diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:48:21 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:48:21 -0700 |
| commit | ba28b0f49511bc70a6a3584e699107c82d2abd8b (patch) | |
| tree | dbd308a6f02a5031955aeb9a75a71934591b38d6 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44649-0.txt | 7386 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44649-h/44649-h.htm | 8909 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44649-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 23422 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44649-8.txt | 7774 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44649-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 173276 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44649-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 191260 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44649-h/44649-h.htm | 9323 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44649-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 23422 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44649.txt | 7774 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44649.zip | bin | 0 -> 173221 bytes |
13 files changed, 41182 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/44649-0.txt b/44649-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85e2043 --- /dev/null +++ b/44649-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7386 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44649 *** + +Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected +without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have +been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with +underscores: _italics_. The cover of this ebook was created by the +transcriber and is hereby placed in the public domain. + + + + +THE LAST BOER WAR + + +"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in +this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the +old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English +politics than such an idea. I tell you there is no Government--Whig or +Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical--who would dare, under any +circumstances, to give back this country (the Transvaal). They would +not dare, because the English people would not allow them."--(_Extract +from Speech of Sir Garnet Wolseley, delivered at a Public Banquet in +Pretoria, on the 17th December 1879._) + + +"There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding (from the +Transvaal); it was impossible to say what calamities such a step as +receding might not cause.... For such a risk he could not make himself +responsible.... Difficulties with the Zulu and the frontier tribes +would again arise, and looking as they must to South Africa as a whole, +the Government, after a careful consideration of the question, came to +the conclusion that we could not relinquish the Transvaal."--(_Extract +from Speech of Lord Kimberley in the House of Lords, 24th May 1880. +H.P.D., vol. cclii., p. 208._) + + +"Our judgment is that the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish the +Transvaal."--(_Extract from Reply of Mr. Gladstone to Boer Memorial, +8th June 1880._) + + + + +THE LAST BOER WAR + + +BY + +H. RIDER HAGGARD + + +_THIRTY-FIFTH THOUSAND_ + + +LONDON +KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÃœBNER & CO. LTD. +PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD + +1900 + + + + +WORKS BY H. RIDER HAGGARD. + + + CETYWAYO AND HIS WHITE NEIGHBOURS. + DAWN. + KING SOLOMON'S MINES. + THE WITCH'S HEAD. + SHE. + ALLAN QUATERMAIN. + JESS. + COLONEL QUARITCH, V.C. + MAIWA'S REVENGE. + MR. MEESON'S WILL. + ALLAN'S WIFE. + CLEOPATRA. + BEATRICE. + ERIC BRIGHTEYES. + NADA THE LILY. + MONTEZUMA'S DAUGHTER. + THE PEOPLE OF THE MIST. + JOAN HASTE. + HEART OF THE WORLD. + DOCTOR THERNE. + SWALLOW. + A FARMER'S YEAR. + + _IN COLLABORATION WITH ANDREW LANG._ + + THE WORLD'S DESIRE. + + + _The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._ + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE. + + +It has been suggested that at this juncture some students of South +African history might be glad to read an account of the Boer Rebellion +of 1881, its causes and results. Accordingly, in the following pages +are reprinted portions of a book which I wrote so long ago as 1882. It +may be objected that such matter must be stale, but I venture to urge, +on the contrary, that to this very fact it owes whatever value it may +possess. This history was written at the time by one who took an active +part in the sad and stirring events which it records, immediately after +the issue of those events had driven him home to England. Of the +original handful of individuals who were concerned in the annexation of +the Transvaal by Sir Theophilus Shepstone in 1877, of whom I was one, +not many now survive. When they have gone, any further accurate report +made from an intimate personal knowledge of the incidents attendant on +that act will be an impossibility; indeed it is already impossible, +since after the lapse of twenty years men can scarcely trust to their +memories for the details of intricate political occurrences, even +should they be prompted to attempt their record. It is for this reason, +when the melancholy results which its pages foretell have overtaken us, +that I venture to lay them again before the public, so that any who are +interested in the matter may read and find in the tale of 1881 the true +causes of the war of 1899. + +I have written "which its pages foretell." Here are one or two passages +taken from them almost at hazard that may be thought to justify the +words: + +"It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration +of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it +would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little farther, +and favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, +retaining only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the +bounds of possibility that they may one day have _to face a fresh +Transvaal rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale_, and might +find it difficult to retain even Table Bay." + +And again: "The curtain, so far as this country is concerned, is down +for the moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there +is but too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion +which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the +future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos." + +One more quotation. In speaking of the various problems of South +Africa, I find that I said that "unless they are treated with more +honest intelligence, and on a more settled plan than it has hitherto +been thought necessary to apply to them, the British taxpayer will find +that he has by no means heard the last of that country and its wars." + +Perhaps in a year from the present date the British taxpayer will be in +a position to admit the value of this prophecy. + +Nearly two decades have gone by since these words were written. Put +very briefly, what has happened in that time? In 1884, at the request +of the Transvaal Government, the Ministry, of which the late Lord Derby +was a member, consented to modify the Convention of 1881, and to +substitute in its place what is known as the London Convention. This +new agreement amended the terms of the former document in certain +particulars. Notably all mention of the suzerainty of the Queen was +omitted, from which circumstance the Boers and their impassioned +advocates have argued that it was abrogated. There is nothing to show +that this contention is correct. Mere silence does not destroy so +important a stipulation, and it appears to be doubtful whether even a +Lord Derby would have been prepared to nullify the imperial rights of +his sovereign and his country in this negative and novel fashion. It is +more probable to suppose that had such action been decided on, effect +would have been given to it in direct and unmistakable language. But +even if it could be proved that this view of the case is wrong, the +general issue would scarcely be affected. + +That issue, as I understand it, is as follows: The Convention of 1881 +guaranteed to all inhabitants of the Transvaal equal rights--"Complete +self-government subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and +successors, will be accorded to the _inhabitants of the Transvaal +territory_"--Mr. Kruger explaining verbally at a meeting of the +conference, that the only difference would be that in the case of young +persons who became resident in the Transvaal, there might be some +slight delay in granting full burgher privileges, limited, it would +appear, to one year's residence.[1] After that time, then, according to +the terms of this solemn agreement, which in these particulars were not +modified or even touched, by the supplementary and amending paper of +1884, any one who wished to claim the advantages of Transvaal +citizenship might do so. + + [1] In 1881, when the Convention was being discussed, + President Kruger was asked by our representative what + treatment would be given to British subjects in the + Transvaal. He said, "All strangers have now, and will always + have, equal rights and privileges to the Burghers of the + Transvaal."--_Quotation from Speech of_ MR. J. CHAMBERLAIN, + _June 26, 1899_. + +Some years later an event occurred fated profoundly to influence the +destinies of South Africa, namely, the discovery of the Witwatersrand +gold deposits, perhaps the richest and the most permanent in the whole +world. Instantly adventurers, most of them of Anglo-Saxon origin, +flocked in thousands to the place where countless wealth lay buried in +the earth, and on the plains over which I have seen the wild game +wandering, sprang up the city of Johannesburg with its motley and +cosmopolitan population, its speculators, company promoters, traders, +miners, and labouring men. + +To the Transvaal, at any rate in the beginning, the arrival of these +wealth-engendering hordes was what the fall of copious rain is to the +sun-parched veld. By this time the country was once more almost +bankrupt, but now, as though by the waving of a magician's wand, money +began to flow into its coffers. One of the characteristics of the Boer +is his hatred of taxation; one of his notions of terrestrial bliss is +to live in a land where the necessary expenses of administration are +paid by somebody else, an advantage, I understand, that among all the +civilised nations of the earth is enjoyed alone by the inhabitants of +the Principality of Monaco. It is not usual, either in the instance of +communities or individuals, that such ideals should be absolutely +attained. Yet to the fortunate possessors of the South African Republic +this happened. For quite a long period they lived at ease in their +dorps and on their farms, while the dwellers at Johannesburg, delving +like gnomes in the reefs of the Rand, provided them with magnificent +and never-failing supplies of cash. Then questions began to arise, as +they will do in this imperfect sphere. The Uitlanders, as the strangers +were called, remembering the terms of the Conventions, drawn under a +very different condition of affairs but still binding, hinted at a wish +for burgher rights. + +The Boers, who if they liked their money objected to the money-makers, +instantly took alarm. If the vote were given to the Uitlanders it was +obvious that very soon they would outnumber the original electors. Then +in a natural, but to them terrifying, sequence would come a +redistribution of the burdens of taxation, the abolition of monopolies, +the punishment of corruption, the just treatment of the native races, +the absolute purity of the courts, and all the other things and +institutions, in their eyes abominable, which mark the advent of +Anglo-Saxon rule. Behind these also loomed another danger, that of the +ultimate reappearance of the English flag. So legislation was resorted +to, and bit by bit the Uitlanders were stripped of the rights inherent +to their position as "inhabitants of the Transvaal territory," till at +last none were left to them at all. Indeed Press laws were passed and +other enactments controlling the privilege of free speech and public +meetings. Of course had the British Government put down its foot firmly +and at once at the first symptom of a desire on the part of the Boers +to whittle away such advantages as the Conventions secured to our +fellow-subjects, the present sad situation need never have arisen. But +British Governments are seldom fond of doing things at the right time, +more especially if the issue is not sufficiently distinct to be +appreciated by the masses of the electorate. Therefore matters were +allowed to drift, and they drifted into that outrageous fiasco, the +Jameson Raid of 1895. + +Into the history of that event I do not propose to enter; it is +sufficiently well known. Suffice it to say in this brief summary, that +it was the result of a compact under which Dr. Jameson was to come to +Johannesburg with a large armed force of Rhodesian police, with the +view of assisting the Uitlanders to obtain by arms what was denied to +their petitions. + +The agreement is undoubted and admitted, but all the rest is chaos. +Failure in a hundred shapes dogged the steps of these ineffective +conspirators. Dr. Jameson, with 500 men instead of 1200, took the bit +between his teeth and started at the wrong time. The Uitlanders did not +sally forth to meet him, the wires were not cut, the railway line was +not destroyed, the Boers were warned, and assembled in great numbers. +Dr. Jameson, who apparently lost his way on the veld, was entrapped +into a bad position, where, after a space of somewhat feeble combat, he +and his whole force surrendered, their lives being guaranteed to them. +The despatch-box of the raiders, with the ciphers and sundry +incriminating documents, was allowed to fall into the hands of the +enemy, and, on their own ammunition-waggons, the personnel of the Raid +performed the journey to that city of Pretoria, which when reinforced +by the Uitlanders they were to have entered in triumph. Thence they +were in due course despatched to London for trial. The members of the +Reform Committee were also seized and tried at Pretoria, several of +them being condemned to death, a sentence which was not executed; the +whole story, coming to its end to an accompaniment of the clash not of +swords, but of gold; the fines inflicted upon the conspirators by the +Transvaal Government amounting to a total of many tens of thousands of +pounds. + +Such, except for mutual recriminations which still continue, was the +end of Johannesburg's armed attempt to throw off the yoke of the Boer, +and of the efforts of the ruling powers of Rhodesia to assist them in +the task. Of course the upshot was that the poor Uitlanders fell into a +still deeper pit of oppression and despair. Lord Rosmead, then Sir +Hercules Robinson, never a proconsul remarkable for an iron will, it is +true visited the Transvaal in a great flurry, and assured, or caused +Sir Sidney Shippard and the British agent, a gentleman of the somewhat +alien-sounding name of Sir Jacobus de Wet, in substance to assure the +Uitlanders that if only they would disarm probably their wrongs must +shortly be righted by a beneficent Boer president, assisted to the task +by a Raad full of forgiveness and charity. Moreover, Sir Jacobus de Wet +told them explicitly that the lives of Jameson and his men depended +upon their laying down such weapons as they possessed, although of +course those lives were already guaranteed by the terms of the +surrender. + +But this raid had wider issues of an imperial nature. Thus it provoked +the famous telegram from the Emperor William II., which at one time +threatened to bring about a war between Great Britain and Germany. +Also, so far as these South African troubles were concerned, it put our +country hopelessly in the wrong in the eyes of the civilised world, +whom it proved difficult to persuade, although in fact this was the +case, that such strange and tortuous developments of political and +martial activity were purely local in their origin. Again it armed the +Boer with a sword of wondrous power. If Providence had sent all the +German legions to his aid it could scarcely have served him better. Now +indeed he was able to point to his land violated by the foot of the +invader, and to talk of raids as though such a wicked word had never +defiled the innocence of his ears; as though in truth he had never +heard of the plains of Stellaland, and of a certain expedition sent by +the British Government under the command of Sir Charles Warren to +preserve those territories to the peaceful enjoyment of their owners; +nor of that stretch of country which once belonged to the Zulus, but is +now called the New Republic; nor of the trek into Rhodesia that was +"damped"; nor of the extension of authority over Swaziland in defiance +of the provisions of the Convention, and of other kindred matters. + +Also it enabled him to claim "moral and intellectual damages" to a +considerable amount, although, so far as the public is aware, these +have never been satisfied, and indeed caused Pharaoh to harden his +heart, and while demanding from the new Israelites of Johannesburg an +even heavier tale of bricks in the shape of direct and indirect +taxation, to deprive them one by one of their last straws of freedom. + +Thus things fell back into their former courses, the old abuses +flourished like bay trees, the lucky holders of dynamite and other +monopolies grew fabulously rich, and--so powerful is the love of +gold--_auri sacra fames_--so much more do men value it than +freedom and pure government--the population of Johannesburg still +increased. + +More than two years have gone by since Sir Alfred Milner was sent as +High Commissioner to South Africa, during all which time, backed by her +Majesty's present Government, he has been doing his best to secure +redress for the Uitlanders, and to arrange various differences that +have arisen between the Empire and the Transvaal Republic. At length +these efforts resulted in the meeting between himself and President +Kruger, known as the Bloemfontein Conference, which took place about +four months ago. At that Conference Sir Alfred Milner advanced the +request, modest enough seeing that they are entitled to nothing less +than equal rights with the other "inhabitants of the Transvaal," that +those Uitlanders who wished to adopt the country as their home should +be entitled to the franchise after five years' residence. This was +refused by President Kruger as endangering the independence of the +State, and the Conference broke up. It was from this time forward that +war came to be looked upon as probable. In reply to various despatches +and representations of the Imperial Government, the President and +Volksraad made certain offers of a franchise which, if they were ever +seriously meant, were hampered with provisos, such as rendered them +impossible for this country to accept. Thus the five years' offer of +August 19 was coupled with the conditions that in the future there +should be no interference in the internal affairs of the Republic, that +her Majesty's Government would not further insist on the assertion of +the suzerainty, and that the principle of arbitration in the event of +future differences arising should be admitted. + +Had the Government agreed to these terms it would have meant, of +course, that the last shadow of the Queen's authority would have +vanished from the Transvaal, and as they had bound themselves not to +interfere in future, that they might be forced to look on while the +franchise which was granted one year was repealed or rendered nugatory +the next. Also, it must be remembered that this question of the +franchise does not cover all the grounds of difference between the two +parties; indeed, it seems that a great deal too much importance has +been given to the matter. Even if a certain number of Uitlanders +elected to become citizens of a Boer state, it is difficult to see, +however advantageous that circumstance might prove to themselves, in +what way it would directly assist the Imperial power on such a +question, let us say, as the treatment of our Indian subjects settled +in the Transvaal. To begin with, the new-born burghers might be +indifferent to the needs and wishes of the country they had renounced. +They might even consider that their oath of allegiance bound them to +oppose those wishes. At the least, even if they had the power to help +us, which could not be the case for many years, surely it would be +neither wise nor dignified for the power to which they once belonged to +trust solely to their good offices. + +In the newspapers and elsewhere Johannesburg and its Uitlanders are +spoken of continually as though they made up the sum of the situation. +It is the common cry of Liberal Forwards and of those gentlemen who +might perhaps be called Radical Backwards, that this war is to be waged +for the Uitlander and the millionaire. Of course this is not in the +least true. The Uitlander, with his woes, is only the blister that has +brought the sore of Transvaal misrule and Dutch ambitions in South +Africa to so proud a head, that at last the South African Republic has +come to describe itself as "a Sovereign independent State." That he and +his "Magnates," as Rand millionaires are called, will profit enormously +from a successful war waged by the Imperial Power is admitted; but +because the effect of such a struggle will be ultimately to put a +number of annual millions into certain pockets, it does not follow that +the war is fought for that purpose. Indeed the veriest "jingo" could +scarcely show himself self-sacrificing and altruistic. This is no local +but an Imperial question to be decided in the interests of the Empire. + +To return to the course of the negotiations. Offers, withdrawals, +stipulations, palliative clauses, proposals for further conferences +followed each other in bewildering variety, till at length, worn out, +Mr. Chamberlain, on September 22, intimated to the Government of the +South African Republic, through Sir Alfred Milner, that it was "useless +to further pursue a discussion on the lines hitherto followed, and her +Majesty's Government are now compelled to consider the situation +afresh, and to formulate their own proposals for a final settlement of +the issues which have been created in South Africa by the policy +constantly followed for many years by the Government of the South +African Republic. They will communicate to you the result of their +deliberations in a later despatch." + +It is rumoured that this later despatch has been delivered at Pretoria, +but has as yet received no reply. Three days later, however, namely, on +September 25, that industrious body, the Liberal Forwards, was honoured +with a telegram from the State Secretary of the Transvaal, which runs +as follows:-- + + "Liberal Forwards, London. Many thanks for your telegram. We stick + to the Convention, and rely upon England doing the same, as + Convention does not allow interference in internal affairs." + +When, however, it is remembered that the Convention did allow equal +rights to all the "inhabitants of the Transvaal," it will be admitted +that this cable is about the strangest of the remarkable series of +State documents which of late have emanated from Pretoria. Very aptly +it crystallises the spirit of Boer diplomacy--a bold disregard of +inconvenient facts. + +Meanwhile in South Africa various events of importance have happened. +The Orange Free State has openly thrown in its lot with the Transvaal. +The Uitlanders have fled by thousands from Johannesburg. The Boers have +massed their commandos at various points on the Natal and other British +borders, presumably for offensive purposes, since at present they can +expect no invasion of their territory. The first of these occurrences +reveals the hidden purpose of the Dutch party in South Africa, as at +night a sudden flash of lightning reveals the face of the veld. We have +never threatened the Orange Free State; it has no grievance, no cause +of quarrel, yet suddenly it appears in arms against us. Why? Because +its citizens believe that the time has come to translate into action +the old dream of the Boers, which so long as five-and-twenty years ago +was familiar to the late President Burgers when he spoke of the coming +Dutch Republic, with its eight millions of inhabitants ruling supreme +in the vast territories between the Zambezi and the Cape. Now the great +conspiracy that it has proved so hard to persuade the British public, +or a blind section of it, to credit stands unveiled, and it has for +object nothing less than the expulsion of the English power from +Southern Africa--a vain thing fondly imagined, but still a thing with +which we must reckon, and it is to be feared by the last stern +expedient of arms, since here soft words and diplomacy are of no avail. + +Difficult as it is to make the fact understood among a proportion of +the home electorate and publicists, it cannot be stated too often or +too clearly that this war, which is to come, is a war that was forced +upon us by the Boers in their blind ignorance and conceit. The mass of +them believe, because they defeated our troops in various small affairs +in 1881, that they are a match for the British Empire. Their leaders +are better instructed. They trust not so much, perhaps, to the rifles +of their compatriots as to the prowess of certain party captains in +England, and to the enthusiasm of their advocates among the English +Press and public. They remember that the activity of these forces +eighteen years ago was followed by a miserable surrender on the part of +the English Government, and not understanding how greatly opinion has +changed in this country, they hope that history may repeat itself, and +that England, wearying of an unpopular struggle, will soon cede to them +all they ask. They are mistaken, but such is their faith. They hope +also, perchance with better reason, that other complications may force +us to stay our hand. If no more telegrams can be extracted from the +German Emperor, still there is a German regiment fighting on their side +who will take with them the sympathies of the Fatherland, and they know +that the hearts of the great Powers of Europe will go out towards any +people who try to strike a blow at the root of the ever-growing tree of +the might of the British Empire. Buoyed up by bubbles such as these +they have determined to tempt the stern arbitrament of battle.[2] + + [2] See the very remarkable letter of the Boer "P.S." to the + _Times_ of October 14th, printed as Appendix III. to this + book, p. 241. + +Can it still be avoided? It would seem that except by our surrender, +which is out of the question, for that means the loss not only of South +Africa, but of our prestige throughout the world, this is not in any +way possible. Already acts of war have taken place, such as the seizure +of the gold from the mines, and the commandeering of goods belonging to +British subjects, and perhaps days before these lines can appear in +print the guns will have begun their reasoning.[3] + + [3] Since the above was written, in the swift march of + events, the Transvaal has despatched its "ultimatum," perhaps + the most egregious document ever addressed to a great Power + by a petty State. In effect it is a declaration of war, and + hostilities have now commenced with the destruction by the + Boers of an armoured train at Kraaipan, and the capture or + slaying of its escort. + + H. R. H. + + _9th October _ 1899. + +After the rebellion of 1881 a Boer jury, to whom the case was committed +by the tender mercies of Mr. Gladstone's Government, with the murdered +man's bullet-riddled skull lying before them upon the table of the +Court, acquitted the brutal slaughterers of Captain Elliot, not because +they had not done the deed with every circumstance of horrible +treachery and premeditation, but because to find them guilty was +against their brethren's wish. In much the same way, with all the facts +staring them in the face, there are men in England, some of them of +high position and character, who urge the righteousness of the Boer +cause, and with tongue and pen paint our national iniquity in hues +black as ink and red as blood. They write of the "Objects of the War," +which they do not hesitate to describe as self-seeking and infamous, so +far of course as the English people are concerned, for according to the +same authorities, the Boer objects are uniformly pure and noble. Would +it not be better if they looked back a little and tried to discover the +causes of the war? I think that if they could have witnessed a certain +scene upon the market-square at Newcastle, at which it was my +misfortune to be present, on that night of the year 1881 when the news +of the base betrayal of the loyalists by England became known, they +would win a better understanding of the question. In the spectacle of +that maddened crowd of three or four thousand ruined and deserted men, +English, Boer, and Kaffir, raving, weeping, and blaspheming in the +despair of their shame and bitterness, they might have found +enlightenment. Even now a study of the following forgotten letter +written by Mr. White, the chairman of the Committee of Loyal +Inhabitants, to Mr. Gladstone, might give to some a food for thought:-- + +"If, sir, you had seen, as I have seen, promising young citizens of +Pretoria dying of wounds received for their country, and if you had had +the painful duty, as I have had, of bringing to their friends at home +the last mementoes of the departed; if you had seen the privations and +discomforts which delicate women and children bore without murmuring +for upwards of three months; if you had seen strong men crying like +children at the cruel and undeserved desertion of England; if you had +seen the long strings of half-desperate loyalists, shaking the dust off +their feet as they left the country, as I saw on my way to Newcastle; +and if you yourself had invested your all on the strength of the word +of England, and now saw yourself in a fair way of being beggared by the +acts of the country in whom you trusted, you would, sir, I think, be +'pronounced,' and England would ring with eloquent entreaties and +threats which would compel a hearing.... We claim, sir, at least as +much justice as the Boers. We are faithful subjects of England, and +have suffered and are suffering for our fidelity. Surely we, the +friends of our country, who stood by her in the time of trial, have as +much right to consideration as rebels who fought against her. We rely +on her word. We rely on the frequently repeated pledges and promises of +her ministers in which we have trusted. We rely on her sense of moral +right not to do us the grievous wrong which this miserable peace +contemplates. We rely on her fidelity to obligations, and on her +ancient reputation for honour and honesty. We rely on the material +consequences which will follow on a breach of faith to us. England +cannot afford to desert us after having solemnly pledged herself to +us." + +"England cannot afford to desert us!" but England, or her rulers, could +and did afford itself this luxury. In vain did such men as the late +Lord Beaconsfield, the late Lord Cairns, and Lord Salisbury protest and +point out dangers. In vain did agonised loyalists flourish their own +words and promises in the face of her Majesty's Government; the spirit +of party, or the promptings of a newly acquired conscience proved too +strong. Her Majesty's loyal subjects were sneered at, insulted, and +abandoned, and the Boer, who had butchered them, was bid to go on and +prosper. + +Now, nearly twenty years afterwards, England is called upon to pay the +bill of what is in effect, whatever may have been its motives, one of +the most infamous acts that stains the pages of her history. From the +moment that the Convention of 1881 was signed it became as certain as +anything human can be, that one of two things would happen--either that +the Imperial Power must in practice be driven out of South Africa, or +that a time would come when it must be forced to assert its dominion +even at the price of war. + +Now that miserable hour is with us, and we are called upon to suppress +by arms a small, but sullen and obstinate people, whom we have taught +to believe themselves our equals, if not our superiors. Unless they +will yield at the last moment, which seems impossible seeing that the +war is of their own choosing, the new settlement of South Africa must +be celebrated by a mighty sacrifice of their blood and our blood. Not +to dwell upon other griefs and dangers, when, I ask, will the smoke and +the smell of it depart from the eyes and nostrils of the dwellers in +that unhappy land? As they troop back merrily to their mines and +workshops the money-spinners of Johannesburg may forget a past of +which, in many instances at least, their chief impression will be that +it was unpleasant and unprofitable. But after the Rand is worked out, +when the stamps cease to fall heavily by day and night, when the great +heaps of tailings no longer increase from month to month, when the +broker's voice is quiet in the Exchange, and the promoter inhabits some +new city, still the Boer women in the farmhouses will tell their +children how the "damned English soldiers" shot their grandfathers and +took the land. In South Africa new Irelands will arise, and from the +dragon's teeth that we are forced to sow the harvest of hate will +spring, and spring again. Thus must we eat of the bitter bread which we +have baked, and thus the ill fowl that we reared have come home to +roost, bringing their broods with them. + +Again and again we have blundered in our treatment of the Dutch. For +instance, with kinder and fairer management they would never have +trekked from the Cape sixty years ago. Also, had the promises which +were made to them at the annexation in 1877 been kept, and had not Sir +Theophilus Shepstone, who grew up amongst them and to whom they were +attached, been removed in favour of a military martinet, there would +have been no rebellion, let the Cape wire-pullers working under a cloak +of loyalty to the Crown strive as they might. But the rebellion came +and the defeats, and after these that surrender whereof this country is +called upon to pluck the fruit to-day, which, by the Boers, is +attributed to those defeats with the fear of their prowess and to +nothing else. + +And now, in due season, the war comes; an inevitable war which cannot +be escaped, and must be fought out to the end. There is only room for +one paramount power in Southern Africa! + +How all these things happened is told briefly, but I trust clearly, in +the following pages. My excuse for reprinting them must be the desire +which, it is said, exists among some readers to become better +acquainted with the facts that engendered the present fateful crisis. + + H. RIDER HAGGARD. + +_9th October _1899. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGES + +AUTHOR'S NOTE v + + +CHAPTER I. + +ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. + +Invasion by Mosilikatze--Arrival of the emigrant Boers--Establishment +of the South African Republic--The Sand River Convention--Growth of +the territory of the republic--The native tribes surrounding it-- +Capabilities of the country--Its climate--Its inhabitants--The Boers +--Their peculiarities and mode of life--Their abhorrence of settled +government and payment of taxes--The Dutch patriotic party--Form of +government previous to the annexation--Courts of law--The commando +system--Revenue arrangements--Native races in the Transvaal 1-22 + + +CHAPTER II. + +EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. + +Mr. Burgers elected president--His character and aspirations--His +pension from the English Government--His visit to England--The +railway loan--Relations of the republic with native tribes--The +pass laws--Its quarrel with Cetywayo--Confiscation of native +territory in the Keate Award--Treaty with the Swazi king--The +Secocoeni war--Capture of Johannes' stronghold by the Swazi +allies--Attack on Secocoeni's mountain--Defeat and dispersion of +the Boers--Elation of the natives--Von Schlickmann's volunteers-- +Cruelties perpetrated--Abel Erasmus--Treatment of natives by Boers +--Public meeting at Potchefstroom in 1868--The slavery question-- +Some evidence on the subject--Pecuniary position of the Transvaal +prior to the annexation--Internal troubles--Divisions amongst the +Boers--Hopeless condition of the country 23-49 + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ANNEXATION. + +Anxiety of Lord Carnarvon--Despatch of Sir T. Shepstone as Special +Commissioner to the Transvaal--Sir T. Shepstone, his great +experience and ability--His progress to Pretoria, and reception +there--Feelings excited by the arrival of the mission--The +annexation _not_ a foregone conclusion--Charge brought against +Sir T. Shepstone of having called up the Zulu army to sweep the +Transvaal--Its complete falsehood--Cetywayo's message to Sir T. +Shepstone--Evidence on the matter summed up--General desire of +the natives for English rule--Habitual disregard of their +interests--Assembly of the Volksraad--Rejection of Lord +Carnarvon's Confederation Bill and of President Burgers' new +constitution--President Burgers' speeches to the Raad--His +posthumous statement--Communication to the Raad of Sir T. +Shepstone's intention to annex the country--Despatch of Commission +to inquire into the alleged peace with Secocoeni--Its fraudulent +character discovered--Progress of affairs in the Transvaal--Paul +Kruger and his party--Restlessness of natives--Arrangements for +the annexation--The annexation proclamation 50-86 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. + +Reception of the annexation--Major Clarke and the Volunteers--Effect +of the annexation on credit and commerce--Hoisting of the Union +Jack--Ratification of the annexation by Parliament--Messrs. Kruger +and Jorissen's mission to England--Agitation against the annexation +in the Cape Colony--Sir T. Shepstone's tour--Causes of the growth +of discontent among the Boers--Return of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger +--The Government dispenses with their services--Despatch of a second +deputation to England--Outbreak of war with Secocoeni--Major Clarke, +R.A.--The Gunn of Gunn plot--Mission of Captain Paterson and Mr. +Sergeaunt to Matabeleland--Its melancholy termination--The Isandhlwana +disaster--Departure of Sir T. Shepstone for England--Another Boer +meeting--The Pretoria Horse--Advance of the Boers on Pretoria-- +Arrival of Sir B. Frere at Pretoria and dispersion of the Boers-- +Arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley--His proclamation--The Secocoeni +expedition--Proceedings of the Boers--Mr. Pretorius--Mr. Gladstone's +Mid-Lothian speeches, their effect--Sir G. Wolseley's speech at +Pretoria, its good results--Influx of Englishmen and cessation of +agitation--Financial position of the country after three years of +British rule--Letter of the Boer leaders to Mr. Courtney 87-119 + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BOER REBELLION. + +Accession of Mr. Gladstone to power--His letters to the Boer +leader and the loyals--His refusal to rescind the annexation--The +Boers encouraged by prominent members of the Radical party--The +Bezeidenhout incident--Despatch of troops to Potchefstroom--Mass +meeting of the 8th December 1880--Appointment of the Triumvirate +and declaration of the republic--Despatch of Boer proclamation to +Sir O. Lanyon--His reply--Outbreak of hostilities at Potchefstroom +--Defence of the court-house by Major Clarke--The massacre of the +detachment of the 94th under Colonel Anstruther--Dr. Ward--The Boer +rejoicings--The Transvaal placed under martial law--Abandonment of +their homes by the people of Pretoria--Sir Owen Lanyon's admirable +defence organisation--Second proclamation issued by the Boers--Its +complete falsehood--Life at Pretoria during the siege--Murders of +natives by the Boers--Loyal conduct of the native chiefs--Difficulty +of preventing them from attacking the Boers--Occupation of Lang's +Nek by the Boers--Sir George Colley's departure to Newcastle--The +condition of that town--The attack on Lang's Nek--Its desperate +nature--Effect of victory on the Boers--The battle at the Ingogo-- +Our defeat--Sufferings of the wounded--Major Essex--Advance of the +Boers into Natal--Constant alarms--Expected attack on Newcastle-- +Its unorganised and indefensible condition--Arrival of the +reinforcements and retreat of the Boers to the Nek--Despatch +of General Wood to bring up more reinforcements--Majuba Hill--Our +disaster, and death of Sir George Colley--Cause of our defeat--A +Boer version of the disaster--Sir George Colley's tactics 120-155 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. + +The Queen's Speech--President Brand and Lord Kimberley--Sir Henry +de Villiers--Sir George Colley's plan--Paul Kruger's offer--Sir +George Colley's remonstrance--Complimentary telegrams--Effect of +Majuba on the Boers and English Government--Collapse of the +Government--Reasons of the surrender--Professional sentimentalists +--The Transvaal Independence Committee--Conclusion of the armistice +--The preliminary peace--Reception of the news in Natal--Newcastle +after the declaration of peace--Exodus of the loyal inhabitants of +the Transvaal--The value of property in Pretoria--The Transvaal +officials dismissed--The Royal Commission--Mode of trial of persons +accused of atrocities--Decision of the Commission and its results +--The severance of territory question--Arguments _pro_ and _con_-- +Opinion of Sir E. Wood--Humility of the Commissioners and its cause +--Their decision on the Keate Award question--The Montsioa difficulty +--The compensation and financial clauses of the report of the +Commission--The duties of the British Resident--Sir E. Wood's +dissent from the report of the Commission--Signing of the +Convention--Burial of the Union Jack--The native side of the +question--Interview between the Commissioners and the native +chiefs--Their opinion of the surrender--Objections of the Boer +Volksraad to the Convention--Mr. Gladstone temporises--The +ratification--Its insolent tone--Mr. Hudson, the British Resident +--The Boer festival--The results of the Convention--The larger +issue of the matter--Its effect on the Transvaal--Its moral +aspects--Its effect on the native mind 156-202 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Extract from Introduction to new edition of 1888 203 + + +APPENDIX. + + I. The Potchefstroom Atrocities, &c. 231 + + II. Pledges given by Mr. Gladstone's Government as to the +Retention of the Transvaal 239 + +III. A Boer on Boer Designs 241 + + + + +_THE TRANSVAAL._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. + + +The Transvaal is a country without a history. Its very existence was +hardly known of until about fifty years ago. Of its past we know +nothing. The generations who peopled its great plains have passed +utterly out of the memory and even the tradition of man, leaving no +monument to mark that they have existed, not even a tomb. + +During the reign of Chaka, 1813-1828, whose history has been sketched +in a previous chapter, one of his most famous generals, Mosilikatze, +surnamed the Lion, seceded from him with a large number of his +soldiers, and striking up in a north-westerly direction, settled in or +about what is now the Morico district of the Transvaal. The country +through which Mosilikatze passed was at that time thickly populated +with natives of the Basuto or Macatee race, whom the Zulus look upon +with great contempt. Mosilikatze expressed the feelings of his tribe in +a practical manner, by massacring every living soul of them that came +within his reach. That the numbers slaughtered were very great, the +numerous ruins of Basuto kraals all over the country testify. + +It was Chaka's intention to follow up Mosilikatze and destroy him, but +he was himself assassinated before he could do so. Dingaan, his +successor, however, carried out his brother's design, and despatched a +large force to punish him. This army, after marching over 300 miles, +burst upon Mosilikatze, drove him back with slaughter, and returned +home triumphant. The invasion is important, because the Zulus claim the +greater part of the Transvaal territory by virtue of it. + +About the time that Mosilikatze was conquered, 1835-1840, the +discontented Boers were leaving the Cape Colony exasperated at the +emancipation of the slaves by the Imperial authorities. First they made +their way to Natal, but being followed thither by the English flag they +travelled further inland over the Vaal River and founded the town of +Mooi River Dorp or Potchefstroom. Here they were joined by other +malcontents from the Orange Sovereignty, which, though afterwards +abandoned, was at that time a British possession. Acting upon + + "The good old rule, the simple plan, + Of let him take who has the power, + And let him keep who can," + +the Boers now proceeded to possess themselves of as much territory as +they wanted. Nor was this a difficult task. The country was, as I have +said, peopled by Macatees, who are a poor-spirited race as compared to +the Zulus, and had had what little courage they possessed crushed out +of them by the rough handling they had received at the hands of +Mosilikatze and Dingaan. The Boers, they argued, could not treat them +worse than the Zulus had done. Occasionally a chief, bolder than the +rest, would hold out, and then such an example was made of him and his +people that few cared to follow in his footsteps. + +As soon as the Boers were fairly settled in their new home, they began +to think about setting up a Government. First they tried a system of +Commandants, with a Commandant-general, but this does not seem to have +answered. Next, those of their number who lived in Lydenburg district +(where the gold-fields now are) set up a Republic, with a President and +Volksraad, or popular assembly. This example was followed by the other +white inhabitants of the country, who formed another Republic and +elected another President, with Pretoria for their capital. The two +republics were subsequently incorporated. + +In 1852 the Imperial authorities, having regard to the expense of +maintaining an effective government over an unwilling people in an +undeveloped and half-conquered country, concluded a convention with the +emigrant Boers "beyond the Vaal River." The following were the +principal stipulations of this convention, drawn up between Major Hogg +and Mr. Owen, Her Majesty's Assistant-Commissioners for the settling +and adjusting of the affairs of the eastern and north-eastern +boundaries of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope on the one part, and +a deputation representative of the emigrant farmers north of the Vaal +River on the other. It was guaranteed "in the fullest manner on the +part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal +River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves +according to their own laws, without any interference on the part of +the British Government, and that no encroachment shall be made by the +said Government on the territory beyond to the north of the Vaal River, +with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the British +Government is to promote peace, free trade, and friendly intercourse +with the emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit +that country, it being understood that this system of non-interference +is binding on both parties." + +Next were disclaimed, on behalf of the British Government, "all +alliances whatever and with whomsoever of the coloured nations to the +north of the Vaal River." + +It was also agreed "that no slavery is or shall be permitted or +practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the emigrant +farmers." + +It was further agreed "that no objection shall be made by any British +authority against the emigrant Boers purchasing their supplies of +ammunition in any of the British colonies and possessions of South +Africa; it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition with +the native tribes is prohibited both by the British Government and the +emigrant farmers on both sides of the Vaal River." + +These were the terms of this famous convention, which is as slipshod in +its diction as it is vague in its meaning. What, for instance, is meant +by the territory to the north of the Vaal River? According to the +letter of the agreement, Messrs. Hogg and Owen ceded all the territory +between the Vaal and Egypt. This historical document was the Charta of +the new-born South African Republic. Under its provisions, the Boers, +now safe from interference on the part of the British, established +their own Government and promulgated their "Grond Wet," or +Constitution. + +The history of the Republic between 1852 and 1876 is not very +interesting, and is besides too wearisome to enter into here. It +consists of an oft-told tale of civil broils, attacks on native tribes, +and encroachment on native territories. Until shortly before the +Annexation, every burgher was, on coming of age, entitled to receive +from the Government 6000 acres of land. As these rights were in the +early days of the Republic frequently sold to speculators for such +trifles as a bottle of brandy or half a dozen of beer, and as the +seller still required his 6000 acres: for a Boer considers it beneath +his dignity to settle on less, it is obvious that it required a very +large country to satisfy all demands. To meet these demands, the +territories of the Republic had to be stretched like an elastic band, +and they were stretched accordingly,--at the expense of the natives. +The stretching process was an ingenious one, and is very well described +in a minute written by Mr. Osborn, the late magistrate at Newcastle, +dated 22d September 1876, in these words:-- + +"The Boers, as they have done in other cases and are still doing, +encroached by degrees on native territory, commencing by obtaining +permission to graze stock upon portions of it at certain seasons of the +year, followed by individual graziers obtaining from native headmen a +sort of right or license to squat upon certain defined portions, +ostensibly in order to keep other Boer squatters away from the same +land. These licenses, temporarily intended as friendly or neighbourly +acts by unauthorised headmen, after a few seasons of occupation by the +Boer, are construed by him as title, and his permanent occupation +ensues. Damage for trespass is levied by him from the very man from +whom he obtained the right to squat, to which the natives submit out of +fear of the matter reaching the ears of the paramount chief, who would +in all probability severely punish them for opening the door to +encroachment by the Boer. After a while, however, the matter comes to a +crisis in consequence of the incessant disputes between the Boers and +the natives; one or other of the disputants lays the case before the +paramount chief, who, when hearing both parties, is literally +frightened with violence and threats by the Boer into granting him the +land. Upon this the usual plan followed by the Boer is at once to +collect a few neighbouring Boers, including a field cornet, or even an +acting provisional field cornet, appointed by the field cornet or +provisional cornet, the latter to represent the Government, although +without instructions authorising him to act in the matter. A few cattle +are collected among themselves, which the party takes to the chief, and +his signature is obtained to a written document alienating to the +Republican Boers a large slice of all his territory. The contents of +this document are, as far as I can make out, never clearly or +intelligibly explained to the chief, who signs and accepts of the +cattle under the impression that it is all in settlement of hire for +the grazing licenses granted by his headmen. This, I have no hesitation +in saying, is the usual method by which the Boers obtain what they call +cessions to them of territories by native chiefs. In Secocoeni's case +they allege that his father Sequati cedes to them the whole of his +territory (hundreds of square miles) for a hundred head of cattle." + +So rapidly did this process go on that the little Republic to the +"North of the Vaal River" had at the time of the Annexation grown into +a country of the size of France. Its boundaries had only been clearly +defined where they abutted on neighbouring White Communities, or on the +territories of great native powers, on which the Government had not +dared to infringe to any marked degree, such as those of Lo Bengula's +people in the north. But wheresoever on the State's borders there had +been no white Power to limit its advances, or where the native tribes +had found themselves too isolated or too weak to resist aggressions, +there the Republic had by degrees encroached, and extended the shadow, +if not the substance, of its authority. + +The Transvaal has a boundary line of over 1600 miles in circumference, +and of this a large portion is disputed by different native tribes. +Speaking generally, the territory lies between the 22° and 28° of South +Latitude and the 25° and 32° of East Longitude, or between the Orange +Free State, Natal and Griqualand West on the south, and the Limpopo +River on the north; and between the Lebombo mountains on the east, and +the Kalihari desert on the west. On the north of its territory live +three great tribes--the Makalaka, the Matabele, (descendants of the +Zulus who deserted Chaka under Mosilikatze), and the Matyana. These +tribes are all warlike. On the west, following the line down to the +Diamond Field territory, are the Sicheli, the Bangoaketsi, the +Baralong, and the Koranna tribes. Passing round by Griqualand West, the +Free State, and Natal, we reach Zululand on the south-east corner; then +come the Lebombo mountains on the east, separating the Transvaal from +Amatonga land, and from the so-called Portuguese possessions, which are +entirely in the hands of native tribes, most of them subject to the +great Zulu chief, Umzeila, who has his stronghold in the north-east. + +It will be observed that the country is almost surrounded by native +tribes. Besides these there are about one million native inhabitants +living within its borders. In one district alone, Zoutpansberg, it is +computed that there are 364,250 natives, as compared to about 750 +whites. + +If a beautiful and fertile country were alone necessary to make a state +and its inhabitants happy and prosperous, happiness and prosperity +would rain upon the Transvaal and the Dutch Boers. The capabilities of +this favoured land are vast and various. Within its borders are to be +found highlands and lowlands, vast stretches of rolling veldt like +gigantic sheep downs, hundreds of miles of swelling bushland, huge +tracts of mountainous country, and even little glades spotted with +timber that remind one of an English park. There is every possible +variety of soil and scenery. Some districts will grow all tropical +produce, whilst others are well suited for breeding sheep, cattle, and +horses. Most of the districts will produce wheat and all other cereals +in greater perfection and abundance than any of the other South African +colonies. Two crops of cereals may be obtained from the soil every +year, and both the vine and tobacco are cultivated with great success. +Coffee, sugar-cane, and cotton have been grown with profit in the +northern parts of the State. Also the undeveloped mineral wealth of the +country is very great. Its known minerals are gold, copper, lead, +cobalt, iron, coal, tin, and plumbago: copper and iron having long been +worked by the natives. Altogether there is little doubt that the +Transvaal is the richest of all the South African states, and had it +remained under English rule it would, with the aid of English +enterprise and capital, have become a very wealthy and prosperous +country. However there is little chance of that now. Perhaps the +greatest charm of the Transvaal lies in its climate, which is among the +best in the world, and in all the southern districts very healthy. +During the winter months--that is, from April to October--little or no +rain falls, and the climate is cold and bracing. In summer it is rather +warm, but not overpoweringly hot, the thermometer at Pretoria averaging +from 65° to 73° and in the winter from 59° to 65°. The population of +the Transvaal is estimated at about 40,000 whites, mostly of Dutch +origin, consisting of about thirty vast families; and one million +natives. There are several towns, the largest of which are Pretoria and +Potchefstroom. + +Such is the country that we annexed in 1877, and were drummed out of in +1881. Now let us turn to its inhabitants. It has been the fashion to +talk of the Transvaal as though nobody but Boers lived in it. In +reality the inhabitants were divided into three classes: 1. Natives; 2. +Boers; 3. English. I say were divided, because the English class can +now hardly be said to exist, the country having been made too hot to +hold it since the war. The natives stand in the proportion of nearly +twenty to one to the whites. The Boers were in their turn much more +numerous than the English, but the latter owned nearly all the trading +establishments in the country, and also a very large amount of +property. + +The Transvaal Boers have been very much praised up by members of the +Government in England, and others who are anxious to advance their +interests, as against English interests. Mr. Gladstone, indeed, can +hardly find words strong enough to express his admiration of their +leaders, those "able men," since they inflicted a national humiliation +on us; and doubtless they are a people with many good points. That they +are not devoid of sagacity can be seen by the way they have dealt with +the English Government. + +The Boers are certainly a peculiar people, though they can hardly be +said to be "zealous of good works." They are very religious, but their +religion takes its colour from the darkest portions of the Old +Testament; lessons of mercy and gentleness are not at all to their +liking, and they seldom care to read the Gospels. What they delight in +are the stories of wholesale butchery by the Israelites of old; and in +their own position they find a reproduction of that of the first +settlers in the Holy Land. Like them they think they are entrusted by +the Almighty with the task of exterminating the heathen native tribes +around them, and are always ready with a scriptural precedent for +slaughter and robbery. The name of the Divinity is continually on their +lips, sometimes in connection with very doubtful statements. They are +divided into three sects, none of which care much for the other two. +These are the Doppers, who number about half the population, the +Orthodox Reform, and the Liberal Reform, which is the least numerous. +Of these three sects the Doppers are by far the most uncompromising and +difficult to deal with. They much resemble the Puritans of Charles the +First's time, of the extreme Hew-Agag-in-pieces stamp. + +It is difficult to agree with those who call the Boers cowards, an +accusation which the whole of their history belies. A Boer does not +like fighting if he can avoid it, because he sets a high value on his +own life; but if he is cornered, he will fight as well as anybody else. +The Boers fought well enough in the late war, though that, it is true, +is no great criterion of courage, since they were throughout flushed +with victory, and, owing to the poor shooting of the British troops, in +but little personal danger. One very unpleasant characteristic they +have, and that is an absence of regard for the truth, especially where +land is concerned. Indeed the national characteristic is crystallised +into a proverb, "I am no slave to my word." It has several times +happened to me to see one set of highly respectable witnesses in a land +case go into the box and swear distinctly that they saw a beacon placed +on a certain spot, whilst an equal number on the other side will swear +that they saw it placed a mile away. Filled as they are with a land +hunger, to which that of the Irish peasant is a weak and colourless +sentiment, there is little that they will not do to gratify their +taste. It is the subject of constant litigation amongst them, and it is +by no means uncommon for a Boer to spend several thousand pounds in +lawsuits over a piece of land not worth as many hundreds. + +Personally Boers are fine men, but as a rule ugly. Their women-folk are +good-looking in early life, but get very stout as they grow older. +They, in common with most of their sex, understand how to use their +tongues; indeed, it is said that it was the women who caused the rising +against the English Government. None of the refinements of civilisation +enter into the life of an ordinary Transvaal Boer. He lives in a way +that would shock an English labourer at twenty-five shillings the week, +although he is very probably worth fifteen or twenty thousand pounds. +His home is but too frequently squalid and filthy to an extraordinary +degree. He himself has no education, and does not care that his +children should receive any. He lives by himself in the middle of a +great plot of land, his nearest neighbour being perhaps ten or twelve +miles away, caring but little for the news of the outside world and +nothing for its opinions, doing very little work, but growing daily +richer through the increase of his flocks and herds. His expenses are +almost nothing, and as he gets older wealth increases upon him. The +events in his life consist of an occasional trip on "commando" against +some native tribe, attending a few political meetings, and the journeys +he makes with his family to the nearest town, some four times a year, +in order to be present at "Nachtmaal" or communion. Foreigners, +especially Englishmen, he detests, but he is kindly and hospitable to +his own people. Living isolated as he does, the lord of a little +kingdom, he naturally comes to have a great idea of himself, and a +corresponding contempt for all the rest of mankind. Laws and taxes are +things distasteful to him, and he looks upon it as an impertinence that +any court should venture to call him to account for his doings. He is +rich and prosperous, and the cares of poverty, and all the other +troubles that fall to the lot of civilised men, do not affect him. He +has no romance in him, nor any of the higher feelings and aspirations +that are found in almost every other race; in short, unlike the Zulu he +despises, there is little of the gentleman in his composition, though +he is at times capable of acts of kindness and even generosity. His +happiness is to live alone in the great wilderness, with his children, +his men-servants, and his maid-servants, his flocks and his herds, the +monarch of all he surveys. If civilisation presses him too closely, his +remedy is a simple one. He sells his farm, packs up his goods and cash +in his waggon, and starts for regions more congenially wild. Such are +some of the leading characteristics of that remarkable product of South +Africa, the Transvaal Boer, who resembles no other white man in the +world. + +Perhaps, however, the most striking of all his oddities is his +abhorrence of all government, more especially if that government be +carried out according to English principles. The Boers have always been +more or less in rebellion; they rebelled against the rule of the +Company when the Cape belonged to Holland, they rebelled against the +English Government in the Cape, they were always in a state of +semi-rebellion against their own Government in the Transvaal, and now +they have for the second time, with the most complete success, rebelled +against the English Government. The fact of the matter is that the bulk +of their number hate all Governments, because Governments enforce law +and order, and they hate the English Government worst of all because it +enforces law and order most of all. It is not liberty they long for, +but license. The "sturdy independence" of the Boer resolves itself into +a determination not to have his affairs interfered with by any superior +power whatsoever, and not to pay taxes if he can possibly avoid it. But +he has also a specific cause of complaint against the English +Government, which would alone cause him to do his utmost to get rid of +it, and that is its mode of dealing with natives, which is radically +opposite to his own. This is the secret of Boer patriotism. To +understand it, it must be remembered that the Englishman and the Boer +look at natives from a very different point of view. The Englishman, +though he may not be very fond of him, at any rate regards the Kafir as +a fellow human being with feelings like his own. The average Boer does +not. He looks upon the "black creature" as having been delivered into +his hand by the "Lord" for his own purposes, that is, to shoot and +enslave. He must not be blamed too harshly for this, for, besides being +naturally of a somewhat hard disposition, hatred of the native is +hereditary, and is partly induced by the history of many a bloody +struggle. Also the native hates the Boer fully as much as the Boer +hates the native, though with better reason. Now native labour is a +necessity to the Boer, because he will not as a rule do hard manual +labour himself, and there must be some one to plant and garner the +crops and herd the cattle. On the other hand, the natives are not +anxious to serve the Boers, which means little or no pay and plenty of +thick stick, and sometimes worse. The result of this state of affairs +is that the Boer often has to rely on forced labour to a very great +extent. But this is a thing that an English Government will not +tolerate, and the consequence is that under its rule he cannot get the +labour that is necessary to him. + +Then there is the tax question. If he lives under the English flag the +money has to be paid regularly, but under his own Government he pays or +not as he likes. It was this habit of his of refusing payment of taxes +that brought the Republic into difficulties in 1877, and that will ere +long bring it into trouble again. He cannot understand that cash is +necessary to carry on a Government, and looks upon a tax as though it +were so much money stolen from him. These things are the real springs +of the "sturdy independence" and the patriotism of the ordinary +Transvaal farmer. Doubtless there are some who are really patriotic; +for instance, one of their leaders, Paul Kruger. But with the majority, +patriotism is only another word for unbounded license and forced +labour. + +These remarks must not be taken to apply to the Cape Boers, who are a +superior class of men, since they, living under a settled and civilised +Government, have been steadily improving, whilst their cousins, living +every man for his own hand, have been deteriorating. The old +Voortrekkers, the fathers and grandfathers of the Transvaal Boer of +to-day, were, without doubt, a very fine set of men, and occasionally +you may in the Transvaal meet individuals of the same stamp whom it is +a pleasure to know. But these are generally men of a certain age, with +some experience of the world; the younger men are very objectionable in +their manners. + +The real Dutch Patriotic party is not to be found in the Transvaal, but +in the Cape Colony. Their object, which, as affairs now are, is well +within the bounds of possibility, is by fair means or foul to swamp the +English element in South Africa, and to establish a great Dutch +Republic. It was this party, which consists of clever and well educated +men, who raised the outcry against the Transvaal Annexation, because it +meant an enormous extension of English influence, and who had the wit, +by means of their emissaries and newspapers, to work upon the feeling +of the ignorant Transvaal farmers until they persuaded them to rebel; +and finally, to avail themselves of the yearnings of English radicalism +for the disruption of the Empire and the minimisation of British +authority, to get the Annexation cancelled. All through this business +the Boers have more or less danced in obedience to strings pulled at +Cape Town, and it is now said that one of the chief wire-pullers, Mr. +Hofmeyer, is to be asked to become President of the Republic. These men +are the real patriots of South Africa, and very clever ones too--not +the Transvaal Boers, who vapour about their blood and their country and +the accursed Englishman to order, and are in reality influenced by very +small motives, such as the desire to avoid payment of taxes, or to hunt +away a neighbouring Englishman, whose civilisation and refinement are +as offensive as his farm is desirable. Such are the Dutch inhabitants +of the Transvaal. I will now give a short sketch of their institutions +as they were before the Annexation, and to which the community has +reverted since its recision, with, I believe, but few alterations. + +The form of government is republican, and to all intents and purposes +manhood suffrage prevails, supreme power resting in the people. The +executive power of the State centres in a President elected by the +people to hold office for a term of five years, every voter having a +voice in his election. He is assisted in the execution of his duties by +an Executive Council, consisting of the State Secretary and such other +three members as are selected for that purpose by the legislative body, +the Volksraad. The State Secretary holds office for four years, and is +elected by the Volksraad. The members of the Executive have all seats +in the Volksraad, but have no votes. The Volksraad is the legislative +body of the State, and consists of forty-two members. The country is +divided into twelve electoral districts, each of which has the right to +return three members; the Gold Fields have also the right of electing +two members, and the four principal towns one member each. There is no +power in the State competent to either prorogue or dissolve the +Volksraad except that body itself, so that an appeal to the country on +a given subject or policy is impossible without its concurrence. +Members are elected for four years, but half retire by rotation every +two years, the vacancies being filled by re-elections. Members must +have been voters for three years, and be not less than thirty years of +age, must belong to a Protestant Church, be resident in the country, +and owners of immovable property therein. A father and son cannot sit +in the same Raad, neither can seats be occupied by coloured persons, +bastards, or officials. + +For each electoral district there is a magistrate or Landdrost, whose +duties are similar to those of a Civil Commissioner. These districts +are again subdivided into wards presided over by field cornets, who +exercise judicial powers in minor matters, and in times of war have +considerable authority. The Roman Dutch law is the common law of the +country, as it is of the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, +and of the Orange Free State. + +Prior to the Annexation justice was administered in a very primitive +fashion. First, there was the Landdrosts' Court, from which an appeal +lay to a court consisting of the Landdrost and six councillors elected +by the public. This was a court of first instance as well as a court of +appeal. Then there was a Supreme Court, consisting of three Landdrosts +from three different districts, and a jury of twelve selected from the +burghers of the State. There was no appeal from this court, but cases +have sometimes been brought under the consideration of the Volksraad as +the supreme power. It is easy to imagine what the administration of +justice was like when the presidents of all the law courts in the +country were elected by the mob, not on account of their knowledge of +the law, but because they were popular. Suitors before the old +Transvaal courts found the law surprisingly uncertain. A High Court of +Justice was, however, established after the Annexation, and has been +continued by the Volksraad, but an agitation is being got up against +it, and it will possibly be abolished in favour of the old system. + +In such a community as that of the Transvaal Boers the question of +public defence was evidently of the first importance. This is provided +for under what is known as the Commando system. The President, with the +concurrence of the Executive Council, has the right of declaring war, +and of calling up a commando, in which the burghers are placed under +the field cornets and commandants. These last are chosen by the field +cornets for each district, and a Commandant-general is chosen by the +whole laager or force, but the President is the Commander-in-Chief of +the army. All the inhabitants of the State between sixteen and sixty, +with a few exceptions, are liable for service. Young men under +eighteen, and men over fifty, are only called out under circumstances +of emergency. Members of the Volksraad, officials, clergymen, and +school-teachers are exempt from personal service, unless martial law is +proclaimed, but must contribute an amount not exceeding £15 towards the +expense of the war. All legal proceedings in civil cases are suspended +against persons on commando, no summonses can be made out, and as soon +as martial law is proclaimed no legal execution can be prosecuted, the +pounds are closed, and transfer dues payments are suspended until after +thirty days from the recall of the proclamation of martial law. Owners +of land residing beyond the borders of the Republic are also liable, in +addition to the ordinary war tax, to place a fit and proper substitute +at the disposal of the Government, or otherwise to pay a fine of £15. +The first levy of the burghers is, of men from eighteen to thirty-four +years of age; the second, thirty-four to fifty; and the third, from +sixteen to eighteen, and from fifty to sixty years. Every man is bound +to provide himself with clothing, a gun, and ammunition, and there must +be enough waggons and oxen found between them to suffice for their +joint use. Of the booty taken, one quarter goes to Government, and the +rest to the burghers. The most disagreeable part of the commandeering +system is, however, yet to come; personal service is not all that the +resident in the Transvaal Republic has to endure. The right is vested +in field cornets to commandeer articles as well as individuals, and to +call upon inhabitants to furnish requisites for the commando. As may be +imagined, it goes very hard on these occasions with the property of any +individual whom the field cornet may not happen to like. + +Each ward is expected to turn out its contingent ready and equipped for +war, and this can only be done by seizing goods right and left. One +unfortunate will have to find a waggon, another to deliver over his +favourite span of trek oxen, another his riding-horse or some slaughter +cattle, and so on. Even when the officer making the levy is desirous of +doing his duty as fairly as he can, it is obvious that very great +hardships must be inflicted under such a system. Requisitions are made +more with regard to what is wanted than with a view to an equitable +distribution of demands; and like the Jews in the time of the Crusades, +he who has got most must pay most, or take the consequences, which may +be unpleasant. Articles which are not perishable, such as waggons, are +supposed to be returned, but if they come back at all they are +generally worthless. + +In case of war, the native tribes living within the borders of the +State are also expected to furnish contingents, and it is on them that +most of the hard work of the campaign generally falls. They are put in +the front of the battle, and have to do the hand-to-hand fighting, +which, however, if of the Zulu race, they do not object to. + +The revenue of the State is so arranged that the burden of it should +fall as much as possible on the trading community, and as little as +possible on the farmer. It is chiefly derived from licenses on trades, +professions, and callings, 30s. per annum quit-rent on farms, transfer +dues and stamps, auction dues, court fees, and contributions from such +native tribes as can be made to pay them. Since we have given up the +country, the Volksraad has put a very heavy tax on all imported goods, +hoping thereby to beguile the Boers into paying taxes without knowing +it, and at the same time strike a blow at the trading community, which +is English in its proclivities. The result has been to paralyse what +little trade there was left in the country, and to cause great +dissatisfaction amongst the farmers, who cannot understand why, now +that the English are gone, they should have to pay twice as much for +their sugar and coffee as they have been accustomed to do. + +I will conclude this chapter with a few words about the natives who +swarm in and around the Transvaal. They can be roughly divided into two +great races, the Amazulu and their offshoots, and the Macatee or Basuto +tribes. All those of Zulu blood, including the Swazis, Mapock's Kafirs, +the Matabele, the Knob-noses, and others are very warlike in +disposition, and men of fine physique. The Basutos (who must not be +confounded with the Cape Basutos), however, differ from these tribes in +every respect, including their language, which is called Sisutu, the +only mutual feeling between the two races being their common +detestation of the Boers. They do not love war; in fact, they are timid +and cowardly by nature, and only fight when they are obliged to. Unlike +the Zulus, they are much addicted to the arts of peace, show +considerable capacities for civilisation, and are even willing to +become Christians. There would have been a far better field for the +Missionary in the Transvaal than in Zululand and Natal. Indeed, the +most successful mission station I have seen in Africa is near +Middleburg, under the control of Mr. Merensky. In person the Basutos +are thin and weakly when compared to the stalwart Zulu, and it is their +consciousness of inferiority both to the white men and their black +brethren that, together with their natural timidity, makes them submit +as easily as they do to the yoke of the Boer. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. + + +In or about the year 1872, the burghers of the Republic elected Mr. +Burgers their President. This remarkable man was a native of the Cape +Colony, and passed the first sixteen or seventeen years of his life, he +once informed me, on a farm herding sheep. He afterwards became a +clergyman noted for the eloquence of his preaching, but his ideas +proving too broad for his congregation, he resigned his cure, and in an +evil moment for himself took to politics. + +President Burgers was a man of striking presence and striking talents, +especially as regards his oratory, which was really of a very high +class, and would have commanded attention in our own House of Commons. +He possessed, however, a mind of that peculiarly volatile order that is +sometimes met with in conjunction with great talents, and which seems +to be entirely without ballast. His intellect was of a balloon-like +nature, and as incapable of being steered. He was always soaring in the +clouds, and, as is natural to one in that elevated position, taking a +very different and more sanguine view of affairs to that which men of a +more lowly, and perhaps a more practical, turn of mind would do. + +But notwithstanding his fly-away ideas, President Burgers was +undoubtedly a true patriot, labouring night and day for the welfare of +the State of which he had undertaken the guidance; but his patriotism +was too exalted for his surroundings. He wished to elevate to the rank +of a nation a people who had not got the desire to be elevated; with +this view he contracted railway loans, made wars, minted gold, &c., and +then suddenly discovered that the country refused to support him. In +short, he was made of very different clay to that of the people he had +to do with. He dreamt of a great Dutch Republic "with eight millions of +inhabitants," doing a vast trade with the interior through the Delagoa +Bay Railway. They, on the other hand, cared nothing about republics or +railways, but fixed their affections on forced labour and getting rid +of the necessity of paying taxes--and so between them the Republic came +to grief. But it must be borne in mind that President Burgers was +throughout actuated by good motives; he did his best by a stubborn and +a stiff-necked people; and if he failed, as fail he did, it was more +their fault than his. As regards the pension he received from the +English Government, which has so often been brought up against him, it +was after all no more than his due after five years of arduous work. If +the Republic had continued to exist, it is to be presumed that they +would have made some provision for their old President, more especially +as he seems to have exhausted his private means in paying the debts of +the country. Whatever may be said of some of the other officials of the +Republic, its President was, I believe, an honest man. + +In 1875, Mr. Burgers proceeded to Europe, having, he says in a +posthumous document recently published been empowered by the Volksraad +"to carry out my plans for the development of the country, by opening +up a direct communication for it, free from the trammels of British +ports and influence." According to this document, during his absence +two powerful parties, viz., "the faction of unprincipled +fortune-hunters, rascals, and runaways on the one hand, and the faction +of the extreme orthodox party in a certain branch of the Dutch Reform +Church on the other, began to co-operate against the Government of the +Republic and me personally.... Ill as I was, and contrary to the advice +of my medical men, I proceeded to Europe, in the beginning of 1875, to +carry out my project, and no sooner was my back turned on the Transvaal +than the conspiring elements began to act. The new coat of arms and +flag adopted in the Raad by an almost unanimous vote were abolished; +the laws for a free and secular education were tampered with; and my +resistance to a reckless inspection and disposal of Government lands, +still occupied by natives, was openly defied. The Raad, filled up to a +large extent with men of ill repute, who, under the cloak of progress +and favour to the Government view, obtained their seats, was too weak +to cope with the skill of the conspirators, and granted leave to the +acting President to carry out measures diametrically opposed to my +policy. _Native lands_ were inspected and given out to a few +speculators, who held large numbers of claims to lands which were +destined for citizens, and so a war was prepared for me, on my return +from Europe, which I could not avert." This extract is interesting, as +showing the state of feeling existing between the President and his +officers previous to the outbreak of the Secocoeni war. It also shows +how entirely he was out of sympathy with the citizens, seeing that, as +soon as his back was turned, they, with Mr. Joubert and Paul Kruger at +their head, at once undid all the little good he had done. + +When Mr. Burgers got to England, he found that city capitalists would +have nothing whatever to say to his railway scheme. In Holland, +however, he succeeded in getting £90,000 of the £300,000 he wished to +borrow at a high rate of interest, and by passing a bond on five +hundred Government farms. This money was immediately invested in +railway plant, which, when it arrived at Delagoa Bay, had to be +mortgaged to pay the freight on it, and that was the end of the Delagoa +Bay railway scheme, except that the £90,000 is, I believe, still owing +to the confiding shareholders in Holland. + +On his return to the Transvaal the President was well received, and for +a month or so all went smoothly. But the relations of the Republic with +the surrounding native tribes had by this time become so bad that an +explosion was imminent somewhere. In the year 1874 the Volksraad raised +the price of passes under the iniquitous pass law, by which every +native travelling through the territory was made to pay from £1 to £5. +In case of non-payment the native was made subject to a fine of from £1 +to £10, and to a beating of from "ten to twenty-five lashes." He was +also to go into service for three months, and have a certificate +thereof, for which he must pay five shillings; the avowed object of the +law being to obtain a supply of Kafir labour. This was done in spite of +the earnest protest of the President, who gave the Raad distinctly to +understand that by accepting this law they would, in point of fact, +annul treaties concluded with the chiefs on the south-western borders. +It is not clear, however, if this amended pass law ever came into +force. It is to be hoped it did not, for even under the old law natives +were shamefully treated by Boers, who would pretend that they were +authorised by Government to collect the tax; the result being that the +unfortunate Kafir was frequently obliged to pay twice over. Natives had +such a horror of the pass laws of the country, that when travelling to +the Diamond Fields to work they would frequently go round some hundreds +of miles rather than pass through the Transvaal. + +That the Volksraad should have thought it necessary to enact such a law +in order that the farmers should obtain a supply of Kafir labour in a +territory that had nearly a million of native inhabitants, who, unlike +the Zulus, are willing to work if only they meet with decent treatment, +is in itself an instructive commentary on the feelings existing between +Boer master and Kafir servant. + +But besides the general quarrel with the Kafir race in its entirety, +which the Boers always have on hand, they had just then several +individual differences, in each of which there lurked the possibilities +of disturbance. + +To begin with, their relations with Cetywayo were by no means amicable. +During Mr. Burgers' absence the Boer Government, then under the +leadership of P. J. Joubert, sent Cetywayo a very stern message--a +message that gives the reader the idea that Mr. Joubert was ready to +enforce it with ten thousand men. After making various statements and +demands with reference to the Amaswazi tribe, the disputed boundary +line, &c. it ends thus:-- + +"Although the Government of the South African Republic has never +wished, and does not now desire, that serious disaffection and +animosities should exist between you and them, yet it is not the less +of the greatest consequence and importance for you earnestly to weigh +these matters and risks, and to satisfy them; the more so, if you on +your side also wish that peace and friendship shall be maintained +between you and us." + +The Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal comments on this message in +these words: "The tone of this message to Cetywayo is not very +friendly, it has the look of an ultimatum, and if the Government of the +Transvaal were in circumstances different to what it is, the message +would suggest an intention to coerce if the demands it conveys are not +at once complied with; but I am inclined to the opinion that no such +intention exists, and that the transmission of a copy of the message to +the Natal Government is intended as a notification that the Transvaal +Government has proclaimed the territory hitherto in dispute between it +and the Zulus to be Republican territory, and that the Republic intends +to occupy it." + +In the territories marked out by a decision known as the Keate Award, +in which Lieutenant-Governor Keate of Natal, at the request of both +parties, laid down the boundary line between the Boers and certain +native tribes, the Boer Government carried it with a yet higher hand, +insomuch as the natives of those districts, being comparatively +unwarlike, were less likely to resist. + +On the 18th August 1875, Acting President Joubert issued a proclamation +by which a line was laid down far to the southward of that marked out +by Mr. Keate, and consequently included more territory within the +elastic boundaries of the Republic. A Government notice of the same +date invites all claiming lands now declared to belong to the Republic +to send in their claims to be settled by a land commission. + +On the 6th March 1876, another chief in the same neighbourhood +(Montsoia) writes to the Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West in +these terms:-- + + "MY FRIEND,--I wish to acquaint you with the doings of some people + connected with the Boers. A man-servant of mine has been severely + injured in the head by one of the Boers' servants, which has proved + fatal. Another of my people has been cruelly treated by a Boer + tying a rein about his neck, and then mounting his horse and + dragging him about the place. My brother Molema, who is the bearer + of this, will give you full particulars." + +Molema explains the assaults thus: "The assaulted man is not dead; his +skull was fractured. The assault was committed by a Boer named Wessels +Badenhorst, who shamefully ill-treated the man, beat him till he +fainted, and, on his revival, fastened a rim round his neck, and made +him run to the homestead by the side of his (Badenhorst's) horse +cantering. At the homestead he tied him to the waggon-wheel, and +flogged him again till Mrs. Badenhorst stopped her husband." + +Though it will be seen that the Boers were on good terms neither with +the Zulus nor the Keate Award natives, they still had one Kafir ally, +namely, Umbandeni, the Amaswazi king. This alliance was concluded under +circumstances so peculiar that they are worthy of a brief +recapitulation. It appears that in the winter of the year 1875, Mr. +Rudolph, the Landdrost of Utrecht, went to Swaziland, and, imitating +the example of the Natal Government with Cetywayo, crowned Umbandeni +king, on behalf of the Boer Government. He further made a treaty of +alliance with him, and promised him a commando to help him in case of +his being attacked by the Zulus. Now comes the curious part of the +story. On the 18th May 1876, a message came from this same Umbandeni to +Sir H. Bulwer, of which the following is an extract:--"We are sent by +our king to thank the Government of Natal for the information sent to +him last winter by that Government, and conveyed by Mr. Rudolph, of the +intended attack on his people by the Zulus. We are further instructed +by the king to thank the Natal Government for the influence it used to +stop the intended raid, and for instructing a Boer commando to go to +his country to render him assistance in case of need; and further for +appointing Mr. Rudolph at the head of the commando to place him +(Umbandeni) as king over the Amaswazi, and to make a treaty with him +and his people on behalf of the Natal Government.... The Transvaal +Government has asked Umbandeni to acknowledge himself a subject of the +Republic, but he has distinctly refused to do so." In a minute written +on this subject, the Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal says, "No +explanation or assurance from me was sufficient to convince them +(Umbandeni's messengers) that they had on that occasion made themselves +subjects of the South African Republic; they declared it was not their +wish or intention to do so, and that they would refuse to acknowledge a +position into which they had been unwittingly betrayed." I must +conclude this episode by quoting the last paragraph of Sir H. Bulwer's +covering despatch, because it concerns larger issues than the supposed +treaty: "It will not be necessary that I should at present add any +remarks to those contained in the minute of the Secretary for Native +Affairs, but I would observe that the situation arising out of the +relations of the Government of the South African Republic with the +neighbouring native States is so complicated, and presents so many +elements of confusion and of danger to the peace of this portion of +South Africa, that I trust some way may be found to an early settlement +of questions that ought not, in my opinion, to be left alone, as so +many have been left, to take the chance of the future." + +And now I come to the last and most imminent native difficulty that at +the time faced the Republic. On the borders of Lydenburg district there +lived a powerful chief named Secocoeni. Between this chief and the +Transvaal Government difficulties arose in the beginning of 1876 on the +usual subject--land. The Boers declared that they had bought the land +from the Swazis, who had conquered portions of the country, and that +the Swazis offered to make it "clean from brambles," _i.e._, kill +everybody living on it; but that they (the Boers) said that they were +to let them be, that they might be their servants. The Basutos, on the +other hand, said that no such sale ever took place, and, even if it did +take place, it was invalid, because the Swazis were not in occupation +of the land, and therefore could not sell it. It was a Christian Kafir +called Johannes, a brother of Secocoeni, who was the immediate cause +of the war. This Johannes used to live at a place called Botsobelo, the +mission-station of Mr. Merensky, but moved to a stronghold on the +Spekboom river, in the disputed territory. The Boers sent to him to +come back, but he refused, and warned the Boers off his land. +Secocoeni was then appealed to, but declared that the land belonged +to his tribe, and would be occupied by Johannes. He also told the Boers +"that he did not wish to fight, but that he was quite ready to do so if +they preferred it." Thereupon the Transvaal Government declared war, +although it does not appear that the natives committed any outrage or +acts of hostility before the declaration. As regards the Boers' right +to Secocoeni's country, Sir H. Barkly sums up the question thus, in a +despatch addressed to President Burgers, dated 28th Nov. 1876:--"On the +whole, it seems perfectly clear, and I feel bound to repeat it, that +Sikukuni was neither _de jure_ or _de facto_ a subject of the +Republic when your Honour declared war against him in June last." As +soon as war had been declared, the clumsy commando system was set +working, and about 2500 white men collected; the Swazis also were +applied to to send a contingent, which they did, being only too glad of +the opportunity of slaughter. + +At first all went well, and the President, who accompanied the commando +in person, succeeded in reducing a mountain stronghold, which, in his +high-flown way, he called a "glorious victory" over a "Kafir +Gibraltar." + +On the 14th July another engagement took place, when the Boers and +Swazis attacked Johannes' stronghold. The place was taken with +circumstances of great barbarity by the Swazis, for when the signal was +given to advance the Boers did not move. Nearly all the women were +killed, and the brains of the children were dashed out against the +stones; in one instance, before the captive mother's face. Johannes was +badly wounded, and died two days afterwards. When he was dying, he said +to his brother, "I am going to die. I am thankful I do not die by the +hands of these cowardly Boers, but by the hand of a black and +courageous nation like myself...." He then took leave of his people, +told his brother to read the Bible, and expired. The Swazis were so +infuriated at the cowardice displayed by the Boers on this occasion +that they returned home in great dudgeon. + +On the 2d of August Secocoeni's mountain, which is a very strong +fortification, was attacked in two columns, or rather an attempt was +made to attack it, for when it came to the pinch only about forty men, +mostly English and Germans, would advance. Thereupon the whole commando +retreated with great haste, the greater part of it going straight home. +In vain the President entreated them to shoot him rather than desert +him; they had had enough of Secocoeni and his stronghold, and home +they went. The President then retreated with what few men he had left +to Steelport, where he built a fort, and from thence returned to +Pretoria. The news of the collapse of the commando was received +throughout the Transvaal, and indeed the whole of South Africa, with +the greatest dismay. For the first time in the history of that country +the white man had been completely worsted by a native tribe, and that +tribe wretched Basutos, people whom the Zulus call their "dogs." It was +glad tidings to every native from the Zambesi to the Cape, who learnt +thereby that the white man was not so invincible as he used to be. +Meanwhile the inhabitants of Lydenburg were filled with alarm, and +again and again petitioned the Governors of the Cape and Natal for +assistance. Their fears were, however, to a great extent groundless, +for, with the exception of occasional cattle-lifting, Secocoeni did +not follow up his victory. + +On the 4th September the President opened the special sitting of the +Volksraad, and presented to that body a scheme for the establishment of +a border force to take the place of the commando system, announcing +that he had appointed a certain Captain Von Schlickmann to command it. +He also requested the Raad to make some provision for the expenses of +the expedition, which they had omitted to do in their former sitting. + +Captain Von Schlickmann determined to carry on the war upon a different +system. He got together a band of very rough characters on the Diamond +Fields, and occupied the fort built by the President, from whence he +would sally out from time to time and destroy kraals. He seems, if +we may believe the reports in the blue-books and the stories of +eye-witnesses, to have carried on his proceedings in a somewhat savage +way. The following is an extract from a private letter written by one +of his volunteers:-- + +"About daylight we came across four Kafirs. Saw them first, and charged +in front of them to cut off their retreat. Saw they were women, and +called out not to fire. In spite of that, one of the poor things got +her head blown off (a d----d shame).... Afterwards two women and a baby +were brought to the camp prisoners. The same night they were taken out +by our Kafirs and murdered in cool blood by order of ----. Mr. ---- and +myself strongly protested against it, but without avail. I never heard +such a cowardly piece of business in my life. No good will come of it, +you may depend.... ---- says he would cut all the women and children's +throats he catches. Told him distinctly he was a d----d coward." + +Schlickmann was, however, a mild-mannered man when compared to a +certain Abel Erasmus, afterwards denounced at a public dinner by Sir +Garnet Wolseley as a fiend "in human form." This gentleman, in the +month of October, attacked a friendly kraal of Kafirs. The incident is +described thus in a correspondent's letter:-- + +"The people of the kraals, taken quite by surprise, fled when they saw +their foes, and most of them took shelter in the neighbouring bush. Two +or three men were distinctly seen in their flight from the kraal, and +one of them is known to have been wounded. According to my informant +the remainder were women and children, who were pursued into the bush, +and there, all shivering and shrieking, were put to death by the Boers' +Kafirs, some being shot, but the majority stabbed with assegais. After +the massacre he counted thirteen women and three children, but he says +he did not see the body of a single man. Another Kafir said, pointing +to a place in the road where the stones were thickly strewn, 'the +bodies of the women and children lay like these stones.' The Boer +before mentioned, who has been stationed outside, has told one of his +own friends, whom he thought would not mention it, that the shrieks +were fearful to hear." + +Several accounts of, or allusion to, this atrocity can be found in the +blue-books, and I may add that it, in common with others of the same +stamp, was the talk of the country at the time. + +I do not relate these horrors out of any wish to rake up old stories to +the prejudice of the Boers, but because I am describing the state of +the country before the Annexation, in which they form an interesting +and important item. Also, it is as well that people in England should +know into what hands they have delivered over the native tribes who +trusted in their protection. What happened in 1876 is probably +happening again now, and will certainly happen again and again. The +character of the Transvaal Boer and his sentiments towards the native +races have not modified during the last five years, but, on the +contrary, a large amount of energy, which has been accumulating during +the period of British protection, will now be expended on their devoted +heads. + +As regards the truth of these atrocities, the majority of them are +beyond the possibility of doubt; indeed, to the best of my knowledge, +no serious attempt has ever been made to refute such of them as have +come into public notice, except in a general way, for party purposes. +As, however, they may be doubted, I will quote the following extract +from a despatch written by Sir H. Barkly to Lord Carnarvon, dated 18th +December 1876:-- + +"As Von Schlickmann has since fallen fighting bravely, it is not +without reluctance that I join in affixing this dark stain on his +memory, but truth compels me to add the following extract from a letter +which I have since received from one whose name (which I communicate to +your Lordship privately) forbids disbelief: 'There is no longer the +_slightest doubt_ as to the murder of the two women and the child +at Steelport by the direct order of Schlickmann, and in the attack on +the kraal near which these women were captured (or some attack about +that period) he ordered his men to cut the throats of all the wounded! +This is no mere report; it is positively true.'" He concludes by +expressing a hope that the course of events will enable Her Majesty's +Government to take such steps "as will terminate this wanton and +useless bloodshed, and prevent the recurrence of the _scenes of +injustice, cruelty, and rapine which abundant evidence is every day +forthcoming to prove have rarely ceased to disgrace the Republics +beyond the Vaal ever since they first sprang into existence_."[4] + + [4] The italics are my own.--AUTHOR. + +These are strong words, but none too strong for the facts of the case. +Injustice, cruelty, and rapine have always been the watchwords of the +Transvaal Boers. The stories of wholesale slaughter in the earlier days +of the Republic are very numerous. One of the best known of those +shocking occurrences took place in the Zoutpansberg war in 1865. On +this occasion a large number of Kafirs took refuge in caves, where the +Boers smoked them to death. Some years afterwards Dr. Wangeman, whose +account is, I believe, thoroughly reliable, describes the scene of +their operations in these words:-- + +"The roof of the first cave was black with smoke; the remains of the +logs which were burnt lay at the entrance. The floor was strewn with +hundreds of skulls and skeletons. In confused heaps lay karosses, +kerries, assegais, pots, spoons, snuff-boxes, and the bones of men, +giving one the impression that this was the grave of a whole people. +Some estimate the number of those who perished here from twenty to +thirty thousand. This is, I believe, too high. In the one chamber there +were from two hundred to three hundred skeletons; the other chambers I +did not visit." + +In 1868 a public meeting was held at Potchefstroom to consider the war +then going on with the Zoutpansberg natives. According to the report of +the proceedings, the Rev. Mr. Ludorf said that "on a particular +occasion a number of native children, who were too young to be removed, +had been collected in a heap, covered with long grass, and burned +alive. Other atrocities had also been committed, but these were too +horrible to relate." When called upon to produce his authority for this +statement, Mr. Ludorf named his authority "in a solemn declaration to +the State Attorney." At this same meeting Mr. J. G. Steyn, who had been +Landdrost of Potchefstroom, said, "there now was innocent blood on our +hands which had not yet been avenged, and the curse of God rested on +the land in consequence." Mr. Rosalt remarked that "it was a singular +circumstance that in the different colonial Kafir wars, as also in the +Basuto wars, one did not hear of destitute children being found by the +commandoes, and asked how it was that every petty commando that took +the field in this Republic invariably found numbers of destitute +children. He gave it as his opinion that the present system of +apprenticeship was an essential cause of our frequent hostilities with +the natives." Mr. Jan Talyard said, "Children were forcibly taken from +their parents, and were then called destitute and apprenticed." Mr. +Daniel Van Nooren was heard to say, "If they had to clear the country, +and could not have the children they found, he would shoot them." Mr. +Field-Cornet Furstenburg stated "that when he was at Zoutpansberg with +his burghers, the chief Katse-Kats was told to come down from the +mountains; that he sent one of his subordinates as a proof of amity; +that whilst a delay of five days was guaranteed by Commandant Paul +Kruger, who was then in command, orders were given at the same time to +attack the natives at break of day, which was accordingly done, but +which resulted in total failure." Truly, this must have been an +interesting meeting. + +Before leaving these unsavoury subjects, I must touch on the question +of slavery. It has been again and again denied, on behalf of the +Transvaal Boers, that slavery existed in the Republic. Now, this is, +strictly speaking, true; slavery did not exist, but apprenticeship +did--the rose was called by another name, that is all. The poor +destitute children who were picked up by kind-hearted Boers, after the +extermination of their parents, were apprenticed to farmers till they +came of age. It is a remarkable fact that these children never attained +their majority. You might meet oldish men in the Transvaal who were +not, according to their masters' reckoning, twenty-one years of age. +The assertion that slavery did not exist in the Transvaal is only made +to hoodwink the English public. I have known men who have owned slaves, +and who have seen whole waggon-loads of "black ivory," as they were +called, sold for about £15 a-piece. I have at this moment a tenant, +Carolus by name, on some land I own in Natal, now a well-to-do man, who +was for many years--about twenty, if I remember right--a Boer slave. +During those years, he told me, he worked from morning till night, and +the only reward he received was two calves. He finally escaped into +Natal. + +If other evidence is needed it is not difficult to find, so I will +quote a little. On the 22d August 1876 we find Khama, king of the +Bamangwato, one of the most worthy chiefs in South Africa, sending a +message to "Victoria, the great Queen of the English people," in these +words:-- + +"I write to you, Sir Henry, in order that your Queen may preserve for +me my country, it being in her hands. The Boers are coming into it, and +I do not like them. Their actions are cruel among us black people. We +are like money, they sell us and our children. I ask Her Majesty to +pity me, and to hear that which I write quickly. I wish to hear upon +what conditions Her Majesty will receive me, and my country and my +people, under her protection. I am weary with fighting. I do not like +war, and I ask Her Majesty to give me peace. I am very much distressed +that my people are being destroyed by war, and I wish them to obtain +peace. I ask Her Majesty to defend me, as she defends all her people. +There are three things which distress me very much--war, selling +people, and drink. All these things I shall find in the Boers, and it +is these things which destroy people to make an end of them in the +country. _The custom of the Boers has always been to cause people to +be sold, and to-day they are still selling people._ Last year I saw +them pass with two waggons full of people whom they had bought at the +river at Tanane" (Lake Ngate). + +The Special Correspondent of the _Cape Argus_, a highly respectable +journal, writes thus on the 28th November 1876:--"The Boer from whom +this information was gleaned has furnished besides some facts which may +not be uninteresting, as a commentary on the repeated denials by Mr. +Burgers of the existence of slavery. During the last week slaves have +been offered for sale on his farm. The captives have been taken from +Secocoeni's country by Mapoch's people, and are being exchanged at the +rate of a child for a heifer. He also assures us that the whole of the +High-veld is being replenished with Kafir children, whom the Boers have +been lately purchasing from the Swazis at the rate of a horse for a +child. I should like to see this man and his father as witnesses before +an Imperial Commission. He let fall one or two incidents of the past +which were brought to mind by the occurrences of the present. In 1864, +he says, 'The Swazis accompanied the Boers against Males. The Boers did +nothing but stand by and witness the fearful massacre. The men and +women were also murdered. One poor woman sat clutching her baby of +eight days old. The Swazis stabbed her through the body, and when she +found that she could not live, she wrung the baby's neck with her own +hands to save it from future misery. On the return of that commando the +children who became too weary to continue the journey were killed on +the road. The survivors were sold as slaves to the farmers.'" + +The same gentleman writes in the issue of the 12th December as +follows:--"The whole world may know it, for it is true, and +investigation will only bring out the horrible details, that through +the whole course of this Republic's existence it has acted in +contravention of the Sand River Treaty; and slavery has occurred not +only here and there in isolated cases, but as an unbroken practice, and +has been one of the peculiar institutions of the country, mixed up with +all its social and political life. It has been at the root of most of +its wars. It has been carried on regularly even in times of peace. It +has been characterised by all those circumstances which have so often +roused the British nation to an indignant protest, and to repeated +efforts to banish the slave trade from the world. The Boers have not +only fallen on unsuspecting kraals simply for the purpose of obtaining +the women and children and cattle, but they have carried on a traffic +through natives who have kidnapped the children of their weaker +neighbours, and sold them to the white man. Again, the Boers have sold +and exchanged their victims among themselves. Waggon-loads of slaves +have been conveyed from one end of the country to the other for sale, +and that with the cognisance of, and for the direct advantage of, the +highest officials of the land. The writer has himself seen in a town, +situated in the south of the Republic, the children who had been +brought down from a remote northern district. One fine morning, in +walking through the streets, he was struck with the number of little +black strangers standing about certain houses, and wondered where they +could have come from. He learnt a few hours later that they were part +of loads which were disposed of on the outskirts of the town the day +before. The circumstances connected with some of these kidnapping +excursions are appalling, and the barbarities practised by cruel +masters upon some of these defenceless creatures during the course of +their servitude are scarcely less horrible than those reported from +Turkey. It is no disgrace in this country for an official to ride a +fine horse which was got for two Kafir children, to procure whom the +father and mother were shot. No reproach is inherited by the mistress +who, day after day, tied up her female servant in an agonising posture, +and had her beaten until there was no sound part in her body, securing +her in the stocks during the intervals of torture. That man did not +lose caste who tied up another woman and had her thrashed until she +brought forth at the whipping-post. These are merely examples of +thousands of cases which could be proved were an Imperial Commission to +sit, and could the wretched victims of a prolonged oppression recover +sufficiently from the dread of their old tyrants to give a truthful +report." + +To come to some evidence more recently adduced. On the 9th May 1881, an +affidavit was sworn to by the Rev. John Thorne, curate of St. John the +Evangelist, Lydenburg, Transvaal, and presented to the Royal Commission +appointed to settle Transvaal affairs, in which he states:--"That I was +appointed to the charge of a congregation in Potchefstroom, about +thirteen years ago, when the Republic was under the presidency of Mr. +Pretorius.[5] I remember noticing one morning as I walked through the +streets, a number of young natives, whom I knew to be strangers. I +inquired where they came from. I was told that they had just been +brought from Zoutpansberg. This was the locality from which slaves were +chiefly brought at that time, and were traded for under the name of +'Black Ivory.' One of these natives belonged to Mr. Munich, the State +Attorney. It was a matter of common remark at that time that the +President of the Republic was himself one of the greatest dealers in +slaves." In the fourth paragraph of the same affidavit Mr. Thorne says, +"That the Rev. Doctor Nachtigal, of the Berlin Missionary Society, was +the interpreter for Shatane's people in the private office of Mr. Roth, +and, at the close of the interview, told me what had occurred. On my +expressing surprise, he went on to relate that he had information on +native matters which would surprise me more. He then produced the copy +of a register, kept in the Landdrost's office, of men, women, and +children, to the number of four hundred and eighty (480), who had been +disposed of by one Boer to another for a consideration. In one case an +ox was given in exchange, in another goats, in a third a blanket, and +so forth. Many of these natives he (Mr. Nachtigal) knew personally. The +copy was certified as true and correct by an official of the Republic, +and I would mention his name now, only that I am persuaded that it +would cost the man his life if his act became known to the Boers." + + [5] One of the famous Triumvirate. + +On the 16th May 1881, a native, named Frederick Molepo, was examined by +the Royal Commission. The following are extracts from his +examination:-- + +"(_Sir E. Wood._) Are you a Christian?--Yes. + +"(_Sir H. de Villiers._) How long were you a slave?--Half a year. + +"How do you know that you were a slave? Might you not have been an +apprentice?--No, I was not apprenticed. + +"How do you know?--They got me from my parents, and ill-treated me. + +"(_Sir E. Wood._) How many times did you get the stick?--Every day. + +"(_Sir H. de Villiers._) What did the Boers do with you when they +caught you?--They sold me. + +"How much did they sell you for?--One cow and a big pot." + +On the 28th May 1881, amongst the other documents handed in for the +consideration of the Royal Commission, is the statement of a headman, +whose name it has been considered advisable to omit in the blue-book +for fear the Boers should take vengeance on him. He says, "I say, that +if the English government dies I shall die too; I would rather die than +be under the Boer Government. I am the man who helped to make bricks +for the church you see now standing in the square here (Pretoria), as a +slave without payment. As a representative of my people I am still +obedient to the English Government, and willing to obey all commands +from them, even to die for their cause in this country, rather than +submit to the Boers. + +"I was under Shambok, my chief, who fought the Boers formerly, but he +left us, and we were _put up to auction_ and sold among the Boers. I +want to state this myself to the Royal Commission in Newcastle. I was +bought by Fritz Botha and sold by Frederick Botha, who was then veld +cornet (justice of the peace) of the Boers."