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 THE 
 
 RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL.
 
 THE WHOLE OF THIS WORK, PAPER, PRINTING, 
 AND BINDING, IS BRITISH PRODUCTION.
 
 NOTICE.-THIS VOLUMF. BEING 
 PUBLISHED AT AN EXCEEDINGLY 
 LOW PRICE. NO COPIES HAVE BEEN 
 SENT OUT TO THE PRESS FOR REVIEV/.
 
 /•'ronti'piffj'. 
 
 Di:. \j. S. Jamkson,
 
 The Raid on the 
 
 Transvaal by 
 Dr. Jameson. 
 
 Lmidon : 
 
 DEAN & SON, LIMITED, 
 
 160a, /Teet Street' E.C. 
 
 X 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 P. E. ASTON. 
 4
 
 7^ 
 
 r 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CUAPTER I. 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Chaptek, II. 
 
 
 
 39 
 
 CHArXER III. 
 
 
 
 74 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 
 
 104 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 
 
 143 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 
 
 166 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 
 
 187 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 
 
 208 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 
 
 235 
 
 Appendix A 
 
 
 
 261 
 
 Appendix B 
 
 
 
 271 
 
 Appendix C 
 
 
 
 279
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Dr. L. S. Jameson ... 
 
 ... Frontispiece 
 
 Mk. Cecll J. Khodes 
 
 25 
 
 Map I. — South Africa 
 
 33 
 
 LOBENGULA 
 
 46 
 
 One of Lobenoula's Wives ... 
 
 57 
 
 Mr. F. C. 8elous 
 
 65 
 
 President Kruoer ... 
 
 159 
 
 Map II. — South -East Africa 
 
 175 
 
 General Joubert 
 
 181
 
 THE RAID ON TIIFi TRANSVAAL 
 BY DR. JAMIiSON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Tho Gold Discoveries of the Tr.ansv\a.al — The Partition 
 of Africa — Matabeleland and Mashonaland — Their 
 History and Disposition — Mr. Cecil J. Rhodes — 
 The Concessions — Tho Formation and the Con- 
 stitution of the British South Africa Company — 
 Khama, King of the Bamangwatos — The Mash- 
 onaland Pioneex'S — The March to tSalisbuiy — -Mr. 
 F. C. Solous — The Boer Trek — The Progress of 
 Pthodesia. 
 
 Those who have read Charles Kingjsley's 
 " Westward ITo ! " will remember the cele- 
 brated horn of Salvation Yeo, who, at the 
 request of that adventurous gentleman, John 
 Oxenham, impulsively presents it to Amyas 
 Leigh, refusing to take any payment for it ; 
 
 B
 
 10 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 tills horn had depicted upon it a more or 
 less accurate map of tlie Indies with divers 
 embellishments, whilst here and there upon 
 it appeared in bold English characters the 
 mystic words, " Here is gold" and "Here is 
 much gold," which last additions were, the 
 author suggests, the work of Yeo himself. I 
 siiould not like to insult my readers at the 
 very outset of this work, yet I cannot but 
 think that the mental chart which we have of 
 tiie continent of Africa is not unlike this 
 liorn — a ratlier vague general outline with 
 gold-mines prominently figuring within its 
 boundaries. 
 
 It is not surprising if the outlines be 
 vague ; Africa, tlie neglected continent, has 
 in the course of the last few years become 
 the seat of the rivalries of the great Powers 
 of Iv.irope, Avhicli make large demands upon 
 its expanse. As a result, the continent has 
 b(»;Mi developed at an amazing rate ; such a 
 (level()[)ment, in fact, could never have been in 
 the ol(l(M- days of colonial enterprise, when to 
 establisli communications from [)oint to point 
 was a matter of years ; and this development
 
 THE GOLD IN THE TRANSVAAL. 11 
 
 has resulted in tlie wliole (if the coiitinont 
 being absorbed within the defined boundaries 
 or spheres of influence of the nations. Take 
 the map of Africa of twenty years ago and 
 you will see left uncoloured huge tracts of 
 unknown country -with a few tribal and other 
 names, and even those uncertain, dotted 
 here and there ; take that map to-day, and 
 the whole country is coloured with the pink, 
 the green, the yellow, that denote the posses- 
 sions of various States. 
 
 Strong as is the evidence which, now that 
 the dust of party controversy over the events 
 that followed the battle of Majuba Hill has 
 settled down, goes to show that the action of 
 the Government of the day admits of much 
 more than a shadowy defence, if indeed it 
 is not completely justified, I do not think 
 public opinion would ever have permitted that 
 I'jUgland should part with any shred of her 
 dominion over the Transvaal, if the gold dis- 
 coveries of 1886 had been made in 1880. As 
 it was, scarcely was the ink dry on the Con- 
 vention when there came rumours of the 
 
 mineral wealth of the territorv. Thicker 
 
 B 2
 
 12 THE Pi AID OX THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 were the rumours after the year 1884, when 
 further modifications in that Convention in 
 the Republic's favour had been made ; in 
 1886 these rumours had shaped themselves 
 into definite facts ; the rush to the Transvaal 
 began, and that rush has never since ceased. 
 Thus the lirst link was forged in the chain of 
 events Avhich has forced this insignificant 
 inland state into the forefront of the world's 
 history, which has caused two of the 
 mightiest nations of the world to half 
 unsheath the sword against each other. 
 From this time onwards, with an uniform 
 acceleration, the continent has been the scene 
 of the restless activity of tlie great Powers ; 
 of frontier delimitations, of boundary dis- 
 putes, of petty skirmislies, of threatened 
 wars. 
 
 It may be that, gold or no gold, Africa was 
 destined to become the next area for parti- 
 tion of the dominions of the uncivilised 
 among the powers of civilisation ; yet can it 
 be doubted, after all due allowance is made 
 for the expanding tendencies of prosperous 
 and overflowing states, that the quickening
 
 MATABELELAND AND MASHONALAND. 13 
 
 influence for the partition of Africa lias been 
 the Transvaal discoveries, and that the magic 
 words engraven on Yeo's horn have lost none 
 of their power in tlie course of three cen- 
 turies % 
 
 It is, however, south of the river Zambesi 
 that our attention must be mainly turned. 
 North of British Bechuanaland lies the district 
 - — still governed by its several native chiefs, 
 Khama (of whom more hereafter) being the 
 most important — known as the Bechuanaland 
 J Protectorate. North of this again, and north 
 and north-west of the Transvaal Republic, ex- 
 tending on the west to the now recognised 
 eastern limits of the German colonies on the 
 west coast — the 21st degree east longitude — 
 and on the east to the ill-defined western limits 
 of the Portuguese colonies on the east coast, 
 there lies a country which was for some time 
 neglected even in the before-mentioned rush 
 to Africa, and which was generally looked 
 upon as likely to prove anything but a profit- 
 able speculation for the country that should 
 undertake to exploit it. The greater part of 
 the western portion of this district began to
 
 U THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 be lieiird of by the general public about the 
 year 1887 as Matabelelaud, ant! the nortli- 
 eastern and eastern portion about the same 
 time as Mash on aland. 
 
 The history of these two tribes — the Mata- 
 beles and the Mashonas — is widely different. 
 At a period now approaching sixty years 
 ago, there was a celebrated chieftain of one 
 of the confederated tribes of Zulus named 
 Umgiligazi. He, in common with many 
 other like chieftains, owed tribute and 
 homage to Chaka, the great cliief to whom 
 the Zulus owe their confederation, and who 
 ruled these various vassal chiefs with merci- 
 less severity. Umgiligazi, however, seems to 
 have considered himself strong enough to 
 raise head against his liege lord, and even- 
 tually brought matters to an open rupture by 
 the refusal on his part to render to Chaka his 
 customaiy tribute. Chaka vowed vengeance 
 on his refractory vassal, nnd despatched a 
 large "impi" against him. Umgiligazi, 
 evidently doubting the intention of Cliaka to 
 ])rocecd in a constitutional manner, Hed with 
 his followers into the district now known as
 
 UMGILIGAZl AND THE BOERS. 15 
 
 the Transvaal Republic. Here he fouiiil 
 himself in the midst of a number of tribes 
 unused to warfare, in which, needless to say, 
 all Zulus excel, and he set himself to exter- 
 minate those about him. Raid followed raid, 
 and the unhappy inhabitants were to all 
 intents exterminated. But difficulties were 
 in store for Uragiligazi. It was at this time 
 that the Dutch trek from Cape Colony com- 
 menced. Impatient with the English attitude 
 on the slavery question, and indignant with 
 the meagre compensation allotted to them for 
 their vested interest in its continuance, num- 
 bers of the Dutch inhabitants " trekked " 
 northwards to seek a happier home free from 
 English rule. These Dutch, we may say in 
 anticipation, were the founders of the two 
 free republics of South Africa — the Transvaal 
 Republic and the Orange Free State. 
 
 Proceeding northwards, the Dutch pioneers 
 fell in with the Matabele under Umgiligazi. 
 Unprepared as they were for such strenuous 
 opposition, they at first suffered heavily, but 
 eventually civilisation won the day over 
 savagery, and the Matabele were severely
 
 16 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 defeated in two or three big battles, in which 
 they fought with all that desperate valour 
 which has distinguished them in the combats 
 of later years. 
 
 But whilst Um<jiliira/i was still reeliuiT; 
 from the blow dealt liim ])y the Boers, he was 
 taken in the rear by the forces of Chaka, his 
 former chieftain, and again heavily defeated. 
 Umgiligazi collected the remnant of his 
 forces, and marching across the Limpopo 
 river, established himself in the district 
 before described as Matabelcland, Here, 
 liowever, lie did not rest contented. To the 
 east and north-east lay Mashonaland with its 
 people, peaceful by nature, given to agri- 
 cultural pursiuts only. These unfortunate 
 Mashonas were harried continually ; their 
 crops taken off ; their men massacred ; their 
 women carried off as wives and concubines 
 for their conquerors. Yet the policy of ex- 
 termination wiis not carried out, against the 
 Mashonas, but tliey became tril)utaries of the 
 Matabele, the levy beini!: usually enforccnl by 
 a raid. 
 
 Umgiliga/i, in llic inlness of time, slept
 
 THE LAND OF OPIIIR. 17 
 
 with his fathers, and was succeeded by 
 Lobengula, his son, who had at one time 
 barely escaped with his life from a general 
 slaughter by Umgiligazi of all his near 
 relatives on the ground of some treasonable 
 practices, real or imaginary, but who now took 
 the place his father had vacated. But more 
 of Lobengula anon ; for the present it is suf- 
 ficient to note that he was still ruler of 
 Matabeleland when its shadow fell across the 
 page of Englisli liistory. Much discussion 
 lias taken ])lace witli regard to the Mashonas, 
 occasioned by the traces of the extensive gold- 
 workings of bygone years. Mr. J. Theodore 
 Bent has published a most interesting work 
 on the " Ruined Cities of Mashonaland," 
 in which he deals at length with the data 
 which tend to the identification of Mashona- 
 land with the land of Ophir, from which 
 came the treasures of the Jewish temple. 
 
 That the land was once occupied by a 
 highly-civilised race seems beyond question ; 
 Mr. Bent ascribes the ruins of Zimbabwe to " a 
 race like the mythical Belasgi who inhabited 
 the shores of Greece and Asia Minor, a race
 
 18 THE RAID ON THE TliANSVAAL. 
 
 like the mythical inhabitants of Great Britain 
 and France who built Stoneheu2,-e and Car- 
 iiac, a race which continued in possession 
 down to the earliest dawnings of history, 
 which produced gold for the merchants of 
 Phoenicia and Arabia, and w^hich eventually 
 became influenced by, and perhaps absorbed 
 in, the more powerful and wealthy organisa- 
 tions of the Semite " ; but whether this be 
 so, or whether in fact the Mashonas arc an 
 example of an originally civilised race falling 
 back under climatic and other influences into 
 barbarism, certain it is that they are an 
 unwarlike race, very devoted to agricultural 
 pursuits ; desiring to live at peace with all 
 men ; fleeing on tlie approach of the Matabele 
 raiders to the top of the granite rocks of 
 their country, and remaining there till the 
 terror, after taking its customary tribute, 
 was passed away ; unconscious of the mineral 
 weal til of their country (for their gold work- 
 ings were nugatory), and welcoming the ad- 
 vent of the wliite man to protect them in the 
 enjoyment of tlie few things they desired. 
 This, then, was the disposition of that por-
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF IIUODESIA. 19 
 
 tiou of what is now known as Rhodesia at the 
 time when the names Matabele and Mashona 
 first began to have a meaning for us : the 
 Matabele, an autocracy (though, as we shall 
 see afterwards, with limitations) on a military 
 basis ; the Mashonas, small tribes under 
 various petty chieftains, all owing a com- 
 pulsory allegiance to Lobengula. Westward of 
 the Matabele kingdom and its dependencies, 
 across the Kalahari desert and beyond the 
 scattered Bechuana tribes were the German 
 colonies, and east and north-east of the 
 Mashona tribes lay Manicaland, on the con- 
 fines of which were the shadowy boundaries of 
 the possessions of Portugal. 
 
 It has been said that this country was at 
 first neglected in the rush for Africa, but 
 even before 1887 rumours of its advantages 
 were abroad. Closer examination showed 
 that for colonising purposes it was a country 
 most desirable. The mineral wealth was 
 great, and (what certainly by no means 
 follows) it was a district highly favoured as 
 to climate. Situated on a high plateau" 
 between the Zambesi river on the north, and
 
 20 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 the Limpopo on the south, and forming the 
 watershed whence ran the supply for these two 
 rivers, it was for the greater part above the 
 fever-stricken area ; a country rich with wide- 
 spreading pastures, a fertile soil, and a brac- 
 ing atmosphere. 
 
 Not only to England came these rumours ; 
 not only England was covetous. Portugal 
 already laid claim to Mashonaland by long 
 occupation, though traces of that occupa- 
 tion were hard to find ; Germany longed to 
 connect this district with her Damaraland 
 colonies on the west ; and the Boers of the 
 Zoutspanberg district in particular were, it 
 was believed, meditating a trek northward. 
 What was to be done, must be done quickly. 
 
 To write the history of tlie accpiisition of 
 Mashonaland by England acting through the 
 (Chartered Company of South Africa is to 
 write the history of Mr. Cecil J. llhodes. 
 In a book whicli professes to do notliing 
 inon^ than give a sketch of later events in 
 South Africa, it would be wise to adventure 
 littli; iij)oii Ml". Ivliodes either of ])raisc or 
 blame. I'ul it cannot be denied that Mr.
 
 2112. CECIL J. RHODES. 21 
 
 Rhodes was throughout at the head and front 
 of the British endeavour to obtain a footing 
 in Mashonaland ; that he pushed his way 
 through countless obstacles with this one 
 purpose in view, and that as an almost 
 natural result, havin": rejjard to his indomit- 
 able purpose, he carried his way. As Mr. 
 Selous says : — 
 
 " It is due to Mr. Cecil Hhodes, I cannot 
 too often repeat, that to-day our country's 
 flag flies over Mashonaland. He alone of 
 all Englishmen possessed at the same time 
 the prescience and breadth of mind to 
 appreciate the ultimate value of the country 
 combined with the strong will which, in 
 spite of all obstacles, compelled the means 
 and the power successfully to carry out the 
 scheme for its immediate occupation." 
 
 Mr. Rhodes possessed an almost unique 
 knowledge of African affairs. The son of 
 an Essex clergyman, he was sent out in his 
 early youtli to South Africa, as the state of 
 his health precluded his remaining in Eng- 
 land. He had risen to a position of emin- 
 ence in Cape Colony at the time the events
 
 22 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL, 
 
 we arc now spcakinj^ of were passing, and 
 was destined to be Premier of the colony 
 within two years from that time. He it was 
 who recognised the necessity of an alliance 
 with Lobengula, and it is gratifying to read 
 in The Times of the 28th April, 1888, that 
 the king had concluded a treaty of peace and 
 amity with England. 
 
 It was found that there existed among the 
 Matabele a firm conviction that the English 
 had been exterminated in tlie Transvaal War, 
 and that the Transvaal Republic was the 
 head state of Soutli Africa. This idea mili- 
 tated strongly against English influence with 
 the natives ; and to correct it, a visit was 
 arranged for three of the Matabele chiefs or 
 indunas to England. The visit was in every 
 way successful, and the envoys, after being 
 presented to the Queen at Windsor and 
 shown the metropolis, returned to their king 
 with a very different impression as to the 
 power of the English race from that with 
 which they started. 
 
 Long and tedious is the history of the 
 lengthonrd n(M.!jotiation!? wilh Lobengula for
 
 THE CHARTERED COMPANY. 23 
 
 a concession of mining rights over the 
 Mashonaland district. Frequent were the 
 journeys undertaken by the emissaries of 
 Mr. Rhodes from the south to the king's 
 capital of Buluwayo by Mr. Rudd, Dr. Jame- 
 son, and others. Several ill-defined conces- 
 sions were, however, obtained from time to 
 time, and the several concessions were taken 
 to by companies formed for that purpose. 
 Eventually these companies were amalga- 
 mated, and the newly-formed Central Com- 
 pany petitioned, on the loth July, 1889, for 
 a Royal Charter, which was granted on the 
 29th October, 1889. 
 
 Thus was formed the British South Africa 
 Company, of which much has been written 
 both for good and for evil. Into the con- 
 troversy as to the advantages and disadvan- 
 tages to the mother country and to the 
 governed of the government by Chartered 
 Companies, it is obviously not within the 
 scheme of this book to enter ; but having 
 regard to the dominating part played by the 
 Chartered Company in affairs of South Africa 
 since its incorporation, it will not be out of
 
 24 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 place to make rather more than a passing 
 reference to it. 
 
 The principal field of operations of the 
 British South Africa Company was defined by 
 its charter to be " the region of South Africn 
 lying immediately to the north of British 
 Bechuanaland and to the north and north- 
 west of the South African Bepublic and to 
 the west of the Portuguese dominions " ; it 
 was authorised and empowered to hold and 
 retain for the purposes of the Company and 
 on the terms of the charter the full benefit 
 of the concessions and agreements before re- 
 fcrrcMl to ; subject to the approval of one of 
 the principal Secretaries of State from time to 
 time to "acquire by any concession, agreement, 
 grant, or treaty, all and any rights, interests, 
 authorities, jurisdictions, and powers of any 
 kind or nature whatsoever, including powers 
 necessary for the purposes of government and 
 the ])reservati()n of ])uhlic order, in or for 
 the j)rotection of territories, land, or jiro- 
 perty comprised or referred to in tlie conces- 
 sions or agreements made as against or adect- 
 ing other territories, lands, or property in
 
 
 MR. CECIL J. RHODES.
 
 TERMS OF THE CIIAllTEIi. 27 
 
 Africa or the inhabitants thereof, and to 
 hold, use, and exercise such territories, lands, 
 property, rights, interests, authorities, juris- 
 dictions, and powers respectively for the 
 purposes of the Company, and on the terms 
 of the charter," but with a proviso that no 
 power of government or administration should 
 be acquired until particulars should be laid 
 before the Secretary of State, and his ap- 
 proval obtained. Authority was given the 
 Company to raise a force of police for the 
 purposes of the district, and to exercise 
 judicial functions through duly constituted 
 agents, but with due regard to the customs 
 of the various tribes broujiht under its 
 control. Of this Company LIr. llhodes was, 
 needless to say, the managing director ; tlie 
 other memibers of the board of directors were : 
 The Duke of Abercorn, t!ie Duke of Fife, 
 Lord Gifibrd, Mr. licit, Mr. GJrey, and i\Ir. 
 Cuwston. 
 
 Enough of the charter has been quoted 
 to show that the objects of the Company are 
 fairly wide ; its field of operations is like- 
 wise wide. Its limits as defined bv this
 
 28 THE RAID ON THE TEANSVAAL. 
 
 first document give an area of 300,000 to 
 400,000 square miles. In the early part of 
 the year 1891, its field was extended across 
 the Zambesi up to Lake Nyanza in such 
 manner as to give it an area of opera- 
 fion of 750,000 square miles. The powers 
 and authority of the Company were more 
 defined and developed by the agreement 
 come to in the year 1894, of which more 
 in the next chapter. 
 
 The first object of the newly-formed Com- 
 pany was to obtain possession of the Masli- 
 oiialand district, over which it was that the 
 concessions had been granted. It was felt 
 that there was a want of formality about the 
 conveyance which might make it possible for 
 Lobengula to object to his bargain, and to 
 witlidraw his permission to enter what he 
 claimed as his dominions ; and it was gener- 
 ally thought that it would be necessary f(U- a 
 large force to be sent up country to take pos- 
 session. Subsequent evidence goes to show 
 that if Lobengula had no intention to op])ose 
 (he advance, several of his leading indunas 
 had a diiferent disposition ; but any hostile
 
 KHAMA. 29 
 
 action was prevented by the bold and rapid 
 action of the Company — action which de- 
 serves to be £:;iven a prominent place in any 
 work devoted to the colonial exploits of 
 Englishmen. Five or six thousand men was 
 the generally accepted estimate of the number 
 sufficient to ensure a safe advance ; the occu- 
 pation of Mashonaland was in fact effected 
 by 500 of the Company's newly-formed police 
 under Lieutenant-Colonel Pennefather, and a 
 pioneer corps of 190 men under Major John- 
 son, together with a contingent of Khama's 
 subjects, who, to the number of 200, assisted 
 in clearing the country of its natural ob- 
 stacles. Dr. Jameson had the general con- 
 trol. 
 
 Khama is an African chief who deserves 
 notice above the ordinary. He is one to 
 whom missionary enterprise may point with 
 the greatest pride when attacked by the 
 taunts of those, who, following in the wake 
 of the missionary, and under cover of that 
 vague expression, " civilising influence," do 
 so much to undo missionary work. Head 
 joi one of the tribes of the Baraangwatos,
 
 30 THE RAID ON THE TRjiNSVAAL. 
 
 ho was one of the earliest converts of the 
 district to Christianity ; his resident 'mis- 
 sionray is his counsellor-in-chief; his re- 
 ligious principles are strict even to the 
 verge of bigotry, and he has carried liis tribe 
 along with him. Autocrat he is, but of the 
 best type, setting tlie best cf examples to his 
 people, and enforcing justice throughout his 
 dominions. He has always been attached to 
 tlie English cause, and has aided it by all the 
 means in his power ; in return he has received 
 the support of the English against the Mata- 
 bele hordes who cluster on his borders. As 
 Mr. Bent remarks of him, " he is perhaps 
 the only negro king whose biography would 
 repay the writing." 
 
 The work of the pioneer corps before re- 
 ferred to was to cut a road through from the 
 Macloutsie river to Mount Hampden, a dis- 
 tance of 460 miles, along which the main 
 body might proceed. The start from Kim- 
 berley was made on the 19th March, 1890. 
 The head of the Intelligence Department was 
 Mr. Frederick Courtenay Selous, almost a 
 house! lold word witli Englishmen, His
 
 OCCUPATION OF MMHONALAND. 31 
 
 knowledge of the wilds of the interior of 
 Africa is unique ; his hunting exploits there 
 have been read with the greatest interest by 
 many, and his dauntless courage, if further 
 proof of it were needed, was furnished some 
 three years later when Major Goold Adams' 
 column met the Matabele west of Impandinis 
 kraal. He was in truth the eyes of the ex- 
 pedition, and for all time must be gratefully 
 remembered by the settlers of Rhodesia. 
 
 The resolute little band was inspected by 
 General Methuen at the end of June, and 
 immediately afterwards crossed the frontier, 
 and established the first of the Company's 
 sta,tions at Fort Tuli, just north of the Trans- 
 vaal border. At the outset of the advance 
 some Matabele indunas arrived, but were 
 despatched back to their king with messages ; 
 this fact made the neutrality of Lobengula 
 doubtful, and the anxiety as to the dangers 
 to be encountered far greater. Scouting 
 parties were organised and rode out to the 
 Matabele border to see if any advance of 
 irapis were threatened ; and to the leaders of 
 the expedition, and to Dr. Jameson in par-
 
 32 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 ticiilar, the first part of the journey must 
 have been one of terrible suspense. 
 
 For the first part of the journey led through 
 the low country, where an attack was most to 
 be feared ; once make a way through the 
 mountains on to the high plateau, and the 
 column was practically safe from attack ; each 
 day spent in the lowlands was more fraught 
 with danger than the day preceding. Mr. 
 Selous has described how he rode out in ad- 
 vance of the pioneers looking for a long time 
 vainly for a possible way through the range of 
 mountains that appeared in the front, and 
 behind which lay safety. 
 
 But no attack occurred. The Lunti river 
 was reached on the 1st August. The key to 
 the mountain range was at length discovered 
 by Mr. 8elous, and immediately before pro- 
 ceeding through the pass (aptly named Provi- 
 dential Pass) Fort Victoria was established at 
 its southern end. The 1st September found 
 the column at the source of Umgazi river, 
 where Fort Charter was placed. The 12th 
 August land(Hl the adventurous band at 
 Fort Salisbury, tlie end of their journey, teU
 
 THE THREATENED BOER ''- TREKr 35 
 
 miles south of Mount Hampden, at an eleva- 
 tion of 4,900 feet above the sea-level. The 
 road had been cut and the journey made in 
 the incredibly short time of three months. 
 
 It has been noted that the eyes of other 
 nations were fixed upon the prize that had 
 thus been won for the British Empire by the 
 courage and determination of a few men. 
 Ample proof of this was speedily afforded ; 
 barely had the British flag been hoisted over 
 the various forts when the great Boer trek, so 
 long mooted, threatened to become an ac- 
 complished fact. At first it seemed as if a 
 desperate conflict could hardly be averted, 
 when it was known that the Boers of the 
 Zoutspanberg district were moving to the 
 frontiers of Mashonaland, and that the Com- 
 pany were determined to resist any organised 
 ingress. But negotiations between Sir Henry 
 Loch, Mr. Khodes, and President Kruger de- 
 prived the movement of its formidable ap- 
 pearance ; and the President eventually dis- 
 sociated himself from the trek altogether. 
 
 Even the then disorganised movement, how- 
 ever, proved for a moment at least fraught
 
 36 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 v/ith risk of bloodshed ; for a large number 
 of Boers moved to the Limpopo river with 
 the intention of trekking northward. On the 
 opposite bank of the Limpopo were stationed 
 the Company's police with a Maxim, and the 
 Boers were warned that any organised ad- 
 vance -would be resisted, although any who 
 chose to come in under the Company's regu- 
 lations were free so to do. A parley among 
 the Boers ensued ; the moment was critical ; 
 a slip might have opened up all the old 
 wounds of 1S81, but the danger passed. A 
 few of the more intrepid spirits advanced, 
 but the passage through the river in face of 
 the Maxim was not to their fancy. Even- 
 tually the trek broke up, and the main body 
 of the Boers returned, though mnny of them 
 entered into the new country under the Com- 
 pany's regulations as settlers. 
 
 In the wake of the pioneers there followed 
 into the newly acquired district a rush of 
 settlers and prospectors, and the country was 
 opened up at an amazing rate. Townships 
 sprang up at Salisbury, Umtali, and Hartley 
 Hill. The telegraph was carried from
 
 GROWTH OF RHODESIA. 2,1 
 
 Mafeking up to Fort Victoria ; numerous 
 fresh concessions were granted ; a survey was 
 taken of the railway to be subsequently made 
 from Salisbury to the port of Beira in the 
 Portuguese dominions on the east coast. 
 More than this, the Company's men pushed 
 into Manicaland, on the east and north-east 
 of the Mashona district (where they even- 
 tually came into actual collision with the 
 Portuguese at Massi Kessi). For a while the 
 development of the country throve apace ; 
 then came a check. Many of the new in- 
 habitants had come singularly ill-provided 
 with even the necessaries of life ; and in the 
 season which followed they suffered severely 
 from fever. Many deaths occurred, and loud 
 and angry protests were made against the 
 Company and its officials. But with the 
 opening of the new season and with every day 
 improving the transport service, the cause of 
 these evils disappeared ; and for the next two 
 years the story is only of uninterrupted pro- 
 gress. 
 
 A bare outline has been given of the facts 
 leading to the acquisition by the Empire of
 
 38 THE 11 AID ON Till-: TRANSVAAL. 
 
 Great Britain of one of its most promising 
 provinces ; a province destined in the belief 
 of many to a future of the greatest prosperity ; 
 a province whicli has already experienced 
 many vicissitudes of fortune, the outlook for 
 which is even now overcast ; which fact, how- 
 ever, if we look back through the past pages 
 of our colonial history, can only make us 
 most hopeful. 
 
 Till tlic early part of 1893 Mashonaland 
 flourished ; at the end of that time another 
 danger arose, and once more the war-cloud 
 loomed.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Dr. James^on, the Administrator — The Matabele — Lo 
 bengula — His Attitude to tlie Settlers— The Raid 
 on Fort Victoria — The Expedition Prepai-ed — The 
 Bechuanaland Police — The Advance — Death of 
 Captain Campbell — The March of the Combined 
 Columns — The First Battle of the Shangani River — • 
 The Battle of the Imbembesi R-iver— The Occupation 
 of Buluwayo — The Deaths of Messrs. Burnett and 
 Williams — The Southern Column — The Pursuit of 
 the King — -The Pi.etiirn to Shiloh — On the Track 
 Again — Major Wilson's Party to the Front — The 
 Second Battle of the Shangani— The Retreat of the 
 Patrol— The Last Stand of Major Vv'ilson- The 
 Death of Lobengula. 
 
 Mr. Colquiioun was the lirst Administrator 
 of llhodesia. When he decided to resign, 
 Mr. Cecil Rhodes invited Dr. Leander Starr 
 Jameson (of whom mention has already been 
 made as one of those who aided Mr. Rhodes 
 in his negotiations for a concession from 
 Lobensrida) to succeed liim in the arduous
 
 40 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 and multifarious duties that must of necessity 
 fall on the acting executive of a newly settled 
 district. 
 
 Dr. Jameson is the youngest son of Mr. 
 R. AV. Jameson, a writer to the signet, and 
 was born on the 9th February, 1853, about 
 four months earlier than Mr. Cecil Rliodes. 
 Ilis career as a medical student at University 
 College Hospital was most brilliant, and a 
 great future seemed open to him in England. 
 15 ut, like Mr. Rhodes, his health gave way, 
 and he was compelled to withdraw to South 
 Africa. In this more favoured climate he 
 regained his healtli, and went into practice 
 at Kimberley. The fame in the medical 
 world which would doubtless have been his 
 hud he remained in England was reserved for 
 him in South Africa, and he rose quickly to 
 \\\(\ very height of liis profession. Amongst 
 hi • ])atient.s it is interesting in the liglit of 
 later events to n^cord was President Kruger. 
 At Kimberley, Dr. Jamescm met Mr. Rhodes, 
 ai.vl ^''-om tlie iirst entered heart and soul into 
 the lalter's Soutli African schemes ; nor was 
 Mr. Rliodes slow to recognise what a capacity
 
 J)R. JAMESON. 41 
 
 for valuable assistance to him in those schemes 
 Dr. Jameson possessed. How far Dr. Jame- 
 son threw in his lot with Mr. Rhodes may 
 be gauged by the fact that he threw up his 
 practice at Kimberley in 1888 in order to 
 undertake on Mr. Rhodes' behalf the difficult 
 and dangerous journey to Lobengula at his 
 capital of Buluwayo, in order (as mentioned 
 in the previous chapter) to facilitate the 
 granting of the concessions over Mashona- 
 land. That a doctor always falls on his feet 
 is a well-known maxim, and it was in the 
 present case exemplified by the fact that Dr. 
 Jameson found the king suffering from an 
 acute attack of gout, and was able to relieve 
 him from the torture. That this last accom- 
 plishment endeared him to Lobengula is 
 proved by the fact that when a critical stage 
 occurred later on in the course of the 
 negotiations, he was again chosen to pro- 
 ceed to Buluwayo, and brought matters 
 safely through the critical phase. It was 
 Dr. Jameson, too, who, in the same interests, 
 first made the survey for the projected rail- 
 way from Beira up the Fung we river to Salis-
 
 43 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 bury ; in fact, he has been Mr. Rhodes' riglit 
 hand in the acquisition and development of 
 Rhodesia. Ilis health had given way again 
 under the strain of the long journeys through 
 fever-stricken districts, but, nevertheless, he 
 did not hesitate for an instant to accept the 
 post of Administrator on Mr. Colquhoun's 
 retirement. 
 
 Dr. Jameson's administration of the new 
 district was, as might have been expected, 
 vigorous and capable, and the new colony 
 continued to thrive. But before long a cloud 
 which must have been expected gathered 
 over Rhodesia. 
 
 One writer, in speaking of the Matabclc 
 war, has said that joint administration of a 
 country by civilisation and savagery was im- 
 possible, and that war was inevitable from 
 the beginning. Yet one is almost inclined 
 to think that had Lobengula possessed that 
 autocratic power over his people which had 
 been Umgiligazi's, the Matabele war might 
 never have liappcned. 
 
 For it is indis[)utabk^ that Lobengula was 
 not an ordinary bloodthirsty savage. Bloods
 
 LOBENGULA. 43 
 
 thirsty he iiudoubtedly was ; cruelty is im- 
 planted in the Zulu heart and is practically 
 ineradicable ; but he possessed intelligence 
 of a very fair order. He recognised the im- 
 possibility of fighting the whites from the 
 first, or he would never have granted half, 
 and more than half, of his territories for their 
 occupation ; and he would surely never have 
 followed up the concession by assuming the 
 offensive asrainst them when he had seen the 
 futility of acting on the defensive. 
 
 Lobengula has been held up to our execra- 
 tion; he has been made responsible for 
 treacherous murders in cases where it would 
 be very hard to prove complicity ; the ordi- 
 nary Zulu blood-feasts are pointed out as an 
 instance of his diabolical tendencies ; he is 
 judged by our standard and he is found 
 wanting; yet he saved harmless two whites 
 in his capital during the progress of the war; 
 an act which, considering his race and train- 
 ing, must bring him high up even among 
 those whom Europe delights to honour. But 
 this is by the way. The point to emphasise 
 is that Lobengula was not strong enough for 
 
 D 2
 
 44 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 bis circumstances, and that, therefore, he had 
 to die in a swamp. If he had been stronger, 
 he miglit have lived to a much riper age, and, 
 like Khama, have seen the glories of London. 
 
 Umgiligazi had been an absolute monarch ; 
 but Lobengula was not. The royal authority 
 was being slowly weakened. The council of 
 indunas from being advisory had become im- 
 perative. 
 
 It is true that Lobengula acted as chief 
 judge of his people in times of peace, and had 
 the power of life and death ; that he could 
 order the death sentence on men of rank and 
 importance for very trivial causes, and that 
 he frequently did so (which we may say with- 
 out great disparagement to Lobengula if w^ 
 remember that the Matabeleland of 1892 was 
 not so civilised as the England of 1540). But 
 witli respect to the incursions of the Matabele 
 into neighbouring districts, he must needs 
 have possessed very little authority over the 
 outlying iiHlimas scattenul over the country. 
 They acted as they saw fit at the time, and the 
 king had to be content ; and at the council- 
 bo.'ird, if the powerful indnn;is demanded war,
 
 LOBENGULA.
 
 THE WAR FORCED OK 47 
 
 war it must be. Iii short, it is inconceivable 
 that Lobengula, at an advanced age and 
 epicurean in habits, contemplated driving the 
 settlers out of Rhodesia with a strong hand ; 
 and that he instigated the attacks on the 
 Mashonas round Fort Victoria in order to 
 precipitate the conflict ; but we must see that 
 the "young men" were too strong for the 
 king and forced on the war ; and it is pathetic 
 to think of Lobengula seeing the inevitable 
 result of such a war, yet unable to prevent its 
 occurrence — seeing his doom slowly approach- 
 ing, driven from his capital into exile to perish 
 in a fever-stricken swamp. Yet the undoubted 
 pathos of Lobengula's " Where am I to 
 live ■? " must not produce a feeling of preju- 
 dice against the action of the Company. 
 
