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 :d 
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM
 
 Uniform with this Volume 
 
 THE TRANSVAAL 
 FROM WITHIN 
 
 31 ^3i-iU;ite lucorb of |Jublic ^ffaivs 
 By J. P. FITZPATRICK 
 
 EIGHTIETH THOUSAND
 
 THE RISE AND FALL OF 
 KRUGERISM 
 
 H ipcrsonal 1Rccol'^ of jfort\? l^ears in Soutb 
 Htrica 
 
 1!Y 
 
 JOHN ^OBLE 
 
 Times' Correstondent in PRtrciKiA i'kiok to the Present Wak 
 AND 
 
 H. R. ABERCROMBIE 
 
 Of the Intelligence Department, Cape Colony 
 
 NEW YORK 
 FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 
 
 1 900
 
 Pkixtkd IX England
 
 '^lus little eBoiii is rcsjpcctfxxttu ^leliicatcii 
 
 TO THE 
 
 RIGHT HON. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN 
 
 Colonial Scoxtary 
 TO 
 
 SIR ALFRED MILNER 
 
 Governor of the Cape Colony and High Co7nmissioner 
 of South Africa 
 
 AND TO THE 
 
 RIGHT HON. CECIL JOHN RHODES 
 
 Founder of Rhodesia 
 THE TRIUMVIRATE 
 
 IN WHOSE HANDS IS PLACED THE EUTURE OF 
 THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN SOUTH AI-RICA 
 
 WITH THE FERVENT HOPE OF ITS OLDEST ENGLISH RESIDEN'i' 
 
 THAT THEY MAY SUCCESSFULLY ACCOMPLISH THEIR TASK 
 
 OF ESTABLISHING PEACE, CONTENTMENT, AND 
 
 PROSPERITY AMONG ITS VARIOUS 
 
 NATIONALITIES
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CIIAITER I'AGE 
 
 PREFACE ------ ix 
 
 I. AFRICANDER AMBITIONS - - - - i 
 
 II. PRE-ANNEXATION DAYS - - - " '5 
 
 III. THE ANNEXATION DISCUSSED - - - 21 
 
 IV. THE INTERREGNUM - - - "37 
 
 V. THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE - - 45 
 
 VI. THE RETROCESSION - - - - 62 
 
 VII. THE COMING OF KRUGER - - "72 
 
 VIII. BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREDS - - 94 
 
 IX. THE APPEAL TO C/ESAR - - - - 114 
 
 X. Cesar's feet of clay - - - - 140 
 
 XI. a KHODESIAN SUBSTITUTE FOR FEET OF CLAY - 1 62 
 
 XII. THE PLOT THICKENS - - - "177 
 
 XIII. THE FALSE STEP - - - - - I 90 
 
 XIV. THE RECKONING - - - - - 20I 
 
 XV. KRUGERIAN METHODS - - - - -^3 
 
 XVI. PREPAR-\TIONS FOR WAR - - - - 229 
 
 XVII. THE END OF KRUGERISM - - 247
 
 viii CONTENTS 
 
 I'AGE 
 
 Appendices : 
 
 a. the annexation - - - -256 
 
 b. proofs of slavery ... - 266 
 
 c. extracts from mr. lionel phillips' letters to 
 
 messrs. beit and wernher, as produced at 
 the select and south african committees 272 
 
 D. GERMAN emperor's BIRTHD.AY CELEBRATIONS AT 
 
 PRETORIA - - - - - 275 
 
 E. SELECT COMMITTEE ON BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA - 279 
 
 F. THE AFRICANDER BOND - - . - 282 
 
 G. EXTRACTS FROM THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE LATE 
 
 SIR BARTLE FRERE, BY JOHN MARTINEAU - 286 
 
 H. CHIEF JUSTICE KOTZE'S REPLY TO MR. KRUGER'S 
 
 ASSERTIONS - - - - - 29 1 
 
 I. THE JUDICIAL CRISIS IN THE TRANSVAAL - - 295 
 
 J. EXTRACT FROM THE ' TRANSVAAL ADVERTISER ' OF 
 
 DECEMBER 31, 1 898 - - - . 30O 
 
 K. SIR BARTLE FRERE AND THE NOMINEE LEGISLATURE 
 
 OF THE TRANSVAAL - - - "301 
 
 L. DEVASTATED NATAL - . . - -502
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The present volume has 710 other pretension than to be the 
 record of the political evolution of South Africa from the 
 beginning of Mr. Kruger's active part in Transvaal politics 
 to the present day, as seen from the point of vieic of those 
 British residents who have watched tJie floic and ebb of 
 Krugerism run- symmetrically with the ebb and flow of 
 British Imperialism. Their story begins before the dis- 
 covery of gold, and will outlive it. They are the pioneers, 
 the mainstay of Empire, and as such they claim to be heard 
 by their countrymen at home independently of any tem- 
 porary consideration accorded to those who for tJic time 
 have riveted on the Transvaal the greedy desire of the 
 world, and have helped — sometimes accidentally, sometimes 
 patriotically — in the struggle for a free British South 
 Africa. We say helped only, because without the Loyalist 
 settlers the Johannesburg Uitlanders would not have fought, 
 and could not have won.
 
 THE 
 
 RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 AFRICANDER AMBITIONS 
 
 * Africa for the Africanders ' is the watchword of the 
 Dutch RepubHcan party in South Africa, and it is per- 
 haps desirable to investigate what is meant by the term 
 ' Africander ' in order more correctly to appreciate its 
 object, ambition, and moving spirit. In order to do 
 so it is necessary to dwell very briefly on the history 
 of Cape Colony, and the characteristics of its original 
 settlers. 
 
 It is well known that in 1486-87 the Cape of Good 
 Hope was doubled by the Portuguese navigator 
 Bartolommeo Dias, who gave it the name of Cabo 
 Tormentoso. His discovery was veriiied by Vasco 
 da Gama in the following year ; but it does not appear 
 that the Portuguese made any attempt to effect a 
 permanent settlement, using it simply as a port of call 
 for passing vessels. 
 
 In 1620 the Cape was visited by two Englishmen, 
 Captain Andrew Shillinge and Captain Humphrey Fitz- 
 herbert, who took formal possession of the Cape 
 Peninsula in the name of James I. of England. Their 
 action was, however, not confirmed by that monarch, 
 
 I
 
 2 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 who failed to realize the importance of the proposed 
 addition to his dominion. 
 
 In 1648 a Dutch merchantman was wrecked in Table 
 Bay, and the crew on reaching their homes sang the 
 praises of its climate, the fruitfulness of its soil, and its 
 general advantages as a settlement. These reports 
 induced the Dutch East India Company to take 
 measures for the appropriation of the Cape Peninsula, 
 and an expedition was sent out for the purpose under 
 J. A. van Riebeck. In April, 1652, he anchored in 
 Table Bay, and formally took possession of the Peninsula 
 on behalf of the company. 
 
 The men who accompanied Riebeck, consisting 
 chiefly of soldiers and sailors, formed the nucleus of 
 the first Dutch colony in Africa, and are consequently 
 the progenitors of the mixed race which now claim to 
 be styled ' Africanders.' 
 
 These original Dutch settlers had their numbers 
 augmented from time to time by men of other Euro- 
 pean nationalities, viz., Germans, Danes, Portuguese, 
 and Flemish, all of whom were welcomed as giving 
 additional strength to the settlement, and enabling it 
 to cope more effectually with the native tribes by which 
 it was surrounded, and with which frequent difficulties 
 arose out of the thievish propensities of the aborigines. 
 
 In 1670 some ninety men released from their con- 
 tract with the Dutch East India Company were per- 
 mitted to occupy lands on the Riebeck River, in the 
 vicinity of the present suburb of Rondebosch, but with 
 restrictions which later on were found to be intolerably 
 irksome. 
 
 In the years i688-8g some 300 men, women, and 
 children, who had fled from France to Holland upon the 
 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, came to the Cape, 
 and were well received by the Dutch already settled 
 in South Africa.
 
 AFRICANDER AMBITIONS 3 
 
 Soon after this increase in the number of independent 
 settlers disputes arose between them and the Dutch 
 East India Company, which claimed a practical 
 monopoly of trade, and treated its private subjects 
 arbitrarily and with harshness. 
 
 As soon, therefore, as the number of settlers had 
 become sufficiently large and important to influence 
 public opinion, remonstrance after remonstrance was 
 forwarded to the directors of the company in Holland, 
 and it would appear that the French immigrants were 
 in the forefront in demanding liberty of speech and 
 trade. A deputation being sent to Governor van der 
 Stell to remonstrate met with the curt reply that ' they 
 must restrain their French impertinences,' and no re- 
 dress was forthcoming. The men, however, who had 
 sacrificed so much for the sake of their religious 
 principles, and among whom were some of the best 
 blood of France, were not likely to put up with tyranny 
 or official insolence in the new land to which they 
 had resorted to escape persecution in the old. Con- 
 sequently a secret petition was sent to the directors, 
 signed by the majority of the burghers, the result of 
 which was that Governor van der Stell was relieved 
 of his duties. 
 
 In 1714 the population had increased to over 2,100 
 souls, and families began to remove farther and 
 farther away from the seat of Government on the spot 
 of the present Cape Town. Thus commenced the 
 nomad life, and that hunger for land and property 
 which has been a distinguishing characteristic of the 
 Dutch Boer down to the present day. 
 
 It is from these people, who in their own country, 
 whether in Holland or France, were ready to lay down 
 their lives, and forfeit their property, for the sake of 
 civil and religious rights and liberties, that the present 
 race of republican burghers has descended. 
 
 I — 2
 
 4 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 It is not an uncommon thing for persons who insist 
 upon the fullest liberty for themselves to be very much 
 indisposed to grant the like freedom to others, and the 
 hybrid Dutch race which constitutes a large proportion 
 of the population in South Africa furnishes an illustra- 
 tion of this paradox. 
 
 The Nederlanders fought long years for freedom from 
 the yoke of Spain, and the French Huguenots, rather than 
 bow to what appeared to them the idolatrous practices 
 of the Roman Church, quitted country, possessions, 
 and even elevated social positions, for the sake of their 
 religious convictions. Yet history has shown these 
 very men as intolerant in spirit as were those from 
 whose oppression they had made the heaviest sacrifices 
 to escape, enduring incalculable hardships, miseries, 
 and dangers with cheerfulness and fortitude. 
 
 No sooner had the Dutch settlers in the Cape found 
 the opportunity than they began to oppress the French 
 immigrants, discouraging the use of their language so 
 successfully that at the present day but few, if any, of 
 their descendants are able to speak the language of 
 their French ancestors. 
 
 By intermarriage with the Dutch the consolidation 
 of the two strains was effected, although the burghers 
 of the Transvaal and Free State, with their strong and 
 stolid Teutonic qualities, have retained but few of the 
 more vivacious and brilliant characteristics of the Latins. 
 
 The Boer of the present day, in his almost general 
 ignorance, has a fairly good opinion of his personal 
 value, convinced that what he does not know is not 
 worth knowing. The management of a span of 
 bullocks and the government of the country are, he 
 thinks, equally within his powers, and, his ambition 
 once having been stimulated, he has arrived at the con- 
 clusion that he and his people are the only legitimate 
 rulers of the Austral subcontinent.
 
 AFRICANDER AMBITIONS 5 
 
 It may be admitted that the acute development of 
 this idea is of comparatively recent growth. Prior to 
 the discovery of the gold-fields in the Transvaal, the 
 Boers had no means of carrying into effect the great 
 idea of founding a new nation ; but the germ has 
 always existed from the time that the Cape Colony 
 became a Dutch possession. 
 
 The emancipation of the slaves held by the burghers 
 in accordance with the law passed by the English 
 Parliament, coupled with the very bad arrangements 
 made for the payment of compensation to slave- 
 holders, was the primary cause of the revolt against 
 the authority of the British Government as shown by 
 the Great Trek of dissatisfied Boers to the north and 
 east of the Cape Colony. It is not necessary at this 
 moment to enter into minute details with regard to 
 their movements, but it is unquestionable that that dis- 
 content laid the foundation both of the Free State and 
 Transvaal Republics, whence all our trouble during 
 these latter years has sprung. 
 
 The original voortrekkers from the Cape carried with 
 them a deep impression that they had been treated 
 with injustice by the Government, and that conviction 
 may be regarded as the basis of the hostility of the 
 Republics towards Great Britain and her sons, and the 
 disaffection of a considerable number of Her Majesty's 
 subjects in the Cape Colony. 
 
 With the discovery of the extraordinary richness of 
 the Transvaal gold-fields came the opportunity of pay- 
 ing off old scores, and President Kruger has not ceased 
 since his election to the Presidency of the Republic to 
 mould his people to his views, as well as to adopt 
 stringent measures for the purpose of ultimately dis- 
 gusting the Uitlander population to such an extent as 
 to induce them to quit the country, where their con- 
 tinued presence was not desired.
 
 6 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 The enormous interests which have been created 
 during the past decade have, however, rendered it 
 impossible for the new population, who have founded 
 cities, and have raised the Transvaal from a position of 
 absolute bankruptcy to a wealthy and prosperous State, 
 to vacate their position and abandon the results of their 
 arduous labours and vast expenditure of capital. 
 
 Remonstrance was tried, and proved futile, whilst the 
 Boer Government effectually prevented an appeal to 
 force from within, partl3^b3^ arming the Dutch burghers 
 and deprivmg men of other nationalities of the right to 
 possess arms, and partly by putting public meetings 
 under Government control so as to prevent the expres- 
 sion of popular sentiment among the unenfranchised 
 residents in the country — despite their numerical 
 majority, their wealth, energy, intelligence, and the 
 services they had rendered to the State and people. 
 
 The old intolerance imbued in the Dutch-French 
 Boer of 200 years ago was then made manifest by the 
 denial of the ordinary rights of citizenship to those 
 who in the space of ten years had developed the 
 country to a greater extent than the Boers themselves 
 could have done in a century. 
 
 And the wealth obtained from the gold-fields provided 
 the means which it was hoped would enable the Dutch 
 population of South Africa to drive their British fellow- 
 citizens into the sea, and once more place in the 
 hands of the Dutch the ruling power from Cape Town 
 to the Zambesi. 
 
 The founding of a ' beautiful young Africander nation ' 
 was to be the crowning effort of the Transvaal and 
 Orange Free State in wresting the government of 
 South Africa from the Imperial Power. As a means 
 to that end, both Republics armed vigorously, and made 
 the most elaborate preparations for a death struggle 
 with Great Britain.
 
 AFRICANDER AMBITIONS 7 
 
 The idea of exchanging British rule for that of a 
 Federal Republic, as entertained by the Dutch in South 
 Africa, has undoubtedly been fostered by the deplorable 
 policy of the British Government during the past half- 
 century, for there has been no settled policy at home, 
 and vacillation and temporising with the interests of 
 South Africa have frequently shaken the confidence 
 in the home Government of Cape Colony and the 
 adjacent States. 
 
 The lack of a definite policy has been fruitful of 
 many dangers and burdens to the British nation, but 
 in no instance has the risk accompanying it been more 
 fully illustrated than in the case of the South African 
 colonies and States. 
 
 It is not our purpose to hark back to the beginning 
 of the century for examples of inconsistent treatment ; 
 it will be necessary only to refer to the history of the 
 two South African Republics to prove our contention 
 to the hih. 
 
 When the Boers emigrated from the Cape Colony 
 they took possession of, and occupied, the district 
 north of the Orange River and Natal. 
 
 The portion now known as the Orange Free State 
 was formerly an appendage to the Cape Colony, and 
 its people British subjects. After a time, however, it 
 was found that the difficulties with the natives were of 
 such frequent occurrence, and caused so considerable 
 an expenditure, as, in the opinion of the British Govern- 
 ment, to render it worthless, and it was consequently 
 resolved to abandon all sovereign rights over the dis- 
 trict, and let the emigrant farmers do their best to turn 
 the country to account. 
 
 Prior to this mistake. Sir Harry Smith, then Governor 
 of the Cape Colony, had found it necessary to march a 
 force of troops into the Orange River Sovereignty in 
 order to quell a rebellion which had arisen against
 
 8 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 British authority, and he inflicted a severe defeat upon 
 the Boers at Boomplaats, putting a price upon the 
 heads of some of the rebel leaders. 
 
 The authority of the British Government was main- 
 tained until the close of 1853, but on February 23, 
 1854, the sovereignty was abandoned, and the Orange 
 Free State Republic was established, in spite of the 
 protests of a large proportion of the population, who 
 wished to remain under the protection of Great Britain. 
 
 Subsequent events have proved this conduct to have 
 been a mistake ; but some allowance must be made for 
 the ignorance of the English Ministers at that date, 
 who regarded the majority of the Dutch people in the 
 South African colonies as nuisances, to be got rid of at 
 the first opportunity, and at any cost to national honour 
 and prestige. 
 
 It was not many years after the abandonment by 
 Great Britain of all the rights pertaining to the British 
 sovereignty that the Free State burghers became in- 
 volved in serious differences with the Basuto nation, 
 relative to the boundaries of their country and the Free 
 State. War was the result, and the Free State appealed 
 to Sir George Grey, then the High Commissioner, to 
 arbitrate upon the respective claims of the parties. 
 His decision was in favour of the Free State, and 
 was for a time submitted to by the Basutos. Soon, 
 however, the natives commenced stealing cattle, and 
 made themselves intolerable as neighbours, and in 
 1865 the Free State took up arms, and war in a desul- 
 tory kind of way was carried on against Moshesh and 
 his people. 
 
 After great sacrifices in men and money the burghers 
 had all but succeeded in crushing the Basuto power, 
 when, without warning, the British Government inter- 
 vened on their behalf, taking over the nation as British 
 subjects, so that all the sacrifices made by the farmers
 
 AFRICANDER AMBITIONS 9 
 
 were made of no avail, except that they had the British 
 guarantee for the safety of their borders. 
 
 After that the Free State, under the fostering care 
 of the late Sir John Brand, flourished exceedingly, 
 and up to the unfortunate alliance promoted by 
 President Reitz, and carried more completely into 
 effect by President Steyn, the career of the Free State 
 was marked by great prosperity, giving offence to none 
 of the surrounding States. 
 
 The alliance with the Transvaal at once converted 
 the Free State burghers into active enemies of Great 
 Britain, which is to-day, with the blood of its sons, 
 paying the price of incompetent advisers. 
 
 The country was originally British territory, but 
 the short-sighted and parsimonious policy of the home 
 administrators relinquished it, so that all the blood and 
 treasure that had been expended upon the establish- 
 ment and maintenance of British authority was lost. 
 
 Having once recognised the claims of the Free State 
 with regard to the boundaries fixed by Sir George 
 Grey, the British Government intervened at the very 
 moment when the burghers had everything in their 
 own hands for the subjugation of the Basutos, saving 
 them from the consequence of their conduct at the 
 expense of the burghers. 
 
 The Free State felt sore about this interference, and 
 the feeling of the burghers was not rendered more 
 cordial when the diamond-fields were taken from them 
 upon very weak grounds. It is not therefore a matter 
 for surprise that a people who tenaciously remember 
 injuries and slights should have thought it possible to 
 * pay out ' Great Britain for the slights of the past, and 
 the meanness which has characterized the policy of the 
 Ministers of the Queen since Her Majesty's sovereignty 
 was formally relinquished. 
 
 But if the case of the Free Staters was bad, the
 
 lo THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 system adopted by the British Government as to their 
 own subjects in the Transvaal was far worse. Shiftiness 
 and expediency, as dictated by the conflict of poHtical 
 parties at home, has been accompanied in the latter 
 instance by the most flagrant betrayal of the interests 
 of both white and coloured inhabitants of the Transvaal 
 by the wilful breach of promises made by the highest 
 representatives of the British Crown and in the name 
 of Her Majesty the Queen. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone on taking office declared above his 
 own signature that ' he could not advise Her Majesty 
 to cancel the annexation in consequence of the new 
 obligations and responsibilities that have been created 
 by that act.' Yet within a brief space after that solemn 
 declaration he concluded a peace with the rebels against 
 Her Majesty's rule, by which the Transvaal was rele- 
 gated to Boer authority, and the ' obligations ' and 
 ' responsibilities ' which he had formerly and most 
 properly assigned as abundant reasons for refraining 
 from destroying the work of his predecessors were 
 thrown to the winds. 
 
 The disgraceful peace concluded under the shadow 
 of Amajuba on British territory, and within view of the 
 graves of those who fell in defence of British rights, 
 will prove a monument of dishonour to Mr. Gladstone's 
 memory and to those who were associated with him. 
 That act of national humiliation and perfidy has proved 
 the fruitful source of all our present troubles. 
 
 As in the Free State, so in the Transvaal, was the 
 national feeling of the Boers encouraged by the weak- 
 ness of British Ministers, until it culminated in the 
 present war, with its enormous cost in life and limb 
 and gold. 
 
 Possibly the annexation of the Transvaal in 1877 may 
 be considered premature even by those who approved 
 generally of the policy which led to it, but the grand
 
 AFRICANDER AMBITIONS n 
 
 mistake was in not holding to it with wise tenacity once 
 the repubhc had become British territory. It is absurd 
 to say that the majority of the Boers were opposed to the 
 annexation by Sir Theophilus Shepstone, or that the peti- 
 tion to the British Government was not on the whole a 
 bond-fide document. To our knowledge, the petition 
 was signed by a considerable number of Civil Servants 
 in the employ of the Boer Government under President 
 Burgers, and it is a fact that when the 13th Regiment 
 was marched in from Natal the farmers' wives in 
 numerous cases baked bread and cooked meat for the 
 refreshment of the troops at halting -places in the 
 vicinity of occupied farms. It was only when the 
 Boers waxed fat upon the money expended for the 
 troops, and had after their fashion become ungrateful for 
 their deliverance from their black enemies, that the ques- 
 tion of the righteousness of the annexation was mooted. 
 It maybe taken as a natural sequence of the vacillating 
 policy which was adopted towards the Free State that 
 the agitators among the Boers of the Transvaal should 
 point to the Free State as a sample of British colonial 
 policy. It was reasonable to argue that if the burghers 
 of the Transvaal were only sufficiently persistent in 
 their demands for the retrocession of their country, and 
 backed it up with the assertion that the annexation was 
 obtained by unfair and unjust means, the Transvaal 
 would once more become a sovereign State, and every 
 burgher would be able to become a law unto himself. 
 The Free State had become so, and why not the South 
 African Republic ? 
 
 It is not necessary here to dwell on the connection 
 Paul Kruger had with the secret movement to oust the 
 British from the Transvaal, even whilst he was a 
 member of the Executive under the British regime 
 and receiving pay for his services from the Imperial 
 exchequer. The fact is quite clear that he was the secret
 
 12 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 chief of the movement, and had even then no small 
 share in stimulating^ the more ignorant of the population 
 to throw off the authority of Great Britain in South 
 Africa. 
 
 It will be easily understood that the descendants of 
 the men who threw off the intolerable burdens of the 
 Dutch East India Company and the progeny of the 
 French immigrants who revolted from the cruel 
 religious intolerance of the French Government would 
 carry the germ of freedom in their composition wherever 
 they might go. The same reasons which induced 
 them to rebel against control in their native land, 
 drew them into the wilds of Africa, and there having 
 no one to dictate to them, they attained to that 
 perfect freedom from all restraint for which they 
 hungered. After some years of wandering, in which 
 they were fighting for their lives with the aborigines, 
 the Free State and Transvaal were sufficiently popu- 
 lated to become centres from which civilization might 
 be extended under a wise and beneficent system of 
 government. But these recalcitrant British subjects 
 were more intent upon seizing the land from natives and 
 parcelling it out among themselves than upon the spread 
 of those principles on which alone a nationality can be 
 founded with any prospect of permanence. Men dwelt 
 so far apart that there was but little intercourse amongst 
 them, and still less a semblance of that central authority 
 which had been established after the Convention of 
 Sand River. By the convention the autonomy of the 
 Transvaal was recognised by the British Government, 
 so that each farmer became a king upon his own 
 stretch of land. The ingrained idea of personal in- 
 dependence was thus fostered, until it grew into the 
 monstrous development of the right to tyrannize over 
 those who were not of the favoured Dutch-French 
 origin ; and slavery and its concomitants became estab-
 
 AFRICANDER AMBITIONS 13 
 
 lished as against the natives, whilst other nationalities 
 were looked down upon by even the most ignorant 
 Boers. That sentiment, combined with the experience 
 of the methods of the British Government half a 
 century ago, paved the way to the present condition 
 of affairs, and we have to pay the price of recovering 
 our own, once weakly surrendered, in order to keep up 
 the prestige of our Empire. 
 
 The Boers' hereditary confidence in themselves 
 has been fed and fostered by the vacillation which 
 has characterized the treatment of South Africa by 
 successive British Governments. The Boers have been 
 confirmed in the belief that they have only to ask 
 long and loudly, with a veiled threat of serious conse- 
 quences, to obtain what they may happen to desire. 
 Shreds of Old Testament history have led them to 
 consider that the God whom they profess to worship 
 will direct their bullets so as to bring about a victory 
 to their arms. President Kruger's recent exhortations 
 to the commandoes in the field to trust to God rather 
 than to markmanship, as He would direct their bullets 
 so as to secure the defeat of their enemies, is a tolerably 
 clear proof that they consider themselves the chosen 
 people among the moderns, and, like the Hebrews of 
 old, under the protection of the Most High. 
 
 An element not to be disregarded in this connection 
 is the resentment felt towards Great Britain for her in- 
 terference in the domestic institution of slavery. That 
 feeling remains unchanged to the present day, and it 
 is an unquestionable fact that Boers in the Transvaal, 
 and possibly also in the Free State, have established a 
 system scarcely to be distinguished from slavery and 
 slave-trading, as it existed before August i, 1834 (see 
 Appendix B). The Boer's dislike to paying taxes 
 is a feature which is not confined to him, who, how- 
 ever, may be considered to occupy a unique position
 
 14 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 as a taxer of the population which he does not recognise 
 as being of his own household. 
 
 The Dutch Boer, as he is, will at all times be difficult 
 to manage, more especially as he considers all concilia- 
 tion and kindness to be an infallible sign of weakness 
 and fear. A Boer would understand and respect German 
 methods, but he has nothing but contempt for a Govern- 
 ment which has a tender regard for the prejudices and 
 susceptibilities of its subjects.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 PRE-ANXEXATION DAYS 
 
 The writer made acquaintance with the Transvaal 
 about the middle of 1873, when he joined the band 
 of gold -seekers upon the then recently discovered 
 alluvial deposits of the precious metal in the Lydenburg 
 district. These deposits were discovered and brought 
 into prominent notice by Messrs. Thomas MacLachlan, 
 McLeod, and Macdonald, on the farm Geelhoutboom, 
 whence the name of those goldfields, Mac-a-Mac, is 
 derived. Although large nuggets were not plentiful, 
 the creeks and watercourses yielded a sufficient return 
 to attract some hundreds of men to the place, and to 
 justify President Burgers in his attempt to establish 
 an orderly system of administration in place of 
 the rough-and-ready rules which the diggers had 
 framed. 
 
 It was, as far as we can recollect, in the month of 
 November, 1873, that President Burgers made his 
 official visit to Mac-a-Mac, and his advent was welcomed 
 by the diggers with enthusiasm. A project was set on 
 foot to entertain him at a public banquet, and subscrip- 
 tions were readily forthcoming for that purpose. At 
 that time, of course, there were not many local facilities 
 for such a function, but that difficulty was overcome by 
 the appointment of a caterer resident in Lydenburg,
 
 i6 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 who with great enterprise managed to convey over the 
 apologies for roads all the requirements for a banquet 
 for about 250 hungry miners. Everything had to be 
 brought — plate, linen, and china as well as food and 
 drink — a distance of thirty-six miles, over hill and dale, 
 through rivers and vleis, through bush and briar, at a 
 time when the word 'road' was a misnomer. It was, 
 however, accomplished in due time, and for a sum 
 which in those days must be regarded as moderate in 
 the extreme. The present writer had the honour to 
 preside at the banquet, and can bear testimony to the 
 cordiality of the feeling which prevailed both towards 
 the Government and the people of the Transvaal at 
 that time. 
 
 President Burgers made himself very popular, and 
 his speeches and official actions gave great satisfaction 
 to the community upon the newly-found gold-fields. 
 He appointed, at the request of the majority of the 
 diggers, Mr. Macdonald as Gold Commissioner, and 
 invested him with certain powers necessary for the good 
 ordering of the fields. That gentleman, being an old 
 experienced American gold-digger, used to the rough- 
 and-ready j ustice adapted to the needs of a heterogeneous 
 community, and not caring to be trammelled by the 
 niceties of statute law, did very well for the time, and 
 was popular with the men over whom he had been 
 placed. 
 
 The President christened the district where gold had 
 been found in payable quantities ' New Caledonia,' in 
 compliment to the number of Scotchmen who had 
 flocked thither, and at a farewell picnic given to him, 
 and the visitors who came in his train, produced two 
 nuggets — the Emma and Adeline, as they were named 
 after the daughters of the President — to the great 
 astonishment of the diggers, who were not at all 
 aware of their having been found. These nuggets
 
 PRE-ANNEXATION DAYS 17 
 
 were afterwards coined into about ;^8oo ' Burgers' 
 sovereigns,' and were sold to the public at 30s. each, 
 as being the first coined produce of the Transvaal 
 gold industry. 
 
 Shortly after these festivities and the return of the 
 President to Pretoria, some sensational discoveries were 
 made at Pilgrims' Rest, about seven miles distant from 
 Mac-a-Mac, and a large number of the diggers left the 
 earlier diggings for the richer prospects at that place. 
 The population speedily grew to over a thousand ; 
 ladies began to make their appearance, and the camp 
 rapidly assumed a brighter aspect. Before many 
 months were over, balls and concerts became frequent 
 accessories to camp life, and social functions were 
 carried out with great propriety. Pilgrims' Rest pro- 
 duced large quantities of heavy gold — the nuggets 
 ranging from i ounce to 150 ounces in weight, and in 
 one case 13 pounds weight of gold was taken out of a 
 ' pot-hole ' in four solid lumps, which were afterwards 
 exhibited in the Cape Colony by the lucky dis- 
 coverer. 
 
 With increasing wealth and the prospect of some 
 stability came the desire of the diggers to be repre- 
 sented in the Legislature (Volksraad), and President 
 Burgers supported the appeal, with the result that the 
 Raad sanctioned the making of New Caledonia into 
 an electoral district, privileged to send two members 
 to Pretoria, to represent the digging communities at 
 Pilgrims' Rest, Mac-a-Mac, and Spitzkop. Messrs. 
 Macaulay and Cameron were elected, and went to 
 Pretoria, where they took part in senatorial duties 
 without exciting jealousy or suspicion on the part of 
 their colleagues or the Dutch people. This fact has 
 not been brought to public notice as prominently as it 
 should have been as a precedent for the extension of 
 the franchise to the large Uitlandcr population which 
 
 2
 
 i8 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 has gathered since the discovery of gold at the Kaap 
 and on the Witwatersrand fields. 
 
 So far as the writer is aware, there has been no repeal 
 of the special law creating New Caledonia an electoral 
 district ; but that is not of much consequence now, as 
 the great majority of the men who were invested with 
 full citizenship have been dispersed by the closing of 
 the fields to the alluvial diggers and by the action of the 
 Kruger Government in granting concessions for gold- 
 mining in those parts of the country where the enter- 
 prise and industry of the first-comers had proved their 
 value. The Transvaal Government by this policy threw 
 itself completely into the power of the men who possessed 
 capital, whilst those who had nothing but brain and 
 muscle were completely excluded from all chance of 
 bettering themselves by the pursuit of the fascinating 
 industry of gold-digging. 
 
 Shortly after President Kruger came into office the 
 policy of granting concessions was adopted. The first 
 of these, we believe, was the grant of exclusive rights 
 of mining upon portions of three farms, which had 
 formed the Pilgrims' Rest diggings. This concession 
 was made the basis of a company known as the Gold 
 Exploration Company, and the miners were driven 
 from the property thus obtained. It must be said, 
 however, in justice to the concessionaire, Mr. D. H. 
 Benjamin, that he paid upwards of ^60,000 in com- 
 pensation to the evicted diggers, the amount to which 
 they were severally entitled being ascertained and fixed 
 by Commissioners appointed by the Government. Still, 
 the system was faulty, and has been productive of evil 
 consequences to the State ever since. 
 
 To return to the political position during the later 
 part of President Burgers' official existence. The great 
 difficulty which that gentleman had to contend with 
 was the general poverty of the country. Taxes could
 
 PRE-ANNEXATION DAYS 19 
 
 not be collected for the purpose of carrying on the 
 government, and there was not yet a sufficient number 
 of people on the gold-fields to take the burden of sup- 
 porting the administration of the whole country upon 
 their shoulders. In no district of the country were the 
 fiscal imposts more readily paid than on the gold-fields, 
 but the art of fleecing had not at that time been 
 developed to the perfection to which it has since at- 
 tained. The result was that the President found himself 
 hampered both financially and morally by the defection 
 of the people, who did not appreciate his patriotic 
 policy and his attempt to raise their status as an inde- 
 pendent nation, and his position became one of almost 
 insuperable difficulty. 
 
 Unfortunately, while the Treasury was almost empty 
 the trouble of a war with the native chiefs, Johannes 
 and Secocoeni, supervened, and the burghers were 
 called out to restore obedience. It is not necessary to 
 say more upon this point than that the burghers, after 
 a short campaign, refused to remain longer in the field, 
 and ' Huis toe ' (Home we go) was a reply to the ardent 
 exhortations of the poor President, who begged them 
 with tears not to give up the struggle with Secocoeni 
 before his subjugation had been effected. The burghers 
 returned to their homes, and the President, depressed 
 beyond measure at the financial and political condition 
 of the country, went back to Pretoria. The necessary 
 sequence to this was the desire for annexation of the 
 Transvaal by Great Britain. 
 
 We may here in passing contrast Mr. Kruger with his 
 impulsive predecessor, Thomas Fran9ois Burgers, whose 
 great and fatal mistake it was to endeavour to force the 
 people into genuine progress and a proper appreciation 
 of the demands made by civilization before they became 
 fitted for self-government ! Mr. Burgers was twenty 
 years in advance of his time, but all those who knew 
 
 2 — 2
 
 20 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 him will continue to hold a high opinion of his character, 
 the purity of his motives, and, from his point of view, 
 the height of his ideals. There was only one blot in 
 his character, and that was his distrust of England and 
 Englishmen, Individually he was ready to admit their 
 possession of good qualities : but in judging them as a 
 nation his view was obscured by racial prejudice.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE ANNEXATION DISCUSSED 
 
 The alleged causes of the war of independence were the 
 failure to keep the promise of according popular repre- 
 sentation made by Sir Theophilus Shepstone in the 
 annexation proclamation, and the military style of 
 government adopted by his successor, Sir O. Lanyon. 
 No doubt there is some truth in these allegations, 
 which offered sufficient grounds for the agitation set on 
 foot by certain malcontents, of whom Mr. Kruger and 
 Dr. Jorrisen were the chief. It may, however, be safely 
 asserted that the immediate causes for the turning of 
 popular opinion against British rule were the parsimony 
 of the authorities in Downing Street, and the short- 
 sightedness of their treatment of the two most im- 
 portant persons concerned in the matter. 
 
 The ability and influence of Mr, Paul Kruger were to 
 a certain extent recognised as valuable, and a position 
 was given to him upon the Executive, of which Sir 
 Theophilus Shepstone was the chief. But Mr. Kruger's 
 estimate of his value was higher than that accorded to 
 him by the Administrator, and it was not long before 
 he became discontented with the amount of his hono- 
 rarium (;^300 per annum), and he made it known that 
 he would not continue to give his services longer for 
 such a pittance. By a misrepresentation of facts he 
 was enabled to add another hundred to his income.
 
 22 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 and that addition was subjected to an inquiry by the 
 Home Government, the Colonial Secretary (Mr. Osborn) 
 being called upon to make it good. This naturally led 
 to a somewhat warm correspondence with Mr. Kruger, 
 who, however, could not be induced to disgorge. 
 From the time that he resigned his seat upon the 
 Executive he became an avowed enemy of the new 
 regime, and used his influence amongst his fellow- 
 countrymen to promote discontent and bring the 
 Government into odium. At that time the aspect of 
 affairs in the Transvaal was by no means so bright as 
 it became a few years later, and it is sad to think that 
 if the British authorities had recognised the value of 
 Mr. Kruger's services, and had treated him with 
 liberality, the present costly war might very probably 
 have been unnecessary, while the shock to British 
 honour and prestige which attended the retrocession of 
 the country would have been avoided. 
 
 The other person of influence possessing a subtle 
 brain, and although a Doctor of Divinity, not very 
 scrupulous as to what use he put it, was Dr. Jorissen. 
 He was one of the importations from Holland by Mr. 
 Burgers, and joined with Mr. Kruger in bringing about 
 an acute condition of discontent amongst the people. 
 He, too, had a grievance against the British authorities 
 in that he was removed from his office as State 
 Attorney on the ground of incompetence. An offer was 
 then made to him of the position of Landdrost of 
 Pretoria, but the step from almost irresponsible exercise 
 of power to that of a stipendiary magistrate at £600 
 per annum was too great a degradation to be sub- 
 mitted to, and the position was refused by him. The 
 prospect of becoming a leader in the rebellion against 
 British rule in conjunction with Paul Kruger appealed 
 to his vanity, and he became an active advocate of anti- 
 British propaganda. He, too, might have been molli-
 
 THE ANNEXATION DISCUSSED 23 
 
 fied by a little regard for his amour propre, but his 
 refusal of the position of Landdrost was considered 
 final, and he threw in his lot with the other side. 
 
 These two men, each possessing influence, the one 
 with the mass of the ignorant Boer population and the 
 other on account of his intellectual power with the more 
 cultured section of the burghers, were let loose upon the 
 nation. Neither was scrupulous as to the character and 
 quality of his arguments. Paul Kruger appealed to the 
 religious sentiment, and urged upon the attention of his 
 compatriots the godless character of the administra- 
 tion, preaching the doctrine that the Boers were God's 
 chosen people, and that the favour of the Almighty 
 would be on their side in any struggle with the new 
 Government. He impressed upon his credulous people 
 that the English were nowhere mentioned in the Bible, 
 and but few of his hearers thought fit to question him 
 as to where the mention of the Boers as men after 
 God's own heart would be found. His frequent 
 appearance in the pulpit gave him a sacrosanct in- 
 fluence with his hearers, and added not a little to 
 his power. He used his reputation for special 
 holiness precisely as the Mahdi did when he contem- 
 plated the conquest of the Soudan, and eventually 
 wrested it from the enfeebled hands of the Egyptian 
 Government. It is to be borne in mind that there was 
 at that time no counteracting influence in the shape of 
 a public press to give the other side of the questions 
 affecting the interests of the people. But few amongst 
 the farming class read anything except the Bible, and 
 were therefore open to the arguments backed up by 
 texts which Paul Kruger was in the habit of applying 
 to their condition as a chosen people. The majority 
 of those who were sufficiently educated to read a news- 
 paper relied upon the Volkssieui for their political infor- 
 mation. In its columns a much purer system of
 
 24 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 republicanism was taught by the late Jan Celliers 
 than has obtained of late under the management of 
 Dr. Engelenburg, a Hollander who has kindled racial 
 antipathies by the rabid style of his writing. The 
 Volksstem nowadays is a newspaper subsidized by the 
 Government, and reflects with much accuracy the 
 opinions and policy of its patrons. In the early 
 days the late Mr. F, Jeppe established a paper called 
 De Oude Emigrant in Potchefstroom, which was so 
 fearless a critic as to bring down upon it the wrath 
 of the Government, and it was speedily suppressed by 
 an order from the Volksraad, with especial vigour, 
 because it was published in Dutch. It was followed 
 by the Potchefstroomer, which still exists as a sub- 
 sidiary Government organ, following the lead of the 
 Volksstem in Pretoria, but devoid of the brilliance and 
 ability of that paper. The fact that both these news- 
 papers were in the vernacular brought home more 
 readily their doctrines to the people, and as they appealed 
 to the national aspiration of the Boers to be entirely 
 independent of every exterior influence, political, 
 religious, or social, and there being nothing to 
 counteract that tendency, the idea of creating a Dutch 
 Republic upon such principles became almost a religion 
 with them. The ministers of the Dutch Church became 
 prophets sent by God to relieve the chosen people from 
 a bondage which they were taught to believe was in- 
 tolerable and burdensome. 
 
 The annexation of the Transvaal, although effected 
 without any display of force, and with the tacit consent 
 of the mass of the people, only held the idea in check for 
 a little time, just so long as the country remained poor, 
 so that neither taxes could be collected nor officials 
 paid their salaries. For just about one year there was 
 a cessation of the agitation, Paul Kruger being a 
 salaried member of the Executive ; but as soon as
 
 THE ANNEXATION DISCUSSED 25 
 
 that connection was severed his propaganda started 
 afresh. So serious did this become, that the English 
 administration decided to publish a newspaper in 
 Dutch for the information of the people. The Boeren- 
 vriend was started, and distributed gratis amongst 
 the burghers ; but the expense of keeping a paper 
 of that kind going without subscribers or advertise- 
 ments speedily put an end to the enterprise. The 
 opportunity was thus lost of effecting a change in 
 public opinion by the dissemination of an antidote to 
 the pernicious doctrines of the republican Dutch press 
 and the personal efforts of Paul Kruger, assisted by 
 Dr. Jorrisen, who had already sounded the note of 
 opposition to the continuance of the British adminis- 
 tration. As a matter of course, the Advocate, pub- 
 lished at Potchefstroom, and the Transvaal Argus, 
 published at Pretoria, both in the English language, 
 did not reach the masses, and the work of the 
 agitation against the new Government went merrily 
 on until Colonel Lanyon, the Administrator, thought 
 proper to arrest the editor and proprietor of the 
 Volksstem for inciting the burghers to refuse the 
 payment of taxes. This strong measure rather in- 
 creased the energy of the rebellious movement, and 
 made Mr. Jan Celliers a martyr in the popular cause, 
 which was just the very thing to be avoided, unless the 
 Government was prepared to follow the matter up with 
 promptitude and decision such as the occasion required. 
 Mr. Celliers became in the popular eye a patriot, and 
 was made after the retrocession the recipient of a 
 memorial in the shape of a new and improved print- 
 ing plant made in Belgium, as a mark of the national 
 appreciation of his services on behalf of the indepen- 
 dence of the country. 
 
 Secret meetings were held during 1880 in almost 
 every country village and district by the Dutch
 
 26 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 burghers, the result of which was afterwards demon- 
 strated by the completeness of the arrangements made 
 for obtaining the retrocession of the country. Field 
 Cornets and Commandants were elected other than 
 those appointed by the British authorities, and every 
 arrangement made for a general rising of the Dutch 
 population. Colonel Lanyon, the Administrator, ap- 
 parently did not attach much importance to these 
 movements, notwithstanding that he was in possession 
 of reports made by some of the Landdrosts upon the 
 matter. The late Sir G. P. Colley, who met his death 
 at Amajuba, made a tour of the Transvaal about the 
 middle of 1880, and the result of his inquiries and 
 experience was that the Boers were loyal. He told 
 the writer that he had been received everywhere with 
 the greatest courtesy and kindness, and that everything 
 had been done to make his journey satisfactory and 
 pleasant. As to the meetings of the Boers for drill 
 and rifle practice, it was merely carrying out the law 
 providing for periodical wapenschouws, and no inimical 
 deductions could be made from that fact. Nor did he 
 think much of the other facts, relative to secret meet- 
 ings and illegal appointments of Field Cornets and 
 Commandants which had been made, as indicative of a 
 policy of resistance to the British authority. No doubt 
 he felt secure, and, as far as he could see, a like feeling 
 was entertained by the Administrator, Sir Owen Lanyon, 
 for there was no evidence of vigilance or careful inquiry 
 into the designs of the Boers. The consequence was 
 that everything was in order throughout the Transvaal 
 for a general rising on December 16 (Dingaan's Day), 
 1880, on which day, or very shortly afterwards, every 
 village was occupied, and the British garrisons besieged. 
 It is outside the scope of this book to dwell upon the 
 incidents of the war which followed. Its history is 
 ■recorded in the works of Mr. John Nixon (' A Com-
 
 THE ANNEXATION DISCUSSED 27 
 
 plete History of the Transvaal War ') and of Mr. 
 T. F. Carter, whose work is crowded with valuable 
 facts. The first- named book gives the view of events 
 from the inside, whilst the latter deals with the progress 
 of affairs external to the Transvaal. 
 
 A score of years have now nearly passed since the out- 
 break of the Boer War of Independence, as the burghers 
 of the Transvaal delight to call their revolt ; but it does 
 not seem that the lessons which were so obvious to those 
 who understand the Dutch Boer have made sufficient 
 impression upon the mind of the British public or the 
 British Ministers. There has been too much senti- 
 mental twaddle indulged in, in the idea that the Boers 
 were a people ' rightly struggling to be free.' The 
 naked fact is that, ever since they managed to shake off 
 the trammels of civilization, they have been possessed 
 with the idea that no other race of men beside them- 
 selves have any right to be in South Africa. That has 
 been the basis of every political movement in the past, 
 as soon as they could settle the question of personal 
 predominance amongst themselves. It has passed into 
 history now, but must have escaped notice, that when 
 Prince Alfred made a tour through South Africa, Sir 
 George Grey, then Governor of the Cape Colony, had 
 to apply for a permit for His Royal Highness to pass 
 through the Transvaal on his way to Natal, a favour 
 which was graciously accorded as a personal tribute to 
 the exalted position of His Royal Highness. 
 
 It has, from the very earliest period, been the policy 
 of the Boers to keep up, as a fundamental principle, 
 their isolation from the rest of the world, and the}' have 
 discouraged as much as possible the intrusion into their 
 country of strangers in blood and habit. 
 
 What was the cause — the excuse for — the annexation ? 
 Was it justifiable or expedient ? The first question is 
 easily answered by a perusal of the Queen's Commission
 
 28 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 to Sir Theophilus Shepstone (see Appendix A), Was 
 it justifiable ? To this question many answers have 
 been given. The majority of writers have stated that 
 the British Government was persuaded to go into the 
 Transvaal by the action of unscrupulous speculators 
 and land agents ; but that argument has been used over 
 and over again when any movement has taken place for 
 the good of the community. It can generally be traced 
 to an inspired source, and it is favoured by the Bond, 
 the Hollanders, and the subsidized press. 
 
 Nevertheless, there is not the slightest doubt that 
 the annexation of the Transvaal was a necessity and 
 for the good of that country. On the score of ex- 
 pediency it was a mistake. Once in possession, it 
 cannot be denied that we made errors in not speedily 
 fulfilling our promise to give responsible government, 
 and in the appointment of Colonel Lanyon in the 
 place of Sir T. Shepstone. Our intentions were sound, 
 our policy was honest ; but the tide of our diplomacy 
 ran too fast for the Boers, and their leaders were eager to 
 take advantage of any circumstance which might lead 
 them back to their old positions (see Appendix K). 
 The country at the time was described as, ' like a 
 ripe cherry, ready to fall into our mouths ' ; and there 
 is no doubt that many, driven to desperation by mis- 
 government and the fact that the country was hope- 
 lessly bankrupt (there was 3s. 6d. in the Treasury), 
 thought the psychological moment had arrived, when 
 such was far from being the case. Outside opinion 
 could not sway Sir Theophilus Shepstone, 'a man whose 
 work amongst natives, with whom calmness and dignity 
 are so necessary, will be remembered so long as there is 
 a black man south of the Zambesi,' and it is due to his 
 knowledge of the serious danger in which the country 
 stood from native sources, as well as the fact that it 
 could not alone hope to breast the storm it had done
 
 THE ANNEXATION DISCUSSED 29 
 
 so much to raise, that his opinion was confirmed that 
 nothing short of annexation could save the Transvaal 
 from fearful calamity. And yet ' the cherry was not 
 ripe,' so far as the Dutch population was concerned. 
 
 Had England withheld her hand, the fiercest native 
 tribes in South Africa would doubtless within a few months 
 have been at the Boers' throats. Secocoeni, Cetewayo, 
 and the savage northern tribes of the Zoutpansberg (who 
 had previously defeated Paul Kruger at Schoemansdal, 
 and have of late years given the Transvaal so much 
 trouble), would not have hesitated to combine forces 
 for the purpose of finally destroying their hereditary 
 enemy. To avoid this calamity was the plain duty 
 of England, even if the natives had only the faintest 
 chance of succeeding. We did our duty, but at what 
 a cost ! We saved the lives of the Boers, and in their 
 stead hundreds of British soldiers and loyal colonists 
 drenched with their blood the plains of Natal and the 
 Eastern Transvaal. British fighters only too soon 
 afterwards received their reward in the shape of bullets 
 from the rifles of the very people they had succoured. 
 It must not in fairness, however, be assumed that all 
 Boers were disloyal ; many had to be driven by force 
 to fight against us, and there were some who positively 
 refused to leave their farms to fight against men whom 
 they looked upon as their best friends. 
 
 We need only give a passing glance at the Zulu War, 
 to notice one bright spot in that critical time in the 
 devoted courage of Piet Uys and his companions from 
 the Wakkerstroom district, who laid down their lives 
 by the side of the British soldiers, content to know 
 they were doing their duty. This is as it should be, 
 and as it will be when equality drives away the shadow 
 which Krugerism has cast over South Africa. We 
 can but contrast with Uys's action the answer of 
 General Joubert to Sir Bartle Frere, when the latter
 
 30 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 appealed to him to cast in his lot with the English in 
 fighting the common foe. He said ' he could only dis- 
 cuss the grant of the independence of the Transvaal, 
 and until that was accomplished the people would do 
 nothing.' 
 
 But we have digressed. Returning therefore to the 
 subject of annexation, it must be admitted that 
 President Burgers, the Volksraad, and the Executive 
 protested against it, in order to leave a loophole, if 
 necessary, for a future policy ; but Burgers in his 
 vindication only proves conclusively the justification 
 of British intervention. He says, referring to the 
 Secocoeni campaign : 
 
 ' How different elements here combined against me ; how the 
 motley army, constantly stirred up to mutiny, at last openly de- 
 serted me, are matters of history. It was not here, however, where 
 the greatest mischief was done. At home, in the capital, in the 
 cities, the spirit of evil was busy, and on my return from the 
 expedition I was betrayed and deserted. By the aid of the Raad, 
 however, which met in extraordinary session in the spring of 1876, 
 the evil was arrested, and a plan arranged to carry on the war to a 
 successful issue by means of a volunteer corps. But now stepped 
 in openly another element which formerly acted only in secret, viz., 
 British interference, which got a stro7ig support from the Boers them- 
 selves ajid one of their chief leaders, P. Kruger, who had betrayed me 
 and contrived to split up the Boers into two great parties by accept- 
 ing the candidature for the Presidency, after having induced me to 
 accept it, and having promised his as well as his party's support ; 
 and this during my absence on the south-west boundary to settle 
 some matters with the natives. . . . The Boers following Kruger 
 considered themselves absolved from their obligations to the State 
 under my rule, while the Boers adhering to me did not care to 
 support a State of which Kruger was to become the chief ; and so 
 both parties not only refused to pay their war-taxes, but also the 
 ordinary nominal tax on land and other taxes. This soon had its 
 effect, and when Shepstone came to Pretoria the Government was 
 already unable to meet any of its money obligations. The men of 
 the forts fighting for the 'country could neither get their pay nor 
 their supplies, officials no salary, post contractors no money. . . . 
 By the end of January, 1877, the exchequer was empty. At the 
 same time the clerical faction was active in seducing the people.
 
 THE ANNEXATION DISCUSSED 31 
 
 Slips were printed and distributed ; everyone was roused in the 
 name of God and religion to abandon the Liberal President. Faint- 
 hearted friends were induced to sit quiet, while a constant cross- 
 fire of lies was kept up, and the pulpit was degraded into a political 
 catapult. 
 
 ' I foresaw the dangers which would accrue from this state of 
 things for the Republic ; and, in order to upset Shepstone's design 
 at one blow by uniting all parties, I proposed to Kruger that he 
 and I both should withdraw from the candidature for the Presi- 
 dency, promising at the same time that I would exert my utmost 
 to get in a man like Stockenstroom, and to assist him with all my 
 might. This Paul Kruger flatly refused to do, saying that I might 
 withdraw, but that he would not. Fruitlessly did I press him by 
 showing how our danger lay in our want of unity ; how the English 
 Government would have cause to step in on the ground of humanity 
 to avert a civil war, to prevent a general rising of the natives, etc. 
 He would not hear of retiring.' 
 
 Mr. Burgers also states that Shepstone made no 
 secret to him of his intention to annex the country, 
 unless matters were altered to the satisfaction of the 
 British Government. He thereupon submitted a plan 
 to Sir T. Shepstone embodying the necessary reforms, 
 with which he declared himself satisfied, and which if 
 carried by the Raad would have obviated the necessity 
 for annexation. Let us quote Mr. Burgers' own words 
 to show how the Volksraad treated these measures 
 which were so vital to their country. He says : 
 
 ' For days every article was wrenched from the Opposition till 
 half the Constitution was adopted. But while this stronghold was 
 being erected others were undermined, and during those long dis- 
 cussions the traitors had time to demoralize the people by discord 
 still more. Paul Kruger was doing his utmost to make the Boers 
 believe that I was aiming at becoming a dictator, and that the new 
 Constitution was a means of self-aggrandisement proposed by me 
 and intended to be forced from the people now they were in danger. 
 . . . This was but too successful. The Raad began to flag in its 
 zeal, and only adopted half the measures proposed. Constantly 
 worried by calls for payment while we had no money in the 
 treasury, harassed and pressed by the English party with memorials 
 in favour of confederation or annexation, asked for payment by the 
 Boers for losses sustained in the war, while they refused to pay up
 
 32 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 their taxes, driven almost to despair by betrayal and corruption on 
 all sides, ruined in my private estate as well as in health, I at 
 last made a final attempt by boldly proclaiming the new Constitu- 
 tion as far as it was adopted, and by forming the new Cabinet. But 
 here also I met with insurmountable obstacles. Joubert refused to 
 accept, even for a time, the office of Secretary for Native Affairs. 
 Struben also refused, and so did one or two others ; while those 
 who would accept were objected to on the ground that they were 
 new-comers. 
 
 ' Seeing my last attempt fail, the British Commissioner, having 
 a handful of names fairly or foully obtained in favour of annexa- 
 tion, thought his time had come to act.' 
 
 This posthumous letter is characterized by much 
 vituperation of England. Strange to say, this en- 
 lightened man could not free his mind from the general 
 Boer idea that as a nation we are perfidious. It is 
 impossible to quote all his remarks, but the concluding 
 ones are a complete vindication of the arguments which 
 have been brought forward in favour of the annexation. 
 He says : 
 
 ' Had I not endured in silence, had I not borne patiently all the 
 vile accusations, but out of selfishness or fear told the plain truth of 
 the case, the Transvaal would never have had the consideration it 
 has now received from Great Britain. However unjust the annexa- 
 tion was, 7ny self-justificatio7i would have exposed the Boers to such 
 an extent, and the state of the country in such a way, that it would 
 have been deprived both of the sympathy of the world and the con- 
 sideration of English politicians.^ 
 
 The italicized portions of the above remarkable 
 vindication show that when these lines were written 
 Kruger was playing one of those political games at 
 which he has so few equals in South Africa. Uncertain 
 whether the English party did not after all offer the 
 best share of * the loaves and fishes,' and ever watchful 
 for the openings which the future might have in store 
 for him, he engaged in a non-committal policy, which, 
 while ruining his country at the time, and discrediting 
 and destroying the unhappy President Burgers, enabled 
 him either to fall into line with the English, provided
 
 THE ANNEXATION DISCUSSED 33 
 
 they paid him well enough, or, as events turned out, 
 to pose as the saviour of his people from British 
 oppression. 
 
 It is easy to sway Boer opinion by an appeal to 
 former events, and to make them accept without 
 challenge facts that have been ' arranged ' with plausible 
 cunning. But these agitators had something far more 
 substantial behind them than this ; they had secured 
 the promise of assistance from many Cape and English 
 politicians. While this was perhaps excusable on the 
 part of the former, it could be little short of treachery 
 on the part of the latter. 
 
 Both before and during the war it was openly 
 asserted that the show of force was merely a piece of 
 bluff, and that the Boers had only to make a sufficient 
 demonstration to have the country handed back to 
 them. They received communications during the war, 
 at a time when matters were critical, and when many 
 of the Boers were on the point of leaving for their 
 farms, urging them to hold on, as the success of their 
 plans was assured to them by their friends in England ; 
 and this continued while English and loyal colonists 
 were exposed to horrors which only a close state of 
 siege can produce. 
 
 The Boers had their own committee in London, 
 mainly composed of Irish traitors and renegade 
 Radicals. But such responsible people even as Mr 
 Leonard Courtney and Sir Donald Currie were per- 
 sistent in urging their cause. The latter is now no 
 doubt convinced of the mistake he then made ; but the 
 former has even recently had the audacity to defend 
 those actions and applaud his country's enemies. 
 
 It is not fitting to speak ill of the dead, but a word 
 in passing must be devoted to Mr. Gladstone's policy, 
 which is dealt with more fully elsewhere. His was the 
 ill-starred lot to be blind to the issues at stake, to 
 
 3
 
 34 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 juggle with the Empire from motives of expediency, to 
 deceive the pubhc with the cry of blood-guiltiness, 
 when to-day Lord Kimberley admits the real explana- 
 tion of that pernicious peace — ' fear of the effects of the 
 war on the Free State and Cape Colony.' It has been 
 freely stated in the Transvaal that at this period Mr. 
 Gladstone cabled to Mr. Hofmeyr as the leader of the 
 Dutch party at the Cape, asking him for advice, to 
 which the latter replied, ' Remember the example of 
 the American colonies.' The exact wording may not 
 be as stated, but that the leaders of the Africander 
 Bond were consulted, of that there can now be no 
 doubt. 
 
 For the lesser lights of the Cabinet there can likewise 
 be nothing but blame. That the Duke of Argyll should 
 admit that the matter was treated departmentally, and 
 he knew very little about it, seems extraordinary to a 
 colonial. Mr. Chamberlain showed in his speeches at 
 that time an inexplicable lack of comprehensive know- 
 ledge of the subject, and one can only be thankful that 
 he so soon saw the error of those days. It is to-day 
 difficult to realize that he ever uttered these words : 
 ^ Under the circumstances which he had described, 
 to have continued to maintain the annexation would 
 have been an act which he could only describe in 
 terms which had been applied by a high authority to 
 a different subject, as an act of "force, fraud, and 
 folly." ' 
 
 The cool treatment to which Mr. Kimber White and 
 the Loyalist deputation (who proceeded to London to 
 protest against the retrocession) were subjected by 
 the Liberal Government, and particularly by Lord Kim- 
 berley, calls for brief mention. That Lord Kimberley 
 should keep Mr. White waiting for a week before re- 
 ceiving him, anyone who knows his Downing Street 
 can understand ; but, when received, for Mr. White to
 
 THE ANNEXATION DISCUSSED 35 
 
 be informed by that nobleman that ' he was too pro- 
 nounced ' was impolitic, to say the least, Thouj^htless 
 utterances such as these sink deep into the hearts of 
 colonists, and were at that time calculated, in addition 
 to the treatment they received, to turn loyal Imperialists 
 into red-hot Republicans. As a matter of fact, this and 
 similar later mistakes succeeded in many instances in 
 accomplishing this effect, and to them may be attributed 
 much of the trouble of to-day. The memory of these 
 bitter days survived when serious efforts were made 
 to revive the drooping cause of Imperialism, but few 
 remained faithful through the hour of trial ; in fact, it 
 was almost a wonder that a single loyal subject remained 
 in the whole of South Africa. 
 
 Of course, Paul Kruger and his followers were by 
 no means displeased with this phase of the situation. 
 While not prepared to give equal rights until he was 
 sure of his burghers' predominance, his policy was to 
 encourage the Republican as against the Imperial idea 
 in South Africa, and to embitter the English as much 
 as possible against their own Government. What power- 
 ful allies he had in Downing Street in the Africandei 
 Bond, and in our weak and swaying Governors, we 
 have yet to relate. 
 
 Curious as it may seem, our great danger in South 
 Africa did not lie so much in the Boers as in the 
 Machiavellian policy, so skilfully planned by Kruger 
 and elaborated by Dr. Leyds, of driving those British 
 into their arms who were being prepared to accept a 
 Republic on any terms rather than again approach an 
 ungrateful Mother Country. 
 
 With the huge Secret Service Fund, certain Free State 
 politicians, the organization of the Africander Bond, 
 and men like even Rhodes and Sivewright appearing 
 as the high-priests of Africander predominance, can it 
 be wondered at that the Loyalists knew scarcely where 
 
 3—2
 
 36 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 to turn ? But the silent sentinels of the Empire were 
 watching — those men whom we never hear of, whom 
 the press knows not — waiting and watching, unswerving 
 in their devotion to Queen and country, convinced that 
 England at last * would to herself be true.' They 
 checked this foul conspiracy, and laid the seeds in 
 1894 which will grow into a tree of liberty in the new 
 century.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE INTERREGNUM 
 
 The conversion of the South African RepubHc into a 
 British dependency took place on April 12, 1877, and 
 the British flag was hoisted at Pretoria on Her Majesty's 
 birthday, May 24, in the presence of a large number of 
 townspeople and Dutch farmers from the neighbouring 
 districts. As usual, a review of the troops then in the 
 capital took place in honour of the occasion, and their 
 evolutions were witnessed with the greatest interest by 
 the farmers assembled, to whom the spectacle of a 
 thousand red-coats going through a sham fight was 
 a novelty. Not the slightest disturbance or intimation 
 that the proceedings were objectionable occurred, and 
 the general impression was that the action of Sir T. 
 Shepstone was hailed as a satisfactory solution of a 
 difficult and embarrassing situation. 
 
 The address to the farmers issued by the Adminis- 
 trator, couched in friendly terms, was well received 
 both by Boers and British, and had its conditions been 
 accurately observed, there can be little doubt that 
 it would have consolidated British power in the 
 Transvaal. 
 
 The relief of the burghers from commando duty was 
 calculated to popularize the change of Government, 
 the more so because the Boers had but recently 
 returned to their homes from the fruitless expedition
 
 38 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 against Secocoeni, and having had enough of the hard- 
 ships incidental to a campaign, were anxious for a period 
 of rest. 
 
 It was a poHtic move on the part of Sir T. Shepstone 
 to impress upon the farmers that they were the bees to 
 make honey, whilst the trouble of guarding the hives 
 would in future rest upon the British soldier. It was 
 also shown that he was in earnest when he set to work 
 to reduce their old enemy to submission, without calling 
 upon them to yield personal service, or to be com- 
 mandeered for provisions, waggons, or cattle, without 
 oeing well paid for their services. That was an ex- 
 perience which had not been their forefathers' lot or 
 their own for many scores of years. It was one of the 
 immediate fruits of the annexation which the respect- 
 able and industrious farmer could appreciate ; but there 
 was a class which did not take quite the same view. 
 They had been accustomed to regard wars with the 
 Kaffir tribes as a sure means of getting servants — more 
 accurately, slaves — cattle, and other loot, at a minimum 
 of cost to themselves either in blood or money. When 
 their quarrel with the aborigines was left in the hands of 
 the British Government, and brought to a close without 
 their help, they lost the chance of plunder, and longed 
 for the good old times to come back again, when each 
 man was a law unto himself, subject to no restraint 
 from more or less sympathetic neighbours. By these 
 people — and numerically they formed a considerable 
 proportion of the inhabitants of the rural districts — 
 the new system was regarded as trenching on the rights 
 of men who had ' made the land clean ' by their ruth- 
 less destruction of native life. That was a germ of 
 serious discontent in the minds of the people, and it 
 was not lost sight of by certain influential men among 
 them who had their own axes to grind. Of these first 
 and foremost stood Paul Krus:er.
 
 THE INTERREGNUM 39 
 
 We have alluded to his scandalous attempt to black- 
 mail the then Colonial Secretary, Mr. Osborn, which 
 succeeded at the time. The refusal to increase his 
 salary resulted in his resignation as member of the 
 Executive. Paul Kruger knew his value, and if the 
 Government did not, so much the worse for the 
 Government. In this calculation he was perfectly 
 right, for instead of being a friend he became a power- 
 ful enemy, and it was not long before his inimical 
 influence began to be felt. 
 
 The great mistake in our policy was the failure to 
 give the people representatives, which the Boers said 
 implied that if the promise of Great Britain could 
 be broken in one respect it might also be altered in 
 the other matters contained in the manifesto issued at 
 the time of the annexation. That that was a fatal 
 error was self-evident to all who knew the character of 
 the people. 
 
 Had Sir T. Shepstone possessed the courage to call 
 the old Volksraad together to ratify the annexation, 
 there can be no reasonable doubt that it would have 
 been sanctioned. Ways and means would have been 
 found to quiet opposition. 
 
 The failure to re-establish those representative insti- 
 tutions which were promised gave a handle to the 
 agitators, of which they made prompt and effective 
 use, to the discomfiture of those who hoped and ex- 
 pected that the advent of British authority would bring 
 about the regeneration of the country. Before Sir T. 
 Shepstone had the opportunity of reconstructing the 
 body politic, the state of affairs in Natal and amongst 
 the Zulu tribes became so threatening that it was 
 deemed wise to recall him and make use of his great 
 influence with the natives to bring about a satisfactory 
 termination of the impending trouble. At considerable 
 personal risk he undertook the duty, and for a time
 
 40 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 was successful in averting the danger threatening the 
 colony of Natal. The British Government in the 
 meanwhile took the false step of appointing Colonel 
 Owen Lanyon as Administrator of the Transvaal, a 
 proceeding which was no more relished by the Europeans 
 than by the Boer population. The policy of that 
 gallant officer contrasted strongly with the milder system 
 pursued by his predecessor, and the burghers regarded 
 his appointment as an indication that they were to be 
 ruled as a conquered people, without having a voice 
 in the administration of the affairs of their country. 
 Their tacit acquiescence in the annexation had speedily 
 developed into discontent, with the result that the 
 change effected by this procedure merely fanned the 
 embers of the agitation, already gathering strength 
 among the farming population, who regarded them- 
 selves as the backbone of the political system. 
 
 The Transvaal Executive, becoming aware of the 
 growing discontent, and recognising the danger which 
 was likely to arise therefrom, made a futile and fatuous 
 endeavour to avert the consequences arising out of the 
 breach of faith by nominating a Council endowed with 
 legislative functions. This foolish scheme was devised 
 either by Sir Garnet Wolseley or with his sanction, and 
 it excited a feeling of despair amongst the better in- 
 formed, because it provided the agitators with a power- 
 ful weapon against the local government. 
 
 Whatever were the merits of Sir Garnet Wolseley 
 at that time as a military man, it was clear that he 
 had not the necessary qualifications for administering 
 with success the domestic affairs of a people who 
 had become suspicious of the motives and inten- 
 tions of the British Government. The silly manu- 
 facture of a baker's dozen of kinglets for the settle- 
 ment of Zululand after the war confirms one's poor 
 opinion of his merits as a civil administrator. As
 
 THE INTERREGNUM 41 
 
 regards Colonel Lanyon, there was a personal dislike 
 to him, not merely because it was thought that he had 
 been sent to ride roughshod over the people, but for the 
 singular reason that, owing to his swarthy complexion, 
 he was thought to have black blood running in his 
 veins ! Amongst the old back-veldt Boers it was the 
 common opinion that the Administrator was not a pure- 
 bred white man, and it was violently contended that a 
 ' bastaard ' had been put over them by Great Britain as 
 a sign of degradation. The Grond-Wet, their constitu- 
 tion, expressly stipulates that there shall be no equality 
 between the white and coloured races, and the appoint- 
 ment of a dark-complexioned man as Chief Magistrate 
 was an offence which was not to be tolerated by the 
 Boers. Among themselves they are not so fastidious, 
 for there are many families holding good positions, 
 wealthy farmers, who are not altogether free from ' a 
 dash of the tar-brush.' And, again, it had been formally 
 resolved by the Volksraad that a member of that body 
 must be at least four removes from the miscegenation 
 of his forefathers before he is fitted for legislative duties. 
 Without any evidence but the colour of his skin, and, 
 of course, without a shadow of reason, Colonel Lanyon 
 was looked upon as barred from the lawful exercise of 
 authority, and the spirit of rebellion became more and 
 more rampant. 
 
 The fact that the country was gradually becoming 
 more prosperous under British administration weighed 
 nothing with the Boers, and only served to confirm 
 them in the belief that the merit of bringing about 
 prosperity rested with themselves, and was not in the 
 slightest degree attributable to the better and more 
 honest administration of the affairs of the country. 
 The consequence was that, as the people grew richer — 
 principally through the expenditure for the keep of the 
 troops sent by the British Government to subdue their
 
 42 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 native enemies — they became clamorous to the point 
 of rebelhon for the recognition of their independence. 
 Although this state of things was known to the Govern- 
 ment, it was apparently thought of little consequence. 
 The Boers had been unable to subdue a Kaffir chief 
 (Secocoeni), and it was not thought possible that they 
 would have the audacity to oppose Her Majesty's 
 forces, so that their preparations were looked upon with 
 good-natured contempt as being merely a childish dis- 
 play of spleen. 
 