[6] + + [6] I have taken the liberty to quote all these extracts + exactly as they stand in the original, instead of weaving + their substance into my narrative, in order that I may not be + accused, as so often happens to authors who write upon this + subject, of having presented a garbled version of the truth. + The original of every extract is to be found in blue-books + presented to Parliament. I have thought it best to confine + myself to these, and avoid repeating stories of cruelties and + slavery, however well authenticated, that have come to my + knowledge privately such stories being always more or less + open to suspicion. + +It would be easy to find more reports of the slave-trading practices of +the Boers, but as the above are fair samples it will not be necessary +to do so. My readers will be able from them to form some opinion as to +whether or not slavery or apprenticeship existed in the Transvaal. If +they come to the conclusion that it did, it must be borne in mind that +what existed in the past will certainly exist again in the future. +Natives are not now any fonder of working for Boers than they were a +few years back, and Boers must get labour somehow. If, on the other +hand, it did not exist, then the Boers are a grossly slandered people, +and all writers on the subject, from Livingstone down, have combined to +take away their character. + +Leaving native questions for the present, we must now return to the +general affairs of the country. When President Burgers opened the +special sitting of the Volksraad, on the 4th September, he appealed, it +will be remembered, to that body for pecuniary aid to liquidate the +expenses of the war. This appeal was responded to by the passing of a +war tax, under which every owner of a farm was to pay £10, the owner of +half a farm £5, and so on. The tax was not a very just one, since it +fell with equal weight on the rich man who held twenty farms and the +poor man who held but one. Its justice or injustice was, however, to a +great extent immaterial, since the free and independent burghers, +including some of the members of the Volksraad who had imposed it, +promptly refused to pay it, or indeed, whilst they were about it, any +other tax. As the Treasury was already empty, and creditors were +pressing, this refusal was most ill-timed, and things began to look +very black indeed. Meanwhile, in addition to the ordinary expenditure, +and the interest payable on debts, money had to be found to pay Von +Schlickmann's volunteers. As there was no cash in the country, this was +done by issuing Government promissory notes, known as "goodfors," or +vulgarly as "good for nothings," and by promising them all booty, and +to each man a farm of two thousand acres, lying east and north-east of +the Loolu mountains--in other words, in Secocoeni's territory, which +did not belong to the Government to give away. The officials were the +next to suffer, and for six months before the Annexation these +unfortunate individuals lived as best they could, for they certainly +got no salary, except in the case of a postmaster, who was told to help +himself to his pay in stamps. The Government issued large numbers of +bills, but the banks refused to discount them, and in some cases the +neighbouring colonies had to advance money to the Transvaal post-cart +contractors who were carrying the mails, as a matter of charity. The +Government even mortgaged the great salt-pan near Pretoria for the +paltry sum of £400, whilst the leading officials of the Government were +driven to pledging their own private credit in order to obtain the +smallest article necessary to its continuance. In fact, to such a pass +did things come that when the country was annexed a single threepenny +bit (which had doubtless been overlooked) was found in the Treasury +chest, together with acknowledgments of debts to the extent of nearly +£300,000. + +Nor was the refusal to pay taxes, which they were powerless to enforce, +the only difficulty with which the Government had to contend. Want of +money is as bad and painful a thing to a State as to an individual, but +there are perhaps worse things than want of money, one of which is to +be deserted by your own friends and household. This was the position of +the Government of the Republic; no sooner was it involved in +overwhelming difficulties than its own subjects commenced to bait it, +more especially the English portion of its subjects. They complained to +the English authorities about the commandeering of members of their +family or goods; they petitioned the British Government to interfere, +and generally made themselves as unpleasant as possible to the local +authorities. Such a course of action was perhaps natural, but it can +hardly be said to be either quite logical or just. The Transvaal +Government had never asked them to come and live in the country, and if +they did so, it was presumably at their own risk. On the other hand, it +must be remembered that many of the agitators had accumulated property, +to leave which would mean ruin; and they saw that, unless something was +done, its value would be destroyed. + +Under the pressure of all these troubles the Boers themselves split up +into factions, as they are always ready to do. The Dopper party +declared that they had had enough progress, and proposed the extremely +conservative Paul Kruger as President, Burgers' time having nearly +expired. Paul Kruger accepted the candidature, although he had +previously promised his support to Burgers, and distrust of each other +was added to the other difficulties of the Executive, the Transvaal +becoming a house very much divided against itself. Natives, Doppers, +Progressionists, Officials, English, were all pulling different ways, +and each striving for his own advantage. Anything more hopeless than +the position of the country on the 1st January 1877 it is impossible to +conceive. Enemies surrounded it; on every border there was the prospect +of a serious war. In the exchequer there was nothing but piles of +overdue bills. The President was helpless, and mistrustful of his +officers, and the officers were caballing against the President. All +the ordinary functions of Government had ceased, and trade was +paralysed. Now and then wild proposals were made to relieve the State +of its burdens, some of which partook of the nature of repudiation, but +these were the exception; the majority of the inhabitants, who would +neither fight nor pay taxes, sat still and awaited the catastrophe, +utterly careless of all consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ANNEXATION. + + +The state of affairs described in the previous chapter was one that +filled the Secretary of State for the Colonies with alarm. During his +tenure of office Lord Carnarvon evidently had the permanent welfare of +South Africa much at heart, and he saw with apprehension that the +troubles that were brewing in the Transvaal were of a nature likely to +involve the Cape and Natal in a native war. Though there is a broad +line of demarcation between Dutch and English, it is not so broad but +that a victorious nation like the Zulus might cross it, and beginning +by fighting the Boer, might end by fighting the white man irrespective +of race. When the reader reflects how terrible would be the +consequences of a combination of native tribes against the Whites, and +how easily such a combination might at that time have been brought +about in the first flush of native successes, he will understand the +anxiety with which all thinking men watched the course of events in the +Transvaal in 1876. + +At last they took such a serious turn that the Home Government saw that +some action must be taken if the catastrophe was to be averted, and +determined to despatch Sir Theophilus Shepstone as Special Commissioner +to the Transvaal, with powers, should it be necessary, to annex the +country to Her Majesty's dominions, "in order to secure the peace and +safety of Our said colonies and of Our subjects elsewhere." + +The terms of his Commission were unusually large, leaving a great deal +to his discretionary power. In choosing that officer for the execution +of a most difficult and delicate mission, the Government, doubtless, +made a very wise selection. Sir Theophilus Shepstone is a man of +remarkable tact and ability, combined with great openness and +simplicity of mind, and one whose name will always have a leading place +in South African history. During a long official lifetime he has had to +do with most of the native races in South Africa, and certainly knows +them and their ways better than any living man; whilst he is by them +all regarded with a peculiar and affectionate reverence. He is _par +excellence_ their great white chief and "father," and a word from +him, even now that he has retired from active life, still carries more +weight than the formal remonstrances of any governor in South Africa. + +With the Boers he is almost equally well acquainted, having known many +of them personally for years. He possesses, moreover, the rare power of +winning the regard and affection, as well as the respect, of those +about him in such a marked degree that those who have served him once +would go far to serve him again. Sir T. Shepstone, however, has enemies +like other people, and is commonly reported among them to be a disciple +of Machiavelli, and to have his mind steeped in all the darker wiles of +Kafir policy. The Annexation of the Transvaal is by them attributed to +a successful and vigorous use of those arts that distinguished the +diplomacy of two centuries ago. Falsehood and bribery are supposed to +have been the great levers used to effect the change, together with +threats of extinction at the hands of a savage and unfriendly nation. + +That the Annexation was a triumph of mind over matter is quite true, +but whether or no that triumph was unworthily obtained, I will leave +those who read this short chronicle of the events connected with it to +judge. I saw it somewhat darkly remarked in a newspaper the other day +that the history of the Annexation had evidently yet to be written; and +I fear that the remark represents the feeling of most people about that +event, implying as it did that it was carried out by means certainly +mysteriously and presumably doubtful. I am afraid that those who think +thus will be disappointed in what I have to say about the matter, since +I know that the means employed to bring the Boers-- + + "Fracti bello, fatisque repulsi"-- + +under Her Majesty's authority were throughout as fair and honest as the +Annexation itself was, in my opinion, right and necessary. + +To return to Sir T. Shepstone. He undoubtedly had faults as a ruler, +one of the most prominent of which was that his natural mildness of +character would never allow him to act with severity even when severity +was necessary. The very criminals condemned to death ran a good chance +of reprieve when he had to sign their death-warrants. He has also that +worst of faults (so-called), in one fitted by nature to become +great--want of ambition, a failing that in such a man marks him the +possessor of an even and a philosophic mind. It was no seeking of his +own that raised him out of obscurity, and when his work was done to +comparative obscurity he elected to return, though whether a man of his +ability and experience in South African affairs should, at the present +crisis, be allowed to remain there, is another question. + +On the 20th December 1876, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, +informing him of his approaching visit to the Transvaal, to secure, if +possible, the adjustment of existing troubles, and the adoption of such +measures as might be best calculated to prevent their recurrence in the +future. + +On his road to Pretoria, Sir Theophilus received a hearty welcome from +the Boer as well as the English inhabitants of the country. One of +these addresses to him says: "Be assured, high honourable Sir, that we +burghers, now assembled together, entertain the most friendly feeling +towards your Government, and that we shall agree with anything you may +do in conjunction with our Government for the progress of our State, +the strengthening against our native enemies, and for the general +welfare of all the inhabitants of the whole of South Africa. Welcome in +Heidelberg, and welcome in the Transvaal." + +At Pretoria the reception of the Special Commissioner was positively +enthusiastic; the whole town came out to meet him, and the horses +having been taken out of the carriage, he was dragged in triumph +through the streets. In his reply to the address presented to him, Sir +Theophilus shadowed forth the objects of his mission in these words: +"Recent events in this country have shown to all thinking men the +absolute necessity for closer union and more oneness of purpose among +the Christian Governments of the southern portion of this continent: +the best interests of the native races, no less than the peace and +prosperity of the white, imperatively demand it, and I rely upon you +and upon your Government to co-operate with me in endeavouring to +achieve the great and glorious end of inscribing on a general South +African banner the appropriate motto--"Eendragt maakt magt" (Unity +makes strength)." + +A few days after his arrival a commission was appointed, consisting of +Messrs. Henderson and Osborn, on behalf of the Special Commissioner, +and Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen, on behalf of the Transvaal Government, +to discuss the state of the country. This commission came to nothing, +and was on both sides nothing more than a bit of by-play. + +The arrival of the mission was necessarily regarded with mixed feelings +by the inhabitants of the Transvaal. By one party it was eagerly +greeted, viz., the English section of the population, who devoutly +hoped that it had come to annex the country. With the exception of the +Hollander element, the officials also were glad of its arrival, and +secretly hoped that the country would be taken over, when there would +be more chance of their getting their arrear pay. The better educated +Boers also were for the most part satisfied that there was no hope for +the country unless England helped it in some way, though they did not +like having to accept the help. But the more bigoted and narrow-minded +among them were undoubtedly opposed to English interference, and under +their leader, Paul Kruger, who was at the time running for the +President's chair, did their best to be rid of it. They found ready +allies in the Hollander clientelle, with which Mr. Burgers had +surrounded himself, headed by the famous Dr. Jorissen, who was, like +most of the rulers of this singular State, an ex-clergyman, but now an +Attorney-general, not learned in the law. These men were for the most +part entirely unfit for the positions they held, and feared that in the +event of the country changing hands they might be ejected from them; +and also, they did all Englishmen the favour to regard them with that +peculiarly virulent and general hatred which is a part of the secret +creed of many foreigners, more especially of such as are under our +protection. As may easily be imagined, what between all these different +parties and the presence of the Special Commissioner, there were +certainly plenty of intrigues going on in Pretoria during the first few +months of 1877, and the political excitement was very great. Nobody +knew how far Sir T. Shepstone was prepared to go, and everybody was +afraid of putting out his hand further than he could pull it back, and +trying to make himself comfortable on two stools at once. Members of +the Volksraad and other prominent individuals in the country who had +during the day been denouncing the Commissioner in no measured terms, +and even proposing that he and his staff should be shot as a warning to +the English Government, might be seen arriving at his house under cover +of the shades of evening, to have a little talk with him, and express +the earnest hope that it was his intention to annex the country as soon +as possible. It is necessary to assist at a peaceable annexation to +learn the depth of meanness human nature is capable of. + +In Pretoria, at any rate, the ladies were of great service to the cause +of the mission, since they were nearly all in favour of a change of +government, and, that being the case, they naturally soon brought their +husbands, brothers, and lovers to look at things from the same point of +view. It was a wise man who said that in any matter where it is +necessary to obtain the goodwill of a population you should win over +the women; that done, you need not trouble yourself about the men. + +Though the country was thus overflowing with political intrigues, +nothing of the kind went on in the Commissioner's camp. It was not he +who made the plots to catch the Transvaalers; on the contrary, they +made the plots to catch him. For several months all that he did was to +sit still and let the rival passions work their way, fighting what the +Zulus afterwards called the "fight of sit down." When anybody came to +see him he was very glad to meet them, pointed out the desperate +condition of the country, and asked them if they could suggest a +remedy. And that was about all he did do, beyond informing himself very +carefully as to all that was going on in the country, and the movements +of the natives within and outside its borders. There was no money spent +in bribery, as has been stated, though it is impossible to imagine a +state of affairs in which it would have been more easy to bribe, or in +which it could have been done with greater effect; unless indeed the +promise that some pension should be paid to President Burgers can be +called a bribe, which it was certainly never intended to be, but simply +a guarantee that after having spent all his private means on behalf of +the State he should not be left destitute. The statement that the +Annexation was effected under a threat that if the Government did not +give its consent Sir T. Shepstone would let loose the Zulus on the +country is also a wicked and malicious invention, but with this I shall +deal more at length further on. + +It must not, however, be understood that the Annexation was a foregone +conclusion, or that Sir T. Shepstone came up to the Transvaal with the +fixed intention of annexing the country without reference to its +position, merely with a view of extending British influence, or, as has +been absurdly stated, in order to benefit Natal. He had no fixed +purpose, whether it were necessary or no, of exercising the full powers +given to him by his commission; on the contrary, he was all along most +anxious to find some internal resources within the State by means of +which Annexation could be averted, and of this fact his various letters +and despatches give full proof. Thus, in his letter to President +Burgers, of the 9th April 1877, in which he announces his intention of +annexing the country, he says: "I have more than once assured your +Honour that if I could think of any plan by which the independence of +the State could be maintained by its own internal resources I would +most certainly not conceal that plan from you." It is also incidentally +remarkably confirmed by a passage in Mr. Burgers' posthumous defence, +in which he says: "Hence I met Shepstone alone in my house, and opened +up the subject of his mission. With a candour that astonished me, he +avowed that his purpose was to annex the country, as he had sufficient +grounds for it, unless I could so alter as to satisfy his Government. +My plan of a new constitution, modelled after that of America, of a +standing police force of two hundred mounted men, was then proposed. He +promised to give me time to call the Volksraad together, and to +_abandon his design_ if the Volksraad would adopt these measures, +and the country be willing to submit to them, and to carry them out." +Further on he says: "In justice to Shepstone I must say that I would +not consider an officer of my Government to have acted faithfully if he +had not done what Shepstone did." + +It has also been frequently alleged in England, and always seems to be +taken as the groundwork of argument in the matter of the Annexation, +that the Special Commissioner represented that the majority of the +inhabitants wished for the Annexation, and that it was sanctioned on +that ground. This statement shows the great ignorance that exists in +this country of South African affairs, an ignorance which in this case +has been carefully fostered by Mr. Gladstone's Government for party +purposes, they having found it necessary to assume, in order to make +their position in the matter tenable, that Sir T. Shepstone and other +officers had been guilty of misrepresentation. Unfortunately, the +Government and its supporters have been more intent upon making out +their case than upon ascertaining the truth of their statements. If +they had taken the trouble to refer to Sir T. Shepstone's despatches, +they would have found that the ground on which the Transvaal was +annexed was, not because the majority of the inhabitants wished for it +but because the State was drifting into anarchy, was bankrupt, and was +about to be destroyed by native tribes. They would further have found +that Sir T. Shepstone never represented that the majority of the Boers +were in favour of Annexation. What he did say was that most thinking +men in the country saw no other way out of the difficulty; but what +proportion of the Boers can be called "thinking men?" He also said, in +the fifteenth paragraph of his despatch to Lord Carnarvon of 6th March +1877, that petitions signed by 2500 people, representing every class of +the community, out of a total adult male population of 8000, had been +presented to the Government of the Republic, setting forth its +difficulties and dangers, and praying it "to treat with me for their +amelioration or removal." He also stated, and with perfect truth, that +many more would have signed had it not been for the terrorism that was +exercised, and that all the towns and villages in the country desired +the change, which was a patent fact. + +This is the foundation on which the charge of misrepresentation is +built--a charge which has been manipulated so skilfully, and with such +a charming disregard for the truth, that the British public has been +duped into believing it. When it is examined into, it vanishes into +thin air. + +But a darker charge has been brought against the Special Commissioner--a +charge affecting his honour as a gentleman and his character as a +Christian; and, strange to say, has gained a considerable credence, +especially amongst a certain party in England. I allude to the +statement that he called up the Zulu army with the intention of +sweeping the Transvaal if the Annexation was objected to. I may state, +from my own personal knowledge, that the report is a complete +falsehood, and that no such threat was ever made, either by Sir T. +Shepstone or by anybody connected with him, and I will briefly prove +what I say. + +When the mission first arrived at Pretoria, a message came from +Cetywayo to the effect that he had heard that the Boers had fired at +"Sompseu" (Sir T. Shepstone), and announcing his intention of attacking +the Transvaal if "his father" was touched. About the middle of March +alarming rumours began to spread as to the intended action of Cetywayo +with reference to the Transvaal; but as Sir T. Shepstone did not think +that the king would be likely to make any hostile movement whilst he +was in the country, he took no steps in the matter. Neither did the +Transvaal Government ask his advice and assistance. Indeed, a +remarkable trait in the Boers is their supreme self-conceit, which +makes them believe that they are capable of subduing all the natives in +Africa, and of thrashing the whole British army if necessary. +Unfortunately, the recent course of events has tended to confirm them +in their opinion as regards their white enemies. To return: towards the +second week in April, or the week before the proclamation of Annexation +was issued, things began to look very serious; indeed, rumours that +could hardly be discredited reached the Special Commissioner that the +whole Zulu army was collected in a chain of Impis or battalions, with +the intention of bursting into the Transvaal and sweeping the country. +Knowing how terrible would be the catastrophe if this were to happen, +Sir T. Shepstone was much alarmed about the matter, and at a meeting +with the Executive Council of the Transvaal Government he pointed out +to them the great danger in which the country was placed. This was done +in the presence of several officers of his staff, and it was on this +friendly exposition of the state of affairs that the charge that he had +threatened the country with invasion by the Zulus was based. On the +11th April, or the day before the Annexation, a message was despatched +to Cetywayo, telling him of the reports that had reached Pretoria, and +stating that if they were true he must forthwith give up all such +intentions, as the Transvaal would at once be placed under the +sovereignty of Her Majesty, and that if he had assembled any armies for +purposes of aggression they must be disbanded at once. Sir T. +Shepstone's message reached Zululand not a day too soon. Had the +Annexation of the Transvaal been delayed by a few weeks even--and this +is a point which I earnestly beg Englishmen to remember in connection +with that act--Cetywayo's armies would have entered the Transvaal, +carrying death before them, and leaving a wilderness behind them. + +Cetywayo's answer to the Special Commissioner's message will +sufficiently show, to use Sir Theophilus' own words in his despatch on +the subject, "the pinnacle of peril which the Republic and South Africa +generally had reached at the moment when the Annexation took place." He +says, "I thank my Father Sompseu (Sir T. Shepstone) for his message. I +am glad that he has sent it, because the Dutch have tired me out, and I +intended to fight them once and once only, and to drive them over the +Vaal. Kabana (name of messenger), you see my Impis (armies) are +gathered. It was to fight the Dutch I called them together; now I will +send them back to their homes. Is it well that two men ('amadoda-amabili') +should be made 'iziula' (fools)? In the reign of my father Umpanda the +Boers were constantly moving their boundary further into my country. +Since his death the same thing has been done. I had therefore +determined to end it once for all!" The message then goes on to other +matters, and ends with a request to be allowed to fight the Amaswazi, +because "they fight together and kill one another. This," says Cetywayo +naively, "is wrong, and I want to chastise them for it." + +This quotation will suffice to convince all reasonable men, putting +aside all other matters, from what imminent danger the Transvaal was +delivered by the much-abused Annexation. + +Some months after that event, however, it occurred to the ingenious +mind of some malicious individual in Natal that, properly used, much +political capital might be made out of this Zulu incident, and the +story that Cetywayo's army had been called up by Sir Theophilus himself +to overawe, and, if necessary, subdue the Transvaal, was accordingly +invented and industriously circulated. Although Sir T. Shepstone at +once caused it to be authoritatively contradicted, such an astonishing +slander naturally took firm root, and on the 12th April 1879 we have +Mr. M. W. Pretorius, one of the Boer leaders, publicly stating at a +meeting of the farmers that "previous to the Annexation Sir T. +Shepstone had threatened the Transvaal with an attack from the Zulus as +an argument for advancing the Annexation." Under such an imputation the +Government could no longer keep silence, and accordingly Sir Owen +Lanyon, who was then Administrator of the Transvaal, caused the matter +to be officially investigated, with these results, which are summed up +by him in a letter to Mr. Pretorius, dated 1st May 1879:-- + +1. The records of the Republican Executive Council contained no +allusion to any such statement. + +2. Two members of that Council filed statements in which they +unreservedly denied that Sir T. Shepstone used the words or threats +imputed to him. + +3. Two officers of Sir T. Shepstone's staff, who were always present +with him at interviews with the Executive Council, filed statements to +the same effect. + +"I have no doubt," adds Sir Owen Lanyon, "that the report has been +originated and circulated by some evil-disposed person." + +In addition to this evidence we have a letter written to the Colonial +Office by Sir T. Shepstone, dated London, August 12, 1879, in which he +points out that Mr. Pretorius was not even present at any of the +interviews with the Executive Council on which occasion he accuses him +of having made use of the threats. He further shows that the use of +such a threat on his part would have, been the depth of folly, and +"knowingly to court the instant and ignominious failure of my mission," +because the Boers were so persuaded of their own prowess that they +could not be convinced that they stood in any danger from native +sources, and also because "such play with such keen-edged tools as the +excited passions of savages are, and especially such savages as I knew +the Zulus to be, is not what an experience of forty-two years in +managing them inclined me to." And yet, in the face of all this +accumulated evidence, this report continues to be believed, that is, by +those who wished to believe it. + +Such are the accusations that have been brought against the manner of +the Annexation and the officer who carried it out, and never were +accusations more groundless. Indeed, both for party purposes, and from +personal animus, every means, fair or foul, has been used to discredit +it and all connected with it. To take a single instance, one author +(Miss Colenso, p. 134, "History of the Zulu War") actually goes the +length of putting a portion of a speech made by President Burgers into +the mouth of Sir T. Shepstone, and then abusing him for his incredible +profanity. Surely this exceeds the limits of fair criticism. + +Before I go on to the actual history of the Annexation there is one +point I wish to submit to my reader. In England the change of +Government has always been talked of as though it only affected the +forty thousand white inhabitants of the country, whilst everybody seems +to forget that this same land had about a million human beings living +on it, its original owners, and only, unfortunately for themselves, +possessing a black skin, and therefore entitled to little +consideration,--even at the hands of the most philanthropic Government +in the world. It never seems to have occurred to those who have raised +so much outcry on behalf of the forty thousand Boers, to inquire what +was thought of the matter by the million natives. If they were to be +allowed a voice in their own disposal, the country was certainly +annexed by the wish of a very large majority of the inhabitants. It is +true that Secocoeni, instigated thereto by the Boers, afterwards +continued the war against us, but, with the exception of this one +chief, the advent of our rule was hailed with joy by every native in +the Transvaal, and even he was glad of it at the time. During our +period of rule in the Transvaal the natives have had, as they foresaw, +more peace than at any time since the white man set foot in the land. +They have paid their taxes gladly, and there has been no fighting among +themselves; but since we have given up the country we hear a very +different tale. It is this million of men, women, and children who, +notwithstanding their black skins, live and feel, and have intelligence +as much as ourselves, who are the principal, because the most numerous +sufferers from Mr. Gladstone's conjuring tricks, that can turn a +Sovereign into a Suzerain as airily as the professor of magic brings a +litter of guinea-pigs out of a top hat. It is our falsehood and +treachery to them whom we took over "for ever," as we told them, and +whom we have now handed back to their natural enemies to be paid off +for their loyalty to the Englishman, that is the blackest stain in all +this black business, and that has destroyed our prestige, and caused us +to be looked on amongst them, for they do not hide their opinion, as +"cowards and liars." + +But very little attention, however, seems to have been paid to native +views or claims at any time in the Transvaal; indeed they have all +along been treated as serfs of the soil, to be sold with it, if +necessary, to a new master. It is true that the Government, acting +under pressure from the Aborigines Protection Society, made, on the +occasion of the Surrender, a feeble effort to secure the independence +of some of the native tribes; but when the Boer leaders told them +shortly that they would have nothing of the sort, and that, if they +were not careful, they would reoccupy Laing's Nek, the proposal was at +once dropped, with many assurances that no offence was intended. The +worst of the matter is that this treatment of our native subjects and +allies will assuredly recoil on the heads of future innocent +Governments. + +Shortly after the appointment of the Joint-Commission alluded to at the +beginning of this chapter, President Burgers, who was now in possession +of the Special Commissioner's intentions, should he be unable to carry +out reforms sufficiently drastic to satisfy the English Government, +thought it best to call together the Volksraad. In the meantime, it had +been announced that the "rebel" Secocoeni had sued for peace and +signed a treaty declaring himself a subject of the Republic. I shall +have to enter into the question of this treaty a little further on, so +I will at present only say that it was the first business laid before +the Raad, and, after some discussion, ratified. Next in order to the +Secocoeni peace came the question of Confederation, as laid down in +Lord Carnarvon's Permissive Bill. This proposal was laid before them in +an earnest and eloquent speech by their President, who entreated them +to consider the dangerous position of the Republic, and to face their +difficulties like men. The question was referred to a committee, and an +adverse report being brought up, was rejected without further +consideration. It is just possible that intimidation had something to +do with the summary treatment of so important a matter, seeing that +whilst it was being argued a large mob of Boers, looking very +formidable with their sea-cow hide whips, watched every move of their +representatives through the windows of the Volksraad Hall. It was Mr. +Chamberlain's caucus system in practical and visible operation. + +A few days after the rejection of the Confederation Bill, President +Burgers, who had frequently alluded to the desperate condition of the +Republic, and stated that either some radical reform must be effected +or the country must come under the British flag, laid before the Raad a +brand new constitution of a very remarkable nature, asserting that they +must either accept it or lose their independence. + +The first part of this strange document dealt with the people and their +rights, which remained much as they were before, with the exception +that the secrecy of all letters entrusted to the post was to be +inviolable. The recognition of this right is an amusing incident in the +history of a free Republic. Under following articles the Volksraad was +entrusted with the charge of the native inhabitants of the State, the +provision for the administration of justice, the conduct of education, +the regulation of money-bills, &c. It is in the fourth chapter, +however, that we come to the real gist of the Bill, which was the +endowment of the State President with the authority of a dictator. Mr. +Burgers thought to save the State by making himself an absolute +monarch. He was to be elected for a period of seven instead of five +years, and to be eligible for re-election. In him was vested the power +of making all appointments without reference to the Legislature. All +laws were to be drawn up by him, and he was to have the right of veto +on Volksraad resolutions, which body he could summon and dissolve at +will. Finally, his Executive Council was to consist of heads of +departments appointed by himself, and of one member of the Volksraad. +The Volksraad treated this Bill in much the same way as they had dealt +with the Permissive Confederation Bill, gave it a casual consideration, +and threw it out. + +The President, meanwhile, was doing his best to convince the Raad of +the danger of the country; that the treasury was empty, whilst duns +were pressing, that enemies were threatening on every side, and, +finally, that Her Majesty's Special Commissioner was encamped within a +thousand yards of them, watching their deliberations with some +interest. He showed them that it was impossible at once to scorn reform +and reject friendly offers, that it was doubtful if anything could save +them, but that if they took no steps they were certainly lost as a +nation. The "Fathers of the land," however, declined to dance to the +President's piping. Then he took a bolder line. He told them that a +guilty nation never can evade the judgment that follows its steps. He +asked them "conscientiously to advise the people not obstinately to +refuse a union with a powerful Government. He could not advise them to +refuse such a union.... He did not believe that a new constitution +would save them; for as little as the old constitution had brought them +to ruin, so little would a new constitution bring salvation.... If the +citizens of England had behaved towards the Crown as the burghers of +this State had behaved to their Government, England would never have +stood so long as she had." He pointed out to them their hopeless +financial position. "To-day," he said, "a bill for £1100 was laid +before me for signature; but I would sooner have cut off my right hand +than sign that paper--(cheers)--for I have not the slightest ground +to expect that, when that bill becomes due, there will be a penny to +pay it with." And finally, he exhorted them thus: "Let them make the +best of the situation, and get the best terms they possibly could; +let them agree to join their hands to those of their brethren in the +south, and then from the Cape to the Zambesi there would be one great +people. Yes, there was something grand in that, grander even than +their idea of a Republic, something which ministered to their national +feeling--(cheers)--and would this be so miserable? Yes, this would be +miserable for those who would not be under the law, for the rebel and +the revolutionist, but welfare and prosperity for the men of law and +order." + +These powerful words form a strong indictment against the Republic, and +from them there can be little doubt that President Burgers was +thoroughly convinced of the necessity and wisdom of the Annexation. It +is interesting to compare them, and many other utterances of his made +at this period, with the opinions he expresses in the posthumous +document recently published, in which he speaks somewhat jubilantly of +the lessons taught us on Laing's Nek and Majuba by such "an inherently +weak people as the Boers," and points to them as striking instances of +retribution. In this document he attributes the Annexation to the +desire to advance English supremacy in South Africa, and to lay hold of +the way to Central South Africa. It is, however, noticeable that he +does not in any way indicate how it could have been averted, and the +State continue to exist; and he seems all along to feel that his case +is a weak one, for in explaining, or attempting to explain, why he had +never defended himself from the charges brought against him in +connection with the Annexation, he says: "Had I not endured in silence, +had I not borne patiently all the accusations, but out of selfishness +or fear told the plain truth of the case, the Transvaal would never +have had the consideration it has now received from Great Britain. +However unjust the Annexation was, my self-justification would have +_exposed the Boers to such an extent_, and the state of the country in +such a way, that it would have deprived them both of the sympathy of +the world and the consideration of the English politicians." In other +words, "If I had told the truth about things as I should have been +obliged to do to justify myself, there would have been no more outcry +about the Annexation, because the whole world, even the English +Radicals, would have recognised how necessary it was, and what a +fearful state the country was in." + +But to let that pass, it is evident that President Burgers did not take +the same view of the Annexation in 1877 as he did in 1881, and indeed +his speeches to the Volksraad would read rather oddly printed in +parallel columns with his posthumous statement. The reader would be +forced to one of two conclusions, either on one of the two occasions he +is saying what he does not mean, or he must have changed his mind. As I +believe him to have been an honest man, I incline to the latter +supposition; nor do I consider it so very hard to account for, taking +into consideration his natural Dutch proclivities. In 1877 Burgers is +the despairing head of a State driving rapidly to ruin, if not to +actual extinction, when the strong hand of the English Government is +held out to him. What wonder that he accepts it gladly on behalf of his +country, which is by its help brought into a state of greater +prosperity than it has ever before known? In 1881 the wheel has gone +round, and great events have come about whilst he lies dying. The +enemies of the Boers have been destroyed, the powers of the Zulus and +Secocoeni are no more; the country has prospered under a healthy +rule, and its finances have been restored. More,--glad tidings have +come from Mid-Lothian to the "rebel and the revolutionist," whose hopes +were flagging, and eloquent words have been spoken by the new English +Dictator that have aroused a great rebellion. And, to crown all, +English troops have suffered one massacre and three defeats, and +England sues for peace from the South African peasant, heedless of +honour or her broken word, so that the prayer be granted. With such +events before him, that dying man may well have found cause to change +his opinion. Doubtless the Annexation was wrong, since England disowns +her acts; and may not that dream about the great South African Republic +come true after all? Has not the pre-eminence of the Englishman +received a blow from which it can never recover, and is not his +control over Boers and natives irredeemably weakened? And must +he,--Burgers,--go down to posterity as a Dutchman who tried to forward +the interests of the English party? No, doubtless the Annexation was +wrong; but it has done good, for it has brought about the downfall of +the English: and we will end the argument in the very words of his last +public utterance, with which he ends his statement: "South Africa +gained more from this, and has made a larger step forward in the march +of freedom, than most people can conceive." + +Who shall say that he is wrong? the words of dying men are sometimes +prophetic! South Africa has made a great advance towards the "freedom" +of a Dutch Republic. + +This has been a digression, but I hope not an uninteresting one. To +return--on the 1st March, Sir T. Shepstone met the Executive Council, +and told them that in his opinion there was now but one remedy to be +adopted, and that was that the Transvaal should be united with the +English colonies of South Africa under one head, namely the Queen, +saying at the same time that the only thing now left to the Republic +was to make the best arrangements it could for the future benefit of +its inhabitants, and to submit to that which he saw to be, and every +thinking man saw to be, inevitable. So soon as this information was +officially communicated to the Raad, for a good proportion of its +members were already acquainted with it unofficially, it flew from a +state of listless indifference into vigorous and hasty action. The +President was censured, and a committee was appointed to consider and +report upon the situation, which reported in favour of the adoption of +Burgers' new constitution. Accordingly, the greatest part of this +measure, which had been contemptuously rejected a few days before, was +adopted almost without question, and Mr. Paul Kruger was appointed +Vice-President. On the following day, a very drastic treason law was +passed, borrowed from the statute-book of the Orange Free State, which +made all public expression of opinion, if adverse to the Government, or +in any way supporting the Annexation party, high treason. This done, +the Assembly prorogued itself until--October 1881. + +During and after the sitting of the Raad, rumours arose that the chief +Secocoeni's signature to the treaty of peace, ratified by that body, +had been obtained by misrepresentation. As ratified, this treaty +consisted of three articles, according to which Secocoeni consented, +first, to become a subject of the Republic, and obey the laws of the +country; secondly, to agree to a certain restricted boundary line; and, +thirdly, to pay 2000 head of cattle; which, considering he had captured +quite 5000 head, was not exorbitant. + +Towards the end of February a written message was received from +Secocoeni by Sir T. Shepstone, dated after the signing of the +supposed treaty. The original, which was written in Sisutu, was a great +curiosity. The following is a correct translation:-- + + "_February 16, 1877._ + + "FOR MYN HEER SHEPSTONE,--I beg you, Chief, come help me, the Boers + are killing me, and I don't know the reasons why they should be + angry with me; Chief, I beg you come with Myn Heer Merensky.--I am + SIKUKUNI." + +This message was accompanied by a letter from Mr. Merensky, a +well-known and successful missionary, who had been for many years +resident in Secocoeni's country, in which he stated that he heard on +very good authority that Secocoeni had distinctly refused to agree to +that article of the treaty by which he became a subject of the State. +He adds that he cannot remain "silent while such tricks are played." + +Upon this information, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, +stating that "if the officer in whom you have placed confidence has +withheld any portion of the truth from you, especially so serious a +portion of it, he is guilty of a wrong towards you personally, as well +as towards the Government, because he has caused you to assume an +untenable position," and suggesting that a joint-commission should be +despatched to Secocoeni, to thoroughly sift the question in the +interest of all concerned. This suggestion was after some delay agreed +to, and a commission was appointed, consisting of Mr. Van Gorkom, a +Hollander, and Mr. Holtshausen, a member of the Executive Council, on +behalf of the Transvaal Government, and Mr. Osborn, R.M., and Captain +Clarke, R.A.,[7] on behalf of the Commissioner, whom I accompanied as +Secretary. + + [7] Now Sir Marshall Clarke, Special Commissioner for + Basutoland. + +At Middleburg the native Gideon who acted as interpreter between +Commandant Ferreira, C.M.G. (the officer who negotiated the treaty on +behalf of the Boer Government), and Secocoeni was examined, and also +two natives, Petros and Jeremiah, who were with him, but did not +actually interpret. All these men persisted that Secocoeni had +positively refused to become a subject of the Republic, and only +consented to sign the treaty on the representations of Commandant +Ferreira that it would only be binding as regards to the two articles +about the cattle and the boundary line. + +The Commission then proceeded to Secocoeni's town, accompanied by a +fresh set of interpreters, and had a long interview with Secocoeni. +The chiefs Prime Minister or "mouth," Makurupiji, speaking in his +presence and on his behalf, and making use of the pronoun "I" before +all the assembled headmen of the tribe, gave an account of the +interview between Commandant Ferreira in the presence of that +gentleman, who accompanied the Commission, and Secocoeni, in almost +the same words as had been used by the interpreters at Middleburg. He +distinctly denied having consented to become a subject of the Republic +or to stand under the law, and added that he feared he "had touched the +feather to" (signed) things that he did not know of in the treaty. +Commandant Ferreira then put some questions, but entirely failed to +shake the evidence; on the contrary, he admitted by his questions that +Secocoeni had not consented to become a subject of the Republic. +Secocoeni had evidently signed the piece of paper under the +impression that he was acknowledging his liability to pay 2000 head of +cattle, and fixing a certain portion of his boundary line, and on the +distinct understanding that he was not to become a subject of the +State. + +Now it was the Secocoeni war that had brought the English Mission +into the country, and if it could be shown that the Secocoeni war had +come to a successful termination, it would go far towards helping the +Mission out again. To this end, it was necessary that the chief should +declare himself a subject of the State, and thereby, by implication, +acknowledge himself to have been a rebel, and admit his defeat. All +that was required was a signature, and that once obtained the treaty +was published and submitted to the Raad for confirmation, without a +whisper being heard of the conditions under which this ignorant Basuto +was induced to sign. Had no Commission visited Secocoeni, this treaty +would afterwards have been produced against him in its entirety. +Altogether, the history of the Secocoeni Peace Treaty does not +reassure one as to the genuineness of the treaties which the Boers are +continually producing, purporting to have been signed by native chiefs, +and, as a general rule, presenting the State with great tracts of +country in exchange for a horse or a few oxen. However fond the natives +may be of their Boer neighbours, such liberality can scarcely be +genuine. On the other hand, it is so easy to induce a savage to sign a +paper, or even, if he is reticent, to make a cross for him, and once +made, as we all know, _litera scripta manet_, and becomes title to +the lands. + +During the Secocoeni investigation, affairs in the Transvaal were +steadily drifting towards anarchy. The air was filled with rumours; now +it was reported that an outbreak was imminent amongst the English +population at the Gold Fields, who had never forgotten Von +Schlickmann's kind suggestion that they should be "subdued;" now it was +said that Cetywayo had crossed the border, and might shortly be +expected at Pretoria; now that a large body of Boers were on their road +to shoot the Special Commissioner, his twenty-five policemen, and +Englishmen generally, and so on. + +Meanwhile, Paul Kruger and his party were not letting the grass grow +under their feet, but worked public feeling with great vigour, with the +double object of getting Paul made President and ridding themselves of +the English. Articles in his support were printed in the well-known +Dutch paper _Die Patriot_, published in the Cape Colony, which are +so typical of the Boers and of the only literature that has the +slightest influence over them, that I will quote a few extracts from +one of them. + +After drawing a very vivid picture of the wretched condition of the +country as compared to what it was when the Kafirs had "a proper +respect" for the Boers, before Burgers came into power, the article +proceeds to give the cause of this state of affairs. "God's word," it +says, "gives us the solution. Look at Israel, while the people have a +godly king, everything is prosperous, but under a godless prince the +land retrogrades, and the whole of the people must suffer. Read +Leviticus, chapter xxvi., with attention, &c. In the day of the +Voortrekkers (pioneers), a handful of men chased a thousand Kafirs and +made them run; so also in the Free State war (Deut. xxxii. 30; Jos. +xxiii. 10; Lev. xxvi. 8). But mark, now, when Burgers became President, +he knows no Sabbath, he rides through the land in and out of town on +Sunday, he knows not the church and God's service (Lev. xxvi. 2, 3), to +the scandal of pious people. And he formerly was a priest too. And what +is the consequence? No harvest (Lev. xxvi. 16), an army of 6000 men +runs because one man falls (Lev. xxvi 17, &c.). What is now the +remedy?" The remedy proves to be Paul Kruger, "because there is no +other candidate. Because our Lord clearly points him out to be the man, +for why is there no other candidate? Who arranged it this way?" Then +follows a rather odd argument in favour of Paul's election. "Because he +himself (Paul Kruger) acknowledges in his own reply that he is +_incompetent_, but that all his ability is from our Lord. Because +he is a warrior. Because he is a Boer." Then Paul Kruger, the warrior +and the Boer, is compared to Joan of Arc, "a simple Boer girl who came +from behind the sheep." The burghers of the Transvaal are exhorted to +acknowledge the hand of the Lord, and elect Paul Kruger, or to look for +still heavier punishment. (Lev. xxvi. 18 _et seq._) Next the _Patriot_ +proceeds to give a bit of advice to "our candidate, Paul Kruger." He is +to deliver the land from the Kafirs. "The Lord has given you the heart +of a warrior, arise and drive them," a bit of advice quite suited to +his well-known character. But this chosen vessel was not to get all the +loaves and fishes; on the contrary, as soon as he had fulfilled his +mission of "driving" the Kafirs, he was to hand over his office to a +"good" President. The article ends thus: "If the Lord wills to use you +now to deliver this land from its enemies, and a day of peace and +prosperity arises again, and you see that you are not exactly the +statesman to further govern the Republic, then it will be your greatest +honour to say, 'Citizens, I have delivered you from the enemy, I am no +statesman, but now you have peace and time to choose and elect a _good_ +President.'" + +An article such as the above, is instructive reading, as showing the +low calibre of the minds that are influenced by it. Yet such writings +and sermons have more power among the Boers than any other arguments, +appealing as they do to the fanaticism and vanity of their nature, +which causes them to believe that the Divinity is continually +interfering on their behalf at the cost of other people. It will be +noticed that the references given are all to the Old Testament, and +nearly all refer to acts of blood. + +These doctrines were not, however, at all acceptable to Burgers' party, +or the more enlightened members of the community, and so bitter did the +struggle of rival opinions become that there is very little doubt that +had the country not been annexed, civil war would have been added to +its other calamities. Meanwhile the natives were from day to day +becoming more restless, and messengers were constantly arriving at the +Special Commissioner's camp, begging that their tribe might be put +under the Queen, and stating that they would fight rather than submit +any longer to the Boers. + +At length on the 9th April, Sir T. Shepstone informed the Government of +the Republic that he was about to declare the Transvaal British +territory. He told them that he had considered and reconsidered his +determination, but that he could see no possible means within the State +by which it could free itself from the burdens that were sinking it to +destruction, adding that if he could have found such means he would +certainly not have hidden them from the Government. This intimation was +received in silence, though all the later proceedings with reference to +the Annexation were in reality carried out in concert with the +authorities of the Republic. Thus on the 13th March the Government +submitted a paper of ten questions to Sir T. Shepstone as regards the +future condition of the Transvaal under English rule, whether the debts +of the State would be guaranteed, &c. To these questions replies were +given which were on the whole satisfactory to the Government. As these +replies formed the basis of the proclamation guarantees, it is not +necessary to enter into them. + +It was further arranged by the Republican Government that a formal +protest should be entered against the Annexation, which was accordingly +prepared and privately shown to the Special Commissioner. The +Annexation proclamation was also shown to President Burgers, and a +paragraph eliminated at his suggestion. In fact, the Special +Commissioner and the President, together with most of his Executive, +were quite at one as regards the necessity of the proclamation being +issued, their joint endeavours being directed to the prevention of any +disturbance, and to secure a good reception for the change. + +At length, after three months of inquiry and negotiation, the +proclamation of annexation was on the 12th of April 1877 read by Mr. +Osborn, accompanied by some other gentlemen of Sir T. Shepstone's +staff. It was an anxious moment for all concerned. To use the words of +the Special Commissioner in his despatch home on the subject, "Every +effort had been made during the previous fortnight by, it is said, +educated Hollanders, and who had but lately arrived in the country, to +rouse the fanaticism of the Boers, and to induce them to offer 'bloody' +resistance to what it was known I intended to do. The Boers were +appealed to in the most inflammatory language by printed manifestoes +and memorials; ... it was urged that I had but a small escort, which +could easily be overpowered." In a country so full of desperadoes and +fanatical haters of anything English, it was more than possible that, +though such an act would have been condemned by the general sense of +the country, a number of men could easily be found who would think they +were doing a righteous act in greeting the "annexationists" with an +ovation of bullets. I do not mean that the anxiety was personal, +because I do not think the members of that small party set any higher +value on their lives than other people, but it was absolutely necessary +for the success of the act itself, and for the safety of the country, +that not a single shot should be fired. Had that happened it is +probable that the whole country would have been involved in confusion +and bloodshed, the Zulus would have broken in, and the Kafirs would +have risen; in fact, to use Cetywayo's words, "the land would have +burned with fire." + +It will therefore be easily understood what an anxious hour that was +both for the Special Commissioner sitting up at Government House, and +for his staff down on the Market Square, and how thankful they were +when the proclamation was received with hearty cheers by the crowd. Mr. +Burgers' protest, which was read immediately afterwards, was received +in respectful silence. + +And thus the Transvaal Territory passed for a while into the great +family of the English Colonies. I believe that the greatest political +opponent of the act will bear tribute to the very remarkable ability +with which it was carried out. When the variety and number of the +various interests that had to be conciliated, the obstinate nature of +the individuals who had to be convinced, as well as the innate hatred +of the English name and ways which had to be overcome to carry out this +act successfully, are taken into consideration, together with a +thousand other matters, the neglect of any one of which would have +sufficed to make failure certain, it will be seen what tact and skill +and knowledge of human nature was required to execute so difficult a +task. It must be remembered that no force was used, and that there +never was any threat of force. The few troops that were to enter the +Transvaal were four weeks' march from Pretoria at the time. There was +nothing whatsoever to prevent the Boers putting a summary stop to the +proceedings of the Commissioner if they had thought fit. + +That Sir Theophilus played a bold and hazardous game nobody will deny, +but, like most players who combine boldness with coolness of head and +justice of cause, he won; and, without shedding a single drop of blood, +or even confiscating an acre of land, and at no cost, annexed a great +country, and averted a very serious war. That same country four years +later cost us a million of money, the loss of nearly a thousand men +killed and wounded, and the ruin of many more confiding thousands, to +surrender. It is true, however, that nobody can accuse the retrocession +of having been conducted with judgment or ability--very much the +contrary. + +There can be no more ample justification of the issue of the Annexation +proclamation than the proclamation itself. + +First, it touches on the Sand River Convention of 1852, by which +independence was granted to the State, and shows that the "evident +objects and inciting motives" in granting such guarantee were to +promote peace, free-trade, and friendly intercourse, in the hope and +belief that the Republic "would become a flourishing and +self-sustaining State, a source of strength and security to +neighbouring European communities, and a point from which Christianity +and civilisation might rapidly spread toward Central Africa." It goes +on to show how these hopes have been disappointed, and how that +increasing weakness in the State itself on the one side, and more than +corresponding growth of real strength and confidence among the native +tribes on the other, have produced their natural and inevitable +consequence ... that after more or less of irritating conflict with +aboriginal tribes to the north, there commenced about the year 1867 +gradual abandonment to the natives in that direction of territory +settled by burghers of the Transvaal "in well-built towns and villages +and on granted farms." + +It goes on to show that "this decay of power and ebb of authority in +the north is being followed by similar processes in the south under yet +more dangerous circumstances. People of this State residing in that +direction have been compelled within the last three months, at the +bidding of native chiefs, and at a moment's notice, to leave their +farms and homes, their standing crops ... all to be taken possession of +by natives, but that the Government is more powerless than ever to +vindicate its assumed rights or to resist the declension that is +threatening its existence." It then recites how all the other colonies +and communities of South Africa have lost confidence in the State, how +it is in a condition of hopeless bankruptcy, and its commerce +annihilated, whilst the inhabitants are divided into factions, and the +Government has fallen into "helpless paralysis." How also the prospect +of the election of a new President, instead of being looked forward to +with hope, would in the opinion of all parties be the signal for civil +war, anarchy, and bloodshed. How that this state of things affords the +very strongest temptation to the great neighbouring native powers to +attack the country, a temptation that they were only too ready and +anxious to yield to, and that the State was in far too feeble a +condition to repel such attacks, from which it had hitherto only been +saved by the repeated representations of the Government of Natal. The +next paragraphs I will quote as they stand, for they sum up the reasons +for the Annexation. + +"That the Secocoeni war, which would have produced but little effect +on a healthy constitution, has not only proved suddenly fatal to the +resources and reputation of the Republic, but has shown itself to be a +culminating point in the history of South Africa, in that a Makatee or +Basuto tribe, unwarlike and of no account in Zulu estimation, +successfully withstood the strength of the State, and disclosed for the +first time to the native powers outside the Republic, from the Zambesi +to the Cape, the great change that had taken place in the relative +strength of the white and black races, that this disclosure at once +shook the prestige of the white man in South Africa, and placed every +European community in peril, that this common danger has caused +universal anxiety, has given to all concerned the right to investigate +its cause, and to protect themselves from its consequences, and has +imposed the duty upon those who have the power to shield enfeebled +civilisation from the encroachments of barbarism and inhumanity." It +proceeds to point out that the Transvaal will be the first to suffer +from the results of its own policy, and that it is for every reason +perfectly impossible for Her Majesty's Government to stand by and see a +friendly white State ravaged, knowing that its own possessions will be +the next to suffer. That Her Majesty's Government, being persuaded that +the only means to prevent such a catastrophe would be by the annexation +of the country, and, knowing that this was the wish of a large +proportion of the inhabitants of the Transvaal, the step must be taken. +Next follows the formal annexation. + +Together with the proclamation, an address was issued by Sir T. +Shepstone to the burghers of the State, laying the facts before them in +a friendly manner, more suited to their mode of thought than it was +possible to do in a formal proclamation. This document, the issue of +which was one of those touches that insured the success of the +Annexation, was a powerful summing up in colloquial language of the +arguments used in the proclamation, strengthened by quotations from the +speeches of the President. It ends with these words: "It remains only +for me to beg of you to consider and weigh what I have said calmly and +without undue prejudice. Let not mere feeling or sentiment prevail over +your judgment. Accept what Her Majesty's Government intends shall be, +and what you will soon find from experience, is a blessing not only to +you and your children, but to the whole of South Africa through you, +and believe that I speak these words to you as a friend from my heart." + +Two other proclamations were also issued, one notifying the assumption +of the office of Administrator of the Government by Sir T. Shepstone, +and the other repealing the war-tax, which was doubtless an unequal and +oppressive impost. + +I have in the preceding pages stated all the principal grounds of the +Annexation and briefly sketched the history of that event. In the next +chapter I propose to follow the fortunes of the Transvaal, under +British Rule. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. + + +The news of the Annexation was received all over the country with a +sigh of relief, and in many parts of it with great rejoicings. At the +Gold Fields, for instance, special thanksgiving services were held, and +"God save the Queen" was sung in church. Nowhere was there the +slightest disturbance, but, on the contrary, addresses of +congratulation and thanks literally poured in by every mail, many of +them signed by Boers who have since been conspicuous for their bitter +opposition to English rule. At first, there was some doubt as to what +would be the course taken under the circumstances by the volunteers +enlisted by the late Republic. Major Clarke, R.A., was sent to convey +the news, and to take command of them, unaccompanied save by his Kafir +servant. On arrival at the principal fort, he at once ordered the +Republican flag to be hauled down and the Union Jack run up, and his +orders were promptly obeyed. A few days afterwards some members of the +force thought better of it, and having made up their minds to kill him, +came to the tent where he was sitting to carry out their purpose. On +learning their kind intentions, Major Clarke fixed his eye-glass in his +eye, and after steadily glaring at them through it for some time, said, +"You are all drunk, go back to your tents." The volunteers, quite +overcome by his coolness and the fixity of his gaze, at once slipped +off, and there was no further trouble. About three weeks after the +Annexation, the I-13th Regiment arrived at Pretoria, having been very +well received all along the road by the Boers, who came from miles +round to hear the band play. Its entry into Pretoria was quite a sight; +the whole population turned out to meet it; indeed the feeling of +rejoicing and relief was so profound that when the band began to play +"God save the Queen" some of the women burst into tears. + +Meanwhile the effect of the Annexation on the country was perfectly +magical. Credit and commerce were at once restored; the railway bonds +that were down to nothing in Holland rose with one bound to par, and +the value of landed property nearly doubled. Indeed it would have been +possible for any one, knowing what was going to happen, to have +realised large sums of money by buying land in the beginning of 1877, +and selling it shortly after the Annexation. + +On the 24th May, being Her Majesty's birthday, all the native chiefs +who were anywhere within reach were summoned to attend the first formal +hoisting of the English flag. The day was a general festival, and the +ceremony was attended by a large number of Boers and natives in +addition to all the English. At mid-day, amidst the cheers of the +crowd, the salute of artillery, and the strains of "God save the +Queen," the Union Jack was run up a lofty flagstaff, and the Transvaal +was formally announced to be British soil. The flag was hoisted by +Colonel Brooke, R.E., and the present writer. Speaking for myself, I +may say that it was one of the proudest moments of my life. Could I +have foreseen that I should live to see that same flag, then hoisted +with so much joyous ceremony, within a few years shamefully and +dishonourably hauled down and buried,[8] I think it would have been the +most miserable. + + [8] The English flag was during the signing of the Convention + at Pretoria formally buried by a large crowd of Englishmen + and loyal natives. + +The Annexation was as well received in England as it was in the +Transvaal. Lord Carnarvon wrote to Sir T. Shepstone to convey "the +Queen's entire approval of your conduct since you received Her +Majesty's commission, with a renewal of my own thanks on behalf of the +Government for the admirable prudence and discretion with which you +have discharged a great and unwonted responsibility." It was also +accepted by Parliament with very few dissentient voices, since it was +not till afterwards, when the subject became useful as an +electioneering howl, that the Liberal party, headed by our "powerful +popular minister," discovered the deep iniquity that had been +perpetrated in South Africa. So satisfied were the Transvaal Boers with +the change that Messrs. Kruger, Jorissen, and Bok, who formed the +deputation to proceed to England and present President Burgers' formal +protest against the Annexation, found great difficulty in raising +one-half of the necessary expenses--something under one thousand +pounds--towards the cost of the undertaking. The thirst for +independence cannot have been very great when all the wealthy burghers +in the Transvaal put together would not subscribe a thousand pounds +towards retaining it. Indeed, at this time the members of the +deputation themselves seem to have looked upon their undertaking as +being both doubtful and undesirable, since they informed Sir T. +Shepstone that they were going to Europe to discharge an obligation +which had been imposed upon them, and if the mission failed, they would +have done their duty. Mr. Kruger said that if they did fail, he would +be found to be as faithful a subject under the new form of government +as he had been under the old; and Dr. Jorissen admitted with equal +frankness that "the change was inevitable, and expressed his belief +that the cancellation of it would be calamitous." + +Whilst the Annexation was thus well received in the country immediately +interested, a lively agitation was commenced in the Western Province of +the Cape Colony, a thousand miles away, with a view of inducing the +Home Government to repudiate Sir T. Shepstone's act. The reason of this +movement was that the Cape Dutch party, caring little or nothing for +the real interests of the Transvaal, did care a great deal about their +scheme to turn all the white communities of South Africa into a great +Dutch Republic, to which they thought the Annexation would be a +deathblow. As I have said elsewhere, it must be borne in mind that the +strings of the anti-annexation agitation have all along been pulled in +the Western Province, whilst the Transvaal Boers have played the parts +of puppets. The instruments used by the leaders of the movement in the +Cape were, for the most part, the discontented and unprincipled +Hollander element, a newspaper of an extremely abusive nature called +the _Volkstem_, and another in Natal known as the _Natal Witness_, +lately edited by the notorious Aylward, which has an almost equally +unenviable reputation. + +On the arrival of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger in England, they were +received with great civility by Lord Carnarvon, who was, however, +careful to explain to them that the Annexation was irrevocable. In this +decision they cheerfully acquiesced, assuring his lordship of their +determination to do all they could to induce the Boers to accept the +new state of things, and expressing their desire to be allowed to serve +under the new Government. + +Whilst these gentlemen were thus satisfactorily arranging matters with +Lord Carnarvon, Sir. T. Shepstone was making a tour round the country +which resembled a triumphal progress more than anything else. He was +everywhere greeted with enthusiasm by all classes of the community, +Boers, English, and natives, and numerous addresses were presented to +him couched in the warmest language, not only by Englishmen, but also +by Boers. + +It is very difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm of a great number of +the inhabitants of the Transvaal for English rule, and the quiet +acquiescence of the remainder, at this time, with the decidedly +antagonistic attitude assumed later on. It appears to me, however, that +there are several reasons that go far towards accounting for it. The +Transvaal, when we annexed it, was in the position of a man with a +knife at his throat, who is suddenly rescued by some one stronger than +he, on certain conditions which at the time he gladly accepts, but +afterwards, when the danger is passed, wishes to repudiate. In the same +way the inhabitants of the South African Republic were in the time of +need very thankful for our aid, but after a while, when the +recollection of their difficulties had grown faint, when their debts +had been paid and their enemies defeated, they began to think that they +would like to get rid of us again, and start fresh on their own account +with a clean sheet. What fostered agitation more than anything else, +however, was the perfect impunity with which it was allowed to be +carried on. Had only a little firmness and decision been shown in the +first instance there would have been no further trouble. We might have +been obliged to confiscate half-a-dozen farms, and perhaps imprison as +many free burghers for a few months, and there it would have ended. +Neither Boers or natives understand our namby-pamby way of playing at +government; they put it down to fear. What they want, and what they +expect, is to be governed with a just but a firm hand. Thus when the +Boers found that they could agitate with impunity, they naturally +enough continued to agitate. Anybody who knows them will understand +that it was very pleasant to them to find themselves in possession of +that delightful thing, a grievance, and, instead of stopping quietly at +home on their farms, to feel obliged to proceed, full of importance and +long words, to a distant meeting, there to spout and listen to the +spouting of others. It is so much easier to talk politics than to sow +mealies. Some attribute the discontent among the Boers to the +postponement of the carrying out of the Annexation proclamation +promises with reference to the free institutions to be granted to the +country, but in my opinion it had little or nothing to do with it. The +Boers never understood the question of responsible government, and +never wanted that institution; what they did want was to be free of all +English control, and this they said twenty times in the most outspoken +language. I think there is little doubt the causes I have indicated are +the real sources of the agitation, though there must be added to them +their detestation of our mode of dealing with natives, and of being +forced to pay taxes regularly, and also the ceaseless agitation of the +Cape wire-pullers, through their agents the Hollanders, and their +organs in the press. + +On the return of Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen to the Transvaal, the +latter gentleman resumed his duties as Attorney-General, on which +occasion, if I remember aright, I myself had the honour of +administering to him the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, that he +afterwards kept so well. The former reported the proceedings of the +deputation to a Boer meeting, when he took a very different tone to +that in which he addressed Lord Carnarvon, announcing that if there +existed a majority of the people in favour of independence, he still +was Vice-President of the country. + +Both these gentlemen remained for some time in the pay of the British +Government, Mr. Jorissen as Attorney-General, and Mr. Kruger as member +of the Executive Council. The Government, however, at length found it +desirable to dispense with their services, though on different grounds. +Mr. Jorissen had, like several other members of the Republican +Government, been a clergyman, and was quite unfit to hold the post of +Attorney-General in an important colony like the Transvaal, where legal +questions were constantly arising requiring all the attention of a +trained mind; and after he had on several occasions been publicly +admonished from the bench, the Government retired him on liberal terms. +Needless to say, his opposition to English rule then became very +bitter. Mr. Kruger's appointment expired by law in November 1877, and +the Government did not think it advisable to re-employ him. The terms +of his letter of dismissal can be found on page 135 of Blue-book (c. +144), and involving as they do a serious charge of misrepresentation in +money matters, are not very creditable to him. After this event he also +pursued the cause of independence with increased vigour. + +During the last months of 1877 and the first part of 1878 agitation +against British rule went on unchecked, and at last grew to alarming +proportions, so much so that Sir T. Shepstone, on his return from the +Zulu border in March 1878, where he had been for some months discussing +the vexed and dangerous question of the boundary line with the Zulus, +found it necessary to issue a stringent proclamation warning the +agitators that their proceedings and meetings were illegal, and would +be punished according to law. This document, which was at the time +vulgarly known as the "Hold-your-jaw" proclamation, not being followed +by action, produced but little effect. + +On the 4th April 1878 another Boer meeting was convened, at which it +was decided to send a second deputation to England, to consist this +time of Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, with Mr. Bok as secretary. This +deputation proved as abortive as the first, Sir. M. Hicks Beach +assuring it, in a letter dated 6th August 1878, that it is "impossible, +for many reasons, ... that the Queen's sovereignty should now be +withdrawn." + +Whilst the Government was thus hampered by internal disaffection, it +had also many other difficulties on its hands. First, there was the +Zulu boundary question, which was constantly developing new dangers to +the country. Indeed, it was impossible to say what might happen in that +direction from one week to another. Nor were its relations with +Secocoeni satisfactory. It will be remembered that just before the +Annexation this chief had expressed his earnest wish to become a +British subject, and even paid over part of the fine demanded from him +by the Boer Government to the Civil Commissioner, Major Clarke. In +March 1878, however, his conduct towards the Government underwent a +sudden change, and he practically declared war. It afterwards appeared, +from Secocoeni's own statement, that he was instigated to this step +by a Boer, Abel Erasmus by name--the same man who was concerned in the +atrocities in the first Secocoeni war--who constantly encouraged him +to continue the struggle. I do not propose to minutely follow the +course of this long war, which, commencing in the beginning of 1878, +did not come to an end till after the Zulu war: when Sir Garnet +Wolseley attacked Secocoeni's stronghold with a large force of +troops, volunteers, and Swazi allies, and took it with great slaughter. +The losses on our side were not very heavy, so far as white men were +concerned, but the Swazis are reported to have lost 400 killed and 500 +wounded. + +The struggle was, during the long period preceding the final attack, +carried on with great courage and ability by Major Clarke, R.A., +C.M.G., whose force, at the best of times, only consisted of 200 +volunteers and 100 Zulus. With this small body of men he contrived, +however, to keep Secocoeni in check, and to take some important +strongholds. It was marked also by some striking acts of individual +bravery, of which one, performed by Major Clarke himself, whose +reputation for cool courage and presence of mind in danger is +unsurpassed in South Africa, is worthy of notice; and which, had public +attention been more concentrated on the Secocoeni war, would +doubtless have won him the Victoria Cross. On one occasion, on visiting +one of the outlying forts, he found that a party of hostile natives, +who were coming down to the fort on the previous day with a flag of +truce, had been accidentally fired on, and had at once retreated. As +his system in native warfare was always to try and inspire his enemy +with perfect faith in the honour of Englishmen, and their contempt of +all tricks and treachery even towards a foe, he was very angry at this +occurrence, and at once, unarmed and unattended save by his native +servant, rode up into the mountains to the kraal from which the white +flag party had come on the previous day, and apologised to the chief +for what had happened. When I consider how very anxious Secocoeni's +natives were to kill or capture Clarke, whom they held in great dread, +and how terrible the end of so great a captain would in all probability +have been had he been taken alive by these masters of refined torture, +I confess that I think this act of gentlemanly courage is one of the +most astonishing things I ever heard of. When he rode up those hills he +must have known that he was probably going to meet his death at the +hands of justly incensed savages. When Secocoeni heard of what Major +Clarke had done he was so pleased that he shortly afterwards released a +volunteer whom he had taken prisoner, and who would otherwise, in all +probability, have been tortured to death. I must add that Major Clarke +himself never reported or alluded to this incident, but an account of +it can be found in a despatch written by Sir O. Lanyon to the Secretary +of State, dated 2d February 1880. + +Concurrently with, though entirely distinct from, the political +agitation that was being carried on among the Boers having for object +the restoration of independence, a private agitation was set on foot by +a few disaffected persons against Sir T. Shepstone, with the view of +obtaining his removal from office in favour of a certain Colonel +Weatherley. The details of this impudent plot are so interesting, and +the plot itself so typical of the state of affairs with which Sir T. +Shepstone had to deal, that I will give a short account of it. + +After the Annexation had taken place, there were naturally enough a +good many individuals who found themselves disappointed in the results +so far as they personally were concerned; I mean that they did not get +so much out of it as they expected. Among these was a gentleman called +Colonel Weatherley, who had come to the Transvaal as manager of a +gold-mining company, but getting tired of that had taken a prominent +part in the Annexation, and who, being subsequently disappointed about +an appointment, became a bitter enemy of the Administrator. I may say +at once that Colonel Weatherley seems to me to have been throughout the +dupe of the other conspirators. + +The next personage was a good-looking desperado, who called himself +Captain Gunn of Gunn, and who was locally somewhat irreverently known +as the very Gunn of very Gunn. This gentleman, whose former career had +been of a most remarkable order, was, on the annexation of the country, +found in the public prison charged with having committed various +offences, but on Colonel Weatherley's interesting himself strongly on +his behalf, he was eventually released without trial. On his release, +he requested the Administrator to publish a Government notice declaring +him innocent of the charges brought against him. This Sir T. Shepstone +declined to do, and so, to use his own words, in a despatch to the High +Commissioner on the subject, Captain Gunn of Gunn at once became "what +in this country is called a patriot." + +The third person concerned was a lawyer, who had got into trouble on +the Diamond Fields, and who felt himself injured because the rules of +the High Court did not allow him to practise as an advocate. The +quartette was made up by Mr. Celliers, the editor of the patriotic +organ, the _Volkstem_, who, since he had lost the Government printing +contract, found that no language could be too strong to apply to the +_personnel_ of the Government, more especially its head. Of course, +there was a lady in it; what plot would be complete without? She was +Mrs. Weatherley, now, I believe, Mrs. Gunn of Gunn. These gentlemen +began operations by drawing up a long petition to Sir Bartle Frere as +High Commissioner, setting forth a string of supposed grievances, and +winding up with a request that the Administrator might be "promoted to +some other sphere of political usefulness." This memorial was forwarded +by the "committee," as they called themselves, to various parts of the +country for signature, but without the slightest success, the fact of +the matter being that it was not the Annexor but the Annexation that +the Boers objected to. + +At this stage in the proceedings Colonel Weatherley went to try and +forward the good cause with Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape. His letters +to Mrs. Weatherley from thence, afterwards put into Court in the +celebrated divorce case, contained many interesting accounts of his +attempts in that direction. I do not think, however, that he was +cognisant of what was being concocted by his allies in Pretoria, but +being a very vain, weak man, was easily deceived by them. With all his +faults he was a gentleman. As soon as he was gone a second petition was +drawn up by the "committee," showing "the advisability of immediately +suspending our present Administrator, and temporarily appointing and +recommending for Her Majesty's royal and favourable consideration an +English gentleman of high integrity and honour, in whom the country at +large has respect and confidence." + +The English gentleman of high integrity and honour of course proves to +be Colonel Weatherley, whose appointment is, further on, "respectfully +but earnestly requested," since he had "thoroughly gained the +affections, confidence, and respect of Boers, English, and other +Europeans in this country." But whilst it is comparatively easy to +write petitions, there is sometimes a difficulty in getting people to +sign them, as proved to be the case with reference to the documents +under consideration. When the "committee" and the employés in the +office of the _Volkstem_ had affixed their valuable signatures it +was found to be impossible to induce anybody else to follow their +example. Now, a petition with some half dozen signatures attached would +not, it was obvious, carry much weight with the Imperial Government, +and no more could be obtained. + +But really great minds rise superior to such difficulties, and so did +the "committee," or some of them, or one of them. If they could not get +genuine signatures to their petitions, they could at any rate +manufacture them. This great idea once hit out, so vigorously was it +prosecuted that they, or some of them, or one of them, produced in a +very little while no less than 3883 signatures, of which sixteen were +proved to be genuine, five were doubtful, and all the rest fictitious. +But the gentleman, whoever he was, who was the working partner in the +scheme--and I may state, by way of parenthesis, that when Gunn of Gunn +was subsequently arrested, petitions in process of signature were found +under the mattress of his bed--calculated without his host. He either +did not know, or had forgotten, that on receipt of such documents by a +superior officer, they are at once sent to the officer accused to +report upon. This course was followed in the present case, and the +petitions were discovered to be gross impostures. The ingenuity +exercised by their author or authors was really very remarkable, for it +must be remembered that not one of the signatures was forged; they were +all invented, and had, of course, to be written in a great variety of +hands. The plan generally pursued was to put down the names of people +living in the country, with slight variations. Thus "De _V_illiers" +became "De _W_illiers," and "Van Z_y_l" "Van Z_u_l." I remember that my +own name appeared on one of the petitions with some slight alteration. +Some of the names were evidently meant to be facetious. Thus there was +a "Jan Verneuker," which means "John the Cheat." + +Of the persons directly or indirectly concerned in this rascally plot, +the unfortunate Colonel Weatherley subsequently apologised to Sir T. +Shepstone for his share in the agitation, and shortly afterwards died +fighting bravely on Kambula. Captain Gunn of Gunn and Mrs. Weatherley, +after having given rise to the most remarkable divorce case I ever +heard--it took fourteen days to try--were, on the death of Colonel +Weatherley, united in the bonds of holy matrimony, and are, I believe, +still in Pretoria. The lawyer vanished I know not where, whilst Mr. +Celliers still continues to edit that admirably conducted journal the +_Volkstem_; nor, if I may judge from the report of a speech made +by him recently at a Boer festival, which, by the way, was graced by +the presence of our representative, Mr. Hudson, the British Resident, +has his right hand forgotten its cunning, or rather his tongue lost the +use of those peculiar and _recherché_ epithets that used to adorn +the columns of the _Volkstem_. I see that he, on this occasion, +denounced the English element as being "poisonous and dangerous" to a +State, and stated, amidst loud cheers, that "he despised" it. Mr. +Cellier's lines have fallen in pleasant places; in any other country he +would long ago have fallen a victim to the stern laws of libel. I +recommend him to the notice of enterprising Irish newspapers. Such is +the freshness and vigour of his style that I am confident he would make +the fortune of any Hibernian journal. + +Some little time after the Gunn of Gunn frauds a very sad incident +happened in connection with the government of the Transvaal. Shortly +after the Annexation, the Home Government sent out Mr. Sergeaunt, +C.M.G., one of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, to report on the +financial Condition of the country. He was accompanied, in an +unofficial capacity, amongst other gentlemen, by Captain Patterson and +his son, Mr. J. Sergeaunt; and when he returned to England, these two +gentlemen remained behind to go on a shooting expedition. About this +time Sir Bartle Frere was anxious to send a friendly mission to Lo +Bengula, king of the Matabele, a branch of the Zulu tribe, living up +towards the Zambesi. This chief had been making himself unpleasant by +causing traders to be robbed, and it was thought desirable to establish +friendly relations with him, so it was suggested to Captain Patterson +and Mr. Sergeaunt that they should combine business with pleasure, and +go on a mission to Lo Bengula, an offer which they accepted, and +shortly afterwards started for Matabeleland with an interpreter and a +few servants. They reached their destination in safety; and having +concluded their business with the king, started on a visit to the +Zambesi Falls on foot, leaving the interpreter with the waggon. The +falls were about twelve days' walk from the king's kraal, and they were +accompanied thither by young Mr. Thomas, the son of the local +missionary, two Kafir servants, and twenty native bearers supplied by +Lo Bengula. The next thing that was heard of them was that they had all +died through drinking poisoned water, full details of the manner of +their deaths being sent down by Lo Bengula. + +In the first shock and confusion of such news it was not very closely +examined, at any rate by the friends of the dead men, but, on +reflection, there were several things about it that appeared strange. +For instance, it was well known that Captain Patterson had a habit, for +which, indeed, we had often laughed at him, of, however thirsty he +might be, always having his water boiled when he was travelling, in +order to destroy impurities, and it seemed odd that he should on this +one occasion have neglected the precaution. Also, it was curious that +the majority of Lo Bengula's bearers appeared to have escaped, whereas +all the others were, without exception, killed; nor even in that +district is it usual to find water so bad that it will kill with the +rapidity it had been supposed to do in this case, unless indeed it had +been designedly poisoned. These doubts of the poisoning-by-bad-water-story +resolved themselves into certainty when the waggon returned in charge +of the interpreter, when, by putting two and two together, we were able +to piece out the real history of the diabolical murder of our poor +friends with considerable accuracy, a story which shows what +blood-thirsty wickedness a savage is capable of when he fancies his +interests are threatened. + +It appeared that, when Captain Patterson first interviewed Lo Bengula, +he was not at all well received by him. I must, by way of explanation, +state that there exists a pretender to his throne, Kruman by name, who, +as far as I can make out, is the real heir to the kingdom. This man +had, for some cause or other, fled the country, and for a time acted as +gardener to Sir T. Shepstone in Natal. At the date of Messrs. Patterson +and Sergeaunt's mission to Matabeleland he was living, I believe, in +the Transvaal. Captain Patterson, on finding himself so ill received by +the king, and not being sufficiently acquainted with the character of +savage chiefs, most unfortunately, either by accident or design, +dropped some hint in the course of conversation about this Kruman. From +that moment Lo Bengula's conduct towards the mission entirely changed, +and, dropping his former tone, he became profusely civil; and from that +moment, too, he doubtless determined to kill them, probably fearing +that they might forward some scheme to oust him and place Kruman, on +whose claim a large portion of his people looked favourably, on the +throne. + +When their business was done, and Captain Patterson told the king that +they were anxious, before returning, to visit the Zambesi Falls, he +readily fell in with their wish, but, in the first instance, refused +permission to young Thomas, the son of the missionary, to accompany +them, only allowing him to do so on the urgent representations of +Captain Patterson. The reason of this was, no doubt, that he had kindly +feelings towards the lad, and did not wish to include him in the +slaughter. + +Captain Patterson was a man of extremely methodical habits, and, +amongst other things, was in the habit of making notes of all that he +did. His note-book had been taken off his body, and sent down to +Pretoria with the other things. In it we found entries of his +preparations for the trip, including the number and names of the +bearers provided by Lo Bengula. We also found the chronicle of the +first three days' journey, and that of the morning of the fourth day, +but there the record stopped. The last entry was probably made a few +minutes before he was killed; and it is to be observed that there was +no entry of the party having been for several days without water, as +stated by the messengers, and then finding the poisoned water. + +This evidence by itself would not have amounted to much, but now +comes the curious part of the story, showing the truth of the old +adage, "Murder will out." It appears that when the waggon was coming +down to Pretoria in charge of the interpreter, it was outspanned +one day outside the borders of Lo Bengula's country, when some +Kafirs--Bechuanas, I think--came up, asked for some tobacco, and fell +into conversation with the driver, remarking that he had come up with a +full waggon, and now he went down with an empty one. The driver replied +by lamenting the death by poisoned water of his masters, whereupon one +of the Kafirs told him the following story:--He said that a brother of +his was out hunting, a little while back, in the desert for ostriches, +with a party of other Kafirs, when hearing shots fired some way off, +they made for the spot, thinking that white men were out shooting, and +that they would be able to beg meat. On reaching the spot, which was by +a pool of water, they saw the bodies of three white men lying on the +ground, and also those of a Hottentot and a Kafir, surrounded by an +armed party of Kafirs. They at once asked the Kafirs what they had been +doing killing the white men, and were told to be still, for it was by +"order of the king." They then learned the whole story. It appeared +that the white men had made a mid-day halt by the water, when one of +the bearers, who had gone to the edge of the pool, suddenly shouted to +them to come and look at a great snake in the water. Captain Patterson +ran up, and, as he leaned over the edge, was instantly killed by a blow +with an axe; the others were then shot and assegaied. The Kafir further +described the clothes that his brother had seen on the bodies, and also +some articles that had been given to his party by the murderers, that +left little doubt as to the veracity of his story. And so ended the +mission to Matabeleland. + +No public notice was taken of the matter, for the obvious reason that +it was impossible to get at Lo Bengula to punish him; nor would it have +been easy to come by legal evidence to disprove the ingenious story of +the poisoned water, since anybody trying to reach the spot of the +massacre would probably fall a victim to some similar accident before +he got back again. It is devoutly to be hoped that the punishment he +deserves will sooner or later overtake the author of this devilish and +wholesale murder. + +The beginning of 1879 was signalised by the commencement of operations +in Zululand and by the news of the terrible disaster at Isandhlwana, +which fell on Pretoria like a thunderclap. It was not, however, any +surprise to those who were acquainted with Zulu tactics and with the +plan of attack adopted by the English commanders. In fact, I know that +one solemn warning of what would certainly happen to him if he +persisted in his plan of advance was addressed to Lord Chelmsford, +through the officer in command at Pretoria, by a gentleman whose +position and long experience of the Zulus and their mode of attack +should have carried some weight. If it ever reached him, he took, to +the best of my recollection, no notice of it whatever. + +But though some such disaster was daily expected by a few, the majority +both of soldiers and civilians never dreamed of anything of the sort, +the general idea being that the conquest of Cetywayo was a very easy +undertaking; and the shock produced by the news of Isandhlwana was +proportionately great, especially as it reached Pretoria in a much +exaggerated form. I shall never forget the appearance of the town that +morning; business was entirely suspended, and the streets were filled +with knots of men talking, with scared faces, as well they might: for +there was scarcely anybody but had lost a friend, and many thought that +their sons or brothers were among the dead on that bloody field. Among +others, Sir T. Shepstone lost one son, and thought for some time that +he had lost three. + +Shortly after this event Sir Theophilus went to England to confer with +the Secretary of State on various matters connected with the Transvaal, +carrying with him the affection and respect of all who knew him, not +excepting the majority of the malcontent Boers. He was succeeded by +Colonel, now Sir Owen Lanyon, who was appointed to administer the +Government during the absence of Sir T. Shepstone. + +By the Boers, however, the news of our disaster was received with great +and unconcealed rejoicing, or at least by the irreconcilable portion of +that people. England's necessity was their opportunity, and one of +which they certainly meant to avail themselves. Accordingly, notices +were sent out summoning the burghers of the Transvaal to attend a mass +meeting on the 18th March, at a place about thirty miles from Pretoria. +Emissaries were also sent to native chiefs, to excite them to follow +Cetywayo's example, and massacre all the English within reach, of whom +a man called Solomon Prinsloo was one of the most active The natives, +however, notwithstanding the threats used towards them, one and all +declined the invitation. + +It must not be supposed that all the Boers who attended these meetings +did so of their own free will; on the contrary, a very large number +came under compulsion, since they found that the English authorities +were powerless to give them protection. The recalcitrants were +threatened with all sorts of pains and penalties if they did not +attend, a favourite menace being that they should be made "biltong" of +when the country was given back (_i.e._, be cut into strips and hung +in the sun to dry). Few, luckily for themselves, were brave enough +to tempt fortune by refusing to come, but those who did have had to +leave the country since the war. Whatever were the means employed, the +result was an armed meeting of about 3000 Boers, who evidently meant +mischief. + +Just about this time a corps had been raised in Pretoria, composed, for +the most part, of gentlemen, and known as the Pretoria Horse, for the +purpose of proceeding to the Zulu border, where cavalry, especially +cavalry acquainted with the country, was earnestly needed. In the +emergency of the times officials were allowed to join this corps, a +permission of which I availed myself, and was elected one of the +lieutenants.[9] The corps was not, after all, allowed to go to Zululand +on account of the threatening aspect adopted by the Boers, against whom +it was retained for service. In my capacity as an officer of the corps +I was sent out with a small body of picked men, all good riders and +light weights, to keep up a constant communication between the Boer +camp and the Administrator, and found the work both interesting and +exciting. My headquarters were at an inn about twenty-five miles from +Pretoria, to which our agents in the meeting used to come every evening +and report how matters were proceeding, whereupon, if the road was +clear, I despatched a letter to headquarters; or, if I feared that the +messengers would be caught _en route_ by Boer patrols and searched, I +substituted different coloured ribbons according to what I wished to +convey. There was a relief hidden in the trees or rocks every six +miles, all day and most of the night, whose business it was to take the +despatch or ribbon and gallop on with it to the next station, in which +way we used to get the despatches into town in about an hour and a +quarter. + + [9] It is customary in South African volunteer forces to + allow the members to elect their own officers, provided the + men elected are such as the Government approves. This is + done, so that the corps may not afterwards be able to declare + that they have no confidence in their officers in action, or + to grumble at their treatment by them. + +On one or two occasions the Boers came to the inn and threatened to +shoot us, but as our orders were to do nothing unless our lives were +actually in danger, we took no notice. The officer who came out to +relieve me had not, however, been there more than a day or two before +he and all his troopers were hunted back into Pretoria by a large mob +of armed Boers whom they only escaped by very hard riding. + +Meanwhile the Boers were by degrees drawing nearer and nearer to the +town, till at last they pitched their laagers within six miles, and +practically besieged it. All business was stopped, the houses were +loopholed and fortified, and advantageous positions were occupied by +the military and the various volunteer corps. The building, normally in +the occupation of the Government mules, fell to the lot of the Pretoria +Horse, and, though it was undoubtedly a post of honour, I honestly +declare that I have no wish to sleep for another month in a mule stable +that has not been cleaned out for several years. However, by sinking a +well, and erecting bastions and a staging for sharpshooters, we +converted it into an excellent fortress, though it would not have been +of much use against artillery. Our patrols used to be out all night, +since we chiefly feared a night attack, and generally every preparation +was made to resist the onset that was hourly expected, and I believe +that it was that state of preparedness that alone prevented it. + +Whilst this meeting was going on, and when matters had come to a point +that seemed to render war inevitable, Sir Bartle Frere arrived at +Pretoria and had several interviews with the Boer leaders, at which +they persisted in demanding their independence, and nothing short of +it. After a great deal of talk the meeting finally broke up without any +actual appeal to arms, though it had, during its continuance, assumed +many of the rights of government, such as stopping post-carts and +individuals, and sending armed patrols about the country. The principal +reason of its break-up was that the Zulu war was now drawing to a +close, and the leaders saw that there would soon be plenty of troops +available to suppress any attempt at revolt, but they also saw to what +lengths they could go with impunity. They had for a period of nearly +two months been allowed to throw the whole country into confusion, to +openly violate the laws, and to intimidate and threaten Her Majesty's +loyal subjects with war and death. The lesson was not lost on them; but +they postponed action till a more favourable opportunity offered. + +Sir Bartle Frere before his departure took an opportunity at a public +dinner given him at Potchefstroom of assuring the loyal inhabitants of +the country that the Transvaal would never be given back. + +Meanwhile a new Pharaoh had arisen in Egypt, in the shape of Sir Garnet +Wolseley, and on the 29th June 1879 we find him communicating the fact +to Sir 0. Lanyon in very plain language, telling him that he +disapproved of his course of action with regard to Secocoeni, and +that "in future you will please take orders only from me." + +As soon as Sir Garnet had completed his arrangements for the +pacification of Zululand, he proceeded to Pretoria, and having caused +himself to be sworn in as Governor, set vigorously to work. I must say +that in his dealings with the Transvaal he showed great judgment and a +keen appreciation of what the country needed, namely, strong +government; the fact of the matter being, I suppose, that being very +popular with the Home authorities he felt that he could more or less +command their support in what he did, a satisfaction not given to most +governors, who never know but that they may be thrown overboard in +emergency to lighten the ship. + +One of his first acts was to issue a proclamation, stating that, +"Whereas it appears that, notwithstanding repeated assurances of +contrary effect given by Her Majesty's representatives in this +territory, uncertainty or misapprehension exists amongst some of Her +Majesty's subjects as to the intention of Her Majesty's Government +regarding the maintenance of British rule and sovereignty over the +territory of the Transvaal: and whereas it is expedient that all +grounds for such uncertainty or misapprehension should be removed once +and for all beyond doubt or question: now therefore I do hereby +proclaim and make known, in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty +the Queen, that it is the will and determination of Her Majesty's +Government that this Transvaal territory shall be, _and shall +continue to be for ever_, an integral portion of Her Majesty's +dominions in South Africa." + +Alas! Sir G. Wolseley's estimate of the value of a solemn pledge thus +made in the name of Her Majesty, whose word has hitherto been held to +be sacred, differed greatly to that of Mr. Gladstone and his +Government. + +Sir Garnet Wolseley's operations against Secocoeni proved eminently +successful, and were the best arranged bit of native warfare that I +have yet heard of in South Africa. One blow was struck, and only one, +but that was crushing. Of course the secret of his success lay in the +fact that he had an abundance of force; but it was not ensured by that +alone, good management being very requisite in an affair of the sort, +especially where native allies have to be dealt with. The cost of the +expedition, not counting other Secocoeni war expenditure, amounted to +over £300,000, all of which is now lost to this country. + +Another step in the right direction undertaken by Sir Garnet was the +establishment of an Executive Council and also of a Legislative +Council, for the establishment of which Letters Patent were sent from +Downing Street in November 1880. + +Meanwhile the Boers, paying no attention to the latter proclamation, +for they guessed that it, like other proclamations in the Transvaal, +would be a mere _brutum fulmen_, had assembled for another mass +meeting, at which they went forward a step, and declared a Government +which was to treat with the English authorities. They had now learnt +that they could do what they liked with perfect impunity, provided they +did not take the extreme course of massacring the English. They had yet +to learn that they might even do that. At the termination of this +meeting, a vote of thanks was passed to "Mr. Leonard Courtney of +London, and other members of the British Parliament." It was wise of +the Boer leaders to cultivate Mr. Courtney of London. As a result of +this meeting, Pretorius, one of the principal leaders, and Bok, the +secretary, were arrested on a charge of treason, and underwent a +preliminary examination; but as the Secretary of State, Sir M. Hicks +Beach, looked rather timidly on the proceeding, and the local +authorities were doubtful of securing a verdict, the prosecution was +abandoned, and necessarily did more harm than good, being looked upon +as another proof of the impotence of the Government. + +Shortly afterwards, Sir G. Wolseley changed his tactics, and, instead +of attempting to imprison Pretorius, offered him a seat on the +Executive Council, with a salary attached. This was a much more +sensible way of dealing with him, and he at once rose to the bait, +stating his willingness to join the Government after a while, but that +he could not publicly do so at the moment lest he should lose his +influence with those who were to be brought round through him. It does +not, however, appear that Mr. Pretorius ever did actually join the +Executive, probably because he found public opinion too strong to allow +him to do so. + +In December 1879 a new light broke upon the Boers, for in the previous +month Mr. Gladstone had been delivering his noted attack on the policy +of the Conservative Government. Those Mid-Lothian speeches did harm, it +is said, in many parts of the world; but I venture to think that they +have proved more mischievous in South Africa than anywhere else; at any +rate, they have borne fruit sooner. It is not to be supposed that Mr. +Gladstone really cared anything about the Transvaal or its independence +when he was denouncing the hideous outrage that had been perpetrated by +the Conservative Government in annexing it. On the contrary, as he +acquiesced in the Annexation at the time (when Lord Kimberley stated +that it was evidently unavoidable), and declined to rescind it when he +came into power, it is to be supposed that he really approved of it, or +at the least looked on it as a necessary evil. However this may be, any +stick will do to beat a dog with, and the Transvaal was a convenient +point on which to attack the Government. He probably neither knew nor +cared what effect his reckless words might have on ignorant Boers +thousands of miles away; and yet, humanly speaking, many a man would +have been alive and strong to-day whose bones now whiten the African +Veldt had those words never been spoken. Then, for the first time, the +Boers learnt that, if they played their cards properly and put on +sufficient pressure, they would, in the event of the Liberal party +coming to office, have little difficulty in coercing it as they wished. + +There was a fair chance at the time of the utterance of the Mid-Lothian +speeches that the agitation would, by degrees, die away; Sir G. +Wolseley had succeeded in winning over Pretorius, and the Boers in +general were sick of mass meetings. Indeed, a memorial was addressed to +Sir. G. Wolseley by a number of Boers in the Potchefstroom district, +protesting against the maintenance of the movement against Her +Majesty's rule, which, considering the great amount of intimidation +exercised by the malcontents, may be looked upon as a favourable sign. + +But when it slowly came to be understood among the Boers that a great +English Minister had openly espoused their cause, and that he would +perhaps soon be all-powerful, the moral gain to them was incalculable. +They could now go to the doubting ones and say,--we must be right about +the matter, because, putting our own feelings out of the question, the +great Gladstone says we are. We find the committee of the Boer +malcontents, at their meeting in March 1880, reading a letter to Mr. +Gladstone, "in which he was thanked for the great sympathy shown in +their fate," and a hope expressed that, if he succeeded in getting +power, he would not forget them. In fact, a charming unanimity +prevailed between our great Minister and the Boer rebels, for their +interests were the same, the overthrow of the Conservative Government. +If, however, every leader of the Opposition were to intrigue or +countenance intrigues with those who are seeking to undermine the +authority of Her Majesty, whether they be Boers or Irishmen, in order +to help himself to power, the country might suffer in the long run. + +But whatever feelings may have prompted Her Majesty's Opposition, the +Home Government, and their agent, Sir Garnet Wolseley, blew no +uncertain blast, if we may judge from their words and actions. Thus we +find Sir Garnet speaking as follows at a banquet given in his honour at +Pretoria:-- + +"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in +this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the +old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English +politics than such an idea; I tell you that there is no Government, +Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical, _who would dare +under any circumstances to give back this country_. They would not +dare, because the English people would not allow them. To give back the +country, what would it mean? To give it back to external danger, to the +danger of attack by hostile tribes on its frontier, and who, if the +English Government were removed for one day, would make themselves felt +the next. Not an official of Government paid for months; it would mean +national bankruptcy. No taxes being paid, the same thing recurring +again which had existed before would mean danger without, anarchy and +civil war within, every possible misery; the strangulation of trade, +and the destruction of property." + +It is very amusing to read this passage by the light of after events. +On other occasions Sir Garnet Wolseley will probably not be quite so +confident as to the future when it is to be controlled by a Radical +Government. + +This explicit and straightforward statement of Sir Garnet's produced a +great effect on the loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal, which was +heightened by the publication of the following telegram from the +Secretary of State:--"You may fully confirm explicit statements made +from time to time as to inability of Her Majesty's Government to +entertain _any proposal_ for withdrawal of the Queen's sovereignty." + +On the faith of these declarations many Englishmen migrated to the +Transvaal and settled there, whilst those who were in the country now +invested all their means, being confident that they would not lose +their property through its being returned to the Boers. The excitement +produced by Mr. Gladstone's speeches began to quiet down and be +forgotten for the time, arrear taxes were paid up by the malcontents, +and generally the aspect of affairs was such, in Sir Garnet Wolseley's +opinion, as justified him in writing, in April 1880, to the Secretary +of State expressing his belief that the agitation was dying out.[10] +Indeed, so sanguine was he on that point that he is reported to have +advised the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment stationed in the +territory, a piece of economy that was one of the immediate causes of +the revolt. + + [10] In Blue-Book No. (C. 2866) of September 1881, which is + descriptive of various events connected with the Boer rising, + is published, as an appendix, a despatch from Sir Garnet + Wolseley, dated October 1879. This despatch declares the + writer's opinion that the Boer discontent a on the increase. + Its publication thus--_apropos des bottes_--nearly two + years after it was written, is rather an amusing incident. It + certainly gives one the idea that Sir Garnet Wolseley, + fearing that his reputation for infallibility might be + attacked by scoffers for not having foreseen the Boer + rebellion, and perhaps uneasily conscious of other despatches + very different in tenor and subsequent in date: and, mindful + of the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment by his advice, had + caused it to be tacked on to the Blue-Book as a documentary + "I told you so," and a proof that, whoever else was blinded, + he foresaw. It contains, however, the following remarkably + true passage:--"Even were it not impossible, for many other + reasons, to contemplate a withdrawal of our authority from + the Transvaal, the position of insecurity in which we should + leave this loyal and important section of the community (the + English inhabitants), by exposing them to the certain + retaliation of the Boers, would constitute, in my opinion, an + insuperable obstacle to retrocession. Subjected to the same + danger, moreover, would be those of the Boers, whose superior + intelligence and courageous character has rendered them loyal + to our Government" + + As the Government took the trouble to republish the despatch, + it is a pity that they did not think fit to pay more + attention to its contents. + +The reader will remember the financial condition of the country at the +time of the Annexation, which was one of utter bankruptcy. After three +years of British rule, however, we find, notwithstanding the constant +agitation that had been kept up, that the total revenue receipts for +the first quarter of 1879 and 1880 amounted to £22,773 and £47,982 +respectively. That is to say, that, during the last year of British +rule, the revenue of the country more than doubled itself, and amounted +to about £160,000 a year, taking the quarterly returns at the low +average of £40,000. It must, however, be remembered that this sum would +have been very largely increased in subsequent years, most probably +doubled. At any rate the revenue would have been amply sufficient to +make the province one of the most prosperous in South Africa, and to +have enabled it to shortly repay all debts due to the British +Government, and further to provide for its own defence. Trade also, +which, in April 1877, was completely paralysed, had increased +enormously. So early as the middle of 1879, the Committee of the +Transvaal Chamber of Commerce pointed out, in a resolution adopted by +them, that the trade of the country had in two years risen from almost +nothing to the considerable sum of two millions sterling per annum, and +that it was entirely in the hands of those favourable to British rule. +They also pointed out that more than half the land-tax was paid by +Englishmen, or other Europeans adverse to Boer Government. Land, too, +had risen greatly in value, of which I can give the following instance. +About a year after the Annexation I, together with a friend, bought a +little property on the outskirts of Pretoria, which, with a cottage we +put up on it, cost some £300. Just before the rebellion we fortunately +determined to sell it, and had no difficulty in getting £650 for it. I +do not believe that it would now fetch a fifty-pound note. + +I cannot conclude this chapter better than by drawing attention to a +charming specimen of the correspondence between the Boer leaders and +their friend Mr. Courtney. The letter in question, which is dated 26th +June, purports to be written by Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, but it is +obvious that it owes its origin to some member or members of the Dutch +party at the Cape, from whence, indeed, it is written. This is rendered +evident both by its general style, and also by the use of such terms as +"Satrap," and by references to Napoleon III. and Cayenne, about whom +Messrs. Kruger and Joubert know no more than they do of Peru and the +Incas. + +After alluding to former letters, the writers blow a blast of triumph +over the downfall of the Conservative Government, and then make a +savage attack on the reputation of Sir Bartle Frere. The "stubborn +Satrap" is throughout described as a liar, and every bad motive imputed +to him. Really, the fact that Mr. Courtney should encourage such +epistles as this is enough to give colour to the boast made by some of +the leading Boers, after the war, that they had been encouraged to +rebel by a member of the British Government. + +At the end of this letter, and on the same page of the Blue-Book, is +printed the telegram recalling Sir Bartle Frere, dated 1st August 1880. +It really reads as though the second document was consequent on the +first. One thing is very clear, the feelings of Her Majesty's new +Government towards Sir Bartle Frere differed only in the method of +their expression from those set forth by the Boer leaders in their +letter to Mr. Courtney, whilst their object, namely, to be rid of him, +was undoubtedly identical with that of the Dutch party in South Africa. