary to state that he did no more than obey orders laid down by
+his Government. Indeed it is said that when he was required to make
+the disgraceful peace, he called his officers around him, and asked
+them to witness that he was merely obeying orders, so that in days
+to come he might not submit a tarnished name to posterity.
+
+Sir Frederick Roberts, on his arrival at Cape Town, was therefore
+informed that his services were no longer needed. Sir Evelyn Wood
+retained a force of 12,000 men in Natal, but the Government had
+decided on peace at any price, and peace was therefore restored.
+
+
+THE BETRAYED LOYALISTS
+
+Of the sufferings of the loyalists we must say little. Suffice it to
+picture the breaking up of homes gathered together with much
+patience after years of steady labour; the insults daily endured
+from a people who now held Great Britain in contempt; the
+disappointment and indignation, the wretchedness and despair caused
+to all who had faithfully adhered to the Crown.
+
+A petition was drafted to the House of Commons, but signatures were
+comparatively few. Many had no hope of redress from Great Britain,
+others naturally feared further Boer oppression. Some passages of
+the petition ran thus:--
+
+"That your petitioners believe that the annexation was acquiesced in
+by a majority of the inhabitants, and was looked upon as an act
+calculated to create confidence and credit to the country, a belief
+which is borne out by the fact that almost all the old officials
+appointed by the former Government, or elected by the people,
+remained in office under the new Government; and your petitioners
+further believe, that if the promises expressed and implied in the
+annexation proclamation had been carried out fully in the spirit of
+the proclamation, the whole of the inhabitants would, in time, have
+become loyal subjects of her Majesty.
+
+"That the annexation was followed by an immediate accession of
+confidence, and it marked the commencement of an era of progress
+and advancement, which has steadily increased up to the present
+time, despite the numerous drawbacks and disadvantages to which the
+country has been subjected, and some of which have been the result
+of Imperial action.
+
+"That, notwithstanding the promises expressed and implied in the
+annexation proclamation, the country has been governed as a Crown
+Colony, and no opportunity has been afforded to the inhabitants of
+controlling the policy which has regulated its administration, and
+your petitioners are in no way responsible for the late lamentable
+war, or for the disgraceful peace which has concluded it.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+"That the value of property increased at least threefold during the
+English occupation, and that the increase progressed in a ratio
+corresponding with the reliance placed on the promises of English
+officials. Indeed, some of your petitioners are prepared to state,
+on oath if required, that they invested money immediately after or
+in direct consequence of a statement by a Governor of the Transvaal
+or a Minister of the British Crown.
+
+"That the towns are almost exclusively inhabited by loyal subjects,
+and English farmers and traders are scattered all over the country.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+"That most of the loyal inhabitants intend to realise their
+property, even at a sacrifice, and to leave the country, but that
+those who are compelled by force of circumstances to remain in it
+will be deprived of the protection and security afforded by English
+rule, and they respectfully submit they have a right to ask that the
+fullest and most substantial pledges be exacted from the
+contemplated Boer Government for their safety, and for the exercise
+of their privileges as British subjects."
+
+
+In reference to the unfortunate natives, and the humiliating peace,
+Mr. Rider Haggard, who had been Shepstone's private secretary, wrote
+pathetically to Sir Bartle Frere from Newcastle, Natal:--
+
+ "_June 6, 1881._
+
+"I do not believe that more than half of those engaged in the late
+rebellion were free agents, though, once forced into committing
+themselves, they fought as hard as the real malcontents.... The
+natives are the real heirs to the soil, and should surely have some
+protection and consideration, some voice in the settlement of their
+fate. They outnumbered the Boers by twenty-five to one, taking their
+numbers at a million and those of the Boers at forty thousand, a
+fair estimate, I believe.... As the lash and the bullet have been
+the lot of the wretched Transvaal Kaffir in the past, so they will
+be his lot in the future.... After leading those hundreds of
+thousands of men and women to believe that they were once and for
+ever the subjects of her Majesty, safe from all violence, cruelty,
+and oppression, we have handed them over without a word of warning
+to the tender mercies of one, where natives are concerned, of the
+cruellest white races in the world.
+
+"Then comes the case of the loyal Boers, men who believed us and
+fought for us, and are now, as a reward for their loyalty, left to
+the vengeance of their countrymen--a vengeance that will most
+certainly be wreaked, let the Royal Commission try to temper it as
+they will.
+
+"Lastly, there are the unfortunate English inhabitants, three
+thousand of whom were gathered during the siege in Pretoria alone,
+losing their lives in a forsaken cause. I can assure you, sir, that
+you must see these people to learn how complete is their ruin. They
+have been pouring through here, many of those who were well-to-do a
+few months since, hardly knowing how to find food for their
+families."
+
+
+On this subject Colonel Lanyon, who since the first outbreak had
+been shut up in Pretoria, also wrote tragically:--
+
+ "_March 29, 1881._
+
+"Last night the saddest news I ever received in my life came in the
+shape of a letter from Wood.... After three Secretaries of State,
+three High Commissioners, and two Houses of Commons had said that
+the country should not be given back, it seems a terrible want of
+good faith to the loyals that this decision should have been arrived
+at. The scene this morning was a heart-breaking one; the women, who
+have behaved splendidly all through the siege, were crying and
+wringing their hands in their great grief; the children were hushed
+as if in a chamber of death; and the men were completely bowed down
+in their sorrow. Well they might, for the news brought home ruin to
+many, and great loss to all. I am ashamed to walk about, for I hear
+nothing but reproaches and utterances from heretofore loyal men
+which cut one to the very quick.... How I am to tell the natives I
+know not, for they have trusted so implicitly to our promises and
+assurances.... One man who has been most loyal to us (an Englishman)
+told me to-day, 'Thank God my children are Afrikanders, and need not
+be ashamed of their country!'"
+
+
+The feelings described by Sir Owen were openly echoed by all
+sensible men who knew anything of the country: they were certain
+that it was not within the power of Boer comprehension to understand
+"magnanimity" in an opponent. To the Boer, as to many an Englishman,
+this long-sounding word seemed more neatly to be interpreted by the
+more ugly but concise term "funk."
+
+Sir Bartle Frere, writing of Sir George Colley in a letter to a
+friend, expressed his opinion roundly:--
+
+ "_March 31, 1881._
+
+"Let no one ever say that England lost prestige through Sir George
+Colley. I do not like the word so much as 'character' or 'conduct'
+which create it. But no country ever lost real prestige through
+defeat. Nelson, wounded and repulsed at Teneriffe; Grenvil,
+overpowered and dying on the deck of the _Revenge_, did as much for
+England's prestige as Marlborough at Blenheim or Wellington at
+Waterloo. Sir George Colley miscalculated his own and his enemy's
+strength, but he had nothing to do with disgraceful surrender, and I
+am sure had rather be where he now rests than sign a disgraceful
+peace, which is the only thing that can injure England's prestige."
+
+
+Mr. R. W. Murray, of the _Cape Times_, writing to Sir Bartle Frere,
+thought bitterly indeed.
+
+"Ask your English statesmen," he wrote, "if, in the history of the
+world, there was ever such a cruel desertion of a dependency by the
+parent State. How can England hope for loyalty from South Africans?
+The moral of the Gladstone lesson is, that you may be anything in
+South Africa but loyal Englishmen."
+
+
+These letters, taken haphazard from volumes of correspondence on the
+melancholy event of the time, serve better than the words of an
+outsider to show the terrible position in which the "magnanimity" of
+the British Ministers had placed their countrymen. One more extract
+and we must pass on.
+
+[Illustration: COLOUR-SERGEANT and PRIVATE, THE SCOTS GUARDS.
+
+Photo by Gregory & Co. London.]
+
+Colonel Lanyon, writing again to Sir Bartle Frere, said:--
+
+ "_April 26, 1881._
+
+"The Boers are practically dictators, and have been ruling the
+country in a manner which is simply humiliating to Englishmen.
+Active persecution is going on everywhere, and consequently all that
+can are leaving the country. Thirty families have left Pretoria
+alone; B---- and M---- have left, having been frequently threatened
+because of their having been members of the Executive, and those two
+poor fellows J---- and H---- are completely ostracised for the
+same reason. They are both ruined men, practically speaking, and all
+because they trusted to England's assurances and good faith....
+
+"But hard as these cases are, I feel that the natives have had the
+cruellest measure meted out to them, and they feel it acutely. The
+most touching and heart-breaking appeals have come from some of the
+chiefs who live near enough to have heard the news. They ask why
+they have been thrown over after showing their loyalty by paying
+their taxes and resisting the demands made upon them by the Boers
+during hostilities. They point out that we stopped them from helping
+us, and that, had we not done so, the Boers would have been easily
+put down. They say that, as we so hindered their action, it is a
+cruel wrong for us now to hand them back to the care of a race which
+is more embittered against them than ever, and who have already
+begun to harass them because of their loyalty. These points are
+unanswerable, and I do not see how we can reply to them."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE CONVENTIONS
+
+
+As may be remembered, Sir Evelyn Wood was ordered to conclude an
+armistice, whereby the troops that had garrisoned the Transvaal
+might evacuate it. In the case of Potchefstrom, the execution of
+this design was treacherously prevented by Commandant Cronje. This
+officer, after the armistice had been arranged, withheld the news
+from the garrison, and prevented supplies from reaching the fort. As
+a natural consequence, he became a national hero, and led the
+burghers against Dr. Jameson in 1895 and the forces on the Western
+frontier in 1899.
+
+The armistice was concluded in March 1881, and in August the
+Convention of Pretoria was signed. Some form of inquiry was held
+into the conduct of persons who had been guilty of acts contrary to
+the rules of civilised warfare, but the whole thing proved to be a
+mere farce; and, as a matter of fact, not one of the perpetrators of
+murder and other crimes during the course of the war was brought to
+justice. The Commission insisted on a definite agreement for the
+purpose of securing British persons from oppressive legislation,
+but, as we know, Boer promises were as completely pie-crust as Boer
+contracts were mere waste paper.
+
+At the beginning of June Mr. Gladstone wrote a letter in answer to
+that received from the loyal inhabitants. In this he said:--
+
+"Her Majesty's Government willingly and thankfully acknowledge the
+loyal co-operation which her Majesty's forces received at Pretoria
+and elsewhere by the inhabitants, and we sympathise with the
+privations and sufferings which they endured. I must, however,
+observe that so great was the preponderance of the Boers who rose in
+arms against the Queen's authority that the whole country, except
+the posts occupied by the British troops, fell at once practically
+into their hands. Again, the memorialists themselves only estimate
+the proportion of settlers not Transvaal Boers at one-seventh.
+Nearly, though not quite, the whole of the Boers have appeared to be
+united in sentiment, and her Majesty's Government could not deem it
+their duty to set aside the will of so large a majority by the only
+possible means, namely, the permanent maintenance of a powerful
+military force in the country. Such a course would have been
+inconsistent alike with the spirit of the Treaty of 1852, with the
+grounds on which the annexation was sanctioned, and with the general
+interests of South Africa, which especially require that harmony
+should prevail between the white races.
+
+"On the other hand, in the settlement which is now in progress,
+every care will be taken to secure to the settlers, of whatever
+origin, the full enjoyment of their property, and of all civil
+rights."
+
+The pledges conveyed in the last sentence received such fulfilment
+as they were to have by the insertion in the Convention of the
+following clauses:--
+
+"Article XII.--All persons holding property in the said State, on
+the 8th day of August 1881, will continue to enjoy the rights of
+property which they have enjoyed since the annexation. No person who
+has remained loyal to her Majesty during the recent hostilities
+shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty, or be liable
+to any criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in
+connection with such hostilities, and all such persons will have
+full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil
+rights, and protection for their persons and property.
+
+"Article XXVI.--All persons, other than natives, conforming
+themselves to the laws of the Transvaal State (_a_) will have full
+liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any
+part of the Transvaal State; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or
+possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises;
+(_c_) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any
+agents whom they may think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not be
+subject, in respect of their persons and property, or in respect of
+their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local,
+other than those which are or may be imposed upon Transvaal
+citizens."
+
+The Convention itself is now well known, but brief allusion to it
+may not be out of place. The preamble is important, and runs as
+follows:--
+
+"Her Majesty's Commissioners for the settlement of the Transvaal
+territory, duly appointed as such by a Commission passed under the
+Royal Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the 5th April 1881, do
+hereby undertake and guarantee, on behalf of her Majesty, that from
+and after the 8th day of August 1881 complete self-government,
+subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and successors,
+will be accorded to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, upon
+the following terms and conditions, and subject to the following
+reservations and limitations...."
+
+The new State was to be styled "The Transvaal State." A British
+Resident was appointed, and the right to move British troops
+through the State guaranteed. External relations were to be under
+British control, and intercourse with foreign Powers to be carried
+on through her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers. The
+independence of Swaziland was guaranteed. Article 4 of the Sand
+River Convention, forbidding slavery, was re-affirmed in Article 16.
+Natives were to be allowed to acquire land, and to move about the
+country "as freely as may be consistent with the requirements of
+public order." Complete freedom of religion was established.
+Protection to loyalists was guaranteed by the Triumvirate. The
+British Resident was given wide authority in native affairs; was, in
+fact, constituted as an official protector of natives. The
+boundaries of the State were defined, and it engaged not to
+transgress them.
+
+The government of the country was handed over to the Triumvirate,
+who engaged to summon a Volksraad as soon as possible. The Volksraad
+when it assembled, however, was disinclined to ratify the Pretoria
+Convention. The burghers wanted the Old Republic of the Sand River
+Convention, and fretted at the idea that they should have agreed to
+acknowledge British suzerainty. This acknowledgment was made a
+condition of the grant of autonomy, and the British Resident in
+Pretoria was to have large powers in the direction of native
+affairs. The position of the post of British Resident was to be
+similar to that held by a British Resident in one of the Native
+States of India. "Africanus," in his useful book on "The Transvaal
+Boers," thus describes the practical difference between the status
+of the two officials: "A Resident in an Indian State, though
+sometimes exposed to the risk of assassination, or of a general
+mutiny, is known by the inhabitants to have behind him the enormous
+military force of the Indian Empire, whereas the unhappy Resident at
+Pretoria was given no means of enforcing any protests which he might
+be called upon to make. His only course was to report disobedience
+to the High Commissioner; and if the disobedience was not of such a
+character as to force the Imperial Government to undertake military
+measures, it was sure to be overlooked. Thus the Resident, so far
+from controlling the policy of the Transvaal, was reduced to the
+position of counsel holding 'a watching brief.'"
+
+As will be seen, the interests of the Uitlanders were protected, but
+no provision was made by the Convention for future immigrants. Mr.
+Kruger, whose assurances at the time were believed to be sound, had
+promised to place them on equal footing with the burghers as regards
+freedom of trade. His words were: "We make no difference as far as
+burgher rights are concerned. There may, perhaps, be some slight
+difference in the case of a young person who has come into the
+country," but the term "young person," it was afterwards explained,
+had no reference to age, but to time of residence in the country.
+
+Mr. Kruger, as leader of the reactionary section of the Boers,
+finally became the President. The rival of Mr. Kruger was Mr.
+Joubert, otherwise known as "Slim Piet," on account of his wily
+ways, and between them from that day up to the present time
+considerable jealousy existed. They were always of one accord,
+however, in struggling to slip or squeeze out of any Conventions
+with the British. The first contravention of treaty engagements was
+the return of the State to the old title of South African Republic.
+The Home Government feebly remonstrated--it was too sunk in the
+slough of "magnanimity" to do more. As a natural result the Boers
+snapped their fingers at such remonstrances. After taking an inch
+they helped themselves to an ell! They had engaged to respect
+boundaries, but soon they began to lap over into Zululand and
+Bechuanaland.
+
+The Boer process of expansion is simple and time-honoured. A case of
+spirits is exchanged for the right to graze on land belonging to an
+independent chief. The cattle graze, the master locates himself. If
+the intrusion is resented, a campaign follows, and the stronger
+ousts the weaker. Sometimes the Boer lends his services in warfare
+to a petty chief, and those services are rewarded with a grant of
+land.
+
+When the British annexed the Transvaal and conquered Sekukuni, the
+other chiefs submitted to the British Government. On the resumption
+of Boer rule, however, the chiefs were inclined to defy their
+authority. The territories of the Mapoch, Malaboch, and Mpefu were
+assigned to the Boers by the Convention of 1881, and consequently
+quarrels began. In 1883 Mapoch broke out against authority, and
+there was a campaign to subdue him. Malaboch became obstreperous in
+1894, and Mpefu followed his example in 1898. Most of the campaigns
+arose over the refusal to pay the hut tax. Before the Mapoch
+campaign in 1883 the Volksraad made a change in the terms of the
+franchise. It may be remembered that for burgher rights a residence
+of one year in the country and an oath of allegiance were necessary
+conditions. It was arranged that in future all candidates for
+citizenship must have resided and been registered in the Field
+Cornet's lists for five years, and must pay the sum of L25.
+
+About this time Messrs. Kruger, Du Toit, and Smith travelled to
+England to agitate for a new Convention. The Transvaal Government
+had "broken the spirit, and even the letter," of the old Convention,
+and Lord Derby in the House of Lords expressed his opinion that "it
+would be an easy thing to find a _casus belli_ in what had taken
+place." In spite of all this, Mr. Gladstone in 1884 obligingly
+agreed to a new Convention. By examination of its terms, it will be
+seen how far and how ignobly the Government went on the road to
+concession. By this Convention the British Resident was replaced by
+a diplomatic agent; the old title of South African Republic was
+restored; the Republic was allowed to negotiate on its own account
+with foreign Powers, limitations on treaty-making alone being
+imposed. Complete freedom of religion was promised, and the Republic
+agreed to "do its utmost" to prevent any of its inhabitants from
+making any encroachments upon lands beyond the boundaries laid down.
+Article 14 will be seen to be verbally similar to Article 26 of the
+Pretoria Convention of 1881, only the words _South African Republic_
+being substituted for _Transvaal State_. Nothing was said about the
+preamble to the Pretoria Convention or the question of British
+"suzerainty." The word was omitted from the new text; but it was
+supposed to be operative as before. Over this matter there has been
+so much argument that, unless we can devote a volume to solving the
+Convention riddle, it is best left alone. We must allow that the
+ambiguity of an already ambiguous Ministry had here reached its
+climax! Certain it is that the Transvaal representatives returned to
+inform the Raad that the suzerainty had been abolished, and that
+statement they were allowed to maintain without contradiction! As a
+natural consequence of this indecision and weakness on the part of
+the then Government, subsequent Governments have been placed in an
+unenviable quandary. The Boers contend that the omission of the word
+"suzerainty" in 1884 was intentional, and designed to permit the
+State to style itself an independent Republic, while all
+level-headed persons are fully aware that no Republic could have
+been granted complete independence while under a weight of debt for
+money and blood spent for years and years to save it from collapse
+and annihilation. Moreover, the guarantee of independence of the
+Transvaal was so unmistakably a result of suzerainty that the
+repetition of the word was unnecessary.
+
+
+MR. KRUGER
+
+Of the man who now began to play so prominent a part on the
+political stage, the world at that time knew but little. Even now
+opinions regarding him are many and varied, and it may be
+interesting to read, in close juxtaposition, sketches of his
+character and ways which have from time to time been drawn by those
+who have come in contact with him.
+
+Perhaps no more impartial sketch can be presented than that of Mr.
+Distant, a naturalist, who visited the Transvaal about eight years
+ago. He said:--"President Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger was born
+on the 10th October 1825, in the district of Colesburg in the Cape
+Colony, and is without doubt the greatest and most representative
+man that the Boers have yet produced. Uneducated, or self-educated,
+he possesses a very large amount of that natural wisdom so often
+denied to men of great learning and of literary cultivation. With
+many prejudices, he is fearless, stubborn, and resolute, and he
+really understands Englishmen little better than they understand
+him. In his earlier days he has been a somewhat ardent sportsman and
+a good shot. He has been engaged and honourably mentioned in most of
+the Kaffir fights of his time.... Socially, he has always lived in a
+somewhat humble position, and it is to the credit of his nature as a
+man that he bears not the slightest trace of the _parvenu_. Plain
+and undistinguished in appearance, he combines the advantages of a
+prodigious memory with a remarkable aptitude for reading his
+fellow-man, and this last quality would be more valuable were it not
+leavened by a weakness in resisting flattery and adulation. He is
+very pious and self-reliant, which is provocative of bigotry and hot
+temper; and surrounded and approached on all sides by clever and
+often unscrupulous financiers and speculators, his scutcheon has
+worn wonderfully well, and his character and reputation passed
+through many fiery ordeals. He is also a rough diplomatist of no
+mean rank."
+
+The picture is distinctly interesting, but it does Mr. Kruger an
+injustice. Mr. Distant says that "he understands Englishmen little
+better than they understand him." Surely this remark is an insult to
+Mr. Kruger's great sagacity. He long ago "took the measure" of the
+Englishman, and he has enjoyed himself immensely in seeing how far
+it was possible--vulgarly speaking--to "try it on" with the British
+nation. If Mr. Kruger could be induced to write a book entitled "My
+Life and Games with the British Government for the last Twenty
+Years," he might afford our politicians some useful and instructive
+entertainment.
+
+To Mr. Distant's portrait of the President of the South African
+Republic another and a later one may be appended. It is drawn by the
+able pen of Mr. Fitzpatrick, the author of "The Transvaal from
+Within." "In the history of South Africa the figure of the grim old
+President will loom large and striking--picturesque, as the figure
+of one who, by his character and will, made and held his people;
+magnificent, as one who, in the face of the blackest fortune, never
+wavered from his aim or faltered in his effort; who, with a courage
+that seemed and still seems fatuous, but which may well be called
+heroic, stood up against the might of the greatest empire in the
+world. And, it may be, pathetic too, as one whose limitations were
+great, one whose training and associations, whose very successes,
+had narrowed and embittered and hardened him; as one who, when the
+greatness of success was his to take and hold, turned his back on
+the supreme opportunity and used his strength and qualities to fight
+against the spirit of progress and all that the enlightenment of the
+age pronounces to be fitting and necessary to good government and a
+healthy State.
+
+"To an English nobleman who, in the course of an interview, remarked,
+'My father was a Minister of England and twice Viceroy of Ireland,' the
+old Dutchman answered, 'And my father was a shepherd!' It was not pride
+rebuking pride; it was the ever-present fact which would not have been
+worth mentioning but for the suggestion of the antithesis. He, too, was
+a shepherd, and is--a peasant. It may be that he knows what would be
+right and good for his people, and it may be not; but it is sure that he
+realises that to educate would be to emancipate; to broaden their views
+would be to break down the defences of their prejudices; to let in the
+new leaven would be to spoil the old bread; to give unto all men the
+rights of men would be to swamp for ever the party which is to him
+greater than the State. When one thinks of the one-century history of
+this people, much is seen that accounts for their extraordinary love of
+isolation, and their ingrained and passionate aversion to control; much,
+too, that draws to them a world of sympathy. And when one realises the
+old Dopper President hemmed in once more by the hurrying tide of
+civilisation, from which his people have fled for generations--trying to
+fight both Fate and Nature, standing up to stem a tide as resistless as
+the eternal sea--one sees the pathos of the picture. But this is as
+another generation may see it. To-day we are too close, so close that
+the meaner details, the blots and flaws, are all most plainly visible:
+the corruption, the insincerity, the injustice, the barbarity--all the
+unlovely touches that will by-and-by be forgotten, sponged away by the
+gentle hand of Time, when only the picturesque will remain."
+
+[Illustration: PAUL KRUGER,
+
+President of the Transvaal Republic.
+
+Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.]
+
+Mr. Fitzpatrick speaks somewhat more plainly in another place:--
+
+"Outside the Transvaal Mr. Kruger has the reputation of being free
+from taint of corruption from which so many of his colleagues
+suffer. Yet within the Republic and among his own people one of the
+gravest of the charges levelled against him is, that by his example
+and connivance he has made himself responsible for much of the
+plundering that goes on. There are numbers of cases in which the
+President's nearest relations have been proved to be concerned in
+the most flagrant jobs, only to be screened by his influence;
+such cases, for instance, as that of the Vaal River Water Supply
+Concession, in which Mr. Kruger's son-in-law 'hawked' about for the
+highest bid the vote of the Executive Council on a matter which had
+not yet come before it, and, moreover, sold and duly delivered the
+aforesaid vote. There is the famous libel case in which Mr. Eugene
+Marais, the editor of the Dutch paper _Land en Volk_, successfully
+sustained his allegation that the President had defrauded the State
+by charging heavy travelling expenses for a certain trip on which he
+was actually the guest of the Cape Colonial Government."
+
+The light thus thrown on the dealings of Mr. Kruger is not a
+solitary gleam. It may be remembered that during the period of
+British rule in the Transvaal he had an appointment under
+Government. The terms of his letter of dismissal can be found on
+page 135 of Blue-Book, c. 144, and involving as they do a serious
+charge of misrepresentation in money matters, are useful when viewed
+in line with the above quotation.
+
+Mrs. Lionel Phillips imagines that every one must by this time have
+gauged the nature of the President, as she herself has done. She
+says:--
+
+"Paul Kruger is so well known from the many portraits and
+caricatures that have appeared in recent years, as well as
+descriptions of him, that one from me seems superfluous. His clumsy
+features, and small cunning eyes, set high in his face, with great
+puffy rings beneath them, his lank straight locks, worn longer than
+is usual, the fringe of beard framing his face, even his greasy
+frock-coat and antiquated tall hat have been pourtrayed times
+without number. He is a man of quite 75 years of age now, and his
+big massive frame is bent, but in his youth he possessed enormous
+strength, and many extraordinary feats are told of him. Once seen he
+is not easily forgotten. He has a certain natural dignity of
+bearing, and I think his character is clearly to be read in his
+face--strength of will and cunning, with the dulness of expression
+one sees in peasants' faces. 'Manners none, and customs beastly,'
+might have been a life-like description of Kruger. The habit of
+constantly expectorating, which so many Boers have, he has never
+lost. He is quite ignorant of conversation in the ordinary
+acceptation of the word; he is an autocrat in all his ways, and has
+a habit of almost throwing short, jerky sentences at you generally
+allegorical in form, or partaking largely of scriptural
+quotations--or misquotations quite as often. Like most of the Boers,
+the Bible is his only literature--that book he certainly studies a
+good deal, and his religion is a very large part of his being, but
+somehow he misses the true spirit of Christianity, in that he leaves
+out the rudimentary qualities of charity and truth."
+
+
+GERMANS AND UITLANDERS
+
+It appears that a German traveller, Herr Ernest Von Weber, as long
+ago as 1875, had cast a loving eye on the Transvaal. He
+wrote:--"What would not such a country, full of such inexhaustible
+natural treasures, become, if in course of time it was filled with
+German immigrants? A constant mass of German immigrants would
+gradually bring about a decided numerical preponderance of Germans
+over the Dutch population, and of itself would by degrees affect the
+Germanisation of the country in a peaceful manner. Besides all its
+own natural and subterraneous treasures, the Transvaal offers to the
+European power which possesses it an easy access to the immensely
+rich tracts of country which lie between the Limpopo, the Central
+African lakes and the Congo (the territory saved for England by Mr.
+Rhodes and the Chartered Company). It was this free unlimited room
+for annexation in the North, this open access to the heart of
+Africa, which principally impressed me with the idea, not more than
+four years ago, that Germany should try, by the acquisition of
+Delagoa Bay, and the subsequent continual influx of German
+immigrants to the Transvaal, to secure the future dominion over this
+country, and so pave the way for a German African Empire of the
+future. There is, at the same time, the most assured prospect that
+the European power, who would bring these territories under its
+rule, would found one of the largest and most valuable empires of
+the globe; and it is, therefore, on this account truly to be
+regretted that Germany should have quietly, and without protest,
+allowed the annexation of the Transvaal Republic to England, because
+the splendid country, taken possession of and cultivated by a German
+race, ought to be entirely won for Germany; and would, moreover,
+have been easily acquired, and thereby the beginning made and
+foundation laid of a mighty and ultimately rich Germany in the
+southern hemisphere. Germany ought at any price to get possession of
+some points on the East as well as the West Coast of Africa." Part
+of Mr. Von Weber's ambition was subsequently realised.