 This is a time when it is not well to say any- 
 thing about the Cliartered Company either for 
 good or evil, except facts ; but one cannot read 
 the facts of the Fort Victoria raid without 
 believing that if it was to act as trustee for 
 the interests of those whom it had induced 
 to come up to Khodesia, hostilities were 
 absolutely necessary. The Mashonas were,
 
 48 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 not unnaturally, bitterly wroth with the 
 whites, who had promised them safety in 
 return for service, and then did not carry out 
 their part of the agreement. They grew 
 mutinous, and the settlers, as a result of this, 
 saw the prosperity of the country fading into 
 a dim futurity; they blamed the Company 
 who had led them into the difficulty, and the 
 Company felt that there was justice in their 
 complaints. They called upon the Company 
 to act ; and to act meant to fight. It is not 
 unnatural that the Matabelc failed to grasp 
 the idea that the cession of territory to the 
 white men meant that their raids upon the 
 luckless Mashonas must cease. Like all 
 Zulu tribes, their organisation was exclusively 
 warlike ; the training of their youth was in 
 the arts of war alone ; cowardice was to 
 them the only cardinal sin, and periodical 
 raids had become a necessity. Their raiding 
 area was becoming more restricted year by 
 year, and they clung to that which was left 
 the more tightly. If this be borne in mind 
 no surprise need be felt that in the month 
 of July, l8'Jo, an impi of Matabelc arrived
 
 THE FORT VICTOIUA RAID. 41) 
 
 near Fort Victoria and commenced slaying 
 Mashonas and raiding cattle. Mashona ser- 
 vants were slain before their masters' eyes, 
 and confusion and anxiety pervaded the 
 vicinity. 
 
 Dr. Jameson was summoned to the spot; 
 and close to the Fort he held an angry 
 colloquy with the native indunas, and ordered 
 them to cross the border into their own 
 territory forthwith or they should be driven 
 out ; which threat was soon afterwards 
 followed by an attack upon a small band of 
 the Matabele as they were burning a native 
 stockade near, in defiance of the order to 
 retire ; and the Matabele were forcibly ex- 
 pelled, leaving some of their number dead 
 behind them. 
 
 Messages were sent to Lobengula to re- 
 proach him for his lack of good faith and to 
 demand compensation ; the king, on the other 
 hand, claimed that certain of his cattle had 
 been stolen and that his servants had gone 
 after them, and complained in angry terms of 
 the attack made upon them. It was evident 
 from this point that war was inevitable ; but
 
 50 TUE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 the Home Government insisted to the High 
 Commissioner for South Africa that force 
 should not be resorted to if the matter could 
 be finally settled without resort to arms. A 
 long letter was sent by the king to the High 
 Commissioner to state his case, but still he 
 persistently evaded the demand for compen- 
 sation ; and at length came the message in 
 which the king claimed the Mashonas as 
 his servants whom he might raid at will. 
 
 Reasons have been given for believing that 
 this line of action was extorted from Loben- 
 gula ; but, be that as it may, the Company 
 could treat this as nothing else but a declara- 
 tion of war ; moreover, it was evident that a 
 raid on a larger scale was impending. A 
 large impi that had been sent northwards to 
 Harotse, and had been quarantined for small- 
 ])0X, was released from it and left to prowl 
 about the borders of the country ; and other 
 impis were collecting. 
 
 The High Commissioner now withdrew his 
 efforts at pacification, and left Dr. Jameson, as 
 tlu^ Company's agent, a free hand to deal 
 witli tlic Matabele. Not only this, but a
 
 ORGANISING THE EXPEDITION. 51 
 
 detachment of the Imperial Bechuaualand 
 Police v/as ordered to assist the Company's 
 forces proceeding from Fort Tuli. As a fact, 
 the first collision occurred with the Imperial 
 forces, who were fired upon on the Macloutsie 
 river, and returned the fire with effect, killing 
 several of their assailants. 
 
 Dr. Jameson decided to invade the 
 enemy's country forthwith, and the attack was 
 directed to proceed from three points. From 
 Forts Salisbury, Victoria, and Tuli were to 
 proceed three detachments, the last detach- 
 ment being assisted, as before mentioned, by 
 the Bechuaualand Police. The first two de- 
 tachments were to proceed directly westward 
 to Buluwayo, the capital, along the foot of 
 the Matoppo Hills ; the third was to proceed in 
 a more circuitous manner, and reach Buluwayo 
 from a more southerly direction ; the inten- 
 tion being to divide the opposing forces and 
 reduce the alarming disparity of numbers. 
 The object of this manoeuvre was attained; the 
 southern division withdrew a large number 
 of the enemy from the main line of defence. 
 
 It is not the intention in this work to follow
 
 52 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL 
 
 very closely the details of the war, but merely 
 to give a general outline of it ; for a full 
 description of it the reader is referred to that 
 extremely interesting book, "The Downfall 
 of Lobengula," by Messrs. Wills and Colling- 
 ridge, in which many of the chapters are 
 written by the one man best qualified of all to 
 tell the story of the war, Major P. W. Forbes, 
 who had the command of the Avhole expe- 
 dition. 
 
 It was arranged that the two nortliern 
 columns should effect a junction at the Iron- 
 stone Mountain, about eighty miles from Fort 
 Charter and one hundred from Fort Victoria. 
 On the 5th September, 1893, the Salisbury 
 column moved southwards, under the com- 
 mand of Major Forbes, to Fort Charter, 
 whence the advance into the enemy's country 
 was to be made. 
 
 Tlie Salisbury contingent was, as I have 
 said, under the command of Major Forbes, wlio 
 was to take command of l)oth columns after 
 the juncti(m had been effected. It numbered 
 250 whites, of whom 150 were mounted, with 
 four guns (two Maxims), and a contingent of
 
 THE ADVANCE. 53 
 
 about eighty native Mashonas. Sixteen trans- 
 port waggons accompanied the column. The 
 settlers who volunteered for the expedition 
 were to receive a grant of land amongst other 
 returns. 
 
 A long time was spent at Fort Charter 
 in making full preparations, and it was not 
 until the 2nd October that the advance was 
 ordered. Prior to starting, everything was 
 done that could possibly be done to put the 
 forts in an efficient state of defence. 
 
 The column moved forward slowly, the 
 waggons preventing any very rapid advance. 
 Every night the columns went into laager. 
 This formation, of which we in England have 
 of late heard so much, is effected by placing 
 the waggons in an oval-like formation ; at 
 various points of this oval the guns are 
 placed, and the men and horses inside the 
 oval ; pickets being thrown forward at some 
 distance from the laager. After the meeting 
 of the columns the two laagers were placed 
 alongside one another, and the waggon-oxen 
 were placed between the two, with an abattis 
 of thorn on either side. So accustomed did
 
 54 THE liAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 the men become to this work that when the 
 expedition was in fall swing the work of 
 laagering occupied considerably less than ten 
 minutes. 
 
 No sight of the enemy was obtained for 
 some time after crossing the border, and it 
 was not until the two columns were nearly in 
 touch with one another that any shots were 
 fired ; numbers of friendly natives, how- 
 ever, made their way to the column and 
 expressed their satisfaction at the adventure. 
 On the loth October a small detachment of 
 tlie vSalisbury column, in attempting to drive 
 some of the enemy's cattle, came upon a 
 group of the enemy, on-e of whom shot 
 Captain Campbell from behind a rock, inflict- 
 ing a mortal wound. He died the next day. 
 
 On the next day after tlie mishap, the 
 Victoria column arrived. This was greater in 
 number than the Salisbury force, including as 
 it did 400 whites and a large number of 
 Mashona allies. Captain Lendy and Major 
 Allan ^V^ilson were in command, and Dr. 
 Jameson and Sir John Willonghby accom- 
 panied them. It transpired thnt on the day
 
 THE SHANGANl RIVER. 55 
 
 previous, the scouts of the column had eu- 
 counterecl the Matabele, and after a sharp 
 tussle the enemy had retreated, leaving 
 twenty dead on the field ; large numbers of 
 the enemy had been seen, but they had dis- 
 appeared on the day the columns united. 
 
 The two columns now advanced side by 
 side ; the Somabula Forest was passed with- 
 out incident, and the 24th October found 
 them at the Shangani river. The crossing 
 of the stream was accomplished without op- 
 position. But on the day after, when the 
 column was in laager on low-lying ground 
 close to the river in bushy country (the 
 Mashonas being separately encamped a little 
 distance off), shots rang out from the pickets 
 at four in the morning, and it was evident 
 that the long-expected battle was at hand. 
 The pickets fell back on the laager, and the 
 enemy in large numbers rushed on. Indis- 
 tinguishable in the darkness that prevailed, 
 they opened a sharp fire on the laager, and 
 with great determination ruslied up to the 
 guns. The Maxims were by this time at 
 work and a return fire was directed from the
 
 56 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 columns wherever the flashes from the enemy's 
 rifles were seen. The issue was not lonir 
 doubtful ; dismayed by the fearful havoc 
 '\\T0ught by the Maxims, the enemy wavered 
 and broke up. Yet three times was the 
 attack made, the last in the light of dawn, 
 but with the same issue ; and at length they 
 sullenly retreated. Three detachments were 
 despatched to clear the busli, and one of 
 these met with a stubborn resistance, and 
 when the enemy Anally retired they were by 
 no means disorganised. One man only of 
 the two columns had been killed and com- 
 paratively few injured, but the Mashona en- 
 campment had been " rushed," and many of 
 the allies slaughtered. 
 
 So ended the first battle of the campaign ; 
 it served to show once antl for all that the 
 Matabele could make no successful stand 
 against the weapons of civilised warfare. A 
 column of testimony (exists as to tlie lieroisni 
 of tlic natives ; tliey charged to the very 
 Tnu//1(^ of tlie guns, and but for the deadly 
 eff"ect of the Maxims the result might have 
 been different.
 
 ONE OF LOBKNGULA'S WIVES.
 
 THE IMBEMBESI RIVER. 59 
 
 The columns now pushed straight on for 
 the capital. No further resistance was ex- 
 perienced till on the 1st November they 
 reached the Imbembesi river. Here at mid- 
 day the laager was attacked by the king's 
 best regiment, the Insukameni. Some alarm 
 was experienced in the laager by a stampede 
 of some of the horses which were at the 
 moment of the attack on the river's brink. 
 For a moment it seemed as if they were 
 making for the enemy's position ; but they 
 were headed off. The battle of the Imbem- 
 besi resulted as the battle of the Shaugani ; 
 the enemy could make no impression on the 
 laager, their men fell by scores, and at the 
 cost of three killed and seven wounded the 
 column's way to Buluwayo was clear. 
 
 On the next day when the scouts were out 
 in front of the columns they saw a great 
 cloud of smoke rise over the hills in the 
 direction of the capital ; when eventually 
 they reached the town they found little else 
 but ruins. The king had fled, leaving instruc- 
 tions for the burning of the town if the issue 
 
 of the tight on the Imbembesi should prove 
 
 E 2
 
 60 THE KAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 unhappy ; and the natives in their haste had 
 blown up the powder supply. The first to 
 greet the scouts were tlie two whites who had 
 remained in the town during the progress of 
 the war. Safety had been assured to them 
 while the king was present, but after his 
 flight their lives had been in serious jeopardy 
 from the small bands of marauders who still 
 lingered in the vicinity, and they were heartily 
 relieved by the scouts' ap]>roach. 
 
 Buluwayo was eventually occupied on the 
 5th November by the combined columns. 
 The English flag was hoisted, and the organi- 
 sation of the district began. 
 
 Meanwhile, what of the southern column ? 
 Its progress from October 15th when it left 
 Fort Tuli had been singularly uneventful. 
 AV^ith the contingent of Mashonaland Police 
 under Major Goold Adams and the Company's 
 forces, and reinforced by a contingent of 
 Khama's, it liad Ix^en o])posed in a singuhirly 
 lialf-hearted manner by Gainbo, tlie son-in-law 
 of Lobengiila, witli an im]ii of 5,0()() men. 
 One skirmisli had taken place at Im])andinis 
 kraal, when the natives had succeeded in
 
 THE SOUTHERN COLUMN. Gl 
 
 capturing some of the waggons, but had 
 been eventually driven off with a loss of 
 sixty men. It was in this battle that Mr. 
 Selous had displayed such reckless courage 
 and had been slightly wounded. It would 
 seem that after this, Gambo had heard of the 
 losses sustained by his countrymen at the 
 Imbembesi and Shangani, and had drawn off 
 without offering any further opposition. 
 
 At any rate, Major Goold Adams led his 
 men into Buluwayo without further attack ; 
 Khama had withdrawn after the skirmish, 
 alleging the necessity of his presence in his 
 own country, and had taken his men with him; 
 a course which exposed him at the time to 
 much hostile criticism, but which was con- 
 sidered by those best qualified to judge as 
 more than excusable. 
 
 We have thus reached the point at which 
 the columns reunited at the capital. Before 
 glancing briefly at the history of the after- 
 campaign, two British losses, in addition to 
 those already mentioned, claim our attention. 
 
 Mr. Burnett, one of the scouts attached to 
 the main body, had lost his life under dis-
 
 G2 THE RAID ON THE TllANSVAAL. 
 
 trcssinc; circumstances. During the early 
 part of the march he, in company with tlie 
 other members of the scouting party, had 
 ridden up to a small group of kraals, and, 
 observing nothing suspicious, had entered 
 them. One Matabele apparently was lurking 
 in the huts, and this man had shot Mr. 
 Burnett when he entered ; the wound was 
 mortal. Mr. Burnett was set on his horse, 
 and the return journey to the main column 
 was begun; but long before it could bo 
 reached he had expired. The other loss was 
 that of Mr. Gwynneth Williams, the son of 
 General Owen Williams. His party had been 
 assailed by a formidable number of the 
 enemy ; as they were retiring before them, 
 Mr. AVilliams' horse bolted and galloped 
 down the line of the Matabele. His com- 
 rades were perforce separated from him, and 
 he was never seen again alive. For a long 
 time hope was entertained that Mr. Williams, 
 who liad been the recognised leader of all 
 scouting expeditions by reason of his know- 
 ledge and resource, had found means of 
 escape ; it was not till the columns reached
 
 MESSAGES TO THE KING. 63 
 
 Biiluwayo that the truth was known. A de- 
 tachment of the enemy pursued him, and 
 wlien his liorse couki ^o no farther, he dis- 
 mounted and took up his place on a small 
 rise in the ground. Here he emptied his 
 repeating rifle on his advancing foes, and 
 then drew his revolver ; but after killing 
 several he himself fell with a wound in his 
 forehead — a great loss, but a great example. 
 
 With the columns safe at the capital, and 
 the natives seemingly only too anxious to 
 come in and lay down their arms, one diffi- 
 culty remained : the king had fled, and no 
 communication could be established with him. 
 He was reported to be a short distance north- 
 west of the town, with a small band of his fol- 
 lowers, but in great straits. It was not 
 known whether he intended to retire across 
 the Zambesi or to linger on in the liope of 
 making another bid for his kingdom ; but it 
 was supposed that his passage across the 
 Zambesi was blocked by a hostile tribe. 
 
 Dr. Jameson at length obtained two envoys 
 who went through to the king's camp. They 
 returned safely, and reported that the warriors
 
 64 THE 11 AID ON THE TliANSVAAL. 
 
 in general seemed tired of fighting, but that a 
 few of the younger men from the regiments 
 that had not up to this time been engaged 
 were anxious to try the issue of another 
 battle. The king himself sent pacificatory 
 messages, and expressed himself as anxious to 
 surrender ; but, he pathetically asked, "Where 
 am I to live % " 
 
 Yet, for all his messages, the king came 
 not, and when the two days finally limited 
 for his surrender had expired, and there were 
 no signs of his approach. Dr. Jameson de- 
 termined to send for him. It was felt that 
 as matters then stood, the settlement of the 
 country could in no way be proceeded with 
 whilst the king remained at large in the 
 vicinity with a number of his warriors round 
 him who were not finally subdued. The de- 
 tachment sent in pursuit of Lobengula was 
 under the command of Major l^^orbes, and 
 consisted of about oOO men drawn from the 
 various columns, with Major Allan Wilson 
 and (.'ommander Uaaff. ^Vwo Maxims went 
 along with tlicm. 
 
 The detachment took very little food with
 
 MR. F. C. SELOUS.
 
 THE PURSUIT OF THE KING. 67 
 
 them ; for it was expected to find the king at 
 Umhlangani, forty miles from Buluwayo. But 
 Lobengula was not found at Umhlangani, and 
 leaving a detachment of men there Major 
 Forbes pushed on do^vn to the Bubye river ; 
 but still the waggons of the king eluded the 
 pursuing column. The food supply of the 
 column became exhausted, and the volunteers 
 were consulted as to what course they would 
 pursue, and whether they would follow the 
 track of the king. A large number decided 
 to go back, and the column thereupon re- 
 turned as far as Shiloh. 
 
 Major Forbes sent for fresh supplies from 
 the capital, those who were desirous so to do 
 returned to Buluwayo, and the expedition 
 restarted. The number of those who now 
 proceeded on the king's track was not more 
 than 150. Major Wilson and Commander 
 Raaff went along with their respective detach- 
 ments, and two Maxims were taken. 
 
 From Shiloh the small band followed the 
 track of the king's company through difficult 
 country, where progress for the waggons was 
 slow. At length the news came that the
 
 68 THE 11 AID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 king's waggons were but a little distance 
 ahead. Thereupon Major Forbes determined 
 to follow the king at top speed, and to send 
 his waggons back to Umhlangani. He him- 
 self, with about 140 men, with the two 
 Maxims, pushed on in pursuit. 
 
 The column crossed theBubye and Gwambo, 
 and by rapid stages approached the Shangani 
 river. 
 
 Here traces were found that the king was 
 near at hand ; his last place of encampment 
 was found at the edge of the bush. A native 
 informed Major Forbes that the king was 
 close by with a few attendants only, and 
 thereupon Major Allan Wilson and twelve 
 men were despatched along the spoor early 
 in the afternoon. It was confidently ex- 
 pected lliat they would return before night. 
 
 But it was not to be. A different version 
 of the strength of the king's adherents caused 
 a re-examination of the native, who now con- 
 fessed that he had lied. The truth was that 
 a large impi was close at hand, and had been 
 despatched against the column. 
 
 The night was now closing in ; and in the
 
 MAJOR WILSON'S PERIL. 69 
 
 low-lying bush country, with the knowledge 
 that the district was infested with the enemy's 
 men, no further progress could be made that 
 day ; and Major Forbes determined to stay 
 where he was for the night. 
 
 At this time two messengers came in from 
 Wilson ; he had crossed the river and come 
 upon the king's waggons. The little band 
 had ridden up to them and called for the 
 king to come out and surrender ; they had 
 been met by the sounds of a large force pre- 
 j^aring for defence, and Major Wilson had 
 withdrawn a short distance. Major Forbes 
 immediately despatched Captain Borrow with 
 twenty men across the stream to support him ; 
 nothing more could be done till morning. 
 
 The next day proved eventful ; with the 
 light the column was on the move ; but it had 
 proceeded but a little way along the southern 
 bank of the river when a heavy fire was 
 directed upon it from the bush on the left. 
 No further advance could then be made ; 
 the banks of the river rose sharply on the 
 right, and the enemy on the left had the 
 more advantageous position ; the Maxims
 
 70 THE RAID OJ^ THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 were brought into action, and a sharp fight 
 ensued. In the thick of the fight three mes- 
 sengers rode in from Wilson. A tremendous 
 attack had been made upon him, and his posi- 
 tion was becoming desperate. The messen- 
 gers had barely managed to escape with their 
 lives. But, worse than all, the river had risen 
 rapidly in the night, and transit had become 
 practically impossible ; the horses had barely 
 been able to breast the stream. 
 
 liy this time the fire of tlie INIaxims had 
 silenced the enemy on the left, but though 
 the bush had been cleared, it was at a cost of 
 five men wounded and sixteen horses killed. 
 
 Firing was heard all this time on the farther 
 bank, and it was evident that a desperate 
 fight was proceeding. Yet no assistance could 
 be rendered. The rising of the river had cut 
 ofi* all aid to the little party beyond, whilst on 
 the southern bank the main body, it was clear, 
 would have all it could do to hold its own. 
 
 Without supplies and with the river in 
 front there was notliing for the main body to 
 do but to retreat. It was hoped tliat Wilson's 
 party miglit be strong enough to beat back
 
 THE LMT STAND OF MAJOR WILSON. 71 
 
 the enemy and retreat along the other bank ; 
 a hope long indulged in but not fulfilled. 
 
 The retreat to Inyati was accompanied with 
 the severest hardships. Long before it was 
 reached, the patrol was reduced to living on 
 horseflesh. Repeatedly harassed by the enemy, 
 they slowly retired, fighting three battles be- 
 fore reaching their destination, and it was in 
 a worn-out condition that they arrived. 
 
 Long was the delay before authentic news ar- 
 rived of the fate of Wilson's band. Rumours 
 were constant that they had made their way 
 through the enemy, and in England these 
 rumours were eagerly caught at, the compara- 
 tive immunity from loss with which the war 
 had been so far conducted lending assistance 
 to their force. It was not sufficiently taken 
 into account that Wilson's party would have 
 to fight without the protection of Maxims or 
 laager against an overwhelming force. At 
 length the truth was known ; Wilson's party, 
 surrounded by a whole horde of enemies, 
 unable to retreat without leaving two of their 
 party behind, had stood man to man until the 
 last, firing till every shot was exhausted and
 
 72 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 almost every man killed outright. Even the 
 last survivor, behind a rampart of his dead 
 comrades, had killed many of his foes, and 
 Avhen he too dropped the enemy hung back 
 for some time in fear; and then, when they at 
 length advanced, uttered loud praises of the 
 dauntless heroism of the dead. The lesson 
 of the last stand of the Shangani patrol will 
 never be forgotten. 
 
 Of Lobengula's fate, too, it was long before 
 news was obtained ; reports of his deatli were 
 frecpient, but as iu tlie Soudau, so here, it 
 seemed as if the leader could never die, and 
 even in the present year it was rumoured that 
 he was still living, and would come again to 
 drive out the wliite men. There seems, how- 
 ever, little room to doubt that he died of 
 fever, possibly of a broken spirit, in the near 
 neiglibourliood of the events last described, 
 and not very long after them. 
 
 At, one time it seemed as if ilie Home 
 Government intended to interfere directly in 
 the settlement of Mata})eleland ; but at length 
 it was decided to leiiv(^ the (yom])any to carry 
 out tlie work over wliich it had expended so
 
 SETTLEMENT OF MATABELELAND. 73 
 
 much of its force, and an agreement was 
 entered into between the Government and 
 the Company for the carrying out of the 
 arrangements. The administrator of the 
 Company was to be supported by a council 
 of four persons, one of whom was to exer- 
 cise judicial functions. Magistrates were to 
 be appointed for the various districts, and 
 a land commission established to deal with 
 native settlements. 
 
 As in Mashonaland, so in Matabeleland, set- 
 tlers followed the troops, and Buluwayo was 
 soon fairly established upon European lines ; 
 the natives came in and laid down their arms, 
 and peace appeared to be established.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Boers in Cape Colony — The Great Trek and its 
 Causes — Abolition of Slavery — The Emigrants in 
 Xatal— The Murder of Pieter Retief— The Blood 
 River — The Attack on Pondoland — The English in 
 Natal— The Siege of the English Camp— The 
 Withdrawal of the Emigrants — The Treaty States 
 — The Orange River Sovereignty — The Battle of 
 Boomplaats — The Attitude of Moshesh — The Battle 
 of Vierveet — The Sand River Convention. 
 
 At this point in our story it becomes necessary 
 to retrace our steps a little, and to obtain some 
 idea of the origin and history of that much- 
 discussed people, the Boers of South Africa. 
 
 It is not within the scope of this work to 
 discuss the justification of any course of action 
 taken from time to time, but merely to take 
 note of it, and, as a result, the history of the 
 annexation of tlie Transvaal in 1878 need not 
 be preceded by any discussion of tlie much- 
 vexed question how far the annexation itself
 
 THE FIRST COLONISTS OF THE CAPE. 75 
 
 or how far the action of the Boers previously 
 to it, were violations of prior agreements ; and 
 so there need be no special pause at that year. 
 This sketch of Boer history is, then, divided 
 down to the year 1884 into two periods, the 
 one prior to the Sand River Convention in 
 1852, the other after that event. The Fifth 
 Chapter includes the growth of the Rand and 
 its effect on later history. 
 
 In the first place, who are the Boers ? The 
 Cape Colony was, in its origin, as is generally 
 known, merely a convenient half-way house for 
 the ships of the Dutch East India Company 
 on their way to India, and a place where they 
 might obtain fresh provisions. Yet it was not 
 long before the Company discovered that to 
 ensure a supply it was necessary to rely on 
 others than the native Hottentots ; and a cer- 
 tain number of settlers were taken out from 
 Holland for the purpose of stock-raising. As 
 might be supposed, these settlers were not of 
 very high rank or of importance in their native 
 land, but were persons who had suffered badly 
 in pocket and reputation, and who were pressed 
 into the service of the Company. 
 
 F 2
 
 76 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 But the Colouy expanded beyond the bound- 
 aries intended by the Company, and other set- 
 tlers of various kinds arrived. A large number 
 of refugee Huguenots came in ; a contingent 
 of marriageable Dutch girls was brought over ; 
 a decided sprinkling of other nations followed ; 
 and the country w'as rapidly overspread. 
 Intermarriages between the several races took 
 place, and it is from these unions that the 
 Boer farmer of the period originated, the 
 Dutch element having gradually absorbed the 
 others. Boer farmers spread themselves out 
 over large tracts of the country. They lived 
 at considerable distances from one another on 
 their farms ; they were free from all outside 
 interference ; the officials of the Company did 
 not trouble them ; and they were in little need 
 of facilities for exchange. From time to time 
 they moved farther up country. This habit of 
 life has impressed itself, one might almost say 
 ineradicably, on tlioir character. The Boer is 
 one of tlie few men who possesses his ideal, 
 and he is consequently entirely uuprogressive. 
 He prefers isolation, even from his next of 
 kin, and will migrate or " trek " miles to get
 
 THE ENGLISH ANNEXATION. 77 
 
 it. He desires to live on his own farm- 
 domain, a law unto himself, not that he is in- 
 clined to lawlessness, but the close organisa- 
 tion of a modern state is entirely foreign to 
 his ideas. The concerns of others affect him 
 not, and taxation is an utter anomaly. Add 
 to this that his religion is compounded from 
 extreme Old Testament fanaticism, and 
 we have the fundamental principles of Boer 
 life. 
 
 If we bear this in mind it becomes evident 
 why one slight skirmish was sufficient to 
 change the ownership of the Cape Colony 
 from Dutch to English. There was no ques- 
 tion of enforcing English rule upon a stub- 
 bornly resenting population. The farmers of 
 the country had no particular care whether the 
 English or Dutch flag waved over the Govern- 
 ment buildings. The one thing they desired of 
 Government was protection in their holdings, 
 and in this respect they rather welcomed the 
 English rule than otherwise. But with the 
 English Government came a stronger central 
 control and a system of taxation, neither of 
 which pleased the farmers.
 
 78 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 The great Boer trek of 1836 and the fol- 
 lowing years, the " migration from the Cape 
 Colony of many thousands of substantial 
 burghers, with the determination to seek a 
 new home in the wilderness, where they 
 would be free from what they regarded as in- 
 tolerable oppression," is an event unique in the 
 history of modern civilisation. Whether the 
 Boers would, without any immediate cause, 
 have carried out their " trek " in course of 
 time as the population of the Colony in- 
 creased, or whether they would have 
 acquiesced in the new order of things, it is 
 difficult to say. The fact remains ; and as the 
 causes of that " trek" are the causes of many 
 of the difficulties between ourselves and the 
 Boers, it will be well to pay some attention to 
 them. 
 
 The Slacliter's Nek rebellion of 1815, which 
 was undoubtedly one of the causes of trouble 
 later on, arose out of the difference of opinion of 
 English and Boer as to the treatment of natives. 
 To the Boer the native is what our friend 
 Salvation Yeo would term " an Amalekite " ; 
 the methods of the children of Israel on the
 
 THE SLACHTEU'S NEK REBELLION. 79 
 
 way to the promised laud the Boer considers 
 should be adopted against the natives of South 
 Africa. They may exist just so long as they 
 cause no interference with the superior race ; 
 but otherwise they must be effaced ; and they 
 have no rights of property whatever. The 
 Boer cannot be considered blameworthy in 
 this, except in so far as he refuses to learn ; it 
 springs from his religious convictions; nay, 
 more, it forms part of them. AVhat was more 
 blameworthy was the attempts of English mis- 
 sionaries of this period to make capital out 
 of this feeling by repeated unfounded charges 
 against the Boers of cruelty to the natives. 
 
 The rebellion arose from the attempted 
 arrest of a Boer for cruelty; he resisted arrest, 
 and was shot. His friends and neighbours 
 rose in rebellion ; the rising was repressed 
 with a stern hand, and five of the ringleaders 
 were condemned to execution. The arrange- 
 ments for the execution were imperfect, and 
 the unfortunate men, after being half hanged 
 ut the first attempt, were dragged back again 
 and fiually despatched. This Avas performed 
 in the presence of a large crowd of sym-
 
 80 THE nAID 0^' THE TEAXSVAAL. 
 
 ]iathiscrs, and the memory lingered long in 
 their minds. 
 
 Passing over many minor points of differ- 
 ence, including the friction caused by the 
 native question, we may select two chief causes 
 for the great " trek." 
 
 One of these was the alleged neglect by 
 the Government of the Colony to protect the 
 outlying eastern districts from the Kaffir raids, 
 especially at the end of the year 1834. The 
 Government was in this matter in a serious 
 dilemma. Territorial agreements had been 
 come to with many of the chiefs whose 
 districts lay nearest to the boundaries of the 
 Colony, and they invariably disclaimed all 
 knowledge of the raids in question. It was 
 impossible to always keep a force on the 
 boundaries adequate for the preservation of 
 the district, and directly the forces were 
 removed the Kaffirs swarmed in again. It 
 was an instance of the humane yet futile 
 ])olicy of endeavouring to bind tlie petty 
 cliiefs of robber tribes witli what was, in 
 i'act, moral force only. The (iovernment 
 was accused of favouring the natives at the
 
 SLAVEllY ABOLISHED. 81 
 
 expense of the Colonists. The result of 
 this policy was that the farmers were left 
 to shift as best they could, save when 
 some petty chief openly violated his agree- 
 ment, and, not unnaturally, the migra- 
 tory habits of the Boer asserted themselves, 
 and he had serious thoughts of retiring away 
 from British rule and seeking a spot where 
 his property might be more securely held 
 and less consideration enforced for what was 
 proving an ineffectual safeguard. 
 
 But undoubtedly the great cause of the 
 emigration was (as already incidentally men- 
 tioned in the first chapter) the liberation of 
 the slaves of the Colony, or rather, to do the 
 emigrants justice, the way in which that 
 liberation was carried out. The Boers them- 
 selves were, it may be believed, not disposed 
 to resist the emancipation itself; a society for 
 the gradual emancipation of female slaves 
 had already been started ; but the Home 
 Government, in acting upon the tardily- 
 expressed wish of the nation on the question, 
 would brook no delay. Sir Benjamin d'Urban 
 arrived in the Colony with orders for the
 
 82 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 compulsory release of all Haves on the 1st 
 December, 1834. 
 
 But this was not all. A large sum had 
 been voted by the Home Government as com- 
 pensation to the various slave-owners of the 
 Colonies, but when it came to be dis- 
 tributed it was found that the amount paid in 
 respect of each slave came to rather less than 
 two-fifths of his value. This forcible realisa- 
 tion at such a tremendous discount was further 
 aggravated by the fact that the Home Govern- 
 ment, with an almost cynical disregard of 
 Colonial interests, made the money payable 
 only in London. This opened the way for 
 an eminent financier, who came out to South 
 Africa and bought up the reduced claims at 
 a further heavy discount. 
 
 The eflect of this emancipation was in the 
 country districts ruinous. Mr. Cloete, in 
 his lectures on the subject, says : " No pen 
 can describe how this migration («.<?., of the 
 slaves) was felt ; masters and mistresses who, 
 up to the evening before, had forty, fifty, or 
 some eighty ])erson3 engaged in keeping up 
 extensive farming establishments, saw in one
 
 AGBICULTURAL DISTRESS. 83 
 
 moment the whole of their farming pursuits 
 and plans destroyed ; no bribe nor entreaty, 
 I believe, did avail in one single instance to 
 induce any one of those now free persons to 
 stay over that day . . . and as misfor- 
 tunes proverbially never come singly, the day 
 for the general emancipation, without any 
 thought of or reference to the general inter- 
 ests of the Colony, had been fixed for the 
 very midst of the wheat harvest, which was 
 seriously affected by it, for although in a very 
 few instances some hands were induced by 
 large rewards to stay just to cut down the 
 crop, yet they also immediately followed their 
 companions, all crowding to the towns and 
 villages where they could tind easy subsist- 
 ence and easy work, so that on that day not 
 only many of the agricultural farmers saw 
 themselves reduced to poverty or distress by 
 the paltry payments they had received, but 
 were also deprived of the only means of 
 cultivating their farms profitably for the 
 future. ..." 
 
 Almost paralysed by their losses, many of 
 the farmers resolved to free themselves of the
 
 84 THE RAID OX THE TRANSVjIAL. 
 
 yoke of the oppressor, and seek north of the 
 Orange river the untrammelled existence 
 which is their chief delight. The first party 
 of emigrants set out very shortly after the 
 emancipation was carried out, and for many 
 years after, and even down to tlie present 
 day, that stream of emigration has with vary- 
 ing force boon flowing. The loss of these 
 men was a grievous blow to the rising 
 Colony ; " No people," in Mr. Theal's opinion, 
 " not of British descent ever presented such 
 favourable material for the formation of a 
 dependency loyal to Britain as did the South 
 African colonists when, forty years before, 
 they came by conquest under British rule " ; 
 they might be unprogressive, but made good 
 settlers, though events have shown that they 
 make lamentably bad citizens. 
 
 Strenuous efforts were made to retain them 
 within its boundaries, but to little or no 
 purpose. They withdrew from the Colony, 
 and in tli(>ir opinion as a consequence from 
 English rule : tlicy were to discover in later 
 years that tliis latter was not so easy. One 
 cannot regard the Boers at tliis juncture
 
 STRUGGLE WITH TUB MATABELE. 85 
 
 otherwise than with sympathy. Obviously, 
 as they went forth to the unfettered life 
 which best pleased them, they are not en- 
 titled to quite the same regard as that which 
 we bestow on the Pilgrim Fathers ; but that 
 they were the victims of a serious wrong is 
 indisputable. 
 
 In the first chapter it has been mentioned 
 that the emigrants came across the Matabele 
 in their first journeys ; the battle of Vechtkop 
 left the Boers under Potgieter in possession 
 of the field indeed, but at a cost of all their 
 cattle, which were carried ofi" by the enemy. 
 After the arrival of more emigrants, however, 
 the war was carried into the enemy's country 
 with the greatest success, so great, indeed, 
 that from this and other reasons, as we have 
 seen, the Matabele withdrew across the waters 
 of the Limpopo ; the territory they had 
 occupied was proclaimed, and many emigrants 
 settled themselves in the vacated district. 
 