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BOER REBELLION. + + +When the Liberal ministry became an accomplished fact instead of a +happy possibility, Mr. Gladstone did not find it convenient to adopt +the line of policy with reference to the Transvaal that might have been +expected from his utterances whilst leader of the Opposition. On the +contrary, he declared in Parliament that the Annexation could not be +cancelled, and on the 8th June 1880 we find him, in answer to a Boer +petition, written with the object of inducing him to act up to the +spirit of his words and rescind the Annexation, writing thus:--"Looking +to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South +Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders which +might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal, but +to the whole of South Africa, our judgment is, that the _Queen cannot +be advised to relinquish her sovereignty over the Transvaal_; but, +consistently with the maintenance of that sovereignty, we desire that +the white inhabitants of the Transvaal should, without prejudice to the +rest of the population, enjoy the fullest liberty to manage their local +affairs. We believe that this liberty may be most easily and promptly +conceded to the Transvaal as a member of a South African +confederation." + +Unless words have lost their signification, this passage certainly +means that the Transvaal must remain a British colony, but that England +will be prepared to grant it responsible government, more especially if +it will consent to a confederation scheme. Mr. Gladstone, however, in a +communication dated 1st June 1881, and addressed to the unfortunate +Transvaal loyals, for whom he expresses "respect and sympathy," +interprets his meaning thus: "It is stated, as I observe, that a +promise was given by me that the Transvaal never should be given back. +There is no mention of the terms or date of this promise. If the +reference be to my letter, of 8th June 1880, to Messrs. Kruger and +Joubert, I do not think the language of that letter justifies the +description given. Nor am I sure in what manner or to what degree the +fullest liberty to manage their local affairs, which I then said Her +Majesty's Government desired to confer on the white population of the +Transvaal, differs from the settlement now about being made in its +bearing on the interests of those whom your Committee represents." + +Such twisting of the meaning of words would, in a private person, be +called dishonest. It will also occur to most people that Mr. Gladstone +might have spared the deeply wronged and loyal subjects of Her Majesty +whom he was addressing the taunt he levels at them in the second +paragraph I have quoted. If asked, he would no doubt say that he had +not the slightest intention of laughing at them; but when he +deliberately tells them that it makes no difference to their interests +whether they remain Her Majesty's subjects under a responsible +Government, or become the servants of men who were but lately in arms +against them and Her Majesty's authority, he is either mocking them, or +offering an insult to their understandings. + +By way of comment on his remarks, I may add that he had, in a letter +replying to a petition from these same loyal inhabitants, addressed to +him in May 1880, informed them that he had already told the Boer +representatives that the Annexation could not be rescinded. Although +Mr. Gladstone is undoubtedly the greatest living master of the art of +getting two distinct and opposite sets of meanings out of one set of +words, it would try even his ingenuity to make out, to the satisfaction +of an impartial mind, that he never gave any pledge about the retention +of the Transvaal. + +Indeed, it is from other considerations clear that he had no intention +of giving up the country to the Boers, whose cause he appears to have +taken up solely for electioneering purposes. Had he meant to do so, he +would have carried out his intention on succeeding to office, and, +indeed, as things have turned out, it is deeply to be regretted that he +did not; for, bad as such a step would have been, it would at any rate +have had a better appearance than our ultimate surrender after three +defeats. It would also have then been possible to secure the repayment +of some of the money owing to this country, and to provide for the +proper treatment of the natives, and the compensation of the loyal +inhabitants who could no longer live there: since it must naturally +have been easier to make terms with the Boers before they had defeated +our troops. + +On the other hand, we should have missed the grandest and most +soul-stirring display of radical theories, practically applied, that +has as yet lightened the darkness of this country. But although Mr. +Gladstone gave his official decision against returning the country, +there seems to be little doubt that communications on the subject were +kept up with the Boer leaders through some prominent members of the +Radical party, who, it was said, went so far as to urge the Boers to +take up arms against us. When Mr. White came to this country on behalf +of the loyalists, after the surrender, he stated that this was so at a +public meeting, and said further that he had in his possession proofs +of his statements. He even went so far as to name the gentleman he +accused, and to challenge him to deny it I have not been able to gather +that Mr. White's statements were contradicted. + +However this may be, after a pause, agitation in the Transvaal suddenly +recommenced with redoubled vigour. It began through a man named +Bezeidenhout, who refused to pay his taxes. Thereupon a waggon was +seized in execution under the authority of the court and put up to +auction, but its sale was prevented by a crowd of rebel Boers, who +kicked the auctioneer off the waggon and dragged the vehicle away. This +was on the 11th November 1880. When this intelligence reached Pretoria, +Sir Owen Lanyon sent down a few companies of the 21st Regiment, under +the command of Major Thornhill, to support the Landdrost in arresting +the rioters, and appointed Captain Raaf, C.M.G., to act as special +messenger to the Landdrost's Court at Potchefstroom, with authority to +enrol special constables to assist him to carry out the arrests. On +arrival at Potchefstroom Captain Raaf found that, without an armed +force, it was quite impossible to effect any arrest. On the 26th +November Sir Owen Lanyon, realising the gravity of the situation, +telegraphed to Sir George Colley, asking that the 58th Regiment should +be sent back to the Transvaal. Sir George replied that he could ill +spare it on account of "daily expected outbreak of Pondos and possible +appeal for help from Cape Colony," and that the Government must be +supported by the loyal inhabitants. + +It will be seen that the Boers had, with some astuteness, chosen a very +favourable time to commence operations. The hands of the Cape +Government were full with the Basuto war, so no help could be expected +from it; Sir G. Wolseley had sent away the only cavalry regiment that +remained in the country, and lastly, Sir Owen Lanyon had quite recently +allowed a body of 300 trained volunteers, mostly, if not altogether, +drawn from among the loyalists, to be raised for service in the Basuto +war, a serious drain upon the resources of a country so sparsely +populated as the Transvaal. + +Meanwhile a mass meeting had been convened by the Boers for the 8th +January to consider Mr. Gladstone's letter, but the Bezeidenhout +incident had the effect of putting forward the date of assembly by a +month, and it was announced that it would be held on the 8th December. +Subsequently the date was shifted to the 15th, and then back again to +the 8th. Every effort was made, by threats of future vengeance, to +secure the presence of as many burghers as possible; attempts were also +made to persuade the native chiefs to send representatives, and to +promise to join in an attack on the English. These entirely failed. The +meeting was held at a place called Paarde Kraal, and resulted in the +sudden declaration of the Republic and the appointment of the famous +triumvirate Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius. It then moved into +Heidelberg, a little town about sixty miles from Pretoria, and on the +16th December the Republic was formally proclaimed in a long +proclamation, containing a summary of the events of the few preceding +years, and declaring the arrangements the malcontents were willing to +make with the English authorities. The terms offered in this document +are almost identical with those finally accepted by Her Majesty's +Government, with the exception that in the proclamation of the 16th +December the Boer leaders declare their willingness to enter into +confederation, and to guide their native policy by general rules +adopted in concurrence "with the Colonies and States of South Africa." +This was a more liberal offer than that which we ultimately agreed to, +but then the circumstances had changed. + +This proclamation was forwarded to Sir Owen Lanyon with a covering +letter, in which the following words occur:--"We declare in the most +solemn manner that we have no desire to spill blood, and that from our +side we do not wish war. It lies in your hands to force us to appeal to +arms in self-defence.... We expect your answer within twice twenty-four +hours." + +I beg to direct particular attention to these paragraphs, as they have +a considerable interest in view of what followed. + +The letter and proclamation reached Government House, Pretoria, at +10.30 on the evening of Friday the 17th December. Sir Owen Lanyon's +proclamation, written in reply, was handed to the messenger at noon on +Sunday, 19th December, or within about thirty-six hours of his arrival, +and could hardly have reached the rebel camp, sixty miles off, before +dawn the next day, the 20th December, on which day, at about one +o'clock, a detachment of the 94th was ambushed and destroyed on the +road between Middleburg and Pretoria, about eighty miles off, by a +force despatched from Heidelberg for that purpose some days before. On +the 16th December, or the _same day_ on which the Triumvirate had +despatched the proclamation to Pretoria containing their terms, and +expressing in the most solemn manner that they had no desire to shed +blood, a large Boer force was attacking Potchefstroom. + +So much then for the sincerity of the professions of their desire to +avoid bloodshed. + +The proclamation sent by Sir O. Lanyon in reply recited in its preamble +the various acts of which the rebels had been guilty, including that of +having "wickedly sought to incite the said loyal native inhabitants +throughout the province to take up arms against Her Majesty's +Government," announced that matters had now been put into the hands of +the officer commanding Her Majesty's troops, and promised pardon to all +who would disperse to their homes. + +It was at Potchefstroom, which town had all along been the nursery of +the rebellion, that actual hostilities first broke out. Potchefstroom +as a town is much more Boer in its sympathies than Pretoria, which is, +or rather was, almost purely English. Sir Owen Lanyon had, as stated +before, sent a small body of soldiers thither to support the civil +authorities, and had also appointed Major Clarke, C.M.G., an officer of +noted coolness and ability, to act as Special Commissioner for the +district. + +Major Clarke's first step was to try, in conjunction with Captain Raaf, +to raise a corps of volunteers, in which he totally failed. Those of +the townsfolk who were not Boers at heart had too many business +relations with the surrounding farmers, and perhaps too little faith in +the stability of English rule after Mr. Gladstone's utterances, to +allow them to indulge in patriotism. At the time of the outbreak, +between seventy and eighty thousand sterling was owing to firms in +Potchefstroom by neighbouring Boers, a sum amply sufficient to account +for their lukewarmness in the English cause. Subsequent events have +shown that the Potchefstroom shopkeepers were wise in their generation. + +On the 15th December a large number of Boers came into the town and +took possession of the printing-office in order to print the +proclamation already alluded to. Major Clarke made two attempts to +enter the office and see the leaders, but without success. + +On the 16th a Boer patrol fired on some of the mounted infantry, and +the fire was returned. These were the first shots fired during the war, +and they were fired by Boers. Orders were thereupon signalled to Clarke +by Lieutenant-Colonel Winsloe, 21st Regiment, now commanding at the +fort which he afterwards defended so gallantly, that he was to commence +firing. Clarke was in the Landdrost's office on the Market Square with +a force of about twenty soldiers under Captain Falls and twenty +civilians under Captain Raaf, C.M.G., a position but ill-suited for +defensive purposes, from whence fire was accordingly opened, the Boers +taking up positions in the surrounding houses commanding the office. +Shortly after the commencement of the fighting, Captain Falls was shot +dead whilst talking to Major Clarke, the latter having a narrow escape, +a bullet grazing his head just above the ear. The fighting continued +during the 17th and till the morning of the 18th, when the Boers +succeeded in firing the roof, which was of thatch, by throwing +fire-balls on to it. Major Clarke then addressed the men, telling them +that, though personally he did not care about his own life, he did not +see that they could serve any useful purpose by being burned alive, so +he should surrender, which he did, with a loss of about six killed and +wounded. The camp meanwhile had repulsed with loss the attack made on +it, and was never again directly attacked. + +Whilst these events were in progress at Potchefstroom, a much more +awful tragedy was in preparation on the road between Middleburg and +Pretoria. + +On the 23d November, Colonel Bellairs, at the request of Sir Owen +Lanyon, directed a concentration on Pretoria of most of the few +soldiers that there were in the territory, in view of the disturbed +condition of the country. In accordance with these orders, Colonel +Anstruther marched from Lydenburg, a town about 180 miles from +Pretoria, on the 5th December, with the headquarters and two companies +of the 94th Regiment, being a total of 264 men, three women, and two +children, and the disproportionately large train of thirty-four +ox-waggons, or an ox-waggon capable of carrying five thousand pounds' +weight to every eight persons. And here I may remark that it is this +enormous amount of baggage, without which it appears to be impossible +to move the smallest body of men, that renders infantry regiments +almost useless for service in South Africa except for garrisoning +purposes. Both Zulus and Boers can get over the ground at thrice the +pace possible to the unfortunate soldier, and both races despise them +accordingly. The Zulus call our infantry "pack oxen." In this +particular instance, Colonel Anstruther's defeat, or rather, +annihilation, is to a very great extent referable to his enormous +baggage train; since, in the first place, had he not lost valuable days +in collecting more waggons, he would have been safe in Pretoria before +danger arose. It must also be acknowledged that his arrangements on the +line of march were somewhat reckless, though it can hardly be said that +he was ignorant of his danger. Thus we find that Colonel Bellairs wrote +to Colonel Anstruther, warning him of the probability of an attack, and +impressing on him the necessity of keeping a good look-out, the letter +being received and acknowledged by the latter on the 17th December. + +To this warning was added a still more impressive one that came to my +knowledge privately. A gentleman well known to me received, on the +morning after the troops had passed through the town of Middleburg on +their way to Pretoria, a visit from an old Boer with whom he was on +friendly terms, who had purposely come to tell him that a large patrol +was out to ambush the troops on the Pretoria road. My informant having +convinced himself of the truth of the statement, at once rode after the +soldiers, and catching them up some distance from Middleburg, told +Colonel Anstruther what he had heard, imploring him, he said, with all +the energy he could command, to take better precautions against +surprise. The Colonel, however, laughed at his fears, and told him that +if the Boers came "he would frighten them away with the big drum." + +At one o'clock on Sunday, the 20th December, the column was marching +along about a mile and a half from a place known as Bronker's Splint, +and thirty-eight miles from Pretoria, when suddenly a large number of +mounted Boers were seen in loose formation on the left side of the +road. The band was playing at the time, and the column was extended +over more than half a mile, the rearguard being about a hundred yards +behind the last waggon. The band stopped playing on seeing the Boers, +and the troops halted, when a man was seen advancing with a white flag, +whom Colonel Anstruther went out to meet, accompanied by Conductor +Egerton, a civilian. They met about one hundred and fifty yards from +the column, and the man gave Colonel Anstruther a letter, which +announced the establishment of the South African Republic, stated that +until they heard Lanyon's reply to their proclamation they did not know +if they were at war or not; that, consequently, they could not allow +any movements of troops, which would be taken as a declaration of war. +This letter was signed by Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. Colonel +Anstruther replied that he was ordered to Pretoria, and to Pretoria he +must go. + +Whilst this conference was going on, the Boers, of whom there were +quite five hundred, had gradually closed round the column, and took up +positions behind rocks and trees which afforded them excellent cover, +whilst the troops were on a bare plain, and before Colonel Anstruther +reached his men a murderous fire was poured in upon them from all +sides. The fire was hotly returned by the soldiers. Most of the +officers were struck down by the first volley, having, no doubt, been +picked out by the marksmen. The firing lasted about fifteen minutes, +and at the end of that time seven out of the nine officers were down +killed and wounded; an eighth (Captain Elliot), one of the two who +escaped, untouched, being reserved for an even more awful fate. The +majority of the men were also down, and had the hail of lead continued +much longer it is clear that nobody would have been left. Colonel +Anstruther, who was lying badly wounded in five places, seeing what a +hopeless state affairs were in, ordered the bugler to sound the cease +firing, and surrendered. One of the three officers who were not much +hurt was, most providentially, Dr. Ward, who had but a slight wound in +the thigh; all the others, except Captain Elliot and one lieutenant, +were either killed or died from the effects of their wounds. There were +altogether 56 killed and 101 wounded, including a woman, Mrs. Fox. +Twenty more afterwards died of their wounds. The Boer loss appears to +have been very small. + +After the fight Conductor Egerton, with a sergeant, was allowed to walk +into Pretoria to obtain medical assistance, the Boers refusing to give +him a horse, or even to allow him to use his own. The Boer leader also +left Dr. Ward eighteen men and a few stores for the wounded, with which +he made shift as best he could. Nobody can read this gentleman's report +without being much impressed with the way in which, though wounded +himself, he got through his terrible task of, without assistance, +attending to the wants of 101 sufferers. Beginning the task at 2 +P.M., it took him till six the next morning before he had seen +the last man. It is to be hoped that his services have met with some +recognition. Dr. Ward remained near the scene of the massacre with his +wounded men till the declaration of peace, when he brought them down to +Maritzburg, having experienced great difficulty in obtaining food for +them during so many weeks. + +This is a short account of what I must, with reluctance, call a most +cruel and carefully planned massacre. I may mention that a Zulu driver, +who was with the rearguard, and escaped into Natal, stated that the +Boers shot all the wounded men who formed that body. His statement was +to a certain extent borne out by the evidence of one of the survivors, +who stated that all the bodies found in that part of the field (nearly +three-quarters of a mile away from the head of the column), had a +bullet hole through the head or breast in addition to their other +wounds. + +The Administrator of the Transvaal in council thus comments on the +occurrence in an official minute:--"The surrounding and gradual hemming +in under a flag of truce of a force, and the selection of spots from +which to direct their fire, as in the case of the unprovoked attack by +the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther's force, is a proceeding of which +very few like incidents can be mentioned in the annals of civilised +warfare." + +The Boer leaders, however, were highly elated at their success, and +celebrated it in a proclamation of which the following is an +extract:--"Inexpressible is the gratitude of the burghers for this +blessing conferred on them. Thankful to the brave General F. Joubert +and his men who have upheld the honour of the Republic on the +battlefield. Bowed down in the dust before Almighty God, who had thus +stood by them, and, with a loss of over a hundred of the enemy, only +allowed two of ours to be killed." + +In view of the circumstances of the treacherous hemming in and +destruction of this small body of unprepared men, most people would +think this language rather high-flown, not to say blasphemous. + +On the news of this disaster reaching Pretoria, Sir Owen Lanyon issued +a proclamation placing the country under martial law. As the town was +large, straggling, and incapable of defence, all the inhabitants, +amounting to over four thousand souls, were ordered up to camp, where +the best arrangements possible were made for their convenience. In +these quarters they remained for three months, driven from their +comfortable homes, and cheerfully enduring all the hardships, want, and +discomforts consequent on their position, whilst they waited in +patience for the appearance of that relieving column that never came. +People in England hardly understand what these men and women went +through because they chose to remain loyal. Let them suppose that all +the inhabitants of an ordinary English town, with the exception of the +class known as poor people, which can hardly be said to exist in a +colony, were at an hour's notice ordered--all, the aged and the sick, +delicate women, and tiny children--to leave their homes to the mercy of +the enemy, and crowd up in a little space under shelter of a fort, with +nothing but canvas tents or sheds to cover them from the fierce summer +suns and rains, and the coarsest rations to feed them; whilst the +husbands and brothers were daily engaged with a cunning and dangerous +enemy, and sometimes brought home wounded or dead. They will then have +some idea of what was gone through by the loyal people of Pretoria, in +their weak confidence in the good faith of the English Government. + +The arrangements made for the defence of the town were so ably and +energetically carried out by Sir Owen Lanyon, assisted by the military +officers, that no attack upon it was ever attempted. It seems to me +that the organisation that could provide for the penning up of four +thousand people for months, and carry it out without the occurrence of +a single unpleasantness or expression of discontent, must have had +something remarkable about it. Of course, it would have been impossible +without the most loyal co-operation on the part of those concerned. +Indeed everybody in the town lent a helping hand; judges served out +rations, members of the Executive inspected nuisances, and so forth. +There was only one instance of "striking;" and then, of all people in +the world, it was the five civil doctors who, thinking it a favourable +opportunity to fleece the Government, combined to demand five guineas +a-day each for their services. I am glad to say that they did not +succeed in their attempt at extortion. + +On the 23d December, the Boer leaders issued a second proclamation in +reply to that of Sir O. Lanyon of the 18th, which is characterised by +an utter absence of regard for the truth, being, in fact, nothing but a +tissue of impudent falsehoods. It accuses Sir O. Lanyon of having +bombarded women and children, of arming natives against the Boers, and +of firing on the Boers without declaring war. Not one of these +accusations has any foundation in fact, as the Boers well knew; but +they also knew that Sir Owen, being shut up in Pretoria, was not in a +position to rebut their charges, which they hoped might, to some +extent, be believed, and create sympathy for them in other parts of the +world. This was the reason of the issue of the proclamation, which well +portrays the character of its framers. + +Life at Pretoria was varied by occasional sorties against the Boer +laagers, situated at different points in the neighbourhood, generally +about six or eight miles from the town. These expeditions were carried +out with considerable success, though with some loss, the heaviest +incurred being when the Boers, having treacherously hoisted the white +flag, opened a heavy fire on the Pretoria forces, as soon as they, +beguiled into confidence, emerged from their cover. In the course of +the war, one in every four of the Pretoria mounted volunteers was +killed or wounded. + +But perhaps the most serious of all the difficulties the Government had +to meet was that of keeping the natives in check. As has before been +stated, they were devotedly attached to our rule, and, during the three +years of its continuance, had undergone what was to them a strange +experience, they had neither been murdered, beaten, or enslaved. +Naturally they were in no hurry to return to the old order of things, +in which murder, flogging, and slavery were events of everyday +occurrence. Nor did the behaviour of the Boers on the outbreak of the +war tend to reconcile them to any such idea. Thus we find that the +farmers had pressed a number of natives from Waterberg into one of +their laagers (Zwart Koppies); two of them tried to run away, a Boer +saw them and shot them both. Again, on the 7th January, a native +reported to the authorities at Pretoria that he and some others were +returning from the Diamond Fields driving some sheep. A Boer came and +asked them to sell the sheep. They refused, whereupon he went away, but +returning with some other Dutchmen fired on the Kafirs, killing one. + +On the 2d January information reached Pretoria that on the 26th +December some Boers fired on some natives who were resting outside +Potchefstroom and killed three; the rest fled, whereupon the Boers took +the cattle they had with them. + +On the 11th January some men, who had been sent from Pretoria with +despatches for Standerton, were taken prisoners. Whilst prisoners they +saw ten men returning from the Fields stopped by the Boers and ordered +to come to the laager. They refused and ran away, were fired on, five +being killed and one getting his arm broken. + +These are a few instances of the treatment meted out to the unfortunate +natives, taken at haphazard from the official reports. There are plenty +more of the same nature if anybody cares to read them. + +As soon as the news of the rising reached them, every chief of any +importance sent in to offer aid to Government, and many of them, +especially Montsioa, our old ally in the Keate Award district, took the +loyals of the neighbourhood under their protection. Several took charge +of Government property and cattle during the disturbances, and one had +four or five thousand pounds in gold, the product of a recently +collected tax, given him to take care of by the Commissioner of his +district, who was afraid that the money would be seized by the Boers. +In every instance the property entrusted to their charge was returned +intact. The loyalty of all the native chiefs under very trying +circumstances (for the Boers were constantly attempting to cajole or +frighten them into joining them) is a remarkable proof of the great +affection of the Kafirs, more especially those of the Basuto tribes, +who love peace better than war, for the Queen's rule. The Government of +Pretoria need only have spoken one word to set an enormous number of +armed men in motion against the Boers, with the most serious results to +the latter. Any other Government in the world would, in its extremity, +have spoken that word, but, fortunately for the Boers, it is against +English principles to set black against white under any circumstances. + +Besides the main garrison at Pretoria there were forts defended by +soldiery and loyals at the following places:--Potchefstroom, +Rustenburg, Lydenburg, Marabastad, and Wakkerstroom, none of which were +taken by the Boers.[11] + + [11] Colonel Winsloe, however, being short of provisions, was + beguiled by the fraudulent representations and acts of the + Boer commander into surrendering the fort at Potchefstroom + daring the armistice. + +One of the first acts of the Triumvirate was to despatch a large force +from Heidelberg with orders to advance into Natal Territory, and seize +the pass over the Drakensberg known as Lang's Nek, so as to dispute the +advance of any relieving column. This movement was promptly executed, +and strong Boer troops patrolled Natal country almost up to Newcastle. + +The news of the outbreak, followed as it was by that of the Bronker's +Spruit massacre, and Captain Elliot's murder, created a great +excitement in Natal. All available soldiers were at once despatched up +country, together with a naval brigade, who, on arrival at Newcastle, +brought up the strength of the Imperial troops of all arms to about a +thousand men. On the 10th January Sir George Colley left Maritzburg to +join the force at Newcastle, but at this time nobody dreamt that he +meant to attack the Nek with such an insignificant column. It was known +that the loyals and troops who were shut up in the various towns in the +Transvaal had sufficient provisions to last for some months, and that +there was therefore nothing to necessitate a forlorn hope. Indeed the +possibility of Sir George Colley attempting to enter the Transvaal was +not even speculated upon until just before his advance, it being +generally considered as out of the question. + +The best illustration I can give of the feeling that existed about the +matter is to quote my own case. I had been so unfortunate as to land in +Natal with my wife and servants just as the Transvaal troubles began, +my intention being to proceed to a place I had near Newcastle. For some +weeks I remained in Maritzburg, but finding that the troops were to +concentrate on Newcastle, and being besides heartily wearied of the +great expense and discomfort of hotel life in that town, I determined +to go on up country, looking on it as being as safe as any place in the +colony. Of course the possibility of Sir George attacking the Nek +before the arrival of the reinforcements did not enter into my +calculations, as I thought it a venture that no sensible man would +undertake. On the day of my start, however, there was a rumour about +the town that the General was going to attack the Boer position. Though +I did not believe it, I thought it as well to go and ask the Colonial +Secretary, Colonel Mitchell, privately, if there was any truth in it, +adding that if there was, as I had a pretty intimate knowledge of the +Boers and their shooting powers, and what the inevitable result of such +a move would be, I should certainly prefer, as I had ladies with me, to +remain where I was. Colonel Mitchell told me frankly that he knew no +more about Sir George's plans than I did; but he added I might be sure +that so able and prudent a soldier would not do anything rash. His +remark concurred with my own opinion; so I started, and on arrival at +Newcastle a week later was met by the intelligence that Sir George had +advanced that morning to attack the Nek. To return was almost +impossible, since both horses and travellers were pretty nearly knocked +up. Also, anybody who has travelled with his family in summer-time over +the awful track of alternate slough and boulders between Maritzburg and +Newcastle, known in the colony as a road, will understand that at the +time the adventurous voyagers would far rather risk being shot than +face a return journey. + +The only thing to do under the circumstances was to await the course of +events, which were now about to develop themselves with startling +rapidity. The little town of Newcastle was at this time an odd sight, +and remained so all through the war. The hotels were crowded to +overflowing with refugees, and on every spare patch of land were +erected tents, mud huts, canvas houses, and every kind of covering that +could be utilised under the pressure of necessity, to house the many +homeless families who had succeeded in effecting their escape from the +Transvaal, many of whom were reduced to great straits. + +On the morning of the 28th January, anybody listening attentively in +the neighbourhood of Newcastle could hear the distant boom of heavy +guns. We were not kept long in suspense, for in the afternoon news +arrived that Sir George had attacked the Nek, and failed with heavy +loss. The excitement in the town was intense, for, in addition to other +considerations, the 58th Regiment, which had suffered most, had been +quartered there for some time, and both the officers and men were +personally known to the inhabitants. + +The story of the fight is well known, and needs little repetition, and +a very sad story it is. The Boers, who at that time were some 2000 +strong, were posted and entrenched on steep hills, against which Sir +George Colley hurled a few hundred soldiers. It was a forlorn hope, but +so gallant was the charge, especially that of the mounted squadron led +by Major Bronlow, that at one time it nearly succeeded. But nothing +could stand under the withering fire from the Boer schanses, and as +regards the foot soldiers, they never had a chance. Colonel Deane tried +to take them up the hill with a rush, with the result that by the time +they reached the top, some of the men were actually sick from +exhaustion, and none could hold a rifle steady. There on the bare +hill-top they crouched and lay, whilst the pitiless fire from redoubt +and rock lashed them like hail, till at last human nature could bear it +no longer, and what was left of them retired slowly down the slope. But +for many that gallant charge was their last earthly action. As they +charged they fell, and where they fell they were afterwards buried. The +casualties, killed and wounded, amounted to 195, which, considering the +small number of troops engaged in the actual attack, is enormously +heavy, and shows more plainly than words can tell the desperate nature +of the undertaking. Amongst the killed were Colonel Deane, Major Poole, +Major Hingeston, and Lieutenant Elwes. Major Essex was the only staff +officer engaged who escaped, the same officer who was one of the +fortunate four who lived through Isandhlwana. On this occasion his +usual good fortune attended him, for though his horse was killed and +his helmet knocked off, he was not touched. The Boer loss was very +trivial. + +Sir George Colley, in his admirably lucid despatch about this +occurrence addressed to the Secretary of State for War, does not enter +much into the question as to the motives that prompted him to attack, +simply stating that his object was to relieve the besieged towns. He +does not appear to have taken into consideration, what was obvious to +anybody who knew the country and the Boers, that even if he had +succeeded in forcing the Nek, in itself almost an impossibility, he +could never have operated with any success in the Transvaal with so +small a column, without cavalry, and with an enormous train of waggons. +He would have been harassed day and night by the Boer skirmishers, his +supplies cut off, and his advance made practically impossible. Also the +Nek would have been re-occupied behind him, since he could not have +detached sufficient men to hold it, and in all probability Newcastle, +his base of supplies, would have fallen into the hands of the enemy. + +The moral effect of our defeat on the Boers was very great. Up to this +time there had been many secret doubts amongst a large section of them +as to what the upshot of an encounter with the troops might be; and +with this party, in the same way that defeat, or even the anxiety of +waiting to be attacked, would have turned the scale one way, victory +turned it the other. It gave them unbounded confidence in their own +superiority, and infused a spirit of cohesion and mutual reliance into +their ranks which had before been wanting. Waverers wavered no longer, +but gave a loyal adherence to the good cause, and, what was still more +acceptable, large numbers of volunteers,--whatever President Brand may +say to the contrary,--poured in from the Orange Free State. + +What Sir George Colley's motive was in making so rash a move is, of +course, quite inexplicable to the outside observer. It was said at the +time in Natal that he was a man with a theory: namely, that small +bodies of men properly handled were as useful and as likely to obtain +the object in view as a large force. Whether or no this was so, I am +not prepared to say; but it is undoubtedly the case that very clever +men have sometimes very odd theories, and it may be that he was a +striking instance in point. + +For some days after the battle at Lang's Nek affairs were quiet, and it +was hoped that they would remain so till the arrival of the +reinforcements, which were on their way out. The hope proved a vain one +On the 7th February it was reported that the escort proceeding from +Newcastle to the General's camp with the post, a distance of about +eighteen miles, had been fired on and forced to return. + +On the 8th, about mid-day, we were all startled by the sound of +fighting, proceeding apparently from a hill known as Scheins Hoogte, +about ten miles from Newcastle. It was not known that the General +contemplated any move, and everybody was entirely at a loss to know +what was going on, the general idea being, however, that the camp near +Lang's Nek had been abandoned, and that Sir George was retiring on +Newcastle. + +The firing grew hotter and hotter, till at last it was perfectly +continuous, the cannon evidently being discharged as quickly as they +could be loaded, whilst their dull booming was accompanied by the +unceasing crash and roll of the musketry. Towards three o'clock the +firing slackened, and we thought it was all over, one way or the other, +but about five o'clock it broke out again with increased vigour. At +dusk it finally ceased. About this time some Kafirs came to my house +and told us that an English force was hemmed in on a hill this side of +the Ingogo River, that they were fighting bravely, but that "their arms +were tired," adding that they thought they would be all killed at +night. + +Needless to say we spent that night with heavy hearts, expecting every +minute to hear the firing begin again, and ignorant of what fate had +befallen our poor soldiers on the hill. Morning put an end to our +suspense, and we then learnt that we had suffered what, under the +circumstances, amounted to a crushing defeat It appears that Sir George +had moved out with a force of five companies of the 60th Regiment, two +guns, and a few mounted men, to, in his own words, "patrol the road, +and meet and escort some waggons expected from Newcastle." As soon as +he passed the Ingogo he was surrounded by a body of Boers sent after +him from Lang's Nek, on a small triangular plateau, and sharply +assailed on all sides. With a break of about two hours, from three to +five, the assault was kept up till nightfall, with very bad results so +far as we were concerned, seeing that out of a body of about 500 men, +over 150 were killed and wounded. The reinforcements sent for from the +camp apparently did not come into action. For some unexplained reason +the Boers did not follow up their attack that night, perhaps because +they did not think it possible that our troops could effect their +escape back to the camp, and considered that the next morning would be +soon enough to return and finish the business. The General, however, +determined to get back, and scratch teams of such mules, riding-horses, +and oxen as had lived through the day being harnessed to the guns, the +dispirited and exhausted survivors of the force managed to ford the +Ingogo, now swollen by rain which had fallen in the afternoon, poor +Lieutenant Wilkinson, the adjutant of the 60th, losing his life in the +operation, and to struggle through the dense darkness back to camp. + +On the hill-top they had lately held the dead lay thick. There, too, +exposed to the driving rain and bitter wind, lay the wounded, many of +whom would be dead before the rising of the morrow's sun. It must +indeed have been a sight never to be forgotten by those who saw it. The +night--I remember well--was cold and rainy, the great expanses of hill +and plain being sometimes lit by the broken gleams of an uncertain +moon, and sometimes plunged into intensest darkness by the passing of a +heavy cloud. Now and again flashes of lightning threw every crag and +outline into vivid relief, and the deep muttering of distant thunder +made the wild gloom more solemn. Then a gust of icy wind would come +tearing down the valleys to be followed by a pelting thunder +shower--and thus the night wore away. + +When one reflects what discomfort, and even danger, an ordinary healthy +person would suffer if left after a hard day's work to lie all night in +the rain and wind on the top of a stony mountain, without food, or even +water to assuage his thirst, it becomes to some degree possible to +realise what the sufferings of our wounded after the battle of Ingogo +must have been. Those who survived were next day taken to the hospital +at Newcastle. + +What Sir George Colley's real object was in exposing himself to the +attack has never transpired. It can hardly have been to clear the road, +as he says in his despatch, because the road was not held by the enemy, +but only visited occasionally by their patrols. The result of the +battle was to make the Boers, whose losses were trifling, more +confident than ever, and to greatly depress our soldiers. Sir George +had now lost between three and four hundred men out of his column of +little over a thousand, which was thereby entirely crippled. Of his +staff officers Major Essex now alone survived, his usual good fortune +having carried him safe through the battle of Ingogo. What makes his +repeated escapes the more remarkable is that he was generally to be +found in the heaviest firing. A man so fortunate as Major Essex ought +to be rewarded for his good fortune if for no other reason, though, if +reports are true, there would be no need to fall back on that to find +grounds on which to advance a soldier who has always borne himself so +well. + +Another result of the Ingogo battle was that the Boers, knowing that we +had no force to cut them off, and always secure of a retreat into the +Free State, passed round Newcastle in Free State Territory, and +descended from fifteen hundred to two thousand strong into Natal for +the purpose of destroying the reinforcements which were now on their +way up under General Wood. This was on the 11th of February, and from +that date till the 18th the upper districts of Natal were in the hands +of the enemy, who cut the telegraph wires, looted waggons, stole herds +of cattle and horses, and otherwise amused themselves at the expense of +Her Majesty's subjects in Natal. + +It was a very anxious time for those who knew what Boers are capable +of, and had women and children to protect, and who were never sure if +their houses would be left standing over their heads from one day to +another. + +Every night we were obliged to place out Kafirs as scouts to give us +timely warning of the approach of marauding parties, and to sleep with +loaded rifles close to our hands, and sometimes, when things looked +very black, in our clothes, with horses ready saddled in the stable. +Nor were our fears groundless, for one day a patrol of some five +hundred Boers encamped on the next place, which by the way belonged to +a Dutchman, and stole all the stock on it, the property of an +Englishman. They also intercepted a train of waggons, destroyed the +contents, and burnt them. Numerous were the false alarms it was our +evil fortune to experience. For instance, one night I was sitting in +the drawing-room reading, about eleven o'clock, with a door leading on +to the verandah slightly ajar, for the night was warm, when suddenly I +heard myself called by name in a muffled voice, and asked if the place +was in the possession of the Boers. Looking towards the door I saw a +full-cocked revolver coming round the corner, and on opening it in some +alarm, I could indistinctly discern a line of armed figures in a +crouching attitude stretching along the verandah into the garden +beyond. It turned out to be a patrol of the mounted police, who had +received information that a large number of Boers had seized the place +and had come to ascertain the truth of the report. As we gathered from +them that the Boers were certainly near, we did not pass a very +comfortable night. + +Meanwhile we were daily expecting to hear that the troops had been +attacked along the line of march, and knowing the nature of the country +and the many opportunities it affords for ambuscading and destroying +one of our straggling columns encumbered with innumerable waggons, we +had the worst fears for the result. At length a report reached us to +the effect that the reinforcements were expected on the morrow, and +that they were not going to cross the Ingagaan at the ordinary drift, +which was much commanded by hills, but at a lower drift on our own +place, about three miles from Newcastle, which is only slightly +commanded. We also heard that it was the intention of the Boers to +attack them at this point and to fall back on my house and the hills +behind. Accordingly, we thought it about time to retreat, and securing +a few valuables, such as plate, we made our way into the town, leaving +the house and its contents to take their chance. At Newcastle an attack +was daily expected, if for no other reason, to obtain possession of the +stores collected there. + +The defences of the place were, however, in a wretched condition, no +proper outlook was kept, and there was an utter want of effective +organisation. The military element at the camp had enough to do to look +after itself, and did not concern itself with the safety of the town; +and the mounted police--a colonial force paid by the colony--had been +withdrawn from the little forts round Newcastle, as the General wanted +them for other purposes, and a message sent that the town must defend +its own forts. There were, it is true, a large number of able-bodied +men in the place who were willing to fight, but they had no +organisation. The very laager was not finished until the danger was +past. + +Then there was a large party who were for surrendering the town to the +Boers, because if they fought it might afterwards injure their trade. +With this section of the population the feeling of patriotism was +strong, no doubt, but that of pocket was stronger. I am convinced that +the Boers would have found the capture of Newcastle an easy task, and I +confess that what I then saw did not inspire me with great hopes of the +safety of the colony when it gets responsible government, and has to +depend for protection on burgher forces. Colonial volunteer forces are, +I think, as good troops as any in the world; but an unorganised +colonial mob, pulled this way and that by different sentiments and +interests, is as useless as any other mob, with the difference that it +is more impatient of control. + +For some unknown reason the Boer leaders providentially changed their +minds about attacking the reinforcements, and their men were withdrawn +to the Nek as swiftly and silently as they had been advanced, and on +the 17th February the reinforcements marched into Newcastle, to the +very great relief of the inhabitants, who had been equally anxious for +their own safety and that of the troops. Personally, I was never in my +life more pleased to see Her Majesty's uniform; and we were equally +rejoiced on returning home to find that nothing had been injured. After +this we had quiet for a while. + +On the 21st February, we heard that two fresh regiments had been sent +up to the camp at Lang's Nek, and that General Wood had been ordered +down country by Sir George Colley to bring up more reinforcements. This +item of news caused much surprise, as nobody could understand why, now +that the road was clear, and that there was little chance of its being +again blocked, a General should be sent down to do work which could, to +all appearance, have been equally well done by the officers in command +of the reinforcing regiments, with the assistance of their transport +riders. It was, however, understood that an agreement had been entered +into between the two Generals that no offensive operations should be +undertaken till Wood returned. + +With the exception of occasional scares, there was no further +excitement till Sunday the 27th February, when, whilst sitting on the +verandah after lunch, I thought I heard the sound of distant artillery. +Others present differed with me, thinking the sound was caused by +thunder, but as I adhered to my opinion, we determined to ride into +town and see. On arrival there we found the place full of rumours, from +which we gathered that some fresh disaster had occurred; and that +messages were pouring down the wires from Mount Prospect camp. We then +went on to camp, thinking that we should learn more there, but they +knew nothing about it, several officers asking us what new "shave" we +had got hold of. A considerable number of troops had been marched from +Newcastle that morning to go to Mount Prospect, but when it was +realised that something had occurred, they were stopped, and marched +back again. Bit by bit we managed to gather the truth. At first we +heard that our men had made a most gallant resistance on the hill, +mowing down the advancing enemy by hundreds, till at last, their +ammunition failing, they fought with their bayonets, using stones and +meat tins as missiles. I wish that our subsequent information had been +to the same effect. + +It appears that on the evening of the 26th, Sir George Colley, after +mess, suddenly gave orders for a force of a little over six hundred +men, consisting of detachments from no less than three different +regiments, the 58th, 60th, 92d, and the Naval Brigade, to be got ready +for an expedition, without revealing his plans to anybody until late in +the afternoon; and then without more ado, marched them up to the top of +Majuba--a great square-topped mountain to the right of, and commanding +the Boer position at Lang's Nek. The troops reached the top about three +in the morning, after a somewhat exhausting climb, and were stationed +at different points of the plateau in a scientific way. Whilst the +darkness lasted, they could, by the glittering of the watch-fires, +trace from this point of vantage the position of the Boer laagers that +lay 2000 yards beneath them, whilst the dawn of day revealed every +detail of the defensive works, and showed the country lying at their +feet like a map. + +On arrival at the top, it was represented to the General that a rough +entrenchment should be thrown up, but he would not allow it to be done +on account of the men being wearied with their marching up. This was a +fatal mistake. Behind an entrenchment, however slight, one would think +that 600 English soldiers might have defied the whole Boer army, and +much more the 200 or 300 men by whom they were hunted down at Majuba. +It appears that about 10.15 A.M., Colonel Stewart and Major Fraser +again went to General Colley "to arrange to start the sailors on an +entrenchment." ... "Finding the ground so exposed, the General did not +give orders to entrench." + +As soon as the Boers found out that the hill was in the occupation of +the English, their first idea was to leave the Nek, and they began to +inspan with that object, but discovering that there were no guns +commanding them, they changed their mind, and set to work to storm the +hill instead. As far as I have been able to gather, the number of Boers +who took the mountain was about 300, or possibly 400; I do not think +there were more than that. The Boers themselves declare solemnly that +they were only 100 strong, but this I do not believe. They slowly +advanced up the hill till about 11.30, when the real attack began, the +Dutchmen coming on more rapidly and confidently, and shooting with +ever-increasing accuracy, as they found our fire quite ineffective. + +About a quarter to one, our men retreated to the last ridge, and +General Colley was shot through the head. After this, the retreat +became a rout, and the soldiers rushed pell-mell down the precipitous +sides of the hill, the Boers knocking them over by the score as they +went, till they were out of range. A few were also, I heard, killed by +the shells from the guns that were advanced from the camp to cover the +retreat, but as this does not appear in the reports, perhaps it is not +true. Our loss was about 200 killed and wounded, including Sir George +Colley, Drs. Landon and Cornish, and Commander Romilly, who was shot +with an explosive bullet, and died after some days' suffering. When the +wounded Commander was being carried to a more sheltered spot, it was +with great difficulty that the Boers were prevented from massacring him +as he lay, they being under the impression that he was Sir Garnet +Wolseley. As was the case at Ingogo, the wounded were left on the +battlefield all night in very inclement weather, to which some of them +succumbed. It is worthy of note that after the fight was over they were +treated with considerable kindness by the Boers. + +Not being a soldier, of course, I cannot venture to give any military +reasons as to how it was that what was after all a considerable force +was so easily driven from a position of great natural strength; but I +think I may, without presumption, state my opinion as to the real +cause, which was the villainous shooting of the British soldier. Though +the troops did not, as was said at the time, run short of ammunition, +it is clear that they fired away a great many rounds at men who, in +storming the hill, must necessarily have exposed themselves more or +less, of whom they managed to hit--certainly not more than six or +seven--which was the outside of the Boer casualties. From this it is +clear that they can neither judge distance nor hit a moving object, nor +did they probably know that when shooting down hill it is necessary to +aim low. Such shooting as the English soldier is capable of may be very +well when he has an army to aim at, but it is useless in guerilla +warfare against a foe skilled in the use of the rifle and the art of +taking shelter. + +A couple of months after the storming of Majuba, I, together with a +friend, had a conversation with a Boer, a volunteer from the Free State +in the late war, and one of the detachment that stormed Majuba, who +gave us a circumstantial account of the attack with the greatest +willingness. He said that when it was discovered that the English had +possession of the mountain, they thought that the game was up, but +after a while bolder counsels prevailed, and volunteers were called for +to storm the hill. Only seventy men could be found to perform the duty, +of whom he was one. They started up the mountain in fear and trembling, +but soon found that every shot passed over their heads, and went on +with greater boldness. Only three men, he declared, were hit on the +Boer side; one was killed, one was hit in the arm, and he himself was +the third, getting his face grazed by a bullet, of which he showed us +the scar. He stated that the first to reach the top ridge was a boy of +twelve, and that as soon as the troops saw them they fled, when, he +said, he paid them out for having nearly killed him, knocking them over +one after another "like bucks" as they ran down the hill, adding that +it was "alter lecker" (very nice). He asked us how many men we had lost +during the war, and when we told him about seven hundred killed and +wounded, laughed in our faces, saying he knew that our dead amounted to +several thousands. On our assuring him that this was not the case, he +replied, "Well, don't let's talk of it any more, because we are good +friends now, and if we go on you will lie, and I shall lie, and then we +shall get angry. The war is over now, and I don't want to quarrel with +the English; if one of them takes off his hat to me I always +acknowledge it." He did not mean any harm in talking thus; it is what +Englishmen have to put up with now in South Africa; the Boers have +beaten us, and act accordingly. + +This man also told us that the majority of the rifles they picked up +were sighted for 400 yards, whereas the latter part of the fighting had +been carried on within 200. + +Sir George Colley's death was much lamented in the colony, where he was +deservedly popular; indeed, anybody who had the honour of knowing that +kind-hearted English gentleman, could not do otherwise than deeply +regret his untimely end. What his motive was in occupying Majuba in the +way he did has never, so far as I am aware, transpired. The move, in +itself, would have been an excellent one, had it been made in force, or +accompanied by a direct attack on the Nek, but, as undertaken, seems to +have been objectless. There were, of course, many rumours as to the +motives that prompted his action, of which the most probable seems to +be that, being aware of what the Home Government intended to do with +reference to the Transvaal, he determined to strike a blow to try and +establish British supremacy first, knowing how mischievous any apparent +surrender would be. Whatever his faults may have been as a General, he +was a brave man, and had the honour of his country much at heart. + +It was also said by soldiers who saw him the night the troops marched +up Majuba, that the General was "not himself," and it was hinted that +continual anxiety and the chagrin of failure had told upon his mind. As +against this, however, must be set the fact that his telegrams to the +Secretary of State for War, the last of which he must have despatched +only about half an hour before he was shot, are cool and collected, and +written in the same unconcerned tone--as though he were a critical +spectator of an interesting scene--that characterises all his +communications, more especially his despatches. They at any rate give +no evidence of shaken nerve or unduly excited brain, nor can I see that +any action of his with reference to the occupation of Majuba is out of +keeping with the details of his generalship upon other occasions. He +was always confident to rashness, and possessed by the idea that every +man in the ranks was full of as high a spirit, and as brave as he was +himself. Indeed, most people will think, that so far from its being a +rasher action, the occupation of Majuba, bad generalship as it seems, +was a wiser move than either the attack on the Nek or the Ingogo +fiasco. + +But at the best, all his movements are difficult to be understood by a +civilian, though they may, for ought we know, have been part of an +elaborate plan, perfected in accordance with the rules of military +science, of which, it is said, he was a great student. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. + + +When Parliament met in January 1881, the Government announced, through +the mediumship of the Queen's Speech, that it was their intention to +vindicate Her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal. I have already +briefly described the somewhat unfortunate attempts to gain this end by +force of arms; and I now propose to follow the course of the diplomatic +negotiations entered into by the ministry with the same object. + +As soon as the hostilities in the Transvaal took a positive form, +causing great dismay among the Home authorities, whose paths, as we all +know, are the paths of peace--at any price; and whilst, in the first +confusion of calamity, they knew not where to turn, President Brand +stepped upon the scene in the character of "Our Mutual Friend," and, by +the Government at any rate, was rapturously welcomed. + +This gentleman has for many years been at the head of the Government of +the Orange Free State, whose fortunes he had directed with considerable +ability. He is a man of natural talent and kind-hearted disposition, +and has the advancement of the Boer cause in South Africa much at +heart. The rising in the Transvaal was an event that gave him a great +and threefold opportunity: first, of interfering with the genuinely +benevolent object of checking bloodshed; secondly, of advancing the +Dutch cause throughout South Africa under the cloak of amiable +neutrality, and striking a dangerous blow at British supremacy over the +Dutch and British prestige with the natives; and, thirdly, of putting +the English Government under a lasting obligation to him. Of this +opportunity he has availed himself to the utmost in each particular. + +So soon as things began to look serious, Mr. Brand put himself into +active telegraphic communication with the various British authorities +with the view of preventing bloodshed by inducing the English +Government to accede to the Boer demands. He was also earnest in his +declarations that the Free State was not supporting the Transvaal; +which, considering that it was practically the insurgent base of +supplies, where they had retired their women, children, and cattle, and +that it furnished them with a large number of volunteers, was perhaps +straining the truth. + +About this time also we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing to Mr. Brand +that "if _only_ the Transvaal Boers will desist from armed opposition +to the Queen's authority," he thinks some arrangement might be made. +This is the first indication made public of what was passing in the +minds of Her Majesty's Government, on whom its Radical supporters were +now beginning to put the screw, to induce or threaten them into +submitting to the Boer demands. + +Again, on the 11th January, the President telegraphed to Lord Kimberley +through the Orange Free State Consul in London, suggesting that Sir H. +de Villiers, the Chief Justice at the Cape, should be appointed a +Commissioner to go to the Transvaal to settle matters. Oddly enough, +about the same time the same proposition emanated from the Dutch party +in the Cape Colony, headed by Mr. Hofmeyer, a coincidence that inclines +one to the opinion that these friends of the Boers had some further +reason for thus urging Sir Henry de Villiers' appointment as +Commissioner beyond his apparent fitness for the post, of which his +high reputation as a lawyer and in his private capacity was a +sufficient guarantee. + +The explanation is not hard to find, the fact being that, rightly or +wrongly, Sir Henry de Villiers, who is himself of Dutch descent, is +noted throughout South Africa for his sympathies with the Boer cause, +and both President Brand and the Dutch party in the Cape shrewdly +suspected that, if the settling of differences were left to his +discretion, the Boers and their interests would receive very gentle +handling. The course of action adopted by him, when he became a member +of the Royal Commission, went far to support this view, for it will be +noticed in the Report of the Commissioners that in every single point +he appears to have taken the Boer side of the contention. Indeed so +blind was he to their faults, that he would not even admit that the +horrible Potchefstroom murders and atrocities, which are condemned both +by Sir H. Robinson and Sir Evelyn Wood in language as strong as the +formal terms of a report will allow, were acts contrary to the rules of +civilised warfare. If those acts had been perpetrated by Englishmen on +Boers, or even on natives, I venture to think Sir Henry de Villiers +would have looked at them in a very different light. + +In the same telegram in which President Brand recommends the +appointment of Sir Henry de Villiers, he states that the allegations +made by the Triumvirate in the proclamation in which they accused Sir +Owen Lanyon of committing various atrocities, deserve to be +investigated, as they maintain that the collision was commenced by the +authorities. Nobody knew better than Mr. Brand that any English +official would be quite incapable of the conduct ascribed to Sir Owen +Lanyon, whilst, even if the collision had been commenced by the +authorities, which as it happened it was not, they would under the +circumstances have been amply justified in so commencing it. This +remark by President Brand in his telegram was merely an attempt to +throw an air of probability over a series of slanderous falsehoods. + +Messages of this nature continued to pour along the wires from day to +day, but the tone of those from the Colonial Office grew gradually +humbler. Thus we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing on the 8th February, +that if the Boers would desist from armed opposition all reasonable +guarantees would be given as to their treatment after submission, and +that a scheme would be framed for the "permanent friendly settlement of +difficulties." It will be seen that the Government had already begun to +water the meaning of their declaration that they would vindicate Her +Majesty's authority. No doubt Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Courtney, and their +followers had given another turn to the Radical screw. + +It is, however, clear that at this time no idea of the real aims of the +Government had entered into the mind of Sir George Colley, since on the +7th February he telegraphed home a plan which he proposed to adopt on +entering the Transvaal, which included a suggestion that he should +grant a complete amnesty only to those Boers who would sign a +declaration of loyalty. + +In answer to this he was ordered to do nothing of the sort, but to +promise protection to everybody and refer everything home. + +Then came the battle of Ingogo, which checked for the time the flow of +telegrams, or rather varied their nature, for those despatched during +the next few days deal with the question of reinforcements. On the 13th +February, however, negotiations were reopened by Paul Kruger, one of +the Triumvirate, who offered, if all the troops were ordered to +withdraw from the Transvaal, to give them a free passage through the +Nek, to disperse the Boers, and to consent to the appointment of a +Commission. + +The offer was jumped at by Lord Kimberley, who, without making +reference to the question of withdrawing the soldiers, offered, if only +the Boers would disperse, to appoint a Commission with extensive powers +to develop the "permanent friendly settlement" scheme. The telegram +ends thus: "Add, that if this proposal is accepted, you now are +authorised to agree to suspension of hostilities on our part." This +message was sent to General Wood, because the Boers had stopped the +communications with Colley. On the 19th, Sir George Colley replies in +these words, which show his astonishment at the policy adopted by the +Home Government, and which, in the opinion of most people, redound to +his credit-- + +"Latter part of your telegram to Wood not understood. There can be no +hostilities if no resistance is made, but am I to leave Lang's Nek in +Natal territory in Boer occupation, and our garrisons isolated and +short of provisions, or occupy former and relieve latter?" Lord +Kimberley hastens to reply that the garrisons must be left free to +provision themselves, "but we do not mean that you should march to the +relief of garrisons or occupy Lang's Nek if an arrangement proceeds." + +It will be seen that the definition of what vindication of Her +Majesty's authority consisted grew broader and broader; it now included +the right of the Boers to continue to occupy their positions in the +colony of Natal. + +Meanwhile the daily fire of complimentary messages was being kept up +between President Brand and Lord Kimberley, who alternately gave +"sincere thanks to Lord Kimberley" and "fully appreciated the friendly +spirit" of President Brand, till on the 21st February the latter +telegraphs through Colley: "Hope of amicable settlement by negotiation, +but this will be greatly facilitated if somebody on spot and friendly +disposed to both could by personal communication with both endeavour to +smooth difficulties. Offers his services to Her Majesty's Government, +and Kruger and Pretorius and Joubert are willing." Needless to say his +services were accepted. + +Presently, however, on 27th February, Sir George Colley made his last +move, and took possession of Majuba. His defeat and death had the +effect of causing another temporary check in the peace negotiations, +whilst Sir Frederick Roberts with ample reinforcements was despatched +to Natal. It had the further effect of increasing the haughtiness of +the Boer leaders, and infusing a corresponding spirit of pliability or +generosity into the negotiations of Her Majesty's Government. + +Thus on 2d March, the Boers, through President Brand and Sir Evelyn +Wood, inform the Secretary of State for the Colonies that they are +willing to negotiate, but decline to submit on cease opposition. Sir +Evelyn Wood, who evidently did not at all like the line of policy +adopted by the Government, telegraphed that he thought the best thing +to do would be for him to engage the Boers, and disperse them _vi et +armis_, without any guarantees, "considering the disasters we have +sustained," and that he should, "if absolutely necessary," be empowered +to promise life and property to the leaders, but that they should be +banished from the country. In answer to this telegram, Lord Kimberley +informs him that Her Majesty's Government will amnesty _everybody_ +except those who have committed acts contrary to the rules of civilised +warfare, and that they will agree to anything, and appoint a Commission +to carry out the details, and "be ready for friendly communications +with _any persons_ appointed by the Boers." + +Thus was Her Majesty's authority finally re-established in the +Transvaal. + +It was not a very grand climax, nor the kind of arrangement to which +Englishmen are accustomed, but perhaps, considering the circumstances, +and the well-known predilections of those who made the settlement, it +was as much as could be expected. + +The action of the Government must not be considered as though they were +unfettered in their judgment; it can never be supposed that they acted +as they did because they thought such action right or even wise, for +that would be to set them down as men of a very low order of +intelligence, which they certainly are not. + +It is clear that no set of sensible men, who had after much +consideration given their decision that under all the circumstances the +Transvaal must remain British territory, and who, on a revolt +subsequently breaking out in that territory, had declared that Her +Majesty's rule must be upheld, would have, putting aside all other +circumstances, deliberately stultified themselves by almost +unconditionally, and of their own free will, abandoning the country, +and all Her Majesty's subjects living in it. That would be to pay a +poor tribute to their understanding, since it is clear that if reasons +existed for retaining the Transvaal before the war, as they were +satisfied there did, those reasons would exist with still greater force +after a war had been undertaken and three crushing defeats sustained, +which if left unavenged must, as they knew, have a most disastrous +effect on our prestige throughout the South African continent. + +I prefer to believe that the Government was coerced into acting as it +did by Radical pressure, both from outside and from its immediate +supporters in the House, and that it had to choose between making an +unconditional surrender in the Transvaal and losing the support of a +very powerful party. Under these circumstances it, being Liberal in +politics, naturally followed its instincts, and chose surrender. + +If such a policy was bad in itself, and necessarily mischievous in its +consequences, so much the worse for those who suffered by it; it was +clear that the Government could not be expected to lose votes in order +to forward the true interests of countries so far off as the South +African Colonies, which had had the misfortune to be made a party +question of, and must take the consequences. + +There is no doubt that the interest brought to bear on the Government +was very considerable, for not only had they to deal with their own +supporters, and with the shadowy caucus that was ready to let the lash +of its displeasure descend even on the august person of Mr. Gladstone, +should he show signs of letting slip so rich an opportunity for the +vindication of the holiest principles of advanced Radicalism, but also +with the hydra-headed crowd of visionaries and professional +sentimentalists who swarm in this country, and who are always ready to +take up any cause, from that of Jumbo or of a murderer to that of +oppressed peoples, such as the Bulgarians or the Transvaal Boers. + +These gentlemen, burning with zeal, and filled with that confidence +which proverbially results from the hasty assimilation of imperfect and +erroneous information, found in the Transvaal question a great +opportunity of making a noise; and--as in a disturbed farmyard the bray +of the domestic donkey, ringing loud and clear among the utterances of +more intelligent animals, overwhelms and extinguishes them--so, and +with like effect, amongst the confused sound of various English +opinions about the Boer rising, rose the trumpet-note of the Transvaal +Independence Committee and its supporters. + +As we have seen, they did not sound in vain. + +On the 6th of March an armistice with the Boers had been entered into +by Sir Evelyn Wood, which was several times prolonged up to the 21st +March, when Sir Evelyn Wood concluded a preliminary peace with the Boer +leaders, which, under certain conditions, guaranteed the restoration of +the country within six months, and left all other points to be decided +by a Royal Commission. + +The news of this peace was at first received in the colony in the +silence of astonishment. Personally, I remember, I would not believe +that it was true. It seemed to us, who had been witnesses of what had +passed, and knew what it all meant, something so utterly incredible +that we thought there must be a mistake. + +If there had been any one redeeming circumstance about it, if the +English arms had gained a single decisive victory, it might have been +so, but it was hard for Englishmen, just at first, to understand that +not only had the Transvaal been to all appearance wrested from them by +force of arms, but that they were henceforth to be subject, as they +well knew would be the case, to the coarse insults of victorious Boers, +and the sarcasms of keener-witted Kafirs. + +People in England seem to fancy that when men go to the colonies they +lose all sense of pride in their country, and think of nothing but +their own advantage. I do not think that this is the case, indeed, I +believe that, individual for individual, there exists a greater sense +of loyalty, and a deeper pride in their nationality, and in the proud +name of England, among colonists, than among Englishmen proper. +Certainly the humiliation of the Transvaal surrender was more keenly +felt in South Africa than it was at home; but, perhaps, the +impossibility of imposing upon people in that country with the farrago +of nonsense about blood-guiltiness and national morality, which was +made such adroit use of at home, may have made the difference. + +I know that personally I would not have believed it possible that I +could feel any public event so keenly as I did this; indeed, I quickly +made up my mind that if the peace was confirmed, the neighbourhood of +the Transvaal would be no fit or comfortable residence for an +Englishman, and that I would, at any cost, leave the country,--which I +accordingly did. + +Newcastle was a curious sight the night after the peace was declared. +Every hotel and bar was crowded with refugees, who were trying to +relieve their feelings by cursing the name of Gladstone with a vigour, +originality, and earnestness that I have never heard equalled; and +declaring in ironical terms how proud they were to be citizens of +England--a country that always kept its word. Then they set to work +with many demonstrations of contempt to burn the effigy of the Bight +Honourable Gentleman at the head of Her Majesty's Government, an +example, by the way, that was followed throughout South Africa. + +Even Sir Evelyn Wood, who is very popular in the colony, was hissed as +he walked through the town, and great surprise was expressed that a +soldier who came out expressly to fight the Boers should consent to +become the medium of communication in such a dirty business. And, +indeed, there was some excuse for all this bitterness, for the news +meant ruin to very many. + +But if people in Natal and at the Cape received the news with +astonishment, how shall I describe its effect upon the unfortunate +loyal inhabitants in the Transvaal, on whom it burst like a +thunderbolt? + +They did not say much, however, and indeed there was nothing to be +said. They simply began to pack up such things as they could carry with +them, and to leave the country, which they well knew would henceforth +be utterly untenable for Englishmen or English sympathisers. In a few +weeks they come pouring down through Newcastle by hundreds; it was the +most melancholy exodus that can be imagined. There were people of all +classes, officials, gentlefolk, work-people, and loyal Boers, but they +had a connecting link; they had all been loyal, and they were all +ruined. + +Most of these people had gone to the Transvaal since it became a +British colony, and invested all they had in it, and now their capital +was lost and their labour rendered abortive; indeed, many of them whom +one had known as well to do in the Transvaal, came down to Natal hardly +knowing how they would feed their families next week. + +It must be understood that so soon as the Queen's sovereignty was +withdrawn the value of landed and house property in the Transvaal went +down to nothing, and has remained there ever since. Thus a fair-sized +house in Pretoria brought in a rental varying from ten to twenty pounds +a month during British occupation, but after the declaration of peace, +owners of houses were glad to get people to live in them to keep them +from falling into ruin. Those who owned land or had invested money in +businesses suffered in the same way; their property remains neither +profitable or saleable, and they themselves are precluded by their +nationality from living on it, the art of "Boycotting" not being +peculiar to Ireland. + +Nor were they the only sufferers. The officials, many of whom had taken +to the Government service as a permanent profession, in which they +expected to pass their lives, were suddenly dismissed, mostly with a +small gratuity, which would about suffice to pay their debts, and told +to find their living as best they could. It was indeed a case of _vae +victis_,--woe to the conquered loyalists.[12] + + [12] The following extract is clipped from a recent issue + of the _Transvaal Advertiser_. It describes the present + condition of Pretoria:-- + + "The streets grown over with rank vegetation; the + water-furrows uncleaned and unattended, emitting offensive + and unhealthy stenches; the houses showing evident signs of + dilapidation and decay; the side paths, in many places, + dangerous to pedestrians--in fact, everything the eye can + rest upon indicates the downfall which has overtaken this + once prosperous city. The visitor can, if he be so minded, + betake himself to the outskirts and suburbs, where he will + perceive the same sad evidences of neglect, public grounds + unattended, roads uncared for, mills and other public works + crumbling into ruin. These palpable signs of decay most + strongly impress him. A blight seems to have come over this + lately fair and prosperous town. Rapidly it is becoming a + 'deserted village,' a 'city of the dead.'" + +The Commission appointed by Her Majesty's Government consisted of Sir +Hercules Robinson, Sir Henry de Villiers, and Sir Evelyn Wood, +President Brand being also present in his capacity of friend of both +parties, and to their discretion were left the settlement of all +outstanding questions. Amongst these, were the mode of trial of those +persons who had been guilty of acts contrary to the rules of civilised +warfare, the question of severance of territory from the Transvaal on +the eastern boundary, the settlement of the boundary in the Keate-Award +districts, the compensation for losses sustained during the war, the +functions of the British Resident, and other matters. Their place of +meeting was at Newcastle in Natal, and from thence they proceeded to +Pretoria. + +The first question of importance that came before the Commission was +the mode of trial to be adopted in the cases of those persons accused +of acts contrary to the usages of civilised warfare, such as murder. +The Attorney-General for the Transvaal strongly advised that a special +tribunal should be constituted to try these cases, principally because +"after a civil war in which all the inhabitants of a country, with very +few exceptions, have taken part, a jury of fair and impartial men, +truly unbiassed, will be very difficult to get together." It is +satisfactory to know that the Commissioners gave this somewhat obvious +fact "their grave consideration," which, according to their Report, +resulted in their determining to let the cases go before the ordinary +court, and be tried by a jury, because in referring them to a specially +constituted court which would have done equal justice without fear or +favour, "the British Government would have made for itself, among the +Dutch population of South Africa, a name for vindictive oppression, +which no generosity in other affairs could efface." + +There is more in this determination of the Commissioners, or rather of +the majority of them--for Sir E. Wood, to his credit be it said, +refused to agree in their decision--than meets the eye, the fact of the +matter being that it was privately well known to them, that though the +Boer leaders might be willing to allow a few of the murderers to +undergo the form of a trial, neither they nor the Boers themselves +meant to permit the farce to go any further. Had the men been tried by +a special tribunal they would in all probability have been condemned to +death, and then would have come the awkward question of carrying out +the sentence on individuals whose deeds were looked on, if not with +general approval, at any rate without aversion by the great mass of +their countrymen. In short, it would probably have become necessary +either to reprieve them or to fight the Boers again, since it was very +certain that they would not have allowed them to be hung. Therefore the +majority of the Commissioners, finding themselves face to face with a +dead wall, determined to slip round it instead of boldly climbing it, +by referring the cases to the Transvaal High Court, cheerfully +confident of what the result must be. + +After all, the matter was, much cry about little wool, for of all the +crimes committed by the Boers--a list of some of which will be found in +the Appendix to this book--in only three cases were a proportion of the +perpetrators produced and put through the form of trial. Those three +were--the dastardly murder of Captain Elliot, who was shot by his Boer +escort whilst crossing the Vaal river on parole; the murder of a man +named Malcolm, who was kicked to death in his own house by Boers, who +afterwards put a bullet through his head to make the job "look better;" +and the murder of a doctor named Barber, who was shot by his escort on +the border of the Free State. A few of the men concerned in the first +two of these crimes were tried in Pretoria; and it was currently +reported at that time, that in order to make their acquittal certain +our Attorney-General received instructions not to exercise his right of +challenging jurors on behalf of the Crown. Whether or not this is true +I am not prepared to say, but I believe it is a fact that he did not +exercise that right, though the counsel for the prisoners availed +themselves of it freely, with the result that in Elliot's case, the +jury was composed of eight Boers and one German, nine being the full +South African jury. The necessary result followed; in both cases the +prisoners were acquitted in the teeth of the evidence. Barber's +murderers were tried in the Free State, and were, as might be expected, +acquitted. + +Thus it will be seen that of all the perpetrators of murder and other +crimes during the course of the war not one was brought to justice. + +The offence for which their victims died was, in nearly every case, +that they had served, were serving, or were loyal to Her Majesty the +Queen. In no single case has England exacted retribution for the murder +of her servants and citizens; but nobody can read through the long list +of these dastardly slaughters without feeling that they will not go +unavenged. The innocent blood that has been shed on behalf of this +country, and the tears of children and widows, now appeal to a higher +tribunal than that of Mr. Gladstone's Government, and assuredly they +will not appeal in vain. + +The next point of importance dealt with by the Commission was the +question whether or no any territory should be severed from the +Transvaal, and kept under English rule for the benefit of the native +inhabitants. Lord Kimberley, acting under pressure put upon him by +members of the Aborigines Protection Society, instructed the Commission +to consider the advisability of severing the districts of Lydenburg and +Zoutpansberg, and also a strip of territory bordering on Zululand and +Swaziland, from the Transvaal, so as to place the inhabitants of the +first two districts out of danger of maltreatment by the Boers, and to +interpose a buffer between Zulus, and Swazis, and Boer aggression, and +_vice versâ_. + +The Boer leaders had, it must be remembered, acquiesced in the +principle of such a separation in the preliminary peace signed by Sir +Evelyn Wood and themselves. The majority of the Commission, however +(Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting), finally decided against the retention of +either of these districts, a decision which, I think, was a wise one, +though I arrive at that conclusion on very different grounds to those +adopted by the majority of the Commission. + +Personally, I cannot see that it is the duty of England to play +policeman to the whole world. To have retained these native districts +would have been to make ourselves responsible for their good +government, and to have guaranteed them against Boer encroachment, +which I do not think that we were called upon to do. It is surely not +incumbent upon us, having given up the Transvaal to the Boers, to +undertake the management of the most troublesome part of it, the Zulu +border. Besides, bad as the abandonment of the Transvaal is, I think +that if it was to be done at all, it was best to do it thoroughly, +since to have kept some natives under our protection, and to have +handed over the rest to the tender mercies of the Boers, would only be +to render our injustice more obvious, whilst weakening the power of the +natives themselves to combine in self-defence, since those under our +protection would naturally have little sympathy with their more +unfortunate brethren--their interests and circumstances being +different. + +The Commission do not seem to have considered the question from these +points of view; but putting them on one side, there are many other +considerations connected with it which are ably summed up in their +Report. Amongst these is the danger of disturbances commenced between +Zulus or Swazis and Boers spreading into Natal, and the probability of +the fomenting of disturbances amongst the Zulus by Boers. The great +argument for the retention of some territory, if only as a symbol that +the English had not been driven out of the country, is, however, set +forth in the forty-sixth paragraph of the Report, which runs as +follows:--"The moral considerations that determine the actions of +civilised governments are not easily understood by barbarians, in whose +eyes successful force is alone the sign of superiority, and it appeared +possible that the surrender by the British Crown of one of its +possessions to those who had been in arms against it, might be looked +upon by the natives in no other way than as a token of the defeat and +decay of the British power, and that thus a serious shock might be +given to British authority in South Africa, and the capacity of Great +Britain to govern and direct the vast native population within and +without her South African dominions--a capacity resting largely on the +renown of her name--might be dangerously impaired." + +These words, coming from so unexpected a source, do not, though couched +in such mild language, hide the startling importance of the question +discussed. On the contrary, they accurately and with double weight +convey the sense and gist of the most damning argument against the +policy of the retrocession of the Transvaal in its entirety; and +proceeding from their own carefully chosen Commissioners, can hardly +have been pleasant reading to Lord Kimberley and his colleagues. + +The majority of the Commission then proceeds to set forth the arguments +advanced by the Boers against the retention of any territory, which +appear to have been chiefly of a sentimental character, since we are +informed that "the people, it seemed certain, would not have valued the +restoration of a mutilated country. Sentiment in a great measure had +led them to insurrection, and the force of such it was impossible to +disregard." Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, states that he cannot even +agree with the premises of his colleagues' argument, since he is +convinced that it was not sentiment that had led to the outbreak, but a +"general and rooted aversion to taxation." If he had added, and a +hatred not only of English rule, but of all rule, he would have stated +the complete cause of the Transvaal rebellion. In the next paragraph of +the Report, however, we find the real cause of the pliability of the +Commission in the matter, which is the same that influenced them in +their decision about the mode of trial of the murderers and other +questions--they feared that the people would appeal to arms if they +decided against their wishes. + +Discreditable and disgraceful as it may seem, nobody can read this +Report without plainly seeing that the Commissioners were, in treating +with the Boers on these points, in the position of ambassadors from a +beaten people getting the best terms they could. Of course, they well +knew that this was not the case but whatever the Boer leaders may have +said, the Boers themselves did not know this, or even pretend to look +at the matter in any other light. When we asked for the country back, +said they, we did not get it; after we had three times defeated the +English we did get it; the logical conclusion from the facts being that +we got it because we defeated the English. This was their tone, and it +is not therefore surprising that whenever the Commission threatened to +decide anything against them, they, with a smile, let it know that if +it did, they would be under the painful necessity of re-occupying +Lang's Nek. It was never necessary to repeat the threat, since the +majority of the Commission would thereupon speedily find a way to meet +the views of the Boer representatives. + +Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, thus correctly sums up the +matter:--"To contend that the Royal Commission ought not to decide +contrary to the wishes of the Boers, because such decision might not be +accepted, is to deny to the Commission the very power of decision that +it was agreed should be left in its hands." Exactly so. But it is +evident that the Commission knew its place, and so far from attempting +to exercise any "power of decision," it was quite content with such +concessions as it could obtain by means of bargaining. Thus, as an +additional reason against the retention of any territory, it is urged +that if this territory was retained "the majority of your Commissioners +... would have found themselves in no favourable position for obtaining +the concurrence of the Boer leaders as to other matters." In fact, Her +Majesty's Commission, appointed, or supposed to be appointed, to do Her +Majesty's will and pleasure, shook in its shoes before men who had +lately been rebels in arms against her authority, and humbly submitted +itself to their dicta. + +The majority of the Commission went on to express their opinion, that +by giving way about the retention of territory they would be able to +obtain better terms for the natives generally, and larger powers for +the British Resident. But, as Sir Evelyn Wood points out in his Report, +they did nothing of the sort, the terms of the agreement about the +Resident and other native matters being all consequent on and included +in the first agreement of peace. Besides, they seem to have overlooked +the fact that such concessions as they did obtain are only on paper, +and practically worthless, whilst all _bonâ fide_ advantages remained +with the Boers. + +The decision of the Commissioners in the question of the Keate Award, +which next came under their consideration, appears to have been a +judicious one, being founded on the very careful Report of Colonel +Moysey, R.E., who had been for many months collecting information on +the spot. The Keate Award Territory is a region lying to the south-west +of the Transvaal, and was, like many other districts in that country, +originally in the possession of natives of the Baralong and Batlapin +tribes. Individual Boers having, however, _more suo_ taken possession +of tracts of land in the district, difficulties speedily arose between +their Government and the native chiefs, and in 1871 Mr. Keate, +Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, was by mutual consent called in to +arbitrate on the matter. His decision was entirely in favour of the +natives, and was accordingly promptly and characteristically repudiated +by the Boer Volksraad. From that time till the rebellion the question +remained unsettled, and was indeed a very thorny one to deal with. The +Commission, acting on the principle _in medio tutissimus ibis_, drew a +line through the midst of the disputed territory, or, in other words, +set aside Mr. Keate's award, and interpreted the dispute in favour of +the Boers. + +This decision was accepted by all parties at the time, but it has not +resulted in the maintenance of peace. The principal chief, Montsioa, is +an old ally and staunch friend of the English, a fact which the Boers +are not able to forget or forgive, and they appear to have stirred up +rival chiefs to attack him, and to have allowed volunteers from the +Transvaal to assist them. Montsioa has also enlisted some white +volunteers, and several fights have taken place, in which the loss of +life has been considerable. Whether or no the Transvaal Government is +directly concerned it is impossible to say, but from the fact that +cannon are said to have been used against Montsioa it would appear that +it is, since private individuals do not, as a rule, own Armstrong +guns.[13] + + [13] I beg to refer any reader interested in this matter to + the letter of "Transvaal" to the _Standard_, which I have + republished in the Appendix to this book. + +Amongst the questions remaining for the consideration of the +Commissioners was that of what compensation should be given for losses +during the war. Of course, the great bulk of the losses sustained were +of an indirect nature, resulting from the necessary and enormous +depreciation in the value of land and other property, consequent on the +retrocession. Into this matter the Home Government declined to enter, +thereby saving its pocket at the price of its honour, since it was upon +English guarantees that the country would remain a British possession +that the majority of the unfortunate loyals invested their money in it. +It was, however, agreed by the Commission (Sir H. de Villiers +dissenting) that the Boers should be liable for compensation in cases +where loss had been sustained through commandeering seizure, +confiscation, destruction, or damage of property. The sums awarded +under these heads have already amounted to about £110,000, which sum +has been defrayed by the Imperial Government, the Boer authorities +stating that they were not in a position to pay it. + +In connection with this matter I will pass to the financial clauses of +the Report. When the country was annexed, the public debt amounted to +£301,727. Under British rule this debt was liquidated to the extent of +£150,000, but the total was brought up by a Parliamentary grant, a loan +from the Standard Bank, and sundries to £390,404, which represented the +public debt of the Transvaal on the 31st December 1880. This was +further increased by moneys advanced by the Standard Bank and English +Exchequer during the war, and till the 8th August 1881, during which +time the country yielded no revenue, to £457,393. To this must be added +an estimated sum of £200,000 for compensation charges, pension +allowances, &c., and a further sum of £383,000, the cost of the +successful expedition against Secocoeni, that of the unsuccessful one +being left out of account, bringing up the total public debt to over a +million, of which about £800,000 is owing to this country. + +This sum, with the characteristic liberality that distinguished them in +their dealings with the Boers, but which was not so marked where loyals +were concerned, the Commissioners (Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting) reduced +by a stroke of the pen to £265,000, thus entirely remitting an +approximate sum of £500,000, or £600,000. To the sum of £265,000 still +owing must be added say another £150,000 for sums lately advanced to +pay the compensation claims, bringing up the actual amount now owing to +England to something under half a million, of which I say with +confidence she will never see a single £10,000. As this contingency was +not contemplated, or if contemplated, not alluded to by the Royal +Commission, provision was made for a Sinking Fund, by means of which +the debt, which is a second charge on the revenues of the States, is to +be extinguished in twenty-five years. + +It is a strange instance of the proverbial irony of fate, that whilst +the representatives of the Imperial Government were thus showering +gifts of hundreds of thousands of pounds upon men who had spurned the +benefits of Her Majesty's rule, made war upon her forces, and murdered +her subjects, no such consideration was extended to those who had +remained loyal to her throne. Their claims for compensation were passed +by unheeded; and looking from the windows of the room in which they sat +in Newcastle, the members of the Commission might have seen them +flocking down from a country that could no longer be their home; those +that were rich among them made poor, and those that were poor reduced +to destitution. + +The only other point which it will be necessary for me to touch on in +connection with this Report is the duties of the British Resident and +his relations to the natives. He was to be invested as representative +of the Suzerain with functions for securing the execution of the terms +of peace as regards--(1) the control of the foreign relations of the +State; (2) the control of the frontier affairs of the State; and (3) +the protection of the interests of the natives in the State. + +As regards the first of these points, it was arranged that the +interests of subjects of the Transvaal should be left in the hands of +Her Majesty's representatives abroad. Since Boers are, of all people in +the world, the most stay-at-home, our ambassadors and consuls are not +likely to be troubled much on their account. With reference to the +second point, the Commission made stipulations that would be admirable +if there were any probability of their being acted up to. The Resident +is to report any encroachment on native territory by Boers to the High +Commissioner, and when the Resident and the Boer Government differ, the +decision of the Suzerain is to be final. This is a charming way of +settling difficulties, but the Commission forgets to specify how the +Suzerain's decision is to be enforced. After what has happened, it can +hardly have relied on awe of the name of England to bring about the +desired obedience! + +But besides thus using his beneficent authority to prevent subjects of +the Transvaal from trespassing on their neighbour's land, the Resident +is to exercise a general supervision over the interests of all the +natives in the country. Considering that they number about a million, +and are scattered over a territory larger than France, one would think +that this duty alone would have taken up the time of any ordinary man; +and, indeed, Sir Evelyn Wood was in favour of the appointment of +sub-residents to assist him. The majority of the Commission refused, +however, to listen to any such suggestion--believing, they said, "that +the least possible interference with the independent Government of the +State would be the wisest." Quite so, but I suppose it never occurred +to them to ask the natives what their views of the matter were! The +Resident was also to be a member of a Native Location Commission, which +was at some future time to provide land for the natives to live on. + +In perusing this Report it is easy to follow with more or less accuracy +the individual bent of its framers. Sir Hercules Robinson figures +throughout as a man who has got a disagreeable business to carry out, +in obedience to instructions that admit of no trifling with, and who +has set himself to do the best he can for his country, and those who +suffer through his country's policy, whilst obeying those instructions. +He has evidently choked down his feelings and opinions as an +individual, and turned himself into an official machine, merely +registering in detail the will of Lord Kimberley. With Sir Henry de +Villiers the case is very different. One feels throughout that the task +is to him a congenial one, and that the Boer cause has in him an +excellent friend. Indeed, had he been an advocate of their cause +instead of a member of the Commission, he could not have espoused their +side on every occasion with greater zeal. According to him they were +always in the right, and in them he could find no guile. Mr. Hofmeyer +and President Brand exercised a wise discretion from their own point of +view when they urged his appointment as Special Commissioner. I now +come to Sir Evelyn Wood, who was in the position of an independent +Englishman, neither prejudiced in favour of the Boers, or the reverse, +and on whom, as a military man, Lord Kimberley would find it difficult +to put the official screw. The results of his happy position are +obvious in the paper attached to the end of the Report, and signed by +him, in which he totally and entirely differs from the majority of the +Commission on every point of any importance. Most people will think +that this very outspoken and forcible dissent deducts somewhat from the +value of the Report, and throws a shadow of doubt on the wisdom of its +provisions. + +The formal document of agreement between Her Majesty's Government and +the Boer leaders, commonly known as the Convention, was signed by both +parties at Pretoria on the afternoon of the 3d August 1881, in the same +room in which, nearly four years before, the Annexation Proclamation +was signed by Sir T. Shepstone. + +Whilst this business was being transacted in Government House, a +curious ceremony was going on just outside, and within sight of the +windows. This was the ceremonious burial of the Union Jack, which was +followed to the grave by a crowd of about 2000 loyalists and native +chiefs. On the outside of the coffin was written the word "Resurgam," +and an eloquent oration was delivered over the grave. Such +demonstrations are, no doubt, foolish enough, but they are not entirely +without political significance. + +But a more unpleasant duty awaited the Commissioners than that of +attaching their signatures to a document,--consisting of the necessity +of conveying Her Majesty's decision as to the retrocession to about a +hundred native chiefs, until now Her Majesty's subjects, who had been +gathered together to hear it. It must be borne in mind that the natives +had not been consulted as to the disposal of the country, although they +outnumber the white people in the proportion of twenty to one, and +that, beyond some worthless paper stipulations, nothing had been done +for their interests. + +Personally, I must plead guilty to what I know is by many, especially +by those who are attached to the Boer cause, considered as folly, if +not worse, namely, a sufficient interest in the natives, and sympathy +with their sufferings, to bring me to the conclusion that in acting +thus we have inflicted a cruel injustice upon them. It seems to me, +that as they were the original owners of the soil, they were entitled +to some consideration in the question of its disposal, and consequently +and incidentally, of their own. I am aware that it is generally +considered that the white man has a right to the black man's +possessions and land, and that it is his high and holy mission to +exterminate the wretched native and take his place. But with this +conclusion I venture to differ. So far as my own experience of natives +has gone, I have found that in all the essential qualities of mind and +body they very much resemble white men, with the exception that they +are, as a race, quicker-witted, more honest, and braver than the +ordinary run of white men. Of them might be aptly quoted the speech +Shakespeare puts into Shylock's mouth: "Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a +Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" In the +same way I ask, Has a native no feelings or affections? does he not +suffer when his parents are shot, or his children stolen, or when he is +driven a wanderer from his home? Does he not know fear, feel pain, +affection, hate, and gratitude? Most certainly he does; and this being +so, I cannot believe that the Almighty, who made both white and black, +gave to the one race the right or mission of exterminating or even of +robbing or maltreating the other, and calling the process the advance +of civilisation. It seems to me, that on only one condition, if at all, +have we the right to take the black men's land; and that is, that we +provide them with an equal and a just Government, and allow no +maltreatment of them, either as individuals or tribes, but, on the +contrary, do our best to elevate them, and wean them from savage +customs. Otherwise, the practice is surely undefensible. + +I am aware, however, that with the exception of a small class, these +are sentiments which are not shared by the great majority of the +public, either at home or abroad. Indeed, it can be plainly seen how +little sympathy they command, from the fact that but scanty +remonstrance was raised at the treatment meted out to our native +subjects in the Transvaal, when they were, to the number of nearly a +million, handed over from the peace, justice, and security that on the +whole characterise our rule, to a state of things and possibilities of +wrong and suffering which I will not try to describe. + +To the chiefs thus assembled Sir Hercules Robinson, as President of the +Royal Commission, read a statement, and then retired, refusing to allow +them to speak in answer. The statement informed the natives that "Her +Majesty's Government, with that sense of justice which befits a great +and powerful nation," had returned the country to the Boers, "whose +representatives, Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert, I now," said +Sir Hercules, "have much pleasure in introducing to you." If reports +are true, the native chiefs had, many of them personally, and all of +them by reputation, already the advantage of a very intimate +acquaintance with all three of these gentlemen, so that an introduction +was somewhat superfluous. + +Sir Hercules then went on to explain to them that locations would be +allotted to them at some future time; that a British Resident would be +appointed, whose especial charge they would be, but that they must bear +in mind that he was not ruler of the country, but the Government, +"subject to Her Majesty's suzerain rights." Natives were, no doubt, +expected to know by intuition what suzerain rights are. The statement +then goes on to give them good advice as to the advantages of indulging +in manual labour when asked to do so by the Boers, and generally to +show them how bright and happy is the future that lies before them. +Lest they should be too elated by such good tidings, they are, however, +reminded that it will be necessary to retain the law relating to +passes, which is, in the hands of a people like the Boers, about as +unjust a regulation as a dominant race can invent for the oppression of +a subject people, and had, in the old days of the Republic, been +productive of much hardship. The statement winds up by assuring them +that their "interests will never be forgotten or neglected by Her +Majesty's Government." Having read the document the Commission hastily +withdrew, and after their withdrawal the chiefs were "allowed" to state +their opinions to the Secretary for Native Affairs. + +In availing themselves of this permission, it is noticeable that no +allusion was made to all the advantages they were to reap under the +Convention, nor did they seem to attach much importance to the +appointment of the British Resident. On the contrary, all their +attention was given to the great fact that the country had been ceded +to the Boers, and that they were no longer the Queen's subjects. We are +told, in Mr. Shepstone's Report, that they "got very excited," and +"asked whether it was thought that they had no feelings or hearts, that +they were thus treated as a stick or piece of tobacco, which could be +passed from hand to hand without question." Umgombarie, a Zoutpansberg +chief, said: "I am Umgombarie. I have fought with the Boers, and have +many wounds, and they know that what I say is true.... I will never +consent to place myself under their rule. I belong to the English +Government. I am not a man who eats with both sides of his jaw at once; +I only use one side. I am English, I have said." Silamba said: "I +belong to the English. I will never return under the Boers. You see me, +a man of my rank and position; is it right that such as I should be +seized and laid on the ground and flogged, as has been done to me and +other chiefs?" + +Sinkanhla said: "We hear and yet do not hear, we cannot understand. We +are troubling you, Chief, by talking in this way; we hear the chiefs +say that the Queen took the country because the people of the country +wished it, and again that the majority of the owners of the country did +not wish their rule, and that therefore the country was given back. We +should like to have the man pointed out from among us black people who +objects to the rule of the Queen. We are the real owners of the +country; we were here when the Boers came, and without asking leave, +settled down and treated us in every way badly. The English Government +then came and took the country; we have now had four years of rest and +peaceful and just rule. We have been called here to-day, and are told +that the country, our country, has been given to the Boers by the +Queen. This is a thing which surprises us. Did the country, then, +belong to the Boers? Did it not belong to our fathers and forefathers +before us, long before the Boers came here? We have heard that the +Boers' country is at the Cape. If the Queen wishes to give them their +land, why does she not give them back the Cape?" + +I have quoted this speech at length, because, although made by a +despised native, it sets forth their case more powerfully and in +happier language than I can do. + +Umyethile said: "We have no heart for talking. I have returned to the +country from Sechelis, where I had to fly from Boer oppression. Our +hearts are black and heavy with grief to-day at the news told us, we +are in agony, our intestines are twisting and writhing inside of us, +just as you see a snake do when it is struck on the head.... We do not +know what has become of us, but we feel dead; it may be that the Lord +may change the nature of the Boers, and that we will not be treated +like dogs and beasts of burden as formerly, but we have no hope of such +a change, and we leave you with heavy hearts and great apprehension as +to the future." In his Report, Mr. Shepstone (the Secretary for Native +Affairs) says: "One chief, Jan Sibilo, who has been, he informed me, +personally threatened with death by the Boers after the English leave, +could not restrain his feelings, but cried like a child." + +I have nothing to add to these extracts, which are taken from many such +statements. They are the very words of the persons most concerned, and +will speak for themselves. + +The Convention was signed on the 3d August 1881, and was to be formally +ratified by a Volksraad or Parliament of the Burghers within three +months of that date, in default of which it was to fall to the ground +and become null and void. + +Anybody who has followed the course of affairs with reference to the +retrocession of the Transvaal, or who has even taken the trouble to +read through this brief history, will probably come to the conclusion +that, under all the circumstances, the Boers had got more than they +could reasonably expect. Not so, however, the Boers themselves. On the +28th September the newly-elected Volksraad referred the Convention to a +General Committee to report on, and on the 30th September the Report +was presented. On the 3d October a telegram was despatched through the +British Resident to "His Excellency W. E. Gladstone," in which the +Volksraad states that the Convention is not acceptable-- + +(1.) Because it is in conflict with the Sand River Treaty of 1852. + +(2.) Because it violates the peace agreement entered into with Sir +Evelyn Wood, in confidence of which the Boers laid down their arms. + +The Volksraad consequently declared that modifications were desirable, +and that certain articles _must_ be altered. + +To begin with, they declare that the "conduct of foreign relations does +not appertain to the Suzerain, only supervision," and that the articles +bearing on these points must consequently be modified. They next attack +the native question, stating that "the Suzerain has not the right to +interfere with our Legislature," and state that they cannot agree to +Article 3, which gives the Suzerain a right of veto on Legislation +connected with the natives; to Article 13, by virtue of which natives +are to be allowed to acquire land; and to the last part of Article 26, +by which it is provided that whites of alien race living in the +Transvaal shall not be taxed in excess of the taxes imposed on +Transvaal citizens. + +They further declare that it is _infra dignitatem_ for the President of +the Transvaal to be a member of a Commission. This refers to the Native +Location Commission, on which he is, in the terms of the Convention, to +sit, together with the British Resident, and a third person jointly +appointed. + +They next declare that the amount of the debt for which the Commission +has made them liable should be modified. Considering that England had +already made them a present of from £600,000 to £800,000, this is a +most barefaced demand. Finally, they state that "Articles 15, 16, 26, +and 27 are superfluous, and only calculated to wound our sense of +honour" (_sic_). + +Article 15 enacts that no slavery or apprenticeship shall be tolerated. + +Article 16 provides for religious toleration. + +Article 26 provides for the free movement, trading, and residence of +all persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of +the Transvaal. + +Article 27 gives to all the right of free access to the Courts of +Justice. + +Putting the "sense of honour" of the Transvaal Volksraad out of the +question, past experience has but too plainly proved that these +Articles are by no means superfluous. + +In reply to this message, Sir Hercules Robinson telegraphs to the +British Resident on the 21st October in the following words:-- + +"Having forwarded Volksraad Resolution of 15th to Earl of Kimberley, I +am desired to instruct you in reply to repeat to the Triumvirate that +Her Majesty's Government cannot entertain any proposals for a +modification of the Convention _until after it has been ratified_, +and the necessity for further concession proved by experience." + +I wish to draw particular attention to the last part of this message, +which is extremely typical of the line of policy adopted throughout in +the Transvaal business. The English Government dared not make any +further concession to the Boers, because they felt that they had +already strained the temper of the country almost to breaking in the +matter. On the other hand, they were afraid that if they did not do +something, the Boers would tear up the Convention, and they would find +themselves face to face with the old difficulty. Under these +circumstances, they have fallen back upon their temporising and +un-English policy, which leaves them a back-door to escape through, +whatever turn things take. Should the Boers now suddenly turn round and +declare, which is extremely probable, that they repudiate their debt to +us, or that they are sick of the presence of a British Resident, the +Government will be able to announce that "the necessity for further +concession" has now been "proved by experience," and thus escape the +difficulty. In short, this telegram has deprived the Convention of +whatever finality it may have possessed, and made it, as a document, as +worthless as it is as a practical settlement. That this is the view +taken of it by the Boers themselves, is proved by the text of the +Ratification which followed on the receipt of this telegram. + +The tone of this document throughout is, in my opinion, considering +from whom it came, and against whom it is directed, very insolent. And +it amply confirms what I have previously said, that the Boers looked +upon themselves as a victorious people making terms with those they +have conquered. The Ratification leads off thus: "The Volksraad is not +satisfied with this Convention, and considers that the members of the +Triumvirate performed a fervent act of love for the Fatherland when +they upon their own responsibility signed such an unsatisfactory state +document." This is damning with faint praise indeed. It then goes on to +recite the various points of objection, stating that the answers from +the English Government proved that they were well founded. "The English +Government," it says, "acknowledges indirectly by this answer (the +telegram of 21st October, quoted above) that the difficulties raised by +the Volksraad are neither fictitious nor unfounded, inasmuch _as it +desires from us the concession_ that we, the Volksraad, shall submit +it to a practical test." It will be observed that England is here +represented as begging the favour of a trial of her conditions from the +Volksraad of the Transvaal Boers. The Ratification is in these words: +"Therefore is it that the Raad here unanimously resolves not to go into +further discussion of the Convention, _and maintaining all objections +to the Convention_ as made before the Royal Commission or stated in +the Raad, and for the purpose of showing to everybody that the love +of peace and unity inspires it, _for the time and provisionally_ +submitting the articles of the Convention to a practical test, _hereby +complying with the request of the English Government_ contained in +the telegram of the 13th October 1881, proceeds to ratify the +Convention." + +It would have been interesting to have seen how such a Ratification as +this, which is no Ratification but an insult, would have been accepted +by Lord Beaconsfield. I think that within twenty-four hours of its +arrival in Downing Street, the Boer Volksraad would have received a +startling answer. But Lord Beaconsfield is dead, and by his successor +it was received with all due thankfulness and humility. His words, +however, on this subject still remain to us, and even his great rival +might have done well to listen to them. It was in the course of what +was, I believe, the last speech he made in the House of Lords, that +speaking about the Transvaal rising, he warned the Government that it +was a very dangerous thing to make peace with rebellious subjects in +arms against the authority of the Queen. The warning passed unheeded, +and the peace was made in the way I have described. + +As regards the Convention itself, it will be obvious to the reader that +the Boers have not any intention of acting up to its provisions, mild +as they are, if they can possibly avoid them, whilst, on the other +hand, there is no force at hand to punish their disregard or breach. It +is all very well to create a Resident with extensive powers; but how is +he to enforce his decisions? What is he to do if his awards are laughed +at and made a mockery of, as they are and will be? The position of Mr. +Hudson at Pretoria is even worse than that of Mr. Osborn in Zululand. +For instance, the Convention specifies in the first article that the +Transvaal is to be known as the Transvaal State. The Boer Government +have, however, thought fit to adopt the name of "South African +Republic" in all public documents. Mr. Hudson was accordingly directed +to remonstrate, which he did in a feeble way; his remonstrance was +politely acknowledged, but the country is still officially called the +South African Republic, the Convention and Mr. Hudson's remonstrance +notwithstanding. Mr. Hudson, however, appears to be better suited to +the position than would have been the case had an Englishman, pure and +simple, been appointed, since it is evident that things that would have +struck the latter as insults to the Queen he represented, and his +country generally, are not so understood by him. In fact, he admirably +represents his official superiors in his capacity of swallowing +rebuffs, and when smitten on one cheek delightedly offering the other. + +Thus we find him attending a Boer meeting of thanksgiving for the +success that had waited on their arms and the recognition of their +independence, where most people will consider he was out of place. To +this meeting, thus graced