+
+In 1884 the introduction of Germany upon the political scene was
+successfully accomplished. The hoisting of the German flag at Angra
+Peguena was due to the unscrupulous and clever machinations of
+Prince Bismarck. The new German Colony comprised Damaraland and
+Great Namaqualand, and between it and the Boer Republic lay the
+Kalari Desert and Bechuanaland.
+
+Now, the Bechuana chiefs were old enemies of the Boers. A good deal
+of border fighting took place, and at last the Boers established
+their authority over a district which they christened "The New
+Republic," and which was annexed to the Transvaal in 1888. They
+endeavoured to capture in the same way Stellaland and Vryburg, but
+on this subject the British Government had something to say, and for
+once they said it definitely. Sir Charles Warren with a military
+force took these districts under British protection. This expedition
+was resented by the Cape Dutch and their English friends, Messrs.
+Spriggs and Upington, who hastened to Bechuanaland to effect a
+settlement before the arrival of Sir Charles Warren's force. Owing
+to the firmness and decision of Sir Charles Warren and his
+supporters, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, and Mr. Mackenzie,
+their anti-Imperialistic efforts fortunately failed!
+
+It must be remembered that in Cape Colony the Dutch sympathies had,
+for the most part, been given to the Boers. Racial ties in Africa
+are strong, and at the time of the war many people, not thoroughly
+disloyal, felt that there had been aggression on the freedom of the
+Republicans, and were inclined to admire the efforts of the Boers to
+repel that aggression. There were others, too, who believed that,
+owing to fear of rebellion on the part of the Cape subjects, Great
+Britain had been forced into chicken-hearted surrender, and this
+belief naturally encouraged the Cape Dutch to assume that, on
+emergency, the policy of the Empire might be directed by threats of
+rebellion.
+
+Much of the bad feeling was due merely to political agitation. The
+association known as the Africander Bond was started as a species of
+political nursery wherein to expand the ideas of the budding Boer,
+and "coach" him in his duties as a free-born subject. "A little
+knowledge is a dangerous thing," as we all are aware, and it seems
+to have been the object of this organisation to implant just
+sufficient knowledge in the mind of the ignorant farmer to foster
+his hostility to Great Britain, without encouraging him to progress
+sufficiently to gauge the advantages to himself of peace and
+goodwill with a sovereign power. Before the existence of this
+organisation he was contented to choose as his Parliamentary
+representative some sound and respectable citizen, a British
+subject, or some colonist who, well versed in the British tongue,
+could understand the laws at first hand. But machinating politicians
+conceived the notion that the dissatisfied Boer might be made to
+dance marionette-wise while they pulled the strings, and they
+promptly went to work to pretend he could think for himself, and
+proceeded to inflate his mind with so vast an idea of his own
+political importance that he even began to conjure up dreams of an
+entirely Dutch South Africa on an Africander basis, with the
+Vierkleur in place of the Union Jack floating bravely over his head!
+
+For his benefit the Cape _patois_ was promoted to the rank of a
+language. Parliament expressed itself both in English and so-called
+Dutch, while Blue-Books and official papers were printed in
+bi-lingual fashion, for the convenience of farmer members, who, for
+the most part, could neither read, write, nor speak the language of
+the Netherlands!
+
+The battle-cry of the Bond was "Africa for the Africander" and the
+"Elimination of the Imperial factor." The Colonists naturally grew
+to imagine that, as Great Britain was powerless to govern,
+government on their own behalf would be advantageous. In justice it
+must be said that the Eastern Province and Natal adhered to the
+Crown, though the Western Province was led by the nose by the Bond.
+
+From this time Mr. Hofmeyr--a man of great ability, and generally
+devoted to the Africander cause--became an important factor in the
+political caucus. Mr. Rhodes also was conspicuous. At that date he
+was inclined to lean toward Africander principles, but, like all
+great men on seeing the error of their judgments, he readjusted his
+theories--with the results we all know.
+
+The expedition of Sir Charles Warren was entirely successful. As has
+been said, a Protectorate was established over Bechuanaland.
+
+The country south of the Moloppo River, whose chief towns are
+Mafeking and Vryburg, became a Crown Colony. It was afterwards
+transferred to the Cape. The territories of Khama, Sebele, and
+Bathoen still form an Imperial Protectorate.
+
+When gold was first discovered, the fable of "the dog in the manger"
+began to be enacted in the Transvaal. The Boers were quite
+incompetent to start mining operations on their own account, and yet
+were intolerant of the presence of outsiders who were willing to
+expend their energies in the business. Gradually, however, they
+agreed to admit foreigners on terms which on the surface were fairly
+liberal, and became indirectly almost extortionate.
+
+These foreigners--British, Americans, Germans, and Poles--were the
+antithesis of all that Boer traditions held dear. To begin with,
+they were progressive; they were also energetic and commercial, and
+their motto, instead of being "God will provide," was the practical
+one of "_Carpe diem_." The dawn of the "golden age" has been
+described, and there is no reason, therefore, to dwell on the
+attractions which converted the Transvaal, for many, from a
+fortune-hunter's goal to a permanent home. Unfortunately these
+Uitlanders were not bound up in Transvaal politics. The ways of the
+stolid and the ignorant, the narrow and the bigoted, were not their
+ways; they had no sympathy for "masterly inaction," and this the
+Boers knew.
+
+In 1887, to protect themselves from the outsider, the Republicans
+arranged that invaders could not be admitted to burgher rights under
+fifteen years. The Uitlanders agitated for increased privileges, and
+in 1890 a "Second Raad" was created. For this Chamber it was
+necessary to take the oath of allegiance, to reside two years in the
+State before being entitled to vote, and another two before becoming
+eligible for election.
+
+Upon the scene now came Dr. Leyds, a Hollander of certain ability, a
+cosmopolitan schemer, and as such naturally opposed to the prestige
+of Great Britain. He had his ideal of a great Africander
+Confederation! On the other hand, there was Mr. Rhodes, who had also
+his ideal--that of a Confederated South Africa stretching to the
+Zambesi. Fortunately, with Mr. Rhodes went the Cape Dutch. And here
+we may break off to consider the Colossus, as he has been called.
+His enemies were many. By some it was asserted that Mr. Rhodes was
+at heart no Imperialist; by others he was declared to be merely an
+unscrupulous adventurer. But, as the proof of the pudding is in the
+eating, so must any criticism of this marvellous man be confined to
+results.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+MR. RHODES
+
+
+Of the chief personage in the political and financial history of
+South Africa it is desirable we should know something definite,
+though space does not allow of any long appreciation of all he has
+accomplished for the advancement of the empire. The Right Hon. Cecil
+John Rhodes was born in 1853. He was the fourth son of the late Rev.
+Francis W. Rhodes, Rector of Bishop Stortford. In 1871 he went to
+South Africa, there to join his brother Herbert, who was engaged in
+cotton-growing in Natal. His constitution was delicate, and it was
+believed that a journey to the Cape would be beneficial to him. In
+1872 he returned in much better health to England, and entered Oriel
+College, Oxford. While there he contracted a chill, and found
+himself again under orders to return to South Africa. At that time
+Herbert Rhodes had forsaken cotton-growing, and had become
+fascinated by the prospect of wealth offered by the diamond fields
+in the locality now known as Kimberley. The two youths joined hands,
+and in 1873 we find the elder brother leaving his claim in charge of
+the younger, the hard-working, astute, and masterful Cecil, whose
+name has become almost a household word. The young man, who took his
+degree at Oxford in the interval of his work, brought to every task
+he attempted an educated mind and a certain dogged obstinacy, which
+caused him to surmount all difficulties. He prospered amazingly. But
+money, instead of numbing his activities, only sharpened them, and
+he soon began to formulate his ideal--the Utopian dream of an
+entirely British Africa from the Cape to the Zambesi!
+
+[Illustration: THE MATABELE WAR--DEFENDING A LAAGER.
+
+Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.]
+
+His most conspicuous financial work was the De Beers Company, of
+which we have treated elsewhere. From one big venture he went to
+others more gigantic still. The famous Chartered Company and the
+splendid province of Rhodesia came virtually into existence as the
+result of his magnificent foresight. In 1881, in Basutoland, Mr.
+Rhodes, the newly-elected member for Barkly West, had the good
+fortune to meet General Gordon, who was struck at once by the
+immense ability of the young man. In character, it seems, they were
+the extremes that meet! These two men, of equally strong
+personality, had an antagonism of character which, clashing, gave
+forth a resonance that was vastly inspiriting.
+
+Gordon and Rhodes would take long walks together, and discuss the
+affairs of nations. The General, who was as dictatorial as his
+associate, on several occasions severely criticised the opinions of
+young Rhodes. "You always contradict me," he declared. "I never met
+such a man for his own opinion. You think your views are always
+right, and every one else's wrong. You are," he went on to say, "the
+sort of man who never approves of anything unless you have had the
+organising of it yourself."
+
+It was a new edition of the pot calling the kettle black, and
+afforded much amusement to onlookers.
+
+On another occasion Gordon begged him to remain in Basutoland and
+work with him, but Rhodes refused. He demonstrated that his work lay
+in Kimberley, and there he would remain. "There are very few men in
+the world," argued Gordon, "to whom I would make such an offer. Very
+few men, I can tell you; but, of course, you _will_ have your own
+way."
+
+Once, when they were together, Gordon related to Rhodes the story of
+an offer of a room full of gold which had been made to him by the
+Chinese Government, after the suppression of the Tai-Ping revolt.
+"What did you do?" asked Rhodes. "Refused it, of course. What would
+you have done?" said Gordon. "I would have taken it," answered
+Rhodes, "and as many more roomfuls as they would give me. It is no
+use for us to have big ideas if we have not got the money to carry
+them out."
+
+When Gordon went to Khartoum he invited Rhodes to accompany him, but
+Rhodes refused. He accepted the offer made by the same post of the
+Treasurer-Generalship in the Scanlin Ministry. In 1884 he became
+Deputy-Commissioner for Bechuanaland, which, as the key to South
+Africa, he determined to keep under his watchful eye. He was at the
+same time Treasurer-General of Cape Colony. In 1889 he became
+Director of the British South Africa Company and Chairman till the
+fiasco of 1896, at which time he was Premier of Cape Colony. In
+addition to holding these posts, his activities have been unending.
+He has been the moving spirit in every enterprise for the expansion
+and development of South Africa. He has gained the esteem of the
+loyal Dutch, and has succeeded in making himself feared if not
+beloved by the disloyal. His great work of attempting to weld
+together the two races into one united people is for the nonce
+suspended, but should life be spared him he will doubtless see the
+realisation of his dream. In addition to his other labours Mr.
+Rhodes was Commissioner of the Crown Lands in 1890-94, Minister of
+Native Affairs 1894-95, and served in Matabeleland in 1896.
+
+
+RHODESIA--UNCIVILISED
+
+In sketching the history of Rhodesia it is necessary to go at least
+as far back as our friend Chaka, the great chieftain of the Zulus,
+whose military prowess has been described. In the days of this
+warlike personage, Matshobane, who governed the Matabele tribe on
+the north-west of Zululand, preferred to submit to Chaka rather than
+to be "eaten up." Matshobane was the grandfather of Lobengula, who
+is intimately associated with the infant history of this promising
+country. His son Mosilikatze, however, was not so amenable to Zulu
+discipline. He broke out, annihilated all men, women, and children
+who happened to come in his way, and betook himself finally to
+remote regions where he had no masters save the lions. Later on, in
+1837, he conceived the ingenious notion of exterminating all the
+white men north of the Orange River; but the white men were too much
+for him, and so he promptly retired to fresh fields and pastures
+new--in fact, to the country now known as Matabeleland. Its
+inhabitants were then settled between the Limpopo and the Zambesi.
+Here he again carried on his fell work of extermination. Of the
+horrors of his triumphant progress nothing need be said. They are
+best left to the imagination. It is enough to explain that the
+tribes of the Makalas, Mashonas, and others that happened to be in
+the way, were speedily wiped out. The Matabele, reigning in this
+vast now almost desolate region, soon became the terror of other
+tribes. The ravagers continued their fiendish operations, and
+finally set up military kraals and installed their chief in the
+principal of these at Buluwayo.
+
+How long this state of things would have endured it is difficult to
+say. Fortunately there appeared on the scene a man--The Man--who
+conceived in his mighty brain a way to clear this Augean stable and
+transform it into a comparative fairyland. Mr. Cecil Rhodes came--he
+saw--and he conquered in all senses of the word. He decided that
+British civilisation must be extended to this "hinter-land"--as the
+Boers called it--and, being a keen man of the world and no
+sentimentalist, he argued, moreover, that British civilisation might
+be made to pay its way! The idea that Mr. Rhodes is "the walking
+embodiment of an ideal," without personal ambition in his schemes,
+is as absolutely absurd as are the reverse pictures that have been
+painted of him. He is no angel and no ogre, Mr. Rhodes is one of
+Nature's sovereigns, who, conscious of his power and the limitations
+of human life, uses every minute at his disposal to write his name
+large in the records of his country. And, since his name is large,
+he wants as a natural consequence a large and clear area to write it
+in, and that area he means to have!
+
+[Illustration: MATABELELAND.]
+
+Now, Mr. Rhodes had decided that the British were the best
+administrators of South Africa, and that if the British shirked the task
+it would be undertaken by some other nation. He saw the key to South
+Africa in his hands--he saw the Boer overspreading his borders, he saw
+Germans and Portuguese intriguing for footholds--there was but one
+course open, and he followed it. On the 30th of November 1888,
+Lobengula, the chief of the Matabele, signed a document giving the
+British the right to search for and extract minerals in his territory.
+Upon that the British South Africa Company was started. In 1889 a
+charter was granted by the Imperial Government. The Company was created
+with a capital of one million sterling. There were eight directors,
+three appointed by the Crown, and five elected by the shareholders. Mr.
+Cecil Rhodes occupied the position of managing director. In a brief
+space of time the wildernesses and the forests were traversed, roads
+were made, and a strong protective force installed in the country. Dr.
+Jameson was appointed administrator at Salisbury. A railroad was planned
+and forts were built. These were occupied by the Company's police.
+
+While the pioneers were at work prospecting for gold, and improving
+the country in all manner of ways, Lobengula became cantankerous. It
+must be remembered that he suffered from gout, for which he was
+treated by Dr. Jameson. Now, Lobengula without gout was sufficiently
+savage to cause much apprehension; with it, it is impossible to
+describe the nature of the alarm he must have occasioned. He fell
+out first with the Mashonas for trivial reasons, and murders were
+committed. Dr. Jameson then came to the conclusion that, if the
+place was to be held at all, Lobengula must be crushed. More
+commotions followed. The Matabeles and Mashona tribes between them
+contrived to render the country uninhabitable. The peaceable
+Europeans would stand it no longer. The Matabele war ensued.
+
+The High Commissioner gave Dr. Jameson permission to protect the
+country, and the forces advanced in two columns upon Buluwayo. Major
+Patrick Forbes acted as commander-in-chief, with Major Alan Wilson
+as next in command. This column, with guns, baggage, and attendant
+blacks (who assisted as camp-followers), kept as much as possible to
+open country to avoid surprise. They marched from the Iron-mine
+Hill, at the source of the Tokwe River.
+
+The second column, commanded by Colonel Goold Adams, was composed in
+equal numbers of Bechuanaland police and South Africa Company's
+mounted men. In all they numbered about 450. It was accompanied by
+some 1500 Bemangwats under their chief.
+
+With Major Forbes's column were Dr. Jameson, Sir John Willoughby,
+and Bishop Knight Bruce. The advance was carefully managed. The
+column destroyed all military kraals in its line of march,
+skirmishing at times, but cautiously providing against attacks of
+the enemy. One of these attacks took place while the force was in
+laager, on the 25th of October. A Matabele army, 5000 strong, made
+three savage onslaughts, but were driven back on each occasion with
+heavy loss.
+
+The column still continued to advance, and Lobengula, hearing of its
+victory and approach, sent forth to meet it a company of pure Zulus,
+the flower of his army.
+
+The Imbezu and Ingubo in front of the Matabele army then approached
+the laager that was being formed near the source of the Imbembesi
+River. They advanced with all their accustomed dash, and a warlike
+intrepidity worthy of Chaka, their renowned ancestor.
+
+But they could make no stand against the Maxim and machine guns, and
+in a few hours all was over. Lobengula's day was practically done!
+
+On hearing of the victory he set fire to his kraal himself, and fled
+towards the Zambesi, leaving his magazine, whenever the flames
+should reach it, to explode with ferocious uproar.
+
+In November 1893 the Chartered Company's force came into possession
+of the smoking, deserted region. Messengers were sent in search of
+the chief. Lobengula was courteously advised to surrender. His
+personal safety was assured to him by Dr. Jameson, but he refused to
+listen. Efforts were then made to capture him. After a long and
+fatiguing march, news was brought in that Lobengula's waggons had
+been seen on the road the day before.
+
+Major Wilson, with a well-mounted party, went off to follow the
+spoor, being advised to return before dark. This he did not do. He
+remained for the night beyond the Shangani River, and by daylight
+reached the waggons of the chief.
+
+Lobengula's followers immediately attacked the small company of
+thirty-four Europeans, which was speedily annihilated. Some of these
+might have escaped, but they preferred, though largely outnumbered,
+to fight side by side with their comrades till the last!
+
+Very little remains to be told. Lobengula endeavoured to arrange
+terms with the British force, but his messengers and money never
+reached their destination. Babyane and four other indunas--followed
+after a few days by others--came to inquire what terms of peace
+would be granted. They were required to surrender their arms before
+returning to their kraals, which they did with alacrity. Most of the
+natives followed their example, being well satisfied with British
+rule. The death of Lobengula, of fever and gout, in January 1894 put
+an end to further complications.
+
+
+RHODESIA--CIVILIZED
+
+So far we have seen the establishment of the British in a hitherto
+absolutely savage arena. It may be interesting to hear what
+travellers have had to say regarding the region that has recently
+become our own. Its present aspect, and its prospects for the
+future, are best learnt from authorities who have personally
+inspected the place. Mr. Charles Boyd discourses thus on the
+subject:--
+
+"When you have got out of the train before the corrugated iron
+building which stands on the edge of the illimitable grey, green
+veldt, to mark where the great station of the future is to arise,
+there is one feature of Buluwayo which is making ready to seize hold
+upon you. It is not, perhaps, the most important feature, but it is
+conspicuous enough to entitle it to a first place in any jotting of
+local impressions. It is what a logician might call the
+_differentia_ of Buluwayo. Put it bluntly it comes to this, that you
+have arrived in a community of gentlemen. A stranger making his way
+about the brown streets, neat brick and corrugated iron buildings
+set down on red earth, and divided into alternate avenues and
+streets--'little New York,' said a policeman complacently--a
+stranger pauses to ask himself if he dreams, or if the Household
+Brigade, the Bachelors' Club, and the Foreign Office have depleted
+themselves of their members, and sent them, disguised in
+broad-brimmed hats and riding-breeches, to hold the capital of
+Matabeleland. Young men of the most eligible sort are everywhere.
+Some of them are manifestly youthful, others are well on in the
+thirties, there is even a sprinkling of men of years; but the mass
+of the population presents the same aspect of physical fitness, that
+indefinable something besides, which is perhaps not to be expressed
+save under the single head of 'race.'" In fact, our authority
+asserts that nowhere can be found a healthier, shrewder, or
+friendlier set of men. He believes in them, and in the discipline
+that has toughened them to meet the real needs of life, and kept
+them alive to a sense of their political and social importance. He
+says--
+
+"Buluwayo now possesses a population of 5000, a mayor and
+corporation, daily and weekly papers, and several public buildings,
+including banks, clubs, and an hospital built as a memorial to Major
+Wilson.
+
+"The rapid increase in the value of land at Buluwayo is shown by the
+fact that whilst in 1894 the average price of a town stand was L103,
+in 1897 it had advanced to L345. By the opening of the railway, in
+November 1897, it is placed in direct communication with Cape
+Town, and a still greater increase in value may be anticipated."
+
+[Illustration: "TO THE MEMORY OF BRAVE MEN."
+
+THE LAST STAND OF MAJOR WILSON ON THE SHANGANI RIVER, 1893.
+
+Painting by Allan Stewart.
+
+Reproduced by special arrangement with the Fine Art Society,
+London.]
+
+Things in Rhodesia are as yet expensive, but Mr. Boyd thinks that
+railroads will have a cheapening influence. He quotes some present
+prices, which would make the hair of a Londoner stand on end!
+Imagine the feelings of the comfortable cockney who found himself
+face to face with a breakfast bill for nine shillings! For this
+modest sum Mr. Boyd was supplied with tea, ham, eggs, marmalade, and
+toast, in fact, the little commonplace things that we have come to
+consider as the natural fixtures of the metropolitan table!
+
+Of the library, whose foundation-stone was laid by Sir Alfred
+Milner, he speaks in highly favourable terms. He says that in laying
+the foundation-stone no one seemed more keenly impressed than the
+High Commissioner himself. He prophesied the foundation of a rich
+university at Buluwayo to replace that other and easy one which a
+library is avowed to supply. At this some one smiled. But Sir Alfred
+rebuked him for the frivolity. He had seen enough, Sir Alfred
+declared, of the temper of this place, to believe a university at
+Buluwayo to be a consummation neither fanciful nor impossible. In
+regard to the agrestic qualities of this new district, Mr. H.
+Marshall Hole has spoken at some length in an article which appeared
+in an issue of _Colonia_, a magazine published by the Colonial
+College, Hollesley Bay, Suffolk. He declares that "the great
+advantage of Rhodesia as an agricultural country is the facility
+with which irrigation can be carried on; the conformation of the
+land is undulating, and even the so-called 'flats' are intersected
+in all directions by valleys, each of which possesses its
+watercourse, so that by the simple expedient of throwing a dam
+across these valleys, water may be stored and led on to the adjacent
+fields as required. The soil is in all parts naturally fertile, but
+the farmer sometimes has great difficulty in reducing it to a proper
+state for cultivation, owing to the roots and growth which must be
+exterminated before the seed is sown. The strongest ploughs and the
+most careful harrowing are required for this work, otherwise the
+settler will have to face the annoyance and delay of broken
+ploughshares, and the disaster of a crop choked by tangle-grass and
+weeds. The crops to which farmers have hitherto most devoted
+themselves in Rhodesia are mealies (maize) and forage (oat hay).
+These find a ready market at all times, as they form the staple food
+of horses. The next most popular crop is potatoes, which do well,
+are not liable to disease, and are in so great request that they
+sometimes fetch 1s. 6d., and seldom fall below 3d. per pound in the
+market. All kinds of English vegetables prosper with very little
+trouble, beyond careful watering in dry weather, and weeding during
+the rains; but, for some unexplained reason, vegetable culture is
+left almost entirely to the coolies or Indians, who, despite their
+very primitive methods of irrigation and tillage, make immense
+profits thereby."
+
+Further on he says that farms of about 3000 acres may be bought at
+from L250 to L2000, according to their situation as regards
+neighbouring towns, or the extent of cultivation done on them; and
+while the farmer will not derive much more than a bare subsistence
+for the first year or two, he may, by combining dairy-farming and
+timber-cutting with his more extensive operations, make both ends
+meet at any rate, and enhance the value of his land without being
+out of pocket. One with a small capital has, of course, a better
+chance of immediate profit, and such an one would do well to join
+some established and experienced man in partnership, or as a pupil,
+in order to learn something of the business before entering it
+finally. His advice to adventurous youth is, "By all means go, if
+you can manage to put together enough money to pay your passage and
+to keep yourself for two or three months after your arrival."
+
+Of the towns he speaks appreciatively. "We have buildings of a very
+substantial type, built for the most part of brick. There are blocks
+of rooms which form bachelor 'diggings' for single men, and small
+but comfortable suburban houses for families, while the railways on
+the east and west afford facilities for the importation of excellent
+furniture. Eight years ago it was so difficult to obtain furniture
+that every little packing case was carefully treasured, its nails
+drawn out and straightened, and its boards converted into tables,
+stools, and shelves. To-day it is no uncommon thing to find pianos
+and billiard tables in private houses in Buluwayo, and even in
+Salisbury, which has not yet been reached by the railway, while the
+club-houses at both places are models of comfort and luxury."
+
+A writer, who signs himself "W. E. L.," in _British Africa_ says of
+Rhodesia, "That the soil is mostly very fertile; in Matabeleland
+alone 6000 square miles are suitable for cultivation without any
+artificial irrigation, or other extensive preliminary work. In 1891,
+a commission of Cape Colony farmers visited the country, and
+reported favourably on the land from an agricultural standpoint. Mr.
+Lionel Decle said, 'I am the first traveller who has crossed Africa
+from the Cape to Uganda, and I must say the British South Africa
+Company may certainly boast of possessing the pick of Central Africa
+on both sides of the Zambesi.'
+
+"Teak forests cover 2000 square miles in North-West Matabeleland;
+and Mashonaland is very well timbered, mostly with trees of the
+acacia family.
+
+"The native crops are rice, tobacco, cotton, and india-rubber. All
+European vegetables can be grown to perfection, especially
+cabbages, lettuces, beetroot, turnips, carrots, and onions. There
+were in 1897 over eighty market gardens in the neighbourhood of
+Buluwayo, and for the half-year ending September 1897, the value of
+the produce sold was L9630.
+
+"Fruit orchards are being planted, and nearly all fruit appears to
+flourish, especially grapes, figs, oranges, peaches, almonds,
+walnuts, lemons, bananas, quinces, apricots, pomegranates, and
+apples. All kinds of European cereals can be grown, and maize does
+well.
+
+"The average rainfall is 30 to 35 inches, 90 per cent. of which
+falls during the wet season--November to March.
+
+"The temperature rarely touches freezing point, except on the
+highlands round Salisbury and Fort Charter, and owing to the great
+elevation (4000 to 5000 feet) of most of the country, rarely exceeds
+90 deg. in the shade. In the low-lying Zambesi valley, however, it is
+very hot from December to March."
+
+Of the mineral wealth, it seems as yet dangerous to prognosticate.
+Prophecies are many, and there is every reason to believe that the
+mines will be prolific as those of the Transvaal. In regard to this
+matter, however, time alone can show.
+
+
+GOLD
+
+It may be remembered that in and after 1854, the Boers commenced to
+block up the path of travellers, and in some cases to cause
+expulsion of visitors across the Vaal. Doubtless this policy of
+expulsion originated in the nefarious traffic in "apprentices,"
+which they wished to carry on uninterruptedly, but there was also
+another reason for their precautions. Stray discoveries of gold had
+been made from time to time, and gold prospectors began to take an
+uncomfortable interest in the district. Now the Boers had no desire
+to open up their country to the mining population, or to run any
+risks which might interfere with their hardly won independence.
+After the discoveries of the German explorer Manch, however, they
+were unable entirely to resist invasion. The ears of the public were
+tickled. The hint of nuggets in the Transvaal naturally drew thither
+a horde of adventurous Europeans who would not be denied. The first
+immigrants betook themselves to Barberton, and some three or four
+years later to the Witwatersrandt. These appear mostly to have been
+Scotsmen, for President Burgers christened the earliest goldfields
+Mac Mac, in consequence of the names of the invaders. Miners and
+speculators of all kinds commenced to pour into those districts,
+some to make a fortune as quickly as possible, and rush off to
+spend it elsewhere, others to settle themselves in the country and
+develop schemes for financial outlay, profitable alike to themselves
+and to the land of their adoption. Now these permanent visitors were
+scarcely appreciated by the Boers. They foresaw the alien
+transformed into the citizen, and objected to him. The power which
+they had acquired, both by long years of hardship and long hours of
+scheming, they wished to keep entirely in their own hands. With the
+arrival of further settlers they feared this independence would be
+materially weakened. In order that further possible citizens might
+not be attracted to the Transvaal, the Volksraad passed a law
+calculated to damp their ardour. This law imposed on all candidates
+for the franchise a residence of five years, to be accompanied by
+register on the Field Cornet's books, and a payment of L25 on
+admission to the rights of citizenship.
+
+The first discoverers of the great goldfield are reported to be the
+Brothers Struben, owing to whose perseverance and patience the
+Witwatersrandt became the Eldorado of speculators' dreams. In 1886
+this locality was declared a public goldfield by formal
+proclamation, and the South African golden age began.