 A large contingent of the Boers found their 
 w^ay across the Drakensberg into the present 
 Colony of Natal. Port Natal was then the 
 home of a few Englishmen attracted by the
 
 SG THE FiAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 prospects of trade, and they had gathered 
 around them a large number of refugee 
 natives who had fled from the victorious arms 
 of the Zulu chiefs Chaka and Dingaan, the 
 latter of whom had by this time succeeded to 
 the throne of the former. The Port was 
 held by the few English mentioned on a 
 grant from Dingaan, who ruled all the sur- 
 rounding territories. Dingaan was a more 
 ferocious savage even than his predecessor. 
 His delight in cruelty was fiendish, liis war- 
 like prowess unequalled amongst the native 
 races ; and so all the country round was 
 deluged with blood. The Zulu power was at 
 its zenith. 
 
 At the head of the Boers who, with their 
 wives and families, advanced into this dan- 
 gerous strip of country was Pieter lletief, a 
 man of the greatest ability and entirely fitted 
 to carry through the work he and his fellow- 
 countrymen had in hand — the founding of a 
 new home beyond the Drakensberg. 
 
 To Dingaan lletief repaired in October, 
 18o7, with a few of his foHowcrs, and re- 
 quested a grant of territory. Dingaan received
 
 ZULU TREACHFAIY. 87 
 
 them with the greatest civility, and appeared 
 to consent to the request of Retief ; a docu- 
 ment was drawn up for the purpose of 
 defining the cession of territory, and Dingaan 
 only required of Retief that he should exhibit 
 his good-will to him by recapturing some 
 cattle Dingaan alleged had been stolen from 
 him. This Retief and his followers did, but 
 when they returned to the king at the capital 
 of Umkungunhlovo, instead of any grant being 
 made to them, they were decoyed and slain. 
 The Zulus then burst out upon the emigrants 
 who had come in under Retief, and wxre 
 scattered up and down the district. Many 
 were slain at Weenen ; but the alarm was 
 raised and the camps defended ; the Zulus 
 were repulsed and retired. Many of the 
 emigrants now counselled retirement from a 
 district of such evil omen ; but the women of 
 the party were eager in exhorting their hus- 
 bands and brothers to fight. 
 
 Potgieter hastened across the Drakensberg 
 to the relief of his countrymen, and it was 
 determined to avenge Retief and those killed at 
 Weenen ; the English at the Port also marched
 
 88 THE RAID ON THE TEANSVAAL. 
 
 with the refugee natives to attack the Zulus. 
 The Boers engaged the enemy on the 11th 
 April, 1838. They were entrapped into a 
 narrow defile, but fought their way out with 
 the utmost gallantry ; the English were less 
 successful. They were defeated at the river 
 Tugela and completely broken up, and their 
 leaders killed. The Zulus marched into Port 
 Natal and killed all they could find; but some 
 had escaped into the surrounding country. 
 
 In September, Potgieter retired across the 
 Urakensberg, but his place was taken soon 
 afterwards by Andries Prctorius, who arrived 
 with a great number of emigrants. The 
 murder of Ketief was revenged on December 
 18th on the banks of the river afterwards 
 called (in memory of the event) Blood river. 
 Here the Zulus were totally routed, and Prc- 
 torius soon afterwards marched into their 
 capital. Dingaan's power was broken, and he 
 entered into treaty with the emigrants ; but 
 he did not himself long survive, and the 
 Boers eventually entered into a territorial 
 agreement with Pandn, his successor, and 
 established themselves in Natal. The boun-
 
 BOER SETTLEMENT OF NATAL. 89 
 
 dary which separated them from the Zulus 
 was the Tugela river, and beyond this to the 
 north Panda held sway as a vassal to the 
 white men. The first Volksraad (the Boer 
 Parliament) was established, and the Colony 
 was divided into the three districts of Pieter- 
 maritzburg, Weenen, and Port Natal. The 
 farmers across the Drakensberg, who had by 
 this time established themselves north as well 
 as south of the Vaal river, were of course 
 close allies ; and the two Volksraads of the 
 districts respectively north and south of the 
 Vaal — Potchefstroora and Winburg — formed 
 an " adjunct Raad " or federated Parliament 
 with that of Natal. 
 
 It was the policy of the English home 
 Government at this time not to extend Britisli 
 possessions in Africa, and in accordance with 
 this no steps had been taken to follow up the 
 English settlers who have already been men- 
 tioned as in possession of Port Natal. Sir 
 George Napier, during his Governorship, fre- 
 quently impressed on the Government the 
 desirability of the occupation of Natal, but 
 without effect. 
 
 G
 
 90 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL, 
 
 But the acquisition of Natal by the Boers put 
 a clifFerent aspect on matters in South Africa; 
 for the emigrants asked to be treated as inde- 
 pendent, and proposed entering into a treaty 
 with the Cape Colony ; and an independent 
 State, with an excellent harbour such as Port 
 Natal was, might constitute a dangerous 
 commercial rival to the Cape Colony ; and 
 from this time forward the home Government 
 began to contemplate the occupation of Natal. 
 In the meantime, be it remembered, the 
 home Government never recognised the 
 emigrants in any other light than as their 
 subjects. 
 
 In January, 1841, the Boers, having by this 
 time settled down in their new abode, pro- 
 mulgated a treaty for signature by the English 
 Government. It proposed a close alliance 
 between the Republic of Natal and Britain, 
 provided for the neutrality of the liepublic in 
 any war by the mother country, and made 
 a declaration against slavery throughout the 
 district. This treaty was forwarded to the 
 Colony ; but before the Government had taken 
 any cognizance^ of it an attack was made by
 
 THE BRITISH ADVANCE. 91 
 
 the Boers on some tribes in Pondoland who, 
 they alleged, had been engaged in cattle-lifting, 
 and Faku, the ruler of that part of Pondoland 
 nearest to the Cape Colony, made an appeal 
 for protection to the Cape Government. 
 
 The Governor of the Colony had already 
 during the raids of Chaka experienced the 
 disastrous results of an external pressure upon 
 the tribes lying nearest to the Colony, and 
 was not minded to have a repetition of them. 
 The result of the Boers' attack upon Ncapayi 
 (the name of the chief of the Pondo tribe) 
 was that Faku was specially protected by 
 British arms in January, 1841, and that in 
 September the Emigrant Government was 
 informed that their independence was not 
 recognised by Her Majesty. Further than 
 this, the Republic was informed that the 
 attacks upon natives would not be permitted, 
 and that a detachment of soldiers would be 
 sent to the Colony. 
 
 In accordance with this intent a force of over 
 
 200 men with three guns left its station in 
 
 Pondoland on the 1st April, 1842, marched for 
 
 Natal, and arrived on the coast near Port Natal 
 
 G 2
 
 92 THE MAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 on the 4th May. No immediate fight ensued, 
 but the Volksraad determined to resist what 
 was iu effect the annexation of the Colony. 
 Major Smith, the officer iu command of the 
 British force, was ordered to quit the district, 
 to which command his reply was a simple nega- 
 tive. On the 24th May he attempted to assail 
 the Boer position at night, but was driven 
 back on his camp, and there closely besieged 
 by the Boers under the leadership of Pretorius. 
 He managed to send messages to the Colony, 
 and then prepared for the worst. The Boers 
 were strengthened by adherents from the other 
 side of the Drakensberg, and pressed hard on 
 the beleaguered camp. But on the 18th 
 June the English man-of-war Southa7)ipton 
 arrived at the Tort, and bringing her heavy 
 guns to bear, drove the farmers from their 
 position on the Point, and so enabled a small 
 vessel to slip into the harbour with provisions 
 and reinforcements. No further resistance 
 could be made by the emigrants, who sullenly 
 retired, and the siege was raised. 
 
 Major Smith's next endeavour was to come 
 to terms with the emigrants, who had, at any
 
 THE BOERS WITHDRAW. 93 
 
 rate, a strong claim to the country which they 
 had wrested from Dingaan's hordes ; nor had 
 the Ens^hsh any wish to oust them. The 
 Volksraad met, and long and stormy debates 
 took place with regard to the acceptance of 
 the conditions which were proposed by Major 
 Smith, agent for the Government of the Colony, 
 for the basis of settlement of the district; 
 the one stumbling-block was the condition 
 of equality between white and black races. 
 The Boers would surrender their indepen- 
 dence, but not their racial superiority. This 
 point was but one phase of the eternal native 
 question to which reference has already been 
 made, and the Boers clung to their position 
 with the greatest tenacity. 
 
 The Volksraad of Natal at length, after 
 much angry discussion, yielded perforce to 
 the conditions proposed. But the greater 
 number of the emigrants withdrew across 
 the Drakensberg again, and sought those of 
 their comrades who were now established 
 between the Vaal and the Orange rivers. On 
 the 21st August, 1844, Natal was proclaimed 
 British territory as parcel of the Cape Colony.
 
 94 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 It was not till a much later date that it became 
 a separate Crown Colony. 
 
 We must at this point follow the emigrants 
 back across the Drakensberg, and see what was 
 the position there. A large number of the 
 still-seceding emigrants were by this time set- 
 tled both south and north of the Vaal river, 
 in what are now the respective territories of 
 the Orange Free State and the Transvaal 
 Republic. As previously mentioned, the 
 Volksraad had been established at Winburg 
 and Potchefstroom in the two respective dis- 
 tricts, and this exercised jurisdiction over the 
 majority of the settlers. As may be imagined, 
 the country was very irregularly peopled, 
 long stretches being sometimes entirely unin- 
 habited. Besides these settlements there were 
 a large number of emigrants in the extreme 
 south of the present Free State, along the 
 banks of the Caledon and Orange rivers. 
 These Avere inhabitants of the extreme north 
 of the Cape Colony, who had encroached little 
 by little for the purpose of pasturing their 
 cattle, and who had no such grievance against
 
 THE TUEATY STATEhi. C5 
 
 the Enijlish rule as had their kinsmen further 
 north and in Natal. 
 
 Those of the Boers who declined to submit 
 to the new order of things in Natal settled in 
 various parts of the districts in question ; and 
 those of them who settled along the Caledon 
 brought with them the most bitter feelings of 
 antipathy against the English. 
 
 As if to unite these two parties, the English 
 Government set themselves to carry out a 
 plan which ultimately proved most disastrous, 
 and which produced the opposition of all 
 classes of the Boers — this plan was the 
 creation of the native Treaty States. 
 
 There existed at this time, along what is 
 now the southern border of the Orange Free 
 State, two loosely compacted organisations of 
 natives. The western one of these extends 
 round Philippolis and the Caledon, and the 
 other and more powerful on the south-east 
 of the former state. The western one was 
 under the chieftainship of one Adam Kok, 
 and was composed of a nomad tribe of 
 Griquas, few in number ; the eastern was led
 
 % THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 by the Basuto chief Moshesh, the Chief of 
 the Mountain (so called from the fact of his 
 having at the time of the Zulu raids sheltered 
 himself in the stronghold of Thaba Bosigo), 
 who had collected around him a large number 
 of the tribes broken by the onslaught of the 
 Zulus, and who had in the course of time 
 become a powerful chief. The plan of the 
 English Government was to apportion the 
 territory along the Orange river between 
 these two chiefs, who were to be in alliance 
 with England and so to form a complete 
 barrier of native states along the north border 
 of the Cape Colony, and beyond the Drakens- 
 berg to extend this barrier by an alliance with 
 Faku, the Chief of Pondoland. The treaties 
 with Adam Kok and Moshesh carrying these 
 ideas into effect was signed on the 5th 
 October, 1843. But the plan was destined to 
 failure from the outset. Even the more peace- 
 ful section of the Boers, who had slowly 
 encroached on a district they had found un- 
 occupied, and had in many instances leased 
 land from the native chiefs, and who would 
 h:i\(' had no objection to coming under the
 
 2WART KOPJES. 97 
 
 English flag, bitterly resented their attempted 
 subjection to petty native sovereigns. Skir- 
 mishes immediately began between them and 
 the Griquas, and Adam Kok appealed for 
 protection to the Cape Colony. A military 
 detachment was sent up to his assistance, and 
 dispersed the farmers in a skirmish at Zwart 
 Kopjes on the the 10th April, 1845. 
 
 The discontent of the Boers increased. 
 Further undoubted grievances had arisen in 
 connection with the settlement of their land 
 claims in Natal, and Pretorius, who had been 
 a warm advocate of their rights, brought back 
 with him across the Drakensberg many of 
 those who had till this time remained. Pot- 
 gieter and his adherents were bent on escaping 
 still further from English rule, and they, with 
 many of the more southern emigrants, with- 
 drew across the Vaal river, and the Transvaal 
 became much more thickly populated. Ly- 
 denberg was founded in 184G. 
 
 It was now already recognised that the 
 Treaty States were an entire failure; yet it was 
 not desirable to abrogate the treaties entirely. 
 Sir Peregrine Maitland, the then Governor of
 
 98 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 Cape Colony, tried the plan of apportioning 
 the districts between the white and black 
 races. But this, too, broke down, as Moshesh 
 declined to grant any appreciable portion of 
 his territory for the use of the emigrants. 
 Conferences and Commissions of Enquiry 
 benefited nothing, and till the year 1847 no 
 definite decision was arrived at. 
 
 With the advent of Sir Harry Smith as 
 Governor, in the latter end of that year, a 
 more vigorous policy was initiated. His first 
 act was to effect the cancellation of the 
 treaties; and on the 8th of March, 18'18, he 
 proclaimed the British sovereignty over the 
 district lying between the Vaal and the 
 Orange rivers, under the name of the Orange 
 lliver Sovereignty. But this course of action 
 came too late ; it might have caused no 
 resistance some years previously, but the 
 temper of the Boers had changed, and those 
 living in the vicinity of the Modder river, 
 who had been unaffected by the Treaty States 
 disputes, were not minded to see their in- 
 dependence destroyed. They determined to 
 resist by force of arms, and proceeded, as soou
 
 BOOMPLAATS. 99 
 
 as the Governor had returned to the South, 
 to turn out the newly-appointed English 
 officials. Pretorius was summoned from be- 
 yond the Vaal to the assistance of his country- 
 men, and on the 17 th of July arrived at 
 Bloemfontein with 400 men. Sir Harry Smith 
 hastened from Cape Town with the Imperial 
 troops, and on the 29th August, 1848, the 
 Boers resisted their further march at Boom- 
 plaats. An obstinate struggle followed ; the 
 Boers, in a strong position in the hills, for a 
 long time held their own ; driven back from 
 one commanding position, they retired to the 
 next ; but three hours' fighting sufficed to 
 win the last position — the farmers turned and 
 fled. The number of Boers killed is uncer- 
 tain; the English lost twenty-two men, in- 
 cluding native allies. 
 
 The Sovereignty was forthwith re-estab- 
 lished over the disaffected district, and the 
 British officials reinstated. The Governor 
 offered a reward of £2,000 for the capture of 
 Pretorius, and he and many of his country- 
 men betook themselves across the Vaal. 
 
 But that which the farmers could not obtain
 
 100 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 for themselves directly was destined soon to 
 be obtained indirectly through the instru- 
 mentality of Moshesh. This chief, when the 
 boundaries of the various tribes in the south 
 of the Sovereignty came to be settled, made 
 the most extravagant territorial demands, and 
 claimed the sovereignty of all the tribes along 
 the Caledon river. Matters at length came 
 to a crisis between him and the English 
 Government ; he refused to surrender some 
 cattle taken by him from a neighbouring chief 
 over whom he claimed lordship, and fighting 
 broke out. 
 
 Moshesh had chosen a good time for his 
 rebellion. The Cape Government was fully 
 occupied with a Kaffir outbreak in the south, 
 and could ill spare men for action against 
 Moshesh. The fiirmers of the Sovereignty 
 were called upon for service ; but their turn 
 had come, and the majority of them refused. 
 Moshesh seized his opportunity ; he began 
 negotiations with the malcontents, while he 
 harried tlie farms of those who assisted the 
 English. 'J'he defeat of the English force at 
 Viorveet on tlic oOtli June, 1851, sliowod that
 
 NEGOTIATIONS WITH PBETOlilUS. 101 
 
 the fighting was not to be a light matter ; 
 and meanwhile the malcontent Boers had 
 made peace with Moshesh and put themselves 
 in communication with Pretorius across the 
 border, and invited him to assume the position 
 of Administrator-General. Major Warden, who 
 was in command at Bloemfontein, saw that 
 if Moshesh were to join forces with the Boers 
 across the Vaal the English must infallibly be 
 swept out of the Sovereignty ; and he strongly 
 advised coming to terms with Pretorius. 
 
 Meanwhile Pretorius had put himself in 
 communication with Major Warden, and ex- 
 pressed the desire of the farmers beyond the 
 Vaal to enter into a treaty with the English 
 Government. Sir Harry Smith, on receipt of 
 this intelligence, appointed two Commissioners 
 to enquire into the state of affairs in the 
 Sovereignty, and they reported that very 
 considerable benefits would arise from the 
 acknowledgment of the independence of the 
 Transvaal. 
 
 In fact, it was the only course possible for 
 the English Government if the Sovereignty 
 was to be retained.
 
 103 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 The outlawry of Pretorius was reversed, 
 and a conference was arranged for. It was 
 held on the Sand river on the 16th January, 
 1852, and on the 17th the Sand River Con- 
 vention was signed. 
 
 By the first clause of this Convention the 
 Commissioners guaranteed on behalf of the 
 British Government to the emigrant farmers 
 beyond the Vaal river " the right to manage 
 their own affairs, and to govern themselves 
 according to their own laws without any in- 
 terference on the part of the British Govern- 
 ment, and that no encroachment shall be 
 made by the said Government on the territory 
 beyond to the north of the Vaal river ; with 
 the further assurance that the warmest wish of 
 the British Government is to promote peace, 
 free trade, and friendly intercourse with the 
 emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who may 
 hereafter inhabit, that country ; it being un- 
 derstood that the system of non-interference 
 is binding upon both parties." 
 
 By the third clause all alliances with the 
 British (Tovernmcnt witli coloured natives 
 north of the Vaal were disclnimcd.
 
 SAND RIVER CONVENTION. 103 
 
 By tlie fourth clause no " slavery shall be 
 permitted or practised in the country to the 
 north of the Vaal river by the emigrant 
 farmers." 
 
 By other clauses all trading in ammunition 
 with native tribes was prohibited by both 
 parties on both sides of the Vaal river, 
 and the mutual delivery of all criminals was 
 arranged for. 
 
 This Convention was approved by the home 
 Government and the Volksraad, and the inde- 
 pendence of the Transvaal was secured.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Independence of the Transvaal — The End of the 
 Orange River Sovereignty — Tlie Struggle Avith 
 Moshesh — The Annexation of Basutoland — The 
 Failure of the Transvaal Republic — The Attack on 
 the Bapedi — Dr. Livingstone — Death of Pretorius 
 —The Union of the Four Districts— M. W. Pre- 
 torius, Founder of Pretoria — Boer Policy — The 
 Schoeman Rebellion — President Burgers' Finan- 
 cial Distress — The Struggle witli Sekukuni — The 
 English Annexation — Reasons for the Annexation 
 — The Deputations to England — The Zulu War — 
 Growth of Dissatisfaction — Sir Owen Lanyon — 
 Sir Bartle Frere — The Bezuidenhout Incident — Re- 
 bellion breaks out — Bi'unker's Spruit — Siege of the 
 Towns — Sir George Colley at Newcastle — Laing's 
 Nek — Majuba Hill — The Armistice— Convention 
 of Pretoria — Bechuanaland Troubles — Convention 
 of London — Renewed Financial Distress. 
 
 From this time onwards the history of the 
 Boers becomes for our pur])ose the history 
 of the Transvaal Republic. Yet it is well to 
 clear up shortly the history of the other new 
 Free State of South Africa.
 
 BEIiEA. 105 
 
 The malcontents of the Orange River 
 Sovereignty, deserted by their Transvaal 
 allies, were for the time being compelled to 
 yield to British influence ; yet the same cause 
 that gave the Transvaal its independence 
 interfered to establish its independence also, 
 though in a manner at the time hardly desir- 
 able to the inhabitants. Moshesh had defeated 
 the English power once, and he saw no reason 
 for surrendering his opposition. In the latter 
 end of 1852, Sir George Cathcart marched 
 against him at the head of a large force ; it 
 was generally thought it was strong enough 
 to proceed to Thaba Bosigo and take it with- 
 out difficulty ; but the battle of Berea, in 
 December, 1852, showed that the enemy had 
 been underrated. These Basutos of Moshesh 
 had a strong organisation, and their country 
 was admirably suited for defensive tactics; 
 and the battle of Berea, in fact, resulted 
 in their favour, and Sir George Cathcart, 
 having lost thirty-seven men, on the next 
 day commenced a retreat. Moshesh was 
 anxious on his part also ; he had the clever- 
 ness to recognise that his people had en- 
 
 II
 
 106 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 gaged a mere handful of men compared to 
 what might be brought against him, and he 
 sent proposals of peace. To these Sir George 
 Cathcart agreed. 
 
 The immediate results of this was that the 
 Orange River Sovereignty was abandoned, and 
 early in 1854 a special commission from Eng- 
 land arrived to hand over the government. 
 This proposal caused great consternation to 
 the inhabitants ; were they to be left to shift 
 for themselves against the unbroken power of 
 Moshesh, who was now flushed with victory \ 
 But the Home Government was inexorable ; 
 and the power of gold was freely employed 
 to buy the support of those who were most 
 hostile to the transfer of government. The 
 necessary convention was signed on the 23rd 
 February, 1854, by Sir George Russell Clark 
 as Commissioner, and various delegates from 
 the different districts of the Sovereignty ; the 
 future independence of the country and its 
 government was guaranteed ; and it was 
 agreed that the independence of the country 
 should be ratified by an instrument freeing 
 the people from their allegiance ; alliances of
 
 WAR WITH MOSHESH. 107 
 
 Her Majesty's Government with tribes north 
 of the Orange (other than Adam Kok) were 
 disclaimed ; the possessions of Her Majesty's 
 subjects resident in the Sovereignty were 
 guaranteed and immunity was assured to 
 them; and the usual clauses as to the sur- 
 render of criminals and the abolition of slavery 
 were inserted. The English Government was 
 finally withdrawn on the 11th of March, and 
 the Boers and natives were left to fight out 
 their points of difference. 
 
 Fighting soon broke out; Moshesh made 
 territorial claims to which the Republic (for 
 the inhabitants of the country had by this 
 time formed their government) could not and 
 would not submit. The war was carried on 
 for ten years, with greater or less intervals of 
 peace; but at length the indomitable per- 
 severance of the Republic was rewarded, and 
 Moshesh was forced to come to terms. 
 
 But Moshesh had lost none of his cunning ; 
 he turned in his difficulties to the British 
 Government, who determined to annex Basu- 
 toland. The Orange Free State protested 
 
 strongly against this course, but they were 
 
 II 2
 
 108 THE BAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 powerless to resist the apportionment made, 
 which left them the Caledon river as their 
 eastern boundary. 
 
 Difficulties with England again arose in 
 18G9, when the Kimberley diamond mines 
 were discovered ; this rich territory seemed 
 clearly to form part of the Republic ; but a 
 Griqua was produced to say the land was his, 
 and that he was prepared to dispose of it to 
 the English. Eventually the dispute was 
 compromised by the payment of £90,000 to 
 the Republic in settlement of its claim. 
 
 Since this time the Republic has prospered ; 
 it has abstained carefully from the quarrels of 
 its neighbours, and has been rewarded by an 
 era of prosperity. 
 
 Up to the time of the signing of the Sand 
 River Convention, I do not think even the 
 greatest anti-Boer amongst us will decline to 
 accord some praise to the emigrants. Their 
 untiinching and indomitable perseverance, 
 their iron endurance under the most severe 
 trials, tlic religious spirit in which they 
 accepted danger and defeat, wins our admira- 
 tion ; we cannot think ill of the offspring of
 
 FAILURE OF THE TlLiNSVAAL. 109 
 
 the women who loaded the guns at Vecktkop, 
 and who vowed that they must not leave Natal 
 till the murder of Relief was avenged; and 
 w^e should hope to find that, their independence 
 won, those qualities which sustained them on 
 their wanderings formed by degrees a pros- 
 perous and harmonious State. 
 
 Unfortunately tlie facts are far otherwise ; 
 it cannot be fairly said that during the twenty- 
 six years that elapsed before its annexation the 
 Transvaal Republic ever looked like a success. 
 It is a story of slow deterioration, culminating 
 on the very brink of disaster ; and whilst the 
 war of controversy rages over the rights and 
 wrongs of our annexation, we must not forget 
 that the annexed district trembled on the 
 verge of bankruptcy, discredit, and destruction. 
 
 The nativity of the State born in the hour 
 of England's weakness, not in that of her 
 strength, was ill-starred ; external and in- 
 ternal danger loomed large from the outset; 
 civil dissension was rife ; native hostility was 
 smouldering. 
 
 Up to this point we have only taken notice 
 of the fact that from time to time various cou-
 
 110 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 tingents of the emigrants had crossed the 
 Vaal river and settled in the district beyond ; 
 it will be well to see how they had been 
 distributed. 
 
 And, first of all, it is necessary to remember 
 that the boundaries of the district were very 
 shadowy, nominally the Limpopo on the north, 
 the Vaal on the south, the Swazis and Zulus 
 on the east, and the Bechuana tribes on the 
 west ; but the native boundaries were difficult 
 of determination, and in the proclamation 
 that accompanied the annexation in 1877, it 
 is stated that there had been considerable 
 retrocession by the Boors from the Limpopo. 
 AVithin the district there were at the time of 
 the Convention about five thousand families ; 
 and they had grouped themselves into four 
 departments — Potchefstroom on the south, 
 Lydenburg on the east, Zoutspanberg on the 
 north, and Rustcnburg toward the west. The 
 most important of these departments was tliat 
 wliicli surrounded the town of Potclicfstroom, 
 which, it will bo remembered, was founded by 
 Potgietcr on his return from Natal. The four 
 departments were at the date of the Conven-
 
 DISUNION. Ill 
 
 tion entirely independent of one another, each 
 having its own commandant or chief of the 
 Executive ; but the Volksraad was nominally 
 the supreme authority, and this was common 
 to the four departments. It may well be 
 imagined that four departments acting sepa- 
 rately over such a small population was worse 
 than two kings of Brentford ; and in addition to 
 the inhabitants of the departments there were 
 a large number of refugees from the Cape 
 Colony and elsewhere, who clustered on the 
 borders of the State, and owed, in fact, no 
 obedience to anyone ; it was these persons, in 
 fact, who caused much of the opprobrium 
 attached to the Boers in connection with land- 
 grabbing and child-stealing on the frontier; 
 and the Central Authority was not responsible 
 except to the extent that a State must be 
 responsible for the acts of its inhabitants; 
 a rule which acts exceptionally severely in 
 application to a State founded in such circum- 
 stances as caused the Sand River Convention. 
 As members of the Executive, in addition 
 to the commandants and field-cornets of the 
 various districts who formed part of the mili-
 
 112 THE liAID Oy THE TRANSVAAL, 
 
 tary service (which has always been compulsory 
 on all men between eighteen and sixty if 
 called upon, though those between twenty- 
 five and forty are the first to be summoned), 
 there were magistrates, for the various dis- 
 tricts, called landdrosts, who performed almost 
 all the civil functions of the district. This 
 constituted the whole simple form of admin- 
 istration. 
 
 From the very commencement the Boers 
 were engaged in native troubles. Successive 
 wars with the Bapedi, the Bekwana, and the 
 Barolong took place. AVe are now approach- 
 ing the period in their history at which tlie 
 conduct of the Boers becomes tinged with 
 events that followed ; that is to say, a certain 
 class of writers viewing events, as it were, 
 from the summit of Majuba Hill, can see 
 no excuses for tlie niisgovcrnment which 
 brouglit about the annexation in 1877, while 
 another class, unable to forget the wrongs of 
 the Englisli occupation, vigorously refute 
 every charge of cruelty, land-grabbing, or 
 slavery. This makes it increasingly difficult 
 to find the trutli as to the; (piarrels with tlie
 
 Dli. LIVINGSTONE. 113 
 
 natives which occupy the quarter of a cen- 
 tury with which we are now dealing. The 
 second of these two disputes (that with the 
 Bekwana under Sechele) is further com- 
 plicated by the fact that it was during the 
 fighting that Dr. Livingstone's house was 
 looted. It is generally believed that the 
 Boers were responsible for this piece of 
 wanton savagery, and there is no reason to 
 doubt that Dr. Livingstone belonged to a class 
 for whom the Boers (not altogether unreason- 
 ably) entertained a bitter hatred. Mr. Theal, 
 in his " History of the Boers in South Africa," 
 goes fully into the evidence on the point, and 
 seems inclined to sum up for an acquittal, 
 and to impute the mischief to marauding 
 natives. These three small wars terminated 
 in the Boers' favour, and for a time, at least, 
 the harm caused by the successful stand of 
 Moshesh in the south w^as stayed. 
 
 Divided in council as the Boers already 
 were, they were destined to still further mis- 
 fortunes. In the year lS5o they lost by 
 death their two most prominent citizens, 
 Potgieter and Pretorius. The latter stands
 
 114 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 out pre-eminently as typical of the best 
 qualities of the Boer ; his life had been one 
 of devotion to the cause his countrymen had 
 at heart, and he had laboured earnestly 
 throughout. From an English standpoint his 
 military career is marred by many un- 
 doubtedly cruel acts to natives, and in particu- 
 lar, by the murder of two of Dingaan's envoys 
 for peace during the Natal war ; but it must 
 be remembered that from the standpoint of his 
 race these acts lose much of their heinous 
 character. He was the foremost man of his 
 time, and his loss was almost irreparable. 
 
 Yet one good issue sprang from his death : 
 gratitude to their dead leader caused a rally 
 round his son Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, 
 and he was made President of the Republic ; 
 this office being now instituted for the first 
 time. In honour, moreover, of the hero, 
 the town of Pretoria was founded, and it was 
 destined to be the centre of a fifth depart- 
 ment of the llepublic. But other events 
 made for the unity of tlie departments. 
 Already the department of Lydcnburg had 
 absorbed the neighbouring one of Zoutspan-
 
 BOER POLIO r. 115 
 
 berg, and the growing importance of Pot- 
 chefstroom pointed to a further amalgamation. 
 It was not, however, until 1860 that the five 
 departments were united, with Pretoria as the 
 capital. 
 
 The President and the Volksraad with him 
 attempted no change in Boer policy ; the 
 main idea of the period which follows is that 
 of obtaining at all hazards complete isolation 
 from outsiders ; every effort was made to 
 restrain the opening up of the interior of the 
 continent towards the north ; missionary work 
 amongst the natives was hindered, and more 
 than one missionary was expelled. The 
 aifair of Mr. Inglis created a good deal of 
 sensation in this respect ; he had published 
 an article denouncing the child-stealing ex- 
 peditions of the Boers amongst neighbouring 
 tribes, and calling upon some Power to inter- 
 fere in the matter, as the peace of the conti- 
 nent was being endangered. That expulsion 
 should follow on this is not, perhaps, altogether 
 surprising. Outside interference was the red 
 rag to the Boer bull ; and to have openly 
 advocated in their midst that which they had
 
 IIG TUE RAID ON THE TllANiSVAAL. 
 
 endured fifteen years' wandering and fighting 
 to escape would be galling to the most long- 
 suffering people. In view of the clause of the 
 Convention referred to in the last chapter 
 containing a prohibition of slavery among the 
 Boers, the question how far the apprentice- 
 ship system in which tliey indulged amounted 
 in fact to the practice of slavery is one of ex- 
 treme importance. The system certainly en- 
 tailed forced labour without remuneration, 
 but it was claimed for it that tlie children 
 were freed at an early age, Mr. Nixon, in 
 his " Complete Story of the Transvaal," has 
 collected the evidence on this point against the 
 15ocrs, and it is contended, moreover, that 
 tlie proclamation of Pretorius to the land- 
 drosts calling for the report by them of any 
 case of slavery that came to their notice, is a 
 proof of tlie existence of slavery. The further 
 examination of tliis question, and tlie dis- 
 cussion as to how far the terms of the Sand 
 lliver Convention contemplate the assumption 
 (if it can in truth be so called) of British 
 domination over the Transvaal in case of the 
 violation of tliis clause of the Convention do
 
 SCHOKMAN'S REBELLION. 117 
 
 not fall within our scope. We need onlj^ add 
 that if Khama's word was worth then what it 
 is unquestionably reckoned as worth now, the 
 case against the Boers is a very strong one to 
 meet ; on the other hand, no mention of such 
 violation (except by a very remote inference) 
 is made in Sir Theophilus Shepstone's pro- 
 clamation of annexation. 
 
 The President, after an ineffectual attempt 
 to annex the neighbouring Orange Free 
 State, disappeared from the Transvaal and 
 was elected President of the Free State. 
 With wondrous forbearance the Volksraad 
 of the Transvaal re-elected him on his return, 
 but a rebellion broke out ; the deputy of 
 Pretorius during his absence, one Schoeman, 
 declined to surrender his position on the for- 
 mer's return; so a somewhat protracted struggle 
 ensued, in which the present President, Paul 
 Kruger, as commander for Pretorius, greatly 
 distinguished himself; and Schoeman was 
 eventually subdued. 
 
 At length Pretorius disgraced himself in 
 the eyes of his countrymen and fell from his 
 high position, and it must be confessed that,
 
 118 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 bearing in mind the forgiveness extended to 
 him for the erratic conduct last described, the 
 fact that he was deposed because in an arbi- 
 tration, which took place with reference to 
 a piece of territory claimed by the Trans- 
 vaal, the Orange Free State, and Griqualand 
 West, he was not successful in obtaining the 
 award for his countrymen, points to the fact 
 that the Boer cares more about acquiring 
 fresh territory than having an efficient ruler 
 over that already possessed. However that 
 may be, Pretorius was defeated for the Presi- 
 dency in 1871, and President Burgers took 
 his place. 
 
 Even the scanty chronicles of Transvaal 
 history which are ours seem to show that the 
 new President was from the outset engaged 
 in a struggle to bring his countrymen to adopt 
 a more forward policy, for by the time of his 
 election the llepublic was far advanced on 
 the road to ruin. The Boer had demonstrated 
 his utter lack of comprehension of the mean- 
 ing of State life. The only purpose for which 
 the farmers could be brought together was a 
 military expedition ; when this was over each
 
 FINANCIAL CRISIS. 119 
 
 returned to his own farm, and there he re- 
 mained. He was utterly obdurate to the 
 claims of the tax-gatherer; he had all he 
 wanted ; why should he be mulcted % After 
 all, his feelings were not unlike those of 
 many a suburban ratepayer who spends half 
 his time in grumbling at the rates, and the 
 other half abusing the local authority for 
 insufficient lighting and paving. But the 
 difference is that the ratepayer pays ; the 
 Boer did not. The result was that the 
 finances of the country were, in the year 
 1871, in an almost hopeless condition. The 
 wiser conduct of the few urban Boers and 
 the English population was insufficient. The 
 salaries of officials were in arrear ; the issue 
 of paper-money, which the Volksraad had 
 sanctioned, was depreciated to the extent of 
 75 per cent. ; the Treasury was empty. 
 