by his presence, an address was presented by +a branch of the Africander Bond, a powerful institution, having for its +object the total uprootal of English rule and English customs in South +Africa, to which he must have listened with pleasure. In it he, in +common with other members of the meeting, is informed that "you took up +the sword and struck the Briton with such force" that "the Britons +through fear revived that sense of justice to which they could not be +brought by petitions," and that the "day will soon come that we shall +enter with you on one arena for the entire independence of South +Africa," _i.e._, independence from English rule. + +On the following day the Government gave a dinner, to which all those +who had done good service during the late hostilities were invited, the +British Resident being apparently the only Englishman asked. Amongst +the other celebrities present I notice the name of Buskes. This man, +who is an educated Hollander, was the moving spirit of the +Potchefstroom atrocities; indeed, so dark is his reputation that the +Royal Commission refused to transact business with him, or to admit him +to their presence. Mr. Hudson was not so particular. And now comes the +most extraordinary part of the episode. At the dinner it was necessary +that the health of Her Majesty as Suzerain should be proposed, and with +studied insolence this was done last of all the leading political +toasts, and immediately after that of the Triumvirate. Notwithstanding +this fact, and that the toast was couched by Mr. Joubert, who stated +that "he would not attempt to explain what a Suzerain was," in what +appear to be semi-ironical terms, we find that Mr. Hudson "begged to +tender his thanks to the Honourable Mr. Joubert for the kind way in +which he proposed the toast." + +It may please Mr. Hudson to see the name of the Queen thus +metaphorically dragged in triumph at the chariot wheels of the +Triumvirate, but it is satisfactory to know that the spectacle is not +appreciated in England: since, on a question in the House of Lords, by +the Earl of Carnarvon, who characterised it as a deliberate insult, +Lord Kimberley replied that the British Resident had been instructed +that in future he was not to attend public demonstrations unless he had +previously informed himself that the name of Her Majesty would be +treated with proper respect. Let us hope that this official reprimand +will have its effect, and that Mr. Hudson will learn therefrom that +there is such a thing as _trop de zéle_--even in a good cause. + +The Convention is now a thing of the past, the appropriate rewards have +been lavishly distributed to its framers, and President Brand has at +last prevailed upon the Volksraad of the Orange Free State to allow him +to become a Knight Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George,--the +same prize looked forward to by our most distinguished public servants +at the close of the devotion of their life to the service of their +country. But its results are yet to come--though it would be difficult +to forecast the details of their development. One thing, however, is +clear: the signing of that document signalised an entirely new +departure in South African affairs, and brought us within a measurable +distance of the abandonment, for the present at any rate, of the +supremacy of English rule in South Africa. + +This is the larger issue of the matter, and it is already bearing +fruit. Emboldened by their success in the Transvaal, the Dutch party at +the Cape are demanding, and the demand is to be granted, that the Dutch +tongue be admitted _pari passu_ with English, as the official +language in the Law Courts and the House of Assembly. When a country +thus consents to use a foreign tongue equally with its own, it is a +sure sign that those who speak it are rising to power. But "the Party" +looks higher than this, and openly aims at throwing off English rule +altogether, and declaring South Africa a great Dutch republic. The +course of events is favourable to their aspiration. Responsible +Government is to be granted to Natal, which country, not being strong +enough to stand alone in the face of the many dangers that surround +her, will be driven into the arms of the Dutch party to save herself +from destruction. It will be useless for her to look for help from +England, and any feelings of repugnance she may feel to Boer rule will +soon be choked by necessity, and a mutual interest. It is, however, +possible that some unforeseen event, such as the advent to power of a +strong Conservative Ministry, may check the tide that now sets so +strongly in favour of Dutch supremacy. + +It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration +of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it +would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little further and +favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, retaining +only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the bounds of +sober possibility that they may one day have to face a fresh Transvaal +rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale, and might find it +difficult to retain even Table Bay. If, on the other hand, they do, I +believe that all the White States in South Africa would confederate of +their own free-will, under the pressure of the necessity for common +action, and the Dutch element being preponderant, at once set to work +to exterminate the natives on general principles, in much the same way, +and from much the same motives that a cook exterminates black beetles, +because she thinks them ugly, and to clear the kitchen. + +I need hardly say that such a policy is not one that commands my +sympathy, but Her Majesty's Government having put their hand to the +plough, it is worth their while to consider it. It would at any rate be +in perfect accordance with their declared sentiments, and command an +enthusiastic support from their followers. + +As regards the smaller and more immediate issue of the retrocession, +namely, its effect on the Transvaal itself, it cannot be other than +evil. The act is, I believe, quite without precedent in our history, +and it is difficult to see, looking at it from those high grounds of +national morality assumed by the Government, what greater arguments can +be advanced in its favour, than could be found to support the +abandonment of,--let us say,--Ireland. Indeed a certain parallel +undoubtedly exists between the circumstances of the two countries. +Ireland was, like the Transvaal, annexed, though a long time ago, and +has continually agitated for its freedom. The Irish hate us, so did the +Boers. In Ireland, Englishmen are being shot, and England is running +the awful risk of blood-guiltiness, as it did in the Transvaal. In +Ireland, smouldering revolution is being fanned into flame by Mr. +Gladstone's speeches and acts, as it was in the Transvaal. In Ireland, +as in the Transvaal, there exists a strong loyal class that receives +insults instead of support from the Government, and whose property, as +was the case there, is taken from them without compensation, to be +flung as a sop to stop the mouths of the Queen's enemies. And so I +might go on, finding many such similarities of circumstances, but my +parallel, like most parallels, must break down at last Thus--it +mattered little to England whether or no she let the Transvaal go, but +to let Ireland go would be more than even Mr. Gladstone dare attempt. + +Somehow, if you follow these things far enough, you always come to +vulgar first principles. The difference between the case of the +Transvaal and that of Ireland is a difference not of justice of cause, +for both causes are equally unjust or just according as they are +viewed, but of mere common expediency. Judging from the elevated +standpoint of the national morality theory, however, which, as we know, +soars above such truisms as the foolish statement that force is a +remedy, or that if you wish to retain your prestige you must not allow +defeats to pass unavenged, I cannot see why, if it was righteous to +abandon the Transvaal, it would not be equally righteous to abandon +Ireland! + +As for the Transvaal, that country is not to be congratulated on its +success, for it has destroyed all its hopes of permanent peace, has +ruined its trade and credit, and has driven away the most useful and +productive class in the community. The Boers, elated by their success +in arms, will be little likely to settle down to peaceable occupations, +and still less likely to pay their taxes, which, indeed, I hear they +are already refusing to do. They have learnt how easily even a powerful +Government can be upset, and the lesson is not likely to be forgotten, +for want of repetition to their own weak one. + +Already the Transvaal Government hardly knows which way to turn for +funds, and as, perhaps fortunately for itself, quite unable to borrow, +through want of credit. + +As regards the native question, I agree with Mr. H. Shepstone, who, in +his Report on this subject, says that he does not believe that the +natives will inaugurate any action against the Boers, so long as the +latter do not try to collect taxes, or otherwise interfere with them. +But if the Boer Government is to continue to exist, it will be bound to +raise taxes from the natives, since it cannot collect much from its +white subjects. The first general attempt of the sort will be the +signal for active resistance on the part of the natives, whom, if they +act without concert, the Boers will be able to crush in detail, though +with considerable loss. If, on the other hand, they should have +happened, during the last few years, to have learnt the advantages of +combination, as is quite possible, perhaps they will crash the Boers. + +The only thing that is at present certain about the matter is that +there will be bloodshed, and that before long. For instance, the +Montsioa difficulty in the Keate Award has in it the possibilities of a +serious war, and there are plenty such difficulties ready to spring +into life within and without the Transvaal. + +In all human probability it will take but a small lapse of time for the +Transvaal to find itself in the identical position from which we +relieved it by the Annexation. + +What course events will then take it is impossible to say. It may be +found desirable to re-annex the country, though, in my opinion, that +would be, after all that has passed, an unfortunate step; its +inhabitants may be cut up piecemeal by a combined movement of native +tribes, as they would have been, had they not been rescued by the +English Government in 1877, or it is possible that the Orange Free +State may consent to take the Transvaal under its wing: who can say? +There is only one thing that our recently abandoned possession can +count on for certain, and that is trouble, both from its white +subjects, and the natives, who hate the Boers with a bitter and a +well-earned hatred. + +The whole question can, so far as its moral aspect is concerned, be +summed up in a few words. + +Whether or no the Annexation was a necessity at the moment of its +execution--which I certainly maintain it was--it received the +unreserved sanction of the Home authorities, and the relations of +Sovereign and subject, with all the many and mutual obligations +involved in that connection, were established between the Queen of +England and every individual of the motley population of the Transvaal. +Nor was this change an empty form, for, to the largest proportion of +that population, this transfer of allegiance brought with it a +priceless and a vital boon. To them it meant freedom and justice--for +where, on any portion of this globe over which the British ensign +floats, does the law even wink at cruelty or wrong? + +A few years passed away, and a small number of the Queen's subjects in +the Transvaal rose in rebellion against her authority, and inflicted +some reverses on her arms. Thereupon, in spite of the reiterated +pledges given to the contrary--partly under stress of defeat, and +partly in obedience to the pressure of "advanced views"--the country +was abandoned, and the vast majority who had remained faithful to the +Crown, was handed to the cruel despotism of the minority who had +rebelled against it. + +Such an act of treachery to those to whom we were bound with double +chains--by the strong ties of a common citizenship, and by those claims +to England's protection from violence and wrong which have hitherto +been wont to command it, even where there was no duty to fulfil, and no +authority to vindicate--stands, I believe, without parallel on our +records, and marks a new departure in our history. + +I cannot end these pages without expressing my admiration of the +extremely able way in which the Boers managed their revolt, when once +they felt that, having undertaken the thing, it was a question of life +and death with them. It shows that they have good stuff in them +somewhere, which, under the firm but just rule of Her Majesty, might +have been much developed, and it makes it the more sad that they should +have been led to throw off that rule, and have been allowed to do so by +an English Government. + +In conclusion, there is one point that I must touch on, and that is the +effect of the retrocession on the native mind, which I can only +describe as most disastrous. The danger alluded to in the Report of the +Royal Commission has been most amply realised, and the prevailing +belief in the steadfastness of our policy, and the inviolability of our +plighted word, which has hitherto been the great secret of our hold on +the Kafirs, has been rudely shaken. The motives that influenced, or are +said to have influenced, the Government in their act, are naturally +quite unintelligible to savages, however clever, who do believe that +force is a remedy, and who have seen the inhabitants of a country ruled +by England defeat English soldiers and take possession of it, whilst +those who remained loyal to England were driven out of it. It will not +be wonderful if some of them, say the natives of Natal, deduce +therefrom conclusions unfavourable to loyalty, and evince a desire to +try the same experiment. + +It is, however, unprofitable to speculate on the future, which must be +left to unfold itself. + +The curtain is, so far as this country is concerned, down for the +moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there is but +too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion, +which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the +future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The following pages, extracted from an introduction to a new edition to +"Cetywayo and His White Neighbours," written in 1888, are reprinted +here, because they contain matter of interest concerning the more +recent history of the Transvaal Boers. + + + _Extract from Introduction to New Edition of 1888._ + +The recent history of the Transvaal, now once more a republic, will +fortunately admit of brief treatment. It is, so far as England is +concerned, very much a history of concession. For an account of the +first Convention I must refer my readers to the remarks which I have +made in the chapter of this book headed "The Retrocession of the +Transvaal." It will there be seen that the Transvaal Volksraad only +ratified the first convention, which was wrung from us (Sir Evelyn +Wood, to his honour be it said, dissenting) after our defeats at Lang's +Nek, Ingogo, and Majuba, as a favour to the British Government, which +in its turn virtually promised to reconsider the convention, if only +the Volksraad would be so good as to ratify it. This convention was +ratified in October 1881. In June 1883 the Transvaal Government[14] +telegraphs briefly to Lord Derby through the High Commissioner that the +Volksraad has "resolved that time has come to reconsider convention." +Lord Derby quickly telegraphs back that "Her Majesty's Government +consent to inquire into the working of convention." Human nature is +frail, and it is impossible to help wishing that Lord Palmerston or +Disraeli had been appointed by the Fates to answer that telegram. But +we have fallen upon different days, and new men have arisen who appear +to be suited to them; and so the convention was reconsidered, and on +the 27th of February 1884 a new one was signed, which is known as the +convention of London. It begins by defining boundaries to which the +"Government of the South African Republic will strictly adhere, ... and +will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any +encroachments upon the said boundaries." The existence of the New +Republic in Zululand is a striking and practical comment on this +article. Article ii. also provides for the security of the amended +southwest boundary. The proclamation of 16th September 1884 (afterwards +disallowed by the English Government), by which the South African +Republic practically annexed the territories of Montsioa and Moshette, +already for the most part in the possession of its freebooters, very +clearly illustrates its anxiety to be bound by this provision. Art xii. +provides for the independence of the Swazis; and by way of illustrating +the fidelity with which it has been observed, we shall presently have +occasion to remark upon the determined attempts that have continually +been made by Boer freebooters to obtain possession of Swaziland--and so +on. + + [14] [C. 3659], 1883. + +In order to make these severe restrictions palatable to the burghers of +a free and haughty Republic, Lord Derby recommends Her Majesty's +Government to remit a trifling sum of £127,000 of their debt due to the +Imperial Treasury, which was accordingly done. On the whole, the +Transvaal had no reason to be dissatisfied with this new treaty, though +really the whole affair is scarcely worth discussing. Convention No. 2 +is almost as much a farce and a dead letter as was Convention No. 1. It +is, however, impossible to avoid being impressed with the really +remarkable tone, not merely of equality, but of superiority, adopted by +the South African Republic and its officials towards this country. To +take an instance. The Republic had found it convenient to wage a war of +extermination upon some Kafir chiefs. Two of these, Mampoer and Njabel, +fell into its hands. Her Majesty's Government was, rightly or wrongly, +so impressed with the injustice of the sentence of death passed upon +these unfortunates, that, acting through Mr. Hudson, the British +Resident at Pretoria, it strained every nerve to save them. This was +the upshot of it. In a tone of studied sarcasm, His Honour the State +President "observes with great satisfaction the great interest in these +cases which has been manifested by your Honour and Her Majesty's +Government." He then goes on to say that, notwithstanding this +interest, Mampoer will be duly and effectually hung, giving the exact +time and place of the event, and Njabel imprisoned for life, with hard +labour. Finally, he once more conveys "the hearty thanks of the +Government and the members of the Executive Council for the interest +manifested in these cases,"[15] and remains, &c. + + [15] [C. 3841], 1884, p 148. + +The independence of Swaziland was guaranteed by the convention of 1884. +Yet the Blue-books are full of accounts of various attempts made by +Boers to obtain a footing in Swaziland. Thus in November 1885 +Umbandine, the king of Swaziland, sends messengers to the Governor of +Natal through Sir T. Shepstone, in which he states that in the winter +Piet Joubert, accompanied by two other Boers and an interpreter, came +to his kraal and asked him to sign a paper "to say that he and all the +Swazis agreed to go over and recognise the authority of the Boer +Government, and have nothing more to do with the English."[16] Umbandine +refused, saying that he looked to and recognised the English +Government. Thereon the Boers, growing angry, answered, "Those fathers +of yours, the English, act very slowly; and if you look to them for +help, and refuse to sign this paper, we shall have scattered you and +your people, and taken possession of the land before they arrive. Why +do you refuse to sign the paper? You know we defeated the English at +Majuba." Umbandine's message then goes on to say that he recognises the +English Government only, and does not wish to have dealings with the +Boers. Also, in the following month, we find him making a direct +application to the Colonial Office through Mr. David Forbes,[17] praying +that his country may be taken under the protection of Her Majesty's +Government. + + [16] [C. 4645], 1886, p. 64. + + [17] Ibid. p. 70. + +More than one such attempt to secure informal rights of occupation in +Swaziland appears to have been made by the Transvaal Boers. Mr. T. +Shepstone, C.M.G., is at present acting as Resident to Umbandine, +though he has not, it would seem, any regular commission from the Home +Government authorising him to do so, probably because it does not +consider that its rights in Swaziland are such as to justify such an +assumption of formal authority over the Swazis. However this may be, +Umbandine could not have found a better man to protect his interests. +Of course, when acts like that of Piet Joubert are reported to the +Government of the South African Republic and made the subject of a +remonstrance by this country, all knowledge of them is repudiated, as +it was repudiated in the case of the invasion of Zululand. + +It is part of the policy of the Transvaal only to become an accessory +after the fact. Its subjects go forth and stir up trouble among the +natives, and then probably the Boer Government intervenes "in the +interests of humanity," and takes, or tries to take, the country. This +process is always going on, and, unless the British Government puts a +stop to it, always will go on. We shall probably soon hear that it is +developing itself in the direction of Matabeleland. A country the size +of France, which could without difficulty accommodate a population of +from eight to ten millions of industrious folk, is not large enough for +the wants of a Boer people, numbering something under fifty thousand +souls. Every young Boer must have his six or more thousand acres of +land on which to lord it. It is his birthright, and if it is not +forthcoming he goes and takes it by force from the nearest native +tribe. Hence these continual complaints. Of course, there are two ways +of looking at the matter. There is a party that does not hesitate to +say that the true policy of this country is to let the Boers work their +will upon the natives, and then, as they in turn fly from civilisation +towards the far interior, to follow on their path and occupy the lands +that they have swept. This plan is supported by arguments about the +superiority of the white races and their obvious destiny of rule. It +is, I confess, one that I look upon as little short of wicked. I could +never discern a superiority so great in ourselves as to authorise us, +by right divine as it were, to destroy the coloured man and take his +lands. It is difficult to see why a Zulu, for instance, has not as much +right to live in his own way as a Boer or an Englishman. Of course, +there is another extreme. Nothing is more ridiculous than the length to +which the black brother theory is sometimes driven by enthusiasts. A +savage is one thing, and a civilised man is another; and though +civilised men may and do become savages, I personally doubt if the +converse is even possible. But whether the civilised man, with his gin, +his greed, and his dynamite, is really so very superior to the savage +is another question, and one which would bear argument, although this +is not the place to argue it. My point is, that his superiority is not +at any rate so absolutely overwhelming as to justify him in the +wholesale destruction of the savage and the occupation of his lands, or +even in allowing others to do the work for him if he can prevent it. +The principle might conceivably be pushed to inconvenient and indecent +lengths. Savagery is only a question of degree. When all true savages +have been wiped out, the most civilised and self-righteous among the +nations may begin to give the term to those whom they consider to be on +a lower scale than themselves, and apply the argument also. Thus there +are "cultured" people in another land who do not hesitate to say that +the humble writers of these islands are rank and rude barbarians not to +be endured. Supposing that, being the stronger, they also _applied +the argument_, it would be inconvenient for some of us, and perhaps +the world would not gain so very much after all. But this is a +digression, only excusable, if excusable at all, in one who has endured +a three weeks' course of unmitigated Blue-book. To return. + +The process of absorption attempted in Swaziland, and brought to a +successful issue in Zululand, also went forward merrily in +Bechuanaland, till recently, under the rule of Mankorane, chief of the +Batlapins, and Montsioa, chief of the Baralongs. These two chiefs have +always been devoted friends and adherents of the English Government, +and consequently are not regarded with favour by the Boers. Shortly +after the retrocession of the Transvaal, a rival to Mankorane rose up +in the person of a certain Massou, and a rival to Montsioa named +Moshette. Both Massou and Moshette were supported by Boer fillibusters, +and what happened to Usibepu in Zululand happened to these unfortunate +chiefs in Bechuanaland. They were defeated after a gallant struggle, +and two Republics called Stellaland and Goschen were carved out of +their territories and occupied by the fillibusters. Fortunately for +them, however, they had a friend in the person of the Rev. John +Mackenzie, to whose valuable work, "Austral Africa," I beg to refer the +reader for a fuller account of these events. Mr. Mackenzie, who had for +many years lived as a missionary among the Bechuanas, had also mastered +the fact that it is very difficult to do anything for South Africa in +this country unless you can make it a question of votes, or, in other +words, unless you can bring pressure to bear upon the Government. +Accordingly he commenced an agitation on behalf of Mankorane and +Montsioa, in which he was supported by various religious bodies, and +also by the late Mr. Forster and the Aborigines Protection Society. As +a result of this agitation he was appointed Deputy to the High +Commissioner for Bechuanaland, whither he proceeded early in 1884 to +establish a British protectorate. He was gladly welcomed by the +unfortunate chiefs, who were now almost at their last gasp, and who +both of them ceded their rights of government to the Queen. Hostilities +did not, however, cease, for on the 31st July 1884 the fillibusters +again attacked Montsioa, routed him, and cruelly murdered Mr. Bethell, +his English adviser. Meanwhile Mr. Mackenzie's success was viewed with +very mixed feelings at the Cape. To the English party it was most +acceptable, but the Dutch,[18] and more numerous party, looked on it +with alarm and disgust. They did not at all wish to see the Imperial +power established in Bechuanaland; so pressure was put upon Sir +Hercules Robinson, and through him on Mr. Mackenzie, to such an extent +indeed as to necessitate the resignation of the latter. Thereon the +High Commissioner despatched a Cape politician, Mr. Cecil Rhodes, and +his own private secretary, Captain Bower, R.N., to Bechuanaland. These +gentlemen at once set to work to undo most of what Mr. Mackenzie had +done, and, generally speaking, did not advance either British or native +interests in Bechuanaland. At this point, taking advantage of the +general confusion, the Government of the South African Republic issued +a proclamation placing both Montsioa and Moshette under its protection, +as usual "in the interests of humanity." + + [18] By the Dutch party I mean the anti-Imperial and + retrogressive party. It must be remembered that many of the + now educated and progressive Boers do not belong to this. + +But the agitation in England had, fortunately for what remained of the +Bechuana people, not been allowed to drop. Her Majesty's Government +disallowed the Boer proclamation, under Article iv. of the convention +of London, and despatched an armed force to Bechuanaland, commanded by +Sir Charles Warren. This good act, I believe I am right in saying, we +owe entirely to the firmness of Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain, +who insisted upon its being done. Meanwhile Messrs. Upington and +Sprigg, members of the Cape Government, hastened to Bechuanaland to +effect a settlement before the arrival of Sir Charles Warren's force. +This settlement, though it might have been agreeable to the +fillibusters and the anti-Imperialists generally, was disallowed by Her +Majesty's Government as unsatisfactory, and Sir Charles Warren was +ordered to occupy Bechuanaland. This he accordingly did, taking Mr. +Mackenzie with him, very much against the will of the anti-English +party, and, be it added, of Sir Hercules Robinson. Indeed, if we may +accept Mr. Mackenzie's version of these occurrences, which seems to be +a fair one, and adequately supported by documentary evidence, the +conduct of Sir Hercules Robinson towards Mr. Mackenzie would really +admit of explanation. As soon as the freebooters saw that the Imperial +Government was really in earnest, of course there was no more trouble. +They went away, and Sir Charles Warren took possession of Bechuanaland +without striking a single blow. He remained in the country for nearly a +year arranging for its permanent pacification and government, and as a +result of his occupation, on the 30th September 1885, all the territory +south of the Molopo River was declared to be British territory, and +made into a quasi crown colony, the entire extent of land, including +the districts ruled over by Khama, Sechele, and Gasitsive, being about +160,000 square miles in area. I believe that the new colony of British +Bechuanaland is proving a very considerable success. Every provision +has been made for native wants, and its settlement goes on apace. There +is no reason why, with its remarkable natural advantages, it should not +one day become a great country, with a prosperous white, and a loyal +and contented native population. When this comes about it is to be +hoped that it will remember that it owes its existence to the energy +and firmness of Mr. Mackenzie, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, and +Sir Charles Warren. + +It is probably by now dawning upon the mind of the British public that +when we gave up the Transvaal we not only did a cowardly thing and +sowed a plentiful crop of future troubles, we also abandoned one of the +richest, if not the richest, country in the world. The great +gold-fields which exist all over the surface of the land are being +opened up and pouring out their treasures so fast that it is said that +the Transvaal Government, hitherto remarkable for its impecuniosity, +does not know what to do with its superfluous cash. To what extent this +will continue it is impossible to say, but I for one shall not be +surprised if the output should prove to be absolutely unprecedented. +And with gold in vast quantities, with iron in mountains, and coal-beds +to be measured by the scores of square miles, with lead and copper and +cobalt, a fertile soil, water, and one of the most lovely climates in +the world, what more is required to make a country rich and great? Only +one thing, an Anglo-Saxon Government, and that we have taken away from +the Transvaal. Whether the English flag has vanished for ever from its +borders is, however, still an open question. The discovery of gold in +such quantities is destined to exercise a very remarkable influence +upon the future of the Transvaal. Where gold is to be found, there the +hardy, enterprising, English-speaking diggers flock together, and +before them and their energy the Boer retreats, as the native retreats +and vanishes before the rifle of the Boer. Already there are many +thousands of diggers in the Transvaal; if the discoveries of gold go +on and prove as remunerative as they promise to be, in a few more years +their number will be vastly increased. Supposing that another five +years sees sixty or seventy thousand English diggers at work in the +Transvaal, is it to be believed that these men will in that event allow +themselves to be ruled by eight or nine thousand hostile-hearted Boers? +Is it to be believed, too, that the Boers will stop to try and rule +them? From such knowledge as I have of their character I should say +certainly not. They will _trek_, anywhere out of the way of the +Englishman and his English ways, and those who do not _trek_ will +be absorbed.[19] Should this happen, it is, of course, possible, and +even probable, that for some time the diggers, fearing the vacillations +of Imperial policy, would prefer to remain independent with a +Republican form of Government. But the Englishman is a law-abiding and +patriotic creature, and as society settled itself in the new community, +it would almost certainly desire to be united to the Empire and +acknowledge the sovereignty of the Queen. So far as a judgment can be +formed, if only the gold holds out the Transvaal will as certainly fall +into the lap of the Empire as a green apple will one day drop from the +tree--that is, if it is not gathered. + + [19] The occupation of Rhodesia has now made it impossible + for the Boers to trek out of reach of the English and their + flag.--H. R. H. + +Now it is quite possible that the Germans, or some other power, may try +to gather the Transvaal apple. The Boers are not blind to the march of +events, and they dislike us and our rule. Perhaps they might think it +worth their while to seek German protection, and unless we are prepared +to say "no" very firmly indeed--and who knows, in the present condition +of Home politics, what we are prepared to do from one day to +another?--Germany would in such a case almost certainly think it worth +her while to give it. Very likely the protection, when granted, would +in some ways resemble that which the Boer himself, his breast aglow +with love of peace and the "interests of humanity," is so anxious to +extend to the misguided native possessor of desirable and well-watered +lands. Very likely, in the end, the Boer would be sorry that he did not +accept the ills he knew of. But that is neither here nor there. So far +as we are concerned, the mischief would be done. In short, should the +position arise, everything will depend upon our capacity of saying +"no," and the tone in which we say it. It will not do to rely upon our +London convention, by which the Transvaal is forbidden to conclude +treaties with outside powers without the consent of this Government. +The convention has been broken before now, and will be broken again, if +the Boers find it convenient to break it, and know that they can do so +with impunity. Meanwhile we must rest on our oars and watch events. One +thing, however, might and should be done. Some person having weight and +real authority--if he were quite new to South Africa so much the +better--should be appointed as our Consul to watch over the welfare of +Englishmen and our Imperial interests at Pretoria, and properly paid +for doing so. It is difficult to find a suitable man unless he is +adequately salaried and supported. + +But quite recently this country has awakened to the knowledge that +Delagoa Bay is important to its South African interests, though how +important it perhaps does not altogether realise. For years and years +the colony of Natal has been employed in the intermittent construction +of a railway with a very narrow gauge, which is now open as far as +Ladysmith, or to within a hundred miles of the Transvaal border. Natal +is very poor, and in common with the rest of South Africa, and indeed +of the world, has lately been passing through a period of great +commercial depression. The Home Government has refused to help it to +construct its railways (if it had done so, how many hundreds of +thousand pounds would have been saved to the British taxpayer during +the Zulu and Boer wars!), and has equally refused to allow it to borrow +sufficient money to get them constructed, with the result that a large +amount of the interior trade has already been deflected into other +channels. And now a fresh and very real danger, not only to Natal, but +to all Imperial interests in South Africa, has sprung into sudden +prominence, that is, in this country, for in Africa it has been +foreseen for many years. Above Zululand is situated Amatongaland, which +reaches to the southern shore of one of the finest harbours in the +world, Delagoa Bay. This great bight, in which half a dozen navies +could ride at anchor, the only really good haven on the coasts of South +Africa, is fifty-five miles in width and twenty in depth, that is, from +east to west It is separated from the Transvaal, of which it is the +natural port, by about ninety miles of wild and sparsely inhabited +country. + +The ownership of this splendid port was for many years in dispute +between this country and the Portuguese, with whose dominions of +Mozambique it is connected by a strip of coast, and who have a small +fort upon it. This dispute was finally referred by Lord Granville in +1872 to the decision of Marshal MacMahon, and on this occasion, as on +every other in which this country has been weak enough to go to +arbitration, that decision was given against us. Into the merits of the +case it is not necessary to enter, further than to say, as has already +been recently pointed out by a very able and well-informed correspondent +of the _Morning Post_, that it is by no means clear by what right the +matter was referred to arbitration at all. The Amatongas are in +possession of the southern shore of the bay, including, I believe, the +Inyack Peninsula and Inyack Island, and they are an independent people. +The Swazis also abut on it, and they are independent. What warrant had +we to refer their rights to the arbitration of Marshal MacMahon? The +evidence of the exercise of any Portuguese sovereignty over these +countries is so shadowy that it may be said never to have existed; +certainly it does not exist now. This is a point, but it is nothing +more. We must take things as we find them, and we find that the +Portuguese have been formally declared and admitted by us to be the +owners of Delagoa Bay. + +Now, so long as we held the Transvaal it did not so much matter who had +the sovereignty of the Bay, since a railway constructed from there +could only run to British territory. But we gave up the Transvaal, +which is now virtually a hostile state, and the contingency which has +been so long foreseen in South Africa, and so blindly overlooked at +home, has come to pass--the railway is in course of rapid completion. +What does this mean to us? At the best, it means that we lose the +greater part of the trade of South-eastern Africa; at the worst, that +we lose it all. In other words, it means, putting aside the question of +our Imperial needs and status in Africa, a great many millions a year +in hard cash out of the national pocket. Let us suppose that the worst +happens, and that the Germans get a footing either in the Transvaal or +Delagoa Bay. Obviously they will stop our trade in favour of their own. +Or let us suppose that the Transvaal takes advantage of one of our +spasms of Imperial paralysis, such as afflicted us during the +_régime_ of Lord Derby, and defies the provision in the convention +which forbids them to put a heavier tax upon our goods than upon those +of any other nation. In either event our case would be a bad one, for +our road from the eastern coast to the vast interior is blocked. But it +is of little use crying over spilt milk, or anticipating evils which it +is our duty to try to avert, and which in all probability still could +be averted by a sound and consistent policy. + +To begin with, both Swaziland and Amatongaland can be annexed to the +Empire. It is true that the independence of the first of these +countries is guaranteed by Article xii. of the convention of London of +1884. Here is the exact wording:--"The independence of the Swazis +within the boundary-line of Swaziland, as indicated in the first +article of this convention, will be fully recognised." But England has +for years exercised a kind of protective right over Swaziland--a right, +as I have already shown, fully acknowledged and frequently appealed to +by the Swazis themselves. And for the rest, what is the obvious meaning +of this provision? It means that the independence of Swaziland is +guaranteed against Boer encroachments; its object was to protect the +Swazis from extermination at the hands of the Boers. Further, the Boers +have again and again broken this article of the convention in their +repeated attempts to get a foothold in Swaziland. It has now become +necessary to our interests that the Swazis should come under our rule, +as indeed they are most anxious to do, and a way should be found by +which this end can be accomplished. + +Then as to Amatongaland, or Maputaland, as it is sometimes called, only +a month or two ago an embassy from the Queen of that country waited on +the Colonial Office, praying for British protection. It is not known +what answer they received; let us trust that it was a favourable +one.[20] The protection that should be accorded to the Amatongas, both +in their interests and our own, is annexation to the British Empire +upon such terms as might be satisfactory to them. The management of +their country might be left to them, subject to the advice of a +Resident, and the enforcement of the ordinary laws respecting life and +property common to civilised states. Drink and white men might be +strictly excluded from it, unless the Amatongas should wish to welcome +the latter. But the country, with its valuable but undefined rights +over Delagoa Bay, should belong to England, for whoever owns Swaziland +and Amatongaland will in course of time be almost certain to own the +Bay also. It must further be remembered that circumstances have already +given us certain rights over the Amatongas. They regarded Cetywayo as +their suzerain, and it was, I believe, at his instance that Zambila was +appointed regent during the minority of her son. As we have annexed +what remains of Zululand, Cetywayo's suzerainty has consequently passed +to us. + + [20] I understand that the treaty which we have concluded + with Amatongaland (where, by the way, it is said a new + harbour has been discovered) binds the authorities of that + country not to cede territory to any other Power. But there + is nothing in such a treaty to prevent, say Portugal or the + Boers, from taking possession of the land by force of arms. + Were the country annexed to the Crown, or a British + Protectorate established, they would not dare to do this. + + _Note._--This has since been done.--H. R. H. + +Meanwhile, can nothing be done by direct treaty with the Portuguese? A +little while ago the Bay could no doubt have been acquired for a very +moderate consideration, but those golden opportunities have been +allowed to slip from hands busy weaving the web of party politics. Now +it is a different affair. Delagoa Bay is of no direct value to Portugal +except for the honour and glory of the thing. Portugal has never done +anything with it, any more than she has with her other African +possessions, and never will do anything with it. But it has become very +valuable, indeed, so far as its South African interests are concerned, +almost vital, to this country, and of that fact Portugal is perfectly +well aware. Consequently, if we want the Bay we must pay for it, if not +in cash, at the offer of which the Portuguese national pride might be +revolted, then in some other equivalent. Surely a power like England +could find a way of obliging one like Portugal in return for this small +concession. Or an exchange of territory might be effected. Perhaps +Portugal might be inclined to accept of some of our possessions on the +West Coast or an island or two in the West Indies. It is hard to +suppose that there is no way out of the trouble; but if indeed there is +none, why, then, one must be found, or we must be content to lose a +great part of our African trade. + +The reader who has followed me through this brief and imperfect summary +of recent events in South Africa will see how varied are its interests, +how enormous its areas, and how vast its wealth. In that great country +England is still the paramount power. Her prestige has, indeed, been +greatly shaken, and she is sadly fallen from her estate of eight or +nine years gone. But she is still paramount; and if she has to face the +animosity of a section of the Boers, she can, notwithstanding her many +crimes against them, set against it the love and respect of every +native in the land, with the exception, perhaps, of a few self-seekers +and intriguers. The history of the next twenty years, and perhaps of +the next ten, will decide whether this country is to remain paramount +or whether South Africa is to become a great Dutch, English-hating +Republic. There are some who call themselves Englishmen, and who +possessed by that strange itch which prompts them to desire any evil +that can humble their country in the face of her enemies, or can bring +about the advantage of the rebel to the injury of the loyal subject, to +whom this last event would be most welcome, and who have not hesitated +to say that it would be welcome. To such there is nothing to be said. +Let them follow their false lights and earn the wonder of true-hearted +men and the maledictions of posterity. + +But, addressing those of other and older doctrines, I would ask what +such an event would mean? It would mean nothing less than a great +national calamity; it would mean the utter ruin of the native tribes; +and, to come to a reason which has a wider popularity, for as I think +Mr. S. Little says in his work on South Africa, "the argument to the +pocket is the best argument to the man," it would mean the loss of a +vast trade, which, if properly protected, will be growing while we are +sleeping. And this calamity can yet be averted; the mistakes and +cowardice of the past can still be remedied, at any rate to a great +extent; the door is yet open. We have many difficulties to face, among +the chief of which are the Transvaal, the question of Delagoa Bay, and +last, but not least, the question of the Dutch party at the Cape, which +may be numerically the strongest party. When, in our mania for +representative institutions, we thrust responsible government upon the +Cape, we placed ourselves practically at the mercy of any chance +anti-English majority. It is possible that in the future we may find +some such majority urging upon an English Ministry the desirability of +the separation of the Cape Colony from the Empire, and may find also +that the prayer meets with favourable attention from those to whom +there is but one thing sacred, the rights of a majority, and especially +of an agitating majority. + +But let not the country be deceived by any such representations. The +natives too have a right to a voice in the disposal of their fortunes +and their lands. They are the majority in the proportion of three to +one, and let any doubter go and ask of them, anywhere from the Zambesi +to Cape Agulhas, whether they would rather be ruled by the Queen or by +a Boer Republic, and hear the answer. When it was a question of +surrendering the Transvaal we heard a great deal of the rights of some +thirty thousand Boers, and very little, or rather nothing, of the +rights of the million natives who lived in the country with them, and +to whom that country originally belonged. And yet, if the reader will +turn to that part of this book which deals with the question, he will +find that they had an opinion, and a strong one. No settlement of South +African questions that does not receive adequate consideration from a +native point of view can be a just settlement, or one which the Home +Government should sanction. Moreover, the Cape is not by any means +entirely anti-English at heart, as was shown clearly enough by the +number and enthusiasm of the loyalist meetings when its Ministry was +attempting to undo Mr. Mackenzie's work in Bechuanaland in the +interests of the Patriot-party. + +Still, it is possible that movements may arise under the fostering care +of the Africander Bond and its sympathisers, having for object the +separation of the colony from the Empire, or other ends fatal to +Imperial interests; and in this case the Home Government should be +prepared to disallow and put a final stop to them. We cannot afford to +lose our alternative route to India and to throw these great +territories into the hands of enemies, from which they would very +probably pass into those of commercial rivals. In such an event all +that would be required is a show of firmness. If once it was known that +an English Ministry really meant what it said, and that its promises +made in the Queen's name were not liable to be given the lie by a +succeeding set of politicians elected on another platform, there would +be an end to disloyalty and agitation in South Africa. As it is, +loyalists, remembering the experiences of the last few years, are +faint-hearted, never knowing if they will meet with support at home, +while agitators and enemies wax exceeding bold. + +Our system of party government, whatever may be its merits, if any, as +applied to Home politics, is a great enemy to the welfare and progress +of our Colonies, the affairs of which are, especially of late years, +frequently used as stalking-horses to cover an attack upon the other +side. Could not the two great parties agree to rule Colonial affairs, +and especially South African affairs, out of the party game? Could not +the policy of the Colonial Office be guided by a Commission composed of +members of different political opinions, and responsible not to party, +but to Parliament and the country, instead of by a succession of +Ministers as variable and as transitory as shadows? Lord Rosebery and +Mr. Chamberlain, for instance, are Radicals; but, putting aside party +tactics and exigencies, are their views upon Colonial matters so widely +different from those of, let us say, Sir Michael Hicks Beach and Lord +Carnarvon that it would be impossible for these four gentlemen to act +together on such a Commission? Surely they are not; and perhaps a day +may come when the common-sense of the country will lead it to adopt +some such system which would give to the Colonies a fixed and +intelligent control aiming at the furtherance of the joint interests of +the Empire and its dependencies. If it ever does, that day will be a +happy one for all concerned. + +Meanwhile, there is, so far as South Africa is concerned, a step that +might be taken to the great benefit of that country, and also of our +Imperial aims, and that is the appointment of a High Commissioner who +would have charge of all Imperial as distinguished from the various +Colonial interests. This appointment has already been advocated with +ability by Mr. Mackenzie in the last chapter of his book, "Austral +Africa," and it is undoubtedly one that should receive the +consideration of the Government. Such an officer would not supersede +the Governors of the various colonies or the administrators of the +native territories, although, so far as Imperial interests were +concerned, they would be primarily responsible to him. At present there +is no central authority except the Colonial Office, and Downing Street +is a long way off and somewhat overworked. Each Governor must +necessarily look at South African affairs from his own standpoint and +through local glasses. What is wanted is a man of the first ability, +whose name would command respect abroad and support at home; and +several such men could be found, who would study South African politics +as a whole as an engineer studies a map, and who would set himself to +conciliate and reconcile all interests for the common welfare and the +welfare of the mother-country. Such a man, or rather a succession of +such men, might, if properly supported, succeed in bringing about a +very different state of affairs from that which has been briefly +reviewed and considered in these pages. They might, little by little, +build up a South African Confederation, strong in itself and loyal to +England, that shall in time become a great empire. For my part, +notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers which we have brought upon +ourselves, and upon the various South African territories and their +inhabitants, I believe that such an empire is destined to arise, and +that it will not take the form of a Dutch Republic. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +I. + +THE POTCHEFSTROOM ATROCITIES, &c. + + +There were more murders and acts of cruelty committed during the war at +Potchefstroom, where the behaviour of the Boers was throughout both +deceitful and savage, than at any other place. + +When the fighting commenced a number of ladies and children, the wives +and children of English residents, took refuge in the fort. Shortly +after it had been invested they applied to be allowed to return to +their homes in the town till the war was over. The request was refused +by the Boer commander, who said that as they had gone there, they might +stop and "perish" there. One poor lady, the wife of a gentleman well +known in the Transvaal, was badly wounded by having the point of a +stake, which had been cut in two by a bullet, driven into her side. She +was at the time in a state of pregnancy, and died some days afterwards +in great agony. Her little sister was shot through the throat, and +several other women and children suffered from bullet wounds, and fever +arising from their being obliged to live for months exposed to rain and +heat, with insufficient food. + +The moving spirit of all the Potchefstroom atrocities was a cruel +wretch of the name of Buskes, a well-educated man, who, as an advocate +of the High Court, had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. + +One deponent swears that he saw this Buskes wearing Captain Fall's +diamond ring, which he had taken from Sergeant Ritchie, to whom it was +handed to be sent to England, and also that he had possessed himself of +the carriages and other goods belonging to prisoners taken by the +Boers.[21] Another deponent (whose name is omitted in the Blue Book for +precautionary reasons) swears, "That on the next night the patrol again +came to my house accompanied by one Buskes, who was secretary of the +Boer Committee, and again asked where my wife and daughter were. I +replied, in bed; and Buskes then said, 'I must see for myself.' I +refused to allow him, and he forced me, with a loaded gun held to my +breast, to open the curtains of the bed, when he pulled the bedclothes +half off my wife, and altogether off my daughter. I then told him if I +had a gun I would shoot him. He placed a loaded gun at my breast, when +my wife sprang out of bed and got between us." + + [21] Buskes was afterwards forced to deliver up the ring. + +I remember hearing at the time that this Buskes (who is a good +musician) took one of his victims, who was on the way to execution, +into the chapel and played the "Dead March in Saul," or some such +piece, over him on the organ. + +After the capture of the Court House a good many Englishmen fell into +the hands of the Boers. Most of these were sentenced to hard labour and +deprivation of "civil rights." The sentence was enforced by making them +work in the trenches under a heavy fire from the fort. One poor fellow, +F. W. Finlay by name, got his head blown off by a shell from his own +friends in the fort, and several loyal Kafirs suffered the same fate. +After these events the remaining prisoners refused to return to the +trenches till they had been "tamed" by being thrashed with the butt end +of guns, and by threats of receiving twenty-five lashes each. + +But their fate, bad as it was, was not so awful as that suffered by Dr. +Woite and J. Van der Linden. + +Dr. Woite had attended the Boer meeting which was held before the +outbreak, and written a letter from thence to Major Clarke, in which he +had described the talk of the Boers as silly bluster. He was not a paid +spy. This letter was, unfortunately for him, found in Major Clarke's +pocket-book, and because of it he was put through a form of trial, +taken out and shot dead, all on the same day. He left a wife and large +family, who afterwards found their way to Natal in a destitute +condition. + +The case of Van der Linden is somewhat similar. He was one of Raaf's +Volunteers, and as such had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. +In the execution of his duty he made a report to his commanding officer +about the Boer meeting, and which afterwards fell into the hands of the +Boers. On this he was put through the form of trial, and, though in the +service of the Queen, was found guilty of treason and condemned to +death. One of his judges, a little less stony-hearted than the rest, +pointed out that "when the prisoner committed the crime martial law had +not yet been proclaimed, nor the State," but it availed him nothing. He +was taken out and shot. + +A Kafir named Carolus was also put through the form of trial and shot, +for no crime at all that I can discover. + +Ten unarmed Kafir drivers, who had been sent away from the fort, were +shot down in cold blood by a party of Boers. Several witnesses depose +to having seen their remains lying together close by Potchefstroom. + +Various other Kafirs were shot. None of the perpetrators of these +crimes were brought to justice. The Royal Commission comments on these +acts as follows:-- + +"In regard to the deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, and Carolus, the +Boer leaders do not deny the fact that those men had been executed, but +sought to justify it. The majority of your Commissioners felt bound to +record their opinion that the taking of the lives of these men was an +act contrary to the rules of civilised warfare. Sir H. de Villiers was +of opinion that the executions in these cases, having been ordered by +properly constituted court martial of the Boers' forces after due +trial, did not fall under the cognisance of your Commissioners. + +"Upon the case of William Finlay the majority of your Commissioners +felt bound to record the opinion that the sacrifice of Finlay's life, +through forced labour under fire in the trenches, was an act contrary +to the rules of civilised warfare. _Sir H. de Villiers did not feel +justified by the facts of the case in joining in this expression of +opinion_ (sic). As to the case of the Kafir Andries, your Commissioners +decided that, although the shooting of this man appeared to them, from +the information laid before them, to be not in accordance with the +rules of civilised warfare, under all the circumstances of the case, it +was not desirable to insist upon a prosecution." + +"The majority of your Commissioners, although feeling it a duty to +record emphatically their disapproval of the acts that resulted in the +deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, Finlay, and Carolus, yet found it +impossible to bring to justice the persons guilty of these acts." + +It will be observed that Sir H. de Villiers does not express any +disapproval, emphatic or otherwise, of these wicked murders. + +But Potchefstroom did not enjoy a monopoly of murder. + +In December 1880, Captain Elliot, who was a survivor from the Bronker +Spruit massacre, and Captain Lambart, who had been taken prisoner by +the Boers whilst bringing remounts from the Free State, were released +from Heidelberg on parole on condition that they left the country. An +escort of two men brought them to a drift of the Vaal river, where they +refused to cross, because they could not get their cart through, the +river being in flood. The escort then returned to Heidelberg and +reported that the officers would not cross. A civil note was then sent +back to Captain Elliot and Lambart, signed by P. J. Joubert, telling +them "to pass the Vaal river immediately by the road that will be shown +to you." What secret orders, if any, were sent with this letter has +never transpired; but I decline to believe that, either in this or in +Barber's case, the Boer escort took upon themselves the responsibility +of murdering their prisoners, without authority of some kind for the +deed. + +The men despatched from Heidelberg with the letter found Lambart and +Elliot wandering about and trying to find the way to Standerton, They +presented the letter, and took them towards a drift in the Vaal. +Shortly before they got there the prisoners noticed that their escort +had been reinforced. It would be interesting to know, if these extra +men were not sent to assist in the murder, how and why they turned up +as they did and joined themselves to the escort. The prisoners were +taken to an old and disused drift of the Vaal river and told to cross. +It was now dark, and the river was much swollen with rain; in fact, +impassable for the cart and horses. Captains Elliot and Lambart begged +to be allowed to outspan till the next morning, but were told that they +must cross, which they accordingly attempted to do. A few yards from +the bank the cart stuck on a rock, and whilst in this position the Boer +escort poured a volley into it. Poor Elliot was instantly killed, one +bullet fracturing his skull, another passing through the back, a third +shattering the right thigh, and a fourth breaking the left wrist. The +cart was also riddled, but strange to say, Captain Lambart was +untouched, and succeeded in swimming to the further bank, the Boers +firing at him whenever the flashes of lightning revealed his +whereabouts. After sticking some time in the mud of the bank he managed +to effect his escape, and next day reached the house of an Englishman +called Groom, living in the Free State, and from thence made his way to +Natal. + +Two of the murderers were put through a form of trial, after the +conclusion of peace, and acquitted. + +The case of the murder of Dr. Barber is of a somewhat similar character +to that of Elliot, except that there is in this case a curious piece of +indirect evidence that seems to connect the murder directly with Piet +Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. + +In the month of February 1881, two Englishmen came to the Boer laager +at Lang's Nek to offer their services as doctors. Their names were Dr. +Barber, who was well known to the Boers, and his assistant, Mr. Walter +Dyas, and they came, not from Natal, but the Orange Free State. On +arrival at the Boer camp they were at first well received, but after a +little while seized, searched, and tied up all night to a disselboom +(pole of a waggon). Next morning they were told to mount their horses, +and started from the camp escorted by two men who were to take them +over the Free State line. + +When they reached the Free State line the Boers told them to get off +their horses, which they were ordered to bring back to the camp. They +did so, bade good-day to their escort, and started to walk on towards +their destination. When they had gone about forty yards Dyas heard the +report of a rifle, and Barber called out, "My God, I am shot!" and fell +dead. + +Dyas went down on his hands and knees and saw one of the escort +deliberately aim at him. He then jumped up, and ran dodging from right +to left, trying to avoid the bullet. Presently the man fired, and he +felt himself struck through the thigh. He fell with his face to the +men, and saw his would-be assassin put a fresh cartridge into his rifle +and aim at him. Turning his face to the ground he awaited his death, +but the bullet whizzed past his head. He then saw the men take the +horses and go away, thinking they had finished him. After waiting a +while he managed to get up and struggled to a house not far off; where +he was kindly treated and remained till he recovered. + +Some time after this occurrence a Hottentot, named Allan Smith, made a +statement at Newcastle, from, which it appears that he had been taken +prisoner by the Boers and made to work for them. One night he saw +Barber and Dyas tied to the disselboom, and overheard the following, +which I will give in his own words:-- + +"I went to a fire where some Boers were sitting; among them was a +low-sized man, moderately stout, with a dark brown full beard, +apparently about thirty-five years of age I do not know his name. +_He was telling his comrades that he had brought an order from Piet +Joubert_ to Viljoen, to take the two prisoners to the Free State +line _and shoot them there_. He said, in the course of conversation, +'Piet Joubert het gevraacht waarom was de mensche neet dood geschiet +toen hulle bijde eerste laager gekom het' ('Piet Joubert asked why were +the men not shot when they came to the first laager.') They then saw me +at the fire, and one of them said, 'You must not talk before that +fellow; he understands what you say, and will tell everybody. + +"Next morning Viljoen told me to go away, and gave me a pass into the +Free State. He said (in Dutch), 'You must not drive for any Englishman +again. If we catch you doing so we will shoot you, and if you do not go +away quick, and we catch you hanging about when we bring the two men to +the line, we will shoot you too.'" + +Dyas, who escaped, made an affidavit with reference to this statement +in which he says, "I have read the foregoing affidavit of Allan Smith, +and I say that the person described in the third paragraph thereof as +bringing orders from Piet Joubert to Viljoen, corresponds with one of +the Boers who took Dr. Barber and myself to the Free State, and to the +best of my belief he is the man who shot Dr. Barber." + +The actual murderers were put on their trial in the Free State, and, of +course, acquitted. In his examination at the trial, Allan Smith says, +"It was a young man who said that Joubert had given orders that Barber +had to be shot.... It was not at night, but in the morning early, when +the young man spoke about Piet Joubert's order." + +Most people will gather, from what I have quoted, that there exists a +certain connection between the dastardly murder of Dr. Barber (and the +attempted murder of Mr. Dyas) and Piet Joubert, one of that "able" +Triumvirate of which Mr. Gladstone speaks so highly. + +I shall only allude to one more murder, though more are reported to +have occurred, amongst them that of Mr. Malcolm, who was kicked to +death by Boers,--and that is Mr. Green's. + +Mr. Green was an English gold-digger, and was travelling along the main +road to his home at Spitzcop. The road passed close by the military +camp at Lydenburg, into which he was called. On coming out he went to a +Boer patrol with a flag of truce, and whilst talking to them was shot +dead. The Rev. J. Thorne, the English clergyman at Lydenburg, describes +this murder in an affidavit in the following words:-- + +"That I was the clergyman who got together a party of Englishmen and +brought down the body of Mr. Green who was murdered by the Boers and +buried it. I have ascertained the circumstances of the murder, which +were as follows:--Mr. Green was on his way to the gold-fields. As he +was passing the fort, he was called in by the officers, and sent out +again with a message to the Boer commandant. Immediately on leaving the +camp, he went to the Boer guard opposite with a flag of truce in his +hand; while parleying with the Boers, who proposed to make a prisoner +of him, he was shot through the head." + +No prosecution was instituted in this case. Mr. Green left a wife and +children in a destitute condition. + + + + +II. + +PLEDGES GIVEN BY MR GLADSTONE'S GOVERNMENT AS TO THE RETENTION OF +THE TRANSVAAL AS A BRITISH COLONY. + + +The following extracts from the speeches, despatches, and telegrams of +members of the present Government, with reference to the proposed +retrocession of the Transvaal, are not without interest:-- + +During the month of May 1880, Lord Kimberley despatched a telegram to +Sir Bartle Frere, in which the following words occur: "_Under no +circumstances can the Queen's authority in the Transvaal be +relinquished._" + +In a despatch dated 20th May, and addressed to Sir Bartle Frere, Lord +Kimberley says, "That the sovereignty of the Queen in the Transvaal +could not be relinquished." + +In a speech in the House of Lords on the 24th May 1880, Lord Kimberley +said:-- + +"There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding; it was +impossible to say what calamities such a step as receding might not +cause. We had, at the cost of much blood and treasure, restored peace, +and the effect of our now reversing our policy would be to leave the +province in a state of anarchy, and possibly to cause an internecine +war. For such a risk, he could not make himself responsible. The number +of the natives in the Transvaal was estimated at about 800,000, and +that of the whites less than 50,000. Difficulties with the Zulus and +frontier tribes would again arise, and, looking as they must to South +Africa as a whole, the Government, after a careful consideration of the +question, came to the conclusion _that we could not relinquish the +Transvaal_. Nothing could be more unfortunate than uncertainty in +respect to such a matter." + +On the 8th June 1880, Mr. Gladstone, in reply to a Boer memorial, wrote +as follows:-- + +"It is undoubtedly a matter for much regret that it should, since the +Annexation, have appeared that so large a number of the population of +Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed to the annexation of that +territory, but it is impossible now, to consider that question as if it +were presented for the first time. We have to do with a state of things +which has existed for a considerable period, during which _obligations +have been contracted, especially, though not exclusively, towards the +native population, which cannot be set aside_. Looking to all the +circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South Africa, and +to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders, which might lead +to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal but to the whole +of South Africa, _our judgment it that the Queen cannot be advised to +relinquish the Transvaal_." + +Her Majesty's Speech, delivered in Parliament on the 6th January 1881, +contains the following words: "A rising in the Transvaal has recently +imposed upon me the duty of _vindicating my authority_." + +These extracts are rather curious reading in face of the policy adopted +by the Government, after our troops had been defeated. + + + + +III. + +A BOER ON BOER DESIGNS. + + +I reprint here a letter published in _The Times_ of 14th October +1899, together with a prefatory note added by the editor of that +journal. This epistle seems to me worthy of the study of thinking men. +Much of it, most of it indeed, is mere brutal vapouring, false in its +facts, false in its deductions; remarkable only for the livid hues of +hate with which it is coloured. Yet in this vile concoction, the work +evidently of a half-educated member of the Cape Dutch party, or perhaps +of an Afrikander Irishman of the stamp of the late notorious Fenian +Aylward, appear statements built upon a basis of truth which we should +do well to lay to heart. I allude principally to the question of our +food supply and to the possible behaviour of the electorate in the +event of a great war under pressure of want and high prices. (See +paragraph 3 of the letter of "P. S.") In a very different work, "A +Farmer's Year," pages 179 and 380, I have attempted to treat of this +great matter which elsewhere has been dealt with also by others more +able and perhaps better qualified. Until it is reasonably certain that +under any circumstances which we can conceive the price of food stuffs +will not be raised to a prohibitive point, it can never be said that +the future of Great Britain is assured beyond all probable doubt. When +will this problem receive the attention it deserves at the hands of our +Governments and of those over whom they rule? + + +We have received the following letter, appropriately headed "Boer +Ignorance." The writer bears a well-known Dutch name, and gives as his +late address the name of a well-known town in a Dutch district of Cape +Colony:-- + + _To the Editor of the "Times."_ + + SIR,--In your paper you have often commented on what you are + pleased to call the ignorance of my countrymen, the Boers. We are + not so ignorant as the British statesmen and newspaper writers, nor + are we such fools as you British are. We know our policy, and we do + not change it. We have no opposition party to fear nor to truckle + to. Your boasted Conservative majority has been the obedient tool + of the Radical minority, and the Radical minority has been the + blind tool of our farseeing and intelligent, President. We have + desired delay, and we have had it, and we are now practically + masters of Africa from the Zambezi to the Cape. All the Afrikanders + in Cape Colony have been working for years for this end, for they + and we know the facts. + + 1. The actual value of gold in the Transvaal is at least 200,000 + millions of pounds, and this fact is as well known to the Emperors + of Germany and Russia as it is to us. You estimate the value of the + gold at only 700 millions of pounds, or, at least, that is what you + pretend to estimate it at. But Germany, Russia, and France do not + desire you to get possession of this vast mass of gold, and so, + after encouraging you to believe that they will not interfere in + South Africa they will certainly do so, and very easily find a + _casus belli_, and they will assist us directly and indirectly + to drive you out of Africa. + + 2. We know that you dare not take any precautions in advance to + prevent the onslaught of the Great Powers, as the Opposition, the + great peace party, will raise the question of expense, and this + will win over your lazy, dirty, drunken working classes, who will + never again permit themselves to be taxed to support your Empire, + or even to preserve your existence as a nation. + + 3. We know from all the military authorities of the European and + American continents that you exist as an independent Power merely + on sufferance, and that at any moment the great Emperor William can + arrange with France or Russia to wipe you off the face of the + earth. They can at any time starve you into surrender. You must + yield in all things to the United States also, or your supply of + corn will be so reduced by the Americans that your working classes + would be compelled to pay high prices for their food, and rather + than do that they would have civil war, and invite any foreign + Power to assist them by invasion, for there is no patriotism in the + working classes of England, Wales, or Ireland. + + 4. We know that your country has been more prosperous than any + other country during the last fifty years (you have had no civil + war like the Americans and French to tone up your nerves and + strengthen your manliness), and consequently your able-bodied men + will not enlist in your so-called voluntary army. Therefore you + have to hire the dregs of your population to do your fighting, and + they are deficient in physique, in moral and mental ability, and in + all the qualities that make good fighting men. + + 5. Your military officers we know to be merely pedantic scholars or + frivolous society men, without any capacity for practical warfare + with white men. The Afridis were more than a match for you, and + your victory over the Sudanese was achieved because those poor + people had not a rifle amongst them. + + 6. We know that your men, being the dregs of your people, are + naturally feeble, and that they are also saturated with the most + horrible sexual diseases, as all your Government returns plainly + show, and that they cannot endure the hardships of war. + + 7. We know that the entire British race is rapidly decaying, your + birth-rate is rapidly falling, your children are born weak, + diseased, and deformed, and that the major part of your population + consists of females, cripples, epileptics, consumptives, cancerous + people, invalids, and lunatics of all kinds whom you carefully + nourish and preserve. + + 8. We know that nine-tenths of your statesmen and higher officials, + military and naval, are suffering from kidney diseases, which + weaken their courage and will-power and makes them shirk all + responsibility as far as possible. + + 9. We know that your Navy is big, but we know that it is not + powerful, and that it is honeycombed with disloyalty--as witness + the theft of the signal-books, the assaults on officers, the + desertions, and the wilful injury of the boilers and machinery, + which all the vigilance of the officers is powerless to prevent. + + 10. We know that the Conservative Government is a mere sham, and + that it largely reduced the strength of the British artillery in + 1888-89. And we know that it does nor dare now to call out the + Militia for training, nor to mobilise the Fleet, nor to give + sufficient grants to the Line and Volunteers for ammunition to + enable them to become good marksmen and efficient soldiers. We + know that British soldiers and sailors are immensely inferior as + marksmen, not only to Germans, French, and Americans, but also to + Japanese, Afridis, Chilians, Peruvians, Belgians, and Russians. + + 11. We know that no British Government dares to propose any form of + compulsory military or naval training, for the British people would + rather be invaded, conquered, and governed by Germans, Russians, or + Frenchmen than be compelled to serve their own Government. + + 12. We Boers know that we will not be governed by a set of British + curs, but that we will drive you out of Africa altogether, and the + other manly nations which have compulsory military service--the + armed manhood of Europe--will very quickly divide all your other + possessions between them. + + Talk no more of the ignorance of the Boers or Cape Dutch; a few + days more will prove your ignorance of the British position, and in + a short space of time you and your Queen will be imploring the good + offices of the great German Emperor to deliver you from your + disasters, for your humiliations are not yet complete. + + For thirty years the Cape Dutch have been waiting their chance, and + now their day has come; they will throw off their mask and your + yoke at the same instant, and 300,000 Dutch heroes will trample you + under foot. + + We can afford to tell you the truth now, and in this letter you + have got it.--Yours, &c., + + P. S. + + _October 12._ + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + Edinburgh & London + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Boer War, by H. Rider Haggard + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44649 *** diff --git a/44649-h/44649-h.htm b/44649-h/44649-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf2cd3f --- /dev/null +++ b/44649-h/44649-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8909 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Last Boer War, by H. Rider Haggard—A Project Gutenberg +eBook</title> +<style type="text/css"> + + body {margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%;} + + p {text-indent: 0em; + text-align: justify; + margin-top: .80em; + margin-bottom: .80em; + line-height: 1.25em;} + + .hang {text-align: justify; + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em;} + + .blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 7%; + margin-right: 7%; + font-size: 98%; + margin-top: 1.5em; + margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + + .sig {margin-left: 63%; + text-align: left;} + + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .space {line-height: .25em;} + + sup, sub {font-size: 75%; + line-height: 50%;} + + .ctr {text-align: center;} + .ctrbold {text-align: center; + font-weight: bold;} + .ctrsmall {text-align: center; + font-size: 90%;} + .ctrsmaller {text-align: center; + font-size: 80%;} + .ctrsmallest {text-align: center; + font-size: 70%;} + .ctrlarge {text-align: center; + font-size: 120%;} + .ctrtoppad {text-align: center; + padding-top: 2em;} + + .small {font-size: 90%;} + .smaller {font-size: 80%;} + .smallest {font-size: 70%;} + + .fn {font-size: .7em; + text-decoration: none;} + + dl.footnotes {margin: 1em 2em;} + + dt.notelabel {text-align: right; + width: 3em; + font-size: 96%;} + + dd.notetext {text-align: justify; + margin: 0em 3em 1em 3em; + font-size: 94%;} + + #coverpage {border: .1em solid black;} + + @media print, handheld + {.figcenter {text-align: center; + margin: 2em auto auto auto;} + body {margin-left: 2%; + margin-right: 2%;} + .poetry {display: block; + margin-left: 1.5em;} + table {font-size: x-small;}} + + img {max-width: 100%; + height:auto;} + + .figcenter {clear: both; + margin: 2em auto; + text-align: center; + max-width: 100%;} + + .titlepage {font-weight: bold;} + .booktitle {font-weight: bold; + text-align: center; + font-size: 118%; + padding-top: 2em; + page-break-before: always;} + + h1 {text-align: center; + font-size: 140%; + font-weight: bold; + line-height: 2em; + padding-top: 1em; + page-break-before: always;} + + h2 {text-align: center; + font-size: 110%; + font-weight: bold; + padding-top: 3em; + padding-bottom: 1em; + page-break-before: always;} + + h3 {text-align: center; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + padding-top: 2em; + padding-bottom: .5em;} + + hr {width: 65%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; + clear: both;} + + hr.med {width: 50%; + height: .1em; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 25%; + margin-right: 25%; + clear: both;} + + hr.short {width: 35%; + height: .1em; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 32.5%; + margin-right: 32.5%; + clear: both;} + + .poetry-container {text-align: center;} + + .poetry {display: inline-block; + text-align: left; + line-height: 1.25em;} + + .poetry .headstanza {margin: .5em 0em 1.25em 0em;} + .poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} + .poetry .stanzaitalic {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; font-style:italic;} + .poetry div {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + .poetry .i0h {margin-left: 0.5em;} + .poetry .i1 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poetry .i1h {margin-left: 1.5em;} + .poetry .i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poetry .i3h {margin-left: 3.5em;} + .poetry .i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + + table {margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em;} + + td.chpt {vertical-align: top; + text-align: center; + padding-top: 1.5em; + padding-bottom: .5em;} + + td.txt {vertical-align: top; + text-align: justify; + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em;} + + td.pg {vertical-align: bottom; + text-align: right; + padding-left: .5em;} + + td.section {text-align: right; + vertical-align: top; + padding-right: .5em;} + + .tn {font-size: small; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding: .2em 1em .2em 1em; + background-color: #E6E6E6; + border-style: solid; + border-width: .1em;} + + div.box { margin-right:auto; + margin-left: auto; + max-width: 25em; + border-style: solid; + border-width: .1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + + ul {list-style: none;} + li {text-align: left; + padding-bottom: .2em; + font-variant: small-caps;} + + a:link {color: #00F; + text-decoration:none;} + a:visited {color:#F00; + text-decoration:none;} + +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44649 ***</div> + +<p class="ctrlarge"> +THE LAST BOER WAR +</p> + + +<p> +"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in +this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the +old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English +politics than such an idea. I tell you there is no Government—Whig or +Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical—who would dare, under any +circumstances, to give back this country (the Transvaal). They would +not dare, because the English people would not allow them."—(<i>Extract +from Speech of Sir Garnet Wolseley, delivered at a Public Banquet in +Pretoria, on the 17th December 1879.</i>) +</p> + +<p class="space"> + +</p> + +<p> +"There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding (from the +Transvaal); it was impossible to say what calamities such a step as +receding might not cause…. For such a risk he could not make himself +responsible…. Difficulties with the Zulu and the frontier tribes +would again arise, and looking as they must to South Africa as a whole, +the Government, after a careful consideration of the question, came to +the conclusion that we could not relinquish the Transvaal."—(<i>Extract +from Speech of Lord Kimberley in the House of Lords, 24th May 1880. +H.P.D., vol. cclii., p. 208.</i>) +</p> + +<p class="space"> + +</p> + +<p> +"Our judgment is that the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish the +Transvaal."—(<i>Extract from Reply of Mr. Gladstone to Boer Memorial, +8th June 1880.</i>) +</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter"><img width="378" height="585" id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover"></div> + + +<h1> +THE LAST BOER WAR +</h1> +<br> +<div class="titlepage"> +<p class="ctrsmaller"> +BY +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +H. RIDER HAGGARD +</p> + +<br> +<p class="ctrsmall"> +<i>THIRTY-FIFTH THOUSAND</i> +</p> + +<br> +<p class="ctrsmaller"> +LONDON<br> +KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO. L<sup>TD.</sup><br> +PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD +</p> + +<p class="ctrsmaller"> +1900 +</p> +</div> + +<br> +<div class="box"> +<p class="ctr"> +WORKS BY H. RIDER HAGGARD. +</p> + +<ul> +<li>Cetywayo and His White Neighbours.</li> +<li>Dawn.</li> +<li>King Solomon's Mines.</li> +<li>The Witch's Head.</li> +<li>She.</li> +<li>Allan Quatermain.</li> +<li>Jess.</li> +<li>Colonel Quaritch, V.C.</li> +<li>Maiwa's Revenge.</li> +<li>Mr. Meeson's Will.</li> +<li>Allan's Wife.</li> +<li>Cleopatra.</li> +<li>Beatrice.</li> +<li>Eric Brighteyes.</li> +<li>Nada the Lily.</li> +<li>Montezuma's Daughter.</li> +<li>The People of the Mist.</li> +<li>Joan Haste.</li> +<li>Heart of the World.</li> +<li>Doctor Therne.</li> +<li>Swallow.</li> +<li>A Farmer's Year.</li> +<li> </li> +<li><i>In Collaboration with Andrew Lang.</i></li> +<li>The World's Desire.</li> +</ul> +</div> + +<p class="ctrsmaller"> +<i>The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.</i> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +<a name="note"> </a> +AUTHOR'S NOTE. +</h2> + + +<p> +It has been suggested that at this juncture some students of South +African history might be glad to read an account of the Boer Rebellion +of 1881, its causes and results. Accordingly, in the following pages +are reprinted portions of a book which I wrote so long ago as 1882. It +may be objected that such matter must be stale, but I venture to urge, +on the contrary, that to this very fact it owes whatever value it may +possess. This history was written at the time by one who took an active +part in the sad and stirring events which it records, immediately after +the issue of those events had driven him home to England. Of the +original handful of individuals who were concerned in the annexation of +the Transvaal by Sir Theophilus Shepstone in 1877, of whom I was one, +not many now survive. When they have gone, any further accurate report +made from an intimate personal knowledge of the incidents attendant on +that act will be an impossibility; indeed it is already impossible, +since after the lapse of twenty years men can scarcely trust to their +memories for the details of intricate political occurrences, even +should they be prompted to attempt their record. It is for this reason, +when the melancholy results which its pages foretell have overtaken us, +that I venture to lay them again before the public, so that any who are +interested in the matter may read and find in the tale of 1881 the true +causes of the war of 1899. +</p> + +<p> +I have written "which its pages foretell." Here are one or two passages +taken from them almost at hazard that may be thought to justify the +words: +</p> + +<p> +"It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration +of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it +would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little farther, +and favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, +retaining only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the +bounds of possibility that they may one day have <i>to face a fresh +Transvaal rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale</i>, and might +find it difficult to retain even Table Bay." +</p> + +<p> +And again: "The curtain, so far as this country is concerned, is down +for the moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there +is but too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion +which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the +future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos." +</p> + +<p> +One more quotation. In speaking of the various problems of South +Africa, I find that I said that "unless they are treated with more +honest intelligence, and on a more settled plan than it has hitherto +been thought necessary to apply to them, the British taxpayer will find +that he has by no means heard the last of that country and its wars." +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps in a year from the present date the British taxpayer will be in +a position to admit the value of this prophecy. +</p> + +<p> +Nearly two decades have gone by since these words were written. Put +very briefly, what has happened in that time? In 1884, at the request +of the Transvaal Government, the Ministry, of which the late Lord Derby +was a member, consented to modify the Convention of 1881, and to +substitute in its place what is known as the London Convention. This +new agreement amended the terms of the former document in certain +particulars. Notably all mention of the suzerainty of the Queen was +omitted, from which circumstance the Boers and their impassioned +advocates have argued that it was abrogated. There is nothing to show +that this contention is correct. Mere silence does not destroy so +important a stipulation, and it appears to be doubtful whether even a +Lord Derby would have been prepared to nullify the imperial rights of +his sovereign and his country in this negative and novel fashion. It is +more probable to suppose that had such action been decided on, effect +would have been given to it in direct and unmistakable language. But +even if it could be proved that this view of the case is wrong, the +general issue would scarcely be affected. +</p> + +<p> +That issue, as I understand it, is as follows: The Convention of 1881 +guaranteed to all inhabitants of the Transvaal equal rights—"Complete +self-government subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and +successors, will be accorded to the <i>inhabitants of the Transvaal +territory</i>"—Mr. Kruger explaining verbally at a meeting of the +conference, that the only difference would be that in the case of young +persons who became resident in the Transvaal, there might be some +slight delay in granting full burgher privileges, limited, it would +appear, to one year's residence.<a href="#note1" name="noteref1"><small>[1]</small></a> After that time, then, according to +the terms of this solemn agreement, which in these particulars were not +modified or even touched, by the supplementary and amending paper of +1884, any one who wished to claim the advantages of Transvaal +citizenship might do so. +</p> + +<p> +Some years later an event occurred fated profoundly to influence the +destinies of South Africa, namely, the discovery of the Witwatersrand +gold deposits, perhaps the richest and the most permanent in the whole +world. Instantly adventurers, most of them of Anglo-Saxon origin, +flocked in thousands to the place where countless wealth lay buried in +the earth, and on the plains over which I have seen the wild game +wandering, sprang up the city of Johannesburg with its motley and +cosmopolitan population, its speculators, company promoters, traders, +miners, and labouring men. +</p> + +<p> +To the Transvaal, at any rate in the beginning, the arrival of these +wealth-engendering hordes was what the fall of copious rain is to the +sun-parched veld. By this time the country was once more almost +bankrupt, but now, as though by the waving of a magician's wand, money +began to flow into its coffers. One of the characteristics of the Boer +is his hatred of taxation; one of his notions of terrestrial bliss is +to live in a land where the necessary expenses of administration are +paid by somebody else, an advantage, I understand, that among all the +civilised nations of the earth is enjoyed alone by the inhabitants of +the Principality of Monaco. It is not usual, either in the instance of +communities or individuals, that such ideals should be absolutely +attained. Yet to the fortunate possessors of the South African Republic +this happened. For quite a long period they lived at ease in their +dorps and on their farms, while the dwellers at Johannesburg, delving +like gnomes in the reefs of the Rand, provided them with magnificent +and never-failing supplies of cash. Then questions began to arise, as +they will do in this imperfect sphere. The Uitlanders, as the strangers +were called, remembering the terms of the Conventions, drawn under a +very different condition of affairs but still binding, hinted at a wish +for burgher rights. +</p> + +<p> +The Boers, who if they liked their money objected to the money-makers, +instantly took alarm. If the vote were given to the Uitlanders it was +obvious that very soon they would outnumber the original electors. Then +in a natural, but to them terrifying, sequence would come a +redistribution of the burdens of taxation, the abolition of monopolies, +the punishment of corruption, the just treatment of the native races, +the absolute purity of the courts, and all the other things and +institutions, in their eyes abominable, which mark the advent of +Anglo-Saxon rule. Behind these also loomed another danger, that of the +ultimate reappearance of the English flag. So legislation was resorted +to, and bit by bit the Uitlanders were stripped of the rights inherent +to their position as "inhabitants of the Transvaal territory," till at +last none were left to them at all. Indeed Press laws were passed and +other enactments controlling the privilege of free speech and public +meetings. Of course had the British Government put down its foot firmly +and at once at the first symptom of a desire on the part of the Boers +to whittle away such advantages as the Conventions secured to our +fellow-subjects, the present sad situation need never have arisen. But +British Governments are seldom fond of doing things at the right time, +more especially if the issue is not sufficiently distinct to be +appreciated by the masses of the electorate. Therefore matters were +allowed to drift, and they drifted into that outrageous fiasco, the +Jameson Raid of 1895. +</p> + +<p> +Into the history of that event I do not propose to enter; it is +sufficiently well known. Suffice it to say in this brief summary, that +it was the result of a compact under which Dr. Jameson was to come to +Johannesburg with a large armed force of Rhodesian police, with the +view of assisting the Uitlanders to obtain by arms what was denied to +their petitions. +</p> + +<p> +The agreement is undoubted and admitted, but all the rest is chaos. +Failure in a hundred shapes dogged the steps of these ineffective +conspirators. Dr. Jameson, with 500 men instead of 1200, took the bit +between his teeth and started at the wrong time. The Uitlanders did not +sally forth to meet him, the wires were not cut, the railway line was +not destroyed, the Boers were warned, and assembled in great numbers. +Dr. Jameson, who apparently lost his way on the veld, was entrapped +into a bad position, where, after a space of somewhat feeble combat, he +and his whole force surrendered, their lives being guaranteed to them. +The despatch-box of the raiders, with the ciphers and sundry +incriminating documents, was allowed to fall into the hands of the +enemy, and, on their own ammunition-waggons, the personnel of the Raid +performed the journey to that city of Pretoria, which when reinforced +by the Uitlanders they were to have entered in triumph. Thence they +were in due course despatched to London for trial. The members of the +Reform Committee were also seized and tried at Pretoria, several of +them being condemned to death, a sentence which was not executed; the +whole story, coming to its end to an accompaniment of the clash not of +swords, but of gold; the fines inflicted upon the conspirators by the +Transvaal Government amounting to a total of many tens of thousands of +pounds. +</p> + +<p> +Such, except for mutual recriminations which still continue, was the +end of Johannesburg's armed attempt to throw off the yoke of the Boer, +and of the efforts of the ruling powers of Rhodesia to assist them in +the task. Of course the upshot was that the poor Uitlanders fell into a +still deeper pit of oppression and despair. Lord Rosmead, then Sir +Hercules Robinson, never a proconsul remarkable for an iron will, it is +true visited the Transvaal in a great flurry, and assured, or caused +Sir Sidney Shippard and the British agent, a gentleman of the somewhat +alien-sounding name of Sir Jacobus de Wet, in substance to assure the +Uitlanders that if only they would disarm probably their wrongs must +shortly be righted by a beneficent Boer president, assisted to the task +by a Raad full of forgiveness and charity. Moreover, Sir Jacobus de Wet +told them explicitly that the lives of Jameson and his men depended +upon their laying down such weapons as they possessed, although of +course those lives were already guaranteed by the terms of the +surrender. +</p> + +<p> +But this raid had wider issues of an imperial nature. Thus it provoked +the famous telegram from the Emperor William II., which at one time +threatened to bring about a war between Great Britain and Germany. +Also, so far as these South African troubles were concerned, it put our +country hopelessly in the wrong in the eyes of the civilised world, +whom it proved difficult to persuade, although in fact this was the +case, that such strange and tortuous developments of political and +martial activity were purely local in their origin. Again it armed the +Boer with a sword of wondrous power. If Providence had sent all the +German legions to his aid it could scarcely have served him better. Now +indeed he was able to point to his land violated by the foot of the +invader, and to talk of raids as though such a wicked word had never +defiled the innocence of his ears; as though in truth he had never +heard of the plains of Stellaland, and of a certain expedition sent by +the British Government under the command of Sir Charles Warren to +preserve those territories to the peaceful enjoyment of their owners; +nor of that stretch of country which once belonged to the Zulus, but is +now called the New Republic; nor of the trek into Rhodesia that was +"damped"; nor of the extension of authority over Swaziland in defiance +of the provisions of the Convention, and of other kindred matters. +</p> + +<p> +Also it enabled him to claim "moral and intellectual damages" to a +considerable amount, although, so far as the public is aware, these +have never been satisfied, and indeed caused Pharaoh to harden his +heart, and while demanding from the new Israelites of Johannesburg an +even heavier tale of bricks in the shape of direct and indirect +taxation, to deprive them one by one of their last straws of freedom. +</p> + +<p> +Thus things fell back into their former courses, the old abuses +flourished like bay trees, the lucky holders of dynamite and other +monopolies grew fabulously rich, and—so powerful is the love of +gold—<i lang="la">auri sacra fames</i>—so much more do men value it than +freedom and pure government—the population of Johannesburg still +increased. +</p> + +<p> +More than two years have gone by since Sir Alfred Milner was sent as +High Commissioner to South Africa, during all which time, backed by her +Majesty's present Government, he has been doing his best to secure +redress for the Uitlanders, and to arrange various differences that +have arisen between the Empire and the Transvaal Republic. At length +these efforts resulted in the meeting between himself and President +Kruger, known as the Bloemfontein Conference, which took place about +four months ago. At that Conference Sir Alfred Milner advanced the +request, modest enough seeing that they are entitled to nothing less +than equal rights with the other "inhabitants of the Transvaal," that +those Uitlanders who wished to adopt the country as their home should +be entitled to the franchise after five years' residence. This was +refused by President Kruger as endangering the independence of the +State, and the Conference broke up. It was from this time forward that +war came to be looked upon as probable. In reply to various despatches +and representations of the Imperial Government, the President and +Volksraad made certain offers of a franchise which, if they were ever +seriously meant, were hampered with provisos, such as rendered them +impossible for this country to accept. Thus the five years' offer of +August 19 was coupled with the conditions that in the future there +should be no interference in the internal affairs of the Republic, that +her Majesty's Government would not further insist on the assertion of +the suzerainty, and that the principle of arbitration in the event of +future differences arising should be admitted. +</p> + +<p> +Had the Government agreed to these terms it would have meant, of +course, that the last shadow of the Queen's authority would have +vanished from the Transvaal, and as they had bound themselves not to +interfere in future, that they might be forced to look on while the +franchise which was granted one year was repealed or rendered nugatory +the next. Also, it must be remembered that this question of the +franchise does not cover all the grounds of difference between the two +parties; indeed, it seems that a great deal too much importance has +been given to the matter. Even if a certain number of Uitlanders +elected to become citizens of a Boer state, it is difficult to see, +however advantageous that circumstance might prove to themselves, in +what way it would directly assist the Imperial power on such a +question, let us say, as the treatment of our Indian subjects settled +in the Transvaal. To begin with, the new-born burghers might be +indifferent to the needs and wishes of the country they had renounced. +They might even consider that their oath of allegiance bound them to +oppose those wishes. At the least, even if they had the power to help +us, which could not be the case for many years, surely it would be +neither wise nor dignified for the power to which they once belonged to +trust solely to their good offices. +</p> + +<p> +In the newspapers and elsewhere Johannesburg and its Uitlanders are +spoken of continually as though they made up the sum of the situation. +It is the common cry of Liberal Forwards and of those gentlemen who +might perhaps be called Radical Backwards, that this war is to be waged +for the Uitlander and the millionaire. Of course this is not in the +least true. The Uitlander, with his woes, is only the blister that has +brought the sore of Transvaal misrule and Dutch ambitions in South +Africa to so proud a head, that at last the South African Republic has +come to describe itself as "a Sovereign independent State." That he and +his "Magnates," as Rand millionaires are called, will profit enormously +from a successful war waged by the Imperial Power is admitted; but +because the effect of such a struggle will be ultimately to put a +number of annual millions into certain pockets, it does not follow that +the war is fought for that purpose. Indeed the veriest "jingo" could +scarcely show himself self-sacrificing and altruistic. This is no local +but an Imperial question to be decided in the interests of the Empire. +</p> + +<p> +To return to the course of the negotiations. Offers, withdrawals, +stipulations, palliative clauses, proposals for further conferences +followed each other in bewildering variety, till at length, worn out, +Mr. Chamberlain, on September 22, intimated to the Government of the +South African Republic, through Sir Alfred Milner, that it was "useless +to further pursue a discussion on the lines hitherto followed, and her +Majesty's Government are now compelled to consider the situation +afresh, and to formulate their own proposals for a final settlement of +the issues which have been created in South Africa by the policy +constantly followed for many years by the Government of the South +African Republic. They will communicate to you the result of their +deliberations in a later despatch." +</p> + +<p> +It is rumoured that this later despatch has been delivered at Pretoria, +but has as yet received no reply. Three days later, however, namely, on +September 25, that industrious body, the Liberal Forwards, was honoured +with a telegram from the State Secretary of the Transvaal, which runs +as follows:— +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"Liberal Forwards, London. Many thanks for your telegram. We stick +to the Convention, and rely upon England doing the same, as +Convention does not allow interference in internal affairs." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +When, however, it is remembered that the Convention did allow equal +rights to all the "inhabitants of the Transvaal," it will be admitted +that this cable is about the strangest of the remarkable series of +State documents which of late have emanated from Pretoria. Very aptly +it crystallises the spirit of Boer diplomacy—a bold disregard of +inconvenient facts. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile in South Africa various events of importance have happened. +The Orange Free State has openly thrown in its lot with the Transvaal. +The Uitlanders have fled by thousands from Johannesburg. The Boers have +massed their commandos at various points on the Natal and other British +borders, presumably for offensive purposes, since at present they can +expect no invasion of their territory. The first of these occurrences +reveals the hidden purpose of the Dutch party in South Africa, as at +night a sudden flash of lightning reveals the face of the veld. We have +never threatened the Orange Free State; it has no grievance, no cause +of quarrel, yet suddenly it appears in arms against us. Why? Because +its citizens believe that the time has come to translate into action +the old dream of the Boers, which so long as five-and-twenty years ago +was familiar to the late President Burgers when he spoke of the coming +Dutch Republic, with its eight millions of inhabitants ruling supreme +in the vast territories between the Zambezi and the Cape. Now the great +conspiracy that it has proved so hard to persuade the British public, +or a blind section of it, to credit stands unveiled, and it has for +object nothing less than the expulsion of the English power from +Southern Africa—a vain thing fondly imagined, but still a thing with +which we must reckon, and it is to be feared by the last stern +expedient of arms, since here soft words and diplomacy are of no avail. +</p> + +<p> +Difficult as it is to make the fact understood among a proportion of +the home electorate and publicists, it cannot be stated too often or +too clearly that this war, which is to come, is a war that was forced +upon us by the Boers in their blind ignorance and conceit. The mass of +them believe, because they defeated our troops in various small affairs +in 1881, that they are a match for the British Empire. Their leaders +are better instructed. They trust not so much, perhaps, to the rifles +of their compatriots as to the prowess of certain party captains in +England, and to the enthusiasm of their advocates among the English +Press and public. They remember that the activity of these forces +eighteen years ago was followed by a miserable surrender on the part of +the English Government, and not understanding how greatly opinion has +changed in this country, they hope that history may repeat itself, and +that England, wearying of an unpopular struggle, will soon cede to them +all they ask. They are mistaken, but such is their faith. They hope +also, perchance with better reason, that other complications may force +us to stay our hand. If no more telegrams can be extracted from the +German Emperor, still there is a German regiment fighting on their side +who will take with them the sympathies of the Fatherland, and they know +that the hearts of the great Powers of Europe will go out towards any +people who try to strike a blow at the root of the ever-growing tree of +the might of the British Empire. Buoyed up by bubbles such as these +they have determined to tempt the stern arbitrament of battle.<a href="#note2" name="noteref2"><small>[2]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +Can it still be avoided? It would seem that except by our surrender, +which is out of the question, for that means the loss not only of South +Africa, but of our prestige throughout the world, this is not in any +way possible. Already acts of war have taken place, such as the seizure +of the gold from the mines, and the commandeering of goods belonging to +British subjects, and perhaps days before these lines can appear in +print the guns will have begun their reasoning.<a href="#note3" name="noteref3"><small>[3]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +After the rebellion of 1881 a Boer jury, to whom the case was committed +by the tender mercies of Mr. Gladstone's Government, with the murdered +man's bullet-riddled skull lying before them upon the table of the +Court, acquitted the brutal slaughterers of Captain Elliot, not because +they had not done the deed with every circumstance of horrible +treachery and premeditation, but because to find them guilty was +against their brethren's wish. In much the same way, with all the facts +staring them in the face, there are men in England, some of them of +high position and character, who urge the righteousness of the Boer +cause, and with tongue and pen paint our national iniquity in hues +black as ink and red as blood. They write of the "Objects of the War," +which they do not hesitate to describe as self-seeking and infamous, so +far of course as the English people are concerned, for according to the +same authorities, the Boer objects are uniformly pure and noble. Would +it not be better if they looked back a little and tried to discover the +causes of the war? I think that if they could have witnessed a certain +scene upon the market-square at Newcastle, at which it was my +misfortune to be present, on that night of the year 1881 when the news +of the base betrayal of the loyalists by England became known, they +would win a better understanding of the question. In the spectacle of +that maddened crowd of three or four thousand ruined and deserted men, +English, Boer, and Kaffir, raving, weeping, and blaspheming in the +despair of their shame and bitterness, they might have found +enlightenment. Even now a study of the following forgotten letter +written by Mr. White, the chairman of the Committee of Loyal +Inhabitants, to Mr. Gladstone, might give to some a food for thought:— +</p> + +<p> +"If, sir, you had seen, as I have seen, promising young citizens of +Pretoria dying of wounds received for their country, and if you had had +the painful duty, as I have had, of bringing to their friends at home +the last mementoes of the departed; if you had seen the privations and +discomforts which delicate women and children bore without murmuring +for upwards of three months; if you had seen strong men crying like +children at the cruel and undeserved desertion of England; if you had +seen the long strings of half-desperate loyalists, shaking the dust off +their feet as they left the country, as I saw on my way to Newcastle; +and if you yourself had invested your all on the strength of the word +of England, and now saw yourself in a fair way of being beggared by the +acts of the country in whom you trusted, you would, sir, I think, be +'pronounced,' and England would ring with eloquent entreaties and +threats which would compel a hearing…. We claim, sir, at least as +much justice as the Boers. We are faithful subjects of England, and +have suffered and are suffering for our fidelity. Surely we, the +friends of our country, who stood by her in the time of trial, have as +much right to consideration as rebels who fought against her. We rely +on her word. We rely on the frequently repeated pledges and promises of +her ministers in which we have trusted. We rely on her sense of moral +right not to do us the grievous wrong which this miserable peace +contemplates. We rely on her fidelity to obligations, and on her +ancient reputation for honour and honesty. We rely on the material +consequences which will follow on a breach of faith to us. England +cannot afford to desert us after having solemnly pledged herself to +us." +</p> + +<p> +"England cannot afford to desert us!" but England, or her rulers, could +and did afford itself this luxury. In vain did such men as the late +Lord Beaconsfield, the late Lord Cairns, and Lord Salisbury protest and +point out dangers. In vain did agonised loyalists flourish their own +words and promises in the face of her Majesty's Government; the spirit +of party, or the promptings of a newly acquired conscience proved too +strong. Her Majesty's loyal subjects were sneered at, insulted, and +abandoned, and the Boer, who had butchered them, was bid to go on and +prosper. +</p> + +<p> +Now, nearly twenty years afterwards, England is called upon to pay the +bill of what is in effect, whatever may have been its motives, one of +the most infamous acts that stains the pages of her history. From the +moment that the Convention of 1881 was signed it became as certain as +anything human can be, that one of two things would happen—either that +the Imperial Power must in practice be driven out of South Africa, or +that a time would come when it must be forced to assert its dominion +even at the price of war. +</p> + +<p> +Now that miserable hour is with us, and we are called upon to suppress +by arms a small, but sullen and obstinate people, whom we have taught +to believe themselves our equals, if not our superiors. Unless they +will yield at the last moment, which seems impossible seeing that the +war is of their own choosing, the new settlement of South Africa must +be celebrated by a mighty sacrifice of their blood and our blood. Not +to dwell upon other griefs and dangers, when, I ask, will the smoke and +the smell of it depart from the eyes and nostrils of the dwellers in +that unhappy land? As they troop back merrily to their mines and +workshops the money-spinners of Johannesburg may forget a past of +which, in many instances at least, their chief impression will be that +it was unpleasant and unprofitable. But after the Rand is worked out, +when the stamps cease to fall heavily by day and night, when the great +heaps of tailings no longer increase from month to month, when the +broker's voice is quiet in the Exchange, and the promoter inhabits some +new city, still the Boer women in the farmhouses will tell their +children how the "damned English soldiers" shot their grandfathers and +took the land. In South Africa new Irelands will arise, and from the +dragon's teeth that we are forced to sow the harvest of hate will +spring, and spring again. Thus must we eat of the bitter bread which we +have baked, and thus the ill fowl that we reared have come home to +roost, bringing their broods with them. +</p> + +<p> +Again and again we have blundered in our treatment of the Dutch. For +instance, with kinder and fairer management they would never have +trekked from the Cape sixty years ago. Also, had the promises which +were made to them at the annexation in 1877 been kept, and had not Sir +Theophilus Shepstone, who grew up amongst them and to whom they were +attached, been removed in favour of a military martinet, there would +have been no rebellion, let the Cape wire-pullers working under a cloak +of loyalty to the Crown strive as they might. But the rebellion came +and the defeats, and after these that surrender whereof this country is +called upon to pluck the fruit to-day, which, by the Boers, is +attributed to those defeats with the fear of their prowess and to +nothing else. +</p> + +<p> +And now, in due season, the war comes; an inevitable war which cannot +be escaped, and must be fought out to the end. There is only room for +one paramount power in Southern Africa! +</p> + +<p> +How all these things happened is told briefly, but I trust clearly, in +the following pages. My excuse for reprinting them must be the desire +which, it is said, exists among some readers to become better +acquainted with the facts that engendered the present fateful crisis. +</p> + +<p class="sig"> +H. RIDER HAGGARD. +</p> + +<p> +<i>9th October </i>1899. +</p> + + + + +<h2> +CONTENTS. +</h2> + +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2"> </td> +<td class="pg"><small>PAGES</small></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2"><span class="sc">Author's Note</span></td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#note">v</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER I. +<br> +<span class="sc">Its Inhabitants, Laws, and Customs.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Invasion by Mosilikatze — Arrival of the emigrant Boers — Establishment +of the South African Republic — The Sand River Convention — Growth of +the territory of the republic — The native tribes surrounding it —  +Capabilities of the country — Its climate — Its inhabitants — The Boers + — Their peculiarities and mode of life — Their abhorrence of settled +government and payment of taxes — The Dutch patriotic party — Form of +government previous to the annexation — Courts of law — The commando +system — Revenue arrangements — Native races in the Transvaal</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#I">1-22</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER II. +<br> +<span class="sc">Events Preceding the Annexation.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Mr. Burgers elected president — His character and aspirations — His +pension from the English Government — His visit to England — The +railway loan — Relations of the republic with native tribes — The +pass laws — Its quarrel with Cetywayo — Confiscation of native +territory in the Keate Award — Treaty with the Swazi king — The +Secocœni war — Capture of Johannes' stronghold by the Swazi +allies — Attack on Secocœni's mountain — Defeat and dispersion of +the Boers — Elation of the natives — Von Schlickmann's volunteers —  +Cruelties perpetrated — Abel Erasmus — Treatment of natives by Boers + — Public meeting at Potchefstroom in 1868 — The slavery question —  +Some evidence on the subject — Pecuniary position of the Transvaal +prior to the annexation — Internal troubles — Divisions amongst the +Boers — Hopeless condition of the country</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#II">23-49</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER III. +<br> +<span class="sc">The Annexation.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Anxiety of Lord Carnarvon — Despatch of Sir T. Shepstone as Special +Commissioner to the Transvaal — Sir T. Shepstone, his great +experience and ability — His progress to Pretoria, and reception +there — Feelings excited by the arrival of the mission — The +annexation <i>not</i> a foregone conclusion — Charge brought +against Sir T. Shepstone of having called up the Zulu army to +sweep the Transvaal — Its complete falsehood — Cetywayo's message +to Sir T. Shepstone — Evidence on the matter summed up — General +desire of the natives for English rule — Habitual disregard of +their interests — Assembly of the Volksraad — Rejection of Lord +Carnarvon's Confederation Bill and of President Burgers' new +constitution — President Burgers' speeches to the Raad — His +posthumous statement — Communication to the Raad of Sir T. +Shepstone's intention to annex the country — Despatch of Commission +to inquire into the alleged peace with Secocœni — Its fraudulent +character discovered — Progress of affairs in the Transvaal — Paul +Kruger and his party — Restlessness of natives — Arrangements for +the annexation — The annexation proclamation</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#III">50-86</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER IV. +<br> +<span class="sc">The Transvaal under British Rule.