+
+In a little while the regions north of the Limpopo began to be
+investigated, and each in their turn to yield up their treasures. In
+1888 a concession to work mineral upon his territory was obtained
+from Lobengula, the Matabele king. A year later the British South
+Africa Company was founded. The Company having obtained its charter,
+no time was lost. In 1890, we find the now noted pioneer expedition
+plying its activities in Mashonaland.
+
+Mr. Basil Worsfold, in a most instructive article in the
+_Fortnightly Review_, affords an excellent insight into the energy
+that characterised the Company's proceedings:--"In the space of
+three months, a road 400 miles in length was cut through jungle and
+swamp, and a series of forts was erected and garrisoned by the
+Company's forces. After the Matabele war, which occupied the closing
+months of 1893, the prospecting and mining for gold was commenced in
+Matabele, as well as in Mashonaland, and at the present time
+Buluwayo, Lobengula's kraal, has become the chief centre of the
+industry. These operations were checked by the revolt of the
+Matabele and Mashona in 1896, but since that period gold mining has
+been steadily progressing. The Buluwayo yield for December 1898
+amounted to 6258 oz.: while that of the four last months--September
+to December--of the same year was 18,084 oz., of the value of about
+L70,000!"
+
+[Illustration: A MATABELE RAID IN MASHONALAND.
+
+Drawn by W. Small, from Sketches by A. R. Colquhoun, First
+Administrator of Mashonaland.]
+
+The other fields which yield gold are the Transvaal, Lydenberg, and
+De Kaap fields, and the Klerksdorp and Potchefstrom fields. The
+output of these fields continues to grow apace, but how much
+longer the growth will be maintained is uncertain. The opinion of
+Mr. Hamilton Smith, who wrote to the _Times_ on the subject in 1895,
+is worth consideration. He says, "In 1894 the value of the Randt
+gold bullion was L7,000,000, and this without any increase from the
+new deep-level mines; these latter will become fairly productive in
+1897, so for that year a produce of fully L10,000,000 can be fairly
+expected. Judging from present appearances, the maximum product of
+the Randt will be reached about the end of the present century, when
+it will probably exceed L12,500,000 per annum."
+
+It is interesting to find that Mr. Smith's maximum figure was
+already exceeded in the year 1898, when the total yield of gold was
+4,295,602 oz., valued at L15,250,000!
+
+The following table, based on Mr. H. Smith's and Dr. Soetbeer's
+estimates, affords us an opportunity for comparing the South African
+output with that of other countries, and the world's present supply
+with that of former years:--
+
+GOLD OUTPUT FOR 1894. | WORLD'S OUTPUT.
+------------------------------------------------------------------
+ | Average annual
+ Value | From value.
+United States L9,000,000 | 1700 to 1859 L 2,000,000
+Australasia 8,000,000 | 1850 to 1875 25,000,000
+South Africa 7,000,000 | 1875 to 1890 20,000,000
+Russia (1892) 4,000,000 | 1894 (one year only) 36,000,000
+
+Of the stimulus given to railway construction by the establishment
+of the gold industry Mr. Worsfold speaks with authority. He says,
+"To-day, Johannesburg--built on land which in 1886 was part of an
+absolutely barren waste--is approached by three distinct lines,
+which connect it directly with the four chief ports of South
+Africa--Delagoa Bay, Durban, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town. Of these
+lines the earliest, which traverses the Free State from end to end,
+and links the Randt with the Cape Colony, was not opened until July
+1892. The Pretoria-Delagoa Bay line was completed in the autumn of
+1894; and the extension of the Randt railway to Charlestown, the
+connecting-point with the Natal line, was not effected until the
+following year. These, together with some subsidiary lines,
+represent a total of 1000 miles of railway constructed mainly under
+the stimulus of the gold industry in the Transvaal. To this total
+two considerable pieces of railway construction, accomplished in the
+interest of the gold industry in the Chartered Company's
+territories, must be added. Of these, the first extended the main
+trunk line of Africa from Kimberley successively to Vryburg and
+Mafeking, in 1890 and 1894, and then finally to Buluwayo in 1897,
+and the second, the Beira line, by securing a rapid passage through
+the 'fly country,' brought Salisbury into easy communication with
+the East Coast of Africa at the port so named. Taken together, they
+measure 930 miles. It should be added also that arrangements are
+already in progress for the extension of the trunk line from
+Buluwayo to Tanganyika--a distance of about 750 miles. This will
+form a new and important link in Mr. Rhodes' great scheme of
+connecting Cape Town with Cairo."
+
+The telegraph advanced more speedily even than railroads, and the
+population has kept pace with wire and rail. Johannesburg has a
+population of 120,800 souls, and Buluwayo, a savage desert not long
+ago, has now an European society of over 5000 persons. It is
+therefore somewhat questionable if Mr. Froude is justified in his
+opinion that diamonds and gold are not the stuff of which nations
+are made. Nations, if they are to expand, must be fed, and while
+diamond and gold mines give up of their wealth, we are assured of
+sufficient food to foster expansion. That done, it remains merely
+with the Government of the flourishing nation to decide whether its
+work shall be little or large.
+
+It is curious to note that in spite of the disturbance in the
+Transvaal the mines continued to maintain their position, with the
+result that the gold output from the Randt for July shows a
+considerable increase upon previous months. According to the
+official figures received from the Chamber of Mines, the returns
+were as follows:--
+
+ 456,474 ozs. for the Witwatersrandt district
+ 22,019 ozs. for the outside district
+ --------
+ 478,493 ozs.
+
+The production in June 1899 was:--
+
+ 445,763 ozs. for the Witwatersrandt district
+ 21,508 ozs. for the outside district
+ --------
+In all 467,271 ozs.
+
+And in July 1898:--
+
+ 359,343 ozs. for the Witwatersrandt district
+ 22,663 ozs. for the outside district
+ --------
+In all 382,006 ozs.
+
+This table shows that during the twelve months since July 1898 the
+production of gold on the Randt has increased by 100,000 ozs. a
+month--equivalent to 1,200,000 ozs. a year. It will be found that,
+if these returns are compared with the estimates made by competent
+authorities, the actual output is far in excess of all estimates,
+following is the gold output table, Transvaal, to July 1899:--
+
++----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------------+
+| MONTH. | 1895. | 1896. | 1897. | 1898. | 1899. | TOTAL TO DATE. |
++----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------------+
+| | Ozs. | Ozs. | Ozs. | Ozs. | Ozs. | Ozs. |
+|January | 177,463 | 148,178 | 209,832 | 336,577 | 431,010 | 369,557--1889 |
+|February | 169,296 | 167,019 | 211,000 | 321,238 | 425,166 | 42,000--'87-8-9|
+|March | 184,945 | 173,952 | 232,067 | 347,643 | 464,036 | 494,817--1890 |
+|April | 186,323 | 176,003 | 235,698 | 353,243 | 460,349 | 729,238--1891 |
+|May | 194,580 | 195,009 | 248,305 | 365,016 | 466,452 | 1,210,867--1892|
+|June | 200,942 | 193,640 | 251,529 | 365,091 | 467,271 | 1,478,473--1893|
+|July | 199,453 | 203,874 | 242,479 | 382,006 | 478,493 | 2,024,163--1894|
+|August | 203,573 | 213,418 | 259,603 | 398,285 | ... | 2,277,640--1895|
+|September | 194,765 | 202,562 | 262,150 | 408,502 | ... | 2,281,175--1896|
+|October | 192,652 | 199,890 | 274,175 | 423,217 | ... | 3,034,674--1897|
+|November | 195,219 | 201,113 | 297,124 | 413,517 | ... | 4,555,009--1898|
+|December | 178,429 | 206,517 | 310,712 | 440,674 | ... | 3,193,777--1899|
++----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------------+
+|Total |2,277,640|2,281,175|3,034,674|4,555,009|3,193,777|21,899,562 ozs. |
++----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------------+
+Government Returns; some additions to be made for Rhodesia.
+
+
+DIAMONDS
+
+The discovery of diamonds in South Africa was made by a curious
+accident. One day a trader travelling along in the neighbourhood
+north of Cape Colony happened to stop at a farm. While there, he was
+interested in a small child who was toying with a bright and
+singularly lustrous pebble. His curiosity was aroused, and he
+suggested that the thing might be rare enough to be of some value.
+Thereupon the stone was sent to an expert in Grahamstown, who
+declared it to be a diamond. The stone weighed twenty-one carats and
+was valued at L500. From that date search was made in and around the
+locality, and more diamonds, smaller and of inferior quality, were
+found. During the years 1867-68 nothing very active was done, though
+now and again these precious stones were discovered near the Vaal
+River.
+
+In the month of March, 1869, the world was startled and began to
+open its eyes. The diamond known as "the Star of Africa," weighing
+some eighty-three carats in its raw state, was obtained from a
+Hottentot. This individual had been in possession of the valuable
+property for some time, and had kept it solely on account of its
+rarity as a charm. The stone was eventually sold for the sum of
+L11,000.
+
+The north bank of the Vaal where the discoveries were made was, at
+that time, a species of "No-Man's-Land." The southern bank belonged
+to the Free State, but for the other side there were many claimants,
+none of whom could prove a title to it. The community of miners
+which there gathered was consequently lawless and ruffianly, and its
+mode of government was distinctly primitive.
+
+The various claimants, notably the Griqua Captain, Nicholas
+Waterboer, commenced disputes regarding the valuable portion of the
+Free State territory, and finally it was decided to submit to
+British arbitration. President Brand refused the offer, but
+President M. W. Pretorius of the South African Republic, who had
+grievances against the Barolong, Batlapin, and Griqua tribes,
+agreed. A Court was appointed, the Governor of Natal acting as
+umpire. The interests involved were many, and on the subject of
+their rights the various claimants seemed somewhat hazy. The Free
+State was not represented, and the umpire, acting on the evidence of
+Mr. Arnot (the agent of Nicholas Waterboer) gave judgment against
+the South African Republic, and allowed the claim of the Griqua
+Captain, including in the award the tract claimed by him in the Free
+State. The complicated situation is thus described by Mr. Bryce in
+his "Impressions of South Africa":--
+
+"As Waterboer had before the award offered his territory to the
+British Government, the country was forthwith erected into a Crown
+Colony, under the name of Griqualand West. This was in 1871. The
+Free State, whose case had not been stated, much less argued, before
+the umpire, protested, and was after a time able to appeal to a
+judgment delivered by a British Court, which found that Waterboer
+had never enjoyed any right to the territory. However, the new
+Colony had by this time been set up, and the British flag displayed.
+The British Government, without either admitting or denying the Free
+State title, declared that a district in which it was difficult to
+keep order amid a turbulent and shifting population ought to be
+under the control of a strong power, and offered the Free State a
+sum of L90,000 in settlement of whatever claim it might possess. The
+acceptance by the Free State, in 1876, of this sum closed the
+controversy, though a sense of injustice continued to rankle in the
+breasts of some of the citizens of the Republic. Amicable relations
+have subsisted ever since between it and Cape Colony, and the
+control of the British Government over the Basutos has secured for
+it peace in the quarter which was formerly most disturbed.
+
+"These two cases show how various are the causes, and how mixed the
+motives, which press a great power forward even against the wishes
+of its statesmen. The Basutos were declared British subjects, partly
+out of a sympathetic wish to rescue and protect them, partly because
+policy required the acquisition of a country naturally strong,
+and holding an important strategical position. Griqualand West,
+taken in the belief that Waterboer had a good title to it, was
+retained after this belief had been dispelled, partly perhaps
+because a population had crowded into it which consisted mainly of
+British subjects, and was not easily controllable by a small State,
+but mainly because Colonial feeling refused to part with a region of
+such exceptional mineral wealth. And the retention of Griqualand
+West caused, before long, the acquisition of Bechuanaland, which in
+its turn naturally led to that northward extension of British
+influence which has carried the Union Jack to the shores of Lake
+Tanganyika."
+
+[Illustration: KIMBERLEY, AS SEEN FROM THE ROCK SHAFT.
+
+Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]
+
+Griqualand West, whose capital is the salubrious Kimberley, was
+settled in 1833 by the Griquas or Baastards, a tribe of Dutch
+Hottentot half-breeds. As we have seen, the territory was claimed by
+the chief, Waterboer, and his claim was allowed by the Governor of
+Natal. When he subsequently ceded his rights, the province was
+annexed to Cape Colony, but with independent jurisdiction. In 1881
+it became an integral part of Cape Colony. Griqualand East comprises
+No-Man's-Land, the Gatberg and St. John's River territory, under
+eight subordinate magistrates.
+
+A word, before passing on, of Kimberley. This town, hitherto known
+as the City of Diamonds, has now the distinction of being the casket
+where Mr. Rhodes, with the price of L5000 on his head, was
+incarcerated. Its real birth dates from 1869-70, when all the world
+rushed out to win fortune from its soil. Happily at that time Mr.
+Cecil Rhodes happened to be in the neighbourhood. With his usual
+gift of foresight, he recognised that some process of amalgamating
+the various conflicting claims and interests, and merging them in
+one huge whole, would be necessary if the value of diamonds was to
+be kept up. He invented a scheme, and succeeded--the great
+corporation, the De Beers Consolidated Mining Company, limited the
+output of diamonds to an annual amount such as Europe and the United
+States were able to take at a price high enough to leave an adequate
+profit. This arrangement has, in a measure, had the effect of
+depopulating the place. At least it has thinned it of the crowd of
+adventurers who previously infested the region and struggled to
+maintain an independent existence there. In the absence of these
+loafers the town is civilised, and comparatively refined. There are
+groves of gum-trees to promote shade, and thickets of prickly pear,
+which have ever a rural, though touch-me-not aspect. The
+low-storeyed houses, built bungalow-wise, have an air of
+capaciousness and ease; and further out, in Kenilworth, there are
+comfortable dwellings, surrounded with trees, and suggestive of a
+certain suburban picturesqueness. This region owes its cheerful and
+well-ordered aspect entirely to Mr. Rhodes, who is at the same time
+the parent and the apostle of all progress in South Africa.
+
+The diamonds have their home in beds of clay, which are usually
+covered with calcareous rock. These beds are the remains of mud
+pits, due to volcanic action. Mr. Bryce, in his "Impressions of
+South Africa, says:--
+
+"Some of the mines are worked to the depth of 1200 feet by shafts
+and subterranean galleries. Some are open, and these, particularly
+that called the Wesselton Mine, are an interesting sight. This deep
+hollow, one-third of a mile in circumference and 100 feet deep,
+enclosed by a strong fence of barbed wire, is filled by a swarm of
+active Kaffir workmen, cleaving the 'hard blue' with pickaxes,
+piling it up on barrows, and carrying it off to the wide fields,
+where it is left exposed to the sun, and, during three months, to
+the rain. Having been thus subjected to a natural decomposition, it
+is the more readily brought by the pickaxe into smaller fragments
+before being sent to the mills, where it is crushed, pulverised, and
+finally washed to get at the stones. Nowhere in the world does the
+hidden wealth of the soil and the element of chance in its discovery
+strike one so forcibly as here, where you are shown a piece of
+ground a few acres in extent, and are told, 'Out of this pit
+diamonds of the value of L12,000,000 have been taken.' Twenty-six
+years ago the ground might have been bought for L50."
+
+To encourage honesty in the miner good wages are given, and ten per
+cent. is allowed to finders of valuable stones who voluntarily
+deliver these to the overseer. Apropos of this subject, Mr. Bryce
+relates an amusing tale, which, if not true, is certainly _ben
+trovato_: "I heard from a missionary an anecdote of a Basuto who,
+after his return from Kimberley, was describing how, on one
+occasion, his eye fell on a valuable diamond in the clay he was
+breaking into fragments. While he was endeavouring to pick it up he
+perceived the overseer approaching, and, having it by this time in
+his hand, was for a moment terribly frightened, the punishment for
+theft being very severe. The overseer, however, passed on. 'And
+then,' said the Basuto, 'I knew that there was indeed a God, for He
+had preserved me.'"
+
+Before leaving the subject of diamonds, it may be interesting to
+note the material increase of the products of the mines year by
+year. The following is a table of statistics of the De Beers
+Consolidated Mines, Limited, since its formation, 1st April 1888:--
+
+TABLE OF STATISTICS.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: In order to fit into the limits required by
+Project Gutenberg, this table has been split into three parts.]
+
++----------+----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------------+
+| |Year Ending | Number | Number | Number of |Amount Realised|
+| | |of Loads |of Loads | Carats of | by Sale |
+| | |of Blue |of Blue | Diamonds | of Diamonds. |
+| | |Hoisted. | Washed. | Found | |
++----------+----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------------|
+| {|March 31, 1889, | | | | L s. d.|
+| {|prior to | 944,706| 712,263| 914,121 | 901,818 0 5|
+| {|consolidation | | | | |
+|De Beers {|March 31, 1890 |2,192,226|1,251,245|1,450,605 |2,330,179 16 3|
+|and {|March 31, 1891 |1,978,153|2,029,588|2,020,515 |2,974,670 9 0|
+|Kimberley{|[A]June 30, 1892|3,338,553|3,239,134|3,035,481 |3,931,542 11 1|
+|Mines {|June 30, 1893 |3,090,183|2,108,626|2,229,805 |3,239,389 8 6|
+| {|June 30, 1894 |2,999,431|2,577,460|2,308,463-1/2|2,820,172 3 9|
+| {|June 30, 1895 |2,525,717|2,854,817|2,435,541-1/2|3,105,957 15 8|
+| {|June 30, 1896 |2,698,109|2,597,026|2,363,437-3/4|3,165,382 1 4|
+| {|June 30, 1897 |2,515,889|3,011,288|2,769,422-3/4|3,722,099 3 3|
+| | | | | | |
+|Premier | | | | | |
+|Mine |June 30, 1897 | 271,777| ... | ... | ... |
+| | | | | | |
+|De Beers | | | | | |
+|and | | | | | |
+|Kimberley | | | | | |
+|Mines |June 30, 1898 |3,332,688|3,259,692|2,603,250 |3,451,214 15 3|
+| | | | | | |
+|Premier | | | | | |
+|Mine |June 30, 1898 |1,146,984| 691,722| 189,356-1/4| 196,659 18 8|
++----------+----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------------+
+
++----------+----------------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+| |Year Ending | Number | Amount | Amount |Cost of |
+| | |of Carats| Realised | Realised |Production|
+| | |per Load | per Carat | per Load. |per Load |
+| | | of Blue.| Sold. | | |
++----------+----------------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+| {|March 31, 1889, | | | | |
+| {|prior to | | s. d. | s. d. | s. d. |
+| {|consolidation | 1.283 | 19 8-3/4 | 25 3-3/4 | 9 10-1/2 |
+|De Beers {|March 31, 1890 | 1.15 | 32 6-3/4 | 37 2-3/4 | 8 10-1/2 |
+|and {|March 31, 1891 | .99 | 29 6 | 29 3-3/4 | 8 8 |
+|Kimberley{|[A]June 30, 1892| .92 | 25 6 | 23 5 | 7 4.3 |
+|Mines {|June 30, 1893 | 1.05 | 29 0.6 | 30 6 | 6 11.6 |
+| {|June 30, 1894 | .89 | 24 5.2 | 21 10.6 | 6 6.8 |
+| {|June 30, 1895 | .85 | 25 6 | 21 8 | 6 10.8 |
+| {|June 30, 1896 | .91 | 26 9.4 | 24 4.5 | 7 0.1 |
+| {|June 30, 1897 | .92 | 26 10.6 | 24 8.6 | 7 4.3 |
+| | | | | | |
+|Premier | | | | | |
+|Mine |June 30, 1897 | ... | ... | ... | ... |
+| | | | | | |
+|De Beers | | | | | |
+|and | | | | | |
+|Kimberley | | | | | |
+|Mines |June 30, 1898 | .80 | 26 6.2 | 21 2.1 | 6 7.4 |
+| | | | | | |
+|Premier | | | | | |
+|Mine |June 30, 1898 | .27 | 20 9.3 | 5 8.2 | 2 7.1 |
++----------+----------------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+
+
++----------+----------------+----------+---------------------------------+
+| |Year Ending | Number of| |
+| | | Loads | DIVIDENDS PAID. |
+| | |of Blue on| |
+| | | Floors at+------------------+--------------+
+| | | Close of | | |
+| | | Year, | Amount. | Equal to |
+| | | exclusive| | |
+| | | of Lumps | | |
++----------+----------------+----------+------------------+--------------+
+| {|March 31, 1889, | | | |
+| {|prior to | | L s. d.| |
+| {|consolidation | 476,403 | 188,329 10 0| 5 per cent. |
+|De Beers {|March 31, 1890 |1,576,821 | 789,682 0 0| 20 " |
+|and {|March 31, 1891 |1,525,386 | 789,791 0 0| 20 " |
+|Kimberley{|[A]June 30, 1892|1,624,805 | 1,382,134 5 0| 35 " |
+|Mines {|June 30, 1893 |2,606,362 | 987,238 15 0| 25 " |
+| {|June 30, 1894 |3,028,333 | 987,238 15 0| 25 " |
+| {|June 30, 1895 |2,699,233 | 987,238 15 0| 25 " |
+| {|June 30, 1896 |2,800,316 | 1,579,582 0 0| 40 " |
+| {|June 30, 1897 |2,304,917 | 1,579,582 0 0| 40 " |
+| | | | | |
+|Premier | | | | |
+|Mine |June 30, 1897 | 271,777 | ... | ... |
+| | | | | |
+|De Beers | | | | |
+|and | | | | |
+|Kimberley | | | | |
+|Mines |June 30, 1898 |2,377,913 |} | |
+| | | |} | |
+|Premier | | |} 1,579,582 0 0| 40 per cent. |
+|Mine |June 30, 1898 | 727,039 |} | |
++----------+----------------+----------+------------------+--------------+
+
+[A] These figures are for a period of fifteen months. Add
+10 per cent. for other products.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE TRANSVAAL OF TO-DAY
+
+
+We have dealt with the exodus of the trekkers, and with the land
+that subsequently became the Transvaal. It behoves us now to discuss
+the difference between that primitive pastoral region of the early
+century and the busy country that may, for distinction sake, be
+styled the Transvaal of to-day.
+
+Modern geographers apply the name of the Transvaal to the tract of
+country between the Limpopo River on the north, and the Vaal River
+on the south. It is bounded on the east by the Lobombo, and the
+Drakenberg Mountains, which run parallel to the Natal coast, and on
+the west by British Bechuanaland. On the east lie Portuguese
+Territory and British Zululand, on the north Rhodesia, on the west
+British Bechuanaland, and on the south the Orange Free State and
+Natal. The important rivers are the Limpopo or Crocodile River, so
+named in compliment to its reptile inhabitants, and the Vaal, a
+tributary of the Orange River. This rises among the Drakenberg
+Mountains, and, curving, flows west as a boundary between the Orange
+Free State and the Transvaal. The Limpopo rises between Johannesburg
+and Pretoria, and sprays out north-east, north-west, east, and
+south-east, reaching the sea in the neighbourhood of Delagoa Bay.
+After leaving the Transvaal, owing to the presence of a cataract, it
+is however unsuitable for purposes of navigation. The district of
+the Transvaal varies in height from 2000 to 8000 feet above the
+level of the sea. The Hooge Veld, the uplands of the Drakenberg
+Mountains, rises from 4000 to 8000 feet above the sea, and between
+them and the outer slopes of the Lobombo range is a vast tract of
+some 20,000 square miles of arable land, called the Banken Veld. It
+furnishes a splendid grazing ground, and corn grows in profusion.
+The Bosch Veld or Bush Country comprises the centre of the country,
+and runs west into Bechuanaland. This district is largely infested
+with the tsetse fly, an insect whose sting means death to almost all
+domestic animals. Besides this, it is the home of malaria and other
+fevers. The Hooge Veld, which has a drier, colder, and more healthy
+climate, is largely used for breeding cattle, and as a grazing
+ground for sheep and oxen. It is here that, in later days, the
+gold-mining activity proceeds, as almost everywhere there are
+believed to be rich auriferous deposits. Its mineral deposits have
+been the attraction of the Transvaal, for the coal-fields invited
+the attention of some of the first speculators. In fact, the first
+railway line of the district ran between Johannesburg and a
+colliery.
+
+Besides coal may be found silver, copper, and lead. But the great
+attraction, GOLD, has for the last ten years lured all the money
+from the pockets of the enterprising. Other metals, such as
+cinnabar, iron, and tin are, for the nonce, like Gray's violet,
+"born to blush unseen," until some ingenious person discovers in
+them a subtle attraction.
+
+To show the financial changes which have come over the country
+within the last ten years, Mr. Campbell, late Vice-President of the
+Chamber of Mines, Johannesburg, has written a valuable article. In
+it he gives us the following agrarian position in the Transvaal of
+the present by areas and by values:--
+
+ AREAS.
+
+ Per cent.
+ Boers' own land 65
+ British 35
+ ---
+ 100
+
+But land is valuable not by area merely, but by intrinsic value, and
+the Boers have sold much of their best land, and taken British gold
+for it, and when we come to the figures in the Government Dues
+Office at Pretoria, we have--
+
+ VALUE.
+
+ Per cent.
+ Boers' 33
+ British 67
+ ---
+ 100
+
+The net deductions in the Dues Offices are, that the whole of the
+farms and private lands in the Transvaal, under the mere Boer
+occupancy, are valued by the outside world at L933,200, whereas
+to-day, by the addition of the British buyer and holder, they are
+now valued by the world at ten millions sterling! In figures given
+above, all land occupied for mining or town sites is excluded.
+
+The current yield of gold is computed at the rate of seventeen and a
+half millions sterling per annum. This is the vitalising source of
+African trade and African progress. It pays the interest on nearly
+all South African Railways, is responsible for a large portion of
+the costs of Government in the Cape Colony, Orange States, Natal as
+well as Pretoria. And yet the working bees--the white British
+community of Johannesburg--who have helped to enrich the hive
+containing the whole of South African interests, have been
+neglected, if not betrayed, by the Mother Country. They have been
+deprived of arms, of liberties,--they have suffered insult and
+disdain, and Great Britain, until forced to do so, has moved not a
+finger in their defence. The Transvaal, one of the richest districts
+of the world, merely wants good and sustained government--a
+government that will grant to all respectable white men free and
+equal rights. When this shall come to pass, its splendid resources
+will be developed. The Indian Ocean trade will be supplied with
+steam coal. The country will sustain itself, and will also export
+food stuffs, and trade in iron, hide, wool, tin, and quantities of
+other things, whose value has hitherto been ignored. All that is
+needed is a dignified acceptance of British responsibilities. South
+Africa was bought by the paramount Power nearly an hundred years
+ago, and has since then been administered--if not entirely wisely
+and well--at least administered, by that Power. British sweat has
+rained on the country, British muscle has toiled in the country,
+British blood has flowed in streams over its face, and British bones
+are mixed with the shifting grains of its sand. It now remains for
+British sovereignty to wield its sceptre and make its presence felt.
+
+[Illustration: PRETORIA FROM THE EAST.
+
+Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]
+
+
+ACCUMULATED AGGRAVATIONS
+
+Since it is impossible to enter into all the intricacies of foreign
+political relations with the Transvaal, we will return to the
+Uitlanders. They became more and more unwelcome as their numbers
+increased. Many Acts were passed, each serving to render more
+impossible their chances of obtaining the franchise. The fact was
+that Mr. Kruger, having brought his State to a condition of
+bankruptcy almost identical with that which existed when Sir T.
+Shepstone annexed the Transvaal, was struggling to carry on a
+divided scheme, that of grabbing with both hands from the Uitlander
+financialists, while endeavouring to maintain with close-fisted
+obstinacy the exclusiveness, irresponsibility, and bigotry of the
+primitive trekker. He knew that if he granted full political rights
+to the outsiders he would no longer be master of his own misguided
+house. He said as much, and pointed out that were he to do so there
+would be no alternative but to haul down his flag. This being the
+case, there was no resource but to transform the so-called free
+Republic into an absolute oligarchy. Much has been said of the
+"Russian despot," but this century can present no more complete
+spectacle of despotism than that of Mr. Kruger. The Emperor of
+Russia, autocrat as he is, is guided by the traditions of his empire
+and the machinations of his ministers, but Mr. Kruger has allowed
+himself to be reasoned with and influenced by none, and his word has
+been in reality the only form of law or justice on which the
+Uitlanders have had to rely. Such system of government as there was
+was corrupt. Smuggling flourished under the very eye of the
+officials, and the Field Cornets, whose business it was to act as
+petty justices, collect taxes, and register arrivals of new-comers,
+kept their books in a manner more in accord with their personal
+convenience than with accuracy. Hence, when it came to the question
+of the naturalisation of the Uitlanders, the books which should have
+recorded their registration were either withheld or missing.