 Burgers set himself to remedy this ; he was 
 one of the few men of his race who have ever 
 perceived that progress was essential; he also 
 had an intuitive perception of the right path 
 of progress ; and had he been ably assisted by 
 a practical fellow-statesman the history of the
 
 120 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 Transvaal might have been different. But 
 the President lacked system in the work he 
 had set himself; and he had no coadjutor. 
 lie had to drag all his countrymen after him ; 
 and the task was too great. Mr. Nixon says 
 of him in his " Complete Story of the Trans- 
 vaal": "It cannot be denied that he was 
 sincere in his aspirations, and that at the outset 
 he hoped to make of the seven or eight 
 thousand half-educated Boers under him a 
 great nation, to be the pioneers of a movement 
 that should supersede English domination in 
 every part of South Africa. In pursuit of 
 this impossible ideal he exhausted his private 
 fortune and shattered his health. He lived 
 to see himself baffled and defeated by the very 
 people whom he had hoped to use as a means 
 of attaining tlie lofty ends he set before 
 himself, lie was at last compelled to resign 
 Ids position to an official of that Government 
 wliich he hoped to supersede, and lie was 
 vilified as a traitor by his own countrymen." 
 AVhen it is mentioned that President Burgers' 
 chief project involved tlie laying of a railway 
 from Delagoa Bay, it will be seen at once liow
 
 PEESIDE.VT BUIIGERS' RAILWAY. 121 
 
 little this project would be likely to meet 
 with acceptance by the party of isolation. 
 " But nothing daunted Burgers. He deter- 
 mined to appeal to the race feelings of the 
 Dutch in Europe, and in 1875 he made a 
 journey to Holland for that purpose. His 
 energetic and eloquent declamation produced 
 an effect, and the cautious Hollanders were 
 induced to lend him £79,000. Burgers at 
 once saw the railway made. He bought 
 large quantities of rolling stock, including 
 (characteristically enough) a State carriage 
 for himself. He distributed commissions 
 right and left, and on the faith of great 
 sums to come, spent more than he had re- 
 ceived. The railway plant was delivered at 
 Delagoa Bay before an inch of the railway 
 was constructed or properly surveyed " (*' Com- 
 plete Story of the Transvaal "). The plant 
 never got farther than Delagoa Bay, and of 
 Burgers' railway there is no trace. 
 
 But the crowning disaster to the Transvaal 
 was to come not from internal but external 
 means. Fighting broke out with Sekukuni, 
 chief of the Bapodi. The quarrel originated
 
 122 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 in a territorial dispute. The Boers marched 
 against the enemy with their allies the 
 Swazis, who were old enemies of the Ba- 
 pedis. It would seem as if the internal 
 confusion of the Republic had paralysed the 
 Boers, for it is certain that no army ever 
 gave a more inglorious exhibition ; their allies 
 were left to do all the fighting during the 
 first part of the campaign. When left to their 
 own resources, the white men absolutely re- 
 fused to face the enemy, and fled. 
 
 The moral effect of this disaster on the 
 neighbouring tribes was grievous ; it seemed 
 as if from almost every quarter an attack 
 might be made upon the enfeebled State : 
 Cetewayo, the Zulu king, in particular, 
 hovered upon the border, and was restrained 
 from attack only by British influence in Natal. 
 
 There is no reason to doubt that the tlireat- 
 ening native tribes had genuine grievances 
 against the Boers, apart altogether from the 
 slavery question. Territory had undoubtedly 
 been taken from them bit by bit on the borders 
 of the State ; the only matter to urge in 
 mitigation is that the action was due to those
 
 ENGLAND INTERVENES. 123 
 
 lawless characters who infested the outskirts 
 of the Colony — and who would in a well- 
 organised State have been effectually suj<- 
 pressed, but who, in the disorganisation that 
 prevailed, were absolutely unchecked — and not 
 to any deliberate intention of the Government ; 
 whilst, at any rate, the Bapedi were destined 
 to prove themselves very hostile to white 
 rule, even after their chief provocation had 
 been removed. Since the signing of the 
 Sand River Convention, England's interests in 
 Africa had enormously increased, and she could 
 not stand by impassively and see the results 
 that must of necessity follow from the Boers 
 fighting for their existence with countless 
 hordes of natives. It was evident by this 
 time that the Republic had failed. On all 
 the borders, threatening natives; in the interior, 
 strife, a threatened civil war on the occasion of 
 the next Presidential election, lawlessness un- 
 controlled, bankruptcy imminent. 
 
 Lord Carnarvon, the Secretary of State for 
 the Colonies, at this juncture then intervened. 
 Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the Native Secretary 
 of Natal, was sent to Pretoria armed with 
 
 I 2
 
 124 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 a Commission very extensive in its terms. 
 He was to make enquiry into the recent dis- 
 turbances which endangered the peace of 
 South Africa, and to confer with the President 
 on a question which was then greatly agitated 
 in many circles in England — the confederation 
 of South Africa — and if the people of the 
 Transvaal agreed to such a course, power was 
 given him to annex the State. 
 
 The circumstances in which the annexation 
 of the Transvaal took place are much in- 
 volved. Sir Theophilus Shcpstone received 
 memorials and addresses which seem to have 
 convinced him that the majority of the Boers 
 desired it ; and Burgers himself seems by this 
 time to have been thoroughly wearied of the 
 task of attempting to bring his recalcitrant 
 people into line with his own ideas. lie 
 protested against the annexation, but it was 
 generally believed the protest was half-hearted. 
 Sir Theo[)hilus Shepstone no doubt believed 
 that annexation was tlic wisest course, and 
 this feeling may have led him to underrate 
 the opposition, and to take the views of the 
 English ainl more eiiliglitened Boers of Pie-
 
 ANNEXATION. 125 
 
 toria as expressive of those of the rustic popu- 
 lation. The fact remains that Sir Theophilus 
 Shepstone formally annexed the Republic to 
 Great Britain by proclamation on the 12th 
 April, 1877, and that there quickly followed 
 a widely-signed protest against it. 
 
 The proclamation embodied the reasons for 
 the annexation, viz., the failure of the State 
 to effectively govern its territories, and the 
 consequent retrocession which had taken place ; 
 the intestine disturbances and confusion, with 
 the consequent temptation to native powers to 
 attack the State, and the failure of the war with 
 Sekukuni; and declared that Her Majesty's 
 Government could not permit the ravaging of 
 Boer territory. No mention was made of the 
 slavery question as a breach of the Sand River 
 Convention; but this argument was freely used 
 in the House of Commons during the debates 
 on the subject, and forms one of the 
 staple reasons in favour of the annexation. 
 Needless to say, the act of annexation is a 
 subject which has been the ground of much 
 debate. Those who take the side of the 
 Transvaal .contend that the native difRcultv
 
 12G THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 has been grossly exaggerated, and that the 
 Boers could easily have resisted any invading 
 force, and if so that the financial state of the 
 country was not England's concern. The sup- 
 porters of the annexation contend that the 
 action of England was entirely justified 
 by the imminent danger of the native attack, 
 and that even if Sir Theophilus Shepstone 
 was too quick in believing that he had the 
 will of the people with him, yet to have 
 stood aside at the crisis that was impending 
 would have been a heartless policy ; and, 
 further, as previously stated, that the violation 
 of the Convention justified the resumption of 
 the district by the English Government. 
 
 The short period of English rule in the 
 Transvaal is not one that will ever be regarded 
 with pleasure. We never seemed likely to 
 obtain a hold upon the country : discontent 
 was always smouldering ; and the only wonder 
 is that rebellion did not break out before it 
 actually did. 
 
 For some time affairs progressed favourably; 
 the natives were warned off the country, and 
 finances were regulated. But the people soon 
 
 i
 
 DEMAND FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT. 127 
 
 began to think that the English Government 
 was very slow in fulfilling its promises. Sir 
 Theophilus Shepstone had promised that "the 
 Transvaal should remain a separate govern- 
 ment, with its own laws and legislature, and 
 that it was the wish of Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment that it should enjoy the fullest legislative 
 privileges compatible with the circumstances of 
 the country and the intelligence of its people." 
 Yet as Administrator he filled the various 
 offices with his friends from Natal, and made 
 no sign of any step towards self-government 
 for the country ; and the presence of the Eng- 
 lish soldiers was a cause of constant irritation. 
 A deputation for England, consisting of 
 Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen, started on the 9th 
 May, but gained nothing, except the assurance 
 from Lord Carnarvon that the Home Govern- 
 ment intended to retain the Transvaal, and 
 that the act of annexation could never be re- 
 versed, though a full measure of self-govern- 
 ment would be accorded. With this statement 
 before them they returned home; but at a 
 meeting held in January, 1878, Mr. Kruger 
 informed his countrymen that he had assur-
 
 128 THE It AID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 ances from Lord Carnarvon that the annexa- 
 tion would be given up if a sufficiently large 
 majority of the inhabitants declared them- 
 selves in favour of such a course. Whereupon 
 Messrs. Krugcr and Joubert were armed with 
 an extensively signed memorial, and again 
 proceeded to England, to meet with the same 
 answer. To say that they returned with tlie 
 conviction that a rebellion would follow, 
 sooner or later, is probably not an exag- 
 geration. 
 
 The determination of the Boers for inde- 
 pendence was not a change of front. Those 
 who clamoured for independence were those 
 who had lived far away from the towns, and 
 had not at first comprehended that annexation 
 had taken place : all their old fury for inde- 
 j)endencc reasserted itself, and they were 
 joined in their discontent by the more edu- 
 cated inhabitants of the towns, who were 
 incensed at the non-fulfilment of the pro- 
 mises held out. 
 
 Sir Bartle Frere was at this time the High 
 Commissioner for South Africa. He had been 
 sent out to fofw^ird Lord Carnarvon's scheme
 
 THE ZULU WAR. 129 
 
 for the federation of South Africa iitider the 
 British Crown. He, on the whole, stood well 
 with the Boers ; and whilst assuring them that 
 the act of annexation -was irrevocable, he 
 encouraged their hopes for self-government; 
 and had he been left to South Africa for a 
 while longer there is no doubt that the 
 measures for which the Boers looked would 
 have been obtained. 
 
 By this time events were drawing on for the 
 long-expected war with the Zulus. Long had 
 been the negotiations of Sir Theophilus Shep- 
 stone with Cetewayo, negotiations which had 
 perforce necessitated his absence from the 
 head of affairs in the Transvaal ; but that 
 savage potentate could no longer be re- 
 strained. It had been an invariable Zulu cus- 
 tom that the youth must not marry till they 
 had " washed " their spears ; and so firm was 
 the English rule that it was a choice of en- 
 forced celibacy or war with the dominant 
 power. They chose the latter. 
 
 Colonel Lanyon took Sir Theophilus Shep- 
 stone's place in the Transvaal on the 4th 
 March, 1879. The Boers were meanwhile
 
 130 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 growing more and more discontented ; nor 
 did the new Administrator's advent make mat- 
 ters any better. The late Administrator had 
 at least understood them, the present one did 
 not. 
 
 The temper of the Transvaal at this time 
 may be judged from the fact that scarcely 
 any of the Boers could be got to volunteer 
 against the Zulus. One of them in particular, 
 Piet Uys, however did so. His knowledge 
 of the country greatly aided the English 
 general ; and when he at length died, fight- 
 ing bravely, universal regret was felt. But 
 the majority held aloof, and in the thick of the 
 war Sir Bartle Frerc held a long parley with 
 them at Erasmus Spruit, which is described 
 in Mr. Martineau's " Life of Sir Bartle Frere." 
 The parley was satisfactory ; but, as if to com- 
 plete the alienation of^he Transvaal, Sir Bartle 
 was, in September, 1879, replaced by Sir 
 Garnet Wolseley. 
 
 Events after the termination of the Zulu 
 War rushed on for rebellion. The fact that 
 the English liad crushed the Zulu power 
 went for nothing, as the Boers contended
 
 THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 131 
 
 all along that they could have done it for 
 themselves (which seems impossible) ; and the 
 war with Sekukuni, which followed, caused 
 still more irritation, for the Boers could point 
 to it, and say that in this respect their conduct 
 prior to the annexation had been perforce 
 approved. 
 
 The long-delayed Constitution for the Trans- 
 vaal at length arrived ; but it was found that in- 
 stead of according any measure of self-govern- 
 ment, it ordained that both the Executive 
 Council and the Legislative Assembly should 
 be composed of officials and their nominees. 
 This tried the patience even of the English 
 residents at Pretoria, who began to recog- 
 nise the strained state of feeling. The fiital 
 mistake was also made of withdrawing a 
 large portion of the English troops from the 
 country. 
 
 It must be remembered that a large section 
 of the Liberal Party in England had un- 
 swervingly opposed the annexation. Mr. Glad- 
 stone, on his Midlothian tour in the later part 
 of 1879, condemned it in the strongest of lan- 
 guage, and the Boers were led to believe that
 
 132 THE RAID ON THE TllANSVAAL. 
 
 a change of parties in England would bring 
 about their independence. 
 
 But it was not to be. Mr. Gladstone, as 
 the result of the general election of 1880, re- 
 turned to power, but the Queen's speech 
 stated that the Transvaal would be retained. 
 It was in fact found impracticable to return 
 to the status quo owing to the various arrange- 
 ments with natives that had been entered into 
 in the meantime. But to the Boers this was 
 the shattering of their last hopes, and on all 
 sides preparations were made for the coming 
 struggle. 
 
 The first overt act of resistance occurred on 
 a question of taxation. One Bczuidenhout, 
 curiously enough the descendant of the 
 originator of the Slachter's Nek rebellion of 
 1815, refused to pay a levy made upon him. 
 His effects were seized for sale, but his friends 
 burst in upon the auction and dragged off the 
 effects. The insurgents met at Paarde Kraal 
 on the 1st of December, 1880. The conference 
 lasted for several days, and as a result the 
 Republic was proclaimed. Kruger, Joubert, 
 and Pretorius were provisiQU9.1ly appointed a
 
 BRUNKER'S SPRUIT. 133 
 
 Triumvirate. A large body of insurgents was 
 despatched to intercept a detachment of the 
 94th Regiment, which was proceeding from 
 Lydenburg to the reinforcement of Pretoria. 
 On the 21st December they encountered it at 
 Brunker's Spruit. The insurgents informed 
 Colonel Anstruther, who commanded, that the 
 Republic had been proclaimed, and that they 
 should resist his further advance ; but the 
 advance was ordered. The parley had taken 
 place under a flag of truce, and it is alleged 
 that the Boers had taken advantage of this to 
 get into position. At any rate, at the first 
 onset fifty-eight of the English were killed, 
 together with their commanding officer, and 
 ninety were wounded — the rest, outnumbered 
 and overpowered, had no option but to sur- 
 render. 
 
 The use made of the flag of truce by the 
 Boers on this and on other occasions during 
 the war has been severely criticised. There is 
 no reason to doubt that the Boers have very 
 little comprehension of the usages of civilised 
 warfare ; as a recent writer has said, their idea 
 is to do as much execution as possible at the
 
 134 THE BAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 least possible harm to themselves, and their 
 action throughout the war confirms this. It 
 must be remembered that in nearly all previous 
 wars their opponents had been a horde of 
 savages, whose ferocity was only equalled by 
 their treachery, and doubtless the Boers had 
 learnt treachery from them. No other defence 
 can ber offered. 
 
 Pretoria, Standerton, Lydenburg, Potchefs- 
 troom, and Wakkenstroom were now closely 
 besieged, and the country was in the hands of 
 the insurgents. 
 
 Joubert, the Commandant-General, saw that 
 troops would be brought up from Natal, and 
 that the real struggle would be with them. 
 Newcastle was the military post nearest to the 
 Transvaal border, and it was at the point 
 where the road from Newcastle to Pretoria 
 passes through the Drakensberg Kange that 
 the Transvaal general awaited the foe. The 
 narrow road is known at this point as Laing's 
 Nek. On both sides of the road the Boers were 
 strongly entrenched. Sir George CoUey, who 
 had at this time replaced Sir Garnet Wolseley 
 a« High Commissioner for South-East Africa,
 
 LAING'S NEK AND MAJUBA. 135 
 
 started from Newcastle with 1,100 men to 
 raise the siege of Pretoria. 
 
 What followed was disastrous to English 
 arms. On the 28th January, 1881, Sir George 
 attempted to force the Nek. The Boers, se- 
 curely posted in the hills, effectually repulsed 
 the English attack. Every effort to drive them 
 from their strong position proved futile, and 
 the English retreated with a loss of 190 
 men. Ten days later an attack was made 
 on 300 of Sir George Colley's force on the 
 road between the camp at Mount Prospect 
 and Newcastle, and the English had to ac- 
 knowledge a loss of 150. But the worst was 
 yet to come. Nettled by the two defeats, the 
 English commander brought up some rein- 
 forcements from Newcastle, and devised an- 
 other scheme of attack. At the rear of the 
 Boer position, and commanding their camp, 
 was the Majuba mountain, a very steep ascent. 
 On the night of the 26th February 600 men 
 were led up this hill ; 200 were left at an 
 intermediate point of the ascent, the remaining 
 400 clambered to the top. 
 
 The Boers arose in the morning to see the
 
 136 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 red-coats some hundreds of feet above their 
 heads. Many of them were for instant flight ; 
 but as no attack was made from the English 
 camp their courage revived. One hundred 
 and fifty men set off to storm the mountain, 
 covered by a searching fire from any point of 
 vantage, upon any Englishman who showed 
 against the sky-line. Thus protected they 
 reached the summit of the hill ; the English 
 reserves wavered, and no sign of help from the 
 camp appeared ; demoralisation set in ; and 
 when the Boers formed in a collected force the 
 English broke and fled down the mountain 
 side. Sir George Colley was one of the first 
 to fall ; and the Boers, now posted on the 
 ground the enemy had vacated, fired with 
 deadly eflect upon the fugitives. Ninety 
 were killed, and many wounded ; the Boer 
 loss was nugatory. 
 
 But the Boers, although thrice victorious, 
 had no reason for exultation. Sir Evelyn 
 Wood was in Natal witli a large army, and 
 more troops were held in readiness, while 
 General Sir Frederick Roberts was despatched 
 from I'Jigland to the Ca})o. These reinforce-
 
 CONVENTION OF PRETORIA. 137 
 
 ments, however, were never needed, for on 
 the 7th March, 1881, an amnesty was declared, 
 and proposals for peace were entertained. 
 
 These proposals were not made on the spur 
 of the moment ; negotiations had been con- 
 ducted almost throughout the struggle, chiefly 
 aided by the offers of President Brand, as 
 the President of the Free State, to act as 
 mediator; these negotiations were carried 
 forward in spite of, emphatically not because 
 of, the battle of Majuba Hill. 
 
 The terms agreed upon included self- 
 government for the Transvaal under the 
 Suzerainty of Great Britain, and subject to 
 British control of foreign relations, and the 
 appointment of a Commission to examine 
 into the question of native interests and the 
 delimitations of the Transvaal border. 
 
 The Commission duly sat, and on the 3rd 
 August the Convention of Pretoria was 
 signed. It reserved to Great Britain the 
 right to appoint a British Resident who should 
 discharge functions similar to those of a charge 
 d'affaires, to move troops through the Trans- 
 vaal in time of war, to control external rela- 
 
 K
 
 138 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 tions, including the conclusion of treaties. 
 The British Resident was especially charged 
 ■with the protection of native rights ; he was 
 to report any cases of ill-treatment of natives 
 to Her Majesty's High Commissioner as re- 
 presentative of the Suzerain, and to report 
 all encroachments of Boers on the native 
 territories adjoining the Transvaal, and to act 
 as the medium of communication of native 
 tribes with the State. The promises of the 
 Sand River Convention as to the non-continu- 
 ance of slavery were renewed, and the Boers 
 promised adherence to the boundaries fixed 
 by the Convention. The Volksraad which 
 was called ratified the Convention on October 
 25th, and the British officers and the army 
 of occupation were withdrawn, and the Re- 
 publican Hag hoisted. 
 
 It is fortunate that there is no necessity 
 in tliis place to add to the volume of criticism, 
 favourable or adverse, that exists as to the 
 policy of the Liberal Government in yielding 
 up the Transvaal at this time. It is sufficient 
 to say that violent language lias, in the course 
 of time, given way to an examination of the
 
 STELL ALAND AND GOSHEN, 139 
 
 question from a philosophical standpoint. It 
 is being recognised (as it invariably has to be 
 in questions of foreign policy) that there 
 were intricacies of which the public could 
 know nothing ; and by the more level-headed 
 section of Englishmen the expression " dis- 
 graceful surrender " has been replaced by 
 " mistaken policy " in reference to the act of 
 withdrawal. 
 
 Native troubles, unfortunately, were soon 
 afoot. On the Bechuana border intestine 
 quarrels arose amongst some of the tribes, and 
 the Boers of the frontier instigated revolt. 
 Bodies of them crossed the border and 
 established themselves near Vryburg and 
 Mafeking, establishing there the two separate 
 republics of Stellaland and Goshen. Mont- 
 sioa, one of the chiefs, was driven to make 
 a peace whereby he ceded a large portion of 
 his territory to the Boers. 
 
 But this robbery of their Bechuana allies, 
 whether by freebooters on their own respon- 
 sibility, or by the authority of the Government, 
 England would not permit. At the time a 
 deputation from the Transvaal, consisting 
 
 K 2
 
 140 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 of Messrs. Ivruger, Smit, and Du Toit, was 
 in London negotiating for the substitution of 
 another Convention for that of Pretoria, which, 
 it was alleged, worked badly and so caused 
 grievances. The deputation obtained much 
 of that which it asked for. By the Convention 
 of London, which was signed on the 21st of 
 February, 1884, the territories of the Republic 
 were again defined, and it gained a slice of 
 country to the south-west, yet no part of 
 Bechuanaland was included, but, on the con- 
 trary, it was taken under British protection, 
 and the Rev. Mr. Mackenzie was sent as 
 British Resident under the service of Cape 
 Colony. But after three months he resigned, 
 owing to differences "with the white men in 
 the district. Mr. Cecil Rhodes, who now 
 appears for the first time upon the stage of 
 African politics, took his place. Yet the 
 frcebooting Boers continued their depre- 
 dations, and the home Government was ham- 
 pered by difficulties with the Cape Colony, 
 which refused to annex Bechuanaland. Even- 
 tually Sir Charles Warren, armed with a large 
 commission to remove the filibusters from
 
 CONVENTION OF LONDON. 141 
 
 Bechuanaland and to reinstate the natives and 
 pacificate the country, went up with a large 
 force. This was done ; and the settlers of 
 Stellaland for the most part remained under 
 the British Protectorate, which was now for- 
 mally established. When Goshen likewise 
 was absorbed the most restive of the Boers 
 trekked back into the Transvaal, and the 
 remainder acted as their countrymen in 
 Stellaland had done. Both tliese districts are 
 now completely absorbed into the British 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 The Convention of London made a marked 
 difference in respect of the control by the 
 home Government of the external relations of 
 the Boers. The rights under the Pretoria 
 Convention were reduced to a veto on the 
 conclusion of a treaty with any foreign Power 
 without consent of Her Majesty, and such 
 consent was to be taken to have been given 
 after a period of six months had elapsed, 
 while the provisions as to the appointment of 
 a British Resident were replaced by conditions 
 as to the status of any British officer, if one 
 should be appointed. It has been a matter
 
 142 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 of much discussion to what extent the Suze- 
 rainty of Her Majesty was abrogated in 
 effect by the Convention of London. It is 
 generally assumed that it still exists, but 
 there is good authority for the other view. 
 This has become a question of the highest 
 importance in view of later developments. 
 
 It has been seen that the Boers had profited 
 little by their experiences on the native 
 question ; they had likewise ill learnt the 
 lessons of citizenship. Within two years from 
 the signing of the Convention of London the 
 financial situation of the country was again 
 hopeless. Now another agency intervened to 
 save them from ruin — an agency which has 
 transformed the whole country, forced its 
 politics into the forefront of current history, 
 and threatened to change the relations of the 
 Powers of Europe.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Opening of the Gold-fields — Barberton — The Rand 
 — Johannesburg — The Minerals of the Transvaal — 
 Population^Boer and Uitlander — Transvaal Con- 
 stitution — The Beginning of the Struggle — The 
 Boers' Apology — The Franchise — The Old Volks- 
 raad and the New — Restrictive Legislation — The 
 National Union — Grievances — The Malaboch Cam- 
 paign — Commandering the Uitlanders — Excite- 
 ment in Johannesburg — The High Commissioner — 
 The Right of Public Meeting — Anti-English Policy 
 — The Drifts Question— Preparing for Rebellion. 
 
 The year 1886 is the time of the disclosure 
 rather than the discovery of the mineral wealth 
 of the Transvaal. Eor that matter, gold had 
 been worked in the Lydenburg district since 
 the year 1873, but with no very startling results. 
 But the riches of the Rand and other districts 
 were guessed at, if not practically known, be- 
 fore the British annexation. The Boer leaders 
 were quick to recognise that the discovery of
 
 Ml THE RAID 0.\ THE TRANS VAAL. 
 
 gold in large quantities would endanger their 
 independence, and restrictive legislation was 
 passed against prospecting ; but with the 
 financial disasters of 1878 threatening to re- 
 peat themselves, a change was made in policy, 
 and in 1886 gold-fields were opened in the 
 ])e Kaap valley; on the lower slopes of the 
 Drakensberg. The inevitable and foreseen 
 result — a large advent of aliens — followed, and 
 the township of Barberton grew with amazing 
 rapidity. At one time its population was 
 estimated at 10,000, but from the year 1887 it 
 declined in importance. 
 
 The reason for this was the opening of the 
 Rand gold-field in September, 1886 — a field 
 which is destined, in the opinion of many ex- 
 perts, to prove the richest the world has yet 
 seen, which yields nearly 90 per cent, of the 
 gold found in the Transvaal State, and over 
 25 per cent, of the whole supply of the world. 
 Mr. Welsford, in " South Africa," describes the 
 Kand as a ridge of a great stretch of uplands, 
 the high veldt of the Transvaal, which runs 
 for 200 miles almost due east and west 
 between the valley of the Vaal and the head
 
 JOnAKNESBUllG. 145 
 
 waters of the Limpopo. On a brow of this 
 ridge Johannesburg stands, at an altitude of 
 5,700 feet above sea-level. 
 
 The best measure of the progress of the 
 industry upon this celebrated field is the 
 growth of the town of Johannesburg. This is, 
 in respect of the astonishing rapidity with 
 which it has sprung up, to be reckoned among 
 the wonders of the world. To again quote Mr. 
 Welsford, "In 1886 a few prospectors and 
 their workpeople were the sole inhabitants of 
 the Randt. To-day it ranks as one of the 
 commercial centres of the world, and for thirty 
 miles along the crest of the ridge the pit-head 
 gears, batteries, and surface works of the 
 sixty or seventy companies in active opera- 
 tion give evidence of the millions of capital 
 that have been invested." 
 
 Lord Dunmore, writing in The Pall Mall 
 Magazine for January, 189G, in reference to 
 the rapid growth of the town, bids us imagine 
 ourselves, in 1886, "standing on the Rand, 
 with an annual value of close on ten millions' 
 worth of undiscovered gold lying under our 
 feet, that Rand which was in those days
 
 146 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL 
 
 nothing more nor less than bare veldt (like an 
 American prairie), with perhaps a few Kaffir 
 kraals and a Boer farm or two in sight. 
 Could anyone have foreseen, or have in any 
 way realised, that during such an incredibly 
 short space of time, on that stretch of bare 
 veldt, there would spring up a large, prosper- 
 ous city, teeming with workers of diiferent 
 industries — a city of fine broad streets and finer 
 buildings (sure indication of the great wealth 
 of their occupants) ; a city of electric light 
 and tramways, of hotels, clubs, restaurants, 
 theatres, music-halls, cricket and polo grounds, 
 and two racecourses; a city with a population 
 of 60,000 souls, three daily and three weekly 
 newspapers, only forty-nine hours from Cape- 
 town, only 450 hours from London % " 
 
 The town, too, is growing rapidly. The 
 latest estimates give the population as in 
 excess of 70,000, and every steamer from 
 England, and one might say even from Europe, 
 brings more. 
 
 Lord Randolph Churchill, in his work 
 " Men, Mines, and Minerals in South Africa," 
 thus describes the town ; " Wherever the eye
 
 THE RAND OUTPUT. 147 
 
 reposes it is arrested by mining shafts, haul- 
 ing gear, engine houses, and tall chimneys. 
 Johannesburg presents a very English appear- 
 ance — that of an English manufacturing town 
 minus its noise, smoke, and dirt. The streets 
 are crowded with a busy, bustling, active, keen, 
 intelligent-looking throng. Here are gathered 
 together human beings from every quarter of 
 the globe, the English possessing an immense 
 predominance. The buildings and general 
 architecture attain an excellent standard, style 
 having been consulted and sought after, stone 
 and brick everywhere — corrugated iron being 
 confined to the roofs — solidity, permanence, 
 and progress the general characteristic." 
 
 Since the opening of the gold-field in 1886 
 it has passed through one period of acute 
 depression, when over-speculation was followed 
 by its inevitable reaction, but it has come on 
 since with renewed vigour, even strengthened 
 by its temporary weakness, and the output of 
 gold has risen from 34,097 oz. in 1887 to 
 1,711,397 oz. for the first nine months of 1895, 
 or an average of 2,281,863 oz. for the whole 
 year, with yet larger promises for the future.
 
 148 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 Nor is the Eand the only gold-field, nor is 
 gold the only metal. The Barberton field has 
 already been mentioned ; in the Zoutspanberg 
 district, the Lydenburg district, and the 
 Malmani fields the mining industry likewise 
 flourishes. There are the greatest possibili- 
 ties for silver and iron ; the mineral riches of 
 the Transvaal seem inexhaustible. 
 
 It is unfortunate that we have no reliable 
 statistics as to the growth of the population 
 under the new influences. It is impossible 
 to obtain anything like an accurate estimate 
 of the population to-day. The census of 1890, 
 for several reasons, furnished but an inade- 
 quate return. The native population, which 
 does not concern us, is reckoned at about half 
 a million. The white element has been esti- 
 mated two years ago at about 120,000. This 
 is certainly at the present time considerably 
 short of the mark. 
 
 A competent authority of later date has 
 estimated the male wliite population to be 
 composed of 10.000 Boers, 20,000 Africanders, 
 and 40,000 British, with a sprinkling of other 
 foreigners. An Africander is a white born in
 
 A FULL TREASURY. 149 
 
 South Africa of whatever parentage. Thus a 
 Boer is an Africander in the ordinary usage 
 of the word, but for the purpose of this 
 question the two are distinguished, and an 
 Africander means a native of South Africa 
 other than the Transvaal. These Africanders, 
 British and foreigners, with their wives and 
 families, form the alien or Uitlander population. 
 
 Let us revert for a short time to the year 
 1886. It has been observed that the second 
 attempt of the Transvaal State to maintain 
 itself was proving a failure. The Treasury 
 was again empty and salaries in arrear ; the 
 State lands mortgaged up to the hilt; the 
 upland Boer had profited nought by expe- 
 rience, and ruin stared the country in the 
 face. Under these circumstances the gold- 
 fields were thrown open. The result has 
 been to raise the credit of the Transvaal 
 State to the highest pitch, and to place in the 
 Treasury a reserve of £2,000,000. Well 
 might it be said that the success of the 
 country was wound up in the gold-fields ! 
 
 The country into which the Uitlanders 
 (for it is best to use this name to cover all
 
 150 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 aliens, Africander and other) crowded was 
 under a very primitive form of Government. 
 The Grondwet or fundamental law of the Con- 
 stitution fixed the number of the Volksraad at 
 forty-eight. The Volksraad was elected by 
 a most simple franchise, mainly residential, and 
 sat for four years. The Executive consisted 
 of the President, elected for five years ; a 
 State Secretary, elected for four years ; and a 
 Commandant-General, elected for ten years ; 
 and two other members of the Volksraad. The 
 country was divided into districts under land- 
 drosts, or civil magistrates, and the districts 
 were again subdivided into jurisdictions of 
 field-cornets. Standing anny there was none ; 
 but every burgher between the ages of sixteen 
 and sixty was liable to be called out for service 
 on " commando," as it is called. 
 
 Such, then, was the Constitution in 1886; 
 with regard to the inhabitants themselves 
 they were still for the most part self-centred. 
 The farmers of the uplands had gathered to 
 drive out the British ; but when the war was 
 over they returned to their farms with many 
 imprecations on the opponents who had
 
 POLITICAL APATHY. 151 
 
 called them away from their homes; the small 
 town clique who were by this time being re- 
 inforced by officials from the Netherlands to 
 assist in the work of government strove might 
 and main to keep the Republic afloat, despite 
 their countrymen's indifference. 
 
 For the first few years of the incursion of 
 Uitlanders no note of constitutional discord 
 was sounded ; the newcomers' only idea 
 was to get the gold, which many of them 
 believed lay broadcast on the surface, and to 
 go home again. The Government might be 
 an autocracy or a democracy ; lawlessness 
 might be rampant, justice unobtainable, if 
 only they were left in peace to gather up 
 the spoils and return to Europe to live in 
 affluence. They had no interests whatever in 
 the country; they certainly had no time to 
 trouble about rights of franchise, and no op- 
 portunities for revising the Constitution. 
 
 With the depression of 1890, however, 
 there was a change. Then slowly dawned 
 upon these pioneers the conviction that the 
 Transvaal Republic would have to become 
 to them a resting-place ; that the treasures of
 
 152 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 the soil were not to be wrested from it in a 
 clay, but that years of labour would be required 
 before a competence could be theirs. They 
 saw that this country, to whose Constitution 
 they had hitherto paid no attention, must be 
 their home, and the home of their children 
 after them ; they turned to her government, and 
 to her economic conditions ; they examined the 
 scheme of taxation to which they had, till 
 then, submitted without protest ; in short, 
 they began to feel themselves citizens of the 
 Transvaal and to look for citizens' rights. 
 
 From this time dates the Constitutional 
 struggle of the Transvaal. The time has not yet 
 come when a dispassionate view can be taken 
 of the question of the grievances of the Uit- 
 landers of the Transvaal. Take the political 
 situation as it stood at the time of the crisis, 
 examine the statistics, and the Englishmen 
 trained under a most enlightened political 
 system will unhesitatingly pronounce it intoler- 
 able ; examine the Boer position, and extenua- 
 ting circumstances for their action, due, in 
 the main, to their history and character, must 
 be admitted. In the first place, even if the
 
 BOER APOLOGY. 153 
 
 Boers have been utterly behindliand in recog- 
 nising the Uitlanders' claims to citizenship, 
 their case is an exceptional one. Those who 
 remember the fears which preceded our vari- 
 ous Reform Acts, fears lest a numerous class 
 were being let into power that would ride 
 roughshod over all other classes, cannot but 
 see that such a fear would in the case of the 
 Uitlanders be justified tenfold. The Uit- 
 landers' ideals are utterly opposed to those of 
 the Boer, far more so than those of any one 
 class of Englishmen to any other class ; and 
 the influx of voters under any form of Uit- 
 lander franchise would have been immense 
 compared to that under any English Reform 
 Act yet passed. Let us imagine ourselves 
 back in 1834 ! 
 
 Moreover, it has been seen how the Boer 
 has, throng hont his history, been ever unable 
 to attain to the conception of citizenship even 
 between himself and his fellow-countrymen. 
 How can he rise to the level of accepting 
 this pushing, active throng of outsiders ? 
 How could he in the course of ten years 
 unlearn those deep-lying principles which
 
 154 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 made him shut his doors against all outside 
 interference ? 
 
 And lastly, is it quite natural to expect 
 him to have advanced as far in political 
 evolution as ourselves? We fought the 
 battle for free speech and the battle against 
 monopolies in the first part of the seven- 
 teenth century; we have passed through all 
 the phases of a struggle to mould the judi- 
 ciary and to cripple the Legislature for the 
 benefit of the few ; shall it not make us 
 slightly more charitable % The presence of 
 medifiival ideas of government is perplexing 
 and embarrassing: it thwarts the prosperity 
 of the Transvaal itself, and baffles all our 
 South African projects. J>ut we know enough 
 of political history to see that a change must 
 inevitably come about in the very near future. 
 We may note the growth of modem principles 
 in the younger generation of the Boers and 
 its ever-growing hostility to the anti-English 
 policy; and if we know this, should we not do 
 better to rest in conscious strength upon our 
 convictions rather than go into hysterics about 
 "an irresponsible l)oj)per oligarchy " ?
 
 THE FRANCHISE. 155 
 
 However, to extenuate the failure of the 
 Boers to adequately address themselves to 
 their responsibilities is not in any way 
 to condemn as unnecessary the agitation 
 of the Uitlanders. The grievances under 
 which they laboured were and are most sub- 
 stantial, and it would be impossible for men 
 with any conception of political or social free- 
 dom passively to endure their position, by 
 which a sweeping majority of male inhabi- 
 tants were deprived of all political power. 
 