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Reception of the annexation — Major Clarke and the Volunteers — Effect +of the annexation on credit and commerce — Hoisting of the Union +Jack — Ratification of the annexation by Parliament — Messrs. Kruger +and Jorissen's mission to England — Agitation against the annexation +in the Cape Colony — Sir T. Shepstone's tour — Causes of the growth +of discontent among the Boers — Return of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger + — The Government dispenses with their services — Despatch of a second +deputation to England — Outbreak of war with Secocœni — Major Clarke, +R.A. — The Gunn of Gunn plot — Mission of Captain Paterson and Mr. +Sergeaunt to Matabeleland — Its melancholy termination — The Isandhlwana +disaster — Departure of Sir T. Shepstone for England — Another Boer +meeting — The Pretoria Horse — Advance of the Boers on Pretoria —  +Arrival of Sir B. Frere at Pretoria and dispersion of the Boers —  +Arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley — His proclamation — The Secocœni +expedition — Proceedings of the Boers — Mr. Pretorius — Mr. Gladstone's +Mid-Lothian speeches, their effect — Sir G. Wolseley's speech at +Pretoria, its good results — Influx of Englishmen and cessation of +agitation — Financial position of the country after three years of +British rule — Letter of the Boer leaders to Mr. Courtney</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#IV">87-119</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER V. +<br> +<span class="sc">The Boer Rebellion.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Accession of Mr. Gladstone to power — His letters to the Boer +leader and the loyals — His refusal to rescind the annexation — The +Boers encouraged by prominent members of the Radical party — The +Bezeidenhout incident — Despatch of troops to Potchefstroom — Mass +meeting of the 8th December 1880 — Appointment of the Triumvirate +and declaration of the republic — Despatch of Boer proclamation to +Sir O. Lanyon — His reply — Outbreak of hostilities at Potchefstroom + — Defence of the court-house by Major Clarke — The massacre of the +detachment of the 94th under Colonel Anstruther — Dr. Ward — The Boer +rejoicings — The Transvaal placed under martial law — Abandonment of +their homes by the people of Pretoria — Sir Owen Lanyon's admirable +defence organisation — Second proclamation issued by the Boers — Its +complete falsehood — Life at Pretoria during the siege — Murders of +natives by the Boers — Loyal conduct of the native chiefs — Difficulty +of preventing them from attacking the Boers — Occupation of Lang's +Nek by the Boers — Sir George Colley's departure to Newcastle — The +condition of that town — The attack on Lang's Nek — Its desperate +nature — Effect of victory on the Boers — The battle at the Ingogo —  +Our defeat — Sufferings of the wounded — Major Essex — Advance of the +Boers into Natal — Constant alarms — Expected attack on Newcastle —  +Its unorganised and indefensible condition — Arrival of the +reinforcements and retreat of the Boers to the Nek — Despatch +of General Wood to bring up more reinforcements — Majuba Hill — Our +disaster, and death of Sir George Colley — Cause of our defeat — A +Boer version of the disaster — Sir George Colley's tactics</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#V">120-155</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER VI. +<br> +<span class="sc">The Retrocession of the Transvaal.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">The Queen's Speech — President Brand and Lord Kimberley — Sir Henry +de Villiers — Sir George Colley's plan — Paul Kruger's offer — Sir +George Colley's remonstrance — Complimentary telegrams — Effect of +Majuba on the Boers and English Government — Collapse of the +Government — Reasons of the surrender — Professional sentimentalists + — The Transvaal Independence Committee — Conclusion of the armistice + — The preliminary peace — Reception of the news in Natal — Newcastle +after the declaration of peace — Exodus of the loyal inhabitants of +the Transvaal — The value of property in Pretoria — The Transvaal +officials dismissed — The Royal Commission — Mode of trial of persons +accused of atrocities — Decision of the Commission and its results + — The severance of territory question — Arguments <i>pro</i> and +<i>con</i> — Opinion of Sir E. Wood — Humility of the Commissioners +and its cause — Their decision on the Keate Award question — The +Montsioa difficulty — The compensation and financial clauses of the +report of the Commission — The duties of the British Resident — Sir +E. Wood's dissent from the report of the Commission — Signing of +the Convention — Burial of the Union Jack — The native side of the +question — Interview between the Commissioners and the native +chiefs — Their opinion of the surrender — Objections of the Boer +Volksraad to the Convention — Mr. Gladstone temporises — The +ratification — Its insolent tone — Mr. Hudson, the British Resident + — The Boer festival — The results of the Convention — The larger +issue of the matter — Its effect on the Transvaal — Its moral +aspects — Its effect on the native mind</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#VI">156-202</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER VII.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Extract from Introduction to new edition of 1888</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#VII">203</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">APPENDIX.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="section">I.</td> +<td class="txt">The Potchefstroom Atrocities, &c.</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#appI">231</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="section">II.</td> +<td class="txt">Pledges given by Mr. Gladstone's Government as to the +Retention of the Transvaal</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#appII">239</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="section">III.</td> +<td class="txt">A Boer on Boer Designs</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#appIII">241</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="med"> + +<p class="booktitle"> +<i>THE TRANSVAAL.</i> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +<a name="I"> </a> +CHAPTER I. +<br><br> +<span class="small"> +ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +The Transvaal is a country without a history. Its very existence was +hardly known of until about fifty years ago. Of its past we know +nothing. The generations who peopled its great plains have passed +utterly out of the memory and even the tradition of man, leaving no +monument to mark that they have existed, not even a tomb. +</p> + +<p> +During the reign of Chaka, 1813-1828, whose history has been sketched +in a previous chapter, one of his most famous generals, Mosilikatze, +surnamed the Lion, seceded from him with a large number of his +soldiers, and striking up in a north-westerly direction, settled in or +about what is now the Morico district of the Transvaal. The country +through which Mosilikatze passed was at that time thickly populated +with natives of the Basuto or Macatee race, whom the Zulus look upon +with great contempt. Mosilikatze expressed the feelings of his tribe in +a practical manner, by massacring every living soul of them that came +within his reach. That the numbers slaughtered were very great, the +numerous ruins of Basuto kraals all over the country testify. +</p> + +<p> +It was Chaka's intention to follow up Mosilikatze and destroy him, but +he was himself assassinated before he could do so. Dingaan, his +successor, however, carried out his brother's design, and despatched a +large force to punish him. This army, after marching over 300 miles, +burst upon Mosilikatze, drove him back with slaughter, and returned +home triumphant. The invasion is important, because the Zulus claim the +greater part of the Transvaal territory by virtue of it. +</p> + +<p> +About the time that Mosilikatze was conquered, 1835-1840, the +discontented Boers were leaving the Cape Colony exasperated at the +emancipation of the slaves by the Imperial authorities. First they made +their way to Natal, but being followed thither by the English flag they +travelled further inland over the Vaal River and founded the town of +Mooi River Dorp or Potchefstroom. Here they were joined by other +malcontents from the Orange Sovereignty, which, though afterwards +abandoned, was at that time a British possession. Acting upon +</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"> +<div>"The good old rule, the simple plan,</div> +<div>Of let him take who has the power,</div> +<div>And let him keep who can,"</div></div></div></div> + +<p> +the Boers now proceeded to possess themselves of as much territory as +they wanted. Nor was this a difficult task. The country was, as I have +said, peopled by Macatees, who are a poor-spirited race as compared to +the Zulus, and had had what little courage they possessed crushed out +of them by the rough handling they had received at the hands of +Mosilikatze and Dingaan. The Boers, they argued, could not treat them +worse than the Zulus had done. Occasionally a chief, bolder than the +rest, would hold out, and then such an example was made of him and his +people that few cared to follow in his footsteps. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the Boers were fairly settled in their new home, they began +to think about setting up a Government. First they tried a system of +Commandants, with a Commandant-general, but this does not seem to have +answered. Next, those of their number who lived in Lydenburg district +(where the gold-fields now are) set up a Republic, with a President and +Volksraad, or popular assembly. This example was followed by the other +white inhabitants of the country, who formed another Republic and +elected another President, with Pretoria for their capital. The two +republics were subsequently incorporated. +</p> + +<p> +In 1852 the Imperial authorities, having regard to the expense of +maintaining an effective government over an unwilling people in an +undeveloped and half-conquered country, concluded a convention with the +emigrant Boers "beyond the Vaal River." The following were the +principal stipulations of this convention, drawn up between Major Hogg +and Mr. Owen, Her Majesty's Assistant-Commissioners for the settling +and adjusting of the affairs of the eastern and north-eastern +boundaries of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope on the one part, and +a deputation representative of the emigrant farmers north of the Vaal +River on the other. It was guaranteed "in the fullest manner on the +part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal +River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves +according to their own laws, without any interference on the part of +the British Government, and that no encroachment shall be made by the +said Government on the territory beyond to the north of the Vaal River, +with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the British +Government is to promote peace, free trade, and friendly intercourse +with the emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit +that country, it being understood that this system of non-interference +is binding on both parties." +</p> + +<p> +Next were disclaimed, on behalf of the British Government, "all +alliances whatever and with whomsoever of the coloured nations to the +north of the Vaal River." +</p> + +<p> +It was also agreed "that no slavery is or shall be permitted or +practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the emigrant +farmers." +</p> + +<p> +It was further agreed "that no objection shall be made by any British +authority against the emigrant Boers purchasing their supplies of +ammunition in any of the British colonies and possessions of South +Africa; it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition with +the native tribes is prohibited both by the British Government and the +emigrant farmers on both sides of the Vaal River." +</p> + +<p> +These were the terms of this famous convention, which is as slipshod in +its diction as it is vague in its meaning. What, for instance, is meant +by the territory to the north of the Vaal River? According to the +letter of the agreement, Messrs. Hogg and Owen ceded all the territory +between the Vaal and Egypt. This historical document was the Charta of +the new-born South African Republic. Under its provisions, the Boers, +now safe from interference on the part of the British, established +their own Government and promulgated their "Grond Wet," or +Constitution. +</p> + +<p> +The history of the Republic between 1852 and 1876 is not very +interesting, and is besides too wearisome to enter into here. It +consists of an oft-told tale of civil broils, attacks on native tribes, +and encroachment on native territories. Until shortly before the +Annexation, every burgher was, on coming of age, entitled to receive +from the Government 6000 acres of land. As these rights were in the +early days of the Republic frequently sold to speculators for such +trifles as a bottle of brandy or half a dozen of beer, and as the +seller still required his 6000 acres: for a Boer considers it beneath +his dignity to settle on less, it is obvious that it required a very +large country to satisfy all demands. To meet these demands, the +territories of the Republic had to be stretched like an elastic band, +and they were stretched accordingly,—at the expense of the natives. +The stretching process was an ingenious one, and is very well described +in a minute written by Mr. Osborn, the late magistrate at Newcastle, +dated 22d September 1876, in these words:— +</p> + +<p> +"The Boers, as they have done in other cases and are still doing, +encroached by degrees on native territory, commencing by obtaining +permission to graze stock upon portions of it at certain seasons of the +year, followed by individual graziers obtaining from native headmen a +sort of right or license to squat upon certain defined portions, +ostensibly in order to keep other Boer squatters away from the same +land. These licenses, temporarily intended as friendly or neighbourly +acts by unauthorised headmen, after a few seasons of occupation by the +Boer, are construed by him as title, and his permanent occupation +ensues. Damage for trespass is levied by him from the very man from +whom he obtained the right to squat, to which the natives submit out of +fear of the matter reaching the ears of the paramount chief, who would +in all probability severely punish them for opening the door to +encroachment by the Boer. After a while, however, the matter comes to a +crisis in consequence of the incessant disputes between the Boers and +the natives; one or other of the disputants lays the case before the +paramount chief, who, when hearing both parties, is literally +frightened with violence and threats by the Boer into granting him the +land. Upon this the usual plan followed by the Boer is at once to +collect a few neighbouring Boers, including a field cornet, or even an +acting provisional field cornet, appointed by the field cornet or +provisional cornet, the latter to represent the Government, although +without instructions authorising him to act in the matter. A few cattle +are collected among themselves, which the party takes to the chief, and +his signature is obtained to a written document alienating to the +Republican Boers a large slice of all his territory. The contents of +this document are, as far as I can make out, never clearly or +intelligibly explained to the chief, who signs and accepts of the +cattle under the impression that it is all in settlement of hire for +the grazing licenses granted by his headmen. This, I have no hesitation +in saying, is the usual method by which the Boers obtain what they call +cessions to them of territories by native chiefs. In Secocœni's case +they allege that his father Sequati cedes to them the whole of his +territory (hundreds of square miles) for a hundred head of cattle." +</p> + +<p> +So rapidly did this process go on that the little Republic to the +"North of the Vaal River" had at the time of the Annexation grown into +a country of the size of France. Its boundaries had only been clearly +defined where they abutted on neighbouring White Communities, or on the +territories of great native powers, on which the Government had not +dared to infringe to any marked degree, such as those of Lo Bengula's +people in the north. But wheresoever on the State's borders there had +been no white Power to limit its advances, or where the native tribes +had found themselves too isolated or too weak to resist aggressions, +there the Republic had by degrees encroached, and extended the shadow, +if not the substance, of its authority. +</p> + +<p> +The Transvaal has a boundary line of over 1600 miles in circumference, +and of this a large portion is disputed by different native tribes. +Speaking generally, the territory lies between the 22° and 28° of South +Latitude and the 25° and 32° of East Longitude, or between the Orange +Free State, Natal and Griqualand West on the south, and the Limpopo +River on the north; and between the Lebombo mountains on the east, and +the Kalihari desert on the west. On the north of its territory live +three great tribes—the Makalaka, the Matabele, (descendants of the +Zulus who deserted Chaka under Mosilikatze), and the Matyana. These +tribes are all warlike. On the west, following the line down to the +Diamond Field territory, are the Sicheli, the Bangoaketsi, the +Baralong, and the Koranna tribes. Passing round by Griqualand West, the +Free State, and Natal, we reach Zululand on the south-east corner; then +come the Lebombo mountains on the east, separating the Transvaal from +Amatonga land, and from the so-called Portuguese possessions, which are +entirely in the hands of native tribes, most of them subject to the +great Zulu chief, Umzeila, who has his stronghold in the north-east. +</p> + +<p> +It will be observed that the country is almost surrounded by native +tribes. Besides these there are about one million native inhabitants +living within its borders. In one district alone, Zoutpansberg, it is +computed that there are 364,250 natives, as compared to about 750 +whites. +</p> + +<p> +If a beautiful and fertile country were alone necessary to make a state +and its inhabitants happy and prosperous, happiness and prosperity +would rain upon the Transvaal and the Dutch Boers. The capabilities of +this favoured land are vast and various. Within its borders are to be +found highlands and lowlands, vast stretches of rolling veldt like +gigantic sheep downs, hundreds of miles of swelling bushland, huge +tracts of mountainous country, and even little glades spotted with +timber that remind one of an English park. There is every possible +variety of soil and scenery. Some districts will grow all tropical +produce, whilst others are well suited for breeding sheep, cattle, and +horses. Most of the districts will produce wheat and all other cereals +in greater perfection and abundance than any of the other South African +colonies. Two crops of cereals may be obtained from the soil every +year, and both the vine and tobacco are cultivated with great success. +Coffee, sugar-cane, and cotton have been grown with profit in the +northern parts of the State. Also the undeveloped mineral wealth of the +country is very great. Its known minerals are gold, copper, lead, +cobalt, iron, coal, tin, and plumbago: copper and iron having long been +worked by the natives. Altogether there is little doubt that the +Transvaal is the richest of all the South African states, and had it +remained under English rule it would, with the aid of English +enterprise and capital, have become a very wealthy and prosperous +country. However there is little chance of that now. Perhaps the +greatest charm of the Transvaal lies in its climate, which is among the +best in the world, and in all the southern districts very healthy. +During the winter months—that is, from April to October—little or no +rain falls, and the climate is cold and bracing. In summer it is rather +warm, but not overpoweringly hot, the thermometer at Pretoria averaging +from 65° to 73° and in the winter from 59° to 65°. The population of +the Transvaal is estimated at about 40,000 whites, mostly of Dutch +origin, consisting of about thirty vast families; and one million +natives. There are several towns, the largest of which are Pretoria and +Potchefstroom. +</p> + +<p> +Such is the country that we annexed in 1877, and were drummed out of in +1881. Now let us turn to its inhabitants. It has been the fashion to +talk of the Transvaal as though nobody but Boers lived in it. In +reality the inhabitants were divided into three classes: 1. Natives; 2. +Boers; 3. English. I say were divided, because the English class can +now hardly be said to exist, the country having been made too hot to +hold it since the war. The natives stand in the proportion of nearly +twenty to one to the whites. The Boers were in their turn much more +numerous than the English, but the latter owned nearly all the trading +establishments in the country, and also a very large amount of +property. +</p> + +<p> +The Transvaal Boers have been very much praised up by members of the +Government in England, and others who are anxious to advance their +interests, as against English interests. Mr. Gladstone, indeed, can +hardly find words strong enough to express his admiration of their +leaders, those "able men," since they inflicted a national humiliation +on us; and doubtless they are a people with many good points. That they +are not devoid of sagacity can be seen by the way they have dealt with +the English Government. +</p> + +<p> +The Boers are certainly a peculiar people, though they can hardly be +said to be "zealous of good works." They are very religious, but their +religion takes its colour from the darkest portions of the Old +Testament; lessons of mercy and gentleness are not at all to their +liking, and they seldom care to read the Gospels. What they delight in +are the stories of wholesale butchery by the Israelites of old; and in +their own position they find a reproduction of that of the first +settlers in the Holy Land. Like them they think they are entrusted by +the Almighty with the task of exterminating the heathen native tribes +around them, and are always ready with a scriptural precedent for +slaughter and robbery. The name of the Divinity is continually on their +lips, sometimes in connection with very doubtful statements. They are +divided into three sects, none of which care much for the other two. +These are the Doppers, who number about half the population, the +Orthodox Reform, and the Liberal Reform, which is the least numerous. +Of these three sects the Doppers are by far the most uncompromising and +difficult to deal with. They much resemble the Puritans of Charles the +First's time, of the extreme Hew-Agag-in-pieces stamp. +</p> + +<p> +It is difficult to agree with those who call the Boers cowards, an +accusation which the whole of their history belies. A Boer does not +like fighting if he can avoid it, because he sets a high value on his +own life; but if he is cornered, he will fight as well as anybody else. +The Boers fought well enough in the late war, though that, it is true, +is no great criterion of courage, since they were throughout flushed +with victory, and, owing to the poor shooting of the British troops, in +but little personal danger. One very unpleasant characteristic they +have, and that is an absence of regard for the truth, especially where +land is concerned. Indeed the national characteristic is crystallised +into a proverb, "I am no slave to my word." It has several times +happened to me to see one set of highly respectable witnesses in a land +case go into the box and swear distinctly that they saw a beacon placed +on a certain spot, whilst an equal number on the other side will swear +that they saw it placed a mile away. Filled as they are with a land +hunger, to which that of the Irish peasant is a weak and colourless +sentiment, there is little that they will not do to gratify their +taste. It is the subject of constant litigation amongst them, and it is +by no means uncommon for a Boer to spend several thousand pounds in +lawsuits over a piece of land not worth as many hundreds. +</p> + +<p> +Personally Boers are fine men, but as a rule ugly. Their women-folk are +good-looking in early life, but get very stout as they grow older. +They, in common with most of their sex, understand how to use their +tongues; indeed, it is said that it was the women who caused the rising +against the English Government. None of the refinements of civilisation +enter into the life of an ordinary Transvaal Boer. He lives in a way +that would shock an English labourer at twenty-five shillings the week, +although he is very probably worth fifteen or twenty thousand pounds. +His home is but too frequently squalid and filthy to an extraordinary +degree. He himself has no education, and does not care that his +children should receive any. He lives by himself in the middle of a +great plot of land, his nearest neighbour being perhaps ten or twelve +miles away, caring but little for the news of the outside world and +nothing for its opinions, doing very little work, but growing daily +richer through the increase of his flocks and herds. His expenses are +almost nothing, and as he gets older wealth increases upon him. The +events in his life consist of an occasional trip on "commando" against +some native tribe, attending a few political meetings, and the journeys +he makes with his family to the nearest town, some four times a year, +in order to be present at "Nachtmaal" or communion. Foreigners, +especially Englishmen, he detests, but he is kindly and hospitable to +his own people. Living isolated as he does, the lord of a little +kingdom, he naturally comes to have a great idea of himself, and a +corresponding contempt for all the rest of mankind. Laws and taxes are +things distasteful to him, and he looks upon it as an impertinence that +any court should venture to call him to account for his doings. He is +rich and prosperous, and the cares of poverty, and all the other +troubles that fall to the lot of civilised men, do not affect him. He +has no romance in him, nor any of the higher feelings and aspirations +that are found in almost every other race; in short, unlike the Zulu he +despises, there is little of the gentleman in his composition, though +he is at times capable of acts of kindness and even generosity. His +happiness is to live alone in the great wilderness, with his children, +his men-servants, and his maid-servants, his flocks and his herds, the +monarch of all he surveys. If civilisation presses him too closely, his +remedy is a simple one. He sells his farm, packs up his goods and cash +in his waggon, and starts for regions more congenially wild. Such are +some of the leading characteristics of that remarkable product of South +Africa, the Transvaal Boer, who resembles no other white man in the +world. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps, however, the most striking of all his oddities is his +abhorrence of all government, more especially if that government be +carried out according to English principles. The Boers have always been +more or less in rebellion; they rebelled against the rule of the +Company when the Cape belonged to Holland, they rebelled against the +English Government in the Cape, they were always in a state of +semi-rebellion against their own Government in the Transvaal, and now +they have for the second time, with the most complete success, rebelled +against the English Government. The fact of the matter is that the bulk +of their number hate all Governments, because Governments enforce law +and order, and they hate the English Government worst of all because it +enforces law and order most of all. It is not liberty they long for, +but license. The "sturdy independence" of the Boer resolves itself into +a determination not to have his affairs interfered with by any superior +power whatsoever, and not to pay taxes if he can possibly avoid it. But +he has also a specific cause of complaint against the English +Government, which would alone cause him to do his utmost to get rid of +it, and that is its mode of dealing with natives, which is radically +opposite to his own. This is the secret of Boer patriotism. To +understand it, it must be remembered that the Englishman and the Boer +look at natives from a very different point of view. The Englishman, +though he may not be very fond of him, at any rate regards the Kafir as +a fellow human being with feelings like his own. The average Boer does +not. He looks upon the "black creature" as having been delivered into +his hand by the "Lord" for his own purposes, that is, to shoot and +enslave. He must not be blamed too harshly for this, for, besides being +naturally of a somewhat hard disposition, hatred of the native is +hereditary, and is partly induced by the history of many a bloody +struggle. Also the native hates the Boer fully as much as the Boer +hates the native, though with better reason. Now native labour is a +necessity to the Boer, because he will not as a rule do hard manual +labour himself, and there must be some one to plant and garner the +crops and herd the cattle. On the other hand, the natives are not +anxious to serve the Boers, which means little or no pay and plenty of +thick stick, and sometimes worse. The result of this state of affairs +is that the Boer often has to rely on forced labour to a very great +extent. But this is a thing that an English Government will not +tolerate, and the consequence is that under its rule he cannot get the +labour that is necessary to him. +</p> + +<p> +Then there is the tax question. If he lives under the English flag the +money has to be paid regularly, but under his own Government he pays or +not as he likes. It was this habit of his of refusing payment of taxes +that brought the Republic into difficulties in 1877, and that will ere +long bring it into trouble again. He cannot understand that cash is +necessary to carry on a Government, and looks upon a tax as though it +were so much money stolen from him. These things are the real springs +of the "sturdy independence" and the patriotism of the ordinary +Transvaal farmer. Doubtless there are some who are really patriotic; +for instance, one of their leaders, Paul Kruger. But with the majority, +patriotism is only another word for unbounded license and forced +labour. +</p> + +<p> +These remarks must not be taken to apply to the Cape Boers, who are a +superior class of men, since they, living under a settled and civilised +Government, have been steadily improving, whilst their cousins, living +every man for his own hand, have been deteriorating. The old +Voortrekkers, the fathers and grandfathers of the Transvaal Boer of +to-day, were, without doubt, a very fine set of men, and occasionally +you may in the Transvaal meet individuals of the same stamp whom it is +a pleasure to know. But these are generally men of a certain age, with +some experience of the world; the younger men are very objectionable in +their manners. +</p> + +<p> +The real Dutch Patriotic party is not to be found in the Transvaal, but +in the Cape Colony. Their object, which, as affairs now are, is well +within the bounds of possibility, is by fair means or foul to swamp the +English element in South Africa, and to establish a great Dutch +Republic. It was this party, which consists of clever and well educated +men, who raised the outcry against the Transvaal Annexation, because it +meant an enormous extension of English influence, and who had the wit, +by means of their emissaries and newspapers, to work upon the feeling +of the ignorant Transvaal farmers until they persuaded them to rebel; +and finally, to avail themselves of the yearnings of English radicalism +for the disruption of the Empire and the minimisation of British +authority, to get the Annexation cancelled. All through this business +the Boers have more or less danced in obedience to strings pulled at +Cape Town, and it is now said that one of the chief wire-pullers, Mr. +Hofmeyer, is to be asked to become President of the Republic. These men +are the real patriots of South Africa, and very clever ones too—not +the Transvaal Boers, who vapour about their blood and their country and +the accursed Englishman to order, and are in reality influenced by very +small motives, such as the desire to avoid payment of taxes, or to hunt +away a neighbouring Englishman, whose civilisation and refinement are +as offensive as his farm is desirable. Such are the Dutch inhabitants +of the Transvaal. I will now give a short sketch of their institutions +as they were before the Annexation, and to which the community has +reverted since its recision, with, I believe, but few alterations. +</p> + +<p> +The form of government is republican, and to all intents and purposes +manhood suffrage prevails, supreme power resting in the people. The +executive power of the State centres in a President elected by the +people to hold office for a term of five years, every voter having a +voice in his election. He is assisted in the execution of his duties by +an Executive Council, consisting of the State Secretary and such other +three members as are selected for that purpose by the legislative body, +the Volksraad. The State Secretary holds office for four years, and is +elected by the Volksraad. The members of the Executive have all seats +in the Volksraad, but have no votes. The Volksraad is the legislative +body of the State, and consists of forty-two members. The country is +divided into twelve electoral districts, each of which has the right to +return three members; the Gold Fields have also the right of electing +two members, and the four principal towns one member each. There is no +power in the State competent to either prorogue or dissolve the +Volksraad except that body itself, so that an appeal to the country on +a given subject or policy is impossible without its concurrence. +Members are elected for four years, but half retire by rotation every +two years, the vacancies being filled by re-elections. Members must +have been voters for three years, and be not less than thirty years of +age, must belong to a Protestant Church, be resident in the country, +and owners of immovable property therein. A father and son cannot sit +in the same Raad, neither can seats be occupied by coloured persons, +bastards, or officials. +</p> + +<p> +For each electoral district there is a magistrate or Landdrost, whose +duties are similar to those of a Civil Commissioner. These districts +are again subdivided into wards presided over by field cornets, who +exercise judicial powers in minor matters, and in times of war have +considerable authority. The Roman Dutch law is the common law of the +country, as it is of the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, +and of the Orange Free State. +</p> + +<p> +Prior to the Annexation justice was administered in a very primitive +fashion. First, there was the Landdrosts' Court, from which an appeal +lay to a court consisting of the Landdrost and six councillors elected +by the public. This was a court of first instance as well as a court of +appeal. Then there was a Supreme Court, consisting of three Landdrosts +from three different districts, and a jury of twelve selected from the +burghers of the State. There was no appeal from this court, but cases +have sometimes been brought under the consideration of the Volksraad as +the supreme power. It is easy to imagine what the administration of +justice was like when the presidents of all the law courts in the +country were elected by the mob, not on account of their knowledge of +the law, but because they were popular. Suitors before the old +Transvaal courts found the law surprisingly uncertain. A High Court of +Justice was, however, established after the Annexation, and has been +continued by the Volksraad, but an agitation is being got up against +it, and it will possibly be abolished in favour of the old system. +</p> + +<p> +In such a community as that of the Transvaal Boers the question of +public defence was evidently of the first importance. This is provided +for under what is known as the Commando system. The President, with the +concurrence of the Executive Council, has the right of declaring war, +and of calling up a commando, in which the burghers are placed under +the field cornets and commandants. These last are chosen by the field +cornets for each district, and a Commandant-general is chosen by the +whole laager or force, but the President is the Commander-in-Chief of +the army. All the inhabitants of the State between sixteen and sixty, +with a few exceptions, are liable for service. Young men under +eighteen, and men over fifty, are only called out under circumstances +of emergency. Members of the Volksraad, officials, clergymen, and +school-teachers are exempt from personal service, unless martial law is +proclaimed, but must contribute an amount not exceeding £15 towards the +expense of the war. All legal proceedings in civil cases are suspended +against persons on commando, no summonses can be made out, and as soon +as martial law is proclaimed no legal execution can be prosecuted, the +pounds are closed, and transfer dues payments are suspended until after +thirty days from the recall of the proclamation of martial law. Owners +of land residing beyond the borders of the Republic are also liable, in +addition to the ordinary war tax, to place a fit and proper substitute +at the disposal of the Government, or otherwise to pay a fine of £15. +The first levy of the burghers is, of men from eighteen to thirty-four +years of age; the second, thirty-four to fifty; and the third, from +sixteen to eighteen, and from fifty to sixty years. Every man is bound +to provide himself with clothing, a gun, and ammunition, and there must +be enough waggons and oxen found between them to suffice for their +joint use. Of the booty taken, one quarter goes to Government, and the +rest to the burghers. The most disagreeable part of the commandeering +system is, however, yet to come; personal service is not all that the +resident in the Transvaal Republic has to endure. The right is vested +in field cornets to commandeer articles as well as individuals, and to +call upon inhabitants to furnish requisites for the commando. As may be +imagined, it goes very hard on these occasions with the property of any +individual whom the field cornet may not happen to like. +</p> + +<p> +Each ward is expected to turn out its contingent ready and equipped for +war, and this can only be done by seizing goods right and left. One +unfortunate will have to find a waggon, another to deliver over his +favourite span of trek oxen, another his riding-horse or some slaughter +cattle, and so on. Even when the officer making the levy is desirous of +doing his duty as fairly as he can, it is obvious that very great +hardships must be inflicted under such a system. Requisitions are made +more with regard to what is wanted than with a view to an equitable +distribution of demands; and like the Jews in the time of the Crusades, +he who has got most must pay most, or take the consequences, which may +be unpleasant. Articles which are not perishable, such as waggons, are +supposed to be returned, but if they come back at all they are +generally worthless. +</p> + +<p> +In case of war, the native tribes living within the borders of the +State are also expected to furnish contingents, and it is on them that +most of the hard work of the campaign generally falls. They are put in +the front of the battle, and have to do the hand-to-hand fighting, +which, however, if of the Zulu race, they do not object to. +</p> + +<p> +The revenue of the State is so arranged that the burden of it should +fall as much as possible on the trading community, and as little as +possible on the farmer. It is chiefly derived from licenses on trades, +professions, and callings, 30s. per annum quit-rent on farms, transfer +dues and stamps, auction dues, court fees, and contributions from such +native tribes as can be made to pay them. Since we have given up the +country, the Volksraad has put a very heavy tax on all imported goods, +hoping thereby to beguile the Boers into paying taxes without knowing +it, and at the same time strike a blow at the trading community, which +is English in its proclivities. The result has been to paralyse what +little trade there was left in the country, and to cause great +dissatisfaction amongst the farmers, who cannot understand why, now +that the English are gone, they should have to pay twice as much for +their sugar and coffee as they have been accustomed to do. +</p> + +<p> +I will conclude this chapter with a few words about the natives who +swarm in and around the Transvaal. They can be roughly divided into two +great races, the Amazulu and their offshoots, and the Macatee or Basuto +tribes. All those of Zulu blood, including the Swazis, Mapock's Kafirs, +the Matabele, the Knob-noses, and others are very warlike in +disposition, and men of fine physique. The Basutos (who must not be +confounded with the Cape Basutos), however, differ from these tribes in +every respect, including their language, which is called Sisutu, the +only mutual feeling between the two races being their common +detestation of the Boers. They do not love war; in fact, they are timid +and cowardly by nature, and only fight when they are obliged to. Unlike +the Zulus, they are much addicted to the arts of peace, show +considerable capacities for civilisation, and are even willing to +become Christians. There would have been a far better field for the +Missionary in the Transvaal than in Zululand and Natal. Indeed, the +most successful mission station I have seen in Africa is near +Middleburg, under the control of Mr. Merensky. In person the Basutos +are thin and weakly when compared to the stalwart Zulu, and it is their +consciousness of inferiority both to the white men and their black +brethren that, together with their natural timidity, makes them submit +as easily as they do to the yoke of the Boer. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="II"> </a> +CHAPTER II. +<br><br> +<span class="small"> +EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +In or about the year 1872, the burghers of the Republic elected Mr. +Burgers their President. This remarkable man was a native of the Cape +Colony, and passed the first sixteen or seventeen years of his life, he +once informed me, on a farm herding sheep. He afterwards became a +clergyman noted for the eloquence of his preaching, but his ideas +proving too broad for his congregation, he resigned his cure, and in an +evil moment for himself took to politics. +</p> + +<p> +President Burgers was a man of striking presence and striking talents, +especially as regards his oratory, which was really of a very high +class, and would have commanded attention in our own House of Commons. +He possessed, however, a mind of that peculiarly volatile order that is +sometimes met with in conjunction with great talents, and which seems +to be entirely without ballast. His intellect was of a balloon-like +nature, and as incapable of being steered. He was always soaring in the +clouds, and, as is natural to one in that elevated position, taking a +very different and more sanguine view of affairs to that which men of a +more lowly, and perhaps a more practical, turn of mind would do. +</p> + +<p> +But notwithstanding his fly-away ideas, President Burgers was +undoubtedly a true patriot, labouring night and day for the welfare of +the State of which he had undertaken the guidance; but his patriotism +was too exalted for his surroundings. He wished to elevate to the rank +of a nation a people who had not got the desire to be elevated; with +this view he contracted railway loans, made wars, minted gold, &c., and +then suddenly discovered that the country refused to support him. In +short, he was made of very different clay to that of the people he had +to do with. He dreamt of a great Dutch Republic "with eight millions of +inhabitants," doing a vast trade with the interior through the Delagoa +Bay Railway. They, on the other hand, cared nothing about republics or +railways, but fixed their affections on forced labour and getting rid +of the necessity of paying taxes—and so between them the Republic came +to grief. But it must be borne in mind that President Burgers was +throughout actuated by good motives; he did his best by a stubborn and +a stiff-necked people; and if he failed, as fail he did, it was more +their fault than his. As regards the pension he received from the +English Government, which has so often been brought up against him, it +was after all no more than his due after five years of arduous work. If +the Republic had continued to exist, it is to be presumed that they +would have made some provision for their old President, more especially +as he seems to have exhausted his private means in paying the debts of +the country. Whatever may be said of some of the other officials of the +Republic, its President was, I believe, an honest man. +</p> + +<p> +In 1875, Mr. Burgers proceeded to Europe, having, he says in a +posthumous document recently published been empowered by the Volksraad +"to carry out my plans for the development of the country, by opening +up a direct communication for it, free from the trammels of British +ports and influence." According to this document, during his absence +two powerful parties, viz., "the faction of unprincipled +fortune-hunters, rascals, and runaways on the one hand, and the faction +of the extreme orthodox party in a certain branch of the Dutch Reform +Church on the other, began to co-operate against the Government of the +Republic and me personally…. Ill as I was, and contrary to the advice +of my medical men, I proceeded to Europe, in the beginning of 1875, to +carry out my project, and no sooner was my back turned on the Transvaal +than the conspiring elements began to act. The new coat of arms and +flag adopted in the Raad by an almost unanimous vote were abolished; +the laws for a free and secular education were tampered with; and my +resistance to a reckless inspection and disposal of Government lands, +still occupied by natives, was openly defied. The Raad, filled up to a +large extent with men of ill repute, who, under the cloak of progress +and favour to the Government view, obtained their seats, was too weak +to cope with the skill of the conspirators, and granted leave to the +acting President to carry out measures diametrically opposed to my +policy. <i>Native lands</i> were inspected and given out to a few +speculators, who held large numbers of claims to lands which were +destined for citizens, and so a war was prepared for me, on my return +from Europe, which I could not avert." This extract is interesting, as +showing the state of feeling existing between the President and his +officers previous to the outbreak of the Secocœni war. It also shows +how entirely he was out of sympathy with the citizens, seeing that, as +soon as his back was turned, they, with Mr. Joubert and Paul Kruger at +their head, at once undid all the little good he had done. +</p> + +<p> +When Mr. Burgers got to England, he found that city capitalists would +have nothing whatever to say to his railway scheme. In Holland, +however, he succeeded in getting £90,000 of the £300,000 he wished to +borrow at a high rate of interest, and by passing a bond on five +hundred Government farms. This money was immediately invested in +railway plant, which, when it arrived at Delagoa Bay, had to be +mortgaged to pay the freight on it, and that was the end of the Delagoa +Bay railway scheme, except that the £90,000 is, I believe, still owing +to the confiding shareholders in Holland. +</p> + +<p> +On his return to the Transvaal the President was well received, and for +a month or so all went smoothly. But the relations of the Republic with +the surrounding native tribes had by this time become so bad that an +explosion was imminent somewhere. In the year 1874 the Volksraad raised +the price of passes under the iniquitous pass law, by which every +native travelling through the territory was made to pay from £1 to £5. +In case of non-payment the native was made subject to a fine of from £1 +to £10, and to a beating of from "ten to twenty-five lashes." He was +also to go into service for three months, and have a certificate +thereof, for which he must pay five shillings; the avowed object of the +law being to obtain a supply of Kafir labour. This was done in spite of +the earnest protest of the President, who gave the Raad distinctly to +understand that by accepting this law they would, in point of fact, +annul treaties concluded with the chiefs on the south-western borders. +It is not clear, however, if this amended pass law ever came into +force. It is to be hoped it did not, for even under the old law natives +were shamefully treated by Boers, who would pretend that they were +authorised by Government to collect the tax; the result being that the +unfortunate Kafir was frequently obliged to pay twice over. Natives had +such a horror of the pass laws of the country, that when travelling to +the Diamond Fields to work they would frequently go round some hundreds +of miles rather than pass through the Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +That the Volksraad should have thought it necessary to enact such a law +in order that the farmers should obtain a supply of Kafir labour in a +territory that had nearly a million of native inhabitants, who, unlike +the Zulus, are willing to work if only they meet with decent treatment, +is in itself an instructive commentary on the feelings existing between +Boer master and Kafir servant. +</p> + +<p> +But besides the general quarrel with the Kafir race in its entirety, +which the Boers always have on hand, they had just then several +individual differences, in each of which there lurked the possibilities +of disturbance. +</p> + +<p> +To begin with, their relations with Cetywayo were by no means amicable. +During Mr. Burgers' absence the Boer Government, then under the +leadership of P. J. Joubert, sent Cetywayo a very stern message—a +message that gives the reader the idea that Mr. Joubert was ready to +enforce it with ten thousand men. After making various statements and +demands with reference to the Amaswazi tribe, the disputed boundary +line, &c. it ends thus:— +</p> + +<p> +"Although the Government of the South African Republic has never +wished, and does not now desire, that serious disaffection and +animosities should exist between you and them, yet it is not the less +of the greatest consequence and importance for you earnestly to weigh +these matters and risks, and to satisfy them; the more so, if you on +your side also wish that peace and friendship shall be maintained +between you and us." +</p> + +<p> +The Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal comments on this message in +these words: "The tone of this message to Cetywayo is not very +friendly, it has the look of an ultimatum, and if the Government of the +Transvaal were in circumstances different to what it is, the message +would suggest an intention to coerce if the demands it conveys are not +at once complied with; but I am inclined to the opinion that no such +intention exists, and that the transmission of a copy of the message to +the Natal Government is intended as a notification that the Transvaal +Government has proclaimed the territory hitherto in dispute between it +and the Zulus to be Republican territory, and that the Republic intends +to occupy it." +</p> + +<p> +In the territories marked out by a decision known as the Keate Award, +in which Lieutenant-Governor Keate of Natal, at the request of both +parties, laid down the boundary line between the Boers and certain +native tribes, the Boer Government carried it with a yet higher hand, +insomuch as the natives of those districts, being comparatively +unwarlike, were less likely to resist. +</p> + +<p> +On the 18th August 1875, Acting President Joubert issued a proclamation +by which a line was laid down far to the southward of that marked out +by Mr. Keate, and consequently included more territory within the +elastic boundaries of the Republic. A Government notice of the same +date invites all claiming lands now declared to belong to the Republic +to send in their claims to be settled by a land commission. +</p> + +<p> +On the 6th March 1876, another chief in the same neighbourhood +(Montsoia) writes to the Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West in +these terms:— +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"<span class="sc">My Friend</span>,—I wish to acquaint you with +the doings of some people connected with the Boers. A man-servant of +mine has been severely injured in the head by one of the Boers' +servants, which has proved fatal. Another of my people has been cruelly +treated by a Boer tying a rein about his neck, and then mounting his +horse and dragging him about the place. My brother Molema, who is the +bearer of this, will give you full particulars." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Molema explains the assaults thus: "The assaulted man is not dead; his +skull was fractured. The assault was committed by a Boer named Wessels +Badenhorst, who shamefully ill-treated the man, beat him till he +fainted, and, on his revival, fastened a rim round his neck, and made +him run to the homestead by the side of his (Badenhorst's) horse +cantering. At the homestead he tied him to the waggon-wheel, and +flogged him again till Mrs. Badenhorst stopped her husband." +</p> + +<p> +Though it will be seen that the Boers were on good terms neither with +the Zulus nor the Keate Award natives, they still had one Kafir ally, +namely, Umbandeni, the Amaswazi king. This alliance was concluded under +circumstances so peculiar that they are worthy of a brief +recapitulation. It appears that in the winter of the year 1875, Mr. +Rudolph, the Landdrost of Utrecht, went to Swaziland, and, imitating +the example of the Natal Government with Cetywayo, crowned Umbandeni +king, on behalf of the Boer Government. He further made a treaty of +alliance with him, and promised him a commando to help him in case of +his being attacked by the Zulus. Now comes the curious part of the +story. On the 18th May 1876, a message came from this same Umbandeni to +Sir H. Bulwer, of which the following is an extract:—"We are sent by +our king to thank the Government of Natal for the information sent to +him last winter by that Government, and conveyed by Mr. Rudolph, of the +intended attack on his people by the Zulus. We are further instructed +by the king to thank the Natal Government for the influence it used to +stop the intended raid, and for instructing a Boer commando to go to +his country to render him assistance in case of need; and further for +appointing Mr. Rudolph at the head of the commando to place him +(Umbandeni) as king over the Amaswazi, and to make a treaty with him +and his people on behalf of the Natal Government…. The Transvaal +Government has asked Umbandeni to acknowledge himself a subject of the +Republic, but he has distinctly refused to do so." In a minute written +on this subject, the Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal says, "No +explanation or assurance from me was sufficient to convince them +(Umbandeni's messengers) that they had on that occasion made themselves +subjects of the South African Republic; they declared it was not their +wish or intention to do so, and that they would refuse to acknowledge a +position into which they had been unwittingly betrayed." I must +conclude this episode by quoting the last paragraph of Sir H. Bulwer's +covering despatch, because it concerns larger issues than the supposed +treaty: "It will not be necessary that I should at present add any +remarks to those contained in the minute of the Secretary for Native +Affairs, but I would observe that the situation arising out of the +relations of the Government of the South African Republic with the +neighbouring native States is so complicated, and presents so many +elements of confusion and of danger to the peace of this portion of +South Africa, that I trust some way may be found to an early settlement +of questions that ought not, in my opinion, to be left alone, as so +many have been left, to take the chance of the future." +</p> + +<p> +And now I come to the last and most imminent native difficulty that at +the time faced the Republic. On the borders of Lydenburg district there +lived a powerful chief named Secocœni. Between this chief and the +Transvaal Government difficulties arose in the beginning of 1876 on the +usual subject—land. The Boers declared that they had bought the land +from the Swazis, who had conquered portions of the country, and that +the Swazis offered to make it "clean from brambles," <i>i.e.</i>, kill +everybody living on it; but that they (the Boers) said that they were +to let them be, that they might be their servants. The Basutos, on the +other hand, said that no such sale ever took place, and, even if it did +take place, it was invalid, because the Swazis were not in occupation +of the land, and therefore could not sell it. It was a Christian Kafir +called Johannes, a brother of Secocœni, who was the immediate cause +of the war. This Johannes used to live at a place called Botsobelo, the +mission-station of Mr. Merensky, but moved to a stronghold on the +Spekboom river, in the disputed territory. The Boers sent to him to +come back, but he refused, and warned the Boers off his land. +Secocœni was then appealed to, but declared that the land belonged +to his tribe, and would be occupied by Johannes. He also told the Boers +"that he did not wish to fight, but that he was quite ready to do so if +they preferred it." Thereupon the Transvaal Government declared war, +although it does not appear that the natives committed any outrage or +acts of hostility before the declaration. As regards the Boers' right +to Secocœni's country, Sir H. Barkly sums up the question thus, in a +despatch addressed to President Burgers, dated 28th Nov. 1876:—"On the +whole, it seems perfectly clear, and I feel bound to repeat it, that +Sikukuni was neither <i lang="la">de jure</i> or <i lang="la">de facto</i> a subject of the +Republic when your Honour declared war against him in June last." As +soon as war had been declared, the clumsy commando system was set +working, and about 2500 white men collected; the Swazis also were +applied to to send a contingent, which they did, being only too glad of +the opportunity of slaughter. +</p> + +<p> +At first all went well, and the President, who accompanied the commando +in person, succeeded in reducing a mountain stronghold, which, in his +high-flown way, he called a "glorious victory" over a "Kafir +Gibraltar." +</p> + +<p> +On the 14th July another engagement took place, when the Boers and +Swazis attacked Johannes' stronghold. The place was taken with +circumstances of great barbarity by the Swazis, for when the signal was +given to advance the Boers did not move. Nearly all the women were +killed, and the brains of the children were dashed out against the +stones; in one instance, before the captive mother's face. Johannes was +badly wounded, and died two days afterwards. When he was dying, he said +to his brother, "I am going to die. I am thankful I do not die by the +hands of these cowardly Boers, but by the hand of a black and +courageous nation like myself…." He then took leave of his people, +told his brother to read the Bible, and expired. The Swazis were so +infuriated at the cowardice displayed by the Boers on this occasion +that they returned home in great dudgeon. +</p> + +<p> +On the 2d of August Secocœni's mountain, which is a very strong +fortification, was attacked in two columns, or rather an attempt was +made to attack it, for when it came to the pinch only about forty men, +mostly English and Germans, would advance. Thereupon the whole commando +retreated with great haste, the greater part of it going straight home. +In vain the President entreated them to shoot him rather than desert +him; they had had enough of Secocœni and his stronghold, and home +they went. The President then retreated with what few men he had left +to Steelport, where he built a fort, and from thence returned to +Pretoria. The news of the collapse of the commando was received +throughout the Transvaal, and indeed the whole of South Africa, with +the greatest dismay. For the first time in the history of that country +the white man had been completely worsted by a native tribe, and that +tribe wretched Basutos, people whom the Zulus call their "dogs." It was +glad tidings to every native from the Zambesi to the Cape, who learnt +thereby that the white man was not so invincible as he used to be. +Meanwhile the inhabitants of Lydenburg were filled with alarm, and +again and again petitioned the Governors of the Cape and Natal for +assistance. Their fears were, however, to a great extent groundless, +for, with the exception of occasional cattle-lifting, Secocœni did +not follow up his victory. +</p> + +<p> +On the 4th September the President opened the special sitting of the +Volksraad, and presented to that body a scheme for the establishment of +a border force to take the place of the commando system, announcing +that he had appointed a certain Captain Von Schlickmann to command it. +He also requested the Raad to make some provision for the expenses of +the expedition, which they had omitted to do in their former sitting. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Von Schlickmann determined to carry on the war upon a different +system. He got together a band of very rough characters on the Diamond +Fields, and occupied the fort built by the President, from whence he +would sally out from time to time and destroy kraals. He seems, if we +may believe the reports in the blue-books and the stories of +eye-witnesses, to have carried on his proceedings in a somewhat savage +way. The following is an extract from a private letter written by one +of his volunteers:— +</p> + +<p> +"About daylight we came across four Kafirs. Saw them first, and charged +in front of them to cut off their retreat. Saw they were women, and +called out not to fire. In spite of that, one of the poor things got +her head blown off (a d——d shame)…. Afterwards two women and a baby +were brought to the camp prisoners. The same night they were taken out +by our Kafirs and murdered in cool blood by order of ——. Mr. —— and +myself strongly protested against it, but without avail. I never heard +such a cowardly piece of business in my life. No good will come of it, +you may depend…. —— says he would cut all the women and children's +throats he catches. Told him distinctly he was a d——d coward." +</p> + +<p> +Schlickmann was, however, a mild-mannered man when compared to a +certain Abel Erasmus, afterwards denounced at a public dinner by Sir +Garnet Wolseley as a fiend "in human form." This gentleman, in the +month of October, attacked a friendly kraal of Kafirs. The incident is +described thus in a correspondent's letter:— +</p> + +<p> +"The people of the kraals, taken quite by surprise, fled when they saw +their foes, and most of them took shelter in the neighbouring bush. Two +or three men were distinctly seen in their flight from the kraal, and +one of them is known to have been wounded. According to my informant +the remainder were women and children, who were pursued into the bush, +and there, all shivering and shrieking, were put to death by the Boers' +Kafirs, some being shot, but the majority stabbed with assegais. After +the massacre he counted thirteen women and three children, but he says +he did not see the body of a single man. Another Kafir said, pointing +to a place in the road where the stones were thickly strewn, 'the +bodies of the women and children lay like these stones.' The Boer +before mentioned, who has been stationed outside, has told one of his +own friends, whom he thought would not mention it, that the shrieks +were fearful to hear." +</p> + +<p> +Several accounts of, or allusion to, this atrocity can be found in the +blue-books, and I may add that it, in common with others of the same +stamp, was the talk of the country at the time. +</p> + +<p> +I do not relate these horrors out of any wish to rake up old stories to +the prejudice of the Boers, but because I am describing the state of +the country before the Annexation, in which they form an interesting +and important item. Also, it is as well that people in England should +know into what hands they have delivered over the native tribes who +trusted in their protection. What happened in 1876 is probably +happening again now, and will certainly happen again and again. The +character of the Transvaal Boer and his sentiments towards the native +races have not modified during the last five years, but, on the +contrary, a large amount of energy, which has been accumulating during +the period of British protection, will now be expended on their devoted +heads. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the truth of these atrocities, the majority of them are +beyond the possibility of doubt; indeed, to the best of my knowledge, +no serious attempt has ever been made to refute such of them as have +come into public notice, except in a general way, for party purposes. +As, however, they may be doubted, I will quote the following extract +from a despatch written by Sir H. Barkly to Lord Carnarvon, dated 18th +December 1876:— +</p> + +<p> +"As Von Schlickmann has since fallen fighting bravely, it is not +without reluctance that I join in affixing this dark stain on his +memory, but truth compels me to add the following extract from a letter +which I have since received from one whose name (which I communicate to +your Lordship privately) forbids disbelief: 'There is no longer the +<i>slightest doubt</i> as to the murder of the two women and the child +at Steelport by the direct order of Schlickmann, and in the attack on +the kraal near which these women were captured (or some attack about +that period) he ordered his men to cut the throats of all the wounded! +This is no mere report; it is positively true.'" He concludes by +expressing a hope that the course of events will enable Her Majesty's +Government to take such steps "as will terminate this wanton and +useless bloodshed, and prevent the recurrence of the <i>scenes of +injustice, cruelty, and rapine which abundant evidence is every day +forthcoming to prove have rarely ceased to disgrace the Republics +beyond the Vaal ever since they first sprang into existence</i>."<a href="#note4" name="noteref4"><small>[4]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +These are strong words, but none too strong for the facts of the case. +Injustice, cruelty, and rapine have always been the watchwords of the +Transvaal Boers. The stories of wholesale slaughter in the earlier days +of the Republic are very numerous. One of the best known of those +shocking occurrences took place in the Zoutpansberg war in 1865. On +this occasion a large number of Kafirs took refuge in caves, where the +Boers smoked them to death. Some years afterwards Dr. Wangeman, whose +account is, I believe, thoroughly reliable, describes the scene of +their operations in these words:— +</p> + +<p> +"The roof of the first cave was black with smoke; the remains of the +logs which were burnt lay at the entrance. The floor was strewn with +hundreds of skulls and skeletons. In confused heaps lay karosses, +kerries, assegais, pots, spoons, snuff-boxes, and the bones of men, +giving one the impression that this was the grave of a whole people. +Some estimate the number of those who perished here from twenty to +thirty thousand. This is, I believe, too high. In the one chamber there +were from two hundred to three hundred skeletons; the other chambers I +did not visit." +</p> + +<p> +In 1868 a public meeting was held at Potchefstroom to consider the war +then going on with the Zoutpansberg natives. According to the report of +the proceedings, the Rev. Mr. Ludorf said that "on a particular +occasion a number of native children, who were too young to be removed, +had been collected in a heap, covered with long grass, and burned +alive. Other atrocities had also been committed, but these were too +horrible to relate." When called upon to produce his authority for this +statement, Mr. Ludorf named his authority "in a solemn declaration to +the State Attorney." At this same meeting Mr. J. G. Steyn, who had been +Landdrost of Potchefstroom, said, "there now was innocent blood on our +hands which had not yet been avenged, and the curse of God rested on +the land in consequence." Mr. Rosalt remarked that "it was a singular +circumstance that in the different colonial Kafir wars, as also in the +Basuto wars, one did not hear of destitute children being found by the +commandoes, and asked how it was that every petty commando that took +the field in this Republic invariably found numbers of destitute +children. He gave it as his opinion that the present system of +apprenticeship was an essential cause of our frequent hostilities with +the natives." Mr. Jan Talyard said, "Children were forcibly taken from +their parents, and were then called destitute and apprenticed." Mr. +Daniel Van Nooren was heard to say, "If they had to clear the country, +and could not have the children they found, he would shoot them." Mr. +Field-Cornet Furstenburg stated "that when he was at Zoutpansberg with +his burghers, the chief Katse-Kats was told to come down from the +mountains; that he sent one of his subordinates as a proof of amity; +that whilst a delay of five days was guaranteed by Commandant Paul +Kruger, who was then in command, orders were given at the same time to +attack the natives at break of day, which was accordingly done, but +which resulted in total failure." Truly, this must have been an +interesting meeting. +</p> + +<p> +Before leaving these unsavoury subjects, I must touch on the question +of slavery. It has been again and again denied, on behalf of the +Transvaal Boers, that slavery existed in the Republic. Now, this is, +strictly speaking, true; slavery did not exist, but apprenticeship +did—the rose was called by another name, that is all. The poor +destitute children who were picked up by kind-hearted Boers, after the +extermination of their parents, were apprenticed to farmers till they +came of age. It is a remarkable fact that these children never attained +their majority. You might meet oldish men in the Transvaal who were +not, according to their masters' reckoning, twenty-one years of age. +The assertion that slavery did not exist in the Transvaal is only made +to hoodwink the English public. I have known men who have owned slaves, +and who have seen whole waggon-loads of "black ivory," as they were +called, sold for about £15 a-piece. I have at this moment a tenant, +Carolus by name, on some land I own in Natal, now a well-to-do man, who +was for many years—about twenty, if I remember right—a Boer slave. +During those years, he told me, he worked from morning till night, and +the only reward he received was two calves. He finally escaped into +Natal. +</p> + +<p> +If other evidence is needed it is not difficult to find, so I will +quote a little. On the 22d August 1876 we find Khama, king of the +Bamangwato, one of the most worthy chiefs in South Africa, sending a +message to "Victoria, the great Queen of the English people," in these +words:— +</p> + +<p> +"I write to you, Sir Henry, in order that your Queen may preserve for +me my country, it being in her hands. The Boers are coming into it, and +I do not like them. Their actions are cruel among us black people. We +are like money, they sell us and our children. I ask Her Majesty to +pity me, and to hear that which I write quickly. I wish to hear upon +what conditions Her Majesty will receive me, and my country and my +people, under her protection. I am weary with fighting. I do not like +war, and I ask Her Majesty to give me peace. I am very much distressed +that my people are being destroyed by war, and I wish them to obtain +peace. I ask Her Majesty to defend me, as she defends all her people. +There are three things which distress me very much—war, selling +people, and drink. All these things I shall find in the Boers, and it +is these things which destroy people to make an end of them in the +country. <i>The custom of the Boers has always been to cause people to +be sold, and to-day they are still selling people.</i> Last year I saw +them pass with two waggons full of people whom they had bought at the +river at Tanane" (Lake Ngate). +</p> + +<p> +The Special Correspondent of the <i>Cape Argus</i>, a highly +respectable journal, writes thus on the 28th November 1876:—"The Boer +from whom this information was gleaned has furnished besides some facts +which may not be uninteresting, as a commentary on the repeated denials +by Mr. Burgers of the existence of slavery. During the last week slaves +have been offered for sale on his farm. The captives have been taken +from Secocœni's country by Mapoch's people, and are being exchanged +at the rate of a child for a heifer. He also assures us that the whole +of the High-veld is being replenished with Kafir children, whom the +Boers have been lately purchasing from the Swazis at the rate of a +horse for a child. I should like to see this man and his father as +witnesses before an Imperial Commission. He let fall one or two +incidents of the past which were brought to mind by the occurrences of +the present. In 1864, he says, 'The Swazis accompanied the Boers +against Males. The Boers did nothing but stand by and witness the +fearful massacre. The men and women were also murdered. One poor woman +sat clutching her baby of eight days old. The Swazis stabbed her +through the body, and when she found that she could not live, she wrung +the baby's neck with her own hands to save it from future misery. On +the return of that commando the children who became too weary to +continue the journey were killed on the road. The survivors were sold +as slaves to the farmers.'" +</p> + +<p> +The same gentleman writes in the issue of the 12th December as +follows:—"The whole world may know it, for it is true, and +investigation will only bring out the horrible details, that through +the whole course of this Republic's existence it has acted in +contravention of the Sand River Treaty; and slavery has occurred not +only here and there in isolated cases, but as an unbroken practice, and +has been one of the peculiar institutions of the country, mixed up with +all its social and political life. It has been at the root of most of +its wars. It has been carried on regularly even in times of peace. It +has been characterised by all those circumstances which have so often +roused the British nation to an indignant protest, and to repeated +efforts to banish the slave trade from the world. The Boers have not +only fallen on unsuspecting kraals simply for the purpose of obtaining +the women and children and cattle, but they have carried on a traffic +through natives who have kidnapped the children of their weaker +neighbours, and sold them to the white man. Again, the Boers have sold +and exchanged their victims among themselves. Waggon-loads of slaves +have been conveyed from one end of the country to the other for sale, +and that with the cognisance of, and for the direct advantage of, the +highest officials of the land. The writer has himself seen in a town, +situated in the south of the Republic, the children who had been +brought down from a remote northern district. One fine morning, in +walking through the streets, he was struck with the number of little +black strangers standing about certain houses, and wondered where they +could have come from. He learnt a few hours later that they were part +of loads which were disposed of on the outskirts of the town the day +before. The circumstances connected with some of these kidnapping +excursions are appalling, and the barbarities practised by cruel +masters upon some of these defenceless creatures during the course of +their servitude are scarcely less horrible than those reported from +Turkey. It is no disgrace in this country for an official to ride a +fine horse which was got for two Kafir children, to procure whom the +father and mother were shot. No reproach is inherited by the mistress +who, day after day, tied up her female servant in an agonising posture, +and had her beaten until there was no sound part in her body, securing +her in the stocks during the intervals of torture. That man did not +lose caste who tied up another woman and had her thrashed until she +brought forth at the whipping-post. These are merely examples of +thousands of cases which could be proved were an Imperial Commission to +sit, and could the wretched victims of a prolonged oppression recover +sufficiently from the dread of their old tyrants to give a truthful +report." +</p> + +<p> +To come to some evidence more recently adduced. On the 9th May 1881, an +affidavit was sworn to by the Rev. John Thorne, curate of St. John the +Evangelist, Lydenburg, Transvaal, and presented to the Royal Commission +appointed to settle Transvaal affairs, in which he states:—"That I was +appointed to the charge of a congregation in Potchefstroom, about +thirteen years ago, when the Republic was under the presidency of Mr. +Pretorius.<a href="#note5" name="noteref5"><small>[5]</small></a> I remember noticing one morning as I walked through the +streets, a number of young natives, whom I knew to be strangers. I +inquired where they came from. I was told that they had just been +brought from Zoutpansberg. This was the locality from which slaves were +chiefly brought at that time, and were traded for under the name of +'Black Ivory.' One of these natives belonged to Mr. Munich, the State +Attorney. It was a matter of common remark at that time that the +President of the Republic was himself one of the greatest dealers in +slaves." In the fourth paragraph of the same affidavit Mr. Thorne says, +"That the Rev. Doctor Nachtigal, of the Berlin Missionary Society, was +the interpreter for Shatane's people in the private office of Mr. Roth, +and, at the close of the interview, told me what had occurred. On my +expressing surprise, he went on to relate that he had information on +native matters which would surprise me more. He then produced the copy +of a register, kept in the Landdrost's office, of men, women, and +children, to the number of four hundred and eighty (480), who had been +disposed of by one Boer to another for a consideration. In one case an +ox was given in exchange, in another goats, in a third a blanket, and +so forth. Many of these natives he (Mr. Nachtigal) knew personally. The +copy was certified as true and correct by an official of the Republic, +and I would mention his name now, only that I am persuaded that it +would cost the man his life if his act became known to the Boers." +</p> + +<p> +On the 16th May 1881, a native, named Frederick Molepo, was examined by +the Royal Commission. The following are extracts from his +examination:— +</p> + +<p> +"(<i>Sir E. Wood.</i>) Are you a Christian?—Yes. +</p> + +<p> +"(<i>Sir H. de Villiers.</i>) How long were you a slave?—Half a year. +</p> + +<p> +"How do you know that you were a slave? Might you not have been an +apprentice?—No, I was not apprenticed. +</p> + +<p> +"How do you know?—They got me from my parents, and ill-treated me. +</p> + +<p> +"(<i>Sir E. Wood.</i>) How many times did you get the stick?—Every +day. +</p> + +<p> +"(<i>Sir H. de Villiers.</i>) What did the Boers do with you when they +caught you?—They sold me. +</p> + +<p> +"How much did they sell you for?—One cow and a big pot." +</p> + +<p> +On the 28th May 1881, amongst the other documents handed in for the +consideration of the Royal Commission, is the statement of a headman, +whose name it has been considered advisable to omit in the blue-book +for fear the Boers should take vengeance on him. He says, "I say, that +if the English government dies I shall die too; I would rather die than +be under the Boer Government. I am the man who helped to make bricks +for the church you see now standing in the square here (Pretoria), as a +slave without payment. As a representative of my people I am still +obedient to the English Government, and willing to obey all commands +from them, even to die for their cause in this country, rather than +submit to the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +"I was under Shambok, my chief, who fought the Boers formerly, but he +left us, and we were <i>put up to auction</i> and sold among the Boers. +I want to state this myself to the Royal Commission in Newcastle. I was +bought by Fritz Botha and sold by Frederick Botha, who was then veld +cornet (justice of the peace) of the Boers."<a href="#note6" name="noteref6"><small>[6]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +It would be easy to find more reports of the slave-trading practices of +the Boers, but as the above are fair samples it will not be necessary +to do so. My readers will be able from them to form some opinion as to +whether or not slavery or apprenticeship existed in the Transvaal. If +they come to the conclusion that it did, it must be borne in mind that +what existed in the past will certainly exist again in the future. +Natives are not now any fonder of working for Boers than they were a +few years back, and Boers must get labour somehow. If, on the other +hand, it did not exist, then the Boers are a grossly slandered people, +and all writers on the subject, from Livingstone down, have combined to +take away their character. +</p> + +<p> +Leaving native questions for the present, we must now return to the +general affairs of the country. When President Burgers opened the +special sitting of the Volksraad, on the 4th September, he appealed, it +will be remembered, to that body for pecuniary aid to liquidate the +expenses of the war. This appeal was responded to by the passing of a +war tax, under which every owner of a farm was to pay £10, the owner of +half a farm £5, and so on. The tax was not a very just one, since it +fell with equal weight on the rich man who held twenty farms and the +poor man who held but one. Its justice or injustice was, however, to a +great extent immaterial, since the free and independent burghers, +including some of the members of the Volksraad who had imposed it, +promptly refused to pay it, or indeed, whilst they were about it, any +other tax. As the Treasury was already empty, and creditors were +pressing, this refusal was most ill-timed, and things began to look +very black indeed. Meanwhile, in addition to the ordinary expenditure, +and the interest payable on debts, money had to be found to pay Von +Schlickmann's volunteers. As there was no cash in the country, this was +done by issuing Government promissory notes, known as "goodfors," or +vulgarly as "good for nothings," and by promising them all booty, and +to each man a farm of two thousand acres, lying east and north-east of +the Loolu mountains—in other words, in Secocœni's territory, which +did not belong to the Government to give away. The officials were the +next to suffer, and for six months before the Annexation these +unfortunate individuals lived as best they could, for they certainly +got no salary, except in the case of a postmaster, who was told to help +himself to his pay in stamps. The Government issued large numbers of +bills, but the banks refused to discount them, and in some cases the +neighbouring colonies had to advance money to the Transvaal post-cart +contractors who were carrying the mails, as a matter of charity. The +Government even mortgaged the great salt-pan near Pretoria for the +paltry sum of £400, whilst the leading officials of the Government were +driven to pledging their own private credit in order to obtain the +smallest article necessary to its continuance. In fact, to such a pass +did things come that when the country was annexed a single threepenny +bit (which had doubtless been overlooked) was found in the Treasury +chest, together with acknowledgments of debts to the extent of nearly +£300,000. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was the refusal to pay taxes, which they were powerless to enforce, +the only difficulty with which the Government had to contend. Want of +money is as bad and painful a thing to a State as to an individual, but +there are perhaps worse things than want of money, one of which is to +be deserted by your own friends and household. This was the position of +the Government of the Republic; no sooner was it involved in +overwhelming difficulties than its own subjects commenced to bait it, +more especially the English portion of its subjects. They complained to +the English authorities about the commandeering of members of their +family or goods; they petitioned the British Government to interfere, +and generally made themselves as unpleasant as possible to the local +authorities. Such a course of action was perhaps natural, but it can +hardly be said to be either quite logical or just. The Transvaal +Government had never asked them to come and live in the country, and if +they did so, it was presumably at their own risk. On the other hand, it +must be remembered that many of the agitators had accumulated property, +to leave which would mean ruin; and they saw that, unless something was +done, its value would be destroyed. +</p> + +<p> +Under the pressure of all these troubles the Boers themselves split up +into factions, as they are always ready to do. The Dopper party +declared that they had had enough progress, and proposed the extremely +conservative Paul Kruger as President, Burgers' time having nearly +expired. Paul Kruger accepted the candidature, although he had +previously promised his support to Burgers, and distrust of each other +was added to the other difficulties of the Executive, the Transvaal +becoming a house very much divided against itself. Natives, Doppers, +Progressionists, Officials, English, were all pulling different ways, +and each striving for his own advantage. Anything more hopeless than +the position of the country on the 1st January 1877 it is impossible to +conceive. Enemies surrounded it; on every border there was the prospect +of a serious war. In the exchequer there was nothing but piles of +overdue bills. The President was helpless, and mistrustful of his +officers, and the officers were caballing against the President. All +the ordinary functions of Government had ceased, and trade was +paralysed. Now and then wild proposals were made to relieve the State +of its burdens, some of which partook of the nature of repudiation, but +these were the exception; the majority of the inhabitants, who would +neither fight nor pay taxes, sat still and awaited the catastrophe, +utterly careless of all consequences. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="III"> </a> +CHAPTER III. +<br><br> +<span class="small">THE ANNEXATION. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +The state of affairs described in the previous chapter was one that +filled the Secretary of State for the Colonies with alarm. During his +tenure of office Lord Carnarvon evidently had the permanent welfare of +South Africa much at heart, and he saw with apprehension that the +troubles that were brewing in the Transvaal were of a nature likely to +involve the Cape and Natal in a native war. Though there is a broad +line of demarcation between Dutch and English, it is not so broad but +that a victorious nation like the Zulus might cross it, and beginning +by fighting the Boer, might end by fighting the white man irrespective +of race. When the reader reflects how terrible would be the +consequences of a combination of native tribes against the Whites, and +how easily such a combination might at that time have been brought +about in the first flush of native successes, he will understand the +anxiety with which all thinking men watched the course of events in the +Transvaal in 1876. +</p> + +<p> +At last they took such a serious turn that the Home Government saw that +some action must be taken if the catastrophe was to be averted, and +determined to despatch Sir Theophilus Shepstone as Special Commissioner +to the Transvaal, with powers, should it be necessary, to annex the +country to Her Majesty's dominions, "in order to secure the peace and +safety of Our said colonies and of Our subjects elsewhere." +</p> + +<p> +The terms of his Commission were unusually large, leaving a great deal +to his discretionary power. In choosing that officer for the execution +of a most difficult and delicate mission, the Government, doubtless, +made a very wise selection. Sir Theophilus Shepstone is a man of +remarkable tact and ability, combined with great openness and +simplicity of mind, and one whose name will always have a leading place +in South African history. During a long official lifetime he has had to +do with most of the native races in South Africa, and certainly knows +them and their ways better than any living man; whilst he is by them +all regarded with a peculiar and affectionate reverence. He is <i>par +excellence</i> their great white chief and "father," and a word from +him, even now that he has retired from active life, still carries more +weight than the formal remonstrances of any governor in South Africa. +</p> + +<p> +With the Boers he is almost equally well acquainted, having known many +of them personally for years. He possesses, moreover, the rare power of +winning the regard and affection, as well as the respect, of those +about him in such a marked degree that those who have served him once +would go far to serve him again. Sir T. Shepstone, however, has enemies +like other people, and is commonly reported among them to be a disciple +of Machiavelli, and to have his mind steeped in all the darker wiles of +Kafir policy. The Annexation of the Transvaal is by them attributed to +a successful and vigorous use of those arts that distinguished the +diplomacy of two centuries ago. Falsehood and bribery are supposed to +have been the great levers used to effect the change, together with +threats of extinction at the hands of a savage and unfriendly nation. +</p> + +<p> +That the Annexation was a triumph of mind over matter is quite true, +but whether or no that triumph was unworthily obtained, I will leave +those who read this short chronicle of the events connected with it to +judge. I saw it somewhat darkly remarked in a newspaper the other day +that the history of the Annexation had evidently yet to be written; and +I fear that the remark represents the feeling of most people about that +event, implying as it did that it was carried out by means certainly +mysteriously and presumably doubtful. I am afraid that those who think +thus will be disappointed in what I have to say about the matter, since +I know that the means employed to bring the Boers— +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +"Fracti bello, fatisque repulsi"— +</p> + +<p> +under Her Majesty's authority were throughout as fair and honest as the +Annexation itself was, in my opinion, right and necessary. +</p> + +<p> +To return to Sir T. Shepstone. He undoubtedly had faults as a ruler, +one of the most prominent of which was that his natural mildness of +character would never allow him to act with severity even when severity +was necessary. The very criminals condemned to death ran a good chance +of reprieve when he had to sign their death-warrants. He has also that +worst of faults (so-called), in one fitted by nature to become +great—want of ambition, a failing that in such a man marks him the +possessor of an even and a philosophic mind. It was no seeking of his +own that raised him out of obscurity, and when his work was done to +comparative obscurity he elected to return, though whether a man of his +ability and experience in South African affairs should, at the present +crisis, be allowed to remain there, is another question. +</p> + +<p> +On the 20th December 1876, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, +informing him of his approaching visit to the Transvaal, to secure, if +possible, the adjustment of existing troubles, and the adoption of such +measures as might be best calculated to prevent their recurrence in the +future. +</p> + +<p> +On his road to Pretoria, Sir Theophilus received a hearty welcome from +the Boer as well as the English inhabitants of the country. One of +these addresses to him says: "Be assured, high honourable Sir, that we +burghers, now assembled together, entertain the most friendly feeling +towards your Government, and that we shall agree with anything you may +do in conjunction with our Government for the progress of our State, +the strengthening against our native enemies, and for the general +welfare of all the inhabitants of the whole of South Africa. Welcome in +Heidelberg, and welcome in the Transvaal." +</p> + +<p> +At Pretoria the reception of the Special Commissioner was positively +enthusiastic; the whole town came out to meet him, and the horses +having been taken out of the carriage, he was dragged in triumph +through the streets. In his reply to the address presented to him, Sir +Theophilus shadowed forth the objects of his mission in these words: +"Recent events in this country have shown to all thinking men the +absolute necessity for closer union and more oneness of purpose among +the Christian Governments of the southern portion of this continent: +the best interests of the native races, no less than the peace and +prosperity of the white, imperatively demand it, and I rely upon you +and upon your Government to co-operate with me in endeavouring to +achieve the great and glorious end of inscribing on a general South +African banner the appropriate motto—"Eendragt maakt magt" (Unity +makes strength)." +</p> + +<p> +A few days after his arrival a commission was appointed, consisting of +Messrs. Henderson and Osborn, on behalf of the Special Commissioner, +and Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen, on behalf of the Transvaal Government, +to discuss the state of the country. This commission came to nothing, +and was on both sides nothing more than a bit of by-play. +</p> + +<p> +The arrival of the mission was necessarily regarded with mixed feelings +by the inhabitants of the Transvaal. By one party it was eagerly +greeted, viz., the English section of the population, who devoutly +hoped that it had come to annex the country. With the exception of the +Hollander element, the officials also were glad of its arrival, and +secretly hoped that the country would be taken over, when there would +be more chance of their getting their arrear pay. The better educated +Boers also were for the most part satisfied that there was no hope for +the country unless England helped it in some way, though they did not +like having to accept the help. But the more bigoted and narrow-minded +among them were undoubtedly opposed to English interference, and under +their leader, Paul Kruger, who was at the time running for the +President's chair, did their best to be rid of it. They found ready +allies in the Hollander clientelle, with which Mr. Burgers had +surrounded himself, headed by the famous Dr. Jorissen, who was, like +most of the rulers of this singular State, an ex-clergyman, but now an +Attorney-general, not learned in the law. These men were for the most +part entirely unfit for the positions they held, and feared that in the +event of the country changing hands they might be ejected from them; +and also, they did all Englishmen the favour to regard them with that +peculiarly virulent and general hatred which is a part of the secret +creed of many foreigners, more especially of such as are under our +protection. As may easily be imagined, what between all these different +parties and the presence of the Special Commissioner, there were +certainly plenty of intrigues going on in Pretoria during the first few +months of 1877, and the political excitement was very great. Nobody +knew how far Sir T. Shepstone was prepared to go, and everybody was +afraid of putting out his hand further than he could pull it back, and +trying to make himself comfortable on two stools at once. Members of +the Volksraad and other prominent individuals in the country who had +during the day been denouncing the Commissioner in no measured terms, +and even proposing that he and his staff should be shot as a warning to +the English Government, might be seen arriving at his house under cover +of the shades of evening, to have a little talk with him, and express +the earnest hope that it was his intention to annex the country as soon +as possible. It is necessary to assist at a peaceable annexation to +learn the depth of meanness human nature is capable of. +</p> + +<p> +In Pretoria, at any rate, the ladies were of great service to the cause +of the mission, since they were nearly all in favour of a change of +government, and, that being the case, they naturally soon brought their +husbands, brothers, and lovers to look at things from the same point of +view. It was a wise man who said that in any matter where it is +necessary to obtain the goodwill of a population you should win over +the women; that done, you need not trouble yourself about the men. +</p> + +<p> +Though the country was thus overflowing with political intrigues, +nothing of the kind went on in the Commissioner's camp. It was not he +who made the plots to catch the Transvaalers; on the contrary, they +made the plots to catch him. For several months all that he did was to +sit still and let the rival passions work their way, fighting what the +Zulus afterwards called the "fight of sit down." When anybody came to +see him he was very glad to meet them, pointed out the desperate +condition of the country, and asked them if they could suggest a +remedy. And that was about all he did do, beyond informing himself very +carefully as to all that was going on in the country, and the movements +of the natives within and outside its borders. There was no money spent +in bribery, as has been stated, though it is impossible to imagine a +state of affairs in which it would have been more easy to bribe, or in +which it could have been done with greater effect; unless indeed the +promise that some pension should be paid to President Burgers can be +called a bribe, which it was certainly never intended to be, but simply +a guarantee that after having spent all his private means on behalf of +the State he should not be left destitute. The statement that the +Annexation was effected under a threat that if the Government did not +give its consent Sir T. Shepstone would let loose the Zulus on the +country is also a wicked and malicious invention, but with this I shall +deal more at length further on. +</p> + +<p> +It must not, however, be understood that the Annexation was a foregone +conclusion, or that Sir T. Shepstone came up to the Transvaal with the +fixed intention of annexing the country without reference to its +position, merely with a view of extending British influence, or, as has +been absurdly stated, in order to benefit Natal. He had no fixed +purpose, whether it were necessary or no, of exercising the full powers +given to him by his commission; on the contrary, he was all along most +anxious to find some internal resources within the State by means of +which Annexation could be averted, and of this fact his various letters +and despatches give full proof. Thus, in his letter to President +Burgers, of the 9th April 1877, in which he announces his intention of +annexing the country, he says: "I have more than once assured your +Honour that if I could think of any plan by which the independence of +the State could be maintained by its own internal resources I would +most certainly not conceal that plan from you." It is also incidentally +remarkably confirmed by a passage in Mr. Burgers' posthumous defence, +in which he says: "Hence I met Shepstone alone in my house, and opened +up the subject of his mission. With a candour that astonished me, he +avowed that his purpose was to annex the country, as he had sufficient +grounds for it, unless I could so alter as to satisfy his Government. +My plan of a new constitution, modelled after that of America, of a +standing police force of two hundred mounted men, was then proposed. He +promised to give me time to call the Volksraad together, and to +<i>abandon his design</i> if the Volksraad would adopt these measures, +and the country be willing to submit to them, and to carry them out." +Further on he says: "In justice to Shepstone I must say that I would +not consider an officer of my Government to have acted faithfully if he +had not done what Shepstone did." +</p> + +<p> +It has also been frequently alleged in England, and always seems to be +taken as the groundwork of argument in the matter of the Annexation, +that the Special Commissioner represented that the majority of the +inhabitants wished for the Annexation, and that it was sanctioned on +that ground. This statement shows the great ignorance that exists in +this country of South African affairs, an ignorance which in this case +has been carefully fostered by Mr. Gladstone's Government for party +purposes, they having found it necessary to assume, in order to make +their position in the matter tenable, that Sir T. Shepstone and other +officers had been guilty of misrepresentation. Unfortunately, the +Government and its supporters have been more intent upon making out +their case than upon ascertaining the truth of their statements. If +they had taken the trouble to refer to Sir T. Shepstone's despatches, +they would have found that the ground on which the Transvaal was +annexed was, not because the majority of the inhabitants wished for it +but because the State was drifting into anarchy, was bankrupt, and was +about to be destroyed by native tribes. They would further have found +that Sir T. Shepstone never represented that the majority of the Boers +were in favour of Annexation. What he did say was that most thinking +men in the country saw no other way out of the difficulty; but what +proportion of the Boers can be called "thinking men?" He also said, in +the fifteenth paragraph of his despatch to Lord Carnarvon of 6th March +1877, that petitions signed by 2500 people, representing every class of +the community, out of a total adult male population of 8000, had been +presented to the Government of the Republic, setting forth its +difficulties and dangers, and praying it "to treat with me for their +amelioration or removal." He also stated, and with perfect truth, that +many more would have signed had it not been for the terrorism that was +exercised, and that all the towns and villages in the country desired +the change, which was a patent fact. +</p> + +<p> +This is the foundation on which the charge of misrepresentation is +built—a charge which has been manipulated so skilfully, and with such +a charming disregard for the truth, that the British public has been +duped into believing it. When it is examined into, it vanishes into +thin air. +</p> + +<p> +But a darker charge has been brought against the Special Commissioner—a +charge affecting his honour as a gentleman and his character as a +Christian; and, strange to say, has gained a considerable credence, +especially amongst a certain party in England. I allude to the +statement that he called up the Zulu army with the intention of +sweeping the Transvaal if the Annexation was objected to. I may state, +from my own personal knowledge, that the report is a complete +falsehood, and that no such threat was ever made, either by Sir T. +Shepstone or by anybody connected with him, and I will briefly prove +what I say. +</p> + +<p> +When the mission first arrived at Pretoria, a message came from +Cetywayo to the effect that he had heard that the Boers had fired at +"Sompseu" (Sir T. Shepstone), and announcing his intention of attacking +the Transvaal if "his father" was touched. About the middle of March +alarming rumours began to spread as to the intended action of Cetywayo +with reference to the Transvaal; but as Sir T. Shepstone did not think +that the king would be likely to make any hostile movement whilst he +was in the country, he took no steps in the matter. Neither did the +Transvaal Government ask his advice and assistance. Indeed, a +remarkable trait in the Boers is their supreme self-conceit, which +makes them believe that they are capable of subduing all the natives in +Africa, and of thrashing the whole British army if necessary. +Unfortunately, the recent course of events has tended to confirm them +in their opinion as regards their white enemies. To return: towards the +second week in April, or the week before the proclamation of Annexation +was issued, things began to look very serious; indeed, rumours that +could hardly be discredited reached the Special Commissioner that the +whole Zulu army was collected in a chain of Impis or battalions, with +the intention of bursting into the Transvaal and sweeping the country. +Knowing how terrible would be the catastrophe if this were to happen, +Sir T. Shepstone was much alarmed about the matter, and at a meeting +with the Executive Council of the Transvaal Government he pointed out +to them the great danger in which the country was placed. This was done +in the presence of several officers of his staff, and it was on this +friendly exposition of the state of affairs that the charge that he had +threatened the country with invasion by the Zulus was based. On the +11th April, or the day before the Annexation, a message was despatched +to Cetywayo, telling him of the reports that had reached Pretoria, and +stating that if they were true he must forthwith give up all such +intentions, as the Transvaal would at once be placed under the +sovereignty of Her Majesty, and that if he had assembled any armies for +purposes of aggression they must be disbanded at once. Sir T. +Shepstone's message reached Zululand not a day too soon. Had the +Annexation of the Transvaal been delayed by a few weeks even—and this +is a point which I earnestly beg Englishmen to remember in connection +with that act—Cetywayo's armies would have entered the Transvaal, +carrying death before them, and leaving a wilderness behind them. +</p> + +<p> +Cetywayo's answer to the Special Commissioner's message will +sufficiently show, to use Sir Theophilus' own words in his despatch on +the subject, "the pinnacle of peril which the Republic and South Africa +generally had reached at the moment when the Annexation took place." He +says, "I thank my Father Sompseu (Sir T. Shepstone) for his message. I +am glad that he has sent it, because the Dutch have tired me out, and I +intended to fight them once and once only, and to drive them over the +Vaal. Kabana (name of messenger), you see my Impis (armies) are +gathered. It was to fight the Dutch I called them together; now I will +send them back to their homes. Is it well that two men ('amadoda-amabili') +should be made 'iziula' (fools)? In the reign of my father Umpanda the +Boers were constantly moving their boundary further into my country. +Since his death the same thing has been done. I had therefore +determined to end it once for all!" The message then goes on to other +matters, and ends with a request to be allowed to fight the Amaswazi, +because "they fight together and kill one another. This," says Cetywayo +naively, "is wrong, and I want to chastise them for it." +</p> + +<p> +This quotation will suffice to convince all reasonable men, putting +aside all other matters, from what imminent danger the Transvaal was +delivered by the much-abused Annexation. +</p> + +<p> +Some months after that event, however, it occurred to the ingenious +mind of some malicious individual in Natal that, properly used, much +political capital might be made out of this Zulu incident, and the +story that Cetywayo's army had been called up by Sir Theophilus himself +to overawe, and, if necessary, subdue the Transvaal, was accordingly +invented and industriously circulated. Although Sir T. Shepstone at +once caused it to be authoritatively contradicted, such an astonishing +slander naturally took firm root, and on the 12th April 1879 we have +Mr. M. W. Pretorius, one of the Boer leaders, publicly stating at a +meeting of the farmers that "previous to the Annexation Sir T. +Shepstone had threatened the Transvaal with an attack from the Zulus as +an argument for advancing the Annexation." Under such an imputation the +Government could no longer keep silence, and accordingly Sir Owen +Lanyon, who was then Administrator of the Transvaal, caused the matter +to be officially investigated, with these results, which are summed up +by him in a letter to Mr. Pretorius, dated 1st May 1879:— +</p> + +<p> +1. The records of the Republican Executive Council contained no +allusion to any such statement. +</p> + +<p> +2. Two members of that Council filed statements in which they +unreservedly denied that Sir T. Shepstone used the words or threats +imputed to him. +</p> + +<p> +3. Two officers of Sir T. Shepstone's staff, who were always present +with him at interviews with the Executive Council, filed statements to +the same effect. +</p> + +<p> +"I have no doubt," adds Sir Owen Lanyon, "that the report has been +originated and circulated by some evil-disposed person." +</p> + +<p> +In addition to this evidence we have a letter written to the Colonial +Office by Sir T. Shepstone, dated London, August 12, 1879, in which he +points out that Mr. Pretorius was not even present at any of the +interviews with the Executive Council on which occasion he accuses him +of having made use of the threats. He further shows that the use of +such a threat on his part would have, been the depth of folly, and +"knowingly to court the instant and ignominious failure of my mission," +because the Boers were so persuaded of their own prowess that they +could not be convinced that they stood in any danger from native +sources, and also because "such play with such keen-edged tools as the +excited passions of savages are, and especially such savages as I knew +the Zulus to be, is not what an experience of forty-two years in +managing them inclined me to." And yet, in the face of all this +accumulated evidence, this report continues to be believed, that is, by +those who wished to believe it. +</p> + +<p> +Such are the accusations that have been brought against the manner of +the Annexation and the officer who carried it out, and never were +accusations more groundless. Indeed, both for party purposes, and from +personal animus, every means, fair or foul, has been used to discredit +it and all connected with it. To take a single instance, one author +(Miss Colenso, p. 134, "History of the Zulu War") actually goes the +length of putting a portion of a speech made by President Burgers into +the mouth of Sir T. Shepstone, and then abusing him for his incredible +profanity. Surely this exceeds the limits of fair criticism. +</p> + +<p> +Before I go on to the actual history of the Annexation there is one +point I wish to submit to my reader. In England the change of +Government has always been talked of as though it only affected the +forty thousand white inhabitants of the country, whilst everybody seems +to forget that this same land had about a million human beings living +on it, its original owners, and only, unfortunately for themselves, +possessing a black skin, and therefore entitled to little +consideration,—even at the hands of the most philanthropic Government +in the world. It never seems to have occurred to those who have raised +so much outcry on behalf of the forty thousand Boers, to inquire what +was thought of the matter by the million natives. If they were to be +allowed a voice in their own disposal, the country was certainly +annexed by the wish of a very large majority of the inhabitants. It is +true that Secocœni, instigated thereto by the Boers, afterwards +continued the war against us, but, with the exception of this one +chief, the advent of our rule was hailed with joy by every native in +the Transvaal, and even he was glad of it at the time. During our +period of rule in the Transvaal the natives have had, as they foresaw, +more peace than at any time since the white man set foot in the land. +They have paid their taxes gladly, and there has been no fighting among +themselves; but since we have given up the country we hear a very +different tale. It is this million of men, women, and children who, +notwithstanding their black skins, live and feel, and have intelligence +as much as ourselves, who are the principal, because the most numerous +sufferers from Mr. Gladstone's conjuring tricks, that can turn a +Sovereign into a Suzerain as airily as the professor of magic brings a +litter of guinea-pigs out of a top hat. It is our falsehood and +treachery to them whom we took over "for ever," as we told them, and +whom we have now handed back to their natural enemies to be paid off +for their loyalty to the Englishman, that is the blackest stain in all +this black business, and that has destroyed our prestige, and caused us +to be looked on amongst them, for they do not hide their opinion, as +"cowards and liars." +</p> + +<p> +But very little attention, however, seems to have been paid to native +views or claims at any time in the Transvaal; indeed they have all +along been treated as serfs of the soil, to be sold with it, if +necessary, to a new master. It is true that the Government, acting +under pressure from the Aborigines Protection Society, made, on the +occasion of the Surrender, a feeble effort to secure the independence +of some of the native tribes; but when the Boer leaders told them +shortly that they would have nothing of the sort, and that, if they +were not careful, they would reoccupy Laing's Nek, the proposal was at +once dropped, with many assurances that no offence was intended. The +worst of the matter is that this treatment of our native subjects and +allies will assuredly recoil on the heads of future innocent +Governments. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after the appointment of the Joint-Commission alluded to at the +beginning of this chapter, President Burgers, who was now in possession +of the Special Commissioner's intentions, should he be unable to carry +out reforms sufficiently drastic to satisfy the English Government, +thought it best to call together the Volksraad. In the meantime, it had +been announced that the "rebel" Secocœni had sued for peace and +signed a treaty declaring himself a subject of the Republic. I shall +have to enter into the question of this treaty a little further on, so +I will at present only say that it was the first business laid before +the Raad, and, after some discussion, ratified. Next in order to the +Secocœni peace came the question of Confederation, as laid down in +Lord Carnarvon's Permissive Bill. This proposal was laid before them in +an earnest and eloquent speech by their President, who entreated them +to consider the dangerous position of the Republic, and to face their +difficulties like men. The question was referred to a committee, and an +adverse report being brought up, was rejected without further +consideration. It is just possible that intimidation had something to +do with the summary treatment of so important a matter, seeing that +whilst it was being argued a large mob of Boers, looking very +formidable with their sea-cow hide whips, watched every move of their +representatives through the windows of the Volksraad Hall. It was Mr. +Chamberlain's caucus system in practical and visible operation. +</p> + +<p> +A few days after the rejection of the Confederation Bill, President +Burgers, who had frequently alluded to the desperate condition of the +Republic, and stated that either some radical reform must be effected +or the country must come under the British flag, laid before the Raad a +brand new constitution of a very remarkable nature, asserting that they +must either accept it or lose their independence. +</p> + +<p> +The first part of this strange document dealt with the people and their +rights, which remained much as they were before, with the exception +that the secrecy of all letters entrusted to the post was to be +inviolable. The recognition of this right is an amusing incident in the +history of a free Republic. Under following articles the Volksraad was +entrusted with the charge of the native inhabitants of the State, the +provision for the administration of justice, the conduct of education, +the regulation of money-bills, &c. It is in the fourth chapter, +however, that we come to the real gist of the Bill, which was the +endowment of the State President with the authority of a dictator. Mr. +Burgers thought to save the State by making himself an absolute +monarch. He was to be elected for a period of seven instead of five +years, and to be eligible for re-election. In him was vested the power +of making all appointments without reference to the Legislature. All +laws were to be drawn up by him, and he was to have the right of veto +on Volksraad resolutions, which body he could summon and dissolve at +will. Finally, his Executive Council was to consist of heads of +departments appointed by himself, and of one member of the Volksraad. +The Volksraad treated this Bill in much the same way as they had dealt +with the Permissive Confederation Bill, gave it a casual consideration, +and threw it out. +</p> + +<p> +The President, meanwhile, was doing his best to convince the Raad of +the danger of the country; that the treasury was empty, whilst duns +were pressing, that enemies were threatening on every side, and, +finally, that Her Majesty's Special Commissioner was encamped within a +thousand yards of them, watching their deliberations with some +interest. He showed them that it was impossible at once to scorn reform +and reject friendly offers, that it was doubtful if anything could save +them, but that if they took no steps they were certainly lost as a +nation. The "Fathers of the land," however, declined to dance to the +President's piping. Then he took a bolder line. He told them that a +guilty nation never can evade the judgment that follows its steps. He +asked them "conscientiously to advise the people not obstinately to +refuse a union with a powerful Government. He could not advise them to +refuse such a union…. He did not believe that a new constitution +would save them; for as little as the old constitution had brought them +to ruin, so little would a new constitution bring salvation…. If the +citizens of England had behaved towards the Crown as the burghers of +this State had behaved to their Government, England would never have +stood so long as she had." He pointed out to them their hopeless +financial position. "To-day," he said, "a bill for £1100 was laid +before me for signature; but I would sooner have cut off my right hand +than sign that paper—(cheers)—for I have not the slightest ground +to expect that, when that bill becomes due, there will be a penny to +pay it with." And finally, he exhorted them thus: "Let them make the +best of the situation, and get the best terms they possibly could; +let them agree to join their hands to those of their brethren in the +south, and then from the Cape to the Zambesi there would be one great +people. Yes, there was something grand in that, grander even than +their idea of a Republic, something which ministered to their national +feeling—(cheers)—and would this be so miserable? Yes, this would be +miserable for those who would not be under the law, for the rebel and +the revolutionist, but welfare and prosperity for the men of law and +order." +</p> + +<p> +These powerful words form a strong indictment against the Republic, and +from them there can be little doubt that President Burgers was +thoroughly convinced of the necessity and wisdom of the Annexation. It +is interesting to compare them, and many other utterances of his made +at this period, with the opinions he expresses in the posthumous +document recently published, in which he speaks somewhat jubilantly of +the lessons taught us on Laing's Nek and Majuba by such "an inherently +weak people as the Boers," and points to them as striking instances of +retribution. In this document he attributes the Annexation to the +desire to advance English supremacy in South Africa, and to lay hold of +the way to Central South Africa. It is, however, noticeable that he +does not in any way indicate how it could have been averted, and the +State continue to exist; and he seems all along to feel that his case +is a weak one, for in explaining, or attempting to explain, why he had +never defended himself from the charges brought against him in +connection with the Annexation, he says: "Had I not endured in silence, +had I not borne patiently all the accusations, but out of selfishness +or fear told the plain truth of the case, the Transvaal would never +have had the consideration it has now received from Great Britain. +However unjust the Annexation was, my self-justification would have +<i>exposed the Boers to such an extent</i>, and the state of the +country in such a way, that it would have deprived them both of the +sympathy of the world and the consideration of the English +politicians." In other words, "If I had told the truth about things as +I should have been obliged to do to justify myself, there would have +been no more outcry about the Annexation, because the whole world, even +the English Radicals, would have recognised how necessary it was, and +what a fearful state the country was in." +</p> + +<p> +But to let that pass, it is evident that President Burgers did not take +the same view of the Annexation in 1877 as he did in 1881, and indeed +his speeches to the Volksraad would read rather oddly printed in +parallel columns with his posthumous statement. The reader would be +forced to one of two conclusions, either on one of the two occasions he +is saying what he does not mean, or he must have changed his mind. As I +believe him to have been an honest man, I incline to the latter +supposition; nor do I consider it so very hard to account for, taking +into consideration his natural Dutch proclivities. In 1877 Burgers is +the despairing head of a State driving rapidly to ruin, if not to +actual extinction, when the strong hand of the English Government is +held out to him. What wonder that he accepts it gladly on behalf of his +country, which is by its help brought into a state of greater +prosperity than it has ever before known? In 1881 the wheel has gone +round, and great events have come about whilst he lies dying. The +enemies of the Boers have been destroyed, the powers of the Zulus and +Secocœni are no more; the country has prospered under a healthy +rule, and its finances have been restored. More,—glad tidings have +come from Mid-Lothian to the "rebel and the revolutionist," whose hopes +were flagging, and eloquent words have been spoken by the new English +Dictator that have aroused a great rebellion. And, to crown all, +English troops have suffered one massacre and three defeats, and +England sues for peace from the South African peasant, heedless of +honour or her broken word, so that the prayer be granted. With such +events before him, that dying man may well have found cause to change +his opinion. Doubtless the Annexation was wrong, since England disowns +her acts; and may not that dream about the great South African Republic +come true after all? Has not the pre-eminence of the Englishman +received a blow from which it can never recover, and is not his +control over Boers and natives irredeemably weakened? And must +he,—Burgers,—go down to posterity as a Dutchman who tried to forward +the interests of the English party? No, doubtless the Annexation was +wrong; but it has done good, for it has brought about the downfall of +the English: and we will end the argument in the very words of his last +public utterance, with which he ends his statement: "South Africa +gained more from this, and has made a larger step forward in the march +of freedom, than most people can conceive." +</p> + +<p> +Who shall say that he is wrong? the words of dying men are sometimes +prophetic! South Africa has made a great advance towards the "freedom" +of a Dutch Republic. +</p> + +<p> +This has been a digression, but I hope not an uninteresting one. To +return—on the 1st March, Sir T. Shepstone met the Executive Council, +and told them that in his opinion there was now but one remedy to be +adopted, and that was that the Transvaal should be united with the +English colonies of South Africa under one head, namely the Queen, +saying at the same time that the only thing now left to the Republic +was to make the best arrangements it could for the future benefit of +its inhabitants, and to submit to that which he saw to be, and every +thinking man saw to be, inevitable. So soon as this information was +officially communicated to the Raad, for a good proportion of its +members were already acquainted with it unofficially, it flew from a +state of listless indifference into vigorous and hasty action. The +President was censured, and a committee was appointed to consider and +report upon the situation, which reported in favour of the adoption of +Burgers' new constitution. Accordingly, the greatest part of this +measure, which had been contemptuously rejected a few days before, was +adopted almost without question, and Mr. Paul Kruger was appointed +Vice-President. On the following day, a very drastic treason law was +passed, borrowed from the statute-book of the Orange Free State, which +made all public expression of opinion, if adverse to the Government, or +in any way supporting the Annexation party, high treason. This done, +the Assembly prorogued itself until—October 1881. +</p> + +<p> +During and after the sitting of the Raad, rumours arose that the chief +Secocœni's signature to the treaty of peace, ratified by that body, +had been obtained by misrepresentation. As ratified, this treaty +consisted of three articles, according to which Secocœni consented, +first, to become a subject of the Republic, and obey the laws of the +country; secondly, to agree to a certain restricted boundary line; and, +thirdly, to pay 2000 head of cattle; which, considering he had captured +quite 5000 head, was not exorbitant. +</p> + +<p> +Towards the end of February a written message was received from +Secocœni by Sir T. Shepstone, dated after the signing of the +supposed treaty. The original, which was written in Sisutu, was a great +curiosity. The following is a correct translation:— +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p class="right"> +"<i>February 16, 1877.