+Settlers in the Transvaal between the years 1882 and 1890, owing to
+this irregularity, were debarred from proving their registration as
+the law required. Speaking of this period, Mr. Fitzpatrick, in "The
+Transvaal from Within," says:--
+
+"In the country districts justice was not a commodity intended for
+the Britisher. Many cases of gross abuse, and several of actual
+murder occurred, and in 1885 the case of Mr. Jas. Donaldson, then
+residing on a farm in Lydenburg--lately one of the Reform
+prisoners--was mentioned in the House of Commons, and became the
+subject of a demand by the Imperial Government for reparation and
+punishment. He had been ordered by two Boers (one of whom was in the
+habit of boasting that he had shot an unarmed Englishman in
+Lydenburg since the war, and would shoot others) to abstain from
+collecting hut taxes on his own farm; and on refusing had been
+attacked by them. After beating them off single-handed, he was later
+on again attacked by his former assailants, reinforced by three
+others. They bound him with reims (thongs), kicked and beat him with
+sjamboks (raw-hide whips) and clubs, stoned him, and left him
+unconscious and so disfigured that he was thought to be dead when
+found some hours later. On receipt of the Imperial Government's
+representations, the men were arrested, tried, and fined. The fines
+were stated to have been remitted at once by Government, but in the
+civil action which followed Mr. Donaldson received L500 damages. The
+incident had a distinctly beneficial effect, and nothing more was
+heard of the maltreatment of defenceless men simply because they
+were Britishers."
+
+Nevertheless the hostility between the two races was growing apace,
+and every ambition of the Uitlanders was promptly nipped in the
+bud.
+
+Reforms were at first mildly suggested. Bridges and roads were
+required, also a remission of certain taxes, but suggestions, even
+agitations, were in vain. In regard to the franchise question--the
+crying question of the decade--Mr. Kruger turned an ear more and
+more deaf. There are none so deaf as those whose ears are stopped up
+with the cotton-wool of their own bigotry. This bigotry it is almost
+impossible for enlightened persons to understand. As an instance of
+the almost fanatical ignorance and prejudice with which the
+Uitlanders had to contend, we may quote the letter of Mr. Kruger
+when requested to allow his name to be used as a patron of a ball to
+be given in honour of her Majesty's birthday. He replied:--
+
+ "SIR,--In reply to your favour of the 12th inst., requesting me to
+ ask his Honour the State President to consent to his name being
+ used as a patron of a ball to be given at Johannesburg on the 26th
+ inst., I have been instructed to inform you that his Honour
+ considers a ball as Baal's service, for which reason the Lord
+ ordered Moses to kill all offenders; and as it is therefore
+ contrary to his Honour's principles, his Honour cannot consent to
+ the misuse of his name in such connection.--I have, &c.,
+
+ "F. ELOFF,
+ _Private Secretary_."
+
+On another occasion, when the question of locust extermination came
+before the first Raad, the worthies to whom the conduct of the State
+was confided showed a condition of benighted simplicity that can
+scarcely be credited.
+
+"_July 21._--Mr. Roos said locusts were a plague, as in the days of
+King Pharaoh, sent by God, and the country would assuredly be loaded
+with shame and obloquy if it tried to raise its hand against the
+mighty hand of the Almighty.
+
+"Messrs. Declerq and Steenkamp spoke in the same strain, quoting
+largely from the Scriptures.
+
+"The Chairman related a true story of a man whose farm was always
+spared by the locusts, until one day he caused some to be killed.
+His farm was then devastated.
+
+"Mr. Stoop conjured the members not to constitute themselves
+terrestrial gods, and oppose the Almighty.
+
+"Mr. Lucas Meyer raised a storm by ridiculing the arguments of the
+former speakers, and comparing the locusts to beasts of prey, which
+they destroyed.
+
+"Mr. Labuschagne was violent. He said the locusts were different
+from beasts of prey. They were a special plague sent by God for
+their sinfulness."
+
+[Illustration: SERGEANT and BUGLER, 1st ARGYLE AND SUTHERLAND
+HIGHLANDERS.
+
+Photo by Gregory & Co., London.]
+
+Their deliberate unenlightenment, had it not been so tragic for
+those who suffered in consequence of it, must have been almost
+comical. On one occasion the question of firing at the clouds to
+bring down rain was discussed, and declared to be impious.
+
+"_August 5._--A memorial was read from Krugersdorp, praying that the
+Raad would pass a law to prohibit the sending up of bombs into the
+clouds to bring down rain, as it was a defiance of God, and would
+most likely bring down a visitation from the Almighty.
+
+"The Memorial Committee reported that they disapproved of such a
+thing, but at the same time they did not consider that they could
+make a law on the subject.
+
+"Mr. A. D. Wolmarans said he was astonished at the advice, and he
+expected better from the Commission. If one of their children fired
+towards the clouds with a revolver they would thrash him. Why should
+they permit people to mock at the Almighty in this manner? It was
+terrible to contemplate. He hoped that the Raad would take steps to
+prevent such things happening.
+
+"The Chairman (who is also a member of the Memorial Commission) said
+the Commission thought that such things were only done for a wager.
+
+"Mr. Erasmus said they were not done for a wager, but in real
+earnest. People at Johannesburg actually thought that they could
+bring down the rain from the clouds by firing cannons at them."
+
+These quotations are not offered in the spirit of ridicule. The
+Uitlander question is too serious for joking. They are reproduced to
+enable those who have no knowledge of the Boer--his petty tyrannies
+and annoying and irritating habits, and the vexatious regulations
+from which the Uitlander continually suffered--to form an idea of
+the terrible mental gulf which existed between oppressor and
+oppressed. As the constant dropping of water will wear away stone,
+so the constant fret of Boer treatment wore out the patience of
+their victims!
+
+It soon became very difficult for even sons of Uitlanders born in
+the country to obtain the franchise. The naturalised subject
+resigned his own nationality, and acquired the duties of the citizen
+and the liability to be called on for military service, only to find
+out that he could not even then enjoy the rights of the citizen. He
+felt much as the dog in the fable, which let drop his piece of meat
+for the sake of a reflection in the water. New laws and regulations
+continually came into force for the ostensible purpose of improving
+the state of the Uitlander--laws which in reality were created to
+bamboozle him still further. What chicanery failed to accomplish the
+remissness of officials successfully brought about, and the
+discomfort of the foreign inhabitants was complete. Beside domestic
+there were economic grievances. The position in a nutshell is given
+by one of the unfortunates:--
+
+"The one thing which we must have--not for its own sake, but for the
+security it offers for obtaining and retaining other reforms--_is_
+the franchise. No promise of reform, no reform itself will be worth
+an hour's purchase unless we have the status of voters to make our
+influence felt. But, if you want the chief economic grievances, they
+are--the Netherland Railway concession, the dynamite monopoly, the
+liquor traffic, and native labour, which, together, constitute an
+unwarrantable burden of indirect taxation on the industry of _over
+two and a half millions sterling annually_. We petitioned until we
+were jeered at; we agitated until we--well--came here (Pretoria
+Gaol); and we know that we shall get no remedy until we have the
+vote to enforce it. We are not a political but a working community,
+and if we were honestly and capably governed, the majority of us
+would be content to wait for the franchise for a considerable time
+yet in recognition of the peculiar circumstances and of the feelings
+of the older inhabitants."
+
+Mrs. Lionel Phillips, as the wife of an Uitlander, has also written
+her plaint. She says:--
+
+"To show that the grievances of the Uitlanders are indeed real, let
+me call your attention to a few facts. What would women residing in
+peaceful England say to the fact that one cannot take a walk out of
+sight of one's own house in the suburbs of Johannesburg with safety?
+The Kaffirs, who in other parts of South Africa treat a white woman
+with almost servile respect, there make it a most unpleasant ordeal
+to pass them, and in a lonely part absolutely dangerous.
+
+"Even little girls of the tenderest age are not safe from these
+monsters. This is, of course, owing to the utterly inadequate police
+protection afforded by the Government, the ridiculously lenient
+sentences passed on horrible crimes, and to the adulterated drink
+sold by licensed publicans to the Kaffirs on all sides. What would
+be said if, when insulted by a cab-driver, it was found that the
+nearest policeman was the owner of the cab in question, and refused
+to render any assistance or listen to any complaint?
+
+"The educational grievance has been so widely circulated that it is
+needless to mention it now; but what is to be expected of a
+Government composed of men barely able to write their own names?
+
+"Of course I, as a woman, do not wish to enter into the larger
+questions of franchise, monopolies, taxation, &c., but being myself
+an Africander, and well able to recognise the many good qualities of
+the Boers, you will quite understand that I do not take a
+prejudiced view of the situation, and I am in a position better
+than that of most people to understand the grave reality of the
+Uitlanders' grievances."
+
+
+MONOPOLIES AND ABUSES
+
+Of the scandals leading out of the Netherlands Railway concession
+and the dynamite monopoly it is needless to speak. These monopolies
+were little more than schemes having for object the diversion of
+money from the pockets of the British into those either of the Boers
+or their trusty satellites in the Hollander-German clique. As an
+instance of the _modus operandi_, an article relative to the railway
+monopoly in the _Johannesburg Mining Journal_ may be quoted:
+
+ "RAILWAY MONOPOLY
+
+ "This is another carefully designed burden upon the mines and
+ country. The issued capital and loans of the Netherlands Company
+ now total about L7,000,000, upon which an average interest of about
+ 5-1/3 per cent.--guaranteed by the State--is paid, equal to
+ L370,000 per annum. Naturally the bonds are at a high premium. The
+ company and its liabilities can be taken over by the State at a
+ year's notice, and the necessary funds for this purpose can be
+ raised at three per cent. An offer was recently made to the
+ Government to consolidate this and other liabilities, but the
+ National Bank, which is another concession, has the monopoly of all
+ State loan business, and this circumstance effectually disposed of
+ the proposal. At three per cent. a saving of L160,000 per annum
+ would be made in this monopoly in interest alone. The value
+ represented by the custom dues on the Portuguese border we are not
+ in a position to estimate, but roughly these collections and the
+ fifteen per cent. of the profits paid to the management and
+ shareholders must, with other leakages, represent at least another
+ L100,000 per annum which should be saved the country. As the
+ revenue of the corporation now exceeds L2,000,000 a year, of which
+ only half is expended in working costs, the estimate we have taken
+ does not err upon the side of extravagance. By its neglect of its
+ duties towards the commercial and mining community enormous losses
+ are involved. Thus in the coal traffic the rate, which is now to be
+ somewhat reduced, has been 3d. per ton per mile. According to the
+ returns of the Chamber of Mines, the coal production of the
+ Transvaal for 1895 was 1,045,121 tons. This is carried an average
+ distance of nearly thirty miles, but taking the distance at
+ twenty-four miles the charges are 6s. per ton. At 1-1/2d. per ton
+ per mile--three times as much as the Cape railways charge--a saving
+ upon the coal rates of 3s. per ton would follow, equal to L150,000
+ per annum. Again, by the 'bagging' system an additional cost of 2s.
+ 3d. per ton is incurred--details of this item have been recently
+ published in this paper--and if this monopoly were run upon
+ ordinary business lines, a further saving of L110,000 would be made
+ by carrying coal in bulk. The interest upon the amount required to
+ construct the necessary sidings for handling the coal, and the
+ tram-lines required to transport it to the mines, would be a mere
+ fraction upon the amount; and as the coal trade in the course of a
+ short time is likely to see a fifty per cent. increase, the
+ estimate may be allowed to stand at this figure without deduction.
+ No data are available to fix the amount of the tax laid upon the
+ people generally by the vexatious delays and losses following upon
+ inefficient railway administration, but the monthly meetings of the
+ local Chamber of Commerce throw some light upon these phases of a
+ monopolistic management. The savings to be made in dealing with the
+ coal traffic must not be taken as exhausting all possible reforms:
+ the particulars given as to this traffic only indicate and suggest
+ the wide area covered by this monopoly, which hitherto has made but
+ halting and feeble efforts to keep pace with the requirements of
+ the public. Dealing as it does with the imports of the whole
+ country, which now amount in value to L10,000,000, the figures we
+ have given must serve merely to illustrate its invertebrate methods
+ of handling traffic, as well as its grasping greed in enforcing the
+ rates fixed by the terms of its concession. Its forty miles of Rand
+ steam tram-line and thirty-five miles of railway from the Vaal
+ River, with some little assistance from the Delagoa line and
+ customs, brought in a revenue of about L1,250,000 in 1895. Now that
+ the Natal line is opened the receipts will probably amount to
+ nearly L3,000,000 per annum, all of which should swell the ordinary
+ revenue of the country instead of remaining in the hands of
+ foreigners as a reservoir of wealth for indigent Hollanders to
+ exploit. The total railway earnings at the Cape and Natal together
+ over all their lines amounted to L3,916,566 in 1895, and the
+ capital expenditure on railways by these colonies amounts to
+ L26,000,000. The greater portion of these receipts come from the
+ Rand trade, which is compelled to pay an additional L2,500,000
+ carrying charges to the Netherlands Company, which has L7,000,000
+ of capital. Thus, railway receipts in South Africa amount now to
+ L7,000,000 per annum, of which the Rand contributes at least
+ L5,000,000.
+
+ "The revenue of the company is now considerably over L3,000,000 per
+ annum. The management claim that their expenses amount to but forty
+ per cent. of revenue, and this is regarded by them as a matter for
+ general congratulation. The Uitlanders contend that the concern is
+ grossly mismanaged, and that the low cost of working is a fiction.
+ It only appears low by contrast with a revenue swollen by
+ preposterously heavy rates and protected by a monopoly. The tariff
+ could be reduced by one-half, that is to say, a remission of
+ taxation to the tune of one and a half million annually could be
+ effected without depriving the company of a legitimate and indeed
+ very handsome profit."
+
+[Illustration: Rt. Hon. CECIL JOHN RHODES, P.C.
+
+Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.]
+
+Perhaps the dynamite monopoly was even more aggravating than the
+railway one. Mr. Fitzpatrick says it has always been "a very burning
+question with the Uitlanders. This concession was granted soon after
+the Barberton Fields were discovered, when the prospects of an
+industry in the manufacture of explosives were not really very
+great. The concessionaire himself has admitted that, had he foreseen
+to what proportions this monopoly would eventually grow, he would
+not have had the audacity to apply for it. Of course, this is merely
+a personal question. The fact which concerned the industry was that
+the right was granted to one man to manufacture explosives, and to
+sell them at a price nearly 200 per cent. over that at which they
+could be imported. It was found, upon investigation after some years
+of agitation, that the factory at which this 'manufacture' took
+place was in reality merely a depot in which the already
+manufactured article was manipulated to a moderate extent, so as to
+lend colour to the President's statement that a local industry was
+being fostered. An investigation, held by order of the Volksraad,
+exposed the imposition. The President himself stated that he found
+he had been deceived, and that the terms of the concession had been
+broken, and he urged the Raad to cancel it, which the Raad did. The
+triumph was considerable for the mining industry, and it was the
+more appreciated in that it was the solitary success to which the
+Uitlanders could point in their long series of agitations for
+reform. But the triumph was not destined to be a lasting one. Within
+a few months the monopoly was revived in an infinitely more
+obnoxious form. It was now called a Government monopoly, but 'the
+agency' was bestowed upon a partner of the gentleman who had
+formerly owned the concession, the President himself vigorously
+defending this course, and ignoring his own judgment on the case
+uttered a few months previously. _Land en Volk_, the Pretoria Dutch
+newspaper, exposed the whole of this transaction, including the
+system of bribery by which the concessionaires secured their
+renewal, and among other things made the charge which it has
+continued to repeat ever since, that Mr. J. M. A. Wolmarans, member
+of the Executive, received a commission of one shilling per case on
+every case sold during the continuance of the agency as a
+consideration for his support in the Executive Council, and that he
+continues to enjoy this remuneration, which is estimated now to be
+not far short of L10,000 a year. Mr. Wolmarans, for reasons of pride
+or discretion, has declined to take any notice of the charge,
+although frequently pressed to take action in the matter. It is
+calculated that the burden imposed upon the Witwatersrandt mines
+alone amounts to L600,000 per annum, and is, of course, daily
+increasing."
+
+Between the years 1890 and 1895 there were many negotiations over
+Swaziland. The South African Republic, ever anxious to extend its
+borders, longed to advance eastward to the sea. Negotiations were
+started in regard to this arrangement. The Transvaal had recognised
+the British occupation of Rhodesia, and the British in return agreed
+to allow the Transvaal to make a railway through Amatongaland to
+Kosi Bay, and acquire a seaport, if, within three years, it joined
+the South African Customs Union.
+
+But Mr. Kruger, luckily for Imperial interests, would not entertain
+the idea. He did not want to come into confederation with the Cape.
+The Orange Free State, however, joined the Cape system, and the
+South African Customs Union was started. The advantages to the Free
+State of this arrangement, though unforeseen, were many; the
+principal being the privilege of importing, unmolested, arms and
+ammunition over the Cape Government railway lines. Finally, in 1895,
+the administration of Swaziland was transferred to the South African
+Republic on certain conditions. It was not to be incorporated with
+the Republic, European settlers were to have full burgher rights,
+monopolies were forbidden, English and Dutch languages were to be on
+an equal footing, and no duties higher than the maximum tariff rates
+imposed by the South African Republic or by the Customs Union were
+to be allowed. The territory of Amatongaland was annexed by the
+British in 1895, and the Transvaal thus lost its one chance of an
+outlet towards the sea.
+
+
+THE FRANCHISE
+
+The much-vexed question of the Franchise continued to rankle in the
+hearts of the Uitlanders. Its ramifications had grown so complicated
+that even lawyers in discussing the matter continually found
+themselves in error. We may therefore be excused from attempting to
+examine its niceties, or rather its--well--the reverse. In 1893 a
+petition, signed by upwards of 13,000 aliens in favour of granting
+the extension of the Franchise, was received by the Raad with
+derision. In 1895 a monster petition was got up by the National
+Union, an organisation formed for the purpose of righting the wrongs
+of the Uitlanders. During the great Franchise debate in August 1895,
+Mr. R. K. Loveday, one of the Loyalists in the war, in the course of
+an address dealing with the subject, expressed himself very
+definitely and concisely, and in a manner which could not be
+refuted. He said--
+
+"The President uses the argument that they should naturalise, and
+thus give evidence of their desire to become citizens. I have used
+the same argument, but what becomes of such arguments when met with
+the objections that the law requires such persons to undergo a
+probationary period extending from fourteen to twenty-four years
+before they are admitted to full rights of citizenship, and even
+after one has undergone that probationary period he can only be
+admitted to full rights by the resolution of the First Raad? Law IV.
+of 1890, being the Act of the two Volksraads, lays down clearly and
+distinctly that those who have been eligible for ten years for the
+Second Raad can be admitted to full citizenship. So that, in any
+case, the naturalised citizen cannot obtain full rights until he
+reaches the age of forty years, he not being eligible for the
+Second Raad until he is thirty years. The child born of
+non-naturalised parents must therefore wait until he is forty years
+of age, although at the age of sixteen he may be called upon to do
+military service, and may fall in the defence of the land of his
+birth. When such arguments are hurled at me by our own flesh and
+blood--our kinsmen from all parts of South Africa--I must confess I
+am not surprised that these persons indignantly refuse to accept
+citizenship upon such unreasonable terms. The element I have just
+referred to--namely, the Africander element--is very considerable,
+and numbers thousands, hundreds of whom, at the time this country
+was struggling for its independence, accorded it moral and financial
+support, and yet these very persons are subjected to a term of
+probation extending from fourteen to twenty-four years. It is
+useless for me to ask you whether such a policy is just and
+reasonable or Republican, for there can be but one answer, and that
+is 'No!' Is there one man in this Raad who would accept the
+Franchise on the same terms? Let me impress upon you the grave
+nature of this question, and the absolute necessity of going to the
+burghers without a moment's delay and consulting and advising them.
+Let us keep nothing from them regarding the true position, and I am
+sure we shall have their hearty co-operation in any reasonable
+scheme we may suggest. This is a duty we owe them, for we must not
+leave them under the impression that the Uitlanders are satisfied to
+remain aliens, as stated by some of the journals. I move amongst
+these people, and learn to know their true feelings, and when public
+journals tell you that these people are satisfied with their lot
+they tell you that which they know to be false. Such journals are
+amongst the greatest sources of danger that the country has. We are
+informed by certain members that a proposition for the extension of
+the Franchise must come from the burghers, but, according to the
+Franchise Law, the proposition must come from the Raad, and the
+public must consent. The member for Rustenberg says that there are
+9338 burghers who have declared that they are opposed to the
+extension of the Franchise. Upon reference to the Report he will
+find that there are only 1564 opposed to the extension. Members
+appear afraid to touch upon the real question at issue, but try to
+discredit the memorials by vague statements that some of the
+signatures are not genuine, and the former member for Johannesburg,
+Mr. J. Meyer, seems just as anxious to discredit the people of
+Johannesburg as formerly he was to defend them."
+
+In spite of all that was said and done, however, no progress was
+made. The debate was closed on the third day, the request of the
+memorialists was refused, and they were referred for satisfaction to
+the existing laws.
+
+About this time the Transvaal came very near to war with Great
+Britain. As before stated, Mr. Kruger was much bound up with the
+affairs of the Netherlands Railway Company and its Hollander-German
+promoters. He attempted to divert the stream of Johannesburg traffic
+to Delagoa Bay, for the purpose of keeping profit from the pockets
+of the British. The freights, however, were evaded by unloading the
+goods at the frontier, and taking them across the Vaal in waggons.
+It was easy thus to forward goods--between Johannesburg and Viljoens
+Drift--direct by the Cape Railway.
+
+But Mr. Kruger was not to be defeated. In October 1895, he closed
+the drifts or fords of the Vaal to all waggon loads of goods from
+Cape Colony. Unfortunately the President had over-reached himself.
+The people of Cape Colony and those of the Free State were
+indignant, and the High Commissioner, Sir Hercules Robinson, and the
+Cape Premier, Mr. Rhodes, both brought their influence to bear on
+the President. He was obdurate. Mr. Chamberlain, the new Colonial
+Secretary, came to the rescue. He put his foot down, and a
+determined foot it was. He sent an ultimatum to Mr. Kruger
+announcing that closure of the drifts after the 15th of November
+would be considered an act of war.
+
+The drifts were reopened. But the Netherlands Railway Company still
+stuck to their tariffs and their aim of depriving the British
+Colonies of the custom dues and railway rates on the traffic of
+Johannesburg. Consequently this thorn in the side of the British
+Colonists was left to fester.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVES--BOUND FOR THE GOLD-FIELDS.
+
+Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]
+
+Day by day the discontent grew, and the cry of "No taxation without
+representation" became the Uitlanders' motto. They perceived that
+they were deprived of rights, yet expected to serve as milch cows
+for the fattening of a State that was arming itself at all points
+against them, and they came to the conclusion that some strong
+measures must now be taken for their protection. The Chamber of
+Mines and the Transvaal National Union had spent some time in
+advocating purely constitutional methods, the Chamber of Mines
+exploiting the grievances of the Gold Mining industry, while the
+National Union struggled for general reforms which should make the
+conditions of Uitlander life less intolerable than they were. The
+Reformers, whose chairman was Mr. Charles Leonard, a solicitor of
+good practice in Johannesburg, were mostly men of the middle and
+professional classes. The capitalists, being anxious to keep in with
+the Transvaal Government, were somewhat shy of the National
+Unionists; while the working men on their side were suspicious of
+the motives of the Reformers, and were chary of lending themselves
+to any scheme which might conduce to the profit of the millionaires.
+The National Union clearly expressed its aims in a manifesto which
+ended with the exposition of the Charter which its members hoped to
+obtain. It said:
+
+"We want--
+
+1. The establishment of this Republic as a true Republic.
+
+2. A Grondwet, or Constitution, which shall be framed by competent
+persons selected by representatives of the whole people, and framed
+on lines laid down by them.
+
+3. An equitable Franchise Law and fair representation.
+
+4. Equality of the Dutch and English languages.
+
+5. Responsibility to the Legislature of the heads of the great
+departments.
+
+6. Removal of religious disabilities.
+
+7. Independence of the Courts of Justice with adequate and secured
+remuneration of the Judges.
+
+8. Liberal and comprehensive Education.
+
+9. Efficient Civil Service, with adequate provision for pay and
+pension.
+
+10. Free Trade in South African products."
+
+The Manifesto wound up with the pertinent question, "How shall we
+get it?"
+
+The "how" was to have been decided at a public meeting fixed for the
+27th of December 1895, and subsequently postponed till January 8th,
+1896. But what the National Union proposed the Jameson Raid
+disposed. The meeting was destined never to take place!
+
+
+THE REFORM MOVEMENT
+
+Before 1895 the wealthier members of the community refused to
+entertain the suggestion of coercive measures, but after the
+Volksraad in session revealed the real policy of the Government,
+even they began to perceive that revolutionary action might become
+obligatory. Though the capitalists were advised by those who knew to
+avoid spending money on hopeless efforts at reform, and to steer
+clear, if possible, of the political imbroglio, they eventually
+joined hands with the Reformers. How the egg of the Jameson
+conspiracy came to be laid no one exactly knew. Certain it was that
+those who looked for the hatching of a swan, were confronted with a
+very ugly duckling indeed! Arms and ammunition were purchased, and
+these, concealed as gold-mining impedimenta, were smuggled into the
+country. Messrs. Leonard and Phillips, two prominent Reformers,
+consulted Mr. Rhodes as to future affairs, but Mr. Rhodes was in the
+awkward position of acting at one and the same time as Managing
+Director of the Consolidated Gold Fields in the Transvaal, Prime
+Minister of the Colony, and Managing Director of the Chartered
+Company, and consequently was a little vague in his propositions.
+After some conversation, he decided that he would, at his own
+expense, keep Dr. Jameson and his troops on the frontier "as a moral
+support."
+
+Later on in September Dr. Jameson visited Johannesburg, and made his
+arrangements in person. It was agreed that he should maintain a
+force of 1500 mounted men, fully equipped, and that besides, having
+with him 1500 spare rifles, and some spare ammunition, there should
+be about 5000 rifles, three Maxims, and 1,000,000 rounds of
+ammunition smuggled into Johannesburg. The idea was, that the
+Uitlanders would prepare their revolt, and that should Dr. Jameson's
+services be needed, Johannesburg, with 9000 armed men and a fair
+equipment of machine guns and cannon, would be prepared to
+co-operate: at that time it seemed no difficult matter to seize the
+fort and magazines at Pretoria for the time being. It was in course
+of repair, and in charge merely of a hundred men, most of whom could
+be relied on to be asleep or off duty after nine o'clock at night.
+The plan of seizing the fort, capturing the ammunition, and clearing
+it off so as to enforce their views without bloodshed seemed
+perfectly feasible, and Dr. Jameson readily agreed to lend himself
+to the scheme for giving such "moral support" as was required by the
+Uitlander Reformers. Of their part in the affair it is difficult to
+speak impartially. It appears on the surface that they induced this
+man, for no personal motive either of financial gain or political
+power, to lend himself willingly to be the tool of the aggrieved
+Uitlanders, who, when the time came, were too vacillating between
+their fear of the Republic and the desire for their own individual
+good, to support the person whom they had chosen for their champion,
+and who so disinterestedly was prepared to risk both life and
+position in their service! It was decided, however, that the
+Reformers should arrange a revolution, which would have the effect
+of forcing the hands of the Transvaal Government. The High
+Commissioner, as they imagined, would come on the scene as a final
+arbitrator. Dr. Jameson's troops, who had acted so effectively in
+the Matabele campaign, were to be kept at Pitsani on the Bechuana
+border, in order if necessary to come at a given signal to the
+rescue of the Uitlanders. The idea was not without precedent. Sir
+Henry Loch, two years before, in dread of a Johannesburg rising, had
+considered the advisability of placing troops on the border.