 As before mentioned, at the time of the first 
 influx of Uitlanders the Boer Government was 
 only too ready to welcome them. When the 
 State seemed about to demonstrate, for the 
 second time, its utter incapability to govern 
 itself, the levy from the Uitlanders fell into the 
 exhausted Treasury. Moreover, when in 1890 
 paralysis threatened the gold industry, every 
 effort was made to encourage mining. Yet, 
 side by side with these efforts, harsh restric- 
 tions were put upon the newcomers and their 
 rights. As soon after this as the latter end of 
 1892 the National Union was formed to agi- 
 tate for the extension of the franchise in a 
 
 L 2
 
 156 THE RAID ON THE TlLiySVAAL. 
 
 reasonable manner to Uitlanders. It is not in- 
 tended here to go into the long list of legislative 
 acts dealing with the Transvaal franchise, but 
 merely to gauge their general eifect. The 
 Volksraad, in the year 1886, consisted of forty- 
 eight members, and was elected by burghers or 
 by those who had attained burgher rights by 
 naturalisation. Naturalisation could be ob- 
 tained by aliens by five years' residence, a 
 payment of £25, an oath of allegiance to the 
 Republic, and a certificate of good conduct 
 from the field-cornet of the district. 
 
 The course of franchise legislation from this 
 date onward has been directed undoubtedly 
 towards preventing the Uitlander population 
 from ever attaining the vote at all, and 
 retaining all power in the hands of a small 
 clique of the burghers, but at the same time 
 presenting the Uitlanders with the shadow 
 of political rights wliile snatching away the 
 substance. 
 
 Thus, in 1890, there was constituted a 
 Second Volksraad, for the election of which 
 all naturalised aliens, as well as all burghers, 
 were entitled to vote; while, at the same time,
 
 THE SECOND V0LK8RAAD. 157 
 
 letters of naturalisation could be obtained 
 after two years' residence. Yet this apparent 
 concession was in reality no concession at all, 
 for the constitution of the Second Volksraad 
 was so hedged about as to make it merely a 
 consulting body. In the first place, its sphere 
 of activity was confined to mines, roads, tele- 
 graphs, company law, trade-marks, and kindred 
 subjects ; and in the second place, not only 
 could its proposals be absolutely vetoed by 
 the First Volksraad, but the President had it 
 in his discretion what resolutions and pro- 
 ceedings of the Second Volksraad should even 
 be brought before the Government. Thus 
 the right to vote at the election of the Second 
 Volksraad was, for purposes of obtaining any 
 voice in the affairs of the country, of no value 
 whatever. Moreover, while the Government 
 made this apparent concession, the most ex- 
 traordinary legislation with respect to the 
 franchise for the First Volksraad was passed. 
 The class of persons entitled to vote in these 
 elections was made incapable of enlarge- 
 ment after the year 1890 by any persons who 
 were naturalised after that date, unless such
 
 158 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 persons had possessed for ten years the right 
 to vote for the Second Volksraad. 
 
 This last extraordinary provision was am- 
 plified in the year 1894 by a statute which 
 precluded any extension of voting rights for 
 the First Volksraad, except after publication 
 of a draft law in the Government Gazette for 
 one year, and this only with the assent of 
 two-thirds of qualified burghers to the pro- 
 posed change. Meanwhile the numbers of 
 both First and Second Volksraads had been 
 reduced to twenty-four. Above all, children 
 born in the Republic of alien parentage 
 obtain no rights except their parents are 
 naturalised at the time of their birth. 
 
 The National Union was formed by the Uit- 
 lander population in 1S92 with the main object 
 of obtaining a reform of the franchise laws 
 (which have, as shown above, increased in viru- 
 lence against Uitlanders since that date) ; but, 
 in addition to this question, there were many 
 other proceedings which called loudly for re- 
 form. 'I'he (iovernment was, to a great extent, 
 in the hands no longer of the l^oers of the 
 Transvaal, but of a small clique of European
 
 PRESIDKNT KKUGEB.
 
 MISGOVEKNMENT. 161 
 
 connections. Monopolies and concessions 
 were granted to European syndicates with 
 undiscriminating favour alike in means of 
 transport, in the necessaries of life, and in the 
 equipments of industry. The progress in the 
 making of railways, which are indispensable 
 to the welfare of mining in Africa, was 
 nugatory, although President Kruger's op- 
 position to the railroad had been withdrawn 
 as impracticable in the altered circumstances 
 of the State. Heavy and unnecessary taxation 
 pressed upon the mining communities ; and 
 perhaps worst of all, the First Volksraad was 
 clearly attempting to undermine the judi- 
 ciary, and claimed the right to alter the 
 Grondwet, or fundamental law of the Con- 
 stitution, by a simple majority of the Raad, 
 an act clearly ultra vires, and fraught with 
 the gravest danger, threatening, as it did, to 
 subordinate the whole country to twenty- 
 four members of the smallest section of tlie 
 population. The agitation for constitutional 
 change proceeded through the Transvaal 
 Union quietly enough for some time. 
 But in 189o there occurred an event which
 
 162 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 threatened to precipitate the subsequent 
 crisis. 
 
 This was the commandeering of Uitlanders 
 to fight with Malaboch. It has been observed 
 that all burghers of the Transvaal between the 
 ages of sixteen and sixty are liable to military 
 service on commando. When the long-delayed 
 struggle with the natives of the Zoutspanberg 
 district, headed by Malaboch, broke out, the 
 commando from the districts of Pretoria and 
 Potchefstroom was made up to include a 
 great many Uitlanders of English birth. Most 
 of them declined to march, save by force, 
 declaring that as they were denied all privi- 
 leges of citizenship tliey could not be called 
 upon to fight the battles of the State. Their 
 case was argued at Pretoria, but after a lengthy 
 hearing judgment was given against them, 
 and they were compelled to proceed to the 
 front. The palpable injustice of this state of 
 things caused great excitement at Johannes- 
 burg. Angry protests were made, tlie President 
 was mobbed, and the Transvaal llag insulted. 
 Her Majesty's High Commissioner arrived, 
 and succeeded in allaying the excitement. It
 
 THE RIGHT OP PUBLIC MEETING. 163 
 
 appeared that England had never come to any 
 agreement as to the exemption of British sub- 
 jects from commando, whilst nearly all other 
 countries had done so. It was arranged that 
 in future British subjects should have this pri- 
 vilege to the same extent as the subjects of 
 other countries. 
 
 But the matter did not end here. The 
 Government foresaw that a great demonstra- 
 tion would be arranged to welcome those 
 who had been commandeered at the close of 
 the war, and they therefore passed in hot 
 haste legislation severely restricting the right 
 of public meeting. By one clause of this 
 statute, meetings in the open air were for- 
 bidden on pain of a heavy penalty. 
 
 Despite this statute, a large meeting was 
 held at Johannesburg to welcome the exiles. 
 It was most enthusiastic but at the same 
 time most orderly, and it gave birth to the 
 celebrated Uitlander protest against the state 
 of Government, whereby the disfranchised 
 aliens, in eloquent language, gave utterance 
 to the long list of grievances under which 
 they laboured.
 
 161 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 The position was rapidly becoming intoler- 
 able. The governing clique at Pretoria were 
 dominated by a perfectly insane anti-English 
 policy. The progress of the Cape railway 
 was hampered ; resolutions were proposed in 
 the Volksraad excluding from all rights those 
 who had served under the British rule during 
 the occupation or who had fought with the 
 British during the war of independence ; the 
 franchise petition of the Uitlanders, originally 
 signed by 5,000 persons, but the last of which 
 obtained 38,500 names, was rejected with 
 derision. In the autumn of 1895 the inter- 
 vention of the Home Government took place 
 in a matter which resulted from the deter- 
 mination of the Transvaal Government to 
 prevent the success of the Cape line to the 
 Hand, and to direct all traffic to the Delagoa 
 Bay line, which had been opened in the early 
 part of the year. The Netherlands Railway 
 Company proved itself utterly unable to cope 
 with the increasing traffic, and the Cape line 
 to the Rand became blocked with accumu- 
 lated goods waggons. A waggon service was 
 started in competition across the A^aal river
 
 TEE COMING STOMM, 165 
 
 to Johannesburg, whereupon the President 
 issued a proclamation closing the drifts or fords 
 of the Vaal river to all traffic ; thus hoping 
 to destroy the popularity of the Cape line 
 to the Rand, and direct the goods traffic to 
 Delagoa Bay, which, as being Portuguese and 
 not English, he greatly favoured. But this 
 action brought a notice from the British 
 Government that the act was a breach of the 
 London Convention, and the proclamation 
 was withdrawn. 
 
 Constitutional agitation had failed ; and 
 though the more observant could see that a 
 large section of the younger generation of 
 Boers was opposed to the reactionary policy 
 of the President and his clique, yet the more 
 impulsive of the Uitlanders saw nothing but 
 the defeats and humiliation to which the 
 Government subjected them. 
 
 The more angry the Uitlanders showed 
 themselves the more stubborn was the Presi- 
 dent's resistance. The National Union was 
 arming its adherents; the President spoke of- 
 crushing the rebellion. Under such conditions 
 the close of the year 1895 drew near at hand.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Johannesburg's Manifesto — Excitement in the Town — 
 Transfer of Buchuana Territory — Disbandment of 
 Bechuanaland Police — Dr. Jameson and the Uit- 
 landers' Letter — Crossing the Frontier — Pretoria 
 gets the News — The Armistice — The High Com- 
 missioner — Dr. Jameson summoned to Retire — Fii-st 
 Skirmish with the Boere — New Year's Day — 
 Krugersdorp — Doornkop — Surrender — Boer Anger 
 — Removal to Pretoria. 
 
 Whilst in England Christmas had brought 
 with it its air of repose, matters in Johan- 
 nesburg grew more and more grave, and many 
 had made up their minds to a violent struggle 
 with the Government. On the 2Gth December 
 the Transvaal Union issued a manifesto calling 
 for 
 
 (1) The establishment of the Republic 
 as a true Republic under a Con- 
 stitution approved by the people.
 
 UITLANDER MANIFESTO. 167 
 
 (2) Equitable franchise and fair repre- 
 
 sentation. 
 
 (3) Equality of Dutch and English lan- 
 
 guages. 
 
 (4) Responsibility of the Legislature of 
 
 the heads of the great departments. 
 
 (5) Removal of religious disabilities. 
 
 (6) Establishment of independent courts 
 
 of justice, with adequate pay for the 
 judges, which should be properly 
 secured. 
 
 (7) Liberal education. 
 
 (8) Efficient Civil Service, with an ade- 
 
 quate pay and pension system. 
 
 (9) Free trade in foreign products. 
 
 To this manifesto was appended the note 
 that these being the objects the Uitlanders 
 desired, it was to be determined by them what 
 was the best method of obtaining them. It 
 concluded : " We shall expect an answer in 
 plain terms according to your deliberate judg- 
 ment at the meeting to be held on January 
 6th." 
 
 In addition to the franchise and the taxation 
 questions, the religious grievance, the educa-
 
 168 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 tional grievance, and the language grievance 
 were all questions of the first importance. 
 For the attainment of official position mem- 
 bership of the National Church was essential, 
 a mistake which most countries have made 
 at some period of their history. With regard 
 to education, the Uitlanders were very gene- 
 rally compelled to have their children in- 
 structed through the Dutch language by Dutch 
 masters. The fact that in Cape Colony 
 English and Dutch were of equal rank for all 
 official purposes, stimulated the Uitlanders to 
 demand a concession of equal rights for the 
 two languages in the Transvaal. 
 
 Rumours were now rife of an immediate 
 rising; the whole town was in a state of 
 nervous tension ; the trains to the Colony were 
 crowded with those who felt Johannesburg 
 was insecure ; parties of armed Boers were to 
 be seen in many quarters ; many of the mines 
 were shut down ; the Government at Pretoria 
 affected an air of indifference. But the Pre- 
 sident was prepared to strike ; and one mem- 
 ber of the Volksraad challenged the Uitlanders 
 to fight for their rights if they dared. It was
 
 KHAMA AND THE COMPANY. 169 
 
 reported that he was severely censured, and 
 for the credit of the Boers it is to be hoped 
 the report was true. Many of the Uitlanders 
 undoubtedly shrank from the idea of open 
 conflict when all their substance was involved. 
 
 The Chartered Company, after the quieting 
 of the Matabele, may be said to have had no 
 history for some period. That period was 
 one of uninterrupted progress in the develop- 
 ment of their territories. 
 
 The transfer of territory agreed upon 
 between the Imperial Government and the 
 Company, whereby the Company assumed 
 jurisdiction over the Bechuanaland Pro- 
 tectorate, proved obnoxious to Khama and 
 the other Bechuana chiefs whose territories 
 were involved in the agreement ; they desired 
 to remain under the Sovereign power, and not 
 to pass under the sway of the Company, and 
 they journeyed to England to lay their views 
 before the Colonial Secretary. An arrange- 
 ment was come to whereby the chiefs were 
 permitted to retain their respective reserves 
 under the Sovereign power, whilst they as- 
 signed to the Company a narrow strip of land
 
 170 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 at the east of their territory, and bordering 
 the west frontier of the Transvaal, for the 
 purposes of the railway which was being made 
 from the Cape Colony into Rhodesia. Dr. 
 Jameson was appointed the Resident Com- 
 missioner for this new strip. Having regard 
 to this arrangement, the Bechuanaland Border 
 Police were no longer required by the Im- 
 perial Government, and were disbanded close 
 to the Transvaal border at Mafeking and 
 Pitsani Pitlogo. Dr. Jameson was then 
 at Pitsani, and the disbanded men were 
 offered the chance of enrolment in the Com- 
 pany's Police, of which a detachment was 
 then in the district ostensibly to guard the 
 railway which was in course of construction. 
 This offer a very large number of them 
 accepted. The Annual Register for 1895, 
 after dealing with events in Bechuanaland, 
 concludes : " At the end of December there 
 was going on an amount of drilling and pre- 
 paration at these places (?.^., Mafeking and 
 Pitsani), and a report was current that they 
 were about to attack some hostile native 
 chief."
 
 THE REFORMERS' LETTER. 171 
 
 On New Year's Day all England was 
 startled with the news that Dr. Jameson had 
 gone into the Transvaal with an armed force. 
 
 On the 29th of December Dr. Jameson 
 mustered the force of Police present at 
 Pitsani and addressed them. He stated that 
 affairs at Johannesburg were in a critical 
 state, and that the lives of the Uitlanders and 
 their wives and children were in peril. He 
 read a letter he had received, signed by five 
 leaders of the Reform Party in Johannesburg ; 
 in the course of the letter it was stated: " We 
 cannot view the future without the gravest 
 apprehension. All feel that we are justified 
 in taking any steps to prevent the shedding of 
 blood, and to ensure the protection of our 
 rights, It is under these circumstances that 
 we feel constrained to call upon you to come 
 to our aid, should a disturbance arise here. 
 The circumstances are so extreme that we 
 cannot but believe that you, and the men 
 under you, will not fail to come to the aid of 
 people who will be so situated." He then 
 called upon them to proceed across the border 
 to Johannesburg, not with any hostile inten- 
 
 M 2
 
 172 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 tions towards the Boers, but simply for the 
 protection of the English residents in the 
 town. Sir John Willoughby, who had been 
 seconded to the Company's Police, likewise ad- 
 dressed the men. The men responded by 
 singing " God save the Queen " and " Rule 
 Britannia." Sir John Willoughby assumed 
 the command of the expedition, and pre- 
 parations were made for an immediate 
 start. 
 
 Meanwhile Major Coventry and Colonel 
 Grey, who had served with the Bechuanaland 
 Border Police, and who were then at Mafe- 
 kins: with over 100 of the men who had 
 belonged to that body, led them across the 
 Transvaal frontier. Once across, the destina- 
 tion of the force was declared. At first some 
 of the men demurred, but on being informed 
 that the expedition was to uphold the 
 supremacy of the British Flag in South 
 Africa, they rejoined their comrades. 
 
 The intention of the commanders was to 
 make for Johannesburg at top speed, resting 
 neither night nor day more than absolutely 
 necessary. Needless to say that the exped>
 
 FORWARD. 173 
 
 tion was exclusively composed of mounted 
 men. The Pitsani contingent which started for 
 the border on Sunday, the 29th December, in 
 the early evening, was composed of about 4.00 
 officers and men. It took with it six Maxims 
 and a twelve -and-a-half- pounder. The 
 Mafeking contingent was composed of about 
 150 officers and men, and had ten seven- 
 pounders and ten Maxims. 
 
 The two columns rode through the Sunday 
 night and on the Monday morning united 
 near Malmani in the Transvaal territory after 
 riding nearly 40 miles through the night. 
 Sir John Willoughby took the command of 
 the expedition, though Dr. Jameson, of course, 
 assumed the responsibility. All had so far 
 gone well. A good start had been effected 
 before the Boers could have got any notice 
 of the invasion. The telegraph wires were 
 cut at Malmani and the now united column 
 formed up for the ride. Scouts were sent out 
 on all sides. Two Maxims went with the 
 advance-guard and two with the rear-guard, 
 while two flanking parties were thrown out 
 from the main body.
 
 174 THE JiAID ON THE THANSVAAL. 
 
 One hundred and fifty miles had lain 
 between them and their destination when 
 they started, and over a hundred of them yet 
 remained to be traversed. All through the 
 Monday the column pressed on, the men 
 never being out of the saddle for more than a 
 few minutes. Food was ready for the in- 
 vaders at several points, and now galloping, 
 now slackening to a walk, they passed over 
 the miles of lonely veldt that lay between 
 them and the Golden City. 
 
 But forces were already at work to mar the 
 chances of success. Pretoria became aware 
 of the violation of the territory early on the 
 oOth. The Government was in a state of 
 consternation. Johannesburg was known to 
 be on the eve of rebellion, and six hundred 
 men were galloping to their aid. General 
 Joubert was ordered to oppose the advance 
 witli the forces immediately available, and 
 urgent messages were sent through the 
 country to summon tlie burghers from all 
 parts. 
 
 Yet this was clearly not sufficient ; Johan- 
 nesburg must be restrained or the Boer forces
 
 THE ARMISTICE. 177 
 
 would be taken in flank. A deputation was 
 immediately sent from Pretoria to the Rand. 
 
 Johannesburg had heard of Jameson's 
 approach on the Monday night ; the news 
 had not given entire satisfaction, but the 
 city was extremely agitated. It was felt on 
 all sides that they must be supported ; round 
 the offices of the Reform Committee in the 
 early morning of Tuesday large crowds 
 assembled, and the city was gradually put 
 under arms, and all arrangements for the 
 defence were conducted with the greatest 
 order and regularity. 
 
 In the middle of the warlike preparations, 
 the deputation from Pretoria arrived ; it pro- 
 posed an armistice ; Johannesburg was not 
 to attack Pretoria nor Pretoria Johannesburg ; 
 a deputation was to be sent to Pretoria to lay 
 before the President the causes of the rebel- 
 lion, and most lavish promises of concessions 
 were made. Johannesburg fell in with the 
 arrangement ; the people had great reason to 
 fear the Boer attack on an open town. More- 
 over, if attention was to be paid to their 
 grievances they had gained tlieir object. As
 
 178 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 to Dr. Jameson, they seem never to have 
 doubted his ability to come through un- 
 assisted, and they never suspected that in 
 face of the armistice careful preparations 
 were being made to attack the Chartered 
 Company's troops, and that the Boer army 
 was even then selecting the ground on which 
 it would fight. Pretoria had outwitted 
 Johannesburg ; they had prevented the union 
 of the town with the invaders ; they had 
 omitted Ur. Jameson from the terms of 
 the armistice, and they were free to attack 
 him at their leisure. 
 
 As if to complete the determination of 
 the Johannesburg leaders, and to lay to rest 
 all scruples, a proclamation arrived from the 
 High Commissioner for South Africa repudiat- 
 ing Dr. Jameson's expedition, and calling on 
 all men to keep the peace. The Johannes- 
 burgers seem to have leapt at the means of 
 ej3cape thus offered them ; and for the time 
 being, at least, the town remained quiet. 
 
 The High Commissioner, acting on instruc- 
 tions from London, had, indeed, taken most 
 vigorous action to prevent a further spread of
 
 THE RECALL. 179 
 
 rebellion. Besides the message to the people 
 of Johannesburg, Sir Jacobus de Wet, the 
 British Resident in the Transvaal, was ordered 
 to meet the expedition and order it to retire, 
 whilst a mounted messenger was despatched 
 in pursuit of the expedition with similar 
 orders. 
 
 Meanwhile, the invaders, ignorant alike of 
 the armistice at Johannesburg and of the 
 action of the High Commissioner, rode 
 steadily forwards to its goal. On Tuesday 
 morning, the 31st December, the comman- 
 dant of the Marico district rode up to the 
 column, and ordered Dr. Jameson to with- 
 draw his men beyond the frontier. Dr. 
 Jameson replied that he came in answer to a 
 call from Johannesburg to assist the people 
 in the demand for the rights of citizens. 
 Towards morning, on the Tuesday, the High 
 Commissioners messenger overtook the 
 column. The leaders read the repudiation ; 
 the only answer returned was that the 
 message would be attended to, and the 
 column moved on westward. 
 
 But the Boers were mustering in force
 
 180 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 ahead ; the messages from Pretoria had gone 
 swiftly through the country, and mounted 
 Boers galloped in from every side to the 
 assistance of General Joubert. 
 
 At ten o'clock on the last day of the year 
 the opposing parties got within range of each 
 other. By this time, men and horses of 
 Jameson's troop were sorely in need of rest, 
 but the massing of the Boers on the hillside 
 proved that if the column was to get through 
 without serious opposition they must press 
 on. Firing began about 11 p.m. from the 
 kopjes along the base of which the column 
 was proceeding ; this was the first active 
 opposition. For an hour the march was de- 
 layed and the enemy's fire returned, then the 
 column pressed on. 
 
 The morning of New Year's Day found 
 them on the hills above Krugersdorp ; at 
 8 a.m. they breakfasted and rested. Whilst 
 so engaged, Sir Jacobus do Wet's envoy 
 arrived, and was despatched back with the 
 message that retreat was now impossible. 
 Skirmishing went on all the morning; the 
 Boers were massing alicad to oppose the
 
 GENERAL JOUBERT.
 
 THE FIRST ATTACK. 183 
 
 advance, and at mid-day the great attack 
 commenced. A member of the force writing 
 to The Times thus describes the engage- 
 ment : — 
 
 " It had been cloudy all the morning, and in 
 a terrific thunderstorm we mounted a very 
 steep kopje in skirmishing order, the Boers 
 having entrenched themselves on an opposite 
 and strongly fortified hill. We put several 
 shells into their fortifications, but were unable 
 to dislodge the Boers. The order was then 
 given for the skirmishers to charge, but there 
 seems to have been some misunderstanding 
 as only twenty-five men charged, about fifty 
 going round to the left and trying to take the 
 Boers in the flank. It was during this move- 
 ment that we saw how strong the Boer posi- 
 tion was, for a very heavy fire was im- 
 mediately poured on both parties ; the flank- 
 ing party retired, but the fire on the twenty- 
 five men was so heavy that they dismounted 
 and took the nearest cover. An attempt was 
 made to send a messenger to them with the 
 order to retreat, but he was wounded on the 
 way, and seeing the heavy firing, and that
 
 IS-i THE BAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 they made no signs, it was surmised they 
 must have all been killed. This happily 
 proved untrue, as they were taken prisoners 
 by the Boers as soon as the column left, only 
 two being killed and four wounded, one very 
 seriously. The attack proving fruitless the 
 column was ordered to make a detour to the 
 right, which we succeeded in doing, but were 
 so hemmed in by the Boers that it was 
 decided to laager for the night, hoping for 
 assistance from Johannesburg in the morn- 
 ing." 
 
 All through the night the Boers upon the 
 hills kept up a fire upon the laager, and 
 though the Maxims answered them it was to 
 little purpose. 
 
 It was evidently impossible to force the 
 way through the hills round Krngersdorp ; no 
 reinforcements appeared from Johannesburg, 
 and the column began to feel the pangs of 
 desertion. The men were tired out, and the 
 horses were good for little without a long 
 rest ; tlie enemy was being reinforced every 
 hour, and ammunition was being hurried up 
 by train to Krngersdorp, the terminus of the
 
 THE SURRENDER. 185 
 
 Rand line. It was decided to detour to the 
 south and make a last dash for Johan- 
 nesburg. At daybreak the column pressed 
 forward as hard as weary beasts could gallop. 
 But the dash died away ; on the hills in front 
 appeared larger numbers of the enemy than 
 before, whilst their KLrugersdorp foes closed 
 in on the rear. The position was hopeless ; 
 the ammunition was practically exhausted ; 
 the men and horses dead beat ; no sign from 
 Johannesburg. Yet the heroic company pre- 
 pared to storm the enemy's new position at 
 Doornkop. One hill was carried, only to find 
 the enemy strongly posted on the next. The 
 English were hopelessly outnumbered. Fur- 
 ther resistance meant the sacrifice of life to 
 no purpose ; and at 10 a.m. the white fiag 
 was hoisted, and the Boers rushed down 
 from the hills on all sides and took the whole 
 company prisoners. 
 
 It has been said that the result of Dr. 
 Jameson's raid has been to weaken British 
 prestige in South Africa ; this is probably the 
 exact opposite of the truth. The Boers ex- 
 pressed the greatest admiration for the men, 
 
 N
 
 186 THE RAID ON THE TliANSVAAL. 
 
 who, numbering notone-fifth of their opponents, 
 without food and without sleep, had kept up 
 a running fight for about twenty-four hours 
 under hopeless conditions of position. The 
 English loss was very slight, for twenty only 
 were killed, although many were wounded ; 
 of the Boer loss it is difficult to speak, but 
 there is no reason to doubt that it largely 
 exceeded that of the English, and that the 
 shelling of the kopjes cost them dear. Dr. 
 Jameson and his men had fought a hopeless 
 fight from the first ; disgraced they could not 
 have been. 
 
 The prisoners were marched to Krugers- 
 dorp, and in the market-place Dr. Jameson 
 narrowly escaped being shot by some of the 
 Boers, who were exasperated at the loss of re- 
 latives and at what appeared to them a wanton 
 invasion ; but the firmness of the Boer com- 
 mandant prevented this. From Krugersdorp 
 they wore taken to Pretoria, there to await 
 the decision of the Government.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Johannesburg's Awakening — Pacification of the Town — 
 Disarmament — The Queen's Message to President 
 Kruger — England's Attitude — The German Em- 
 per-or's Telegi'am — The War Fever — Dr. Jameson 
 Handed Over to the English Authorities — Alarmist 
 Rumours — President Kruger's Proclamation — Mr. 
 Rhodes Resigns — Disarming the Company — Mes- 
 sage to Germany — Dr. Jameson Loaves for Eng- 
 land — The Foreign Enlistment Act — Dr. Jameson's 
 Return — Reception at Bow Street — The Prelim- 
 inary Investigation — Committed for Trial. 
 
 Whilst Dr. Jameson and his resolute little 
 force were fighting against overwhelming odds, 
 increased by hunger and fatigue, yet sustained 
 by the hope of reinforcements from Johan- 
 nesburg, the inhabitants of the town remained 
 inactive under the armistice, and by reason of 
 the High Commissioners' proclamation. They 
 seem to have remained in blissful ignorance 
 
 of the tremendous forces against which Dr. 
 
 N 2
 
 183 THE EAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 Jameson was contending, and to have looked 
 forward with absolute confidence to his 
 triumphant entry into the market square. 
 Gradually the report leaked out that matters 
 had not gone so favourably as could have 
 been wished, but they still declined to believe 
 that a reverse could possibly occur. But 
 when they heard of the defeat and surrender 
 there came a violent revulsion of feeling. 
 The thought that they had rested secure 
 within the town whilst their would-be deliverer 
 was enduring a severe defeat within twenty 
 miles of them enraged all classes, and for a 
 time there was every prospect of a violent 
 outbreak. The Reform Committee were 
 roundly abused; the offices of the National 
 Union were surrounded by an angry mob 
 who clamoured loudly for rebellion, whilst a 
 number of Scotchmen, bitterly wroth that it 
 should be thought that tliey had deserted 
 their fellow-countryman in his peril, proposed 
 forthwith to proceed to his rescue. The 
 Boers were on their side no less enraged with 
 the Uitlanders ; they made hostile demon- 
 strations both in and round the town ; and it
 
 THE HIGH COMMISSIONEB. 189 
 
 seemed that any moment might see a violent 
 struggle. 
 
 Yet wiser counsels prevailed ; the leaders 
 pointed out that any attempt at rescue would 
 be a foregone failure ; that the number of 
 armed Boers exceeded the number of armed 
 Uitlanders ; that they commanded the town 
 from several points of vantage, and that they 
 were strengthened by the Maxims taken from 
 the Chartered force ; moreover, any movement 
 of rebellion must imperil the life of Dr. 
 Jameson and his fellow-prisoners. 
 
 Meanwhile the High Commissioner had 
 arrived at Pretoria, and set about the work 
 of pacification. Mr. Chamberlain had tele- 
 graphed to Sir Hercules : " I regret that 
 Jameson's disobedience has led to this de- 
 plorable loss of life. Do your best to secure 
 generous treatment of the prisoners and 
 care of the wounded." 
 
 President Kruger was evidently master of 
 the situation ; the lives of the prisoners were 
 technically at any rate at his mercy, and 
 he had the military superiority. His terri- 
 tory had been violated ; his burghers killed,
 
 190 THE liAID ON THE THANSVAAL. 
 
 The Government of Pretoria insisted on the 
 immediate disarmament of Johannesburg. 
 Whether the inhabitants of the rebellious 
 town consented to the terms of disarmament 
 in order to save Dr. Jameson's life, or 
 whether they were convinced by superior 
 power, is uncertain ; at any rate the terms 
 were accepted, and disarmament slowly com- 
 menced. 
 
 This process caused the greatest friction, 
 and arms were delivered up sullenly ; the 
 difficulties were increased by the fact that 
 the Reform Committee had stated that 30,000 
 rifles had been distributed, whereas in fact 
 the number was not more than 3,000. The 
 vigorous search by the Boers for the non- 
 existent rifles caused much unpleasantness, 
 and it was some time before the town ceased 
 to express its angry feelings. 
 
 In England the news of the raid had 
 been received with the greatest surprise ; for 
 though the grievances of the Uitlanders had 
 become common knowledge, none were pre- 
 pared for the denouement. The large majority 
 of the well-informed unhesitatingly con-
 
 THE GERMAN MESSAGE. 191 
 
 demned the raid in the first instance ; but 
 the news of the heroic struggle and ultimate 
 defeat distinctly tended to change the current 
 of popular feeling. The extraordinary action 
 of the Emperor of Germany enhanced, how- 
 ever illogically, this feeling ; for this poten- 
 tate, on hearing the news of the surrender at 
 Doornkop, telegraphed to the President of 
 the Republic as follows : " I express to you 
 my sincere congratulations that, without ap- 
 pealing to the help of friendly Powers, you 
 and your people have succeeded in repelling 
 with your own forces the armed bands which 
 had broken into your country, and in main- 
 taining the independence of your country 
 against foreign aggression." 
 
 This message, assuming as it did the right 
 of Germany or other Powers to interfere in 
 the Transvaal, and also the complicity of the 
 English Government in the raid, caused the 
 greatest indignation. It was felt to be un- 
 warrantable and hostile; and the scent of 
 war was immediately in the air. As if by 
 some subtle, magical force, all classes of the 
 people seemed straightway acquainted with
 
 193 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 the meaning of the message, and the flame 
 of national anger caught the kingdom in an 
 instant in its embrace. On platforms and in 
 the Press Germany was denounced ; men dis- 
 cussed war in the railway-carriage and shouted 
 for it in music-halls. The proprietors of the 
 halls were not slow to improve the occasion ; 
 whilst the writers of patriotic songs made 
 large fortunes. 
 
 The immediate answer to the telegram was 
 the commissioning of a flying squadron to 
 proceed to Delagoa Bay or elsewhere as 
 required ; and the promptitude with which 
 this was done caused an abrupt change of 
 tone in the Continental Press, which, almost 
 without exception, for about a week had been 
 heaping the most violent and ridiculous abuse 
 upon the English Government. The episode 
 was soon over ; but the cfl"ects remain in a 
 distrust of Germany which will not be quickly 
 removed. It is very hard for democracy and 
 autocracy to run in double harness. 
 
 Meanwhile, negotiations were proceeding 
 for the delivering over of Dr. Jameson and 
 his men to the English Government, a course
 
 MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S LETTER. 193 
 
 which President Krnger seems to have in- 
 tended from the outset. There was at first 
 a rumour that Dr. Jameson and some of his 
 officers would be shot ; it is not pleasant to 
 contemplate what might have happened in 
 the state of feeling at the time had this 
 taken place. Mr. Chamberlain, on hearing 
 of President Kruger's merciful intentions, 
 telegraphed as follows : " I have received the 
 Queen's commands to acquaint you that Her 
 Majesty has heard with satisfaction that you 
 have decided to hand over the prisoners to 
 the Government. This act will redound to 
 the credit of your Honour, and will conduce 
 to the peace of South Africa and to the 
 harmonious confederation of the British and 
 Dutch races, which is necessary for its future 
 development and prosperity." To which 
 President Kruger, through the medium of 
 the High Commissioner, responded : " I have 
 the honour to acknowledge the receipt of 
 your Excellency's letter of to-day with copy 
 enclosed therein of a telegram received by 
 your Excellency from the Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies, requesting your Excellency,
 
 194 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 by command of Her Majesty the Queen, to 
 inform us of a message in which Her Majesty 
 expresses her satisfaction at my decision to 
 hand over the prisoners to Her Majesty's 
 Government. As I had already caused your 
 Excellency to be informed it is really ray 
 intention to act in this sense so that Dr. 
 Jameson and the British subjects who were 
 under his command may then be punished 
 by Her Majesty's Government, and I will 
 make known to your Excellency the final 
 decision in this matter as soon as Johannes- 
 burg shall have reverted to a condition of 
 quietness and order. In the meantime, I 
 have to request your Excellency to assure 
 Her Majesty the Queen of my high apprecia- 
 tion of her words, and in proffering her my 
 respectful good wishes to express my thanks 
 for the same." No hitch occurred in the 
 negotiations, and Dr. Jameson and his fellow- 
 prisoners were handed over to the English 
 Government, on the borders of Natal, to take 
 their trial in England. 
 
 England remained anxious and disturbed. 
 The mf)st disquieting rumours were abroad;
 
 RUMOURS OF WAR. 195 
 
 the Republic was reported to be secretly arm- 
 ing ; tales were told of the presence of 
 armed Germans in Pretoria, and alliances of 
 Europe against England in South Africa were 
 darkly hinted at. It was rumoured almost 
 weekly that President Kruger had announced 
 his intention of treating the Convention]^ of 
 London as a nullity, and precipitating a 
 struggle with the British Power. In addi- 
 tion to this, ridiculous reports were spread 
 of the perpetration of various cruelties on 
 the Uitlanders ; the Boers were cursed and 
 abused, and the President was regarded as 
 the most unscrupulous of intriguers and the 
 worst of hypocrites. 
 