 The first overt act of a rebellious character took 
 place in the town of Middelburg, where a consider- 
 able number of Boers insisted upon a store-keeper 
 supplying them with powder, caps, and lead, although 
 they had not the requisite permit to make such 
 purchases. The store-keeper complained to the Land- 
 drost, and made an affidavit as to the conduct of 
 some eighteen or twenty Boers who had acted illegally 
 in taking all his available ammunition without pro- 
 ducing the permit required by the law, passed and in 
 operation years before the annexation took place. A 
 report being made to the Government by the Landdrost 
 upon the subject, he was instructed to issue summonses 
 against the men whose names were known, and on 
 the appointed day they answered to the charge. The 
 accused secured the legal assistance of Dr. Jorissen as 
 counsel on their behalf; but in the end they were found 
 guilty, and a fine of ^^^5 was imposed upon each offender 
 against the law regulating the sale of ammunition. 
 As a precautionary measure the Government ordered a 
 squadron of the 6th Dragoon Guards to proceed to 
 Middelburg, and they remained there for a short time 
 after the trial was concluded. 
 
 It is pretty clear that at that time the party which 
 took possession of the ammunition (which, it may be 
 observed, was paid for at once) was acting prematurely,
 
 THE INTERREGNUM 43 
 
 as nothing was allowed to transpire for some months as 
 to the ultimate objects of the Boers. 
 
 The military authorities, in fact, refused to believe 
 that there was any danger — a belief unfortunately shared 
 by the majorit)^ of the militar}' officers who were in 
 South Africa at that time. They would neither profit 
 by warnings nor take the advice of men who had 
 lifelong experience of the people with whom they 
 had to deal ; and the natural result has been disaster, 
 which the admitted bravery, courage, and endurance of 
 the men under their command could not retrieve. In 
 the future settlement of the affairs of the Transvaal 
 and Free State, it may be most earnestly hoped that 
 a military administrator will not be permanently ap- 
 pointed. It will doubtless be necessary in the first 
 instance, and for a few months, that military authority 
 shall prevail in the conquered territories ; but when the 
 country has become settled, the government should be 
 vested either in a colonial of proved loyalty, or in a 
 Civil Servant of the Crown who has shown himself to 
 be possessed of the qualities of courage and justice, and 
 at the same time a courteous regard for the opinions of 
 those whose local experience entitles them to be heard 
 with deference. If that had been done, and the authori- 
 ties at home had been trustful of their representatives, 
 South Africa, instead of being the grave of reputations, 
 would have been the source of great honour to the 
 Proconsuls of Great Britain, and of immeasurable 
 advantage to the people. 
 
 There are hopeful signs that the case of Sir Bartle 
 Frere will prove the last one of a great administrator 
 and good man being sacrificed to the clamour of 
 ignorant and prejudiced cliques, banded together in 
 that rebellious spirit which has so persistently been 
 fanned amongst the Dutch population of South Africa. 
 (See Appendix G.)
 
 44 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 The present High Commissioner and Governor of 
 the Cape Colony is a worthy successor to Sir Bartle 
 Frere, and has shown clearly enough that men of the 
 right calibre are still to be found in Great Britain, equal 
 to any duty, however difficult of performance. So far, 
 he has the almost unique experience of a Governor 
 of the Cape being backed up by the British Govern- 
 ment, which is especially gratifying, as he has been 
 virulently assailed by a section of the British and 
 colonial press. 
 
 Towards the end of 1880 acts of rebeUion took the 
 place of secret treason, and these soon resulted in the 
 war of ' independence.'
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 
 
 It is scarcely possible in a work of this nature to 
 narrate events consecutively, and we must plead 
 guilty of occasional discursiveness. Unfortunately the 
 Transvaal newspapers published before, during, and 
 after the rebellion of the Boers are not available, and 
 the writers have to depend for much of the following 
 upon their memory and their intimate connection with 
 the events which they attempt to narrate. The story 
 of the war, as well as what preceded and succeeded it, 
 has been frequently told ; but there are many important 
 points in connection with it which are here stated for 
 the first time, and which may prove of particular value 
 at the present time. 
 
 A mass meeting of the Boers was fixed to take place 
 at Paardekraal on December lo, 1880, and as soon as 
 it became known the Administrator issued an admoni- 
 tory proclamation forbidding the meeting, and calling 
 upon the well-disposed to stay away. At that time 
 there were but few peaceable persons left among the 
 Boer population, and no notice was taken of the pro- 
 clamation. This is not to be wondered at when previous 
 documents of the same nature had been treated with 
 contempt, and no action had been taken to vindicate 
 the authority or powers of the Government. The people 
 assembled in great force, being, for the most part, armed,
 
 46 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 and vows were made and stones cast by each individual, 
 pledging all to strive for freedom from the British rule. 
 This ceremony was performed with due solemnity, and 
 on December i6, the anniversary of their fight and 
 victory over the Zulu chief Dingaan, near Bushman's 
 River in Natal, the first public act of rebellion was 
 enacted by the proclamation of a Republican Govern- 
 ment, with headquarters at Heidelberg. At the same 
 time and place the reins of government were assumed 
 by a triumvirate consisting of Mr. S. J. P. Kruger, 
 P. J. Joubert, Commandant-General, and M. W. Pre- 
 torius, a former President of the Republic. To these 
 three persons, assisted by Dr. Jorissen and Mr. E. 
 Bok, and a few old Volksraad members, was entrusted 
 the direction of affairs. Mr. Kruger had managed his 
 part well, and he at once became the head-centre of 
 the rebellion, the foremost man among his compatriots. 
 It was not long before acts of hostility took place, the 
 first shot being fired at Potchefstroom, where a small 
 body of troops had been quartered, armed with a couple 
 of light fieldpieces. The origin of the action was to 
 be found in the resistance of a man named Bezuidenhout 
 to the execution of a warrant authorizing the sale of a 
 waggon belonging to him, on account of his refusal to 
 pay taxes, which was one of the methods adopted by 
 the Boers to show their contempt for the British 
 Government. The Boers took his part, and on the 
 police being called out to keep order one of them fired 
 a shot, wounding a policeman. That started the in- 
 surrection. 
 
 On the igth the onslaught of the burghers' force 
 upon Colonel Anstruther took place at Bronkhorst- 
 spruit, about forty miles from the capital, on the road 
 from Lydenburg to Pretoria. The British soldiers were 
 shot down in scores, being for the most part practically 
 unarmed and straggling, little dreaming that a wily
 
 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 47 
 
 enemy was lying in ambush among the rocks and trees 
 of an adjacent hill. The commanding officer, Colonel 
 Anstruther, had been warned, when he left Middelburg, 
 that he would be passing through an enemy's country ; 
 but, as is too frequently the case with British military 
 officers, he ridiculed the idea of being stopped en route, 
 and did not take the slightest precaution. The con- 
 sequence was that when the Boers attacked they had 
 it all their own way, as only comparatively few of the 
 g4th were armed, their rifles being on the baggage- 
 wagons, and the ammunition still in the screwed-down 
 boxes. The Boers, under Franz Joubert, were skilfully 
 posted among the boulders and thorn-trees on the 
 hillside commanding the road, and upon Colonel 
 Anstruther refusing to surrender — a fact which was 
 intimated to the Boers by the messenger putting his 
 horse to gallop — a murderous fusillade was opened, 
 which placed a large proportion of the officers and 
 men hors de combat, and threw the whole baggage train 
 into confusion. Fighting continued only for a few 
 minutes. The news was brought into Pretoria the 
 next morning by Conductor Egerton, who had obtained 
 permission from the Boer Commandant to come to 
 Pretoria for medical assistance for the wounded. He 
 managed to secure the regimental flag about his 
 person, and it was subsequently placed in charge of 
 the 2ist Fusiliers, in garrison in Pretoria. The Govern- 
 ment despatched Dr. J. N. Crow to the assistance 
 of the wounded prisoners, and he subsequently accom- 
 panied them to Heidelberg, where the Boers were in 
 undisturbed possession. 
 
 Dr. Crow, as we have already stated, went to Heidel- 
 berg in charge of the wounded British troops, and it 
 might have been supposed that he would have been 
 treated with respect and consideration on account of 
 his cloth and mission of mercy ; but he had to put up
 
 48 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 with many indignities, and on one occasion he was 
 assaulted by a young Boer, who slashed him with a 
 long wagon whip, a bare apology from the triumvirate, 
 Paul Kruger, M. W. Pretorius, and P. J. Joubert, being 
 the only redress he received for the insult, whilst no 
 punishment was inflicted on the aggressor. 
 
 One instance of undaunted pluck on the part of a 
 woman deserves incidental record. It was during the 
 attack upon the 94th that Mrs. Smith, the wife of the 
 bandmaster, received a wound of a rather serious 
 character, notwithstanding which she devoted herself 
 to the assistance of the wounded soldiers, and many 
 of the poor fellows who were disabled that day owe 
 their lives to her self-sacrificing unselfishness and 
 courage. The honour of a military funeral was ac- 
 corded to her upon her demise a few years ago, and 
 no one has more nobly deserved such a recognition. 
 
 Bronkhorstspruit was not a fight, but a cold-blooded 
 massacre of British troops upon territory regarded as 
 British, and it might have been thought that this would 
 have exacted stern reprisals ; but the home Govern- 
 ment was too magnanimous for that, and the blood of 
 our soldiers called aloud until these days for retribution. 
 The news, brought, as mentioned fcefore, by Conductor 
 Egerton, who had walked the distance of over forty 
 miles, the Boers having refused to give him a horse, to 
 Pretoria, was the first intimation that hostilities had 
 broken out. It speedily spread, and a considerable 
 degree of alarm was manifested when it was known 
 as a fact that some 600 Boers, fully armed and flushed 
 with victory, were within a day's ride of the town. 
 Meetings were hastily called, and the military authorities 
 were invoked to take the necessary steps for defending 
 the town. At the earnest request of the townspeople 
 martial law was proclaimed, and the male inhabitants 
 almost to a man enrolled themselves either as volunteers
 
 THE WAR OF IXDEPENDEXCE 49 
 
 or as a civil guard. The volunteers were armed with 
 rifles which had seen their best days, and were formed 
 into companies under their own officers and Major Le 
 Mesurier, of the Royal Engineers. 
 
 The opinion of the military authorities was that the 
 town was not capable of being defended by so small a 
 garrison, and the women and children w^ere established 
 in tents, waggons, and bungalows at the camp, whilst 
 the volunteers w^ere quartered in a laager between the 
 convent and the gaol. These volunteers were at once 
 employed in preparing defences, and a large party were 
 engaged in digging a trench round the Dutch Reformed 
 Church in Church Square. After it was completed and 
 a couple of mitrailleuses mounted, it was decided by the 
 military authorities that it was not tenable, and the trench 
 was filled up. The next thing done was to enclose the 
 space between the convent buildings and the gaol, both 
 of which exist to the present day. A double plank wall 
 was erected, with a space of 18 inches between, which 
 was filled up with the earth dug out of the trench at 
 the foot of the wall. This made a fairly good pro- 
 tection against the bullets of the enemy, while on the 
 other side casks filled with soil, with sand-bags to the 
 height of about 5 feet, constituted our western defences. 
 The space thus enclosed afforded sufficient room for a 
 camp of about 600 men, with commissariat offices and 
 an exercising-ground, and so long as the weather was 
 fine no great inconvenience was felt by the volunteers in 
 their unaccustomed quarters. The convent was used 
 in part as a hospital for sick women, the men who 
 were wounded or sick being accommodated at the 
 main camp, with Dr. Skeene as chief medical officer. 
 Upon the whole the two camps were remarkably 
 healthy. Very few deaths occurred from the diseases 
 usually experienced when large numbers are cooped up 
 in a limited area. We had, however, no occasion for 
 
 4
 
 50 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 the defences we had made, as the Boers refrained 
 from attacking the town, although on two or three 
 occasions some of their scouts audaciously ventured so 
 far in as the portion now known as Sunnyside ; but 
 a shell from the gun mounted on Time Ball Hill 
 sufficed to send them off helter-skelter. 
 
 The first warlike incident which took place about 
 Pretoria was a foraging expedition to a farm belonging 
 to H, Schoeman a few miles from the town. The 
 party was led by Mr. Surveyor Anderson, and suc- 
 ceeded in driving off a considerable number of cattle 
 and about 800 sheep, which were safely brought into 
 town. They were not destined to remain there long, 
 for the late owner came in, and, protesting his loyalty, 
 managed to bamboozle the military authorities into 
 restitution. This result gave great dissatisfaction, and 
 damped the spirits of the volunteers very seriously. 
 The seizure of cattle and live stock is a universal 
 feature of Boer warfare, and the only way of bringing 
 the enemy to book was to deprive him of his cattle. 
 We hear a good deal nowadays of fighting the Boer 
 with Boer tactics and beating him at that, and possibly 
 our military men have learned a lesson from the enemy. 
 Anyhow, it is satisfactory to note that, notwithstanding 
 the yelping of the Africander press, when captures of 
 live stock or wagons have been made, no prayer for 
 restitution has been listened to by the military authori- 
 ties as in the past. After that time we never had another 
 chance of replenishing our larder, and regretted bitterly, 
 when we came down to half-rations, that our military 
 officers had been so fatuously generous. Mr. Hendrik 
 Schoeman has since shown no sense of gratitude ; he is 
 one of the most violent exponents of race hatred in 
 the Transvaal, and in his lack of veracity and gratitude 
 for favours received he is indeed a typical Boer. 
 
 The little fight at Swartkopjes was the first engage-
 
 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 51 
 
 ment breaking the monotony of life in the convent 
 laager. The detachment engaged upon that occasion 
 was partly military and partly ' Our Boys,' a mounted 
 corps of young fellows formed in Pretoria. For all 
 of these this was their baptism of fire, and right 
 well they came through the ceremony. It was here 
 that the first exhibition of Boer treachery was made 
 by the holding up the white flag as a decoy to our 
 men. The symbol of surrender was used to trick the 
 British into leaving cover, when a fierce fusillade was 
 opened upon them, and the sergeant who was sent 
 forward to parley was wounded severely by the Boer 
 bullets. The trick was repeated again a little later, 
 but as the order was given by the officer in command 
 for the men to keep cover, no harm came of it, and 
 firing was resumed on both sides. The result of the 
 action was that the kopje was stormed and about four- 
 teen prisoners taken, whilst the wagons belonging to 
 the Boers were blown up. 
 
 The Boer Commandant, old Hans Botha, was taken 
 prisoner after he had received five wounds from bullets; 
 he was brought to the military hospital, and received 
 much kindness. When asked, after he had recovered, 
 if he had any complaints to make, he said the only 
 thing he objected to was the frequency of the wash- 
 ings he had to undergo. 
 
 In the next skirmish at Red House Kraal the Boers, 
 after firing upon it and again wounding one or two of 
 our men, captured the British ambulance, in which were 
 some wounded. The military authorities demanded 
 the restoration of the ambulance, but its captors would 
 not yield unless the fourteen prisoners taken at Swart- 
 kopjes were exchanged. This was done, and the 
 ambulance was brought into camp, but it was found 
 that two of its occupants, who had been wounded a 
 second time whilst in the ambulance, were in a most 
 
 4—2
 
 52 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 dangerous condition, and, notwithstanding all the care 
 that was bestowed upon them, they eventually died, 
 victims to Boer treachery and neglect. 
 
 We took very few prisoners after the first encounter 
 with the rebels, for there did not seem to be any very 
 ardent wish on the part of the military to come to 
 close quarters with the besiegers, although, according 
 to all accounts, the troops and armed civilians in the 
 camp far exceeded in number the besieging force. In 
 point of fact, it came to be believed that the Pretoria 
 garrison was restrained from action by some secret 
 influence, otherwise it is difficult to account for the 
 inactivity which prevailed during the three months that 
 the investment continued. Lieutenant-General Bellairs 
 could hardly be regarded as wanting in stamina or 
 experience, seeing that he had obtained the V.C. for an 
 act of bravery, and Colonel Gildea, the second in com- 
 mand, was an officer not wanting in distinction. In 
 the course of the siege several sorties were made, but 
 in no instance with adequate success. 
 
 In a second attack upon Red House Kraal, just 
 beyond Six Mile Spruit, some hundreds of troops were 
 sent forward to attack the main Boer laager. The 
 soldiers and volunteers were conveyed by mule-wagon 
 to within a mile of the point of attack during the early 
 hours of a brilliant moonlight night. The noise of the 
 wagons and the objurgations of the mule-drivers were 
 sufficient in the calm and stillness of the night to 
 awaken the Seven Sleepers. Arrived at the crest of the 
 hill overlooking the position to be taken, a mounted 
 detachment of the volunteers was sent forward to a 
 house in the valley below ; there they found the Boer 
 outpost vacated, and returned to report, burdened wdth 
 blankets and pillows as the spoils of war, but without a 
 prisoner. An advance was made to the supposed Laager 
 by Nourse's Horse, and firing speedily became brisk.
 
 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 53 
 
 With the dawn could be seen a scattered force of 
 Boers, under cover of the mimosa-trees, sheltering the 
 main camp, which was under the other side of a low 
 hill. Notwithstanding the heavy and continuous firing, 
 but few casualties occurred on our side, until Colonel 
 Gildea was wounded, and General Bellairs gave orders 
 to retire, greatly to the disgust of the unmounted 
 volunteer force, who had not the chance of firing a 
 shot. During this brush with the enemy two wagon- 
 loads of soldiers — about fifty men — never left the 
 wagons, but as they were in the line of fire they did 
 not escape scatheless, one being so severely wounded 
 as to succumb shortly after returning to camp, whilst 
 another had a broken limb. As we had a couple of 
 9-pounder guns in action, and as there was no great 
 disparity between the number of the Boers and our 
 forces, much discontent was felt by the volunteers at 
 the retreat, and harsh comments were passed upon the 
 military leader who had planned the operations. 
 
 At Elandsfontein similar mismanagement took place. 
 A squadron of Nourse's Horse had gained their way, 
 inch by inch, on the ridges until the Boer laager was 
 discovered within easy distance of cannon-shot. Cap- 
 tain Nourse sent messengers twice or thrice to General 
 Bellairs, asking him to send a gun to his assistance, 
 but it was refused, and the exertions of Nourse and 
 ' Our Boys ' were fruitless. Captain Sanctuary, who 
 was posted on a kopje with a small detachment of 
 mounted men, was more than once ordered to evacuate 
 it ; but knowing the importance of the position, he 
 refused to do so until he got peremptory orders. He 
 had scarcely reached the plain below when the position 
 was taken up by the Boers, who were thus enabled to 
 threaten our retreat on Pretoria. We had left camp 
 at about 2 a.m. in wagons, and arrived at Elandsfontein, 
 where the Boers were encamped, at daybreak. About
 
 54 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 fifty men of the Volunteer Rifle Corps were ordered to 
 take up a position on a low hill commanding Quagga's 
 Poort, and to make such preparations for defence as 
 circumstances permitted. The men were unprovided 
 with tools, or even food, and had to ' lug out ' the 
 half-embedded stones upon the hillside with their bare 
 fingers, in order to construct a breastwork upon the 
 exposed sides of the hill. Whilst engaged in this, a 
 party of 200 Boers suddenly arrived at the Poort, and 
 discovering that the hill was already occupied, after a 
 hurried discussion, fortunately decided to join their 
 friends who were fighting about one and a half miles 
 away. On their arrival at the scene of action the firing 
 was very heavy for a short time, and was punctuated 
 by occasional booms from the g-pounder. Very soon 
 the order was given to retire, and, covered by the guns, 
 the retreat was safely effected, although the wounded 
 had occasion to remember the day from the bruises 
 inflicted by the jolting of the mule-wagons, which were 
 driven over ant-heaps and stones by the nearest route to 
 the camp, utterly regardless of the suffering humanity 
 with which they were laden. 
 
 These and two or three other little skirmishes were 
 all the serious diversions that we had when in camp. 
 There were also some frivolities, such as concerts 
 and theatrical performances and the weekly excitement 
 caused by the publication of the News of the Camp, 
 which was edited by the clever monologue enter- 
 tainer, the late Charles Duval. That publication was 
 far too much under censorship to be of much value 
 as a record of events in which the military authorities 
 played a prominent part. 
 
 Camp gossip supplied the place of authentic news as 
 to what was going on in the outer world, and the most 
 extravagant romances formed staple sustenance for the 
 quidnuncs. The approach of relief for the garrison
 
 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 55 
 
 formed the chief burden of the stories in circulation. 
 Colley was reported to be within striking distance 
 several times, and so circumstantial were some of the 
 stories that people began to believe there was some- 
 thing in them. Towards the end of February, 1881, 
 a rumour suddenly arose that events were not going on 
 so well in Natal as was hoped, but still no one seemed 
 to beheve that there had been disaster. As usual, the 
 Dutch Boers who were in camp, and who were regarded 
 as loyal, were the first to get news of British reverses, 
 and the disheartening rumours that filled the air were 
 undoubtedly founded on news which had mysteriously 
 reached them. A few days later a despatch was received 
 from the Boer Commandant telling of the tragedy of 
 Majuba, and further stating that negotiations for the 
 conclusion of a peace were being carried on in Natal. 
 This news was further confirmed a day or two after by 
 the advent of a couple of British officers who brought 
 despatches for Sir O. Lanyon and General Bellairs, 
 giving particulars as to the position of affairs. 
 
 It is difficult to give an adequate idea of the wrath 
 and indignation felt by the people at this fearful news. 
 Men swore, and heartfelt curses fell upon Mr. Gladstone 
 and the craven British Ministry of which he was the 
 head. Women raved and shed tears of sorrow, humi- 
 liation, and disgust, that all the sacrifices they had 
 made, all the hardships that they and their children 
 had endured with cheerfulness, should have been entirely 
 wasted. For the sake of their loyalty and country they 
 would willingly have undergone privations for another 
 three months if that disgrace could have been averted 
 (see Appendix G). But cries and tears availed nothing, 
 and they had the additional pang of seeing Boers 
 riding through the grass-grown streets of Pretoria 
 with soldiers' coats for saddle-cloths, and armed with 
 guns taken from our slain countrymen. The feelings
 
 56 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 of these poor people on their betrayal could only be 
 expressed, emblematically, by the public burning of 
 Mr. Gladstone's effigy upon the Church Square in 
 Pretoria, by indignant orations, and other futile means 
 of expressing popular sentiment. The British residents 
 were powerless to adopt stronger measures, and were 
 obliged to make the best of the situation. One very 
 remarkable and, we believe, unique manifestation of 
 popular sentiment took place on August 2, 1881, when 
 the majority of the English inhabitants of Pretoria 
 assembled to witness the burial of their beloved Union 
 Jack, which hitherto had been regarded as the champion 
 of the distressed, and a stanch protector of the rights 
 and liberties of the British race wherever threatened. 
 The pusillanimous betrayal of all traditions, of national 
 honour, and of the rights of Englishmen, this base 
 withdrawal of the statements made not only by the 
 British authorities in the Transvaal, but by Mr. Glad- 
 stone himself, was a crowning infamy which could not 
 be passed over without some kind of remonstrance from 
 the victims of Ministerial treachery. The solemn burial 
 of the British flag was decided upon as being likely to 
 live in the remembrance of those who had been betrayed 
 and sold by the Government over which Mr. Gladstone 
 was chief. The time chosen for the display of indignant 
 popular feeling was when the Convention was being 
 signed by Her Majesty's Commissioner, Sir Hercules 
 Robinson (afterwards Lord Rosmead), Sir Evelyn 
 Wood, and Sir H. de Villiers, at present Chief Justice 
 of the Cape Colony ; and the representatives of the 
 burghers — S. J. P. Kruger, P. J. Joubert, and M. W. 
 Pretorius, the rebel triumvirate. The signing of the 
 Convention took place in a room in the Govern- 
 ment House (Ulundi House), and the grave was dug 
 in the corner of an erf which was in full view of the 
 window of the room where the abomination was com-
 
 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 57 
 
 pleted. The mournful procession started from the 
 Church Square, Pretoria, and wended its way through 
 the streets until its destination was reached. The flag 
 was enclosed in a coffin and carried on a wagonette 
 draped with black. About 600 British subjects and 
 200 Kaffirs under the Chief Zwaartbooi followed the 
 disgraced flag to its tomb. The natives of the Transvaal 
 were as completely betrayed as the whites, and felt the 
 degradation of being handed over to the Boers, as they 
 expressed it, ' like a bit of tobacco,' considering them- 
 selves as equally entitled to join the protest as the 
 Britons. Arrived at the grave, the coffin containing 
 the flag was lowered with due solemnity into the re- 
 ceptacle prepared for it, and a tombstone was placed 
 at the head of it on which was the following inscrip- 
 tion : 
 
 ' In Loving Memory 
 
 of the 
 
 British Flag in the Transvaal, 
 
 who departed this life 
 
 on August 2, 1 88 1, 
 
 in his fifth year. 
 
 " In other climes none know thee but to love thee." 
 " Resurgam." ' 
 
 An eloquent funeral oration was delivered by Mr. John 
 Munro, which met with hearty acceptance by the 
 hundreds assembled to witness the obsequies, and the 
 last rites having been observed, the crowd dispersed 
 in an orderly and serious manner. During the follow- 
 ing night, however, the grave was rifled and the tomb- 
 stone taken away by some persons unknown. The 
 coffin was found ne.xt morning elevated upon a flagstaff, 
 but inquiry proved vain in discovering the culprit. It 
 has been asserted that Colonel Gildea, who was in
 
 S8 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 command of the troops stationed at Pretoria, ' knew 
 something about the matter,' because a relation of his 
 has, since the death of that officer, asserted that the 
 flag was in his possession. Be that as it may, the 
 tombstone was found and taken care of religiously, 
 and there is reason to believe that it is even now in 
 safe keeping in Pretoria. Some years after the retro- 
 cession it was seen by the present writer in the posses- 
 sion of the late Mr. Jones. After his death, his property 
 being dispersed, the historic tombstone was lost sight 
 of. But it probably still is in existence, and the prophecy 
 conveyed in the word ' Resurgam ' will soon receive its 
 fulfilment by the establishment of British supremacy 
 under the old flag throughout South Africa. 
 
 In our brief account of the siege of Pretoria we have 
 taken no notice of the beleaguered towns and villages 
 in other parts of the country. The small garrisons of 
 British troops and Loyalists who fled to the military 
 stations for protection exhibited an admirable degree of 
 endurance and courage. 
 
 The small fort at Lydenburg was invested by a Boer 
 host acting under the advice of the notorious Fenian, 
 Aylward, but the little garrison held out until the 
 declaration of peace. It was reported, on very excellent 
 authority, that the defence was mainly attributable to the 
 courage of Mrs. Long, the wife of Lieut. Long, who was 
 in command of the detachment of the g4th at that place. 
 When the men lost heart, her voice encouraged and 
 stimulated them to further exertions, and her indomit- 
 able spirit surmounted all the difficulties and hardships 
 attendant upon the defence of the fort, ill-provided 
 though it was with means of holding out successfully 
 for three weary months. Mention is due also in terms 
 of the highest admiration of the name of the Rev. 
 Father Walsh, who united in himself the best features 
 of a servant of God and the qualities of a good and
 
 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 59 
 
 faithful soldier. He has since passed away, and was 
 followed to his grave at Kimberley by a large gathering 
 of persons of all grades of society and shades of 
 religious opinion. 
 
 During the siege of Lydenburg the murder of 
 Mr. Green took place under circumstances of gross 
 treachery, which yet requires expiation. The present 
 writer endeavoured in vain to bring about the punish- 
 ment of his murderers after the conclusion of peace. 
 
 At Potchefstroom Captain Marshall Clark and Cap- 
 tain Raaf took possession of the Landdrost's Court, 
 and did all they could to put it in a state of defence 
 from the Boer attack which followed. Shortly after- 
 wards Captain Falls was shot dead, while several 
 others were wounded ; and when it was discovered that 
 the Boers were preparing to set the thatched roof of 
 the building on lire, Captain Clark decided that resist- 
 ance would be useless, and he and his companions 
 surrendered, and were the hrst prisoners of war. 
 
 In the meantime Colonel Winsloe had hastily con- 
 structed a fort, 25 yards square, which was destined to 
 afford shelter for him and his small company of soldiers, 
 with the additional burden of several ladies and children 
 who sought protection under the British flag. He and 
 his force successfully defied the efforts of the Boer 
 forces from the end of December to the middle of 
 March in the following year. They were reduced to a 
 diet of half-rotten maize before they were induced to 
 surrender to the treacherous Cronje, and even then 
 they marched out with the honours of war. This is 
 the man who was in command of the Boer forces 
 around Kimberley, and previously about Mafeking, 
 who withheld from Colonel Winsloe the fact of an 
 armistice having been agreed upon with a view to the 
 re-establishment of peace, and who refused to permit 
 the revictualling of the fort with a week's provisions,
 
 6o THE, RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 although he was fully aware that that was one of the 
 conditions of the armistice. It was he who behaved so 
 disgracefully at Potchefstroom as to render it necessary 
 for Sir Evelyn Wood to reoccupy the town and 
 demand the surrender of the two guns which had been 
 given up by Colonel Winsloe. This Cronje is the same 
 man who guaranteed the lives of Dr. Jameson and his 
 companions in the ill-fated and mischievous Raid, and 
 who tried subsequently to read fraudulent conditions 
 into the terms of surrender, though he was happily 
 foiled by his inability to put into writing the ambiguity 
 which he evidently thought might nullify a conditional 
 surrender. This same Cronje refused at Potchefstroom 
 to permit sick and dying women to leave the fort, and 
 compelled the prisoners of war in his hands to work in 
 the trenches he was digging around the brave little 
 garrison he hoped to capture. He connived at the 
 shooting, under the pretext of their being spies, of 
 Dr. Waite, Van der Linden, Carolus, and others, 
 though he knew that they had done nothing to merit 
 death. And this same Cronje was accorded military 
 honour and courtesy when he in turn had to surrender 
 to Lord Roberts ! 
 
 There is no proof that Mr. Kruger and the other 
 chiefs of the movement had any complicity in these 
 outrages ; but, on the other hand, there is no evidence 
 that they endeavoured to restrain the burghers in 
 their inhuman practices. Of these there was an abun- 
 dance. 
 
 A most horrible murder of a mason named Malcolm 
 took place at Mulder's Drift, where the victim was 
 kicked to death, and in order to save appearances a 
 bullet was put through his head. 
 
 But the most scandalous business was the treacherous 
 killing of Captain Elliot, who was provided with a safe 
 conduct to the Free State, together with his com-
 
 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 6i 
 
 panion, Captain Lambert. Those who have read 
 Rider Haggard's story of ' Jess ' will find in those 
 pages an incident founded upon the treachery shown 
 to these officers. Captain Elliot was driven into the 
 Vaal River, and there killed by a volley fired by the 
 men who were charged with his safe conduct over the 
 border. His companion fortunately escaped unwounded 
 by swimming across the flooded river to the Free State. 
 A short time afterwards the body of Captain Elliot was 
 recovered, and temporarily interred on the bank of the 
 Vaal River. Eventually his remains were brought to 
 Pretoria, and used as evidence upon the trial of his 
 murderers, and finally found a resting-place in the 
 military cemetery there.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE RETROCESSION 
 
 Mr. Paul Kruger having become the principal in 
 the rebellion against Her Majesty's authority in the 
 Transvaal, notwithstanding the oath of allegiance 
 which he took as salaried member of the Executive 
 of which Sir T. Shepstone was the chief, was 
 acknowledged by the Peace Commission as the 
 proper person to deal with in the negotiations for 
 the cessation of hostilities which followed upon the 
 disastrous battle of Majuba. The other members of 
 the Boer triumvirate played but a subordinate part in 
 that transaction, although the victory was gained by 
 the Boer forces under General Joubert, who had, at 
 all events, not added the crime of perjury to treason. 
 Neither he nor Mr. Pretorius, whose level-headed and 
 native gentleness fitted him for the part of mediator, 
 had much voice in the settlement which was con- 
 cluded. The fact of the matter was that the home 
 Government was tired of the war, and Mr. Gladstone, 
 who had gone back upon his own specific declarations 
 with regard to the cession of the Transvaal to the 
 Boers, had a sudden qualm of conscience as to the 
 ' blood-guiltiness ' of the action he had countenanced. 
 
 There can be little doubt that explicit instructions 
 had been issued to the military authorities to cease from 
 further hostilities, and to negotiate for peace at almost
 
 THE RETROCESSION 63 
 
 any price. It was nothing that the Boers were 
 rebels against the Queen, or that they had invaded 
 British territory, had slain the Queen's troops and 
 had harassed the Queen's subjects in Natal. Mr. 
 Gladstone was so anxious to come to a settlement, 
 that no condition was made that the Boers should 
 retire within their own borders before making arrange- 
 ments for the cessation of war. The preliminaries for 
 a settlement were arranged and signed at a farm some 
 fourteen miles within the Natal border, under the 
 shade of the Majuba mountain, where the luckless 
 Sir George Colley was shot whilst holding up his 
 handkerchief as a sign of surrender.* 
 
 One of the conditions included in the terms of the 
 armistice was that all persons who had been guilty of 
 usages contrary to the customs of civilized war should 
 as speedily as possible be brought to trial by the 
 British authorities, who remained in possession until 
 the Convention of Pretoria had been ratified by the 
 Volksraad, the Boer leaders giving their full assistance to 
 secure the punishment of the guilty. How inadequately 
 this condition was fulfilled may be gathered from the 
 records of the High Court at Pretoria. The Transvaal 
 Argus at that time was under the control of the present 
 writer, and as no steps appeared to be contemplated 
 by the British authorities to bring certain alleged 
 murderers to justice, he published in every issue of 
 the paper the clause in the armistice relating to the 
 punishment of persons guilty of contravening the 
 usages of war, by the commission of murders upon 
 British subjects. After some weeks this persistency 
 was rewarded by the assurance of the Attorney- 
 General (Mr, Morcom) that steps had been taken to 
 
 * His ivory-handled pistol is at present in the possession of the 
 late General Smit's family at Pretoria.
 
 64 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 bring certain persons to trial, who were alleged to 
 be particeps criminis in the murder of Captain Elliot. 
 The trial eventually took place before Chief Justice 
 de Wet and a Boer jury, with the result that the 
 prisoners were acquitted. Another case was tried 
 with a similar result, when the Attorney-General of 
 the Transvaal came to the conclusion that it was use- 
 less to continue the prosecution of other accused 
 persons by juries ignorant of the usages of civilized 
 war, and who, moreover, regarded the killing of an 
 Englishman, whom they looked upon as an enemy, as 
 perfectly legitimate under any circumstances. That 
 that feeling has not died out amongst the majority of 
 the ignorant and prejudiced burghers may be illus- 
 trated by an incident of which the writer has personal 
 knowledge. A back-country Boer was lamenting the 
 scarcity of horses, and the difficulty which the poorer 
 class found in obtaining them, and he concluded with 
 the hope that there would be war with the English, as 
 they had beautiful animals, and he and his little son 
 Piet, who could already shoot nicely, would be able to 
 get them from the rooineks by the simple process of 
 shooting their owners. Upon it being suggested that 
 war was not usually made for the purpose of obtaining 
 horseflesh from the enemy, and that killing a man for 
 the sake of his beast was something like murder, the 
 reply was, ' But he is onl}' an Englishman,' which was 
 held by the Boer to clinch the argument. With such 
 views in their minds the Boers obviously look upon the 
 life of an Englishman as being of the same value as 
 that of a native, which is really next to nothing. This 
 is illustrated by the following occurrence : 
 
 One of the Boer prisoners of war now enjoying en- 
 forced idleness at St. Helena has two sons, youths 
 about fourteen to sixteen years old. These two pro- 
 mising youths were out shooting in the Zoutpansburg
 
 THE RETROCESSION 65 
 
 district one day, when they encountered two Kaffir 
 girls, who fled at their approach. The boys called 
 upon them to stop, but as they did not do so they 
 were summarily shot, one girl being killed outright, 
 and the other severely wounded. Although attention 
 was called to this brutality by the Transvaal Advertiser, 
 not the slightest notice was taken by the authorities, it 
 being allowed to pass as the usual * accident.' 
 
 As another illustration, we cite the following in- 
 cident : 
 
 A near connection of the President's family was 
 arrested, during the Annexation period, upon the 
 charge of having murdered a Kaffir herd by placing 
 the unfortunate boy's head between his knees and 
 twisting his body in such a manner as to dislocate his 
 neck, thus causing instant death. The accused was 
 tried, and a Boer jury found him guilty of a common 
 assault, and a few months' imprisonment was all the 
 punishment he received for his cruelty. 
 
 These instances of brutality serve to show that Boer 
 ideas are very little advanced from the Stone Age 
 period, and that they have yet to learn the lesson that 
 impunity in the past will not shield them from the 
 consequences of unlawful acts in the near future. And 
 to accomplish that, the reign of wholesale corruption 
 and general demoralization established under the 
 Krugerian autocracy must at once and for ever be 
 eliminated from their system of government. 
 
 As a result of the armistice, a Royal Commission 
 was appointed to draw up a Convention between Her 
 Majesty and the Transvaal Republic, and that docu- 
 ment was signed at Pretoria under the circumstances 
 to which we have alluded. It was ratified by a special 
 session of the Volksraad at almost the last hour, and 
 with expressions of opinion which promised but little 
 for the honourable observance of its conditions. It 
 
 5
 
 66 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 was not long; after the formal and solemn agreement 
 was entered into that renewed efforts were made to 
 inflame the minds of the burghers, and petitions were 
 got up praying for other terms, and specially directed 
 towards the abolition of the suzerainty of Her Majesty 
 over the Transvaal. It was decided to send a deputa- 
 tion to London to press the British Ministry for better 
 terms, it being held that the burghers had not been 
 conquered by the British, but the reverse, and that 
 they as victors had the right to dictate terms. Barely 
 two years after the Convention of Pretoria was signed, 
 a deputation, consisting of Paul Kruger, Rev. S. J. 
 du Toit, one of the founders of the Africander Bond, 
 and General Smit, was deputed to interview the Im- 
 perial Government, with the object of getting the 
 Convention set aside, and the country more fully 
 placed beyond the sphere of British influence. On 
 this occasion they were assisted by that brilliant 
 political adventurer, Mr. Ewald Esselen, who used all 
 his energies and his dialectic skill in the endeavour to 
 completely isolate the Transvaal as regards its con- 
 nection with England. To a certain extent they were 
 successful with the British Government, and a new 
 Convention was signed in February, 1884, generally 
 known as the Convention of London. By this docu- 
 ment formal mention of the suzerainty which in the 
 previous Convention formed an important section of 
 the preamble was omitted, but the section which gave 
 Her Majesty the right to control the conclusion of 
 treaties with foreign States was maintained. An un- 
 fortunate reliance upon the good faith of the Govern- 
 ment of the Transvaal prompted the Colonial Secretary, 
 Lord Derby, and the Government to consent to the 
 making of treaties with the Orange Free State without 
 their being subject to the supervision or approval of 
 Her Majesty, as in the case of treaties with foreign
 
 THE RETROCESSION 67 
 
 Powers. It was probably thought that as the Orange 
 Free State was on friendly terms with the adjacent 
 British colonies, conducting its business mainly through 
 the agency of mercantile firms in the maritime towns, 
 and believing that under the judicious government of 
 their President, Sir John Brand, the burghers would 
 have learned the value of their connection, there was 
 little or no chance of unfriendly action on their part 
 or on the part of the Government of that State. 
 
 It soon became apparent, after the death of Sir John 
 Brand, and the election of Mr. Reitz as his successor, 
 that the freedom from criticism with regard to political 
 arrangements with the Free State, so earnestly pressed 
 for by the Transvaal delegates, was not to remain 
 unutilized. Delegations of members of both Republican 
 Volksraads were appointed and met at Potchefstroom, 
 where an agreement was drawn up which prepared the 
 way for what was called the ' closer union ' of the two 
 Republics. At that time, however, the Free State 
 burghers were scarcely prepared to throw in their lot 
 with the sister Repubhc, and the people had to be 
 educated, and to a great extent corrupted, by the 
 unscrupulous agents whom the Kruger Government 
 has made a speciality of employing in its political 
 campaigns both in Europe and South Africa. 
 
 After the Jameson Raid the efforts of the secret 
 spies of Pretoria were redoubled, and that unfortunate 
 occurrence proved a most useful argument, as it was 
 alleged that the design of Great Britain was to deprive 
 both the Republics of their ' independence.' It became 
 an easy matter to work upon the feelings of the Boers 
 who represented the people in the Volksraad at Bloem- 
 fontein, that a common danger existed which could 
 only be averted by the united strength of the two 
 peoples. It was in vain that Mr. Fraser, who formerly 
 occupied the responsible position of Chairman of the 
 
 5—2
 
 68 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 Volksraad, pointed out the fatal results that would 
 follow closer union with the Transvaal. The Trans- 
 vaal party triumphed, and the Free State became 
 politically one with the more northern Republic. The 
 unwise and mischievous concession made by Lord 
 Derby has borne the inevitable fruits of conciliation 
 when put in practice with people like the South 
 African Boers : it has landed Great Britain in a struggle 
 for supremacy in South Africa which might have been 
 avoided without difficulty had a definite and firm 
 policy been adopted with regard to the Transvaal at 
 an earlier stage in the development of South African 
 history. 
 
 All this played into the hands of Mr. Kruger, and 
 enabled him to obtain what at one time was the 
 summit of his ambition, namely, the Presidency. It 
 is scarcely necessary to observe that the chief object 
 in promoting the closer union with the Free State was 
 soon not limited to the attainment of the Presidency of 
 the South African Republic only, but grew eventually 
 to that of a Great South African Republic extending 
 from Cape Town to the Zambesi. The dream was not 
 altogether wild, for it is an unquestionable fact that 
 no inconsiderable portion of the Dutch population in 
 the Cape Colony sympathized with Mr. Kruger and 
 his schemes, notwithstanding the benefits they derived 
 from their status as British citizens. In point of fact, 
 evidence can be adduced to show that for years ante- 
 cedent to the miserable Jameson fiasco agents were 
 employed to weaken the loyalty of the Dutch colonials, 
 and, indeed, went so far as to secure a promise of co- 
 operation in any movement that might have the effect 
 of throwing over the rule of Great Britain. 
 
 The great obstacle to the fulfilment of these far- 
 reaching designs has been Mr. Rhodes. He has 
 earned for himself the hearty hatred of the two
 
 THE RETROCESSION 69 
 
 Presidents, and not less, in later years, of the political 
 party represented by the Africander Bond : he quite 
 deserves it at their hands. Since Mr. Rhodes has 
 become a power to be reckoned with, his general in- 
 fluence has been used in the right direction, namely, 
 to the maintenance of the imperial paramountcy in 
 South Africa against all comers, whether from the 
 Republican States or foreign nations pretending to 
 have special interests in this subcontinent. It is 
 easily understandable that President Kruger likes him 
 not, not only because he believes that he instigated 
 the invasion of the Transvaal from the west, but 
 because he has effectually closed all the doors to the 
 further expansion of Boer territory. 
 
 The result of the deliberations we have alluded to at 
 Bloemfontein was the formulation of a scheme by 
 which the Free State was practically pledged to 
 espouse the cause of the Transvaal in the event of a 
 war with 2l foreign nation. 
 
 Despite the arguments of the more enlightened 
 members of the Free State Volksraad, who pointed 
 out the dangers of the course they were asked to 
 approve, the majority of the Raad ratified the alliance, 
 which now undisguisedly meant an endeavour to sub- 
 vert the paramount position of Great Britain in South 
 Africa. The arming of the burghers of the Free State 
 with the latest modern weapons and ammunition was 
 enthusiastically begun, and large sums of money were 
 voted for carrying on the work. It can scarcely admit 
 of doubt that, in addition to the amount openly voted 
 for the purchase of arms by the Free State, consider- 
 able aid was given by the Transvaal in the supply of 
 warlike stores out of its own overflowing arsenals to 
 insure the arming of the burghers with weapons and 
 ammunition of one description, so as to avoid the 
 difficulties which a sudden stoppage of supplies from
 
 70 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 outside might bring about. It cannot be omitted in 
 this connection to record the assistance given by the 
 Cape Ministry to the designs of the Boer Govern- 
 ment. Up to almost the last moment before war 
 was declared rifles and ammunition were permitted to 
 pass through the Custom Houses of the Cape Colony 
 direct to Bloemfontein, on the order of the Free State 
 Government, for the purpose of arming against the 
 only possible adversary — Great Britain. 
 
 The Premier of the Cape Colony considers that he was 
 bound to grant permits because of the Customs Con- 
 vention existing between the Cape and the Free State. 
 He does not appear to have called the attention of the 
 High Commissioner to the fact, nor to have asked the 
 Free State the reason why it was arming so heavily. 
 But Mr. Schreiner doubtless views with a sympathetic 
 eye the vagaries of a certain class of his compatriots, 
 which may be due to the fact that he is less than half 
 an Englishman by birth. In one respect the Prime 
 Minister of the Colony may be likened to his prototype 
 Mr. Gladstone, in the great facility with which he can 
 bamboozle himself and those who follow him, making 
 the worse appear the better cause. That is the only 
 excuse that can be made for the assistance he has 
 given the rebellious Republics to enable them to 
 challenge the supremacy of Her Majesty in South 
 Africa. 
 
 It will not be difficult to conceive that Mr. Kruger, 
 secure of the support of the Free State (with a com- 
 placent and sympathetic Bond Ministry in Cape Town), 
 furnished with enormous stores of warlike ammunition, 
 and his capital defended by a chain of fortresses, should 
 have imagined himself strong enough to hurl defiance 
 at the representative of the power of the great Empire 
 over which Her Majesty rules. These preparations 
 were not to be made in vain and rendered innocuous
 
 THE RETROCESSION 71 
 
 by concessions to the demands of the British Govern- 
 ment, and so the hour had arrived when Mr. Kruger 
 thought that it was possible for him to drive the EngHsh 
 into the sea, and carry out the idea of the great Dutch 
 RepubHc of which he would be the first President. 
 There was not much madness in this belief, for the 
 strength of the military force in the Cape Colony and 
 Natal was quite inadequate to protect their frontiers. 
 The known disloyalty of a large number of Dutch 
 farmers, who were British subjects, in the northern 
 and western districts of the Cape Colony had been 
 worked upon so satisfactorily that several districts 
 were formally annexed, with little opposition, to the 
 Free State on the outbreak of the war. The same 
 process took place in Natal, and the Boer forces were 
 able to penetrate within forty miles of Pietermaritz- 
 burg before their advance seaward was definitely 
 checked. 
 
 For a short time President Kruger and his Free 
 State colleague. President Steyn, have enlarged the 
 border of their Republics by the annexation of British 
 territory ; but as we write the process of driving 
 back the enemy has auspiciously commenced, and 
 President Kruger's ambition will soon have ' o'er- 
 leapt itself,' and the progress of the British flag will 
 not be stayed until it is unfurled under the statue 
 of Liberty which crowns the cupola of the public 
 buildings at Pretoria. President Kruger's work of a 
 lifetime will thus have been brought to a conclusion, 
 and the scheming and wily autocrat who has for his 
 own purposes sacrificed his country and abused the 
 magnanimity of Great Britain will have the opportunity 
 of lamenting the loss of a position which, but for its 
 flagrant abuse, might have been one reflecting glory 
 upon the last days of his life.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE COMING OF KRUGER 
 
 The foregoing pages show the causes which led primarily 
 to Africander predominance in South Africa ; and in 
 drawing the curtain upon that regrettable portion of 
 British history, we turn to the chief actor in the new 
 drama, whose quaint and inscrutable personality has 
 played such an important part in the history of our times. 
 
 Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, to give him his 
 full name, is a man of whom much has been written, 
 and many attempts made to gauge his character, but in 
 most instances without full success. He is a man who 
 uses language, in the main, for what has been described 
 as its most useful purpose, to ' disguise one's thoughts.' 
 It is apparent that but for the circumstances which 
 have attracted such a large population to the Transvaal, 
 his name would be unknown outside his native land. 
 If the gold-fields have done nothing else, they have 
 revealed to us a phase of human character which, in 
 Paul Kruger's person, repays a close investigation. 
 
 The early history of his family has been a matter of 
 some dispute ; suffice it to say it was of German origin. 
 The founder of the South African branch was a certain 
 Jacob Kruger, who was in the employ of the Dutch 
 East India Company, and the President is representa- 
 tive of some of the best blood which flowed into the 
 Cape Colony from oversea. The families of Cloete,
 
 THE COMING OF KRU(iER 73 
 
 Steenkamp, and Steyn have intermarried with his 
 ancestors. He is thus a typical specimen of the Boer, 
 an example of the commingling of different races, 
 resulting in the formation of something totally distinct 
 from any one of those from which he sprang. 
 
 Many tales are told of the President's early life, the 
 majority of which are of a fictitious nature. The story 
 of his prowess as a runner and his phenomenal feats of 
 strength may have had some foundation in fact, but 
 ' Oom Paul ' is somewhat of a humorist, and can draw 
 the long-bow on this subject himself. 
 
 The following, a typical story, of his capacity as an 
 inventor may be given : The President (as he says) was 
 outspanned with his wife and family by the banks of a 
 river, when some elephants came down in the cool of 
 the evening to drink. One of them, while engaged 
 in quenching his thirst, had his trunk seized by a 
 crocodile. The sagacious animal immediately with- 
 drew from the water, the crocodile maintaining its hold. 
 Two elephants belonging to the troop formed up, the 
 one on the right, the other on the left, of the attacked 
 animal, and proceeded until they came to a spot where 
 two trees had grown close together. The one elephant 
 then pulled the nearest tree towards him, and his fellow 
 the parallel one, while the wounded elephant deposited 
 the crocodile between the trunks. The trees swung 
 together, causing the crocodile to release its hold, and 
 its was left to do the best it could for itself! 
 
 The old man smiled when he had told the tale, but 
 another of the party capped it by a shooting yarn, 
 as follow : ' The family were on trek, and had been 
 very unfortunate in the pursuit of game, which was 
 scarce ; in fact, they were without meat, and the father 
 decided to have a look round by himself. The shades 
 of evening were falling when he secured a fat buck, and 
 promptly returned home. Amid the murmurs of con-
 
 74 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 gratulation from the party were naturally many in- 
 quiries as to how he had shot it. He explained that 
 the buck was just going over a rise into a dip, when he 
 fired and bowled it over. To his surprise, he found that 
 the bullet had entered the hoof, passed right through 
 the leg, then through the back and head, and emerged 
 at the right eye.' The narrator of the tale then ex- 
 plained the moral to the President. He said, ' I asked 
 my father when next he told the story to bring the 
 places where he shot the buck a little nearer together.' 
 The President admitted he had been fairly scored off. 
 Much of the humour of the narrative is lost through the 
 translation into English; in Dutch it appeals irresistibly 
 to an audience. 
 
 Another good story told of President Kruger at a 
 later period is the following : In the early days of the 
 gold-fields the Transvaal Government generously granted 
 four stands, or plots of ground, to the various religious 
 communities for the erection of places of worship, with 
 one single exception, the Jewish community, which 
 only received two stands. This caused a great deal of 
 dissatisfaction amongst the Israelites, who, as is their 
 wont, immediately sent over a deputation to interview 
 the President, to inquire why they had been treated so 
 shabbily compared with the other denominations. The 
 President, smoking as usual, listened stolidly to their 
 complaint ; then, after a long pause, gave his reason, 
 saying : ' You people believe in only half the Bible, the 
 others believe in the whole of it ; when you do the 
 same I will give you the other two stands !' 
 
 Of Mr. Kruger's youthful days we have not many 
 records. With all his faults, he is not given to boast- 
 ing, and to all the attempts which have been made to 
 draw him on this subject he has presented an inscrutable 
 front. This is certain : his early life was one of hardship 
 and danger, and his continual combats with the natives
 
 THE COMING OF KRUGER 75 
 
 gave him that contempt for everything except sheer 
 force which has been so exemplified in his poHcy. 
 
 Elected a Sub-Veldcornet at the age of seventeen, he 
 became a Veldcornet, a position of considerable import- 
 ance among the Boers, at the early age of twenty years. 
 There is no doubt that even at that period he was 
 marked among his fellows as the coming man. 
 
 The Boers have not many masters in diplomatic 
 cunning of a kind, and that Kruger should have been 
 selected so early in life for a high position showed that 
 he possessed exceptional ability in that respect. 
 
 From the very first, in the different disputes which 
 arose between the burghers, he took the stronger side ; 
 and whilst striving to make it yet stronger, he was 
 content to take second place until the time was ripe 
 for him to aspire to the Presidential chair. Mr. Kruger 
 is also a keen business man, and he has not lost the 
 opportunities which his position afforded him for im- 
 proving his financial position. At the present time he 
 is far on the road to being a millionaire, while some of 
 his family, notably Frikkie Eloff, are not far behind 
 him. This greed of wealth and the desire for personal 
 aggrandisement greatly mar the finer aspects of his 
 remarkable character. He has proved himself to be 
 the most skilful of opportunists, continually turning the 
 various difficulties of his country and of his political 
 opponents to his personal advantage. Like Napoleon, 
 he would, if he deemed it necessary, drive his artillery 
 over the bodies of the wounded. 
 
 In i860 President Pretorius left for the Free State 
 on six months' leave of absence, and during this term 
 accepted the Presidency of that Republic. The Trans- 
 vaal at that time was torn with faction, and the Presi- 
 dent hoped that, by joining the Presidencies in his own 
 person, he could use the better influence of the Free 
 State towards settling the disputes of his unruly country-
 
 76 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 men. But the interested parties across the Vaal found 
 a way out of the prudent poHcy of Pretorius by asserting 
 that the Constitution agreed to in 1857 prevented the 
 holding of two offices by the State President, and he 
 was thereupon forced to resign. But not for long ; the 
 two parties in the State resolved themselves under two 
 heads — Stephanus Schoeman and Paul Kruger ; and 
 Kruger was determined that Schoeman should not hold 
 the reins of office. The consequence was that the two 
 parties came to blows at Pretoria, somewhere in the 
 northern part of the town, which now rejoices in the 
 name of Bloed Street. The Schoeman party were 
 driven on to Potchefstroom, when ex-President Pretorius 
 appeared as mediator, and persuaded both parties to 
 adjust their grievances before a special court, to be 
 presided over by one of the Natal judges if possible. 
 
 An explanation of the desire to submit to the adjudica- 
 tion of an English judge will perhaps be found in the 
 following anecdote, although it may be that the incident 
 occurred at a later date. 
 
 There are only two instances on record of English- 
 men having been offered the Presidencies of the two 
 Republics — the Free State and the Transvaal — the one 
 when Mr. Reitz offered to retire in favour of Sir George 
 Grey; and the second when a deputation of Boers from 
 the Transvaal invited one of the Natal judges, the late 
 Sir Lushington Phillips, to assume the reins of office. 
 The latter gentleman, the prince of good fellows and 
 sportsmen, used to tell the story and express the opinion 
 that if he had accepted the post Mr. Kruger would have 
 had very little occasion to exercise his anti-British pro- 
 clivities. This is the same Sir Lushington Phillips of 
 whom one of our greatest Generals said, ' I would sooner 
 have your calm brain at my command than two regi- 
 ments of dragoons.' However, to our story : At that 
 time Phillips was a great friend of Piet Uys, the mighty
 
 THE COMING OF KRUGER n 
 
 hunter ; and through his acquaintance with this family, 
 which is a very prosperous one in the south-eastern 
 corner of the Transvaal, he became known far and wide 
 throughout the country as ' een oprechte Engelsman ' (a 
 true Englishman) ; and the fact of his having saved Uys 
 from the attack of a tiger^ — or leopard, to be accurate 
 — added still more to his popularity. He was therefore 
 not taken by surprise when one morning a deputation, 
 headed by the Irish-American, Aylward, waited on 
 him and offered him the Presidency of the Transvaal. 
 The genial knight replied that the only condition on 
 which he would accept the position would be that the}' 
 provided him with a body-guard of 600 men, who were 
 to be at their post night and day. The Boers answered 
 that they were very sorry, but the country's finances 
 would not permit this, and asked if he could not do with 
 a less number. Sir Lushington then explained that he 
 had a warm temper, and there would probably be many 
 differences between them ; then he w^ould require to use 
 force, so that his accepting their offer would be use- 
 less. On the return of the deputation, Aylward, who 
 was slightly crippled, suggested that he was eligible 
 for the position ; but the slim Boers replied (they 
 knew their man), ' We never inspan a lame ox in a 
 team.' 
 
 To resume, Schoeman was obdurate, and, having 
 again tried to cause trouble, his forces were finally 
 dispersed, and his downfall completed by the joint 
 efforts of Pretorius and Kruger. 
 
 The Presidential election then took place, for which 
 the ex-President Pretorius and a Mr. van Rensburg were 
 candidates. Owing to some dispute as to the manner 
 in which the votes were recorded (a favourite device 
 for upsetting elections in the Transvaal), trouble again 
 occurred, and a battle ensued on January 5, 1864, in 
 which Kruger, as usual, gained the victory. Matters
 
 78 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 were then patched up once more by Pretorius, and 
 the RepubHc entered upon a period of comparative 
 quietude. 
 
 The question which arises in reading this page of 
 Transvaal history is, Why did not Kruger at that period 
 assume the Presidency of the Repubhc ? The reason 
 is a very simple one. At that time Kruger was Com- 
 mandant-General, and in that capacity had the control 
 of the people. Pretorius was an older man than he, 
 and the argument which the Boers and Kruger himself 
 would doubtless apply was. We have a man who has 
 served us well as President, and another who suits us 
 as Commandant-General. Why disturb them in the 
 positions for which they are qualified in such a way 
 that we shall be deprived of the services of one of them ? 
 These were the reasons which actuated so many of the 
 old burghers in voting at a later period so repeatedly for 
 Kruger in preference to Joubert. When remonstrated 
 with, they always replied, * If we dismiss Kruger, we 
 lose a President who has served us well ; and in gaining 
 a new President we lose our Commandant-General : 
 and who is to take his place ? No ; let him ' (Joubert) 
 ' wait until the President gets too old or death removes 
 him.' To these well-known prejudices of the Boers is 
 due the long tenure of office which Pretorius and Kruger 
 enjoyed ; and although Pretorius was severely criticised 
 on account of the negotiations which led up to what is 
 called 'the Keate award' — a matter of territorial adjust- 
 ment, in which the English for once got the better in the 
 deal — which led to his resignation, yet if he had desired 
 he could have been re-elected again. But he was a 
 patriotic and a far-seeing man, and realized that the 
 recent discovery of the Diamond Fields and the ad- 
 vancement of civilization required that a man with 
 European training should become Chief Magistrate of 
 the land. This resulted in the election, in 1872, of
 
 THE COMING OF KRUGEK 79 
 
 the Rev. Thomas Fran9ois Burners to the position of 
 President. 
 
 Of all the voortrekkers there are none whose career 
 and character fill one with more kindly regard than ex- 
 President Pretorius. From the foregoing lines it will 
 be seen how anxious he was at all times to prevent that 
 dreadful scourge to any country, civil war ; how he 
 arrested its progress again and again, and how his 
 character was so much esteemed that he was respec- 
 tively President at different periods in each of the two 
 Republics. He is one of the few Boers who could never 
 be characterized as anti-English, and prior to the war 
 the writer urged Mr. G. E. Esselen (not to be con- 
 founded with the political adventurer Mr. Ewald Esselen, 
 his brother), whose consistent devotion to the pro- 
 gressive cause in South Africa has always been so 
 marked, to get the ex- President to make a last appeal 
 to his countrymen, to grant that measure of equal 
 rights which could yet have saved them from destruc- 
 tion. We do not know if he did so, but what is certain 
 is that a few weeks before the war began Pretorius 
 waited on the President and begged him to give way, 
 saying war would involve the certain loss of indepen- 
 dence, to which the President replied * he must fight ; if 
 he gave way, the reim (rope) was fast round his neck.'* 
 
 * His kindness showed itself on the occasion of the demise of 
 the Transvaal Advertiser, a paper which had been for nearly 
 sixteen years consistent in its loyalty to British interests (see 
 Appendix J), when he approached the late editor, saying, ' I 
 hear you have nothing to do ; well, come and help write my 
 book for me, and I will pay you well for your assistance.' (It may 
 be mentioned in this connection that the ex-President had been 
 for some time collecting the materials for a book, which, if ever 
 published, should be of great interest as a truthful record of the 
 days when he acted as President of the two Republics.) There is 
 no doubt, had the generous offer been accepted, that the Transvaal 
 Government would have found means to stop the miserable pension 
 that it so grudgingly awarded him. In fact, the fear that he might
 
 8o THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 Both Kruger and Pretorius had agreed to join hands 
 in supporting the new President, Burgers (see his 
 vindication, p. 30 et seq. of Chapter III,, 'The Annexa- 
 tion Discussed ') ; but there were evidences that Kruger 
 chafed under the new regime. It was too progressive 
 for him, and he also felt that, Pretorius being out of the 
 way, the time was nearly ripe for his ambition to be 
 gratified as head of the State. As the country's diffi- 
 culties increased, he began to intrigue against President 
 Burgers, who regarded him at that period as the most 
 serious of his opponents. Constantly feeling the pulse 
 of the people, he kept just a little behind public opinion, 
 which increased his influence when the time came to 
 strike. Then came the annexation, and here we have 
 the turning-point in Kruger's career. Would greed of 
 wealth, the desire for personal aggrandisement, or pure 
 patriotism, carry the day ? The pocket is a very tender 
 spot with Mr. Kruger, and there is no doubt that Sir 
 Theophilus Shepstone was fully aware of this, for he 
 gave him an office and a salary. Later on Kruger felt 
 that he was not receiving sufficient emolument, and so 
 resigned under the circumstances we have already de- 
 scribed, throwing his lot in with the anti-English party, 
 which was fast assuming strength and importance, 
 owing to the failure of the British Government to 
 carry out the promise made on the annexation, by the 
 re-establishment of the Legislature to which the Boers 
 had been accustomed prior to that event. A few 
 sovereigns grudged and a handful of red-tape given, 
 and the price ? — possibly a continent. 
 
 The first deputation, consisting of Kruger and Joubert 
 (see Appendix A), left for London one month after the 
 
 expose the Government led them to bring pressure to bear on him 
 not to publish anything bearing on their methods in the past ; and, 
 in fact, so afraid was President Kruger of this that he indirectly 
 threatened to stop his pension if he published his reminiscences.
 
 THE COMING OF KRUGER 8i 
 
 annexation, and Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen were 
 certain!}' not anxious for the retrocession of the 
 country at that time. Of Joubert's feehngs there can 
 be no doubt ; he was dead against the annexation 
 from the first, and cannot be accused of inconsis- 
 tency. At the same time, it was not to the apparent 
 interest of the Boers to have the country left in its 
 old state to Boer management. The British Govern- 
 ment had to do its work ; the Zulu menace had 
 yet to be removed, Secocoeni conquered, and the 
 finances of the countr}- put on a satisfactory basis. 
 The moment had not arrived for a bold admission of 
 the aims of Kruger and Co. 
 
 But the spark of rebellion was flickering, always 
 ready to burst into a flame by an appeal to those racial 
 animosities which form the backbone of Krugerism. 
 To preserve this vital spark it was decided to send to 
 England a second deputation, with an even stronger 
 petition. This time the deputation went a step further 
 than their powers seemed to have justified. Find- 
 ing the Ministry still firm, they approached those 
 members of the Opposition who they hoped might be 
 willing to support them. Unfortunately, their efforts 
 fell on no unfruitful soil, and Englishmen, whose lives 
 could otherwise claim nothing but respect, were found 
 willing to openly support the cause of England's enemy. 
 
 The Zulu War and the Secocoeni campaign had 
 become things of the past, and our troops were re- 
 turning home ; and yet one obstacle remained to the 
 realization of Boer hopes. This was the endeavour of 
 Sir Bartle Frere, in 1880, to pass through the Cape 
 Parliament the confederation scheme of South Africa. 
 Kruger and his colleagues were equal to the occasion ; 
 they well knew that if federation was accomplished 
 their case was well-nigh hopeless. To obviate this the 
 triumvirate set forth on a fresh mission to Cape Town. 
 
 6
 
 82 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 The Africander party was aroused by the old battle-cry 
 of * oppression ' ; the scheme fell through, and Sir 
 Bartle Frere found his recall awaiting him as the con- 
 sequence (see Appendix G). 
 
 Mr. Kruger has brought to a fine art his habit of 
 using everyone who is necessary to his plans, and 
 throwing him over if he is unlikely again to be of use. 
 He dealt with Messrs. J. B. Robinson, Leo Weinthal, 
 and J. H. Hofmeyer, Sir Henry de Villiers, Dr. 
 Jorissen, Chief Justice Kotze, and hundreds of others 
 in this way, establishing without a doubt that nothing 
 but blind obedience could ensure his continued support. 
 
 Having successfully used the Bond, he could throw 
 it over or draw it to him as he desired. He had the 
 potent charm of racial connection and racial hatred to 
 conjure with, and he quickly realized the power he 
 possessed, and how to use it when required. His 
 efforts in opposing the confederation scheme had re- 
 vealed to him his strength ; he could treat the strongest 
 opponents as ninepins so long as he retained the faith 
 in him of the great body of Dutch Boers. 
 
 Mr. Kruger does not appear to have shone in connec- 
 tion with the war of 1881 ; he was always engaged on 
 urgent business in the Rustenburg district or elsewhere 
 when the most severe fighting was taking place. In 
 his own mind there were doubts as to whether, after all, 
 the fighting would be successful, but he was determined 
 to risk battle on the strength of the support which he 
 had been promised by British subjects who were push- 
 ing his cause across the water.* Besides, he had 
 
 * An English burgher was shown at the time, by Kruger's 
 brother, a document signed by a member of the British Govern- 
 ment, undoubtedly sent during the war, assuring the Boers that if 
 they held out the retrocession was certain. It is of course im- 
 possible to obtain the document now, and it is useless to court a 
 denial by mentioning the name of the person in question. We are 
 prepared, nevertheless, to vouch for the truth of this statement.
 
 THE COMING OF KRUGER 83 
 
 promises of support from the Cape Colony and the 
 Free State ; in fact, many Free Staters were in the 
 field at the time of the armistice, 
 
 Mr. Kruger made his presence felt the moment peace 
 negotiations were on the tapis, and he was instrumental 
 in procuring the signing of a protocol, defining the 
 terms of peace, although Joubert had practically agreed 
 with Sir Evelyn Wood verbally. This point was of 
 immense importance to Kruger, as it then only became 
 a question of time for the full retrocession of the coun- 
 try. Without this document a subsequent hitch might 
 have upset his plans. 
 
 The 1881 Convention was not quite to Mr. Kruger's 
 liking, but he looked upon it as a stepping-stone ; and 
 Mr. Gladstone assured the Transvaal Government that 
 it might be revised at some future time should it be 
 found not to work well. Mr. Kruger took the hint, 
 and made it his business to see that it did not work. 
 He succeeded so well that his emissaries managed to 
 appropriate a portion of Zululand, which afterwards 
 was known as the New Republic. This raid he has 
 seen fit to forget, and he was foiled in his efforts on the 
 western border by the Rev. John Mackenzie* and the 
 
 * The Rev. Mr. Mackenzie's name is held in high esteem by the 
 Loyalists of South Africa, for he alone made possible the projects 
 of Mr. Rhodes at a later date, although that gentleman did all in his 
 power at that time to frustrate his efforts. We take the liberty of 
 quoting Sir Charles Warren's remarks on the subject, in the 
 November (1899) number of the Contemporary Review, which 
 describe so graphically the brilliant services Mr. Mackenzie ren- 
 dered. He says : 
 
 ' Fortunately, there was one man in South Africa who had 
 sufficient ability, personal weight, and knowledge of the subject 
 to bring before the public both in South Africa and Great Britain 
 the true position into which the British Government had drifted, 
 and the deplorable condition into which the British colonists had 
 been forced, and who was untiring in his efforts on behalf of the 
 Empire. 
 
 6—2
 
 84 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 loyal native tribes of what is now British Bechuana- 
 land. 
 
 ' It is not too much to say that the Empire is indebted to John 
 Mackenzie, the Kuruman missionary, the successor of Moffat and 
 Livingstone, for stemming single-handed the tide of the "giving- 
 up " poHcy, and bringing round public opinion to a sense of the 
 duties of the Empire as the paramount Power. The history of 
 these times and the account of the action taken by John Mackenzie 
 have yet to be written ; in Britain's days of difficulty men have 
 always risen fitted for the occasion, and on no more momentous 
 occasion was a true son of Britain required than in the dark days 
 of South Africa, the years 1881 to 1884. He was not merely a 
 missionary speaking for the South African natives — as such he 
 could have had little effect on public opinion ; but he took a high 
 aim as a true Imperialist, and asked for fair play/ir «//, British, 
 Dutch, and natives. His was no local cry of "Africa for the 
 Africander," nor was it a narrow-minded proposal to tread down 
 the Dutch under the British ; but he took the broad view that all 
 who were fitted for the position were fellow-subjects of Great 
 Britain, and he lectured on the matter in the Cape Colony to Dutch 
 and English, Boers and British Africanders, and won the hearing 
 and suffrages of many. 
 