+
+So as to justify his action to the directors of the Chartered
+Company and the Imperial authorities, the following undated letter
+was sent to Dr. Jameson, Mafeking:--
+
+"DEAR SIR,--The position of matters in this State has become so
+critical, that we are assured that at no distant period there will be a
+conflict between the Government and the Uitlander population. It is
+scarcely necessary for us to recapitulate what is now matter of history;
+suffice it to say, that the position of thousands of Englishmen, and
+others, is rapidly becoming intolerable. Not satisfied with making the
+Uitlander population pay virtually the whole of the revenue of the
+country while denying them representation, the policy of the Government
+has been steadily to encroach upon the liberty of the subject, and to
+undermine the security for property to such an extent as to cause a very
+deep-seated sense of discontent and danger. A foreign corporation of
+Hollanders is to a considerable extent controlling our destinies, and in
+conjunction with the Boer leaders endeavouring to cast them in a mould
+which is wholly foreign to the genius of the people. Every public act
+betrays the most positive hostility, not only to everything English, but
+to the neighbouring States.
+
+"Well, in short, the internal policy of the Government is such as to
+have roused into antagonism to it not only practically the whole
+body of Uitlanders, but a large number of the Boers; while its
+external policy has exasperated the neighbouring States, causing the
+possibility of great danger to the peace and independence of this
+Republic. Public feeling is in a condition of smouldering
+discontent. All the petitions of the people have been refused with a
+greater or less degree of contempt; and in the debate on the
+Franchise petition, signed by nearly 40,000 people, one member
+challenged the Uitlanders to fight for the rights they asked for,
+and not a single member spoke against him. Not to go into details,
+we may say that the Government has called into existence all the
+elements necessary for armed conflict. The one desire of the people
+here is for fair play, the maintenance of their independence, and
+the preservation of those public liberties without which life is not
+worth living. The Government denies these things, and violates the
+national sense of Englishmen at every turn.
+
+"What we have to consider is, what will be the condition of things
+here in the event of a conflict? Thousands of unarmed men, women,
+and children of our race will be at the mercy of well-armed Boers,
+while property of enormous value will be in the greatest peril. We
+cannot contemplate the future without the gravest apprehensions. All
+feel that we are justified in taking any steps to prevent the
+shedding of blood, and to ensure the protection of our rights.
+
+"It is under these circumstances that we feel constrained to call
+upon you to come to our aid should a disturbance arise here. The
+circumstances are so extreme that we cannot but believe that you and
+the men under you will not fail to come to the rescue of people who
+will be so situated. We guarantee any expense that may reasonably be
+incurred by you in helping us, and ask you to believe that nothing
+but the sternest necessity has prompted this appeal.
+
+ "CHARLES LEONARD.
+ LIONEL PHILLIPS.
+ FRANCIS RHODES.
+ JOHN HAYS HAMMOND.
+ GEORGE FARRAR."
+
+It was arranged that Dr. Jameson should start from camp on the night
+of the outbreak at Johannesburg--either on the 28th of December or
+on the 4th of January--according to notice which would subsequently
+be given. From this moment, however, doubts began to fill the minds
+of the Reformers. They were dissatisfied with the quantity of arms
+they had been able to smuggle into the town; there was a want of
+cohesion among the different sections, of those interested; they
+went so far as to disagree as to what flag they were going to revolt
+under. The Reformers were evidently not all of Dr. Jameson's
+opinion, that the Union Jack was the one and only flag under which
+they could hope for justice--they were, as we know, only comrades in
+suffering but not compatriots, and besides this, many declared that
+reform and not annexation was what they were anxious to secure.
+
+[Illustration: Dr Leander Starr Jameson.
+
+Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.]
+
+Here we have before us what made the complicated riddle of the Raid.
+Since it has defied all the Oedipuses of the century, we will not
+endeavour to unravel it. Did the Reformers set all their grievances
+aside before the paramount question, "Under which flag, Jameson?" or
+did they make use of the flag argument to cover a series of
+vacillations which prevented them from acting up to the rules of the
+conspiracy they themselves had set on foot? Did Mr. Rhodes engage in
+the plot for the sake of financial gain? Did he do so out of
+sympathy for the "cause," or did he attempt a magnificent political
+_coup_? And lastly--Did that unhappy scapegoat, the gallant Jameson,
+launch himself on the wild mistaken escapade to rescue his
+fellow-countrymen from oppression, to serve his private ends
+financial or political, or from the sheer spirit of adventure which,
+in some degree, animates every British heart? Who shall say?
+
+
+THE CRITICAL MOMENT
+
+It was arranged, as has been mentioned, that the rising at
+Johannesburg should take place on the night of the 4th of January.
+The arsenal at Pretoria was to be seized, and Dr. Jameson with his
+troops was to make his appearance, assist the Reformers in urging
+their claims, and, if necessary, save the women and children from
+possible violence.
+
+"According to the original plan," says Mrs. Lionel Phillips in her
+"South African Recollections," "what with the smuggled rifles, those
+in private hands, the spare weapons to be brought by Jameson's men,
+and those men (the Reformers) themselves, Johannesburg must have
+mustered a little army of not less than 5000 men, to say nothing of
+the guns which might possibly be captured in the arsenal. It was
+believed that with this force the town could be held against any
+attack that might be made by the Transvaal forces, and that, upon a
+failure in the first assault, the Boers would have adopted their
+well-known tactics of cutting off supplies, with a view to starving
+the town into submission. To meet this contingency the town was
+provisioned for two months, and it was supposed that the British
+Government would never sit still and allow the Uitlanders to be
+forced into capitulation in the face of the wrongs which they had
+suffered. In November, when Jameson came to Johannesburg, the
+supporting force had dwindled to 800. The telegrams apprising the
+Reformers of his advance spoke of 700, and in reality he started
+with less than 500 men."
+
+But by the time the plot should have neared completion, the
+conspirators, as has been shown, had ceased to be of one accord on
+the subject. On Christmas Day Mr. Leonard interviewed Mr. Rhodes in
+Cape Town, and represented to him the divided state of affairs.
+Meanwhile the Reformers in Johannesburg desired to make known to Dr.
+Jameson their change of front, and, to prevent him starting on the
+expedition, despatched two messengers to Pitsani Camp by different
+routes. These messages were received on December the 28th, and with
+them other telegraphic ones from Mr. Leonard and Mr. Rhodes
+explicitly directing the expedition not to start.
+
+The news that Dr. Jameson had started, in spite of these messages,
+came on the Reformers like a thunderclap. They were not ready--they
+had not sufficient arms to fight with, and they were not of one
+mind. The doing had been easy enough, and they had fancied the
+undoing would be as simple. They had laid their gunpowder train
+without thinking of the number of firebrands that surrounded it!
+Amazement gave way to indignation, and the Reformers were not slow
+to hint that Mr. Rhodes or Dr. Jameson had disregarded the messages
+in order to further their personal ends. The most charitable decided
+that the Doctor's starting was due merely to misunderstanding. Many
+rumours of discontent and disturbance were floating about, and it
+was believed that some of these might have reached the Doctor's ears
+and influenced his actions. Anyway the Reformers were at sea. All
+they could do was to arm as many men as possible with a view to
+defence--to holding the town against any attack that might be made
+by the Transvaal forces, and to decide to take no initiative against
+the Boers. No uneasiness was felt regarding Jameson, for it was
+believed that he was well supported by not less than 800 men, and
+that the Boers would stand a poor chance against a body so well
+equipped and trained as his was supposed to be. The position taken
+up is explained in a notice of the Reform Committee in the
+_Johannesburg Star_:--"Notice is hereby given, that this Committee
+adheres to the National Union Manifesto, and reiterates its desire
+to maintain the independence of the Republic. The fact that rumours
+are in course of circulation to the effect that a force has crossed
+the Bechuanaland border, renders it necessary to take active steps
+for the defence of Johannesburg and the preservation of order. The
+Committee earnestly desires that the inhabitants should refrain from
+taking any action which can be considered as an overt act of
+hostility against the Government."
+
+The High Commissioner and the Premier of Cape Colony were
+communicated with and informed that Dr. Jameson, having started with
+an armed force, Johannesburg was in peril which there was no means
+to avert. The High Commissioner was further invited to come to
+Johannesburg to effect a settlement and prevent civil war.
+Arrangements were then made for the arming of some 2000 men. These
+preparations and others speedily became known to the Government in
+Pretoria. No steps, it appears, had been taken to preserve secrecy,
+as the Committee did not hold themselves responsible for Dr.
+Jameson's action. The result was the publication of the following
+Proclamation by the President:--
+
+ "PROCLAMATION BY HIS HONOUR THE STATE PRESIDENT
+ OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC
+
+"Whereas, it has appeared to the Government of the South African
+Republic that there are rumours in circulation to the effect that
+earnest endeavours are being made to endanger the public safety of
+Johannesburg; and whereas the Government is convinced that, in case
+such rumours may contain any truth, such endeavours can only emanate
+from a small portion of the inhabitants, and that the greater
+portion of the Johannesburg inhabitants are peaceful, and are
+prepared to support the Government in its endeavours to maintain law
+and order.
+
+"Now, know you that I, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, State President
+of the South African Republic, with the advice and consent of the
+Executive Council, according to Article 913 of its minutes, dated the
+30th of December 1895, do hereby warn those evil-intentioned persons (as
+I do hereby urge all such persons to do) to remain within the pale of
+the law, and all such persons not heeding this warning shall do so on
+their own responsibility; and I do further make known that life and
+property shall be protected against which attempts may be made, and that
+every peaceful inhabitant of Johannesburg, of whatsoever nationality he
+may be, is called upon to support me herein, and to assist the officials
+charged therewith; and further be it known, that the Government is still
+prepared to take into consideration all grievances that may be laid
+before it in a proper manner, and to submit the same to the people of
+the land without delay for treatment."
+
+
+The High Commissioner also issued a Proclamation calling on Dr.
+Jameson to return to British territory at once, and this was
+forwarded to him at different points in order that there might be no
+mistake and that the invasion might yet be arrested. Meanwhile Mr.
+Marais (the editor of the leading Dutch paper) and Mr. Malan (the
+son-in-law of Joubert) were proceeding with a commando for the
+purpose of fighting for their Government should Dr. Jameson disobey
+the Proclamation. They excused themselves under the plea "that if
+from unreasonable action of Johannesburg, fighting should take place
+between the Government forces and a revolutionary force from
+Johannesburg, they were in duty bound to fight, and that among their
+ranks would be found many who had been active workers in the ranks
+of the Reformers."
+
+It was subsequently decided that a deputation of Reformers should
+negotiate with the Government for a peaceful settlement on the
+basis of the Manifesto. Their programme was somewhat broad. They
+were to approach the Government pacifically and at the same time
+insist on their rights and the redress of their grievances--"to avow
+the association of Dr. Jameson's forces so far as it had existed,
+and to include him in any settlement that might be made."
+
+They also, in answer to a telegram from the British Agent, refused
+to repudiate Dr. Jameson, and said, "in order to avert bloodshed on
+grounds of Dr. Jameson's action, if Government will allow Dr.
+Jameson to come in unmolested, the Committee will guarantee with
+their persons if necessary that he will leave again peacefully with
+as little delay as possible."
+
+Meanwhile the committee remained in the most horrible doubt and
+suspense. No word came from Jameson. That he had started they knew,
+and that was the extent of their knowledge. They still trusted that,
+on ascertaining that there was no necessity for intervention on
+behalf of the Uitlanders, he and his troops would obey the orders of
+the High Commissioner, and retire peacefully from the Transvaal.
+
+
+THE RAID
+
+From all accounts it appears that Dr. Jameson and his party gathered
+together at Pitsani early in December. He drilled his troops and
+general preparations were made, without sufficient secrecy however,
+for the projected invasion. It was unfortunate for the scheme that
+these plans were publicly spoken of in society in England at the
+same time as they were merely being discussed in whispers in
+Johannesburg! On Sunday the 29th of December 1895, Dr. Jameson read
+aloud to his troops the letter which has been printed, and which,
+simultaneously with his departure, was sent by Dr. Rutherfoord
+Harris to the _Times_, to justify the action which in a few hours
+would become world famous. This letter the Reformers subsequently
+declared was treacherously made use of, as they had not had occasion
+to send the appeal therein mentioned. It is evident that at that
+time Dr. Jameson believed that his plans were so well arranged that
+there would be no bloodshed, that, indeed, he would appear in the
+nick of time to afford the "moral support" he had originally engaged
+to provide. The troops were to go straight to Johannesburg before
+the Boers had time to assemble their forces or to take any measures
+to stop him. The Doctor explained that they were marching to the
+rescue of the oppressed, and implied that they were going under the
+auspices of the British flag. On hearing the latter statement a
+considerable number of the troops refused to take part in the
+enterprise, and this may account for the fact that while the
+Reformers believed Dr. Jameson to be supported by some 800 men or
+more, he was in reality accompanied by only 480. Here, in order to
+give the crude facts of the Raid as known to the public, we may copy
+the report of the affair made by Sir John Willoughby to the War
+Office:--
+
+ "SIR JOHN WILLOUGHBY'S REPORT TO THE WAR OFFICE
+
+"_Official Report of the Expedition that left the Protectorate at
+the urgent request of the leading citizens of Johannesburg, with the
+object of standing by them and maintaining law and order whilst they
+were demanding justice from the Transvaal authorities. By Sir John
+C. Willoughby, Bart., Lieutenant-Colonel commanding Dr. Jameson's
+Forces._
+
+"On Saturday, December 28, 1895, Dr. Jameson received a Reuter's
+telegram, showing that the situation at Johannesburg had become
+acute. At the same time reliable information was received that the
+Boers in the Zeerust and Lichtenburg districts were assembling, and
+had been summoned to march on Johannesburg.
+
+"Preparations were at once made to act on the terms of the letter
+dated December 20, and already published, and also in accordance
+with verbal arrangements with the signatories of that letter--viz.,
+that should Dr. Jameson hear that the Boers were collecting, and
+that the intentions of the Johannesburg people had become generally
+known, he was at once to come to the aid of the latter with whatever
+force he had available, and without further reference to them, the
+object being that such force should reach Johannesburg without any
+conflict.
+
+"At 3 P.M. on Sunday afternoon, December 29, everything was in
+readiness at Pitsani Camp. The troops were paraded, and Dr. Jameson
+read the letter of invitation from Johannesburg.
+
+"He then explained to the force--(_a_) that no hostilities were
+intended; (_b_) that we should only fight if forced to do so in self
+defence; (_c_) that neither the persons nor property of inhabitants
+of the Transvaal were to be molested; (_d_) that our sole object was
+to help our fellow-men in their extremity, and to ensure their
+obtaining attention to their just demands.
+
+"Dr. Jameson's speech was received with the greatest enthusiasm by
+the men, who cheered most heartily.
+
+"The above programme was strictly adhered to until the column was
+fired upon on the night of the 31st.
+
+"Many Boers, singly and in small parties, were encountered on the
+line of march; to one and all of these the pacific nature of the
+expedition was carefully explained.
+
+"The force left Pitsani Camp at 6.30 P.M., December 29, and marched
+through the night. At 5.15 A.M., on the morning of the 30th, the
+column reached the village of Malmani (thirty-nine miles distant
+from Pitsani). Presently, at the same moment, the advanced guard of
+the Mafeking Column (under Colonel Grey) reached the village, and
+the junction was effected between the two bodies....
+
+"From Malmani I pushed on as rapidly as possible in order to cross
+in daylight the very dangerous defile at Lead Mines. This place,
+distant seventy-one miles from Pitsani, was passed at 5.30 P.M.,
+December 30.
+
+"I was subsequently informed that a force of several hundred Boers,
+sent from Lichtenburg to intercept the force at this point, missed
+doing so by three hours only.
+
+"At our next 'off-saddle' Dr. Jameson received a letter from the
+Commandant-General of the Transvaal demanding to know the reason of
+our advance, and ordering us to return immediately. A reply was sent
+to this, explaining Dr. Jameson's reasons in the same terms as those
+used to the force at Pitsani.
+
+"At Doomport (ninety-one miles from Pitsani), during an 'off-saddle'
+early on Tuesday morning, December 31, a mounted messenger overtook
+us, and presented a letter from the High Commissioner, which
+contained an order to Dr. Jameson and myself to return at once to
+Mafeking and Pitsani.
+
+"A retreat by now was out of the question, and to comply with these
+instructions an impossibility. In the first place, there was
+absolutely no food for men or horses along the road which we had
+recently followed; secondly, three days at least would be necessary
+for our horses, jaded with forced marching, to return; on the road
+ahead we were sure of finding, at all events, some food for man and
+beast. Furthermore, we had by now traversed almost two-thirds of the
+total distance; a large force of Boers was known to be intercepting
+our retreat, and we were convinced that any retrograde movement
+would bring on an attack of Boers from all sides.
+
+"It was felt, therefore, that to ensure the safety of our little
+force, no alternative remained but to push on to Krugersdorp to our
+friends, who, we were confident, would be awaiting our arrival
+there.
+
+"Apart from the above considerations, even had it been possible to
+effect a retreat from Doomport, we knew that Johannesburg had
+risen, and felt that by turning back we should be shamefully
+deserting those coming to meet us.
+
+"Finally, it appeared to us impossible to turn back, in view of the
+fact that we had been urgently called in to avert a massacre, which
+we had been assured would be imminent in the event of a crisis such
+as had now occurred.
+
+"Near Boon's store, on the evening of the 31st, an advanced patrol
+fell in with Lieutenant Eloff, of the Krugersdorp Volunteers. This
+officer, in charge of a party of fifteen scouts, had come out to
+gain intelligence of our movements. He was detained whilst our
+intentions were fully explained to him, and then released at Dr.
+Jameson's request.
+
+"At midnight (New Year's Eve), while the advanced scouts were
+crossing a rocky, wooded ridge at right angles to and barring the
+line of advance, they were fired on by a party of forty Boers, who
+had posted themselves in this position. The scouts, reinforced by
+the advanced guard, under Inspector Straker, drove off their
+assailants after a short skirmish, during which one trooper of the
+M.M.P. was wounded.
+
+"At Van Oudtshoorn's, early on the following morning (Jan. 1), Dr.
+Jameson received a second letter from the High Commissioner, to
+which he replied in writing. At 9.30 A.M. the march was resumed in
+the usual day formation. After marching two miles the column got
+clear of the hills, and emerged into open country.
+
+"About this time Inspector Drury, in command of the rear guard, sent
+word that a force of about one hundred Boers was following him about
+one mile in rear. I thereupon reinforced the rear guard, hitherto
+consisting of a troop and one Maxim, by an additional half troop and
+another Maxim.
+
+"About five miles beyond Van Oudtshoorn's store the column was met
+by two cyclists bearing letters from several leaders of the
+Johannesburg Reform Committee. These letters expressed the liveliest
+approval and delight at our speedy approach, and finally contained a
+renewal of their promise to meet the column with a force at
+Krugersdorp. The messengers also reported that only 300 armed Boers
+were in the town.
+
+"This news was communicated to the troops, who received it with loud
+cheers. When about two miles from Hind's store the column was
+delayed by extensive wire fencing, which ran for one and a half
+miles on either side of the road, and practically constituted a
+defile.
+
+"While the column was halted and the wire being cut, the country for
+some distance on both sides was carefully scouted.
+
+"By this means it was ascertained that there was a considerable
+force of Boers (1) on the left front, (2) in the immediate front
+(retreating hastily on Krugersdorp), (3) a third party on the right
+flank.
+
+"The force which had been following the column from Van Oudtshoorn's
+continued to hover in the rear.
+
+"Lieutenant-Colonel White, in command of the advanced guard, sent
+back a request for guns to be pushed forward as a precaution in case
+of an attack from the Boers in front. By the time these guns reached
+the advanced guard, the Boers were still retreating some two miles
+off. A few rounds were then fired in their direction. Had Colonel
+White, in the first instance, opened fire with his Maxims on the
+Boers, whom he surprised watering their horses close to Hind's
+store, considerable loss would have been inflicted, but this was not
+our object, for with the exception of the small skirmish on the
+previous night, the Boers had not as yet molested the column, whose
+sole aim was to reach Johannesburg if possible without fighting.
+
+"At this hour Hind's store was reached. Here the troops rested for
+one and a half hours. Unfortunately, hardly any provisions for men
+and horses were available. An officer's patrol, consisting of Major
+Villiers (Royal Horse Guards), and Lieutenant Grenfell (1st Life
+Guards), and six men, moved off for the purpose of reconnoitring the
+left flank of the Boer position, while Captain Lindsell, with his
+permanent force of advanced scouts, pushed on as usual to
+reconnoitre the approach by the main road. At the same time I
+forwarded a note to the Commandant of the forces in Krugersdorp to
+the effect that, in the event of my friendly force meeting with
+opposition on its approach, I should be forced to shell the town,
+and that therefore I gave him this warning in order that the women
+and children might be moved out of danger.
+
+"To this note, which was despatched by a Boer who had been detained
+at Van Oudtshoorn, I received no reply.
+
+"At Hind's store we were informed that the force in our front had
+increased during the forenoon to about 800 men, of whom a large
+number were entrenched on the hillside.
+
+"Four miles beyond Hind's store the column following the scouts,
+which met with no opposition, ascended a steep rise of some 400
+feet, and came full in view of the Boer position on the opposite
+side of a deep valley, traversed by a broad 'sluit' or muddy
+watercourse.
+
+"Standing on the plateau or spur, on which our force was forming up
+for action, the view to our front was as follows:--
+
+"Passing through our position to the west ran Hind's
+store--Krugersdorp Road traversing the valley and the Boer position
+almost at right angles to both lines.
+
+[Illustration: JAMESON'S LAST STAND--THE BATTLE OF DOORNKOP, 2nd
+JANUARY 1896.
+
+Painting by R. Caton Woodville.
+
+Reproduced by special arrangement with Henry Graves & Co., London.]
+
+"Immediately to the north of this road, at the point where it
+disappeared over the sky-line on the opposite slope, lay the Queen's
+Battery House and earthworks, completely commanding the valley on
+all sides, and distant 1900 yards from our standpoint.
+
+"Some 1000 yards down the valley to the north stood a farmhouse,
+surrounded by a dense plantation, which flanked the valley.
+
+"Half-way up the opposite slope, and adjacent to the road, stood an
+iron house which commanded the drift where the road crossed the
+above-mentioned watercourse.
+
+"On the south side of the road, and immediately opposite the
+last-named house, an extensive rectangular stone wall enclosure with
+high trees formed an excellent advanced central defensive position.
+Further up the slope, some 500 yards to the south of this enclosure,
+stretched a line of rifle-pits, which were again flanked to the
+south by 'prospecting' trenches. On the sky-line numbers of Boers
+were apparent to our front and right front.
+
+"Before reaching the plateau we had observed small parties of Boers
+hurrying towards Krugersdorp, and immediately on reaching the high
+ground the rear-guard was attacked by the Boer force which had
+followed the column during the whole morning.
+
+"I therefore had no further hesitation in opening fire on the
+Krugersdorp position.
+
+"The two 7-pounders and the 12-1/2-pounder opened on the Boer line,
+making good practice under Captain Kincaid-Smith and Captain Gosling
+at 1900 yards.
+
+"This fire was kept up till 5 P.M. The Boers made practically no
+reply, but lay quiet in the trenches and battery.
+
+"Scouts having reported that most of the trenches were evacuated,
+the first line, consisting of the advanced guard (a troop of 100
+men), under Colonel White, advanced. Two Maxims accompanied this
+force; a strong troop with a Maxim formed the right and left support
+on either flank.
+
+"Lieutenant-Colonel Grey, with one troop B.B.P. and one Maxim, had
+been previously detailed to move round and attack the Boers' left.
+
+"The remaining two troops, with three Maxims, formed the reserve and
+rear-guard.
+
+"The first line advance continued unopposed to within 200 yards of
+the watercourse, when it was checked by an exceedingly heavy
+cross-fire from all points of the defence.
+
+"Colonel White then pushed his skirmishers forward into and beyond
+the watercourse.
+
+"The left support, under Inspector Dykes, then advanced to prolong
+the first line to the left; but, diverging too much to his left,
+this officer experienced a very hot flanking fire from the farmhouse
+and plantation, and was driven back with some loss.
+
+"Colonel Grey meanwhile had pushed round on the extreme right and
+come into action.
+
+"About this time Major Villiers' patrol returned and reported that
+the country to our right was open, and that we could easily move
+round in that direction.
+
+"It was now evident that the Boers were in great force, and intended
+holding their position.
+
+"Without the arrival of the Johannesburg force in rear of the
+Boers--an event which I had been momentarily expecting--I did not
+feel justified in pushing a general attack, which would have
+certainly entailed heavy losses on my small force.
+
+"I accordingly left Inspector Drury with one troop and one Maxim to
+keep in check the Boers who were now lining the edge of the plateau
+to our left, and placed Colonel Grey with two troops B.B.P., one
+12-1/2-pounder, and one Maxim, to cover our left flank and continue
+firing on the battery and trenches south of the road.
+
+"I then made a general flank movement to the right with the
+remaining troops.
+
+"Colonel Grey succeeded in shelling the Boers out of their advanced
+position during the next half-hour, and blew up the Battery House.
+
+"Under this cover the column moved off as far as the first houses of
+the Randfontein group of mines, the Boers making no attempt to
+intercept the movement.
+
+"Night was now fast approaching, and still there were no signs of
+the promised help from Johannesburg. I determined, therefore, to
+push on with all speed in the direction of that town, trusting in
+the darkness to slip through any intervening opposition.
+
+"Two guides were obtained, the column followed in the prescribed
+night order of march, and we started off along a road leading direct
+to Johannesburg.
+
+"At this moment heavy rifle and Maxim fire was suddenly heard from
+the direction of Krugersdorp, which lay one and a half miles to the
+left rear.
+
+"We at once concluded that this could only be the arrival of the
+long-awaited reinforcements, for we knew that Johannesburg had
+Maxims, and that the Staats-Artillerie were not expected to arrive
+until the following morning. To leave our supposed friends in the
+lurch was out of the question. I determined at once to move to their
+support.
+
+"Leaving the carts escorted by one troop on the road, I advanced
+rapidly across the plateau towards Krugersdorp in the direction of
+the firing, in the formation shown in the accompanying sketch.
+
+"After advancing thus for nearly a mile the firing ceased, and we
+perceived the Boers moving in great force to meet the column. The
+flankers on the right reported another force threatening that flank.
+
+"Fearing that an attempt would be made to cut us off from the
+ammunition carts, I ordered a retreat on them.
+
+"It was now clear that the firing, whatever might have been the
+cause thereof, was not occasioned by the arrival of any force from
+Johannesburg.
+
+[Illustration: Plan of JAMIESON'S MARCH]
+
+"Precious moments had been lost in the attempt to stand by our
+friends at all costs, under the mistaken supposition that they could
+not fail to carry out their repeated promises, renewed to us by
+letter so lately as 11 A.M. this same day. It was now very nearly
+dark. In the dusk the Boers could be seen closing in on three sides,
+viz., north, east, and south. The road to Johannesburg appeared
+completely barred, and the last opportunity of slipping through,
+which had presented itself an hour ago when the renewed firing was
+heard, was gone not to return.
+
+"Nothing remained but to bivouac in the best position available.
+
+"But for the unfortunate circumstance of the firing, which we
+afterwards heard was due to the exultation of the Boers at the
+arrival of large reinforcements from Potchefstroom, the column would
+have been by this time (7 P.M.), at least four or five miles further
+on the road to Johannesburg, with an excellent chance of reaching
+that town without further opposition.
+
+"I moved the column to the edge of a wide valley to the right of the
+road, and formed the horses in quarter column under cover of the
+slope. The carts were formed up in the rear and on both flanks, and
+five Maxims were placed along the front so as to sweep the plateau.
+
+"The other three Maxims and the heavy guns were posted on the rear
+and flank faces.