 Perhaps this state of things was only to be 
 expected, considering the interests of specu- 
 lators in the Rand. But certain it is that 
 statements such as these, put about with the 
 greatest industry, obtained a most undeserved 
 credence. The newspapers of the time are 
 full of them. In fact, however much we may 
 be inclined to doubt the absolute sincerity 
 of President Kruger in his dealings -with the 
 Uitlanders, his action at this time seems
 
 196 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 not unworthy of his position. After all, he 
 was the wronged party ; it did not seem un- 
 reasonable when so many were saying, " If 
 Jameson had got through," to take extra 
 defensive measures. Nor was it entirely 
 beside the mark to keep a sharp look-out in 
 the direction of Buluwayo. The fact that 
 Johannesburg settled down again into 
 quietude at all speaks volumes for the 
 tactful action of the President's agents in 
 the Eand ; and the proclamation which he 
 issued to the inhabitants is couched in the 
 most dignified language. Its conclusion is as 
 follows : — 
 
 "Thousands have been misled and deceived, 
 and it is clear that even among the so-called 
 leaders of the movement there are many who 
 have been deceived. A small number of de- 
 signing men, inside and outside this country, 
 have artfully stirred up the innocent inhabi- 
 tants of Johannesburg, under the mask of 
 figliting for political rights ; and, when in 
 their madness they thought the moment had 
 come, they chose a certain Dr. Jameson to 
 cross the border of this Republic. Have
 
 THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION. 197 
 
 they even asked themselves to what they 
 exposed you? I shudder when I think of 
 the bloodshed that might have been caused 
 had not a merciful Providence saved you and 
 my burghers. Now I address you with full 
 confidence. Strengthen the hands of the 
 Government, and co-operate with it to make 
 this Republic a country where all nationali- 
 ties can live fraternally together ! For months 
 and months I have thought over what altera- 
 tions and improvements would be desirable in 
 the Constitution of this State, but unwarrant- 
 able instigations, especially of newspapers, 
 have kept me back. The same men who 
 have now appeared in public as leaders have 
 demanded improvements from me in a tone 
 and manner which they would not have dared 
 to use in their own country. Through this it 
 was impossible for me and my burghers, the 
 founders of the Republic, to take the pro- 
 posals into consideration. It was my inten- 
 tion to submit a law at the first ordinary ses- 
 sion of the Volksraad whereby a municipality, 
 with a mayor at its head, should be appointed 
 for Johannesburg, to whom the whole muni-
 
 198 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 cipal government of the town would be en- 
 trusted. I ask you earnestly to put your hand 
 upon your heart and answer me this question 
 — Dare I, and should I, after all that has hap- 
 pened, propose such to the Volksraad \ The 
 answer I give myself. I know that there are 
 thousands in Johannesburg to whom I can 
 with confidence entrust this. Let the inhabi- 
 tants of Johannesburg make it possible for the 
 Government to appear before the Volksraad 
 with the words ' Forget and forgive ! ' " 
 
 On the 7th January came the news that 
 !Mr. Rhodes had resigned the premiership of 
 Cape Colony, and Sir J. Gordon Sprigg suc- 
 ceeded him in the office. 
 
 The case of the Chartered Company next 
 received the attention of the Home Govern- 
 ment. In the Charter a power of revocation 
 was reserved to the Crown ; and a large body 
 of opinion in England called for the exercise 
 of this power as a summary and exemplary 
 punishment for the raid. To a considerable 
 section of people the Charter had always been 
 objectionable on academic grounds ; but in 
 addition to this the Company had incurred a
 
 PLEA FOR THE CHARTER. 199 
 
 great deal of hostility over its action in the 
 matter of the Matabele war, and of events 
 subsequent thereto. There were some who 
 believed that the directors had knowledge of 
 the raid, and it was argued that, even if they 
 were entirely free from a charge of complicity, 
 yet they must be held bound by the acts of 
 their Administrator ; and this last proceeding 
 had menaced the prosperity of South Africa, 
 and threatened to plunge England itself into 
 war. 
 
 On the other hand, it was contended that 
 the Company had done a tremendous work 
 in opening up Africa towards the north, and 
 had done so more efficiently than could be 
 expected from a direct administration of the 
 territory from Downing Street; that absolutely 
 not a shadow of proof existed on the charge 
 of complicity ; and that it was a most severe 
 remedy, as against innocent parties, to revoke 
 the Charter. As Mr. Chamberlain observed 
 in the debate on the Address in the House 
 of Commons, all would allow seven just per- 
 sons among the shareholders. 
 
 Yet, while refusing to revoke the Charter
 
 200 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 ia the premature manner demanded by the 
 Company's opponents, the Government did 
 not consider it advisable to leave it any longer 
 with the power of conducting hostile opera- 
 tions against neighbouring States ; and the 
 police were to be taken under Imperial control, 
 whilst the ammunition and warlike stores were 
 to be handed over to Government officials. 
 Dr. Jameson was, of course, removed from 
 the post of Administrator, and Lord Grey 
 appointed in his stead ; and when Parliament 
 met in February it was decided to appoint a 
 Commission to enquire {inter alia) into the 
 administration by the Company of its terri- 
 tories. 
 
 Whilst tlius checking with a firm hand 
 the danger of a further outbreak against the 
 llepublic, it was intimated to Germany that 
 the existing treaties between Great Britain 
 and the Transvaal would be maintained. 
 
 Dr. Jameson left Pretoria for England on 
 the 19 th January, and was received on board 
 the Victoria transport with the leaders of the 
 expedition. The rank and file returned in
 
 THE FOREIGN ENLISTMENT ACT. 201 
 
 the Harlech Castle. Meanwhile, the Law 
 Officers of the Crown were long deciding 
 in what manner the indictment against the 
 raiders should be framed. It was decided to 
 proceed under the Foreign Enlistment Act, 
 1870, an Act passed to prevent the active 
 intervention of Englishmen in favour of any 
 foreign State at war with any friendly State, 
 or the fitting out of expeditions in English 
 territory to attack friendly States. It was 
 for an oifence under the 11th section of this 
 Act that the raiders were to be tried. It was 
 as follows : — 
 
 "If any person within the limits of Her 
 Majesty's dominions and without the license 
 of Her Majesty — 
 
 " Prepares or lits out any naval or military 
 expedition to proceed against the dominions 
 of any friendly State, the following conse- 
 quences shall ensue: 
 
 " (1) Every person engaged in such pre- 
 paration or fitting out, or assisting 
 
 therein, or employed in any capa- 
 
 o
 
 202 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 city in such expedition, shall be 
 guilty of an oflPence against this 
 Act and shall be punishable by 
 fine and imprisonment, or either 
 of such punishments, at the dis- 
 cretion of the court before which 
 the offender is convicted ; and 
 imprisonment if awarded may 
 be either with or without hard 
 labour. 
 " (2) All ships and their equipments, and 
 all arms and munitions of war, 
 used in or forming part of such 
 expedition shall be forfeited to 
 Iler Majesty." 
 
 As the Victoria neared the shores of 
 England public interest grew apace. Three 
 weeks previously Mr. Rhodes had arrived, but 
 all efforts to obtain any information from him 
 had been utterly futile, and the journalists 
 who went on board the vessel saw nothing 
 but the ex-Premier's back. He had a short 
 interview with Mr. Chamberlain at the 
 
 I
 
 DR. JAMESOJ'S ARRIVAL. 203 
 
 Colonial Office, but, after a stay of five clays, 
 returned to Buluwayo. When, therefore, the 
 Victoria put in at Plymouth there was the 
 greatest excitement displayed. The Govern- 
 ment had kept Dr. Jameson's movements a 
 profound secret, and it was not even certain 
 v/hether Dr. Jameson was on board. A 
 launch with a number of journalists put off to 
 the Victoria at Plymouth, but no access was 
 permitted to the vessel. Mr. Hawkesley, the 
 solicitor to the Chartered Company, was taken 
 on board, and the Victoria proceeded up 
 Channel. The disappointed crowd found 
 consolation in those who were soon afterwards 
 disembarked at Plymouth from the Harlech 
 Castle^ and allowed to proceed to their 
 homes. 
 
 They were surrounded and questioned, and 
 were indeed not loth to give any information ; 
 but is was not the same thing. 
 
 A report was current that Dr. Jameson 
 would be disembarked at Salcombe or Dart- 
 mouth ; but there was no ground for this. 
 On the afternoon of the 25th the Victoria 
 
 2
 
 204 THE liAlD ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 brought up in the river at Purfleet. The 
 prisoners were transferred to the tug Cambria, 
 and thence to a police boat, which pro- 
 ceeded rapidly up river. 
 
 It was dark before the boat passed under 
 London Bridge, and the secrecy of the pro- 
 ceedings had succeeded in throwing most 
 people off the scent. A small group of 
 people watched at Temple Pier, and saw 
 the small boat pass and turn in at the 
 AVaterloo Bridge police pier. Here the 
 prisoners were disembarked, placed in 
 private vehicles, and driven rapidly to Bow 
 Street Police Station. 
 
 A large crowd had assembled at Bow Street, 
 and the entrance of the prisoners was accom- 
 panied by an extraordinary demonstration in 
 Court. Loud cheers were raised and hats 
 waved, and for several minutes the Court was 
 turned into a bear-garden. It was the most 
 disgraceful scene in the whole history of the 
 raid. 
 
 The names of the prisoners were ])r. 
 Leander Starr Jameson, Sir John Clnistopher
 
 THE MAGISTERIAL INVESTIGATION. 205 
 
 Willoughby, the Hon. Henry Fredk. White, 
 R. Gray, the Hon. Robert White, J. Stracey, 
 C. H. Villiers, K. J. Kincaird Smith, H. M. 
 Grenfell, C. P. Foley, C. and D. Munro, C. F. 
 Lindall, and E. C. S. Haldon. To these were 
 subsequently added the Hon. C. J. Coventry 
 and A. V. Gosling. 
 
 The charge was that they, with certain 
 other persons, in the month of December, 
 1895, in South Africa, within Her Majesty's 
 dominion, and without the license of Her 
 Majesty, did unlawfully prepare and fit out 
 a military expedition to proceed against the 
 dominion of a friendly State — to wit, the South 
 African llepublic. Formal evidence only of 
 the arrest was taken, and the enquiry was post- 
 poned, the prisoners being released on their 
 own recognizances in the sum of £1,000 each. 
 In granting bail Sir John Bridge, the presiding 
 magistrate, said : " There is only one more 
 observation that I shall have to make, and 
 that is to the defendants themselves. I would 
 beg of them, for their own sakes and for the 
 sake of the peace of this country, to keep
 
 206 THE RAID OS THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 away from any place where their presence 
 may cause public excitement, never being 
 before the public more than they can help, 
 and not coming together more than is abso- 
 lutely necessary. I hope you will all give 
 your assurances that you will do so, and that 
 in every possible way you will abstain from 
 anything likely to cause a disturbance to the 
 public peace. The remarks I have just made 
 are more necessary for the younger men to 
 listen to than for the older ones, because 
 they have not gained the experience neces- 
 sary to guide them in these matters." This 
 injunction was loyally observed. At the end 
 of the proceedings an attempt was made 
 to get Dr. Jameson away from his too de- 
 voted admirers, but he Avas recognised once 
 more, and again received a most hearty 
 reception. 
 
 The magisterial enquiry was postponed for 
 a long period in order to obtain the evidence 
 from South Africa which had been collected 
 by the Treasury, and it was not till the 
 loth June that it came to an end. As a
 
 COMMITTED FOli TllTAL. 207 
 
 result, Dr. Jameson, Sir John Willougbby, 
 Major Robert White, Colonel Gray, Colonel 
 Henry White, and Major Coventry were com- 
 mitted for trial, and the other defendants 
 were discharged.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Arrest of the Reformers — Uncertainty in Johannesburg 
 — The Prisoners Plead Guilty — Death Sentences — 
 Mitigation — Release of the Prisoners — The Ma- 
 tabele in Rebellion — Causes of the Outbreak — 
 Murder of Settlei"s — Buluwayo Surrounded — Peril 
 of the Colonists — The Buluwayo Field Force — The 
 Enemy Withdraw — The Relief Forces — The Ma- 
 shona Rising — The Struggle in the Matoppos — Mr. 
 Rhodes Meets the Chiefs — The Rebellion at an 
 End. 
 
 JouANNESBURG had indulged in the luxury 
 of rebellion ; and that luxury had to be paid 
 for. Vigorous measures were instituted by 
 the Boer Executive against the ringleaders of 
 the revolution, and over 200 were arrested on 
 a charge of high treason. Some others who 
 would have been charged with the same 
 offence had escaped from the jurisdiction. 
 
 This procedure caused the greatest incon- 
 venience in f lu' town ; those who were im-
 
 THE PENALTIES OF TREASON. 209 
 
 prisoned in Pretoria gaol were leaders of mining 
 enterprise and as a result the working of the 
 mines was seriously impeded. The supply of 
 native labour, too, became restricted in the 
 disturbed state of the country, and it seemed 
 probable that many mines would have to be 
 shut down. 
 
 To add to this feeling of insecurity, there 
 was a great deal of uncertainty as to what 
 were the penalties attached to treason. The 
 law of the Transvaal was little known, and 
 the manner in which the Volksraad had, of 
 late years, encroached upon the judiciary 
 and claimed to have full powers over the 
 Grondwet caused apprehension lest some 
 extraordinary jurisdiction might be instituted 
 to deal with the special circumstances. The 
 Executive interdicted the transfer of land 
 standing in the names of the accused, and as 
 it would seem that a good deal of this land 
 was, in fact, held in trust for other persons, 
 who were not closely implicated in the charge 
 of treason, great fear was felt that these 
 persons might by a side-wind be deprived of 
 the major part of their property ; and through
 
 210 THE RjUD on TUE TRANSVAAL, 
 
 all this time many of the Colonial and Eng- 
 lish press-writers at regular intervals sounded 
 the dreary note of war and calamity in the 
 near future and the mining market shivered 
 in sympathy. The account given by many of 
 Jameson's party of their captivity in Pretoria, 
 did something to relieve the excitement 
 which had been caused by the report of the 
 horrors of the Boer prisons ; and in England 
 people settled down with comparative equa- 
 nimity to await the trial of the Uitlander 
 leaders. The trial, however, was preceded 
 by an investigation ; and the agony was 
 drawn out to an almost inconceivable extent. 
 Long intervals of time occurred between its 
 various stages, and though the prisoners 
 were allowed to have a certain amount of 
 liberty, yet they were not allowed to go to 
 Johannesburg, the one ])lace where their 
 presence was required. Repeated protests 
 were made against the damage done to the 
 mining industry by the withdrawal of all 
 its leaders, and suggestions to shut down the 
 mines were made. Tliis did not quite suit 
 President Kruger's ideas, and he promulgated
 
 SENTENCE ON THE liEFOllMEltS. 211 
 
 a proclamation to the gold-fields against 
 it. 
 
 At the end of April the trial came on. A 
 lengthy statement was put in on behalf of 
 the prisoners, which dealt fully with their 
 attitude on hearing of the violation of the 
 frontier. To the first count of the indict- 
 ment charging high treason against the Re- 
 public, Colonel Khodes and Messrs. Phillips 
 and Farrar pleaded guilty; the other sixty 
 prisoners pleaded guilty to laesio majestaiis. 
 Proceedings were postponed till the following 
 week. Sentence was then pronounced. 
 
 England, although by this time well ac- 
 customed to shocks from the Transvaal, was 
 violently excited by the news that Colonel 
 Rhodes and Messrs. Hammond, Phillips, and 
 Farrar had been condemned- to death ; in 
 addition to this the other fifty-nine prisoners 
 were condemned to imprisonment for ten 
 years, a fine of £2,000 and three years banisli- 
 ment. Yet it was soon apparent that the 
 Executive would pass in review all the 
 sentences ; it was stated that the law allowed 
 the judges no option but to award the
 
 212 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 extreme penalty for high treason. At any 
 rate the announcement that the capital 
 sentence had been commuted to fifteen 
 years' imprisonment followed almost im- 
 mediately, and caused a great feeling of 
 relief in England. The execution of the 
 four ringleaders must infallibly have led to 
 bloodshed in Johannesburg. 
 
 The sentences on the other fifty-nine 
 members of the Reform Committee were 
 next examined. The Boers themselves 
 strongly urged clemency ; yet delay occurred 
 in the decision of the Executive, and during 
 the interval that elapsed Mr. Grey, one of 
 the prisoners, utterly unnerved by the im- 
 prisonment and suspense, committed suicide 
 in goal. This created a most painful im- 
 pression. 
 
 At last the decision was given. The 
 banishment was suspended on condition of 
 a promise being made not to interfere in 
 the politics of the Ke])ublic. Tlie fine of 
 £2,000 was retained, l)ut the periods of im- 
 prisonment were shortened in some cases to 
 three months, in some to five, and in some to
 
 MITIGATION OF THE SENTENCES. 213 
 
 nine, whilst certain of the prisoners were re- 
 leased at once. This alleviation was made 
 dependent on a petition by the prisoners, 
 and two of them who have refused to 
 petition are still imprisoned. As to the 
 rest, the lighter sentences were shortly after- 
 wards removed, and the fine and undertaking 
 were left as the only conditions precedent to 
 release. 
 
 It remained to deal with the four principal 
 offenders. Aiiax a further delay the fifteen 
 years' imprisonment was remitted on payment 
 of the fine of £25,000 a piece, and a similar 
 undertaking as to non-interference in the 
 politics of the State was demanded in lieu 
 of banishment. In the case of Messrs. 
 Hammond, Phillips, and Farrar, the under- 
 taking was given, but Colonel Rhodes re- 
 fused and was expelled from the State. With 
 the release of the Reform Committee, Jo- 
 hannesburg finally subsided. 
 
 It is impossible to keep chronological 
 order at this period. A month prior to the 
 trial of the Reform Committee rebellion 
 had broken out in Matabeleland.
 
 214 THE RAID OS THE TRAKSVAAL., 
 
 The causes of the attack were numerous. 
 The Matabele to the west of Buluwayo had 
 not, in fact, been ever thoroughly subdued, 
 ;ind were all along desirous to pit them- 
 selves against the invaders ; thus they had 
 only been waiting for a favourable oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 All the natives, moreover, laboured under 
 two grievances. They considered that they 
 had been unfairly dealt with in regard to 
 their cattle, and they objected to the labour 
 imposed upon them. 
 
 The reading of much history is likely to 
 make us take an exaggerated view of the 
 depths of our political philosophy. It is 
 delightfully easy from a standpoint of, say, 
 two hundred years afterwards to point out 
 that the imposition of such and such a tax 
 must necessarily have caused such and such 
 a rebellion, or that the operative force of 
 some law must of necessity have been 
 nugatory ; or wonder how kings and states- 
 men can have been so blind ; and we with- 
 draw from the study with considerable self- 
 satisfaction.
 
 THE RISING IN RHODESIA. 215 
 
 Nothing is more valuable as a corrective 
 to this conceit than to have lived through a 
 series of events destined to be classed as 
 historic, and to feel an utter powerlessness 
 at the time to draw the most simple of de- 
 ductions as to the probable course of events. 
 The colonial historian of some fifty years 
 hence will point out the necessary effects of 
 Dr. Jameson's action, not on the Transvaal, 
 but on Rhodesia; and his readers will close 
 the book with a feeling that the statesmen of 
 to-day were a very inferior class of men not 
 to see that the removal of the police out of 
 the country to be imprisoned or disbanded 
 elsewhere would infallibly bring about a rising 
 of the barely-subdued natives of Matabeleland. 
 
 Yet to few English colonists, or to English 
 statesmen of to-day, did an idea present it- 
 self save as a very improbable contingency ; 
 and when at the end of much rumours of 
 the slaughter of outlying settlers in Rhodesia 
 reached us, it took some time to convince us 
 that our colonists were face to face, not with 
 the revenge of a few natives, but with a second 
 Matabele war.
 
 216 TUK RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 In looking back now on what an obstinate 
 struggle has taken place, this one important 
 fact must not be forgotten ; the first Matabele 
 war had been conducted with such celerity 
 and determination that it had, to a great ex- 
 tent, failed in its object. 
 
 The flight of Lobengula had been sudden ; 
 and this had so disheartened the natives that 
 for the time being they abandoned all idea of 
 resistance ; large bodies of them had never 
 been engaged with the English power ; Gam- 
 boe's big "impi" had withdrawn without 
 ofl'ering any eff"ective opposition ; many of 
 the warriors actually present on the field 
 when the battles of the Shangani and Im- 
 bembesi had been fought had struck no blow. 
 These had surrendered their opposition and 
 laid down their arms, because for the time 
 being they had had enough marching and 
 war preparation, not because their spirit was 
 in any way broken, or because they felt their 
 hopeless inferiority to the white men ; they 
 hid their ammunition and waited their oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 A large number of tli(^ natives, however,
 
 THE CATTLE QIUEVANCE. 217 
 
 had really had enough fighting and were pre- 
 pared to settle down under the Company ; 
 but there were two grievances which caused 
 a great deal of friction. One of these griev- 
 ances was, so to speak, pecuniary, the other a 
 matter of sentiment. 
 
 The Matabele set great store by their 
 cattle; the accounts of the first war show 
 that the natives would act in the most deter- 
 mined manner to prevent their herds falling 
 into the invaders' hands ; and when the 
 struggle was over, it became a great problem 
 how the cattle were to be distributed between 
 them and the Company. It does not seem 
 to be quite clear what particular action on 
 the Company's part had erected this ques- 
 tion into a substantial difficulty ; Mr. Selous 
 in his latest work, *' Sunshine and Storm in 
 Rhodesia," attributes the native displeasure 
 to the fact that the Company instead of at 
 first taking all the cattle they needed, and 
 leaving the residue to the natives, took only 
 a very small portion to begin with, and 
 then from time to time took more, thus creat- 
 ing a feeling of unrest and uncertainty as
 
 218 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 to whether eventually all the cattle might 
 not be taken ; and a judgment delivered by 
 Judge Vintcent on the subject a short time 
 previously seems not to have been received 
 with favour by the natives. So much for the 
 first point. 
 
 The second point was the enforcing of 
 labour in the mines upon the natives; this 
 they resented bitterly. The Matabele had 
 never been accustomed to any kind of work 
 except fighting ; their women and their 
 Makalaka tributaries conducted all their 
 business. When the Company, therefore, 
 set them to work, the greatest repugnance 
 was displayed. There is no reason to suppose 
 the terms imposed on them by the Com- 
 pany were severe, and, undoubtedly, if the 
 territories were to be developed it must be by 
 the supply of native labour on the spot ; but 
 the Matabele could hardly be expected to 
 look at the matter from this point of view. 
 
 To add to this, undoubtedly, there was 
 much harsh treatment of tlie conquered race 
 in the outlying districts ; tlie officials of the 
 Company were perfectly ])()wcrlcss to check
 
 TREACHERY AND SUPERSTITION. 219 
 
 this, though whenever a case came under the 
 notice of the Executive it was promptly dealt 
 with. 
 
 Among these elements of discord, then, and 
 at a time when the prevailing discontent was 
 aggravated by the ravages of the rinderpest 
 among the cattle, and a devastating swarm 
 of locusts, superstition began to play. In a 
 cave in the Matoppo Hills dwelt a Makalaka 
 who claimed to hold converse with the un- 
 seen world. Prophecies in abundance were 
 spoken from the cave : of the extirpation of 
 the white man, of the magical release of 
 Lobengula, of the bullets of the enemy 
 becoming powerless and turning to water. 
 Then came the news of Dr. Jameson's march 
 and surrender, and the Matabele chiefs knew 
 that the country was stripped of its usual 
 defenders, and that the only substantial force 
 in the district were the newly-enrolled native 
 police on a great many of whom they might 
 count for assistance, if the insurrection 
 became general. Their confidence was not 
 misplaced ; a very large section of the native 
 
 police, who by their tyranny over their 
 
 p 2
 
 220 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 brethren had fed the smouldering flame of 
 discontent, went over to the enemy whilst the 
 loyalty of the rest was so doubtful that it was 
 thought well to disarm them. 
 
 Towards the end of March vague disquiet- 
 ing rumours reached Buluwayo. The natives 
 were becoming insolent, and had in many 
 instances disappeared from the farming dis- 
 tricts, taking with them the cattle which 
 they were tending for their masters. Yet no 
 serious trouble was generally anticipated, 
 though there were some voices raised in 
 warning. On the 26th a revolt broke out 
 amongst the Matabele in the Insiza and 
 Filibusi districts. 
 
 There were at the time about fifteen 
 hundred persons in Buluwayo, and about 
 fifty at Gwelo, whilst two thousand were 
 scattered up and down the country engaged 
 in mining or farming. On these scattered 
 communities the Matabele wreaked ven- 
 geance for the indignities they conceived 
 themselves to have suffered. Homesteads 
 were attacked and burnt, and men, women, 
 and cliildicn ruthlessly slaughtered ere any
 
 MASSACRE OF THE SETTLERS. 221 
 
 help could come to them from the centres. 
 The people of Buluwayo hastened to the 
 rescue; patrols rode out to the various 
 districts to protect the defenceless settlers 
 and bring them into the town. These little 
 companies faced great numbers of the enemy 
 with the most unflinching courage. Whilst 
 on their way to the rescue, they encountered 
 sights of a description that perforce raised a 
 spirit of passionate revenge. The bodies of 
 white settlers lay mutilated amongst the 
 ruins of their dwellings ; old and young, men 
 and women alike, formed the ghastly com- 
 pany ; the very animals had been wantonly 
 slaughtered ; and little wonder if the -would- 
 be rescuers determined that nothing short 
 of extermination of the Matabele race could 
 fully requite these fiendish acts. 
 
 It is computed that fully three hundred of 
 the outlying settlers must have perished ; the 
 rest, more fortunate, concentrated in hastily- 
 improvised laagers where a valiant defence 
 was kept up, till the relieving parties arrived 
 and escorted them to Buluwayo. But Bulu- 
 wayo was singularly ill-prepared for a
 
 222 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 desperate struggle such as each following 
 day showed more clearly was destined to 
 take place. Practically the whole of the 
 Company's white police were by this time 
 slowly returning to the country whence Ur. 
 Jameson's ill-fated expedition had drawn them 
 to Pretoria and thence to England, but it 
 must of necessity be a long time before they 
 could render any effective help ; the black 
 police had many of them gone over to the 
 enemy, taking their rifles and ammunition 
 with them, whilst those who remained nomin- 
 ally staunch could not be trusted ; the volun- 
 teer force, known as the Rhodesia Horse, was 
 partially disorganised, whilst, owing to the 
 plague that was sweeping over the country, 
 many of them could not be mounted ; there 
 were comparatively few rifles and no great 
 amount of ordnance ; provisions could only 
 last about a month. 
 
 With the greatest energy and heroism the 
 colonists set to work ; a very strong laager 
 was formed in the market square, whither on 
 the first alarm of a general attack on the 
 town all might retire. The native police
 
 BULUWAYO IN DANGER. 223 
 
 were disarmed ; the chiefs who came in to 
 profess their friendliness were detained. 
 For, indeed, the greatest danger was in- 
 ternal not external ; the friendly natives 
 swarmed into the town, and treachery was 
 feared. An attack of these pretended friends 
 within, combined with a violent attack from 
 without, would have carried the town, and one 
 of the most awful massacres of later years 
 would have occurred. Moreover, with every 
 advantage gained by the enemy, the inclina- 
 tion on the part of those natives who sup- 
 ported the colonists to join their countrymen 
 increased ; and it was essential to take offen- 
 sive measures in order to prevent their deser- 
 tion to the enemy. Above all, though, it was 
 necessary to keep the Mangwe-Buluwayo road 
 open in order that supplies might not be cut 
 off. 
 
 By the time that the straggling settlers 
 had reached a place of safety practically the 
 whole of the natives had risen in rebellion. 
 The colonists were shut up in Buluwayo, 
 Gwelo, and Belingwe ; and the rest of the 
 country was in the hands of the rebels.
 
 224 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 There is no doubt that the white popula- 
 tion was in a position of the extremest 
 danger, and had the Matabele displayed any 
 capacity for any part of the business of war ex- 
 cept the melee, the three outposts would most 
 likely have succumbed. Whether, however, 
 the power of white men fighting behind 
 barricades was too fresh in their memories 
 from the recent war, or whether they suflfered 
 from want of organisation, or relied too much 
 upon the support of their prophet, the 
 " Mlimo," certain it is that a general attack 
 upon the town was never made, but the 
 struggle resolved itself into [sharp skirmishes 
 with the patrols from Buluwayo who were 
 engaged in keeping the road open, in check- 
 ing the near approach of the enemy. More- 
 over, they never attempted to hold the 
 Mangwe Road, and did little to hinder the 
 erection of the forts commanding it. 
 
 The forces of the town were reorganised 
 under the name of the Buluwayo Field Force. 
 The men composing it were some of the finest 
 iigliting material to be found in South Africa, 
 tlioroughly used to the climate, in splendid
 
 THE MAFEKING RELIEF COLUMN. 225 
 
 trim, and the most accurate of shots. What 
 this little body of about eight hundred, in 
 company with about one hundred and fifty 
 colonial natives, did against the ten thousand 
 or more natives in rebellion Mr. Selous has 
 described in his last work, " Sunshine and 
 Storm in Rhodesia." 
 
 The greatest anxiety was felt in England 
 and in the Cape Colony as to the fate of the 
 town of Buluwayo and the other beleaguered 
 points. About Mr. Rhodes' safety, too, there 
 was much uncertainty; at the time of the 
 outbreak he was in the open country on a 
 shooting expedition, and great fear was felt 
 lest he had been cut off; eventually it turned 
 out that he had been compelled to retreat to 
 Gwelo, where he had perforce remained for 
 some time ; a relief column was organised at 
 Mafeking to proceed to Buluwayo, and pre- 
 parations were made for another column to 
 proceed from Salisbury. This was effectually 
 done during the months of April and May. 
 
 The Government of Rhodesia was at the 
 time of the outbreak of the war in a transition 
 state. Earl Grey, who was to take over the
 
 226 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 civil administration, did not reach Buluwayo 
 till the beginning of May, and Sir Richard 
 Martin, who was appointed to be Com- 
 mandant-General of the police force in the 
 Bechuanaland Protectorate, Matabeleland, 
 and Mashonaland, and to have general control 
 of all forces there in accordance with the 
 decision of the Home Government as to the 
 Company's military power, did not arrive till 
 some time later. 
 
 Meanwhile Sir F. Carrington was also hurry- 
 ing from London to take command of all the 
 forces in Rhodesia ; a relief force was being 
 hastily prepared at Mafeking under Captain 
 riumer, and assistance from Fort Salisbury 
 was also forthcoming. The Company at first 
 declined the offer of Imperial troops, as they 
 considered the forces on the spot were amply 
 sufficient to cope witli the disorder, but when 
 news came of the terrific struggle that had 
 been undergone by the Hon. Maurice Gifford 
 and a mere handful of men, of how Captain 
 Brand's patrol had been surrounded by a 
 whole horde of enemies, and had cut their 
 way out through a furious resistance, of how
 
 CAPTAIN PLUMERS ADVANCE. 227 
 
 the whole nation had risen against the whites, 
 the offer was accepted. 
 
 Such a gallant fight was kept up by the 
 Buluwayo Field Force that by the time help 
 began to arrive they had succeeded in avert- 
 ing by their unaided efforts the most pressing 
 danger. The town of Buluwayo was prac- 
 tically safe ; the natives were at some distance ; 
 the forts on the Mangwe road had been 
 pushed on, and no interruption of communica- 
 tion was to be feared. 
 
 As Captain Plumer's force approached the 
 town it was considered safe to despatch a 
 strong detachment to meet the Salisbury 
 relief column which had advanced to Gwelo, 
 and then, accompanied by Mr. Cecil Rhodes, 
 began to make for Buluwayo. The march 
 was successfully accomplished, and the two 
 columns joined hands. Meanwhile, Captain 
 Plumer had reached the capital, and had 
 begun to carry the war into the enemy's 
 country. Sir Richard Martin and Earl Grey 
 had also arrived. It was then anticipated 
 that the backbone of the rebellion was broken, 
 and that peace would be restored, and for the
 
 228 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 time being the order for the advance of the 
 Imperial troops beyond Mafeking was can- 
 celled. 
 
 But their services were soon required. 
 Early in June came tales of murder of out- 
 lying settlers in Mashonaland, and in a few 
 days it became evident that the first step of 
 the Matabele struggle was to be repeated 
 amongst the Mashonas. Small outlying 
 colonies were surrounded, and massacres were 
 general. The settlers were even less con- 
 centrated than in Matabeleland, and unspeak- 
 able anxiety prevailed among many families in 
 England as the news came of isolated mining 
 camps assailed by hosts of natives, and of 
 hastily improvised laagers that could scarcely 
 hold their own. 
 
 It is almost certain that the Mashonas 
 were driven into hostilities by their former 
 overlords, the Matabele, who thus created a 
 diversion of which thoy wore urgently in need ; 
 and, true to their former reputation, they 
 proved little able to resist the opposition they 
 had raised. However, the liussars who had 
 been concentrated at Mafeking were marched
 
 THE MASHONA REBELLION. 229 
 
 to Macloutsie, whence they proceeded up 
 country. The Buluwayo relief column from 
 Salisbuiy was recalled, and a simultaneous 
 advance was made from the Beira district up 
 to the seat of disturbance. Strong laagers 
 were formed at the various stations, and for a 
 time Fort Charter was hard pressed, but on 
 the 2nd July it was relieved, and the worst 
 of the Mashona rebellion was over. The 
 chief Makoni, who had proved himself trea- 
 cherous beyond measure, was court-martialled 
 and shot by order of Major Watts ; a sub- 
 sequent enquiry into the affair exonerated 
 the Major from all blame. 
 
 The Matabele, profiting by the eastern 
 rebellion, proclaimed a son of Lobengula as 
 king, and retreated into their natural strong- 
 hold in the Matoppo Hills. The struggle that 
 followed was a severe one. Entrenched in 
 the hills, and taking every advantage of the 
 ground, they declined all general engagements 
 in which they had learnt their hopeless in- 
 feriority, and contented themselves with small 
 skirmishes in positions of their own choos- 
 ing ; and, though invariably worsted in their
 
 230 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 struggles, they succeeded in inflicting so 
 much loss upon the whites that they were 
 able to boast of their victories, and the 
 pacification of the country was perfectly 
 impossible in the face of such reports. 
 
 Throughout the summer the disheartening 
 contest continued. It was decided to regard 
 the Matoppo Hills as a hostile area apart, 
 to encircle the district with a chain of forts, 
 and gradually drive the chiefs into submis- 
 sion. At this time the struggle was being 
 kept on foot by a few desperate spirits who, 
 on account of having been parties to some of 
 the most dastardly outrages at the commence- 
 ment of the war, had been excluded from the 
 amnesty proclamation wliich had recently been 
 issued. These, having nothing to hope for 
 from peace, goaded on their fellows. Such, 
 as far as can be seen from history, has always 
 been the effect of a proclamation of amnesty 
 with exceptions therefrom ; yet one would 
 imagine, from tlic tone of militant criticism 
 directed against it, that it was a novel experi- 
 ment. To terminate a struggle of this kind 
 there is no alternative course save the one
 
 MR. RHODES AND THE CHIEFS. 231 
 
 referred to as solitudinem faciunt, pacem «p- 
 pellant, a course one is compelled to think 
 recommended itself to some of the objectors 
 at the time. 
 
 A successful battle fought by Colonel 
 Plumer in the beginning of August cleared 
 the way for a settlement, and in October Mr. 
 Rhodes took an important step towards paci- 
 fication. Accompanied by Mr. Colenbrander 
 as interpreter, and two or three Cape natives, 
 he went unarmed into the hills and sought a 
 parley with the chiefs. This confidence dis- 
 armed the innate hostility of the chiefs, and 
 they met the little party without any weapons 
 save one or two battle-axes. These chiefs 
 were the head and front of the rebellion. 
 They admitted that they were tired of fight- 
 ing, and were prepared to come in and sur- 
 render; but they made bitter complaints of 
 the conduct of one or two of the officials, 
 one of them a native Commissioner, and the 
 other an official high in the service of the 
 Company. They added that neither Mr. 
 Rhodes nor Dr. Jameson knew the things that 
 had been done in Matabeleland ; but if Mr.
 