 ' Owing to John Mackenzie's efforts, and the support given to 
 him by many conspicuous leaders. Liberal and Conservative, by 
 little and little the " giving-up " policy was abandoned, and the 
 same statesman, who in one year declined to listen to any proposal 
 for the exercise of British influence where a gunboat could not go, 
 in the following year came round to the view that the Empire 
 required an active interference with an imperial force in the heart 
 of South Africa. 
 
 ' The Boers had overflowed into the native territories east and 
 west of the Transvaal, and were fast absorbing them spite of all 
 agreements, urged on, as each High Commissioner has pointed 
 out, by the tacit approval, if not the direct sanction, of the Trans- 
 vaal Government. 
 
 ' When the expedition arrived at Cape Town in November, 1884, 
 the loyal folk, British and Dutch, woke up from their lethargy and 
 discontent. Their enthusiasm was unbounded ; they added three 
 regiments of volunteers, and assisted in the successful termination 
 of the expedition by which the Boer filibusters were turned back 
 into the Transvaal without fighting. Loyal people now felt that 
 they could look the malcontent Boer in the face, and say that the 
 British Government was doing its duty ; but they were in advance
 
 THE COMING OF KRUGER 85 
 
 In 1883 Mr. Kruger, who had been acting as President 
 under the triumvirate, was elected State President by 
 a large majority over General Joubert, and Dr. Jorissen 
 was despatched in the early part of the year for the 
 
 of their politicians, who were at the back of the Boer majority, and 
 during the work of the expedition, and for some years afterwards, 
 the Ministry acted, to say the best, in a half-hearted manner, and 
 looked askance at imperial interference. The drift of the views- 
 they held, or at least that they expressed, may be gathered from 
 the remarks of some of the leading Englishmen in the Cape 
 Assembly debate, July 16, 1884, on the Bechuanaland annexation 
 question. There were some honourable exceptions — to wit, Mr. 
 Leonard and Sir Thomas Scanlan. Mr. Upington, the Prime 
 Minister, said : "The government of South Africa should be in the 
 hands of the people of South Africa, and every possible effort should 
 be made to prevent outside {i.e., British) influence from affecting 
 the government of South Africa." Mr. Sprigg was utterly opposed, 
 to a British protectorate in South Africa ; it had not been a success- 
 in the past, and was not likely to be a success in the future. Mr. 
 Rhodes, the leader of the Opposition, said tJiat the impet-ial factor 
 which he had warned the House against i7i the pre7)ioiis year had 
 now beeti introduced into Bechuanalatid, and he believed it their 
 duty to act immediately and remove the imperial factor on the 
 border of the Transvaal, which must lead to danger in South 
 Africa. Mr. Barry said that the sole object of the Imperial Govern- 
 ment in Bechuanaland was to protect the natives, but this was not 
 for the good of South Africa. 
 
 ' Thus closes another scene in this history. When the curtain 
 draws up again, everything has changed. Even while the Bechuana- 
 land Expedition was being carried out in 1884-85 a new European^ 
 Power had gained a footing in the country, and a German protec- 
 torate was established in Damaraland and Namaqualand. This at 
 once forced the pace of the British Government, already on the 
 move forwards, and of the British in South Africa, and no longer 
 was there any question of retrocession or giving up. The chances 
 of rivalry with another Power spurred on British traders and 
 merchants to secure the trade routes to the north and to look 
 towards Mashonaland and Matabeleland, with which the Bechuana- 
 land Expedition had already entered into communication, and soon 
 the opening up of the country to the Zambesi, the pushing of British 
 enterprise to the north, and the opening up of gold-fields there, 
 became household words.'
 
 86 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 purpose of ascertaining the feeling of the EngHsh 
 Government on the subject of a new Convention. 
 Jorissen's report being favourable, a deputation, con- 
 sisting of Messrs. Kruger, S. J. du Toit, and N. J. 
 Smit, proceeded to London (we have already briefly 
 alluded to this visit in its bearing on the Orange Free 
 State). Unfortunately for them, they arrived at a time 
 when the efforts of the Rev. Mr. Mackenzie had suc- 
 ceeded to a certain extent in rousing public opinion 
 against further concessions to the Boers. It seems 
 incredible, considering this, that Lord Derby should 
 have given way to them so much as he did, and by his 
 actions have left the question of the suzerainty in a 
 state of ambiguity. It was probably due to the public 
 feeling which had been roused that a still greater 
 abandonment did not take place, and that the shadowy 
 control of foreign relations was retained by the British 
 Government. At least it insured a re-adjustment of 
 the western boundaries of the Transvaal. 
 
 The deputation had succeeded in its main objects, 
 and left London for a grand tour on the Continent in 
 the hope of assuring diplomatic support should diffi- 
 culties arise in the future. At the Hague they were 
 naturally made the heroes of the hour, and after visit- 
 ing Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Paris they were received 
 by the Emperor William I., and banqueted at Berlin. 
 On this occasion an unreported incident occurred, 
 which must have been somewhat disturbing to the 
 equanimity of the late General Smit. The General 
 was describing in glowing terms the way in which the 
 burghers had shot down the English during the war, 
 when Bismarck, who had been listening to the con- 
 versation, said to the person whom Smit was address- 
 ing : * Ask him (the General) if he knows what would 
 have happened to himself and friends had Disraeli 
 been in power.' Smit repHed : ' No.' ' Well,' said
 
 THE COMING OF KRUGER 87 
 
 Bismarck, ' I will tell you. You would have been 
 hanged on the tallest tree in the Transvaal long ago.' 
 This naturally cast somewhat of a damper on the 
 recital of daring exploits, which were not to the taste 
 of the * honest broker ' who never lost a chance of 
 showing his respect for Lord Beaconsfield. 
 
 The deputation went to Lisbon, with an escort of 
 Dutch financiers, and there Mr. Kruger formed those 
 valuable connections which have been so useful to him in 
 his juggle with Delagoa Bay. He succeeded in obtain- 
 ing a new commercial treaty, which had the object of 
 defeating Colonel McMurdo, the holder of the Delagoa 
 Railway Concession. This treaty has been often referred 
 to by the President as part of the independence of the 
 country, and it has some intimate connection with the 
 Netherlands Railway Concession. What was the cost 
 of obtaining these useful arrangements will probably 
 never transpire, but the Portuguese have not been in 
 the habit of carrying through Mr. Kruger's little deals 
 for nothing. 
 
 The last and not the least result of the expedition 
 was that the services of Dr. Leyds were secured, so 
 that it will be seen Mr. Kruger accomplished a good 
 deal of business in the course of his trip. 
 
 In spite of the new Convention, the Boers still pur- 
 sued their old game of freebooting on the western border, 
 and assured, as they were at this time, of the moral 
 support of the Cape Ministry (which was then, as it is 
 now, a mere tool of the Bond), they had still hopes that 
 their plans for the annexation of Bechuanaland might be 
 successful. The idea was to form a new Republic, which 
 would be amalgamated later on with the Transvaal. In 
 this they were frustrated, thanks to the Warren expedi- 
 tion, but at a heavy cost to the Imperial Government. 
 
 It will be useful here to dwell a moment on the founda- 
 tion of the Africander Bond, the logical sequence of the
 
 88 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 retrocession, which inaugurated a new departure in Cape 
 Colony pohtics. The Rev. S. J. du Toit is spoken of 
 as the author of the movement, which found its origin 
 at the PaarL The objects of the Bond, as modestly 
 set forth in its constitution, could not be described as 
 treasonable on the face of it ; but the dividing line 
 was a narrow one when its actual policy is considered 
 (see Appendix F). The agitation on the confedera- 
 tion scheme of Sir Bartle Frere had shown the wire- 
 pullers in the colony what a powerful instrument they 
 had in the large Dutch population of the Cape. That, 
 with the power which responsible government had given 
 them, was sufficient to make or unmake the politicians of 
 the country, and pull the strings at Government House. 
 The Bond brought into prominence Mr. J. H. Hofmeyr, 
 who has been named ' the king-maker ' of South Africa. 
 To give this gentleman his due, his ideas of Bond 
 interests are contained in the words ' Africander pre- 
 dominance '; that is his policy, and he has been at no 
 pains to conceal it since he became the acknowledged 
 leader of the Dutch party. The difference between him 
 and Paul Kruger is merely a question of term ; with 
 the one it is ' Africander predominance ' under the 
 British flag, or, in other words, the winning side; 
 with the other, ' Africander predominance ' under the 
 Dutch banner. With this distinction, it has been 
 Mr. Kruger's aim to use on his own behalf the influence 
 of the Bond whenever necessary, and he was successful 
 in this until the strong personality of Mr. Rhodes inter- 
 vened, changing the course of things. In spite of this, 
 and up to the formation of the Chartered Company, 
 Kruger looked upon Rhodes as a republican, and in a 
 stormy interview between himself and Joubert on the 
 subject of the company, both he and Leyds declared 
 that 'Rhodes was all right,' whereas Joubert insisted 
 that he was their most dangerous enemy.
 
 THE COMING OF KRUGER 89 
 
 Mr. Theo. Schreiner has most clearly shown in his 
 recent letter to the Cape Times, which has been so 
 freely quoted, that Mr. Reitz (State Secretary of the 
 Transvaal), one of the founders of the Bond in the 
 Free State, was imbued with the Dutch republican 
 idea, and there is no doubt that at the present time a 
 majority of the Bond are in favour of it. ' Blood is 
 thicker than water,' and notwithstanding:^ all protesta- 
 tions it is absurd to suppose that this is not the case 
 of the African Dutch. Mr. Kruger knew it, and what- 
 ever Mr. Hofmeyr's intentions might have been, the 
 President felt that he always had ' the Bond ' at his back 
 in any difference with the Imperial Government. 
 
 The establishment of this huge political organization 
 insured the success of Africander dominion throughout 
 South Africa for a space of nearly twenty years ; it has 
 barred the way to Government House, and the efforts of 
 the Loyalists to destroy these barriers in the past may 
 be compared to 'the breaking of the waves upon a rock- 
 bound coast.' In Mr. Hofmeyr the Africander party 
 have a man of conspicuous ability, holding his followers 
 under a discipline worthy of Kruger. If a Ministry 
 displeased, he would take pencil and paper and sketch 
 out a new one, sounding his men privately as to 
 their views. Then suddenly the scene would change 
 and an entirely new set of puppets appear to dance to 
 the Africander tune. 
 
 Mr. Schnadhorst had an unrivalled reputation for 
 party organization in England, but he could have learnt 
 many lessons from Mr. Hofmeyr. He has made prac- 
 tically all prominent Cape politicians dance to the tune 
 he piped. The men who would not respond are few 
 and far between, and, like Diogenes in his famous 
 search, we seek for them almost in vain in the political 
 circles of the Cape Colony. 
 
 It was necessary to digress somewhat, in order to
 
 go THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 muster the forces which Mr. Kruger had now at his 
 command. He could reckon on the support of three- 
 fourths of Dutch South Africa when a still greater good 
 — or was it ill ? — fortune befell him. This was the dis- 
 covery of the gold-fields. 
 
 If Mr. Kruger had been a man like Pretorius, in- 
 different to personal gain, he would have said, * Let us 
 suppress this discovery, for it will involve the loss of 
 our independence ' (in other words, Boer predominance). 
 But he was not. The old laws, from this very fear, 
 expressly forbade the search for gold ; but they had 
 been allowed to lapse through disuse. President 
 Kruger can find no excuse for his policy in this par- 
 ticular. Whether he could have carried it out is 
 perhaps a doubtful point ; he certainly never tried. 
 Mr. Johannes Elardus Erasmus (now deceased), a 
 wealthy farmer, whose homestead near the Halfway 
 House will be well remembered by old coach-travellers 
 between Pretoria and Johannesburg, a leading member 
 of the Volksraad and a far-sighted man, appealed to 
 the President on this very subject. His son tells the 
 story how his father represented that the increased 
 population would be a continual source of danger ; if 
 they were once admitted to the country, they would 
 become entitled to the rights of citizenship, and the 
 end would be that the old burghers would find them- 
 selves in the minority. The President pointed to the 
 state of the finances, but Mr. Erasmus offered him a 
 free loan of prio,ooo without interest if he would 
 promise not to throw the fields open. The President 
 refused, saying he would contrive to make it all right. 
 * Ik zal een plan maak ' — *' I shall arrange about that.' 
 How significant these words seem in view of later 
 events ! 
 
 The President had made up his mind to ' sow the 
 wind and reap the whirlwind,' if necessary, and from
 
 THE COMING OF KRUGER 91 
 
 that day he practically laid down the main lines of his 
 policy, from which he has not deviated one inch. He 
 had one piece of friendly advice from the late President 
 Brand, which was, * If you wish to govern the strangers 
 successfully, make friends of them '; but Kruger had his 
 own plan cut and dried, and good or bad advice was 
 equally thrown away on him. 
 
 What was briefly the policy which he outlined for 
 himself ? 
 
 1. The independence of the country was to be safe- 
 guarded by the gradual restriction of the franchise law, 
 so that the irksomeness of its conditions would prevent 
 the desire of burghership. These restrictions were to 
 be imposed from time to time, so as not to attract too 
 much attention in their earlier stages. 
 
 2. The encouragement of the gold-fields until a certain 
 point was reached, when the State and family party 
 had become sufficiently wealthy and powerful to dis- 
 pense with them. Then to seek, by the granting of 
 concessions, to so hamper the industry that fresh 
 capital would be difficult to obtain, and the net con- 
 sequence would be a diminution of British immigration. 
 
 3. To encourage Continental immigration, and to 
 interest foreigners in the concession system ; thus to 
 secure the sympathy of foreign Powers as a further 
 protective barrier. 
 
 4. To endeavour at the same time to alienate the 
 British from the Mother Country by pledging the 
 Africander Bond and their allies to an insistence on the 
 policy of non-intervention on the part of the Imperial 
 Government. 
 
 5. When this plan had succeeded (Clause 4) — a proof 
 of which would be the commandeering of the British 
 population as conscripts, without vote or pay, in the 
 republican service — to gradually draft them in as 
 burghers on the completion of their term of military
 
 92 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 service, and by this means steadily incorporate the 
 majority of the Uitlander population, the proof of 
 military service being sufficient evidence of trust- 
 worthiness from the Krugerian point of view. 
 
 6. Should the capitalists kick against the conditions 
 mentioned in Clause 2, to rely on the cry of ' Labour 
 versus Capital,' and the denunciation of the Compound 
 system. (The Boers always quote the Compound 
 system which Mr. Rhodes has instituted at Kimberley 
 to stop diamond-stealing, which prevents all access to 
 the mines, and confines all trade to the company, as 
 a proof of what would happen should the capitalists 
 obtain a say in the Government.) 
 
 Granted once the success of the commandeering 
 policy, the jump to a United Dutch Republican South 
 Africa was comparatively easy. 
 
 This policy was not at once adopted in toto by the 
 President, but it is the policy which has governed his 
 actions from 1885 to 1899 ; the only reason for its 
 failure being the action of the Loyalists in 1894. 
 Before he threw open the new gold-fields he had 
 settled the policy he would adopt, which was to limit 
 strictly political ambitions on the part of the new 
 population. Many of the latter ideas found birth in the 
 inventive genius of Dr. Leyds, who had great faith in 
 foreign intervention, and was unequalled in his ability 
 to carry out (and sometimes perhaps initiate) the 
 tortuous diplomacy of his master. 
 
 Mr. Kruger had later on Mr. Reitz as his brother 
 President in the Free State, than whom there is no 
 more rabid republican in South Africa. It is true that he 
 once offered to retire in favour of Sir George Grey, who 
 was then in Australia ; but this was only on account 
 of his great antipathy to President Brand, whom he 
 had persuaded to retire with him from the Presidential 
 contest should Sir George Grey accept the invitation,
 
 THE COMING OF KRUGER 93 
 
 of which there was not the sHghtest chance. On this 
 ground Mr. Reitz has been paraded in some circles as 
 being at one time a quasi-Imperiahst. He played 
 upon those lines until the Free State Railway was built 
 for him by the Cape Colony on special terms, but 
 directly the Free State took it over he showed his hand. 
 To anyone who doubts this we commend the perusal 
 of a little book of rhymes which Mr. Reitz composed 
 many years ago. They are published in Dutch, and 
 the spirit of ardent republicanism breathes through the 
 whole of them. 
 
 We have endeavoured to show the rise of Krugerisni 
 as differentiated from Africander predominance and 
 imperialism, and it is necessary to keep the subtle dis- 
 tinctions between the first two policies steadily in view. 
 The use of the word ' independence ' from the Boer 
 side does not convey its meaning to the casual 
 observer of South African politics. It means their 
 national desire to remain a race by themselves, refusing 
 to amalgamate, and only allowing absorption into their 
 ranks. It has been Kruger's life policy to delay the 
 final struggle until the burghers and Dutch Africanders 
 should have by increase and absorption become suffi ■ 
 ciently strong to govern the whole of South Africa.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREDS 
 
 The preceding chapter brought us up to the discovery 
 of the gold-fields. The flotation of the Sheba mine, 
 and the fabulous reports from Barberton, soon attracted 
 a large population to the country. The State revenue 
 rose by leaps and bounds, and the boom became an 
 accomplished fact. 
 
 Prior to this many Kimberley financial firms had 
 opened business in the Transvaal, chief amongst whom 
 were Messrs. Isaac Lewis and Samuel Marks, compos- 
 ing the firm of Lewis and Marks. With these gentle- 
 men was associated Mr. Alois Hugo Nelmapius. Mr. 
 Nelmapius was a man of much ability, and * Nelly,' 
 as he was affectionately called by his friends, was a 
 welcome guest at the Presidency. Mr. Nelmapius has 
 now been dead some years, but the result of his work 
 has survived him. It is true that he did not live to 
 reap the reward which seemed already his, for his death 
 occurred at a moment when his large speculations in 
 ground required careful attention. The collapse of the 
 land-boom a short time previous to his decease resulted 
 in his embarrassment, and prevented his nobler am- 
 bitions for the improvement of agriculture being carried 
 out at his farm Irene. 
 
 He was the prince of concession-hunters in the 
 Transvaal, his only rival at that period being a Mr.
 
 BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREUS 95 
 
 W. E. Hollard, an attorney, who boasted that he could 
 get a concession for anything from the Government. 
 On one occasion he proved his words in this respect. 
 In the course of conversation a friend mentioned to 
 him that there might be some opening for a Match 
 Concession. A few days afterwards, to his surprise, 
 Hollard turned up with the concession in black and 
 white, but apparently no business resulted. 
 
 These were times when the millionaires of to-day 
 were in their swaddling clothes financially, and many 
 schemes were resorted to by them to gain their present 
 position. On one occasion, when Orientals, Shebas, 
 and other stocks had a big drop in London, the 
 wires were down to Barberton, so that the news was 
 sent through by relays of horses. Public messages had 
 to go by coach, and a certain well-known speculator 
 distinguished himself by cutting the springs, which 
 delayed things sufficiently for himself and friends to 
 take advantage of the market. All kinds of tricks 
 were resorted to in the mad struggle for wealth, and 
 the most respectable firms of to-day would never then 
 turn up their nose at a good fat concession. At this 
 stage Mr. Nelmapius scored his biggest success in 
 securing the concession for what is now known as the 
 Hatherley Distillery. This is the temple where are dis- 
 tilled those nectars which goad the Kaffirs of the reef 
 to deeds of derring-do, and it would certainly have 
 paid the present concessionaires, who have large mining 
 interests, far better never to have started it could they 
 have secured instead a concession for ' total prohibi- 
 tion.' 
 
 The argument which Nelmapius used with the 
 President was that, the country being a poor one, 
 manufacturers could not establish themselves, and so 
 render the country independent of external com- 
 merce, unless they received special advantages. This
 
 96 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 argument found a ready listener in the President, 
 whose wealth and interests were daily becoming 
 bigger. 
 
 A bold attempt was made at this time to get what 
 was known as the Bridge Concession, conveying the 
 sole right of erecting bridges across the Vaal River, 
 and involving heavy tolls. The fear of the farmers' 
 opposition prevented this from going through. An 
 eminent English ship - owner was, it was alleged, 
 amongst the interested parties. 
 
 In all these transactions it is exceedingly difficult to 
 pin Mr. Kruger down in any corrupt action. There is 
 no doubt that some division of interests between the 
 family existed, but that, of course, is a secret between 
 themselves. Numerous instances of a more or less 
 suspicious nature occurred. The following will serve as 
 an illustration : a Mr. McCorkindale happened to die, a 
 gentleman who did much to open up the Transvaal in the 
 Lake Chrissie or New Scotland districts, and who held 
 contracts with the Government entitling him to a large 
 tract of country, which the Government thought fit 
 to dispute. The Volksraad passed a resolution on the 
 matter, with the object of overriding the High Court, 
 as in the Doms case, local legal opinion being then that 
 the Volksraad was the highest authority. This view was 
 subsequently reconsidered by Chief Justice Kotze, and 
 resulted in the crisis which led to his arbitrary dis- 
 missal. The executors of McCorkindale succeeded in 
 getting a portion of their rights recognised, and obtained 
 transfer of certain farms. It is significant, however, 
 that subsequent to these arrangements, Mr. Kruger 
 came into possession of a large number of farms in 
 the New Scotland district of the Transvaal at a nominal 
 figure, and these are, no doubt, still registered in his 
 name. 
 
 On all sides the pilfering and peculation increased.
 
 BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREDS 97 
 
 We do not hear much of this period of Transvaal 
 history to-day. Yet at this period CapitaHsts and 
 certain officials alike were tarred with the same brush. 
 Many of the working men and the respectable middle 
 and farming classes were alive to the dangers involved 
 in reckless bribery and corruption. The Transvaal 
 Advertiser poured out its daily remonstrances, and 
 many a penny could honest John Keith, the pro- 
 prietor, have made had he cared to stray from the path 
 of duty. At Barberton a political organization was 
 formed, and the local paper, edited by the late A. H. 
 Manson, having indulged in some straight speaking, 
 brought upon itself the usual penalty of a prosecution. 
 Under the existing corruption nothing could be done ; 
 the mist of gold had dazzled all eyes, and the policy 
 of the President was firmly established. 
 
 Shortly after the Rand Gold-fields had been brought 
 into working order, Mr. Jan Eloff, a relation of the 
 President, was appointed Mining Commissioner. He 
 was soon spoken of as the secret partner in a firm 
 which has at the present time developed a very great 
 interest in the carr3'ing through of reform. With the 
 then Minister of Mines any deal could be got through 
 if properly engineered. The President himself had 
 fathered the idea that if the officials in the mining 
 offices did not get rich it was their own fault. It 
 was a case for him of spoiling the Philistines, but 
 he forgot that he was at the same time spoiling the 
 country. 
 
 In the early part of 1888 there used to \\ork in a 
 small office with living-room attached, at the back of 
 what is now known as Bureau Street, Pretoria, a man 
 and his wife. Ouiet and secluded, they were busily 
 engaged in perfecting those plans which led to the very 
 large holding which German firms have in Transvaal 
 concessions. The lady was as indefatigable as her 
 
 7
 
 98 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 husband ; no clerks were employed to deal with 
 the important correspondence. They had no small 
 share in producing the present state of things in the 
 Transvaal. In Mr. Lippert's fertile brain originated 
 the idea for the Dynamite Concession, and with that 
 concentration which marks Teutonic intention, he set 
 himself the task of getting it, and he succeeded. The 
 Cement and many other monopolies also fell to his 
 share, and his friendly connection with the Dutch 
 railway company would show that he had the ear of 
 the German holders in that concern. To the President, 
 this means of consolidating the German influence, 
 which was so useful to him later on, was not to 
 be neglected ; it involved friendship, and perchance 
 something more, on the part of the German Govern- 
 ment. Mr. FitzPatrick, alluding to the Dynamite 
 Concession, says, in 'The Transvaal from Within,' 
 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.' This plausible explanation must be 
 incorrect, as at the time the matter was before the 
 Volksraad a representative of a firm which was largely 
 interested said to the writer, ' If we only get this 
 through, the firm's fortune is made ; all interested will 
 become millionaires,' showing that they foresaw the 
 enormous increase which was bound to take place in 
 the consumption of dynamite. Mr. Wolmarans and 
 Mr. Eloff are said to have been ' in the swim '; the 
 one was the President's private secretary, the other a 
 member of the Executive. Though many attempts 
 were made to elicit facts through the progressive press, 
 no one has so far broken silence. 
 
 At a later period the concession was cancelled by the 
 Volksraad ; the President acknowledged he had been 
 misled and deceived by the company. But something
 
 BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREDS 99 
 
 was behind this move ; the President would never have 
 agreed to withdraw the hcence which was given unless 
 he had had some ulterior motive. Suffice it to say 
 that at a later date the monopoly was re-created, in 
 such a way as to make it apparently a Government 
 or State monopoly ; the object of this was purely 
 and simply to evade the conditions of the London 
 Convention ! To go into the dry legal aspect of this 
 point is not our object, but certain clauses in that Con- 
 vention prevent any ' undue preference ' in trade as 
 against British subjects ; the first concession was an 
 undoubted evasion of this, and Mr. Advocate Wessels' 
 opinion on the subject, as published at the time, was 
 conclusive. But the President was equal to the occasion. 
 The British Agent at Pretoria, Sir Jacobus de Wet, was 
 very active in his efforts to finally scotch the conces- 
 sion ; unfortunately, the fact that ' Nobels' Trust ' were 
 intriguing with Lippert secretly, while openly they had 
 deluded the Chamber of Mines by professing to work 
 with them, prevented the success of his plans. 
 
 The effects of the monopoly with regard to the mining 
 industry are well known. What is not known is that 
 it constituted a serious injustice to the Roburite Com- 
 pany, a company owned by British subjects, holding a 
 patent in the Transvaal which was granted in the 
 interim between the cancellation of the dynamite con- 
 cession and the granting of the State monopoly. The 
 Government forbade this company to manufacture its 
 explosive ! As legal opinion was that the nominal 
 Government control of the monopoly would affect the 
 decision of the High Court, the company had no re- 
 course but to appeal to the Imperial Government, 
 which merely made mild representations on the subject, 
 and these were, of course, ignored by the Transvaal 
 executive. 
 
 Had the Chamber of Mines taken over this patent 
 
 7-2
 
 loo THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 from the patentees and pushed the matter, they would 
 have had a formidable weapon as against the dynamite 
 monopoly, but the fact that the explosive was more 
 suitable for coal than gold probably prevented the ex- 
 periment being tried. 
 
 The Selati Railway concession, in which Mr. Barend 
 Vorster, M.E.V., figured as the agent of Belgian 
 financiers, was an audacious conspiracy ; by this the 
 State was robbed of half a million of money, and there 
 is nothing to show for it to-day, as the railway was 
 never completed owing to the actions at law instituted 
 by the Railway Commissioner, Mr. J. S. Smit, who 
 had not been consulted when matters were arranged 
 in the first instance. Valuable watches and costly 
 carriages were lavishh' distributed amongst the members 
 of the Volksraad who had either given or promised their 
 support to the application. So far had that scandal 
 become public that the President was compelled to take 
 some notice of it, and he justified the members of the 
 Legislature who had received ' presents ' upon the as- 
 sumption that they were not accepted as inducements to 
 cast their votes in any way contrary to their conscience. 
 The Netherlands Railway, with its sink of iniquity, 
 has been fully exposed, but a few lines on the subject 
 of its conception may be apropos. There was a good 
 deal of competition for this concession when it was 
 granted, an American syndicate and several Pretoria 
 people representing London houses being in the running. 
 Their terms were infinitely preferable to those of the 
 Hollander applicants, and at one time it looked as if 
 Mr. Kruger would pass by the friends to whom he had 
 promised to give the concession. At this time a Hol- 
 lander gentleman made his appearance in Pretoria ; he 
 brought with him a credit of about ;£"io,ooo, a goodly 
 sum in those days ; this, coupled with the fact that the 
 President's policy and Dr. Leyds' influence were on
 
 BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREDS loi 
 
 their side, gained them the day. The question is, What 
 part did the ;^io,ooo play in the matter ? It was traced 
 into the hands of a German missionary, who passed it 
 
 on to . The Netherlands South African Railway 
 
 Company is controlled entirely by Hollanders and 
 Germans ; it forms the iinperium in impcrio of the 
 Transvaal. Delicate negotiations, financial and diplo- 
 matic, have at times been carried through by its aid, and 
 with the Dynamite Company it forms that mysterious 
 link in the Transvaal Government's foreign intrigue 
 which all attempts have hitherto failed to pierce. When 
 (as he frequently did) Mr. Kruger alluded to these 
 monopolies as being the corner-stones of his indepen- 
 dence, he referred to certain guarantees which his 
 Government received in connection with them from 
 a foreign Power or Powers. Baron von MarschalTs 
 references to German interests after the Raid, which 
 were published in the German White Book (see Ap- 
 pendix D), give us some clue to the nature of the 
 undertaking which probably existed, although the 
 Boers look more to France to-day, and it will be 
 surprising if some effort is not yet made, on account 
 of these pledges, to prevent England taking over the 
 country. The man who has striven, year in and }car 
 out, to expose the Railway Concession abuses is Mr. 
 R. K. Loveday, the member for Barberton, one of the 
 Loyalists who were betrayed by the retrocession, and 
 who in desperation threw his country over ; we can 
 only regret that events have deprived the Empire of his 
 services. 
 
 The Barberton boom had come and gone, and the 
 Witwatersrand boom was upon us. This was the boom 
 of booms — a time which will never be revived in the 
 Transvaal, when money flooded the streets, and the 
 very office boys had pockets full of sovereigns ! A 
 humorous incident occurred to a friend at the time.
 
 I02 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 He was standing at the bar of a hotel in a httle country 
 dorp, when a farmer came up to him and said, ' Waar 
 is Mynheer Syndikaat ? Ik wil hem zien — de kerel wat 
 zoo byang geld het.' (Where is Mr. Syndicate ? I 
 want to see him — the man who has so much money.) 
 The farmer had heard so much of syndicates and 
 companies that he evidently thought they were very 
 important personages. 
 
 Soon mediocrities became millionaires, the presence 
 of ' side ' began to make itself felt, and we began to 
 emerge from the mining camp to the society stage. 
 Our capitalists became more careful in handling 
 Government deals. The greatest secrecy was now ob- 
 served in these matters, though nothing good was ever 
 refused ; and a new element appeared in the shape of 
 down-country friends, who wished to share in the good 
 things. A late Minister of the Cape Colony is a type 
 of this class, and his connection with concessions was 
 later the subject of very severe criticism on the part of a 
 Progressive member of the Second Volksraad. We are 
 afraid his scheme for electrical tramways at Johannes- 
 burg will not go through in the form he anticipated. 
 This gentleman, whose capacity for sitting on the fence 
 has made him the admiration of his many rivals in this 
 country, has had a finger in a good many Transvaal 
 pies ; it was largely by the aid of this valuable con- 
 nection that he was successful in getting through the 
 Cape and Free State Railway extension to the Trans- 
 vaal, which anticipated the Delagoa Railway. This was 
 a pill which had to be gilded before the Government 
 would swallow it, and it was said that a sum of ^^50,000 
 was passed through the National Bank in this con- 
 nection. 
 
 A deal in which the late Barney Barnato figured to 
 the discomfiture of the Kruger family occurred at this 
 time, and was described in the Transvaal Observer, then
 
 BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREDS 103 
 
 edited by Mr. Eugene Marais, * a young man who did 
 sterling work for the Progressive cause,' and who suc- 
 ceeded Mr. F. R. Statham on that paper. Mr. F. Eloff 
 was the holder with another person of the Vaal River 
 Water Concession, and it can be easily understood 
 that Mr. Barnato, who was heavily interested in the 
 Johannesburg Waterworks Company, did not wish this 
 concession to hang over his head. A big price was 
 asked for it ; so that the only thing for Barnato to try 
 was a legal juggle. Eloff was duly informed that terms 
 could be arranged, and a meeting of the interested 
 parties took place at the Presidency. A document was 
 there signed to the effect that the concession was to be 
 ceded to Mr. Barnato, and that he was by a certain 
 date to bring out a company with a specified capital, 
 in which Messrs. Eloff and Co. were to receive certain 
 shares and sums of money. The agreement, singular 
 to state, only bound Mr. Barnato to bring out a com- 
 pany, but not necessarily to guarantee its flotation. 
 The astute Barney duly brought the company out with 
 a first-class directorate, but needless to say there were 
 no subscribers ! Eloff was furious ; but he could do 
 nothing, as Barnato had fulfilled his part of the con- 
 tract. He had at the same time succeeded in closing 
 the inconvenient concession, which is the reason why 
 the Vaal River Water Scheme has sunk into abeyance. 
 As the Cape people had been very successful in ob- 
 taining their railway extension. Natal became alarmed 
 at the possibility of losing its traffic to Charlestown, 
 which is on the border. A delegate, therefore — Mr. 
 Binns — paid a semi-official visit to Pretoria to feel the 
 way ; he was, however, told that nothing could be 
 done until responsible government had been granted to 
 Natal. At a later date, when this was accomplished, 
 the colony got its railway. This is another proof of 
 the President's unswerving policy. Railway interests,
 
 I04 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERI3M 
 
 commercial interests, race interests, must all be used to 
 secure the ultimate success of his plans, but under no 
 circumstance could deals take place through the 
 Imperial Government. 
 
 Hardly a day passed but news reached the com- 
 munity of some fresh scandal, some new folly, com- 
 mitted by the Government. The late Mr. Jan F. 
 Celliers, the former proprietor of the Volksstem news- 
 paper, Mr. Paul Mare, and Mr. Loveday, were most 
 assiduous in exposing and condemning these abuses, 
 and yet their efforts were as ' chaff before the wind.' 
 
 The writer had the pleasure of journeying to Johannes- 
 burg with Mr. Celliers shortly before his decease, and 
 in passing the long lines of battery houses and the 
 busy signs of industry, some premonition of the future 
 seemed to weigh upon him. With a deep feeling of 
 sorrow, he said, in pursuing the conversation, ' What 
 will the end of it be ? To what miseries are the 
 Government condemning the unhappy people of this 
 country !' 
 
 A scandal which he was most successful in exposing 
 was the one known as the Stands Scandal, an affair 
 which created a good deal of excitement at the time; but 
 publicity had no effect, and the matter was glossed over as 
 usual. These are the details : The Government during 
 the first boom had sold a large number of stands in 
 Johannesburg, which had been abandoned owing to the 
 bad times which ensued later on. Shortly afterwards 
 these stands became very valuable. The mining officials 
 and their friends were not likely to let such splendid 
 chances pass by, so they arranged to make application 
 at nominal prices for the stands through the Mining 
 Commissioner — to Mr. Christian Joubert, the Minister 
 of Mines. In a big deal like this everyone had to stand 
 in who knew about it, which having been successfully 
 accomplished, all interested received their stands. On
 
 BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREDS 105 
 
 account of the large number of vultures, the proverbial 
 honour was wanting, or perhaps some disappointed 
 applicant gave it away ; anyhow, the whole thing 
 gradually leaked out, with results given above. 
 
 Nothing could excel the unblushing effrontery with 
 which this organized robbery was carried on, and the 
 effects upon the youthful population, not to speak of 
 their elders, can be more easily imagined than described. 
 Bribery and corruption were fast eating into the vitals 
 of the country, and a new morality became the order of 
 the day. It is this which has given Johannesburg such 
 a bad reputation, totally undeserved so far as its in- 
 dustrial population is concerned. To their credit, be 
 it said, Englishmen did not bulk largely among this 
 class of needy adventurers. 
 
 A particularly ugly scandal was the one connected 
 with the Street Contracts in Pretoria, where some 
 ;;^i6o,ooo was disbursed, a large proportion of which 
 is still unvouched for, and with practically nothing to 
 show for it. But as a curious coincidence, Mr. J. S. 
 Smit, the Landdrost, now Railway Commissioner, and 
 Mr. Botha, the Street Inspector, both became possessed 
 of fine new houses, of a very superior design, on the 
 completion of the contractors' work. 
 
 At one time Mr. Kruger promised his son Kaspar, 
 who lived in the Rustenburg district, and was not 
 getting his share of the * loaves and fishes,' that he, too, 
 should have a chance. For this purpose a syndicate 
 composed of burghers was formed, with one or two 
 leading financial spirits thrown in ; and it was 
 arranged to put in an application to build a line 
 between Krugersdorp and Klerksdorp at ^10,000 per 
 mile, which would be granted by the Executive. Un- 
 fortunately for the syndicate, before this could be 
 completed a dispute arose between Mr. Solomon 
 Gillingham, a member, and the engineer employed,
 
 io6 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 as to the latter's share of the plunder. As both parties 
 refused to give way, the engineer severed his connection 
 with the syndicate, the consequence being that he used 
 certain influences with the late General Smit and Mr. 
 J. S. Smit, the Railway Commissioner, and succeeded 
 in upsetting the plans. On the appointed day the 
 President brought the application before the Executive, 
 and stated that he had decided to grant the request, 
 and give the old burghers, who so far had got nothing, 
 a chance to build the line at the price mentioned — 
 3^10,000 per mile. When the discussion was over. 
 General Smit rose and said that ' he was always willing 
 to give the old burghers preference, but not to the extent 
 of ^£"200, 000, as he held a tender in his hand at the rate 
 of ;£"8,ooo per mile, which he submitted should be 
 accepted.' The President saw the game was up, and, 
 furious with rage, he said : ' Well, if the burghers 
 cannot get it, nobody shall have it,' and he had his 
 way ; the Netherlands Railway built it for the Govern- 
 ment account. 
 
 On various different occasions the family party, when 
 trying for a big coup, have been disappointed in this 
 manner, their grasping nature overreaching itself. 
 Though successful in many minor events, they did not, 
 as a matter of fact, ^ei anything really big for some 
 years. At last, after many disappointments — not only 
 in connection with the Bewaarplaatsen (grounds adjoin- 
 ing the Rand mines, over which the companies hold 
 surface rights only, and which, on account of its proved 
 value, had been applied for three deep by the adventurer 
 class — see Appendix C), but also with the building of 
 the Natal Railway, where they were upset by the Press, 
 Mr. J. B. Robinson's paper, and many other schemes 
 — Mr. Hendrik Schoeman and his friends succeeded in 
 getting the Petersburg Railway Concession. Intend- 
 ing visitors to the Transvaal cannot do better than
 
 BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREDS 107 
 
 visit Mr, Schoeman's new dam and house, costing 
 thousands of pounds, completed as soon as the railway 
 had been granted. 
 
 The only justification which can be found for English- 
 men who used means which are universally condemned 
 in the Mother Country is that without something of 
 the kind it was really impossible to carry through 
 any business in Pretoria. The crowd of lawyers, 
 agents, and Government sharks (the Third Volksraad, 
 with their chairman, Mr. Julius Keizer, who held their 
 sittings in Mr. Paul Nel the attorney's office), was so 
 keen that, directly a genuine attempt was made to 
 obtain, in a perfectly straightforward manner. Govern- 
 ment assistance. Government fixed a price, and that 
 price had first to be paid. 
 
 A fresh factor arose in the acquisition of Matabele- 
 land. The rumour of Mr. Rhodes' intentions was 
 conveyed to General Joubert, the friend of Loben- 
 gula, and caused considerable anxiety to the Govern- 
 ment. The net result of this was the purchase of large 
 quantities of ammunition, and an order for 10,000,000 
 cartridges was partially placed with Messrs. Kynoch 
 and Co., of Birmingham. 
 
 General Joubert was much exasperated at the pros- 
 pect of the Transvaal being closed in on the north ; but 
 Kruger, who knew the country, did not think much of 
 its possibilities, and thought that if he obtained Swazie- 
 land as a quid pro quo he would be doing better business. 
 The consequence was the i8go Conference at Fourteen 
 Streams, when President Kruger met Sir Henry Loch 
 and Mr. Rhodes. 
 
 There is no doubt that a certain policy was then 
 agreed upon in connection with Swazieland, though the 
 matter was to be discussed again when the northern 
 extension had been assented to by the Raad. 
 
 This was a very ticklish time for Mr. Rhodes' trans-
 
 io8 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 African scheme. General Joubert was dead against it, 
 and to his determined opposition must be traced the 
 delay in carrying through the Convention abandoning 
 all claims to the north on the part of the Transvaal. 
 At one time things looked black, but the soothing influ- 
 ence of Mr. Hofmeyr, who journeyed up to calm his 
 friends and reassure them that Sw^azieland should yet 
 be theirs, patched matters up. 
 
 On the question of expediency, it was perhaps policy 
 to abandon the Swazies, but on moral grounds it was 
 indefensible. The argument which was used in favour 
 of it was that Umbandine, the King of the Swazies, 
 had given concessions to Boer agents for everything 
 worth having in the country. As a matter of fact, 
 most of these concessions were invalid, and would 
 never have held water in an English court of law, but 
 the majority of them were ratified by a special Court 
 held in Swazieland. Another, but a worse, argument 
 was that England was bound to have trouble with the 
 Transvaal sooner or later, when she could take the 
 country back again. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that the Swazies gave in 
 without a struggle. They sent a deputation to England, 
 under the leadership of Mr. Attorney Hulett, which 
 did good work, but could get no satisfaction from the 
 Colonial Secretary, who was already pledged to abandon 
 the country. The only man to do anything for them 
 was Sir E. Ashmead-Bartlett, M.P. (Silomo), who 
 brought the betrayal of the Swazie nation prominently 
 before Parliament. The net consequence of the visit 
 has been the killing-off in the present war, by natives 
 alleged to be in the pay of the Boers, of some of the 
 native members of the deputation, as also such of the 
 headmen as were friends of England. For the time, 
 anyhow, the last of the British native allies were handed 
 over to the tender mercies of Krugerism.
 
 BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREDS 109 
 
 The signing of the Swazieland Convention was made 
 the subject of a great demonstration when Lord Loch 
 visited Pretoria. The Government buildings were fitted 
 up as reception-rooms, and seated under a canopy, Lord 
 and Lady Loch received the inhabitants of Pretoria. 
 The loving-cup was passed round, and all seemed 
 peace and joy and contentment. 
 
 But the Joubert party were not at all disposed to 
 allow the occupation of Charterland to take place with- 
 out a strong protest. Acting under a certain conces- 
 sion granted over Banjailand, a big strip of Mashona- 
 land, they arranged to trek there, and found a new 
 Republic. Mr. Rhodes was naturally active in his 
 opposition, which eventually produced a proclamation 
 from President Kruger forbidding the movement, so 
 that it collapsed. 
 
 The one idea of the President in obtaining the con- 
 trol of Swazieland was that the Swazies held territorial 
 rights over a portion of Amatongaland which borders 
 on the sea, and includes the so-called harbour of Kosi 
 Bay. His ambition to obtain a seaport was the reason 
 why the northern policy of Mr. Rhodes obtained his 
 support ; but for this he would never have assented to 
 it. How his ambition was defeated will form the sub- 
 ject of another chapter. 
 
 Still, the terms of the Convention were not alto- 
 gether to Mr. Kruger's liking, and he therefore declined 
 in toto to enter into the Customs Union, even with the 
 bait of a right of way through Swazieland and a ten 
 miles square site for a port. The fact that Mr. Rhodes 
 had tried to bounce him into joining the union, and the 
 feeling that owing to the influence of that gentleman 
 he was fast losing grip of the Africander Bond, were 
 matters of concern to him. With all his doubts, he still 
 looked on Mr. Rhodes as republican at heart ; the man 
 who had at all times denounced the imperial factor,
 
 no THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 and expressed contempt for mere parish-pump politics, 
 he felt was yet sound on the main issue. But here he 
 was mistaken ; the success of the northern policy, the 
 interest and support it received from the highest sources, 
 showed Mr. Rhodes that only under the British flag 
 could his plans succeed, and from that moment his 
 policy changed : the step from a * young burgher ' of the 
 South African Republic to Premier of a United South 
 Africa was not such a great one. Only on one occasion, 
 in 1894, did Mr. Rhodes fall back from his set purpose, 
 and that backsliding was fatal to his subsequent en- 
 deavours. 
 
 Signs were not wanting that the Uitlanders were 
 greatly dissatisfied with the Government. In i8go, on 
 the occasion of the President's visit to Johannesburg, the 
 Transvaal flag was torn down, and the house of Captain 
 von Brandis, where the President was staying, besieged 
 by an angry crowd, who wished to make known their 
 opinion as to the way in which the Government was 
 treating them. A Mr. Rogaly, who is at present with 
 Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, was accused of pulling 
 down the flag, and he was arrested with others and 
 thrown into gaol, bail being refused. The British 
 agent, Mr. Ralph Williams, an excellent specimen of 
 the true English gentleman, and as such so entirely 
 unfitted for the handling of diplomatic questions, was 
 much annoyed at this summary treatment of British 
 subjects. He was supposed to have sent the President 
 an ultimatum on the subject, which the latter promptly 
 telegraphed to Cape Town for confirmation. It has 
 never been ascertained whether there was truth in this 
 rumour, but it is a fact that shortly afterwards Mr. 
 Williams left Pretoria for Gibraltar, and Mr. Hofmeyr 
 made his usual visit to Pretoria at this juncture. 
 
 Uitlander grievances had so far not formed a subject 
 of practical politics, but 'coming events cast their
 
 BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREDS in 
 
 shadows before.' The first real attempt at organizing 
 any poHtical body was made in 1892, when many 
 of the thinking men of Johannesburg, outside the 
 capitahst class, banded themselves together into what 
 was known as the National Union. The objects of this 
 body, as set forth in its constitution, were: (i) The 
 maintenance of the independence of the Republic, and 
 (2) the obtaining of a reasonable share in the govern- 
 ment of the country. This programme proves that 
 this body was formed on purely republican lines, so 
 that it appealed to the progressive minority among the 
 Boers. This section acknowledged the leadership of 
 General Joubert, and the moving spirit of the party 
 was Ewald Esselen, formerly one of the judges and 
 subsequently State Attorney of the Transvaal, a re- 
 markably fascinating man, whom everyone liked outside 
 of politics, in which he subsequently cut a very sorry 
 figure. As the Presidential election was coming off 
 shortly, to be followed by many elections for the 
 Volksraad, it was resolved that a determined effort 
 should be made to get a Progressive Government into 
 power. To this end thousands of pounds were sub- 
 scribed by the more enlightened of the capitalist class, 
 who had long feared the grasping tactics of the Kruger 
 party. Mr. Kruger's election fund was also swelled, 
 the foreigners and the Jews putting their money on 
 him. Everything turned on the change of President ; 
 and Mr. Kruger was able to secure a nominal majority 
 at the polls, which was turned into a reahty by the 
 action of Mr. Schalk Burger, a Joubertite (one of the 
 Commission to inquire into the election), who ratted, 
 and voted for the return of Kruger. The Joubertites 
 were frantic with rage ; one of them, subsequently a 
 member of the Second Volksraad, said in the writer's 
 presence he would willingly pay ;^i,ooo to the man 
 who would shoot the President. They implored Joubert
 
 112 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 to refuse to submit, and to fight it out if necessary ; but 
 the General, who was as weak as water, decided that, 
 however great the sacrifice, he could not consent to 
 divide the country on the issue. A stronger man 
 would have hazarded a coup d'etat, but Slim Piet was no 
 match for his old rival, whose motto is to get home 
 by any means, fair or foul. 
 
 This practically closed the chapter of constitutional 
 attempts for good government in the Transvaal ; had the 
 efforts of the Uitlanders been successful, and the new 
 population given some small share in the government, 
 the tide might still have set in for a republican South 
 Africa. As yet the majority of English people had not re- 
 covered from the cruel blow which the ' great betrayal ' 
 of 1881 had struck, and their last thought would have 
 been to appeal to the Imperial Government for redress. 
 
 Lord Randolph Churchill's visit to the Transvaal 
 and Rhodesia gave some of the Boer papers a welcome 
 opening to take his lordship and the Chartered Com- 
 pany to task. 
 
 1893 saw the first Matabele War, The fate of 
 Lobengula was the cause of some anxiety in negro- 
 philistic circles ; not only among the English, but 
 more especially among the Boers. General Joubert's 
 friendly letter to Lobengula has often been quoted, 
 and the chief had always thought that at a pinch he 
 could rely to some extent upon Transvaal assistance. 
 When war became a certainty, he promptly despatched 
 messengers to his Transvaal friends. This resulted in 
 the formation of a syndicate called the Six Syndicate, 
 of which the late Henning Pretorius was chairman. 
 Its object was to render him any assistance in their 
 power, if at the same time they could assure for them- 
 selves a sufficient quid pro quo. They advised him 
 first of all to make no defence to the armed forces of 
 the Chartered Company, but let them march into the
 
 BOERS, CAPITALISTS, AND CHARTEREDS 113 
 
 country unopposed, adding that Commandant Pre- 
 torius and another member of the syndicate would 
 proceed at once to Matabeleland for the purpose of 
 negotiating between the opposing parties. When these 
 gentlemen had left Pretoria on their mission, a wire 
 was despatched to the High Commissioner, Sir Henry 
 Loch, stating that war was unnecessary, and that the 
 gentlemen above mentioned were on their way to arrange 
 matters with Lobengula. They were promptly informed 
 that on crossing the frontier they would be arrested, as 
 a state of war existed between Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment and the Matabele chief, and they were forbidden 
 any sort of communication. Commandant Pretorius, 
 next in rank to General Joubert in command of the 
 forces of the Transvaal, nevertheless did cross the 
 border safely, and was met by messengers from Lo- 
 bengula, stating that he was unable to keep back his 
 young bloods. It was therefore evident that intervention 
 was hopeless, so the party returned to the Transvaal 
 without accomplishing anything. 
 
 The Six Syndicate in South Africa, as Mr. Labouchere 
 in England, thus failed to stop the course of events, and 
 with its failure practically ended the attempt to stay the 
 British advance towards Northern Africa.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE APPEAL TO CESAR 
 
 During all these years abuses were heaped on abuses 
 
 by the so-called Government of the Transvaal. It 
 
 would lead too far to cope in any way exhaustively 
 
 with them ; but a few more demand mention, because 
 
 thej^ show the condition the country was in and the 
 
 unblushing way in which those in authority acted. We 
 
 call to mind a case in which the question of the validity 
 
 of a promise of shares in a valuable gold-mine to an 
 
 official in consideration of his using his influence with 
 
 the Government was actually brought before the High 
 
 Court. Mr. Montagu White, the representative of the 
 
 Transvaal in London, was the plaintiff in the case, and 
 
 a large mining company was involved in the defence. 
 
 Unfortunately the only question which the Court had 
 
 to decide was whether there was a valid contract or not, 
 
 and as the evidence produced bore solely upon that fact, 
 
 judgment was given in favour of the plaintiff. It was 
 
 stated at the time that certain high-placed officials were 
 
 greatly advantaged by this decision, as some 17,000 
 
 shares were said to have been divided, of which 
 
 Mr. White's own share amounted to 800 only. The 
 
 arrangement was made when the market value of the 
 
 share was near par, but when the action was brought 
 
 for specific performance the price had advanced to 
 
 £^ or £6 per share.
 
 THE APPEAL TO C/ESAR 115 
 
 It is to be presumed that the Transvaal Government 
 selected Mr. White as the best man they could get for 
 the important post of delegate to Great Britain ; and 
 no doubt his record was satisfactory as compared with 
 that of some of the other officials. 
 
 But what about the higher politics of Messrs. Kruger 
 and Leyds ? Were these gentlemen sitting still while the 
 more farcical part of the comedy was being played ? No ; 
 the foundations were being laid to strengthen the power 
 of Krugerism with a secrecy and despatch which augured 
 well for future success. And meantime Caesar slept ! 
 
 The National Bank and Mint was floated under the 
 aegis of Mr. Lippert, and how important this institution 
 was to the success of republican designs we can see 
 to-day. What use would have been the gold stolen 
 from the Transvaal mines without a mint to coin it ? 
 The bank also became the channel through which pay- 
 ments of a secret nature could be made, and financial 
 business arranged where other agencies would have 
 failed. These transactions took place both in Europe 
 and Africa. Its officers were of a different stamp to 
 those in the Government, and its secrets have been well 
 preserved. Many of the directors of the bank have been 
 able and honest men, but as burghers of the Transvaal 
 they had, unless they resigned, no option but to follow 
 that country's policy, even if they saw through the 
 secret intrigues, of which they may have been unwilling 
 tools. As a matter of fact, there was but one policy 
 and one reason for all the secret preparation — viz., to 
 satisfy the personal ambition of Mr. Kruger. 
 
 The opposition and hatred to everything English 
 continued to manifest itself in the debates of the Volks- 
 raad, more especially on the subject of the franchise, 
 which year after year had been the subject of such 
 restrictions as Kruger had determined to adopt to 
 secure the realization of his aims. 
 
 8—2
 
 n6 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 Deputations from the unenfranchised were received 
 by the President with obloquy, and members of the 
 Raad invited the Uitlanders to fight for the right to 
 vote if they wanted it ; but the Government took very 
 great care to see they were kept without arms. 
 
 Expostulation had no effect, though as a remedy the 
 Uitlanders were informed they could naturalize and 
 become burghers of the second class, who within a 
 reasonable period could vote for the Second Volksraad, 
 an emasculate institution, which was without power 
 of any kind, being entirely subservient to the First 
 Volksraad. 
 
 The governorship of Sir Hercules Robinson at the 
 Cape — the knowledge that he was unfavourable to inter- 
 vention of any kind in the Republic — deterred the British 
 population from making representations to him. Still, 
 cases of individual injustice were often reported to the 
 High Commissioner, unfortunately without much result. 
 The little country villages were all very well to live in 
 if you buried your independence, and winked at all 
 abuses, because ways and means were always found of 
 disarming criticism. 
 
 There were exceptions, of course, to the general run 
 of dishonesty. All the officials were not venal ; there 
 were a good few honest men among them, mostly 
 Africanders from the Free State and Cape Colony. 
 But the opposition even among them to every 
 English influence acted as a dead wall. The preference 
 to Hollanders and foreigners over the British on every 
 occasion ; the vast immigration of undesirable foreign 
 aliens, which was purposely encouraged in every way 
 by the Government ; their exclusive employment on 
 the Netherlands Railway, in the dynamite factory, 
 and the Government offices, even to the exclusion of 
 Africanders, showed that the policy of the Government 
 was to strengthen its position by the restriction of
 
 THE APPEAL TO C^SAR 117 
 
 British immigration, and the increase of the foreign 
 population to the utmost hmit which the country could 
 support. Year by year the British preponderance 
 was slowly but surely diminished. In 1890 four-fifths 
 of the alien population were British ; in 1894 it is 
 doubtful if three-fourths represented the correct pro- 
 portion. The Government encouraged the influential 
 men of the foreign communities by granting them 
 concessions, favours, and lucrative positions in 
 the Government employ, thus establishing a bond 
 between themselves and the different sections. A large 
 proportion of these people were men who had been 
 through a military training in the countries of their 
 birth, and everything was done to get the leaders to 
 become burghers of the Transvaal ; the rank and file 
 did not matter — they would follow as a matter of course. 
 Ways and means could always be devised in the Trans- 
 vaal of modifying the franchise laws to suit any extra- 
 ordinary case, and where the non-burgher was a desirable 
 person, he got his rights for some imaginary service 
 without waiting for many years, which was the 
 lot of the unfortunate Britisher who took the oath of 
 allegiance. The one obstacle in the way of completing 
 this idea of foreign preponderance was the superiority 
 of the British as a mining and commercial communit)-. 
 Could the foreign capitalists have substituted foreign 
 miners with equally good results, no doubt they would 
 have done so, and this would have very much simplified 
 the problem for Mr. Kruger. 
 
 So much has been written on the franchise question 
 and the industrial grievances that it is unnecessary to 
 enter into it at length. Suffice it to say that the Presi- 
 dent's policy in this particular can be traced as follows: 
 
 1. Old Grond-Wet : The possession of property or 
 residence for one year qualified for the franchise. 
 
 2. 1882 : In spite of the President's statement to the
 
 ir8 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 Royal Commission that no difference would be made 
 between persons of mature age and the old burghers 
 as regards the franchise, it was raised to five years' 
 residence. Proof: the Veldcornets' books, and very bad 
 proof, too, in some instances. 
 
 3. i8go : This law was very cleverly drawn up to 
 escape undue attention. It provides that * all persons 
 naturalized previous to the law come in under the old 
 privileges — that the right of vote for a Second Raad 
 now created would be given ; but it was necessary to 
 be eligible for ten years for election to the Second Raad 
 before one could aspire to the higher privilege of voting 
 for the First Volksraad.' This made the term of proba- 
 tion fourteen years. 
 
 4. 1891-93: Minor alterations were made in the law; 
 but it was not substantially altered, being deemed a 
 sufficient barrier. A serious condition, however, was 
 put in in 1893, it being necessary to get the assent by 
 vote of the First Volksraad before one could become a 
 full burgher. 
 
 5. Law 3 of 1894 : This was the finishing touch. It 
 provided that the would-be burgher, after serving four- 
 teen years' apprenticeship, and being at least forty years 
 of age, would only be entitled to register a vote for the 
 First Volksraad, provided a majority of the burghers in 
 his ward signified their assent in writing to his obtaining 
 it. In addition, the law disfranchised all children born 
 of Uitlanders in the country, the law being retrospec- 
 tive in this particular. 
 
 The only reason which can be given for the passing 
 of these laws, and particularly the last of them, was the 
 fact that petitions signed in one case by some 13,000 
 aliens had alarmed the President, who played upon the 
 prejudices of the members of the Raad, the majority of 
 whom were in sympathy with his Uitlander policy. 
 
 The last changes in the franchise were particularly
 
 THE APPEAL TO C/ESAR 119 
 
 exasperating, and coming at a time of comparative 
 political calm, they had the effect of alienating the 
 whole British community from the Government. Their 
 basis was found in the bitter hatred and detestation for 
 everything British, and their existence thus became a 
 continued menace to the peace of South Africa. The 
 Government said : Join us on our own terms, and we 
 will treat you better later on. Fight for us -and we 
 may perhaps relent. But you must prove that you are 
 so reformed as to be anti-English and sound on the 
 subject of the destruction of British supremacy in South 
 Africa, and the firm establishment of Boer predominance. 
 Join with us, lose your individuality and nationality, 
 become absorbed, and you will find no difficulty with 
 our laws. Refuse, and take the consequences. These 
 were the Boer arguments, and in some cases they 
 found adherents, more especially in the country dis- 
 tricts, where it meant much whether a man was a 
 burgher or not. The same applied to the store-keepers 
 and merchants, who could not expect to get a share of 
 the Government favours, unless they became burghers 
 of the Republic. 
 
 The deceptive calm with which the community re- 
 garded the passing of the latter franchise laws decided 
 the President to execute his final coup, the employment 
 of British subjects as mercenary troops, and to decide 
 by this test whether they should be specially admitted 
 to the Republic, or not. 
 
 Although the Uitlanders were heavily taxed indirectly, 
 no murmur of discontent was heard. Their petitions on 
 the subject of the franchise had been ignored and treated 
 with scorn. They seemed to have but one god, and 
 that god was Mammon. Would they surely fight when 
 their idol was threatened with destruction ? 
 
 Rather than risk it, better to throw them a bone, to 
 Africanderize them and make them part of the fighting
 
 I20 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 machine which was to dominate Africa. The scheme 
 was perfect, but it came just a Httle too late. 
 
 It seems as if Providence, which in earlier time barred 
 the way of Napoleon, had destined Paul Kruger to find 
 that scheming and hypocrisy, without the greatness of 
 the former, could not save him from a similar fate. 
 Pretoria had the honour of raising the standard of 
 opposition ; even as her sons in 1881 had held in check 
 the Boer forces, so in 1894 they frustrated the plans 
 which threatened to culminate at a later date in disaster 
 to the Mother Country. They cried a halt to the policy 
 of 'Africa for the Africanders,' and had England then 
 responded, the South African question would have been 
 settled, perhaps without a blow. 
 
 A Republic, ' broad based upon the people's will,' a 
 franchise obtained, not through the clemency of Kruger, 
 but through the determination of the British Govern- 
 ment to see right and justice done, would then have 
 formed an impassable barrier to Krugerian ambitions. A 
 settlement upon these lines would have bound the Uit- 
 landers fast to the Imperial Government in a new bond 
 of union, if coupled with a determination to reverse the 
 policy of the Transvaal Government, and to make the 
 people of the country feel that their so-called enemies 
 were their best friends. A prompt elimination of the 
 agents of corruption should have secured their true 
 independence, with a policy of friendship for and the 
 assistance of England. Once this was accomplished 
 a plan of confederation would have been speedily 
 adopted by the different States and colonies, satis- 
 fying the voortrekker and strengthening the Empire. 
 
 A little cloud crossed the horizon — a cloud of loyalty 
 that refused to die away. Perchance some father in 
 the dear Motherland had impressed those lessons of 
 patriotism on his child, in the old abbeys and 
 cathedrals which teem with incentives to a love of
 
 THE APPEAL TO C^SAR 121 
 
 one's country, and that little seed was destined to bear 
 rich fruit. England might fail, but her sentinels must 
 watch, and wait, and pray, and believe that, whatever 
 happened, the land where justice rules would surely not 
 turn a deaf ear in this hour of need. 
 
 The hope was faint, and it did not find expression in 
 the homes of the rich. The capitalists were busy 
 preparing for a boom which would eclipse all others, 
 that boom which collapsed on the failure of the Jameson 
 Raid. The Government officials, busily filling their 
 pockets, saw it not ; what had they to fear ? was not 
 all the wealth and influence on their side ? The Imperial 
 factor was dead ; the Africander Bond and Mr. Rhodes 
 in the past had done their best to kill that idea. What 
 could a few poor Loyalists do ? What they did, and 
 how they did it, it is our duty to relate. Those efforts 
 have not been accorded the doubtful blessings of 
 publicity ; the incidents have been suppressed in the 
 glamour of the Raid. It was a little business, with 
 no press to boom it across the sea, with no Court of 
 Appeal but to Her Majesty's High Commissioner. No 
 funds behind it, only the loyal hearts of the British 
 working men and women, with a few professional men, 
 and the Loyalists of Johannesburg, who saw eye to eye 
 with Pretoria, that nothing could be wrung from Kruger 
 except hy force. 
 
 That is why we made our appeal to Caesar. Where 
 else could we turn for help ? 
 
 To-day the papers are full of South Africa ; recently 
 no incident, however trifling, is unreported across the 
 water. In 1894 the way was barred, Renter's was the 
 only news agency; Leo Weinthal, at that time Presi- 
 dent Kruger's very good friend, was their representative. 
 Not a word reached Europe which was not tainted with 
 the views of the Boer Government. Special corre- 
 spondents were few and far between, cables were costly.
 
 122 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 and yet the voice of the people was so distinct and 
 so clear that the President trembled, and his advisers 
 "ught assistance from the capitalists — those whom 
 they now despise — to weaken the chastening hand of 
 the Empire. 
 
 We related in the early part of this book how certain 
 Kaffir tribes in the Northern Zoutpansburg had proved 
 themselves unwilling to be subject to the Boer Govern- 
 ment ; how President, then Commandant, Kruger was 
 forced to retire before them at Schoemansdal, practi- 
 cally abandoning to the natives the whole of the country 
 north of Marabastadt. During the English occupation 
 these tribes came peaceably under control, and during 
 the war the head chief, Magato, did all he could to 
 protect the English in his district, who were in laager 
 close to his kraal, with the result the Boers wisely left 
 them undisturbed. He also offered assistance to the 
 British authorities. This fact alone was sufficient to 
 secure the doom of his tribe at a later period. Among 
 the minor chiefs was one named Malaboch, whose 
 tribe inhabited a range of hills in the north-west of 
 the Transvaal. 
 
 News reached Pretoria at the beginning of 1894 that 
 this chief refused to pay his taxes. What the chief 
 alleged was that he objected to paying them twice, 
 once to Mr. Vorster, the Native Commissioner, and 
 again to the Government. 
 
 Be that as it may, the Executive (the Boer Cabinet) 
 resolved to put into operation the scheme of com- 
 mandeering the Uitlanders, or, to be correct, the 
 British subjects, as nearly all other nationalities were 
 absolved by treaty, and the American Government refused 
 to recognise the right of any Government to commandeer 
 its citizens. To commandeer as the Boers apply the 
 law means to insist on free military service being ren- 
 dered by everybody ; it also authorizes the levy of
 
 THE APPEAL TO C/ESAR 123 
 
 supplies, to be furnished without remuneration, both 
 in goods and money ; the only English equivalent of 
 this practice is highway robbery. 
 
 The Government refused to entertain the idea of a 
 paid volunteer corps being formed, although they had 
 over a million sterling in the Treasury. 
 
 With a cleverness born of long practice in deceit, 
 they stated that British subjects had been abandoned 
 by their Government, as the 1881 Convention expressly 
 provided for the registration of British subjects then in 
 the country, which would prevent them being com- 
 mandeered, whereas it was put forward that those who 
 failed to comply with the condition, and subsequent 
 immigrants, had been abandoned, and came under the 
 commando law. The supreme cunning of this policy 
 can be at once perceived ; nothing better could be 
 devised to break down the pride of the Britisher, that 
 last vestige of self-respect which he possessed in South 
 Africa. Like sheep led to the slaughter, they were 
 ordered to submit to this fresh degradation, which 
 would effectually wipe out the last spark of nationality, 
 and make them the serfs of the Boers, to be absorbed 
 by them at their sweet will. The policy which made of 
 the French Huguenots Dutchmen was being applied to the 
 British ; in one case it had been a success, why not in the 
 other ? 
 
 Nothing can persuade the careful observer that this 
 move was the thought of a day ; it was the culmination 
 of a policy which spelt danger in big letters to every 
 loyal Englishman. 
 
 To the Loyalists of Pretoria the intentions of the 
 Government were no secret. The magnates of the 
 Rand had no time to bother with the haute politique ; 
 they were busy with the haute finance. Let Kruger do 
 as he liked so long as they were making money, but let 
 anyone beware who interfered with their plans on this
 
 124 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 score. What did they want with the franchise ? 
 Other hearts were still sore from the time of the ' great 
 betrayal,' and for very pride's sake would have seen 
 * the bolt ' successful rather than give a warning to the 
 country which had deserted them. 
 
 Meantime the Veldcornet issued notices right and left : 
 single men, married men, all, except men who could 
 buy themselves off with substitutes at a cost of £y^ or 
 P^ioo, poor people even who could hardly rake sufficient 
 together to keep up the home during absence, were all 
 swept into the net. Goods, money, and horses were 
 requisitioned, for the Boers war on the cheap, and in 
 many instances the Veldcornets or their assistants 
 carried out their instructions in a cruel and brutal 
 manner, more particularly as regards coloured British 
 subjects. A protest would now and then secure some 
 slight exemption in towns, but in the country districts 
 no mercy was shown to the unfortunate English- 
 men. The Executive awaited the result of compulsory 
 enlistment in Pretoria before raising the strength of 
 their forces by commandeering thousands from Johan- 
 nesburg, so that the conquest of the whole of the 
 northern tribes, including Magato, might be accom- 
 plished. Besides, such a course freed a number of 
 burghers from military service, on which they are by 
 no means keen, unless it is against the verdomde rooinek. 
 This was necessary, as many of the Progressive burghers 
 strongly objected to fight for nothing, and Land en 
 Volk, the Joubert party's organ, fought hard for pay- 
 ment. 
 
 Unfortunately, President Kruger, with remarkable 
 foresight, had secured the services of Mr. Esselen as 
 State Attorney at the beginning of the year, beguiling 
 him with specious arguments to attempt the cleansing 
 of the Augean stable, of which he (the President) alone 
 was the founder. He chuckled when the bird was
 
 THE APPEAL TO C/ESAR 125 
 
 caught, for now he could put his plans into execution 
 without risk of interruption from the Progressive party, 
 which then did not possess his confidence, while by play- 
 ing on the race hatred which was always lying dormant 
 in his new Attorney-General he felt he could turn his 
 foe into an ally, who would serve his turn, to be dis- 
 carded when no longer useful. 
 