+
+"The men were then directed to lie down between the guns and on the
+side; sentries and Cossack posts were posted on each face.
+
+"Meantime the Boers had occupied the numerous prospecting trenches
+and cuttings on the plateau at distances from 400 to 800 yards.
+
+"At 9 P.M. a heavy fire was opened on the bivouac, and a storm of
+bullets swept over and around us, apparently directed from all sides
+except the south-west.
+
+"The troops were protected by their position on the slope below the
+level of the plateau, so that the total loss from this fire, which
+lasted about twenty minutes, was very inconsiderable.
+
+"The men behaved with admirable coolness, and were as cheery as
+possible, although very tired and hungry and without water.
+
+"We were then left unmolested for two or three hours.
+
+"About midnight another shower of bullets was poured into the camp,
+but the firing was not kept up for long.
+
+"Somewhat later a Maxim gun opened on the bivouac, but failed to get
+our range.
+
+"At 3.30 A.M. patrols were pushed out on all sides, while the force
+as silently and rapidly as possible was got ready to move off.
+
+"At 4 A.M. a heavy fire was opened by the Boers on the column, and
+the patrols driven in from the north and east sides.
+
+"Under the direction of Major R. White (assisted by Lieutenant
+Jesser-Coope) the column was formed under cover of the slope.
+
+"Soon after this the patrols which had been sent out to the south
+returned, and reported that the ground was clear of the Boers in
+that direction.
+
+"The growing light enabled us to ascertain that the Boers in force
+were occupying pits to our left and lining the railway embankment
+for a distance of one and a half miles right across the direct road
+to Johannesburg.
+
+"I covered the movements of the main body with the B.B.P. and two
+Maxims under Colonel Grey along the original left front of the
+bivouac, and two troops M.M.P., under Major R. White, on the right
+front.
+
+"During all this time the firing was excessively heavy; however, the
+main body was partially sheltered by the slope.
+
+"Colonel White then led the advance for a mile across the vley
+without casualty, but on reaching the opposite rise near the Oceanic
+Mine, was subjected to a very heavy long-range fire. Colonel White
+hereupon very judiciously threw out one troop to the left to cover
+the further advance of the main body.
+
+"This was somewhat delayed, after crossing the rise, by the
+disappearance of our volunteer guide of the previous night.
+
+"Some little time elapsed before another guide could be obtained.
+
+"In the meantime Lieutenant-Colonel Grey withdrew his force and the
+covering Maxims out of action under the protection of the M.M.P.
+covering troops, and rejoined the main body.
+
+"At this juncture Colonel Grey was shot in the foot, but most
+gallantly insisted on carrying on his duties until the close of the
+action.
+
+"Sub-Inspector Cazalet was also wounded here, but continued in
+action until he was shot again in the chest at Doornkop.
+
+"While crossing the ridge the column was subjected to a very heavy
+fire, and several men and horses were lost here.
+
+"I detailed a rear-guard of one troop and two Maxims, under Major R.
+White, to cover our rear and left flank, and moved the remainder of
+the troops in the ordinary day formation as rapidly forward as
+possible.
+
+"In this formation a running rear and flank guard fight was kept up
+for ten miles. Wherever the features of the ground admitted, a stand
+was made by various small detachments of the rear and flank guard.
+In this manner the Boers were successfully kept at a distance of 500
+yards, and repulsed in all their efforts to reach the rear and flank
+of the main body.
+
+"In passing through the various mines and the village of
+Randfontein, we met with hearty expressions of goodwill from the
+mining population, who professed a desire to help if only they had
+arms.
+
+"Ten miles from the start I received intelligence from Colonel Grey,
+at the head of the column, that Doornkop, a hill near the
+Speitfontein Mine, was held by 400 Boers, directly barring our line
+of advance.
+
+"I repaired immediately to the front, Colonel White remaining with
+the rear-guard.
+
+"On arriving at the head of the column, I found the guns shelling a
+ridge which our guide stated was Doornkop.
+
+"The excellent dispositions for the attack made by Colonel Grey were
+then carried out.
+
+"The B.B.P., under Major Coventry, who, I regret to say, was
+severely wounded and lost several of his men, attacked and cleared
+the ridge in most gallant style, and pushed on beyond it.
+
+"About this time Inspector Barry received the wound which, we have
+learnt with grief, has subsequently proved fatal.
+
+"Chief-Inspector Bodle at the same time, with two troops M.M.P.,
+charged and drove off the field a large force of Boers threatening
+our left flank.
+
+"The guide had informed us that the road to the right of the hill
+was impassable, and that there was open and easy country to the
+left.
+
+"This information was misleading. I afterwards ascertained that
+without storming the Boer position there was no road open to
+Johannesburg, except by a wide detour of many miles to the right.
+
+"At this moment Dr. Jameson received a letter from the High
+Commissioner again ordering us to desist in our advance. Dr. Jameson
+informed me at the same time of the most disheartening news, viz.
+that he had received a message stating that Johannesburg would not,
+or could not, come to our assistance, and that we must fight our way
+through unaided.
+
+"Thinking that the first ridge now in our hands was Doornkop, we
+again pushed rapidly on, only to find that in rear of the ridge
+another steep and stony kopje, some 400 feet in height, was held by
+hundreds of Boers completely covered from our fire.
+
+"This kopje effectually flanked the road over which the column must
+advance at a distance of 400 yards. Scouting showed that there was
+no way of getting round this hill.
+
+"Surrounded on all sides by the Boers, men and horses wearied out,
+outnumbered by at least six to one, our friends having failed to
+keep their promises to meet us, and my force reduced numerically by
+one-fourth, I no longer considered that I was justified in
+sacrificing any more of the lives of the men under me.
+
+"As previously explained, our object in coming had been to render
+assistance, without bloodshed if possible, to the inhabitants of
+Johannesburg. This object would in no way be furthered by a hopeless
+attempt to cut our way through overwhelming numbers, an attempt,
+moreover, which must without any doubt have entailed heavy and
+useless slaughter.
+
+"With Dr. Jameson's permission, I therefore sent word to the
+Commandant that we would surrender provided that he would give a
+guarantee of safe conduct out of the country to every member of the
+force.
+
+"To this Commandant Cronje replied by a guarantee of the lives of
+all, provided that we would lay down our arms and pay all expenses.
+
+"In spite of this guarantee of the lives of all, Commandant Malan
+subsequently repudiated the guarantee in so far as to say that he
+would not answer for the lives of the leaders, but this was not
+until our arms had been given up and the force at the mercy of the
+Boers.
+
+[Illustration: JOHANNESBURG FROM THE NORTH.
+
+Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]
+
+"I attribute our failure to reach Johannesburg in a great measure to
+loss of time from the following causes:--
+
+"1. The delay occasioned by the demonstration in front of
+Krugersdorp, which had been assigned as the place of junction with
+the Johannesburg force.
+
+"2. The non-arrival of that force at Krugersdorp, or of the guides
+to the Krugersdorp-Johannesburg section of the road, as previously
+promised by Johannesburg.
+
+"3. The delay consequent on moving to the firing of the supposed
+Johannesburg column just before dark on Wednesday evening.
+
+"I append (1) a sketch-map of the route from Pitsani to Krugersdorp
+marked A. This distance (154 miles) was covered in just under
+seventy hours, the horses having been off-saddled ten times. The 169
+miles between Pitsani and Doornkop occupied eighty-six hours, during
+seventeen of which the men were engaged with the Boers, and were
+practically without food or water, having had their last meal at 8
+A.M. on the morning of the 1st January at Van Oudtshoorn's,
+seventeen miles from Krugersdorp."
+
+(The report concludes with a list of officers engaged in the
+expedition.)
+
+It will be noted that Sir John Willoughby does not attribute his
+failure to the bungling of his employes that is said to have taken
+place. The man that was despatched to cut the telegraph wires failed
+to do so, with the result that the Boers were provided with the news
+of the invasion eight hours before the Reform leaders were aware of
+it; while another man, whose business it was to wrench away the
+rails between Johannesburg and Krugersdorp, and thus interrupt
+communication from Pretoria, was reposing in a clubhouse hopelessly
+drunk, while the train he should have intercepted carried ammunition
+for use against the invaders.
+
+In order to present a fair picture of the situation, it must be
+admitted that many of the statements in this report were
+emphatically contradicted by the Reformers, notably the opening
+paragraphs, which scarcely tally with the fact that on the 28th (the
+day referred to) Dr. Jameson received the letters from the Reformers
+telling him not to start.
+
+The following statement of the four Reform leaders, which was read
+at their trial, will present the case from their point of view, and
+those interested may judge for themselves of a question over which
+many differences of opinion exist:--
+
+"For a number of years endeavours have been made to obtain by
+constitutional means the redress of the grievances under which the
+Uitlander population labours. The new-comer asked for no more than
+is conceded to emigrants by all the other Governments in South
+Africa, under which every man may, on reasonable conditions, become
+a citizen of the State; whilst here alone a policy is pursued by
+which the first settlers retain the exclusive right of government.
+
+"Petitions supported by the signatures of some forty thousand men
+were ignored, and when it was found that we could not get a fair and
+reasonable hearing, that provisions already deemed obnoxious and
+unfair were being made more stringent, and that we were being
+debarred for ever from obtaining the rights which in other countries
+are freely granted, it was realised that we would never get redress
+until we should make a demonstration of force to support our claims.
+
+"Certain provision was made regarding arms and ammunition, and a
+letter was written to Dr. Jameson, in which he was asked to come to
+our aid under certain circumstances.
+
+"On December 26 the Uitlanders' Manifesto was published, and it was
+then our intention to make a final appeal for redress at the public
+meeting which was to have been held on January 6. In consequence of
+matters that came to our knowledge, we sent on December 26 Major
+Heany (by train _via_ Kimberley), and Captain Holden across country,
+to forbid any movement on Dr. Jameson's part.
+
+"On the afternoon of Monday, December 30, we learnt from Government
+sources that Dr. Jameson had crossed the border. We assumed that he
+had come in good faith to help us, probably misled by some of the
+exaggerated rumours which were then in circulation. We were
+convinced, however, that the Government and the burghers would not
+in the excitement of the moment believe that we had not invited Dr.
+Jameson in, and there was no course open to us but to prepare to
+defend ourselves if we were attacked, and at the same time to spare
+no effort to effect a peaceful settlement.
+
+"It became necessary to form some organisation for the protection of
+the town and the maintenance of order, since, in the excitement
+caused by the news of Dr. Jameson's coming, serious disturbances
+would be likely to occur, and it was evident that the Government
+organisation could not deal with the people without serious risks of
+conflict.
+
+"The Reform Committee was formed on Monday night, December 30, and
+it was intended to include such men of influence as cared to
+associate themselves with the movement. The object with which it was
+formed is best shown by its first notice, namely:--
+
+"'Notice is hereby given, that this Committee adheres to the
+National Union Manifesto, and reiterates its desire to maintain the
+independence of the Republic. The fact that rumours are in course
+of circulation to the effect that a force has crossed the
+Bechuanaland border renders it necessary to take active steps for
+the defence of Johannesburg and preservation of order. The Committee
+earnestly desire that the inhabitants should refrain from taking any
+action which can be construed as an overt act of hostility against
+the Government. By order of the Committee, J. PERCY FITZPATRICK,
+_Secretary_.'
+
+"The evidence taken at the preliminary examination will show that
+order was maintained by this Committee during a time of intense
+excitement, and through the action of the Committee no aggressive
+steps whatever were taken against the Government, but on the
+contrary, the property of the Government was protected, and its
+officials were not interfered with.
+
+"It is our firm belief that had no such Committee been formed, the
+intense excitement caused by Dr. Jameson's entry would have brought
+about utter chaos in Johannesburg.
+
+"It has been alleged that we armed natives. This is absolutely
+untrue, and is disposed of by the fact that during the crisis
+upwards of 20,000 white men applied to us for arms and were unable
+to get them.
+
+"On Tuesday morning, December 31, we hoisted the flag of the Z. A.
+R., and every man bound himself to maintain the independence of the
+Republic. On the same day the Government withdrew its police
+voluntarily from the town, and we preserved perfect order.
+
+"During the evening of that day, Messrs. Marais and Malan presented
+themselves as delegates from the Executive Council. They came (to
+use their own words) to 'offer us the olive branch,' and they told
+us that if we would send a deputation to Pretoria to meet a
+Commission appointed by the Government, we should probably obtain
+'practically all that we asked for in the Manifesto.'
+
+"Our deputation met the Government Commission, consisting of
+Chief-Justice Kotze, Judge Ameshof, and Mr. Kook, member of the
+Executive.
+
+"On our behalf our deputation frankly avowed knowledge of Jameson's
+presence on the border, and of his intention, by written arrangement
+with us, to assist us in case of extremity.
+
+"With the full knowledge of this arrangement, with the knowledge
+that we were in arms and agitating for our rights, the Government
+Commission handed to us a resolution by the Executive Council, of
+which the following is the purport:--
+
+"'The High Commissioner has offered his services with a view to a
+peaceful settlement. The Government of the South African Republic
+has accepted his offer. Pending his arrival, no hostile step will be
+taken against Johannesburg, provided Johannesburg takes no hostile
+action against the Government. In terms of a certain proclamation
+recently issued by the President, the grievances will be earnestly
+considered.'
+
+"We acted in perfect good faith with the Government, believing it to
+be their desire, as it was ours, to avert bloodshed, and believing
+it to be their intention to give us the redress which was implied in
+the 'earnest consideration of grievances.'
+
+"There can be no better evidence of our earnest endeavour to repair
+what we regarded as a mistake on the part of Dr. Jameson than the
+following offer which our deputation, authorised by resolution of
+the Committee, laid before the Government Commission:--
+
+"'If the Government will permit Dr. Jameson to come into
+Johannesburg unmolested the Committee will guarantee, with their
+persons if necessary, that he will leave again peacefully as soon as
+possible.'
+
+"We faithfully carried out the agreement that we should commit no
+act of hostility against the Government; we ceased all active
+operations for the defence of the town against any attack, and we
+did everything in our power to prevent any collision with the
+burghers, an attempt in which our efforts were happily successful.
+
+"On the telegraphic advice of the result of the interview of the
+deputation with the Government Commission, we despatched Mr. Lace, a
+member of our Committee, as an escort to the courier carrying the
+High Commissioner's despatch to Dr. Jameson, in order to assure
+ourselves that the despatch would reach its destination.
+
+"On the following Saturday, January 4, the High Commissioner arrived
+at Pretoria. On Monday, the 6th, the following telegram was sent to
+us:--
+
+ _From_ H.M.'S AGENT _to_ REFORM COMMITTEE, Johannesburg.
+
+ "'PRETORIA, _January 6, 1896_.
+
+"'_January 6._--I am directed to inform you that the High
+Commissioner met the President, the Executive, and the Judges
+to-day. The President announced the decision of the Government to be
+that Johannesburg must lay down its arms unconditionally as a
+(condition) precedent to a discussion and consideration of
+grievances. The High Commissioner endeavoured to obtain some
+indication of the steps which would be taken in the event of
+disarmament, but without success, it being intimated that the
+Government had nothing more to say on the subject than had already
+been embodied in the President's proclamation. The High Commissioner
+inquired whether any decision had been come to as regards the
+disposal of the prisoners, and received a reply in the negative.
+The President said that as his burghers, to the number of 8000, had
+been collected and could not be asked to remain indefinitely, he
+must request a reply, "Yes" or "No," to this ultimatum within
+twenty-four hours.'
+
+
+"On the following day, Sir Jacobus de Wet, her Majesty's Agent, met
+us in committee, and handed to us the following wire from his
+Excellency the High Commissioner:--
+
+ HIGH COMMISSIONER, Pretoria, _to_ Sir J. DE WET, Johannesburg.
+
+ (Received Johannesburg 7.30 A.M., _Jan. 7, 1896_.)
+
+"'Urgent. You should inform the Johannesburg people that I consider,
+that if they lay down their arms, they will be acting loyally and
+honourably, and that if they do not comply with my request, they
+forfeit all claim to sympathy from her Majesty's Government, and
+from British subjects throughout the world, as the lives of Jameson
+and prisoners are practically in their hands.'
+
+
+"On this, and the assurance given in the Executive Council
+resolution, we laid down our arms on January 6th, 7th and 8th; on
+the 9th we were arrested, and have since been under arrest at
+Pretoria, a period of three and a half months.
+
+"We admit responsibility for the action taken by us. We frankly
+avowed it at the time of the negotiations with the Government, when
+we were informed that the services of the High Commissioner had been
+accepted with a view to a peaceful settlement.
+
+"We submit that we kept faith in every detail in the arrangement
+with the Government; that we did all that was humanly possible to
+protect both the State and Dr. Jameson from the consequences of his
+action; that we have committed no breach of the law which was not
+known to the Government at the time that the earnest consideration
+of our grievances was promised.
+
+"We can only now lay the bare facts before the Court, and submit to
+the judgment that may be passed upon us.
+
+ (Signed) LIONEL PHILLIPS.
+ FRANCIS RHODES.
+ GEORGE FARRAR.
+
+ "PRETORIA, _April 24, 1896_."
+
+ "I entirely concur with the above statement.
+
+ (Signed) JOHN HAYS HAMMOND.
+
+ "PRETORIA, _April 27, 1896_."
+
+
+AFTER DOORNKOP
+
+The account given by Sir John Willoughby serves to explain the
+doings of the Jameson troops. We all know how the raiders were
+surrounded by the Boers, who had ample time to lay an excellent trap
+for them, and how, after a plucky charge, they were forced to
+surrender. Before surrendering, however, Dr. Jameson obtained from
+Commandant Cronje, of Potchefstroom notoriety, a guarantee that the
+lives of the force would be spared.
+
+During this exciting period, when the failure of Jameson became
+known, the consternation that prevailed in Johannesburg was
+terrible. Panic-stricken women and children fled to the railway
+stations, and the Cornish miners scrambled with them for places in
+the departing trains. In the heat of January the poor refugees
+started off provisionless, leaving all their worldly goods behind
+them, their one care to be far away from the horrors that might take
+place in a besieged town. In the train they were packed like
+herrings in carriages or in cattle trucks, that would barely
+accommodate them.
+
+In addition to these miseries an awful accident took place on the
+Natal line, when a train loaded with refugees ran off the rails.
+Thirty-eight women and children were killed.
+
+In Johannesburg the Reformers had a harassing time. Their offices
+were besieged by people clamouring for arms. They had no rest night
+nor day, and their anxiety for the safety of Jameson and his party
+was intense. For themselves they were unconcerned, believing that
+their share in the matter was unknown, and that the Government was
+without a particle of evidence against them. And here we find that
+another blunder was made. Major Robert White, one of the raiders,
+had brought with him a despatch-box containing the key to a cypher,
+which had been used during the whole of the negotiations, and with
+it the names of the principal persons engaged in the conspiracy. Of
+course, this fell into the hands of the enemy, who were not slow to
+take advantage of their good luck.
+
+[Illustration: COLOUR-SERGEANT and PRIVATE (in KHAKI), GLOUCESTER
+REGIMENT.
+
+Photo by Gregory & Co., London.]
+
+On the evening of Jameson's surrender (Thursday), Sir Hercules
+Robinson (Lord Rosmead), left the Cape for the scene of the
+disturbance. The train he travelled by met with an accident; he was
+infirm--his nerves were shaken. The President refused to be
+interviewed on the Sabbath, and the result of his journey was a
+single meeting with Mr. Kruger, but the British Resident, Sir
+Jacobus de Wet, and Sir Sidney Shippard, were deputed to address and
+pacify the perturbed multitude in Johannesburg. The Uitlanders,
+they promised, should get their just rights--that her Majesty's
+Government would ensure--but they must first give up their arms: the
+fate of Jameson depended on it! The Reform leaders at this time knew
+nothing of the terms of the surrender, and the guarantee given by
+Commandant Cronje, or, perhaps, they knew too well what Cronje's
+guarantees were likely to be worth; and much against their better
+judgment, believing that their rights would be secured and the
+safety of Jameson effected, they eventually consented to
+disarmament.
+
+As we know, the conspirators had been short of arms--they had about
+2500 guns in all. When these were given up the Boers were
+dissatisfied. They had reason to believe that some 20,000 guns were
+to be supplied as part of the scheme, and suspected that the
+Reformers were concealing the existence of many weapons. The word of
+honour of the leaders produced no effect, and energetic search
+through floors and in the mines was carried on for some months
+afterwards.
+
+Of course, this disarmament immediately threw the Reformers into the
+clutches of the Pretoria Government. The authorities made haste to
+issue warrants for the arrest of sixty-four of the most prominent
+men of the movement; this in spite of the assurance made to the
+British agent that "not a hair of their heads should be touched"!
+Mrs. Phillips has reason to speak very bitterly of the mismanagement
+of the High Commissioner on this occasion. Having done his gruesome
+work, she says, "he returned to Cape Town, leaving Johannesburg
+absolutely at the mercy of the Boers. He actually effected the
+disarmament of this large town without making one single condition
+for its safety, and from that day the most signal acts of tyranny
+and injustice were committed over and over again by the Boer
+Oligarchy, and there was no one to say them nay. This was a critical
+event for English supremacy in South Africa, this final act of
+supreme weakness and folly! Many of her most loyal subjects from
+that moment have wavered on the brink, and some have gone over to
+the side of the Africander Bond. It is such actions as these which
+estrange the Colonists, and which give a little reality to the
+bondsman's dream of a United South Africa under a Republican flag."
+
+For the benefit of those who may not be acquainted with the
+negotiations which brought about this unfortunate disarmament, it
+may be as well to repeat some of the correspondence that passed
+between Sir Hercules Robinson and Mr. Chamberlain at this critical
+period.
+
+ Sir HERCULES ROBINSON, Pretoria, _to_ Mr. CHAMBERLAIN.
+
+ (Telegraphic. Received 1.8 A.M., _6th January 1896_.)
+
+"5th January, No. 3. Arrived here last night. Position of affairs
+very critical. On side of Government of South African Republic and
+of Orange Free State there is a desire to show moderation, but Boers
+show tendency to get out of hand and to demand execution of Jameson.
+I am told that Government of South African Republic will demand
+disarmament of Johannesburg as a condition precedent to
+negotiations. Their military preparations are now practically
+complete, and Johannesburg, if besieged, could not hold out, as they
+are short of water and coal. On side of Johannesburg leaders desire
+to be moderate, but men make safety of Jameson and concession of
+items in manifesto issued conditions precedent to disarmament. If
+these are refused, they assert they will elect their own leaders and
+fight it out in their own way. As the matter now stands, I see great
+difficulty in avoiding civil war, but I will do my best, and
+telegraph result of my official interview to-morrow. It is said that
+President of South African Republic intends to make some demands
+with respect to Article No. 4 of the London Convention of 1884."
+
+
+ Mr. CHAMBERLAIN _to_ Sir HERCULES ROBINSON.
+ (Telegraphic. _6th January 1896._)
+
+"6th January. No. 3. It is reported in the press telegrams the
+President of the South African Republic on December 30 held out
+definite hopes that concessions would be proposed in regard to
+education and the franchise. No overt act of hostility appears to
+have been committed by the Johannesburg people since the overthrow
+of Jameson. The statement that arms and ammunition are stored in
+that town in large quantities may be only one of many boasts without
+foundation. Under these circumstances, active measures against the
+town do not seem to be urgently required at the present moment, and
+I hope no step will be taken by the President of the South African
+Republic liable to cause more bloodshed and excite civil war in the
+Republic."
+
+
+These are followed by further correspondence.
+
+ Sir HERCULES ROBINSON, Pretoria, _to_ Mr. CHAMBERLAIN.
+ (Telegraphic. Received _7th January 1896_.)
+
+"6th January. No. 2. Met President South African Republic and Executive
+Council to-day. Before opening proceedings, I expressed on behalf of
+her Majesty's Government my sincere regret at the unwarrantable raid
+made by Jameson; also thanked Government of South African Republic for
+the moderation shown under trying circumstances. With regard to
+Johannesburg, President of South African Republic announced decision of
+Government to be that Johannesburg must lay down its arms
+unconditionally as a precedent to any discussion and consideration of
+grievances. I endeavoured to obtain some indication of the steps that
+would be taken in the event of disarmament, but without success, it
+being intimated that Government of South African Republic had nothing
+more to say on this subject than had been already embodied in
+proclamation of President of South African Republic. I inquired as to
+whether any decision had been come to as regards disposal of prisoners,
+and received a reply in the negative. President of South African
+Republic said that as his burghers, to number of 8000, had been
+collected and could not be asked to remain indefinitely, he must request
+a reply, 'Yes' or 'No,' to this ultimatum within twenty-four hours. I
+have communicated decision of South African Republic to Reform Committee
+at Johannesburg through British Agent in South African Republic.
+
+"The burgher levies are in such an excited state over the invasion
+of their country, that I believe President of South African Republic
+could not control them except in the event of unconditional
+surrender. I have privately recommended them to accept ultimatum.
+Proclamation of President of South African Republic refers to
+promise to consider all grievances which are properly submitted, and
+to lay the same before the Legislature without delay."
+
+On January 7, Mr. Chamberlain replied:--
+
+"No. 1. I approve of your advice to Johannesburg. Kruger will be
+wise not to proceed to extremities at Johannesburg or elsewhere:
+otherwise the evil animosities already aroused may be dangerously
+excited."
+
+And on the same day Sir Hercules Robinson telegraphed:--
+
+"No. 1. Your telegram of January 6, No. 2. It would be most
+inexpedient to send troops to Mafeking at this moment, and there is
+not the slightest necessity for such a step, as there is no danger
+from Kimberley Volunteer Corps or from Mafeking. I have sent De Wet
+with ultimatum this morning to Johannesburg, and believe arms will
+be laid down unconditionally. I understand in such case Jameson and
+all prisoners will be handed over to me. Prospect now very hopeful
+if no injudicious steps are taken. Please leave matter in my hands."
+
+It is unnecessarily humiliating to dwell further on the astute
+manner in which Mr. Kruger played with the British Government while
+he kept Jameson and his party in durance vile, and in the agonies of
+mental suspense--or to dilate upon the treacherous means he employed
+to induce the Reformers and the town to lay down their arms. The
+British Agent distinctly promised that "not one among you shall lose
+his personal liberty for a single hour," and further declared "that
+the British Government could not possibly allow such a thing."
+
+Yet the British Government calmly looked on while the Reform leaders
+were arrested and kept in Pretoria Gaol, at the mercy of a fiend in
+human shape named Du Plessis, whose atrocious conduct and character
+eventually caused him to be reported to the High Commissioner.
+
+As an example of the way prisoners were treated, Mrs. Lionel
+Phillips may again be quoted:--
+
+"It is well known," she writes, "that one of Jameson's troopers on
+the way down, falling ill, was taken prisoner by some Boers, and
+kept at their farmhouse some days. He was tied up, and forced to
+submit to all sorts of ill-treatment, being given dirty water to
+drink, for instance, when half-dying of thirst. But his captor's
+wife had compassion on him, and at the end of several days, to his
+surprise, he was told that he was to be allowed to go free. The
+Boers gave him his horse, mounted him, and informed him the one
+condition they made was that he was to ride away as fast as he
+could. He naturally obeyed, and as he galloped off had several
+bullets put into him, poor fellow. That is a very favourite and
+well-known method of Transvaal Boer assassination. It gives them the
+pretext that a prisoner had been trying to escape."
+
+Mrs. Phillips relates also the horrible experiences of her husband,
+who was one of the Uitlanders conspicuous in the Reform movement.
+
+"Lionel (her husband), George Farrar, Colonel Rhodes, and J. H.
+Hammond were put into one cell, twelve feet square, without windows,
+and were locked up there the first three nights for thirteen hours.
+Then the prison doctor insisted on more space being allotted to
+them, and the door, which communicated with a courtyard twenty feet
+square, was left open at night. This was the space in which they
+were permitted to take exercise. They were not allowed to associate
+with their fellows at first. In January, in Pretoria, the heat is
+intense, quite semi-tropical indeed, the temperature varying from 90
+to 105 degrees in the shade. As the weather happened to be at its
+hottest, the sufferings of these men were awful. The cells, hitherto
+devoted to the use of Kaffirs, swarmed with vermin and smelt
+horribly; while to increase their miseries, if that were possible,
+one of their number was suffering from dysentery, and no
+conveniences of any kind were supplied. With these facts in mind,
+any attempt to describe what the prisoners underwent would be
+superfluous. Add to all these hardships their mental sufferings, and
+then judge of their state."