 232 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 Rhodes would look after their interests they 
 were content. Mr. Rhodes replied that the 
 obnoxious officials had been removed, and 
 strongly denounced the massacres of innocent 
 women and children that had taken place at 
 the commencement of the war. He informed 
 the chiefs that they must surrender uncondi- 
 tionally, and asked if they intended to do so. 
 Secombo, the leader, thereupon laid an assegai 
 and a gun at Mr. Rhodes' feet in token of his 
 subjection. So ended the indaba or parley. 
 It was a most important step towards con- 
 cluding the war. The courageous action of 
 the little party in advancing unarmed into 
 their enemy's stronghold caused great admira- 
 tion amongst the chiefs, and confirmed their 
 high opinion of Mr. Rhodes. A great step 
 had been taken towards repairing the evil 
 caused by the Transvaal raid. 
 
 This indaba did not quite conclude the 
 struggle. The natives came in and gave up 
 their arms very slowly. The warriors whose 
 chiefs had not been in conference still kept up 
 the unequal struggle, whilst the Mashona revolt 
 still Hickcred on in the east; but by the begin-
 
 THE FUTURE. 233 
 
 ning of December the end had come. Many 
 persons were of opinion that another risin<^ 
 would occur as soon as the Imperial forces 
 had withdrawn, and the settlers were once 
 more scattered ; but the disarming of the 
 natives had been more rigorous this time, 
 and, besides, with every advantage on their 
 side at the commencement of the revolt, they 
 had to confess to having been thoroughly 
 worsted ; and they were not likely to quickly 
 forget it. If, indeed, any idea of another 
 rising occurs to them, the railways which are 
 now being pushed forward from Beira to 
 Salisbury, and from the south to Buluwayo, 
 will cause a rising to be without any hope of 
 success. The natives will here, as elsewhere, 
 have to accept the inevitable, and settle 
 down quietly under their new conditions. 
 Let not this task be made harder than is 
 necessary. Grim tales of cruelty towards 
 natives reach us from time to time from the 
 districts of Rhodesia, and not all the orthodox 
 cant as to "encroaching civilisation " can hide 
 the fact that there are many men in Rhodesia 
 who seem to have learnt to hold human life 
 
 Q
 
 234 THE liAID ON THE TRANS VA^iL. 
 
 as cheap as ever did those warriors of Loben- 
 gula, whom they condemn as little better than 
 the brutes. 
 
 The native uneasiness next found vent in 
 British Bechuanaland, where severe measures 
 had to be taken towards the end of the year ; 
 but by this time, fortunately, the disquietude 
 of the continent seems to have been laid to 
 rest. Mr. Rhodes, on his return from London at 
 the end of the year, was able to speak at Cape 
 Town most hopefully of the future of Rhodesia. 
 That it may continue to prosper in a fortunate 
 course after the storms and troubles that have 
 beset it at the commencement of its pro- 
 gress must be the cordial wish of every 
 Englishman.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Trial at Bar— The Indictment Upheld— The Lord 
 Chief Justice Sums Up — Guilty or Not Guilty — ■ 
 The Verdict — The Sentence — Feeling in the 
 Country — First-class Misdemeanants — Release of 
 Dr. Jameson — The Parliamentary Committee — Mr. 
 Rhodes the First Witness — Mr. Chamberlain's 
 Home Rule for the Rand — Boer Suspicion — 
 Volksraad Legislation, Good and Bad — The Press 
 Law — The Aliens' Expulsion Lnw — Suppression of 
 the Cntic — The Volksraad and the Judiciary — A 
 Black Outlook. 
 
 Whilst in Rhodesia the struggle with the 
 natives, induced by the raid mth its con- 
 comitant removal from the district of its 
 natural defenders, was still protracted at a 
 most costly expenditure of life, white and 
 black, the last act in the drama was being 
 played out in England. On the 20th July 
 the trial of Dr. Jameson and his companions 
 commenced. 
 
 Q 2
 
 236 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 On the application of the Attorney-General 
 the trial took place at bar, that is, before two 
 or more judges of the Queen's Bench Division 
 sitting in banc, with a jury. The presiding 
 judges were the Lord Chief Justice of England 
 (Lord Russell of Killowen),Mr. Baron Pollock, 
 and Mr. Justice Hawkins. A most brilliant 
 array of counsel were engaged in the case. For 
 the Crown the Attorney-General (Sir Richard 
 Webster, Q.C.) and the Solicitor-General (Sir 
 Robert Finlay, Q.C.) were assisted by Mr. 
 Henry Sutton, Mr. Charles Mathews, Mr. 
 Avory, and Mr. Rawlinson; Sir Edward Clarke, 
 Q.C, Mr. Carson, Q.C, and Mr. C F. Gill 
 appeared for all the defendants except Major 
 Grey and Hon. Charles Coventry, who were 
 represented by Sir F. Lockwood, Q.C, Hon. 
 A. Lyttclton, Mr. J. P. Wallis, and Mr. J. 
 Roskill ; whilst Mr. H. Spensley appeared 
 for Dr. Jameson ; the interests of the Trans- 
 vaal Government were entrusted to Mr. Cohen, 
 Q.C, Mr. Saunders, and Mr. Cassel. 
 
 The trial excited the greatest amount of 
 public interest ; it was known that there had 
 been difficulty in framing the case against the
 
 THE TRIAL OF DR. JAMESON. 237 
 
 prisoners, and also that there were technical 
 objections to be raised ; the general sense of 
 the people deprecated any acquittal on such 
 grounds, for it was felt that the eyes of the 
 world were fixed upon the English Courts of 
 Justice. Of nothing are we more rightfully 
 jealous than the unswerving impartiality of 
 English justice, and those who can free them- 
 selves from the soul-blinding glamour of the 
 expansion of Empire, and can look the rights 
 and wrongs of that expansion in the face, 
 find solace for much that meets with their 
 just disapproval in the fact that by whatever 
 methods the English flag is hoisted over 
 distant regions of the earth, justice follows it 
 everywhere. 
 
 The trial lasted seven days. Each day the 
 court was attended by a fashionable crowd, 
 which filled the court long before the time 
 appointed for the hearing, and as the trial 
 drew to its close the excitement grew intense. 
 
 The prisoners were indicted on twelve 
 separate counts under the Foreign Enlist- 
 ment Act, s. 11, ss. 1 and 2. 
 
 At the very commencement the defence
 
 238 THE RAID ON THE TBANSV^iAL. 
 
 attempted to quash the indictment on a purely 
 technical defect, but this objection was over- 
 ruled, and the Crown proceeded to call its 
 witnesses. 
 
 Many of the witnesses were attached by 
 ties of the greatest regard for the prisoners, 
 and gave their evidence with the greatest 
 reluctance. Yet, even so, cross-examination 
 availed but little, and long before the tale of 
 evidence was complete the prisoners stood 
 convicted of the statutory offence. The ob- 
 jection was taken at the conclusion of the 
 Crown's case that no evidence had been 
 given to show that the Foreign Enlistment 
 Act applied to British Bechuanaland, where 
 Mafeking and Pitsani were situate. This 
 view was not upheld, as the Court considered 
 that the annexation of British Bechuanaland 
 to the Cape Colony involved the application 
 of the Act to the district. 
 
 In their speeches for their respective clients 
 Sir ]*Alward Clarke and Sir Frank Lockwood 
 lost no opportunity to press the jury for au 
 acquittal ; and considerations of motive were 
 involved. When the Attorney-General's
 
 THE SUMMING UP. 230 
 
 thankless task of presenting the case for the 
 Crown was concluded, the Lord Chief Justice 
 proceeded to sum up. He concluded as 
 follows : — " Do or do not these facts satisfy 
 you beyond reasonable doubt that each of 
 these defendants with perhaps varying degrees 
 of prominence, and varying, it may be, mea- 
 sures of responsibility, was concerting with 
 the rest, and that all who were concerting 
 together there at Pitsani Pitlogo and those 
 at Mafeking for the purpose of carrying out 
 an expedition into the Transvaal. I must 
 again, because it is so important, remind you 
 of what is an expedition within the meaning of 
 that Act. It is for the Court to describe what 
 it is, it is for the jury to say whether in effect the 
 expedition amounts to such an expedition as 
 the Court declares to be an expedition within 
 the meaning of the section. I wish to point 
 out to you, and I cannot do it better than by 
 recurring to the language I have already used 
 that in point of law it is not less than an 
 expedition against the dominions of a friendly 
 State, even if it was not aimed at overthrow- 
 ing the liepublic, or was prompted by philan-
 
 240 THE BAIT) OX THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 tbropic or humane motives, or aimed at 
 obtaining some reform of law. If the expe- 
 dition was designed to enter the Transvaal 
 with the intention either by the show of force 
 or by active force to interfere with the con- 
 stituted Government laws or administration of 
 the Government, or to procure by such means 
 a reform in its laws and administration, or to 
 substitute by force, or by show of force, its 
 own protection for the protection of the exist- 
 ing law and administration, or to join with 
 them in overawing the Government in order 
 to obtain a change in the law, this would be 
 an expedition illegal within the meaning of 
 the Act." 
 
 The usual practice of calling upon the jury 
 to answer " Guilty " or " Not Guilty " was not 
 followed, but instead a series of questions 
 were put to them which they were to answer 
 categorically ; a course unusual but not un- 
 precedented. The questions were as follow : 
 (1) Were the defendants, or any or which 
 of them, engaged in the preparation 
 of an expedition at Mafcking to 
 proceed, or with the intention tliat
 
 THE VERDICT. 241 
 
 it should proceed, against a friendly 
 State, the South African Republic. 
 
 (2) Did the defendants, or any or 
 
 which of them, assist in the pre- 
 paration of such expedition, or aid, 
 abet, counsel, or procure such pre- 
 paration. 
 
 (3) Were the defendants, or any or which 
 
 of them, employed in any capacity in 
 such expedition. 
 
 The same questions were put with refer- 
 ence to Pitsani Pitlogo, with the additional 
 question whether her Majesty by her reprisals 
 did in fact exercise dominion and sovereignty 
 in the district in which Pitsani Pitlogo is 
 situate. 
 
 The jury returned answers unfavourable 
 to the prisoners to all these questions, but 
 desired to add a rider to the effect that the 
 condition of the Republic constituted a great 
 provocation. They were directed that their 
 answers amounted to a verdict of guilty, and 
 that such a verdict must be returned. One of 
 their number declined at first to comply, but 
 on pressure from his fellows reluctantly gave
 
 243 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 way, and a verdict of guilty was returned. 
 Sir Edward Clarke proposed to move in arrest 
 of judgment, but the prisoners themselves 
 decided to abide by the finding of the Court. 
 The Lord Chief Justice then pronounced 
 sentence in the following" terms : — 
 
 " I liave now the duty — not pleasant — of 
 pronouncing sentence which this Court, after 
 anxious deliberation, thinks that it is necessary 
 to pass in vindication of the law against which 
 you have offended. The jury have arrived at 
 this result upon evidence which I think no 
 reasonable man, honestly applying his mind, 
 could doubt — can doubt — not only justifies, 
 but renders imperative if they are to dis- 
 charge their duty honestly and fearlessly by 
 the verdict at which they have arrived. You 
 are all of you men of position and men of in- 
 telligence. All of you, with one exception, I 
 think, had the honour of holding the direct 
 commission of the Queen. One of you held 
 an important position under the authority of 
 the Queen. I am most reluctant to say any- 
 thing to ag<2:ravate your position. But I must 
 say that the iact of your intelligence and the
 
 THE SENTENCES. 243 
 
 position of trust and confidence and authority 
 in the service of your Queen which you held 
 aggravate the character of the ofi'ence which 
 you have committed. The offence itself is a 
 grave one. As I took occasion to point out 
 in addressing the jury, in the case of great 
 crimes the consequences end with the actual 
 facts which constitute the crime itself, which 
 are directly connected with it. In this case 
 we know the immediate consequences of your 
 crime. It has been the loss of human life ; 
 it has been the disturbance of public peace ; 
 it has been the creation of a certain distrust 
 of public professions and of public faith. 
 Whether the consequences end there I do not 
 stop to enquire. It is our duty in these cir- 
 cumstances to give effect to the view which 
 we take of what is the punishment adequate 
 to an offence of this kind. Although you all 
 took part in this illegal expedition, your posi- 
 tions differed, your responsibilities differ. In 
 giving sentence we must make some difference 
 in the character of the sentences to give effect 
 to this difference." 
 
 The Lord Chief Justice then proceeded to
 
 244 THE RAID ON TUE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 give sentence. Dr. Jameson was to be im- 
 prisoned for fifteen months, Sir John Wil- 
 loughby for ten months, Major Robert White 
 for seven months ; the rest (Colonel Grey, 
 Colonel Henry AVhite, Major Coventry) five 
 months. No hard labour was inflicted. 
 
 The general feeling at the conclusion was 
 one of relief that legal technicalities had not 
 succeeded. As previously mentioned, there 
 was a wide-spread impression that an acquittal 
 on technical grounds would not have raised 
 the credit of England ; the offence within the 
 statute was clearly shown to have been com- 
 mitted ; and, however justified in point of 
 private law the technical acquittal might have 
 been, the trial so far partook of an inter- 
 national nature that it was well such justifica- 
 tion had not to be pleaded. On the Conti- 
 tinent, and in Germany especially, tlie event of 
 the trial was baffling. The Press had, almost 
 without exception, been engaged in throwing 
 ridicule on the bona fides of the whole of the 
 judicial proceedings, and making the most 
 unfounded cliarges of connivance against 
 the English Government ; to turn round and
 
 RELEASE OF DR. JAMESON. 245 
 
 praise English justice for its impartiality 
 proved almost too great a task : a few papers, 
 however, succeeded. 
 
 No special order had been made at the trial 
 as to the status of the prisoners, and the result 
 of this was to leave them to be treated as 
 ordinary criminals. Yet it was felt on all 
 hands that this was utterly unreasonable, and 
 that the idea of exposing them to the ordinary 
 indignities of prison life was revolting. Agita- 
 tion was raised, both in and out of Parliament, 
 to secure to the raiders the treatment accorded 
 to first-class misdemeanants. The distinction 
 between political and non-political crimes had 
 to be unearthed, and the Home Secretary ad- 
 vised Her Majesty to order the necessary 
 change, and this was duly carried out. 
 
 One more scene remains. In the early part 
 of November sinister rumours were afloat 
 concerning the health of Dr. Jameson. These 
 rumours gained ground, and it transpired that 
 he had been suffering greatly from depression, 
 and that his state gave the greatest reason 
 for anxiety ; and a petition was immediately 
 raised for his release. No hesitation was
 
 246 THE EAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 felt as to the necessity for this the moment 
 it was conclusively proved that further con- 
 finement was dangerous ; but an insigni- 
 ficant, noisy clique, who had been for some 
 months attacking the Executive for its action 
 in releasing some of the Irish dynamitards from 
 Portland, condemned any delay in the matter, 
 and the statements as to Dr. Jameson beiug 
 sacrificed to propitiate President Kruger were 
 once more brought into use. Dr. Broadbent 
 was specially called in to examine Dr. Jameson, 
 and on his report the prisoner was released 
 on the 2nd December, after four months of 
 imprisonment. For some time afterwards his 
 health caused much anxiety, but all fears are 
 now fortunately dispelled. Major Coventry 
 was likewise released on medical grounds, I 
 
 and all the prisoners arc now at liberty. 
 
 At this point we must take leave of the ex- 
 pedition and its leaders. Already time is dis- 
 pelling the mists that shrouded and distorted 
 the facts of the struggle amongst the hills of 
 Krugersdorp in the opening of the year 1896. 
 The act itself, and its causes and conse- 
 quences are being diflferentiated. We may
 
 CAPE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE. 247 
 
 applaud to the full the dash, the courage, the 
 resource, and the endurance evinced by leaders 
 and followers alike without thereby approving 
 the violation of the Transvaal. We may even 
 rejoice that the expedition failed without being 
 regarded as traitors. It has been our good 
 fortune to have had demonstrated more than 
 once in South Africa in the last few years how 
 fearlessly Englishmen can face death at the 
 hands of overwhelming odds, and how closely 
 the band of a common nationality draws them 
 together ; but no more perfect demonstration 
 of either was ever given than in this ill-starred 
 and ill-conceived foray, which sowed seeds of 
 trouble that have already borne much noxious 
 fruit, whilst others yet lie hidden in Transvaal 
 soil. 
 
 It has been noticed that a committee to 
 investigate the raid and to enquire into the 
 administration of the Chartered Company had 
 been decided upon by the English Government. 
 The enquiry by this committee was postponed 
 till after the conclusion of the trial at bar ; 
 but a similar enquiry by the Cape Parliament 
 was proceeded with and reported in the
 
 248 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 middle of July. The majority report absolved 
 the members of the Colonial Government 
 other than Mr. Rhodes from all knowledge of 
 the raid, but implicated Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Beit, 
 Mr. Rutherford Harris, and Dr. Jameson ; the 
 minority report found no evidence as to Mr. 
 Rhodes' complicity. 
 
 The proceedings of our own Parliamentary 
 committee were postponed until the opening 
 of the new Session, On the meeting of Par- 
 liament an unexpectedly strong opposition 
 was brought against any further proceeding 
 in the matter, but this was overborne, and the 
 committee held its first meeting on the 16th 
 February. The committee was composed of 
 fifteen members of the House of Commons — 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Michael 
 Hicks-Beach), the Secretary of State for 
 the Colonies (Mr. Jose])h Chamberlain), the 
 Attorney-General (Sir Richard AN'ebster), Sir 
 AVilliam Harcourt, Sir H. Campbell-Banner- 
 man, Mr. Sydney Buxton, Sir W. Hart-Dyke, 
 Mr. J. Ellis, Mr. Jackson, Mr. liigham, Mr. 
 ])lake, Mr. Labouchcre, Mr. AVharton, and 
 Mr. Wyndham. Mr. Jackson was appointed
 
 THE ENGLISH COMMITTEE. 249 
 
 chairman. The scope of the committee was 
 thus defined : "To enquire into the origin 
 and circumstances of the incursion into the 
 South African Republic by an armed force, 
 and into the administration of the British 
 South Africa Company and to report thereon, 
 and, further, to report what alterations are 
 desirable in the government of the territories 
 under the control of the Company, and that 
 the committee have leave to hear counsel 
 to such extent as they shall see fit, and 
 have power to send for persons, papers, and 
 records." This committee is still sitting. 
 Mr. Rhodes was the first witness called before 
 the committee. He had off'ered through his 
 solicitor to return to England to take his trial 
 for his alleged complicity in the raid on the 
 conclusion of the trial of Dr. Jameson and 
 his companions, but this had not been re- 
 quired of him, and it was not till the middle 
 of January of this present year that he arrived 
 in London to give evidence. He and Mr. 
 Beit had resigned their positions as directors 
 of the company in June previous. 
 
 For our conclusion we must revert to 
 
 R
 
 250 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 South' Africa. Once more, the doings of the 
 Transvaal Republic are assuming an important 
 position in our newspapers. Once more poli- 
 tical tension is great. 
 
 It was not to be hoped that with the resump- 
 tion by Johannesburg of its ordinary peaceful 
 avocations the raid would be forgotten. It 
 is very easy to say " Forget and forgive " ; but 
 the process of hand-shaking, even after a 
 stand-up fight, however effectual in producing 
 peace among school-boys, or even sometimes 
 among prize-fighters, has never proved par- 
 ticularly fruitful of good results in the case of 
 communities ; and in the present case the 
 fight had been stopped half-way, which made 
 matters worse ; so that no surprise need be 
 felt that there was a considerable residuum 
 of friction which tlircatened to cause a con- 
 flagration if much ])rovocation was given by 
 cither side. The Boers, disunited prior to 
 tlic raid by the progressive tendencies of the 
 younger generation, were now united in distrust 
 of English methods ; the Hitlanders felt they 
 had ])ocMi outwitted and deceived, and remained 
 resentful. It was unfortunate, too, that the 
 
 I
 
 BOER DISTRUST. 251 
 
 projected visit of the President to England 
 proved a failure ; but whether umbrage was 
 taken at the fact that a scheme proposed by 
 Mr. Chamberlain for affording a measure of 
 local self-government to Johannesburg for 
 the consideration of the Eepublic was placed 
 before the British Parliament before any com- 
 munication in reply to it had been made by 
 the President on behalf of the Ilepublic, or 
 whether Mr. Kruger allowed himself to be 
 over-persuaded by the small anti-British 
 clique at Pretoria, it came about that a re- 
 monstrance was made against the attempt 
 on the part of the British Government to 
 regulate the internal affairs of the Republic, 
 and the negotiations for the President's visit 
 were abruptly broken off. 
 
 Still the first part of the year 1896 showed 
 a marked progress to better things ; it is true 
 that Boer distrust and suspicion reached such 
 a pitch that urgent representations were made 
 to the High Commissioner of the uneasiness 
 caused by the concentration at Mafeking ol 
 the troops on the way to the scene of war in 
 
 Rhodesia, that they were, in fact, destined for 
 
 E 2
 
 252 THE liAID ON THE TRANSVAAL 
 
 an invasion of the Transvaal ; but to counter- 
 balance this there was the good feeling 
 caused by the offer of the President of Boer 
 auxiliaries to assist the settlers in Buluwayo ; 
 and despite the unscrupulous abuse of the 
 Boers and all their works to which a large 
 section of the English Press too readily opened 
 its columns, it seemed at one period that the 
 Transvaal question was on its way to a settle- 
 ment. 
 
 A law was passed by the Volksraad in July 
 which prohibited the sale of liquor to natives, 
 and this measure met with a full measure of 
 ap[)roval from the Uitlanders ; and the legis- 
 lation, too, which followed shortly afterwards, 
 whereby a grant of substantial amount from 
 the Treasury for children's education was 
 made, was likewise a step in the right direc- 
 tion, altliough accompanied by a condition 
 requiring the attainment of a certain standard 
 in the Dutch language. But following on 
 these there came other acts which went far 
 to undo the good impression previously con- 
 veyed, and to cause the resurrection of dis- 
 content.
 
 IIARSE LEOISLATION. 253 
 
 Transvaal legislation and policy would seem 
 to have a dual personality ; at one time con- 
 ciliatory and tending to the best interests of 
 the community ; at another, harsh, reactionary, 
 anti-social. From September onwards the 
 latter tendency held sway. What there is to 
 account for this change of attitude it is hard 
 to say, if President Kruger is possessed of 
 that despotic power which is often attributed 
 to him by his detractors in the Press ; if he 
 dances at someone else's bidding, no explana- 
 tion is necessary for the change of front. 
 
 The two pieces of legislation just referred 
 to are the Aliens' Expulsion Law and the 
 Press Law, which were passed within a very 
 short period of one another. The Aliens' 
 Expulsion Law conferred on the Executive 
 power to order any alien who was regarded 
 as dangerous to public peace to quit the 
 country, and on his making default in so 
 doing he was liable to six months' imprison- 
 ment. This legislation conferred on the 
 Executive a most arbitrary and unwholesome 
 jurisdiction, as it was possible by exercise 
 of this power on some flimsy pretext to
 
 251 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 seize any alien who was obnoxious to the 
 Government by reason of his political views. 
 The second law imposed on the Press some 
 extraordinary restrictions. All publications 
 were to bear the name of the printer, to state 
 w'hether for distribution or not, and to contain 
 the name and address of the publisher; all 
 periodicals were to have the name of the 
 editor, and all articles of a political or per- 
 sonal nature were to be signed by their 
 writers. The Executive had the right to 
 prohibit the circulation of anything which 
 seemed to them objectionable. A penalty of 
 £250 was imposed for any libellous or indecent 
 matter, and a penalty of not more than £500 
 for any matter inciting to an offence, and the 
 editor of the paper was to be considered as the 
 perpetrator of the offence whether he was 
 the writer or not. 
 
 TTiose who regarded the passing of these 
 reactionary measures as a transitory phase in 
 the conduct of the Government were destined 
 to disappointment. The retrogressive party 
 in the Government had gained strength, and 
 the progressive party was weakened. Almost
 
 THE STRUGGLE WITH THE JUDICIARY. 255 
 
 the last act in the year 1896 was the sup- 
 pression of the Critic, a paper which fear- 
 lessly advocated a forward policy, and steadily 
 maintained the Uitlander cause. 
 
 Reference has been made at a previous stage 
 of this book to the desire of the Volksraad to 
 subordinate the judicial bench to their wishes 
 by making the Grondwet susceptible to alter- 
 ation by a mere decree of the Raad, so that 
 the judges should have no power to examine 
 the acts of the Chamber in the light of the 
 written constitution. The judges have uni- 
 formly resisted this attempt till the present 
 time. At this time, however, the question 
 has reached an acute phase. The judges, in 
 the case of Brown v. the State, applied the 
 testing power which they claim to a resolu- 
 tion of the Volksraad, and found it not in ac- 
 cordance with the Grondwet. They declared 
 that a resolution of the Volksraad had not the 
 orce of law, and that they had a right to 
 examine such resolutions, and decide whether 
 or not they were contrary to the fundamental 
 law. This the Executive have determined to 
 stop. A law has been promulgated setting
 
 256 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 forth that the Volksraad have power to alter 
 the Grondwet by other decrees, and enacting 
 that the judges shall take an oath not to test 
 the resolutions of the Assembly ; and that the 
 President shall have power to question the 
 judges whether they consider this oath to be 
 contrary to their office, and to remove any 
 contumacious judges. The latest intelligence 
 is to the effect that the judges have acknow- 
 ledged the superiority of the Raad and the 
 validity of this new law, and have promised 
 obedience thereto on condition that a com- 
 plete revision of the Grondwet is under- 
 taken. 
 
 From a constitutional standpoint it is 
 impossible to exaggerate the importance 
 of this change. The judiciary will become 
 entirely dependent on the Raad ; the con- 
 stitution will be changed to suit the poli- 
 tical feeling of the moment ; and the judges 
 will be consenting parties. With the dis- 
 appearance of the independence of the judges 
 the Uitlanders feel more than ever deprived 
 of constitutional rights. 
 
 The last act of the Government has been
 
 THE OUTLOOK. 257 
 
 the suppression of the Star, which, after the 
 disappearance of the Critic, remained the only 
 mouthpiece of Uitlander opinion. The result 
 of this arbitrary act on the Johannesburgers 
 can readily be understood. 
 
 Undoubtedly the outlook in South Africa 
 is at the present moment unpromising. Not 
 only is the perverted course of action on 
 which the Government has entered causing 
 the return of the angry feelings upon the 
 Kaad which culminated in the episodes above 
 described, but there is a great amount of 
 friction with the Cape authorities and the 
 Home Government. The demand has recently 
 been made upon the Chartered Company 
 and the Home Government for an indemnity 
 in connection with the Raid. The damage 
 inflicted upon the Republic has been assessed 
 at over £1,500,000, a sum which seems 
 ludicrously excessive, and which has been so 
 regarded in this country. The attempt to 
 swell the damage to such dimensions has 
 alienated many who would willingly have 
 given a handsome sum for the wrons: which 
 has been inflicted.
 
 258 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 The present is not a happy moment at 
 which to close a story of South Africa. It 
 is more than likely that the next few months 
 will witness some startling developments. 
 That the Boers give their enemies every 
 opportunity to blaspheme is fairly evident. 
 That it is to the interests of a section in 
 England — a section neither unimportant nor 
 over-scrupulous — to provoke a struggle witli 
 the Transvaal is also evident, and never more 
 so than in these last days of March, 1897. 
 That common-sense, coupled with a restriction 
 on the beneficent and altruistic despotism of 
 Throgmorton Street, will avert this calamity is 
 earnestly to be wished. Whether or not the 
 historian of the future shall have to record in 
 the closing years of the nineteenth century a 
 costly war in South Africa, which shall hurl far 
 apart the two white races and shall breed mis- 
 trust and hatred for generations to come, de- 
 pends upon the English people. The standing 
 complaint against the Transvaal is that it is 
 being managed by a small clique for their own 
 benefit, to the disadvantage of the country; 
 do not let us allow England to fall into the
 
 WANTED— COMMON-SENSE. 259 
 
 same position. Patriotism, like many other 
 things at the present time, is being run by a 
 syndicate which intends to make a very hand- 
 some profit out of the sale of it to the public ; 
 but the public have plenty of it already, and 
 of the right quality, from a better source. 
 
 FINIS.
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 CONVENTION OF PRETORIA, 1881. 
 
 Article 1 defines the boundaries of the 
 Transvaal State. 
 
 Article 2. Her Majesty reserves to herself, 
 her heirs and successors, (a) the right from 
 time to time to appoint a British Resident in 
 and for the said State, with such duties and 
 functions as are hereinafter defined ; {b) the 
 right to move troops through the said State 
 in time of war, or in case of the apprehension 
 of immediate war between the Suzerain Power 
 and any Foreign State or native tribe in 
 South Africa; and (<?) the control of the 
 external relations of the said State, including 
 the conclusion of treaties and the conduct of 
 diplomatic intercourse with Foreign Powers,
 
 262 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 such intercourse to be carried on through 
 Her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers 
 abroad. 
 
 Article 3. Until altered by the Volksraad, 
 or other competent authority, all laws, whether 
 passed before or after the annexation of the 
 Transvaal territory to Her Majesty's dominions, 
 shall, except in so far as they are'inconsistent 
 with or repugnant to the provisions of this 
 Convention, be and remain in force in the 
 said State in so far as they shall be applicable 
 thereto, provided that no future enactment 
 especially affecting the interest of natives 
 shall have any force or effect in the said State, 
 without the consent of Her Majesty, her heirs 
 and successors, first had and obtained and 
 signified to the Government of the said State 
 througli tlic British Resident, provided further 
 that in no case will the repeal or amendment 
 of any laws enacted since the annexation have 
 a retrospective effect, so as to invalidate any 
 acts done or liabilities incurred by virtue of 
 such laws. 
 
 AHicle A. On the 8th day of August 1881 
 the (lovernment of the said State, together
 
 APPENDIX A, 263 
 
 with all rights and obligations thereto apper- 
 taining, and all State property taken over at 
 the time of annexation, save and except 
 munitions of war, will be handed over to 
 Messrs. Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 
 Martinus Wessel Pretorius, and Petrus 
 Jacobus Joubert, or the survivor or survivors 
 of them, who will forthwith cause a Volks- 
 raad to be elected and convened, and the 
 Volksraad, thus elected and convened, will 
 decide as to the further administration of the 
 Government of the said State. 
 
 Article 5. All sentences passed upon per- 
 sons who may be convicted of offences con- 
 trary to the rules of civilised warfare 
 committed during the recent hostilities will 
 be duly carried out, and no alteration or 
 mitigation of such sentences will be made or 
 allowed by the Government of the Transvaal 
 State without Her Majesty's consent conveyed 
 through the British E^esident. In case there 
 shall be any prisoners in any of the gaols of 
 the Transvaal State whose respective sen- 
 tences of imprisonment have been remitted in 
 part by Her Majesty's Administrator or other
 
 264 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 officer administering the Government, such 
 remission will be recognised and acted upon 
 by the future Government of the said State. 
 
 AHicle 12. All persons holding property in 
 the said State on the 8th day of August 1881 
 will continue after the said date to enjoy the 
 rights of property which they have enjoyed 
 since the annexation. No person who has re- 
 mained loyal to Her Majesty during the recent 
 liostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason 
 of his loyalty, or be liable to any criminal pro- 
 secution or civil action for any part taken in 
 connection with such hostilities, and all such 
 persons will have full liberty to reside in the 
 country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, 
 and protection for their persons and property. 
 
 Article 1-5. There will continue to be com- 
 plete freedom of religion and protection from 
 molestation for all denominations, provided the 
 same be not inconsistent with morality and 
 good order, and no disability shall attach to 
 any person in regard to rights of property by 
 reason of tlie religious opinions which beholds.
 
 APPENDIX A. 265 
 
 Article 16. The provisions of the Fourth 
 Article of the Sand Kiver Convention are 
 hereby re-affirmed, and no slavery or appren- 
 ticeship partaking of slavery will be tolerated 
 by the Government of the said State. 
 
 Article 17. The British Resident will re- 
 ceive from the Government of the Transvaal 
 State such assistance and support as can by 
 law be given to him for the due discharge of 
 his functions; he will also receive every assist- 
 ance for the proper care and preservation of 
 the graves of such of Her Majesty's forces as 
 have died in the Transvaal, and if need be for 
 the expropriation of land for the purpose. 
 
 Article 18. The following will be the duties 
 and functions of the British Resident : — 
 
 Sub-section 1 . He will perform duties and 
 functions analogous to those discharged by a 
 Charge d'Affaires and Consul-General. 
 
 Sub-section 2. In regard to natives within 
 the Transvaal State he will [a] report to the 
 High Commissioner, as representative of the 
 Suzerain, as to the working and observance of 
 the provisions of this Convention ; (b) report 
 to the Transvaal authorities any cases of ill-
 
 266 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 treatment of natives or attempts to incite 
 natives to rebellion that may come to his 
 knowledge; [c) use his influence with the 
 natives in favour of law and order ; and {d) 
 generally perform such other duties as are by 
 this Convention entrusted to him, and take 
 such steps for the protection of the person 
 and property of natives as are consistent with 
 the laws of the land. 
 
 Sub-section 3. In regard to natives not re- 
 siding in the Transvaal {a) he will report to 
 the High Commissioner and the Transvaal 
 Government any encroachments reported to 
 him as having been made by Transvaal resi- 
 dents upon the land of such natives, and in 
 case of disagreement between the Transvaal 
 Government and the British Resident as to 
 whether an encroachment has been made, the 
 decision of the Suzerain will be final ; [h) the 
 British Resident will be the medium of com- 
 munication with native chiefs outside the 
 Transvaal, and, subject to the approval of the 
 High Commissioner, as representing the Suze- 
 rain, he will control the conclusion of treaties 
 with them ; and (c) he will arbitrate upon
 
 APPENDIX A. 267 
 
 every dispute between Transvaal residents and 
 natives outside the Transvaal (as to acts com- 
 mitted beyond the boundaries of the Trans- 
 vaal) which may be referred to him by the 
 parties interested. 
 
 Sub-section 4. In regard to communications 
 with foreign powers, the Transvaal Government 
 will correspond with Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment through the British Resident and the 
 High Commissioner. 
 
 Article 19. The Government of the Trans- 
 vaal State will strictly adhere to the boundaries 
 defined in the First Article of this Convention, 
 and will do its utmost to prevent any of its in- 
 habitants from making any encroachment upon 
 lands beyond the said State. 
 
 Article 20. All grants or titles issued at any 
 time by the Transvaal Government in respect 
 of land outside the boundary of the Transvaal 
 State, as defined. Article 1, shall be considered 
 invalid and of no effect, except in so far as 
 any such grant or title relates to land that 
 falls within the boundary of the Transvaal 
 State, and all persons holding any such grant 
 
 so considered invalid and of no effect will 
 
 s 2
 
 268 THE EAID O.V THE THANSVAAL. 
 
 receive from the Government of the Transvaal 
 State such compensation either in land or in 
 money as the Volksraad shall determine. In 
 all cases in which any native chiefs or other 
 authorities outside the said boundaries have 
 received any adequate consideration from the 
 Government of the former South African Re- 
 public for land excluded from the Transvaal 
 by the First Article of this Convention, or 
 where permanent improvements have been 
 made on the land, the British Resident will, 
 subject to the approval of the High Commis- 
 sioner, use his linfiuence to recover from the 
 native authorities fair compensation for the 
 loss of the land thus excluded, and of the 
 permanent improvement thereon. 
 
 Article 25. No other or higher duties will 
 be imposed on tlie importation into the Trans- 
 vaal State of any article the produce or manu- 
 facture of the dominions and possessions of 
 Her Majesty, from whatever place arriving, 
 than are or may be payable on the like article 
 the produce or manufacture of any other 
 country, nor will any prohibition be main-
 
 APPENDIX A, 209 
 
 tained or imposed on the importation of any 
 article the produce or manufacture of the 
 dominions and possessions of Her Majesty, 
 which shall not equally extend to the im- 
 portation of the like articles being the pro- 
 duce or manufacture of any other country. 
 