 Orders to join the commando were served on May 16, 
 and the distress caused to poor people who received 
 them was deplorable ; on all sides could be seen the 
 misery caused to the wives and children, soon to be left 
 without protectors or means of support. To whom 
 were they to turn for bread when the bread-winner was 
 away ? And what if he never returned ? The Trans- 
 vaal Government do not provide for the widows and 
 orphans of Englishmen who have died fighting their 
 battles. Public feeling was aroused, and it was 
 arranged that the Veldcornet himself should preside 
 at a public meeting to consider the question, and 
 request the Government at any rate to pay the men 
 ordered to the front. A deputation that waited on the 
 Government was severely censured, and told in the 
 straightest terms that the Government would brook no 
 opposition to its policy. The Raad, duly instructed, also 
 resolved by twenty-one votes to three to confirm the 
 action of the Government. The Africander section, who 
 at first had seemed prepared to assist the movement 
 openly, withdrew from giving public support. What other 
 loophole remained now ? Men on every side implored 
 the leading Uitlanders for assistance, and it was decided 
 to hold another meeting, which took place on the stoep 
 of the Government buildings, the tenour of the speeches 
 being that no man should go to the front as a pressed 
 man unless he was an enfranchised burgher of the 
 country. Mr. Reno, one of the commandeered men, 
 came forward, and boldly stated that he for one had
 
 126 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 determined not to go on the Government terms, a 
 statement causing a great deal of umbrage to the 
 Government supporters, who tried hard to make a dis- 
 turbance. One of them, Mr. Hendrik Schoeman, 
 turned to Mr. Reno, saying: 'I will make you go to 
 the front if I tie you up with my own hands and throw 
 you on the wagon.' But his remarks were drowned in 
 the hooting of the crowd, which had not relished being 
 called rebels by the same gentleman a few minutes 
 before. Over a thousand persons were present, and 
 it was announced that the same evening a debate would 
 take place on the subject ' Is the Commandeering 
 Justifiable ?' at the ordinary meeting of the Pretoria 
 Debating Society, an influential association which held 
 its meetings in the Presbyterian Church. The assembly 
 was a record one ; the church was packed, and hundreds 
 were turned away. 
 
 An ominous silence filled the room when the Rev. 
 James Gray, the chairman, rose to address his audience. 
 In stern and uncompromising terms he exposed the 
 iniquity of the Government in forcing free men, British 
 subjects, born under the British flag, to act as the unpaid 
 soldiers of a Government which denied them the smallest 
 of the liberties valued by independent races. To compel 
 men to abandon their families to fight in a cause which 
 they knew nothing of, and against a native chief who, 
 from all they heard, was the aggrieved party, not the 
 aggressor, was an indignity not to be tolerated. Many 
 speeches were made, one or two Government supporters 
 trying to make out a case, in which they signally failed. 
 Towards the close of the meeting two men spoke 
 whose names deserve to be recorded in letters of gold 
 wherever the English language is spoken, for the quiet 
 yet brilliant work which they have done for British 
 interests in the Transvaal. The one was the Rev. 
 W. J. Underwood, the Wesleyan minister at Pretoria,
 
 THE APPEAL TO CAESAR 127 
 
 and Mr. E. Dusting, afterwards the secretary of the 
 Uitlanders' Association. Probably none of our readers 
 have heard of these gentlemen, the one a minister of 
 the Gospel, striving hard to do his duty, though his 
 way was not the way of many of his flock, who had 
 obligations to the Government ; the other a working 
 jeweller. But the Empire had need of them, and the 
 hour found the men. 
 
 At the close of the meeting many of the commandeered 
 remained behind, and forty of them resolved not to 
 answer to the roll-call. In doing this they exposed 
 themselves to heavy fines, to be followed by imprison- 
 ment. But worse was to follow : the Government, 
 much exercised at the turn things were taking, insti- 
 tuted one of those secret boycotts for which the Trans- 
 vaal has made itself so famous. No one knew whence 
 the message came. But an employer would request 
 his employe who had pledged himself to resist not to 
 do so, under pain of losing his situation. Men who were 
 in business were approached, and assured, if they did 
 not follow suit, their business or their partners (if they 
 had any) would suffer. Others were informed that a 
 substitute could be got cheap, and assured that it was far 
 better to avail themselves of this means of escape than 
 go against the Government. To those who stood firm 
 the suggestion of Government appointments was made. 
 Some names for unspecified reasons were taken off 
 the list, and others who were Government supporters 
 substituted. Private and personal influences were 
 used on all sides to prevent the mandate being dis- 
 obeyed. 
 
 As a result of the exertions of the Government and a 
 striking testimony to the pressure and terrorism which 
 was brought to bear, only three of the men who were 
 at the meeting in the Presbyterian Church stood out to 
 the end.
 
 128 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 Meantime a committee, composed of the Revs. Messrs. 
 Underwood, Gray, and Woofenden, and Messrs. Dusting, 
 Roberts, Hess, A. E. Smith, Falconer, and others, was 
 formed to lay the case before the British Resident, the 
 first public appeal to the British Government for ten 
 long years. 
 
 They assembled at the British Residency on May i8, 
 1894, and were received with a courtesy by Sir Jacobus 
 de Wet which augured well for the future. A son of 
 South Africa, a strong Loyalist, who had fathomed the 
 mysteries of Krugerism during his term of office, he 
 did not pause to inquire if those assembled were men 
 of wealth or men of influence ; he knew their cause was 
 a just one, and he received them with a determination 
 to assist with all his power in removing the disabilities 
 of his fellow-citizens. 
 
 The subject was thoroughly discussed with Sir Jacobus, 
 who assured the deputation that many private people 
 had been to see him, and their anxiety was so great 
 that he had telegraphed to the Administrator, General 
 Sir William Cameron, acting during Sir Henry Loch's 
 absence in England, and had received a reply saying that 
 Advocate Searle's opinion was that the Transvaal Govern- 
 ment were within their legal rights in insisting on the 
 commandeering of British subjects. This opinion was 
 totally different to the one entertained by Advocates 
 Leonard and Wessels, the leaders of the Transvaal Bar, 
 and it seems extraordinary in a situation such as this 
 that the Administrator did not consult the very highest 
 legal opinion, more especially as other Governments 
 had on so many occasions insisted on the exemption of 
 their subjects from forced military service by foreign 
 powers. Sir Jacobus said, however, that he was so 
 convinced of the justice of our case that he was pre- 
 pared to make fresh representations on our behalf, and 
 with his assistance a telegram was drafted to Cape
 
 THE APPEAL TO C^SAR 129 
 
 Town, with the request that it should be forwarded im- 
 mediately to the Home Government. The exact words 
 fail us now, but they constituted an earnest appeal to 
 the Mother Country not to again desert her subjects at 
 a very critical moment. 
 
 What madness possessed British Ministers to ignore 
 the cry for a remedy of our disabilities ? Alas ! the 
 Little Englanders were in power, with only one Big 
 Englander amongst them, Lord Rosebery, and our fear 
 that he would be ' Harcourted ' was correct. Our one 
 hope was centred in Her Majesty the Queen, but our 
 cries were too faint to reach the throne ; had she 
 known, is it not possible that the bloodshed of to-day 
 might never have occurred ? 
 
 What were the legal aspects of the case ? For this 
 the musty tomes which guard the secrets of inter- 
 national law must be taken down, and patient research 
 will reveal the fact that never in the history of the 
 world has it been a custom to compel the subjects of a 
 friendly State to fight against their will another country's 
 battles. The principle that without citizenship no obli- 
 gation to military service is incurred is as old as the 
 hills, and no fine reading between the lines of Conven- 
 tions could alter the Grond-Wet of the world's liberty. 
 But the Boers were content to sink beneath the ancients, 
 and rank with barbarians in pursuing a policy which 
 appeared to have the tacit approval of Her Majesty's 
 Government. Had we not felt that we had a sympa- 
 thetic man in Sir Jacobus de Wet, the die might have 
 been cast and the Republic accepted on any terms ; but 
 for him, we venture to say, such would have been the 
 case, with results which we leave others to evolve. 
 
 The reports of the meetings and the visit to the 
 British Agency had created much excitement in 
 Pretoria and Johannesburg, and efforts were made by 
 the Government to discourage the movement. The 
 
 9
 
 I30 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 Government organs, the Press, the Volksstem, Standard 
 and Diggers' News, and the Transvaal Mining Argus, 
 and others, were duly primed, and daily hurled venom 
 and invective at those who would not bow the knee to 
 Baal. 
 
 Great pressure was brought to bear by certain 
 members of the churches to which the clergymen en 
 the committee belonged, the consequence of which was 
 that the Rev. James Gray and the Rev. Mr. Woofenden 
 had with great reluctance to sever their connection 
 with it. The Rev. Mr. Underwood refused to do so 
 under any consideration, although we believe the con- 
 sequences to him were serious ; he certainly left for 
 England shortly after. The excitement increased when 
 it was known that warrants were being taken out for the 
 arrest of the Revs. Messrs. Underwood and Woofenden 
 and one of the authors of this book. The warrants 
 were actually signed, but were never issued, perhaps 
 for the reason that an enterprising journalist, Mr. F. J. 
 Dormer, of the Star, had cabled to the Pall Mall 
 Gazette that the arrest was an accomplished fact, he 
 having been told, we believe by the State Attorney, 
 that the arrests would be effected a few moments 
 before he despatched the wire. Urgent messages 
 reached the three gentlemen to destroy any incrimi- 
 nating papers without delay, but they had none to 
 destroy, except perhaps indiscreet letters from sympa- 
 thizers in Johannesburg. We feel sure that it would- 
 have been a joy to these gentlemen to become the 
 martyrs of this tyranny, but the subtle cunning of the 
 Krugerites argued that it would be better diplomacy to 
 keep the warrants hanging over their heads — especially 
 as news of what was going on had reached England. 
 
 The committee worked day and night at their self- 
 appointed task. Letters were written home to news- 
 papers and members of Parliament to try and interest
 
 THE APPEAL TO C/ESAR 131 
 
 them in our cause, but with faint results. Time was 
 flying ; the commandos would soon be leaving, when it 
 would be too late, perhaps. Urgently-worded cables 
 were despatched to the British Government, with but 
 little effect. Never, surely, had Englishmen, in defiance 
 of the expressed opinion of the British Government's 
 representative on the spot, been treated in such a 
 manner. The last excuse was that nothing could be 
 done till the arrival of the High Commissioner, Sir 
 Henry Loch, who was fast nearing South Africa on 
 his return from England, whence his departure had 
 been accelerated by the news of the commandeering. 
 
 However, on June 13 the following letter was tele- 
 graphed to the British Agent by the Administrator, 
 Sir W. G. Cameron : 
 
 ' I have the honour to acquaint you that I have been in consulta- 
 tion with Her Majesty's Government respecting the commandeer- 
 ing of British subjects now being carried on in the South African 
 Republic. 
 
 ' The question has been very carefully considered with a view to 
 meeting, as far as possible, the difficulties of the situation, and in a 
 friendly spirit towards the Government and people of the South 
 African Republic. 
 
 ' I desire, therefore, that you will invite the attention of the 
 Government of the South African Republic to the subject, with a 
 view to a withdrawal of the military obligations which have been 
 imposed on British subjects who are acknowledged to be aliens, 
 and are treated as such in all other respects. 
 
 ' This privilege of exemption appears to have been already 
 acknowledged by the Government of the South African Republic, 
 for in his despatch to Sir Henry Barkly, dated October 20, 1876, 
 etc., the late President Burgers expressed himself as follows : 
 
 ' " I can confidently state, however, that express and decided 
 orders were issued to commanding officers to call out only citizens 
 of the State, and not to exact any personal military service from 
 foreigners unless they had by law become bo?id-Jide subjects of the 
 Republic, and had claimed and exercised their rights as citizens ; 
 and I may add that this Government is not only desirous to observe 
 the rules of hospitality followed by all civilized States in respect to 
 any stranger who may for a time become resident in the Republic, 
 
 9—2
 
 132 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 but it would also strongly suppress any attempt of its officials to 
 commit a breach of such rules." 
 
 ' Nothing can be clearer or more satisfactory than the despatch 
 of President Burgers, and I enclose, for convenience of reference, 
 a copy of the full text. 
 
 ' By Article 29, sub-section E, of the original draft of the Pretoria 
 Convention, British subjects were exempted from all military service 
 whatever, and this stiptilation was accepted by Dr. Jorissen on 
 behalf of the Transvaal delegates in the Conference of July 15, 
 1881. (See p. 98 of C 3,219, being Part 2 of the Parliamentary 
 paper containing the reports of the Royal Commissioners.) This 
 engagement was not apparently embodied in the Convention sub- 
 sequently signed, but it may fully be accepted as a declaration of 
 policy.' 
 
 ' I may also point out that during the American Civil War British 
 subjects were, on the representation of Her Majesty's Government, 
 exempted by the United States Government from compulsory 
 military service. 
 
 ' In view, therefore, of these considerations and of the past 
 attitude of the Government of the South African Republic, as 
 well as of their action in exempting subjects of several foreign 
 Governments under treaty, Her Majesty's Government hope that 
 the Government of the South African Republic will now agree to 
 similar exemptions in favour of our people. 
 
 ' I shall be glad, therefore, if you will as soon as possible press 
 for this in courteous terms. For this purpose you should call on 
 the State Secretary, and after explaining to him the object of your 
 visit, you should read him this despatch, and leave a copy with him 
 if desired to do so.' 
 
 On June 15 Mr. Buxton, Under-Secretary for the 
 Colonies, replying to a question in the House of 
 Commons, said that Sir William Cameron had been 
 instructed to ^res^ President Kruger courteously to exempt 
 British subjects from service. This reply effectually 
 prevented any good resulting from the despatch. Mr. 
 Esselen the State Attorney's interpretation of it was, 
 ' You can commandeer British subjects, but please 
 don't.' 
 
 On June 22 Mr. Buxton informed the House that 
 the Transvaal Government had sent no reply to their 
 request re non-commandeering of British subjects. But
 
 THE APPEAL TO C/ESAR 133 
 
 the British Government on the previous day — June 21 
 — must have received its reply indirectly, for on that 
 day the Transvaal Government arrested the comman- 
 deered men, and sent them away as prisoners to the 
 front. On June 22 they arrested and imprisoned in 
 Pretoria Gaol for refusing to go to the front a British 
 subject, who was first thrashed by the Acting Veld- 
 cornet, Mr. Alphonse Meintjes. Such was the Trans- 
 vaal's answer, which would have caused war with any 
 other country but England. 
 
 Day after day we waited on the British Agent, who 
 still counselled patience, and said the British Govern- 
 ment must interfere. Negotiations were opened with 
 some members of the National Union, who promised 
 every support, which was loyally rendered. They 
 despatched an urgent cable to Lord Rosebery, stating 
 ' that bloodshed would ensue unless the existing state 
 of affairs was remedied.' This seemed to awaken the 
 sluggish conscience of the Ministry. 
 
 Their weakness and the terrorism of Pretoria had 
 somewhat damped the hopes of the Britishers who had 
 promised not to serve, for only three were steadfast. 
 The night before the commandos left another young 
 fellow (they were mainly young fellows) was persuaded 
 to resist, and on the same day a loyal Cape Colonist, by 
 name Van Rooyen, decided, in spite of the opposition of 
 his friends and family, that he also would not be coerced ; 
 he remained firm, notwithstanding every temptation 
 from Government officials, many of whom were his 
 relatives. Then three others decided at the last moment 
 that they would not serve, and thus the cause was won. 
 Seven men were determined not to go to the front, one 
 of whom had, prior to taking any part in the movement, 
 sent in a legal objection to his enlistment, which his 
 advocates advised him not to withdraw. When the 
 list was called by the Veldcornet, the seven men refused
 
 134 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 to go, handing in a written refusal ; the burghers then 
 formed up ready to leave. But it must for ever be 
 a matter of regret that in spite of many bitter reproaches 
 a large number of Englishmen submitted, afraid of the 
 boycott of Pretoria. 
 
 The sun was sinking behind the Magaliesberg Hills 
 as the commando slowly wound its way through the 
 crowded streets, and thence out on to the veld. At 
 intervals could be seen the bereaved mother, with little 
 children clinging to her skirts, bewailing the departure 
 of the bread-winner ; a scene of sorrow such as would 
 touch the hardest heart. Behind came carts and car- 
 riages carrying the wealthier portion of the community, 
 who had come to bid a last farewell to those they 
 loved. 
 
 The Transvaal Advertiser wd^s, filled with accounts of 
 the sufferings of the destitute left behind by the com- 
 mando. Cases such as the following were to be daily 
 read about : ' Mrs. Elliot, who resides near the Presi- 
 dency, had the bread-winner of herself and three little 
 children commandeered, and would have starved by 
 this time were it not that two or three friends supplied 
 her wants.' The suffering was not confined entirely to 
 the British ; the Hollanders had to go, of course, and 
 one, a poor fellow, a burgher named Van der Westhuizen, 
 committed suicide at the first resting-place in the Thorns, 
 owing to the fact that his family were left unprovided 
 for preying on his mind. Happily the Uitlanders filled 
 the breach, and relieved as far as possible all cases 
 of destitution without distinction, while the Transvaal 
 Government stood looking on in sullen apathy. 
 
 The men who had refused to go to the front 
 were still at large, and a very strong feeling existed 
 that a position should be taken up where water 
 was obtainable, the spot provisioned, and held by a 
 number of men who would fight if necessary to prevent
 
 THE APPEAL TO C/ESAR 135 
 
 the Government securing the men as prisoners. At a 
 meeting of the Secret Committee in Johannesburg held 
 some time after, it was announced that nearly 5,000 men 
 were available, and that it was thought many of the 
 Krugersdorp burghers would join in a struggle for a 
 pure Republic. A careful examination of facts led to 
 the conclusion that armed resistance would be futile, as 
 at the outside we could only command 500 to 1,000 rifles, 
 and most of these would have had to be obtained by 
 violating the gunsmiths' stores, as the movement had 
 no funds behind it. The artillery camp and magazine 
 were strongly guarded every night, and an attack on 
 them would have to be made with revolvers and sticks, 
 which would have resulted in failure, with a heavy 
 sacrifice of life, as the defenders were armed with 
 breechloaders and held a strong position. These plans 
 were only known to very few, the inner circle of the 
 movement, and we do not believe one word of their 
 actual plans reached the ears of the Government. 
 
 At last on June 16 it was rumoured that the State 
 Attorney intended taking action against those British 
 subjects who had refused to go to the front, and a large 
 public meeting was held for the purpose of raising funds 
 for the defence of the prisoners. It took place in the 
 Caledonian Hall, Pretoria, and w^as most enthusiastic. 
 The Rev. Mr. Underwood made a stirring appeal to 
 those present to support the cause, and, though most 
 of the audience were working men, they subscribed in 
 a few minutes a sum of over £"400. The scene was one 
 of tremendous excitement ; men who had no money 
 sent up I.O.U.'s to the platform, scribbled contribu- 
 tions on any piece of paper available, and not one of 
 these drafts was dishonoured. All gave except the 
 Government spies. Perhaps the most touching gift 
 was an act of sacrifice on the part of a young English- 
 man, who was so down on his luck that he had no
 
 136 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 money to give ; so taking his dog, a favourite pointer, 
 he insisted on its being sold then and there for what 
 it would fetch, on behalf of the fund. 
 
 Attorneys were secured, as also the services of the 
 Hon. J. W. Leonard, Q.C., a true Loyalist, and of Mr. 
 Advocate J. W. Wessels (author of 'The Status of the 
 Uitlander '), who refused to accept any fee, only too 
 proud to be of service to their fellow-subjects. 
 
 It was decided to forestall the State Attorney by 
 making application to the Court for a rule nisi calling 
 on the Veldcornet, Mr. Melt Marais, to show cause 
 why the men should be commandeered or fined for 
 refusing commando duty. The application was heard 
 by the full Bench, composed of the Chief Justice, 
 J. G. Kotze, and Judges Jorissen and Morice. The 
 eloquence of Mr. Leonard in pleading for the applicants 
 has never been surpassed by him, while Mr. Esselen, 
 who appeared for the Government, made a brilliant 
 defence. Legal authorities in all languages were 
 quoted in the original ; every effort was made on both 
 sides. The display of forensic ability called forth a 
 tribute of praise from the Chief Justice, and the feeling 
 in Court was that a victory had been gained, and that 
 the commandeering would be declared illegal. Judg- 
 ment was reserved. On the Sunday which intervened 
 it was rumoured that the President was applying pressure 
 to one of the judges ; it was also stated that if an adverse 
 judgment was given, martial law would be immediately 
 proclaimed. On the Monday a majority judgment was 
 given by the Chief Justice and Dr. Jorissen, Judge Morice 
 dissenting, 'that British subjects and all aliens not 
 exempted by treaty resident in the Transvaal over 
 two years are liable to be called out for military service.' 
 The application of the men, with one exception, was 
 therefore refused. The extraordinary feature of this 
 judgment, which has been the subject of much dispute
 
 THE APPEAL TO C^SAR 137 
 
 in legal circles, is the fact that Judge Jorissen assented 
 to it, when he had, as specified in Sir William Cameron's 
 despatch, quoted previously, agreed to exempt British 
 subjects from being commandeered. Unfortunately, we 
 were deprived of this argument, as the despatch was not 
 published till long after the case had been heard. The 
 Chief Justice may not have erred in his judgment from 
 a local legal point of view, but it was the plain duty of 
 Dr. Jorissen to remind his chief of the obligation he 
 himself had entered into, which would either debar him 
 from sitting to hear the application, or make him give 
 judgment in favour of the applicants. His action can 
 only be characterized as one of unjustifiable betrayal 
 and a travesty of justice. 
 
 On June 21 the commandeered men were arrested 
 and taken prisoners. It was with the greatest difficulty 
 that the committee avoided active resistance being made 
 to this act of the Government. But the Loyalists had 
 pinned their faith on Sir Jacobus de Wet, and they 
 knew no overt act would strengthen their case, which 
 was now raised to higher and broader grounds. 
 
 Large numbers of ladies wearing the red, white, and 
 blue colours escorted the prisoners to the drift on the 
 north side of the town, and others drove some miles out 
 to see them as far on the road as possible. At a spot 
 called the Halfway House the last farewells were said, 
 burning speeches were made, which even touched the 
 hearts of the volunteer escort, under Tjaart Kruger, 
 the President's son, so much so that they could not 
 resist joining in the cheers which greeted the speakers' 
 utterances. The prisoners, Messrs. Reno, Steer, May- 
 nard. Ingle, and Clark — all honour to them — then 
 mounted the wagon which was to convey them to 
 their destination at the front, to be dealt with by the 
 Krygsraad (court-martial). 
 
 The Uitlander community was at this stage practically
 
 138 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 in a state of unarmed revolt. Men's feelings were so 
 excited by the action of the Government that work was 
 at a standstill. The Government refused certain cipher 
 messages, attempts were made to ring the old changes 
 on Free State and Cape sympathy ; but Kruger had 
 overreached himself, as he now found to his regret, 
 and that assistance which had never before been 
 refused was tardily forthcoming. If war had then 
 occurred, he would have had lots of sympathy, but 
 his overconfidence would have lost for him the 
 material assistance he had been accustomed to receive 
 in the past. Still, he never looked back : money and 
 goods were commandeered, the burghers being let off 
 lightly, while the full pound of flesh was exacted from 
 the Uitlander. And the forces of corruption were at 
 work vainly striving to get through a Cyanide Monopoly, 
 which would have been as serious a blow to the mining 
 industry as the Dynamite Concession. 
 
 A mass meeting had been arranged at Johannesburg 
 for Saturday, June 22, when it was announced that the 
 Governor, Sir Henry Loch, would for certain visit 
 Pretoria within a few days. It was therefore decided 
 to postpone it, to avoid embarrassing him. Everything 
 was done that prudence could dictate to secure a 
 decisive step on the part of the English Government. 
 In view of this, all revolutionary methods were dis- 
 couraged, and the Governor's visit effectually prevented 
 any recourse to measures which might or might not 
 have been successful, but which would have so adver- 
 tised our case that, at a sacrifice of a few devoted lives, 
 justice would have had to be done. 
 
 It was felt that the Governor must obtain for us 
 those concessions for which we had been striving so 
 long and so patiently ; his task seemed so easy, and 
 yet he declined. 
 
 On the Loyalist side goodsolid work was being done
 
 THE APPEAL TO CAESAR 139 
 
 by Mr. Henry Hess, of the Critic, a man who has 
 rendered yeoman service to British interests in the 
 Transvaal. The Transvaal Advertiser in Pretoria, and 
 the Star in Johannesburg, were busily opposing the 
 subsidized efforts of the Government organs. Unfortu- 
 nately, the Star had for some time been running on the 
 Progressive Republican tack, which somewhat minimized 
 its influence with the majority of British subjects who 
 were trying to steer the Imperial barque into port. On 
 the failure of Sir Henry Loch to accomplish the removal 
 of disabilities, it promptly veered round again to robust 
 republicanism, leaving the Advertiser dsid the Critic to 
 labour alone on the other side. 
 
 On the 22nd, as stated above, it was announced that 
 the Governor was leaving for Pretoria, and would arrive 
 on the 25th. The news was somewhat unexpected, as 
 it was certain that he was not invited by the Transvaal. 
 .Little time was left for making preparation to receive 
 him, so that the Uitlanders' case might be properly 
 represented. Petitions were drawn up hurriedly, and 
 the working men of Pretoria and Johannesburg soon 
 showed by their signatures that they were unanimous 
 in appealing for justice to Caesar. Within three days 
 .nearly 14,000 signatures had been collected, and with 
 time double the number would have been obtained. 
 The British Agent could not help admitting, when he 
 heard this, that ' the British Government must and 
 would remedy the state of affairs existing in the Trans- 
 vaal.' He had yet painfully to learn what reliance 
 could be placed on a British Governor or a Liberal 
 Government in regard to South Africa.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Cesar's feet of clay 
 
 If our people were exasperated by the indignities to 
 which they had been subjected, the taunts of the Raad 
 members and the demands of the press-gang officers 
 made them almost frantic with rage. The arrest and 
 peremptory despatch of their fellow-subjects to the 
 front was bad enough in itself, without the overbearing 
 arrogance of those in power, and the callous indiffer- 
 ence of the Home Government. What added to their 
 feeling of hopeless impotence was the fact that every- 
 thing was done, as Mr. Leonard said, ' in such a dread- 
 fully legal way,' with all the cunning and malevolence 
 of racial hatred and fear at the dawning resurrection 
 of the Imperial idea. 
 
 The National Union, in despair at obtaining any 
 redress from the Government for Uitlander grievances, 
 followed the lead of the Uitlanders' Association in 
 Pretoria, and resolved to make an appeal to the British 
 Government for redress. On June 23 they passed the 
 following resolution : ' That any mere abrogation or 
 modification of the commando law which is not accom- 
 panied by the removal of all disabilities under which 
 the aliens are now suffering will not be regarded as 
 a satisfactory settlement by this Union.' That was 
 the point we were aiming at ; the commandeering was
 
 CiCSAR'S FEET OF CLAY 141 
 
 the knife which we hoped would have removed the 
 festering sore from South African pohtics. 
 
 At first it appeared that the High Commissioner 
 would not visit Pretoria as the guest of the Government- 
 It would seem that he must be that, or else he could 
 not pay a friendly visit. In view of the very unfriendly 
 way in which the Transvaal had acted, it was felt it 
 would have been decidedly better for him and us not 
 to come up if he could only do so as their guest. 
 
 There was a feeling that secret efforts were being 
 made in Cape Town to misrepresent the Uitlanders' 
 case. 
 
 The work of these agencies could be seen in perusing 
 the columns of the Bloemfoiitetn Express, then con- 
 ducted by Carl Borckenhagen, a German Africander, 
 which was the official organ of the Bond and the 
 United South Africa Republican party. Its abuse and 
 vituperation of the British Agent was of such a cruel 
 nature that that gentleman's sons wished to take the 
 law into their own hands, and were only restrained by 
 their father's influence from doing so. 
 
 The High Commissioner, we believe, had already 
 started, when the Transvaal Executive sent him a tardy 
 invitation to be their guest. Its acceptance filled 
 them with confidence, and envoys were despatched 
 to meet him in the Free State, while Dr. Leyds con- 
 descended to proceed as far as Vereeniging. At the 
 urgent request of many British subjects, Sir Jacobus 
 de Wet also arranged to meet him to guard against 
 attempts being made to prejudice the case of the 
 Uitlanders before he reached Pretoria. 
 
 It seemed at that time so difficult to get the ear of a 
 British Governor, and everyone with grievances e.xcept 
 a British subject was welcome. The Bond had so 
 effectually barred the way to imperial interference that 
 the Governors could not trust themselves to sail against
 
 142 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 the Africander tide, lest they should be wrecked on those 
 same rocks that had been so fatal to many a soldier's 
 reputation. Yet we who lived in the turmoil knew 
 that the moment had come to strike, and strike hard, 
 for British supremacy ; and for this end no precaution, 
 however trivial, was neglected. 
 
 Nominally the High Commissioner's visit was with 
 reference to the Swazieland Convention ; actually it 
 had very little to do with it, as the arrangements 
 previously concluded had been formally extended for six 
 months. The Colonial Office had hurried the departure 
 of Sir Henry Loch on the mission to Pretoria purely 
 on account of the state of affairs in the Transvaal. 
 
 Taking everything into consideration, it is apparent 
 that he ought never to have come to Pretoria as the 
 guest of the Boer Government unless they agreed to 
 stop the commandeering, which would have enabled 
 him properly to discuss the questions of the Uitlanders' 
 disabilities, and also the settlement of Swazieland 
 matters. 
 
 A firm request, backed up by the arguments of the 
 British Agent, would probably have secured the first 
 desideratum. If, however, it had failed, the arrest of 
 British subjects constituted surely in itself a very serious 
 position, and assuming that war had resulted, what 
 would have been our military position ? 
 
 On the one side, we had the Transvaal, with a big 
 native war on of its own making; with an alien popula- 
 tion driven to the verge of rebellion, who would have 
 enlisted to a man in any irregular corps that might 
 be formed ; with a disaffected section among the 
 burghers, temporarily alienated from the Free State 
 and the Cape Colony, who, although they would have 
 sympathized with the Transvaal, would not at this 
 time have fought on its side on the question of 
 Uitlander grievances. The Boers had a few batteries
 
 CESAR'S FEET OF CLAY 143 
 
 of field-guns — five or six at the outside ; they had no 
 siege-guns, no forts. They had been importing a 
 large number of Martini rifles, and had large supplies 
 of ammunition, which could also be manufactured at 
 the Powder Factory, In an emergency they could 
 perhaps have put 25,000 men in the field, including 
 extremists from the Free State and Cape Colony. We 
 could have easily held these with a force composed 
 of the regulars, volunteers, and Loyalists in the country. 
 At this time the Uitlanders would have fought to a 
 man, and Englishmen in the Transvaal would have 
 rallied round the flag far more so than in the Reform 
 movement, when there was no enthusiasm shown till 
 Jameson crossed the border, and more even than they 
 did at the beginning of the present war. The forced 
 enlistment of British subjects, coupled with the insults 
 and degradations to which we were subjected, had 
 created a degree of Loyalist enthusiasm unparalleled in 
 the history of South Africa. With these facts well 
 known to President Kruger, a strong diplomatist ought 
 to have had no difficulty in securing his object. In all 
 probability no bloodshed would havb occurred ; the 
 President would have tried every diplomatic resource, 
 and then thrown up the sponge. England has never 
 had a clearer case of wrong to avenge ; she is fighting 
 to-day in no better or juster cause than she had at that 
 moment. 
 
 But not only did Sir Henry Loch and the Liberal 
 Cabinet lose their chance of the pacific solution of a 
 serious difficulty, but they laid, through their inability 
 to grasp the seriousness of the situation, the foundation 
 of the terrible war which is now raging. 
 
 On June 23 the Cape Argus reporter wired that over 
 500 signatures had been obtained to the Pretoria peti- 
 tion, the only Uitlanders who would not sign being 
 those ' who were forbidden to do so under pain of dis-
 
 144 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 missal by their employers.' The terrorism was carried 
 to such an extent that individual members of the com- 
 mittee were warned not to go out at night unarmed. 
 An attempt was frustrated to tar and feather the Rev. 
 Mr. Underwood at his residence, where his wife was 
 dangerously ill at the time. Some five or six hundred 
 Uitlanders, armed with every available weapon, awaited 
 the * tar-and-feather ' party, which was to be composed 
 of artillerymen and roughs from the Government offices. 
 Luckily for them, the arguments of Messrs. Leyds and 
 Esselen, who heard of the proposal in time, saved the 
 situation, as, if fighting had once started, it could 
 certainly not have ended there. 
 
 By twelve o'clock on June 26 the Johannesburg 
 petition, which had only been in existence forty-eight 
 hours, was signed by 13,614 persons. 
 
 On June 25 Sir Henry Loch arrived at Pretoria. 
 The hour of his arrival was uncertain, and the Govern- 
 ment were averse to giving any information on the 
 subject. The people, not to be denied, were up as 
 early as six o'clock in the morning. Men, women, and 
 children, wearing red, white, and blue rosettes, and 
 waving little Union Jacks, thronged the station, waiting 
 the arrival of the man upon whom they relied as their 
 deliverer. When one considers that these Loyalists 
 were in many instances, directly or indirectly, depen- 
 dent on the Boer Government for their support, the 
 risk and the sacrifice which this welcome to the British 
 High Commissioner involved can be imagined ; for the 
 Government had its black list, supplied and added to 
 daily by the secret service. 
 
 It had been rumoured that attempts would be made 
 to prevent the public assembling on the platform ; 
 probably the early hour at which they gathered pre- 
 vented this being carried out. It was certain that 
 attempts would be made to prevent the presentation of
 
 CESAR'S FEET OF CLAY 145 
 
 an address. To prevent a surprise at the last moment 
 the State Attorney was informed that we intended to 
 present it at all risks, and he thereupon agreed to its 
 being handed in at the Transvaal Hotel. By eight 
 o'clock there were some 2,000 people present, who 
 were much annoyed to find that no preparation had 
 been made by the Government to give Sir H. Lock 
 a fitting reception ; there was not even an English flag 
 in evidence. A large Union Jack was therefore pro- 
 cured and 'fastened to a whip-stick;' it was confided 
 to a stalwart Africander, who towered above the heads 
 of the people. 
 
 About 8.30 President Kruger arrived, escorted by 
 the volunteer cavalr}^ with General Koch, and some 
 burghers. He took up a position near the entrance to 
 the station, and the wind, which was blowing from the 
 south, carried the flag over the President's head. At 
 this the burghers with their native superstition were 
 heard to mutter, ' It is a sign — a sign ! The flag keeps 
 over the President's head !' 
 
 Soon after the train arrived bearing Sir Henry Loch 
 and suite, who were received with tremendous cheering 
 — such cheering as never had been heard in Pretoria 
 before, and never will be heard again until the Union 
 Jack runs up on the Government buildings. At least 
 3,000 people must by then have been present, almost 
 entirely composed of British subjects and their sympa- 
 thizers ; and the way in which they sang 'God save 
 the Queen,' spoke volumes for the depth and strength 
 of those feelings, wrung from the bitterness of the hearts 
 so long suppressed, and now no more to be denied. 
 To do honour to the Governor, the horses were taken 
 from the President's carriage, and in a moment of 
 spontaneous excitement a Mr. Horner, a quiet man 
 who had never taken any part in politics, seized the 
 flag, and sprung on the box with it. The crowd lined 
 
 10
 
 146 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 the streets, while the cavalry escort kept discreetly in 
 the rear. In this way the procession entered the 
 town, singing patriotic songs in disregard of President 
 Kruger and Dr. Leyds, who must have experienced a 
 very uncomfortable ride. They could not hide from 
 themselves that this was no organized demonstration, 
 but an exhibition of spontaneous feeling which had never 
 been equalled in the country. In front of the Govern- 
 ment buildings were the Volksraad members gazing 
 with apprehension and discomfort at the procession. 
 The carriage stopped at the Transvaal Hotel, and, 
 amidst continuous cheering, the preliminary address of 
 welcome to the High Commissioner was read as follows : 
 
 ' We, the undersigned representatives of the British 
 subjects in this city, wish to take this opportunity of 
 presenting you with a preliminary address of welcome 
 on this your second visit to Pretoria as the representa- 
 tive of our Queen and country ; and in extending a 
 hearty greeting, do so in the full assurance that Your 
 Excellency will act up to the noble traditions and 
 principles of honour and liberty which were the boast 
 of our forefathers, and are the glorious heritage of the 
 British nation. With these few words of welcome, 
 which will be supplemented by an address to be sub- 
 mitted to Your Excellency, 
 
 ' We remain,' etc. 
 [Signed by the members of the Uitlander 
 Committee] .* 
 
 Sir Henry Loch, in replying, said : ' I thank you sin- 
 cerely for the cordial welcome extended to me on this 
 my second visit to Pretoria. I understand that another 
 
 * For reports of speeches, etc., we are in many instances in. 
 debted to the courtesy of the Argus Company in placing their 
 files at our disposal.
 
 CESAR'S FEET OF CLAY 147 
 
 address will be presented to me later on in the day, 
 and on that occasion I will refer at fuller length to 
 the subjects therein contained (loud cheers). Again I 
 thank you for this reception, and assure you I will 
 remember it for many long years to come.' Three 
 cheers were called for the Queen and her representa- 
 tive, and a round dozen were given. A similar ovation 
 was then accorded Sir Jacobus de Wet. The crowd were 
 still lingering while Sir Henry Lock was conversing 
 with one or two friends, when probably he received a 
 hint, which, if so, was promptly acted on. He stepped 
 forward again, and said : ' There is one thing I wish 
 you to do : if you respect the Queen, and myself as her 
 representative, respect my position here. I am here as 
 the guest of President Kruger, and by complying with 
 my request you will assist me in looking after your 
 interests and the interests of the country I represent.' 
 Sir Henry then called for cheers for President Kruger, 
 which invitation was, however, very half-heartedly re- 
 sponded to. 
 
 The latter remarks of His Excellencv acted some- 
 what as a damper on the crowd ; they had borne 
 with, and suffered so much from. President Kruger that 
 they could not understand the High Commissioner's 
 diplomacy. They were not going, however, to upset his 
 efforts now by any overt action. They took it that 
 this message implied a sense of responsibility on the 
 part of Her Majesty's representative, who would not 
 act as peacemaker if peace had to be bought at the 
 cost of sacrificing his own countrymen. 
 
 Dr. Leyds left the hotel by the back door during the 
 reading of the address ; but the President stayed over 
 half an hour with Sir H. Loch, and was eventually 
 accompanied to the Government Buildings by a small 
 crowd of burghers, his coachman having gone home 
 with the horses. 
 
 10 — 2
 
 148 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 In the evening a deputation, consisting of Messrs, 
 Sam Marks, E. F. Bourke, T. Hugo, J. W. Curlewis 
 (all burghers), and Attorney Hull of Johannesburg (now 
 a Reformer), called on the State President, assuring 
 His Honour of their firm support and very strong dis- 
 approval of the unseemly demonstration (?) organized 
 and led by a number of irresponsible British subjects. 
 These irresponsible British subjects, who represented 
 nine-tenths of the British residents of Pretoria, and 
 had behind them the masses of Johannesburg, were 
 with difficulty restrained from laying hands on the 
 self-constituted deputation of Krugerite sympathisers 
 when they left the President's presence. 
 
 As a matter of fact, their officious action was so 
 uncalled for that Dr. Leyds, replying in the Volksraad 
 on July 13 to Mr. Wolmarans' question re the alleged 
 disturbance on the occasion of the visit of Sir Henry 
 Loch, said : ' He believed, as previously stated, it was 
 the intention of the crowd to give a hearty welcome 
 to the Queen's representative, and not to insult the 
 Transvaal Government, etc. He regretted the absence 
 of the British flag. The matter was a serious one, and 
 was being inquired into.' 
 
 Meantime the town was filling up with armed 
 burghers, and the terrorism took a quieter but more 
 practical form. Gentlemen who were supposed to be 
 countenancing the British case were warned that they 
 would be in serious danger if they went outside the 
 town, and were cautioned by friends not to go out at 
 night. On the evening of the torchlight procession the 
 Hon. J. W. Leonard received definite information to 
 this effect as regards himself, and sent a message by 
 his valet to another person not to go out that evening, 
 as he would be in danger of his life. The latter, how- 
 ever, ran the risk, having well armed himself. 
 
 The staff of the Governor were entertained at the
 
 CESAR'S FEET OF CLAY 149 
 
 Club, and it was remarkable to see the way in which 
 men who had a few minutes before said to their 
 burgher friends, while taking a glass of liquor, ' This is 
 to take the taste of the accursed English language out 
 of my mouth,' were doing all they could by the aid of 
 that same language to influence the opinion of the 
 guests. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 26th the British residents of 
 Pretoria presented the local petition to the Governor, 
 which was a duplicate of the one presented by the 
 Johannesburg deputation shortly afterwards. It read 
 as follows : 
 
 ' We, the undersigned loyal subjects of Her Majesty 
 the Queen, beg respectfully to tender you on behalf of 
 Her Majesty's subjects in the Transvaal a hearty wel- 
 come upon this the occasion of Your Excellency's 
 second visit to Pretoria. Your Excellency's arrival at 
 this juncture affords us the opportunity of stating with 
 what confidence we regard your tenure of the high 
 office of Her Majesty's chief representative in South 
 Africa, and of stating that we respectfully look to Your 
 Excellency to uphold the interests of all British subjects 
 in the Transvaal in a manner consistent with the great- 
 ness of the traditions of our country, and so as to 
 maintain and strengthen the attachment of our fellow- 
 countrymen to their Queen. Your Excellency will 
 hardly need to be reminded how great are the interests 
 of Her Majesty's subjects in this country, but we would 
 wish to emphasize for Your Excellency's consideration 
 the peculiar difficulties which have lately manifested 
 themselves as being incidental to our position here. 
 Denied the franchise, and having recently been sub- 
 jected to the indignity of seeing a petition presented by 
 13,000 residents, mainly subjects of the Queen, praying 
 for some relaxation of the unjust franchise laws, greeted
 
 ISO THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 with laughter and scorn by the Legislature ; having, 
 further, been informed by the authorities that not only 
 we, but our children born in the country, can never 
 hope to participate in the most precious privileges of 
 citizenship, our wrongs have lately been accentuated 
 by the circumstance that the Courts and the Govern- 
 ment of this State have declared our liability to be 
 called out at any time for the carrying out of laws in 
 the making of which we can never have any voice, and 
 in the enforcement of which we have no interest. We 
 beg to assure Your Excellency that this position of 
 affairs is to us so intolerable that the situation is 
 fraught with the possibility of serious results, and we 
 respectfully beg Your Excellency to bestow the gravest 
 and most serious consideration upon it. We pass by 
 the numerous other grievances and disabilities under 
 which we labour in this State, being well aware that 
 Your Excellency is fully conversant with them, in the 
 hopes that our reliance upon Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment, whom it is your high privilege to represent in 
 South Africa, may always be justified, and that we 
 shall not have approached Your Excellency in vain 
 with this bare suggestion of the gravity of the situa- 
 tion. 
 
 ' We remain,' etc. 
 
 [The Petitioners]. 
 
 Mr. E. R. Roberts, who presented the address, then 
 made a few remarks with regard to grievances, which 
 had at that time not been fully exposed. While 
 pointing out the inequality of the indirect taxation, 
 which was practically confined to articles of food used 
 by the Uitlanders, and not the burghers, he was stopped 
 by the High Commissioner, who made this reply to 
 the assembled people. * He requested all British 
 subjects to observe the laws of the country in which
 
 CESAR'S FEET OF CLAY 151 
 
 they lived, and promised that he personally as High Com- 
 missioner and that Her Majesty's Government would 
 take into consideration any disabilities that British 
 subjects might suffer in this country. He added that 
 he had every confidence in the fairness and justice of 
 His Honour the President and the Government of the 
 Republic' His Excellency then moved towards the 
 crowd, and in the course of conversation asked several 
 of them what rifles were possessed by British subjects, 
 who replied that at the outside there were 500 to 1,000 
 available. The impression the inquiry made was, ' How 
 long could we hold out before reinforcements came if 
 attacked by the Boers ?' (See Appendix C.) 
 
 In spite of this, it was felt that Sir Henry Loch's 
 attitude was not as satisfactory as it had been the 
 previous day, and it was thought agencies were at 
 work to prevent the access to the High Commissioner 
 of men cognisant of our cause. The whole of the 
 secret armoury of the Government was at work, no 
 effort being spared, and we soon had grave fears that 
 one member at least of His Excellency's staff was being 
 seriously prejudiced. 
 
 On the same day it was stated in Government circles 
 that, owing to the representations of Herr von Herff, 
 the German Consul, who was a great friend of Dr. 
 Leyds, the German Government had become alarmed 
 at the prospect of British interference in the Transvaal. 
 There had 'been a communication between the English 
 and German Governments concerning the peace in 
 South Africa, and certain instructions had, in conse- 
 quence, been despatched to Sir Henry Loch. 
 
 Prior to this it had confidentially and confidently 
 been stated that the English Government were deter- 
 mined to mend or end the grievances of the Uitlanders. 
 Now the Transvaal Government had apparently received 
 assurances indirectly from ' von Herff,' and they refused
 
 152 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERiSM 
 
 to budge an inch towards reform. The President's old 
 excuse was trotted out, ' I could never get the burghers 
 to consent,' and once they were satisfied that he did 
 not mean to hold an ultimatum over their heads, the 
 High Commissioner lost his chance of effecting any- 
 thing. 
 
 A hitch had occurred, and the above is the only reason- 
 able excuse for Sir Henry Loch's failure. Assuming that 
 the Cabinet had modified his instructions, his proper 
 course would seem to have been to break off negotiations 
 at once, recognising that he could do nothing, and 
 assuring the Uitlanders that he personally would never 
 rest until their grievances were redressed ; obtained at 
 the same time a pledge from them that they would not 
 commit any overt act pending the result of an appeal 
 which would be made by him on their behalf to the 
 Imperial Government. If such a message haa been 
 communicated privately to one of the leaders of the 
 Loyalists, the part}'' would have waited to see what the 
 British Government were going to do. Sir Henry must 
 have lost his head ; all he obtained was the cessation 
 of commandeering, which deprived us of the mainstay 
 of our agitation, and established that false peace which 
 was more exasperating than open and bloody battle 
 could have been. 
 
 There really was no excuse : week in and week out 
 our party had been drilling it into the British Govern- 
 ment that now was the time to insist on a remedy of 
 the existing abuses. Sir H. Loch must have known 
 that the effort made by the Loyalists of Pretoria in the 
 heart of the Boer camp could never be attempted by 
 them again, that they had staked their all on its success. 
 By acting as he did, he ruined many of them, in the 
 same way as many were ruined by the retrocession. 
 The Boers never forget, and the Kruger Government 
 never forgives. How deeply some must have regretted
 
 CESAR'S FEET OF CLAY 153 
 
 ever to have staked aught for the sake of the Empire ; 
 for even their own countrymen forsook them in some 
 instances, afraid to be seen with the men who were 
 marked by the Government. 
 
 The Africander Bond at the Cape, ahve to the ad- 
 vantage to be got out of the demoraHzation of the 
 Enghsh in the Transvaal, was not slow in striking. 
 On June 26 two characteristic motions were submitted 
 to the Cape Parliament : Mr. Botha in the Legislative 
 Assembly proposed to censure Sir Jacobus de Wet, 
 but he was promptly sat upon by one or tv/o of the 
 English members. In the Lower House Mr. Van 
 der Walt was more successful. He begged to move 
 as an unopposed motion, ' That this House desires 
 to express its regret at the unseemly display of dis- 
 respect as reported in the newspapers and telegrams 
 towards the President and Government of the Trans- 
 vaal Republic by individuals representing themselves as 
 British subjects on the occasion of the official and 
 friendly visit of His Excellency the Governor of the 
 colony and Her Majesty's High Commissioner.' After 
 some discussion, it was decided that the motion 
 could not be accepted in the form proposed. After 
 several members had abused the High Commissioner 
 for going to Pretoria at all, Mr. Rhodes rose amidst 
 profound silence, and said that he thought every 
 member of that House would approve the sentiment 
 expressed in the motion which the honourable member 
 claimed to be put as unopposed. * We all feel,' con- 
 tinued Mr. Rhodes, 'that we are deeply sorry at the 
 circumstances which have been stated to have occurred, 
 and we hope that they have been greatly exaggerated. 
 . . . Whether it be so or not, what we feel so deeply is 
 that our fellow-countrymen should have misbehaved 
 themselves in the manner that they are stated to have 
 done, and especially on an occasion when our Governor
 
 154 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 proceeded to Pretoria in order to improve the friendly 
 relations that have always existed between Her Majesty's 
 Government and the President of the Transvaal.' Mr. 
 Sauer said, among other things, that he could hardly 
 believe the High Commissioner would be so injudicious 
 as to go to Johannesburg. ' I do not say,' he argued, 
 * that they are on the verge of revolution in Johannes- 
 burg, but I do say that the population of that town is 
 in such an excited condition that the least encourage- 
 ment, even if it were accidental, on the part of the High 
 Commissioner might lead to very serious consequences, 
 and a state of things which everybody in this country 
 would deeply deplore.' Mr. Merriman said in the 
 course of his speech, ' Let the residents of the Trans- 
 vaal and the Government fight out their own differences' 
 — a noble sentiment for one Englishman to harbour 
 towards his countrymen ! 
 
 Not a word of sympathy was expressed for the 
 Uitlanders, and even the Cape Town papers were 
 strangely silent at the time. What Mr. Rhodes' 
 reasons were for non-interference in the Transvaal 
 then no one will know until that gentleman writes his 
 own apologia. Within six months he had changed his 
 mind. Financial reasons can hardly have influenced 
 him ; the interests of his friends might affect him, but 
 he is not a man who considers his personal advantage. 
 He is nevertheless greatly to blame for not having 
 supported the Uitlander cause firmly at that time ; 
 and, in fact, for so little sympathising with it that he 
 objected to a vote of sympathy when the storm of 
 indignation from Johannesburg was making itself felt, 
 and threats were used of boycotting the Cape Railway 
 route in favour of a colony (Natal) which had always 
 stood by loyally when the vital principles of the Empire 
 were at stake. This failure on the part of Mr. Rhodes 
 was the cause of much trouble in the future ; he could
 
 CESAR'S FEET OF CLAY 155 
 
 have made the Liberal Government take notice, were 
 they even ever so disincHned to help. 
 
 Meantime the National Union had invited the High 
 Commissioner to visit Johannesburg (an invitation of 
 which Mr. Sauer seems to have had very early intima- 
 tion), where he was sure of a very hearty reception. 
 President Kruger was, of course, opposed to his going, 
 because he must there have formed some idea of the 
 tremendous force behind the Reform movement. He 
 wrote urging Sir H. Loch not to accept, 'as he was 
 afraid a collision would occur with the burghers, for 
 which he would not be responsible.' This was, of 
 course, nonsense. Had Sir Henry Loch visited 
 Johannesburg, he would have been received by 30,000 
 Loyalists or more, and if the police could not have 
 controlled the few Boers who might have been there, 
 the crowd very soon would. As a matter of fact, the 
 visit would have so exposed the weakness of the 
 Republic that Kruger was determined to prevent it at 
 all costs, and it was partly on this account, we believe, 
 that Sir Henry Loch obtained the cessation of the 
 commandeering. The Transvaal Government had 
 really no diplomatic standing in the matter, for the 
 Portuguese were exempted by treaty, and as the 
 French and Germans came under the ' most favoured 
 nation ' treatment, the British were equally entitled 
 to it both as a friendly Power, and also under the Con- 
 vention, which insured our subjects, in certain respects, 
 equal rights to those enjoyed by other inhabitants of 
 the country, quite apart from the points in General 
 Cameron's despatch. 
 
 Since this was written, we have received the most 
 important corroboration of our surmise concerning the 
 real cause of Sir H. Loch's success in abolishing com- 
 mandeering. We have the greater pleasure in referring 
 to, it, as it shows Mr. Kotze in a very good light, and
 
 1S6 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 explains the difficulty which some of his friends had in 
 reconciling his judgment on the commandeering case, 
 from a local point of view, with the principles of inter- 
 national law. 
 
 * On the day when Sir Henry Loch arrived at 
 Pretoria, Chief Justice Kotze received a note from 
 Dr. Leyds asking him to come round to the Govern- 
 ment Office, as the President was very anxious to see 
 him. This was shortly after the President had left the 
 High Commissioner. On the Chief Justice's arrival 
 he found Messrs. Kruger and Leyds alone. Leyds was 
 as white as a sheet, probably owing to the fright he got 
 at the welcome to Sir H. Loch. Kruger then handed 
 him a despatch from the acting High Commissioner, 
 General Cameron (quoted on p. 131), which had been 
 in the hands of the Boer Government some time before 
 it was shown the Chief Justice, Having read the 
 despatch, the President said that Sir H. Loch had also 
 pressed the point, and he asked for the Chief Justice's 
 opinion on the matter, and as to whether the decision 
 of^the High Court had not settled the question. Mr. 
 Kotze told him that he must not confound or mix up the 
 decision of the Court with the request of Her Majesty's 
 Government. The decision of the Court was based on 
 the local law, and was a judicial matter. The request of 
 Her Majesty's Government was, however, a practical one, 
 and to that there could be but one answer. The High 
 Commissioner was quite within his right not merely to 
 ask, but to demand, that British subjects should be placed 
 on the same footing as those of other nationalities with 
 whom the Transvaal had made treaties, and who had 
 the benefit of the ' most favoured nation ' clause. He 
 also impressed upon Kruger the necessity of yielding, 
 and showed him the incongruity of doing otherwise by 
 asking him how he could with a good grace refuse so 
 reasonable a request made by Great Britain, with
 
 CESAR'S FEET OF CLAY 157 
 
 whom he had a Convention, and who had j:j^iven him 
 back the country, when he had granted by treaty 
 exemptions to the subjects of such small countries as 
 Holland, Belgium, and Portugal. Kruger then re- 
 quested him to make that statement in the Volksraad, 
 the Chief replying " that he would not merel}' say it in 
 the Volksraad, but would proclaim it from the house- 
 tops," for it was the only right and just thing to do. 
 The President subsequently got up and went upstairs 
 to the First Volksraad, and the interview terminated. 
 The next day the Chief Justice received a note from 
 Dr. Leyds asking him by desire of the President to 
 attend the Volksraad, which he did, and found the 
 doors all locked. A mounted policeman (he was, how- 
 ever, not then on his charger) gave a peculiar knock on 
 the door as it seemed, and, mirabile didu, Leyds him- 
 self was the man who came to open the door of the 
 First Volksraad. The Chief entered, and found the 
 First and Second Volksraad members in secret session. 
 The President explained that he had sent for Mr. Kotze, 
 the question on the order being the request of the High 
 Commissioner. The Chief Justice then repeated, speak- 
 ing in a very earnest and decided tone, what he had 
 already the previous day told President Kruger. The 
 result was that the First Volksraad passed a resolution 
 authorizing the Government to draw up a treaty on the 
 subject with Her Majesty's Government exempting 
 British subjects from personal military service. The 
 treaty, however, has never yet been finally approved 
 by the Volksraad.' 
 
 The Uitlanders' case was far stronger with the com- 
 mandeering than without it, and had they known it 
 was to be the only one of their rights to be wrung from 
 Mr. Kruger, they would never have asked for the inter- 
 ference of the Home Government. 
 
 On the 28th the Hon. John Tudhope acknowledged
 
 158 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 the receipt of Sir Henry Loch's wire postponing his 
 visit to Johannesburg, and stated that a deputation from 
 the EngHsh residents of the Witwatersrand would be 
 presented to him on the following day at five o'clock. 
 In the course of the message he says : ' British subjects 
 in the State are much afraid that the extreme gravity of 
 the present crisis and the necessity for giving immediate 
 relief from the intolerable burdens that have been im- 
 posed upon them, as well as from the condition of 
 political serfdom to which they have been reduced, has 
 not yet been adequately realized by the Government and 
 Volksraad of the Republic. While yet assured that in 
 Your Excellency's hands their interests will be satis- 
 factorily safeguarded, they would respectfully but very 
 earnestly ask Your Excellency to use your powerful in- 
 fluence in obtaining for British subjects in the South 
 African Republic immediate relief from these burdens, 
 and a full recognition of their rights and privileges as 
 law-abiding citizens, who have contributed so largely to 
 the progress and prosperity of the State.' 
 
 On the 2gth the deputation from Johannesburg, 
 headed by the Hon. John Tudhope, Hon. J. W. Leonard, 
 Q.C., Mr. St. John Carr, and others, handed in the 
 Johannesburg petition, signed by 14,800 signatures, 
 making a total with the Pretoria petition of over 
 16,000 signatures. In an eloquent speech Mr. Tudhope 
 pointed out ' the grievances under which the Uitlanders 
 suffered ; the scornful reception of their desires by the 
 Volksraad recently ; and their being liable to military 
 service under the Commando Law, without the slightest 
 chance of sharing in the government of the State or 
 the privileges of the burghers. The interference of 
 Her Majesty's representatives had only been asked as a 
 last resort, as all other representations by means of 
 deputations, meetings, and petitions to the Volksraad 
 had failed.' To the great surprise of the deputation.
 
 CESAR'S FEET OF CLAY 159 
 
 His Excellency, in thanking them for the hearty 
 welcome conveyed, regretted that he could not receive 
 them in the centre of their great city ; advised them 
 to work in a conciliatory manner with the Government for 
 the redress of their grievances; and informed them that 
 the Government had acceded to his request not to 
 commandeer British subjects in the future.' 
 
 The pubHc thought that Sir Henry Loch's visit had 
 only just commenced. They knew their grievances 
 would cause lengthy discussion, and it therefore came 
 as a great shock when they heard that he was leaving 
 at once for Cape Town. This movement was kept very 
 secret, but the fact that steam was being kept up on 
 the High Commissioner's special train revealed the 
 truth of the information. 
 
 All seemed hopeless at the moment, but the receipt 
 of a telegram from the five commandeered men, stating 
 that they had been turned out on the veld by the Boers 
 without any food or means of conveyance to Pietersburg, 
 caused one of the Loyalists to endeavour to see Sir 
 Henry Loch, and to seize the opportunity of making 
 a last appeal to that gentleman. Government officials 
 passed in and out, and still the High Commissioner 
 could not be seen. At last Sir Graham Bower appeared, 
 and said, ' The Governor can see nobody. What is 
 your business with him ?' The gentleman in question 
 replied it was of a private nature, and implored Sir 
 Graham in vain to let him see Sir Henry Loch. When 
 he at last reluctantly produced the wire. Sir Graham 
 exclaimed, ' It is false ! The Government have just 
 informed us that the prisoners have received every 
 attention.' 
 
 We should like to ask Sir Graham Bower why he 
 preferred the evidence of the Boers to that of his fellow- 
 countrymen ? We shall come to the actual experiences 
 of these men at the front later on.
 
 i6o THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 As if he had not done so sufficiently, Sir Henry Loch 
 completed our humiliation by addressing the Raads 
 prior to his departure on the 2gth. He assured them of 
 the friendship of Her Majesty's Government ; he said 
 there were questions which arose which required give 
 and take on both sides, but which in the end would go 
 to strengthen the feeling of friendship between the two 
 countries, which he hoped would ever exist. He felt 
 he could depend upon the friendly feelings of the Pre- 
 sident when questions arose between his Government 
 and the Transvaal. 
 
 Mr. Wolmarans, Chairman of the First Volksraad, 
 expressed his pleasure at seeing the distinguished visitor 
 (whose presence must at the same time have been gall 
 and wormwood to that gentleman). He stated that it 
 would always be the desire of the members to keep 
 on terms of friendship with Great Britain, and he 
 hoped relations would not be strained /or a considerable 
 time to come.'' Yes, not until the Transvaal had com- 
 pleted its schemes and its armaments ! 
 
 Shortly afterwards the President attended another 
 little seance. The mining magnates, who knew which 
 side their bread was buttered, were anxious to tender him 
 their sympathy ; while at the same time they felt rather 
 sore about the Cyanide Monopoly business, and other 
 little jobs which were in progress. Headed by Mr. Lionel 
 Phillips, Chairman of the Chamber of Mines, they pre- 
 sented an address ' disclaiming all sympathy with the 
 demonstration on the arrival of the High Commissioner, 
 assuring him of their support, but pointing out certain 
 grievances.' The President handed them a written 
 reply, so that there should be no mistake, in the course 
 of which he stated : ' I thank you for the kindly senti- 
 ments you express in the address, although I cannot 
 refrain from remarking upon the expressions which 
 reflect upon the Legislature, which expressions are
 
 CESAR'S FEET OF CLAY l6i 
 
 somewhat out of place in an address to me.' The 
 able hands of Messrs. Leyds and Esselen can be traced 
 in the latter clause of the reply, which was certainly 
 neat. 
 
 It is our object to show that the movement for equal 
 rights was not a capitalistic one, but that the capitalists 
 attached themselves to it in their own despair. At that 
 time Mr. Phillips wrote home, saying ' he did not care 
 about the franchise,' a fact which has been thrown m his 
 face over and over again by Dr. Leyds. But Mr. Phillips 
 was nominally a strong supporter of the Government ; 
 he was busy making money for himself and friends, and 
 it was not until he and his people saw that they might 
 as well have their money at the bottom of the sea as 
 continue to allow the Boers to make ' ducks and drakes' 
 of the country, that they joined the Uitlander cause. 
 As a matter of fact, our case would have been far better 
 without them, because they furnished the Boers with 
 a strong argument in their favour, an argument which 
 they have always used since the mining magnates 
 joined the agitation for constitutional rights. 
 
 On the evening of the 29th a tremendous crowd 
 assembled to see the High Commissioner off to Cape 
 Town. Heavy guards were, however, put on the 
 railway-station, and this time admittance to the plat- 
 form was prohibited. 
 
 II
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 A RHODESIAN SUBSTITUTE FOR FEET OF CLAY 
 
 There were now four factors in South African 
 politics, the Krugerites and the Advanced Africanders, 
 with leanings towards Mr. Kruger ; the Progressive 
 Africanders, who looked to Mr. Rhodes for guidance ; 
 and the Loyalists. 
 
 Mr. Kruger's policy, which had been carefully screened 
 in the past, now took more definite shape ; this found 
 expression in the President's parable at the festivities 
 on the opening of the Netherlands Railway, when he 
 compared the Transvaal to a child, which, if interfered 
 with by anyone, would speedily find a champion else- 
 where. Dr. Leyds had been sounding Berlin and other 
 centres with the object of obtaining sympathy and more 
 active support against Great Britain. In this he was 
 successful, as many commercial advantages could be 
 offered by the Transvaal ; and the ambition of Germany 
 to found a Colonial Empire was of the greatest assist- 
 ance to him. President Kruger was thus disposed to 
 develop his plans with less secrecy, taking great care 
 that his diplomacy should always be plausibly correct 
 where there was any likelihood of his actions being 
 brought to book under the ' foreign relations clause ' of 
 the London Convention (see Appendix D). 
 
 To trace this foreign intrigue to its source, we must
 
 RHODESIAN SUBSTITUTE FOR FEET OF CLAY 163 
 
 go right back to the Boer protest against the annexa- 
 tion, where it is stated that an appeal would be made 
 to foreign Powers, one of its after-consequences being 
 the seizure of the Delagoa Bay Railway by the Portu- 
 guese authorities. This act was purely and simply the 
 work of the Transvaal Government, prompted by the 
 fear that the company, being largely English, would 
 successfully interfere with the various schemes which 
 the President had in view. To get the control into the 
 hands of the Portuguese, who know the virtues of 
 ' palm oil ' almost as well as Mr. Kruger, was a matter 
 of importance to the President, because the railway 
 would thereby practically become an adjunct of the 
 Netherlands South African Railway. The British 
 Government ought, of course, to have insisted on the 
 return of the railway to its rightful owners ; but they 
 once more trifled with their responsibilities, and allowed 
 the matter to go to arbitration. That was upward of 
 nine years ago, and the award of the Swiss arbitrators 
 has not been fully published yet (igoo). 
 
 Mr. Kruger cannot be accused of inconsistency. He 
 had made up his mind as regards railway matters so 
 far back as 1884, when he opened up those valuable 
 connections in Lisbon, to which we have already 
 alluded ; his friends there were only too eager to assist 
 the Republic at a time when its growing wealth gave 
 hope of favours to come. Thanks only to the great 
 influence which England possesses in the highest 
 quarters of that country, the attempts at acquisition 
 of territory, and the purchase of the railway, with 
 certain rights at Delagoa Bay, fell through. 
 
 When our position was secured by the valued ' right 
 of pre-emption ' under the MacMahon award, and sub- 
 sequently formally included in a treaty with Portugal, 
 attempts were made to get the Great Powers to 
 nationalize the port, and to bind themselves not to 
 
 II — 2
 
 l64 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 permit any other Power to purchase or annex it. It 
 is on this latter point that the Boers have met with 
 more or less success, as they have foiled the many 
 attempts made by Great Britain to obtain control of 
 Delagoa Bay with the consent of Portugal. Whenever 
 negotiations have been on the point of completion, the 
 interference of one or other of the Powers has caused 
 them to fall through. 
 
 The Boer cum German policy was only pursued by 
 the wily President as a means to an end. He knew that 
 he could only rely on Germany's assistance to a certain 
 point, because England would outbid him if forced to 
 do so. On one occasion, speaking to a German officer 
 after the Raid, who was alluding to the assistance 
 Germany was prepared to render, he said, * It is all very 
 well to talk about what you will do, but when the old 
 lady says " Booh !" you are only too glad to keep quiet ;' 
 he was referring to the defined position which England 
 took up against German sympathy after the Raid. This 
 point was reached when the Anglo-German Treaty was 
 concluded — a treaty which, when published, will prob- 
 ably meet with much criticism, its sole object apparently 
 being to prevent Germany from interfering with our 
 South African policy, as she receives in return many 
 valuable considerations from us. It was, of course, a 
 protective measure against a coalition of three Great 
 Powers against us ; but an alliance with the United 
 States and Japan, on almost any terms, would have 
 been esteemed preferable by British South Africans, 
 who distrust the bond-fides of Germany. This dis- 
 trust first found expression in 1894, when it became 
 apparent that we had nursed a snake in our bosom, 
 which had seized the first opportunity to wound its 
 friend and protector of the past. One cannot think 
 that the Emperor's policy, great as his ambition is, can 
 be anti-English ; but his advisers have certainly done
 
 RHODESIAN SUBSTITUTE FOR FEET OF CLAY 165 
 
 their utmost to thwart Britain's legitimate aspirations 
 in South Africa. 
 
 The war has shown that England has few friends on 
 the Continent, and it would not be surprising to learn 
 that this unpopularity has been largely the work of 
 Boer agents. Both before and after the Jameson Raid 
 they have spared no pains to vilify us as a nation 
 Dr. Leyds has openly subsidized the European press, 
 and, we regret to admit it, a section of the English 
 press too. So daring is he in his method that he has 
 succeeded in ' acquiring influence ' where many another 
 would have failed ; he will subsidize any writer who 
 may have an opening in a recognised organ, and gets 
 his views advanced at will. He has nothing to learn 
 from Bismarck in methods, in which he stands un-^ 
 rivalled to-day. 
 
 Diplomacy such as ours could not expect to compete 
 successfully with that of the Boers, which is adapted 
 to their very special requirements, and to deal with a 
 Kruger one must fight him with his own weapons, and 
 those weapons are such as Englishmen of the old 
 school would perhaps scorn to use ; but without which 
 failure is certain. To subsidize paper against paper, 
 to make secret service meet secret service — these are 
 the only ways which could lead to success. 
 
 ' To do evil that good may come ' is an axiom which 
 will find exponents in South Africa so long as Oom 
 Paul is a power for evil, and only with his cessation 
 from practical politics may it be dispensed with. It 
 is fortunate for South Africa that Mr. Rhodes, who 
 has now come forward as the Uitlander champion, has 
 not shrunk from adopting it. 
 
 In making this assertion, we desire to be strictly 
 impartial, and in describing his work neither to extol 
 his successes nor minimize his errors. To-day Mr. Rhodes 
 is responsible for much of the trouble in South Africa;
 
 i66 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 but if wreck and ruin have occurred through the failure 
 of his plans, it is due to him to say that he acted always 
 with the best of intentions. The way to a warmer place 
 than Rhodesia is said to be paved with good intentions ; 
 let us hope that, in spite of the Krugerian methods 
 which Mr. Rhodes has used, he will not find in his 
 old age that personal ambition has overreached itself 
 or that the highest of motives cannot efface the memory 
 of these expedients. 
 
 Things in the Transvaal were drifting ; the Malaboch 
 War was dragging on its weary way in spite of the 
 congratulations of the Governor of the Cape Colony 
 on the capture of Malaboch's kraal. 
 
 The internal condition of lawlessness went on. A 
 glance at the newspaper files of 1894 reveals the fact 
 that on July 5, in Johannesburg, a disturbance was 
 caused at a fire owing to the brutality of the police, full 
 particulars of which were published in the Critic at the 
 time, and on October 8 a policeman named Van Voeren, 
 who was interfering with a servant girl, on being remon- 
 strated with by her mistress, a Mrs. Simpson, kicked 
 the lady in the abdomen, and she died from the effects. 
 In 1899 matters like these became generally known, 
 and the Transvaal Police was the subject of vigourous 
 comment in the English press ! 
 
 To revenge themselves for the forced abandonment of 
 commandeering, the Government made levies of large 
 sums of money from British subjects, pretending towards 
 the British authorities that they were general and not 
 confined to Uitlanders. This statement was an absolute 
 falsehood. Proposals were also made to tax the property 
 and interests of absentees. 
 