</i> +</p> + +<p> +"<span class="sc">For Myn Heer Shepstone</span>,—I beg you, Chief, +come help me, the Boers are killing me, and I don't know the reasons why +they should be angry with me; Chief, I beg you come with Myn Heer +Merensky.—I am <span class="sc">Sikukuni</span>." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +This message was accompanied by a letter from Mr. Merensky, a +well-known and successful missionary, who had been for many years +resident in Secocœni's country, in which he stated that he heard on +very good authority that Secocœni had distinctly refused to agree to +that article of the treaty by which he became a subject of the State. +He adds that he cannot remain "silent while such tricks are played." +</p> + +<p> +Upon this information, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, +stating that "if the officer in whom you have placed confidence has +withheld any portion of the truth from you, especially so serious a +portion of it, he is guilty of a wrong towards you personally, as well +as towards the Government, because he has caused you to assume an +untenable position," and suggesting that a joint-commission should be +despatched to Secocœni, to thoroughly sift the question in the +interest of all concerned. This suggestion was after some delay agreed +to, and a commission was appointed, consisting of Mr. Van Gorkom, a +Hollander, and Mr. Holtshausen, a member of the Executive Council, on +behalf of the Transvaal Government, and Mr. Osborn, R.M., and Captain +Clarke, R.A.,<a href="#note7" name="noteref7"><small>[7]</small></a> on behalf of the Commissioner, whom I accompanied as +Secretary. +</p> + +<p> +At Middleburg the native Gideon who acted as interpreter between +Commandant Ferreira, C.M.G. (the officer who negotiated the treaty on +behalf of the Boer Government), and Secocœni was examined, and also +two natives, Petros and Jeremiah, who were with him, but did not +actually interpret. All these men persisted that Secocœni had +positively refused to become a subject of the Republic, and only +consented to sign the treaty on the representations of Commandant +Ferreira that it would only be binding as regards to the two articles +about the cattle and the boundary line. +</p> + +<p> +The Commission then proceeded to Secocœni's town, accompanied by a +fresh set of interpreters, and had a long interview with Secocœni. +The chiefs Prime Minister or "mouth," Makurupiji, speaking in his +presence and on his behalf, and making use of the pronoun "I" before +all the assembled headmen of the tribe, gave an account of the +interview between Commandant Ferreira in the presence of that +gentleman, who accompanied the Commission, and Secocœni, in almost +the same words as had been used by the interpreters at Middleburg. He +distinctly denied having consented to become a subject of the Republic +or to stand under the law, and added that he feared he "had touched the +feather to" (signed) things that he did not know of in the treaty. +Commandant Ferreira then put some questions, but entirely failed to +shake the evidence; on the contrary, he admitted by his questions that +Secocœni had not consented to become a subject of the Republic. +Secocœni had evidently signed the piece of paper under the +impression that he was acknowledging his liability to pay 2000 head of +cattle, and fixing a certain portion of his boundary line, and on the +distinct understanding that he was not to become a subject of the +State. +</p> + +<p> +Now it was the Secocœni war that had brought the English Mission +into the country, and if it could be shown that the Secocœni war had +come to a successful termination, it would go far towards helping the +Mission out again. To this end, it was necessary that the chief should +declare himself a subject of the State, and thereby, by implication, +acknowledge himself to have been a rebel, and admit his defeat. All +that was required was a signature, and that once obtained the treaty +was published and submitted to the Raad for confirmation, without a +whisper being heard of the conditions under which this ignorant Basuto +was induced to sign. Had no Commission visited Secocœni, this treaty +would afterwards have been produced against him in its entirety. +Altogether, the history of the Secocœni Peace Treaty does not +reassure one as to the genuineness of the treaties which the Boers are +continually producing, purporting to have been signed by native chiefs, +and, as a general rule, presenting the State with great tracts of +country in exchange for a horse or a few oxen. However fond the natives +may be of their Boer neighbours, such liberality can scarcely be +genuine. On the other hand, it is so easy to induce a savage to sign a +paper, or even, if he is reticent, to make a cross for him, and once +made, as we all know, <i lang="la">litera scripta manet</i>, and becomes title to +the lands. +</p> + +<p> +During the Secocœni investigation, affairs in the Transvaal were +steadily drifting towards anarchy. The air was filled with rumours; now +it was reported that an outbreak was imminent amongst the English +population at the Gold Fields, who had never forgotten Von +Schlickmann's kind suggestion that they should be "subdued;" now it was +said that Cetywayo had crossed the border, and might shortly be +expected at Pretoria; now that a large body of Boers were on their road +to shoot the Special Commissioner, his twenty-five policemen, and +Englishmen generally, and so on. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, Paul Kruger and his party were not letting the grass grow +under their feet, but worked public feeling with great vigour, with the +double object of getting Paul made President and ridding themselves of +the English. Articles in his support were printed in the well-known +Dutch paper <cite>Die Patriot</cite>, published in the Cape Colony, which are +so typical of the Boers and of the only literature that has the +slightest influence over them, that I will quote a few extracts from +one of them. +</p> + +<p> +After drawing a very vivid picture of the wretched condition of the +country as compared to what it was when the Kafirs had "a proper +respect" for the Boers, before Burgers came into power, the article +proceeds to give the cause of this state of affairs. "God's word," it +says, "gives us the solution. Look at Israel, while the people have a +godly king, everything is prosperous, but under a godless prince the +land retrogrades, and the whole of the people must suffer. Read +Leviticus, chapter xxvi., with attention, &c. In the day of the +Voortrekkers (pioneers), a handful of men chased a thousand Kafirs and +made them run; so also in the Free State war (Deut. xxxii. 30; Jos. +xxiii. 10; Lev. xxvi. 8). But mark, now, when Burgers became President, +he knows no Sabbath, he rides through the land in and out of town on +Sunday, he knows not the church and God's service (Lev. xxvi. 2, 3), to +the scandal of pious people. And he formerly was a priest too. And what +is the consequence? No harvest (Lev. xxvi. 16), an army of 6000 men +runs because one man falls (Lev. xxvi 17, &c.). What is now the +remedy?" The remedy proves to be Paul Kruger, "because there is no +other candidate. Because our Lord clearly points him out to be the man, +for why is there no other candidate? Who arranged it this way?" Then +follows a rather odd argument in favour of Paul's election. "Because he +himself (Paul Kruger) acknowledges in his own reply that he is +<i>incompetent</i>, but that all his ability is from our Lord. Because +he is a warrior. Because he is a Boer." Then Paul Kruger, the warrior +and the Boer, is compared to Joan of Arc, "a simple Boer girl who came +from behind the sheep." The burghers of the Transvaal are exhorted to +acknowledge the hand of the Lord, and elect Paul Kruger, or to look for +still heavier punishment. (Lev. xxvi. 18 <i>et seq.</i>) Next the +<cite>Patriot</cite> proceeds to give a bit of advice to "our candidate, Paul +Kruger." He is to deliver the land from the Kafirs. "The Lord has given +you the heart of a warrior, arise and drive them," a bit of advice +quite suited to his well-known character. But this chosen vessel was +not to get all the loaves and fishes; on the contrary, as soon as he +had fulfilled his mission of "driving" the Kafirs, he was to hand over +his office to a "good" President. The article ends thus: "If the Lord +wills to use you now to deliver this land from its enemies, and a day +of peace and prosperity arises again, and you see that you are not +exactly the statesman to further govern the Republic, then it will be +your greatest honour to say, 'Citizens, I have delivered you from the +enemy, I am no statesman, but now you have peace and time to choose and +elect a <i>good</i> President.'" +</p> + +<p> +An article such as the above, is instructive reading, as showing the +low calibre of the minds that are influenced by it. Yet such writings +and sermons have more power among the Boers than any other arguments, +appealing as they do to the fanaticism and vanity of their nature, +which causes them to believe that the Divinity is continually +interfering on their behalf at the cost of other people. It will be +noticed that the references given are all to the Old Testament, and +nearly all refer to acts of blood. +</p> + +<p> +These doctrines were not, however, at all acceptable to Burgers' party, +or the more enlightened members of the community, and so bitter did the +struggle of rival opinions become that there is very little doubt that +had the country not been annexed, civil war would have been added to +its other calamities. Meanwhile the natives were from day to day +becoming more restless, and messengers were constantly arriving at the +Special Commissioner's camp, begging that their tribe might be put +under the Queen, and stating that they would fight rather than submit +any longer to the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +At length on the 9th April, Sir T. Shepstone informed the Government of +the Republic that he was about to declare the Transvaal British +territory. He told them that he had considered and reconsidered his +determination, but that he could see no possible means within the State +by which it could free itself from the burdens that were sinking it to +destruction, adding that if he could have found such means he would +certainly not have hidden them from the Government. This intimation was +received in silence, though all the later proceedings with reference to +the Annexation were in reality carried out in concert with the +authorities of the Republic. Thus on the 13th March the Government +submitted a paper of ten questions to Sir T. Shepstone as regards the +future condition of the Transvaal under English rule, whether the debts +of the State would be guaranteed, &c. To these questions replies were +given which were on the whole satisfactory to the Government. As these +replies formed the basis of the proclamation guarantees, it is not +necessary to enter into them. +</p> + +<p> +It was further arranged by the Republican Government that a formal +protest should be entered against the Annexation, which was accordingly +prepared and privately shown to the Special Commissioner. The +Annexation proclamation was also shown to President Burgers, and a +paragraph eliminated at his suggestion. In fact, the Special +Commissioner and the President, together with most of his Executive, +were quite at one as regards the necessity of the proclamation being +issued, their joint endeavours being directed to the prevention of any +disturbance, and to secure a good reception for the change. +</p> + +<p> +At length, after three months of inquiry and negotiation, the +proclamation of annexation was on the 12th of April 1877 read by Mr. +Osborn, accompanied by some other gentlemen of Sir T. Shepstone's +staff. It was an anxious moment for all concerned. To use the words of +the Special Commissioner in his despatch home on the subject, "Every +effort had been made during the previous fortnight by, it is said, +educated Hollanders, and who had but lately arrived in the country, to +rouse the fanaticism of the Boers, and to induce them to offer 'bloody' +resistance to what it was known I intended to do. The Boers were +appealed to in the most inflammatory language by printed manifestoes +and memorials; … it was urged that I had but a small escort, which +could easily be overpowered." In a country so full of desperadoes and +fanatical haters of anything English, it was more than possible that, +though such an act would have been condemned by the general sense of +the country, a number of men could easily be found who would think they +were doing a righteous act in greeting the "annexationists" with an +ovation of bullets. I do not mean that the anxiety was personal, +because I do not think the members of that small party set any higher +value on their lives than other people, but it was absolutely necessary +for the success of the act itself, and for the safety of the country, +that not a single shot should be fired. Had that happened it is +probable that the whole country would have been involved in confusion +and bloodshed, the Zulus would have broken in, and the Kafirs would +have risen; in fact, to use Cetywayo's words, "the land would have +burned with fire." +</p> + +<p> +It will therefore be easily understood what an anxious hour that was +both for the Special Commissioner sitting up at Government House, and +for his staff down on the Market Square, and how thankful they were +when the proclamation was received with hearty cheers by the crowd. Mr. +Burgers' protest, which was read immediately afterwards, was received +in respectful silence. +</p> + +<p> +And thus the Transvaal Territory passed for a while into the great +family of the English Colonies. I believe that the greatest political +opponent of the act will bear tribute to the very remarkable ability +with which it was carried out. When the variety and number of the +various interests that had to be conciliated, the obstinate nature of +the individuals who had to be convinced, as well as the innate hatred +of the English name and ways which had to be overcome to carry out this +act successfully, are taken into consideration, together with a +thousand other matters, the neglect of any one of which would have +sufficed to make failure certain, it will be seen what tact and skill +and knowledge of human nature was required to execute so difficult a +task. It must be remembered that no force was used, and that there +never was any threat of force. The few troops that were to enter the +Transvaal were four weeks' march from Pretoria at the time. There was +nothing whatsoever to prevent the Boers putting a summary stop to the +proceedings of the Commissioner if they had thought fit. +</p> + +<p> +That Sir Theophilus played a bold and hazardous game nobody will deny, +but, like most players who combine boldness with coolness of head and +justice of cause, he won; and, without shedding a single drop of blood, +or even confiscating an acre of land, and at no cost, annexed a great +country, and averted a very serious war. That same country four years +later cost us a million of money, the loss of nearly a thousand men +killed and wounded, and the ruin of many more confiding thousands, to +surrender. It is true, however, that nobody can accuse the retrocession +of having been conducted with judgment or ability—very much the +contrary. +</p> + +<p> +There can be no more ample justification of the issue of the Annexation +proclamation than the proclamation itself. +</p> + +<p> +First, it touches on the Sand River Convention of 1852, by which +independence was granted to the State, and shows that the "evident +objects and inciting motives" in granting such guarantee were to +promote peace, free-trade, and friendly intercourse, in the hope and +belief that the Republic "would become a flourishing and +self-sustaining State, a source of strength and security to +neighbouring European communities, and a point from which Christianity +and civilisation might rapidly spread toward Central Africa." It goes +on to show how these hopes have been disappointed, and how that +increasing weakness in the State itself on the one side, and more than +corresponding growth of real strength and confidence among the native +tribes on the other, have produced their natural and inevitable +consequence … that after more or less of irritating conflict with +aboriginal tribes to the north, there commenced about the year 1867 +gradual abandonment to the natives in that direction of territory +settled by burghers of the Transvaal "in well-built towns and villages +and on granted farms." +</p> + +<p> +It goes on to show that "this decay of power and ebb of authority in +the north is being followed by similar processes in the south under yet +more dangerous circumstances. People of this State residing in that +direction have been compelled within the last three months, at the +bidding of native chiefs, and at a moment's notice, to leave their +farms and homes, their standing crops … all to be taken possession of +by natives, but that the Government is more powerless than ever to +vindicate its assumed rights or to resist the declension that is +threatening its existence." It then recites how all the other colonies +and communities of South Africa have lost confidence in the State, how +it is in a condition of hopeless bankruptcy, and its commerce +annihilated, whilst the inhabitants are divided into factions, and the +Government has fallen into "helpless paralysis." How also the prospect +of the election of a new President, instead of being looked forward to +with hope, would in the opinion of all parties be the signal for civil +war, anarchy, and bloodshed. How that this state of things affords the +very strongest temptation to the great neighbouring native powers to +attack the country, a temptation that they were only too ready and +anxious to yield to, and that the State was in far too feeble a +condition to repel such attacks, from which it had hitherto only been +saved by the repeated representations of the Government of Natal. The +next paragraphs I will quote as they stand, for they sum up the reasons +for the Annexation. +</p> + +<p> +"That the Secocœni war, which would have produced but little effect +on a healthy constitution, has not only proved suddenly fatal to the +resources and reputation of the Republic, but has shown itself to be a +culminating point in the history of South Africa, in that a Makatee or +Basuto tribe, unwarlike and of no account in Zulu estimation, +successfully withstood the strength of the State, and disclosed for the +first time to the native powers outside the Republic, from the Zambesi +to the Cape, the great change that had taken place in the relative +strength of the white and black races, that this disclosure at once +shook the prestige of the white man in South Africa, and placed every +European community in peril, that this common danger has caused +universal anxiety, has given to all concerned the right to investigate +its cause, and to protect themselves from its consequences, and has +imposed the duty upon those who have the power to shield enfeebled +civilisation from the encroachments of barbarism and inhumanity." It +proceeds to point out that the Transvaal will be the first to suffer +from the results of its own policy, and that it is for every reason +perfectly impossible for Her Majesty's Government to stand by and see a +friendly white State ravaged, knowing that its own possessions will be +the next to suffer. That Her Majesty's Government, being persuaded that +the only means to prevent such a catastrophe would be by the annexation +of the country, and, knowing that this was the wish of a large +proportion of the inhabitants of the Transvaal, the step must be taken. +Next follows the formal annexation. +</p> + +<p> +Together with the proclamation, an address was issued by Sir T. +Shepstone to the burghers of the State, laying the facts before them in +a friendly manner, more suited to their mode of thought than it was +possible to do in a formal proclamation. This document, the issue of +which was one of those touches that insured the success of the +Annexation, was a powerful summing up in colloquial language of the +arguments used in the proclamation, strengthened by quotations from the +speeches of the President. It ends with these words: "It remains only +for me to beg of you to consider and weigh what I have said calmly and +without undue prejudice. Let not mere feeling or sentiment prevail over +your judgment. Accept what Her Majesty's Government intends shall be, +and what you will soon find from experience, is a blessing not only to +you and your children, but to the whole of South Africa through you, +and believe that I speak these words to you as a friend from my heart." +</p> + +<p> +Two other proclamations were also issued, one notifying the assumption +of the office of Administrator of the Government by Sir T. Shepstone, +and the other repealing the war-tax, which was doubtless an unequal and +oppressive impost. +</p> + +<p> +I have in the preceding pages stated all the principal grounds of the +Annexation and briefly sketched the history of that event. In the next +chapter I propose to follow the fortunes of the Transvaal, under +British Rule. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="IV"> </a> +CHAPTER IV. +<br><br> +<span class="small">THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +The news of the Annexation was received all over the country with a +sigh of relief, and in many parts of it with great rejoicings. At the +Gold Fields, for instance, special thanksgiving services were held, and +"God save the Queen" was sung in church. Nowhere was there the +slightest disturbance, but, on the contrary, addresses of +congratulation and thanks literally poured in by every mail, many of +them signed by Boers who have since been conspicuous for their bitter +opposition to English rule. At first, there was some doubt as to what +would be the course taken under the circumstances by the volunteers +enlisted by the late Republic. Major Clarke, R.A., was sent to convey +the news, and to take command of them, unaccompanied save by his Kafir +servant. On arrival at the principal fort, he at once ordered the +Republican flag to be hauled down and the Union Jack run up, and his +orders were promptly obeyed. A few days afterwards some members of the +force thought better of it, and having made up their minds to kill him, +came to the tent where he was sitting to carry out their purpose. On +learning their kind intentions, Major Clarke fixed his eye-glass in his +eye, and after steadily glaring at them through it for some time, said, +"You are all drunk, go back to your tents." The volunteers, quite +overcome by his coolness and the fixity of his gaze, at once slipped +off, and there was no further trouble. About three weeks after the +Annexation, the I-13th Regiment arrived at Pretoria, having been very +well received all along the road by the Boers, who came from miles +round to hear the band play. Its entry into Pretoria was quite a sight; +the whole population turned out to meet it; indeed the feeling of +rejoicing and relief was so profound that when the band began to play +"God save the Queen" some of the women burst into tears. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the effect of the Annexation on the country was perfectly +magical. Credit and commerce were at once restored; the railway bonds +that were down to nothing in Holland rose with one bound to par, and +the value of landed property nearly doubled. Indeed it would have been +possible for any one, knowing what was going to happen, to have +realised large sums of money by buying land in the beginning of 1877, +and selling it shortly after the Annexation. +</p> + +<p> +On the 24th May, being Her Majesty's birthday, all the native chiefs +who were anywhere within reach were summoned to attend the first formal +hoisting of the English flag. The day was a general festival, and the +ceremony was attended by a large number of Boers and natives in +addition to all the English. At mid-day, amidst the cheers of the +crowd, the salute of artillery, and the strains of "God save the +Queen," the Union Jack was run up a lofty flagstaff, and the Transvaal +was formally announced to be British soil. The flag was hoisted by +Colonel Brooke, R.E., and the present writer. Speaking for myself, I +may say that it was one of the proudest moments of my life. Could I +have foreseen that I should live to see that same flag, then hoisted +with so much joyous ceremony, within a few years shamefully and +dishonourably hauled down and buried,<a href="#note8" name="noteref8"><small>[8]</small></a> I think it would have been the +most miserable. +</p> + +<p> +The Annexation was as well received in England as it was in the +Transvaal. Lord Carnarvon wrote to Sir T. Shepstone to convey "the +Queen's entire approval of your conduct since you received Her +Majesty's commission, with a renewal of my own thanks on behalf of the +Government for the admirable prudence and discretion with which you +have discharged a great and unwonted responsibility." It was also +accepted by Parliament with very few dissentient voices, since it was +not till afterwards, when the subject became useful as an +electioneering howl, that the Liberal party, headed by our "powerful +popular minister," discovered the deep iniquity that had been +perpetrated in South Africa. So satisfied were the Transvaal Boers with +the change that Messrs. Kruger, Jorissen, and Bok, who formed the +deputation to proceed to England and present President Burgers' formal +protest against the Annexation, found great difficulty in raising +one-half of the necessary expenses—something under one thousand +pounds—towards the cost of the undertaking. The thirst for +independence cannot have been very great when all the wealthy burghers +in the Transvaal put together would not subscribe a thousand pounds +towards retaining it. Indeed, at this time the members of the +deputation themselves seem to have looked upon their undertaking as +being both doubtful and undesirable, since they informed Sir T. +Shepstone that they were going to Europe to discharge an obligation +which had been imposed upon them, and if the mission failed, they would +have done their duty. Mr. Kruger said that if they did fail, he would +be found to be as faithful a subject under the new form of government +as he had been under the old; and Dr. Jorissen admitted with equal +frankness that "the change was inevitable, and expressed his belief +that the cancellation of it would be calamitous." +</p> + +<p> +Whilst the Annexation was thus well received in the country immediately +interested, a lively agitation was commenced in the Western Province of +the Cape Colony, a thousand miles away, with a view of inducing the +Home Government to repudiate Sir T. Shepstone's act. The reason of this +movement was that the Cape Dutch party, caring little or nothing for +the real interests of the Transvaal, did care a great deal about their +scheme to turn all the white communities of South Africa into a great +Dutch Republic, to which they thought the Annexation would be a +deathblow. As I have said elsewhere, it must be borne in mind that the +strings of the anti-annexation agitation have all along been pulled in +the Western Province, whilst the Transvaal Boers have played the parts +of puppets. The instruments used by the leaders of the movement in the +Cape were, for the most part, the discontented and unprincipled +Hollander element, a newspaper of an extremely abusive nature called +the <cite>Volkstem</cite>, and another in Natal known as the <cite>Natal +Witness</cite>, lately edited by the notorious Aylward, which has an +almost equally unenviable reputation. +</p> + +<p> +On the arrival of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger in England, they were +received with great civility by Lord Carnarvon, who was, however, +careful to explain to them that the Annexation was irrevocable. In this +decision they cheerfully acquiesced, assuring his lordship of their +determination to do all they could to induce the Boers to accept the +new state of things, and expressing their desire to be allowed to serve +under the new Government. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst these gentlemen were thus satisfactorily arranging matters with +Lord Carnarvon, Sir. T. Shepstone was making a tour round the country +which resembled a triumphal progress more than anything else. He was +everywhere greeted with enthusiasm by all classes of the community, +Boers, English, and natives, and numerous addresses were presented to +him couched in the warmest language, not only by Englishmen, but also +by Boers. +</p> + +<p> +It is very difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm of a great number of +the inhabitants of the Transvaal for English rule, and the quiet +acquiescence of the remainder, at this time, with the decidedly +antagonistic attitude assumed later on. It appears to me, however, that +there are several reasons that go far towards accounting for it. The +Transvaal, when we annexed it, was in the position of a man with a +knife at his throat, who is suddenly rescued by some one stronger than +he, on certain conditions which at the time he gladly accepts, but +afterwards, when the danger is passed, wishes to repudiate. In the same +way the inhabitants of the South African Republic were in the time of +need very thankful for our aid, but after a while, when the +recollection of their difficulties had grown faint, when their debts +had been paid and their enemies defeated, they began to think that they +would like to get rid of us again, and start fresh on their own account +with a clean sheet. What fostered agitation more than anything else, +however, was the perfect impunity with which it was allowed to be +carried on. Had only a little firmness and decision been shown in the +first instance there would have been no further trouble. We might have +been obliged to confiscate half-a-dozen farms, and perhaps imprison as +many free burghers for a few months, and there it would have ended. +Neither Boers or natives understand our namby-pamby way of playing at +government; they put it down to fear. What they want, and what they +expect, is to be governed with a just but a firm hand. Thus when the +Boers found that they could agitate with impunity, they naturally +enough continued to agitate. Anybody who knows them will understand +that it was very pleasant to them to find themselves in possession of +that delightful thing, a grievance, and, instead of stopping quietly at +home on their farms, to feel obliged to proceed, full of importance and +long words, to a distant meeting, there to spout and listen to the +spouting of others. It is so much easier to talk politics than to sow +mealies. Some attribute the discontent among the Boers to the +postponement of the carrying out of the Annexation proclamation +promises with reference to the free institutions to be granted to the +country, but in my opinion it had little or nothing to do with it. The +Boers never understood the question of responsible government, and +never wanted that institution; what they did want was to be free of all +English control, and this they said twenty times in the most outspoken +language. I think there is little doubt the causes I have indicated are +the real sources of the agitation, though there must be added to them +their detestation of our mode of dealing with natives, and of being +forced to pay taxes regularly, and also the ceaseless agitation of the +Cape wire-pullers, through their agents the Hollanders, and their +organs in the press. +</p> + +<p> +On the return of Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen to the Transvaal, the +latter gentleman resumed his duties as Attorney-General, on which +occasion, if I remember aright, I myself had the honour of +administering to him the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, that he +afterwards kept so well. The former reported the proceedings of the +deputation to a Boer meeting, when he took a very different tone to +that in which he addressed Lord Carnarvon, announcing that if there +existed a majority of the people in favour of independence, he still +was Vice-President of the country. +</p> + +<p> +Both these gentlemen remained for some time in the pay of the British +Government, Mr. Jorissen as Attorney-General, and Mr. Kruger as member +of the Executive Council. The Government, however, at length found it +desirable to dispense with their services, though on different grounds. +Mr. Jorissen had, like several other members of the Republican +Government, been a clergyman, and was quite unfit to hold the post of +Attorney-General in an important colony like the Transvaal, where legal +questions were constantly arising requiring all the attention of a +trained mind; and after he had on several occasions been publicly +admonished from the bench, the Government retired him on liberal terms. +Needless to say, his opposition to English rule then became very +bitter. Mr. Kruger's appointment expired by law in November 1877, and +the Government did not think it advisable to re-employ him. The terms +of his letter of dismissal can be found on page 135 of Blue-book (c. +144), and involving as they do a serious charge of misrepresentation in +money matters, are not very creditable to him. After this event he also +pursued the cause of independence with increased vigour. +</p> + +<p> +During the last months of 1877 and the first part of 1878 agitation +against British rule went on unchecked, and at last grew to alarming +proportions, so much so that Sir T. Shepstone, on his return from the +Zulu border in March 1878, where he had been for some months discussing +the vexed and dangerous question of the boundary line with the Zulus, +found it necessary to issue a stringent proclamation warning the +agitators that their proceedings and meetings were illegal, and would +be punished according to law. This document, which was at the time +vulgarly known as the "Hold-your-jaw" proclamation, not being followed +by action, produced but little effect. +</p> + +<p> +On the 4th April 1878 another Boer meeting was convened, at which it +was decided to send a second deputation to England, to consist this +time of Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, with Mr. Bok as secretary. This +deputation proved as abortive as the first, Sir. M. Hicks Beach +assuring it, in a letter dated 6th August 1878, that it is "impossible, +for many reasons, … that the Queen's sovereignty should now be +withdrawn." +</p> + +<p> +Whilst the Government was thus hampered by internal disaffection, it +had also many other difficulties on its hands. First, there was the +Zulu boundary question, which was constantly developing new dangers to +the country. Indeed, it was impossible to say what might happen in that +direction from one week to another. Nor were its relations with +Secocœni satisfactory. It will be remembered that just before the +Annexation this chief had expressed his earnest wish to become a +British subject, and even paid over part of the fine demanded from him +by the Boer Government to the Civil Commissioner, Major Clarke. In +March 1878, however, his conduct towards the Government underwent a +sudden change, and he practically declared war. It afterwards appeared, +from Secocœni's own statement, that he was instigated to this step +by a Boer, Abel Erasmus by name—the same man who was concerned in the +atrocities in the first Secocœni war—who constantly encouraged him +to continue the struggle. I do not propose to minutely follow the +course of this long war, which, commencing in the beginning of 1878, +did not come to an end till after the Zulu war: when Sir Garnet +Wolseley attacked Secocœni's stronghold with a large force of +troops, volunteers, and Swazi allies, and took it with great slaughter. +The losses on our side were not very heavy, so far as white men were +concerned, but the Swazis are reported to have lost 400 killed and 500 +wounded. +</p> + +<p> +The struggle was, during the long period preceding the final attack, +carried on with great courage and ability by Major Clarke, R.A., +C.M.G., whose force, at the best of times, only consisted of 200 +volunteers and 100 Zulus. With this small body of men he contrived, +however, to keep Secocœni in check, and to take some important +strongholds. It was marked also by some striking acts of individual +bravery, of which one, performed by Major Clarke himself, whose +reputation for cool courage and presence of mind in danger is +unsurpassed in South Africa, is worthy of notice; and which, had public +attention been more concentrated on the Secocœni war, would +doubtless have won him the Victoria Cross. On one occasion, on visiting +one of the outlying forts, he found that a party of hostile natives, +who were coming down to the fort on the previous day with a flag of +truce, had been accidentally fired on, and had at once retreated. As +his system in native warfare was always to try and inspire his enemy +with perfect faith in the honour of Englishmen, and their contempt of +all tricks and treachery even towards a foe, he was very angry at this +occurrence, and at once, unarmed and unattended save by his native +servant, rode up into the mountains to the kraal from which the white +flag party had come on the previous day, and apologised to the chief +for what had happened. When I consider how very anxious Secocœni's +natives were to kill or capture Clarke, whom they held in great dread, +and how terrible the end of so great a captain would in all probability +have been had he been taken alive by these masters of refined torture, +I confess that I think this act of gentlemanly courage is one of the +most astonishing things I ever heard of. When he rode up those hills he +must have known that he was probably going to meet his death at the +hands of justly incensed savages. When Secocœni heard of what Major +Clarke had done he was so pleased that he shortly afterwards released a +volunteer whom he had taken prisoner, and who would otherwise, in all +probability, have been tortured to death. I must add that Major Clarke +himself never reported or alluded to this incident, but an account of +it can be found in a despatch written by Sir O. Lanyon to the Secretary +of State, dated 2d February 1880. +</p> + +<p> +Concurrently with, though entirely distinct from, the political +agitation that was being carried on among the Boers having for object +the restoration of independence, a private agitation was set on foot by +a few disaffected persons against Sir T. Shepstone, with the view of +obtaining his removal from office in favour of a certain Colonel +Weatherley. The details of this impudent plot are so interesting, and +the plot itself so typical of the state of affairs with which Sir T. +Shepstone had to deal, that I will give a short account of it. +</p> + +<p> +After the Annexation had taken place, there were naturally enough a +good many individuals who found themselves disappointed in the results +so far as they personally were concerned; I mean that they did not get +so much out of it as they expected. Among these was a gentleman called +Colonel Weatherley, who had come to the Transvaal as manager of a +gold-mining company, but getting tired of that had taken a prominent +part in the Annexation, and who, being subsequently disappointed about +an appointment, became a bitter enemy of the Administrator. I may say +at once that Colonel Weatherley seems to me to have been throughout the +dupe of the other conspirators. +</p> + +<p> +The next personage was a good-looking desperado, who called himself +Captain Gunn of Gunn, and who was locally somewhat irreverently known +as the very Gunn of very Gunn. This gentleman, whose former career had +been of a most remarkable order, was, on the annexation of the country, +found in the public prison charged with having committed various +offences, but on Colonel Weatherley's interesting himself strongly on +his behalf, he was eventually released without trial. On his release, +he requested the Administrator to publish a Government notice declaring +him innocent of the charges brought against him. This Sir T. Shepstone +declined to do, and so, to use his own words, in a despatch to the High +Commissioner on the subject, Captain Gunn of Gunn at once became "what +in this country is called a patriot." +</p> + +<p> +The third person concerned was a lawyer, who had got into trouble on +the Diamond Fields, and who felt himself injured because the rules of +the High Court did not allow him to practise as an advocate. The +quartette was made up by Mr. Celliers, the editor of the patriotic +organ, the <cite>Volkstem</cite>, who, since he had lost the Government +printing contract, found that no language could be too strong to apply +to the <i>personnel</i> of the Government, more especially its head. Of +course, there was a lady in it; what plot would be complete without? +She was Mrs. Weatherley, now, I believe, Mrs. Gunn of Gunn. These +gentlemen began operations by drawing up a long petition to Sir Bartle +Frere as High Commissioner, setting forth a string of supposed +grievances, and winding up with a request that the Administrator might +be "promoted to some other sphere of political usefulness." This +memorial was forwarded by the "committee," as they called themselves, +to various parts of the country for signature, but without the +slightest success, the fact of the matter being that it was not the +Annexor but the Annexation that the Boers objected to. +</p> + +<p> +At this stage in the proceedings Colonel Weatherley went to try and +forward the good cause with Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape. His letters +to Mrs. Weatherley from thence, afterwards put into Court in the +celebrated divorce case, contained many interesting accounts of his +attempts in that direction. I do not think, however, that he was +cognisant of what was being concocted by his allies in Pretoria, but +being a very vain, weak man, was easily deceived by them. With all his +faults he was a gentleman. As soon as he was gone a second petition was +drawn up by the "committee," showing "the advisability of immediately +suspending our present Administrator, and temporarily appointing and +recommending for Her Majesty's royal and favourable consideration an +English gentleman of high integrity and honour, in whom the country at +large has respect and confidence." +</p> + +<p> +The English gentleman of high integrity and honour of course proves to +be Colonel Weatherley, whose appointment is, further on, "respectfully +but earnestly requested," since he had "thoroughly gained the +affections, confidence, and respect of Boers, English, and other +Europeans in this country." But whilst it is comparatively easy to +write petitions, there is sometimes a difficulty in getting people to +sign them, as proved to be the case with reference to the documents +under consideration. When the "committee" and the employés in the +office of the <cite>Volkstem</cite> had affixed their valuable signatures it +was found to be impossible to induce anybody else to follow their +example. Now, a petition with some half dozen signatures attached would +not, it was obvious, carry much weight with the Imperial Government, +and no more could be obtained. +</p> + +<p> +But really great minds rise superior to such difficulties, and so did +the "committee," or some of them, or one of them. If they could not get +genuine signatures to their petitions, they could at any rate +manufacture them. This great idea once hit out, so vigorously was it +prosecuted that they, or some of them, or one of them, produced in a +very little while no less than 3883 signatures, of which sixteen were +proved to be genuine, five were doubtful, and all the rest fictitious. +But the gentleman, whoever he was, who was the working partner in the +scheme—and I may state, by way of parenthesis, that when Gunn of Gunn +was subsequently arrested, petitions in process of signature were found +under the mattress of his bed—calculated without his host. He either +did not know, or had forgotten, that on receipt of such documents by a +superior officer, they are at once sent to the officer accused to +report upon. This course was followed in the present case, and the +petitions were discovered to be gross impostures. The ingenuity +exercised by their author or authors was really very remarkable, for it +must be remembered that not one of the signatures was forged; they were +all invented, and had, of course, to be written in a great variety of +hands. The plan generally pursued was to put down the names of people +living in the country, with slight variations. Thus "De +<i>V</i>illiers" became "De <i>W</i>illiers," and "Van Z<i>y</i>l" "Van +Z<i>u</i>l." I remember that my own name appeared on one of the +petitions with some slight alteration. Some of the names were evidently +meant to be facetious. Thus there was a "Jan Verneuker," which means +"John the Cheat." +</p> + +<p> +Of the persons directly or indirectly concerned in this rascally plot, +the unfortunate Colonel Weatherley subsequently apologised to Sir T. +Shepstone for his share in the agitation, and shortly afterwards died +fighting bravely on Kambula. Captain Gunn of Gunn and Mrs. Weatherley, +after having given rise to the most remarkable divorce case I ever +heard—it took fourteen days to try—were, on the death of Colonel +Weatherley, united in the bonds of holy matrimony, and are, I believe, +still in Pretoria. The lawyer vanished I know not where, whilst Mr. +Celliers still continues to edit that admirably conducted journal the +<cite>Volkstem</cite>; nor, if I may judge from the report of a speech made +by him recently at a Boer festival, which, by the way, was graced by +the presence of our representative, Mr. Hudson, the British Resident, +has his right hand forgotten its cunning, or rather his tongue lost the +use of those peculiar and <i lang="fr">recherché</i> epithets that used to adorn +the columns of the <cite>Volkstem</cite>. I see that he, on this occasion, +denounced the English element as being "poisonous and dangerous" to a +State, and stated, amidst loud cheers, that "he despised" it. Mr. +Cellier's lines have fallen in pleasant places; in any other country he +would long ago have fallen a victim to the stern laws of libel. I +recommend him to the notice of enterprising Irish newspapers. Such is +the freshness and vigour of his style that I am confident he would make +the fortune of any Hibernian journal. +</p> + +<p> +Some little time after the Gunn of Gunn frauds a very sad incident +happened in connection with the government of the Transvaal. Shortly +after the Annexation, the Home Government sent out Mr. Sergeaunt, +C.M.G., one of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, to report on the +financial Condition of the country. He was accompanied, in an +unofficial capacity, amongst other gentlemen, by Captain Patterson and +his son, Mr. J. Sergeaunt; and when he returned to England, these two +gentlemen remained behind to go on a shooting expedition. About this +time Sir Bartle Frere was anxious to send a friendly mission to Lo +Bengula, king of the Matabele, a branch of the Zulu tribe, living up +towards the Zambesi. This chief had been making himself unpleasant by +causing traders to be robbed, and it was thought desirable to establish +friendly relations with him, so it was suggested to Captain Patterson +and Mr. Sergeaunt that they should combine business with pleasure, and +go on a mission to Lo Bengula, an offer which they accepted, and +shortly afterwards started for Matabeleland with an interpreter and a +few servants. They reached their destination in safety; and having +concluded their business with the king, started on a visit to the +Zambesi Falls on foot, leaving the interpreter with the waggon. The +falls were about twelve days' walk from the king's kraal, and they were +accompanied thither by young Mr. Thomas, the son of the local +missionary, two Kafir servants, and twenty native bearers supplied by +Lo Bengula. The next thing that was heard of them was that they had all +died through drinking poisoned water, full details of the manner of +their deaths being sent down by Lo Bengula. +</p> + +<p> +In the first shock and confusion of such news it was not very closely +examined, at any rate by the friends of the dead men, but, on +reflection, there were several things about it that appeared strange. +For instance, it was well known that Captain Patterson had a habit, for +which, indeed, we had often laughed at him, of, however thirsty he +might be, always having his water boiled when he was travelling, in +order to destroy impurities, and it seemed odd that he should on this +one occasion have neglected the precaution. Also, it was curious that +the majority of Lo Bengula's bearers appeared to have escaped, whereas +all the others were, without exception, killed; nor even in that +district is it usual to find water so bad that it will kill with the +rapidity it had been supposed to do in this case, unless indeed it had +been designedly poisoned. These doubts of the poisoning-by-bad-water-story +resolved themselves into certainty when the waggon returned in charge +of the interpreter, when, by putting two and two together, we were able +to piece out the real history of the diabolical murder of our poor +friends with considerable accuracy, a story which shows what +blood-thirsty wickedness a savage is capable of when he fancies his +interests are threatened. +</p> + +<p> +It appeared that, when Captain Patterson first interviewed Lo Bengula, +he was not at all well received by him. I must, by way of explanation, +state that there exists a pretender to his throne, Kruman by name, who, +as far as I can make out, is the real heir to the kingdom. This man +had, for some cause or other, fled the country, and for a time acted as +gardener to Sir T. Shepstone in Natal. At the date of Messrs. Patterson +and Sergeaunt's mission to Matabeleland he was living, I believe, in +the Transvaal. Captain Patterson, on finding himself so ill received by +the king, and not being sufficiently acquainted with the character of +savage chiefs, most unfortunately, either by accident or design, +dropped some hint in the course of conversation about this Kruman. From +that moment Lo Bengula's conduct towards the mission entirely changed, +and, dropping his former tone, he became profusely civil; and from that +moment, too, he doubtless determined to kill them, probably fearing +that they might forward some scheme to oust him and place Kruman, on +whose claim a large portion of his people looked favourably, on the +throne. +</p> + +<p> +When their business was done, and Captain Patterson told the king that +they were anxious, before returning, to visit the Zambesi Falls, he +readily fell in with their wish, but, in the first instance, refused +permission to young Thomas, the son of the missionary, to accompany +them, only allowing him to do so on the urgent representations of +Captain Patterson. The reason of this was, no doubt, that he had kindly +feelings towards the lad, and did not wish to include him in the +slaughter. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Patterson was a man of extremely methodical habits, and, +amongst other things, was in the habit of making notes of all that he +did. His note-book had been taken off his body, and sent down to +Pretoria with the other things. In it we found entries of his +preparations for the trip, including the number and names of the +bearers provided by Lo Bengula. We also found the chronicle of the +first three days' journey, and that of the morning of the fourth day, +but there the record stopped. The last entry was probably made a few +minutes before he was killed; and it is to be observed that there was +no entry of the party having been for several days without water, as +stated by the messengers, and then finding the poisoned water. +</p> + +<p> +This evidence by itself would not have amounted to much, but now +comes the curious part of the story, showing the truth of the old +adage, "Murder will out." It appears that when the waggon was coming +down to Pretoria in charge of the interpreter, it was outspanned +one day outside the borders of Lo Bengula's country, when some +Kafirs—Bechuanas, I think—came up, asked for some tobacco, and fell +into conversation with the driver, remarking that he had come up with a +full waggon, and now he went down with an empty one. The driver replied +by lamenting the death by poisoned water of his masters, whereupon one +of the Kafirs told him the following story:—He said that a brother of +his was out hunting, a little while back, in the desert for ostriches, +with a party of other Kafirs, when hearing shots fired some way off, +they made for the spot, thinking that white men were out shooting, and +that they would be able to beg meat. On reaching the spot, which was by +a pool of water, they saw the bodies of three white men lying on the +ground, and also those of a Hottentot and a Kafir, surrounded by an +armed party of Kafirs. They at once asked the Kafirs what they had been +doing killing the white men, and were told to be still, for it was by +"order of the king." They then learned the whole story. It appeared +that the white men had made a mid-day halt by the water, when one of +the bearers, who had gone to the edge of the pool, suddenly shouted to +them to come and look at a great snake in the water. Captain Patterson +ran up, and, as he leaned over the edge, was instantly killed by a blow +with an axe; the others were then shot and assegaied. The Kafir further +described the clothes that his brother had seen on the bodies, and also +some articles that had been given to his party by the murderers, that +left little doubt as to the veracity of his story. And so ended the +mission to Matabeleland. +</p> + +<p> +No public notice was taken of the matter, for the obvious reason that +it was impossible to get at Lo Bengula to punish him; nor would it have +been easy to come by legal evidence to disprove the ingenious story of +the poisoned water, since anybody trying to reach the spot of the +massacre would probably fall a victim to some similar accident before +he got back again. It is devoutly to be hoped that the punishment he +deserves will sooner or later overtake the author of this devilish and +wholesale murder. +</p> + +<p> +The beginning of 1879 was signalised by the commencement of operations +in Zululand and by the news of the terrible disaster at Isandhlwana, +which fell on Pretoria like a thunderclap. It was not, however, any +surprise to those who were acquainted with Zulu tactics and with the +plan of attack adopted by the English commanders. In fact, I know that +one solemn warning of what would certainly happen to him if he +persisted in his plan of advance was addressed to Lord Chelmsford, +through the officer in command at Pretoria, by a gentleman whose +position and long experience of the Zulus and their mode of attack +should have carried some weight. If it ever reached him, he took, to +the best of my recollection, no notice of it whatever. +</p> + +<p> +But though some such disaster was daily expected by a few, the majority +both of soldiers and civilians never dreamed of anything of the sort, +the general idea being that the conquest of Cetywayo was a very easy +undertaking; and the shock produced by the news of Isandhlwana was +proportionately great, especially as it reached Pretoria in a much +exaggerated form. I shall never forget the appearance of the town that +morning; business was entirely suspended, and the streets were filled +with knots of men talking, with scared faces, as well they might: for +there was scarcely anybody but had lost a friend, and many thought that +their sons or brothers were among the dead on that bloody field. Among +others, Sir T. Shepstone lost one son, and thought for some time that +he had lost three. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after this event Sir Theophilus went to England to confer with +the Secretary of State on various matters connected with the Transvaal, +carrying with him the affection and respect of all who knew him, not +excepting the majority of the malcontent Boers. He was succeeded by +Colonel, now Sir Owen Lanyon, who was appointed to administer the +Government during the absence of Sir T. Shepstone. +</p> + +<p> +By the Boers, however, the news of our disaster was received with great +and unconcealed rejoicing, or at least by the irreconcilable portion of +that people. England's necessity was their opportunity, and one of +which they certainly meant to avail themselves. Accordingly, notices +were sent out summoning the burghers of the Transvaal to attend a mass +meeting on the 18th March, at a place about thirty miles from Pretoria. +Emissaries were also sent to native chiefs, to excite them to follow +Cetywayo's example, and massacre all the English within reach, of whom +a man called Solomon Prinsloo was one of the most active The natives, +however, notwithstanding the threats used towards them, one and all +declined the invitation. +</p> + +<p> +It must not be supposed that all the Boers who attended these meetings +did so of their own free will; on the contrary, a very large number +came under compulsion, since they found that the English authorities +were powerless to give them protection. The recalcitrants were +threatened with all sorts of pains and penalties if they did not +attend, a favourite menace being that they should be made "biltong" of +when the country was given back (<i>i.e.</i>, be cut into strips and +hung in the sun to dry). Few, luckily for themselves, were brave enough +to tempt fortune by refusing to come, but those who did have had to +leave the country since the war. Whatever were the means employed, the +result was an armed meeting of about 3000 Boers, who evidently meant +mischief. +</p> + +<p> +Just about this time a corps had been raised in Pretoria, composed, for +the most part, of gentlemen, and known as the Pretoria Horse, for the +purpose of proceeding to the Zulu border, where cavalry, especially +cavalry acquainted with the country, was earnestly needed. In the +emergency of the times officials were allowed to join this corps, a +permission of which I availed myself, and was elected one of the +lieutenants.<a href="#note9" name="noteref9"><small>[9]</small></a> The corps was not, after all, allowed to go to Zululand +on account of the threatening aspect adopted by the Boers, against whom +it was retained for service. In my capacity as an officer of the corps +I was sent out with a small body of picked men, all good riders and +light weights, to keep up a constant communication between the Boer +camp and the Administrator, and found the work both interesting and +exciting. My headquarters were at an inn about twenty-five miles from +Pretoria, to which our agents in the meeting used to come every evening +and report how matters were proceeding, whereupon, if the road was +clear, I despatched a letter to headquarters; or, if I feared that the +messengers would be caught <i>en route</i> by Boer patrols and +searched, I substituted different coloured ribbons according to what I +wished to convey. There was a relief hidden in the trees or rocks every +six miles, all day and most of the night, whose business it was to take +the despatch or ribbon and gallop on with it to the next station, in +which way we used to get the despatches into town in about an hour and +a quarter. +</p> + +<p> +On one or two occasions the Boers came to the inn and threatened to +shoot us, but as our orders were to do nothing unless our lives were +actually in danger, we took no notice. The officer who came out to +relieve me had not, however, been there more than a day or two before +he and all his troopers were hunted back into Pretoria by a large mob +of armed Boers whom they only escaped by very hard riding. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the Boers were by degrees drawing nearer and nearer to the +town, till at last they pitched their laagers within six miles, and +practically besieged it. All business was stopped, the houses were +loopholed and fortified, and advantageous positions were occupied by +the military and the various volunteer corps. The building, normally in +the occupation of the Government mules, fell to the lot of the Pretoria +Horse, and, though it was undoubtedly a post of honour, I honestly +declare that I have no wish to sleep for another month in a mule stable +that has not been cleaned out for several years. However, by sinking a +well, and erecting bastions and a staging for sharpshooters, we +converted it into an excellent fortress, though it would not have been +of much use against artillery. Our patrols used to be out all night, +since we chiefly feared a night attack, and generally every preparation +was made to resist the onset that was hourly expected, and I believe +that it was that state of preparedness that alone prevented it. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst this meeting was going on, and when matters had come to a point +that seemed to render war inevitable, Sir Bartle Frere arrived at +Pretoria and had several interviews with the Boer leaders, at which +they persisted in demanding their independence, and nothing short of +it. After a great deal of talk the meeting finally broke up without any +actual appeal to arms, though it had, during its continuance, assumed +many of the rights of government, such as stopping post-carts and +individuals, and sending armed patrols about the country. The principal +reason of its break-up was that the Zulu war was now drawing to a +close, and the leaders saw that there would soon be plenty of troops +available to suppress any attempt at revolt, but they also saw to what +lengths they could go with impunity. They had for a period of nearly +two months been allowed to throw the whole country into confusion, to +openly violate the laws, and to intimidate and threaten Her Majesty's +loyal subjects with war and death. The lesson was not lost on them; but +they postponed action till a more favourable opportunity offered. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Bartle Frere before his departure took an opportunity at a public +dinner given him at Potchefstroom of assuring the loyal inhabitants of +the country that the Transvaal would never be given back. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile a new Pharaoh had arisen in Egypt, in the shape of Sir Garnet +Wolseley, and on the 29th June 1879 we find him communicating the fact +to Sir 0. Lanyon in very plain language, telling him that he +disapproved of his course of action with regard to Secocœni, and +that "in future you will please take orders only from me." +</p> + +<p> +As soon as Sir Garnet had completed his arrangements for the +pacification of Zululand, he proceeded to Pretoria, and having caused +himself to be sworn in as Governor, set vigorously to work. I must say +that in his dealings with the Transvaal he showed great judgment and a +keen appreciation of what the country needed, namely, strong +government; the fact of the matter being, I suppose, that being very +popular with the Home authorities he felt that he could more or less +command their support in what he did, a satisfaction not given to most +governors, who never know but that they may be thrown overboard in +emergency to lighten the ship. +</p> + +<p> +One of his first acts was to issue a proclamation, stating that, +"Whereas it appears that, notwithstanding repeated assurances of +contrary effect given by Her Majesty's representatives in this +territory, uncertainty or misapprehension exists amongst some of Her +Majesty's subjects as to the intention of Her Majesty's Government +regarding the maintenance of British rule and sovereignty over the +territory of the Transvaal: and whereas it is expedient that all +grounds for such uncertainty or misapprehension should be removed once +and for all beyond doubt or question: now therefore I do hereby +proclaim and make known, in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty the +Queen, that it is the will and determination of Her Majesty's +Government that this Transvaal territory shall be, <i>and shall +continue to be for ever</i>, an integral portion of Her Majesty's +dominions in South Africa." +</p> + +<p> +Alas! Sir G. Wolseley's estimate of the value of a solemn pledge thus +made in the name of Her Majesty, whose word has hitherto been held to +be sacred, differed greatly to that of Mr. Gladstone and his +Government. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Garnet Wolseley's operations against Secocœni proved eminently +successful, and were the best arranged bit of native warfare that I +have yet heard of in South Africa. One blow was struck, and only one, +but that was crushing. Of course the secret of his success lay in the +fact that he had an abundance of force; but it was not ensured by that +alone, good management being very requisite in an affair of the sort, +especially where native allies have to be dealt with. The cost of the +expedition, not counting other Secocœni war expenditure, amounted to +over £300,000, all of which is now lost to this country. +</p> + +<p> +Another step in the right direction undertaken by Sir Garnet was the +establishment of an Executive Council and also of a Legislative +Council, for the establishment of which Letters Patent were sent from +Downing Street in November 1880. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the Boers, paying no attention to the latter proclamation, +for they guessed that it, like other proclamations in the Transvaal, +would be a mere <i lang="la">brutum fulmen</i>, had assembled for another mass +meeting, at which they went forward a step, and declared a Government +which was to treat with the English authorities. They had now learnt +that they could do what they liked with perfect impunity, provided they +did not take the extreme course of massacring the English. They had yet +to learn that they might even do that. At the termination of this +meeting, a vote of thanks was passed to "Mr. Leonard Courtney of +London, and other members of the British Parliament." It was wise of +the Boer leaders to cultivate Mr. Courtney of London. As a result of +this meeting, Pretorius, one of the principal leaders, and Bok, the +secretary, were arrested on a charge of treason, and underwent a +preliminary examination; but as the Secretary of State, Sir M. Hicks +Beach, looked rather timidly on the proceeding, and the local +authorities were doubtful of securing a verdict, the prosecution was +abandoned, and necessarily did more harm than good, being looked upon +as another proof of the impotence of the Government. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly afterwards, Sir G. Wolseley changed his tactics, and, instead +of attempting to imprison Pretorius, offered him a seat on the +Executive Council, with a salary attached. This was a much more +sensible way of dealing with him, and he at once rose to the bait, +stating his willingness to join the Government after a while, but that +he could not publicly do so at the moment lest he should lose his +influence with those who were to be brought round through him. It does +not, however, appear that Mr. Pretorius ever did actually join the +Executive, probably because he found public opinion too strong to allow +him to do so. +</p> + +<p> +In December 1879 a new light broke upon the Boers, for in the previous +month Mr. Gladstone had been delivering his noted attack on the policy +of the Conservative Government. Those Mid-Lothian speeches did harm, it +is said, in many parts of the world; but I venture to think that they +have proved more mischievous in South Africa than anywhere else; at any +rate, they have borne fruit sooner. It is not to be supposed that Mr. +Gladstone really cared anything about the Transvaal or its independence +when he was denouncing the hideous outrage that had been perpetrated by +the Conservative Government in annexing it. On the contrary, as he +acquiesced in the Annexation at the time (when Lord Kimberley stated +that it was evidently unavoidable), and declined to rescind it when he +came into power, it is to be supposed that he really approved of it, or +at the least looked on it as a necessary evil. However this may be, any +stick will do to beat a dog with, and the Transvaal was a convenient +point on which to attack the Government. He probably neither knew nor +cared what effect his reckless words might have on ignorant Boers +thousands of miles away; and yet, humanly speaking, many a man would +have been alive and strong to-day whose bones now whiten the African +Veldt had those words never been spoken. Then, for the first time, the +Boers learnt that, if they played their cards properly and put on +sufficient pressure, they would, in the event of the Liberal party +coming to office, have little difficulty in coercing it as they wished. +</p> + +<p> +There was a fair chance at the time of the utterance of the Mid-Lothian +speeches that the agitation would, by degrees, die away; Sir G. +Wolseley had succeeded in winning over Pretorius, and the Boers in +general were sick of mass meetings. Indeed, a memorial was addressed to +Sir. G. Wolseley by a number of Boers in the Potchefstroom district, +protesting against the maintenance of the movement against Her +Majesty's rule, which, considering the great amount of intimidation +exercised by the malcontents, may be looked upon as a favourable sign. +</p> + +<p> +But when it slowly came to be understood among the Boers that a great +English Minister had openly espoused their cause, and that he would +perhaps soon be all-powerful, the moral gain to them was incalculable. +They could now go to the doubting ones and say,—we must be right about +the matter, because, putting our own feelings out of the question, the +great Gladstone says we are. We find the committee of the Boer +malcontents, at their meeting in March 1880, reading a letter to Mr. +Gladstone, "in which he was thanked for the great sympathy shown in +their fate," and a hope expressed that, if he succeeded in getting +power, he would not forget them. In fact, a charming unanimity +prevailed between our great Minister and the Boer rebels, for their +interests were the same, the overthrow of the Conservative Government. +If, however, every leader of the Opposition were to intrigue or +countenance intrigues with those who are seeking to undermine the +authority of Her Majesty, whether they be Boers or Irishmen, in order +to help himself to power, the country might suffer in the long run. +</p> + +<p> +But whatever feelings may have prompted Her Majesty's Opposition, the +Home Government, and their agent, Sir Garnet Wolseley, blew no +uncertain blast, if we may judge from their words and actions. Thus we +find Sir Garnet speaking as follows at a banquet given in his honour at +Pretoria:— +</p> + +<p> +"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in +this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the +old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English +politics than such an idea; I tell you that there is no Government, +Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical, <i>who would dare +under any circumstances to give back this country</i>. They would not +dare, because the English people would not allow them. To give back the +country, what would it mean? To give it back to external danger, to the +danger of attack by hostile tribes on its frontier, and who, if the +English Government were removed for one day, would make themselves felt +the next. Not an official of Government paid for months; it would mean +national bankruptcy. No taxes being paid, the same thing recurring +again which had existed before would mean danger without, anarchy and +civil war within, every possible misery; the strangulation of trade, +and the destruction of property." +</p> + +<p> +It is very amusing to read this passage by the light of after events. +On other occasions Sir Garnet Wolseley will probably not be quite so +confident as to the future when it is to be controlled by a Radical +Government. +</p> + +<p> +This explicit and straightforward statement of Sir Garnet's produced a +great effect on the loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal, which was +heightened by the publication of the following telegram from the +Secretary of State:—"You may fully confirm explicit statements made +from time to time as to inability of Her Majesty's Government to +entertain <i>any proposal</i> for withdrawal of the Queen's sovereignty." +</p> + +<p> +On the faith of these declarations many Englishmen migrated to the +Transvaal and settled there, whilst those who were in the country now +invested all their means, being confident that they would not lose +their property through its being returned to the Boers. The excitement +produced by Mr. Gladstone's speeches began to quiet down and be +forgotten for the time, arrear taxes were paid up by the malcontents, +and generally the aspect of affairs was such, in Sir Garnet Wolseley's +opinion, as justified him in writing, in April 1880, to the Secretary +of State expressing his belief that the agitation was dying out.<a href="#note10" name="noteref10"><small>[10]</small></a> +Indeed, so sanguine was he on that point that he is reported to have +advised the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment stationed in the +territory, a piece of economy that was one of the immediate causes of +the revolt. +</p> + +<p> +The reader will remember the financial condition of the country at the +time of the Annexation, which was one of utter bankruptcy. After three +years of British rule, however, we find, notwithstanding the constant +agitation that had been kept up, that the total revenue receipts for +the first quarter of 1879 and 1880 amounted to £22,773 and £47,982 +respectively. That is to say, that, during the last year of British +rule, the revenue of the country more than doubled itself, and amounted +to about £160,000 a year, taking the quarterly returns at the low +average of £40,000. It must, however, be remembered that this sum would +have been very largely increased in subsequent years, most probably +doubled. At any rate the revenue would have been amply sufficient to +make the province one of the most prosperous in South Africa, and to +have enabled it to shortly repay all debts due to the British +Government, and further to provide for its own defence. Trade also, +which, in April 1877, was completely paralysed, had increased +enormously. So early as the middle of 1879, the Committee of the +Transvaal Chamber of Commerce pointed out, in a resolution adopted by +them, that the trade of the country had in two years risen from almost +nothing to the considerable sum of two millions sterling per annum, and +that it was entirely in the hands of those favourable to British rule. +They also pointed out that more than half the land-tax was paid by +Englishmen, or other Europeans adverse to Boer Government. Land, too, +had risen greatly in value, of which I can give the following instance. +About a year after the Annexation I, together with a friend, bought a +little property on the outskirts of Pretoria, which, with a cottage we +put up on it, cost some £300. Just before the rebellion we fortunately +determined to sell it, and had no difficulty in getting £650 for it. I +do not believe that it would now fetch a fifty-pound note. +</p> + +<p> +I cannot conclude this chapter better than by drawing attention to a +charming specimen of the correspondence between the Boer leaders and +their friend Mr. Courtney. The letter in question, which is dated 26th +June, purports to be written by Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, but it is +obvious that it owes its origin to some member or members of the Dutch +party at the Cape, from whence, indeed, it is written. This is rendered +evident both by its general style, and also by the use of such terms as +"Satrap," and by references to Napoleon III. and Cayenne, about whom +Messrs. Kruger and Joubert know no more than they do of Peru and the +Incas. +</p> + +<p> +After alluding to former letters, the writers blow a blast of triumph +over the downfall of the Conservative Government, and then make a +savage attack on the reputation of Sir Bartle Frere. The "stubborn +Satrap" is throughout described as a liar, and every bad motive imputed +to him. Really, the fact that Mr. Courtney should encourage such +epistles as this is enough to give colour to the boast made by some of +the leading Boers, after the war, that they had been encouraged to +rebel by a member of the British Government. +</p> + +<p> +At the end of this letter, and on the same page of the Blue-Book, is +printed the telegram recalling Sir Bartle Frere, dated 1st August 1880. +It really reads as though the second document was consequent on the +first. One thing is very clear, the feelings of Her Majesty's new +Government towards Sir Bartle Frere differed only in the method of +their expression from those set forth by the Boer leaders in their +letter to Mr. Courtney, whilst their object, namely, to be rid of him, +was undoubtedly identical with that of the Dutch party in South Africa. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="V"> </a> +CHAPTER V. +<br><br> +<span class="small">THE BOER REBELLION. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +When the Liberal ministry became an accomplished fact instead of a +happy possibility, Mr. Gladstone did not find it convenient to adopt +the line of policy with reference to the Transvaal that might have been +expected from his utterances whilst leader of the Opposition. On the +contrary, he declared in Parliament that the Annexation could not be +cancelled, and on the 8th June 1880 we find him, in answer to a Boer +petition, written with the object of inducing him to act up to the +spirit of his words and rescind the Annexation, writing thus:—"Looking +to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South +Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders which +might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal, but +to the whole of South Africa, our judgment is, that the <i>Queen cannot +be advised to relinquish her sovereignty over the Transvaal</i>; but, +consistently with the maintenance of that sovereignty, we desire that +the white inhabitants of the Transvaal should, without prejudice to the +rest of the population, enjoy the fullest liberty to manage their local +affairs. We believe that this liberty may be most easily and promptly +conceded to the Transvaal as a member of a South African +confederation." +</p> + +<p> +Unless words have lost their signification, this passage certainly +means that the Transvaal must remain a British colony, but that England +will be prepared to grant it responsible government, more especially if +it will consent to a confederation scheme. Mr. Gladstone, however, in a +communication dated 1st June 1881, and addressed to the unfortunate +Transvaal loyals, for whom he expresses "respect and sympathy," +interprets his meaning thus: "It is stated, as I observe, that a +promise was given by me that the Transvaal never should be given back. +There is no mention of the terms or date of this promise. If the +reference be to my letter, of 8th June 1880, to Messrs. Kruger and +Joubert, I do not think the language of that letter justifies the +description given. Nor am I sure in what manner or to what degree the +fullest liberty to manage their local affairs, which I then said Her +Majesty's Government desired to confer on the white population of the +Transvaal, differs from the settlement now about being made in its +bearing on the interests of those whom your Committee represents." +</p> + +<p> +Such twisting of the meaning of words would, in a private person, be +called dishonest. It will also occur to most people that Mr. Gladstone +might have spared the deeply wronged and loyal subjects of Her Majesty +whom he was addressing the taunt he levels at them in the second +paragraph I have quoted. If asked, he would no doubt say that he had +not the slightest intention of laughing at them; but when he +deliberately tells them that it makes no difference to their interests +whether they remain Her Majesty's subjects under a responsible +Government, or become the servants of men who were but lately in arms +against them and Her Majesty's authority, he is either mocking them, or +offering an insult to their understandings. +</p> + +<p> +By way of comment on his remarks, I may add that he had, in a letter +replying to a petition from these same loyal inhabitants, addressed to +him in May 1880, informed them that he had already told the Boer +representatives that the Annexation could not be rescinded. Although +Mr. Gladstone is undoubtedly the greatest living master of the art of +getting two distinct and opposite sets of meanings out of one set of +words, it would try even his ingenuity to make out, to the satisfaction +of an impartial mind, that he never gave any pledge about the retention +of the Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, it is from other considerations clear that he had no intention +of giving up the country to the Boers, whose cause he appears to have +taken up solely for electioneering purposes. Had he meant to do so, he +would have carried out his intention on succeeding to office, and, +indeed, as things have turned out, it is deeply to be regretted that he +did not; for, bad as such a step would have been, it would at any rate +have had a better appearance than our ultimate surrender after three +defeats. It would also have then been possible to secure the repayment +of some of the money owing to this country, and to provide for the +proper treatment of the natives, and the compensation of the loyal +inhabitants who could no longer live there: since it must naturally +have been easier to make terms with the Boers before they had defeated +our troops. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, we should have missed the grandest and most +soul-stirring display of radical theories, practically applied, that +has as yet lightened the darkness of this country. But although Mr. +Gladstone gave his official decision against returning the country, +there seems to be little doubt that communications on the subject were +kept up with the Boer leaders through some prominent members of the +Radical party, who, it was said, went so far as to urge the Boers to +take up arms against us. When Mr. White came to this country on behalf +of the loyalists, after the surrender, he stated that this was so at a +public meeting, and said further that he had in his possession proofs +of his statements. He even went so far as to name the gentleman he +accused, and to challenge him to deny it I have not been able to gather +that Mr. White's statements were contradicted. +</p> + +<p> +However this may be, after a pause, agitation in the Transvaal suddenly +recommenced with redoubled vigour. It began through a man named +Bezeidenhout, who refused to pay his taxes. Thereupon a waggon was +seized in execution under the authority of the court and put up to +auction, but its sale was prevented by a crowd of rebel Boers, who +kicked the auctioneer off the waggon and dragged the vehicle away. This +was on the 11th November 1880. When this intelligence reached Pretoria, +Sir Owen Lanyon sent down a few companies of the 21st Regiment, under +the command of Major Thornhill, to support the Landdrost in arresting +the rioters, and appointed Captain Raaf, C.M.G., to act as special +messenger to the Landdrost's Court at Potchefstroom, with authority to +enrol special constables to assist him to carry out the arrests. On +arrival at Potchefstroom Captain Raaf found that, without an armed +force, it was quite impossible to effect any arrest. On the 26th +November Sir Owen Lanyon, realising the gravity of the situation, +telegraphed to Sir George Colley, asking that the 58th Regiment should +be sent back to the Transvaal. Sir George replied that he could ill +spare it on account of "daily expected outbreak of Pondos and possible +appeal for help from Cape Colony," and that the Government must be +supported by the loyal inhabitants. +</p> + +<p> +It will be seen that the Boers had, with some astuteness, chosen a very +favourable time to commence operations. The hands of the Cape +Government were full with the Basuto war, so no help could be expected +from it; Sir G. Wolseley had sent away the only cavalry regiment that +remained in the country, and lastly, Sir Owen Lanyon had quite recently +allowed a body of 300 trained volunteers, mostly, if not altogether, +drawn from among the loyalists, to be raised for service in the Basuto +war, a serious drain upon the resources of a country so sparsely +populated as the Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile a mass meeting had been convened by the Boers for the 8th +January to consider Mr. Gladstone's letter, but the Bezeidenhout +incident had the effect of putting forward the date of assembly by a +month, and it was announced that it would be held on the 8th December. +Subsequently the date was shifted to the 15th, and then back again to +the 8th. Every effort was made, by threats of future vengeance, to +secure the presence of as many burghers as possible; attempts were also +made to persuade the native chiefs to send representatives, and to +promise to join in an attack on the English. These entirely failed. The +meeting was held at a place called Paarde Kraal, and resulted in the +sudden declaration of the Republic and the appointment of the famous +triumvirate Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius. It then moved into +Heidelberg, a little town about sixty miles from Pretoria, and on the +16th December the Republic was formally proclaimed in a long +proclamation, containing a summary of the events of the few preceding +years, and declaring the arrangements the malcontents were willing to +make with the English authorities. The terms offered in this document +are almost identical with those finally accepted by Her Majesty's +Government, with the exception that in the proclamation of the 16th +December the Boer leaders declare their willingness to enter into +confederation, and to guide their native policy by general rules +adopted in concurrence "with the Colonies and States of South Africa." +This was a more liberal offer than that which we ultimately agreed to, +but then the circumstances had changed. +</p> + +<p> +This proclamation was forwarded to Sir Owen Lanyon with a covering +letter, in which the following words occur:—"We declare in the most +solemn manner that we have no desire to spill blood, and that from our +side we do not wish war. It lies in your hands to force us to appeal to +arms in self-defence…. We expect your answer within twice twenty-four +hours." +</p> + +<p> +I beg to direct particular attention to these paragraphs, as they have +a considerable interest in view of what followed. +</p> + +<p> +The letter and proclamation reached Government House, Pretoria, at +10.30 on the evening of Friday the 17th December. Sir Owen Lanyon's +proclamation, written in reply, was handed to the messenger at noon on +Sunday, 19th December, or within about thirty-six hours of his arrival, +and could hardly have reached the rebel camp, sixty miles off, before +dawn the next day, the 20th December, on which day, at about one +o'clock, a detachment of the 94th was ambushed and destroyed on the +road between Middleburg and Pretoria, about eighty miles off, by a +force despatched from Heidelberg for that purpose some days before. On +the 16th December, or the <i>same day</i> on which the Triumvirate had +despatched the proclamation to Pretoria containing their terms, and +expressing in the most solemn manner that they had no desire to shed +blood, a large Boer force was attacking Potchefstroom. +</p> + +<p> +So much then for the sincerity of the professions of their desire to +avoid bloodshed. +</p> + +<p> +The proclamation sent by Sir O. Lanyon in reply recited in its preamble +the various acts of which the rebels had been guilty, including that of +having "wickedly sought to incite the said loyal native inhabitants +throughout the province to take up arms against Her Majesty's +Government," announced that matters had now been put into the hands of +the officer commanding Her Majesty's troops, and promised pardon to all +who would disperse to their homes. +</p> + +<p> +It was at Potchefstroom, which town had all along been the nursery of +the rebellion, that actual hostilities first broke out. Potchefstroom +as a town is much more Boer in its sympathies than Pretoria, which is, +or rather was, almost purely English. Sir Owen Lanyon had, as stated +before, sent a small body of soldiers thither to support the civil +authorities, and had also appointed Major Clarke, C.M.G., an officer of +noted coolness and ability, to act as Special Commissioner for the +district. +</p> + +<p> +Major Clarke's first step was to try, in conjunction with Captain Raaf, +to raise a corps of volunteers, in which he totally failed. Those of +the townsfolk who were not Boers at heart had too many business +relations with the surrounding farmers, and perhaps too little faith in +the stability of English rule after Mr. Gladstone's utterances, to +allow them to indulge in patriotism. At the time of the outbreak, +between seventy and eighty thousand sterling was owing to firms in +Potchefstroom by neighbouring Boers, a sum amply sufficient to account +for their lukewarmness in the English cause. Subsequent events have +shown that the Potchefstroom shopkeepers were wise in their generation. +</p> + +<p> +On the 15th December a large number of Boers came into the town and +took possession of the printing-office in order to print the +proclamation already alluded to. Major Clarke made two attempts to +enter the office and see the leaders, but without success. +</p> + +<p> +On the 16th a Boer patrol fired on some of the mounted infantry, and +the fire was returned. These were the first shots fired during the war, +and they were fired by Boers. Orders were thereupon signalled to Clarke +by Lieutenant-Colonel Winsloe, 21st Regiment, now commanding at the +fort which he afterwards defended so gallantly, that he was to commence +firing. Clarke was in the Landdrost's office on the Market Square with +a force of about twenty soldiers under Captain Falls and twenty +civilians under Captain Raaf, C.M.G., a position but ill-suited for +defensive purposes, from whence fire was accordingly opened, the Boers +taking up positions in the surrounding houses commanding the office. +Shortly after the commencement of the fighting, Captain Falls was shot +dead whilst talking to Major Clarke, the latter having a narrow escape, +a bullet grazing his head just above the ear. The fighting continued +during the 17th and till the morning of the 18th, when the Boers +succeeded in firing the roof, which was of thatch, by throwing +fire-balls on to it. Major Clarke then addressed the men, telling them +that, though personally he did not care about his own life, he did not +see that they could serve any useful purpose by being burned alive, so +he should surrender, which he did, with a loss of about six killed and +wounded. The camp meanwhile had repulsed with loss the attack made on +it, and was never again directly attacked. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst these events were in progress at Potchefstroom, a much more +awful tragedy was in preparation on the road between Middleburg and +Pretoria. +</p> + +<p> +On the 23d November, Colonel Bellairs, at the request of Sir Owen +Lanyon, directed a concentration on Pretoria of most of the few +soldiers that there were in the territory, in view of the disturbed +condition of the country. In accordance with these orders, Colonel +Anstruther marched from Lydenburg, a town about 180 miles from +Pretoria, on the 5th December, with the headquarters and two companies +of the 94th Regiment, being a total of 264 men, three women, and two +children, and the disproportionately large train of thirty-four +ox-waggons, or an ox-waggon capable of carrying five thousand pounds' +weight to every eight persons. And here I may remark that it is this +enormous amount of baggage, without which it appears to be impossible +to move the smallest body of men, that renders infantry regiments +almost useless for service in South Africa except for garrisoning +purposes. Both Zulus and Boers can get over the ground at thrice the +pace possible to the unfortunate soldier, and both races despise them +accordingly. The Zulus call our infantry "pack oxen." In this +particular instance, Colonel Anstruther's defeat, or rather, +annihilation, is to a very great extent referable to his enormous +baggage train; since, in the first place, had he not lost valuable days +in collecting more waggons, he would have been safe in Pretoria before +danger arose. It must also be acknowledged that his arrangements on the +line of march were somewhat reckless, though it can hardly be said that +he was ignorant of his danger. Thus we find that Colonel Bellairs wrote +to Colonel Anstruther, warning him of the probability of an attack, and +impressing on him the necessity of keeping a good look-out, the letter +being received and acknowledged by the latter on the 17th December. +</p> + +<p> +To this warning was added a still more impressive one that came to my +knowledge privately. A gentleman well known to me received, on the +morning after the troops had passed through the town of Middleburg on +their way to Pretoria, a visit from an old Boer with whom he was on +friendly terms, who had purposely come to tell him that a large patrol +was out to ambush the troops on the Pretoria road. My informant having +convinced himself of the truth of the statement, at once rode after the +soldiers, and catching them up some distance from Middleburg, told +Colonel Anstruther what he had heard, imploring him, he said, with all +the energy he could command, to take better precautions against +surprise. The Colonel, however, laughed at his fears, and told him that +if the Boers came "he would frighten them away with the big drum." +</p> + +<p> +At one o'clock on Sunday, the 20th December, the column was marching +along about a mile and a half from a place known as Bronker's Splint, +and thirty-eight miles from Pretoria, when suddenly a large number of +mounted Boers were seen in loose formation on the left side of the +road. The band was playing at the time, and the column was extended +over more than half a mile, the rearguard being about a hundred yards +behind the last waggon. The band stopped playing on seeing the Boers, +and the troops halted, when a man was seen advancing with a white flag, +whom Colonel Anstruther went out to meet, accompanied by Conductor +Egerton, a civilian. They met about one hundred and fifty yards from +the column, and the man gave Colonel Anstruther a letter, which +announced the establishment of the South African Republic, stated that +until they heard Lanyon's reply to their proclamation they did not know +if they were at war or not; that, consequently, they could not allow +any movements of troops, which would be taken as a declaration of war. +This letter was signed by Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. Colonel +Anstruther replied that he was ordered to Pretoria, and to Pretoria he +must go. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst this conference was going on, the Boers, of whom there were +quite five hundred, had gradually closed round the column, and took up +positions behind rocks and trees which afforded them excellent cover, +whilst the troops were on a bare plain, and before Colonel Anstruther +reached his men a murderous fire was poured in upon them from all +sides. The fire was hotly returned by the soldiers. Most of the +officers were struck down by the first volley, having, no doubt, been +picked out by the marksmen. The firing lasted about fifteen minutes, +and at the end of that time seven out of the nine officers were down +killed and wounded; an eighth (Captain Elliot), one of the two who +escaped, untouched, being reserved for an even more awful fate. The +majority of the men were also down, and had the hail of lead continued +much longer it is clear that nobody would have been left. Colonel +Anstruther, who was lying badly wounded in five places, seeing what a +hopeless state affairs were in, ordered the bugler to sound the cease +firing, and surrendered. One of the three officers who were not much +hurt was, most providentially, Dr. Ward, who had but a slight wound in +the thigh; all the others, except Captain Elliot and one lieutenant, +were either killed or died from the effects of their wounds. There were +altogether 56 killed and 101 wounded, including a woman, Mrs. Fox. +Twenty more afterwards died of their wounds. The Boer loss appears to +have been very small. +</p> + +<p> +After the fight Conductor Egerton, with a sergeant, was allowed to walk +into Pretoria to obtain medical assistance, the Boers refusing to give +him a horse, or even to allow him to use his own. The Boer leader also +left Dr. Ward eighteen men and a few stores for the wounded, with which +he made shift as best he could. Nobody can read this gentleman's report +without being much impressed with the way in which, though wounded +himself, he got through his terrible task of, without assistance, +attending to the wants of 101 sufferers. Beginning the task at 2 +<span class="sc">p.m.</span>, it took him till six the next morning before he had seen +the last man. It is to be hoped that his services have met with some +recognition. Dr. Ward remained near the scene of the massacre with his +wounded men till the declaration of peace, when he brought them down to +Maritzburg, having experienced great difficulty in obtaining food for +them during so many weeks. +</p> + +<p> +This is a short account of what I must, with reluctance, call a most +cruel and carefully planned massacre. I may mention that a Zulu driver, +who was with the rearguard, and escaped into Natal, stated that the +Boers shot all the wounded men who formed that body. His statement was +to a certain extent borne out by the evidence of one of the survivors, +who stated that all the bodies found in that part of the field (nearly +three-quarters of a mile away from the head of the column), had a +bullet hole through the head or breast in addition to their other +wounds. +</p> + +<p> +The Administrator of the Transvaal in council thus comments on the +occurrence in an official minute:—"The surrounding and gradual hemming +in under a flag of truce of a force, and the selection of spots from +which to direct their fire, as in the case of the unprovoked attack by +the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther's force, is a proceeding of which +very few like incidents can be mentioned in the annals of civilised +warfare." +</p> + +<p> +The Boer leaders, however, were highly elated at their success, and +celebrated it in a proclamation of which the following is an +extract:—"Inexpressible is the gratitude of the burghers for this +blessing conferred on them. Thankful to the brave General F. Joubert +and his men who have upheld the honour of the Republic on the +battlefield. Bowed down in the dust before Almighty God, who had thus +stood by them, and, with a loss of over a hundred of the enemy, only +allowed two of ours to be killed." +</p> + +<p> +In view of the circumstances of the treacherous hemming in and +destruction of this small body of unprepared men, most people would +think this language rather high-flown, not to say blasphemous. +</p> + +<p> +On the news of this disaster reaching Pretoria, Sir Owen Lanyon issued +a proclamation placing the country under martial law. As the town was +large, straggling, and incapable of defence, all the inhabitants, +amounting to over four thousand souls, were ordered up to camp, where +the best arrangements possible were made for their convenience. In +these quarters they remained for three months, driven from their +comfortable homes, and cheerfully enduring all the hardships, want, and +discomforts consequent on their position, whilst they waited in +patience for the appearance of that relieving column that never came. +People in England hardly understand what these men and women went +through because they chose to remain loyal. Let them suppose that all +the inhabitants of an ordinary English town, with the exception of the +class known as poor people, which can hardly be said to exist in a +colony, were at an hour's notice ordered—all, the aged and the sick, +delicate women, and tiny children—to leave their homes to the mercy of +the enemy, and crowd up in a little space under shelter of a fort, with +nothing but canvas tents or sheds to cover them from the fierce summer +suns and rains, and the coarsest rations to feed them; whilst the +husbands and brothers were daily engaged with a cunning and dangerous +enemy, and sometimes brought home wounded or dead. They will then have +some idea of what was gone through by the loyal people of Pretoria, in +their weak confidence in the good faith of the English Government. +</p> + +<p> +The arrangements made for the defence of the town were so ably and +energetically carried out by Sir Owen Lanyon, assisted by the military +officers, that no attack upon it was ever attempted. It seems to me +that the organisation that could provide for the penning up of four +thousand people for months, and carry it out without the occurrence of +a single unpleasantness or expression of discontent, must have had +something remarkable about it. Of course, it would have been impossible +without the most loyal co-operation on the part of those concerned. +Indeed everybody in the town lent a helping hand; judges served out +rations, members of the Executive inspected nuisances, and so forth. +There was only one instance of "striking;" and then, of all people in +the world, it was the five civil doctors who, thinking it a favourable +opportunity to fleece the Government, combined to demand five guineas +a-day each for their services. I am glad to say that they did not +succeed in their attempt at extortion. +</p> + +<p> +On the 23d December, the Boer leaders issued a second proclamation in +reply to that of Sir O. Lanyon of the 18th, which is characterised by +an utter absence of regard for the truth, being, in fact, nothing but a +tissue of impudent falsehoods. It accuses Sir O. Lanyon of having +bombarded women and children, of arming natives against the Boers, and +of firing on the Boers without declaring war. Not one of these +accusations has any foundation in fact, as the Boers well knew; but +they also knew that Sir Owen, being shut up in Pretoria, was not in a +position to rebut their charges, which they hoped might, to some +extent, be believed, and create sympathy for them in other parts of the +world. This was the reason of the issue of the proclamation, which well +portrays the character of its framers. +</p> + +<p> +Life at Pretoria was varied by occasional sorties against the Boer +laagers, situated at different points in the neighbourhood, generally +about six or eight miles from the town. These expeditions were carried +out with considerable success, though with some loss, the heaviest +incurred being when the Boers, having treacherously hoisted the white +flag, opened a heavy fire on the Pretoria forces, as soon as they, +beguiled into confidence, emerged from their cover. In the course of +the war, one in every four of the Pretoria mounted volunteers was +killed or wounded. +</p> + +<p> +But perhaps the most serious of all the difficulties the Government had +to meet was that of keeping the natives in check. As has before been +stated, they were devotedly attached to our rule, and, during the three +years of its continuance, had undergone what was to them a strange +experience, they had neither been murdered, beaten, or enslaved. +Naturally they were in no hurry to return to the old order of things, +in which murder, flogging, and slavery were events of everyday +occurrence. Nor did the behaviour of the Boers on the outbreak of the +war tend to reconcile them to any such idea. Thus we find that the +farmers had pressed a number of natives from Waterberg into one of +their laagers (Zwart Koppies); two of them tried to run away, a Boer +saw them and shot them both. Again, on the 7th January, a native +reported to the authorities at Pretoria that he and some others were +returning from the Diamond Fields driving some sheep. A Boer came and +asked them to sell the sheep. They refused, whereupon he went away, but +returning with some other Dutchmen fired on the Kafirs, killing one. +</p> + +<p> +On the 2d January information reached Pretoria that on the 26th +December some Boers fired on some natives who were resting outside +Potchefstroom and killed three; the rest fled, whereupon the Boers took +the cattle they had with them. +</p> + +<p> +On the 11th January some men, who had been sent from Pretoria with +despatches for Standerton, were taken prisoners. Whilst prisoners they +saw ten men returning from the Fields stopped by the Boers and ordered +to come to the laager. They refused and ran away, were fired on, five +being killed and one getting his arm broken. +</p> + +<p> +These are a few instances of the treatment meted out to the unfortunate +natives, taken at haphazard from the official reports. There are plenty +more of the same nature if anybody cares to read them. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the news of the rising reached them, every chief of any +importance sent in to offer aid to Government, and many of them, +especially Montsioa, our old ally in the Keate Award district, took the +loyals of the neighbourhood under their protection. Several took charge +of Government property and cattle during the disturbances, and one had +four or five thousand pounds in gold, the product of a recently +collected tax, given him to take care of by the Commissioner of his +district, who was afraid that the money would be seized by the Boers. +In every instance the property entrusted to their charge was returned +intact. The loyalty of all the native chiefs under very trying +circumstances (for the Boers were constantly attempting to cajole or +frighten them into joining them) is a remarkable proof of the great +affection of the Kafirs, more especially those of the Basuto tribes, +who love peace better than war, for the Queen's rule. The Government of +Pretoria need only have spoken one word to set an enormous number of +armed men in motion against the Boers, with the most serious results to +the latter. Any other Government in the world would, in its extremity, +have spoken that word, but, fortunately for the Boers, it is against +English principles to set black against white under any circumstances. +</p> + +<p> +Besides the main garrison at Pretoria there were forts defended by +soldiery and loyals at the following places:—Potchefstroom, +Rustenburg, Lydenburg, Marabastad, and Wakkerstroom, none of which were +taken by the Boers.