 Article 26. All persons other than natives 
 conforming themselves to the laws of the 
 Transvaal State {a) will have full liberty with 
 their families to enter, travel, or reside in any 
 part of the Transvaal State; {h) they will be en- 
 titled to hire or possess houses, manufactories, 
 warehouses, shops, and premises; [c) they may 
 carry on their commerce either in person or by 
 any agents whom they may think to employ ; 
 {d) they will not be subject in respect of their 
 persons or property, or in respect of their com- 
 merce or industry, to any taxes, whether general 
 or local, other than those which are or may be 
 imposed upon Transvaal citizens. 
 
 Article 27. All inhabitants of the Transvaal 
 shall have free access to the Courts of Justice 
 for the protection and defence of their riglits. 
 
 Article 28. All persons other than natives 
 who established their domicile in the Transvaal
 
 270 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 between the 12th day of April 1877 and the 
 date when this Convention comes into effect, 
 and who shall within twelve months after such 
 last-mentioned date have their names registered 
 by the British Resident, shall be exempt from 
 all compulsory military service whatever. The 
 Resident shall notify such registration to the 
 Government of the Transvaal State. 
 
 Article 32. This Convention will be ratified 
 by a newly-elected Volksraad within the period 
 of three months after its execution, and in de- 
 fault of such ratification this Convention shall 
 be null and void. 
 
 Article 33. Forthwith, after the ratification 
 of this Convention, as in the last preceding 
 Ai'ticle mentioned, all British troops in Trans- 
 vaal territory will leave the same, and the 
 mutual delivery of munitions of war will be 
 carried out.
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 LONDON CONVENTION, 1884. 
 
 The 1st Article defines the boundaries. 
 
 Article 2. The Government of the South 
 African Republic will strictly adhere to the 
 boundaries defined in the first Article of this 
 Convention, and ^vill do its utmost to pre- 
 vent any of its inhabitants from making any 
 encroachments upon lands beyond the said 
 boundaries. The Government of the South 
 African Republic will appoint Commissioners 
 upon the eastern and western borders whose 
 duty it will be strictly to guard against irregu- 
 larities and all trespassing over the boundaries. 
 Her Majesty's Government will, if necessary, 
 appoint Commissioners in the native territories 
 outside the eastern and western borders of the
 
 272 THE ILUD ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 South African Republic to maintain order and 
 prevent encroachments. 
 
 Her Majesty's Government and the Govern- 
 ment of the South African Republic will each 
 appoint a person to proceed together to beacon 
 off the amended south-west boundary as de- 
 scribed in Article 1 of this Convention ; and 
 the President of the Orange Free State shall 
 be requested to appoint a referee to whom 
 the said persons shall refer any questions on 
 which they may disagree respecting the inter- 
 pretation of the said Article, and the decision 
 of such referee thereon shall be final. The ar- 
 rangement already made, under the terms of 
 Article 19 of the Convention of Pretoria of the 
 3rd August 1881, between the owners of the 
 farms Grootfontein and Valleifontein on the 
 one liand, and the Baralong authorities on 
 the other, by which a fair share of the water 
 supjdy of the said farms shall be allowed to 
 ilow undisturbed to the said Baralongs, shall 
 continue in force. 
 
 Article o. If a liritish officer is a])pointed 
 to reside at Pretoria or elsewhere within tlie 
 South African Re])ublic to discharge functions
 
 APPENDIX B. 273 
 
 analogous to those of a Consular officer he 
 will receive the protection and assistance of 
 the Republic. 
 
 Article 4. The South African Republic will 
 conclude no treaty or engagement with any 
 State or nation other than the Orange Free 
 State, nor with any native tribe to the east- 
 ward or westward of the Republic, until the 
 same has been approved by Her Majesty the 
 Queen. 
 
 Such approval shall be considered to have 
 been granted if Her Majesty's Government 
 shall not, within six months after receiving a 
 copy of such treaty (which shall be delivered 
 to them immediately upon its completion), 
 have notified that the conclusion of such 
 treaty is in conflict with the interests of 
 Great Britain or of any of Her Majesty's pos- 
 sessions in South Africa. 
 
 Article 7. All persons who held property in 
 the Transvaal on the 8th day of August 1881, 
 and still hold the same, will continue to enjoy 
 the rights of property which they have en- 
 joyed since the 12th April 1877. No person
 
 274 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 who has remained loyal to Her Majesty dur- 
 ing the late hostilities shall suffer any molesta- 
 tion by reason of his loyalty ; or be liable to 
 any criminal prosecution or civil action for 
 any part taken in connection with such hos- 
 tilities; and all such persons will have full 
 liberty to reside in the country, with enjoy- 
 ment of all civil rights, and protection for their 
 persons and property. 
 
 Article 8. The South African Republic re- 
 news the declaration made in the Sand River 
 Convention, and in the Convention of Pre- 
 toria, that no slavery or apprenticeship par- 
 taking of slavery will be tolerated by the 
 Government of the said Republic. 
 
 Article 9. There will continue to be com- 
 plete freedom of religion and protection from 
 molestation for all denominations, provided 
 the same be not inconsistent with morality and 
 good order ; and no disability shall attach to 
 any person in regard to rights of property by 
 reason of the religious opinions which he 
 holds. 
 
 Article ^ 0. The British Officer appointed to 
 reside in the South African Republic will re-
 
 APPENDIX B. 275 
 
 ceive every assistance from the Government 
 of the said Republic in making due provision 
 for the proper care and preservation of the 
 graves of such of Her Majesty's forces as 
 have died in the Transvaal ; and, if need be, 
 for the appropriation of land for the purpose. 
 Article 11. All grants or titles issued at any 
 time by the Transvaal Government in respect 
 of land outside the boundary of the South 
 African Republic, as defined in Article 1, 
 shall be considered invalid and of no effect, 
 except in so far as any such grant or title 
 relates to land that falls within the boundary 
 of the South African Republic ; and all per- 
 sons holding any such grant so considered in- 
 valid and of no effect will receive from the 
 Government of the South African Republic 
 such compensation, either in land or in 
 money, as the Volksraad shall determine. 
 In all cases in which any native chiefs or 
 other authorities outside the said boundaries 
 have received any adequate consideration 
 from the Government of the South African 
 Republic for land excluded from the Trans- 
 vaal by the first Article of this Convention, or
 
 276 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL, 
 
 where permanent improvements have been 
 made on the land, the High Commissioner 
 will recover from the native authorities fair 
 compensation for the loss of the land thus 
 excluded, or of the permanent improvements 
 thereon. 
 
 Article 13. Except in pursuance of any 
 treaty or engagement made as provided in 
 Article 4 of this Convention, no other or 
 higher duties shall be imposed on the im- 
 portation into the South African llepublic of 
 any article coming from any part of Her 
 Majesty's dominions than are or may be 
 imposed on the like article coming from 
 any other place or country; nor will any 
 prohibition be maintained or imposed on 
 tlie importation into the South African 
 Republic of any article coming from any 
 part of Her Majesty's dominions which 
 shall not equally extend to the like article 
 coming from any other place or country. 
 And in like manner the same treatment shall 
 be given to any article coming to Great 
 Britain from tlio .Soutli African ]lei)ublic as
 
 APPENDIX B. S77 
 
 to the like article coming from any other 
 place or country. 
 
 These provisions do not preclude the con- 
 sideration of special arrangements as to im- 
 port duties and commercial relations between 
 the South African Republic and any of Her 
 Majesty's colonies or possessions. 
 
 Article 14. A\\ persons, other than natives, 
 conforming themselves to the laws of the 
 South African Kepublic {a) will have full 
 liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, 
 or reside in any part of the South African 
 Republic ; {h) they will be entitled to hire or 
 possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, 
 shops, and premises ; [c] they may carry on 
 their commerce either in person or by any 
 agents whom they may think fit to employ; 
 (d) they will not be subject, in respect of 
 their persons or property, or in respect of 
 their commerce or industry, to any taxes, 
 whether general or local, other than those 
 which are or may be imposed upon citizens 
 of the said Republic. 
 
 Article 15. All persons, other than natives, 
 who established their domicile in the Trans-
 
 278 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 vaal between the 12th day of April 1877 
 and the 8th August 1881, and who within 
 twelve months after such last-mentioned date 
 have had their names registered by the British 
 Kesident, shall be exempt from all compulsory 
 military service whatever. 
 
 Article 16. Provision shall hereafter be made 
 by a separate instrument for the mutual ex- 
 tradition of criminals, and also for the sur- 
 render of deserters from Her Majesty's 
 Forces. 
 
 • • • • • • 
 
 Article 18. No grants of land which may 
 have been made, and no transfers or mort- 
 gages which may have been passed, between 
 the 12th April 1877 and the 8th August 
 1881, will be invalidated by reason merely of 
 their having been made or passed between 
 such dates. 
 
 Article 20. This convention will be ratified 
 by a Volksraad of the South African Republic 
 within the period of six months after its exe- 
 cution, and in default of such ratification this 
 Convention shall be null and void.
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 CHARTER OF THE BRITISH SOUTH 
 AFRICA COMPANY. 
 
 VICTORIA by the Grace of God, of the 
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith. 
 
 To all of whom these presents shall come, 
 Greeting : 
 
 WHEREAS a Humble Petition has been 
 presented to Us in Our Council by The 
 Most Noble JAMES Duke of ABER- 
 CORN, Companion of the Most Honour- 
 able Order of the Bath ; The Most Noble 
 ALEXANDER WILLIAM GEORGE 
 Duke of FIFE, Knight of the Most 
 Ancient and Most Noble Order of the
 
 280 THE RAID ON THE TBAKSVAAL, 
 
 Thistle, Privy Councillor ; The Eight 
 Honourable EDRIC FREDERICK 
 Lord GIFFORD, V.C. ; CECIL JOHN 
 RHODES, of Kimberley, in the Cape 
 Colony, Member of the Executive Council 
 and of the House of Assembly of the 
 Colony of the Cape of Good Hope; 
 ALFRED BEIT, of 29, Holborn Via- 
 duct, London, Merchant ; ALBERT 
 HENRY GEORGE GREY, of Howick, 
 Northumberland, Esquire ; and 
 GEORGE CAWSTON, of 18, Lennox 
 Gardens, London, Esquire, Barrister-at- 
 Law. 
 
 AND WHEREAS the said Petition states 
 amongst other things : — 
 
 That the Petitioners and others are associated 
 for the purpose of forming a Company 
 or Association, to be iiicor])orated, if to 
 Us should seem lit, for the objects in the 
 said Petition set forth, under the cor- 
 porate name of the British South Africa 
 Company. 
 
 That the existence of a powerful British Com- 
 pany, controlled by those of Our subjects
 
 APPENDIX C. 281 
 
 in whom we have confidence, and having 
 its principal field of operations in that 
 region of South Africa lying to the north 
 of Bechuanaland and to the west of Por- 
 tuguese East Africa, would be advan- 
 tageous to the commercial and other 
 interests of Our subjects in the United 
 Kingdom and in Our Colonies. 
 
 That the Petitioners desire to carry into effect 
 divers concessions and aoreements which 
 have been made by certain of the chiefs 
 and tribes inhabiting the said region, 
 and such other coucessions, agreements, 
 grants and treaties as the Petitioners may 
 hereafter obtain within the said region 
 or elsewhere in Africa, with the view of 
 promoting trade, commerce, civilisation 
 and good government (including the re- 
 gulation of liquor traffic with the natives) 
 in the territories which are or may be 
 comprised or referred to in such con- 
 cessions, agreements, grants and treaties 
 as aforesaid. 
 
 That the Petitioners believe that if the said 
 concessions, agreements, grants and
 
 282 THE RAW ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 treaties can be carried into effect, the 
 condition of the natives inhabiting the 
 said territories will be materially im- 
 proved and their civilisation advanced, 
 and an organisation established which 
 will tend to the suppression of the slave 
 trade in the said territories, and to the 
 opening up of the said territories to the 
 immigration of Europeans, and to the 
 lawful trade and commerce of Our sub- 
 jects and of other nations. 
 
 That the success of the enterprise in which 
 the Petitioners are engaged would be 
 greatly advanced if it should seem fit to 
 Us to grant them Our Royal Charter of 
 incorporation as a British Company under 
 the said name or title, or such other 
 name or title, and with such powers as 
 to Us may seem fit for the purpose of 
 more effectually carrying into effect the 
 objects aforesaid. 
 
 That large sums of money have been sub- 
 scribed for the purposes of the intended 
 Company by the Petitioners and others, 
 wlio are prepared also to subscribe or to
 
 APPENDIX C. 283 
 
 procure such further sums as may here- 
 after be found requisite for the develop- 
 ment of the said enterprise, in the event 
 of Our being pleased to grant to them 
 Our Royal Charter of incorporation as 
 aforesaid. 
 NOW, THEREFORE, We having taken the 
 said Petition into Oar Royal considera- 
 tion in Our Council, and being satisfied 
 that the intentions of the Petitioners are 
 praiseworthy and deserve encouragement, 
 and that the enterprise in the Petition 
 described may be productive of the 
 benefits set forth therein, by Our Pre- 
 rogative Royal and of Our especial grace, 
 certain knowledge and mere motion, have 
 constituted, erected and incorporated, 
 and by this Our Charter for Us and Our 
 Heirs and Royal successors do constitute, 
 erect and incorporate into one body 
 politic and corporate by the name of the 
 British South Africa Company the said 
 James Duke of Abercorn, Alexander 
 William George Duke of Fife, Edric 
 
 Frederick Lord Giff'ord, Cecil John 
 
 T 2
 
 281 THK RAID ON THE TBANSVAAL. 
 
 Rhodes, Alfred Beit, Albert Henry 
 George Grey and George Cawston, and 
 such other persons and such bodies as 
 from time to time become and are mem- 
 bers of the body politic and corporate by 
 these present constituted, erected and in- 
 corporated with perpetual succession and 
 a common seal, with power to break, 
 alter or renew the same at discretion, 
 and with the further authorities, powers 
 and privileges conferred, and subject to 
 the conditions imposed by this Our 
 Cliartcr: And We do hereby accordingly 
 will, ordain, give, grant, constitute, appoint 
 and declare as follows (that is to say): — 
 
 1. The principal field of the operations of 
 The British South Africa Company (in this 
 Our Charter referred to as " the Company ") 
 shall be the region of South Africa lyii^g 
 immediately to the north of British Bcchu- 
 .111 aland, and to the north and west of tli(3 
 South African Republic, and to the west of 
 the Bortnguese dominions :— 
 
 2. The Company is hereby authorised and 
 empowered to hold, use and retain for the
 
 APPENDIX C. 285 
 
 purposes of the Company, and on the terms 
 of this Our Charter, the full benefit of the 
 concessions and agreements made as afore- 
 said, so far as they are valid, or any of them, 
 and all interests, authorities and powers 
 comprised or referred to in the said con- 
 cessions and agreements. Provided always 
 that nothing herein contained shall prejudice 
 or affect any other valid and subsisting con- 
 cessions or agreements which may have been 
 made by any of the chiefs or tribes aforesaid. 
 And in particular nothing herein contained 
 shall prejudice or affect certain concessions 
 granted in and subsequent to the year 1880, 
 relating to the territory usually known as the 
 District of the Tati, nor shall anything herein 
 contained be construed as giving any juris- 
 diction, administrative or otherwise, within 
 the said district of the Tati, the limits of 
 which District are as follows, viz. : from the 
 place where the Shasi River rises to its 
 junction with the Tati and Ramaquaban 
 Rivers, thence along the Ramaquaban River 
 to where it rises, and thence along the water- 
 shed of those rivers.
 
 286 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 3. The Company is hereby further authorised 
 and empowered, subject to the approval of one 
 of Our Principal Secretaries of State (herein 
 referred to as " Our Secretary of State "), from 
 time to time, to acquire by any concession, 
 agreement, grant or treaty all or any rights, 
 interests, authorities, jurisdictions and powers 
 of any kind or nature whatever, including 
 powers necessary for the purposes of govern- 
 ment, and the preservation of public order in 
 or for the protection of territories, lands or 
 property, comprised or referred to in the con- 
 cessions and agreements made as aforesaid, 
 or affecting other territories, lands or property 
 in Africa, or the inhabitants thereof, and to 
 hold, use and exercise such territories, lands, 
 property, rights, interests, authorities, juris- 
 dictions and powers respectively for the pur- 
 poses of the Company and on the terms of this 
 Our Charter. 
 
 4. Provided that no powers of government 
 or administration shall be exercised under or 
 in relation to any such last-mentioned con- 
 cession, agreement, grant or treaty until a copy 
 of such concession, agreement, grant or treaty
 
 APPENDIX C. 287 
 
 in such form and with such maps or particulars 
 as Our Secretary of State approves, verified as 
 he requires, has been transmitted to him, and 
 he has signified his approval thereof, either 
 absolutely or subject to any conditions or re- 
 servations. And provided also that no rights, 
 interests, authorities, jurisdictions or powers 
 of any description shall be acquired by the 
 Company within the said District of the Tati 
 as hereinbefore described witliout the previous 
 consent in writing of the owners, for the time 
 being, of the Concessions above referred to 
 relating to the said District, and the approval 
 of Our Secretary of State. 
 
 5. The Company shall be bound by and 
 shall fulfil all and singular the stipulations 
 on its part contained in any such concession, 
 agreement, grant or treaty as aforesaid, sub- 
 ject to any subsequent agreement afiecting 
 those stipulations approved by our Secretary 
 of State. 
 
 6. The Company shall always be and 
 remain British in character and domicile, and 
 shall have its principal ofiice in Great Britain, 
 and the Company's principal representative in
 
 288 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 South Africa, and the Directors shall always 
 be natural born British subjects, or persons 
 who have been naturalised as British subjects 
 by or under an Act of Parliament of our 
 United Kingdom ; but this Article shall not 
 disqualify any person nominated a Director 
 by this Our Charter, or any person whose 
 election as a Director shall have been approved 
 by Our Secretary of State, from acting in that 
 capacity. 
 
 7. In case at any time any difference arises 
 between any chief or tribe inhabiting any of 
 the territories aforesaid and the Company, 
 that difference shall, if Our Secretary of State 
 so require, be submitted by the Company to 
 him for his decision, and the Company shall 
 act in accordance with such decision. 
 
 8. If at any time Our Secretary of State 
 thinks lit to dissent from or object to any of 
 the dealings of the Company with any foreign 
 power, and to make known to the Company 
 any suggestion founded on that dissent or 
 objection, the Company shall act in accord- 
 ance with such suggestion. 
 
 9. If at any time Our Secretary of State
 
 APPENDIX C. 289 
 
 thinks fit to object to the exercise by the 
 Company of any authority, power or right 
 within any part of the territories aforesaid, on 
 the ground of there being an adverse claim to 
 or in respect of that part, the Company shall 
 defer to that objection until such time as any 
 such claim has been withdrawn or finally 
 dealt with or settled by Our Secretary of 
 State. 
 
 10. The Company shall to the best of its 
 ability preserve peace and order in such ways 
 and manners as it shall consider necessary, 
 and may with that object make ordinances (to 
 be approved by our Secretary of State) and 
 may establish and maintain a force of police. 
 
 11. The Company shall to the best of its 
 ability discourage, and, so far as may be 
 practicable, abolish by degrees, any system of 
 slave trade or domestic servitude in the ter- 
 ritories aforesaid. 
 
 12. The Company shall regulate the traffic 
 in spirits and other intoxicating liquors within 
 the territories aforesaid, so as, as far as prac- 
 ticable, to prevent the sale of any spirits or 
 other intoxicating liquor to any natives.
 
 290 THE RAID OX THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 13. The Company as such, or its officers as 
 such, shall not in any way interfere with the 
 religion of any class or tribe of the peoples of 
 the territories aforesaid or of any of the in- 
 habitants thereof, except so far as may be 
 necessary in the interests of humanity, and 
 all forms of religious worship or religious 
 ordinances may be exercised within the said 
 territories and no hindrance shall be offered 
 thereto, except as aforesaid. 
 
 14. In the administration of justice to the 
 said peoples or inhabitants careful regard 
 shall always be had to the customs and laws 
 of the class or tribe or nation to wliich the 
 parties respectively belong, especially with 
 respect to the holding, possession, transfer 
 and disposition of lands and goods and testate 
 or intestate succession thereto, and marriage, 
 divorce, and legitimacy and other rights of 
 property and personal rights, but subject to 
 any British laws which may be in force in 
 any of the territories aforesaid, and applicable 
 to the peoples or iiiliabitants thereof. 
 
 15. If at any time Our Secretary of State 
 thinks fit to dissent from or object to any
 
 APPENDIX C. 291 
 
 part of the proceedings or system of the Com- 
 pany relative to the peoples of the territories 
 aforesaid or to any of the inhabitants thereof, 
 in respect of slavery or religion or the admin- 
 istration of justice, or any other matter, he 
 shall make known to the Company his dissent 
 or objection, and the Company shall act in 
 accordance with his directions duly signified. 
 
 16. In the event of the Company acquiring 
 any harbour or harbours, the Company shall 
 freely afford all facilities for or to Our ships 
 therein without payment, except reasonable 
 charges for work done or services rendered or 
 materials or things supplied. 
 
 17. The Company shall furnish annually to 
 Our Secretary of State, as soon as conveniently 
 may be after the close of the financial year, 
 accounts of its expenditure for administrative 
 purposes, and of all sums received by it by 
 way of public revenue, as distinguished from 
 its commercial profits during the financial 
 year, together with a report as to its public 
 proceedings and the condition of the territories 
 within the sphere of its operations. The 
 Company shall also on or before the com-
 
 292 TUE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 mencement of each financial year furnish to 
 Our Secretary of State an estimate of its 
 expenditure for administrative purposes, and 
 of its public revenue (as above defined) for 
 the ensuing year. The Company shall in 
 addition from time to time furnish to Our 
 Secretary of State any reports, accounts or 
 information with which he may require to be 
 furnished. 
 
 18. The several officers of the Company 
 shall, subject to the rules of official sub- 
 ordination and to any regulations that may 
 be agreed upon, communicate freely with Our 
 High Commissioner in South Africa and any 
 others Our officers who may be stationed 
 within any of the territories aforesaid, and 
 shall pay due regard to any requirements, 
 suggestions or requests which the said High 
 Commissioner or other officers shall make to 
 tliem or any of them, and the Company shall 
 be bound to enforce the observance of this 
 Article. 
 
 19. The Company may hoist and use on its 
 buildings and elsewhere in the territories 
 aforesaid, and on its vessels, such distinctive
 
 APPENDIX C. 293 
 
 flag indicating the British character of the 
 Company as Our Secretary of State and the 
 Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty shall 
 from time to time approve. 
 
 20. Nothing in this Our Charter shall he 
 deemed to authorise the Company to set up or 
 grant any monopoly of trade : Provided that the 
 establishment of or the grant of concessions for 
 banks, railways, tramways, docks, telegraphs, 
 waterworks or any other similar undertakings, 
 or the establishment of any system of patent 
 or copyright approved by Our Secretary of 
 State, shall not be deemed monopolies for 
 this purpose. The Company shall not, either 
 directly or indirectly, hinder any Company 
 or persons who now are or hereafter may 
 be lawfully and peaceably carrying on any 
 business concern or venture within the said 
 District of the Tati hereinbefore described, 
 but shall by permitting and facilitating transit 
 by every lawful means to and from the District 
 of the Tati across its own territories or where 
 it has jurisdiction in that behalf, and by all 
 other reasonable and lawful means encourage, 
 assist and protect all British subjects who
 
 294 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 now are or hereafter may be law'fuUy and 
 peaceably engaged in the prosecution of a 
 lawful enterprise within the said District of 
 the Tati. 
 
 21. For the preservation of elephants and 
 other game the Company may make such 
 other regulations and (notwithstanding any- 
 thing hereinbefore contained) may impose 
 such license duties on the killing or taking of 
 elephants or other game as they may think 
 nt : Provided that nothing in such regulations 
 shall extend to diminish or interfere with any 
 hunting rights which may have been or may 
 hereafter be reserved to any native chiefs or 
 tribes by treaty, save so far as any such regu- 
 lations may relate to the establishment and 
 enforcement of a close season. 
 
 22. The Company shall be subject to and 
 shall perform and undertake all tlie obliga- 
 tions contained in or undertaken by Ourselves 
 under any treaty agreement or arrangement 
 between Ourselves and any other State or 
 Power whether already made or hereafter to 
 be made. In all matters relating to the 
 observance of this /Vrlicle, or to the exercise
 
 APPENDIX C. 295 
 
 within the Company's territories for the time 
 being, of any jurisdiction exercisable by 
 Us under the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts, 
 the Company shall conform to and observe 
 and carry out all such directions as may from 
 time to time be given in that behalf by Our 
 Secretary of State, and the Company shall 
 appoint all necessary officers to perform such 
 duties, and shall provide such courts and 
 other requisites as may from time to time be 
 necessary for the administration of justice. 
 
 23. The original share capital of the Com- 
 pany shall be £1,000,000 divided into 
 1,000,000 shares of £1 each. 
 
 24. The Company is hereby further speci- 
 ally authorised and empowered for the pur- 
 poses of this Our Charter from time to time — 
 
 (i) To issue shares of different classes or 
 descriptions, to increase the share 
 capital of the Company, and to 
 borrow moneys by debentures or 
 other obligations. 
 
 (ii) To acquire and hold, and to charter 
 or otherwise deal with, steam 
 vessels and other vessels.
 
 296 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 (in) To establish or authorise banking 
 companies and other companies, 
 and undertakings or associations of 
 every description, for purposes con- 
 sistent with the provisions of this 
 Our Charter. 
 
 (iv) To make and maintain roads, rail- 
 ways, telegraphs, harbours and any 
 other works which may tend to the 
 development or improvement of the 
 territories of the Company, 
 (v) To carry on mining and other in- 
 dustries, and to make concessions 
 of mining, forestal or other rights. 
 
 (vi) To improve, develop, clear, plant and 
 irrigate and cultivate any lands 
 included within the territories of 
 the Company. 
 
 (vii) To settle any such territories, lands 
 and, as aforesaid, to aid and pro- 
 mote immigration, 
 (viii) To grant lands for tcrm.s of years or 
 in perpetuity, and cither absolutely 
 or by way of mortgage or other- 
 wise.
 
 APPENDIX C. 207 
 
 (ix) To make loans or contributions of 
 money or money's worth for pro- 
 moting any of the objects of the 
 Company, 
 (x) To acquire and hold personal pro- 
 perty, 
 (xi) To acquire and hold (without license 
 in mortmain or other authority than 
 this Our Charter) lands in the 
 United Kingdom, not exceeding 
 five acres in all at any one time, 
 for the purposes of the offices and 
 business of the Company, and (sub- 
 ject to any local law) lands in any 
 of Our Colonies or Possessions and 
 elsewhere, convenient for carrying 
 on the management of the affairs 
 of the Company, and to dispose 
 from time to time of any such 
 lands when not required for that 
 purpose, 
 (xii) To carry on any lawful commerce, 
 trade, pursuit, business, operations 
 or dealing whatsoever in connection 
 
 with the objects of the Company. 
 
 u
 
 298 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 (xiii) To establish and maintain agencies 
 in Our Colonies and Possessions, 
 and elsewhere, 
 (xiv) To sue and be sued by the Com- 
 pany's name of incorporation, as 
 well in Our Courts in Our United 
 Kingdom, or in Our Courts in Our 
 Colonies or Possessions, or in Our 
 Courts in Foreign countries, or 
 elsewhere, 
 (xv) To do all lawful things incidental or 
 conducive to the exercise or en- 
 joyment of the rights, interests, 
 authorities and powers of the Com- 
 pany in this Our Charter expressed 
 or referred to, or any of them. 
 25. Within one year after the date of this 
 Our Charter, or such extended period as may 
 be certified by Our Secretary of State, there 
 shall be executed by the Members of the 
 Company for the time being a Deed of Settle- 
 ment, providing so far as necessary for — 
 
 (i) 'I'he furtlier definition of the objects 
 and purposes of the Company, 
 (ii) The classes or descriptions of shares
 
 APPENDIX C. 299 
 
 into which the capital of the Com- 
 pany is divided, and the calls to be 
 made in respect thereof, and the 
 terms and conditions of Member- 
 ship of the Company. 
 
 (ill) The division and distribution of 
 profits. 
 
 (iv) General Meetings of the Company ; 
 the appointment by Our Secretary 
 of State (if so required by him) of 
 an Official Director, and the num- 
 ber, qualification, appointment, re- 
 muneration, rotation, removal and 
 powers of Directors of the Com- 
 pany, and of other officers of the 
 Company, 
 (v) The registration of Members of the 
 Company and the transfer of 
 shares in the capital of the Com- 
 pany. 
 
 (vi) The preparation of annual accounts 
 to be submitted to the Members at 
 a General Meeting. 
 
 (vii) The audit of those accounts by in- 
 dependent auditors. 
 
 u 2
 
 300 THE RAID ON TUB TRANSVAAL. 
 
 (viii) The making of bye-laws, 
 (ix) The making and using of official 
 
 seals of the Company, 
 (x) The constitution and regulation of 
 Committees or Local Boards of 
 Management, 
 (xi) The making and execution of supple- 
 mentary deeds of settlement, 
 (xii) The winding up (in case of need) of 
 the Company's affairs, 
 (xiii) The government and regulation of 
 
 the Company and of its affairs, 
 (xiv) Any other matters usual or proper to 
 be provided for in respect of a 
 chartered company. 
 2G. The Deed of Settlement shall, before 
 the execution thereof, be submitted to and 
 approved by tlic Lords of Our Council, and a 
 certificate of their approval thereof, signed by 
 the Clerk of Our Council, shall be endorsed 
 on this Our Charter, and be conchisive evi- 
 dence of sucli approval, and on the Deed of 
 Settlement, and such Deed of Settlement shall 
 take effect from the date of sucli approval, 
 and shall \)v l)ii:(]ing upon the C'ompany, its
 
 APPENDIX C. 801 
 
 Members, Officers and Servants, and for all 
 other purposes whatsoever. 
 
 27. The provisions of the Deed of Settle- 
 ment, or of any supplementary Deed for the 
 time being in force, may be from time to 
 time repealed, varied or added to by a supple- 
 mentary Deed, made and executed in such 
 manner as the Deed of Settlement prescribes : 
 Provided that the provisions of any such 
 Deed relative to the Official Director shall not 
 be repealed, varied or added to without the 
 express approval of Our Secretary of State. 
 
 28. The Members of the Company shall be 
 individually liable for the debts, contracts, 
 engagements and liabilities of the Company 
 to the extent only of the amount, if any, for 
 the time being unpaid on the shares held by 
 them respectively. 
 
 29. Until such Deed of Settlement as 
 aforesaid takes effect the said James Duke 
 of Abercorn shall be the President ; the said 
 Alexander William George Duke of Fife 
 shall be Vice-President ; and the said Edric 
 Frederick Lord Gifford,. Cecil John Rhodes, 
 Alfred Beit, Albert Henry George Grey and
 
 302 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 George Cawston shall be the Directors of the 
 Company; and may on behalf of the Com- 
 pany do all things necessary or proper to be 
 done under this Our Charter by or on behalf 
 of the Company : Provided always that, not- 
 withstanding anything contained in the Deed 
 of Settlement of the Company, the said James 
 Duke of Abercorn, Alexander William George 
 Duke of Fife and Albert Henry George Grey 
 shall not be subject to retire from office in 
 accordance with its provisions, but shall be 
 and remain Directors of the Company until 
 death, incapacity to act or resignation, as the 
 case may be. 
 
 30. And We do further will, ordain and 
 declare that this Our Charter shall be ac- 
 knowledged by Our Governors and Our naval 
 and military officers and Our consuls, and 
 Our other officers in Our Colonies and Pos- 
 sessions, and on the high seas, and elsewhere, 
 and they shall severally give full force and 
 effect to this Our Charter, and shall recog- 
 nise and be in all things aiding to the Com- 
 pany and its Officers, 
 
 31. And We do further will, ordain and
 
 APPENDIX G. 303 
 
 declare that this Our Charter shall be taken, 
 construed and adjudged in the most favour- 
 able and beneficial sense for and to the best 
 advantage of the Company as well in Our 
 Courts in our United Kingdom, and in Our 
 Courts in Our Colonies or Possessions, and in 
 Our Courts in foreign countries or elsewhere, 
 nothwithstanding that there may appear to 
 be in this Our Charter any non-recital, mis- 
 recital, uncertainty or imperfection. 
 
 32. And We do further will, ordain and 
 declare that this Our Charter shall subsist 
 and continue valid, notwithstanding any law- 
 ful change in the name of the Company or in 
 the Deed of Settlement thereof, such change 
 being made with the previous approval of Our 
 Secretary of State signified under his hand. 
 
 33. And We do further will, ordain and 
 declare that it shall be lawful for Us, Our 
 heirs and successors, and We do hereby 
 expressly reserve to Ourselves, Our heirs and 
 successors the right and power by writing 
 under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom 
 at the end of 25 years from the date of this 
 Our Charter, and at the end of every succeeding
 
 304 THE RAID ON Tlli: TRANSVAAL. 
 
 period of ten years, to add to, alter or repeal 
 any of the provisions of this Our Charter, or 
 to enact other provisions in substitution for 
 or in addition to any of its existing provi- 
 sions : Provided that the right and power 
 thus reserved shall be exercised only in re- 
 lation to so much of this Our Charter as 
 relates to administrative and public matters. 
 And We do further expressly reserve to Our- 
 selves, Our heirs and successors the right to 
 take over any buildings or works belonging 
 to the Company, and used exclusively or 
 mainly for administrative or public purposes, 
 on payment to the Company of such reason- 
 able compensation as may be agreed, or as, 
 failing agreement, may be settled by the Com- 
 missioners of Our Treasury. And we do 
 farther appoint, direct and declare that any 
 such writin*^ under the said Great Seal shall 
 have full effect, and be binding upon the 
 Company, its members, officers and servants, 
 and all other persons, and shall be of the 
 same force, effect and validity as if its pro- 
 visions had been part of and coutuined in 
 tlicsc presents.
 
 APPENDIX C. 305 
 
 34. Provided always and AVe do further 
 declare that nothing in this Our Charter 
 shall be deemed or taken in any wise to 
 limit or restrict the exercise of any of Our 
 rights or powers with reference to the pro- 
 tection of any territories or with reference to 
 the government thereof should we see fit to 
 include the same within Our dominions. 
 
 35. And we do lastly will, ordain and 
 declare, without prejudice to any power to 
 repeal this Our Charter by law belonging to 
 Us, Our heirs and successors, or to any of Our 
 courts, ministers or officers independently of 
 this present declaration and reservation, that 
 in case at any time it is made to appear to 
 Us in Our Council that the Company has 
 substantially failed to observe and conform 
 to the provisions of this Our Charter, or that 
 the Company is not exercising its powers 
 under the concessions, agreements, grants and 
 treaties aforesaid so as to advance the in- 
 terests which the Petitioners have represented 
 to Us to be likely to be advanced by the 
 grant of this Our Charter, it shall be lawful 
 for Us, Our heirs and successors, and we do
 
 306 THE RAID ON THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 hereby expressly reserve and take to Our- 
 selves, Our heirs and successors the right and 
 power by writing under the Great Seal of 
 Our United Kingdom to revoke this Our 
 Charter, and to revoke and annul the privi- 
 leges, powers and rights hereby granted to 
 the Company. 
 
 In Witness whereof We have caused these 
 Our Letters to be made Patent. 
 
 Witness Ourself at Westminster the 29th 
 day of October in the fifty-third year of Our 
 reign. 
 
 By warrant under the Queen's Sign 
 Manual, 
 MUIR MACIvENZIE. 
 
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