 On July 16 a mass meeting of the Transvaal National 
 Union was held under the chairmanship of the Hon. 
 John Tudhope, and speeches were delivered by Messrs. 
 Leonard, Wessels, and James Hay. Mr. Leonard's speech
 
 RHODESIAN SUBSTITUTE FOR FEET OF CLAY 167 
 
 was up to his usual high standard, and Mr. Wessels, 
 who spoke as a more representative Africander than 
 Paul Kruger himself, appealed to the capitalists not to 
 stand aloof when their fellow-Uitlanders called on them 
 for assistance. He concluded a telling speech with the 
 following quotation from Byron's ' Don Juan' as applied 
 to the waverers : 
 
 * A land of slaves shall ne'er be mine — 
 Dash down yon cup of Samian wine !' 
 
 The resolution of which we give an extract states, 
 'That this meeting of the Transvaal National Union, 
 while repudiating the unfounded charges made against 
 the Union of seeking to undermine the independence 
 of the Republic, hereby protests most emphatically 
 against the recent action of the Volksraad.' It 
 proceeds to deplore the franchise legislation of the 
 Raad, and to urge all who value the rights of citizen- 
 ship to join the Union. 
 
 The meeting created a great deal of enthusiasm, and 
 was remarkable as showing the tendency on the part 
 of some of the speakers to place no hope in future on 
 imperial interference, and to strike out for a Republic 
 entirely independent of British assistance. 
 
 The resolution passed was emphasized at a banquet 
 given subsequently to the returned prisoners, when Mr. 
 Leonard laid down the lines of future policy. His 
 remarks were a source of pain to us Loyalists of 
 Loyalists, who felt that the British Government must 
 finally assist us, and that the only remedy lay in repre- 
 sentation and petition, petition and representation, to 
 the Mother Country until she listened to our prayers. 
 That this policy was a sound one has been justified by 
 events, but one can quite understand that a man like 
 Mr. Leonard, who had been working year in and year 
 out as a sturdy Imperialist, was becoming tired of the
 
 i68 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 indifference of the Home Government, and despaired 
 of help from that source. 
 
 The different meetings which had been held, and 
 more particularly the announcement that a big wel- 
 come was to be given to the five prisoners who were 
 returning from the front, decided the Government to 
 rush through the Public Meetings Act or ' Gag ' 
 Law, as it was called. This law regulated the condi- 
 tions under which the public were allowed to congre- 
 gate in the streets and hold meetings in halls. It 
 expressly forbade the right of meeting in the open air, 
 except with the consent of the Government or legal 
 authorities. It was put through just in time to check 
 the reception of the prisoners. Not content with this, 
 the Government persuaded some of their wealthy 
 friends in Johannesburg to prevent the Wanderers' 
 Band and any sympathizers coming over. To guard 
 against their guilty fears, the police were provided with 
 arms, and instructions sent forbidding the coach to 
 stop or put down any passengers near the town. In 
 spite of this, a large number of friends in cabs and 
 carriages went out to receive them, and escorted them 
 up to the British Residency to shake hands wath the 
 gentleman who had done so much to obtain their 
 release. They were formally welcomed by Sir Jacobus 
 de Wet, who, in addressing the crowd, said ' the men 
 had stuck up for principles, and done nothing to be 
 ashamed of; they acted throughout like men. The 
 Courts of the country ordered them to go to the front, 
 and they went ; they had now returned, and he was 
 pleased to welcome them. They all knew that his position 
 debarred him from making speeches to a great extent. 
 He learnt that there was to be a meeting that night. 
 It was only fair they should meet and give expression 
 to anv grievances they might have. He advised them 
 to keep order and do nothing that could be construed
 
 RHODESIAN SUBSTITUTE FOR FEET OF CLAY 169 
 
 as hostile by the authorities. They should keep cool, 
 and make their complaints in a dispassionate manner.' 
 ' God save the Queen ' was then sung, and hearty cheers 
 given for the Queen and the British Agent. 
 
 The prisoners stated that absolutely no provision 
 was made for them by the authorities. They were told 
 to bear arms by Commandant Ferreira, C.M.G. ! and on 
 their refusing he offered to release them if they would 
 take guns and go up to the laager. They declined, saying 
 they would only go under escort. One of the Com- 
 mandants then said that if they would not fight or work 
 they should starve. The object of this was to enable 
 the Government to report to Sir Henry Loch, then in 
 Pretoria, that there was no objection to commandeering, 
 as even the prisoners had consented to take up arms ! 
 But the trick did not succeed. Finally they were 
 turned out on the veld, and peremptorily ordered to 
 leave the place without any provision being made for 
 their transport or food ; thanks to the aid of friends, 
 they managed to get to Pietersburg, where funds awaited 
 them. The men were proud to relate that, in spite of 
 many insults, they never parted with the colours — 
 little rosettes of red, white, and blue — which they wore 
 on leaving Pretoria. 
 
 Some days after the Pretoria commando returned 
 from the front, the President, in addressing the men 
 who were non-burghers, said : * They were deserving of 
 having the full rights of citizenship, and would receive 
 them too. He had doubts as to whom he should trust 
 formerly, but these men showed by their deeds that they 
 were worthy of burgher rights, and recognising their 
 merits, he should see they did not go unrewarded. 
 Without altering the law, the Raad would grant burgher 
 rights.' These honeyed words, however, tempted very 
 few of the British subjects, who had gone under com- 
 pulsion, and * mistrusting the gifts of the Greeks ' they
 
 I70 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 wisely refused to take up the burgher rights so mysteri- 
 ously offered. 
 
 At the end of July Malaboch surrendered, and the war 
 was at an end so far as he was concerned. Malaboch 
 himself was something of a hero, and one could not 
 help admiring him. He fought to the bitter end, and 
 when surrounded without a chance of escape, starving 
 and thirsty, made one last speech of defiance, then 
 hurled himself into the camp fires in a vain effort to 
 end his miserable existence. On his arrival in Pre- 
 toria hundreds of burghers came forward to shake 
 hands with him, and this gave great umbrage to the 
 authorities, who got the President to address them 
 so as to stop it. He ordered the Rustenburg men 
 to ' take the chief up to the gaol, and hand him over 
 to the civil authorities, there to await the course of 
 the law.' It seemed from this that the chief was 
 to have a fair trial, and as there were grave doubts 
 as to the justice of the war, Messrs. Leonard and 
 Wessels were retained for his defence. The Govern- 
 ment thereupon declined to have him tried, and he is 
 still in Pretoria Gaol, which makes the inference a 
 certainty that he was innocent, and that the Govern- 
 ment dared not let him face the Courts of the country. 
 A meeting in Johannesburg was addressed by the Rev. 
 Mr. Dewdney Drew, the Rev. Mr. Appelbee, and several 
 other English clergymen, proving that there was gross 
 cruelty in the campaign, and that many Kaffirs had been 
 handed over to practical slavery in the Zoutpansburg 
 (under the Boer indenture system, which is described 
 in Appendix B). They passed the following resolution : 
 ' That this meeting, representing several churches in 
 Johannesburg, condemns the recent war with Malaboch 
 as unjustifiable, deplores the unnecessary cruelties prac- 
 tised in subduing him, and urges upon the Government 
 the duty of at once liberating all women and children of
 
 RHODESIAN SUBSTITUTE FOR FEET OF CLAY 171 
 
 Malaboch's tribe who are now held as slaves, and that a 
 copy of this resolution be sent to the Transvaal Govern- 
 ment and such other persons as the committee elected 
 may think necessary.' 
 
 An attempt was made by the Government to obtain 
 the names of the persons who were averse to being 
 commandeered, which was considered a proof of enmity 
 to the country, and a circular was sent through Dr. 
 Leyds' office to General Joubert to be issued to the 
 Veldcornets requesting them ' to compile immediately 
 lists of all persons who can be considered as aliens, 
 whether they elect to remain exempt from commando 
 service or not, and further to state this in a column 
 after their names upon their lists, etc' By resolution 
 of the Uitlanders' Association, it was resolved to make 
 no reply to the Veldcornets with regard to the various 
 questions asked, leaving them to form their own con- 
 clusions. 
 
 As showing the terrorism, and the strength of the 
 boycott which the Government instituted, and the 
 petty way in which it was carried out from a social 
 point of view, it may be mentioned that a leading 
 Loyalist in Pretoria who was intimately connected with 
 sporting matters was removed at their request from the 
 committee for the reception of the Pretoria commando. 
 In consequence of this many British subjects withdrew 
 their subscriptions. The same gentleman was black- 
 balled by the Rifle Association for political reasons, 
 Mr, J. S. Smit, the Railway Commissioner, who acted 
 as chairman, running in several Volksraad members to 
 sway the vote. He was also persecuted in many other 
 ways, which for private reasons it is not expedient to 
 divulge. Many attempts were made to vilify his private 
 character by secret agents, fortunately unsuccessfully. 
 On one occasion a bogus inquiry was raked up in connec- 
 tion with some sporting matter, in which the Assistant-
 
 172 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 Veldcornet spared no pains to prove him guilty, and 
 by the aid of false witnesses nearly accomplished that 
 ruin which open measures could not attain. Similar 
 boycotts were carried on for years, and in many cases 
 the very friends of the Loyalists were turned against 
 them. They were accused of every crime ; in fact, all 
 measures were exhausted until the Government was 
 assured that they were muzzled, and would be of no 
 danger to them. Of course, they could stop their 
 mouths, but they could not stay their work, and that 
 was continued unflinchingly. 
 
 In August Mr. Rhodes, accompanied by Mr. De 
 Waal, M.L.A., made a tour of Rhodesia, and returned 
 via Delagoa Bay and Pretoria to the Cape. On reach- 
 ing the Portuguese elysium he found everything in a 
 turmoil, as the native tribes were in open insurrection, 
 threatening the town. This was ascribed by Pretoria 
 to Mr. Rhodes, and the German papers, duly instructed, 
 were busy attacking this gentleman. Shortly after- 
 wards the gunboats See-Adler and Condor arrived at 
 Delagoa Bay, and have remained within call ever 
 since. Journeying through the disaffected country, 
 Mr. Rhodes finally reached Pretoria on October ii. 
 Dr. Jameson being now included in the party. 
 
 The following day Mr. Rhodes, accompanied by 
 Mr. De Waal, and, we believe, Dr. Te Water, who was 
 in Pretoria at the time, visited the President, when 
 Oom Paul received a lecture from that gentleman 
 which he will probably never forget. The version that 
 reached the ear of the public was that Mr. Rhodes 
 informed him he would lose his country unless he 
 changed his mode of government, and that his strictures 
 were so severe that the interpreter was almost afraid 
 to translate them literally. This, however, had no 
 effect on the President's policy ; fixed he was, and
 
 RHODESIAN SUBSTITUTE FOR FEET OF CLAY 173 
 
 fixed he would remain ; although he has had a very 
 wholesome fear of Mr. Rhodes since then. 
 
 The Rhodesian party then visited Johannesburg, and 
 while there Mr. Rhodes was approached by an informal 
 deputation asking him to assist them in their struggle 
 for equal rights in the Transvaal. It is uncertain as 
 to whether he made any definite promises, or not. By 
 many it was assumed that Mr. Rhodes stepped into the 
 vortex of Transvaal politics on his own initiative, but 
 it must in justice to him be admitted that such is not 
 the case. He was deliberately invited, so that to have 
 absolutely refused would have been to abandon his 
 countrymen. With this step, any desire to rely on 
 direct Imperial aid was definitely abandoned, and a 
 Rhodesian substitute found for Caesar's feet of clay. 
 
 It is from this moment that Mr. Rhodes looms large 
 in the affairs of the Republic. Possibly he had found 
 out that his attitude with regard to the comman- 
 deering incident was a wrong one, and that he must 
 atone for his mistake as far as possible. Whatever the 
 reason may have been, his motives cannot be impugned; 
 it was his resolve to do everything alone, without Im- 
 perial aid. That became the ruin of the enterprise. 
 The Loyalists felt that this was a wrong policy. The 
 Republic would have to cease to exist, if force became 
 necessary to change the nature of its government. No 
 change could be effective which did not destroy those 
 ambitions which were fast becoming a passion with the 
 neo-Africander community. The pleasure of treating a 
 race such as the British as a subject one, the feeling 
 that while this continued they had a storehouse of 
 wealth to draw on, was too fascinating for the Boers 
 to be abandoned without a struggle — a struggle in 
 which all of them would be involved. It was absurd 
 to rely on a revolution for the substitution of general 
 equality for white men in place of Boer tyranny, and
 
 174 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 the only way to salvation lay in an appeal to the power 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 In this decision of Mr. Rhodes we have the key to 
 the subsequent action of the capitalists who were con- 
 nected with the movement, a key which destroys many 
 of the Boer arguments. 
 
 Had Mr. Rhodes not interfered in Transvaal politics, 
 the mining magnates would never have given a hearty 
 support to the Uitlander cause. Individuals might 
 have done so, but the majority would have preferred a 
 policy of submission backed up by bribery, which was 
 encouraged by the Government, and which, while 
 impoverishing the country, naturally played into the 
 hands of the moneyed men so long as there were valuable 
 interests at stake. 
 
 The enormous influence of Mr. Rhodes being thrown 
 into the scale guided these gentlemen along the thorny 
 path of duty, and to him alone must be given credit for 
 their change of policy, which became apparent in 1895, 
 and terminated in the Raid. Independent men, such 
 as Mr. Lionel Phillips and Mr. George Farrar, who 
 were getting tired of Boer methods, would have 
 jibbed at some time or other, but assuredly not so 
 soon as they did when Mr. Rhodes took his place at 
 the helm. 
 
 The change was at once noticed in official circles, 
 and the actions of the Chamber of Mines showed that 
 they were gradually abandoning the old policy of 
 cringing to the Government. Oom Paul then played 
 his final card, and the Government organs started the 
 ever-popular cry of ' Labour versus Capital,' advancing 
 arguments which were sufficiently sound and plausible 
 to produce a split among the ranks of the working 
 men. So long as they felt the Government and the 
 capitalists were working together, they had the feeling 
 that this cry was false ; when a change occurred, they,
 
 RHODESIAN SUBSTITUTE FOR FEET OF CLAY 175 
 
 ignorant of the circumstances, became in many cases 
 suspicious of the intentions of both. This feeling still 
 exists, because the interests of labour and capital are 
 even more diametrically opposite in South Africa than 
 they seem to be elsewhere. Labour is becoming con- 
 scious that ultimately its great struggle will not be with 
 the Boers, but with the millionaires. 
 
 It was a fatal error on Mr. Rhodes' part to let 
 the movement appear to be a capitalistic one. He 
 could have done the whole thing much better alone, 
 confining himself to merely letting them know that 
 they should adopt an attitude of strict neutrality with 
 regard to politics, closing an eye where necessary. 
 What was required of Mr. Rhodes was financial and 
 diplomatic support. Had he furnished the funds, the 
 system pursued by the South African League in awaken- 
 ing the country to a sense of its responsibilities could 
 then and there have been adopted, so that when the 
 time came the men would have been found ready to go 
 anywhere and do an3^thing with working-men as leaders. 
 A little opposition from the mining magnates might 
 have done the cause good. In case of failure, Mr. 
 Rhodes' connection with it would have changed nothing 
 in his brilliant career and position, and if the leaders were 
 sacrificed, public opinion in England would have been 
 so much aroused as to once and for all settle the ques- 
 tions at issue. The Loyalists were honestly prepared to 
 make any sacrifice provided the ultimate result was the 
 extinction of republicanism as a basis for Africander 
 supremacy in South Africa, whereas the mining men 
 and their satellites, who had kept out of politics until 
 they became fashionable, had no fixed purpose. Some 
 were red-hot republicans, others had moderate views, 
 and a few, it was whispered, were pro-Boer, while the 
 minority were well-known Loyalists, who unfortunately 
 thought they were doing right in adopting the views of
 
 176 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 the majority. With such a heterogeneous mass nothing 
 could be accomphshed satisfactorily. 
 
 There should have been one head, and that head 
 should have been Mr. Rhodes ; the leader on the spot 
 might have been Dr. Jameson, who would have been 
 only too willing to resign his career in Rhodesia months 
 before a start was made, so as to be in Johannesburg, 
 and yet apparently unconnected in any way with the 
 movement ; and the first steps should have been taken 
 in Pretoria.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS 
 
 It is not easy for the contemporary writer properly 
 to appreciate the character and work of a man Hke 
 Mr. Rhodes. Immense abihty, indomitable courage, 
 pertinacity, and strength appeal to every Englishman, 
 and yet these qualities have not saved Mr. Rhodes 
 from the reproach of unscrupulousness, have not saved 
 him from suspicion of unclean motives. We prefer to 
 be proud of our great countryman, proud of his ambi- 
 tions, proud of his patriotism. His dream of ' think- 
 ing in continents ' was the outcome of an ambitious 
 brain, but his quiet pertinacity and persistency has 
 made that dream a reahty. One thing is certain, that 
 he has never questioned the nobility of labour. When 
 Mr. Rudd and he went into the ice business at Kimberley, 
 people used often to remark, ' Who is the lazy man 
 standing in the door of the establishment smoking his 
 pipe ?' but they did not know that that same sleepy 
 gentleman, Mr. Rhodes, had been busy all night making 
 the ice which was to keep them cool during the day. 
 Kimberley was not exactly a correct school for com- 
 mercial morality, and many well-known men who made 
 money there had the reputation of having made some 
 of it out of illicit diamond-buying, which was not 
 nearly so risky in the old days as now, and was rather 
 a fashionable amusement at the time. But nothing 
 
 12
 
 178 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 of this nature has ever been whispered to mar Mr. 
 Rhodes' or his partner's good name. He made his 
 money, so far as observation shows, by strict business 
 methods and financial ability, and when he had made 
 it, he aspired to political power to realize those schemes 
 of which he had dreamed in his youth. 
 
 As showing the great belief which the Jews have in 
 him as a financier, the writer remembers being present 
 while a special telegram describing the result of the 
 De Beers Amalgamation was being read to two of them 
 up-country. As the promise of the future and the rise 
 in the shares was prophesied, they shook hands with 
 one another, for their holdings were large in the 
 company, and, with grateful thoughts of the man who 
 was enriching them, they both exclaimed, ' He is a 
 wonderful man !' They had not one word of criticism 
 of his financial methods ; they would have been content 
 to follow him blindly in any of his schemes which had 
 not a philanthropic basis. 
 
 From pit to Parliament was an easy stride, and here 
 Mr. Rhodes met his first fence. To pose as an advocate 
 of Imperialism then was to court a speedy political 
 death. The future of the Cape Colony was in the 
 hands of the Dutch majority ; to attempt to work out- 
 side them was to ensure the failure of his plans. Mr. 
 Rhodes adopted a middle course. He became an 
 advocate for the elimination of the Imperial factor in 
 South Africa. This won him the confidence of the 
 Africander Bond, who thought they saw in him a 
 convert to their dream of a United South African 
 Republic freed from the shackles of British supremacy, 
 in which the English races, duly Africanderized, would 
 lose their distinctive characteristics. It is difficult 
 of proof in how far Mr. Rhodes was committed to 
 an independent United South Africa, with himself as 
 President. That was the bait which the Bond party
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS 179 
 
 held out to him. Mr. Rhodes would in some measure 
 have been justified in such a policy. The difficulty 
 he had in persuading the Imperial authorities to assist 
 him with his hinterland schemes, the trouble to get 
 them to move in anything affecting their interests — 
 these considerations must have influenced him. 
 
 He saw them let Damaraland and Northern Nama- 
 qualand pass into the hands of Germany without a 
 murmur. He witnessed their disgraceful abandonment 
 of the Transvaal, their anxiety to avoid responsibility, 
 their feverish desire to escape any fresh obligations 
 while pursuing a * parish-pump " policy. Would this 
 not obviously drive an ambitious man towards the 
 republican ideal ? 
 
 With great difficulty he persuaded the British 
 Government to guard its interests in Matabcleland, 
 and it was only due to the great hold which he had 
 over Sir Hercules Robinson, who for some reason or 
 other never could resist Mr. Rhodes' arguments, that 
 he succeeded in securing the rights which subsequently 
 led to the foundation of Rhodesia. We see his distrust 
 in Imperial measures in his opposition to the Bechuana- 
 land Expedition, when he must have known it to be 
 a necessity, and the only way by which the road to 
 the North could be kept open. Without force nothing 
 could be done with Mr. Kruger, who would have 
 coolly annexed the whole of the territory, and thereby 
 effected a junction with the German African colonies. 
 Mr. Rhodes has to thank the Rev. Mr. Mackenzie for 
 doing what he failed in, and it is a matter of surprise 
 that he has never acknowledged the claims of that 
 gentleman, or accepted unconditionally the statements 
 of his friends that he alone kept open the road to the 
 North. 
 
 Of Mr. Rhodes and General Gordon much has been 
 written. Perhaps it would have been far better for 
 
 12 — 2
 
 i8o THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 both of them had they joined hands at Khartoum. 
 Mr. Rhodes would have bought over the Mahdi in some 
 way or other, and have started painting the map red 
 from North to South, instead of South to North, a 
 much more difficult task. 
 
 As a result of the weakness of the Imperial Govern- 
 ment, Mr. Rhodes has been driven to many shifts and 
 subterfuges which tend to mar his political record. 
 The worst instance of this is the abandonment of the 
 Swazies. Mr. Hofmeyr, who practically acted as Mr. 
 Rhodes' agent, had, in exchange for a free hand in 
 Rhodesia, promised the Boers Swazieland, and a strip 
 of country three miles wide down to the coast through 
 Swazieland, Zambaan's country, and Amatongaland to 
 Kosi Bay, with a grant of ten miles square for the 
 purpose of a harbour. But the offer of a port was 
 conditional on their joining the Customs Union within 
 three years of the ratification of the treaty, and the 
 control of foreign relations by Great Britain. Mr. 
 Kruger accepted the former and refused the latter, in 
 the hope of securing a port and giving nothing for it. 
 
 It is difficult to find an excuse for Mr. Rhodes' 
 deliberate sacrifice of these poor natives, who were 
 always faithful to the British, and fought side by side 
 with us in the Secocoeni and Zulu Wars. Strong efforts 
 were made by the Swazie nation to prevent absorption 
 by the Boers, and the deputation they sent home to 
 protest came and went in vain. Mr. Rhodes' policy 
 was seen in the fact that the whole of the press with 
 which he had any connection in South Africa refused 
 to entertain the idea that the Swazies had any right 
 whatever to complain at being handed over and aban- 
 doned. As a proof of this, the only daily paper amongst 
 the English and Dutch journals which persisted in its 
 protest was the Transvaal Advertiser of Pretoria. The 
 Boer Government had no treaties with the native
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS l8i 
 
 chiefs in the North, Mr. Rhodes having frustrated their 
 efforts in that direction. We had obtained those treaties 
 and forestalled them by an effective occupation, which 
 justified us in refusing to entertain claims which would 
 not have been recognised by any European Power. If 
 a firm front had then been shown, the Boers would 
 never have dreamt of armed interference. In fact, had 
 each of the Banjailand trekkers been given a farm in 
 Rhodesia, they would probably have settled down there 
 without any demonstration. 
 
 Mr. Rhodes' argument against this is, that it was 
 impossible to get the High Commissioner to take such 
 a course. Here we must differ from him, as an attempt 
 to invade the country by Mr. Kruger would have con- 
 stituted a casus belli, and such a war must have had 
 the support of the British public. The fact of the 
 matter is, it was a sop to Boer susceptibilities and 
 prejudices, while it satisfied the Bond; and that is why 
 and how the deal was arranged. 
 
 Mr. Rhodes cannot always shrink from ' means to- 
 obtain his ends,' and that he used the Africander 
 Bond for his purposes is the chief cause of their 
 bitterness against him to-day. It is related of him 
 that, at a banquet given to Bond delegates in Cape 
 Town some years ago, Mr. Hofmeyr said to him : 
 * Some of our friends object to your giving those young 
 Englishmen who have been fighting for you farms in 
 Rhodesia ; you must leave the farms for the Africanders. 
 Rather give them money instead.' To which Mr. Rhodes 
 replied, ' Oh, they will get the farms all the same. The 
 Englishman prefers money to farms, and the Dutchman 
 when he gets ground holds it.' There is a good deal of 
 truth in this observation ; but it is in distinct contradic- 
 tion to the generally accepted idea of settling the English 
 on the soil, which is now supposed to be Mr. Rhodes' 
 great object. Assuming that it was to put them off, it
 
 i82 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 is a very good clue to the means which Mr. Rhodes 
 was forced to adopt to preserve the balance of power 
 in South Africa. 
 
 Many reasons have been given for the sudden con- 
 version of Mr. Rhodes to Home Rule ; as a matter of 
 fact, he had absolutely no interest in it. He wished to 
 make certain that there would be no opposition from the 
 Irish party to his Chartered schemes, and there was 
 only one way to obtain that, viz., by a liberal contribu- 
 tion to the party funds. This was most effective ; the 
 Home Rulers, while thinking they were being followed, 
 were really being led in golden strings. 
 
 In 1894 Mr. Rhodes found himself the virtual head 
 of the Africander party, Mr. Hofmeyr being away in 
 Canada. 
 
 President Kruger had been sulking for some little 
 time at the failure to give him that sole control of 
 Swazieland which Mr. Hofmeyr had promised, and 
 did not like the conditional offer of a port, which had 
 been made provided he joined the Customs Union. 
 
 Anything which savoured of union with British in- 
 stitutions drove Mr. Kruger mad ; and the tempting offer 
 of a seaport (even though it would cost ^^10,000,000 
 to construct, the estimated cost of making Kosi Bay a 
 harbour), which would have got many things from the 
 autocrat, failed in this instance, because it only bound 
 him faster to Great Britain. 
 
 Ever since i8go Mr. Kruger had cunningly but 
 secretly been locking his burghers in, and he was not 
 going to give Mr. Rhodes a key to open the gate in the 
 wall he had built. 
 
 Whether Mr. Rhodes feared in 1894 that his position 
 was not quite safe in Charterland, or whether the mere 
 thought that Mr. Hofmeyr had entrusted him with the 
 party made him anxious to show that he was worthy of 
 the confidence : from one cause or the other he made
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS 183 
 
 his second great mistake in refusing to back up the 
 case of the Uitlanders. Odd as it may sound, he may 
 not have made himself acquainted with it. The fact is 
 that Mr. Rhodes is very conservative, and his information 
 on the subject of affairs in the Transvaal would probably 
 be conveyed to him at this time from Bond sources. 
 Messengers from the Transvaal would at the same time 
 be placing their case before him, while the influential 
 advocates on the other side were few and far between, 
 and they had no one to plead their cause in Cape 
 Town. Besides, Mr. Rhodes did not like any big deal 
 to go through in South Africa unless he played the 
 hand himself. At any rate, he failed to seize the 
 opportunity which was offered. 
 
 Mr. Rhodes has a supreme contempt for individuals ; 
 he looks on humanity as a complex body, to be dealt 
 with for the good of the majority. The charm of this 
 cynical indifference may not be appreciated by the 
 hangers-on of the ' Colossus,' but it does not detract 
 from his outside popularity. An instance of this will 
 be remembered on the occasion when one of his prin- 
 cipal opponents, who had just before proposed a 
 motion in the Cape House of Assembly, ' that the hold- 
 ing of office as Premier of the Cape Colony was incom- 
 patible with the chairmanship of De Beers and the 
 Chartered Company,' took office under him the moment 
 a split occurred in the Ministry. Mr. Rhodes probably 
 referred to this gentleman when, chastening unruly 
 spirits, he said : ' You think I cannot fill your places 
 in the Ministry. Well, I have another hungry dog to 
 whom I can throw a bone — So-and-so.' And, greatly 
 to their surprise, he was right, as usual. 
 
 It is this cynicism and indifference which has been at 
 the bottom of whatever mistakes Mr. Rhodes has made. 
 Trusting very few, he leaves the direction of affairs which 
 he should control himself entirely to them. He either
 
 i84 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 trusts a man in everything or not at all. Dr. Jameson 
 is not likely to forget this for many a long day. It 
 was thus at Johannesburg and Pitsani. Mr. Rhodes 
 should have been at one of these places, and Dr. 
 Jameson at the other, then that fatal mistake would 
 not have been made. 
 
 We have already alluded to Mr. Rhodes' visit to 
 Johannesburg, and the efforts which were made by the 
 Reform party to get his assistance. As stated, there 
 was a very strong republican following at the Rand, 
 composed mainly of the American section and the 
 ' upper ten ' ; this may have influenced Mr. Rhodes in 
 carrying through the scheme without the assistance of 
 the Imperial authorities, which would have meant in 
 the event of war the adoption of the British flag. No 
 doubt this plan was discussed at Groot Schuur more 
 than once, and then abandoned. His great ambition 
 to solve the problem himself, standing revealed as the 
 one man in South Africa who could do it, was an 
 additional incentive. 
 
 But the task was too great, and the strength of the 
 Boers had been underestimated. Oom Paul was not 
 losing sight of the fact that his policy might provoke 
 reprisals, and he was steadily increasing his arma- 
 ments and providing for the erection of the forts which 
 became an accomplished fact after the Raid. He had 
 his spies everywhere, and the secret service of the Re- 
 public was fast becoming the best in the world. It 
 was thus almost impossible to keep anything secret, 
 and the only hope of success would have been in an 
 appeal to the Imperial Government to interfere, on the 
 grounds that a revolution would otherwise occur in the 
 country. This, being an open policy, if strongly sup- 
 ported by Mr. Rhodes would have been successful. If 
 things went so far, the Imperial Government could 
 hardly refuse to intervene, more especially as in the
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS 185 
 
 event of a revolution being a certainty the Boers them- 
 selves would probably have appealed to Great Britain, 
 if they had felt that they could not quell it themselves. 
 If England failed again in her obvious duty, then a 
 settlement would have been justifiable, by which the 
 Britishers abandoned all rights as British subjects, and 
 became Africanderized on any terms Mr. Kruger and 
 the Bond cared to offer. 
 
 A clever move of Mr. Kruger's which Mr. Rhodes 
 was accused of forestalling was the attempted seizure 
 of Amatongaland by Boer emissaries, and a similar plan 
 on the part of German subjects to annex a portion of 
 the same territory, a sort of * No man's land ' (six 
 minutes of a degree in breadth), which extended from 
 Swazieland right down to Kosi Bay, between the boun- 
 daries of Amatongaland and the Portuguese territory. 
 As a matter of fact, Mr. Rhodes had nothing to do 
 with the matter, except that he may have stiffened 
 the Governor (Lord Loch) on the subject. The 
 scheme was discovered, and resulted in the Germans 
 finding the Portuguese flag hoisted on the strip of 
 territory in question, while Great Britain made an 
 effective occupation of Amatongaland, and hoisted the 
 flag in Zambaan's and Umbegesa's territory, much to 
 the disconcerting of the Boer emissaries, who had no 
 reason to believe their plans had been given awa\-. 
 The men to whom England owes the frustration of 
 these designs are the Vicomte de Matallha and Sir 
 Jacobus de Wet, neither of whom has received the 
 slightest acknowledgment for the services m question, 
 which stopped Mr. Kruger's German-cu;»-Boer designs. 
 The President was much annoyed. He published a 
 protest against the occupation, claiming that the 
 cession of Swazieland gave him the right to Zam- 
 baan's land — a tributary chief of the Swazies, who 
 held territorial rights over the ground in question.
 
 i86 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 There is no doubt that, had he made an effective 
 occupation, his arguments would have proved some- 
 what difficult to refute unless we were prepared to 
 come to ultimatum point. 
 
 Meanwhile he was keeping his eye on the Cape 
 and Orange Free State Railways, which were actively 
 competing against the Netherlands South African 
 Railway. To stop this, he authorized the alteration 
 of the tariff between the junction at Vereeniging and 
 Johannesburg, a short distance of about forty miles 
 (this was a breach of his verbal understanding with 
 Sir James Sivewright), so that it became impossible to 
 import goods by this route in competition with Delagoa 
 Bay. The Cape Railway people thereupon adopted 
 ox and mule transport between the junction and 
 Johannesburg, hoping to force Mr. Kruger's hand ; 
 but he retaliated by closing the Drifts. A great deal 
 has been made of the fact that on this question the 
 Bond Ministry and Mr. Schreiner were prepared to go 
 to war with the Transvaal. As a matter of fact, the 
 position did not give the slightest cause for anxiety in 
 Pretoria. Mr. Kruger would bluff to the end, but he 
 was not prepared for war, and the only effect of the 
 ultimatum, to which he promptly acceded, was to hurry 
 on his mihtary preparations. The Drifts were a small 
 thing; if Uitlander grievances had been tacked on to 
 the ultimatum, it would have been another matter. 
 Still, it was a grateful change in British Government 
 policy, and was the first occasion it had talked straight 
 to the Transvaal Government since the Warren Ex- 
 pedition. Mr. Chamberlain was making his presence 
 felt at the Colonial Office. 
 
 The new spirit that seemed to be awaking in England 
 alarmed Mr. Kruger. Before it became too late he 
 hurried on his preparations to meet eventualities. Dr. 
 Leyds was despatched to Europe to patch up relations
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS 187 
 
 and secure alliances if possible, while armaments were 
 increased, and the building of forts seriously commenced. 
 As a matter of fact, the military equipment of the Trans- 
 vaal to-day may largely be traced to this impetus. The 
 Jameson Raid really only served to justify preparations 
 which were already begun, as a necessary condition of 
 Mr. Kruger's policy, which involved, if and when neces- 
 sary, the fighting for Boer supremacy. 
 
 Meantime things were booming in Johannesburg, 
 and few would have thought that the time was rapidly 
 drawing near when the long -threatened revolution 
 would become an accomplished fact. It was known in 
 Pretoria towards the beginning of November, 1895, 
 that some move was taking place, but no importance 
 was attached to it in Government circles. The mere 
 fact that things were so good on the Share Market 
 effectually silenced suspicion. Towards the end of 
 that month one of the Loyalists in Pretoria was 
 approached by the Hon. J. W. Leonard, and asked 
 to assist. Although he had completed arrangements 
 which involved his leaving for Europe, he promised to 
 stay and take the loss on condition that the movement 
 was run on a working man's basis, practically on the 
 lines of 1894. It was pointed out that the leadership 
 of the capitalists would be fatal, as the Government 
 papers were already using the old arguments of ' Capital 
 versus Labour ' with telling effect, and although in- 
 fluence might secure a certain number of adherents, yet 
 there would be no heart in the affair as proposed. The 
 question of the flag was discussed, and it was mentioned 
 that no enthusiasm could be raised in Loyalist circles 
 in Pretoria by the hoisting of the Vierkleur (the Trans- 
 vaal flag) by the Reformers. At a meeting at the 
 Rand Club, called to finally decide if there was any- 
 thing in the suggestion, the gentleman in question was 
 informed that it was too late to change the plans
 
 i88 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 adopted, and he therefore decHned to take any part in 
 the movement, which he felt was foredoomed to failure. 
 In this his views were absolutely correct, and if the 
 Boers had attacked Johannesburg the men would have 
 had no heart to fight them ; they were keenly alive 
 to their hardships, but they had no confidence in 
 capitalist leaders. The working men were Loyalists 
 to a man, and if there was to be a change they wanted 
 a change of flags ; they had no interest in fighting for a 
 Republic, with perhaps Mr. J. B. Robinson as President. 
 When Jameson crossed the border they merely felt that 
 there was a countryman in danger, who was accom- 
 panied by Imperial officers ready to help them ; they 
 thought then the flag must be all right ultimately, 
 and without considering for one moment the rights or 
 wrongs of the Raid, they would have fought to the end. 
 
 The capitalists had seen what the public were like 
 when aroused in 1894, and they openly said, ' If the 
 public were so easily aroused then, we can do the same 
 at any moment ourselves.' In this they were grossly 
 deceived. They had allowed those feelings to become 
 dormant, and they could not be awakened by their 
 resuming the education at the point where it was 
 broken down by the opposition of Mr. Kruger and 
 themselves. 
 
 Mr. Rhodes' plan was bound to fail unless he made 
 provision for armed Imperial assistance to fall back upon. 
 He preferred the Jameson method, which was unjustifi- 
 able in any case, unless the troops were moved by 
 Imperial instruction. Even if successful, it would have 
 caused serious reflection on our want of good faith. If 
 the Boers had been raiders, we had no business to 
 descend to their level. Besides, the consequences of 
 failure had not been considered. What they were we 
 know to-da}' : the certain ruin for a considerable period 
 of the whole of South Africa.
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS 189 
 
 The gentleman above referred to made an attempt 
 to warn Mr. Rhodes of the position in Johannes- 
 burg. Armed with a strong letter of introduction, 
 he tried to warn Mr. Rhodes to do nothing until he 
 had satisfied himself that the state of affairs was as 
 represented. The small circumstances of his having to 
 catch his boat, the train being late, and Mr. Rhodes 
 having left his town office, prevented his seeing him. 
 Probably his efforts would have been useless anyhow, 
 but he blames himself to-day for not losing his steamer 
 in the hope of saving the situation. As showing his 
 views on the matter, one of the Reformers — Captain 
 Donald — was bidding him good-bye, when the latter 
 gentleman said : ' I hope that you are wrong in your 
 opinion ; but I intend to be at the storming of the 
 fort at Pretoria, and if I fall, see that my grave's kept 
 green ;' to which he replied : ' You will never even see 
 Pretoria.' It must have been clear to everyone on the 
 spot ; in fact, few of the Loyalist section were at all 
 deceived in looking upon the whole plan as hopeless, 
 on account of the want of care which had been 
 displayed in its organization. 
 
 In the following chapter we shall endeavour to show 
 the exact position in which Mr. Rhodes, the Imperial 
 Government, and Mr. Chamberlain stood with regard 
 to the Revolution and the Raid.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE FALSE STEP 
 
 We hope we have made the connection clear between 
 1894, 1895, and 1899. The year 1894 saw the 
 awakening of the Imperial spirit in South Africa. 
 This sentiment had been slumbering for thirteen long 
 years, and now awoke to the necessity of sweeping 
 away the tyranny of Krugerism. It is true the Loyalists 
 failed in attaining the object in view, but their efforts 
 were not entirely thrown away. Thinking men in South 
 Africa became convinced that the Empire was in danger. 
 Our representative was losing no opportunity of point- 
 ing out to the Home Government that something must 
 be done, and that soon. The Uitlanders' Association 
 of Pretoria spared no pains to educate the British 
 public and Government. To avoid being dependent 
 solely on Renter's Agency, measures were taken to 
 secure the representation of the leading news agencies 
 at the capital, while every week the journalistic 
 members of the association took it in turns to describe 
 the course of events and the machinations of the 
 Government. It was felt this was the only way to 
 counteract the malicious falsehoods which Dr. Leyds 
 was spreading through his subsidized press in Europe. 
 Much was done in this direction by the Loyalists of 
 Johannesburg, although the National Union could 
 effect little officially, as its constitution prevented it
 
 THE FALSE STEP 191 
 
 from attempting in any way to subvert the indepen- 
 dence of the RepubHc, and its existence ceased so soon 
 as it became apparent that it was useless to hope for the 
 reahzation of the objects for which it had been formed. 
 
 That it would have been better if the leaders of the 
 organization in Pretoria had been consulted by the 
 heads of the Reform movement goes without sa3'ing. 
 Admitting; that they could not see their way to support 
 a Rhodesian or a capitalistic movement, the secret 
 would have been quite safe in their hands. But as 
 they did not belong to the moneyed or the influential 
 classes, and some of them were looked upon wrongly 
 as being too headstrong, they were passed by until it 
 became too late to adopt any plans which they might 
 have suggested, plans which, in the opinion of the 
 Uitlanders' Association, were vital to the success of the 
 movement. 
 
 We do not propose to touch on the Raid at any 
 length ; the various telegrams which were published 
 by the Select Committee show that the real failure of 
 the movement was the neglect to seize the fort and 
 arsenal at Pretoria, with its 10,000 rifles and ample 
 ammunition, at the time agreed upon. While admit- 
 ting that there was no enthusiasm for reform under the 
 republican flag, which was detested by a large portion 
 of the population, yet if a bold attempt had been made 
 to seize the points of vantage, as well as the person of 
 the President, things might have turned out differently. 
 Assuming the attempt had failed and the few men 
 involved were captured by the Boers, there was a basis 
 for British, or even Jamesonian, interference. If suc- 
 cessful, the revolution was achieved. The very daring 
 of the act would have drawn men together, and the 
 fact that they had been prepared to risk their lives 
 would have shown the people that they were not 
 blindly following men whose interests were mainly
 
 192 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 those of the pocket. Everything had been prepared 
 for this part of the programme, both within and with- 
 out, and the means of carrying it into effect were within 
 reach of the Reformers, when the unfortunate difference 
 of opinion regarding the flag cropped up. It ought to 
 have been ignored for the moment, and, with the means 
 available, matters precipitated, instead of losing the 
 opportunity. In 1894 the Secret Committee in Johan- 
 nesburg had also discussed the question of the flag, 
 and it was then pointed out that the hoisting of the 
 Union Jack might embarrass the English Government. 
 A Scotchman, ' one of many in the organization,' said 
 at once, ' Well, then, let us use the Scottish flag, and 
 when things are settled we can run up the old flag if 
 the English Government will have it.' The trouble now 
 was that, while one lot of men — those with little to lose 
 of worldly goods — were eager to get to business, the 
 other — those with means — failed to come to the scratch, 
 chiefly because they were divided. 
 
 A celebrated adventurer from South America, asked 
 what were the elements of a successful revolution, 
 replied, ' I have been in twelve revolutions, nine of 
 which succeeded and three failed. In the nine which 
 succeeded we hanged the President first !' 
 
 In that remark lay the whole secret of success ; unless 
 Pretoria were rendered harmless, the danger was not 
 worth risking, a fact well known to the waverers. Once 
 the arms and the hostages had been secured, every- 
 thing was simple. 
 
 In the middle of December it was known in Reform 
 circles that affairs were unsettled in Europe, Germany 
 being slightly alarmed, and the Venezuela negotiation 
 causing trouble ; the time to temporize had passed ; 
 now was the psychological moment to make up your 
 mind either to sit down quietly under the burden, or to 
 strike and strike home.
 
 THE FALSE STEP 193 
 
 To try to remedy things by the mad rush over the 
 border, which constituted a grave breach of international 
 law, was of course a most fooHsh act, doubtfully justifi- 
 able by success ; and the Reformers have some ground 
 for their complaint that it placed them in an entirely 
 false position. Nothing but serious blame can be 
 accorded to the officer who brought with him the 
 whole of his official correspondence and private code, 
 which fell into the hands of the Boers, and who sub- 
 sequently made affidavits certifying to the correctness 
 of certain incriminating papers. 
 
 It is difficult to understand how Dr. Jameson could 
 have persuaded himself to believe that Johannesburg 
 would assist him. It was apparent before he left that 
 Johannesburg would do nothing without a leader, and 
 it was his play to hurry there and fill that gap. 
 
 The surrender and disarmament of Johannesburg 
 followed, and ended this miserable chapter in South 
 African history. The position of the Imperialist party 
 was hopelessly compromised, and the masterly way in 
 which the crafty old President handled his cards pro- 
 duced a revulsion of feeling in his favour throughout 
 the world, which was only relieved when he, as usual, 
 overacted the part. 
 
 It would have taken him j'ears to perfect the realiza- 
 tion of his scheme for a great South African Republic, 
 while this one day almost succeeded in doing it. Sud- 
 denly he had with him the support of the whole of the 
 extreme Africander population of South Africa, who 
 really wanted only a little persuasion. All that Mr. 
 Rhodes had done to stem the tide of this sentiment 
 was thrown away, and Mr. Kruger was placed in a 
 position which enabled him to prepare for the moment 
 when he hoped ' to stagger humanity.' 
 
 The Raid would have been a mistake from an Im- 
 perial point of view even if it had succeeded, and it 
 
 13
 
 194 THE RISE AND F^ALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 would have served to establish a Republic bitterly anti- 
 English as a whole. The Imperial Government would 
 have been bound in honour to interfere in such a way 
 as to practically proclaim a state of war against the 
 Uitlanders, and certainly against the Raiders, and, of 
 course, British subjects in South Africa would have 
 looked on this as a breach of faith and another betrayal. 
 Feelings would have run very high, and have stultified 
 every effort at compromise, with the result of a Republic 
 on American lines — a development which Mr. Rhodes, 
 so his friends say, would certainly not have welcomed. 
 Failure, although it effectually alienated Africander 
 subjects, compromised England in the eye of the world, 
 and made war in the immediate future a certainty, was 
 perhaps the best that could happen. 
 
 It may be truthfully contended that war would have 
 resulted in any case from the policy of Mr. Kruger, but 
 it would have found us better prepared than it has to- 
 day, when our hands have been tied for years by the 
 actions of our countrymen. It is to be regretted that 
 the British Government did not reply in some way or 
 other at an earlier period to the armed menace which 
 was being slowly and surely created by the Transvaal. 
 The failure to do so was apparently due to Sir Hercules 
 Robinson, who must have lost his head at the time 
 when he most required it. 
 
 The news of this second Majuba threw the British 
 public at home and in the colony into a ferment of 
 rage, which unfortunately was vented on the Uitlanders, 
 who for the most part were totally unaccountable for 
 the course things had taken. Then suddenly the 
 Boer - cum - German policy found expression in the 
 celebrated telegram from the German Emperor. This 
 diverted attention from everybody, even from Mr. 
 Rhodes, who had resigned his office as Premier of the 
 Cape Colony, and revealed the hidden meaning of
 
 THE FALSE STEP 195 
 
 things to all. What the Loyalists had been trying 
 to show the English people for years was laid bare 
 in a single moment. In spite of this, the feeling 
 was so strong against the Uitlanders that meetings 
 which had been arranged in their support could not be 
 held. Johannesburg was rechristened Judasburg, and 
 the papers delighted in heaping accusations on its popu- 
 lation which were uncalled for and painful in the extreme 
 to those who knew the real facts of the case. The writer, 
 in appealing to a highly placed personage for assist- 
 ance on their behalf, was informed by that gentleman 
 that he had no personal sympathy with the Uitlanders 
 after their behaviour. When asked if this was to be 
 taken as official, he replied, ' No ; those were his per- 
 sonal views.' It is satisfactory to say that gentleman 
 has changed his opinion. 
 
 Mr. Rhodes was urged to resign his Privy Councillor- 
 ship, to go to England and insist on being tried by a 
 court of justice. ' That is his only chance,' said one of 
 his friends ; ' if he does so, it will end in his being the 
 most popular man in the British Empire, even if he 
 spends six months in prison.' He was right, and that 
 he was right is shown by the feeling which was dis- 
 played when Dr. Jameson was released. It was the 
 finest answer Mr. Rhodes could have returned to his 
 opponents. It would have placed the British Govern- 
 ment in a better position, and vindicated England's 
 status as the home of justice. It is not going too far 
 to say it might have even succeeded in restoring Mr. 
 Rhodes at one bound to his previous honourable posi- 
 tion, for, having paid the penalty for an offence which 
 had every Englishman's sympathy, his vindication was 
 certain. Probably he must have even contemplated 
 this step when he left the Cape for England in 1896. 
 
 The unsettled condition of Matabeleland, coupled 
 with Mr. Kruger's activity as a republican propagandist,
 
 196 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 may of course have furnished reasons for not depriving 
 the Empire at that time of Mr. Rhodes' services. Mr. 
 Rhodes was probably not to blame in the matter ; and 
 since then he has indeed atoned for his mistake in being 
 in any way a party to the Raid by minimising Mr. 
 Kruger's efforts as much as possible. He has spared 
 no pains to show Krugerism to be what it is, as in- 
 tolerant and barbarous a creed as that of the Mahdi. 
 It is in no small measure due to his efforts that we are 
 fighting to-day instead of a few years hence at greater 
 disadvantage. Every day the Boers were growing in 
 wealth and strength. However hard the task may be, 
 a conflict with them a decade hence would have been 
 an even severer test of the strength and solidarity of 
 the British Empire than it has proved. 
 
 There was only one opportunity of avoiding the dread 
 arbitrament of war, and that was the insistence by the 
 English Government on reforms immediately after the 
 Raid, for Mr. Kruger was not quite prepared then, and 
 his plans were only half ripe. 
 
 The arrival of the Raiders in England and their 
 subsequent trial is now ancient history. Little notice 
 was taken at the time of the Reformers, but when it 
 was announced that four of them had been sentenced 
 to death, public feeling throughout the world was 
 effectually aroused. Well-informed people knew that 
 it was merely bluff on the part of Mr. Kruger, so that 
 during all the time the opportunity was not lost sight of 
 to press forward Uitlander claims. It is believed that 
 but for the fact that 75,000 troops would have been 
 required in the event of war resulting from our represen- 
 tations, which frightened Sir Hercules Robinson, some- 
 thing might have been done. A private meeting of some 
 eighty to one hundred members of Parliament was held 
 shortly afterwards in Committee Room ig of the House 
 of Commons, to endeavour to enlist their sympathy on
 
 THE FALSE STEP 197 
 
 this and other questions. It was felt that some step ought 
 to be taken, but it was subsequently decided that no move 
 should be made to force the hands of the Government. 
 
 Shortly after the South African Association was 
 formed in England, which has done exceedingly good 
 work in educating the British public up to a sense of 
 their responsibilities in South Africa. 
 
 One of the worst consequences of the Raid was the 
 treatment of the British representative at Pretoria, Sir 
 Jacobus de Wet. Mr. Chamberlain's South African 
 policy did not require a scapegoat, and his action with 
 regard to the British Agent was cruel and unneces- 
 sary. There is surely no disgrace in growing gray 
 in the loyal service of one's country, and we will ask 
 for the indulgence of the reader if we dwell for a 
 moment on the merits of Sir Jacobus de Wet, which 
 cannot be doubted by anyone who was brought into 
 official contact with him. 
 
 It will be remembered that in a prior chapter we 
 alluded to the departure of Mr. Ralph Williams, the 
 British Agent at Pretoria, from South Africa. At that 
 time Sir Jacobus de Wet (then on a visit to Europe) 
 was Secretary of Native Affairs in the Cape Colony. 
 Great pressure was brought to bear on him in London 
 to accept the position of Her Majesty's Agent at Pre- 
 toria ; he finally yielded, although it involved, from a 
 financial point of view, a great sacrifice on his part. 
 
 The first matter of importance which engaged his 
 attention was the Adendorff or Banjailand trek, a 
 matter to which we have referred. As is well known, 
 our relations were rather strained with the Boers at 
 that time ; in fact, the trek had already started, and 
 the burghers were well on their way, when the British 
 representative stayed its course. 
 
 In spite of the fact that prior to Sir Jacobus de Wet's 
 tenure of office the abandonment of Swaziekind by Great
 
 198 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 Britain had been virtually decided on, he was much 
 averse to such a course, and was enabled to give 
 valuable information with reference to Transvaal 
 methods and the way in which the annexation and 
 the concession business in Swazieland was being worked 
 for the benefit of the Eloff gang (we refer to F. C. 
 Eloff, the President's son-in-law) and others, having 
 objects in view which could not be otherwise than 
 detrimental to English interests. He was instru- 
 mental, as has been pointed out, in securing our 
 position in Zambaan's and Umbegesa's land, as also in 
 Amatongaland. It was clearly proved that adventurers 
 and concessionaires, including at least one Englishman 
 of some standing, were endeavouring to sell certain 
 rights and concessions which would have jeopardized 
 England's position on the sea-board, but for the prompt 
 action of our representative in reporting the matter. 
 
 The dynamite question was another subject which 
 he handled with skill and ability. As far as we know, 
 all the negotiations in connection with this important 
 matter were left entirely in his hands. This confidence 
 was by no means misplaced, as he succeeded in making 
 Mr. Kruger cancel the concession. 
 
 In the same manner he called attention to the 
 National Bank and Mint Concession, which was just 
 as much a breach of the Convention ; but as usual, he 
 was not backed up by the invertebrate British Govern- 
 ment, and this interference with British interests and 
 danger to our supremacy was allowed to go through. 
 Of his action during the Commandeering of British 
 subjects too much cannot be said, as we have shown 
 step by step in the preceding chapters. 
 
 His personality and his birth drew towards him the 
 Progressive Africanders, as well as the English resi- 
 dents, who stood by him to the last. Information was 
 furnished to him for transmission to his Government
 
 THE FALSE STEP 199 
 
 which they would have divulged to no one other than 
 a man of their own blood, for whom they had the 
 greatest respect and in whom they placed implicit trust. 
 Through him the British Government was kept well 
 informed in advance of any important political move 
 (such as Kruger's Drifts policy), and he would have 
 been invaluable in opening their eyes to the real posi- 
 tion of things had he been in the Transvaal after the 
 failure of the Bloemfontein negotiations. It is not too 
 much to say that it would have been unlikely for war 
 to have broken out, as it did, had he been on the spot 
 and able to give Her Majesty's Government ample and 
 reliable warning of its imminence. 
 
 Sir Jacobus de Wet was no firebrand, and he often 
 restrained the feelings of the Uitlanders, which would 
 only have landed them in disaster had they been put 
 into effect, exhorting them to rely on the justice of 
 Her Majesty's Government as the only proper and 
 loyal policy. 
 
 It has often been wondered why Sir Hercules Robinson 
 failed to press for reforms after the Raid, and Mr. Fitz- 
 Patrick makes a good deal of this in his book * The 
 Transvaal from Within,' which so ably puts the Re- 
 formers' case. As will be remembered, the President 
 refused to discuss reforms while Johannesburg was in 
 arms. His conditions being satisfied by the disarmament 
 of Johannesburg seemed to imply that the discussion 
 would take place. Sir Hercules Robinson, being com- 
 pletely alarmed, would take no steps in this direction, in 
 spite of the emphatic instructions of the Colonial Office. 
 That was no fault on the part of Sir Jacobus de Wet. who 
 did his utmost to persuade him that now was the time 
 to press for reform ; and, as a matter of fact, it would 
 have been far better to have left the whole negotia- 
 tions in the hands of our representative at Pretoria, 
 for the feebleness of the High Commissioner was so
 
 200 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 apparent to the Government that he weakened the 
 position assumed by Sir Jacobus de Wet. 
 
 President Kruger admitted, in an interview to a 
 reporter, that Sir Jacobus de Wet, ' while holding his 
 post, had not only been loyal to his position, but that 
 Johannesburg owed a great deal to him for his repeated 
 representations, and the political prisoners a great deal 
 more than they knew had been done on their behalf by 
 him.' A testimonial from such a source may not prove 
 very acceptable to-day, but at that time Mr. Kruger was 
 rather a persona grata than otherwise with Mr, Chamber- 
 lain ; it was about the ' How is Mrs. Kruger ?' period. 
 
 The faithful few — the true Loyalists of Pretoria — 
 had a sorrowful leave-taking when Sir Jacobus de Wet 
 left, and they presented him with a handsome piece of 
 silver plate and an address. 
 
 After his retirement, and in recognition of services 
 which few other men could have rendered — services 
 which give him a distinguished and honourable place in 
 the history of South Africa — the Imperial Government 
 somewhat tardily forwarded a communication thanking 
 him for the important assistance he had rendered during 
 his occupation of the difficult position of Her Majesty's 
 representative at Pretoria, and awarding him a pension 
 of ;£"300 per annum !
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE RECKONING 
 
 The day of reckoning had to come, and, as we have 
 shown, the reckoning was a pretty heavy one ; aggra- 
 vated and made worse than it should have been by the 
 action of Mr. Rhodes' friends. The result of their testi- 
 mony has done more to damage British prestige in South 
 Africa than the Raid itself, and has given Mr. Kruger 
 a plausible excuse for looking on all negotiations of the 
 British Government with suspicion. We refer to the 
 unjustifiable innuendoes which were allowed to creep 
 into the testimony of interested parties with reference 
 to Mr. Chamberlain's alleged complicity in the Raid. 
 The feeling was not so acute prior to the sitting of the 
 Select Committee, which it was hoped would disperse 
 all the rumours so wildly and wilfully circulated : and Mr. 
 Schreiner expressed that hope in his evidence (Q. 3,334) 
 by saying : ' I wanted to say this, that the supposition 
 for the moment, rightly or wrongly (I say wrongly), that 
 such a policy is tolerated by, or has the support of the 
 Imperial Government, lowers the prestige and the 
 honour and dignity of England in South Africa in a 
 way that is lamentable. I do not wish to convey that 
 there is anything like a very large proportion of the 
 people that hold what I consider an erroneous opinion 
 upon that point. But it is not unnatural that those 
 who are most offended in the North [Transvaal] are
 
 202 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 most suspicious, perhaps, upon even such a point as 
 that ; and what we desire as to that, and what we 
 hope will be the result of the deliberations of this 
 Committee and of the Imperial Parliament, is the 
 vindication of the honour and dignity of the Empire 
 in South Africa.' 
 
 It was obviously all-important that not the slightest 
 breath of suspicion should be attached to any of the 
 members of Her Majesty's Government. To see this 
 assertion in its real light, we must consider for a 
 moment the trial of Dr. Jameson and his officers. The 
 Boers were very dubious about the genuineness of this, 
 and anticipated a prejudiced trial on theirown methods, 
 knowing that no Boer jury would ever convict their 
 fellows for raiding, which, in the early days, used to be 
 a regular and recognised occupation. To their surprise, 
 they found that English justice knew no favours, and 
 at once a much better feeling was engendered through- 
 out South Africa. But this did not induce Mr. Kruger 
 to relax his preparations, which went on without cessa- 
 tion, and found justification in the eyes of the Boers 
 when, towards the end of i8g6, the various statements 
 which had been made by some of the officers during 
 the trial gave them the impression that Mr. Chamber- 
 lain, and in all probability the English Government, 
 were involved in the Raid itself. 
 
 To ascertain the real facts of the case we have to 
 remember Mr. Rhodes' policy as applied to South 
 Africa. That policy became a sound Imperial one 
 after the acquirement of Rhodesia ; it may have been 
 drifting previous to that stage, but then it became 
 fixed. The trouble was that his Imperialism was made 
 conditional; it involved the non-interference of England 
 in South African problems — in fact, the absence there 
 of the Imperial factor. This was sound enough up to a 
 certain point; but when the Imperial Government had
 
 THE RECKONING 203 
 
 at last awakened to a sense of its responsibilities, when 
 Mr. Chamberlain came to the Colonial Office, the 
 Rhodesian policy was no longer called for. It was 
 useful in the case of weak and opportunist Govern- 
 ments, which had been our experience in the past, but 
 it became a dangerous policy if Mr. Kruger had to be 
 pushed to extreme concessions. The assumption that 
 Mr. Rhodes would brook no Imperial interference may 
 be disputed on the ground that he did not object to 
 it on the Drifts question, but there was no question 
 of fighting in that. Mr. Rhodes knew that perfectly 
 well, and by appealing to the Imperial Government he 
 not only discovered the way the wind was blowing 
 there, but he also had an opportunity of gauging the 
 feeling of the Africander party with regard to such 
 action, arguing that if they supported the Imperial 
 Government in that, the}' might go still further with 
 him. 
 
 As will be seen by the reports of the Select Com- 
 mittee, the Transvaal question called for immediate 
 settlement. Mr. Kruger's plans were becoming too 
 apparent. Was such a settlement to be effected in- 
 ternally by Mr. Rhodes, or was the Imperial Govern- 
 ment to undertake it ? In the one way Mr. Chamber- 
 lain would fulfil his greatest ambitions, in the other 
 Mr. Rhodes. All the evidence on the subject goes to 
 show that the British Government had then already 
 determined on an active polic}'. It was clear that 
 things in the Transvaal were going from bad to worse, 
 and, as we have said, the British' Government was 
 kept well informed by the Loyalists with regard to the 
 secret menace which was being prepared. Of course, 
 a firm policy was all that could be desired on behalf 
 of the majority of British subjects in the Transvaal. 
 As a proof of this we take an extract from Mr. Fair- 
 field's letter to Mr. Chamberlain on November 4, 1895,
 
 204 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 a month or two before the Raid. He says : * I do 
 not think that there can be any doubt but that the 
 Transvaal will give way on the immediate question of 
 the Drifts, but that will not end the political unrest. 
 They will have in their hands to-night or to-morrow 
 morning a letter from Montagu White, written after 
 Lord Salisbury's message to him warning them that 
 the British Government is in deadly earnest ' (on the 
 subject of Reform). 
 
 It now turned out, however, that such a policy would 
 interfere with Mr. Rhodes's plans, which were rapidly 
 maturing, but which were as then a secret confined to 
 himself and a few friends. There can be no doubt 
 that the Colonial Office must have received a hint in 
 some way or other that it was inadvisable to follow an 
 Imperial line in South Africa, but that everything should 
 be left to Mr. Rhodes, who was interesting himself in 
 the matter, and would take all responsibility. The 
 main argument was probably that the Cape Dutch and 
 the Free State Boers would not be controllable in the 
 event of any action being taken, involving in conse- 
 quence the use of the Imperial forces to clinch the 
 matter. On the other hand, Mr. Rhodes, who only 
 asked for a free hand, and guaranteed Imperial interests 
 in return, expressed the belief that if no interference 
 took place with regard to his plans, ' he thought they 
 would be carried through without bloodshed.' This 
 meant the passive acquiescence of the Colonial Office 
 in whatever he might do. 
 
 In the face of these considerations, Mr. Chamberlain 
 was placed in a very awkward position, because it 
 seemed to resolve itself into the question whether his 
 ambition or his patriotism would win the day. Mr. 
 Rhodes had great claims on the British Government ; 
 he had saved Rhodesia for the Empire, had turned the 
 Cape Dutch for the moment into semi-loyal subjects ; he
 
 THE RECKONING 205 
 
 now asked to be permitted to crown his work with his 
 own hands, and unify South Africa in his own time 
 and in his own way. 
 
 When Krugerism had ceased to exist, and that great 
 danger to the Empire had disappeared, it would be 
 a matter of indifference as to who had done the deed. 
 Mr. Rhodes seemed likely to be able to carry out his 
 plans, and, as there was no reason to doubt his loyalty, 
 it appeared impolitic to hamper him. It meant, of 
 course, that Mr. Chamberlain renounced much of his 
 share in the glory to be won as the Founder of South 
 African unity. 
 
 It is gratifying to know that Mr. Chamberlain took 
 up what he thought to be the patriotic course, though 
 it must have been a disappointment to his ambition. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Rhodes have often been 
 bracketed as Empire-builders ; but as such their in- 
 terests cannot always be identical, and their very 
 positions tend to make them rivals. Therefore a very 
 considerable self-sacrifice was involved in surrendering 
 to the Rhodesian arguments. 
 
 It reduced the part to be played by the Colonial 
 Office to that of a looker-on, merely giving warnings 
 as to the European or American barometer, unpre- 
 pared to discountenance so-called revolutionary as 
 discriminated from Raid methods, and at the same 
 time unable to do anything much except hope for 
 success. 
 
 A doubt must have existed at the Colonial Office as 
 to Mr. Rhodes' loyalty to the Empire, even after it was 
 decided to leave matters to him. The Colonial Office 
 did all it could to make sure that Mr. Rhodes was not 
 working his plans on a republican basis, and went so 
 far as to elicit this cable from him, dated November 6, 
 1895 : ' As to English flag, they must very much mis- 
 understand me at home. I, of course, would not risk
 
 2o6 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 everything as I am doing excepting for British flag.' 
 This placed Mr. Rhodes in a very good Hght ; but it 
 proved that he did not know the men he had to deal 
 with in Johannesburg. Those Reformers, with excep- 
 tion of the Loyalists, declined to use the Transvaal 
 flag as a subterfuge, considering that it would have 
 been impossible to alter that flag once they had suc- 
 cessfully run it up. In 1894 the Loyalists had pro- 
 posed a compromise, but on very different grounds ; 
 and there was no pseudo-republicanism about that 
 proposal. 
 
 Assuming that Mr. Chamberlain gave Mr. Rhodes 
 practically a free hand in South Africa on grounds 
 which seemed to him dictated by patriotic considera- 
 tions, there is not the slightest shred of evidence to 
 prove that Mr. Chamberlain had any prior knowledge 
 of the Raid. His actions go to prove that it came as 
 a great shock to him, and in spite of the remonstrances 
 of Mr. Rhodes, he did not hesitate to take the only 
 course which was possible to a man who had been no 
 party to the filibustering. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain's dignified diplomatic attitude at 
 the time ; his adoption of the only right course in re- 
 pudiating Jameson ; his instructions to Sir Hercules 
 Robinson ' to leave no stone unturned to prevent mis- 
 chief; his foresight; and his firmness on the subject 
 of foreign intervention, which had been foreshadowed 
 by Miss Shaw, entitled him to everyone's respect as 
 a statesman, Mr. Rhodes' failure gave him his chance ; 
 Mr. Rhodes' methods had failed, and now South Africa 
 recognised that the struggle was limited to Mr. Cham- 
 berlain and President Kruger. 
 
 We have striven to give some faint idea of what the 
 position was when the collapse came, which left in the 
 hands of certain persons secrets which, while in no way 
 derogatory to the honour of the Colonial Office, were
 
 THE RECKONING 207 
 
 yet sufficiently ambiguous to awaken the suspicions of 
 the distrustful Africanders in South Africa, and were 
 calculated to create a very bad impression as to our good 
 faith on the Continent. The extent of the ' secrets ' 
 possessed by these parties would seem to be confined 
 to the messages which passed through Mr. Fairfield, 
 both verbally and in writing ; but whatever were the 
 nature of those communications, they should have been 
 kept hidden, and no hint even given that they existed. 
 It was a case of suppressing information which it was 
 not in the public interest to disclose. The mere fact 
 that it is admitted to-day that much which took place 
 at that time has tarnished our reputation condemns 
 in itself the disclosures made. If there was some 
 carelessness in the mentioning of names in the cables, 
 the blame did not lie with the men who had been 
 acting in the best interests of the country. The 
 correct course to prevent the slightest slur resting on 
 the Government was for Mr. Rhodes to have muzzled 
 his lieutenants, and make a determined effort to show at 
 all risks that the Colonial Office had not the slightest 
 inkling of his plans. As he failed in the execution of 
 his plans, so he failed here again to rise to the situation. 
 The testimony of Mr. Hawksley and others at the 
 Select Committee, and after, has done irreparable 
 injury in South Africa. Personal antagonism, private 
 ambitions, do not justify the use of weapons which not 
 only damage the individual, but strike at the credit of 
 the country. There is not a Boer in the Transvaal 
 who does not firmly believe to-day that Mr. Chamber- 
 lain was over head and ears in the Raid, and nothing 
 will convince him that this is not so. The mere fact 
 that persons implicated, either from design or inad- 
 vertency, strove to prove this was quite sufficient 
 evidence for them, just as it has been, one grieves to 
 admit, for a large section of the British public.
 
 2o8 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 The regrettable consequence has been that Mr. 
 Chamberlain has been hampered from the first in his 
 negotiations with the Iransvaal. This feeling of mis- 
 trust went so far as to engender the absurd belief that 
 Sir Alfred Milner is a tool of Mr. Rhodes. The Raid 
 gave the President an excuse for all his actions, and 
 the Boers looked upon it as a deliberate attempt by 
 the English Government to steal their country by dis- 
 honourable means. They regarded Sir Alfred Milner's 
 negotiations merely as veiled attempts to do the same, 
 and declined to give him the slightest credit for striv- 
 ing to find a settlement of the many questions at issue. 
 The Kruger clique of course did everything they could 
 to kindle this feeling, and thus the Progressives were 
 driven into the enemy's camp. 
 
 While touching on the evidence of the Select Com- 
 mittee, we wish to make one or two further observa- 
 tions before bringing this chapter to a close ; and in 
 doing so we wish it to be distinctly understood that 
 none of our remarks apply to Miss Flora Shaw, whose 
 evidence was given admirabl}^, and was much appre- 
 ciated by loyal South Africans. That talented lady has, 
 like Com Paul, the great gift of using language to 
 conceal her thoughts — a most useful talent in a diplo- 
 matist. An instance of this occurred many years ago, 
 when Miss Shaw visited South Africa, which made the 
 Loyalists of the Transvaal look upon her for a long 
 time as pro-Boer. Such belief was caused by the fact 
 that she was the guest of Mr. A. H. Nelmapius, to whom 
 we have alluded in our chapter on concessions ; she 
 was also made much of by Dr. Leyds and the Kruger 
 group, who kept her as much as possible aloof from 
 outside opinion, in which, judging from subsequent 
 events, they were not successful. The reasons which 
 justified the thought among the Loyalists were, 
 firstly, that they suspected those who surrounded her,
 
 THE RECKONING 209 
 
 and, secondly, that she was a strong? advocate for the 
 abandonment of the Swazies, In that her unflinching 
 devotion to Mr. Rhodes is apparent. We can all 
 admire the fidelity and honesty of purpose, coupled 
 with the resolve to be worthy of the trust which was 
 reposed in her, which characterized her evidence before 
 the Select Committee. 
 