<a href="#note11" name="noteref11"><small>[11]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +One of the first acts of the Triumvirate was to despatch a large force +from Heidelberg with orders to advance into Natal Territory, and seize +the pass over the Drakensberg known as Lang's Nek, so as to dispute the +advance of any relieving column. This movement was promptly executed, +and strong Boer troops patrolled Natal country almost up to Newcastle. +</p> + +<p> +The news of the outbreak, followed as it was by that of the Bronker's +Spruit massacre, and Captain Elliot's murder, created a great +excitement in Natal. All available soldiers were at once despatched up +country, together with a naval brigade, who, on arrival at Newcastle, +brought up the strength of the Imperial troops of all arms to about a +thousand men. On the 10th January Sir George Colley left Maritzburg to +join the force at Newcastle, but at this time nobody dreamt that he +meant to attack the Nek with such an insignificant column. It was known +that the loyals and troops who were shut up in the various towns in the +Transvaal had sufficient provisions to last for some months, and that +there was therefore nothing to necessitate a forlorn hope. Indeed the +possibility of Sir George Colley attempting to enter the Transvaal was +not even speculated upon until just before his advance, it being +generally considered as out of the question. +</p> + +<p> +The best illustration I can give of the feeling that existed about the +matter is to quote my own case. I had been so unfortunate as to land in +Natal with my wife and servants just as the Transvaal troubles began, +my intention being to proceed to a place I had near Newcastle. For some +weeks I remained in Maritzburg, but finding that the troops were to +concentrate on Newcastle, and being besides heartily wearied of the +great expense and discomfort of hotel life in that town, I determined +to go on up country, looking on it as being as safe as any place in the +colony. Of course the possibility of Sir George attacking the Nek +before the arrival of the reinforcements did not enter into my +calculations, as I thought it a venture that no sensible man would +undertake. On the day of my start, however, there was a rumour about +the town that the General was going to attack the Boer position. Though +I did not believe it, I thought it as well to go and ask the Colonial +Secretary, Colonel Mitchell, privately, if there was any truth in it, +adding that if there was, as I had a pretty intimate knowledge of the +Boers and their shooting powers, and what the inevitable result of such +a move would be, I should certainly prefer, as I had ladies with me, to +remain where I was. Colonel Mitchell told me frankly that he knew no +more about Sir George's plans than I did; but he added I might be sure +that so able and prudent a soldier would not do anything rash. His +remark concurred with my own opinion; so I started, and on arrival at +Newcastle a week later was met by the intelligence that Sir George had +advanced that morning to attack the Nek. To return was almost +impossible, since both horses and travellers were pretty nearly knocked +up. Also, anybody who has travelled with his family in summer-time over +the awful track of alternate slough and boulders between Maritzburg and +Newcastle, known in the colony as a road, will understand that at the +time the adventurous voyagers would far rather risk being shot than +face a return journey. +</p> + +<p> +The only thing to do under the circumstances was to await the course of +events, which were now about to develop themselves with startling +rapidity. The little town of Newcastle was at this time an odd sight, +and remained so all through the war. The hotels were crowded to +overflowing with refugees, and on every spare patch of land were +erected tents, mud huts, canvas houses, and every kind of covering that +could be utilised under the pressure of necessity, to house the many +homeless families who had succeeded in effecting their escape from the +Transvaal, many of whom were reduced to great straits. +</p> + +<p> +On the morning of the 28th January, anybody listening attentively in +the neighbourhood of Newcastle could hear the distant boom of heavy +guns. We were not kept long in suspense, for in the afternoon news +arrived that Sir George had attacked the Nek, and failed with heavy +loss. The excitement in the town was intense, for, in addition to other +considerations, the 58th Regiment, which had suffered most, had been +quartered there for some time, and both the officers and men were +personally known to the inhabitants. +</p> + +<p> +The story of the fight is well known, and needs little repetition, and +a very sad story it is. The Boers, who at that time were some 2000 +strong, were posted and entrenched on steep hills, against which Sir +George Colley hurled a few hundred soldiers. It was a forlorn hope, but +so gallant was the charge, especially that of the mounted squadron led +by Major Bronlow, that at one time it nearly succeeded. But nothing +could stand under the withering fire from the Boer schanses, and as +regards the foot soldiers, they never had a chance. Colonel Deane tried +to take them up the hill with a rush, with the result that by the time +they reached the top, some of the men were actually sick from +exhaustion, and none could hold a rifle steady. There on the bare +hill-top they crouched and lay, whilst the pitiless fire from redoubt +and rock lashed them like hail, till at last human nature could bear it +no longer, and what was left of them retired slowly down the slope. But +for many that gallant charge was their last earthly action. As they +charged they fell, and where they fell they were afterwards buried. The +casualties, killed and wounded, amounted to 195, which, considering the +small number of troops engaged in the actual attack, is enormously +heavy, and shows more plainly than words can tell the desperate nature +of the undertaking. Amongst the killed were Colonel Deane, Major Poole, +Major Hingeston, and Lieutenant Elwes. Major Essex was the only staff +officer engaged who escaped, the same officer who was one of the +fortunate four who lived through Isandhlwana. On this occasion his +usual good fortune attended him, for though his horse was killed and +his helmet knocked off, he was not touched. The Boer loss was very +trivial. +</p> + +<p> +Sir George Colley, in his admirably lucid despatch about this +occurrence addressed to the Secretary of State for War, does not enter +much into the question as to the motives that prompted him to attack, +simply stating that his object was to relieve the besieged towns. He +does not appear to have taken into consideration, what was obvious to +anybody who knew the country and the Boers, that even if he had +succeeded in forcing the Nek, in itself almost an impossibility, he +could never have operated with any success in the Transvaal with so +small a column, without cavalry, and with an enormous train of waggons. +He would have been harassed day and night by the Boer skirmishers, his +supplies cut off, and his advance made practically impossible. Also the +Nek would have been re-occupied behind him, since he could not have +detached sufficient men to hold it, and in all probability Newcastle, +his base of supplies, would have fallen into the hands of the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +The moral effect of our defeat on the Boers was very great. Up to this +time there had been many secret doubts amongst a large section of them +as to what the upshot of an encounter with the troops might be; and +with this party, in the same way that defeat, or even the anxiety of +waiting to be attacked, would have turned the scale one way, victory +turned it the other. It gave them unbounded confidence in their own +superiority, and infused a spirit of cohesion and mutual reliance into +their ranks which had before been wanting. Waverers wavered no longer, +but gave a loyal adherence to the good cause, and, what was still more +acceptable, large numbers of volunteers,—whatever President Brand may +say to the contrary,—poured in from the Orange Free State. +</p> + +<p> +What Sir George Colley's motive was in making so rash a move is, of +course, quite inexplicable to the outside observer. It was said at the +time in Natal that he was a man with a theory: namely, that small +bodies of men properly handled were as useful and as likely to obtain +the object in view as a large force. Whether or no this was so, I am +not prepared to say; but it is undoubtedly the case that very clever +men have sometimes very odd theories, and it may be that he was a +striking instance in point. +</p> + +<p> +For some days after the battle at Lang's Nek affairs were quiet, and it +was hoped that they would remain so till the arrival of the +reinforcements, which were on their way out. The hope proved a vain one +On the 7th February it was reported that the escort proceeding from +Newcastle to the General's camp with the post, a distance of about +eighteen miles, had been fired on and forced to return. +</p> + +<p> +On the 8th, about mid-day, we were all startled by the sound of +fighting, proceeding apparently from a hill known as Scheins Hoogte, +about ten miles from Newcastle. It was not known that the General +contemplated any move, and everybody was entirely at a loss to know +what was going on, the general idea being, however, that the camp near +Lang's Nek had been abandoned, and that Sir George was retiring on +Newcastle. +</p> + +<p> +The firing grew hotter and hotter, till at last it was perfectly +continuous, the cannon evidently being discharged as quickly as they +could be loaded, whilst their dull booming was accompanied by the +unceasing crash and roll of the musketry. Towards three o'clock the +firing slackened, and we thought it was all over, one way or the other, +but about five o'clock it broke out again with increased vigour. At +dusk it finally ceased. About this time some Kafirs came to my house +and told us that an English force was hemmed in on a hill this side of +the Ingogo River, that they were fighting bravely, but that "their arms +were tired," adding that they thought they would be all killed at +night. +</p> + +<p> +Needless to say we spent that night with heavy hearts, expecting every +minute to hear the firing begin again, and ignorant of what fate had +befallen our poor soldiers on the hill. Morning put an end to our +suspense, and we then learnt that we had suffered what, under the +circumstances, amounted to a crushing defeat It appears that Sir George +had moved out with a force of five companies of the 60th Regiment, two +guns, and a few mounted men, to, in his own words, "patrol the road, +and meet and escort some waggons expected from Newcastle." As soon as +he passed the Ingogo he was surrounded by a body of Boers sent after +him from Lang's Nek, on a small triangular plateau, and sharply +assailed on all sides. With a break of about two hours, from three to +five, the assault was kept up till nightfall, with very bad results so +far as we were concerned, seeing that out of a body of about 500 men, +over 150 were killed and wounded. The reinforcements sent for from the +camp apparently did not come into action. For some unexplained reason +the Boers did not follow up their attack that night, perhaps because +they did not think it possible that our troops could effect their +escape back to the camp, and considered that the next morning would be +soon enough to return and finish the business. The General, however, +determined to get back, and scratch teams of such mules, riding-horses, +and oxen as had lived through the day being harnessed to the guns, the +dispirited and exhausted survivors of the force managed to ford the +Ingogo, now swollen by rain which had fallen in the afternoon, poor +Lieutenant Wilkinson, the adjutant of the 60th, losing his life in the +operation, and to struggle through the dense darkness back to camp. +</p> + +<p> +On the hill-top they had lately held the dead lay thick. There, too, +exposed to the driving rain and bitter wind, lay the wounded, many of +whom would be dead before the rising of the morrow's sun. It must +indeed have been a sight never to be forgotten by those who saw it. The +night—I remember well—was cold and rainy, the great expanses of hill +and plain being sometimes lit by the broken gleams of an uncertain +moon, and sometimes plunged into intensest darkness by the passing of a +heavy cloud. Now and again flashes of lightning threw every crag and +outline into vivid relief, and the deep muttering of distant thunder +made the wild gloom more solemn. Then a gust of icy wind would come +tearing down the valleys to be followed by a pelting thunder +shower—and thus the night wore away. +</p> + +<p> +When one reflects what discomfort, and even danger, an ordinary healthy +person would suffer if left after a hard day's work to lie all night in +the rain and wind on the top of a stony mountain, without food, or even +water to assuage his thirst, it becomes to some degree possible to +realise what the sufferings of our wounded after the battle of Ingogo +must have been. Those who survived were next day taken to the hospital +at Newcastle. +</p> + +<p> +What Sir George Colley's real object was in exposing himself to the +attack has never transpired. It can hardly have been to clear the road, +as he says in his despatch, because the road was not held by the enemy, +but only visited occasionally by their patrols. The result of the +battle was to make the Boers, whose losses were trifling, more +confident than ever, and to greatly depress our soldiers. Sir George +had now lost between three and four hundred men out of his column of +little over a thousand, which was thereby entirely crippled. Of his +staff officers Major Essex now alone survived, his usual good fortune +having carried him safe through the battle of Ingogo. What makes his +repeated escapes the more remarkable is that he was generally to be +found in the heaviest firing. A man so fortunate as Major Essex ought +to be rewarded for his good fortune if for no other reason, though, if +reports are true, there would be no need to fall back on that to find +grounds on which to advance a soldier who has always borne himself so +well. +</p> + +<p> +Another result of the Ingogo battle was that the Boers, knowing that we +had no force to cut them off, and always secure of a retreat into the +Free State, passed round Newcastle in Free State Territory, and +descended from fifteen hundred to two thousand strong into Natal for +the purpose of destroying the reinforcements which were now on their +way up under General Wood. This was on the 11th of February, and from +that date till the 18th the upper districts of Natal were in the hands +of the enemy, who cut the telegraph wires, looted waggons, stole herds +of cattle and horses, and otherwise amused themselves at the expense of +Her Majesty's subjects in Natal. +</p> + +<p> +It was a very anxious time for those who knew what Boers are capable +of, and had women and children to protect, and who were never sure if +their houses would be left standing over their heads from one day to +another. +</p> + +<p> +Every night we were obliged to place out Kafirs as scouts to give us +timely warning of the approach of marauding parties, and to sleep with +loaded rifles close to our hands, and sometimes, when things looked +very black, in our clothes, with horses ready saddled in the stable. +Nor were our fears groundless, for one day a patrol of some five +hundred Boers encamped on the next place, which by the way belonged to +a Dutchman, and stole all the stock on it, the property of an +Englishman. They also intercepted a train of waggons, destroyed the +contents, and burnt them. Numerous were the false alarms it was our +evil fortune to experience. For instance, one night I was sitting in +the drawing-room reading, about eleven o'clock, with a door leading on +to the verandah slightly ajar, for the night was warm, when suddenly I +heard myself called by name in a muffled voice, and asked if the place +was in the possession of the Boers. Looking towards the door I saw a +full-cocked revolver coming round the corner, and on opening it in some +alarm, I could indistinctly discern a line of armed figures in a +crouching attitude stretching along the verandah into the garden +beyond. It turned out to be a patrol of the mounted police, who had +received information that a large number of Boers had seized the place +and had come to ascertain the truth of the report. As we gathered from +them that the Boers were certainly near, we did not pass a very +comfortable night. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile we were daily expecting to hear that the troops had been +attacked along the line of march, and knowing the nature of the country +and the many opportunities it affords for ambuscading and destroying +one of our straggling columns encumbered with innumerable waggons, we +had the worst fears for the result. At length a report reached us to +the effect that the reinforcements were expected on the morrow, and +that they were not going to cross the Ingagaan at the ordinary drift, +which was much commanded by hills, but at a lower drift on our own +place, about three miles from Newcastle, which is only slightly +commanded. We also heard that it was the intention of the Boers to +attack them at this point and to fall back on my house and the hills +behind. Accordingly, we thought it about time to retreat, and securing +a few valuables, such as plate, we made our way into the town, leaving +the house and its contents to take their chance. At Newcastle an attack +was daily expected, if for no other reason, to obtain possession of the +stores collected there. +</p> + +<p> +The defences of the place were, however, in a wretched condition, no +proper outlook was kept, and there was an utter want of effective +organisation. The military element at the camp had enough to do to look +after itself, and did not concern itself with the safety of the town; +and the mounted police—a colonial force paid by the colony—had been +withdrawn from the little forts round Newcastle, as the General wanted +them for other purposes, and a message sent that the town must defend +its own forts. There were, it is true, a large number of able-bodied +men in the place who were willing to fight, but they had no +organisation. The very laager was not finished until the danger was +past. +</p> + +<p> +Then there was a large party who were for surrendering the town to the +Boers, because if they fought it might afterwards injure their trade. +With this section of the population the feeling of patriotism was +strong, no doubt, but that of pocket was stronger. I am convinced that +the Boers would have found the capture of Newcastle an easy task, and I +confess that what I then saw did not inspire me with great hopes of the +safety of the colony when it gets responsible government, and has to +depend for protection on burgher forces. Colonial volunteer forces are, +I think, as good troops as any in the world; but an unorganised +colonial mob, pulled this way and that by different sentiments and +interests, is as useless as any other mob, with the difference that it +is more impatient of control. +</p> + +<p> +For some unknown reason the Boer leaders providentially changed their +minds about attacking the reinforcements, and their men were withdrawn +to the Nek as swiftly and silently as they had been advanced, and on +the 17th February the reinforcements marched into Newcastle, to the +very great relief of the inhabitants, who had been equally anxious for +their own safety and that of the troops. Personally, I was never in my +life more pleased to see Her Majesty's uniform; and we were equally +rejoiced on returning home to find that nothing had been injured. After +this we had quiet for a while. +</p> + +<p> +On the 21st February, we heard that two fresh regiments had been sent +up to the camp at Lang's Nek, and that General Wood had been ordered +down country by Sir George Colley to bring up more reinforcements. This +item of news caused much surprise, as nobody could understand why, now +that the road was clear, and that there was little chance of its being +again blocked, a General should be sent down to do work which could, to +all appearance, have been equally well done by the officers in command +of the reinforcing regiments, with the assistance of their transport +riders. It was, however, understood that an agreement had been entered +into between the two Generals that no offensive operations should be +undertaken till Wood returned. +</p> + +<p> +With the exception of occasional scares, there was no further +excitement till Sunday the 27th February, when, whilst sitting on the +verandah after lunch, I thought I heard the sound of distant artillery. +Others present differed with me, thinking the sound was caused by +thunder, but as I adhered to my opinion, we determined to ride into +town and see. On arrival there we found the place full of rumours, from +which we gathered that some fresh disaster had occurred; and that +messages were pouring down the wires from Mount Prospect camp. We then +went on to camp, thinking that we should learn more there, but they +knew nothing about it, several officers asking us what new "shave" we +had got hold of. A considerable number of troops had been marched from +Newcastle that morning to go to Mount Prospect, but when it was +realised that something had occurred, they were stopped, and marched +back again. Bit by bit we managed to gather the truth. At first we +heard that our men had made a most gallant resistance on the hill, +mowing down the advancing enemy by hundreds, till at last, their +ammunition failing, they fought with their bayonets, using stones and +meat tins as missiles. I wish that our subsequent information had been +to the same effect. +</p> + +<p> +It appears that on the evening of the 26th, Sir George Colley, after +mess, suddenly gave orders for a force of a little over six hundred +men, consisting of detachments from no less than three different +regiments, the 58th, 60th, 92d, and the Naval Brigade, to be got ready +for an expedition, without revealing his plans to anybody until late in +the afternoon; and then without more ado, marched them up to the top of +Majuba—a great square-topped mountain to the right of, and commanding +the Boer position at Lang's Nek. The troops reached the top about three +in the morning, after a somewhat exhausting climb, and were stationed +at different points of the plateau in a scientific way. Whilst the +darkness lasted, they could, by the glittering of the watch-fires, +trace from this point of vantage the position of the Boer laagers that +lay 2000 yards beneath them, whilst the dawn of day revealed every +detail of the defensive works, and showed the country lying at their +feet like a map. +</p> + +<p> +On arrival at the top, it was represented to the General that a rough +entrenchment should be thrown up, but he would not allow it to be done +on account of the men being wearied with their marching up. This was a +fatal mistake. Behind an entrenchment, however slight, one would think +that 600 English soldiers might have defied the whole Boer army, and +much more the 200 or 300 men by whom they were hunted down at Majuba. +It appears that about 10.15 <span class="sc">a.m.</span>, Colonel Stewart and Major +Fraser again went to General Colley "to arrange to start the sailors on +an entrenchment." … "Finding the ground so exposed, the General did +not give orders to entrench." +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the Boers found out that the hill was in the occupation of +the English, their first idea was to leave the Nek, and they began to +inspan with that object, but discovering that there were no guns +commanding them, they changed their mind, and set to work to storm the +hill instead. As far as I have been able to gather, the number of Boers +who took the mountain was about 300, or possibly 400; I do not think +there were more than that. The Boers themselves declare solemnly that +they were only 100 strong, but this I do not believe. They slowly +advanced up the hill till about 11.30, when the real attack began, the +Dutchmen coming on more rapidly and confidently, and shooting with +ever-increasing accuracy, as they found our fire quite ineffective. +</p> + +<p> +About a quarter to one, our men retreated to the last ridge, and +General Colley was shot through the head. After this, the retreat +became a rout, and the soldiers rushed pell-mell down the precipitous +sides of the hill, the Boers knocking them over by the score as they +went, till they were out of range. A few were also, I heard, killed by +the shells from the guns that were advanced from the camp to cover the +retreat, but as this does not appear in the reports, perhaps it is not +true. Our loss was about 200 killed and wounded, including Sir George +Colley, Drs. Landon and Cornish, and Commander Romilly, who was shot +with an explosive bullet, and died after some days' suffering. When the +wounded Commander was being carried to a more sheltered spot, it was +with great difficulty that the Boers were prevented from massacring him +as he lay, they being under the impression that he was Sir Garnet +Wolseley. As was the case at Ingogo, the wounded were left on the +battlefield all night in very inclement weather, to which some of them +succumbed. It is worthy of note that after the fight was over they were +treated with considerable kindness by the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +Not being a soldier, of course, I cannot venture to give any military +reasons as to how it was that what was after all a considerable force +was so easily driven from a position of great natural strength; but I +think I may, without presumption, state my opinion as to the real +cause, which was the villainous shooting of the British soldier. Though +the troops did not, as was said at the time, run short of ammunition, +it is clear that they fired away a great many rounds at men who, in +storming the hill, must necessarily have exposed themselves more or +less, of whom they managed to hit—certainly not more than six or +seven—which was the outside of the Boer casualties. From this it is +clear that they can neither judge distance nor hit a moving object, nor +did they probably know that when shooting down hill it is necessary to +aim low. Such shooting as the English soldier is capable of may be very +well when he has an army to aim at, but it is useless in guerilla +warfare against a foe skilled in the use of the rifle and the art of +taking shelter. +</p> + +<p> +A couple of months after the storming of Majuba, I, together with a +friend, had a conversation with a Boer, a volunteer from the Free State +in the late war, and one of the detachment that stormed Majuba, who +gave us a circumstantial account of the attack with the greatest +willingness. He said that when it was discovered that the English had +possession of the mountain, they thought that the game was up, but +after a while bolder counsels prevailed, and volunteers were called for +to storm the hill. Only seventy men could be found to perform the duty, +of whom he was one. They started up the mountain in fear and trembling, +but soon found that every shot passed over their heads, and went on +with greater boldness. Only three men, he declared, were hit on the +Boer side; one was killed, one was hit in the arm, and he himself was +the third, getting his face grazed by a bullet, of which he showed us +the scar. He stated that the first to reach the top ridge was a boy of +twelve, and that as soon as the troops saw them they fled, when, he +said, he paid them out for having nearly killed him, knocking them over +one after another "like bucks" as they ran down the hill, adding that +it was "alter lecker" (very nice). He asked us how many men we had lost +during the war, and when we told him about seven hundred killed and +wounded, laughed in our faces, saying he knew that our dead amounted to +several thousands. On our assuring him that this was not the case, he +replied, "Well, don't let's talk of it any more, because we are good +friends now, and if we go on you will lie, and I shall lie, and then we +shall get angry. The war is over now, and I don't want to quarrel with +the English; if one of them takes off his hat to me I always +acknowledge it." He did not mean any harm in talking thus; it is what +Englishmen have to put up with now in South Africa; the Boers have +beaten us, and act accordingly. +</p> + +<p> +This man also told us that the majority of the rifles they picked up +were sighted for 400 yards, whereas the latter part of the fighting had +been carried on within 200. +</p> + +<p> +Sir George Colley's death was much lamented in the colony, where he was +deservedly popular; indeed, anybody who had the honour of knowing that +kind-hearted English gentleman, could not do otherwise than deeply +regret his untimely end. What his motive was in occupying Majuba in the +way he did has never, so far as I am aware, transpired. The move, in +itself, would have been an excellent one, had it been made in force, or +accompanied by a direct attack on the Nek, but, as undertaken, seems to +have been objectless. There were, of course, many rumours as to the +motives that prompted his action, of which the most probable seems to +be that, being aware of what the Home Government intended to do with +reference to the Transvaal, he determined to strike a blow to try and +establish British supremacy first, knowing how mischievous any apparent +surrender would be. Whatever his faults may have been as a General, he +was a brave man, and had the honour of his country much at heart. +</p> + +<p> +It was also said by soldiers who saw him the night the troops marched +up Majuba, that the General was "not himself," and it was hinted that +continual anxiety and the chagrin of failure had told upon his mind. As +against this, however, must be set the fact that his telegrams to the +Secretary of State for War, the last of which he must have despatched +only about half an hour before he was shot, are cool and collected, and +written in the same unconcerned tone—as though he were a critical +spectator of an interesting scene—that characterises all his +communications, more especially his despatches. They at any rate give +no evidence of shaken nerve or unduly excited brain, nor can I see that +any action of his with reference to the occupation of Majuba is out of +keeping with the details of his generalship upon other occasions. He +was always confident to rashness, and possessed by the idea that every +man in the ranks was full of as high a spirit, and as brave as he was +himself. Indeed, most people will think, that so far from its being a +rasher action, the occupation of Majuba, bad generalship as it seems, +was a wiser move than either the attack on the Nek or the Ingogo +fiasco. +</p> + +<p> +But at the best, all his movements are difficult to be understood by a +civilian, though they may, for ought we know, have been part of an +elaborate plan, perfected in accordance with the rules of military +science, of which, it is said, he was a great student. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="VI"> </a> +CHAPTER VI. +<br><br> +<span class="small">THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +When Parliament met in January 1881, the Government announced, through +the mediumship of the Queen's Speech, that it was their intention to +vindicate Her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal. I have already +briefly described the somewhat unfortunate attempts to gain this end by +force of arms; and I now propose to follow the course of the diplomatic +negotiations entered into by the ministry with the same object. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the hostilities in the Transvaal took a positive form, +causing great dismay among the Home authorities, whose paths, as we all +know, are the paths of peace—at any price; and whilst, in the first +confusion of calamity, they knew not where to turn, President Brand +stepped upon the scene in the character of "Our Mutual Friend," and, by +the Government at any rate, was rapturously welcomed. +</p> + +<p> +This gentleman has for many years been at the head of the Government of +the Orange Free State, whose fortunes he had directed with considerable +ability. He is a man of natural talent and kind-hearted disposition, +and has the advancement of the Boer cause in South Africa much at +heart. The rising in the Transvaal was an event that gave him a great +and threefold opportunity: first, of interfering with the genuinely +benevolent object of checking bloodshed; secondly, of advancing the +Dutch cause throughout South Africa under the cloak of amiable +neutrality, and striking a dangerous blow at British supremacy over the +Dutch and British prestige with the natives; and, thirdly, of putting +the English Government under a lasting obligation to him. Of this +opportunity he has availed himself to the utmost in each particular. +</p> + +<p> +So soon as things began to look serious, Mr. Brand put himself into +active telegraphic communication with the various British authorities +with the view of preventing bloodshed by inducing the English +Government to accede to the Boer demands. He was also earnest in his +declarations that the Free State was not supporting the Transvaal; +which, considering that it was practically the insurgent base of +supplies, where they had retired their women, children, and cattle, and +that it furnished them with a large number of volunteers, was perhaps +straining the truth. +</p> + +<p> +About this time also we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing to Mr. Brand +that "if <i>only</i> the Transvaal Boers will desist from armed +opposition to the Queen's authority," he thinks some arrangement might +be made. This is the first indication made public of what was passing +in the minds of Her Majesty's Government, on whom its Radical +supporters were now beginning to put the screw, to induce or threaten +them into submitting to the Boer demands. +</p> + +<p> +Again, on the 11th January, the President telegraphed to Lord Kimberley +through the Orange Free State Consul in London, suggesting that Sir H. +de Villiers, the Chief Justice at the Cape, should be appointed a +Commissioner to go to the Transvaal to settle matters. Oddly enough, +about the same time the same proposition emanated from the Dutch party +in the Cape Colony, headed by Mr. Hofmeyer, a coincidence that inclines +one to the opinion that these friends of the Boers had some further +reason for thus urging Sir Henry de Villiers' appointment as +Commissioner beyond his apparent fitness for the post, of which his +high reputation as a lawyer and in his private capacity was a +sufficient guarantee. +</p> + +<p> +The explanation is not hard to find, the fact being that, rightly or +wrongly, Sir Henry de Villiers, who is himself of Dutch descent, is +noted throughout South Africa for his sympathies with the Boer cause, +and both President Brand and the Dutch party in the Cape shrewdly +suspected that, if the settling of differences were left to his +discretion, the Boers and their interests would receive very gentle +handling. The course of action adopted by him, when he became a member +of the Royal Commission, went far to support this view, for it will be +noticed in the Report of the Commissioners that in every single point +he appears to have taken the Boer side of the contention. Indeed so +blind was he to their faults, that he would not even admit that the +horrible Potchefstroom murders and atrocities, which are condemned both +by Sir H. Robinson and Sir Evelyn Wood in language as strong as the +formal terms of a report will allow, were acts contrary to the rules of +civilised warfare. If those acts had been perpetrated by Englishmen on +Boers, or even on natives, I venture to think Sir Henry de Villiers +would have looked at them in a very different light. +</p> + +<p> +In the same telegram in which President Brand recommends the +appointment of Sir Henry de Villiers, he states that the allegations +made by the Triumvirate in the proclamation in which they accused Sir +Owen Lanyon of committing various atrocities, deserve to be +investigated, as they maintain that the collision was commenced by the +authorities. Nobody knew better than Mr. Brand that any English +official would be quite incapable of the conduct ascribed to Sir Owen +Lanyon, whilst, even if the collision had been commenced by the +authorities, which as it happened it was not, they would under the +circumstances have been amply justified in so commencing it. This +remark by President Brand in his telegram was merely an attempt to +throw an air of probability over a series of slanderous falsehoods. +</p> + +<p> +Messages of this nature continued to pour along the wires from day to +day, but the tone of those from the Colonial Office grew gradually +humbler. Thus we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing on the 8th February, +that if the Boers would desist from armed opposition all reasonable +guarantees would be given as to their treatment after submission, and +that a scheme would be framed for the "permanent friendly settlement of +difficulties." It will be seen that the Government had already begun to +water the meaning of their declaration that they would vindicate Her +Majesty's authority. No doubt Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Courtney, and their +followers had given another turn to the Radical screw. +</p> + +<p> +It is, however, clear that at this time no idea of the real aims of the +Government had entered into the mind of Sir George Colley, since on the +7th February he telegraphed home a plan which he proposed to adopt on +entering the Transvaal, which included a suggestion that he should +grant a complete amnesty only to those Boers who would sign a +declaration of loyalty. +</p> + +<p> +In answer to this he was ordered to do nothing of the sort, but to +promise protection to everybody and refer everything home. +</p> + +<p> +Then came the battle of Ingogo, which checked for the time the flow of +telegrams, or rather varied their nature, for those despatched during +the next few days deal with the question of reinforcements. On the 13th +February, however, negotiations were reopened by Paul Kruger, one of +the Triumvirate, who offered, if all the troops were ordered to +withdraw from the Transvaal, to give them a free passage through the +Nek, to disperse the Boers, and to consent to the appointment of a +Commission. +</p> + +<p> +The offer was jumped at by Lord Kimberley, who, without making +reference to the question of withdrawing the soldiers, offered, if only +the Boers would disperse, to appoint a Commission with extensive powers +to develop the "permanent friendly settlement" scheme. The telegram +ends thus: "Add, that if this proposal is accepted, you now are +authorised to agree to suspension of hostilities on our part." This +message was sent to General Wood, because the Boers had stopped the +communications with Colley. On the 19th, Sir George Colley replies in +these words, which show his astonishment at the policy adopted by the +Home Government, and which, in the opinion of most people, redound to +his credit— +</p> + +<p> +"Latter part of your telegram to Wood not understood. There can be no +hostilities if no resistance is made, but am I to leave Lang's Nek in +Natal territory in Boer occupation, and our garrisons isolated and +short of provisions, or occupy former and relieve latter?" Lord +Kimberley hastens to reply that the garrisons must be left free to +provision themselves, "but we do not mean that you should march to the +relief of garrisons or occupy Lang's Nek if an arrangement proceeds." +</p> + +<p> +It will be seen that the definition of what vindication of Her +Majesty's authority consisted grew broader and broader; it now included +the right of the Boers to continue to occupy their positions in the +colony of Natal. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the daily fire of complimentary messages was being kept up +between President Brand and Lord Kimberley, who alternately gave +"sincere thanks to Lord Kimberley" and "fully appreciated the friendly +spirit" of President Brand, till on the 21st February the latter +telegraphs through Colley: "Hope of amicable settlement by negotiation, +but this will be greatly facilitated if somebody on spot and friendly +disposed to both could by personal communication with both endeavour to +smooth difficulties. Offers his services to Her Majesty's Government, +and Kruger and Pretorius and Joubert are willing." Needless to say his +services were accepted. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, however, on 27th February, Sir George Colley made his last +move, and took possession of Majuba. His defeat and death had the +effect of causing another temporary check in the peace negotiations, +whilst Sir Frederick Roberts with ample reinforcements was despatched +to Natal. It had the further effect of increasing the haughtiness of +the Boer leaders, and infusing a corresponding spirit of pliability or +generosity into the negotiations of Her Majesty's Government. +</p> + +<p> +Thus on 2d March, the Boers, through President Brand and Sir Evelyn +Wood, inform the Secretary of State for the Colonies that they are +willing to negotiate, but decline to submit on cease opposition. Sir +Evelyn Wood, who evidently did not at all like the line of policy +adopted by the Government, telegraphed that he thought the best thing +to do would be for him to engage the Boers, and disperse them <i lang="la">vi et +armis</i>, without any guarantees, "considering the disasters we have +sustained," and that he should, "if absolutely necessary," be empowered +to promise life and property to the leaders, but that they should be +banished from the country. In answer to this telegram, Lord Kimberley +informs him that Her Majesty's Government will amnesty <i>everybody</i> +except those who have committed acts contrary to the rules of civilised +warfare, and that they will agree to anything, and appoint a Commission +to carry out the details, and "be ready for friendly communications +with <i>any persons</i> appointed by the Boers." +</p> + +<p> +Thus was Her Majesty's authority finally re-established in the +Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +It was not a very grand climax, nor the kind of arrangement to which +Englishmen are accustomed, but perhaps, considering the circumstances, +and the well-known predilections of those who made the settlement, it +was as much as could be expected. +</p> + +<p> +The action of the Government must not be considered as though they were +unfettered in their judgment; it can never be supposed that they acted +as they did because they thought such action right or even wise, for +that would be to set them down as men of a very low order of +intelligence, which they certainly are not. +</p> + +<p> +It is clear that no set of sensible men, who had after much +consideration given their decision that under all the circumstances the +Transvaal must remain British territory, and who, on a revolt +subsequently breaking out in that territory, had declared that Her +Majesty's rule must be upheld, would have, putting aside all other +circumstances, deliberately stultified themselves by almost +unconditionally, and of their own free will, abandoning the country, +and all Her Majesty's subjects living in it. That would be to pay a +poor tribute to their understanding, since it is clear that if reasons +existed for retaining the Transvaal before the war, as they were +satisfied there did, those reasons would exist with still greater force +after a war had been undertaken and three crushing defeats sustained, +which if left unavenged must, as they knew, have a most disastrous +effect on our prestige throughout the South African continent. +</p> + +<p> +I prefer to believe that the Government was coerced into acting as it +did by Radical pressure, both from outside and from its immediate +supporters in the House, and that it had to choose between making an +unconditional surrender in the Transvaal and losing the support of a +very powerful party. Under these circumstances it, being Liberal in +politics, naturally followed its instincts, and chose surrender. +</p> + +<p> +If such a policy was bad in itself, and necessarily mischievous in its +consequences, so much the worse for those who suffered by it; it was +clear that the Government could not be expected to lose votes in order +to forward the true interests of countries so far off as the South +African Colonies, which had had the misfortune to be made a party +question of, and must take the consequences. +</p> + +<p> +There is no doubt that the interest brought to bear on the Government +was very considerable, for not only had they to deal with their own +supporters, and with the shadowy caucus that was ready to let the lash +of its displeasure descend even on the august person of Mr. Gladstone, +should he show signs of letting slip so rich an opportunity for the +vindication of the holiest principles of advanced Radicalism, but also +with the hydra-headed crowd of visionaries and professional +sentimentalists who swarm in this country, and who are always ready to +take up any cause, from that of Jumbo or of a murderer to that of +oppressed peoples, such as the Bulgarians or the Transvaal Boers. +</p> + +<p> +These gentlemen, burning with zeal, and filled with that confidence +which proverbially results from the hasty assimilation of imperfect and +erroneous information, found in the Transvaal question a great +opportunity of making a noise; and—as in a disturbed farmyard the bray +of the domestic donkey, ringing loud and clear among the utterances of +more intelligent animals, overwhelms and extinguishes them—so, and +with like effect, amongst the confused sound of various English +opinions about the Boer rising, rose the trumpet-note of the Transvaal +Independence Committee and its supporters. +</p> + +<p> +As we have seen, they did not sound in vain. +</p> + +<p> +On the 6th of March an armistice with the Boers had been entered into +by Sir Evelyn Wood, which was several times prolonged up to the 21st +March, when Sir Evelyn Wood concluded a preliminary peace with the Boer +leaders, which, under certain conditions, guaranteed the restoration of +the country within six months, and left all other points to be decided +by a Royal Commission. +</p> + +<p> +The news of this peace was at first received in the colony in the +silence of astonishment. Personally, I remember, I would not believe +that it was true. It seemed to us, who had been witnesses of what had +passed, and knew what it all meant, something so utterly incredible +that we thought there must be a mistake. +</p> + +<p> +If there had been any one redeeming circumstance about it, if the +English arms had gained a single decisive victory, it might have been +so, but it was hard for Englishmen, just at first, to understand that +not only had the Transvaal been to all appearance wrested from them by +force of arms, but that they were henceforth to be subject, as they +well knew would be the case, to the coarse insults of victorious Boers, +and the sarcasms of keener-witted Kafirs. +</p> + +<p> +People in England seem to fancy that when men go to the colonies they +lose all sense of pride in their country, and think of nothing but +their own advantage. I do not think that this is the case, indeed, I +believe that, individual for individual, there exists a greater sense +of loyalty, and a deeper pride in their nationality, and in the proud +name of England, among colonists, than among Englishmen proper. +Certainly the humiliation of the Transvaal surrender was more keenly +felt in South Africa than it was at home; but, perhaps, the +impossibility of imposing upon people in that country with the farrago +of nonsense about blood-guiltiness and national morality, which was +made such adroit use of at home, may have made the difference. +</p> + +<p> +I know that personally I would not have believed it possible that I +could feel any public event so keenly as I did this; indeed, I quickly +made up my mind that if the peace was confirmed, the neighbourhood of +the Transvaal would be no fit or comfortable residence for an +Englishman, and that I would, at any cost, leave the country,—which I +accordingly did. +</p> + +<p> +Newcastle was a curious sight the night after the peace was declared. +Every hotel and bar was crowded with refugees, who were trying to +relieve their feelings by cursing the name of Gladstone with a vigour, +originality, and earnestness that I have never heard equalled; and +declaring in ironical terms how proud they were to be citizens of +England—a country that always kept its word. Then they set to work +with many demonstrations of contempt to burn the effigy of the Bight +Honourable Gentleman at the head of Her Majesty's Government, an +example, by the way, that was followed throughout South Africa. +</p> + +<p> +Even Sir Evelyn Wood, who is very popular in the colony, was hissed as +he walked through the town, and great surprise was expressed that a +soldier who came out expressly to fight the Boers should consent to +become the medium of communication in such a dirty business. And, +indeed, there was some excuse for all this bitterness, for the news +meant ruin to very many. +</p> + +<p> +But if people in Natal and at the Cape received the news with +astonishment, how shall I describe its effect upon the unfortunate +loyal inhabitants in the Transvaal, on whom it burst like a +thunderbolt? +</p> + +<p> +They did not say much, however, and indeed there was nothing to be +said. They simply began to pack up such things as they could carry with +them, and to leave the country, which they well knew would henceforth +be utterly untenable for Englishmen or English sympathisers. In a few +weeks they come pouring down through Newcastle by hundreds; it was the +most melancholy exodus that can be imagined. There were people of all +classes, officials, gentlefolk, work-people, and loyal Boers, but they +had a connecting link; they had all been loyal, and they were all +ruined. +</p> + +<p> +Most of these people had gone to the Transvaal since it became a +British colony, and invested all they had in it, and now their capital +was lost and their labour rendered abortive; indeed, many of them whom +one had known as well to do in the Transvaal, came down to Natal hardly +knowing how they would feed their families next week. +</p> + +<p> +It must be understood that so soon as the Queen's sovereignty was +withdrawn the value of landed and house property in the Transvaal went +down to nothing, and has remained there ever since. Thus a fair-sized +house in Pretoria brought in a rental varying from ten to twenty pounds +a month during British occupation, but after the declaration of peace, +owners of houses were glad to get people to live in them to keep them +from falling into ruin. Those who owned land or had invested money in +businesses suffered in the same way; their property remains neither +profitable or saleable, and they themselves are precluded by their +nationality from living on it, the art of "Boycotting" not being +peculiar to Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +Nor were they the only sufferers. The officials, many of whom had taken +to the Government service as a permanent profession, in which they +expected to pass their lives, were suddenly dismissed, mostly with a +small gratuity, which would about suffice to pay their debts, and told +to find their living as best they could. It was indeed a case of <i lang="la">vae +victis</i>,—woe to the conquered loyalists.<a href="#note12" name="noteref12"><small>[12]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +The Commission appointed by Her Majesty's Government consisted of Sir +Hercules Robinson, Sir Henry de Villiers, and Sir Evelyn Wood, +President Brand being also present in his capacity of friend of both +parties, and to their discretion were left the settlement of all +outstanding questions. Amongst these, were the mode of trial of those +persons who had been guilty of acts contrary to the rules of civilised +warfare, the question of severance of territory from the Transvaal on +the eastern boundary, the settlement of the boundary in the Keate-Award +districts, the compensation for losses sustained during the war, the +functions of the British Resident, and other matters. Their place of +meeting was at Newcastle in Natal, and from thence they proceeded to +Pretoria. +</p> + +<p> +The first question of importance that came before the Commission was +the mode of trial to be adopted in the cases of those persons accused +of acts contrary to the usages of civilised warfare, such as murder. +The Attorney-General for the Transvaal strongly advised that a special +tribunal should be constituted to try these cases, principally because +"after a civil war in which all the inhabitants of a country, with very +few exceptions, have taken part, a jury of fair and impartial men, +truly unbiassed, will be very difficult to get together." It is +satisfactory to know that the Commissioners gave this somewhat obvious +fact "their grave consideration," which, according to their Report, +resulted in their determining to let the cases go before the ordinary +court, and be tried by a jury, because in referring them to a specially +constituted court which would have done equal justice without fear or +favour, "the British Government would have made for itself, among the +Dutch population of South Africa, a name for vindictive oppression, +which no generosity in other affairs could efface." +</p> + +<p> +There is more in this determination of the Commissioners, or rather of +the majority of them—for Sir E. Wood, to his credit be it said, +refused to agree in their decision—than meets the eye, the fact of the +matter being that it was privately well known to them, that though the +Boer leaders might be willing to allow a few of the murderers to +undergo the form of a trial, neither they nor the Boers themselves +meant to permit the farce to go any further. Had the men been tried by +a special tribunal they would in all probability have been condemned to +death, and then would have come the awkward question of carrying out +the sentence on individuals whose deeds were looked on, if not with +general approval, at any rate without aversion by the great mass of +their countrymen. In short, it would probably have become necessary +either to reprieve them or to fight the Boers again, since it was very +certain that they would not have allowed them to be hung. Therefore the +majority of the Commissioners, finding themselves face to face with a +dead wall, determined to slip round it instead of boldly climbing it, +by referring the cases to the Transvaal High Court, cheerfully +confident of what the result must be. +</p> + +<p> +After all, the matter was, much cry about little wool, for of all the +crimes committed by the Boers—a list of some of which will be found in +the Appendix to this book—in only three cases were a proportion of the +perpetrators produced and put through the form of trial. Those three +were—the dastardly murder of Captain Elliot, who was shot by his Boer +escort whilst crossing the Vaal river on parole; the murder of a man +named Malcolm, who was kicked to death in his own house by Boers, who +afterwards put a bullet through his head to make the job "look better;" +and the murder of a doctor named Barber, who was shot by his escort on +the border of the Free State. A few of the men concerned in the first +two of these crimes were tried in Pretoria; and it was currently +reported at that time, that in order to make their acquittal certain +our Attorney-General received instructions not to exercise his right of +challenging jurors on behalf of the Crown. Whether or not this is true +I am not prepared to say, but I believe it is a fact that he did not +exercise that right, though the counsel for the prisoners availed +themselves of it freely, with the result that in Elliot's case, the +jury was composed of eight Boers and one German, nine being the full +South African jury. The necessary result followed; in both cases the +prisoners were acquitted in the teeth of the evidence. Barber's +murderers were tried in the Free State, and were, as might be expected, +acquitted. +</p> + +<p> +Thus it will be seen that of all the perpetrators of murder and other +crimes during the course of the war not one was brought to justice. +</p> + +<p> +The offence for which their victims died was, in nearly every case, +that they had served, were serving, or were loyal to Her Majesty the +Queen. In no single case has England exacted retribution for the murder +of her servants and citizens; but nobody can read through the long list +of these dastardly slaughters without feeling that they will not go +unavenged. The innocent blood that has been shed on behalf of this +country, and the tears of children and widows, now appeal to a higher +tribunal than that of Mr. Gladstone's Government, and assuredly they +will not appeal in vain. +</p> + +<p> +The next point of importance dealt with by the Commission was the +question whether or no any territory should be severed from the +Transvaal, and kept under English rule for the benefit of the native +inhabitants. Lord Kimberley, acting under pressure put upon him by +members of the Aborigines Protection Society, instructed the Commission +to consider the advisability of severing the districts of Lydenburg and +Zoutpansberg, and also a strip of territory bordering on Zululand and +Swaziland, from the Transvaal, so as to place the inhabitants of the +first two districts out of danger of maltreatment by the Boers, and to +interpose a buffer between Zulus, and Swazis, and Boer aggression, and +<i>vice versâ</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The Boer leaders had, it must be remembered, acquiesced in the +principle of such a separation in the preliminary peace signed by Sir +Evelyn Wood and themselves. The majority of the Commission, however +(Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting), finally decided against the retention of +either of these districts, a decision which, I think, was a wise one, +though I arrive at that conclusion on very different grounds to those +adopted by the majority of the Commission. +</p> + +<p> +Personally, I cannot see that it is the duty of England to play +policeman to the whole world. To have retained these native districts +would have been to make ourselves responsible for their good +government, and to have guaranteed them against Boer encroachment, +which I do not think that we were called upon to do. It is surely not +incumbent upon us, having given up the Transvaal to the Boers, to +undertake the management of the most troublesome part of it, the Zulu +border. Besides, bad as the abandonment of the Transvaal is, I think +that if it was to be done at all, it was best to do it thoroughly, +since to have kept some natives under our protection, and to have +handed over the rest to the tender mercies of the Boers, would only be +to render our injustice more obvious, whilst weakening the power of the +natives themselves to combine in self-defence, since those under our +protection would naturally have little sympathy with their more +unfortunate brethren—their interests and circumstances being +different. +</p> + +<p> +The Commission do not seem to have considered the question from these +points of view; but putting them on one side, there are many other +considerations connected with it which are ably summed up in their +Report. Amongst these is the danger of disturbances commenced between +Zulus or Swazis and Boers spreading into Natal, and the probability of +the fomenting of disturbances amongst the Zulus by Boers. The great +argument for the retention of some territory, if only as a symbol that +the English had not been driven out of the country, is, however, set +forth in the forty-sixth paragraph of the Report, which runs as +follows:—"The moral considerations that determine the actions of +civilised governments are not easily understood by barbarians, in whose +eyes successful force is alone the sign of superiority, and it appeared +possible that the surrender by the British Crown of one of its +possessions to those who had been in arms against it, might be looked +upon by the natives in no other way than as a token of the defeat and +decay of the British power, and that thus a serious shock might be +given to British authority in South Africa, and the capacity of Great +Britain to govern and direct the vast native population within and +without her South African dominions—a capacity resting largely on the +renown of her name—might be dangerously impaired." +</p> + +<p> +These words, coming from so unexpected a source, do not, though couched +in such mild language, hide the startling importance of the question +discussed. On the contrary, they accurately and with double weight +convey the sense and gist of the most damning argument against the +policy of the retrocession of the Transvaal in its entirety; and +proceeding from their own carefully chosen Commissioners, can hardly +have been pleasant reading to Lord Kimberley and his colleagues. +</p> + +<p> +The majority of the Commission then proceeds to set forth the arguments +advanced by the Boers against the retention of any territory, which +appear to have been chiefly of a sentimental character, since we are +informed that "the people, it seemed certain, would not have valued the +restoration of a mutilated country. Sentiment in a great measure had +led them to insurrection, and the force of such it was impossible to +disregard." Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, states that he cannot even +agree with the premises of his colleagues' argument, since he is +convinced that it was not sentiment that had led to the outbreak, but a +"general and rooted aversion to taxation." If he had added, and a +hatred not only of English rule, but of all rule, he would have stated +the complete cause of the Transvaal rebellion. In the next paragraph of +the Report, however, we find the real cause of the pliability of the +Commission in the matter, which is the same that influenced them in +their decision about the mode of trial of the murderers and other +questions—they feared that the people would appeal to arms if they +decided against their wishes. +</p> + +<p> +Discreditable and disgraceful as it may seem, nobody can read this +Report without plainly seeing that the Commissioners were, in treating +with the Boers on these points, in the position of ambassadors from a +beaten people getting the best terms they could. Of course, they well +knew that this was not the case but whatever the Boer leaders may have +said, the Boers themselves did not know this, or even pretend to look +at the matter in any other light. When we asked for the country back, +said they, we did not get it; after we had three times defeated the +English we did get it; the logical conclusion from the facts being that +we got it because we defeated the English. This was their tone, and it +is not therefore surprising that whenever the Commission threatened to +decide anything against them, they, with a smile, let it know that if +it did, they would be under the painful necessity of re-occupying +Lang's Nek. It was never necessary to repeat the threat, since the +majority of the Commission would thereupon speedily find a way to meet +the views of the Boer representatives. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, thus correctly sums up the +matter:—"To contend that the Royal Commission ought not to decide +contrary to the wishes of the Boers, because such decision might not be +accepted, is to deny to the Commission the very power of decision that +it was agreed should be left in its hands." Exactly so. But it is +evident that the Commission knew its place, and so far from attempting +to exercise any "power of decision," it was quite content with such +concessions as it could obtain by means of bargaining. Thus, as an +additional reason against the retention of any territory, it is urged +that if this territory was retained "the majority of your Commissioners +… would have found themselves in no favourable position for obtaining +the concurrence of the Boer leaders as to other matters." In fact, Her +Majesty's Commission, appointed, or supposed to be appointed, to do Her +Majesty's will and pleasure, shook in its shoes before men who had +lately been rebels in arms against her authority, and humbly submitted +itself to their dicta. +</p> + +<p> +The majority of the Commission went on to express their opinion, that +by giving way about the retention of territory they would be able to +obtain better terms for the natives generally, and larger powers for +the British Resident. But, as Sir Evelyn Wood points out in his Report, +they did nothing of the sort, the terms of the agreement about the +Resident and other native matters being all consequent on and included +in the first agreement of peace. Besides, they seem to have overlooked +the fact that such concessions as they did obtain are only on paper, +and practically worthless, whilst all <i>bonâ fide</i> advantages +remained with the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +The decision of the Commissioners in the question of the Keate Award, +which next came under their consideration, appears to have been a +judicious one, being founded on the very careful Report of Colonel +Moysey, R.E., who had been for many months collecting information on +the spot. The Keate Award Territory is a region lying to the south-west +of the Transvaal, and was, like many other districts in that country, +originally in the possession of natives of the Baralong and Batlapin +tribes. Individual Boers having, however, <i lang="la">more suo</i> taken +possession of tracts of land in the district, difficulties speedily +arose between their Government and the native chiefs, and in 1871 Mr. +Keate, Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, was by mutual consent called in to +arbitrate on the matter. His decision was entirely in favour of the +natives, and was accordingly promptly and characteristically repudiated +by the Boer Volksraad. From that time till the rebellion the question +remained unsettled, and was indeed a very thorny one to deal with. The +Commission, acting on the principle <i lang="la">in medio tutissimus ibis</i>, +drew a line through the midst of the disputed territory, or, in other +words, set aside Mr. Keate's award, and interpreted the dispute in +favour of the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +This decision was accepted by all parties at the time, but it has not +resulted in the maintenance of peace. The principal chief, Montsioa, is +an old ally and staunch friend of the English, a fact which the Boers +are not able to forget or forgive, and they appear to have stirred up +rival chiefs to attack him, and to have allowed volunteers from the +Transvaal to assist them. Montsioa has also enlisted some white +volunteers, and several fights have taken place, in which the loss of +life has been considerable. Whether or no the Transvaal Government is +directly concerned it is impossible to say, but from the fact that +cannon are said to have been used against Montsioa it would appear that +it is, since private individuals do not, as a rule, own Armstrong +guns.<a href="#note13" name="noteref13"><small>[13]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +Amongst the questions remaining for the consideration of the +Commissioners was that of what compensation should be given for losses +during the war. Of course, the great bulk of the losses sustained were +of an indirect nature, resulting from the necessary and enormous +depreciation in the value of land and other property, consequent on the +retrocession. Into this matter the Home Government declined to enter, +thereby saving its pocket at the price of its honour, since it was upon +English guarantees that the country would remain a British possession +that the majority of the unfortunate loyals invested their money in it. +It was, however, agreed by the Commission (Sir H. de Villiers +dissenting) that the Boers should be liable for compensation in cases +where loss had been sustained through commandeering seizure, +confiscation, destruction, or damage of property. The sums awarded +under these heads have already amounted to about £110,000, which sum +has been defrayed by the Imperial Government, the Boer authorities +stating that they were not in a position to pay it. +</p> + +<p> +In connection with this matter I will pass to the financial clauses of +the Report. When the country was annexed, the public debt amounted to +£301,727. Under British rule this debt was liquidated to the extent of +£150,000, but the total was brought up by a Parliamentary grant, a loan +from the Standard Bank, and sundries to £390,404, which represented the +public debt of the Transvaal on the 31st December 1880. This was +further increased by moneys advanced by the Standard Bank and English +Exchequer during the war, and till the 8th August 1881, during which +time the country yielded no revenue, to £457,393. To this must be added +an estimated sum of £200,000 for compensation charges, pension +allowances, &c., and a further sum of £383,000, the cost of the +successful expedition against Secocœni, that of the unsuccessful one +being left out of account, bringing up the total public debt to over a +million, of which about £800,000 is owing to this country. +</p> + +<p> +This sum, with the characteristic liberality that distinguished them in +their dealings with the Boers, but which was not so marked where loyals +were concerned, the Commissioners (Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting) reduced +by a stroke of the pen to £265,000, thus entirely remitting an +approximate sum of £500,000, or £600,000. To the sum of £265,000 still +owing must be added say another £150,000 for sums lately advanced to +pay the compensation claims, bringing up the actual amount now owing to +England to something under half a million, of which I say with +confidence she will never see a single £10,000. As this contingency was +not contemplated, or if contemplated, not alluded to by the Royal +Commission, provision was made for a Sinking Fund, by means of which +the debt, which is a second charge on the revenues of the States, is to +be extinguished in twenty-five years. +</p> + +<p> +It is a strange instance of the proverbial irony of fate, that whilst +the representatives of the Imperial Government were thus showering +gifts of hundreds of thousands of pounds upon men who had spurned the +benefits of Her Majesty's rule, made war upon her forces, and murdered +her subjects, no such consideration was extended to those who had +remained loyal to her throne. Their claims for compensation were passed +by unheeded; and looking from the windows of the room in which they sat +in Newcastle, the members of the Commission might have seen them +flocking down from a country that could no longer be their home; those +that were rich among them made poor, and those that were poor reduced +to destitution. +</p> + +<p> +The only other point which it will be necessary for me to touch on in +connection with this Report is the duties of the British Resident and +his relations to the natives. He was to be invested as representative +of the Suzerain with functions for securing the execution of the terms +of peace as regards—(1) the control of the foreign relations of the +State; (2) the control of the frontier affairs of the State; and (3) +the protection of the interests of the natives in the State. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the first of these points, it was arranged that the +interests of subjects of the Transvaal should be left in the hands of +Her Majesty's representatives abroad. Since Boers are, of all people in +the world, the most stay-at-home, our ambassadors and consuls are not +likely to be troubled much on their account. With reference to the +second point, the Commission made stipulations that would be admirable +if there were any probability of their being acted up to. The Resident +is to report any encroachment on native territory by Boers to the High +Commissioner, and when the Resident and the Boer Government differ, the +decision of the Suzerain is to be final. This is a charming way of +settling difficulties, but the Commission forgets to specify how the +Suzerain's decision is to be enforced. After what has happened, it can +hardly have relied on awe of the name of England to bring about the +desired obedience! +</p> + +<p> +But besides thus using his beneficent authority to prevent subjects of +the Transvaal from trespassing on their neighbour's land, the Resident +is to exercise a general supervision over the interests of all the +natives in the country. Considering that they number about a million, +and are scattered over a territory larger than France, one would think +that this duty alone would have taken up the time of any ordinary man; +and, indeed, Sir Evelyn Wood was in favour of the appointment of +sub-residents to assist him. The majority of the Commission refused, +however, to listen to any such suggestion—believing, they said, "that +the least possible interference with the independent Government of the +State would be the wisest." Quite so, but I suppose it never occurred +to them to ask the natives what their views of the matter were! The +Resident was also to be a member of a Native Location Commission, which +was at some future time to provide land for the natives to live on. +</p> + +<p> +In perusing this Report it is easy to follow with more or less accuracy +the individual bent of its framers. Sir Hercules Robinson figures +throughout as a man who has got a disagreeable business to carry out, +in obedience to instructions that admit of no trifling with, and who +has set himself to do the best he can for his country, and those who +suffer through his country's policy, whilst obeying those instructions. +He has evidently choked down his feelings and opinions as an +individual, and turned himself into an official machine, merely +registering in detail the will of Lord Kimberley. With Sir Henry de +Villiers the case is very different. One feels throughout that the task +is to him a congenial one, and that the Boer cause has in him an +excellent friend. Indeed, had he been an advocate of their cause +instead of a member of the Commission, he could not have espoused their +side on every occasion with greater zeal. According to him they were +always in the right, and in them he could find no guile. Mr. Hofmeyer +and President Brand exercised a wise discretion from their own point of +view when they urged his appointment as Special Commissioner. I now +come to Sir Evelyn Wood, who was in the position of an independent +Englishman, neither prejudiced in favour of the Boers, or the reverse, +and on whom, as a military man, Lord Kimberley would find it difficult +to put the official screw. The results of his happy position are +obvious in the paper attached to the end of the Report, and signed by +him, in which he totally and entirely differs from the majority of the +Commission on every point of any importance. Most people will think +that this very outspoken and forcible dissent deducts somewhat from the +value of the Report, and throws a shadow of doubt on the wisdom of its +provisions. +</p> + +<p> +The formal document of agreement between Her Majesty's Government and +the Boer leaders, commonly known as the Convention, was signed by both +parties at Pretoria on the afternoon of the 3d August 1881, in the same +room in which, nearly four years before, the Annexation Proclamation +was signed by Sir T. Shepstone. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst this business was being transacted in Government House, a +curious ceremony was going on just outside, and within sight of the +windows. This was the ceremonious burial of the Union Jack, which was +followed to the grave by a crowd of about 2000 loyalists and native +chiefs. On the outside of the coffin was written the word "Resurgam," +and an eloquent oration was delivered over the grave. Such +demonstrations are, no doubt, foolish enough, but they are not entirely +without political significance. +</p> + +<p> +But a more unpleasant duty awaited the Commissioners than that of +attaching their signatures to a document,—consisting of the necessity +of conveying Her Majesty's decision as to the retrocession to about a +hundred native chiefs, until now Her Majesty's subjects, who had been +gathered together to hear it. It must be borne in mind that the natives +had not been consulted as to the disposal of the country, although they +outnumber the white people in the proportion of twenty to one, and +that, beyond some worthless paper stipulations, nothing had been done +for their interests. +</p> + +<p> +Personally, I must plead guilty to what I know is by many, especially +by those who are attached to the Boer cause, considered as folly, if +not worse, namely, a sufficient interest in the natives, and sympathy +with their sufferings, to bring me to the conclusion that in acting +thus we have inflicted a cruel injustice upon them. It seems to me, +that as they were the original owners of the soil, they were entitled +to some consideration in the question of its disposal, and consequently +and incidentally, of their own. I am aware that it is generally +considered that the white man has a right to the black man's +possessions and land, and that it is his high and holy mission to +exterminate the wretched native and take his place. But with this +conclusion I venture to differ. So far as my own experience of natives +has gone, I have found that in all the essential qualities of mind and +body they very much resemble white men, with the exception that they +are, as a race, quicker-witted, more honest, and braver than the +ordinary run of white men. Of them might be aptly quoted the speech +Shakespeare puts into Shylock's mouth: "Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a +Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" In the +same way I ask, Has a native no feelings or affections? does he not +suffer when his parents are shot, or his children stolen, or when he is +driven a wanderer from his home? Does he not know fear, feel pain, +affection, hate, and gratitude? Most certainly he does; and this being +so, I cannot believe that the Almighty, who made both white and black, +gave to the one race the right or mission of exterminating or even of +robbing or maltreating the other, and calling the process the advance +of civilisation. It seems to me, that on only one condition, if at all, +have we the right to take the black men's land; and that is, that we +provide them with an equal and a just Government, and allow no +maltreatment of them, either as individuals or tribes, but, on the +contrary, do our best to elevate them, and wean them from savage +customs. Otherwise, the practice is surely undefensible. +</p> + +<p> +I am aware, however, that with the exception of a small class, these +are sentiments which are not shared by the great majority of the +public, either at home or abroad. Indeed, it can be plainly seen how +little sympathy they command, from the fact that but scanty +remonstrance was raised at the treatment meted out to our native +subjects in the Transvaal, when they were, to the number of nearly a +million, handed over from the peace, justice, and security that on the +whole characterise our rule, to a state of things and possibilities of +wrong and suffering which I will not try to describe. +</p> + +<p> +To the chiefs thus assembled Sir Hercules Robinson, as President of the +Royal Commission, read a statement, and then retired, refusing to allow +them to speak in answer. The statement informed the natives that "Her +Majesty's Government, with that sense of justice which befits a great +and powerful nation," had returned the country to the Boers, "whose +representatives, Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert, I now," said +Sir Hercules, "have much pleasure in introducing to you." If reports +are true, the native chiefs had, many of them personally, and all of +them by reputation, already the advantage of a very intimate +acquaintance with all three of these gentlemen, so that an introduction +was somewhat superfluous. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Hercules then went on to explain to them that locations would be +allotted to them at some future time; that a British Resident would be +appointed, whose especial charge they would be, but that they must bear +in mind that he was not ruler of the country, but the Government, +"subject to Her Majesty's suzerain rights." Natives were, no doubt, +expected to know by intuition what suzerain rights are. The statement +then goes on to give them good advice as to the advantages of indulging +in manual labour when asked to do so by the Boers, and generally to +show them how bright and happy is the future that lies before them. +Lest they should be too elated by such good tidings, they are, however, +reminded that it will be necessary to retain the law relating to +passes, which is, in the hands of a people like the Boers, about as +unjust a regulation as a dominant race can invent for the oppression of +a subject people, and had, in the old days of the Republic, been +productive of much hardship. The statement winds up by assuring them +that their "interests will never be forgotten or neglected by Her +Majesty's Government." Having read the document the Commission hastily +withdrew, and after their withdrawal the chiefs were "allowed" to state +their opinions to the Secretary for Native Affairs. +</p> + +<p> +In availing themselves of this permission, it is noticeable that no +allusion was made to all the advantages they were to reap under the +Convention, nor did they seem to attach much importance to the +appointment of the British Resident. On the contrary, all their +attention was given to the great fact that the country had been ceded +to the Boers, and that they were no longer the Queen's subjects. We are +told, in Mr. Shepstone's Report, that they "got very excited," and +"asked whether it was thought that they had no feelings or hearts, that +they were thus treated as a stick or piece of tobacco, which could be +passed from hand to hand without question." Umgombarie, a Zoutpansberg +chief, said: "I am Umgombarie. I have fought with the Boers, and have +many wounds, and they know that what I say is true…. I will never +consent to place myself under their rule. I belong to the English +Government. I am not a man who eats with both sides of his jaw at once; +I only use one side. I am English, I have said." Silamba said: "I +belong to the English. I will never return under the Boers. You see me, +a man of my rank and position; is it right that such as I should be +seized and laid on the ground and flogged, as has been done to me and +other chiefs?" +</p> + +<p> +Sinkanhla said: "We hear and yet do not hear, we cannot understand. We +are troubling you, Chief, by talking in this way; we hear the chiefs +say that the Queen took the country because the people of the country +wished it, and again that the majority of the owners of the country did +not wish their rule, and that therefore the country was given back. We +should like to have the man pointed out from among us black people who +objects to the rule of the Queen. We are the real owners of the +country; we were here when the Boers came, and without asking leave, +settled down and treated us in every way badly. The English Government +then came and took the country; we have now had four years of rest and +peaceful and just rule. We have been called here to-day, and are told +that the country, our country, has been given to the Boers by the +Queen. This is a thing which surprises us. Did the country, then, +belong to the Boers? Did it not belong to our fathers and forefathers +before us, long before the Boers came here? We have heard that the +Boers' country is at the Cape. If the Queen wishes to give them their +land, why does she not give them back the Cape?" +</p> + +<p> +I have quoted this speech at length, because, although made by a +despised native, it sets forth their case more powerfully and in +happier language than I can do. +</p> + +<p> +Umyethile said: "We have no heart for talking. I have returned to the +country from Sechelis, where I had to fly from Boer oppression. Our +hearts are black and heavy with grief to-day at the news told us, we +are in agony, our intestines are twisting and writhing inside of us, +just as you see a snake do when it is struck on the head…. We do not +know what has become of us, but we feel dead; it may be that the Lord +may change the nature of the Boers, and that we will not be treated +like dogs and beasts of burden as formerly, but we have no hope of such +a change, and we leave you with heavy hearts and great apprehension as +to the future." In his Report, Mr. Shepstone (the Secretary for Native +Affairs) says: "One chief, Jan Sibilo, who has been, he informed me, +personally threatened with death by the Boers after the English leave, +could not restrain his feelings, but cried like a child." +</p> + +<p> +I have nothing to add to these extracts, which are taken from many such +statements. They are the very words of the persons most concerned, and +will speak for themselves. +</p> + +<p> +The Convention was signed on the 3d August 1881, and was to be formally +ratified by a Volksraad or Parliament of the Burghers within three +months of that date, in default of which it was to fall to the ground +and become null and void. +</p> + +<p> +Anybody who has followed the course of affairs with reference to the +retrocession of the Transvaal, or who has even taken the trouble to +read through this brief history, will probably come to the conclusion +that, under all the circumstances, the Boers had got more than they +could reasonably expect. Not so, however, the Boers themselves. On the +28th September the newly-elected Volksraad referred the Convention to a +General Committee to report on, and on the 30th September the Report +was presented. On the 3d October a telegram was despatched through the +British Resident to "His Excellency W. E. Gladstone," in which the +Volksraad states that the Convention is not acceptable— +</p> + +<p> +(1.) Because it is in conflict with the Sand River Treaty of 1852. +</p> + +<p> +(2.) Because it violates the peace agreement entered into with Sir +Evelyn Wood, in confidence of which the Boers laid down their arms. +</p> + +<p> +The Volksraad consequently declared that modifications were desirable, +and that certain articles <i>must</i> be altered. +</p> + +<p> +To begin with, they declare that the "conduct of foreign relations does +not appertain to the Suzerain, only supervision," and that the articles +bearing on these points must consequently be modified. They next attack +the native question, stating that "the Suzerain has not the right to +interfere with our Legislature," and state that they cannot agree to +Article 3, which gives the Suzerain a right of veto on Legislation +connected with the natives; to Article 13, by virtue of which natives +are to be allowed to acquire land; and to the last part of Article 26, +by which it is provided that whites of alien race living in the +Transvaal shall not be taxed in excess of the taxes imposed on +Transvaal citizens. +</p> + +<p> +They further declare that it is ><i lang="la">infra dignitatem</i> for the +President of the Transvaal to be a member of a Commission. This refers +to the Native Location Commission, on which he is, in the terms of the +Convention, to sit, together with the British Resident, and a third +person jointly appointed. +</p> + +<p> +They next declare that the amount of the debt for which the Commission +has made them liable should be modified. Considering that England had +already made them a present of from £600,000 to £800,000, this is a +most barefaced demand. Finally, they state that "Articles 15, 16, 26, +and 27 are superfluous, and only calculated to wound our sense of +honour" (<i>sic</i>). +</p> + +<p> +Article 15 enacts that no slavery or apprenticeship shall be tolerated. +</p> + +<p> +Article 16 provides for religious toleration. +</p> + +<p> +Article 26 provides for the free movement, trading, and residence of +all persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of +the Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +Article 27 gives to all the right of free access to the Courts of +Justice. +</p> + +<p> +Putting the "sense of honour" of the Transvaal Volksraad out of the +question, past experience has but too plainly proved that these +Articles are by no means superfluous. +</p> + +<p> +In reply to this message, Sir Hercules Robinson telegraphs to the +British Resident on the 21st October in the following words:— +</p> + +<p> +"Having forwarded Volksraad Resolution of 15th to Earl of Kimberley, I +am desired to instruct you in reply to repeat to the Triumvirate that +Her Majesty's Government cannot entertain any proposals for a +modification of the Convention <i>until after it has been ratified</i>, +and the necessity for further concession proved by experience." +</p> + +<p> +I wish to draw particular attention to the last part of this message, +which is extremely typical of the line of policy adopted throughout in +the Transvaal business. The English Government dared not make any +further concession to the Boers, because they felt that they had +already strained the temper of the country almost to breaking in the +matter. On the other hand, they were afraid that if they did not do +something, the Boers would tear up the Convention, and they would find +themselves face to face with the old difficulty. Under these +circumstances, they have fallen back upon their temporising and +un-English policy, which leaves them a back-door to escape through, +whatever turn things take. Should the Boers now suddenly turn round and +declare, which is extremely probable, that they repudiate their debt to +us, or that they are sick of the presence of a British Resident, the +Government will be able to announce that "the necessity for further +concession" has now been "proved by experience," and thus escape the +difficulty. In short, this telegram has deprived the Convention of +whatever finality it may have possessed, and made it, as a document, as +worthless as it is as a practical settlement. That this is the view +taken of it by the Boers themselves, is proved by the text of the +Ratification which followed on the receipt of this telegram. +</p> + +<p> +The tone of this document throughout is, in my opinion, considering +from whom it came, and against whom it is directed, very insolent. And +it amply confirms what I have previously said, that the Boers looked +upon themselves as a victorious people making terms with those they +have conquered. The Ratification leads off thus: "The Volksraad is not +satisfied with this Convention, and considers that the members of the +Triumvirate performed a fervent act of love for the Fatherland when +they upon their own responsibility signed such an unsatisfactory state +document." This is damning with faint praise indeed. It then goes on to +recite the various points of objection, stating that the answers from +the English Government proved that they were well founded. "The English +Government," it says, "acknowledges indirectly by this answer (the +telegram of 21st October, quoted above) that the difficulties raised by +the Volksraad are neither fictitious nor unfounded, inasmuch <i>as it +desires from us the concession</i> that we, the Volksraad, shall submit +it to a practical test." It will be observed that England is here +represented as begging the favour of a trial of her conditions from the +Volksraad of the Transvaal Boers. The Ratification is in these words: +"Therefore is it that the Raad here unanimously resolves not to go into +further discussion of the Convention, <i>and maintaining all objections +to the Convention</i> as made before the Royal Commission or stated in +the Raad, and for the purpose of showing to everybody that the love of +peace and unity inspires it, <i>for the time and provisionally</i> +submitting the articles of the Convention to a practical test, +<i>hereby complying with the request of the English Government</i> +contained in the telegram of the 13th October 1881, proceeds to ratify +the Convention." +</p> + +<p> +It would have been interesting to have seen how such a Ratification as +this, which is no Ratification but an insult, would have been accepted +by Lord Beaconsfield. I think that within twenty-four hours of its +arrival in Downing Street, the Boer Volksraad would have received a +startling answer. But Lord Beaconsfield is dead, and by his successor +it was received with all due thankfulness and humility. His words, +however, on this subject still remain to us, and even his great rival +might have done well to listen to them. It was in the course of what +was, I believe, the last speech he made in the House of Lords, that +speaking about the Transvaal rising, he warned the Government that it +was a very dangerous thing to make peace with rebellious subjects in +arms against the authority of the Queen. The warning passed unheeded, +and the peace was made in the way I have described. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the Convention itself, it will be obvious to the reader that +the Boers have not any intention of acting up to its provisions, mild +as they are, if they can possibly avoid them, whilst, on the other +hand, there is no force at hand to punish their disregard or breach. It +is all very well to create a Resident with extensive powers; but how is +he to enforce his decisions? What is he to do if his awards are laughed +at and made a mockery of, as they are and will be? The position of Mr. +Hudson at Pretoria is even worse than that of Mr. Osborn in Zululand. +For instance, the Convention specifies in the first article that the +Transvaal is to be known as the Transvaal State. The Boer Government +have, however, thought fit to adopt the name of "South African +Republic" in all public documents. Mr. Hudson was accordingly directed +to remonstrate, which he did in a feeble way; his remonstrance was +politely acknowledged, but the country is still officially called the +South African Republic, the Convention and Mr. Hudson's remonstrance +notwithstanding. Mr. Hudson, however, appears to be better suited to +the position than would have been the case had an Englishman, pure and +simple, been appointed, since it is evident that things that would have +struck the latter as insults to the Queen he represented, and his +country generally, are not so understood by him. In fact, he admirably +represents his official superiors in his capacity of swallowing +rebuffs, and when smitten on one cheek delightedly offering the other. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we find him attending a Boer meeting of thanksgiving for the +success that had waited on their arms and the recognition of their +independence, where most people will consider he was out of place. To +this meeting, thus graced by his presence, an address was presented by +a branch of the Africander Bond, a powerful institution, having for its +object the total uprootal of English rule and English customs in South +Africa, to which he must have listened with pleasure. In it he, in +common with other members of the meeting, is informed that "you took up +the sword and struck the Briton with such force" that "the Britons +through fear revived that sense of justice to which they could not be +brought by petitions," and that the "day will soon come that we shall +enter with you on one arena for the entire independence of South +Africa," <i>i.e.</i>, independence from English rule. +</p> + +<p> +On the following day the Government gave a dinner, to which all those +who had done good service during the late hostilities were invited, the +British Resident being apparently the only Englishman asked. Amongst +the other celebrities present I notice the name of Buskes. This man, +who is an educated Hollander, was the moving spirit of the +Potchefstroom atrocities; indeed, so dark is his reputation that the +Royal Commission refused to transact business with him, or to admit him +to their presence. Mr. Hudson was not so particular. And now comes the +most extraordinary part of the episode. At the dinner it was necessary +that the health of Her Majesty as Suzerain should be proposed, and with +studied insolence this was done last of all the leading political +toasts, and immediately after that of the Triumvirate. Notwithstanding +this fact, and that the toast was couched by Mr. Joubert, who stated +that "he would not attempt to explain what a Suzerain was," in what +appear to be semi-ironical terms, we find that Mr. Hudson "begged to +tender his thanks to the Honourable Mr. Joubert for the kind way in +which he proposed the toast." +</p> + +<p> +It may please Mr. Hudson to see the name of the Queen thus +metaphorically dragged in triumph at the chariot wheels of the +Triumvirate, but it is satisfactory to know that the spectacle is not +appreciated in England: since, on a question in the House of Lords, by +the Earl of Carnarvon, who characterised it as a deliberate insult, +Lord Kimberley replied that the British Resident had been instructed +that in future he was not to attend public demonstrations unless he had +previously informed himself that the name of Her Majesty would be +treated with proper respect. Let us hope that this official reprimand +will have its effect, and that Mr. Hudson will learn therefrom that +there is such a thing as <i lang="fr">trop de zéle</i>—even in a good cause. +</p> + +<p> +The Convention is now a thing of the past, the appropriate rewards have +been lavishly distributed to its framers, and President Brand has at +last prevailed upon the Volksraad of the Orange Free State to allow him +to become a Knight Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George,—the +same prize looked forward to by our most distinguished public servants +at the close of the devotion of their life to the service of their +country. But its results are yet to come—though it would be difficult +to forecast the details of their development. One thing, however, is +clear: the signing of that document signalised an entirely new +departure in South African affairs, and brought us within a measurable +distance of the abandonment, for the present at any rate, of the +supremacy of English rule in South Africa. +</p> + +<p> +This is the larger issue of the matter, and it is already bearing +fruit. Emboldened by their success in the Transvaal, the Dutch party at +the Cape are demanding, and the demand is to be granted, that the Dutch +tongue be admitted <i lang="la">pari passu</i> with English, as the official +language in the Law Courts and the House of Assembly. When a country +thus consents to use a foreign tongue equally with its own, it is a +sure sign that those who speak it are rising to power. But "the Party" +looks higher than this, and openly aims at throwing off English rule +altogether, and declaring South Africa a great Dutch republic. The +course of events is favourable to their aspiration. Responsible +Government is to be granted to Natal, which country, not being strong +enough to stand alone in the face of the many dangers that surround +her, will be driven into the arms of the Dutch party to save herself +from destruction. It will be useless for her to look for help from +England, and any feelings of repugnance she may feel to Boer rule will +soon be choked by necessity, and a mutual interest. It is, however, +possible that some unforeseen event, such as the advent to power of a +strong Conservative Ministry, may check the tide that now sets so +strongly in favour of Dutch supremacy. +</p> + +<p> +It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration +of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it +would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little further and +favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, retaining +only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the bounds of +sober possibility that they may one day have to face a fresh Transvaal +rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale, and might find it +difficult to retain even Table Bay. If, on the other hand, they do, I +believe that all the White States in South Africa would confederate of +their own free-will, under the pressure of the necessity for common +action, and the Dutch element being preponderant, at once set to work +to exterminate the natives on general principles, in much the same way, +and from much the same motives that a cook exterminates black beetles, +because she thinks them ugly, and to clear the kitchen. +</p> + +<p> +I need hardly say that such a policy is not one that commands my +sympathy, but Her Majesty's Government having put their hand to the +plough, it is worth their while to consider it. It would at any rate be +in perfect accordance with their declared sentiments, and command an +enthusiastic support from their followers. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the smaller and more immediate issue of the retrocession, +namely, its effect on the Transvaal itself, it cannot be other than +evil. The act is, I believe, quite without precedent in our history, +and it is difficult to see, looking at it from those high grounds of +national morality assumed by the Government, what greater arguments can +be advanced in its favour, than could be found to support the +abandonment of,—let us say,—Ireland. Indeed a certain parallel +undoubtedly exists between the circumstances of the two countries. +Ireland was, like the Transvaal, annexed, though a long time ago, and +has continually agitated for its freedom. The Irish hate us, so did the +Boers. In Ireland, Englishmen are being shot, and England is running +the awful risk of blood-guiltiness, as it did in the Transvaal. In +Ireland, smouldering revolution is being fanned into flame by Mr. +Gladstone's speeches and acts, as it was in the Transvaal. In Ireland, +as in the Transvaal, there exists a strong loyal class that receives +insults instead of support from the Government, and whose property, as +was the case there, is taken from them without compensation, to be +flung as a sop to stop the mouths of the Queen's enemies. And so I +might go on, finding many such similarities of circumstances, but my +parallel, like most parallels, must break down at last Thus—it +mattered little to England whether or no she let the Transvaal go, but +to let Ireland go would be more than even Mr. Gladstone dare attempt. +</p> + +<p> +Somehow, if you follow these things far enough, you always come to +vulgar first principles. The difference between the case of the +Transvaal and that of Ireland is a difference not of justice of cause, +for both causes are equally unjust or just according as they are +viewed, but of mere common expediency. Judging from the elevated +standpoint of the national morality theory, however, which, as we know, +soars above such truisms as the foolish statement that force is a +remedy, or that if you wish to retain your prestige you must not allow +defeats to pass unavenged, I cannot see why, if it was righteous to +abandon the Transvaal, it would not be equally righteous to abandon +Ireland! +</p> + +<p> +As for the Transvaal, that country is not to be congratulated on its +success, for it has destroyed all its hopes of permanent peace, has +ruined its trade and credit, and has driven away the most useful and +productive class in the community. The Boers, elated by their success +in arms, will be little likely to settle down to peaceable occupations, +and still less likely to pay their taxes, which, indeed, I hear they +are already refusing to do. They have learnt how easily even a powerful +Government can be upset, and the lesson is not likely to be forgotten, +for want of repetition to their own weak one. +</p> + +<p> +Already the Transvaal Government hardly knows which way to turn for +funds, and as, perhaps fortunately for itself, quite unable to borrow, +through want of credit. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the native question, I agree with Mr. H. Shepstone, who, in +his Report on this subject, says that he does not believe that the +natives will inaugurate any action against the Boers, so long as the +latter do not try to collect taxes, or otherwise interfere with them. +But if the Boer Government is to continue to exist, it will be bound to +raise taxes from the natives, since it cannot collect much from its +white subjects. The first general attempt of the sort will be the +signal for active resistance on the part of the natives, whom, if they +act without concert, the Boers will be able to crush in detail, though +with considerable loss. If, on the other hand, they should have +happened, during the last few years, to have learnt the advantages of +combination, as is quite possible, perhaps they will crash the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +The only thing that is at present certain about the matter is that +there will be bloodshed, and that before long. For instance, the +Montsioa difficulty in the Keate Award has in it the possibilities of a +serious war, and there are plenty such difficulties ready to spring +into life within and without the Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +In all human probability it will take but a small lapse of time for the +Transvaal to find itself in the identical position from which we +relieved it by the Annexation. +</p> + +<p> +What course events will then take it is impossible to say. It may be +found desirable to re-annex the country, though, in my opinion, that +would be, after all that has passed, an unfortunate step; its +inhabitants may be cut up piecemeal by a combined movement of native +tribes, as they would have been, had they not been rescued by the +English Government in 1877, or it is possible that the Orange Free +State may consent to take the Transvaal under its wing: who can say? +There is only one thing that our recently abandoned possession can +count on for certain, and that is trouble, both from its white +subjects, and the natives, who hate the Boers with a bitter and a +well-earned hatred. +</p> + +<p> +The whole question can, so far as its moral aspect is concerned, be +summed up in a few words. +</p> + +<p> +Whether or no the Annexation was a necessity at the moment of its +execution—which I certainly maintain it was—it received the +unreserved sanction of the Home authorities, and the relations of +Sovereign and subject, with all the many and mutual obligations +involved in that connection, were established between the Queen of +England and every individual of the motley population of the Transvaal. +Nor was this change an empty form, for, to the largest proportion of +that population, this transfer of allegiance brought with it a +priceless and a vital boon. To them it meant freedom and justice—for +where, on any portion of this globe over which the British ensign +floats, does the law even wink at cruelty or wrong? +</p> + +<p> +A few years passed away, and a small number of the Queen's subjects in +the Transvaal rose in rebellion against her authority, and inflicted +some reverses on her arms. Thereupon, in spite of the reiterated +pledges given to the contrary—partly under stress of defeat, and +partly in obedience to the pressure of "advanced views"—the country +was abandoned, and the vast majority who had remained faithful to the +Crown, was handed to the cruel despotism of the minority who had +rebelled against it. +</p> + +<p> +Such an act of treachery to those to whom we were bound with double +chains—by the strong ties of a common citizenship, and by those claims +to England's protection from violence and wrong which have hitherto +been wont to command it, even where there was no duty to fulfil, and no +authority to vindicate—stands, I believe, without parallel on our +records, and marks a new departure in our history. +</p> + +<p> +I cannot end these pages without expressing my admiration of the +extremely able way in which the Boers managed their revolt, when once +they felt that, having undertaken the thing, it was a question of life +and death with them. It shows that they have good stuff in them +somewhere, which, under the firm but just rule of Her Majesty, might +have been much developed, and it makes it the more sad that they should +have been led to throw off that rule, and have been allowed to do so by +an English Government. +</p> + +<p> +In conclusion, there is one point that I must touch on, and that is the +effect of the retrocession on the native mind, which I can only +describe as most disastrous. The danger alluded to in the Report of the +Royal Commission has been most amply realised, and the prevailing +belief in the steadfastness of our policy, and the inviolability of our +plighted word, which has hitherto been the great secret of our hold on +the Kafirs, has been rudely shaken. The motives that influenced, or are +said to have influenced, the Government in their act, are naturally +quite unintelligible to savages, however clever, who do believe that +force is a remedy, and who have seen the inhabitants of a country ruled +by England defeat English soldiers and take possession of it, whilst +those who remained loyal to England were driven out of it. It will not +be wonderful if some of them, say the natives of Natal, deduce +therefrom conclusions unfavourable to loyalty, and evince a desire to +try the same experiment. +</p> + +<p> +It is, however, unprofitable to speculate on the future, which must be +left to unfold itself. +</p> + +<p> +The curtain is, so far as this country is concerned, down for the +moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there is but +too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion, +which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the +future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="VII"> </a> +CHAPTER VII. +</h2> + + +<p> +The following pages, extracted from an introduction to a new edition to +"Cetywayo and His White Neighbours," written in 1888, are reprinted +here, because they contain matter of interest concerning the more +recent history of the Transvaal Boers. +</p> + +<br> +<p class="ctr"> +<i>Extract from Introduction to New Edition of 1888.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The recent history of the Transvaal, now once more a republic, will +fortunately admit of brief treatment. It is, so far as England is +concerned, very much a history of concession. For an account of the +first Convention I must refer my readers to the remarks which I have +made in the chapter of this book headed "The Retrocession of the +Transvaal." It will there be seen that the Transvaal Volksraad only +ratified the first convention, which was wrung from us (Sir Evelyn +Wood, to his honour be it said, dissenting) after our defeats at Lang's +Nek, Ingogo, and Majuba, as a favour to the British Government, which +in its turn virtually promised to reconsider the convention, if only +the Volksraad would be so good as to ratify it. This convention was +ratified in October 1881. In June 1883 the Transvaal Government<a href="#note14" name="noteref14"><small>[14]</small></a> +telegraphs briefly to Lord Derby through the High Commissioner that the +Volksraad has "resolved that time has come to reconsider convention." +Lord Derby quickly telegraphs back that "Her Majesty's Government +consent to inquire into the working of convention." Human nature is +frail, and it is impossible to help wishing that Lord Palmerston or +Disraeli had been appointed by the Fates to answer that telegram. But +we have fallen upon different days, and new men have arisen who appear +to be suited to them; and so the convention was reconsidered, and on +the 27th of February 1884 a new one was signed, which is known as the +convention of London. It begins by defining boundaries to which the +"Government of the South African Republic will strictly adhere, … and +will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any +encroachments upon the said boundaries." The existence of the New +Republic in Zululand is a striking and practical comment on this +article. Article ii. also provides for the security of the amended +southwest boundary. The proclamation of 16th September 1884 (afterwards +disallowed by the English Government), by which the South African +Republic practically annexed the territories of Montsioa and Moshette, +already for the most part in the possession of its freebooters, very +clearly illustrates its anxiety to be bound by this provision. Art xii. +provides for the independence of the Swazis; and by way of illustrating +the fidelity with which it has been observed, we shall presently have +occasion to remark upon the determined attempts that have continually +been made by Boer freebooters to obtain possession of Swaziland—and so +on. +</p> + +<p> +In order to make these severe restrictions palatable to the burghers of +a free and haughty Republic, Lord Derby recommends Her Majesty's +Government to remit a trifling sum of £127,000 of their debt due to the +Imperial Treasury, which was accordingly done. On the whole, the +Transvaal had no reason to be dissatisfied with this new treaty, though +really the whole affair is scarcely worth discussing. Convention No. 2 +is almost as much a farce and a dead letter as was Convention No. 1. It +is, however, impossible to avoid being impressed with the really +remarkable tone, not merely of equality, but of superiority, adopted by +the South African Republic and its officials towards this country. To +take an instance. The Republic had found it convenient to wage a war of +extermination upon some Kafir chiefs. Two of these, Mampoer and Njabel, +fell into its hands. Her Majesty's Government was, rightly or wrongly, +so impressed with the injustice of the sentence of death passed upon +these unfortunates, that, acting through Mr. Hudson, the British +Resident at Pretoria, it strained every nerve to save them. This was +the upshot of it. In a tone of studied sarcasm, His Honour the State +President "observes with great satisfaction the great interest in these +cases which has been manifested by your Honour and Her Majesty's +Government." He then goes on to say that, notwithstanding this +interest, Mampoer will be duly and effectually hung, giving the exact +time and place of the event, and Njabel imprisoned for life, with hard +labour. Finally, he once more conveys "the hearty thanks of the +Government and the members of the Executive Council for the interest +manifested in these cases,"<a href="#note15" name="noteref15"><small>[15]</small></a> and remains, &c. +</p> + +<p> +The independence of Swaziland was guaranteed by the convention of 1884. +Yet the Blue-books are full of accounts of various attempts made by +Boers to obtain a footing in Swaziland. Thus in November 1885 +Umbandine, the king of Swaziland, sends messengers to the Governor of +Natal through Sir T. Shepstone, in which he states that in the winter +Piet Joubert, accompanied by two other Boers and an interpreter, came +to his kraal and asked him to sign a paper "to say that he and all the +Swazis agreed to go over and recognise the authority of the Boer +Government, and have nothing more to do with the English."<a href="#note16" name="noteref16"><small>[16]</small></a> Umbandine +refused, saying that he looked to and recognised the English +Government. Thereon the Boers, growing angry, answered, "Those fathers +of yours, the English, act very slowly; and if you look to them for +help, and refuse to sign this paper, we shall have scattered you and +your people, and taken possession of the land before they arrive. Why +do you refuse to sign the paper? You know we defeated the English at +Majuba." Umbandine's message then goes on to say that he recognises the +English Government only, and does not wish to have dealings with the +Boers. Also, in the following month, we find him making a direct +application to the Colonial Office through Mr. David Forbes,<a href="#note17" name="noteref17"><small>[17]</small></a> praying +that his country may be taken under the protection of Her Majesty's +Government. +</p> + +<p> +More than one such attempt to secure informal rights of occupation in +Swaziland appears to have been made by the Transvaal Boers. Mr. T. +Shepstone, C.M.G., is at present acting as Resident to Umbandine, +though he has not, it would seem, any regular commission from the Home +Government authorising him to do so, probably because it does not +consider that its rights in Swaziland are such as to justify such an +assumption of formal authority over the Swazis. However this may be, +Umbandine could not have found a better man to protect his interests. +Of course, when acts like that of Piet Joubert are reported to the +Government of the South African Republic and made the subject of a +remonstrance by this country, all knowledge of them is repudiated, as +it was repudiated in the case of the invasion of Zululand. +</p> + +<p> +It is part of the policy of the Transvaal only to become an accessory +after the fact. Its subjects go forth and stir up trouble among the +natives, and then probably the Boer Government intervenes "in the +interests of humanity," and takes, or tries to take, the country. This +process is always going on, and, unless the British Government puts a +stop to it, always will go on. We shall probably soon hear that it is +developing itself in the direction of Matabeleland. A country the size +of France, which could without difficulty accommodate a population of +from eight to ten millions of industrious folk, is not large enough for +the wants of a Boer people, numbering something under fifty thousand +souls. Every young Boer must have his six or more thousand acres of +land on which to lord it. It is his birthright, and if it is not +forthcoming he goes and takes it by force from the nearest native +tribe. Hence these continual complaints. Of course, there are two ways +of looking at the matter. There is a party that does not hesitate to +say that the true policy of this country is to let the Boers work their +will upon the natives, and then, as they in turn fly from civilisation +towards the far interior, to follow on their path and occupy the lands +that they have swept. This plan is supported by arguments about the +superiority of the white races and their obvious destiny of rule. It +is, I confess, one that I look upon as little short of wicked. I could +never discern a superiority so great in ourselves as to authorise us, +by right divine as it were, to destroy the coloured man and take his +lands. It is difficult to see why a Zulu, for instance, has not as much +right to live in his own way as a Boer or an Englishman. Of course, +there is another extreme. Nothing is more ridiculous than the length to +which the black brother theory is sometimes driven by enthusiasts. A +savage is one thing, and a civilised man is another; and though +civilised men may and do become savages, I personally doubt if the +converse is even possible. But whether the civilised man, with his gin, +his greed, and his dynamite, is really so very superior to the savage +is another question, and one which would bear argument, although this +is not the place to argue it. My point is, that his superiority is not +at any rate so absolutely overwhelming as to justify him in the +wholesale destruction of the savage and the occupation of his lands, or +even in allowing others to do the work for him if he can prevent it. +The principle might conceivably be pushed to inconvenient and indecent +lengths. Savagery is only a question of degree. When all true savages +have been wiped out, the most civilised and self-righteous among the +nations may begin to give the term to those whom they consider to be on +a lower scale than themselves, and apply the argument also. Thus there +are "cultured" people in another land who do not hesitate to say that +the humble writers of these islands are rank and rude barbarians not to +be endured. Supposing that, being the stronger, they also <i>applied +the argument</i>, it would be inconvenient for some of us, and perhaps +the world would not gain so very much after all. But this is a +digression, only excusable, if excusable at all, in one who has endured +a three weeks' course of unmitigated Blue-book. To return. +</p> + +<p> +The process of absorption attempted in Swaziland, and brought to a +successful issue in Zululand, also went forward merrily in +Bechuanaland, till recently, under the rule of Mankorane, chief of the +Batlapins, and Montsioa, chief of the Baralongs. These two chiefs have +always been devoted friends and adherents of the English Government, +and consequently are not regarded with favour by the Boers. Shortly +after the retrocession of the Transvaal, a rival to Mankorane rose up +in the person of a certain Massou, and a rival to Montsioa named +Moshette. Both Massou and Moshette were supported by Boer fillibusters, +and what happened to Usibepu in Zululand happened to these unfortunate +chiefs in Bechuanaland. They were defeated after a gallant struggle, +and two Republics called Stellaland and Goschen were carved out of +their territories and occupied by the fillibusters. Fortunately for +them, however, they had a friend in the person of the Rev. John +Mackenzie, to whose valuable work, "Austral Africa," I beg to refer the +reader for a fuller account of these events. Mr. Mackenzie, who had for +many years lived as a missionary among the Bechuanas, had also mastered +the fact that it is very difficult to do anything for South Africa in +this country unless you can make it a question of votes, or, in other +words, unless you can bring pressure to bear upon the Government. +Accordingly he commenced an agitation on behalf of Mankorane and +Montsioa, in which he was supported by various religious bodies, and +also by the late Mr. Forster and the Aborigines Protection Society. As +a result of this agitation he was appointed Deputy to the High +Commissioner for Bechuanaland, whither he proceeded early in 1884 to +establish a British protectorate. He was gladly welcomed by the +unfortunate chiefs, who were now almost at their last gasp, and who +both of them ceded their rights of government to the Queen. Hostilities +did not, however, cease, for on the 31st July 1884 the fillibusters +again attacked Montsioa, routed him, and cruelly murdered Mr. Bethell, +his English adviser. Meanwhile Mr. Mackenzie's success was viewed with +very mixed feelings at the Cape. To the English party it was most +acceptable, but the Dutch,<a href="#note18" name="noteref18"><small>[18]</small></a> and more numerous party, looked on it +with alarm and disgust. They did not at all wish to see the Imperial +power established in Bechuanaland; so pressure was put upon Sir +Hercules Robinson, and through him on Mr. Mackenzie, to such an extent +indeed as to necessitate the resignation of the latter. Thereon the +High Commissioner despatched a Cape politician, Mr. Cecil Rhodes, and +his own private secretary, Captain Bower, R.N., to Bechuanaland. These +gentlemen at once set to work to undo most of what Mr. Mackenzie had +done, and, generally speaking, did not advance either British or native +interests in Bechuanaland. At this point, taking advantage of the +general confusion, the Government of the South African Republic issued +a proclamation placing both Montsioa and Moshette under its protection, +as usual "in the interests of humanity." +</p> + +<p> +But the agitation in England had, fortunately for what remained of the +Bechuana people, not been allowed to drop. Her Majesty's Government +disallowed the Boer proclamation, under Article iv. of the convention +of London, and despatched an armed force to Bechuanaland, commanded by +Sir Charles Warren. This good act, I believe I am right in saying, we +owe entirely to the firmness of Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain, +who insisted upon its being done. Meanwhile Messrs. Upington and +Sprigg, members of the Cape Government, hastened to Bechuanaland to +effect a settlement before the arrival of Sir Charles Warren's force. +This settlement, though it might have been agreeable to the +fillibusters and the anti-Imperialists generally, was disallowed by Her +Majesty's Government as unsatisfactory, and Sir Charles Warren was +ordered to occupy Bechuanaland. This he accordingly did, taking Mr. +Mackenzie with him, very much against the will of the anti-English +party, and, be it added, of Sir Hercules Robinson. Indeed, if we may +accept Mr. Mackenzie's version of these occurrences, which seems to be +a fair one, and adequately supported by documentary evidence, the +conduct of Sir Hercules Robinson towards Mr. Mackenzie would really +admit of explanation. As soon as the freebooters saw that the Imperial +Government was really in earnest, of course there was no more trouble. +They went away, and Sir Charles Warren took possession of Bechuanaland +without striking a single blow. He remained in the country for nearly a +year arranging for its permanent pacification and government, and as a +result of his occupation, on the 30th September 1885, all the territory +south of the Molopo River was declared to be British territory, and +made into a quasi crown colony, the entire extent of land, including +the districts ruled over by Khama, Sechele, and Gasitsive, being about +160,000 square miles in area. I believe that the new colony of British +Bechuanaland is proving a very considerable success. Every provision +has been made for native wants, and its settlement goes on apace. There +is no reason why, with its remarkable natural advantages, it should not +one day become a great country, with a prosperous white, and a loyal +and contented native population. When this comes about it is to be +hoped that it will remember that it owes its existence to the energy +and firmness of Mr. Mackenzie, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, and +Sir Charles Warren. +</p> + +<p> +It is probably by now dawning upon the mind of the British public that +when we gave up the Transvaal we not only did a cowardly thing and +sowed a plentiful crop of future troubles, we also abandoned one of the +richest, if not the richest, country in the world. The great +gold-fields which exist all over the surface of the land are being +opened up and pouring out their treasures so fast that it is said that +the Transvaal Government, hitherto remarkable for its impecuniosity, +does not know what to do with its superfluous cash. To what extent this +will continue it is impossible to say, but I for one shall not be +surprised if the output should prove to be absolutely unprecedented. +And with gold in vast quantities, with iron in mountains, and coal-beds +to be measured by the scores of square miles, with lead and copper and +cobalt, a fertile soil, water, and one of the most lovely climates in +the world, what more is required to make a country rich and great? Only +one thing, an Anglo-Saxon Government, and that we have taken away from +the Transvaal. Whether the English flag has vanished for ever from its +borders is, however, still an open question. The discovery of gold in +such quantities is destined to exercise a very remarkable influence +upon the future of the Transvaal. Where gold is to be found, there the +hardy, enterprising, English-speaking diggers flock together, and +before them and their energy the Boer retreats, as the native retreats +and vanishes before the rifle of the Boer. Already there are many +thousands of diggers in the Transvaal; if the discoveries of gold go +on and prove as remunerative as they promise to be, in a few more years +their number will be vastly increased. Supposing that another five +years sees sixty or seventy thousand English diggers at work in the +Transvaal, is it to be believed that these men will in that event allow +themselves to be ruled by eight or nine thousand hostile-hearted Boers? +Is it to be believed, too, that the Boers will stop to try and rule +them? From such knowledge as I have of their character I should say +certainly not. They will <i>trek</i>, anywhere out of the way of the +Englishman and his English ways, and those who do not <i>trek</i> will +be absorbed.