+
+[Illustration: Rt. Hon. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.,
+
+Secretary for the Colonies.
+
+Photo by Russell & Sons, London.]
+
+Can anything be more pathetic than the description of the state of
+these men given by the wife of one of them--men who had been driven
+to hatred and revolt by an inefficient, exclusive, and unscrupulous
+Government, which was endeavouring to reduce the subjects of a
+suzerain power to the level--to the, to them, despicable level--of
+the Kaffirs? Of the fate of these unhappy sufferers we have yet to
+speak.
+
+
+THE FATE OF RAIDERS AND REFORMERS
+
+Dr. Jameson, as we all know, was sent with his comrades to England
+to be dealt with by the laws of his country. He and his officers
+were tried and convicted under the Foreign Enlistment Act. Much
+sympathy was shown him by the vast British public, and little for
+the Reformers, who, whatever their part in the affair, had to suffer
+most. They endured mental torture, and bodily discomfort of all
+kinds--discomfort so acute that it brought on some active illness,
+and caused one to commit suicide. A Judge from the Orange Free
+State--Judge Gregorowski--who took an unctious joy in the
+proceedings, was imported to try them, and he revived or unearthed
+an old Roman Dutch law of treason for the purpose of sentencing them
+to death. This sentence was fortunately not carried out, but it
+served to keep the Reformers and all connected with them in a state
+of agonised suspense. Besides these sufferers from the effects of
+the Raid, there were others. Mr. Rhodes is said to have exclaimed,
+"I have been the friend of Jameson for twenty years and now he has
+ruined me!" The statement was somewhat exaggerated, but there is no
+doubt that Mr. Rhodes, besides having to resign the posts he
+occupied, lost much of the sympathy of the Cape Dutch. The
+Uitlanders, also, who had previously enjoyed this sympathy now
+forfeited it, all the Dutch being inclined to quote the impulsive
+act of Dr. Jameson as an example of British treachery, and to look
+upon Mr. Kruger in the light of a hero. Indeed, many of the British,
+who took merely an outsider's interest in the state of affairs,
+laboured under the impression that Mr. Kruger was a simple-minded,
+long-suffering, and magnanimous person. They did not trouble
+themselves to go deeply into the incessant annoyances and
+injustices that for many years had harried the lot of the Uitlanders
+and caused them at last to lose patience and revolt against
+oppression. Even now there are people who lean to the belief that
+the coarse nut of Boer character may possess a sound kernel, people
+who prefer to hug that belief rather than inform themselves by
+reading what Mr. Rider Haggard, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and other
+well-informed men have to say on the subject.
+
+When all efforts to work upon Mr. Kruger failed, the wives of the
+unhappy men applied to "Tante Sanne," as the President's wife is
+called, and begged her intervention. She said, "Yes, I will do all I
+can for you; I am very sorry for you all, although I know that none
+of you thought of me that night when we heard Jameson had crossed
+the border, and we were afraid the President would have to go out
+and fight, and when they went and caught his white horse that he has
+not ridden for eight years. But all the same I am sorry for you
+all."
+
+The wives of the Boers are very powerful, and it is possible that
+Mrs. Kruger may have prevailed in some way over her husband, for at
+last, after five weary months of imprisonment, after delays,
+suspenses, and alarms too numerous to be here recounted, the
+prisoners, on the 11th of June 1896, were released. They were
+required to pay a fine of L2000, and to sign a pledge not to
+interfere with politics for three years. It was owing to this pledge
+that the valuable book, "The Transvaal from Within," which has here
+been quoted, was not published till affairs therein set forth had
+come in 1899 to the painful climax of war! Mr. Lionel Phillips,
+however, was not so wise as Mr. Fitzpatrick. When Sir John
+Willoughby in 1897 attacked the Reform Leaders of Johannesburg in
+the _Nineteenth Century_, Mr. Phillips replied to it in the same
+Review, August 1897, defending himself and his comrades from the
+charges made. In consequence of this action Mr. Phillips was
+considered to have broken his pledge and was condemned by the
+Transvaal Government to banishment. Doubtless it was without much
+regret that he shook the dust of that ill-conditioned State from off
+his shoes.
+
+
+THE ULTIMATUM
+
+After the turmoil of 1896 affairs declined from bad to worse. The
+state of tension between the oppressed Uitlanders and the now
+suspicious Boers became from day to day and year to year more acute,
+till at last it was almost unbearable. The incompetence of the
+police showed that robbery, and even murder, might at any moment be
+perpetrated and go unpunished, and alarm on this score was not
+allayed by the action of a constable in shooting dead a Uitlander
+named Edgar for having met his insults with a blow.
+
+To thoroughly appreciate the misery and insecurity of the
+Uitlanders, the atrocity of the Government, and the uncloaked
+hostility to Great Britain that has existed till now, we may quote a
+description of the situation given last year by Professor James
+Liebmann. He wrote:--
+
+"In the Transvaal a state of things reigns supreme which cannot be
+surpassed by the most corrupt of South American Republics. There the
+Boer shows his character in its most unpleasant features. Low,
+sordid, corrupt, his chief magistrate as well as his lowest official
+readily listens to 'reasons that jingle,' and, like the gentleman in
+the 'Mikado,' is not averse to 'insults.' He calls his country a
+republic--it is so in name only. The majority of the population,
+representing the wealth and intelligence of the country--the
+Uitlanders--are refused almost every civil right, except the
+privilege of paying exorbitant taxes to swell an already overgorged
+treasury. Under this ideal(?) government, which is really a
+sixteenth-century oligarchy flourishing at the end of the
+nineteenth, and is, certainly not a land where
+
+ 'A man may speak the thing he will,'
+
+you have a press censorship as tyrannical as in Russia, a State
+supervision of telegrams, a veto on the right of public meeting, a
+most unjust education law, and an Executive browbeating the
+Justiciary; and, in order to accomplish so much, the Transvaal has
+closed its doors to its kinsmen in Cape Colony--for you must not
+forget that the oldest Transvaalers, from President Kruger
+downwards, are ex-Cape Colonists, and quondam British subjects--and
+imported a bureaucracy of Hollanders to plait a whip wherewith to
+castigate her children.
+
+"On the Rand, at present, the Uitlanders are voiceless, voteless,
+and leaderless, whilst, on the other hand, large quantities of arms
+have been introduced into the country, and the burghers, every one
+of them, trained in the use of these weapons. Fortifications have
+been raised at Johannesburg and Pretoria, to cowe those who are
+putting money into the State's purse, and for this purpose the
+President has acquired the services of German military officers who
+will find congenial employment in thus dragooning defenceless
+citizens.
+
+"This is the state of affairs in the South African so-called
+Republic in this year of grace (1898), which, according to the
+Convention, granted equal rights to Briton and to Boer."
+
+This being no exaggerated picture of the situation, it is small
+wonder that at last the Uitlanders determined to bear the burden no
+longer, but set their grievances before the Queen. Early in the new
+year the following petition was forwarded to her Majesty:--
+
+"_Humble Petition of British Subjects resident on the Witwatersrandt
+ Gold Fields to her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria._
+
+"1. Your loyal subjects on these fields are by law denied the free
+right of possessing such arms as may be necessary to protect their
+lives and property, and such obstacles are placed in their way as to
+render the obtaining of the necessary official permit almost
+impossible. Consequently the Uitlander population of this State is
+to all intents and purposes an unarmed community.
+
+"2. On the other hand, the whole of the burgher section of the
+community, irrespective of age, are permitted to possess and carry
+arms without let or hindrance, and are, in fact, on application,
+supplied with them by the Government free of charge.
+
+"3. The police force of this State is exclusively recruited from the
+burgher element, many of the police being youths fresh from rural
+districts, without experience or tact, and in many instances without
+general education or a knowledge of the English language; therefore,
+as a whole, entirely out of sympathy with the British section of the
+community, which forms the majority of the population.
+
+"4. The foot police of Johannesburg, in whose appointment and
+control we have no voice, is not a military force; yet its members
+not only carry batons, but are also armed with six-chambered
+military revolvers, invariably carried loaded.
+
+"5. Under these circumstances, given an unarmed community policed by
+a body of inexperienced rustics carrying weapons of precision and
+utterly out of sympathy with the community they are supposed to
+protect, it is not surprising that the power placed in the hands of
+this police force should be constantly abused.
+
+"6. For years past your subjects have in consequence had constantly
+to complain of innumerable acts of petty tyranny at the hands of the
+police.
+
+"7. During the last few months, however, this antagonistic attitude
+of the police has assumed a much more serious and aggressive aspect.
+Without warrant they have invaded private houses and taken the
+occupants into custody on frivolous and unfounded charges never
+proceeded with; violently arrested British subjects in the streets
+on unintelligible charges: and generally display towards your
+Majesty's subjects a temper which undoubtedly tends to endanger the
+peace of the community. In adopting this demeanour the police are
+supported, with but a few honourable exceptions, by the higher
+officials, as instanced by the continual persecution in the Courts
+of many of your Majesty's coloured subjects at the very time when
+negotiations are proceeding between your Majesty's Representative
+and the Transvaal Government with regard to their status. This
+feeling is also strongly evidenced in the particular case which we
+now bring to your Majesty's notice.
+
+"8. The lamentable tragedy which has been the immediate cause of
+this our humble Petition cannot, therefore, be regarded as
+incidental, but symptomatic.
+
+"9. This case is that of the shooting of Tom Jackson Edgar, a
+British subject, by Police-Constable Barend Stephanus Jones, a
+member of the Johannesburg Constabulary.
+
+"10. From the accompanying affidavits, already published and sworn
+by eye-witnesses of the tragedy, it would appear that the deceased,
+while in the occupation of his own house, was shot dead by
+Police-Constable Barend Stephanus Jones as the latter was in the act
+of unlawfully breaking into the house of deceased without a warrant.
+
+"11. Police-Constable Barend Stephanus Jones, though in the first
+instance placed in custody on a charge of murder, was almost
+immediately afterwards let out on bail by the Public Prosecutor,
+who, without waiting for any Magisterial inquiry, reduced the
+charge, on his own initiative, to that of culpable homicide.
+
+"12. The bail on which the prisoner was released was the same in
+amount--namely, L200--as that required a few days previously from an
+Uitlander charged with a common assault on a Member of the
+Government Secret Service, and the penalty for which was a fine of
+L20.
+
+"13. The widow and orphan of the late Tom Jackson Edgar have been
+left absolutely destitute through the death of their natural
+protector.
+
+"14. To sum up: We humbly represent to your Majesty that we, your
+loyal subjects resident here, are entirely defenceless since--(1)
+The police are appointed by the Government, not by the Municipality;
+(2) We have no voice in the Government of the country; (3) There is
+no longer an independent Judiciary to which we can appeal; (4) There
+is, therefore, no power within this State to which we can appeal
+with the least hope of success; and as we are not allowed to arm and
+protect ourselves, our last resource is to fall back on our status
+as British subjects.
+
+"We therefore humbly pray: That your Majesty will instruct your
+Representative to take such steps as will ensure (_a_) a full and
+impartial trial, on a proper indictment, of prisoner Police-Constable
+Barend Stephanus Jones, and adequate punishment for his offence, if
+found guilty; (_b_) proper provision by the Transvaal Government for the
+needs of the widow and orphan of the deceased Tom Jackson Edgar, killed
+by their agent; (_c_) the extension of your Majesty's protection to the
+lives, liberty, and property of your loyal subjects resident here, and
+such other steps as may be necessary to terminate the existing
+intolerable state of affairs.
+
+"And your petitioners will ever pray, &c."
+
+Of course, this move enraged the authorities of the Transvaal, who
+tried to prove the existence of a plot against the Republic, and
+even to represent that British military officers were implicated in
+it. But Sir Alfred Milner exposed the little machinations of the
+"secret service" people, so that their duplicit efforts were not
+crowned with the hoped-for success. Mr. Steyn then succeeded Mr.
+Reitz as President of the Orange Free State, and his appearance on
+the political scene was the signal for an offensive and defensive
+alliance between the two Republics. Following the example set by
+President Brand, Mr. Steyn--in the character of umpire or
+peacemaker--assisted to promote a meeting at Bloemfontein between
+Sir Alfred Milner and President Kruger. The Uitlander Council drew
+up the following declaration:--
+
+"The proposals submitted at the Bloemfontein Conference by his
+Excellency the High Commissioner were briefly:
+
+"1. That the Uitlanders possessing a certain property or wages
+qualification, on proving that they had resided five years in the
+country and on taking an oath of allegiance, be given full burgher
+rights.
+
+"2. That there should be such a distribution of seats as would give
+to the new-comers a substantial representation in the First
+Volksraad, but not such as would enable them to swamp the old
+burghers.
+
+"All must admit that this scheme is most conservative, because--
+
+"(_a_). It does not restore to the Uitlanders all the rights of
+which they have been unjustly deprived since the retrocession.
+
+"(_b_). Nearly the whole revenue of the country is derived from the
+taxation of the Uitlanders.
+
+"(_c_). The Uitlanders form at least two-thirds of the total white
+population. (This was practically admitted by President Kruger at
+the Conference.)
+
+"(_d_). In most new countries one or two years' residence ensures
+full voting power. There is no reason why there should be more
+stringent conditions in operation in this State than in Natal or
+Cape Colony, or than those which existed until quite recently in
+the Orange Free State, and which were only changed from one to
+three years on account of the unhealthy political conditions in the
+South African Republic.
+
+"Notwithstanding, however, the conservative character of the scheme,
+the Uitlander Council consider that the proposals of his Excellency
+the High Commissioner are calculated in no small degree to bring
+about a practical and permanent settlement. But in the opinion of
+the Uitlander Council, it is essential at the outset to fix
+definitely the conditions under which:
+
+"1. All duly qualified persons can get the franchise without any
+unnecessary expense, trouble, or delay, and without being subjected
+to any kind of intimidation.
+
+"2. Those who have got the franchise shall be able to use it
+effectively.
+
+"3. Redistribution of seats shall take place periodically by
+automatic arrangement, and representation shall bear some definite
+relation to the number of electors.
+
+"Having regard to the recent history of the Government of this
+country, and the facility with which even fundamental laws are and
+may be changed, the Uitlander Council are convinced that no
+settlement will be of any value unless its permanency is guaranteed
+by an understanding between the Imperial Government and the
+Government of the South African Republic.
+
+"Further, knowing by past experience that every effort will be made
+by means of the existing Government machinery to obstruct and
+pervert even the smallest measure of reform, and bearing in mind the
+immense discretionary power accorded by the laws to all Government
+officials, the Uitlander Council are strongly of opinion that the
+understanding between the two Governments should provide for such
+immediate changes in the present laws of the country as would make
+it possible to carry out Sir A. Milner's scheme, not only in the
+letter, but also in the spirit.
+
+"The outcome of the understanding between the two Governments should
+be the inclusion among the permanent and fundamental laws of the
+South African Republic of a Reform Act embracing, in addition to the
+clauses providing for naturalisation and redistribution on the lines
+already indicated, the following among other provisions:
+
+"1. No burgher or alien shall be granted privileges or immunities
+which on the same terms shall not be granted to all burghers.
+
+"2. No person shall, on account of creed or religious belief, be
+under any disability whatever.
+
+"3. The majority of the inhabitants being English-speaking, English
+shall be recognised equally with Dutch as an official language of
+the State.
+
+"4. The independence of the High Court shall be established and duly
+safeguarded.
+
+"5. Legislation by simple resolution (_besluit_) of the Volksraad
+shall be abolished.
+
+"6. The free right of public meeting and of forming electoral
+committees shall be recognised and established.
+
+"7. The freedom of speech and of the press shall be assured.
+
+"8. All persons shall be secured in their houses, persons, papers,
+and effects against violation or illegal seizure.
+
+"9. The existence of forts and the adoption of other measures
+intended for the intimidation of the white inhabitants of the
+country, being a menace to the exercise of the undoubted rights of a
+free people, shall be declared unconstitutional.
+
+"10. Existing monopolies shall be cancelled or expropriated on
+equitable conditions.
+
+"11. Raad members must be fully enfranchised burghers and over
+twenty-one years of age. Any candidate for the Presidency must be a
+fully enfranchised burgher over thirty years of age, and have been
+resident in the country for ten years.
+
+"12. All elections shall be by ballot and shall be adequately
+safeguarded by stringent provisions against bribery and
+intimidation.
+
+"13. All towns with a population of 1000 persons and upwards shall
+have the right to manage their own local affairs under a general
+Municipal Act. The registration of voters and the conduct of all
+elections shall be regulated by local bodies.
+
+"14. A full and comprehensive system of State Education shall be
+established under the control of Local Boards.
+
+"15. The Civil Service shall be completely reorganised, and all
+corrupt officials shall be dismissed from office, and be ineligible
+for office in the future.
+
+"16. Payments from the public Treasury shall only be made in
+accordance with the Budget proposals approved by the Raad, with full
+and open publication of the accounts periodically.
+
+"17. No person shall become a burgher, and no fresh constituency
+shall be created except in accordance with the lines herein laid
+down, and officials shall have no discretionary power in this or any
+other matter affecting the civil rights of the inhabitants of the
+country."
+
+
+The Conference was a complete failure. Mr. Kruger obstinately
+refused to make the proposed concessions, and Sir Alfred Milner
+would be contented with nothing less.
+
+[Illustration: Sir ALFRED MILNER, K.C.B.,
+
+High Commissioner for South Africa.
+
+Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.]
+
+The President afterwards agreed to grant a "seven years'
+Franchise" on terms that were scarcely practicable, while the
+Secretary of State for the Colonies held out for the five years'
+Franchise at first demanded. The bargaining was pursued for some
+weeks with considerable animation, and in the end Mr. Kruger offered
+to allow the five years' franchise on what he knew to be the
+impossible condition, that the question of suzerainty should be
+entirely dropped.
+
+The mobilisation of the burghers, which had been secretly on foot
+for some time, was forthwith carried on apace, and later--much too
+tardily--British patience gave way, and troops were despatched to
+South Africa. Then followed, on the 9th of October, an insulting
+ultimatum from President Kruger, demanding the immediate withdrawal
+of British troops from the Transvaal border, and an assurance that
+no more should be landed. In default of this assurance, he declared
+that at 5 P.M. on the 11th of October a state of war would exist. To
+such an ultimatum only one answer was possible. British troops at
+once started for the Cape.
+
+Naturally the whole of Great Britain was in a state of turmoil, and
+the vast multitude of people--"the men in the street," so to
+say--were inclined to express surprise that the question of two
+years' difference in the terms of obtaining the franchise should
+have been made into a _casus belli_. To all thinking men it was
+patent, however, that the quibble about the franchise was merely a
+Boer _ruse_ to obtain time for the carrying out of a long-concerted
+scheme for the elimination of the British from the Cape to the
+Zambezi. These were aware that the military methods of the Transvaal
+were under process of reorganisation, and indeed had been readjusted
+gradually ever since 1896, and that the simple methods of 1881 had
+been superseded by newer and more modern principles of warfare. It
+was known that great additions had been made to the warlike
+resources of the Republic, and that the President of the Free State
+was, if anything, more bitter than Mr. Kruger in his hatred of Great
+Britain and all things British, and that the two Republics would
+make common cause with each other against a mutual enemy. It was
+also known that foreign experts were imported, and foreign stocks of
+war material--material of the newest and most expensive kind--were
+prepared in anticipation of war, and that even such a thing as
+tactical instruction--a thing hitherto ignored among the
+Transvaalers--had been acquired from accomplished German sources,
+and all this for one sole purpose--war with Great Britain. In order
+that there may be no doubt that the Boers were completely prepared
+and determined to fight long before the insolent Ultimatum was
+published, it is desirable to read a letter which appeared in the
+_Times_ of the 14th of October 1899. This epistle, which was
+appropriately headed "Boer Ignorance," emanated from a Dutch
+writer, whose address was in a well-known part of Cape Colony. It
+runs:--
+
+"SIR,--In your paper you have often commented on what you are
+pleased to call the ignorance of my countrymen, the Boers. We are
+not so ignorant as the British statesmen and newspaper writers, nor
+are we such fools as you British are. We know our policy, and we do
+not change it. We have no opposition party to fear nor to truckle
+to. Your boasted Conservative majority has been the obedient tool of
+the Radical minority, and the Radical minority has been the blind
+tool of our far-seeing and intelligent President. We have desired
+delay, and we have had it, and we are now practically masters of
+Africa from the Zambezi to the Cape. All the Afrikanders in Cape
+Colony have been working for years for this end, for they and we
+know the facts.
+
+"1. The actual value of gold in the Transvaal is at least 200,000
+millions of pounds, and this fact is as well known to the Emperors
+of Germany and Russia as it is to us. You estimate the value of gold
+at only 700 millions of pounds, or at least that is what you pretend
+to estimate it at. But Germany, Russia, and France do not desire you
+to get possession of this vast mass of gold, and so, after
+encouraging you to believe that they will not interfere in South
+Africa, they will certainly do so, and very easily find a _casus
+belli_, and they will assist us, directly and indirectly, to drive
+you out of Africa.
+
+"2. We know that you dare not take any precautions in advance to
+prevent the onslaught of the Great Powers, as the Opposition, the
+great peace party, will raise the question of expense, and this will
+win over your lazy, dirty, drunken working classes, who will never
+again permit themselves to be taxed to support your Empire, or even
+to preserve your existence as a nation.
+
+"3. We know from all the military authorities of the European and
+American continents that you exist as an independent Power merely on
+sufferance, and that at any moment the great Emperor William can
+arrange with France or Russia to wipe you off the face of the earth.
+They can at any time starve you into surrender. You must yield in
+all things to the United States also, or your supply of corn will be
+so reduced by the Americans that your working classes would be
+compelled to pay high prices for their food, and rather than do that
+they would have civil war, and invite any foreign Power to assist
+them by invasion, for there is no patriotism in the working classes
+of England, Wales, or Ireland.
+
+"4. We know that your country has been more prosperous than any
+other country during the last fifty years (you have had no civil war
+like the Americans and French to tone up your nerves and strengthen
+your manliness), and consequently your able-bodied men will not
+enlist in your so-called voluntary army. Therefore you have to hire
+the dregs of your population to do your fighting, and they are
+deficient in physique, in moral and mental ability, and in all the
+qualities that make good fighting men.
+
+"5. Your military officers we know to be merely pedantic scholars or
+frivolous society men, without any capacity for practical warfare
+with white men. The Afridis were more than a match for you, and your
+victory over the Soudanese was achieved because those poor people
+had not a rifle amongst them.
+
+"6. We know that your men, being the dregs of your people, are
+naturally feeble, and that they are also saturated with the most
+horrible sexual diseases, as all your Government returns plainly
+show, and that they cannot endure the hardships of war.
+
+"7. We know that the entire British race is rapidly decaying, your
+birth-rate is rapidly falling, your children are born weak,
+diseased, and deformed, and that the major part of your population
+consists of females, cripples, epileptics, consumptives, cancerous
+people, invalids, and lunatics of all kinds whom you carefully
+nourish and preserve.
+
+"8. We know that nine-tenths of your statesmen and higher officials,
+military and naval, are suffering from kidney diseases, which weaken
+their courage and will-power, and make them shirk all responsibility
+as far as possible.
+
+"9. We know that your Navy is big, but we know that it is not
+powerful, and that it is honeycombed with disloyalty--as witness the
+theft of the signal-books, the assaults on officers, the desertions,
+and the wilful injury of the boilers and machinery, which all the
+vigilance of the officers is powerless to prevent.
+
+"10. We know that the Conservative Government is a mere sham, and
+that it largely reduced the strength of the British artillery in
+1888-89. And we know that it does not dare now to call out the
+Militia for training, nor to mobilise the Fleet, nor to give
+sufficient grants to the Line and Volunteers for ammunition to
+enable them to become good marksmen and efficient soldiers. We know
+that British soldiers and sailors are immensely inferior as
+marksmen, not only to Germans, French, and Americans, but also to
+Japanese, Afridis, Chilians, Peruvians, Belgians, and Russians.
+
+"11. We know that no British Government dares to propose any form of
+compulsory military or naval training, for the British people would
+rather be invaded, conquered, and governed by Germans, Russians, or
+Frenchmen, than be compelled to serve their own Government.
+
+"12. We Boers know that we will not be governed by a set of British
+curs, but that we will drive you out of Africa altogether, and the
+other manly nations which have compulsory military service--the
+armed manhood of Europe--will very quickly divide all your other
+possessions between them.
+
+"Talk no more of the ignorance of the Boers or Cape Dutch; a few
+days more will prove your ignorance of the British position, and in
+a short space of time you and your Queen will be imploring the good
+offices of the great German Emperor to deliver you from your
+disasters, for your humiliations are not yet complete.
+
+"For thirty years the Cape Dutch have been waiting their chance, and
+now their day has come; they will throw off their mask and your yoke
+at the same instant, and 300,000 Dutch heroes will trample you
+underfoot.
+
+"We can afford to tell you the truth now, and in this letter you
+have got it.--Yours, &c.,
+
+ P. S.
+
+ "_October 12._"
+
+This letter, though false in many particulars, certainly pointed out
+some "home truths," which it was desirable for the British public to
+read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. It also served to cast aside
+the thin veil which had covered our political relations with
+President Kruger and his party, and to show the firm foundations on
+which the hatred of the Boer for the Briton had been built for
+years. The question of the franchise was a bagatelle: a soap-bubble
+would have been pretext enough for war when the right hour and
+moment arrived. As allowed by this candid writer, whose valuable
+avowals cannot afford to be ignored, for many years treachery and
+disloyalty had existed, and the Boers had only bided their time.
+They "desired delay, and had it," playing their cards so skilfully
+as to deceive even the British Government, and imply to them and the
+world that the franchise question and the discontent of the
+Uitlanders was the main cause of the disagreement.
+
+
+Before passing on to the terrible drama that, owing to the defiance
+of Mr. Kruger, was afterwards enacted, we must assure ourselves that
+the sad climax was bound to have come sooner or later. If the future
+of South Africa is to be saved, the prestige of Great Britain must
+be maintained; her citizens must be protected, and the betrayals of
+Downing Street of 1881 and 1896 must be atoned for. Though darkness
+reigns at the time of writing, the future of the Transvaal is a
+bright one. Reactionaries of the Hofmeyer and Kruger stamp will pass
+away, and we may look to the twentieth century for a happy
+settlement of the terrible difficulties which stare us in the face.
+But the settlement can never be effected by the policy of
+compromise. It can never be lasting while Conventions are allowed to
+become the pawns of parties; it can never be noble nor dignified
+until the petty ambitions of political strife are subdued and the
+grand whole, Great Britain--not the infinitesimal island, but the
+immense and populous Empire--is ordered and laboured for with the
+courage and strength that comes of undoubted unanimity! It remains,
+therefore, with each individual man and woman among us so to work
+that the grand result is not unnecessarily delayed.
+
+[Illustration: VISCOUNT WOLSELEY,
+
+Commander-in-Chief of the British Army.
+
+Photo by London Stereoscopic Co.]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+CONVENTION OF 1881
+
+CONVENTION FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TRANSVAAL TERRITORY
+
+
+PREAMBLE. Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Settlement of the
+Transvaal territory, duly appointed as such by a Commission passed
+under the Royal Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the 5th of
+April 1881, do hereby undertake and guarantee on behalf of her
+Majesty, that, from and after the 8th day of August 1881, complete
+self-government, subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs
+and successors, will be accorded to the inhabitants of the Transvaal
+territory, upon the following terms and conditions, and subject to
+the following reservations and limitations:--
+
+ARTICLE 1. The said territory, to be herein-after called the
+Transvaal State, will embrace the land lying between the following
+boundaries, to wit: [Here follow three pages in print defining
+boundaries].