 The most interesting points elicited in Mr. Rhodes' 
 evidence were the proofs of German activity in the 
 Transvaal. If a treaty did not exist at that time, binding 
 Germany to assist the Transvaal, it was thought there 
 must have been an oral understanding; but although 
 the most strenuous attempts were made to prove this 
 to be the case, no evidence could be obtained on the 
 subject. The tone of Baron van Marschall's despatch 
 to Lord Kimberley, dated February i, 1895 (see 
 Appendix D), would imply that it was not the first 
 time that Germany had interfered in South African 
 matters. There seems to be no shadow of a doubt 
 that such was the case in 1894, when we made such 
 a complete surrender to the Boers. Some light is 
 thrown on Sir Graham Bower's action at that time 
 by the following extracts from the evidence in the 
 inquiry : 
 
 '2,484. Mr. Secretary Chamberlain: Now, did you 
 anticipate that these troubles might lead to a change 
 of Government in the Transvaal? [in 1894]. — My 
 feeling in the matter is this, or was this at any rate, 
 and it is also still the same : that it was contrary to 
 British interests to establish an Anglo-Saxon republic 
 up there. An Anglo-Saxon republic would, by its 
 example, as well as by its influence, strengthen and 
 promote republicanism in South Africa,' etc. 
 
 '2,485. Sir William Harcoukt: I cannot hear 
 what you say. — It was not making republicanism 
 popular ; I mean the existing Hollander Government 
 
 14
 
 2IO THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 in the Transvaal. An Anglo-Saxon democratic Republic 
 would, by its example, as well as by its influence, make 
 republicanism popular, and thus weaken the British 
 connection ; and therefore, although it seems a cynical 
 thing to say, I felt that British interests would be best 
 served by the maintenance of the existing Govern- 
 ment.' 
 
 What an admission ! There is no doubt this foolish 
 idea, which must have been known to Lord Loch, and 
 may have influenced him, has had grave consequences. 
 At that time the Loyalists did all they could to show 
 the High Commissioner that they wanted a change of 
 flag. The demonstration at Pretoria on the arrival 
 of Sir Henry Loch centred round the flag, and if he 
 had obtained their rights for them without bloodshed, 
 their efforts would have been devoted to completing 
 that confederation which was the goal of their am- 
 bition. 
 
 A good deal of abuse was showered on Mr. 
 Schreiner's head in connection with his evidence on 
 the subject of Uitlander grievances, much of it un- 
 doubtedly well deserved. It is a matter for surprise that 
 Mr. Schreiner, as a lawyer, was not better acquainted 
 with the facts concerning the interference with the 
 independence of the High Court (3,606) involved 
 in the release from prison of Mr. A. H. Nelmapius 
 on an order of President Kruger ; a most serious 
 matter, causing the resignation of Judge Brand. 
 Even while admitting this fact, he denied that there 
 was any general grievance, forgetting the Doms and 
 McCorkindale cases, and disputing Chief Justice 
 Kotze's action in regard to the testing right as applied 
 to laws in the Transvaal. It was common knowledge 
 that the President had on several occasions inter- 
 fered in one way or another with the course of justice 
 (see Appendix J). All Mr. Schreiner did was to admit
 
 THE RECKONING 211 
 
 on pressure a minimum of Uitlanders' grievances, in 
 which connection we quote, in Appendix E, a letter 
 and cable sent at the time by the Uitlanders' Associa- 
 tion of Pretoria on the subject. This was supple- 
 mented by a contradiction of his evidence on the 
 Educational system, by Messrs. Caldecott and Robin- 
 son, of the Johannesburg Education Council. As an 
 illustration of the petty persecution to which the Trans- 
 vaal Government would go in this direction may be 
 instanced the case of a Miss Robbins, who had a school 
 outside the Government scheme. This lady rented a 
 room for the purpose from the Netherlands Railway, 
 but in consequence of her refusal to come under Dr. 
 Mansveldt's wing, notice was given her to vacate the 
 premises, and only with the greatest difficulty did she 
 succeed in getting another suitable place. 
 
 It is hard to understand Mr. Schreiner's policy when 
 we see him admitting the knowledge of President 
 Kruger's ambitions (4,080, 4,081) : ' President Kruger has 
 the contrary ideal [to confederation], probabl}', of an 
 extension of republican principles. I should say so. I 
 have not got it from himself; but judging of his policy, 
 I should say he isolates himself in his Republic, and 
 would like to see the republican principles extended.' 
 Questioned under what flag, he says : ' Not the Dutch 
 flag ; he has his own flag ; and the Orange Free State 
 has quite a different flag ; but probably a South 
 African flag which would be the flag of what he 
 would call a free nation, whatever the quarterings 
 might be upon that flag,' etc. This shows that 
 Mr. Schreiner must have been alive to Mr. Kruger's 
 intentions ; and yet what steps have he or the 
 Africander Bond taken to point out the dangers to 
 England of such aspirations, or to warn the Imperial 
 Government with regard to the immense accumulation 
 of arms, ammunition and artillery (some of which he 
 
 14 — 2
 
 212 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 was himself instrumental in transmitting) ? For this 
 want of fidelity to his trust he is assuredly to blame. 
 Surely it must be in accordance with the traditions 
 and the necessities of high colonial office for the Premier 
 of any colony to keep Her Majesty's Government in- 
 formed of events of this nature — events likely to shift 
 the balance of power in South Africa and to consti- 
 tute a serious menace to the Empire. 
 
 The interests of the colony and the interests of the 
 whole Empire should both be ever equally present to 
 all holding such high office.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 KRUGERIAN METHODS 
 
 It is doubtless difficult for an Englishman who has 
 been brought up to value the privileges he enjoys 
 — the constitution of his native land — to understand 
 how Mr. Kruger has been able to turn his position, 
 as the ruler of a State, to his personal advantage. 
 The simple, pious Boer, as he is supposed to be, 
 should be free of the chicaneries of the wicked and 
 unscrupulous. It is not natural that, owing to this 
 very simplicity, Mr. Kruger should have obtained a posi- 
 tion of almost absolute authority amongst his ignorant 
 countrymen. When it suits his purpose, he can be 
 mild and suave, full of wit and humorous badinage. 
 The language {taal) he uses is very favourably con- 
 structed for such purposes ; it is familiar to his hearers 
 in all its shades and inflections, and his admiring 
 audience fully appreciate his homely metaphors, framed 
 upon their everyday surroundings. That is the tone 
 which Mr. Kruger adopts when he wishes to secure 
 the concurrence of the Volksraad in some scheme upon 
 which he has set his heart, but which can only be realized 
 through the intervention of the Legislature. Should 
 the members not see eye to eye with him, and dare to 
 oppose in open Raad, his wrath is speedily aroused, 
 and his naturally harsh voice becomes a spluttering 
 roar, which prostrates the victim of his displeasure.
 
 214 THE RISE AND P^ALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 It usually happens that when any measure of import- 
 ance is to be carried or rejected by the Volksraad, the 
 subject is discussed in all its bearings by members 
 meeting privately at the President's house. It has 
 frequently occurred that when a law, or a portion 
 thereof which did not meet with the approval of the 
 majority, would be likely to be thrown out, if voted upon 
 at the time, it has been discussed up to the hour of 
 the adjournment, and those members who were waver- 
 ing between humouring the President and doing justice 
 to their constituents have been brought into a proper 
 frame of mind upon the stoep of the President's residence. 
 Sometimes, when the pill has been rather too large 
 or not sufficiently gilded, the Volksraad has stood upon 
 its dignity, and administered an open rebuke to the 
 President ; but their righteous indignation rarely survived 
 the coffee and pipes, and orders given during the evening 
 seance in the President's drawing-room were seldom 
 disregarded. Rarely only has a member with a regard 
 for his own interests and some courage, as well as a 
 good cause, stood up against Mr. Kruger in the Volks- 
 raad, treating with equal contempt oily words and 
 bombastic threats, and this has invariably resulted 
 in an appointment having been found for him of a 
 permanent character and carrying a good salary. 
 
 Mr. P. G. Mare secured the Landdrostship of 
 Boksburg, and Mr. G. Du Toit the Landdrostship of 
 Middelburg, simply because their criticisms in the 
 Volksraad of the measures of the Government was dis- 
 tasteful. But these gentlemen do not furnish the only 
 instances in which a well - timed opposition to the 
 Government has been productive of substantial good 
 to the recalcitrant legislator. Credit was given to them 
 for the possession of some sort of independence and 
 honesty, which made their attacks upon Government 
 measures more telling with the public than otherwise
 
 KRUGERIAN METHODS 215 
 
 would have been the case, while their subsequent con- 
 duct gives reason to the conjecture that their attitude 
 of hostility was a carefully prepared plan for their 
 personal aggrandisement. 
 
 The 1893 election, when President Kruger was really 
 ousted by General Joubert, although at the close of the 
 heaviest poll that had ever taken place in the country 
 he headed the list of votes by about 800, was a result 
 attained largely by the means alluded to. That result 
 was not allowed to pass unchallenged, and charges 
 being made of wholesale personation and other political 
 crimes, the matter was remitted for investigation 
 to a committee of the Volksraad. A considerable 
 number of Kruger votes were struck off on revision ; 
 but the Commission declined to go into the question 
 of illegal practices upon the ground that it was not 
 desirable to maintain the agitation, and so cause division 
 amongst the burghers. Mr. Kruger's election was 
 thereupon confirmed by the Volksraad, and he wiis 
 re-established in the Presidential chair. 
 
 The Government immediately introduced a law pro- 
 hibiting the formation of election committees amongst 
 the burghers, thus nullif3'ing any future attempt to 
 educate the people upon public questions of import- 
 ance as a means to guide them in their choice of 
 a properly qualified head of the State. By this 
 method the whole conduct of the elections in the 
 Republic was thrown into the hands of the enormous 
 army of Government officials, Landdrosts, and Veld- 
 cornets, who were almost without exception the creatures 
 of Mr. Kruger, owing their appointments to his favour, 
 and naturally enough taking upon themselves the volun- 
 tary duty of influencing more or less directly the votes 
 of the burghers. That they were successful to an extra- 
 ordinary degree was shown at the last election, when 
 12,000 votes were polled for Mr. Kruger, whilst liis
 
 2l6 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 opponent, Mr. Schalk Burger, registered but few more 
 than 3,000, notwithstanding the efforts of his party and 
 all those who were honestly desirous of appointing a 
 more enlightened ruler than Mr. Kruger. 
 
 Mr. Schalk Burger favourably impressed the Uitlander 
 population by his conduct during the sittings of the 
 Industrial Commission appointed by the Government 
 to investigate the truth of the grievances under which 
 the Uitlanders suffered. The report of the Commission 
 was eminently satisfactory, as it was proved by fact 
 and figure that the complaints of the alien population 
 were well founded and required to be remedied. This 
 result was so unexpected by the Government as to cause 
 uneasiness, and the report was sent to the Volksraad 
 committee, to be reconstructed, in defiance of the rules of 
 the Legislature. But, as usual, President Kruger had his 
 way, and in the end the valuable report was shelved. Mr. 
 Burger had established a reputation for level-headed- 
 ness, and a just intention towards the Uitlander, which 
 it was hoped would not be without influence in bringing 
 about his elevation to the Presidential chair ; but that 
 hope was defeated by the very complete organization of 
 officials in the pay of the Government, which was in- 
 finitely stronger, and brought into far closer connection 
 with the burghers than any temporary political com- 
 mittee could have been. 
 
 In this manner Mr. Kruger has been able to maintain 
 an almost impregnable position in the Legislature, from 
 which he weeded out dangerous members, firmly estab- 
 lished by the corrupt management of his own election 
 campaign upon the apparent unanimity of the people 
 as to his desirability as President. He did not con- 
 fine himself, however, entirely to the milder and less 
 obtrusive methods mentioned, and where they failed 
 he did not shrink from practising intimidation, un- 
 fortunately with success during later 3-ears ; and the
 
 KRUGERIAN METHODS 217 
 
 impunity with which he has been allowed to act in 
 defiance of the constitutional law of the State in 
 matters of importance has emboldened him even to 
 attack the tribunals of justice in the Transvaal, 
 
 It is desirable to enter upon that question in some 
 detail, in consequence of its tremendous import to 
 every inhabitant of the Transvaal, whether burgher or 
 Uitlander. The necessity of the maintenance of even- 
 handed justice, free from political influences, is self- 
 evident to every rational being, and yet Mr. Kruger, 
 secure in his position, had the temerity to tamper with the 
 foundations of society, of public order, and the security 
 of life and property in the State of which he is the head. 
 
 It ver}- unfortunately happened that Chief Justice 
 Kotze and his then colleagues upon the Bench, by 
 their judgments in the case of ' McCorkindale v. the 
 State ' and ' Doms v. the State,' had recognised as law 
 the resolutions of the Volksraad, by which the cases 
 were summarily disposed of, the defendants barring the 
 avenue to a legal decision upon the validity of their 
 claims. The late judge, Mr. Samuel Jorissen — a son of 
 the present Judge Jorissen — pronounced a dissentient 
 judgment, but the majority of the Court carried the 
 day, and both McCorkindale and Doms were deprived 
 of some very valuable property without chance of 
 appeal. In the Doms case summonses were issued, 
 and the cause ripe for trial, when the Volksraad, with 
 but little discussion, passed a resolution prohibiting 
 the Court from proceeding to investigate a claim for 
 the declaration of rights. There can be little doubt 
 that the Chief Justice, holding that the Volksraad was 
 what it claimed to be, ' the highest power in the land,' 
 honestly recognised as good in law the authority 
 claimed for a Volksraad resolution, framed on the spur 
 of the moment, and intended to meet a temporary 
 emergency. At a later period the question came up
 
 2i8 1 HE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 again for argument in an appeal from the decision of the 
 Circuit Court judge at Johannesburg, in the matter of 
 ' The State v. Hess,' and after a laborious investigation 
 of authorities Chief Justice Kotze pronounced an 
 elaborate judgment, admitting that in the cases of 
 McCorkindale and Doms the decisions given by him- 
 self and Judge Ewald Esselen were wrong, and out of 
 accord with constitutional principles. It is greatly to 
 be regretted that the inconsistency of the earlier judg- 
 ments with the later one placed an instrument in the 
 hands of Mr. Kruger to subordinate the temple of justice 
 to his will for the furtherance of his own designs. 
 
 Some time in the latter part of the year 1895 Presi- 
 dent Kruger began the exercise of his system of intimida- 
 tion, and he interviewed the Chief Justice upon the 
 subject of Volksraad resolutions (see Appendix H for 
 a narrative of the proceedings at that interview). It 
 will be seen that at that time Mr. Kruger threatened 
 to suspend the Chief Justice and his colleagues from 
 their position on the Bench if the validity of Volksraad 
 resolutions were questioned on the ground of their 
 being unconstitutional. Later a case came before the 
 High Court of the Transvaal, ' Brown v. the State,' 
 in which heavy claims were made for damages conse- 
 quent upon the action of the Government in with- 
 drawing a proclamation with regard to a public 
 gold-field. After a lengthy trial the Court pronounced 
 a judgment adverse to the contention of the Govern- 
 ment, and reaffirming the right of the Court to decide 
 upon questions of the validity of resolutions passed by 
 the Volksraad as law of the Republic. In this judgment 
 also the Chief Justice most courageously maintained 
 and justified his recantation of his former error, notwith- 
 standing that he had the threat impending over his 
 head of summary dismissal from office in the event of 
 his proving obdurate. To depose Mr. Kotze at once
 
 KRUGERIAX METHODS 219 
 
 was too dangerous a step to take, and acting on the 
 astute advice of Dr. Leyds, then State Secretary, a law 
 was introduced into the Volksraad, and carried through 
 all its stages in three da3'S. This law is the infamous 
 production known as Law No. i of 1897, and was 
 designed to place the Judicial Bench under the thumb 
 of President Kruger, aided by a corrupt Legislature. 
 
 It was not long after the passage of this law that 
 the President began to put its provisions into operation 
 by demanding from the judges a categorical statement 
 of their acceptance of the new oath, which they would 
 be compelled to adopt as a condition of their remain- 
 ing on the Bench. The judges unanimously agreed in 
 a reply virtually declining to give any assurance to the 
 Government on the subject. The present Chief Justice 
 Gregorowski declared ' that so long as that law re- 
 mained on the statute-book no honourable man could 
 sit on the Bench.' But this same gentleman did not 
 find his honour a barrier to retaining his judgeship, 
 and one by one the other judges forfeited their pledge 
 to stand by the Chief Justice in his fight with the 
 Government on constitutional grounds. Mr. Justice 
 Ameshoff, a Hollander, distinguished himself honour- 
 ably by resigning his position as puisne judge of the 
 High Court, thereby vindicating his integrity, and, 
 although perhaps the poorest of the Bench in a financial 
 sense, sacrificed a comfortable salary without even the 
 prospect of appreciation by his confreres or the public. 
 His act of self-abnegation is more worthy of regard, as 
 it naturally tended to sever him from the companion- 
 ship of many of his fellow-countrymen, who, whatever 
 they may think of the motives and the actions of the 
 Government, possess the valuable gift of being able to 
 stick with grim tenacity to their places and emoluments. 
 
 The Uitlanders were stunned by the assault made 
 upon the independence of the High Court, and every
 
 220 THE RISK AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 legal practitioner. Bar and side-Bar, enthusiastically 
 supported Chief Justice Kotze after his dismissal from 
 office by order of the President. 
 
 About £"6,000 was subscribed by the public in 
 Johannesburg as a testimonial to that gentleman for 
 his maintenance of the independence of the Court over 
 which he had presided for nearly a score of years, but 
 popular opinion had no value in the eyes of the Pre- 
 torian autocrat. 
 
 Before the final step was taken in the dismissal of 
 the Chief Justice, Sir Henry de Villiers, the Chief 
 Justice of the Cape Colony, made his appearance on 
 the scene. It was thought at first by his Transvaal 
 brethren that he came to lend his powerful aid to 
 get rid of the scandal, but it soon became evident 
 that his sympathies were not with the men who were 
 risking their positions as champions of truth and 
 justice, but rather on the side of those who were per- 
 petrating a grievous wrong, not only on the judges, but 
 on the people at large. After a conference with the 
 judges, he proposed, as a method of getting over the 
 difficulty, that the}^ should address a letter to the Presi- 
 dent which contained the following clause : ' Their 
 [i.e., the judges'] answer is that Law No. i, 1897, what- 
 ever opinion they may entertain as to its principle, 
 now forms part of the law of the land, and that, conse- 
 quently, so long as they remain judges of the land they 
 must abide by present and future laws and Volksraad 
 resolutions {beshnten), and not exercise the power of 
 testing whether such laws and hesluiten are in accord- 
 ance with the Grond-Wet ' (written constitution of the 
 Republic). This draft was rejected by the whole 
 Bench, it being clear that to accept it was to abandon 
 the whole case, and recognise the power of the Volks- 
 raad to deny justice to litigants, whether burghers or 
 Uitlanders, and thus infringe upon the sacred rights
 
 KRU(;ERIAN methods 221 
 
 and liberties of a free people. Eventually the follow- 
 ing reply was decided upon as a via media, by which 
 time and opportunity would be allowed for the final 
 settlement of a great constitutional question : 
 
 ' His Honour the State President. 
 
 ' Hic.H Court of thk 
 
 ' South African Repuhlic, 
 ' Pretoria, 
 
 '■March 19, 1897. 
 
 ' Your Honour, 
 
 'The judges have the honour, in reply to the 
 communication addressed to them on your behalf, and 
 in which a certain question is put to them, to answer 
 as follows : 
 
 ' They deeply regret that the Honourable the Volks- 
 raad has authorized Your Honour to put a certain 
 question to them, and were it not for the existence of 
 exceptional circumstances they would not feel at liberty 
 to give any answer. The exceptional circumstances 
 which justify them to depart from a well-recognised 
 principle are : (i) That the Government and Volksraad 
 have been placed somewhat in a difficult position by a 
 recently pronounced judgment, however honestly and 
 conscientiously given ; (2) that the point at issue 
 affects an important constitutional cjuestion which 
 seldom comes up for decision ; (3) that under the 
 present circumstances of the country a confiict between 
 the legislative and judicial powers should, if possible, 
 be avoided. 
 
 ' For these reasons the judges feel at liberty to give 
 the following answer : Considering that confiicting 
 decisions have been given by the High Court with 
 regard to the exercise of the testing right, and con- 
 sidering that some of the members of the Court are of 
 opinion that it does not possess this right, and especially
 
 222 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 after the clear opinion of the Honourable the First 
 Volksraad on the point, the judges will not test exist- 
 ing and future laws and resolutions of the Volksraad 
 by reference to the Grond-Wet. 
 
 * The judges declare this on the understanding that 
 Your Honour will, as speedily as possible, submit a 
 draft to the Honourable the Volksraad, whereby the 
 constitution or Grond-Wet (guaranteeing among others 
 the independence of the High Court) will be placed 
 upon a sure basis, so that no alterations can be made 
 therein than by means of special legislation alone, after 
 the example of the provisions on the subject contained 
 in the Constitution of the Orange Free State. In the 
 drawing up of such a draft the judges are prepared to 
 give the Government and the Volksraad every assist- 
 ance. 
 
 'The judges have the honour to be, 
 
 ' Your obedient servants, 
 
 'J. G. KOTZE. 
 
 H. A. Ameshoff. 
 e. j. p. jorissen. 
 George T. Morice. 
 R. Gregorowski.' 
 
 This was accepted as satisfactory by the President, 
 as it contained the promise that pending the intro- 
 duction of a definite clause in the new Grond-Wet, 
 by which the Courts of the Republic should be main- 
 tained in their independence, the judges would refrain 
 from raising the constitutional question. There is much 
 reason to believe that the judges regretted having made 
 the compromise, but did so hoping that the Govern- 
 ment would as soon as possible bring the question before 
 the Volksraad on the lines suggested. In that letter 
 they fulfilled their part of the bargain. It soon became 
 apparent that the President intended to procrastinate
 
 KRUGERIAN METHODS 223 
 
 as much as possible, and Chief Justice Kotze, considering 
 it his duty to remind him of the compact entered into, 
 wrote a letter expressing disappointment after the close 
 of the ordinary session of the Volksraad of 1897, ^.nd 
 asking for the reasons which induced the Government 
 to depart from the understanding agreed to by both 
 sides. That letter was followed by others, which failed 
 to elicit replies from the Government or the chairman 
 of the Commission appointed to revise the Grond-Wet, 
 and culminated in a last letter of the Chief Justice, dated 
 February 5, 1898, ' stating that as the understanding 
 between the judges and the Government had not been 
 carried out, he considered himself relieved from the 
 obligation to refrain from the use of the " testing 
 right." ' On February 16, 1898, the President availed 
 himself of the provision of the infamous law he had 
 forced through the Volksraad at the highest speed pos- 
 sible, and dismissed Mr. Kotze from his office as Chief 
 Justice of the South African Republic. The question- 
 able influence of Sir H. de Villiers in getting a hurried 
 settlement was further shown b}- the publication of 
 some notes which he made six weeks after the events 
 in which he took part, which enabled the Government 
 to contend that it was not bound to bring the subject 
 before the Volksraad before the ordinary session of 
 1898. It is greatly to be regretted that he should 
 have interfered either on one side or the other. It 
 is commonly known that Sir H. de Villiers received 
 no invitation from either side to intervene, but there 
 is internal evidence that if not inspired by Mr. Hof- 
 meyr, he certainly visited Pretoria with that gentle- 
 man's knowledge. It also appears from Sir Henry 
 de Villiers' statement in the Legislative Council that 
 he forgot to ask leave of absence from the colon}', as 
 he is bound to do before going beyond its borders. 
 There are so many discrepancies between the known
 
 224 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 facts and statements made with regard to this matter, 
 that it is very difficult to reconcile the one \Yith the 
 other. Suffice it to say that Sir H. de Villiers was an 
 uninvited mediator, that the sum of his services was 
 the strengthening of Mr. Kruger in his determination 
 to make the Law Courts of the Republic subservient to 
 the Government and Legislature, and that the imme- 
 diate result was to secure the dismissal of Chief Justice 
 Kotze from his position. He has apparently made 
 no effort to remedy the mischief which he wrought by 
 his ill-timed intervention in a matter with which he had 
 no personal concern, but which was one that a consti- 
 tutional judge of a constitutionally governed British 
 colony might reasonably have been expected to con- 
 sider with full sympathy. For after all the matter 
 embodied the struggle of justice-loving people against 
 an autocrat whose every endeavour had been to con- 
 centrate the most despotic power in his own hands. 
 As a politician of the Africander Bond stamp, Sir H. de 
 Villiers may be deemed to have done a smart thing, 
 and by judiciously flattering the burghers have paved 
 the way for developments which would loom largely the 
 moment Mr. Kruger vacated his position as President 
 of the South African Republic. There had been talk 
 of Sir Henry de Villiers becoming the President of the 
 Transvaal on the near approach of the termination of 
 President Kruger's third tenure of office, a consumma- 
 tion most unlikely now, when the end to Republics in 
 South Africa seems near at hand. 
 
 In the Appendix will be found a leading article from 
 the Transvaal Advertiser of March 15, 1897, which 
 Chief Justice Kotze in his pamphlet, ' An Appeal to 
 the Inhabitants of the South African Republic,' de- 
 scribes as being ' clear and irrefutable,' and which he 
 ' commends to the earnest attention of all right- 
 thinking men' (see Appendix I). As may be expected
 
 KRUGERIAN METHODS 225 
 
 the appeal met with no response from the burghers, 
 and the Transvaal has been deprived of the ser- 
 vices of a learned judge, whose decisions have for the 
 most part given satisfaction to the public, and who 
 has built up a reputation for the High Court of the 
 Transvaal of which he and the country might well be 
 proud. 
 
 Perhaps the most nefarious of Krugerian methods 
 was the tolerance with which bribery and corruption of 
 public officials and legislators was viewed. It is of 
 course difficult to name specific instances, but it is a 
 fact that officials and Volksraad members suddenly 
 developed tastes which could not be gratified on their 
 salaries or even the sanctioned perquisites of their 
 offices. From the facts which were patent, a system 
 of secret ' presents ' to officials and members of the 
 Volksraad had rapidly developed so as to avoid the 
 appearance of direct bribery. The wives and female 
 relations were made the recipients of gifts which it would 
 hardly have been safe to tender direct to their official 
 or legislatorial relatives. An overheard conversation 
 between a Volksraad member and a person desirous of 
 getting some concession passed through the Volksraad 
 was to the effect that the would-be concessionaire 
 was willing to pay ;£"2,ooo to secure his object, but the 
 honourable member stated that £"5,000 would be nearer 
 the mark. The other responded that when he had paid 
 that amount, together with the accustomed douceurs to 
 officials, there would be nothing left for himself, and 
 he thereupon made up his mind to abandon the project. 
 The member alluded to has usually been considered 
 * straight ' by the public, and would be the last person 
 to be suspected of underhand dealings, but even he has 
 become richer since he was elected to represent an 
 important constituency. 
 
 Before leaving this unsavoury subject we must allude 
 
 15
 
 226 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 to one more instance of unscrupulous high-handedness 
 on the part of the ' President.' Towards the middle of 
 last year, and just after the termination of the Bloem- 
 fontein Conference, a bold attempt was made to in- 
 culpate certain persons alleged to be officers holding 
 Her Majesty's commission in the army as conspirators 
 against the State. Some half - dozen persons were 
 arrested during one night and taken to Pretoria, where 
 they were incarcerated in the common gaol, upon a 
 charge of high treason. For some time these persons 
 were kept in prison, and strenuous efforts were made 
 by officials and one or two of the persons arrested 
 to induce the principals to make a confession of guilt 
 or guilty knowledge of a plotting to overthrow the 
 Government of the Republic. With great difficulty 
 the principals managed to communicate with Mr. 
 Conyngham Greene, Her Majesty's Agent at Pretoria, 
 and he took the necessary steps to bring the matter to 
 an issue. The State Attorney, Mr. Smuts, approached 
 Mr. Greene, and offered to withdraw from the prosecu- 
 tion upon the ground that he felt reluctant to proceed 
 against men holding commissions in the British army. 
 Mr. Greene, however, knew what this cunning sugges- 
 tion meant, and after consulting the Colonial Secretary, 
 Mr. Chamberlain, informed the State Attorney that the 
 British Government insisted upon the matter being 
 sifted to the bottom, and that an advocate was to be 
 appointed to defend the accused. For this purpose 
 Mr. Greene secured the services of Messrs. Tancred and 
 Lunnon as attorneys for the defence, and they ap- 
 pointed Mr. Advocate Duxbury as counsel. The 
 Government was in consequence forced to proceed 
 with the investigation, and preliminary examinations 
 extending over several days took place. It then 
 appeared that some of the secret agents of the 
 Government had been imprisoned intentionally, with
 
 KRUGERIAN METHODS 227 
 
 the object of enabling them to gain incriminating 
 evidence, and of becoming State witnesses at the trial. 
 Mr. Duxbury subjected these gentry to such a severe 
 cross-examination as to fully expose the intention of 
 the plot, which was to identify the Imperial Govern- 
 ment, through the agency of British military officers, 
 with a revolutionary propaganda in the Transvaal, and 
 thereby justify the hostile attitude which the Transvaal 
 intended to adopt. Through the able efforts of the 
 counsel engaged for the defence the charge broke down 
 completely, and eventually, the Government deciding 
 not to proceed with the case, the accused were released 
 from custody. At this time the authorities of the 
 Republic shrank from no means to further their end, 
 and the case in question seems to us one very nearly 
 approaching to the crime of subornation of perjury. 
 The secret agents, having their instructions from the 
 head of the department, were ordered to make the 
 necessary affidavits against these British subjects so as 
 to set the criminal law in motion ; and these same 
 wretches were set on the watch to entrap persons who 
 allowed themselves to audibly condemn the actions of 
 the Government. 
 
 The suggestion made by the State Attorney, that 
 he would abandon proceedings if desired by the British 
 Government, is essentially Krugerian. If Mr. Greene 
 or Mr. Chamberlain had fallen into the trap, the 
 Transvaal Government would have claimed that the 
 charge was so absolutely true that the British Govern- 
 ment was afraid of the circumstances being dragged 
 into the light of day, and it would have been used 
 as a reason for the earlier declaration of war. As 
 it is, there can be little doubt that the mass of the 
 people believe that it was only by the vigilance of the 
 Government that a serious conspiracy' against the inde- 
 pendence of the Republic was brought to light, and the 
 
 15—2
 
 228 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 fact of the State Attorney declining to prosecute was 
 solely in deference to the wish of the British Govern- 
 ment, and therefore a magnanimous forbearance on the 
 part of the Transvaal. The report on the proceedings 
 at the preliminary examination has been published in 
 a recent Blue Book, and it shows clearly the quality of 
 the means used by the Government in order to gam 
 the desired end. 
 
 The circumstances relative to the illicit purchases 
 of gold under the authority of the Government have 
 often been dwelt on, but the charge of purchasing gold 
 amalgam brought against a certain Count de Sarigny, 
 and the State Attorney's interference, is perhaps less 
 generally known. The accused was discharged before 
 any evidence could be adduced simply because it would 
 have involved the Government in the scandalous affair. 
 Sufficient, however, leaked out to show^ that a system 
 of permits was instituted by which certain persons were 
 held free of damage in case of being detected in pur- 
 chasing gold. The ostensible reason for the institution 
 of special permits was to ascertain how and by whom 
 the thefts of gold were made from the batteries of the 
 mining companies. That was a sufficient reason for 
 the adoption of extraordinary means in order to ensure 
 the destruction of a system of pilfering which had 
 grown up on the Rand Gold-field. But it is a remark- 
 able fact that not a single amalgam thief has been dis- 
 covered through this agency, whilst there is reason to 
 believe that the gold bought under special permit has 
 not been less than ;£'75o,ooo in value. It is difficult 
 to trace gold obtained by theft or by the authorized 
 robbery countenanced by the Government, but it is 
 pretty certain that a considerable amount of the stolen 
 gold found its way to agents stationed at Delagoa Bay, 
 where the price of amalgamated and cyanide gold is 
 openly quoted.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR 
 
 It has been a favourite argument, with those who per- 
 sonally know nothing about Transvaal affairs, that Presi- 
 dent Kruger did not make preparation for the struggle 
 in which he is now engaged until after the Jameson 
 Raid. That is a very serious error, for it may with 
 truth be asserted that from the time when the gold- 
 fields at Barberton and, later on, the Witwatersrand 
 were discovered there have been steady preparations 
 for a conflict with Great Britain. It is quite true that 
 until Jameson showed the Transvaal that it was pos- 
 sible for an invading force to penetrate into the heart 
 of the country, and even to threaten Pretoria and 
 Johannesburg, the construction of forts for the defence 
 of those important centres was not commenced. It 
 is also true that the enormous importations of warlike 
 munitions were carried on after the Raid without dis- 
 guise, except, perhaps, as to the number and nature 
 of the projectiles and warlike weapons. But it would 
 not be difficult to show that from an early period 
 after the retrocession — in fact, as soon as the revenue 
 afforded it — steps were taken to place the Republic in 
 a position of defiance or defence. There were the 
 Powder Factory and Dynamite Concessions, through 
 which the Government would be independent, it was 
 expected, of explosives of foreign origin, being of im-
 
 230 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 portance also for the development of the gold industry, 
 which was the only means by which a large surplus 
 revenue could be secured. It may be said that the 
 armament of the Transvaal with the view to a foreign 
 {i.e., British) war commenced towards the end of the 
 eighties, and has been continued ever since. 
 
 At the time when Lucas Meyer and his compatriots 
 made an incursion into Zululand, which resulted in 
 the establishment of a Boer Republic in territory con- 
 quered at the cost of many valuable lives and heavy 
 expense by Great Britain, wagonloads of ammunition 
 were sent from Pretoria for his use. The editor of the 
 Transvaal Advertiser was threatened with prosecution 
 on account of his having published this fact ; but as, 
 fortunately, his information was too precise to be con- 
 tradicted, he was not only able to defy the Govern- 
 ment, but even to add evidence which showed the 
 complicity of the authorities in the attempt to establish 
 the Republics of Stellaland and Land Goshen in the 
 heart of Bechuanaland. 
 
 The sending of ammunition to Lucas Meyer in 
 Zululand could, under no circumstances, be regarded 
 as the act of a friendly nation, because it was well 
 known that by the capture of Cetewayo and the dis- 
 persal of the Zulu army the pre-emptory claim to the 
 land vested in Great Britain. The Little Englander 
 was then supreme in the councils of the Empire, and 
 the consequence was that Zululand was left open to 
 whoever chose to seize it. The Boers were, of course, 
 not slow to prolit by this, and, on the strength of a 
 concession from Dinizulu, the successor of Cetewayo, 
 they possessed themselves of the most fertile portion 
 of the native territory. The territory had at first been 
 offered to Natal, which colony declined the offer with 
 nothing short of monumental shortsightedness. Where- 
 upon the Transvaal accepted this valuable addition
 
 PREPARATIOxNS FOR WAR 231 
 
 to the area of the Republic with scarcely concealed 
 avidity and with carefully disguised contempt for the 
 stupidity of our Government. The reasons for declin- 
 ing the country were the few thousands a year required 
 for the administration of a territory as large as Great 
 Britain, with a dense native population, only too ready 
 to yield obedience to the conqueror, and to submit to 
 the taxation necessary for the protection of the British 
 flag. Small wonder that the dream of the conquest 
 of the whole of South Africa was indulged in by the 
 Transvaal statesmen ! If the British Government did 
 not hold Zululand when it was conquered, and declined 
 to keep it when it was to be had for the asking, was it 
 not likely that a similar course would be followed with 
 regard to other parts of South Africa, especially if the 
 Republic grew to be so powerful as it was the hope of 
 Mr. Kruger to make it ? 
 
 The first step taken towards that end was the fatuous 
 indifference shown by the British Ministers at the close 
 of the Zulu War, and from then dates the systematic 
 organization of the forces of the Transvaal. 
 
 At the retrocession of the country the Boers were 
 armed with a very odd assortment of weapons, from 
 the old - fashioned flint - lock to the more modern 
 Express rifle used for shooting big game. As a first 
 step it was resolved to introduce, as far and as quickly 
 as possible, uniformity in the weapons of the burghers. 
 The first small arm was the Martini-Henry rifle, and 
 as means allowed those guns were imported and issued 
 to the burghers, some paying the actual cost, while 
 others received them gratuitously upon condition of 
 keeping them in good order, and at the instant service 
 of the Government when commandeered. 
 
 It is probable that about 200,000 military rifles 
 have been introduced into the Transvaal and the Free 
 State, most of them since the Jameson Raid, which
 
 232 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 afforded a reasonable excuse for extensive armament, 
 of which the Government was not slow to avail itself. 
 The war expenditure, as shown by the yearly returns 
 prior to 1895, was comparatively moderate, but there 
 were other items in the returns which were described 
 as 'divers payments' and 'unforeseen expenditure,' 
 which assumed gigantic proportions at times, and for 
 which there was no outward and visible sign of their 
 being mainly for war purposes. There can be little 
 doubt that a fair proportion of the money expended 
 under these heads has gone towards the cost of arming 
 the country, the idea being that with so great a store 
 of war munitions in the Transvaal magazines Great 
 Britain would hesitate about going to war. 
 
 Prior to 1885 the Republic had nothing to spare out 
 of its revenue for these purposes, though the arming of 
 the Transvaal against Great Britain began about that 
 time. With millions of pounds sterling to spend in 
 later years, and with the idea of republican supremacy 
 in South Africa growing at an equal rate with the 
 means of apparently carrying it into effect, it is quite 
 natural that the President should pretend that the un- 
 easiness of his people was a sufficient reason for the 
 enormous armament which took place since the Jame- 
 son fiasco. 
 
 Everything goes to prove that the Raid was a 
 welcome incident, which was skilfully used by the 
 President as a cover for his ulterior design of wresting 
 South Africa from the rule of Great Britain, and 
 placing the Transvaal in the premier position in a 
 new republican federation. 
 
 Those who look upon the Boer as a simple-minded 
 and God-fearing peasant scarcely do him justice. 
 He, until lately, knew that, being weak, he had no 
 chance in a death struggle with the mighty power 
 7,000 miles away, and he foresaw years ago that he
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR 233 
 
 must carefully prepare for the fateful conflict in which 
 he had made up his mind to embark. What he had 
 to do was done in secret, and it was certain that the 
 mass of the people guessed only very faintly the end 
 to which their leaders were conducting them blindly. 
 Nevertheless, the tendency of Krugerian scheming was 
 apparent enough to those who understood his manner 
 of working and could see a little below the surface. 
 
 The more recent native wars against Malaboch, the 
 Woodbush chiefs, one of whom, Magoeba, was be- 
 headed, and M'Pefu, the successor to old Magato, whom 
 the Boers never had the pluck to tackle, were intended 
 to accustom the younger burghers to arms in the battle- 
 field. For though the older men had had some experi- 
 ence in the operations against Mapoch and Massouw, 
 the youth of the State had but little opportunity 
 of learning the art of war. If the truth must be 
 told, the rising generation did not show up brilliantly 
 in those campaigns. As usual, the real work of the 
 war was mainly done b}' the Uitlanders, who either 
 volunteered or went up in obedience to the com- 
 mandeering of the Veldcornets of their district, and 
 the Staats Artillerie. That is why it was important 
 to get the youths from eighteen to twenty years of 
 age accustomed to the whistle of a rifle bullet or the 
 roar of a shell. 
 
 These wars had practically no other justification, 
 and it is a well-known fact that the Kaffirs were 
 shamefully treated by the men set over them by the 
 Government. Native Commissionerships were in great 
 demand by the supporters of Mr. Kruger, as they 
 afforded exceptional opportunities for adepts in the 
 science of unscrupulous!}- acquiring riches. Native 
 wars were promoted on the flimsiest pretences when 
 the rural Boers required employment, and numerous 
 commandos were set on foot for the sole purpose of
 
 234 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 capturing children made orphans by the shooting down 
 of their parents. This practice has been so common 
 throughout the history of the Transvaal under Boer 
 regime that very little notice was taken of it either 
 by the public or the Government ; many expeditions 
 for this purpose in remoter districts were not even 
 reported at headquarters. A pretended theft of cattle, 
 or some excuse of the kind, was always sufficient 
 foundation for a foray, and the slightest resistance 
 offered by the unfortunate Kaffirs to protect their pro- 
 perty was held a good reason for the strongest and 
 most vindictive measures on the part of a commando. 
 
 Of late years greater attention had to be given to 
 the arranging of detail, as the newspapers somehow 
 generally managed to get on the scent of the most 
 atrocious of these proceedings. Abel Erasmus, who 
 was denounced by Sir Garnet Wolseley in the strongest 
 terms, was a dexterous hand at the game ; but he was 
 so useful a servant of the Government that promotion 
 awaited him instead of punishment. A good deal of 
 misery would have been saved the wretched Kaffirs 
 under his jurisdiction had Sir Garnet Wolseley been 
 able to carry out his threat to hang him if he got him 
 in his power. The Kaffir wars afford everywhere 
 examples of the most callous brutality winked at by 
 the Boer Government, by whom they were undertaken 
 simply as an exercise for the purpose of getting the 
 fighting force of the Transvaal accustomed to life on 
 the battle-field, and ready for the time when the more 
 serious task of bearding Great Britain would have to 
 be ventured upon. This means of acquiring the neces- 
 sary qualities seemed almost dictated by the absence 
 of sport. 
 
 The indiscriminate slaughter of game in times past 
 had deprived the youths of the Republic of the oppor- 
 tunity of becoming marksmen in the hunting-field, and
 
 PREPARATIOiNS FOR WAR 235 
 
 it was necessary to find some other means of making 
 them skilled shots besides tarjjjet-shooting for prizes, 
 which was encouraged by Government. 
 
 In 1892 some 300 Germans entered the service of 
 the country, and they were followed by others who had 
 had a certain amount of military training in their own 
 country, until some 1,200 were enrolled as mercenaries. 
 This is in itself a proof that the Government had, years 
 before the Raid, other plans in view than the fighting 
 of natives. 
 
 The Free State began to arm openly at about 
 the same time as the Transvaal, and for the same 
 ostensible reason. It is not to be forgotten, how- 
 ever, that neither the British Government nor the 
 Uitlanders in the Transvaal had any reason to com- 
 plain of the attitude of the adjoining Republic until 
 the election of President Steyn. His predecessor, 
 Mr. Reitz, after recovering his health, migrated to 
 Pretoria, and was hailed with joy in the innermost 
 circle of the oligarchy. In his position as State Secre- 
 tary he is only inferior to the President, and being a 
 man of superior education, he may be said to be in 
 reality the Government. Now, as it has been proved 
 by Mr. Theophilus Schreiner that the object of the 
 Africander Bond in the Free State (of which Mr. Reitz 
 was formerly Chief Justice) was to get rid of the power 
 of Great Britain in South Africa, it will be seen that he 
 had a congenial and powerful ally in the President of 
 the Transvaal, who was permeated with the same desire. 
 
 We have already dealt with the closer alliance of the 
 Transvaal with the Free State, which was at one time 
 hampered by the condition that ' before taking up arms 
 in a Transvaal quarrel with a foreign [meaning, of 
 course. Great Britain] Power the cause of their sister 
 Republic should be found just and reasonable.' This 
 being done away with, in spite of the protests of
 
 236 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 Messrs. Fraser and Wessels, and other more enlightened 
 members, owing to the action of the majority in 
 favouring Africander Bond principles, the Volksraad 
 decided upon a practically unconditional alliance, with 
 the assurance that the Free State was under obligations 
 to share with the Transvaal whatever good or ill might 
 betide. That accomplished, Kruger's exertions of the pre- 
 vious seventeen years in sowing disloyalty amongst the 
 Free State burghers was at last rewarded with success. 
 Long before any vital question had arisen between the 
 British and Transvaal Governments the emissaries of 
 the Republic had directed public opinion in the Free 
 State upon the question of political alliance, with a 
 view to being prepared for taking a part in the pro- 
 gramme of driving the English out of South Africa. 
 The protracted negotiations with the Free State with 
 the definite object of obtaining 'closer union' between 
 the two Republics commenced shortly after the Conven- 
 tion of London was completed by ratification. 
 
 As regards the Cape Colony, there is ample evidence 
 that for many years past Transvaal agents have been 
 at work among the farmers inhabiting the north- 
 western districts. Some of these agents have held 
 high positions in Pretoria officialdom, such as the late 
 Henning Pretorius and General Smit. Quite shortly 
 anterior to the war large numbers of persons were 
 sent into the colony and Natal to feel the pulse of 
 the Dutch farming population there. No fewer than 
 thirty young men from the public offices who were 
 known to be good cyclists, and could speak English 
 and Dutch equally well, were sent from Pretoria to 
 gather statistics and report. This was cleverly con- 
 ceived, for who among the stay-at-home farmers could 
 refrain from opening his heart to a cyclist bound on a 
 pleasure trip, and whose manners and liberality were 
 so thoroughly those of a gentleman ? There can be
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR 237 
 
 little doubt that through these agencies many among 
 the less enlightened of the farming class were seduced 
 in both colonies — a process aided by the exhortations 
 of the majority of the Dutch Reformed clergy in the 
 country districts, whose influence for good or evil is 
 immense. The propaganda in the Cape Colony is 
 more recent than that set up in the Free State, but 
 it proved to have been so far successful that several 
 thousand rebels were induced to take up arms when 
 the war broke out. Most of these are members of the 
 Afnicander Bond, and it will in due time be found 
 necessary to break up that organization, whose purpose 
 and ambition it is to encourage anti- English ten- 
 dencies, and to incite British subjects to rebellion. 
 
 The foregoing are the main features of Transvaal 
 policy for many years. There has been no sudden 
 ebullition of feeling against some act of oppression 
 which has led the Republics to regard the existence of 
 British authority as a common and threatening danger. 
 The sentiment has been slowly and persistently worked 
 up for years, and has culminated — as it was intended to 
 culminate — in the declaration of war last autumn. 
 
 The Boers were encouraged and helped in this by 
 the negligence of the Cape Ministry in keeping an eye 
 on the enormous amount of armaments going into the 
 Transvaal and the Free State. There can be no excuse 
 for this, because arms and warlike munitions alike had 
 to pass under the very nose of the colonial authorities 
 through Cape Colony to Bloemfontein and Pretoria. 
 The present Cape Government has thereby forfeited 
 every claim to be regarded as loyal to the British 
 Crown, for surely even Ministers should be judged by 
 actions rather than by words. It is a small but in- 
 significant thing that O.H.M.S. was changed to O.P.S. 
 on official documents, and it shows the bent of the 
 Cape Ministerial mind. Why ' On Her Majesty's
 
 238 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 Service " should be considered objectionable, and * On 
 Public Service ' preferable, is a riddle which can best 
 be solved by those who are adepts in the solution of 
 political conundrums. 
 
 It is fortunate that Great Britain has, in the person 
 of Sir Alfred Milner, a Governor and High Commis- 
 sioner who is thoroughly well acquainted not only with 
 the tactics of a band of discredited politicians, but also 
 with those who, although in the background, were, 
 even at the outbreak of war, pulling the wires in Cape 
 Colony, with the object of frustrating the efforts of 
 Great Britain to establish equal rights for all white 
 men throughout South Africa. The failure of the 
 Bloemfontein Conference between Sir A. Milner and 
 President Kruger caused in well-informed circles the 
 belief that war with the Transvaal would ensue, a 
 feeling which was shared by most classes of the inhabi- 
 tantsin that State. A captain in the Staats Artillerie 
 expressed the prevailing opinion as to the proximate 
 causes of hostilities when he said, ' We gave the 
 President a hundred pounds to buy the horse with, 
 instead of which he tried to get it for twenty pounds ; 
 now we shall have to fight,' referring to the fact that 
 the Volksraad had given the President a free hand as 
 to the means of completing a settlement wath the High 
 Commissioner at the Conference, but that the former 
 had thrown the chance away, and lost the opportunity 
 of arriving at a compromise which would have satisfied 
 Great Britain and at the same time strengthened the 
 Republic. The great fear of the Loyalists, who knew 
 with whom they had to deal, was that the President 
 would accept the very easy terms which were offered, 
 or a modification of them, and that the Conference 
 would have been the means of playing into his hands, 
 and strengthening him in his dream of a ' United 
 Republican South Africa.'
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR 239 
 
 The generous advances made were certainly a bold 
 experiment on the part of the British Government ; 
 it depended for its success on the gratitude of those 
 British subjects who would be enfranchised, and on 
 their showing their appreciation of the privileges 
 obtained for them by changing a policy of hostility 
 into one of friendship, followed, perhaps, by federation 
 under the British flag. 
 
 What convinced the President that he could afford 
 to stand out as he did in the face of Sir Alfred 
 Milner's efforts to bring about a peaceful solution was 
 the ' closer union ' and offensive and defensive alliance 
 with the Free State, which assured him that that 
 Republic would be with him if it were wanted. In 
 fact, the feeling in the Free State generally was more 
 bitter and anti-English at this time than in the 
 Transvaal itself. He also reckoned upon his rebel 
 friends in the Cape Colony. Whether the Transvaal 
 spent large sums of money on the Bond elections or not, 
 the fact remains that the President knew that he had 
 the Africander Bond behind him, ready to assist him 
 in every way in hampering the High Commissioner. 
 The statement was authoritatively made by men in 
 high official positions, to reassure people in Pretoria, 
 that ' there would be no war, because a Bond Ministry 
 was in power.' It will be remembered that this cr}- 
 was raised by the Bond throughout the elections — that 
 unless they were returned war with the Transvaal was 
 inevitable, and this plainly pointed to a certain collusion 
 between them and the authorities in Pretoria, who 
 wanted to fight at their own time and in their own 
 way. It is also certain that emissaries were sent from 
 the Transvaal to assist at the elections, and in all 
 probability there were anonymous contributions to the 
 election funds, which the Bond could pretend were the 
 gift of individual members, whilst it was otherwise.
 
 240 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 We know of one instance which came to our personal 
 knowledge of a certain agent being sent by the Transvaal 
 Government to agitate on behalf of the Bond party in 
 the Cape Colony at the time of the general election, 
 for which he received ^^50 per month and expenses. 
 He and his like were often successful ; but fear of the 
 consequences, and the fact that the leaders of the party 
 ran too great a risk, prevented the rebellion poHcy being 
 carried out very openly, and its failure has been a matter 
 of great disappointment on the other side of the Vaal 
 River. 
 
 The Bond never loses an opportunity of influencing 
 leading people and journalists when they visit the Cape 
 Colony. To its apparently guileless courtesy, its diplo- 
 macy and its tact may be attributed the wrong im- 
 pressions which well-meaning men may have gathered, 
 when only actual residence in the Transvaal would 
 have revealed the real condition of things. We re- 
 member years ago on the occasion of the departure 
 of a well-known lady journalist for Europe, seeing 
 the well-groomed figure of one of the leaders of the 
 party offering a bouquet of flowers to the lady in 
 question. This was characteristic of what had 
 gone before. She had been feted and made much of 
 upon her arrival in South Africa, and was launched up- 
 country with the best of Bond introductions, to imbibe 
 ideas which were a repetition of those she had heard 
 in Cape Town. The flowers and the cordial adieu were 
 the finishing touch, and the good man of the ' Bond ' 
 had made sure that she who would write and influence 
 had seen and known only what it was intended for her 
 to see and know. 
 
 That all these schemes should come to naught was 
 very disappointing to Mr. Kruger and his friends. 
 They had laid their plans so well that failure seemed 
 impossible. They expected to be in a position to
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR 241 
 
 dictate terms. This was recognised by Sir Alfred 
 Milner, and he quickly took steps to prevent their 
 gaining time for the fruition of their plans. As soon 
 as this became apparent, the preparations for hostilities 
 were carried on apace. In the towns the feeling was 
 strongly against war ; in the country districts war was 
 popular, as the farmers had not the slightest doubt 
 they would be able to carry out their threat of ' driving 
 the English into the sea.' The first step was the 
 expulsion from the country of men, women and children 
 who were of British origin. 
 
 Skilled artillerymen were finding their way into the 
 country towards the end of August last. The Boers 
 themselves did not put much faith in their artillery, 
 but they were reassured by the officers who told them 
 that they would yet learn to respect its usefulness and 
 efficiency — a prophecy which to our cost has been 
 more than fulfilled. In fact, every credit must be 
 given the Staats Artillerie for the way in which they 
 have handled their guns. 
 
 General Joubert was always ready and willing, at 
 any time, to inspect and test new guns or military 
 necessaries, and no expense was spared to make the 
 Transvaal burgher army a first-class fighting-machine. 
 Within the last three years the Martini was superseded 
 to some extent by the Guedes rifle, which did not 
 satisfy the critical Boers, so a Commission reported on 
 all the latest and most improved small arms, and came 
 to the conclusion that the Mannlicher and the Mauser 
 were the most efficient weapons. Ultimately the 
 Mauser was adopted. This rifle has been described so 
 fully that there is no need to refer to it on our part ; its 
 supposed advantage over the Lee-Metford consists in 
 the fact that its cartridges are all embodied in a clip, 
 which can be slipped into the magazine at one move- 
 ment, whereas with the Lee-Metford the cartridges 
 
 16
 
 242 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 have to be put in singly, which may be a disadvantage 
 on the battle-field. The Mauser pistol is also un- 
 doubtedly the best in the world to-day. 
 
 From time to time meetings of the Veldcornets and 
 •Commandants were held to arrange the questions of 
 defence or attack. One of these gentlemen assured 
 the writer that all the means of diplomacy would be 
 exhausted to prevent war taking place until the rainy 
 season set in, when they would have plenty of grass 
 for their horses and the roads and rivers would be im- 
 passable to the enemy. Then they would fight. To 
 this someone replied jokingly that the British were 
 waiting for water and the Boers for grass ! 
 
 Surprise has been expressed at the inaccurate state- 
 ments made by colonials as to the fighting strength of 
 the Boers. They had not allowed for the enormous 
 increase of population. From an absolutely reliable 
 source the writer ascertained in September last that 
 they could put in the field between fifty and sixty 
 thousand men, made up as follows : 
 
 Transvaal burghers .... 22,000 
 
 Resident foreigners, etc. .... io,coo 
 
 Free Staters ..... 16,000 
 
 Colonists who would cross the border and join - 6,000 
 
 Total 54,000 
 
 These figures would be considerably augmented 
 when the Boer forces succeeded in entering either of 
 the colonies. 
 
 There is good reason for believing that the President 
 never thought that the British Government was pre- 
 pared to take warlike measures ; but towards the end, 
 as he said himself, the * riem was round his neck,' and 
 he must either fight or sacrifice his idea of a United 
 South African Republic. The reiteration of the refusal 
 to recognise British suzerainty, which was no doubt a 
 point of great importance, was brought about by the
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR 243 
 
 assurances with which Mr. A. D, W. Wolmarans brought 
 to the Executive from the Free State Government. 
 
 Yet there was against him a large number of in- 
 fluential burghers, mostly naturalized British subjects, 
 who realized the consequences of such a war, and 
 these succeeded, with the help of the State Attorney, 
 Mr. Smuts, in getting the Executive to make the much- 
 discussed offer of a five years' conditional franchise. 
 The hitch in the matter was, it will be remembered, 
 the impossible conditions with which the proposal was 
 hampered. It will be remembered that the offer was 
 put forward by the Government without the know- 
 ledge of the Raad, and it is more than doubtful 
 whether, in the then state of mind of that body, they 
 would have given it the necessary confirmation, even 
 had the English Government accepted it unhesitatingly. 
 Many were extremely annoyed with the Government 
 for having dared to make such a proposal without 
 their knowledge ; the reason being that the country 
 had drunk too deeply of the policy of the President, 
 who had sown the seeds of race hatred so industriously 
 that his people had got out of his hand. Contingencies 
 had arisen which he had never foreseen, and in pro- 
 claiming war he was forced to take a step which was 
 in advance of his plans, and the result of which he 
 probably felt must be doubtful. 
 
 As soon as war seemed likely, no time was lost in 
 perfecting the military arrangements. Before Great 
 Britain had thought of mobilizing a soldier, the Boer 
 emissaries were again scouring the colonies of Natal 
 and the Cape, sounding the farmers as to what part 
 they were prepared to take in the coming conflict. 
 At Bronkhurstspruit Station, in September last, the 
 writer heard two Dutchmen in conversation on the 
 subject of the war. The one was of opinion that the 
 English would ' climb down '; the other, who gave his 
 
 16 — 2
 
 244 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 name as one Potgieter, from Natal, said : ' In any case, 
 we are all ready with horse and rifle to join you when 
 required.' A loyal Africander lad}' met at this time in 
 the train, between Johannesburg and Pretoria, a certain 
 Mr. Marais, a high official of Heidelberg and formerly 
 a Cape Colonist. He told her that he had been sent 
 by the Transvaal Government to the colony to agitate, 
 that he had been to almost all the towns and districts 
 of the Western Province for the purpose of gauging 
 colonial feeling, and he assured this lady that ' they 
 would all join except Kimberley, which had said it 
 would do what the High Commissioner ordered.' His 
 conviction was that as soon as the Federal forces 
 invaded the colon}', district after district would join as 
 the Republicans passed through. This was on the last 
 Wednesday in August. 
 
 While people at home were wondering what the next 
 move would be, the Boers were ready to answer the 
 question. Towards the middle of September all pre- 
 parations were completed, the Government had laid in 
 large quantities of supplies (mainly of flour, Boer meal, 
 and tinned foods), which they anticipated would tide 
 them over twelve to eighteen months, and by that time, 
 if they had not beaten the British, they relied on foreign 
 intervention. They had also received large sums of 
 money from Europe, and some additional supplies of 
 arms and ammunition. Ammunition was distributed in 
 large quantities throughout the country, each burgher 
 receiving a sealed packet in addition to his ordinary 
 supply. The last batch of the Mauser rifles was dis- 
 tributed, and the mobilization scheme finally arranged,, 
 by which, on a given word being telegraphed to the 
 different centres, the first Republican army corps would 
 be mobilized within twenty-four hours. This actually 
 took place. 
 
 The plan of campaign has now been exposed, but
 
 TREPARATIONS FOR WAR 245 
 
 the invasion of the colony seems to have been con- 
 tingent on the occupation of Mafeking by the Boer 
 forces. The failure to effect this, coupled with the 
 proclamations of the High Commissioner and the fear 
 of consequences to which we have alluded, prevented 
 a general rising in the disaffected districts of the Cape 
 Colony. Too much importance altogether has been 
 attached to what is called the restraining influence of 
 Mr. Schreiner. No influence could restrain men who 
 have the courage of their convictions. Fear has been 
 the great deterrent in districts which the Federal forces 
 (as they call themselves) have not invaded. Where 
 this has been the case the rank and file were in 
 open rebellion ; and members of the Government even 
 have acted in a manner calculated to arouse suspicion 
 concerning their motives. Messrs. Van den Heever, 
 M.L.C., Van Wyk, and De Wet, M.L.A., will, we 
 hope, be called upon to explain the manner in which 
 they influenced their constituents during the invasion 
 of Cape Colony. 
 
 The British Government could hardly fail to be aware 
 of the fact that the Transvaal was in earnest this time. 
 A visit to the country districts towards the end of August, 
 about the time when the Boer Executive themselves 
 sounded the country through their private agencies, 
 would have revealed the fact that the people were not 
 only perfectly willing to go to war, but that they abso- 
 lutely wished for it. As one Boer put it to the writer : 
 * We look on fighting the English as a picnic. In some 
 of the Kaffir wars we had a little trouble, but in the 
 Vryheids Ooriog (the Boer War of iSSi) we simply 
 potted the Rooineks as they streamed across the 
 veld in their red jackets, without the slightest danger 
 to ourselves.' They had the utmost contempt for 
 Tommy Atkins and his leaders, many of them bragging 
 that the only thing that deterred them from advocating
 
 246 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 war instanter was the thought that they would have 
 to kill so many of the soldiers, with whom individually 
 they said there was no quarrel. 
 
 With such a state of things, which should have been 
 perfectly clear to the Intelligence Department (and 
 through it to the War Office) in London — because 
 no resident with eyes to see could be deceived in the 
 matter — we allowed the present war to find us unprepared !
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE END OF KRUGERISM 
 
 It may be somewhat premature to say that Krugerism 
 has been weeded out of the souls of the Dutch race in 
 South Africa. The seed has been sown too carefully 
 and its germination attended to with such unremitting 
 assiduity for so many years, that the victory of the 
 British troops and their entrance into the capitals will 
 do but comparatively little towards the extermination 
 of the poisonous plant. But for all that, the system 
 of authority calculated for the forwarding of purely 
 personal and selfish ends, with its endless corruptions 
 and tyrannies, will have come to a conclusion when 
 the British troops enter Pretoria and plant the flag of 
 freedom upon the Government buildings. It may be 
 that the memory of Paul Kruger will be reverenced in 
 the hearts of the people, and the remembrance of his 
 policy towards the stranger will be still entertained 
 with respect in the hearts of many of his burghers, so 
 that it will need a generation before the Boer and the 
 Uitlander become the members of one family. It is 
 natural that the conquered should look askance at the 
 victor. Savage instincts of revenge cannot be laid 
 aside at once after the last shot has been fired, and 
 that is especially the case with men whose temperament 
 is fatalistic, and whose most cherished ideals have been 
 swept away by the hard logic of cold steel and flying
 
 248 thp: rise and fall of krugerlsm 
 
 bullets. The one thing to be guarded against in the 
 final settlement is weak-kneed magnanimity. 
 
 The Boer does not practise half-measures in his 
 quarrels with natives. His methods are stern and 
 uncompromising when he gets the better in any con- 
 test, and by the same measure which he metes out to 
 his conquered adversary must he be dealt with in the 
 final reckoning. It was a consequence of the weakness 
 shown by Sir T, Shepstone that sedition honeycombed 
 the land within a couple of years after he had, by 
 annexing the Transvaal to the British Empire, saved 
 the people from becoming the victims of the savage 
 hordes under Cetewayo, and that the people began to 
 talk of re-establishing Boer supremacy. He allowed 
 meetings to take place which he had previously for- 
 bidden, and took no steps to punish the ringleaders. 
 Later on Colonel Lanyon followed a similar course, 
 with the result that the whole country broke out in 
 open rebellion. It is absolutely necessary that any 
 government which may be established in the Transvaal, 
 after military rule has ceased, should be prepared to 
 deal firmly but justly with malcontents. The Boer 
 understands both qualities when combined in an 
 administration ; but firmness wathout justice would 
 mean tyranny, whilst justice without firmness in carry- 
 ing it out would seem to Boers a sign of weakness on 
 the part of the Government. 
 
 The cost in valuable lives of the contest for supremacy 
 in South Africa has been so enormous, that any policy 
 of the Home Government which would leave matters 
 in a state of doubt would be in the highest degree to 
 be regretted. If the Free State and the Transvaal are 
 conquered, as they probably will be before many weeks 
 are past, the safe course would be their permanent 
 annexation to the British Crown, the very idea of an 
 African republican form of govsrnment being banished at
 
 THE END OF KRUGERISM 249 
 
 once and for ever. To refrain from taking this course 
 would be to evoke disloyalty amongst the British, and 
 confirm the same impression as that produced by Mr. 
 Gladstone's fatuous magnanimity. The British resi- 
 dents in the Transvaal have surely suffered enough to 
 entitle them to the fullest assurances that neither they 
 nor their children shall ever again be subjected to the 
 tyranny and misgovernment they have had to bear 
 under Mr. Kruger's rule. 
 
 We do not plead for the capitalists, who are secure in 
 the enjoyment of their fortunes, but for those who by the 
 work of their hands and the labour of their brains have 
 made homes for themselves in this distant land. They 
 constitute, after all, the backbone of a permanent 
 population, and are more worthy of consideration 
 than the man who by a fortuitous concurrence of 
 events has made a fortune which to enjoy he must 
 spend elsewhere. It is due to the loyalty of a few 
 sons of Great Britain, without fortune, toiling hard for 
 their daily bread, that the foundations of a regenerated 
 Transvaal were laid — men without means and without 
 standing in what is called 'society,' earnest in protect- 
 ing what few privileges were allowed to their country- 
 men, and championing the cause of those who suffered 
 oppression. They were loyal to their Queen when the 
 Uitlander mining magnates professed to be enamoured 
 of the Republican flag. For it was only at the last, when 
 the battle was almost won, that the capitalists joined 
 hands with the men who had been labouring for many 
 years to bring about a pure government in the Trans- 
 vaal. These are the men, and these almost alone, who 
 should be considered when a rearrangement of affairs 
 takes place. They fought for the recognition of their 
 claim to the rights of citizens by strictly constitu- 
 tional means, and they alone by their determined action 
 compelled the President to abandon his barbaric idea
 
 25C THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 of forcing men to fight the battles of the RepubHc when 
 they were denied the rights and privileges of citi;;ens. 
 
 The next, in order, entitled to have a say in the final 
 settlement are unquestionably those British colonials 
 who have recognised their duty towards the Empire. 
 They have an indisputable claim to share in deciding 
 the terms of the final settlement on account of their 
 proved loyalty and enthusiastic response to the call of 
 duty. 
 
 It is humiliating to admit that, with the exception of 
 Natal, the non-African colonies were more eager to 
 stand by the flag than those it ought to have concerned 
 above every other consideration. As a whole. Cape 
 Colony was especially lax in its response to the call : 
 but we must even there acknowledge the individual 
 loyalty which furnished some 15,000 of its manhood. 
 Unfortunately Cape Colony was cursed with a Ministry 
 and a Parliamentary majority which decided that 
 it should remain aloof in the struggle, a Ministry 
 which would have left Kimberley, Mafeking, and 
 Kuruman unarmed and unprotected, which has ren- 
 dered it necessary that an army of thousands of men 
 should be engaged in protecting from destruction by 
 rebel subjects of Her Majesty the line of railway running 
 through colonial territory, and which, up to almost 
 the day when war was declared, permitted ammunition 
 and weapons to pass through its territory for the purpose 
 of arming the Queen's enemies ! Mr. Schreiner and 
 his colleagues have forfeited, it seems to us, all con- 
 fidence as loyal Ministers of a British colony, and have 
 put themselves out of consideration by their scarcely 
 veiled svmpathies with the Republican belligerents and 
 the rebels furnished by the northern districts of the 
 Cape Colony. 
 
 It is not desirable to dwell more than is necessary on 
 the actions of individuals holding elevated positions in
 
 THE END OF KRUGERISM 251 
 
 the Cape Colony, but one is bound to take notice of the 
 fact that the Chief Justice h-as been far more ready to 
 go to the assistance of Mr. Kruger than he has been to 
 render aid to the cause of British subjects groaning 
 under injustice and unfair taxation. Sir H. de Vilhers, 
 as a member of the Royal Commission appointed to 
 draw up the Convention of Pretoria at the close of the 
 war in 1881, was enabled, with the assistance of Sir 
 Hercules Robinson, to secure for the Boers terms which 
 were, to say the least, elastic, and that despite the 
 opposition of Sir E. Wood, who wished to insist upon 
 equal rights being accorded to all whites resident in the 
 Transvaal Republic. The Convention of 1881 shows, 
 as a matter of fact, a naive simplicity and trustfulness 
 in. the good faith of the re-established Boer Government 
 which is touching, particularly as far as those obligations 
 are concerned, which are really only implied, and not 
 very accurately defined, in that document. 
 
 When the question of a definite settlement comes up, 
 Mr. Rhodes' name will no doubt be in everybody's 
 mind, and it would be advantageous if he were con- 
 sulted. The hopes of the colonials are of course 
 vested in the Colonial Secretary and in the High Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 With Mr. Chamberlain at the Colonial Office, and 
 Sir Alfred Milner as High Commissioner at Cape Town, 
 we may rest assured that the interests of British sub- 
 jects in South Africa will be as fully considered as 
 those of the Empire. Mr. Chamberlain has declared 
 his intention to render impossible at any future time 
 a situation such as has prevailed, and, as he will be 
 seconded in this by the Governor and High Com- 
 missioner, a permanent settlement may be hoped for. 
 
 In casting the horoscope of the settlement of 
 Transvaal affairs from the British subject point of view, 
 we must not neglect to look at it also from the burgher
 
 -52 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERLSM 
 
 point of view. Since the war commenced the Trans- 
 vaalers have been recognised as belligerents, and as 
 such they are entitled to all the rights and privileges 
 which appertain to that position. To treat them as 
 rebels because they have refused to acknowledge the 
 suzerainty of Her Majesty since the fatuous Convention 
 of 1884 would elicit on their behalf the sympathies of 
 all nationalities, and even of no inconsiderable propor- 
 tion of British subjects residing in South Africa. They 
 accepted with no question the assurance of Mr. Kruger 
 that the suzerainty no longer existed, and that the 
 Transvaal was an absolutely independent and sovereign 
 Power. 
 
 Thousands of men, women, and children were com- 
 pelled to flee from the Transvaal, leaving their property 
 M'ithout protection or supervision as it stood in 
 thousands of houses in Pretoria and Johannesburg, 
 and they accepted that as one of the hardships 
 which attend a state of war. It will be fair if the 
 treatment accorded to the conquered Boers is to a 
 considerable extent governed by the way in which 
 private property has been treated after the eviction of 
 its owners. If there has been wanton destruction or 
 robbery of effects which were confided by the nature 
 of events to the care and protection of the Govern- 
 ment, it will clearly be within the nature of a settle- 
 ment that the members of the Government should be 
 held personally responsible for the losses.* If, on the 
 other hand, they have assumed the responsibilities 
 
 * As we pass these lines for press on May 31, 1900, a letter 
 appears in the columns of the Daily C/irojiicle which contains so 
 graphic and so harrowing a description of what has been going on 
 in our absence that we take leave to reprint it in Appendix L, in 
 the hope that these facts will not be overlooked when the day of 
 reckoning comes, and if possible that these outrages will be brought 
 into account in the general settlement, as well as individual cases 
 of vandalism locally investigated.
 
 THE END OF KRUGERISM 253 
 
 towards private property imposed by modern warfare, 
 they should be entitled to the consideration of a 
 conquered civilized State. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain has given notice to the Presidents 
 of the Transvaal and Free State that they would be 
 held personally responsible for any violation of the rules- 
 of civilized warfare. Let us only emphasize that Mr. 
 Kruger and his Executive — not forgetting Mr. Steyn — 
 are for the most part exceedingly wealthy. It is also 
 necessary to bear in mind that a large number of the 
 Dutch burghers who have very properly obe3'ed the 
 summons to the field bear no animosity towards the 
 English race or dominion. They have in the past 
 joined the English in protesting against the faults and 
 corruption of the Krugerian rule, but as citizens they 
 have obeyed the call to defend their country. 
 
 The only point remaining for our consideration is the 
 best form of government for the conquered provinces. 
 It would be absurd, even if it were practicable, to give 
 representative institutions at once. For the first year 
 or two at the very least it would be desirable that the 
 Free State and Transvaal should be treated as a Crown 
 Colony under one administration. It is possible that 
 for that purpose a military officer of proved ability and 
 talent for organization would be better fitted than a 
 civil official. There wall be so much to be done 
 that only a soldier could tackle and overcome effec- 
 tively, and which a civilian could at best only handle 
 gingerly. The general disarmament of the Boers must 
 be undertaken at a very early period, and there will 
 inevitably be a tendency upon the part of the owners 
 of weapons liable to be confiscated to secrete them. 
 In carrying out such measures the military are obviously 
 more suitable than civil authorities. 
 
 Once things are firmly established, it will be time for 
 considering the best form of a permanent Government^
 
 254 THE RISE AND FALL OF KRUGERISM 
 
 and as representative institutions are dear to the British 
 heart, and have been successfully adopted by the 
 majority of the colonies, there can be little doubt that 
 they will have to be tried here. As the Volksraad 
 will, of course, cease to exist, it will be necessary at 
 a very early period to form a Provisional Government 
 in the country, in order to authorize taxation and other 
 matters and to gradually prepare the way for a general 
 union of the South African colonies after the fashion 
 of the Canadian Dominion and the Australian Con- 
 federation. 
 
 Before that consummation can be reached trouble 
 will have to be encountered. The Boer is naturally 
 suspicious, and every action will be weighed and 
 analyzed before he finds out what true friends he has 
 in the British Government and .the people with whom 
 he will, nolens volcns, have to live in future. It greatly 
 depends upon the officials with whom he has to deal 
 whether he will yield a sullen or a ready obedience 
 under the new order of things. Treated with firmness 
 combined with kindness, he will in a short time settle 
 down, and, as soon as he realizes that the independence 
 for which he has so blindly fought is a miserable sham, 
 devised by men desiring power only to promote their 
 personal advantage and the acquisition of riches at 
 the expense of the public, he will be ready to accept 
 a government in which all white men are recognised 
 as equal. Race hatred rarely exists between man and 
 man, but it is a terrific power in the concrete, and it 
 will soon be our one great and noble task to eliminate 
 it in South Africa, as it has been in other continents 
 in the past. 
 
 We wish to give peace and happiness alike to all 
 white and black populations, and under our rule all 
 will have justice and a voice in the government. 
 Corruption and bribery will cease, and if only the
 
 THE END OF KRUGERISM 255 
 
 minds of those in whose hands the near future of 
 South Africa reposes be guided with better knowledge 
 and clearer intuition than were British Cabinets of the 
 past, then indeed this war may not have been fought 
 in vain, and peace and happiness at last be brought to 
 South Africa. That will constitute the balm for our 
 suffering and trouble, the fulfilment of our hope and 
 our prayer — we who have not fought for gold and 
 power, but for the love of our home. 
 
 As we pass these lines for press, the news of the 
 abandonment of Pretoria and Johannesburg arrives, and 
 also of the President's flight. This may not mean the 
 immediate end of the war, but it means undoubtedly 
 the end of Krutrerism.
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 THE ANNEXATION 
 
 The following is an extract from the text of the official docu- 
 ments, dated Pretoria, Transvaal, 12th April, 1877, proclaiming 
 the Transvaal British territory. After the usual preamble, it 
 proceeds : 
 
 Whereas grievous disturbances have broken out in the terri- 
 tories adjacent to our colonies in South Africa, with war between 
 the white inhabitants and the native races, to the great peril of 
 the peace and safety of our said colonies ; and whereas, having 
 regard to the safety of our said colonies, it greatly concerns us 
 that full inquiry should be made into the origin, nature, and 
 circumstances of the said disturbances, and with respect to the 
 measures to be adopted for preventing the recurrence of the 
 like disturbances in the future ; and whereas it may become 
 requisite to this end that the said territories or portions of them 
 should be administered in our name and on our behalf. Now 
 know you that we, reposing especial trust and confidence in the 
 loyalty and fidelity of you, the said Sir Theophilus Shepstone, 
 have appointed you to be our Special Commissioner for the 
 purpose of making such inquiry as aforesaid, and we do authorize 
 and require you with all convenient despatch and by all lawful 
 ways and means to enter upon such inquiry, and we do require 
 you to communicate to us through one of our principal Secre- 
 taries of State any facts which ought to be made known to us, 
 as well as any opinions which you may think fit to express 
 thereon, and if the emergency should seem to you to be such as to 
 render it necessary, in order to secure the peace and safety of our said 
 colonies, and of our subjects elsewhere, that the said territories, or 
 any portion or portions of the same, should provisionally, and 
 pending the announcement of our pleasure, be administered in 
 our name and on our behalf, then, and in such case only, we do 
 further authorize you, the said Sir Theophilus Shepstone, by 
 proclamation under your hand, to declare that from and after z.
 
 APPENDIX A 257 
 
 day to be therein named so much of any such territories as afore- 
 said as to you, after due consideration, shall seem fit shall be 
 annexed to, and form part of, our dominions. [Here follow the 
 conditions of the appointment.] 
 
 Given at our Court at Balmoral this fifth day of October, 
 1876, in the fortieth year of our reign. 
 
 By Her Majesty's command, 
 
 Carnarvon, 
 
 [NoTK. — The italics are our own. — Authors.] 
 
 Extracts from Proclamation by Sir Theophilus Shepstone 
 AT Pretoria, dated I2th of April, 1877. 
 
 Whereas at a meeting held on the i6th day of January, in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, at 
 the Sand River, between Her Majesty's Assistant Commissioners, 
 Major Hogge and C. M. Owen, Esq., on the one part, and a 
 deputation from the emigrant farmers then residing north of the 
 Vaal River, at the head of which was Commander-General 
 A. W. J. Pretorius, on the other part, the said Her Majesty's 
 Assistant Commissioners did ' guarantee in the fullest manner 
 on the part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers 
 north of the Vaal River the right to manage their own aiFairs, 
 and to govern themselves according to their own laws, without 
 any interference on the part of the British Government. And 
 whereas the hopes and expectations upon which this mutual 
 compact was reasonably and honourably founded have been dis- 
 appointed, and the circumstances as set forth more at length in 
 my address to the people of to-day's date, hereunto attached, 
 show that increasing weakness in the State itself on the one side, 
 and more than corresponding growth of real strength and con- 
 fidence among the native tribes on the other, have produced 
 their natural and inevitable consequences, as will more fully 
 appear from a brief allusion to the facts ; that, after more or less 
 of irritating contact with aboriginal tribes to the north, there 
 commenced about the year 1867 gradual abandonment to the 
 natives in that direction of territory settled by burghers of this 
 State, in well-built towns and villages and on granted farms ; 
 that this was succeeded by the extinction of all effective rule 
 over extensive tracts of country included within the boundaries 
 of the State, and, as a consequence, by the practical independence, 
 which still continues, of large native tribes residing therein, who 
 had until then considered themselves subjects : 
 
 That some few farmers, unwilling to forfeit homes which they 
 had created for their families, and to which they held grants from 
 
 17
 
 258 APPENDICES 
 
 the Government of the Transvaal, which grants had, however, 
 ceased, and still fail to protect them in their occupation, made 
 terms with the chiefs, and now occupy their farms on conditions 
 of periodical payments to those chiefs, notwithstanding the 
 acknowledgment which such payments involve : 
 
 That this decay of power and ebb of authority in the north 
 is being followed by similar processes in the south under yet 
 more dangerous circumstances ; people of this State residing in 
 that direction have been compelled within the last three months, 
 at the bidding of native chiefs, and at a moment's notice, to 
 leave their farms and homes, their standing crops, some of which 
 were ready for reaping, and other property, all to be taken pos- 
 session of by natives, but that the Government is more powerless 
 than ever to vindicate its assumed rights or to resist the declension 
 that is threatening its existence ; that all confidence in its 
 stability once felt by surrounding and distant European com- 
 munities has been withdrawn ; that commerce is well-nigh 
 destroyed ; that the country is in a state of bankruptcy ; that 
 the white inhabitants, discontented with their condition, are 
 divided into factions ; that the Government has fallen into help- 
 less paralysis from causes which it has been and is unable to 
 control or counteract ; and that the prospect of the election o. 
 a new President, so far from allaying the general anxiety, is 
 looked forward to by all parties as most likely to result in civil 
 war, with its attendant anarchy and bloodshed : 
 
 That the conditions above described afFord strong temptation 
 to neighbouring native powers, who are known to be anxious 
 and ready to do so, to make attacks and inroads upon the State, 
 which from its weakness it cannot repel, and from zvhich it has 
 hitherto bee?i saved b-^ the restrainiiig infiuence of the British Govern- 
 ment^ exercised from Natal by Her Majesty's representative in 
 that colony, in the hope, yet unfulfilled, that a friendly under- 
 standing might be arrived at between the Transvaal and the 
 complaining native chiefs, 
 
 (The Proclamation then refers to the Secocoeni War, and states 
 that ' this tribe \zuhich, it appears, was in alliance with Cetewayo^ 
 having successfully withstood the strength of the State, disclosed 
 for the first time to the native powers outside the republic, from 
 the Zambesi to the Cape, the great change that had taken place 
 in the relative strength of the white and the black races ; that 
 this disclosure at once shook the prestige of the white roan in 
 South Africa, and placed every European community in peril ; 
 that this common danger has caused universal anxiety, and has 
 imposed the duty upon those who have the power to shield 
 enfeebled civilization from the encroachments of barbarism and 
 inhumanity.')
 
 APPENDIX A 259 
 
 And whereas the ravaging of an adjoining friendly State by 
 warlike savage tribes cannot for a moment be contemplated by 
 Her Majesty's Government without the most earnest and painful 
 solicitude, both on account of the miseries which such an event 
 must inflict upon the inhabitants of the Transvaal, and because 
 of the peril and insecurity to which it would expose Her 
 Majesty's possessions and subjects in South Africa ; and seeing 
 that the circumstances have become so grave that neither this 
 country nor the British colonies in South Africa can be saved 
 from the most calamitous circumstances except by the extension 
 over this State of Her Majesty's authority and protection, by 
 means of which alone oneness of purpose and action can be 
 secured, and a fair prospect of peace and prosperity in the future 
 be established. 
 
 And whereas / have bee7i satisfied by the numerous addresses^ me- 
 morials, and letters which I have received, and by the abundant 
 assurances which personal intercourse has given me, that a large 
 proportion of the inhabitants of the Transvaal see, in a clearer 
 and stronger light than I am able to describe them, the urgency 
 and imminence of the circumstances by which they are sur- 
 rounded, and therefore earnestly desire the establishment of Her 
 Majesty's authority and rule; and whereas the Government has 
 been unable to point out or devise any means by which the 
 country can save itself, and, as a consequence, relieve the other 
 white communities of South Africa from the danger of the dire 
 events certain speedily to result from the circumstances by which 
 it is surrounded, and can entertain no reasonable hope that it 
 possesses, or is likely under the present form of government to 
 possess, the means to raise itself to a safe and prosperous con- 
 dition, etc. 
 
 Here follow the annexation clauses, it being stipulated : 
 
 That arrangements will be made by which the Dutch lan- 
 guage will practically be as much the official language as the 
 English ; all laws, proclamations, and Government notices will 
 be published in the Dutch language; in the Legislative Assembly 
 members may, as they do now, use cither language ; and in the 
 courts of law the same may be done at the option of suitors to a 
 cause. 
 
 Equal justice is guaranteed to the persons and property of 
 both white and coloured; but the adoption of this principle does 
 not and should not involve the granting of equal civil rights, 
 such as the exercise of the right of voting by savages, or their 
 being entitled to other civil privileges which are incompatible 
 with their uncivilized condition. 
 
 The native tribes living within the jurisdiction and under the 
 
 17 2
 
 26o APPENDICES 
 
 protection of the Government must be taught due obedience to 
 the paramount authority, and be made to contribute their fair share 
 towards the support of the State that protects them. 
 
 All officers now serving the Government, and who may be 
 able and willing to serve under the altered circumstances of the 
 country, shall be entitled to retain their positions, and such 
 rights as their positions now give them. 
 
 (The Proclamation then confirms the rights of contracts, etc., 
 and attorneys' appointments.) 
 
 (Signed) T. Shepstone, 
 Her {Majesty^ s Special Commissioner. 
 
 Minute of the Volksraad, 22nd February, 1877. 
 
 Resolved : To recommend to the Government to reply to 
 the despatch of Sir Henry Barkly, which accompanies the above- 
 named despatch and Bill, in conformity with these considera- 
 tions ; and at the same time to take the necessary measures for 
 the maintenance of the independence of the republic, for the 
 preservation of the friendly understanding between the republic 
 and the neighbourii-ig States and colonies of South Africa, and 
 for the continuance of general order, peace, and the supremacy 
 of the whites over the natives. 
 This resolution carried by majority. 
 
 (Signed) T. G. C, van Leenhof, 
 
 Secretary of the Volksraad. 
 
 Resolution of the Executive (the Boer Cabinet). 
 
 On the order : Despatch from Her Britannic Majesty's 
 Special Commissioner, dated the 9th of April, 1877, giving 
 notice that His Excellency has decided to proclaim, without 
 delay, British authority over the South African Republic : 
 
 That whereas Her Britannic Majesty's Government, by the 
 Convention of Sand River, 1852, has solemnly pledged the inde- 
 pendence of the people to the north of the Vaal River : 
 
 Whereas the Government of the South African Republic is 
 not aware of ever having given any reason for a hostile act on 
 the part of Her Majesty's Government, nor any ground for an 
 act of violence : 
 
 Whereas this Government has ever shown its readiness, and is 
 still prepared to do all which in justice and equity may be de- 
 manded, and also to remove all causes of dissatisfaction that may 
 exist : 
 
 Whereas this Government has repeatedly expressed its entire
 
 APPENDIX A 261 
 
 willingness to enter into such treaties or agreements with Her 
 Majesty's Government as may be considered necessary for the 
 general protection of the whole population of South Africa, and 
 is prepared punctually to execute such agreements; and whereas 
 according to public statements of Her Majesty's Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies, Lord Carnarvon, there exists no desire 
 on the part of the British Government to force the people of 
 the South African Republic, against their wish, under the 
 authority of the British Government : 
 
 Whereas the people, by memorials or otherwise, have by a 
 large majority plainly stated to be averse to it ; and whereas 
 this Government is aware that it is not in a condition to main- 
 tain the right and independence of the people with the sword 
 against the superior powers of Great Britain, and, moreover, has 
 no desire to take any steps by which the white inhabitants of 
 South Africa would be divided in the face of the mutual enemy 
 against each other, or might come in hostile contact with each 
 other, to the great danger of the entire Christian population of 
 South Africa, without having first employed all means to secure, 
 in a peaceful way and by friendly mediation, the rights of the 
 people : 
 
 Therefore the Government protests most strongly against this 
 act of Her Majesty's Special Commissioner. It is also further 
 resolved to send, without delay, a Commission of delegates to 
 Europe and America, with full power and instructions to add to 
 their number a third person if required, in order to endeavour, 
 in the first place, to lay before Her Majesty's Government the 
 desire and wishes of the people ; and in case this might not 
 have the desired effect, which this Government would deeply 
 regret and cannot as yet believe, i/^en to try and call in the friendly 
 assistance and intercession of other Powers, znd particularly of those 
 who have acknowledged the independence of this State. 
 
 As members of this Commission are appointed the Honourable 
 Attorney-General, Dr. E. J. P. Jorissen, and S. J. P. Krugcr, 
 Vice-President of the South African Republic. 
 
 I have, etc., 
 
 (Signed) H. Stiemens, 
 \st Clerk. 
 
 Memorial to Lord Carnarvon, Minister for the Colonies 
 IN England. 
 
 Pretoria, January 7, 1878. 
 
 We, the undersigned, white inhabitants of the Transvaal, 
 having this day received report from our deputation sent to
 
 262 APPENDICES 
 
 England, consisting of the Honourable S. J. P. Kruger, Vice- 
 President of the South African Republic, and Dr. E. F. P. 
 Jorissen, State Attorney, with the view to get back our inde- 
 pendence, of which we have been deprived on the 12th of 
 April, 1877, have learned with deep regret that they have not 
 been able to obtain that object. 
 
 It pains them so much the more, because it appears most 
 clearly from the documents produced by the deputation, that 
 the loss of their independence is entirely and solely due to the 
 false and incorrect representation of the position said to have 
 existed here, as given by people who acted from selfish motives 
 — in a word, by calumny. 
 
 The fact, however, that the Government in England has been 
 so totally misinformed about the real sentiments of the vast 
 majority of the population, inspires the undersigned with courage 
 to venture another attempt, and to show by their signatures that 
 by far the great majority is opposed to the British sovereignty. 
 
 We cannot yet dismiss this matter before we have tried the 
 last means to obtain our end by peaceable measures, according to 
 protest dated April 11, 1877. 
 
 The undersigned cannot yet believe that it could be England's 
 will and desire to reign over a people that will not be subject 
 to any Power whatsoever. 
 
 They much rather believe the words addressed to them to-day 
 by Mr. S. J. P. Kruger, member of the deputation, when he 
 said : ' Brethren, people in England really do not know the actual 
 position here ; and I am fully convinced that England's first 
 Minister, Lord Carnarvon, acted in good faith when he spoke 
 in his despatch to the deputation of that insignificant minority.' 
 
 It is therefore with great modesty, but at the same time with 
 fervent earnestness, that we entreat your Lordship to restore to 
 us our country — that country which we love as our lives, and for 
 which we always were, and still are, prepared to sacrifice our 
 lives. May it therefore please your Lordship to be moved by our 
 numerous signatures, and to restore to us our country. 
 
 Signed by 6,591 qualified electors of the South African 
 Republic, the original, with signatures attached, being in the 
 possession of the deputation, and open for the inspection of Her 
 Majesty's Government. In addition to the above, memorials with 
 301 signatures were obtained, which were informally sent in, 
 and thus have not been counted. 
 
 (Signed) S^ J P. Kruger \ .j^^j 
 
 P. J. JOUBERT ) '^ 
 
 W. Ed. Bok, Secretary.
 
 APPENDIX A 263 
 
 Extract from Proclamation of Sir Theophilus Shepstone, 
 
 REFERRING TO THE MeaNS BY WHICH THE PETITION TO 
 
 Lord Carnarvon was signed, and the Spreading of 
 Treasonable Propaganda, dated i ith day of March, 
 
 1878. 
 
 Whereas the return from Europe of the Transvaal deputation 
 has been made the occasion by designing persons of creating 
 and fostering agitation and alarm, by imposing upon the credu- 
 lity and ignorance of the quietly disposed inhabitants of this 
 country, and of endeavouring by the illegal use or assumption 
 of authority, such as the banding together of themselves into 
 committees for the purpose of misleading the public and coercing 
 individuals, false representations, threats of violence and seditious 
 utterances, to cause disturbance in the land and to bring mis- 
 fortune upon innocent people : 
 
 And whereas it is my duty, as it is also my inclination and 
 strong desire, by timely and friendly warning, to prevent such 
 misfortune from falling upon this country and its inhabitants : 
 
 And whereas one of the pretexts under which the evils and 
 mischief aforesaid have been and are yet being done, is to obtain 
 signatures to a mcmoiial to Her Majesty's Government ; and it 
 has been represented to me b^ many persons and from different 
 quarters, that intimidation by means of threats of personal 
 violence, confiscation of property, and ez'en of death, has been 
 resorted to by those engaged in coercing others to sign the said 
 memorial and other documents, although it is well known that 
 whoever signs a document is responsible for the consequences 
 which may result from such signature ; and whereas the setting 
 on foot of the said memorial and other documents was prompted 
 by a spirit of sedition, and their professed object at the time 
 known by those who prompted it to be unattainable ; and whereas 
 there is a possibility of many innocent people being made to 
 suffer in consequence of the agitation that it has created, and 
 was intended to create : 
 
 Now, therefore, I do call upon, enjoin and strictly charge all 
 peaceably disposed and orderly persons to aid the oflicers of the 
 Government in maintaining order, etc. (Then follows the usual 
 penalty clauses, which it is unnecessary to quote.) 
 
 Notice. 
 
 Whereas notice has been received by the Committee that 
 some persons should have spread the rumour that they have been 
 moved in signing the petitions for or against annexation by 
 threats, so it is now that opportunity is given to any such person
 
 364 APPENDICES 
 
 to make himself known to the members of the deputation, and to 
 scratch out his name before the beginning of next month, May. 
 
 P. J. JOUBERT, 
 
 (Member oj the Deputation, 
 Pretoria, Jpril (), 1878. 
 
 Extract from Letter of the Transvaal Delegates to Sir 
 M. Hicks-Beach, Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
 dated Albemarle Hotel, ioth July, 1878. 
 
 This letter practically denies in toto all the statements made 
 by Sir Theophilus Shepstone as justifying the annexation, and 
 as a specimen of special pleading is very clever ; it concludes as 
 follows : 
 
 It is, we unhesitatingly declare, owing to the course pursued 
 by Sir T. Shepstone that the present crisis has been produced. 
 Cetewayo, believing himself to be encouraged by the Natal 
 Government or by Sir T. Shepstone, in the demands he was 
 making on the Transvaal was no doubt daily becoming more 
 insolent and exacting ; but his threats to the Transvaal, which 
 reached the Transvaal only through Natal, produced little or no 
 effect until, by the advance of the British troops, he was led to 
 make a similar mov^ement towards the frontier. 
 
 Cetewayo has, with much ingenuity, endeavoured to play off 
 one white Government against the other, and, as it seemed to 
 him at first, with some success. That he should now be 
 exasperated can excite no surprise, for he finds himself nor alone 
 foiled in his game, and disappointed of the plunder which he 
 expected a joint invasion of the Transvaal would afford, but he 
 also now finds the cause of his opponent espoused by those whom 
 he had been led to hope were his friends and supporters. 
 
 Evidence in support of what has been advanced by Sir T. 
 Shepstone is, as has been said, entirely wanting ; while, on the 
 other hand, the most striking contradiction is giv-en to it by the 
 present attitude of the Zulus towards his Government, and by 
 the hostilities in Secocoeni's country, and with the Griquas at 
 the south-western border. 
 
 The above are some of the chief arguments which we have 
 to advance in order to carry out the instructions with which we 
 have been charged ; and though we are prepared to meet any 
 further points which may be urged in defence or justification of 
 the annexation, we do not feel it necessary here to go into 
 further detail. 
 
 We are directed to support with the voice oi the people the 
 protest against the annexation, and at the same time humbly and
 
 APPENDIX A 263 
 
 earnestly to solicit Her Majesty's gracious consideration ot their 
 cause. 
 
 We protest against the annexation of the South African Re- 
 public on the following grounds : 
 
 1. That it is a violation of the Convention entered into at Sand 
 River in January, 1852, between Her Majesty's Assistant Com- 
 missioners and the representatives of the emigrant farmers. 
 
 2. That the reports as to the nature of the disturbances in the 
 Transvaal, and the peril to the peace and safety of the adjoining 
 colonies thereby threatened, and upon which the instructions to 
 Sir Theophilus Shepstone were founded, were gross exaggera- 
 tions of fact, and misrepresented the actual position of the 
 country. 
 
 3. That the condition laid down in Her Majesty's Commis- 
 sion to Sir Theophilus Shepstone, requiring the assent of the 
 inhabitants thereof, or a sufficient number of them, has not been 
 complied with. 
 
 4. That the British Government cannot, with justice, avail 
 themselves of the plea that the dcfencelessness and disorganiza- 
 tion of the republic, and the encroachment of the natives, and 
 consequent danger to the British colonies, made the intervention 
 of their authority a necessary act, inasmuch as those evils, if 
 they existed, were the direct result and consequence of the acts 
 of their own representatives as above referred to. 
 
 In concluding a letter upon a subject of such vital importance 
 to our fellow-countrymen — to those who have struggled through 
 toil and through danger for years in the one hope of preserving 
 their hard-earned freedom — we cannot but feel the deep re- 
 sponsibility that rests upon us, and that, should we fail in con- 
 veying to Her Majesty's Government the conviction of the 
 righteousness and justice of our cause, it will be due only to our 
 defects in laying it before them. 
 
 We believe, however, that we have fully met every argument 
 that has been advanced to justify the act for which we now seek 
 redress, and we rest with the fullest confidence on the sense of 
 justice and integrity of the British nation. 
 
 We know that, as a subject people, and who have been 
 deprived of their independence by such means, there will be 
 before us many years of bitter heart-burnings, of ill-feeling, of 
 desertion of homes, and of wild and objectless wanderings ; 
 while on the other hand, with justice and with freedom, there is 
 every reason to hope that the Transvaal may join hand in hand 
 with the neighbouring States and colonies to work together for 
 mutual prosperity and happiness, and for the extension of civiliza- 
 tion and Christianity into the far interior. 
 
 It is now our earnest prayer that Her Majesty's Government
 
 266 APPENDICES 
 
 may direct the removal from the Transvaal of the Administrator 
 of the Government, with the British troops and the official staff, 
 and may restore to the country the independence which was 
 guaranteed by the Convention of 1852, and which has been 
 formally acknowledged by the Governments of Germany, France, 
 America, Holland, Belgium, and Portugal. 
 
 (Signed) S. J P. Kruger ) ^^; 
 
 r. J. JOUBERT I "^ 
 
 W. Ed. Bok, Secretary.
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 PROOFS OF SLAVERY 
 
 Mr. Nixon, in his book ' The Complete Story of the Transvaal,' 
 gives a further reason for the annexation, in the charges of slavery 
 which he brings against the Boers. This was a breach of the 
 Sand River Convention, Clause 4 of which reads : * It is agreed 
 that no slavery is, or shall be, permitted or practised to the north 
 of the Vaal River by the emigrant farmers.' Amongst other 
 cases Mr. Nixon mentions the following ; we have only quoted 
 the evidence produced from Boer or Dutch sources. 
 
 To His Honour the State President, S. A. Republic. 
 
 February wth, 1875. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I feel very much gratified by the receipt of Your Honour's 
 Circular of the 29th of January, 1875, ^""^ ^ believe I cannot 
 show my gratitude better than by returning a candid answer to 
 the five questions which Your Honour has laid before me. I 
 have long desired an opportunity of using the papers which are 
 in my possession. I now, therefore, gladly avail myself ot the 
 honourable way which has been opened to me to do so. I shall 
 endeavour to be as brief as possible, and to give Your Honour 
 reliable evidence of the matters I bring forward. I pass over 
 everything which I have become acquainted with merely by 
 hearsay. . . . 
 
 Second (Question. — 'Do you know, certainly, of any single case 
 of slavery, or slave trade, permitted by the Government ot this 
 republic, or recognised by it, since the Declaration ot Inde- 
 pendence by Her British Majesty's Government in 1852 ?' 
 
 Before I reply to this question, I must define what I under- 
 stand by slavery. I understand slaves to be persons who, against 
 their own will and agreement, by craft, persuasion, or violence, 
 are brought into a state of servitude for a definite or an indefinite 
 period ; who have no legal right to claim wages for their service ;
 
 268 APPENDICES 
 
 who arc not free before the expiration of a prescribed time to 
 engage themselves to any other master, or to return to their 
 families or relations. Slave trade is the sale or exchange of such 
 persons. 
 
 And if I am now asked to say conscientiously whether such 
 slavery has existed since 1852, and been recognised and per- 
 mitted by the Government, I must answer in the affirmative. 
 Will Your Honour be kind enough to listen to my proofs ? 
 
 I begin with the early laws. At Origstad, the Landdrost, 
 Prinsloo, was in the habit of registering {inboeken) so-called Kaffir 
 orphan children for the term of fourteen years. 
 
 On the 9th of May, 1851, a more stringent law was passed by 
 the Volksraad with reference to ' orphan children, or so-called 
 apprentices, who are brought in by the Kaffir tribes around us.' 
 This law contains the following stipulations : 
 
 '■Art. I. — Whoever obtains a child or orphan, of whomsoever 
 he may have obtained it, he must register it. 
 
 '■Art. 2. — The Landdrost or Veldcornet must make inquiry in 
 what manner anyone has become the possessor of such a child. 
 
 'Art. 3. — If everything is in order, the child must be registered, 
 and then remain as a servant, till it shall have reached the age 
 of twenty-five, and shall then, as of age, become entirely free 
 from all forced obligation to any service. 
 
 'Art. 7. — At the death, or if through the poverty, or any 
 other cause of the owner, the latter should become unable to 
 retain the child, it may be made over to others. Nevertheless, 
 no person shall demand or receive more than £,z 5s. for the 
 transference of such a child.' 
 
 On the i6th of March, 1866, the following addition was 
 made to the above law by the Volksraad : 
 
 ' Art. I . — No child shall in future be transferred from one 
 master to another unless the guardian ' [this is the name given 
 to the owner of the slave] ' dies, when it remains in the posses- 
 sion of the heir.' 
 
 I need hardly say, that by these laws the Government have 
 recognised and permitted slavery. This is proved by the 
 practical effect of the resolution of the Volksraad, which pro- 
 vided that a register should be kept of apprenticed orphan 
 children. In this about 480 persons are entered by the Land- 
 drost of Lydenburg. This does not include those entered by the 
 various Veldcornets. All, therefore, which is entered in this 
 register, as also in the day-book of the Landdrost ot Lydenburg, 
 must be regarded as permitted and recognised by the Government. 
 
 I shall take the liberty of quoting to Your Honour a few of 
 those things which have been extracted from the above-mentioned 
 register :
 
 APPENDIX B 269 
 
 Under No. 7 are registered, on the 3rd December, 185 i, by 
 H. T. Buhrmann, as the Landdrost of Lydenburg, for himself, five 
 children. This one man has sixteen names of children which 
 he thought necessary to register for himself. 
 
 The subsequent Landdrost of Lydenburg, C. Potgieter, has 
 also sworn names registered for himself under Nos. 25, 193, 
 and 194. 
 
 Under No. 345, on the 12th April, 1866, is registered for 
 Mr. C. Moll, St., Landdrost of Pretoria, one child. 
 
 Further, under 308, 309, on the i 2th May, 1 865, are registered 
 for His Honour the President, M. W. Pretorius, three children. 
 
 Can anyone avoid arriving at the conclusion that this is slavery, 
 permitted and recognised by the Government ? 
 
 Third Question. — ' Do you know of any case of a person at 
 present held in slavery ?' 
 
 I am acquainted with cases of persons still held in slavery. 
 T shall relate to Your Honour only two out of a number which 
 in other respects are worthy of special mention. 
 
 On the 26th of May, 1858, under No. 114, are registered for 
 the widow Gertrude S. M. Kruger, Clara, six years old, and 
 Azie, ten months old, without the knowledge or consent of their 
 parents, who afterwards recovered Azie, but have been unable 
 up to the present moment to obtain Clara. The parents are 
 manumitted slaves and members of our church. 
 
 Under No. 284, on the 30th of June, 1864, is registered for 
 C. J. Becking a three-year-old boy named Windvogel. His 
 relations live on the station Botsabelo, and have made repeated 
 applications to the remarried widow of Becking for his freedom ; 
 but she demanded too high a ransom, and thus he is retained in 
 servitude. 
 
 Further, I must mention that there are many who cannot 
 recover their freedom among them, some who never have been 
 registered : 
 
 1. Because the slaves themselves can never ascertain whether 
 they have been registered or not. 
 
 2. And although they may be aware of their registry, they 
 are not in a position to know when their term of service has 
 expired. With some it appears as though they never attained 
 the age of twenty-one or twenty-five years. 
 
 3. Were a law put into operation by which all persons illegally 
 holding slaves {i.e., without having them registered) could be 
 severely punished and forced to release them, a large number of 
 the unfortunate creatures would regain their liberty. Many of 
 these people, who would have rendered great service to agri- 
 culture, have taken refuge in British colonies or have fled to 
 some Kaffir chief because they could no longer endure the heavy
 
 270 APPENDICES 
 
 yoke with which they were laden. There is in this republic 
 still a lack of labourers, and nevertheless numbers of able-bodied 
 men are daily forced to leave the country. If any of these 
 return voluntarily, they are so severely punished that the 
 majority prefer remaining in exile. 
 
 Thus, on the 9th of February, 1863, under No. 253, is regis- 
 tered for Carel John Viljoen, St., Windvogel, fifteen years old. 
 In 1872 he deserted the service of his master, and fled to a 
 British colony. He returned, however, and desired to go to his 
 wife and children, who had been taken from him. His sentence 
 was that he should receive a severe flogging and serve his master 
 another year, for his term of apprenticeship had not yet expired. 
 He returned to his master, but again fled. I do not wish to take 
 the part of Windvogel, but when I saw how fearfully he had 
 been lashed I could not help bemoaning the existence of 
 slavery. 
 
 Fourth (Question. — ' Are you acquainted with cases of slave- 
 dealing by private persons with knowledge of the Government 
 since the establishment of the republic ? If so, by whom ?' 
 
 I must also answer this question in the affirmative, and shall 
 fortify my reply with the necessary evidence. 
 
 1. Art. 7 of the resolutions of the Volksraad of the 9th May, 
 185 1, says plainly that registered slaves can be transferred to 
 others, and that no one shall receive as payment more than 
 j^2 5s. for such a slave. 
 
 This has also been frequently done. 
 
 2. Under No. 7 of the Register two children are mentioned 
 who were entered by H. T. Buhrmann, the Landdrost, for 
 himself, whom he had ' lawfully obtained,' one from F. A. 
 Grobbler, and the other from J. M. de Beer. 
 
 3. Under Nos. 255 and 256 are the words, 'After the registry 
 of the above names, G. S. Maree declared that he had purchased 
 the above-mentioned Kaffir orphan boys of Mr. D. G. Coetzee ' 
 (see Day-book, p. 142). 
 
 4. In the Day-book of the Landdrost, under the 9th of 
 February, 1866, P. S. Coetser declares that he had purchased or 
 exchanged a girl for a cow of Mr. J. P. Steyn. 
 
 5. Under the 14th of February, 1866, Mr. H. J. Viljoen had 
 registered August, a boy of three years old, whom he in 1864 
 had exchanged with the Kaffirs of Umswaas for an ox. 
 
 6. Under the 14th of February, 1866, is entered that 
 J. G. Breytenbach has exchanged Roselyn, a girl of eight years 
 of age, for a blanket. 
 
 The above letter was sent by the Rev. Dr. Nachtigal, of the 
 Berlin ^Missionary Society, the missionary at Botsabelo, to Pre-
 
 APPENDIX B 271 
 
 sidcnt Burgers in 1875, in response to a circular from the 
 President making inquiries about the existence of slavery. Pre- 
 sident Burgers had previously denied to Sir Harry Barlcly the 
 existence of slavery in 1874, and this in indignant terms. 
 
 Again, Mr. Nixon refers to this disgraceful state of things as 
 follows : ' Thus I find it stated in the Transvaal Argus of the 
 8th of September, 1868 : "On Sunday, the 19th, Holy Com- 
 munion was administered. At the service of the first table 
 Mr. Cachet spoke very earnestly to the assembled congregation. 
 He advised all who were guilty of drunkenness, the shedding of 
 innocent blood, violence, and the sale or purchase of Kafiir 
 children to refrain from the Lord's Table.'" 
 
 Again, Mr. Cachet proposed, and the Rev. Mr. Jooste 
 seconded, a resolution at the General Synod of the Dutch Re- 
 formed Church at Utrecht, on the 5th of November, 1869, to 
 the following effect: 'This meeting, seeing that the existing 
 laws against slavery and slave-dealing are almost entirely a dead 
 letter, determines to exercise church discipline on those members 
 who, from this time forth, make themselves guilty of the sale or 
 purchase, the exchanging, the giving or receiving of Kafiir 
 children, all of which are practices contrary to the letter of the 
 laws of the land.' 
 
 In 1876 Khama, the well-known chief of the Bamangwato, 
 also implored the British Government to take him under their 
 protection, alleging cruelty and slave-dealing on the part oi the 
 Boers. We are unable to reproduce, owing to want of space, so 
 many of the proofs given by Mr. Nixon as we should desire, but 
 the facts given here appear to be unanswerable.
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM MR. LIONEL PHILLIPS' LETTERS 
 TO MESSRS. BEIT AND WERNHER, AS PRO- 
 DUCED AT THE SELECT AND SOUTH AFRICAN 
 COMMITTEES.* 
 
 Jioie loth, 1894. 
 
 I don't, of course, want to meddle in politics, and, as to the 
 franchise, do not think many people care a fig about it. What 
 is rankling in people's minds is the open hostility of the Govern- 
 ment to the Uitlanders, and their disregard for all principles of 
 sound government. If we can only improve the Raad and get 
 progressive men in, money will be well spent in this way. As 
 things are going, we shall have to spend more and more each year 
 to prevent villainous burdens being tacked on to the industry, 
 and the end will be revolution. I am having a most worrying 
 time all round. On the one hand I check the hot-headed 
 agitators who could land us in a mess in no time, and on the 
 other have to plot and plan to circumvent mischievous legisla- 
 tion. 
 
 June 16th, 1894. 
 
 The Bewaarplaatsen question will, I think, be settled in our 
 favour, but at a cost of about _^2 5,000. ... lam also informed 
 that he [the President] said he was very angry with the Eck- 
 steins, that Nelmapius was the best friend the State had ever 
 had, and now he is gone his widow has nothing, while we have 
 made a large fortune out of him. I think that evil communication 
 must have its origin with . . . Someone has told the Govern- 
 ment that the Uitlanders intend to petition their respective 
 Governments to put this country under international control, as 
 Egypt was, and the Government is, I hear, seriously concerned 
 about this. There is, of course, another possible contingency, 
 viz., an appeal to all the other States and colonies of South 
 Africa. . . . The war in the north, if Magato joins, is by no 
 means a foregone conclusion ; and I see the English Government 
 
 * The italics are our own.
 
 APPENDIX C 273 
 
 is objecting to the commandeering ot British subjects, which 
 may lead to complications. 
 
 June 2^th, 1894. 
 
 Cyanide. — Your cable to hand. Solomon is going to see Sir 
 Henry Loch. I shall not mix up if I can help it. It seems 
 that the British Government means to have a say here, and it is 
 about time. What I fear is that they may put the brake on one 
 thing, and we may be more oppressed by some devilment of the 
 Government in another direction. The Government is abso- 
 lutely rotten, and we must have reform. The alternative is 
 revolution or English interference. Kruger seems beyond himself, 
 and imagines he is guided by Divine will. . . . P.S. — If the 
 British Government can (or will) interfere in a cyanide mono- 
 poly, it ought with equal reason to object to the dynamite 
 monopoly. Nobels would of course resist their interference in 
 the dynamite business now I 
 
 July 1st, 1894. 
 
 I see that Marquardt [Messrs. Eckstein's Pretoria agent] has a 
 very sanguine view of the effect of the late demonstration. . . . 
 I do not quite share that. I think their eyes have been opened 
 to the fact of there being a sullen discontent among the aliens. 
 Sir Henry Loch put on the brake in the matter of commandeer- 
 ing, and no doubt gave them good advice upon general matters. 
 How far they will act upon it remains to be seen. I do not 
 suppose they will attempt any further repressive legislation this 
 session, but I do not believe they will undo anything already done. 
 Sir Henry Loch (with whom I had two long private interviews 
 alone) asked me some very pointed questions, such as what arms 
 already in Johannesburg, whether the population could hold the 
 place for six days until help could arrive, etc. ; and stated 
 further that, if there had been 3,000 rifles and ammunition here, 
 he would certainly have come over. He further informed me 
 in a significant way that they had prolonged the Swazi Agree- 
 ment for six months, and said he supposed in that time Johannes- 
 burg would be better prepared — as much as to say, if things are 
 safer, then we shall actively intervene. I persuaded him not to 
 visit Johannesburg, and subsequently I believe (at least, told on 
 excellent authority) that President Kruger personally requested 
 him not to come here. Sir Henry persisted that he felt sure the 
 British subjects would commit no overt act, but Kruger replied 
 that he could not answer for his burghers under the circum- 
 stances. The Government has had a fright, and knows that the 
 first shot unjustly fired by the burghers would mean English 
 intervention and the loss of the independence of the Republic. 
 
 18
 
 274 APPENDICES 
 
 In case of hostilities, apart from the loss of life, the Boers would 
 doubtless do no end of damage to machinery. Of course, we 
 don't want any row; but, as I told Esselen and Leyds, if the 
 Government or Raad does nothing to pacify the people, we 
 shall have a revolution sooner or later. . , . 
 
 July 15M, 1894. 
 
 Politics. — Just got your cable reading ' Don't see Rhodes,' etc., 
 of which I am rather glad. Things are quieter, but I think a 
 good many men are buying rifles in case of contingencies. If 
 Sir Henry Loch comes back in six months about Swazieland 
 there may then be a row. I enclose a letter to Smith [probably 
 a journalist]. If you think it too free on politics, destroy it ; if 
 not, please deliver. JVe don't want any row. Our trump card 
 is a fund of j^io,ooo to ^^i 5,000, to improve the Raad. Un- 
 fortunately, the companies have no secret service fund, I must 
 devise a way. We do not want to shell out ourselves. I must 
 hear how much Langermann is ready to subscribe. I am told 
 he has said he would spend money, so I presume J. B. R[obinson] 
 must have authorized it. 
 
 August xztk, 1894. 
 
 If they [the Government] knew there were 3,000 or so well- 
 armed men here, there would be less talk — anyhow, less real 
 danger of wiping out Johannesburg upon occasions like the 
 recent incident. . . . Kruger has become such an autocrat that 
 we can hardly expect him to initiate a change, but he will bow 
 to the will of the country if he sees it is inevitable.
 
 APPENDIX D 
 
 GERMAN EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION 
 AT PRETORIA. 
 
 From the ' Star,' Johannesburg, South African Republic, of 
 Monday, zSth January, 1895. 
 
 Saturday being the birthday of the German Emperor, the 
 occasion was celebrated locally by a ' Kommers ' given at the 
 Transvaal Hotel by the members of the German Club. 
 
 President Kruger, replying to the Chairman's speech, said : 
 Mr. Consul, members, and gentlemen, — I am sorry I could not 
 understand all that the chairman said, as I do not know German, 
 but with the assistance of Dr. Leyds I was able to follow the 
 chief points. Still, it is difficult to follow a speech if you do not 
 understand it. In the first place, then, I must thank you for the 
 kind manner in which you received the toast, and, seeing that 
 your chairman has referred to my career and this Republic in 
 connection with Germany, I will refer to those points first. I 
 will be as brief as possible, as time fiies. I only regret I could 
 not follow him more closely. You all know that in the year 
 1884 I went to England about the Convention with 'Her 
 British Majesty the "King" of England and "Kaiser" of Ire- 
 land' (laughter). I went to 'Europe and England' in a 
 friendly manner to endeavour to have that Convention altered, 
 and the British Government received me in a friendly manner 
 and had that matter of the suzerainty altered. Previously I 
 could not enter into treaties with other countries without Her 
 Majesty's consent ; but they met me in a friendly spirit, and the 
 treaty was altered. They relinquished the suzeraintv, and I was 
 free, I was pleased Her Majcstv met me in such a friendly 
 spirit, and gave us and our Republic our free pardon. After 
 that I went through Europe, and amongst other places I visited 
 Germany, where I was received by the Kaiser. I always 
 thought before that that our Republic was regarded as a child 
 among other countries, but the Kaiser received me as the rcprc- 
 
 18—2
 
 276 APPENDICES 
 
 sentative of a grown-up Republic. I was courteously treated, 
 and was able to enter into a treaty with Germany, our Republic 
 being recognised as an important country. I always had the 
 greatest respect for Wilhelm I. Wilhelm II., who now reigns, 
 I met, but only casually, but what I saw of him gave me the 
 impression that he would follow in his namesake's footsteps, and 
 that he would endeavour to narrow the bonds of friendship that 
 exist between Germany and this country. I have received proof 
 of it since he has been reigning, and he has decorated me with 
 the Order of the Red Eagle. His father I met as well, and he 
 received me very kindly. I have another proof of the goodwill 
 of Germany in the subjects of that empire who come into this 
 Republic to stay. They have always proved law-abiding citizens, 
 and in our trouble with the blacks — not only the recent ones, 
 but in those of former years — they willingly came forward to 
 assist us, and refrained from stirring up the burghers against the 
 laws of the land. I know I may count on the Germans in 
 future, and I hope Transvaalers will do their best to strengthen 
 and foster the friendship that exists between them. Only lately, 
 when the subjects of Her Majesty the Queen of Britain took 
 shelter under their nationality, four Germans — I could mention 
 their names — came to my house and said, 'We are subjects of 
 the Kaiser of Germany, and have not been naturalized ; but we 
 have come to live here, and if you wish us to assist in defending 
 the land we are willing to do so. If you want us, we will go ;' 
 and they went. That is the spirit I admire, and they obeyed 
 and respected the law. I do not often go out, gentlemen. On 
 a few occasions I have attended celebrations in honour of Her 
 Majesty the Queen, but this is the first Kaiser celebration I have 
 taken part in. It may be the last, although I did not feel that 
 I could refuse the invitation to attend here this evening. When 
 the Convention with Her Majesty's Government was signed, I 
 regarded this Republic as a little child, and a little child has to 
 wear small clothing. When a child's clothes are made, they must 
 not be made to fit a man ; but as the child grows up it requires 
 bigger clothes — the old ones will burst (laughter). And that is 
 our position to-day. We are growing up, and although we are 
 young, we feel that if one nation tries to kick us the other will 
 try to stop it. When we asked Her Majesty's Government for 
 bigger clothes they said, ' Eh ? eh ? What is this .?' and could 
 not see that we were growing up. As regards this celebration, 
 I am very pleased to see you Germans here to do honour to your 
 Kaiser. You have proved law-abiding citizens here, and I feel 
 certain when the time comes for the Republic to wear still larger 
 clothes you will have done much to bring it about. It is my 
 wish to continue those peaceful relations, and I wish also to give
 
 APPENDIX D 277 
 
 Germany all the support a little child can give to a grown-up 
 man. The time is coming for our friendship to be more firmly- 
 established than ever. I now ask you to drink to Kaiser 
 Wilhelm, and may he continue in the footsteps of his grand- 
 father, Wilhclm I., and may he enjoy God's blessing! 
 
 Despatch to Count Hatzfeldt, Imperial Ambassador in 
 London. 
 
 Berlin, February i, 1895. 
 
 I have the honour to inform Your Excellency of an interview 
 which I have to-day had with the English Ambassador. Sir 
 Edward Malet communicated to me a private despatch from 
 Lord Kimberley, which contained some remarks concerning the 
 attitude of Germany towards the South African Republic relative 
 to President Kruger's words when proposing the Emperor's health 
 on the 27th ultimo. 
 
 I remarked to the Ambassador that if Lord Kimberley believed 
 that a spirit unsuited to the international position of the Trans- 
 vaal was being encouraged in that country by the attitude of 
 Germany, the obligation to give facts on which to found his 
 presumption lay with him. I asked whether it was possible that 
 Lord Kimberley regarded President Kruger's sentiment as regards 
 His Majesty the Emperor as an expression of that spirit, and as 
 compromising British interests. 
 
 I said that our policy had the simple object of protecting 
 against any attack those material interests which Germany had 
 acquired through the construction of railways and the opening up 
 of commercial relations with the Transvaal. These interests 
 demanded the maintenance of the Transvaal as an independent 
 State, as laid down in the Treaty of 1 884, and a guarantee of the 
 status quo as regards the railways and the harbour of Dclagoa 
 Bay. I said that this indicated the beginning and end of our 
 policy in those parts. 
 
 I asked why, if Lord Kimberley aimed equally at the main- 
 tenance of the status quo, a check was not put upon those who, 
 while making most unseemly and imprudent attacks upon 
 Germany, were openly in London proclaiming the programme 
 of the absorption of the Transvaal by Cape Colony. Before 
 people addressed more or less veiled reproaches to the German 
 Government, it would be better to check certain aspirations, 
 which ran counter to the maintenance of the status quo, and 
 which alone were the cause why the Transvaal was more and 
 more adopting the tone which Lord Kimberley complained of, 
 and with which he was inclined to credit Germany. Sir Edward
 
 278 APPENDICES 
 
 regretted the attacks upon Germany, but believed that in Dr. 
 Jameson's latest speech no purpose of annexation, but merely 
 the idea of a * commercial federation ' of the South African 
 States, was to be found. I retorted that it was precisely this 
 idea which Dr. Jameson had developed, namely, that Rhodesia 
 should become the 'commercial union, amalgamation, or federa- 
 tion of all South African States'; that was opposed to our 
 interests, because that, rather more shortly put, signified 
 politically a protectorate, and economically a trade monopoly, 
 for Cape Colony, and the exclusion of German commerce. It 
 the English colonial party were sensitive on the question of the 
 Transvaal, ours was equally so. If Lord Kimberley desired the 
 maintenance of the status quo, our views were in every way 
 identical, and I regarded it as by no means an impossibility that 
 we should place this agreement on paper. I emphasized espe- 
 cially that the policy which Mr. Rhodes had announced of the 
 gradual absorption of the Transvaal by Cape Colony, and of the 
 foundation of a commercial federation in order to hasten this 
 process, could scarcely be described as a policy of the maintenance 
 of the status quo. 
 
 (Signed) Marschall. 
 His Excellency Count Hatzfeldt.
 
 APPENDIX E 
 
 SELECT COMMITTEE ON BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 From the Uitlanders' Association, Pretoria, South African 
 Republic, to the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M. P., 
 Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
 Downing Street, London. 
 
 Pretoria, Transvaal, 
 
 3 Jpri/, 1897. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 We beg leave to confirm our cablegram of the 2nd in- 
 stant (a copy of which is enclosed herewith), and to amplify the 
 same as follows : 
 
 From cabled reports of Mr. Schreiner's examination before 
 the Parliamentary Committee we observe that he is represented 
 to have said (inter alia) : ' The grievances of the Uitlanders are 
 greatly exaggerated ' ; but, we understand, he afterwards ad- 
 mitted that the summary of grievances issued by Mr. Charles 
 Leonard was a fair one. 
 
 We submit that Mr. Schrciner, not being a resident of the 
 Transvaal, and never having had under British rule to submit 
 to any such restrictions and disabilities as those imposed upon us, 
 is not so competent to tcel or to judge of the hardships com- 
 plained of as are those who live under them, and we aver that 
 no exaggeration has taken place. 
 
 It has not been denied that the grievances set forth in Mr. 
 Charles Leonard's manifesto of December, 1895, do exist, nor 
 that the Press Law, the Immigration and Aliens Pass Law, and 
 the Firearms Law, and the law subordinating the courts of 
 justice in this State, have since actually been promulgated and 
 carried into effect, and we contend that the Uitlanders must be 
 best able to realize the extent of the pernicious effect such laws 
 have on the people and the industries of this State. 
 
 Referring further to Mr, Schreiner's examination, we beg to 
 distinguish between what might be termed Mr. Schreiner's
 
 28o APPENDICES 
 
 voluntary statements and those admissions drawn from him 
 during his examination. 
 
 In reply to some of your questions, he is reported to have said 
 {inter alia) that, in case of hostilities between Her Majesty's 
 Government and the Transvaal, Cape Colonists of Dutch ex- 
 traction would hesitate between their loyalty to Great Britain 
 and their feelings of kinship with the Transvaal Boers, and that 
 it would be a great strain upon their loyalty to be required to 
 assist the imperial forces in the event of such a war. 
 
 This significant admission is all the more important by reason 
 of the various indications of Transvaal Boer intrigue with their 
 Cape relations, and from the fact that (as far as we are aware) 
 no representative body of Dutch colonists have denied the truth 
 of such admission. 
 
 We therefore most humbly and sincerely trust that, in view 
 ot the strenuous warlike preparations which we know are con- 
 tinuously being made by the Transvaal Government, Her 
 Majesty's Government would take such precautionary measures 
 as will efficiently safeguard imperial interests and the welfare of 
 Her Majesty's loyal subjects in this part of the world. 
 
 This association, whilst deeply regretting the fact that such 
 serious disaffection should exist among Her Majesty's Dutch 
 colonial subjects, cannot but feel grateful to Your Honour for 
 having thus forcibly brought such circumstance to the notice of 
 Her Majesty's Government and people. 
 
 Mr. Schreiner is also reported to have said, that for one Uit- 
 lander dissatisfied with the apathy of Her Majesty's Government 
 one hundred are satisfied. 
 
 We beg to remark that witness is also incompetent to form an 
 accurate opinion on this point, and that he had no authority 
 whatever from the Uitlanders for making the above statement. 
 
 If is easy to understand that some persons, drawing Transvaal 
 Government subsidies or pay, should approve of the apathy of 
 Her Majesty's Government, in order to prolong the present state 
 of affairs ; but, from our daily experience and intercourse as 
 business and working men with our fellows, we know that, 
 should the Uitlander population be canvassed, the probability is 
 that the above-mentioned ratio would nearly be reversed. 
 
 We further beg to invite Your Honour's attention and that of 
 the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry to the fact that since 
 Johannesburg's unsuccessful attempt at revolution, our grievances, 
 instead of being lessened, have been increased (notwithstanding 
 the pretences at reform made by the Government of this State), 
 notably by the passing of the Press Law, the Immigration and 
 Aliens Pass Law, the Firearms Law, and the law subordinating 
 the courts of justice to the unfettered caprice of the Volksraad,
 
 APPENDIX E 281 
 
 by reason of which laws public expression of opinion has been 
 made almost impossible, the right to enter and reside freely in 
 this State has been taken away, and public confidence in courts 
 of justice has been greatly shaken, so that we are now unable 
 to defend ourselves against unjust and oppressive laws either by 
 open defiance or by confident appeal to the courts of law for 
 redress. 
 
 As a result of this further combination of evils, enormous 
 sums of foreign capital are being withdrawn from the country, 
 all enterprise is practically stopped, trade and commerce languish, 
 large numbers of men are being thrown out of employment, and 
 we fear that unless substantial reforms are promptly inaugurated 
 the situation will become even more critical, and life and pro- 
 perty will be yet further endangered and jeopardized. 
 
 We confidently appeal to Her Majesty's Government, there- 
 fore, to strictly enforce the Convention of 1884, and all the 
 agreements and understandings by means of which the Transvaal 
 regained its partial independence, and to take such measures as 
 will prevent catastrophe from overwhelming the whole of South 
 Africa. 
 
 On behalf of the Uitlanders' Association, 
 
 I have, etc., 
 
 Ernest Dusting, 
 
 Hon. Secretary. 
 
 From Uitlanders' Association to Colonial Secretary, 
 London. 
 
 Pretoria, 2 Jpril, 1897. 
 
 Deny Schreiner's statement that Uitlanders' grievances are 
 exaggerated, but grateful for admissions elicited by you from him. 
 Schreiner's voluntary statement, Uitlanders satisfied with im- 
 perial apathy, totally incorrect. 
 
 A true copy, 
 
 Ernest Dusting, 
 
 Hon. Secretary.
 
 APPENDIX F 
 
 THE AFRICANDER BOND 
 
 Extract from a Speech by Mr. J. X. Merriman in 1885 ; he is 
 NOW A Member of the Bond Ministry. 
 
 Now the situation is a grave one. It is not a question of 
 localism, it is not a question of party politics, but it is a question 
 whether the Cape Colony is to continue to be an integral part 
 of the British Empire. The question is whether we intend to 
 progress along the lines of freedom, of civilization, and respect 
 for law and order, or whether we are ready to take the Transvaal 
 for a model, and have our policy shaped by the Africander Bond. 
 There is no begging the question. That has been the plain 
 question before the colony, and there is no use hiding it. That 
 is the question said out of doors, and it should be said in public. 
 It is said at the corners, and should be said from the platform. 
 That being the case, strong language might be excused, but I 
 will endeavour to be studiously moderate. It is not a time when 
 any citizen can sit with his hands folded. They would have to 
 keep the public men up to the mark, and each one of you will 
 have to make up his mind whether he is prepared to see this 
 colony remain a part of the British Empire, which carries with 
 it obligations as well as privileges, or whether he is prepared to 
 obey the dictates of the Bond .? From the very first time, some 
 years ago, when the poison began to be distilled into the country, 
 I felt that it must come to this — was England or the Transvaal 
 to be the paramount force in South Africa ? In any other 
 country such an organization could not have grown, but here 
 among a scattered population it had insidiously and successfully 
 worked. What could they think of the objects of the Bond 
 when they found Judge Reitz advocating a Republic ot South 
 Africa under one flag, and the Rev. Du Toit spluttering out his 
 disloyalty. No man who wishes well for the British Govern- 
 ment could have read the leading articles of the Z//zV AfrikaaTiy 
 the Express and De Patriot, expounding the Bond principles.
 
 APPENDIX F 283 
 
 without seeing the maintenance of law and order under the 
 British Crown and the object they have in view are absolutely 
 different things. As to the other doctrines of the Bond in 
 reference to the restriction of commercial progress, and the non- 
 education of women, they were errors of judgment. My quarrel 
 with the Bond is that it stirs up race difference. Its main object 
 is to make the South African Republic the paramount power in 
 South Africa. That is the reason of its hostility to John Brand 
 — John Brand, the Africander of Africanders ; a true friend 
 to the English, and one who has governed his State and is jealous 
 of all its privileges. He is as much opposed to the Bond as I 
 am, and the Bond is as much opposed to him. Stanch Burgers 
 is not a Bondman, and the Bond did all they could to keep him 
 out. They turned out Mr. Luttig, a most excellent member, 
 because he would not work with the Bond. As I said before, 
 the only advantage derived from the Rooi Grond negotiation is 
 that it has brought us face to face with the actions of the Bond, 
 and it is better to have an open enemy than an insidious foe. 
 
 Dr, Rutherfoord Harris on the S.'Wie Subject in 1900. 
 
 The third fact to which I want to draw your attention may be 
 stated thus — that British paramountcy throughout South Africa, 
 which, as we have just seen, is absolutely necessary to our 
 retention of the Cape station and for our supremacy at sea there, 
 is in grave peril now, as the result of a long-standing conspiracy. 
 I use the word ' conspiracy ' deliberately. I mean that for 
 many years past, certainly ever since 1881, after the retrogression 
 at Majuba and the formation of the Africander Bond by Mr. 
 Hofmeyr, an ever-increasing number of the Dutch population of 
 South Africa have been making ready for an attempt to turn South 
 Africa into a united and independent Dutch State, in which the 
 status of Britishers should be the status of foreigners, and in 
 which Her Majesty's Government should have neither part nor 
 lot. It was a matter of common knowledge an attempt would 
 one day be made to republicanize South Africa, and that in the 
 interests of that Africander nation which Mr. Hofmeyr has 
 made it his life-work to create. Sir Bartle Frere was aware of 
 this movement, of this conspiracy, and in a letter to Sir Michael 
 Hicks-Beach, under date August 28, 1879, he warned the 
 Imperial Government of what was afoot. And Sir Alfred 
 Milner did but repeat the warning when, twenty years later, 
 on the <fth of May last, he advised Mr. Chamberlain that a 
 * mischievous propaganda ' was in progress in the Cape Colony 
 ' to oust Her Majesty's Government from their rightful position 
 in South Africa.' Here you have two of the very ablest states-
 
 284 APPENDICES 
 
 men who have ever served the Crown in South Africa saying 
 precisely one and the same thing — ' that a disloyal movement 
 was in progress among the Dutch population, having for its 
 ultimate purpose to wrest South Africa from the jurisdiction of 
 the British Crown.' I do not propose to-night — it would be 
 impossible — to place before you the whole of the evidence for 
 the existence of this conspiracy. Time is too scant, and I do 
 not wish to interpose too long between you and our distinguished 
 guest, yet I cannot leave this subject without adding to the 
 testimony of Sir Alfred Milner and Sir Bartle Frere, as to what 
 was happening, the solemn warning of another great Proconsul 
 in South Africa, Sir George Grey, as to what must happen. 
 Writing as long ago as 1858, shortly after the Orange Free State 
 and Transvaal had been unwisely called into being. Sir George 
 Grey used the following argument in support of his ' policy of 
 remedying ' what had taken place, and what he called the ' dis- 
 memberment' of Africa. He wished to remedy it by some form 
 of federation ! He pointed out 'that, although broken up into 
 separate States, the Dutch population throughout South Africa 
 would still remain essentially one.' He said ' that in any great 
 national movement the Dutch population would not act in 
 unison.' And he added ' that if in any such movement the 
 Governments of the two Republics took a different view from that 
 of the Imperial Government, it would be very doubtful which of 
 the two Governments the great mass of the Dutch people would 
 obey.' For forty long years these prophetic words have lain 
 buried in our Blue Books, and, though every year since has 
 contributed something to fulfil them and to prove their truth, it 
 was not until the 9th of October, 1899, when President Kruger 
 of the Transvaal, backed by President Steyn of the Orange Free 
 State, and backed by thousands of our Dutch subjects in the 
 Cape Colony, flung his ultimatum in our teeth, that we began to 
 believe that Sir George Grey, Sir Bartle Frere, and Sir Alfred 
 Milner were, after all, right ! On the heels of the ultimatum 
 came the revelation, in a series of repulses to our arms, of a 
 degree of readiness for war on the part of the Boers which only 
 long years of planning and preparation could have rendered 
 possible. Ask yourself the question, What would have been 
 England's fate had the Boers withheld their stroke until Great 
 Britain should be locked in conflict with one or other of the 
 Great Powers ? Gentlemen, we have to thank the Government 
 and Lord Salisbury's magnificent diplomacy — as prescient as it 
 is patient — that the long-planned endeavour of the Boers to throw 
 us out of South Africa falls at a moment when England is at peace 
 with all the world. 
 
 I have ventured to dwell at some little length on the part
 
 APPENDIX F 285 
 
 which is being played in the South African drama by the dis- 
 loyal section of our Dutch subjects because it explains some of 
 the peculiar difficulties which harass our Generals, as a while ago 
 they harassed our diplomatists. And there is this other reason 
 for the line I have taken, that no settlement can hope to be per- 
 manently effective which omits to provide for the fact that the 
 really dangerous toes to British supremacy are not those of the 
 two Republics, but are men outside the Republics, who, with the 
 lying phrases of loyalty on their lips, have long been making com- 
 mon cause with the Republics for the end I have described, viz., to 
 oust us from South Africa. How this fact should be provided 
 for — what should be the scope and nature of the settlement — it 
 would hardly be seemly here and now to explain. Let us first 
 drive the foe from our own gates, and then, before we talk of 
 settlement, hoist the Union Jack over Bloemfontein and Pretoria, 
 there for ever to remain.
 
 APPENDIX G 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE LATE 
 SIR BARTLE FRERE, BY JOHN MARTINEAU 
 
 Letter from Madame Koopmans de Wet, November i6, 1880, 
 
 REFERRING TO ABANDONMENT OF SiR BaRTLE FrERE. 
 
 And what is to be the end ot all this now, and now particu- 
 larly do the Cape people miss //r/r Governor, for now superior 
 qualities in everything are wanted. Dear Sir Bartle, you know 
 the material we have ; it is good, but who is to guide ? It is 
 plain to every thinking mind that our position is becoming more 
 critical every day. . . . But with deep sorrow let me say, 
 England's, or rather Downing Street's, treatment has not tightened 
 the bonds between the Mother Country and us. You know we 
 have a large circle of acquaintances, and I cannot say how taken 
 aback I sometimes am to hear their words. See, in all former 
 wars there was a moral support in the thought England, our 
 England, is watching over us ; it strengthened us, and kept, to a 
 certain measure, the savage in control. Now there is but one 
 cry, 'We will have no imperial help.' Why is this? We 
 have lost confidence in a Government who could play with our 
 welfare, and among the many injuries done us, the greatest was 
 to remove from among us a ruler such as Your Excellency was. 
 
 As to the effect of abandonment of the Transvaal on the pros- 
 pects of confederation, Frere says, writing to Sir M. Hicks- 
 Beach : 
 
 T)ecember 3, 1879. 
 
 To every colony concerned such a step must 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.
 
 APPENDIX G 287 
 
 Again, writing to the same gentleman on that date : 
 
 When our powers 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 un- 
 flinching 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 800 at the outside. The rest of the 
 camp, variously estimated at containing from 1,600 to 4,000 in 
 all, but probably never exceeding 2,500 present at one time, were 
 men brought to the camp by intimidation, compulsion, or 
 curiosity, who would not willingly resist the authority of govern- 
 ment, and would, if assured of protection, prefer to side with it. 
 
 Dutch disafi^ection (Sir Bartle writes, referring to the Cape 
 Colony) of a dangerous kind is confined to a small clique of 
 Hollanders and colonial Dutch republicans, who have little 
 influence except through a temporary alliance with English 
 humanitarians and Radicals. 
 
 Again, later : 
 
 These Dutchmen arc slow to move, but bitter and obstinate 
 when roused, and apt to move in an angry crowd. If any 
 number of them join the republican faction there will be serious 
 trouble in South Africa, and the drifting may end by these 
 colonies drifting away from the Empire. 
 
 Frere to Lanyon, on leaving South Africa. 
 
 Tell Pretorius [the ex-President] and all sincere Transvaal 
 men they have my best wishes for their prosperity, and that thcv 
 will see in joining you, to give good government to the country, 
 the best road to the same independence as their friends here 
 [i.e., at Cape Town] have achieved. 
 
 Frere to Lord Kimberley. 
 I would most emphatically urge that an encouragement to
 
 288 APPENDICES 
 
 rebellion fatal to our supremacy in all the rest of South Africa, 
 would be given by such a step as appointing a commission before 
 the Boers, yielding either to moral force or force of arms, have 
 distinctly submitted to our authority. 
 
 Referring to the suggested members of the proposed com- 
 mission, he says : 
 
 There are men on the Colonial Bench whom I would have 
 regarded as excellent selections a few months ago, but who would 
 now be much mistrusted by their English fellow colonists. [It 
 will be remembered Sir Henry de Villiers was appointed a 
 member of that commission.] 
 
 Mr. R. W. Murray to Sir B. Frere, May i6, i88l. 
 
 Ask your English statesmen (he writes), 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. 
 
 Colonel Lanyon writes. 
 
 Pretoria, March 29, 188 1. 
 
 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 loyalists 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 Africanders, and need not be 
 ashamed of their country.' 
 
 ^g*^"= April z(^, 1881. 
 
 The Boers are practically dictators, and have been ruling the 
 country in a manner which is simply humiliating to Englishmen.
 
 APPENDIX G 289 
 
 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 fre- 
 quently threatened because of their having been members of the 
 
 executive, and those two poor fellows, J and H , arc 
 
 completely ostracized for the same reason. They arc both 
 ruined men, practically speaking, and all because they trusted to 
 England's assurances and good faith. . . . 
 
 Mr. Rider Haggard writes. 
 
 June 6, 1 881. 
 
 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. 
 
 Sir Bartle Frere to Mr. J. Maclean, on the Convention 
 OF Pretoria. 
 
 February 23, 1883. 
 
 Mapoch and other chiefs to the east and north-east, who had 
 been loyal to the British rule, have been attacked, and great 
 numbers of their followers have been slaughtered. A large 
 'commando,' said to comprise 2,000 burghers with two cannon 
 supplied by the Cape Government, is at present engaged in 
 crushing this tribe, blowing up their caves with dynamite ; their 
 greatest offence is fidelity to the British Government. . . . 
 
 To the natives of the Transvaal and its neighbourhood the 
 surrender by the British Government has brought loss of all 
 security for liberty, life, or property. 
 
 Address to Frere on leaving from the Natives of Mount 
 
 Cake. 
 
 Our hearts are very bitter this day. Wc hear that the r)uecn 
 calls you to England. We have not heard that you are sick, 
 then why have you to leave us .-' . . . By you we now have 
 peace. We sleep now without fear. Old men tell us of a good 
 Governor Durban (Sir Benjamin D'Urban) who had to leave 
 before his good works became law, but red coals were under the 
 ashes which he left. Words of wicked men, when he left, like 
 the wind blew up the fire, and the country was again in war. 
 So also Sir George Grey, a good Governor, good to tie up the 
 
 19
 
 290 APPENDICES 
 
 liands of bad men, good to plant schools, good to feed the 
 hungry, good to have mercy and feed the heathen when dying 
 from hunger. He also had to leave us. We do not understand 
 this. But Your Excellency is not to leave us. Natal has now 
 peace by you, because God and the Queen sent you. Do not 
 leave us. Surely it is not the way of the Queen to leave her 
 children here unprotected until peace is everywhere. . . . We 
 shall ever pray for you as well as for the Queen. These are our 
 words to our good Governor, though he turns his back on us. 
 