+
+ARTICLE 2. Her Majesty reserves to herself, her heirs and
+successors, (_a_) the right from time to time to appoint a British
+Resident in and for the said State, with such duties and functions
+as are herein-after defined; (_b_) the right to move troops through
+the said State in time of war, or in case of the apprehension of
+immediate war between the Suzerain Power and any Foreign State or
+Native tribe in South Africa; and (_c_) the control of the external
+relations of the said State, including the conclusion of treaties
+and the conduct of diplomatic intercourse with Foreign Powers, such
+intercourse to be carried on through her Majesty's diplomatic and
+consular officers abroad.
+
+ARTICLE 3. Until altered by the Volksraad, or other competent
+authority, all laws, whether passed before or after the annexation
+of the Transvaal territory to her Majesty's dominions, shall, except
+in so far as they are inconsistent with or repugnant to the
+provisions of this Convention, be and remain in force in the said
+State in so far as they shall be applicable thereto, provided that
+no future enactment especially affecting the interests of natives
+shall have any force or effect in the said State, without the
+consent of her Majesty, her heirs and successors, first had and
+obtained and signified to the Government of the said State through
+the British Resident, provided further that in no case will the
+repeal or amendment of any laws enacted since the annexation have a
+retrospective effect, so as to invalidate any acts done or
+liabilities incurred by virtue of such laws.
+
+ARTICLE 4. On the 8th of August 1881, the Government of the said
+State, together with all rights and obligations thereto
+appertaining, and all State property taken over at the time of
+annexation, save and except munitions of war, will be handed over to
+Messrs. Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus Wessel Pretorius,
+and Petrus Jacobus Joubert, or the survivor or survivors of them,
+who will forthwith cause a Volksraad to be elected and convened, and
+the Volksraad, thus elected and convened, will decide as to the
+further administration of the Government of the said State.
+
+ARTICLE 5. All sentences passed upon persons who may be convicted of
+offences contrary to the rules of civilised warfare committed during
+the recent hostilities will be duly carried out, and no alteration
+or mitigation of such sentences will be made or allowed by the
+Government of the Transvaal State without her Majesty's consent
+conveyed through the British Resident. In case there shall be any
+prisoners in any of the gaols of the Transvaal State whose
+respective sentences of imprisonment have been remitted in part by
+her Majesty's Administrator or other officer administering the
+Government, such remission will be recognised and acted upon by the
+future Government of the said State.
+
+ARTICLE 6. Her Majesty's Government will make due compensation for
+all losses or damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in the
+8th Article herein-after specified, which may have been committed by
+her Majesty's forces during the recent hostilities, except for such
+losses or damage as may already have been compensated for, and the
+Government of the Transvaal State will make due compensation for all
+losses or damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in the 8th
+Article herein-after specified which may have been committed by the
+people who were in arms against her Majesty during the recent
+hostilities, except for such losses or damages as may already have
+been compensated for.
+
+ARTICLE 7. The decision of all claims for compensation, as in the last
+preceding Article mentioned, will be referred to a Sub-Committee,
+consisting of the Honourable George Hudson, the Honourable Jacobus
+Petrus de Wet, and the Honourable John Gilbert Kotze. In case one or
+more of such Sub-Commissioners shall be unable or unwilling to act the
+remaining Sub-Commissioner or Sub-Commissioners will, after consultation
+with the Government of the Transvaal State, submit for the approval of
+her Majesty's High Commissioners the names of one or more persons to be
+appointed by them to fill the place or places thus vacated. The decision
+of the said Sub-Commissioners, or of a majority of them, will be final.
+The said Sub-Commissioners will enter upon and perform their duties with
+all convenient speed. They will, before taking evidence or ordering
+evidence to be taken in respect of any claim, decide whether such claim
+can be entertained at all under the rules laid down in the next
+succeeding Article. In regard to claims which can be so entertained, the
+Sub-Commissioners will, in the first instance, afford every facility for
+an amicable arrangement as to the amount payable in respect of any
+claim, and only in cases in which there is no reasonable ground for
+believing that an immediate amicable arrangement can be arrived at will
+they take evidence or order evidence to be taken. For the purpose of
+taking evidence and reporting thereon, the Sub-Commissioners may appoint
+Deputies, who will, without delay, submit records of the evidence and
+their reports to the Sub-Commissioners. The Sub-Commissioners will
+arrange their sittings and the sittings of their Deputies in such a
+manner as to afford the earliest convenience to the parties concerned
+and their witnesses. In no case will costs be allowed to either side,
+other than the actual and reasonable expenses of witnesses whose
+evidence is certified by the Sub-Commissioners to have been necessary.
+Interest will not run on the amount of any claim, except as is
+herein-after provided for. The said Sub-Commissioners will forthwith,
+after deciding upon any claim, announce their decision to the Government
+against which the award is made and to the claimant. The amount of
+remuneration payable to the Sub-Commissioners and their Deputies will be
+determined by the High Commissioners. After all the claims have been
+decided upon, the British Government and the Government of the Transvaal
+State will pay proportionate shares of the said remuneration and of the
+expenses of the Sub-Commissioners and their Deputies, according to the
+amount awarded against them respectively.
+
+ARTICLE 8. For the purpose of distinguishing claims to be accepted
+from those to be rejected, the Sub-Commissioners will be guided by the
+following rules, viz.: Compensation will be allowed for losses or
+damage sustained by reason of the following acts committed during the
+recent hostilities, viz., (_a_) commandeering, seizure, confiscation,
+or destruction of property, or damage done to property; (_b_) violence
+done or threats used by persons in arms. In regard to acts under
+(_a_), compensation will be allowed for direct losses only. In regard
+to acts falling under (_b_), compensation will be allowed for actual
+losses of property, or actual injury to the same proved to have been
+caused by its enforced abandonment. No claims for indirect losses,
+except such as are in this Article specially provided for, will be
+entertained. No claims which have been handed in to the Secretary of
+the Royal Commission after the 1st day of July 1881 will be
+entertained, unless the Sub-Commissioners shall be satisfied that the
+delay was reasonable. When claims for loss of property are considered,
+the Sub-Commissioners will require distinct proof of the existence of
+the property, and that it neither has reverted nor will revert to the
+claimant.
+
+ARTICLE 9. The Government of the Transvaal State will pay and
+satisfy the amount of every claim awarded against it within one
+month after the Sub-Commissioners shall have notified their decision
+to the said Government, and in default of such payment the said
+Government will pay interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum
+from the date of such default; but her Majesty's Government may at
+any time before such payment pay the amount, with interest, if any,
+to the claimant in satisfaction of his claim, and may add the sum
+thus paid to any debt which may be due by the Transvaal State to her
+Majesty's Government, as herein-after provided for.
+
+ARTICLE 10. The Transvaal State will be liable for the balance of
+the debts for which the South African Republic was liable at the
+date of annexation, to wit, the sum of L48,000 in respect of the
+Cape Commercial Bank Loan, and L85,667 in respect to the Railway
+Loan, together with the amount due on 8th August 1881 on account of
+the Orphan Chamber Debt, which now stands at L22,200, which debts
+will be a first charge upon the revenues of the State. The Transvaal
+State will, moreover, be liable for the lawful expenditure lawfully
+incurred for the necessary expenses of the Province since the
+annexation, to wit, the sum of L265,000, which debt, together with
+such debts as may be incurred by virtue of the 9th Article, will be
+second charge upon the revenues of the State.
+
+ARTICLE 11. The debts due as aforesaid by the Transvaal State to her
+Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a
+half per cent., and any portion of such debt as may remain unpaid at
+the expiration of twelve months from the 8th August 1881 shall be
+repayable by a payment for interest and sinking fund of six pounds
+and ninepence per cent. per annum, which will extinguish the debt in
+twenty-five years. The said payment of six pounds and ninepence per
+L100 shall be payable half yearly in British currency on the 8th
+February and 8th August in each year. Provided always that the
+Transvaal State shall pay in reduction of the said debt the sum of
+L100,000 within twelve months of the 8th August 1881, and shall be
+at liberty at the close of any half year to pay off the whole or any
+portion of the outstanding debt.
+
+ARTICLE 12. All persons holding property in the said State on the
+8th day of August 1881 will continue after the said date to enjoy
+the rights of property which they have enjoyed since the annexation.
+No person who has remained loyal to her Majesty during the recent
+hostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty,
+or be liable to any criminal prosecution or civil action for any
+part taken in connection with such hostilities, and all such persons
+will have full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of
+all civil rights, and protection for their persons and property.
+
+ARTICLE 13. Natives will be allowed to acquire land, but the grant
+or transfer of such land will, in every case, be made to and
+registered in the name of the Native Location Commission,
+herein-after mentioned, in trust for such natives.
+
+ARTICLE 14. Natives will be allowed to move as freely within the
+country as may be consistent with the requirements of public order,
+and to leave it for the purpose of seeking employment elsewhere or
+for other lawful purposes, subject always to the pass laws of the
+said State, as amended by the Legislature of the Province, or as may
+hereafter be enacted under the provisions of the 3rd Article of this
+Convention.
+
+ARTICLE 15. There will continue to be complete freedom of religion
+and protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the
+same be not inconsistent with morality and good order, and no
+disability shall attach to any person in regard to rights of
+property by reason of the religious opinions which he holds.
+
+ARTICLE 16. The provisions of the 4th Article of the Sand River
+Convention are hereby re-affirmed, and no slavery or apprenticeship
+partaking of slavery will be tolerated by the Government of the said
+State.
+
+ARTICLE 17. The British Resident will receive from the Government of
+the Transvaal State such assistance and support as can by law be
+given to him for the due discharge of his functions, he will also
+receive every assistance for the proper care and preservation of the
+graves of such of her Majesty's forces as have died in the
+Transvaal, and if need be for the expropriation of land for the
+purpose.
+
+ARTICLE 18. The following will be the duties and functions of the
+British Resident:--Sub-section 1. He will perform duties and
+functions analogous to those discharged by a Charge d'Affaires and
+Consul-General.
+
+Sub-section 2. In regard to natives within the Transvaal State he
+will (_a_) report to the High Commissioner, as representative of the
+Suzerain, as to the working and observance of the provisions of this
+Convention; (_b_) report to the Transvaal authorities any cases of
+ill-treatment of natives or attempts to incite natives to rebellion
+that may come to his knowledge; (_c_) use his influence with the
+natives in favour of law and order; and (_d_) generally perform such
+other duties as are by this Convention entrusted to him, and take
+such steps for the protection of the person and property of natives
+as are consistent with the laws of the land.
+
+Sub-section 3. In regard to natives not residing in the Transvaal
+(_a_) he will report to the High Commissioner and the Transvaal
+Government any encroachments reported to him as having been made by
+Transvaal residents upon the land of such natives, and in case of
+disagreement between the Transvaal Government and the British
+Resident as to whether an encroachment has been made, the decision
+of the Suzerain will be final; (_b_) the British Resident will be
+the medium of communication with native chiefs outside the
+Transvaal, and subject to the approval of the High Commissioner, as
+representing the Suzerain, he will control the conclusion of
+treaties with them; and (_c_) he will arbitrate upon every dispute
+between Transvaal residents and natives outside the Transvaal (as to
+acts committed beyond the boundaries of the Transvaal) which may be
+referred to him by the parties interested.
+
+Sub-section 4. In regard to communications with foreign powers, the
+Transvaal Government will correspond with her Majesty's Government
+through the British Resident and the High Commissioner.
+
+ARTICLE 19. The Government of the Transvaal State will strictly
+adhere to the boundaries defined in the 1st Article of this
+Convention, and will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants
+from making any encroachment upon lands beyond the said State. The
+Royal Commission will forthwith appoint a person who will beacon off
+the boundary line between Ramatlabama and the point where such line
+first touches Griqualand West boundary, midway between the Vaal and
+Hart Rivers; the person so appointed will be instructed to make an
+arrangement between the owners of the farms Grootfontein and
+Valleifontein on the one hand, and the Barolong authorities on the
+other, by which a fair share of the water supply of the said farms
+shall be allowed to flow undisturbed to the said Barolongs.
+
+ARTICLE 20. All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal
+Government in respect of land outside the boundary of Transvaal
+State, as defined, Article 1, shall be considered invalid and of no
+effect, except in so far as any such grant or title relates to land
+that falls within the boundary of the Transvaal State, and all
+persons holding any such grant so considered invalid and of no
+effect will receive from the Government of the Transvaal State such
+compensation either in land or in money as the Volksraad shall
+determine. In all cases in which any native chiefs or other
+authorities outside the said boundaries have received any adequate
+consideration from the Government of the former South African
+Republic for land excluded from the Transvaal by the 1st Article of
+this Convention, or where permanent improvements have been made on
+the land, the British Resident will, subject to the approval of the
+High Commissioner, use his influence to recover from the native
+authorities fair compensation for the loss of the land thus
+excluded, and of the permanent improvement thereon.
+
+ARTICLE 21. Forthwith, after the taking effect of this Convention, a
+Native Location Commission will be constituted, consisting of the
+President, or in his absence the Vice-President of the State, or
+some one deputed by him, the Resident, or some one deputed by him,
+and a third person to be agreed upon by the President or the
+Vice-President, as the case may be, and the Resident, and such
+Commission will be a standing body for the performance of the duties
+herein-after mentioned.
+
+ARTICLE 22. The Native Location Commission will reserve to the
+native tribes of the State such locations as they may be fairly and
+equitably entitled to, due regard being had to the actual occupation
+of such tribes. The Native Location Commission will clearly define
+the boundaries of such locations, and for that purpose will, in
+every instance, first of all ascertain the wishes of the parties
+interested in such land. In case land already granted in individual
+titles shall be required for the purpose of any location, the owners
+will receive such compensation either in other land or in money as
+the Volksraad shall determine. After the boundaries of any location
+have been fixed, no fresh grant of land within such location will be
+made, nor will the boundaries be altered without the consent of the
+Location Commission. No fresh grants of land will be made in the
+districts of Waterbergh, Zoutspansberg, and Lydenburg until the
+locations in the said districts respectively shall have been defined
+by the said Commission.
+
+ARTICLE 23. If not released before the taking effect of this
+Convention, Sikukuni, and those of his followers who have been
+imprisoned with him, will be forthwith released, and the boundaries
+of his location will be defined by the Native Location Commission in
+the manner indicated in the last preceding Article.
+
+ARTICLE 24. The independence of the Swazies within the boundary line
+of Swaziland, as indicated in the 1st Article of this Convention,
+will be fully recognised.
+
+ARTICLE 25. No other or higher duties will be imposed on the
+importation into the Transvaal State of any article the produce or
+manufacture of the dominions and possessions of her Majesty, from
+whatever place arriving, than are or may be payable on the like
+article the produce or manufacture of any other country, nor will
+any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation of any
+article the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions
+of her Majesty, which shall not equally extend to the importation of
+the like articles being the produce or manufacture of any other
+country.
+
+ARTICLE 26. All persons other than natives conforming themselves to
+the laws of the Transvaal State (_a_) will have full liberty with
+their families to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the
+Transvaal State; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess
+houses, manufactures, warehouses, shops, and premises; (_c_) they
+may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom
+they may think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not be subject in
+respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their
+commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other
+than those which are or may be imposed upon Transvaal citizens.
+
+ARTICLE 27. All inhabitants of the Transvaal shall have free access
+to the Courts of Justice for the protection and defence of their
+rights.
+
+ARTICLE 28. All persons other than natives who established their
+domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April 1877 and the
+date when this Convention comes into effect, and who shall within
+twelve months after such last-mentioned date have their names
+registered by the British Resident, shall be exempt from all
+compulsory military service whatever. The Resident shall notify such
+registration to the Government of the Transvaal State.
+
+ARTICLE 29. Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate
+instrument for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the
+surrender of deserters from her Majesty's forces.
+
+ARTICLE 30. All debts contracted since the annexation will be
+payable in the same currency in which they may have been contracted;
+all uncancelled postage and other revenue stamps issued by the
+Government since the annexation will remain valid, and will be
+accepted at their present value by the future Government of the
+State; all licences duly issued since the annexation will remain in
+force during the period for which they may have been issued.
+
+ARTICLE 31. No grants of land which may have been made, and no
+transfer of mortgage which may have been passed since the
+annexation, will be invalidated by reason merely of their having
+been made or passed since that date. All transfers to the British
+Secretary for Native Affairs in trust for natives will remain in
+force, the Native Location Commission taking the place of such
+Secretary for Native Affairs.
+
+ARTICLE 32. This Convention will be ratified by a newly-elected
+Volksraad within the period of three months after its execution, and
+in default of such ratification this Convention shall be null and
+void.
+
+ARTICLE 33. Forthwith, after the ratification of this Convention, as
+in the last preceding Article mentioned, all British troops in
+Transvaal territory will leave the same, and the mutual delivery of
+munitions of war will be carried out. Articles end. Here will follow
+signatures of Royal Commissioners, then the following to precede
+signatures of triumvirate.
+
+We, the undersigned, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus
+Wessel Pretorius, and Petrus Jacobus Joubert, as representatives of
+the Transvaal Burghers, do hereby agree to all the above conditions,
+reservations, and limitations under which self-government has been
+restored to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, subject to
+the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and successors, and we
+agree to accept the Government of the said territory, with all
+rights and obligations thereto appertaining on the 8th day of
+August; and we promise and undertake that this Convention shall be
+ratified by a newly-elected Volksraad of the Transvaal State within
+three months from this date.
+
+
+
+
+CONVENTION OF 1884
+
+A CONVENTION BETWEEN HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF
+GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC.
+
+
+Whereas, the Government of the Transvaal State, through its
+Delegates, consisting of Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, President
+of the said State, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, Superintendent of
+Education, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, a member of the Volksraad,
+have represented that the Convention signed at Pretoria on the 3rd
+day of August 1881, and ratified by the Volksraad of the said State
+on the 25th October 1881, contains certain provisions which are
+inconvenient, and imposes burdens and obligations from which the
+said State is desirous to be relieved, and that the south-western
+boundaries fixed by the said Convention should be amended, with a
+view to promote the peace and good order of the said State, and of
+the countries adjacent thereto; and whereas her Majesty the Queen of
+the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, has been pleased to
+take the said representations into consideration: Now, therefore,
+her Majesty has been pleased to direct, and it is hereby declared,
+that the following articles of a new Convention, signed on behalf of
+her Majesty by her Majesty's High Commissioner in South Africa, the
+Right Honourable Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson, Knight Grand
+Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint
+George, Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and on
+behalf of the Transvaal State (which shall herein-after be called
+the South African Republic) by the above-named Delegates, Stephanus
+Johannes Paulus Kruger, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, and Nicholas
+Jacobus Smit, shall, when ratified by the Volksraad of the South
+African Republic, be substituted for the articles embodied in the
+Convention of 3rd August 1881; which latter, pending such
+ratification, shall continue in full force and effect.
+
+
+ARTICLES.
+
+ARTICLE 1. The Territory of the South African Republic will embrace
+the land lying between the following boundaries, to wit: (Here
+follows a long description of boundaries).
+
+ARTICLE 2. The Government of the South African Republic will
+strictly adhere to the boundaries defined in the 1st Article of this
+Convention, and will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants
+from making any encroachments upon lands beyond the said boundaries.
+The Government of the South African Republic will appoint
+Commissioners upon the eastern and western borders whose duty it
+will be strictly to guard against irregularities and all trespassing
+over the boundaries. Her Majesty's Government will, if necessary,
+appoint Commissioners in the native territories outside the eastern
+and western borders of the South African Republic to maintain order
+and prevent encroachments.
+
+Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the South African
+Republic will each appoint a person to proceed together to beacon
+off the amended south-west boundary as described in Article 1 of
+this Convention; and the President of the Orange Free State shall be
+requested to appoint a referee to whom the said persons shall refer
+any questions on which they may disagree respecting the
+interpretation of the said Article, and the decision of such referee
+thereon shall be final. The arrangement already made, under the
+terms of Article 19 of the Convention of Pretoria of the 3rd August
+1881, between the owners of the farms Grootfontein and Valleifontein
+on the one hand, and the Barolong authorities on the other, by which
+a fair share of the water supply of the said farms shall be allowed
+to flow undisturbed to the said Barolongs, shall continue in force.
+
+ARTICLE 3. If a British officer is appointed to reside at Pretoria
+or elsewhere within the South African Republic to discharge
+functions analogous to those of a Consular officer he will receive
+the protection and assistance of the Republic.
+
+ARTICLE 4. The South African Republic will conclude no treaty or
+engagement with any State or nation other than the Orange Free
+State, nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the
+Republic, until the same has been approved by her Majesty the Queen.
+
+Such approval shall be considered to have been granted if her
+Majesty's Government shall not, within six months after receiving a
+copy of such treaty (which shall be delivered to them immediately
+upon its completion), have notified that the conclusion of such
+treaty is in conflict with the interests of Great Britain or of any
+of her Majesty's possessions in South Africa.
+
+ARTICLE 5. The South African Republic will be liable for any balance
+which may still remain due of the debts for which it was liable at
+the date of Annexation, to wit, the Cape Commercial Bank Loan, the
+Railway Loan, and the Orphan Chamber Debt, which debts will be a
+first charge upon the revenues of the Republic. The South African
+Republic will moreover be liable to her Majesty's Government for
+L250,000, which will be a second charge upon the revenues of the
+Republic.
+
+ARTICLE 6. The debt due as aforesaid by the South African Republic
+to her Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three
+and a half per cent. from the date of the ratification of this
+Convention, and shall be repayable by a payment for interest and
+Sinking Fund of six pounds and ninepence per L100 per annum, which
+will extinguish the debt in twenty-five years. The said payment or
+six pounds and ninepence per L100 shall be payable half-yearly, in
+British currency, at the close of each half year from the date of
+such ratification: Provided always that the South African Republic
+shall be at liberty at the close of any half year to pay off the
+whole or any portion of the outstanding debt.
+
+Interest at the rate of three and a half per cent. on the debt as
+standing under the Convention of Pretoria shall as heretofore be
+paid to the date of the ratification of this Convention.
+
+ARTICLE 7. All persons who held property in the Transvaal on the 8th
+day of August 1881, and still hold the same, will continue to enjoy
+the rights of property which they have enjoyed since the 12th April
+1877. No person who has remained loyal to her Majesty during the
+late hostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason of his
+loyalty; or be liable to any criminal prosecution or civil action
+for any part taken in connection with such hostilities; and all such
+persons will have full liberty to reside in the country, with
+enjoyment of all civil rights, and protection for their persons and
+property.
+
+ARTICLE 8. The South African Republic renews the declaration made in
+the Sand River Convention, and in the Convention of Pretoria, that
+no slavery or apprenticeship partaking of slavery will be tolerated
+by the Government of the said Republic.
+
+ARTICLE 9. There will continue to be complete freedom of religion
+and protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the
+same be not inconsistent with morality and good order; and no
+disability shall attach to any person in regard to rights of
+property by reason of the religious opinions which he holds.
+
+ARTICLE 10. The British officer appointed to reside in the South
+African Republic will receive every assistance from the Government
+of the said Republic in making due provision for the proper care
+and preservation of the graves of such of her Majesty's forces as
+have died in the Transvaal; and if need be, for the appropriation of
+land for the purpose.
+
+ARTICLE 11. All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal
+Government in respect of land outside the boundary of the South
+African Republic, as defined in Article 1, shall be considered
+invalid and of no effect, except in so far as any such grant or
+title relates to land that falls within the boundary of the South
+African Republic; and all persons holding any such grant so
+considered invalid and of no effect will receive from the Government
+of the South African Republic such compensation, either in land or
+in money, as the Volksraad shall determine. In all cases in which
+any Native Chiefs or other authorities outside the said boundaries
+have received any adequate consideration from the Government of the
+South African Republic for land excluded from the Transvaal by the
+1st Article of this Convention, or where permanent improvements have
+been made on the land, the High Commissioner will recover from the
+native authorities fair compensation for the loss of the land thus
+excluded, or of the permanent improvements thereon.
+
+ARTICLE 12. The independence of the Swazis, within the boundary line
+of Swaziland, as indicated in the 1st Article of this Convention,
+will be fully recognised.
+
+ARTICLE 13. Except in pursuance of any treaty or engagement made as
+provided in Article 4 of this Convention, no other or higher duties
+shall be imposed on the importation into the South African Republic
+of any article coming from any part of her Majesty's dominions than
+are or may be imposed on the like article coming from any other
+place or country; nor will any prohibition be maintained or imposed
+on the importation into the South African Republic of any article
+coming from any part of her Majesty's dominions which shall not
+equally extend to the like article coming from any other place or
+country. And in like manner the same treatment shall be given to any
+article coming to Great Britain from the South African Republic as
+to the like article coming from any other place or country.
+
+These provisions do not preclude the consideration of special
+arrangements as to import duties and commercial relations between
+the South African Republic and any of her Majesty's colonies or
+possessions.
+
+ARTICLE 14. All persons, other than natives, conforming themselves
+to the laws of the South African Republic (_a_) will have full
+liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any
+part of the South African Republic; (_b_) they will be entitled to
+hire or possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and
+premises; (_c_) they may carry on their commerce either in person or
+by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not
+be subject, in respect of their persons or property, or in respect
+of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or
+local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon citizens of
+the said Republic.
+
+ARTICLE 15. All persons, other than natives, who established their
+domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April 1877 and the
+8th of August 1881, and who within twelve months after such
+last-mentioned date have had their names registered by the British
+Resident, shall be exempt from all compulsory military service
+whatever.
+
+ARTICLE 16. Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate
+instrument for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the
+surrender of deserters from her Majesty's forces.
+
+ARTICLE 17. All debts contracted between the 12th April 1887 and the
+8th August 1881 will be payable in the same currency in which they
+may have been contracted.
+
+ARTICLE 18. No grants of land which may have been made, and no
+transfers or mortgages which may have been passed between the 12th
+April 1877 and the 8th August 1881, will be invalidated by reason
+merely of their having been made or passed between such dates.
+
+All transfers to the British Secretary for Native Affairs in trust
+for natives will remain in force, an officer of the South African
+Republic taking the place of such Secretary for Native Affairs.
+
+ARTICLE 19. The Government of the South African Republic will engage
+faithfully to fulfil the assurances given, in accordance with the
+laws of the South African Republic, to the natives at the Pretoria
+Pitso by the Royal Commission in the presence of the Triumvirate and
+with their entire assent, (1) as to the freedom of the natives to
+buy or otherwise acquire land under certain conditions, (2) as to
+the appointment of a commission to mark out native locations, (3) as
+to the access of the natives to the courts of law, and (4) as to
+their being allowed to move freely within the country, or to leave
+it for any legal purpose, under a pass system.
+
+ARTICLE 20. This Convention will be ratified by a Volksraad of the
+South African Republic within the period of six months after its
+execution, and in default of such ratification this Convention shall
+be null and void.
+
+Signed in duplicate in London this 27th day of February 1884.
+
+ (Signed) HERCULES ROBINSON.
+ " S. J. P. KRUGER.
+ " S. J. DU TOIT.
+ " M. J. SMIT.
+
+
+
+ END OF VOLUME I.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co.
+
+ Edinburgh & London
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES:
+
+General : Both Potchefstrom and Potchefstroom have been used several
+ times. Spellings have been preserved as written.
+
+Page viii: Drummer replaced with drummers to agree with caption of
+ illustration.
+
+ : Removal of additional closing parenthesis after Gloucester
+ Regiment
+
+Page x : Hyphen removed from gold-fields (2 occurrences) to ensure
+ consistency with other uses
+
+Page 15 : Spelling of attemped revised to attempted
+
+Page 43 : Added closing parenthesis after ...blacks
+
+Page 57 : As written. Vjin should probably read Vijn
+
+Page 68 : Comma after pledge replaced with full stop (period)
+
+Page 75 : Hyphen removed from farm-house to ensure consistency with
+ other uses
+
+Page 76 : Closing quote added after fusiliers.
+
+Page 78 : Hyphen added to bloodspilling to ensure consistency with
+ other use
+
+Page 84 : Spelling of tambookee standardised to tambookie
+
+Page 108 : Hyphen added to reaffirmed to ensure consistency with other
+ use
+
+Page 113 : Spelling of pourtrayed and dulness left as taken from original
+ quotation.
+
+Page 139 : As written. Reims should probably read riems
+
+Page 179 : Spelling of cowe left as taken from original quotation.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of South Africa and the Transvaal War,
+Vol. 1 (of 6), by Louis Creswicke
+
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