 Mr. Martineau's Description of the Last Farewell to Sir 
 Bartle Frere. 
 
 For intensity of feeling and unanimity it would be hard in 
 our time to find a parallel to this demonstration of enthusiasm 
 for a public servant. The Capetown people are by race and 
 habit the reverse of demonstrative ; yet it was noticed that day, 
 as it had been noticed when Frere left Sattara thirty years 
 before — a sight not uncommon two or three centuries ago, but 
 almost unknown among men of English or German race in our 
 day — that men looking on were unable to restrain their tears. At 
 Sattara and in Sind the regret at losing him was softened by the 
 knowledge that his departure was due to a recognition of his 
 merit, that he was being promoted in a service in which his in- 
 fluence might some day extend with heightened power to the 
 country he was leaving. It was far otherwise when he left the 
 Cape. On that occasion the regret of the colonists was mingled 
 with indignation, and embittered with a sense of wrong.
 
 APPENDIX H. 
 
 CHIEF JUSTICE KOTZ^'S REPLY TO MR.KRUGER'S 
 ASSERTIONS. 
 
 See my note at end of this memo. 
 
 (Signed) Paul Mare. 
 
 Memorandum. 
 
 Saturday, jth September, 1895. 
 
 This afternoon, at 5 o'clock, I had, together with Messrs. 
 P. W. T. Bell, E. F. Bourke, and Dr. Engelenburg (members of 
 the Celliers Memorial Committee), an interview with the State 
 President at His Honour's house. When this interview was 
 over and we had bid the President good-bye. His Honour said, 
 ' Judge, I wish to speak to you privately for a few moments.' 
 The other gentlemen then left the room and I remained behind, 
 when the following took place between me and the State 
 President. I have thought it necessary, immediately upon 
 reaching my house, to place in writing the following memorandum 
 or notes, which as nearly as possible contain the very words of 
 our conversation : 
 
 President : Look, I wish to speak to you a little about the 
 Volksraad resolution concerning the proclamation and lottery of 
 ground. I don't wish to enter into the case itself, but I am told 
 that they have, after lots had been drawn for the ground, again 
 proceeded to peg over the ground, and that they will again bring 
 the matter before the Court. Now, how can this happen, tor 
 the law says a Volksraad resolution is law, and if I have published 
 it then everyone must respect it as law. What is now your view 
 on the subject ? 
 
 Chief Justice : I do not know anything of the particulars of 
 the case, and of what has taken place on the ground, with regard 
 to the lottery or subsequently, I can in no event speak about that, 
 
 1 9 — 2
 
 292 APPENDICES 
 
 for if the case should come on there is but one course open to 
 the Court, and that is to enforce the law. 
 
 President : Yes, I know, and therefore I speak to you about 
 it ; not upon the facts, for possibly my information may not be 
 quite correct, but on the resolution of the Volksraad. What has 
 happened at the lottery, and how the people came up there in 
 numbers and rushed each other, proves that I could not do 
 otherwise than withdraw the proclamation, or murder and 
 manslaughter would have occurred in the land. But never 
 mind that for the present. What I wish to speak to you about 
 is that the Court must respect the Volksraad resolution. I hear 
 you stated in the Hess case that you had changed your opinion as 
 expressed in the case of Doms, and that the Court is not bound 
 by a resolution of the Volksraad. How can this be ? The law 
 clearly says that all laws and resolutions, published by me, are of 
 force, and cannot be questioned ; only the people can in the 
 following year petition against these, and then the Volksraad can 
 decide whether it will alter the resolution. You must now tell 
 me that you also think that this is so, and strengthen the bond 
 of brotherhood, so that no conflict may arise, otherwise the 
 members and the people will rise against the Court, and I will 
 be in a difficult position. The country may get into great 
 difficulty, rebellion may be occasioned, and you must set my mind 
 at ease. Now tell me what you do think ? 
 
 Chief Justice : I did not say in the Hess case that a resolution 
 of the Volksraad cannot, under any circumstances, have the force 
 of law. This entirely depends upon the circumstances. I said 
 that I had altered the opinion expressed by me in the McCorkin- 
 dale case in certain respects. Everything proceeds from the 
 people. A Court must inquire whether a given law be indeed 
 law, and whether a law or a resolution is in conformity with the 
 Grondwet. 
 
 President : Oh no. Now you speak too indistinctly. How 
 can you say so ? The Volksraad is the highest authority, and 
 everyone must respect the resolutions and laws of the Volksraad, 
 as published, and submit thereto ; otherwise there will be discord 
 and conflict. You may be sure of that, and I can take an oath 
 to that effect, that if the Court does not respect the Volksraad 
 resolution, then there will be trouble. The Volksraad will rise 
 up against the Court. Look, when the other day the case for 
 an interdict came on, several of the Volksraad members told me 
 the Court would reject the resolution, and I defended the Court, 
 and said the Judges would act according to the law and do justice, 
 and not reject the resolution. Now, you see, I always stand up 
 for my Judges, but if you {i.e., the Judges) reject the resolution 
 of the Volksraad, then I fear for the consequences. I will then
 
 APPENDIX H 293 
 
 be obliged to suspend you. (Chief Justice smiling.) Yes, you 
 laugh over it. It is a serious matter. A conflict will surely 
 happen, which will mean discord and danger to the State. How 
 will I get the people satisfied again ? 
 
 Chief Justice : I smile because President speaks of suspension. 
 A conflict between the Volksraad and Court is certainly a serious 
 matter. I do not think lightly of the consequences resulting 
 therefrom, and I do not fear it. The Court never acts hurriedly 
 or precipitately. The Court will do its duty and maintain the 
 Grondwet and other laws. Why should this cause discord. The 
 people are too sensible for that. 
 
 President : Now, yes ; but set my mind at case that you 
 Judges will respect the resolution of the Volksraad. You can do 
 nothing else, for you, too, stand under your oaths. Is, then, a 
 resolution of the Volksraad, the highest authority, not binding 
 on everyone : 
 
 Chief Justice : I can say no more than that a law properly 
 passed, and a resolution taken according to law, may be of force 
 as far as it goes. 
 
 President : But how must I now understand you ? 
 
 Chief Justice : Say, for instance, that eleven members of the 
 Volksraad pass a resolution, while the law prescribes that twelve 
 members form a quorum, now will such a law or resolution have 
 to be respected .? Certainly not. 
 
 President : But in that case I would not publish such a law or 
 resolution. 
 
 Chief Justice : Yes, but suppose that after all you do publish 
 it .? Or, suppose the Volksraad, without any inquiry, takes a 
 summary resolution to dismiss you from office } 
 
 President : No, no. You know this is not what I mean. I 
 merely want the Court to recognise and respect a resolution 
 taken in the usual way by the Volksraad. The resolution ot 
 which I am speaking is also as the First Volksraad wishes to have 
 it. Look, there can be no doubt, and you must do your best so 
 as to regulate matters that no conflict and disorder can arise. 
 This can alone be done by acknowledging the resolution and 
 obeying the voice of the Volksraad, which is the highest power. 
 
 Chief Justice : I cannot say anything else than that the 
 Judges will act carefully according to the laws of the land. The 
 Judges dare not do anything else. 
 
 President (rising) : Now, yes. I trust you will think well 
 over what we have here been talking about privately with each 
 other. 
 
 This terminated our conversation, and I left the President. 
 On coming outside I found Messrs. Bell, Bourke, and Engelburg
 
 294 APPENDICES 
 
 at the street gate waiting for me. The conversation between 
 me and the President lasted from about eight to ten minutes. 
 
 (Signed) J. G. Kotze. 
 
 This memorandum was shown me in September, 1895, by 
 Chief Justice Kotze, when I was chairman of the Grondwet 
 Revision Commission of the First Volksraad, whereupon I also 
 read the same. 
 
 (Signed) Paul Mare. 
 
 Certified a true copy of the original as read and compared by 
 me. 
 
 (Signed) Fred J. Lunnon, 
 
 Notary Public.
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 THE JUDICIAL CRISIS IN THE TRANSVAAL 
 
 'Transvaal Advertiser,' March i 5th, 1897. 
 
 While there is yet time, we should fail in our duty to the people 
 of this Republic if we did not urge upon the Government the 
 propriety and wisdom of reconsidering the vitally important 
 subject of the position assumed towards the judges of the High 
 Court. Efforts have been unceasingly made for some time past 
 to obscure the issues in the case, and to impress upon the ignorant 
 and easily-led burghers of this Republic that it was necessary to 
 restrain the judges of the High Court in the performance of 
 those duties which are imposed upon them by virtue of their 
 office. Under any circumstances, the time has arrived when it 
 is necessary, once for all, to answer the misleading statements 
 which have been put forth in defence of the action of the 
 Government, notably, by the Folksstem, the Press, the Standard 
 and Diggers^ News here, and 0ns Land in the Cape Colony. 
 The object of the Government organs has been to obscure the 
 nature of the attack upon the High Court by the adoption of 
 tactics which every right-minded man must know are meant to 
 cover the misdeeds of the Government and Legislature. The 
 Chief Justice has been assailed upon the matter of the ' Brown ' 
 judgment, both as to its legal soundness and to the time and cir- 
 cumstances under which it was pronounced. It has been made 
 to appear that it was delivered for a personal and political pur- 
 pose, and under that guise the important constitutional questions 
 raised by it have been discreetly kept in the background. It is 
 not necessary to refute this attempt to lower the status of the 
 Chief Justice and his colleagues, as it is abundantly clear that it 
 they had acted in the mode alleged, they would have done their 
 best to defeat their own ends. It is not our purpose, however, 
 to call attention to side issues in this important matter, but to 
 state as simply and clearly as we can the tacts ot the case and
 
 296 APPENDICES 
 
 tlicir bearing upon the future of the Republic. In the ' Brown ' 
 judgment the Court laid down the principle of its right to test 
 laws made by the Volksraad by a reference to the written con- 
 stitution of the country. The legal advisers of the President, 
 Messrs. Coster and Leyds, doubtless finding that the establish- 
 ment of such a principle would go far to make the position 
 assured by the President and his obedient Legislature untenable, 
 probably forced upon his Honour the necessity for direct legis- 
 lation upon the matter. The Law No. i, 1897, was consequently 
 brought in, discussed in secret session, and passed through the 
 Volksraad in the shortest possible time, viz., three days. That 
 this action of the Government and the I,egislature was ill-advised 
 and dangerous to the people of this Republic, is shown by the 
 universal condemnation which it has met, not only by the inde- 
 pendent press of South Africa, but also of Europe, both France 
 and Germany having joined in the denunciation of the object of 
 the so-called law. 
 
 It cannot too often be impressed upon the public that for the 
 present the soundness or unsoundness of the 'Brown' judgment 
 has nothing to do with the present position of aiFairs. As a 
 civilized nation, and, as is boasted, an independent State, the 
 Transvaal is bound to respect the judgment of its own High 
 Court. Should it be considered by the Government or the 
 Legislature that the law or constitution, as expounded and inter- 
 preted by its own High Court in any particular case, are found 
 detrimental to the interests of the State, they are within their 
 right, the one to propose and the other to adopt measures in a 
 legal and constitutional method, for bringing about a change 
 either in the law or the constitution. Listead, however, of 
 adopting this safe course, one in which the judges would probably 
 have been willing, as well as competent, to give the benefit of 
 their advice, a drastic measure was secretly drafted, considered, 
 and suddenly placed before the Volksraad, and rushed through 
 its stages in the shortest space of time. The plea of urgency 
 was alleged in explanation of this precipitate action, as, accord- 
 ing to the President, the newly proposed law could not brook 
 an hour's delay. Under this guise of necessity a fatal step has 
 been taken which has aggravated the evil, and beyond question 
 has endangered the rights, liberties, and lives of every inhabitant 
 in this State. This was done while there was yet time to 
 recede, and against the solemn and unanimous advice and 
 warnings of the judges that there exists at present no real danger 
 and no necessity for taking immediate steps. The wise counsels 
 of the judges against hasty legislation, and their assurance that 
 the matter could be calmly and satisfactorily settled in the 
 ensuing May session of the Volksraad were ignored, and the
 
 APPENDIX I 297 
 
 letter of the fi\e judges was not even officially placed before the 
 \'olksraad, as they had requested. Just as the Volksraad was 
 rushed, a similar attempt was made to rush the judges, who 
 wisely refused to be a party to hasty legislation, which had for 
 its aim the complete removal of the stability and independence 
 of the judiciary. It is this very measure, proposed by the 
 President and his advisers, and sanctioned by the Volksraad, 
 that forms the real ground for all the uncertainty and anxiety 
 which at present exist. It is this fatal step, and not the 'Brown' 
 judgment, which has agitated men's minds to their very depths, 
 and both in and out of South Africa has shaken confidence in 
 the Transvaal as a civilized State. It is not difficult to account 
 for this state of things. Under the plea of necessity, and under 
 the plea of uncertainty, which has been used as a kind of 
 Government scarecrow, a state of chaos and confusion has been 
 created. Instead of calmly and with dignity setting to work to 
 remove what might be considered objectionable in a legal and 
 constitutional way, a measure is adopted which virtually amounts 
 to an attack both on the judges individually and on the inde- 
 pendence of their high office. The Volksraad, contrary to the 
 Constitution or Grondwct, practically changes itself into a 
 Supreme Court of Appeal, and declares that the judges in the 
 'Brown' judgment — a judgment which by the law and Con- 
 stitution of the land is final, and from which there is no appeal 
 — have wrongly declared the law. Here the Volksraad clearly 
 went beyond its own province and powers. It may just as 
 logically reverse the 'Brown' judgment. It is perfectly clear 
 that until the Grondwct has been duly amended, the interpreta- 
 tion of the Grondwet by the High Court must be accepted by 
 every person and every department of State in the country. 
 The Volksraad may, in the exercise of its legislative functions, 
 interpret the Constitution for itself, but it cannot interpret the 
 Constitution so as to bind the Court. It is the exclusive right 
 and duty of the High Court to interpret the Grondwet or Con- 
 stitution for itself whenever, in any given case before it, it 
 becomes necessary so to do. Again, the new measure — we can- 
 not consider it law — is a distinct breach and violation of the 
 numerous laws which guarantee to the members of the Bench 
 their office for life. It is also a distinct breach and violation of 
 the law which safeguards the judges against any interference on 
 the part oi' the Executive or Legislature, and which provides 
 that the dismissal of a judge can only take place after a proper 
 charge brought before, and duly investigated by, a specially- 
 constituted tribunal, and after its verdict of guilty, and none 
 other. All these constitutional and necessary guarantees have 
 been blown to the winds, and all these safeguards have been
 
 298 APPENDICES 
 
 ruthlessly destroyed. It is, therefore, nothing but natural that 
 men should fear and tremble, and ask themselves the question — 
 What next? The spectacle of independent judges being 
 summarily dismissed at the dictation of the President, in viola- 
 tion of their appointment for life, and cast adrift, converts the 
 Republic into an uncivilized and barbarous country. It is an act 
 of injustice and unrighteousness which might be expected from 
 a despot, but which will inevitably bring appropriate punishment 
 upon a country which boasts of its civilization and Christianity. 
 It is this which has made the capitalist more than uneasy about 
 his investments in properties of all descriptions. It is this that 
 has created distrust in the mind of the poor and industrious man 
 who has invested his modest savings in some form or other in 
 the country, and who no longer feels safe as to the security of 
 such investment. The argument advanced by one of our local 
 contemporaries, that the recent action of the Government and 
 Volksraad is to be justified because many rights on the gold-fields 
 are secured by mere besluite?i, or resolutions of the Volksraad, is 
 thus seen to be a hollow sham. Men naturally inquire — when 
 the independent and highest judges of the land are treated in 
 this summary, illegal, and drastic manner by the simple brushing 
 away of the laws which guarantee their position for life, and 
 protect them against improper interference and dismissal — of 
 what account are we and our belongings — we, who are simple 
 burghers or unenfranchised inhabitants of the land ? It is a 
 mockery to tell us that, in order to secure our rights, the rights 
 of the judges of the land, clearly and solemnly guaranteed, must 
 be swept away ; rights and guarantees, moreover, established 
 quite as much for the protection of the public and the gold 
 industry as for the judges themselves. The public have a right 
 to insist on the dignified, impartial, and independent administra- 
 tion of justice. To deprive the people of this right is a palpable 
 invasion of their liberties. It is a natural inference that what 
 has happened to the judges to-day may happen to the burgher 
 to-morrow. This is the real issue and the true position of the 
 question. It is that which has created the terrible tension. It 
 is that which makes men marvel at the astoundingly dangerous 
 feats performed recently by President Kruger. It is not to be 
 forgotten that he has boasted frequently of late that the principles 
 of the Republic and of himself were that ' Right is might,' and 
 not the converse, ' Might is right.' 
 
 We may just refer to a statement which has been much made 
 of by the apologists for the Government, viz., that the honoured 
 Chief Justice of the Cape Colony 'is heartily at one' with the 
 attitude adopted by the President and his legal advisers with 
 regard to the judges. It is scarcely probable that so eminent
 
 APPENDIX I 299 
 
 and experienced a jurist would give such an opinion, and we 
 prefer to wait until Chief Justice de Villiers himself authorizes 
 such a declaration. In the meantime we must protest against 
 the attempt to identify that gentlemen with the sentiments of 
 Messrs. Coster and Leyds in the development of this miserable 
 and fatal business. The Government have sown the wind, and 
 of a certainty will reap the whirlwind, and no man possessing a 
 sense of responsibility can dare approve of the attack made upon 
 the independence of the judges in the exercise of their judicial 
 functions. A measure which reduces the judges to the level of 
 mere servants of the President, who shall have the right at any 
 time to interpellate them on pain of instant dismissal, even when 
 a case may be pending against the Government, endangers the 
 liberty of the citizen and the State. This, we repeat, is the 
 issue ; and it behoves all men who have interests in this country, 
 or wish well to the Republic, to avoid being led away by the 
 shallow defences made by the apologists of the Government tor 
 an attack upon the sacred liberties of the people.
 
 APPENDIX J 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE ' TRANSVAAL ADVERTISER' 
 OF DECEMBER 31, 1898 
 
 It has been asserted that under certain circumstances 'old men 
 see visions, and young men dream dreams.' It may be permitted 
 to us who are old, to see the vision of a regenerated Transvaal 
 when the present regime has been swept away, and its cor- 
 ruptions, hypocrisies, and prostitution of the powers with which 
 it has been entrusted shall be regarded as a hideous nightmare. 
 Before the close of the present century we believe that the reign 
 of terror which has been established by repressive laws will 
 have given place to freedom, when justice shall not be polluted 
 at its source, when the rights of all shall be acknowledged, and 
 peace and contentment following upon good government shall 
 prevail. It is impossible that the country should enter upon a 
 new century clad in the mantle of ignorance, prejudice and 
 hatred of all that is good and true and noble in sentiment and 
 action. When that time arrives the work in which the Trans- 
 vaal Advertiser has been engaged for the past sixteen years will 
 have been accomplished. However deeply its principles may 
 have been entombed by the mighty powers of selfishness, 
 hypocrisy and sordid avarice, its epitaph shall be ' Resurgam.' 
 
 J. SCOBLE.
 
 APPENDIX K 
 
 SIR BARTLE FRERE AND THE NOMINEE LEGISLA- 
 TURE OF THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 In April, 1879, the then Administrator at Pretoria, Colonel 
 Lanyon, wrote a private note to Mr. Justice Kotzc, asking him 
 to come round to Government House, as Sir Bartle Frerc was 
 anxious to see him. On arriving at Government House Mr. 
 Kotze was shown a draft Constitution providing for a Legisla- 
 tive Assembly, consisting of the members of the Executive, and 
 of an equal number of nominee members. On being asked his 
 views on the draft Constitution the judge condemned it upon 
 the twofold ground, that first, it would not suit the people of 
 the country, who had always been in the habit of electing their 
 own representatives to the Legislature (Volksraad) ; and secondly, 
 it was contrary to the terms of the Annexation Proclamation, 
 which had led the public to expect a representative Legislature. 
 A departure from the proclamation in this respect was calculated 
 to cause opposition to the Government by those who had sup- 
 ported the Annexation at the time. The result was, that this 
 Constitution was not immediately put into practice, it being only 
 promulgated in the Gazette early in the following year 1880, 
 and, as predicted, caused widespread disaffection amongst all 
 classes.
 
 APPENDIX L. 
 
 DEVASTATED NATAL. 
 
 It is almost impossible to know how to begin a letter when 
 placed in the position that we Loyalists occupy in Natal, and, 
 I may as well say, the whole of South Africa. To say that we 
 have been ruined is practically nothing. The circumstances of 
 each individual case are far more heartrending than the total 
 result. Not only does there seem to be very little sympathy in 
 the hearts of those who hold the high ofhces in this country and 
 at home, but, further, the military authorities both here and at 
 the Cape have peculiar methods of their own in dealing with 
 the several matters entrusted to them. We who are loyal are 
 expected to sit down and be content, although we have no 
 homes, very little food, less clothing, and no money. 
 
 Some details may be of interest. Imagine yourself in a 
 newly-built house, with every room neatly and comfortably 
 furnished, your business bringing in sufficient to enable you to 
 live without anxiety. Then try, if it be possible, to imagine 
 yourself and family flying for your life with less than an hour's 
 notice, leaving everything and escaping with only the clothes 
 you stand upright in, to tramp sixty miles through a country 
 such as this without the slightest shelter, and with only what 
 food could be placed in your pockets before starting. Hurrying 
 through the terrible heat of the day, walking through rivers, and 
 lying on the grass for a bed, with a heavy rain descending to add 
 to its discomfort, we finally arrive at a town where we are allowed 
 a shilling each adult per day to provide for all our wants. 
 
 On returning to our homes, we find that after the semi-savage 
 Boer has occupied them for a time the best of our furniture has 
 been taken into the Transvaal, even by some of the members of 
 the First Raad — that is to say, the Boers' House of Lords. 
 Other furniture has been taken by the disloyal Natal Boer, and 
 what could not be taken has been destroyed for fire purposes. 
 To add to our distress and disgust, sick horses or cattle have
 
 APPENDIX L 303 
 
 been taken into our houses and starved to death, so that they 
 should die inside, and the terrible remains of these poor animals 
 have floated about our floors, so that the rooms cannot again be 
 used without new woodwork. Not only so, but the wretches 
 have violated all decency in every room, so much so that it will 
 be sickening ever to remember it. The walls have been 
 plastered with the same filth as lies upon the floors. The 
 window-sashes are smashed, doors broken down and burnt, ceil- 
 ings destroyed, and sometimes floors broken up to provide fuel 
 for the fire. The kitchen range is smashed, the garden devas- 
 tated, choice fruit-trees, grape vines, etc., chopped down, and 
 fences destroyed. The wreckage is beyond description, and all 
 this by the saintly Boer, so much worshipped by the ignorant in 
 our own country. 
 
 The Question of Compensation. 
 
 Now, turning to the high ofiicials, we hear something of com- 
 pensation. Someone in the House of Commons says full com- 
 pensation must be exacted ; another says the Loyalists must be 
 compensated ; and another says there are great difficulties in this 
 question of compensation ; but I have not heard anyone say, 
 ' What are these loyal people doing to obtain food ? Can't we 
 give them immediate help ?' People at home cannot realize 
 what misery we have to endure. This is our position to-day : 
 The Mansion House Fund allows each woman one shilling per 
 day, each child sixpence per day, with one or two rooms, accord- 
 ing to the size of family. The men get nothing, save one or 
 two free meals per day. There being so many men from up- 
 country, the Transvaal and Free State, etc., it is impossible to 
 get work at any price, so we live in a state of semi-starvation, 
 and get what old clothes we can to cover our nakedness. While 
 we are enduring this the Home Government says, * You shall be 
 compensated' ; but we say, ' How shall we exist until that time 
 comes ?' I know men whose income was nearly one hundred a 
 month now living on borrowed money ; but it is not all of us 
 who can raise money on our property, considering that it is in 
 the hands of the Boers, and may be completely destroyed. How 
 the up-country towns are going to start again I do nor know, 
 unless the Home Government come to our rescue at once. So 
 far we have suffered and paid dearly for our loyalty, while the 
 rebel has grown rich and fat before our eyes. 
 
 Clemency for Rebels. 
 
 Now comes the third point concerning the military. Their 
 doings with the rebels and others simply confound us. The 
 rebels are treated with the utmost consideration ; it curdles our
 
 304 APPENDICES 
 
 blood to sec this, for we who live here know what it means. 
 The treatment meted out to these vile creatures is unrighteous 
 and unjust, and will be the cause of bloodshed after the war is 
 over. The military authorities, as you have doubtless seen, 
 accept the surrender of men anywhere without their arms or 
 ammunition, which they have buried in some secret place, and 
 these men are allowed to return home even without a cross 
 word to take up their arms at a time that will suit them. On 
 other occasions they are allowed to surrender with the oldest 
 rubbish in the shape of arms that can be scraped together, while 
 their Mausers are at home. Can you wonder, then, that wc 
 who are to live here when the military are gone are disgusted 
 at their ignorance or weakness .'' Further, as regards the Boers 
 who have surrendered, they will every one of them take up arms 
 again when Roberts and Buller have got further up-country. 
 It is good policy for a lot of them to stay behind ; but our 
 Generals don't know the Boer, and will not be told. 
 
 The Penalty of Loyalty. 
 
 It makes our blood boil to see some men in our House of 
 Commons continually asking of the welfare of the Boer prisoners, 
 but very seldom do we see much said concerning our prisoners 
 at Pretoria. You who live at home do not know and feel as we 
 do. You have only newspaper reports to read, and different 
 statements made in the House, many of which are radically mis- 
 leading, because written and spoken by men whose experience 
 in South Africa may run into one or two months, and perhaps 
 not even that. For instance, take Mr. Churchill, the corre- 
 spondent of the Morning Post. He has hardly been here suf- 
 ficient time to know where he is, knows nothing of the country, 
 the people, or customs, has no interest in or care for the country, 
 and will soon be gone ; yet he desires to counsel us, who have 
 been years in the colony, and know everything concerning it, 
 and have our all invested here ; and yet thousands at home will 
 think him correct. 
 
 It is a grand thing to talk of loyalty at home, where it costs 
 nothing ; but be here at the present time, and you will see that 
 loyalty means a different thing altogether. It does not pay to 
 be loyal. The disloyal always comes off the best. If you were 
 here you would not ask an explanation. It was so before I 
 came into the colony, and during the ten years that I have been 
 here it has been the same. Do you wonder, then, that our 
 feelings are strong against the disloyal, and that we are hurt at 
 our own country compelling us to suffer, while it seems afraid 
 to punish the rebellious > — Daily Chronicle, May 31, 1900.
 
 I NDEX 
 
 Adendorff trek, 109, 197 
 
 Advocate, 25 
 
 Africander ambitions, i et seq., 
 
 93 
 Africander Bond, 35 
 
 Extract from speeches of 
 Merriman and Harris, Ap- 
 pendix F, 282 
 
 Motions in Cape Parliament, 
 
 153 
 Objects of, 88, 235, 237, 239 
 Official organ of, 141 
 Rhodes and, 178, 181 
 Africander, meaning of term, 
 
 I) 2 
 Africanders (two parties), 162 
 Alfred, Prince, tour through 
 
 S. Africa, 27 
 Alleged officers arrested on 
 charge of high treason, 226 
 Amatongaland, 180 
 
 Attempted seizure of, 185 
 Swazie rights over, 109 
 Ameshoff : 
 
 Resigns puisne judgeship, 
 
 219 
 Signs reply to Kruger, 222 
 Anderson, Surveyor, leads 
 
 foraging-party, 50 
 Anglo-German Treaty, 164 
 Anstruther, Colonel, at Bronk- 
 
 horstspruit, 46 
 Appelbee, Rev. — , on Malaboch 
 
 War, 170 
 Argyll, Duke of, on Transvaal 
 policy, 34 
 
 Ashmead-Bartlett, Sir E., atti- 
 tude towards Swazies, 108 
 Author : 
 
 Acquaintance with Transvaal, 
 
 15 
 Connection with Transvaal 
 
 Argus y 63 
 Aylward : 
 
 Advises investing Lydenburg 
 
 fort, 58 
 Heads deputation to Sir L. 
 
 Phillips, ']^ 
 
 B 
 
 Banjailand trek, 109, 197 
 
 Baricly, Sir Henry, President 
 Burgers' despatch to, 131 
 
 Barnato, Barney, and Vaal 
 River Water Concession, 
 103 
 
 Basuto War, 8 
 
 Bechuanaland : 
 Annexation question, 85 note 
 Attempt to establish Re- 
 publics in, 230 
 
 Bellairs, Lieut.-General, at Pre- 
 toria, 52 
 
 Benjamin, D. H., compensation 
 to diggers, 18 
 
 Bewaarplaatsen, 106 
 
 Bezuidenhout, resists execution 
 of warrant, 46 
 
 Bismarck and Smit, anecdote of, 
 86 
 
 Bloemfontein Conference, 238 
 
 Bloonfoniein Express, policy of, 
 141 
 
 20
 
 3o6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bloemfontein, rifles and ammu- 
 nition at, 70 
 Boer : 
 
 Army, strength of, 242 
 Attitude towards annexation, 
 
 II 
 Attitude towards natives, 29, 
 
 38 
 Characteristics, 3, 4, 6, 12, 64 
 Idea of founding new nation, 
 
 5,6 
 Meaning of 'independence,' 
 
 93 
 Pohcy, 27 
 
 Secret meetings, 25 
 Seize ammunition at Middel- 
 burg, 42 
 Boerenvriend, 25 
 Bok, E., 46 
 Boomplaats, Boers defeated at, 
 
 8 
 Borckenhagen, Carl, 141 
 Botha, Hans : 
 
 Proposes censure on Sir J. 
 
 de Wet, 153 
 Street Inspector, house, 105 
 Taken prisoner, 51 
 Bourke, E. F., deputy to 
 
 Kruger, 148 
 Bower, Sir Graham, 159, 209 
 Brand, Judge, reason for re- 
 signing, 210 
 Brand, Sir John, President of 
 
 Orange Free State, 9, 67 
 Brandis, Captain von, house 
 
 besieged, no 
 Bridge Concession, 96 
 British Bechuanaland, 84 and 
 
 note 
 British colonials, claims of, 250 
 British flag buried at Pretoria, 
 
 . .56 . 
 
 British flag hoisted at Pretoria, 
 
 British policy in South Africa, 
 
 7, 9, 13 
 
 Failure to re-establish repre- 
 sentative institutions, 21, 
 28, 39 
 British subjects : 
 
 Arrested on charge of high 
 treason, 226 
 
 British subjects : 
 
 Commandeered, 119, 122, 
 
 125 
 Exempted from military ser- 
 vice, 132 
 Registration of, 123 
 {See also Uitlanders) 
 Bronkhorstspruit, British troops 
 
 massacred at, 46 
 ' Brown 7/. State,' 218 
 Burger, Schalk : 
 
 Candidate for Presidency, 
 
 215 
 Conduct on Industrial Com- 
 mission, 216 
 Votes for Kruger, 1 1 1 
 Burgers, President Thomas 
 Francois, 7^ 
 Character, 20 
 
 Despatch on commandeer- 
 ing, 131 
 Difficulties, 18 
 Plans for reforms, 31 
 Vindication quoted, 30 
 Visits Mac-a-Mac, 15 
 ' Burgers' sovereigns,' 16 
 Buxton, reply on instructions to 
 Sir W. Cameron, 132 
 
 C 
 
 Caldecott, on Johannesburg 
 
 Education Council. 211 
 Cameron, General Sir William, 
 128 
 Despatch to British Agent, 
 131, 137, 156 
 Cape Colony, Transvaal agents 
 
 in, 236 
 Cape Ministry : 
 
 Boer armaments and, 70, 
 
 237, 250 
 Drifts question and, 186 
 Cape Parliament, motions on 
 visit of Sir Henry Loch to 
 Pretoria, 153 
 Cape Peninsula : 
 
 Dutch East India Company 
 
 take possession of, 2 
 Englishmen take possession 
 of, I 
 Cape Railway and Netherlands 
 S. African Railway, 186
 
 INDEX 
 
 307 
 
 Capitalists and Uitlander cause, 
 
 161, 174, 187 
 Carolus shot as spy, 60 
 Carr, St. John, dcDuty from 
 
 Johannesburg, 158 
 Carter, T. F., work on Trans- 
 vaal War, 27 
 Celliers, Jan : 
 Arrested, 25 
 Exposes abuses, 104 
 Teaching in Volksstem, 24 
 Cetewayo, 29 ; capture of, 230 
 Chamber of Mines, policy of, 
 
 174 
 Chamberlain, J. : 
 
 Alleged complicity in Raid, 
 
 201, 207 
 On s-ttlement of S. Africa, 
 
 251 
 On Transvaal policy (Glad- 
 stone's), 34 
 Rhodes and, 203 
 Treatment of Sir J. de Wet, 
 197 
 Chartered Company formed, 88 
 Churchill, Lord Randolph, visits 
 Transvaal and Rhodesia, 
 112 
 Clark, Captain Marshall, pri- 
 soner of war, 59 
 Clark, prisoner for refusing to 
 
 go on commando, 137 
 Cloete family, 72 
 Colley, Sir George Pomeroy : 
 Death on Majuba, 63 
 Tour of Transvaal, 26 
 Commandeered men : 
 Arrested, 133, 137 
 Meeting for defence of, 135 
 Reception in Johannesburg, 
 
 168 
 Turned out on veld, 159 
 Commandeering : 
 
 Cessation obtained, 152 
 Committee for defence 
 
 against, 128, 137 
 Despatch of Sir W. G. Cam- 
 eron on, 131 
 High Court Judgment on, 136 
 Interview of Kruger, Leyds 
 
 and Kotze on, 156 
 Meaning of, 122 
 
 Commandeering : 
 
 Meeting at Pretoria on, 126 
 Policy, 92 
 
 Uitlanders' case and, 157 
 Committee of Public Appeal to 
 
 British Government, 128 
 Compound system, 92 
 Concession-hunters in Trans- 
 vaal, 94 
 Concessions for gold-mining, 18 
 Confederation scheme for S. 
 
 Africa, 81 
 Conference at Fourteen Streams, 
 
 (1890), 107 
 Convention of London (1884) : 
 ' Foreign Relations Clause,' 
 
 162 
 Signed, 66 
 Convention of Pretoria (1881) : 
 Provides for registration of 
 
 British subjects, 123 
 Signed, 56, 65 
 Terms of, 251 
 Convention of Sand River, 12 
 Courtney, Leonard, advocacy 
 
 of Boers, 33 
 Critic : 
 
 Account of disturbance at fire 
 
 in Johannesburg, 166 
 Service to British interests, 
 
 139 
 Cronje, General, sketch of, 59 
 Crow, Dr. J. N., takes charge of 
 
 mounted troops, 47 
 Curlewis, J. W., deputy to 
 
 Kruger, 148 
 Currie, Sir Donald : 
 Advocacy of Boers, 33 
 Second Volksraad and, 116 
 Curtoms Convention between 
 
 Cape and Free State, 70 
 Customs Union, Kruger refuses 
 
 to enter, 109, 180 
 Cyanide Monopoly, 138, 160 
 Cyclists in Cape and Natal, 236 
 
 D 
 Damaraland, 179 
 Delagoa Bay, Mac Mahon award, 
 
 Delagoa Bay Railway seized by 
 Portuguese, 163 
 
 20 — 2
 
 3o8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 De Oude Emigrant, 24 
 Deputations to England, 66, 80, 
 
 81,86 
 Derby, Lord, and Convention 
 
 of London, 66, 68, 86 
 Devastation of Natal, Appendix 
 
 L, 302 
 Diamond-fields taken from Free 
 
 Staters, 9 
 Dias, Bartolommeo, doubles 
 
 Cape of Good Hope, i 
 Dingaan's Day (December 16), 
 
 Republican Government 
 
 proclaimed on, 26, 46 
 Dinizulu gives concession to 
 
 Boers, 230 
 ' Doms V. State,' 217 
 Donald, Captain, 189 
 Dormer, F. J., cables news of 
 
 arrests, 130 
 Drew, Dewdney, on Malaboch 
 
 War, 170 
 Drifts closed, 186 
 Dusting, E., Secretary of Uit- 
 
 landers' Association, 127, 
 
 128 
 Dutch East India Company 
 
 take possession of Cape, 2 
 Dutch newspapers, 23, 25 
 Dutch settlers, original, 2 
 
 Disputes with French, 3, 4 
 Duval, Charles, edits News of 
 
 the Cajfip, 54 
 Duxbury, counsel for British 
 
 prisoners, 226 
 Dynamite Concession, 98, 229 
 State monopoly, 99 
 
 E 
 
 Egerton, Conductor, saves regi- 
 mental flag, 47 
 
 Elandsfontein, skirmish at, 53 
 
 Elliot, Captain, murdered, 60 
 Trial of murderers, 64 
 
 Eloff, F., 75 ; holder of Vaal 
 River Water Concession, 
 103 
 
 Eloff, Jan, Mining Commis- 
 sioner for Witwatersrand, 
 
 97 
 Emancipation of slaves, 5, 13 
 
 Engelenburg, Dr., writing in 
 
 Vol ks stem, 24 
 Erasmus, Abel, treatment of 
 
 Kaffirs, 234 
 Erasmus, Johannes Elardus, 
 
 attitude on gold-fields, 90 
 Esselen, Ewald, State Attorney, 
 
 Transvaal, in, 124 
 Action against commandeered 
 
 men, 135, 136 
 Judgment in McCorkindale 
 
 and Doms cases, 217 
 Visits England, 66 
 Esselen, G. E., devoted to pro- 
 gressive cause, 79 
 
 Failure to re-establish repre- 
 sentative institutions, 21, 
 28, 39 
 Fairfield, extract from letter to 
 
 Chamberlain, 203 
 Falconer, on committee for ap- 
 peal to British Government, 
 128 
 Falls, Captain, shot dead, 59 
 Farms in New Scotland dis- 
 trict, 96 
 Farrer, George, 174 
 Ferreira, Commandant, 169 
 Fitzherbert, Captain Humphrey, 
 takes possession of Cape, i 
 Fitzpatrick, J. P. : 
 On Dynamite Concession, 
 
 On Sir H. Robinson fail- 
 ing to press for reforms, 
 199 
 
 Flag question, 187, 191, 192, 
 206, 210 
 
 Foraging expedition to H. 
 Schoeman's farm, 50 
 
 Foreign immigrants preferred 
 to British, 116 
 
 Foreign intrigue, 162 
 
 Fourteen Streams, Conference 
 at, 107 
 
 Franchise, laws on, 117 
 
 Eraser protests against alliance 
 with Free State, 236 
 
 French immigrants, 2, 3
 
 INDEX 
 
 309 
 
 Frere, Sir Bartle, 43 
 Appeal to General Joubert, 
 
 29 
 Confederation scheme, 81 
 Extracts trom biography, 286 
 On Nominee Legislature of 
 
 Transvaal, Appendix K, 301 
 
 Gama, Vasco da, doubles Cape 
 
 of Good Hope, i 
 German activity in Transvaal, 
 
 209, 235 
 German Emperor's Birthday 
 
 Celebration at Pretoria, 
 
 Appendix D, 275 
 German policy in South Africa, 
 
 164 
 Gildea, Colonel, at Pretoria, 52, 
 
 . .57 
 Gillingham, Solomon, 105 
 Gladstone, W. E., Transvaal 
 policy, 10, 33, 62, 83, 
 249 
 Gold Exploration Company, 
 
 basis of, 18 
 Gold, illicit purchase of, 228 
 Gold-mining concessions, 18 
 Gordon, General, and Rhodes, 
 
 179 
 Government organs, 130 
 Gray, Rev. James : 
 
 Severs connection wiih com- 
 mittee, 130 
 Speech on commandeering, 
 126 
 Great Trek, 5 
 Green murdered, 59 
 Greene, Conyngham, British 
 
 Agent at Pretoria, 226 
 Gregorowski, Judge : 
 
 On Law No. i of 1897, 219 
 Signs reply to Kruger, 222 
 Grey, Sir George : 
 
 Applies for permit for Prince 
 Alfred to pass through 
 Transvaal, 27 
 Arbitrates between Free State 
 
 and Basutos, 8 
 Offered Presidency of Free 
 State, 76 
 
 H 
 
 Harrington, member of political 
 organization at Barberion, 
 
 97 
 Harris, Dr. Rutherfoord, on 
 
 Africander Bond, 283 
 Hatherley Distillery Conces- 
 sion, 95 
 Hawksley, evidence before 
 
 Select Committee, 207 
 Hay, James, speech at mass 
 
 meeting, 166 
 Heever, Van der, 245 
 Heidelberg, seat of Republican 
 
 Government, 46 
 Hess, Henry, oi Critic^ 139 
 Hess, on committee for appeal 
 
 to British Government. 128 
 Herff, Von, German Consul at 
 
 Pretoria, [?i 
 High Court Crisis, 217 et seq.. 
 
 Appendix I, 295 
 High Court, Pretoria, trial of 
 
 Captain Elliot's murderers, 
 
 64 
 Hofmeyr, J. H., 82 
 Policy, 88, 89 
 Rhodes' agent, 180, 182 
 Holiard, W. E., concessions, 
 
 95 
 Home Rulers and Rhodes, 182 
 
 Hugo, T., deputy to Kruger, 
 
 148 
 Hulett, Attorney, heads Swazie 
 
 deputation to England, 108 
 Hull, Attorney, 148 
 
 I 
 
 Imperial spirit in South Africa, 
 190 
 
 Indenture system. 13, 170, Ap- 
 pendix B 
 
 Industrial Commission Report, 
 216 
 
 Ingle, prisoner for refusing to 
 go on commando, 137 
 
 J 
 Jameson, Dr., 172, 176, 184 
 Trial, 202
 
 3IO 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Jameson Raid, 67, 191 
 
 Transvaal armament and, 187, 
 229, 232 
 
 Jeppe, F., establishes De Oude 
 E7nigra?it, 24 
 
 Johannes, war with, 19 
 
 Johannesburg : 
 
 Disarmed, 193, 199 
 Disturbance at fire in, 166 
 Meeting of Secret Committee, 
 
 135 
 Scheme for electric tramways 
 
 at, 102 
 Sir H. Loch's proposed visit 
 
 to, 155 
 Stands scandal, 104 
 Johannesburg petition, 144, 158 
 
 Text of, 149 
 Johannesburg Waterworks Com- 
 pany, 103 
 Jorissen, Dr. E. J. P., 46, 82 
 Attitude on commandeering, 
 
 132, 136 
 ■Counsel for Boers, 42 
 Deputy to England, 80 
 Signs reply to Kruger, 222 
 Sketch of, 22 
 Jorissen, Judge Samuel, 217 
 Joubert, Christian, Minister of 
 
 Mines, 104 
 Joubert, Commandant-General, 
 P. J.: 
 Attitude on acquisition of 
 
 Matabeleland, 107 
 Attitude towards annexation, 
 
 81 
 Attitude towards trans- African 
 
 scheme, 108 
 Candidate for Presidency, 1 11, 
 
 215 
 Deputy to England, 80 
 Letter to Lobengula, 112 
 Opinion of Rhodes, 88 
 Plan to trek to Banjailand, 
 
 109 
 Reply to Sir Bartle Frere, 
 
 29 
 Signs Convention (1881), 56 
 Triumvir, 46 
 Joubert, Franz, commands Boers 
 
 at Bronkhorstspruit, 47 
 Judges' reply to Kruger, 221 
 
 Judicial crisis, 217 et seq., Ap- 
 pendix I, 295 
 
 K 
 
 Kaffirs : 
 
 At burial of British flag, 57 
 Of N. Zoutpansburg unwilling 
 to be subject to Boers, 29, 
 122 
 Treatment by Boers, 233 
 ' Keate award,' 78 
 Keith, John, proprietor of Traits- 
 
 vaal Advertiser, 97 
 Keizer, Julius, 107 
 Kimberley, Lord, explanation of 
 
 Transvaal policy, 34 
 Koch, General, 145 
 Kosi Bay, 109, 180, 182 
 Kotze, Chief Justice J. G., 82 
 ' Appeal to inhabitants of 
 South African Republic.' 
 224 
 Dismissed by Kruger's order, 
 
 96, 220, 223 
 Judgment in ' State v. Hess,' 
 
 218 
 Judgment on commandeer- 
 ing, 136, 156 
 Recognised resolutions of 
 
 Volksraad as law, 217 
 Reply to Kruger's assertions. 
 
 Appendix H, 291 
 Signs reply to Kruger, 222 
 Kruger, Jacob, 72 
 Kruger, Kaspar, 105 
 Kruger, Stephanus Johannes 
 Paulus (President), ■]■], 85, 
 III 
 Attempt to blackmail Osborn, 
 
 22, 39 
 Commandant-General, 78 
 Conduct towards President 
 
 Burgers, 30, 32, 80 
 Connection with movement to 
 
 oust British, 11 
 Connection with Portuguese, 
 
 Deputy to England, 66, 80, 
 
 86 
 Dismisses Kotze, 223 
 Early life, 74
 
 INDEX 
 
 3" 
 
 Kruger, Stephanas Johannes 
 Paulus (Pre.-ident) : 
 Influence over Boers, 23, 82, 
 
 213 
 Interference with course of 
 
 justice, 210, Appendix I, 
 
 295 
 Interview \Aith Kotzii on com- 
 mandeering, 157 
 
 On Volksraad resolutions, 
 218, Appendix H, 301 
 Meets Sir Henry Loch and 
 
 Cecil Rhodes, 107 
 Member of Executive, 21, 24 
 Opinion of Rhodes, 88 
 Personal ambition, 115 
 Policy in Frt-e State, 236 
 Policy on railway matters, 
 
 163, 186 
 Policy towards Uitlanders, 
 
 5,6, 35,91, 117, 123 
 'Presents' to ot^cials and 
 
 members of Volksraad, 225 
 Promises burgher rights, 169 
 Receives Sir Henry Loch, 
 
 145 
 Refuses to enter Customs 
 
 Union, 109, 180 
 Scheme to commandeer 
 
 British subjects, 119, 122 
 Secures Dr. Leyds' services. 
 
 Signs Convention (1881), 56 
 Speech at opening of Xether- 
 
 hinds Railway, 162 
 Stories of, 73 
 Triumvir, 46 
 
 Visit to Johannesburg, no 
 Wish to obtain seaport, 109, 
 180 
 Kruger, Tjaart, 137 
 Krugerism, end of, 247, 255 
 Krugersdorp and Klerksdorp 
 railway, plans for, 105 
 
 ' Labour versus Capital ' in 
 South Africa, 174, 187 
 
 Lambert, Captain, 61 
 
 Land ot VolK\ Joubert party's 
 organ, 124 
 
 Land Goshen, attempt to 
 
 establish Repubhc, 230 
 Lanyon, Sir Owen, Administra- 
 tor of Transvaal : 
 Arrests editor and proprietor 
 
 of Volkssteiiiy 25 
 Military style of government, 
 
 21, 40 
 Personal dislike to, 41 
 Policy in Transvaal, 248 
 Le Mesurier, Major, at Pretoiia, 
 
 49 
 Leonard, J. W. : 
 
 Approaches loyalists in Pre- 
 toria, 1 87 
 Counsel lor Malahoch, 170 
 Delends commandeered men, 
 
 136 
 Deputy from Johannesburg, 
 
 158 
 Opinion on commandeermg, 
 
 128 
 Speech at mass meeting, 166 
 Lewis and Marks open business 
 
 in Transvaal, 94 
 Leyds, Dr., 35 
 
 Advises Law No. i of 1S97, 
 
 219 
 Faith in foreign intervention, 
 
 92 
 Interview with Kruger and 
 
 Kotzif on commandeering, 
 
 156 
 Meets Sir Henry Loch, 141 
 Obtains support against Oreat 
 
 Britain, 162 
 On reception of .Sir Henry 
 
 Loch, 148 
 Opinion of Rhodes, 88 
 Services secured by Kruger, 
 
 87 
 Subsidizing European press, 
 
 165, 190 
 
 Linden, Van der, shot as spy, 60 
 
 Lippert and Dynamite Conces- 
 sion, 98 
 
 Lippert and National Bank and 
 Mint, 1 15 
 
 Lobengula. 107, 1 12 
 
 Loch, .Sir Henry : 
 
 Addresses Raads, 160 
 At Fourteen Sireains, 107
 
 312 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Loch, Sir Henry : 
 
 Obtains cessation of com- 
 mandeering, 152, 155 
 
 Reception of deputation from 
 Johannesburg, 158 
 
 Reply to address at Pretoria, 
 146, 150 
 
 Returns to S. Africa, 131 
 
 Visit to Johannesburg pro- 
 posed, 155 
 
 Visits to Pretoria, 109, 138, 
 1 4 1 ^/ seq. 
 London Convention, 66 
 
 ' Foreign relations clause,' 
 162 
 Long, Mrs., courageous conduct 
 during siege of Lydenburg, 
 
 58 
 
 Loveday, R. K., and Railway 
 Concession abuses, loi, 104 
 
 Loyalists, 121, 135, 139, 146, 
 155, 162, i75 
 Claims of, 249 
 
 {See also Commandeered men. 
 Reformers, and Uitlanders) 
 
 Lunnon defends British pri- 
 soners, 226 
 
 Lydenburg district, gold dis- 
 covered in, 15 
 
 Lydenburg siege, 58 
 
 M 
 
 Mac-a-Mac gold-fields, 15 
 McCorkindale farms in New 
 
 Scotland district, 96 
 ' McCorkindal v. State,' 217 
 Macdonald : 
 Appointed Gold Commis- 
 sioner, 16 
 Discovers alluvial gold, 15 
 Member of Volksraad, 17 
 Mackenzie, Rev, John, as Im- 
 perialist, 83 and note^ 179 
 MacLachlan, Thomas, discovers 
 
 alluvial gold, 15 
 McLeod discovers alluvial gold, 
 
 15 
 
 McMurdo, Colonel, holder of 
 Portuguese Railway Con- 
 cession, 87 
 
 M'Pefu, Chief, 233 
 
 Mafeking, Boer plan to occupy, 
 
 245 
 Magato, Kaffir Chief, protects 
 
 English, 122 
 Magoeba, Chief, beheaded, 233 
 Majuba, 55, 62 
 Malaboch, Kaffir Chief : 
 Refuses to pay taxes, 122 
 Sketch of, 170 
 Malaboch War, 166, 170, 233 
 Manson, A. H., edited local 
 
 paper, 97 
 Marabastadt, 122 
 Marais, Eugene, editor of 
 
 Transvaal Observer, 103 
 Marais, Melt, Veldcornet, 136 
 Marais, mission to Cape Colony, 
 
 244 
 Mare, P. G., Landdrost of Boks- 
 
 burg, 214 
 Mari, Paul, exposes abuses, 104 
 Marks, Sam, deputy to Kruger, 
 
 148 
 Marschall, Baron van, despatch 
 
 to Lord Kimberley, 209, 
 
 Appendix D, 275 
 Matabele War (1893), 112 
 Matabeleland, 107, 179 
 Matallha, Vicomte de, 185 
 Maynard, prisoner for refus- 
 ing 10 go on commando, 
 
 137 
 Meintjes, Alphon^e, thrashed 
 
 British subject, 133 
 Merriman, J. X. : 
 
 On Uitlanders and Boer 
 
 Government, 154 
 Speech on Africander Bond, 
 282 
 Meyer, Lucas, incursion into 
 
 Zululand, 230 
 Middelburg, Boers seize ammu- 
 nition at, 42 
 Military administrators, 43 
 Milner, Sir Alfred, 43, 251 
 Boer opinion of, 208 
 Conference with Kruger, 238 
 Morice, George T. : 
 Altitude towards comman- 
 deering, 136 
 Signs reply to Kruger, 222 
 Moshesh, war against, 8
 
 INDEX 
 
 313 
 
 Mulder's Drift, Malcolm mur- 
 dered at, 60 
 
 Munro, John, funeral oration on 
 British flag, 57 
 
 N 
 Natal, Devastation of, Appen- 
 dix L, 302 
 Natal Railway, 103, 106 
 National Bank and Mint floated. 
 
 National Union : 
 
 Appeal to British Govern- 
 ment, 140 
 Cable to Lord Rosebery, 133 
 Invite Sir H. Loch to Johan- 
 nesburg, 155 
 Meeting, 166 
 Objects of, 1 1 1, igo 
 Native Commissionerships, 233 
 Native tribes and Boers, 29, 38, 
 
 122, 233 
 Nel, Paul, 107 
 Nelmapius, Alois Hugo 
 Concessions, 94 
 Entertains Flora Shaw, 208 
 Released from prison, 210 
 Netherlands S. African Railway 
 Company, loi, 186 
 And Delagoa Bay Railway, 
 163 
 'New Caledonia,' 16 
 
 Made an electoral district, 17 
 Nixon, John, History of Trans- 
 vaal War, 26 
 ' Nobels' Trust ' intriguing with 
 
 Lippert, 99 
 Northern Namaqualand, 179 
 Nourse, Captain, at Elands- 
 fontein, 53 
 
 O 
 Orange Free State : 
 
 Alliance with Transvaal, 9, 
 
 67, 69, 235, 239 
 Arms, 23s 
 Presidency oflfered to Sir 
 
 George Grey, 76 
 Republic established, 8 
 Sketch of history, 7 
 War with Basutos, 8 
 
 Orange Free State Railway 
 
 built, 93 
 Osborn. Colonial Secretary, and 
 
 P. Kruger, 22, 39 
 'Our Boys,' 51, 53 
 
 Paardekraal, mass meeting at, 
 
 45 
 Petersburg Railway Concession, 
 
 106 
 Phillips, Lionel : 
 Attitude towards Uitlander 
 
 cause, 161, 174 
 Extracts from letters, Appen- 
 dix C, 272 
 Phillips, Sir Lushington, offered 
 Presidency of Transvaal, 76 
 Pilgrims' Rest, gold discovered 
 
 at, 17 
 Potchefstroom : 
 
 First shot fired at, 46 
 Reoccupied by Sir Evelyn 
 Wood, 60 
 Potchcfstroojuer, 24 
 Powder Factory Concession, 
 
 229 
 Presidential Election (1863), 77 
 (1883), 85 
 
 (1893), III 
 Pretoria : 
 
 Briiish flag buried at, 56 
 British flag hoisted at, })y 
 Inactivity of garrison, 52 
 Meeting in Caledonian Hall, 
 
 .135 
 Siege, 49 et seq. 
 Sir Henry Loch's arrival at, 
 
 145 
 Street contracts scandal, 105 
 Two parties in, 76 
 Pretoria Convention, 56, 65, 
 
 123, 251 
 Pretoria petition, 139, 143 
 
 Text of, 149 
 Pretorius, Henning, Chairman 
 of Six Syndicate, 1 12 
 In Cape Colony, 2 "56 
 Pretorius, M. W., Triumvir, 46 
 Accepts Presidency of Free 
 State, 75
 
 3M 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Pretorius, M. W. : 
 As mediator, 76, 78 
 Character, 62, 79 
 Signs Convention (1881), 56 
 Press, 130 
 
 Owned by J. B. Robinson, 
 106 
 Progressive party, in, 125, 208 
 Public appeal to British Govern- 
 ment, committee, 128 
 Public Meetings Act, 'Gag' 
 
 Law passed, 168 
 Public meetings under Govern- 
 ment control, 6 
 
 Q 
 
 Queen's Commission to Sir 
 Theophilus Shepstone, 28, 
 Appendix A, 256 
 
 R 
 
 Raaf, Captain, 59 
 
 Rand Gold - field, system of 
 
 purchasing, 228 
 Red House Kraal, skirmish at. 
 
 Reform Movement, 143, 191 
 Reformers sentenced to death, 
 
 196 
 Reitz, President : 
 
 Offers to retire in favour of 
 
 Sir George Grey, 76, 92 
 Promotes alliance with Trans- 
 vaal, 9, 67 
 Republicanism, 92 
 State Secretary at Pretoria, 
 
 235 
 Reno refuses to be com- 
 mandeered, 125, 137 
 Rensburg, Van, Candidate for 
 
 Presidency, yj 
 Republican Government pro- 
 claimed, 46 
 Reuter's news agency, 121 
 Rhodes, Cecil : 
 And Africander predomi- 
 nance, 35, 88, 109, 182 
 At Fourteen Streams, 107 
 Attitude towards Uitlanders, 
 154. 165, 173 
 
 Rhodes, Cecil : 
 
 Evidence before Select Com- 
 mittee, 209 
 Influence in S. Africa, 69 
 Informs Joubert of acquisition 
 
 of Matabeleland, 107 
 Interview with Kruger, 172 
 Introduces Compound System 
 
 at Kimberley, 92 
 Jameson Raid and, 188 
 On Sir H. Loch's visit to 
 
 Pretoria, 1 53 
 Resigns office of Premier, 194 
 S. African policy, 202 et seq. 
 Sketch of, 177 et seq. 
 Trans-African Scheme, 108 
 Visit to Johannesburg, 173, 
 184 
 Rhodesia, foundation of, 179 
 Riebeck, J. A. van, takes pos- 
 session of Cape, 2 
 Rifle=, 231, 241 
 Robbin?, Miss, notice to vacate, 
 
 21 1 
 Roberts, E. R. : 
 
 On committee for appeal to 
 
 British Government, 128 
 Presents address to Sir Henry 
 Loch, 150 
 Robinson on Johannesburg 
 
 Education Council, 211 
 Robinson, Sir Hercules (Lord 
 Rosmead) : 
 Attitude after Raid, 194, 196, 
 
 199 
 Signs Convention (1881), 56, 
 
 Unfavourable to intervention, 
 116 
 
 Roburite Company and Dyna- 
 mite Monopoly, 99 
 
 Rogaly arrested and imprisoned, 
 no 
 
 Rooyen, A'an, refuses to be 
 commandeered, 133 
 
 Rosebery, Lord, 129 
 
 Rudd, Rhodes' partner at 
 Kimberley, 177 
 
 Sanctuary, Captain, at Elands- 
 fontein, 53
 
 INDEX 
 
 315 
 
 Sarigny, Count de, charged with 
 purchasing gold amalgam, 
 228 
 
 Sauer on Sir H. Loch's pro- 
 posed visit to Johannesburg, 
 
 154 
 Schnadhorst, reputation for 
 
 party organization, 89 
 Schoeman, Hendrik, a typical 
 Boer, 50 
 Dam and house, 107 
 Reply to Reno on comman- 
 deering, 126 
 Schoeman, Stephanu?, rival of 
 
 Kruger's, 76 
 Schoemansdal, Kruger defeated 
 
 at, 29, 122 
 Schreiner, Theophilus, 250 
 And ammunition for Bloem- 
 
 tontein, 70 
 And Drifts Question, 186 
 Evidence before Select Com- 
 mittee, 201, 210 
 Letter to Cape Times, 89 
 On Kruger's ambitions, 211 
 On object of Africander Bond 
 
 in Free State, 235 
 ' Restraining influence,' 245 
 Searle, Advocate, opinion on 
 
 commandeering, 128 
 Secocoeni, war with, 19, 29, 
 
 81 
 Second Volksraad, 116 
 Secret boycotts, 127 
 Secret Committee, Johannes- 
 burg, meeting, 135 
 Secret meetings, 25 
 Selati Railway scandal, 100 
 Settlement of S. Africa, views 
 
 on, 251 
 Shaw, Flora, evidence before 
 
 Select Committee, 208 
 Sheba Mine, flotation of, 94 
 Shepstone, Sir Theophilus: 
 Address to farmers, yj 
 Annexes Transvaal, 1 1 
 Policy in Transvaal, 248 
 Promises popular representa- 
 tion, 21, 28 
 Tranquillizes Natal, 39 
 Shillinge, Captain Andrew, takes 
 possession of Cape, i 
 
 Sivewright, Sir James, and 
 Africander predominance, 
 
 35 
 
 Six Syndicate, 1 12 
 
 Skeene, Dr., chief medical 
 officer at Pretoria, 49 
 
 Slavery. 5, 13, 170 
 
 Proofs of. Appendix B, 267 
 
 Smit, General N. J. : 
 
 Deputy to England, 66, 86 
 In Berlin, story of, 86 
 In Cape Colony, 236 
 Tender for Krugersdorp and 
 Klerksdorp railway and, 105 
 
 Smit, J. S., Railway Commis- 
 sioner, 100, 171 
 House, 105 
 
 Smith, A. E., on committee for 
 appeal to British Govern- 
 ment, 128 
 
 Smith, Mrs., courageous con- 
 duct, 48 
 
 Smith, Sir Harry, defeats Boers 
 at Booniplaats, 7 
 
 Smuts, State Attorney, 243 ; 
 offers to withdraw prosecu- 
 tion, 226, 227 
 
 South African Association 
 formed, 197 
 
 South African League, 175 
 
 South African politics, four 
 factors in, 162 
 
 South African Republic {see 
 Transvaal) 
 
 Staats .Artillerie, 241 
 
 Opinion of captain on causes 
 of war, 238 
 
 Slaftdafd and Dii^gcrs' News, 
 130 
 
 Stands scandal, 104 
 
 Shir, 130 ; Progressive republi- 
 can lines, 139 
 
 'State V. Hess,' Kotzd's judg- 
 ment, 218 
 
 Statham. F. R., 103 
 
 Steenkamp family, 73 
 
 Steer, prisoner for refusing to 
 go on commando, 137 
 
 Stell, Governor van der, 3 
 
 Stellaland, attempt to establish 
 Republic, 230 
 
 Steyn family, 71
 
 3i6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Steyn, President, 235 ; makes 
 
 alliance with Transvaal, 9 
 Street contracts in Pretoria 
 
 scandal, 105 
 Swartkopjes, fight at, 50 
 Swazie : 
 
 Deputation to England, 108 
 Dislike to Boer rule, 108, 
 
 180 
 Rights over Amatongaland, 
 109, T85 
 Swazieland : 
 
 Convention, 109, 142 
 
 Policy, 107, 197 
 
 Rhodes' policy towards, 180 
 
 Tancred defends British 
 
 prisoners, 226 
 Toit, G. Du, Landdrost of 
 
 Middelburg, 214 
 Toit, Rev. S. J. du, deputy to 
 England, 66, 86 
 One of founders of Africander 
 Bond, 66, 88 
 Transvaal : 
 
 Annexation, 10, 21 et seq., 
 Appendix A, 256 
 
 Boer protest against, 30, 
 163 
 Autonomy recognised, 12 
 Judicial crisis, 217 ei seq., 
 
 Appendix I, 295 
 Position during President 
 
 Burgers' time, 18 
 Secret Service Fund, 35 
 Treasury bankrupt, 28 
 {See also under Kruger) 
 Transvaal Advertiser, 65 
 Demise of, 79 note 
 Editor threatened with pro- 
 secution, 230 
 Extract from (December 31, 
 
 1898), 300 
 Kotzd's opinion of article of 
 March 15, 1897, 224, Ap- 
 pendix I, 295 
 On sufferings caused by com- 
 mandeering, 134 
 Opposes Government organs, 
 139 
 
 Trajisvaal Advertiser : 
 Protest against treatment of 
 
 Swazies, 180 
 Remonstrances against bri- 
 bery, 97 
 Transvaal Argus. 25, 63 
 Transvaal flag at Johannesburg 
 
 torn down, 1 10 
 Transvaal gold-fields : 
 
 Concessions for mining, 18 
 Discovered. 5, 90, 94 et seq. 
 Transvaal Government: 
 
 Agents in Cape Colony, 236 
 Alliance with Orange Free 
 
 State, 9, 67, 235, 236, 239 
 Election Committees pro- 
 hibited, 215 
 Encourage foreign immi- 
 grants, 116 
 Levies money from British 
 
 subjects, 166 
 Preparations for war, 70, 184, 
 187, 202, 229, 231, 241, 243 
 Proposal of five years' fran- 
 chise, 243 
 Secret agents, plot of, 226 
 Secret boycotts, 127, 171 
 War expenditure, 232 
 Transvaal Mining A rgus, 1 30 
 Transvaal Observer, 102 
 Tudhope, J. : 
 
 Chairman at mass meeting of 
 
 National Union 166 
 Speech on Uitlanders' griev- 
 ances, 158 
 
 U 
 
 Uitlanders : 
 
 Feeling against, 194 
 Grievances, no, 211 
 Invite Rhodes' assistance, 
 
 173 
 
 Petitions, 118, 139, 143, 144, 
 149 
 
 Position of, 6 
 
 Vote for Second Volksraad, 
 116 
 Uitlanders' Association, Pre- 
 toria, 190 
 
 Letter and cable on griev- 
 ances, 211, Appendix E, 
 279
 
 INDEX 
 
 317 
 
 Umbandine, King of the 
 Swazies, concessions to 
 Boers, 1 08 
 Underwood, Rev. W. J. : 
 Appeal for commandeered 
 
 men, 135 
 Proposal to ' tar and feather,' 
 
 144 
 Warrant for arrest, 130 
 Work for British interests, 
 126, 128 
 Union Jack at Pretoria, story 
 
 of, 145 
 Uys, Piet : 
 Life saved by Sir L. Phillips, 
 
 76 
 Loyalty, 29 
 
 V 
 
 Vaal River Drifts closed, 186 
 Veldcornets and commandeer- 
 ing, 124 
 Villiers, Sir Henry de, 82 
 
 Draws up Convention of 
 
 Pretoria, 251 
 Mediates between Kruger and 
 
 judges, 220, 223 
 Signs Convention (1881), 56 
 Volksraad : 
 
 Confirms Government order 
 
 for commandeering, 125 
 Law No. I of 1897, design of, 
 
 219 
 Members for 'New Caledonia,' 
 
 17 
 Opposes everything English, 
 
 'Presents' to members, 225 
 
 Treatment of Burgers' 
 measures of reform, 31 
 Volkssteni, 130 
 
 Politics of, 24 
 Volunteers at Pretoria, 48 
 Vorster, Barend : 
 
 And Selati Railway scandal, 
 100 
 
 Native Commissioner, 122 
 
 W 
 
 Waal, De, accompanies Rhodes 
 in tour, 172 
 
 Waite, Dr., shot as spy. 60 
 Walsh, Father, at siege of 
 
 Lydenburg, 58 
 Wait, Van der, motion on visit 
 of Sir H. Loch to Pretoria, 
 153. 
 War of independence, 27, 45 et 
 seq. 
 Alleged causes, 21 
 Insurrection breaks out, 26, 
 
 46 
 Negotiations for peace, 55, 
 62 
 Warren, Sir Charles, on Rev. 
 John Mackenzie's services, 
 83 note 
 Water. Te, 172 
 Weinthal, Leo, 82 
 Reuter and, 121 
 Wessels, J. W. : 
 
 Counsel for Malaboch, 170 
 Defends commandeered men, 
 
 136 
 Opinion on commandeering, 
 
 128 
 Opinion on Dynamite Con- 
 cession, 99 
 Protests against alliance with 
 
 Free State, 236 
 Speech at mass meeting, 
 166 
 Wesihuizen, Van der, commits 
 
 suicide, 134 
 Wet, Sir Jacobus de, 129, 
 185 
 Dynamite Concession and, 99, 
 
 198 
 Loyalists' faith in, 137, 200 
 Receives deputation of Uit- 
 
 landers, 128 
 Reception of returned com- 
 mandeered men, 168 
 Sketch of career, 197 
 White, Kimber, reception in 
 
 Downing Street, 34 
 White, Montagu, delegate to 
 
 Great Britain, 1 14, 204 
 Williams, Ralph, British Agent 
 
 at Pretoria, 1 10, 197 
 Winsloe, Colonel, surrenders to 
 
 Cronje, 59 
 VVitwatersrand boom, loi
 
 3i8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Wolmarans, A. D. W., 243 
 Chairman of First Volksraad, 
 
 160 
 Dynamite Concession and, 
 
 98 
 Question on reception of Sir 
 Henry Loch, 148 
 Wolseley, Sir Garnet : 
 As administrator, 40 
 Denounces Abel Erasmus, 
 
 234 
 Wood, Sir Evelyn : 
 
 Attitude towards Convention 
 
 of Pretoria, 251 
 Signs Convention (1881), 56 
 Woodbush Chiefs, 233 
 
 Woofenden, Rev. : 
 
 On committee for appeal to 
 British Government, 128 
 
 Warrant for arrest, 130 
 Wyk, Van, 245 
 
 Zambaan's land, 180, 185, 198 
 Zoutpansburg, northern tribes 
 unwilling to be subject to 
 Boers, 29, 122 
 Zulu War, 29, 81 
 Zululand : 
 
 Boer incursion into, 83, 230 
 British policy in, 230 
 Zwaartbooi, Chief, 57 
 
 THE END 
 
 BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
 
 AA 000 881 615 9