<a href="#note19" name="noteref19"><small>[19]</small></a> Should this happen, it is, of course, possible, and +even probable, that for some time the diggers, fearing the vacillations +of Imperial policy, would prefer to remain independent with a +Republican form of Government. But the Englishman is a law-abiding and +patriotic creature, and as society settled itself in the new community, +it would almost certainly desire to be united to the Empire and +acknowledge the sovereignty of the Queen. So far as a judgment can be +formed, if only the gold holds out the Transvaal will as certainly fall +into the lap of the Empire as a green apple will one day drop from the +tree—that is, if it is not gathered. +</p> + +<p> +Now it is quite possible that the Germans, or some other power, may try +to gather the Transvaal apple. The Boers are not blind to the march of +events, and they dislike us and our rule. Perhaps they might think it +worth their while to seek German protection, and unless we are prepared +to say "no" very firmly indeed—and who knows, in the present condition +of Home politics, what we are prepared to do from one day to +another?—Germany would in such a case almost certainly think it worth +her while to give it. Very likely the protection, when granted, would +in some ways resemble that which the Boer himself, his breast aglow +with love of peace and the "interests of humanity," is so anxious to +extend to the misguided native possessor of desirable and well-watered +lands. Very likely, in the end, the Boer would be sorry that he did not +accept the ills he knew of. But that is neither here nor there. So far +as we are concerned, the mischief would be done. In short, should the +position arise, everything will depend upon our capacity of saying +"no," and the tone in which we say it. It will not do to rely upon our +London convention, by which the Transvaal is forbidden to conclude +treaties with outside powers without the consent of this Government. +The convention has been broken before now, and will be broken again, if +the Boers find it convenient to break it, and know that they can do so +with impunity. Meanwhile we must rest on our oars and watch events. One +thing, however, might and should be done. Some person having weight and +real authority—if he were quite new to South Africa so much the +better—should be appointed as our Consul to watch over the welfare of +Englishmen and our Imperial interests at Pretoria, and properly paid +for doing so. It is difficult to find a suitable man unless he is +adequately salaried and supported. +</p> + +<p> +But quite recently this country has awakened to the knowledge that +Delagoa Bay is important to its South African interests, though how +important it perhaps does not altogether realise. For years and years +the colony of Natal has been employed in the intermittent construction +of a railway with a very narrow gauge, which is now open as far as +Ladysmith, or to within a hundred miles of the Transvaal border. Natal +is very poor, and in common with the rest of South Africa, and indeed +of the world, has lately been passing through a period of great +commercial depression. The Home Government has refused to help it to +construct its railways (if it had done so, how many hundreds of +thousand pounds would have been saved to the British taxpayer during +the Zulu and Boer wars!), and has equally refused to allow it to borrow +sufficient money to get them constructed, with the result that a large +amount of the interior trade has already been deflected into other +channels. And now a fresh and very real danger, not only to Natal, but +to all Imperial interests in South Africa, has sprung into sudden +prominence, that is, in this country, for in Africa it has been +foreseen for many years. Above Zululand is situated Amatongaland, which +reaches to the southern shore of one of the finest harbours in the +world, Delagoa Bay. This great bight, in which half a dozen navies +could ride at anchor, the only really good haven on the coasts of South +Africa, is fifty-five miles in width and twenty in depth, that is, from +east to west It is separated from the Transvaal, of which it is the +natural port, by about ninety miles of wild and sparsely inhabited +country. +</p> + +<p> +The ownership of this splendid port was for many years in dispute +between this country and the Portuguese, with whose dominions of +Mozambique it is connected by a strip of coast, and who have a small +fort upon it. This dispute was finally referred by Lord Granville in +1872 to the decision of Marshal MacMahon, and on this occasion, as on +every other in which this country has been weak enough to go to +arbitration, that decision was given against us. Into the merits of the +case it is not necessary to enter, further than to say, as has already +been recently pointed out by a very able and well-informed correspondent +of the <cite>Morning Post</cite>, that it is by no means clear by what +right the matter was referred to arbitration at all. The Amatongas are +in possession of the southern shore of the bay, including, I believe, +the Inyack Peninsula and Inyack Island, and they are an independent +people. The Swazis also abut on it, and they are independent. What +warrant had we to refer their rights to the arbitration of Marshal +MacMahon? The evidence of the exercise of any Portuguese sovereignty +over these countries is so shadowy that it may be said never to have +existed; certainly it does not exist now. This is a point, but it is +nothing more. We must take things as we find them, and we find that the +Portuguese have been formally declared and admitted by us to be the +owners of Delagoa Bay. +</p> + +<p> +Now, so long as we held the Transvaal it did not so much matter who had +the sovereignty of the Bay, since a railway constructed from there +could only run to British territory. But we gave up the Transvaal, +which is now virtually a hostile state, and the contingency which has +been so long foreseen in South Africa, and so blindly overlooked at +home, has come to pass—the railway is in course of rapid completion. +What does this mean to us? At the best, it means that we lose the +greater part of the trade of South-eastern Africa; at the worst, that +we lose it all. In other words, it means, putting aside the question of +our Imperial needs and status in Africa, a great many millions a year +in hard cash out of the national pocket. Let us suppose that the worst +happens, and that the Germans get a footing either in the Transvaal or +Delagoa Bay. Obviously they will stop our trade in favour of their own. +Or let us suppose that the Transvaal takes advantage of one of our +spasms of Imperial paralysis, such as afflicted us during the +<i lang="fr">régime</i> of Lord Derby, and defies the provision in the convention +which forbids them to put a heavier tax upon our goods than upon those +of any other nation. In either event our case would be a bad one, for +our road from the eastern coast to the vast interior is blocked. But it +is of little use crying over spilt milk, or anticipating evils which it +is our duty to try to avert, and which in all probability still could +be averted by a sound and consistent policy. +</p> + +<p> +To begin with, both Swaziland and Amatongaland can be annexed to the +Empire. It is true that the independence of the first of these +countries is guaranteed by Article xii. of the convention of London of +1884. Here is the exact wording:—"The independence of the Swazis +within the boundary-line of Swaziland, as indicated in the first +article of this convention, will be fully recognised." But England has +for years exercised a kind of protective right over Swaziland—a right, +as I have already shown, fully acknowledged and frequently appealed to +by the Swazis themselves. And for the rest, what is the obvious meaning +of this provision? It means that the independence of Swaziland is +guaranteed against Boer encroachments; its object was to protect the +Swazis from extermination at the hands of the Boers. Further, the Boers +have again and again broken this article of the convention in their +repeated attempts to get a foothold in Swaziland. It has now become +necessary to our interests that the Swazis should come under our rule, +as indeed they are most anxious to do, and a way should be found by +which this end can be accomplished. +</p> + +<p> +Then as to Amatongaland, or Maputaland, as it is sometimes called, only +a month or two ago an embassy from the Queen of that country waited on +the Colonial Office, praying for British protection. It is not known +what answer they received; let us trust that it was a favourable +one.<a href="#note20" name="noteref20"><small>[20]</small></a> The protection that should be accorded to the Amatongas, both +in their interests and our own, is annexation to the British Empire +upon such terms as might be satisfactory to them. The management of +their country might be left to them, subject to the advice of a +Resident, and the enforcement of the ordinary laws respecting life and +property common to civilised states. Drink and white men might be +strictly excluded from it, unless the Amatongas should wish to welcome +the latter. But the country, with its valuable but undefined rights +over Delagoa Bay, should belong to England, for whoever owns Swaziland +and Amatongaland will in course of time be almost certain to own the +Bay also. It must further be remembered that circumstances have already +given us certain rights over the Amatongas. They regarded Cetywayo as +their suzerain, and it was, I believe, at his instance that Zambila was +appointed regent during the minority of her son. As we have annexed +what remains of Zululand, Cetywayo's suzerainty has consequently passed +to us. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, can nothing be done by direct treaty with the Portuguese? A +little while ago the Bay could no doubt have been acquired for a very +moderate consideration, but those golden opportunities have been +allowed to slip from hands busy weaving the web of party politics. Now +it is a different affair. Delagoa Bay is of no direct value to Portugal +except for the honour and glory of the thing. Portugal has never done +anything with it, any more than she has with her other African +possessions, and never will do anything with it. But it has become very +valuable, indeed, so far as its South African interests are concerned, +almost vital, to this country, and of that fact Portugal is perfectly +well aware. Consequently, if we want the Bay we must pay for it, if not +in cash, at the offer of which the Portuguese national pride might be +revolted, then in some other equivalent. Surely a power like England +could find a way of obliging one like Portugal in return for this small +concession. Or an exchange of territory might be effected. Perhaps +Portugal might be inclined to accept of some of our possessions on the +West Coast or an island or two in the West Indies. It is hard to +suppose that there is no way out of the trouble; but if indeed there is +none, why, then, one must be found, or we must be content to lose a +great part of our African trade. +</p> + +<p> +The reader who has followed me through this brief and imperfect summary +of recent events in South Africa will see how varied are its interests, +how enormous its areas, and how vast its wealth. In that great country +England is still the paramount power. Her prestige has, indeed, been +greatly shaken, and she is sadly fallen from her estate of eight or +nine years gone. But she is still paramount; and if she has to face the +animosity of a section of the Boers, she can, notwithstanding her many +crimes against them, set against it the love and respect of every +native in the land, with the exception, perhaps, of a few self-seekers +and intriguers. The history of the next twenty years, and perhaps of +the next ten, will decide whether this country is to remain paramount +or whether South Africa is to become a great Dutch, English-hating +Republic. There are some who call themselves Englishmen, and who +possessed by that strange itch which prompts them to desire any evil +that can humble their country in the face of her enemies, or can bring +about the advantage of the rebel to the injury of the loyal subject, to +whom this last event would be most welcome, and who have not hesitated +to say that it would be welcome. To such there is nothing to be said. +Let them follow their false lights and earn the wonder of true-hearted +men and the maledictions of posterity. +</p> + +<p> +But, addressing those of other and older doctrines, I would ask what +such an event would mean? It would mean nothing less than a great +national calamity; it would mean the utter ruin of the native tribes; +and, to come to a reason which has a wider popularity, for as I think +Mr. S. Little says in his work on South Africa, "the argument to the +pocket is the best argument to the man," it would mean the loss of a +vast trade, which, if properly protected, will be growing while we are +sleeping. And this calamity can yet be averted; the mistakes and +cowardice of the past can still be remedied, at any rate to a great +extent; the door is yet open. We have many difficulties to face, among +the chief of which are the Transvaal, the question of Delagoa Bay, and +last, but not least, the question of the Dutch party at the Cape, which +may be numerically the strongest party. When, in our mania for +representative institutions, we thrust responsible government upon the +Cape, we placed ourselves practically at the mercy of any chance +anti-English majority. It is possible that in the future we may find +some such majority urging upon an English Ministry the desirability of +the separation of the Cape Colony from the Empire, and may find also +that the prayer meets with favourable attention from those to whom +there is but one thing sacred, the rights of a majority, and especially +of an agitating majority. +</p> + +<p> +But let not the country be deceived by any such representations. The +natives too have a right to a voice in the disposal of their fortunes +and their lands. They are the majority in the proportion of three to +one, and let any doubter go and ask of them, anywhere from the Zambesi +to Cape Agulhas, whether they would rather be ruled by the Queen or by +a Boer Republic, and hear the answer. When it was a question of +surrendering the Transvaal we heard a great deal of the rights of some +thirty thousand Boers, and very little, or rather nothing, of the +rights of the million natives who lived in the country with them, and +to whom that country originally belonged. And yet, if the reader will +turn to that part of this book which deals with the question, he will +find that they had an opinion, and a strong one. No settlement of South +African questions that does not receive adequate consideration from a +native point of view can be a just settlement, or one which the Home +Government should sanction. Moreover, the Cape is not by any means +entirely anti-English at heart, as was shown clearly enough by the +number and enthusiasm of the loyalist meetings when its Ministry was +attempting to undo Mr. Mackenzie's work in Bechuanaland in the +interests of the Patriot-party. +</p> + +<p> +Still, it is possible that movements may arise under the fostering care +of the Africander Bond and its sympathisers, having for object the +separation of the colony from the Empire, or other ends fatal to +Imperial interests; and in this case the Home Government should be +prepared to disallow and put a final stop to them. We cannot afford to +lose our alternative route to India and to throw these great +territories into the hands of enemies, from which they would very +probably pass into those of commercial rivals. In such an event all +that would be required is a show of firmness. If once it was known that +an English Ministry really meant what it said, and that its promises +made in the Queen's name were not liable to be given the lie by a +succeeding set of politicians elected on another platform, there would +be an end to disloyalty and agitation in South Africa. As it is, +loyalists, remembering the experiences of the last few years, are +faint-hearted, never knowing if they will meet with support at home, +while agitators and enemies wax exceeding bold. +</p> + +<p> +Our system of party government, whatever may be its merits, if any, as +applied to Home politics, is a great enemy to the welfare and progress +of our Colonies, the affairs of which are, especially of late years, +frequently used as stalking-horses to cover an attack upon the other +side. Could not the two great parties agree to rule Colonial affairs, +and especially South African affairs, out of the party game? Could not +the policy of the Colonial Office be guided by a Commission composed of +members of different political opinions, and responsible not to party, +but to Parliament and the country, instead of by a succession of +Ministers as variable and as transitory as shadows? Lord Rosebery and +Mr. Chamberlain, for instance, are Radicals; but, putting aside party +tactics and exigencies, are their views upon Colonial matters so widely +different from those of, let us say, Sir Michael Hicks Beach and Lord +Carnarvon that it would be impossible for these four gentlemen to act +together on such a Commission? Surely they are not; and perhaps a day +may come when the common-sense of the country will lead it to adopt +some such system which would give to the Colonies a fixed and +intelligent control aiming at the furtherance of the joint interests of +the Empire and its dependencies. If it ever does, that day will be a +happy one for all concerned. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, there is, so far as South Africa is concerned, a step that +might be taken to the great benefit of that country, and also of our +Imperial aims, and that is the appointment of a High Commissioner who +would have charge of all Imperial as distinguished from the various +Colonial interests. This appointment has already been advocated with +ability by Mr. Mackenzie in the last chapter of his book, "Austral +Africa," and it is undoubtedly one that should receive the +consideration of the Government. Such an officer would not supersede +the Governors of the various colonies or the administrators of the +native territories, although, so far as Imperial interests were +concerned, they would be primarily responsible to him. At present there +is no central authority except the Colonial Office, and Downing Street +is a long way off and somewhat overworked. Each Governor must +necessarily look at South African affairs from his own standpoint and +through local glasses. What is wanted is a man of the first ability, +whose name would command respect abroad and support at home; and +several such men could be found, who would study South African politics +as a whole as an engineer studies a map, and who would set himself to +conciliate and reconcile all interests for the common welfare and the +welfare of the mother-country. Such a man, or rather a succession of +such men, might, if properly supported, succeed in bringing about a +very different state of affairs from that which has been briefly +reviewed and considered in these pages. They might, little by little, +build up a South African Confederation, strong in itself and loyal to +England, that shall in time become a great empire. For my part, +notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers which we have brought upon +ourselves, and upon the various South African territories and their +inhabitants, I believe that such an empire is destined to arise, and +that it will not take the form of a Dutch Republic. +</p> + + + +<h2> +APPENDIX. +</h2> + + + +<h3> +<a name="appI"> </a> +I. +<br><br> +THE POTCHEFSTROOM ATROCITIES, &c. +</h3> + + +<p> +There were more murders and acts of cruelty committed during the war at +Potchefstroom, where the behaviour of the Boers was throughout both +deceitful and savage, than at any other place. +</p> + +<p> +When the fighting commenced a number of ladies and children, the wives +and children of English residents, took refuge in the fort. Shortly +after it had been invested they applied to be allowed to return to +their homes in the town till the war was over. The request was refused +by the Boer commander, who said that as they had gone there, they might +stop and "perish" there. One poor lady, the wife of a gentleman well +known in the Transvaal, was badly wounded by having the point of a +stake, which had been cut in two by a bullet, driven into her side. She +was at the time in a state of pregnancy, and died some days afterwards +in great agony. Her little sister was shot through the throat, and +several other women and children suffered from bullet wounds, and fever +arising from their being obliged to live for months exposed to rain and +heat, with insufficient food. +</p> + +<p> +The moving spirit of all the Potchefstroom atrocities was a cruel +wretch of the name of Buskes, a well-educated man, who, as an advocate +of the High Court, had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. +</p> + +<p> +One deponent swears that he saw this Buskes wearing Captain Fall's +diamond ring, which he had taken from Sergeant Ritchie, to whom it was +handed to be sent to England, and also that he had possessed himself of +the carriages and other goods belonging to prisoners taken by the +Boers.<a href="#note21" name="noteref21"><small>[21]</small></a> Another deponent (whose name is omitted in the Blue Book for +precautionary reasons) swears, "That on the next night the patrol again +came to my house accompanied by one Buskes, who was secretary of the +Boer Committee, and again asked where my wife and daughter were. I +replied, in bed; and Buskes then said, 'I must see for myself.' I +refused to allow him, and he forced me, with a loaded gun held to my +breast, to open the curtains of the bed, when he pulled the bedclothes +half off my wife, and altogether off my daughter. I then told him if I +had a gun I would shoot him. He placed a loaded gun at my breast, when +my wife sprang out of bed and got between us." +</p> + +<p> +I remember hearing at the time that this Buskes (who is a good +musician) took one of his victims, who was on the way to execution, +into the chapel and played the "Dead March in Saul," or some such +piece, over him on the organ. +</p> + +<p> +After the capture of the Court House a good many Englishmen fell into +the hands of the Boers. Most of these were sentenced to hard labour and +deprivation of "civil rights." The sentence was enforced by making them +work in the trenches under a heavy fire from the fort. One poor fellow, +F. W. Finlay by name, got his head blown off by a shell from his own +friends in the fort, and several loyal Kafirs suffered the same fate. +After these events the remaining prisoners refused to return to the +trenches till they had been "tamed" by being thrashed with the butt end +of guns, and by threats of receiving twenty-five lashes each. +</p> + +<p> +But their fate, bad as it was, was not so awful as that suffered by Dr. +Woite and J. Van der Linden. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Woite had attended the Boer meeting which was held before the +outbreak, and written a letter from thence to Major Clarke, in which he +had described the talk of the Boers as silly bluster. He was not a paid +spy. This letter was, unfortunately for him, found in Major Clarke's +pocket-book, and because of it he was put through a form of trial, +taken out and shot dead, all on the same day. He left a wife and large +family, who afterwards found their way to Natal in a destitute +condition. +</p> + +<p> +The case of Van der Linden is somewhat similar. He was one of Raaf's +Volunteers, and as such had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. +In the execution of his duty he made a report to his commanding officer +about the Boer meeting, and which afterwards fell into the hands of the +Boers. On this he was put through the form of trial, and, though in the +service of the Queen, was found guilty of treason and condemned to +death. One of his judges, a little less stony-hearted than the rest, +pointed out that "when the prisoner committed the crime martial law had +not yet been proclaimed, nor the State," but it availed him nothing. He +was taken out and shot. +</p> + +<p> +A Kafir named Carolus was also put through the form of trial and shot, +for no crime at all that I can discover. +</p> + +<p> +Ten unarmed Kafir drivers, who had been sent away from the fort, were +shot down in cold blood by a party of Boers. Several witnesses depose +to having seen their remains lying together close by Potchefstroom. +</p> + +<p> +Various other Kafirs were shot. None of the perpetrators of these +crimes were brought to justice. The Royal Commission comments on these +acts as follows:— +</p> + +<p> +"In regard to the deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, and Carolus, the +Boer leaders do not deny the fact that those men had been executed, but +sought to justify it. The majority of your Commissioners felt bound to +record their opinion that the taking of the lives of these men was an +act contrary to the rules of civilised warfare. Sir H. de Villiers was +of opinion that the executions in these cases, having been ordered by +properly constituted court martial of the Boers' forces after due +trial, did not fall under the cognisance of your Commissioners. +</p> + +<p> +"Upon the case of William Finlay the majority of your Commissioners +felt bound to record the opinion that the sacrifice of Finlay's life, +through forced labour under fire in the trenches, was an act contrary +to the rules of civilised warfare. <i>Sir H. de Villiers did not feel +justified by the facts of the case in joining in this expression of +opinion</i> (sic). As to the case of the Kafir Andries, your +Commissioners decided that, although the shooting of this man appeared +to them, from the information laid before them, to be not in accordance +with the rules of civilised warfare, under all the circumstances of the +case, it was not desirable to insist upon a prosecution." +</p> + +<p> +"The majority of your Commissioners, although feeling it a duty to +record emphatically their disapproval of the acts that resulted in the +deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, Finlay, and Carolus, yet found it +impossible to bring to justice the persons guilty of these acts." +</p> + +<p> +It will be observed that Sir H. de Villiers does not express any +disapproval, emphatic or otherwise, of these wicked murders. +</p> + +<p> +But Potchefstroom did not enjoy a monopoly of murder. +</p> + +<p> +In December 1880, Captain Elliot, who was a survivor from the Bronker +Spruit massacre, and Captain Lambart, who had been taken prisoner by +the Boers whilst bringing remounts from the Free State, were released +from Heidelberg on parole on condition that they left the country. An +escort of two men brought them to a drift of the Vaal river, where they +refused to cross, because they could not get their cart through, the +river being in flood. The escort then returned to Heidelberg and +reported that the officers would not cross. A civil note was then sent +back to Captain Elliot and Lambart, signed by P. J. Joubert, telling +them "to pass the Vaal river immediately by the road that will be shown +to you." What secret orders, if any, were sent with this letter has +never transpired; but I decline to believe that, either in this or in +Barber's case, the Boer escort took upon themselves the responsibility +of murdering their prisoners, without authority of some kind for the +deed. +</p> + +<p> +The men despatched from Heidelberg with the letter found Lambart and +Elliot wandering about and trying to find the way to Standerton, They +presented the letter, and took them towards a drift in the Vaal. +Shortly before they got there the prisoners noticed that their escort +had been reinforced. It would be interesting to know, if these extra +men were not sent to assist in the murder, how and why they turned up +as they did and joined themselves to the escort. The prisoners were +taken to an old and disused drift of the Vaal river and told to cross. +It was now dark, and the river was much swollen with rain; in fact, +impassable for the cart and horses. Captains Elliot and Lambart begged +to be allowed to outspan till the next morning, but were told that they +must cross, which they accordingly attempted to do. A few yards from +the bank the cart stuck on a rock, and whilst in this position the Boer +escort poured a volley into it. Poor Elliot was instantly killed, one +bullet fracturing his skull, another passing through the back, a third +shattering the right thigh, and a fourth breaking the left wrist. The +cart was also riddled, but strange to say, Captain Lambart was +untouched, and succeeded in swimming to the further bank, the Boers +firing at him whenever the flashes of lightning revealed his +whereabouts. After sticking some time in the mud of the bank he managed +to effect his escape, and next day reached the house of an Englishman +called Groom, living in the Free State, and from thence made his way to +Natal. +</p> + +<p> +Two of the murderers were put through a form of trial, after the +conclusion of peace, and acquitted. +</p> + +<p> +The case of the murder of Dr. Barber is of a somewhat similar character +to that of Elliot, except that there is in this case a curious piece of +indirect evidence that seems to connect the murder directly with Piet +Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. +</p> + +<p> +In the month of February 1881, two Englishmen came to the Boer laager +at Lang's Nek to offer their services as doctors. Their names were Dr. +Barber, who was well known to the Boers, and his assistant, Mr. Walter +Dyas, and they came, not from Natal, but the Orange Free State. On +arrival at the Boer camp they were at first well received, but after a +little while seized, searched, and tied up all night to a disselboom +(pole of a waggon). Next morning they were told to mount their horses, +and started from the camp escorted by two men who were to take them +over the Free State line. +</p> + +<p> +When they reached the Free State line the Boers told them to get off +their horses, which they were ordered to bring back to the camp. They +did so, bade good-day to their escort, and started to walk on towards +their destination. When they had gone about forty yards Dyas heard the +report of a rifle, and Barber called out, "My God, I am shot!" and fell +dead. +</p> + +<p> +Dyas went down on his hands and knees and saw one of the escort +deliberately aim at him. He then jumped up, and ran dodging from right +to left, trying to avoid the bullet. Presently the man fired, and he +felt himself struck through the thigh. He fell with his face to the +men, and saw his would-be assassin put a fresh cartridge into his rifle +and aim at him. Turning his face to the ground he awaited his death, +but the bullet whizzed past his head. He then saw the men take the +horses and go away, thinking they had finished him. After waiting a +while he managed to get up and struggled to a house not far off; where +he was kindly treated and remained till he recovered. +</p> + +<p> +Some time after this occurrence a Hottentot, named Allan Smith, made a +statement at Newcastle, from, which it appears that he had been taken +prisoner by the Boers and made to work for them. One night he saw +Barber and Dyas tied to the disselboom, and overheard the following, +which I will give in his own words:— +</p> + +<p> +"I went to a fire where some Boers were sitting; among them was a +low-sized man, moderately stout, with a dark brown full beard, +apparently about thirty-five years of age I do not know his name. +<i>He was telling his comrades that he had brought an order from Piet +Joubert</i> to Viljoen, to take the two prisoners to the Free State +line <i>and shoot them there</i>. He said, in the course of +conversation, 'Piet Joubert het gevraacht waarom was de mensche neet +dood geschiet toen hulle bijde eerste laager gekom het' ('Piet Joubert +asked why were the men not shot when they came to the first laager.') +They then saw me at the fire, and one of them said, 'You must not talk +before that fellow; he understands what you say, and will tell +everybody. +</p> + +<p> +"Next morning Viljoen told me to go away, and gave me a pass into the +Free State. He said (in Dutch), 'You must not drive for any Englishman +again. If we catch you doing so we will shoot you, and if you do not go +away quick, and we catch you hanging about when we bring the two men to +the line, we will shoot you too.'" +</p> + +<p> +Dyas, who escaped, made an affidavit with reference to this statement +in which he says, "I have read the foregoing affidavit of Allan Smith, +and I say that the person described in the third paragraph thereof as +bringing orders from Piet Joubert to Viljoen, corresponds with one of +the Boers who took Dr. Barber and myself to the Free State, and to the +best of my belief he is the man who shot Dr. Barber." +</p> + +<p> +The actual murderers were put on their trial in the Free State, and, of +course, acquitted. In his examination at the trial, Allan Smith says, +"It was a young man who said that Joubert had given orders that Barber +had to be shot…. It was not at night, but in the morning early, when +the young man spoke about Piet Joubert's order." +</p> + +<p> +Most people will gather, from what I have quoted, that there exists a +certain connection between the dastardly murder of Dr. Barber (and the +attempted murder of Mr. Dyas) and Piet Joubert, one of that "able" +Triumvirate of which Mr. Gladstone speaks so highly. +</p> + +<p> +I shall only allude to one more murder, though more are reported to +have occurred, amongst them that of Mr. Malcolm, who was kicked to +death by Boers,—and that is Mr. Green's. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Green was an English gold-digger, and was travelling along the main +road to his home at Spitzcop. The road passed close by the military +camp at Lydenburg, into which he was called. On coming out he went to a +Boer patrol with a flag of truce, and whilst talking to them was shot +dead. The Rev. J. Thorne, the English clergyman at Lydenburg, describes +this murder in an affidavit in the following words:— +</p> + +<p> +"That I was the clergyman who got together a party of Englishmen and +brought down the body of Mr. Green who was murdered by the Boers and +buried it. I have ascertained the circumstances of the murder, which +were as follows:—Mr. Green was on his way to the gold-fields. As he +was passing the fort, he was called in by the officers, and sent out +again with a message to the Boer commandant. Immediately on leaving the +camp, he went to the Boer guard opposite with a flag of truce in his +hand; while parleying with the Boers, who proposed to make a prisoner +of him, he was shot through the head." +</p> + +<p> +No prosecution was instituted in this case. Mr. Green left a wife and +children in a destitute condition. +</p> + + + + +<h3> +<a name="appII"> </a> +II. +<br><br> +PLEDGES GIVEN BY MR GLADSTONE'S GOVERNMENT AS TO THE RETENTION OF +THE TRANSVAAL AS A BRITISH COLONY. +</h3> + + +<p> +The following extracts from the speeches, despatches, and telegrams of +members of the present Government, with reference to the proposed +retrocession of the Transvaal, are not without interest:— +</p> + +<p> +During the month of May 1880, Lord Kimberley despatched a telegram to +Sir Bartle Frere, in which the following words occur: "<i>Under no +circumstances can the Queen's authority in the Transvaal be +relinquished.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +In a despatch dated 20th May, and addressed to Sir Bartle Frere, Lord +Kimberley says, "That the sovereignty of the Queen in the Transvaal +could not be relinquished." +</p> + +<p> +In a speech in the House of Lords on the 24th May 1880, Lord Kimberley +said:— +</p> + +<p> +"There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding; it was +impossible to say what calamities such a step as receding might not +cause. We had, at the cost of much blood and treasure, restored peace, +and the effect of our now reversing our policy would be to leave the +province in a state of anarchy, and possibly to cause an internecine +war. For such a risk, he could not make himself responsible. The number +of the natives in the Transvaal was estimated at about 800,000, and +that of the whites less than 50,000. Difficulties with the Zulus and +frontier tribes would again arise, and, looking as they must to South +Africa as a whole, the Government, after a careful consideration of the +question, came to the conclusion <i>that we could not relinquish the +Transvaal</i>. Nothing could be more unfortunate than uncertainty in +respect to such a matter." +</p> + +<p> +On the 8th June 1880, Mr. Gladstone, in reply to a Boer memorial, wrote +as follows:— +</p> + +<p> +"It is undoubtedly a matter for much regret that it should, since the +Annexation, have appeared that so large a number of the population of +Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed to the annexation of that +territory, but it is impossible now, to consider that question as if it +were presented for the first time. We have to do with a state of things +which has existed for a considerable period, during which +<i>obligations have been contracted, especially, though not +exclusively, towards the native population, which cannot be set +aside</i>. Looking to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and +the rest of South Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal +of disorders, which might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to +the Transvaal but to the whole of South Africa, <i>our judgment it that +the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish the Transvaal</i>." +</p> + +<p> +Her Majesty's Speech, delivered in Parliament on the 6th January 1881, +contains the following words: "A rising in the Transvaal has recently +imposed upon me the duty of <i>vindicating my authority</i>." +</p> + +<p> +These extracts are rather curious reading in face of the policy adopted +by the Government, after our troops had been defeated. +</p> + + + + +<h3> +<a name="appIII"> </a> +III. +<br><br> +A BOER ON BOER DESIGNS. +</h3> + + +<p> +I reprint here a letter published in <cite>The Times</cite> of 14th October +1899, together with a prefatory note added by the editor of that +journal. This epistle seems to me worthy of the study of thinking men. +Much of it, most of it indeed, is mere brutal vapouring, false in its +facts, false in its deductions; remarkable only for the livid hues of +hate with which it is coloured. Yet in this vile concoction, the work +evidently of a half-educated member of the Cape Dutch party, or perhaps +of an Afrikander Irishman of the stamp of the late notorious Fenian +Aylward, appear statements built upon a basis of truth which we should +do well to lay to heart. I allude principally to the question of our +food supply and to the possible behaviour of the electorate in the +event of a great war under pressure of want and high prices. (See +paragraph 3 of the letter of "P. S.") In a very different work, "A +Farmer's Year," pages 179 and 380, I have attempted to treat of this +great matter which elsewhere has been dealt with also by others more +able and perhaps better qualified. Until it is reasonably certain that +under any circumstances which we can conceive the price of food stuffs +will not be raised to a prohibitive point, it can never be said that +the future of Great Britain is assured beyond all probable doubt. When +will this problem receive the attention it deserves at the hands of our +Governments and of those over whom they rule? +</p> + +<p class="space"> + +</p> + +<p> +We have received the following letter, appropriately headed "Boer +Ignorance." The writer bears a well-known Dutch name, and gives as his +late address the name of a well-known town in a Dutch district of Cape +Colony:— +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p class="ctr"> +<i>To the Editor of the "Times."</i> +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sc">Sir</span>,—In your paper you have often +commented on what you are pleased to call the ignorance of my +countrymen, the Boers. We are not so ignorant as the British statesmen +and newspaper writers, nor are we such fools as you British are. We know +our policy, and we do not change it. We have no opposition party to fear +nor to truckle to. Your boasted Conservative majority has been the +obedient tool of the Radical minority, and the Radical minority has been +the blind tool of our farseeing and intelligent, President. We have +desired delay, and we have had it, and we are now practically masters of +Africa from the Zambezi to the Cape. All the Afrikanders in Cape Colony +have been working for years for this end, for they and we know the facts. +</p> + +<p> + 1. The actual value of gold in the Transvaal is at least +200,000 millions of pounds, and this fact is as well known to the +Emperors of Germany and Russia as it is to us. You estimate the value of +the gold at only 700 millions of pounds, or, at least, that is what you +pretend to estimate it at. But Germany, Russia, and France do not desire +you to get possession of this vast mass of gold, and so, after +encouraging you to believe that they will not interfere in South Africa +they will certainly do so, and very easily find a <i lang="la">casus +belli</i>, and they will assist us directly and indirectly to drive you +out of Africa. +</p> + +<p> + 2. We know that you dare not take any precautions in advance +to prevent the onslaught of the Great Powers, as the Opposition, the +great peace party, will raise the question of expense, and this will win +over your lazy, dirty, drunken working classes, who will never again +permit themselves to be taxed to support your Empire, or even to +preserve your existence as a nation. +</p> + +<p> + 3. We know from all the military authorities of the European +and American continents that you exist as an independent Power merely on +sufferance, and that at any moment the great Emperor William can arrange +with France or Russia to wipe you off the face of the earth. They can at +any time starve you into surrender. You must yield in all things to the +United States also, or your supply of corn will be so reduced by the +Americans that your working classes would be compelled to pay high +prices for their food, and rather than do that they would have civil +war, and invite any foreign Power to assist them by invasion, for there +is no patriotism in the working classes of England, Wales, or Ireland. +</p> + +<p> + 4. We know that your country has been more prosperous than +any other country during the last fifty years (you have had no civil war +like the Americans and French to tone up your nerves and strengthen your +manliness), and consequently your able-bodied men will not enlist in +your so-called voluntary army. Therefore you have to hire the dregs of +your population to do your fighting, and they are deficient in physique, +in moral and mental ability, and in all the qualities that make good +fighting men. +</p> + +<p> + 5. Your military officers we know to be merely pedantic +scholars or frivolous society men, without any capacity for practical +warfare with white men. The Afridis were more than a match for you, and +your victory over the Sudanese was achieved because those poor people +had not a rifle amongst them. +</p> + +<p> + 6. We know that your men, being the dregs of your people, +are naturally feeble, and that they are also saturated with the most +horrible sexual diseases, as all your Government returns plainly show, +and that they cannot endure the hardships of war. +</p> + +<p> + 7. We know that the entire British race is rapidly decaying, +your birth-rate is rapidly falling, your children are born weak, +diseased, and deformed, and that the major part of your population +consists of females, cripples, epileptics, consumptives, cancerous +people, invalids, and lunatics of all kinds whom you carefully nourish +and preserve. +</p> + +<p> + 8. We know that nine-tenths of your statesmen and higher +officials, military and naval, are suffering from kidney diseases, which +weaken their courage and will-power and makes them shirk all +responsibility as far as possible. +</p> + +<p> + 9. We know that your Navy is big, but we know that it is not +powerful, and that it is honeycombed with disloyalty—as witness +the theft of the signal-books, the assaults on officers, the desertions, +and the wilful injury of the boilers and machinery, which all the +vigilance of the officers is powerless to prevent. +</p> + +<p> +10. We know that the Conservative Government is a mere sham, and that it +largely reduced the strength of the British artillery in 1888-89. And we +know that it does nor dare now to call out the Militia for training, nor +to mobilise the Fleet, nor to give sufficient grants to the Line and +Volunteers for ammunition to enable them to become good marksmen and +efficient soldiers. We know that British soldiers and sailors are +immensely inferior as marksmen, not only to Germans, French, and +Americans, but also to Japanese, Afridis, Chilians, Peruvians, Belgians, +and Russians. +</p> + +<p> +11. We know that no British Government dares to propose any form of +compulsory military or naval training, for the British people would +rather be invaded, conquered, and governed by Germans, Russians, or +Frenchmen than be compelled to serve their own Government. +</p> + +<p> +12. We Boers know that we will not be governed by a set of British curs, +but that we will drive you out of Africa altogether, and the other manly +nations which have compulsory military service—the armed manhood +of Europe—will very quickly divide all your other possessions +between them. +</p> + +<p> +Talk no more of the ignorance of the Boers or Cape Dutch; a few days +more will prove your ignorance of the British position, and in a short +space of time you and your Queen will be imploring the good offices of +the great German Emperor to deliver you from your disasters, for your +humiliations are not yet complete. +</p> + +<p> +For thirty years the Cape Dutch have been waiting their chance, and now +their day has come; they will throw off their mask and your yoke at the +same instant, and 300,000 Dutch heroes will trample you under foot. +</p> + +<p> +We can afford to tell you the truth now, and in this letter you +have got it.—Yours, &c., +</p> + +<p class="sig"> +P. S. +</p> + +<p> +<i>October 12.</i> +</p> +</div> + +<br> +<p class="ctrsmaller"> +Printed by <span class="sc">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span> +<br>Edinburgh & London +</p> + +<hr class="short"> +<h2> +Footnotes +</h2> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note1"> </a><a +href="#noteref1"><small>[1] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> In 1881, when the Convention was being discussed, +President Kruger was asked by our representative what treatment would +be given to British subjects in the Transvaal. He said, "All strangers +have now, and will always have, equal rights and privileges to the +Burghers of the Transvaal."—<i>Quotation from Speech of</i> <span class="sc">Mr. J. Chamberlain</span>, <i>June 26, 1899</i>. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note2"> </a><a +href="#noteref2"><small>[2] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> See the very remarkable letter of the Boer "P.S." to the +<cite>Times</cite> of October 14th, printed as Appendix III. to this +book, p. 241. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note3"> </a><a +href="#noteref3"><small>[3] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> Since the above was written, in the swift march of events, +the Transvaal has despatched its "ultimatum," perhaps the most +egregious document ever addressed to a great Power by a petty State. In +effect it is a declaration of war, and hostilities have now commenced +with the destruction by the Boers of an armoured train at Kraaipan, and +the capture or slaying of its escort. +</dd> + +<dd class="notetext"> +<span class="sig">H. R. H.</span> +</dd> + +<dd class="notetext"> +<i>14th October</i> 1899. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note4"> </a><a +href="#noteref4"><small>[4] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> The italics are my own.—<span class="sc">Author.</span> +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note5"> </a><a +href="#noteref5"><small>[5] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> One of the famous Triumvirate. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note6"> </a><a +href="#noteref6"><small>[6] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> I have taken the liberty to quote all these extracts +exactly as they stand in the original, instead of weaving their +substance into my narrative, in order that I may not be accused, as so +often happens to authors who write upon this subject, of having +presented a garbled version of the truth. The original of every extract +is to be found in blue-books presented to Parliament. I have thought it +best to confine myself to these, and avoid repeating stories of +cruelties and slavery, however well authenticated, that have come to my +knowledge privately such stories being always more or less open to +suspicion. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note7"> </a><a +href="#noteref7"><small>[7] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> Now Sir Marshall Clarke, Special Commissioner for +Basutoland. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note8"> </a><a +href="#noteref8"><small>[8] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> The English flag was during the signing of the Convention +at Pretoria formally buried by a large crowd of Englishmen and loyal +natives. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note9"> </a><a +href="#noteref9"><small>[9] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> It is customary in South African volunteer forces to allow +the members to elect their own officers, provided the men elected are +such as the Government approves. This is done, so that the corps may +not afterwards be able to declare that they have no confidence in their +officers in action, or to grumble at their treatment by them. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note10"> </a><a +href="#noteref10"><small>[10] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> In Blue-Book No. (C. 2866) of September 1881, which is descriptive +of various events connected with the Boer rising, is published, as an +appendix, a despatch from Sir Garnet Wolseley, dated October 1879. This +despatch declares the writer's opinion that the Boer discontent a on +the increase. Its publication thus—<i>apropos des bottes</i>—nearly +two years after it was written, is rather an amusing incident. It +certainly gives one the idea that Sir Garnet Wolseley, fearing that his +reputation for infallibility might be attacked by scoffers for not +having foreseen the Boer rebellion, and perhaps uneasily conscious of +other despatches very different in tenor and subsequent in date: and, +mindful of the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment by his advice, had +caused it to be tacked on to the Blue-Book as a documentary "I told you +so," and a proof that, whoever else was blinded, he foresaw. It +contains, however, the following remarkably true passage:—"Even were +it not impossible, for many other reasons, to contemplate a withdrawal +of our authority from the Transvaal, the position of insecurity in +which we should leave this loyal and important section of the community +(the English inhabitants), by exposing them to the certain retaliation +of the Boers, would constitute, in my opinion, an insuperable obstacle +to retrocession. Subjected to the same danger, moreover, would be those +of the Boers, whose superior intelligence and courageous character has +rendered them loyal to our Government" +</dd> + +<dd class="notetext"> +As the Government took the trouble to republish the despatch, it is a +pity that they did not think fit to pay more attention to its contents. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note11"> </a><a +href="#noteref11"><small>[11] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> Colonel Winsloe, however, being short of provisions, was +beguiled by the fraudulent representations and acts of the Boer +commander into surrendering the fort at Potchefstroom daring the +armistice. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note12"> </a><a +href="#noteref12"><small>[12] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> The following extract is clipped from a recent issue of the +<cite>Transvaal Advertiser</cite>. It describes the present condition +of Pretoria:— +</dd> + +<dd class="notetext"> +"The streets grown over with rank vegetation; the water-furrows +uncleaned and unattended, emitting offensive and unhealthy stenches; +the houses showing evident signs of dilapidation and decay; the side +paths, in many places, dangerous to pedestrians—in fact, everything +the eye can rest upon indicates the downfall which has overtaken this +once prosperous city. The visitor can, if he be so minded, betake +himself to the outskirts and suburbs, where he will perceive the same +sad evidences of neglect, public grounds unattended, roads uncared for, +mills and other public works crumbling into ruin. These palpable signs +of decay most strongly impress him. A blight seems to have come over +this lately fair and prosperous town. Rapidly it is becoming a +'deserted village,' a 'city of the dead.'" +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note13"> </a><a +href="#noteref13"><small>[13] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> I beg to refer any reader interested in this matter to the letter +of "Transvaal" to the <cite>Standard</cite>, which I have republished +in the Appendix to this book. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note14"> </a><a +href="#noteref14"><small>[14] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> [C. 3659], 1883. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note15"> </a><a +href="#noteref15"><small>[15] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> [C. 3841], 1884, p 148. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note16"> </a><a +href="#noteref16"><small>[16] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> [C. 4645], 1886, p. 64. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note17"> </a><a +href="#noteref17"><small>[17] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> Ibid. p. 70. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note18"> </a><a +href="#noteref18"><small>[18] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> By the Dutch party I mean the anti-Imperial and retrogressive +party. It must be remembered that many of the now educated and +progressive Boers do not belong to this. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note19"> </a><a +href="#noteref19"><small>[19] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> The occupation of Rhodesia has now made it impossible for +the Boers to trek out of reach of the English and their flag.—H. R. +H. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note20"> </a><a +href="#noteref20"><small>[20] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> I understand that the treaty which we have concluded with +Amatongaland (where, by the way, it is said a new harbour has been +discovered) binds the authorities of that country not to cede territory +to any other Power. But there is nothing in such a treaty to prevent, +say Portugal or the Boers, from taking possession of the land by force +of arms. Were the country annexed to the Crown, or a British +Protectorate established, they would not dare to do this. +</dd> + +<dd class="notetext"> +<i>Note.</i>—This has since been done.—H. R. H. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note21"> </a><a +href="#noteref21"><small>[21] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> Buskes was afterwards forced to deliver up the ring. +</dd></dl> + +<br> +<div class="tn"> +<p class="ctr"> +Transcriber's Note: +</p> + +<p> +Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. +</p> + +<p> +Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as +printed. +</p> + +<p> +The cover of this ebook was created by the transcriber and is hereby +placed in the public domain. +</p> +</div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44649 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/44649-h/images/cover.jpg b/44649-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c17e31 --- /dev/null +++ b/44649-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..030c0e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #44649 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44649) diff --git a/old/44649-8.txt b/old/44649-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c88466 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44649-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7774 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Boer War, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Last Boer War + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: January 12, 2014 [EBook #44649] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST BOER WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected +without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have +been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with +underscores: _italics_. The cover of this ebook was created by the +transcriber and is hereby placed in the public domain. + + + + +THE LAST BOER WAR + + +"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in +this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the +old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English +politics than such an idea. I tell you there is no Government--Whig or +Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical--who would dare, under any +circumstances, to give back this country (the Transvaal). They would +not dare, because the English people would not allow them."--(_Extract +from Speech of Sir Garnet Wolseley, delivered at a Public Banquet in +Pretoria, on the 17th December 1879._) + + +"There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding (from the +Transvaal); it was impossible to say what calamities such a step as +receding might not cause.... For such a risk he could not make himself +responsible.... Difficulties with the Zulu and the frontier tribes +would again arise, and looking as they must to South Africa as a whole, +the Government, after a careful consideration of the question, came to +the conclusion that we could not relinquish the Transvaal."--(_Extract +from Speech of Lord Kimberley in the House of Lords, 24th May 1880. +H.P.D., vol. cclii., p. 208._) + + +"Our judgment is that the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish the +Transvaal."--(_Extract from Reply of Mr. Gladstone to Boer Memorial, +8th June 1880._) + + + + +THE LAST BOER WAR + + +BY + +H. RIDER HAGGARD + + +_THIRTY-FIFTH THOUSAND_ + + +LONDON +KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO. LTD. +PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD + +1900 + + + + +WORKS BY H. RIDER HAGGARD. + + + CETYWAYO AND HIS WHITE NEIGHBOURS. + DAWN. + KING SOLOMON'S MINES. + THE WITCH'S HEAD. + SHE. + ALLAN QUATERMAIN. + JESS. + COLONEL QUARITCH, V.C. + MAIWA'S REVENGE. + MR. MEESON'S WILL. + ALLAN'S WIFE. + CLEOPATRA. + BEATRICE. + ERIC BRIGHTEYES. + NADA THE LILY. + MONTEZUMA'S DAUGHTER. + THE PEOPLE OF THE MIST. + JOAN HASTE. + HEART OF THE WORLD. + DOCTOR THERNE. + SWALLOW. + A FARMER'S YEAR. + + _IN COLLABORATION WITH ANDREW LANG._ + + THE WORLD'S DESIRE. + + + _The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._ + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE. + + +It has been suggested that at this juncture some students of South +African history might be glad to read an account of the Boer Rebellion +of 1881, its causes and results. Accordingly, in the following pages +are reprinted portions of a book which I wrote so long ago as 1882. It +may be objected that such matter must be stale, but I venture to urge, +on the contrary, that to this very fact it owes whatever value it may +possess. This history was written at the time by one who took an active +part in the sad and stirring events which it records, immediately after +the issue of those events had driven him home to England. Of the +original handful of individuals who were concerned in the annexation of +the Transvaal by Sir Theophilus Shepstone in 1877, of whom I was one, +not many now survive. When they have gone, any further accurate report +made from an intimate personal knowledge of the incidents attendant on +that act will be an impossibility; indeed it is already impossible, +since after the lapse of twenty years men can scarcely trust to their +memories for the details of intricate political occurrences, even +should they be prompted to attempt their record. It is for this reason, +when the melancholy results which its pages foretell have overtaken us, +that I venture to lay them again before the public, so that any who are +interested in the matter may read and find in the tale of 1881 the true +causes of the war of 1899. + +I have written "which its pages foretell." Here are one or two passages +taken from them almost at hazard that may be thought to justify the +words: + +"It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration +of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it +would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little farther, +and favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, +retaining only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the +bounds of possibility that they may one day have _to face a fresh +Transvaal rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale_, and might +find it difficult to retain even Table Bay." + +And again: "The curtain, so far as this country is concerned, is down +for the moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there +is but too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion +which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the +future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos." + +One more quotation. In speaking of the various problems of South +Africa, I find that I said that "unless they are treated with more +honest intelligence, and on a more settled plan than it has hitherto +been thought necessary to apply to them, the British taxpayer will find +that he has by no means heard the last of that country and its wars." + +Perhaps in a year from the present date the British taxpayer will be in +a position to admit the value of this prophecy. + +Nearly two decades have gone by since these words were written. Put +very briefly, what has happened in that time? In 1884, at the request +of the Transvaal Government, the Ministry, of which the late Lord Derby +was a member, consented to modify the Convention of 1881, and to +substitute in its place what is known as the London Convention. This +new agreement amended the terms of the former document in certain +particulars. Notably all mention of the suzerainty of the Queen was +omitted, from which circumstance the Boers and their impassioned +advocates have argued that it was abrogated. There is nothing to show +that this contention is correct. Mere silence does not destroy so +important a stipulation, and it appears to be doubtful whether even a +Lord Derby would have been prepared to nullify the imperial rights of +his sovereign and his country in this negative and novel fashion. It is +more probable to suppose that had such action been decided on, effect +would have been given to it in direct and unmistakable language. But +even if it could be proved that this view of the case is wrong, the +general issue would scarcely be affected. + +That issue, as I understand it, is as follows: The Convention of 1881 +guaranteed to all inhabitants of the Transvaal equal rights--"Complete +self-government subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and +successors, will be accorded to the _inhabitants of the Transvaal +territory_"--Mr. Kruger explaining verbally at a meeting of the +conference, that the only difference would be that in the case of young +persons who became resident in the Transvaal, there might be some +slight delay in granting full burgher privileges, limited, it would +appear, to one year's residence.[1] After that time, then, according to +the terms of this solemn agreement, which in these particulars were not +modified or even touched, by the supplementary and amending paper of +1884, any one who wished to claim the advantages of Transvaal +citizenship might do so. + + [1] In 1881, when the Convention was being discussed, + President Kruger was asked by our representative what + treatment would be given to British subjects in the + Transvaal. He said, "All strangers have now, and will always + have, equal rights and privileges to the Burghers of the + Transvaal."--_Quotation from Speech of_ MR. J. CHAMBERLAIN, + _June 26, 1899_. + +Some years later an event occurred fated profoundly to influence the +destinies of South Africa, namely, the discovery of the Witwatersrand +gold deposits, perhaps the richest and the most permanent in the whole +world. Instantly adventurers, most of them of Anglo-Saxon origin, +flocked in thousands to the place where countless wealth lay buried in +the earth, and on the plains over which I have seen the wild game +wandering, sprang up the city of Johannesburg with its motley and +cosmopolitan population, its speculators, company promoters, traders, +miners, and labouring men. + +To the Transvaal, at any rate in the beginning, the arrival of these +wealth-engendering hordes was what the fall of copious rain is to the +sun-parched veld. By this time the country was once more almost +bankrupt, but now, as though by the waving of a magician's wand, money +began to flow into its coffers. One of the characteristics of the Boer +is his hatred of taxation; one of his notions of terrestrial bliss is +to live in a land where the necessary expenses of administration are +paid by somebody else, an advantage, I understand, that among all the +civilised nations of the earth is enjoyed alone by the inhabitants of +the Principality of Monaco. It is not usual, either in the instance of +communities or individuals, that such ideals should be absolutely +attained. Yet to the fortunate possessors of the South African Republic +this happened. For quite a long period they lived at ease in their +dorps and on their farms, while the dwellers at Johannesburg, delving +like gnomes in the reefs of the Rand, provided them with magnificent +and never-failing supplies of cash. Then questions began to arise, as +they will do in this imperfect sphere. The Uitlanders, as the strangers +were called, remembering the terms of the Conventions, drawn under a +very different condition of affairs but still binding, hinted at a wish +for burgher rights. + +The Boers, who if they liked their money objected to the money-makers, +instantly took alarm. If the vote were given to the Uitlanders it was +obvious that very soon they would outnumber the original electors. Then +in a natural, but to them terrifying, sequence would come a +redistribution of the burdens of taxation, the abolition of monopolies, +the punishment of corruption, the just treatment of the native races, +the absolute purity of the courts, and all the other things and +institutions, in their eyes abominable, which mark the advent of +Anglo-Saxon rule. Behind these also loomed another danger, that of the +ultimate reappearance of the English flag. So legislation was resorted +to, and bit by bit the Uitlanders were stripped of the rights inherent +to their position as "inhabitants of the Transvaal territory," till at +last none were left to them at all. Indeed Press laws were passed and +other enactments controlling the privilege of free speech and public +meetings. Of course had the British Government put down its foot firmly +and at once at the first symptom of a desire on the part of the Boers +to whittle away such advantages as the Conventions secured to our +fellow-subjects, the present sad situation need never have arisen. But +British Governments are seldom fond of doing things at the right time, +more especially if the issue is not sufficiently distinct to be +appreciated by the masses of the electorate. Therefore matters were +allowed to drift, and they drifted into that outrageous fiasco, the +Jameson Raid of 1895. + +Into the history of that event I do not propose to enter; it is +sufficiently well known. Suffice it to say in this brief summary, that +it was the result of a compact under which Dr. Jameson was to come to +Johannesburg with a large armed force of Rhodesian police, with the +view of assisting the Uitlanders to obtain by arms what was denied to +their petitions. + +The agreement is undoubted and admitted, but all the rest is chaos. +Failure in a hundred shapes dogged the steps of these ineffective +conspirators. Dr. Jameson, with 500 men instead of 1200, took the bit +between his teeth and started at the wrong time. The Uitlanders did not +sally forth to meet him, the wires were not cut, the railway line was +not destroyed, the Boers were warned, and assembled in great numbers. +Dr. Jameson, who apparently lost his way on the veld, was entrapped +into a bad position, where, after a space of somewhat feeble combat, he +and his whole force surrendered, their lives being guaranteed to them. +The despatch-box of the raiders, with the ciphers and sundry +incriminating documents, was allowed to fall into the hands of the +enemy, and, on their own ammunition-waggons, the personnel of the Raid +performed the journey to that city of Pretoria, which when reinforced +by the Uitlanders they were to have entered in triumph. Thence they +were in due course despatched to London for trial. The members of the +Reform Committee were also seized and tried at Pretoria, several of +them being condemned to death, a sentence which was not executed; the +whole story, coming to its end to an accompaniment of the clash not of +swords, but of gold; the fines inflicted upon the conspirators by the +Transvaal Government amounting to a total of many tens of thousands of +pounds. + +Such, except for mutual recriminations which still continue, was the +end of Johannesburg's armed attempt to throw off the yoke of the Boer, +and of the efforts of the ruling powers of Rhodesia to assist them in +the task. Of course the upshot was that the poor Uitlanders fell into a +still deeper pit of oppression and despair. Lord Rosmead, then Sir +Hercules Robinson, never a proconsul remarkable for an iron will, it is +true visited the Transvaal in a great flurry, and assured, or caused +Sir Sidney Shippard and the British agent, a gentleman of the somewhat +alien-sounding name of Sir Jacobus de Wet, in substance to assure the +Uitlanders that if only they would disarm probably their wrongs must +shortly be righted by a beneficent Boer president, assisted to the task +by a Raad full of forgiveness and charity. Moreover, Sir Jacobus de Wet +told them explicitly that the lives of Jameson and his men depended +upon their laying down such weapons as they possessed, although of +course those lives were already guaranteed by the terms of the +surrender. + +But this raid had wider issues of an imperial nature. Thus it provoked +the famous telegram from the Emperor William II., which at one time +threatened to bring about a war between Great Britain and Germany. +Also, so far as these South African troubles were concerned, it put our +country hopelessly in the wrong in the eyes of the civilised world, +whom it proved difficult to persuade, although in fact this was the +case, that such strange and tortuous developments of political and +martial activity were purely local in their origin. Again it armed the +Boer with a sword of wondrous power. If Providence had sent all the +German legions to his aid it could scarcely have served him better. Now +indeed he was able to point to his land violated by the foot of the +invader, and to talk of raids as though such a wicked word had never +defiled the innocence of his ears; as though in truth he had never +heard of the plains of Stellaland, and of a certain expedition sent by +the British Government under the command of Sir Charles Warren to +preserve those territories to the peaceful enjoyment of their owners; +nor of that stretch of country which once belonged to the Zulus, but is +now called the New Republic; nor of the trek into Rhodesia that was +"damped"; nor of the extension of authority over Swaziland in defiance +of the provisions of the Convention, and of other kindred matters. + +Also it enabled him to claim "moral and intellectual damages" to a +considerable amount, although, so far as the public is aware, these +have never been satisfied, and indeed caused Pharaoh to harden his +heart, and while demanding from the new Israelites of Johannesburg an +even heavier tale of bricks in the shape of direct and indirect +taxation, to deprive them one by one of their last straws of freedom. + +Thus things fell back into their former courses, the old abuses +flourished like bay trees, the lucky holders of dynamite and other +monopolies grew fabulously rich, and--so powerful is the love of +gold--_auri sacra fames_--so much more do men value it than +freedom and pure government--the population of Johannesburg still +increased. + +More than two years have gone by since Sir Alfred Milner was sent as +High Commissioner to South Africa, during all which time, backed by her +Majesty's present Government, he has been doing his best to secure +redress for the Uitlanders, and to arrange various differences that +have arisen between the Empire and the Transvaal Republic. At length +these efforts resulted in the meeting between himself and President +Kruger, known as the Bloemfontein Conference, which took place about +four months ago. At that Conference Sir Alfred Milner advanced the +request, modest enough seeing that they are entitled to nothing less +than equal rights with the other "inhabitants of the Transvaal," that +those Uitlanders who wished to adopt the country as their home should +be entitled to the franchise after five years' residence. This was +refused by President Kruger as endangering the independence of the +State, and the Conference broke up. It was from this time forward that +war came to be looked upon as probable. In reply to various despatches +and representations of the Imperial Government, the President and +Volksraad made certain offers of a franchise which, if they were ever +seriously meant, were hampered with provisos, such as rendered them +impossible for this country to accept. Thus the five years' offer of +August 19 was coupled with the conditions that in the future there +should be no interference in the internal affairs of the Republic, that +her Majesty's Government would not further insist on the assertion of +the suzerainty, and that the principle of arbitration in the event of +future differences arising should be admitted. + +Had the Government agreed to these terms it would have meant, of +course, that the last shadow of the Queen's authority would have +vanished from the Transvaal, and as they had bound themselves not to +interfere in future, that they might be forced to look on while the +franchise which was granted one year was repealed or rendered nugatory +the next. Also, it must be remembered that this question of the +franchise does not cover all the grounds of difference between the two +parties; indeed, it seems that a great deal too much importance has +been given to the matter. Even if a certain number of Uitlanders +elected to become citizens of a Boer state, it is difficult to see, +however advantageous that circumstance might prove to themselves, in +what way it would directly assist the Imperial power on such a +question, let us say, as the treatment of our Indian subjects settled +in the Transvaal. To begin with, the new-born burghers might be +indifferent to the needs and wishes of the country they had renounced. +They might even consider that their oath of allegiance bound them to +oppose those wishes. At the least, even if they had the power to help +us, which could not be the case for many years, surely it would be +neither wise nor dignified for the power to which they once belonged to +trust solely to their good offices. + +In the newspapers and elsewhere Johannesburg and its Uitlanders are +spoken of continually as though they made up the sum of the situation. +It is the common cry of Liberal Forwards and of those gentlemen who +might perhaps be called Radical Backwards, that this war is to be waged +for the Uitlander and the millionaire. Of course this is not in the +least true. The Uitlander, with his woes, is only the blister that has +brought the sore of Transvaal misrule and Dutch ambitions in South +Africa to so proud a head, that at last the South African Republic has +come to describe itself as "a Sovereign independent State." That he and +his "Magnates," as Rand millionaires are called, will profit enormously +from a successful war waged by the Imperial Power is admitted; but +because the effect of such a struggle will be ultimately to put a +number of annual millions into certain pockets, it does not follow that +the war is fought for that purpose. Indeed the veriest "jingo" could +scarcely show himself self-sacrificing and altruistic. This is no local +but an Imperial question to be decided in the interests of the Empire. + +To return to the course of the negotiations. Offers, withdrawals, +stipulations, palliative clauses, proposals for further conferences +followed each other in bewildering variety, till at length, worn out, +Mr. Chamberlain, on September 22, intimated to the Government of the +South African Republic, through Sir Alfred Milner, that it was "useless +to further pursue a discussion on the lines hitherto followed, and her +Majesty's Government are now compelled to consider the situation +afresh, and to formulate their own proposals for a final settlement of +the issues which have been created in South Africa by the policy +constantly followed for many years by the Government of the South +African Republic. They will communicate to you the result of their +deliberations in a later despatch." + +It is rumoured that this later despatch has been delivered at Pretoria, +but has as yet received no reply. Three days later, however, namely, on +September 25, that industrious body, the Liberal Forwards, was honoured +with a telegram from the State Secretary of the Transvaal, which runs +as follows:-- + + "Liberal Forwards, London. Many thanks for your telegram. We stick + to the Convention, and rely upon England doing the same, as + Convention does not allow interference in internal affairs." + +When, however, it is remembered that the Convention did allow equal +rights to all the "inhabitants of the Transvaal," it will be admitted +that this cable is about the strangest of the remarkable series of +State documents which of late have emanated from Pretoria. Very aptly +it crystallises the spirit of Boer diplomacy--a bold disregard of +inconvenient facts. + +Meanwhile in South Africa various events of importance have happened. +The Orange Free State has openly thrown in its lot with the Transvaal. +The Uitlanders have fled by thousands from Johannesburg. The Boers have +massed their commandos at various points on the Natal and other British +borders, presumably for offensive purposes, since at present they can +expect no invasion of their territory. The first of these occurrences +reveals the hidden purpose of the Dutch party in South Africa, as at +night a sudden flash of lightning reveals the face of the veld. We have +never threatened the Orange Free State; it has no grievance, no cause +of quarrel, yet suddenly it appears in arms against us. Why? Because +its citizens believe that the time has come to translate into action +the old dream of the Boers, which so long as five-and-twenty years ago +was familiar to the late President Burgers when he spoke of the coming +Dutch Republic, with its eight millions of inhabitants ruling supreme +in the vast territories between the Zambezi and the Cape. Now the great +conspiracy that it has proved so hard to persuade the British public, +or a blind section of it, to credit stands unveiled, and it has for +object nothing less than the expulsion of the English power from +Southern Africa--a vain thing fondly imagined, but still a thing with +which we must reckon, and it is to be feared by the last stern +expedient of arms, since here soft words and diplomacy are of no avail. + +Difficult as it is to make the fact understood among a proportion of +the home electorate and publicists, it cannot be stated too often or +too clearly that this war, which is to come, is a war that was forced +upon us by the Boers in their blind ignorance and conceit. The mass of +them believe, because they defeated our troops in various small affairs +in 1881, that they are a match for the British Empire. Their leaders +are better instructed. They trust not so much, perhaps, to the rifles +of their compatriots as to the prowess of certain party captains in +England, and to the enthusiasm of their advocates among the English +Press and public. They remember that the activity of these forces +eighteen years ago was followed by a miserable surrender on the part of +the English Government, and not understanding how greatly opinion has +changed in this country, they hope that history may repeat itself, and +that England, wearying of an unpopular struggle, will soon cede to them +all they ask. They are mistaken, but such is their faith. They hope +also, perchance with better reason, that other complications may force +us to stay our hand. If no more telegrams can be extracted from the +German Emperor, still there is a German regiment fighting on their side +who will take with them the sympathies of the Fatherland, and they know +that the hearts of the great Powers of Europe will go out towards any +people who try to strike a blow at the root of the ever-growing tree of +the might of the British Empire. Buoyed up by bubbles such as these +they have determined to tempt the stern arbitrament of battle.[2] + + [2] See the very remarkable letter of the Boer "P.S." to the + _Times_ of October 14th, printed as Appendix III. to this + book, p. 241. + +Can it still be avoided? It would seem that except by our surrender, +which is out of the question, for that means the loss not only of South +Africa, but of our prestige throughout the world, this is not in any +way possible. Already acts of war have taken place, such as the seizure +of the gold from the mines, and the commandeering of goods belonging to +British subjects, and perhaps days before these lines can appear in +print the guns will have begun their reasoning.[3] + + [3] Since the above was written, in the swift march of + events, the Transvaal has despatched its "ultimatum," perhaps + the most egregious document ever addressed to a great Power + by a petty State. In effect it is a declaration of war, and + hostilities have now commenced with the destruction by the + Boers of an armoured train at Kraaipan, and the capture or + slaying of its escort. + + H. R. H. + + _9th October _ 1899. + +After the rebellion of 1881 a Boer jury, to whom the case was committed +by the tender mercies of Mr. Gladstone's Government, with the murdered +man's bullet-riddled skull lying before them upon the table of the +Court, acquitted the brutal slaughterers of Captain Elliot, not because +they had not done the deed with every circumstance of horrible +treachery and premeditation, but because to find them guilty was +against their brethren's wish. In much the same way, with all the facts +staring them in the face, there are men in England, some of them of +high position and character, who urge the righteousness of the Boer +cause, and with tongue and pen paint our national iniquity in hues +black as ink and red as blood. They write of the "Objects of the War," +which they do not hesitate to describe as self-seeking and infamous, so +far of course as the English people are concerned, for according to the +same authorities, the Boer objects are uniformly pure and noble. Would +it not be better if they looked back a little and tried to discover the +causes of the war? I think that if they could have witnessed a certain +scene upon the market-square at Newcastle, at which it was my +misfortune to be present, on that night of the year 1881 when the news +of the base betrayal of the loyalists by England became known, they +would win a better understanding of the question. In the spectacle of +that maddened crowd of three or four thousand ruined and deserted men, +English, Boer, and Kaffir, raving, weeping, and blaspheming in the +despair of their shame and bitterness, they might have found +enlightenment. Even now a study of the following forgotten letter +written by Mr. White, the chairman of the Committee of Loyal +Inhabitants, to Mr. Gladstone, might give to some a food for thought:-- + +"If, sir, you had seen, as I have seen, promising young citizens of +Pretoria dying of wounds received for their country, and if you had had +the painful duty, as I have had, of bringing to their friends at home +the last mementoes of the departed; if you had seen the privations and +discomforts which delicate women and children bore without murmuring +for upwards of three months; if you had seen strong men crying like +children at the cruel and undeserved desertion of England; if you had +seen the long strings of half-desperate loyalists, shaking the dust off +their feet as they left the country, as I saw on my way to Newcastle; +and if you yourself had invested your all on the strength of the word +of England, and now saw yourself in a fair way of being beggared by the +acts of the country in whom you trusted, you would, sir, I think, be +'pronounced,' and England would ring with eloquent entreaties and +threats which would compel a hearing.... We claim, sir, at least as +much justice as the Boers. We are faithful subjects of England, and +have suffered and are suffering for our fidelity. Surely we, the +friends of our country, who stood by her in the time of trial, have as +much right to consideration as rebels who fought against her. We rely +on her word. We rely on the frequently repeated pledges and promises of +her ministers in which we have trusted. We rely on her sense of moral +right not to do us the grievous wrong which this miserable peace +contemplates. We rely on her fidelity to obligations, and on her +ancient reputation for honour and honesty. We rely on the material +consequences which will follow on a breach of faith to us. England +cannot afford to desert us after having solemnly pledged herself to +us." + +"England cannot afford to desert us!" but England, or her rulers, could +and did afford itself this luxury. In vain did such men as the late +Lord Beaconsfield, the late Lord Cairns, and Lord Salisbury protest and +point out dangers. In vain did agonised loyalists flourish their own +words and promises in the face of her Majesty's Government; the spirit +of party, or the promptings of a newly acquired conscience proved too +strong. Her Majesty's loyal subjects were sneered at, insulted, and +abandoned, and the Boer, who had butchered them, was bid to go on and +prosper. + +Now, nearly twenty years afterwards, England is called upon to pay the +bill of what is in effect, whatever may have been its motives, one of +the most infamous acts that stains the pages of her history. From the +moment that the Convention of 1881 was signed it became as certain as +anything human can be, that one of two things would happen--either that +the Imperial Power must in practice be driven out of South Africa, or +that a time would come when it must be forced to assert its dominion +even at the price of war. + +Now that miserable hour is with us, and we are called upon to suppress +by arms a small, but sullen and obstinate people, whom we have taught +to believe themselves our equals, if not our superiors. Unless they +will yield at the last moment, which seems impossible seeing that the +war is of their own choosing, the new settlement of South Africa must +be celebrated by a mighty sacrifice of their blood and our blood. Not +to dwell upon other griefs and dangers, when, I ask, will the smoke and +the smell of it depart from the eyes and nostrils of the dwellers in +that unhappy land? As they troop back merrily to their mines and +workshops the money-spinners of Johannesburg may forget a past of +which, in many instances at least, their chief impression will be that +it was unpleasant and unprofitable. But after the Rand is worked out, +when the stamps cease to fall heavily by day and night, when the great +heaps of tailings no longer increase from month to month, when the +broker's voice is quiet in the Exchange, and the promoter inhabits some +new city, still the Boer women in the farmhouses will tell their +children how the "damned English soldiers" shot their grandfathers and +took the land. In South Africa new Irelands will arise, and from the +dragon's teeth that we are forced to sow the harvest of hate will +spring, and spring again. Thus must we eat of the bitter bread which we +have baked, and thus the ill fowl that we reared have come home to +roost, bringing their broods with them. + +Again and again we have blundered in our treatment of the Dutch. For +instance, with kinder and fairer management they would never have +trekked from the Cape sixty years ago. Also, had the promises which +were made to them at the annexation in 1877 been kept, and had not Sir +Theophilus Shepstone, who grew up amongst them and to whom they were +attached, been removed in favour of a military martinet, there would +have been no rebellion, let the Cape wire-pullers working under a cloak +of loyalty to the Crown strive as they might. But the rebellion came +and the defeats, and after these that surrender whereof this country is +called upon to pluck the fruit to-day, which, by the Boers, is +attributed to those defeats with the fear of their prowess and to +nothing else. + +And now, in due season, the war comes; an inevitable war which cannot +be escaped, and must be fought out to the end. There is only room for +one paramount power in Southern Africa! + +How all these things happened is told briefly, but I trust clearly, in +the following pages. My excuse for reprinting them must be the desire +which, it is said, exists among some readers to become better +acquainted with the facts that engendered the present fateful crisis. + + H. RIDER HAGGARD. + +_9th October _1899. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGES + +AUTHOR'S NOTE v + + +CHAPTER I. + +ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. + +Invasion by Mosilikatze--Arrival of the emigrant Boers--Establishment +of the South African Republic--The Sand River Convention--Growth of +the territory of the republic--The native tribes surrounding it-- +Capabilities of the country--Its climate--Its inhabitants--The Boers +--Their peculiarities and mode of life--Their abhorrence of settled +government and payment of taxes--The Dutch patriotic party--Form of +government previous to the annexation--Courts of law--The commando +system--Revenue arrangements--Native races in the Transvaal 1-22 + + +CHAPTER II. + +EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. + +Mr. Burgers elected president--His character and aspirations--His +pension from the English Government--His visit to England--The +railway loan--Relations of the republic with native tribes--The +pass laws--Its quarrel with Cetywayo--Confiscation of native +territory in the Keate Award--Treaty with the Swazi king--The +Secocoeni war--Capture of Johannes' stronghold by the Swazi +allies--Attack on Secocoeni's mountain--Defeat and dispersion of +the Boers--Elation of the natives--Von Schlickmann's volunteers-- +Cruelties perpetrated--Abel Erasmus--Treatment of natives by Boers +--Public meeting at Potchefstroom in 1868--The slavery question-- +Some evidence on the subject--Pecuniary position of the Transvaal +prior to the annexation--Internal troubles--Divisions amongst the +Boers--Hopeless condition of the country 23-49 + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ANNEXATION. + +Anxiety of Lord Carnarvon--Despatch of Sir T. Shepstone as Special +Commissioner to the Transvaal--Sir T. Shepstone, his great +experience and ability--His progress to Pretoria, and reception +there--Feelings excited by the arrival of the mission--The +annexation _not_ a foregone conclusion--Charge brought against +Sir T. Shepstone of having called up the Zulu army to sweep the +Transvaal--Its complete falsehood--Cetywayo's message to Sir T. +Shepstone--Evidence on the matter summed up--General desire of +the natives for English rule--Habitual disregard of their +interests--Assembly of the Volksraad--Rejection of Lord +Carnarvon's Confederation Bill and of President Burgers' new +constitution--President Burgers' speeches to the Raad--His +posthumous statement--Communication to the Raad of Sir T. +Shepstone's intention to annex the country--Despatch of Commission +to inquire into the alleged peace with Secocoeni--Its fraudulent +character discovered--Progress of affairs in the Transvaal--Paul +Kruger and his party--Restlessness of natives--Arrangements for +the annexation--The annexation proclamation 50-86 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. + +Reception of the annexation--Major Clarke and the Volunteers--Effect +of the annexation on credit and commerce--Hoisting of the Union +Jack--Ratification of the annexation by Parliament--Messrs. Kruger +and Jorissen's mission to England--Agitation against the annexation +in the Cape Colony--Sir T. Shepstone's tour--Causes of the growth +of discontent among the Boers--Return of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger +--The Government dispenses with their services--Despatch of a second +deputation to England--Outbreak of war with Secocoeni--Major Clarke, +R.A.--The Gunn of Gunn plot--Mission of Captain Paterson and Mr. +Sergeaunt to Matabeleland--Its melancholy termination--The Isandhlwana +disaster--Departure of Sir T. Shepstone for England--Another Boer +meeting--The Pretoria Horse--Advance of the Boers on Pretoria-- +Arrival of Sir B. Frere at Pretoria and dispersion of the Boers-- +Arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley--His proclamation--The Secocoeni +expedition--Proceedings of the Boers--Mr. Pretorius--Mr. Gladstone's +Mid-Lothian speeches, their effect--Sir G. Wolseley's speech at +Pretoria, its good results--Influx of Englishmen and cessation of +agitation--Financial position of the country after three years of +British rule--Letter of the Boer leaders to Mr. Courtney 87-119 + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BOER REBELLION. + +Accession of Mr. Gladstone to power--His letters to the Boer +leader and the loyals--His refusal to rescind the annexation--The +Boers encouraged by prominent members of the Radical party--The +Bezeidenhout incident--Despatch of troops to Potchefstroom--Mass +meeting of the 8th December 1880--Appointment of the Triumvirate +and declaration of the republic--Despatch of Boer proclamation to +Sir O. Lanyon--His reply--Outbreak of hostilities at Potchefstroom +--Defence of the court-house by Major Clarke--The massacre of the +detachment of the 94th under Colonel Anstruther--Dr. Ward--The Boer +rejoicings--The Transvaal placed under martial law--Abandonment of +their homes by the people of Pretoria--Sir Owen Lanyon's admirable +defence organisation--Second proclamation issued by the Boers--Its +complete falsehood--Life at Pretoria during the siege--Murders of +natives by the Boers--Loyal conduct of the native chiefs--Difficulty +of preventing them from attacking the Boers--Occupation of Lang's +Nek by the Boers--Sir George Colley's departure to Newcastle--The +condition of that town--The attack on Lang's Nek--Its desperate +nature--Effect of victory on the Boers--The battle at the Ingogo-- +Our defeat--Sufferings of the wounded--Major Essex--Advance of the +Boers into Natal--Constant alarms--Expected attack on Newcastle-- +Its unorganised and indefensible condition--Arrival of the +reinforcements and retreat of the Boers to the Nek--Despatch +of General Wood to bring up more reinforcements--Majuba Hill--Our +disaster, and death of Sir George Colley--Cause of our defeat--A +Boer version of the disaster--Sir George Colley's tactics 120-155 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. + +The Queen's Speech--President Brand and Lord Kimberley--Sir Henry +de Villiers--Sir George Colley's plan--Paul Kruger's offer--Sir +George Colley's remonstrance--Complimentary telegrams--Effect of +Majuba on the Boers and English Government--Collapse of the +Government--Reasons of the surrender--Professional sentimentalists +--The Transvaal Independence Committee--Conclusion of the armistice +--The preliminary peace--Reception of the news in Natal--Newcastle +after the declaration of peace--Exodus of the loyal inhabitants of +the Transvaal--The value of property in Pretoria--The Transvaal +officials dismissed--The Royal Commission--Mode of trial of persons +accused of atrocities--Decision of the Commission and its results +--The severance of territory question--Arguments _pro_ and _con_-- +Opinion of Sir E. Wood--Humility of the Commissioners and its cause +--Their decision on the Keate Award question--The Montsioa difficulty +--The compensation and financial clauses of the report of the +Commission--The duties of the British Resident--Sir E. Wood's +dissent from the report of the Commission--Signing of the +Convention--Burial of the Union Jack--The native side of the +question--Interview between the Commissioners and the native +chiefs--Their opinion of the surrender--Objections of the Boer +Volksraad to the Convention--Mr. Gladstone temporises--The +ratification--Its insolent tone--Mr. Hudson, the British Resident +--The Boer festival--The results of the Convention--The larger +issue of the matter--Its effect on the Transvaal--Its moral +aspects--Its effect on the native mind 156-202 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Extract from Introduction to new edition of 1888 203 + + +APPENDIX. + + I. The Potchefstroom Atrocities, &c. 231 + + II. Pledges given by Mr. Gladstone's Government as to the +Retention of the Transvaal 239 + +III. A Boer on Boer Designs 241 + + + + +_THE TRANSVAAL._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. + + +The Transvaal is a country without a history. Its very existence was +hardly known of until about fifty years ago. Of its past we know +nothing. The generations who peopled its great plains have passed +utterly out of the memory and even the tradition of man, leaving no +monument to mark that they have existed, not even a tomb. + +During the reign of Chaka, 1813-1828, whose history has been sketched +in a previous chapter, one of his most famous generals, Mosilikatze, +surnamed the Lion, seceded from him with a large number of his +soldiers, and striking up in a north-westerly direction, settled in or +about what is now the Morico district of the Transvaal. The country +through which Mosilikatze passed was at that time thickly populated +with natives of the Basuto or Macatee race, whom the Zulus look upon +with great contempt. Mosilikatze expressed the feelings of his tribe in +a practical manner, by massacring every living soul of them that came +within his reach. That the numbers slaughtered were very great, the +numerous ruins of Basuto kraals all over the country testify. + +It was Chaka's intention to follow up Mosilikatze and destroy him, but +he was himself assassinated before he could do so. Dingaan, his +successor, however, carried out his brother's design, and despatched a +large force to punish him. This army, after marching over 300 miles, +burst upon Mosilikatze, drove him back with slaughter, and returned +home triumphant. The invasion is important, because the Zulus claim the +greater part of the Transvaal territory by virtue of it. + +About the time that Mosilikatze was conquered, 1835-1840, the +discontented Boers were leaving the Cape Colony exasperated at the +emancipation of the slaves by the Imperial authorities. First they made +their way to Natal, but being followed thither by the English flag they +travelled further inland over the Vaal River and founded the town of +Mooi River Dorp or Potchefstroom. Here they were joined by other +malcontents from the Orange Sovereignty, which, though afterwards +abandoned, was at that time a British possession. Acting upon + + "The good old rule, the simple plan, + Of let him take who has the power, + And let him keep who can," + +the Boers now proceeded to possess themselves of as much territory as +they wanted. Nor was this a difficult task. The country was, as I have +said, peopled by Macatees, who are a poor-spirited race as compared to +the Zulus, and had had what little courage they possessed crushed out +of them by the rough handling they had received at the hands of +Mosilikatze and Dingaan. The Boers, they argued, could not treat them +worse than the Zulus had done. Occasionally a chief, bolder than the +rest, would hold out, and then such an example was made of him and his +people that few cared to follow in his footsteps. + +As soon as the Boers were fairly settled in their new home, they began +to think about setting up a Government. First they tried a system of +Commandants, with a Commandant-general, but this does not seem to have +answered. Next, those of their number who lived in Lydenburg district +(where the gold-fields now are) set up a Republic, with a President and +Volksraad, or popular assembly. This example was followed by the other +white inhabitants of the country, who formed another Republic and +elected another President, with Pretoria for their capital. The two +republics were subsequently incorporated. + +In 1852 the Imperial authorities, having regard to the expense of +maintaining an effective government over an unwilling people in an +undeveloped and half-conquered country, concluded a convention with the +emigrant Boers "beyond the Vaal River." The following were the +principal stipulations of this convention, drawn up between Major Hogg +and Mr. Owen, Her Majesty's Assistant-Commissioners for the settling +and adjusting of the affairs of the eastern and north-eastern +boundaries of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope on the one part, and +a deputation representative of the emigrant farmers north of the Vaal +River on the other. It was guaranteed "in the fullest manner on the +part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal +River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves +according to their own laws, without any interference on the part of +the British Government, and that no encroachment shall be made by the +said Government on the territory beyond to the north of the Vaal River, +with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the British +Government is to promote peace, free trade, and friendly intercourse +with the emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit +that country, it being understood that this system of non-interference +is binding on both parties." + +Next were disclaimed, on behalf of the British Government, "all +alliances whatever and with whomsoever of the coloured nations to the +north of the Vaal River." + +It was also agreed "that no slavery is or shall be permitted or +practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the emigrant +farmers." + +It was further agreed "that no objection shall be made by any British +authority against the emigrant Boers purchasing their supplies of +ammunition in any of the British colonies and possessions of South +Africa; it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition with +the native tribes is prohibited both by the British Government and the +emigrant farmers on both sides of the Vaal River." + +These were the terms of this famous convention, which is as slipshod in +its diction as it is vague in its meaning. What, for instance, is meant +by the territory to the north of the Vaal River? According to the +letter of the agreement, Messrs. Hogg and Owen ceded all the territory +between the Vaal and Egypt. This historical document was the Charta of +the new-born South African Republic. Under its provisions, the Boers, +now safe from interference on the part of the British, established +their own Government and promulgated their "Grond Wet," or +Constitution. + +The history of the Republic between 1852 and 1876 is not very +interesting, and is besides too wearisome to enter into here. It +consists of an oft-told tale of civil broils, attacks on native tribes, +and encroachment on native territories. Until shortly before the +Annexation, every burgher was, on coming of age, entitled to receive +from the Government 6000 acres of land. As these rights were in the +early days of the Republic frequently sold to speculators for such +trifles as a bottle of brandy or half a dozen of beer, and as the +seller still required his 6000 acres: for a Boer considers it beneath +his dignity to settle on less, it is obvious that it required a very +large country to satisfy all demands. To meet these demands, the +territories of the Republic had to be stretched like an elastic band, +and they were stretched accordingly,--at the expense of the natives. +The stretching process was an ingenious one, and is very well described +in a minute written by Mr. Osborn, the late magistrate at Newcastle, +dated 22d September 1876, in these words:-- + +"The Boers, as they have done in other cases and are still doing, +encroached by degrees on native territory, commencing by obtaining +permission to graze stock upon portions of it at certain seasons of the +year, followed by individual graziers obtaining from native headmen a +sort of right or license to squat upon certain defined portions, +ostensibly in order to keep other Boer squatters away from the same +land. These licenses, temporarily intended as friendly or neighbourly +acts by unauthorised headmen, after a few seasons of occupation by the +Boer, are construed by him as title, and his permanent occupation +ensues. Damage for trespass is levied by him from the very man from +whom he obtained the right to squat, to which the natives submit out of +fear of the matter reaching the ears of the paramount chief, who would +in all probability severely punish them for opening the door to +encroachment by the Boer. After a while, however, the matter comes to a +crisis in consequence of the incessant disputes between the Boers and +the natives; one or other of the disputants lays the case before the +paramount chief, who, when hearing both parties, is literally +frightened with violence and threats by the Boer into granting him the +land. Upon this the usual plan followed by the Boer is at once to +collect a few neighbouring Boers, including a field cornet, or even an +acting provisional field cornet, appointed by the field cornet or +provisional cornet, the latter to represent the Government, although +without instructions authorising him to act in the matter. A few cattle +are collected among themselves, which the party takes to the chief, and +his signature is obtained to a written document alienating to the +Republican Boers a large slice of all his territory. The contents of +this document are, as far as I can make out, never clearly or +intelligibly explained to the chief, who signs and accepts of the +cattle under the impression that it is all in settlement of hire for +the grazing licenses granted by his headmen. This, I have no hesitation +in saying, is the usual method by which the Boers obtain what they call +cessions to them of territories by native chiefs. In Secocoeni's case +they allege that his father Sequati cedes to them the whole of his +territory (hundreds of square miles) for a hundred head of cattle." + +So rapidly did this process go on that the little Republic to the +"North of the Vaal River" had at the time of the Annexation grown into +a country of the size of France. Its boundaries had only been clearly +defined where they abutted on neighbouring White Communities, or on the +territories of great native powers, on which the Government had not +dared to infringe to any marked degree, such as those of Lo Bengula's +people in the north. But wheresoever on the State's borders there had +been no white Power to limit its advances, or where the native tribes +had found themselves too isolated or too weak to resist aggressions, +there the Republic had by degrees encroached, and extended the shadow, +if not the substance, of its authority. + +The Transvaal has a boundary line of over 1600 miles in circumference, +and of this a large portion is disputed by different native tribes. +Speaking generally, the territory lies between the 22° and 28° of South +Latitude and the 25° and 32° of East Longitude, or between the Orange +Free State, Natal and Griqualand West on the south, and the Limpopo +River on the north; and between the Lebombo mountains on the east, and +the Kalihari desert on the west. On the north of its territory live +three great tribes--the Makalaka, the Matabele, (descendants of the +Zulus who deserted Chaka under Mosilikatze), and the Matyana. These +tribes are all warlike. On the west, following the line down to the +Diamond Field territory, are the Sicheli, the Bangoaketsi, the +Baralong, and the Koranna tribes. Passing round by Griqualand West, the +Free State, and Natal, we reach Zululand on the south-east corner; then +come the Lebombo mountains on the east, separating the Transvaal from +Amatonga land, and from the so-called Portuguese possessions, which are +entirely in the hands of native tribes, most of them subject to the +great Zulu chief, Umzeila, who has his stronghold in the north-east. + +It will be observed that the country is almost surrounded by native +tribes. Besides these there are about one million native inhabitants +living within its borders. In one district alone, Zoutpansberg, it is +computed that there are 364,250 natives, as compared to about 750 +whites. + +If a beautiful and fertile country were alone necessary to make a state +and its inhabitants happy and prosperous, happiness and prosperity +would rain upon the Transvaal and the Dutch Boers. The capabilities of +this favoured land are vast and various. Within its borders are to be +found highlands and lowlands, vast stretches of rolling veldt like +gigantic sheep downs, hundreds of miles of swelling bushland, huge +tracts of mountainous country, and even little glades spotted with +timber that remind one of an English park. There is every possible +variety of soil and scenery. Some districts will grow all tropical +produce, whilst others are well suited for breeding sheep, cattle, and +horses. Most of the districts will produce wheat and all other cereals +in greater perfection and abundance than any of the other South African +colonies. Two crops of cereals may be obtained from the soil every +year, and both the vine and tobacco are cultivated with great success. +Coffee, sugar-cane, and cotton have been grown with profit in the +northern parts of the State. Also the undeveloped mineral wealth of the +country is very great. Its known minerals are gold, copper, lead, +cobalt, iron, coal, tin, and plumbago: copper and iron having long been +worked by the natives. Altogether there is little doubt that the +Transvaal is the richest of all the South African states, and had it +remained under English rule it would, with the aid of English +enterprise and capital, have become a very wealthy and prosperous +country. However there is little chance of that now. Perhaps the +greatest charm of the Transvaal lies in its climate, which is among the +best in the world, and in all the southern districts very healthy. +During the winter months--that is, from April to October--little or no +rain falls, and the climate is cold and bracing. In summer it is rather +warm, but not overpoweringly hot, the thermometer at Pretoria averaging +from 65° to 73° and in the winter from 59° to 65°. The population of +the Transvaal is estimated at about 40,000 whites, mostly of Dutch +origin, consisting of about thirty vast families; and one million +natives. There are several towns, the largest of which are Pretoria and +Potchefstroom. + +Such is the country that we annexed in 1877, and were drummed out of in +1881. Now let us turn to its inhabitants. It has been the fashion to +talk of the Transvaal as though nobody but Boers lived in it. In +reality the inhabitants were divided into three classes: 1. Natives; 2. +Boers; 3. English. I say were divided, because the English class can +now hardly be said to exist, the country having been made too hot to +hold it since the war. The natives stand in the proportion of nearly +twenty to one to the whites. The Boers were in their turn much more +numerous than the English, but the latter owned nearly all the trading +establishments in the country, and also a very large amount of +property. + +The Transvaal Boers have been very much praised up by members of the +Government in England, and others who are anxious to advance their +interests, as against English interests. Mr. Gladstone, indeed, can +hardly find words strong enough to express his admiration of their +leaders, those "able men," since they inflicted a national humiliation +on us; and doubtless they are a people with many good points. That they +are not devoid of sagacity can be seen by the way they have dealt with +the English Government. + +The Boers are certainly a peculiar people, though they can hardly be +said to be "zealous of good works." They are very religious, but their +religion takes its colour from the darkest portions of the Old +Testament; lessons of mercy and gentleness are not at all to their +liking, and they seldom care to read the Gospels. What they delight in +are the stories of wholesale butchery by the Israelites of old; and in +their own position they find a reproduction of that of the first +settlers in the Holy Land. Like them they think they are entrusted by +the Almighty with the task of exterminating the heathen native tribes +around them, and are always ready with a scriptural precedent for +slaughter and robbery. The name of the Divinity is continually on their +lips, sometimes in connection with very doubtful statements. They are +divided into three sects, none of which care much for the other two. +These are the Doppers, who number about half the population, the +Orthodox Reform, and the Liberal Reform, which is the least numerous. +Of these three sects the Doppers are by far the most uncompromising and +difficult to deal with. They much resemble the Puritans of Charles the +First's time, of the extreme Hew-Agag-in-pieces stamp. + +It is difficult to agree with those who call the Boers cowards, an +accusation which the whole of their history belies. A Boer does not +like fighting if he can avoid it, because he sets a high value on his +own life; but if he is cornered, he will fight as well as anybody else. +The Boers fought well enough in the late war, though that, it is true, +is no great criterion of courage, since they were throughout flushed +with victory, and, owing to the poor shooting of the British troops, in +but little personal danger. One very unpleasant characteristic they +have, and that is an absence of regard for the truth, especially where +land is concerned. Indeed the national characteristic is crystallised +into a proverb, "I am no slave to my word." It has several times +happened to me to see one set of highly respectable witnesses in a land +case go into the box and swear distinctly that they saw a beacon placed +on a certain spot, whilst an equal number on the other side will swear +that they saw it placed a mile away. Filled as they are with a land +hunger, to which that of the Irish peasant is a weak and colourless +sentiment, there is little that they will not do to gratify their +taste. It is the subject of constant litigation amongst them, and it is +by no means uncommon for a Boer to spend several thousand pounds in +lawsuits over a piece of land not worth as many hundreds. + +Personally Boers are fine men, but as a rule ugly. Their women-folk are +good-looking in early life, but get very stout as they grow older. +They, in common with most of their sex, understand how to use their +tongues; indeed, it is said that it was the women who caused the rising +against the English Government. None of the refinements of civilisation +enter into the life of an ordinary Transvaal Boer. He lives in a way +that would shock an English labourer at twenty-five shillings the week, +although he is very probably worth fifteen or twenty thousand pounds. +His home is but too frequently squalid and filthy to an extraordinary +degree. He himself has no education, and does not care that his +children should receive any. He lives by himself in the middle of a +great plot of land, his nearest neighbour being perhaps ten or twelve +miles away, caring but little for the news of the outside world and +nothing for its opinions, doing very little work, but growing daily +richer through the increase of his flocks and herds. His expenses are +almost nothing, and as he gets older wealth increases upon him. The +events in his life consist of an occasional trip on "commando" against +some native tribe, attending a few political meetings, and the journeys +he makes with his family to the nearest town, some four times a year, +in order to be present at "Nachtmaal" or communion. Foreigners, +especially Englishmen, he detests, but he is kindly and hospitable to +his own people. Living isolated as he does, the lord of a little +kingdom, he naturally comes to have a great idea of himself, and a +corresponding contempt for all the rest of mankind. Laws and taxes are +things distasteful to him, and he looks upon it as an impertinence that +any court should venture to call him to account for his doings. He is +rich and prosperous, and the cares of poverty, and all the other +troubles that fall to the lot of civilised men, do not affect him. He +has no romance in him, nor any of the higher feelings and aspirations +that are found in almost every other race; in short, unlike the Zulu he +despises, there is little of the gentleman in his composition, though +he is at times capable of acts of kindness and even generosity. His +happiness is to live alone in the great wilderness, with his children, +his men-servants, and his maid-servants, his flocks and his herds, the +monarch of all he surveys. If civilisation presses him too closely, his +remedy is a simple one. He sells his farm, packs up his goods and cash +in his waggon, and starts for regions more congenially wild. Such are +some of the leading characteristics of that remarkable product of South +Africa, the Transvaal Boer, who resembles no other white man in the +world. + +Perhaps, however, the most striking of all his oddities is his +abhorrence of all government, more especially if that government be +carried out according to English principles. The Boers have always been +more or less in rebellion; they rebelled against the rule of the +Company when the Cape belonged to Holland, they rebelled against the +English Government in the Cape, they were always in a state of +semi-rebellion against their own Government in the Transvaal, and now +they have for the second time, with the most complete success, rebelled +against the English Government. The fact of the matter is that the bulk +of their number hate all Governments, because Governments enforce law +and order, and they hate the English Government worst of all because it +enforces law and order most of all. It is not liberty they long for, +but license. The "sturdy independence" of the Boer resolves itself into +a determination not to have his affairs interfered with by any superior +power whatsoever, and not to pay taxes if he can possibly avoid it. But +he has also a specific cause of complaint against the English +Government, which would alone cause him to do his utmost to get rid of +it, and that is its mode of dealing with natives, which is radically +opposite to his own. This is the secret of Boer patriotism. To +understand it, it must be remembered that the Englishman and the Boer +look at natives from a very different point of view. The Englishman, +though he may not be very fond of him, at any rate regards the Kafir as +a fellow human being with feelings like his own. The average Boer does +not. He looks upon the "black creature" as having been delivered into +his hand by the "Lord" for his own purposes, that is, to shoot and +enslave. He must not be blamed too harshly for this, for, besides being +naturally of a somewhat hard disposition, hatred of the native is +hereditary, and is partly induced by the history of many a bloody +struggle. Also the native hates the Boer fully as much as the Boer +hates the native, though with better reason. Now native labour is a +necessity to the Boer, because he will not as a rule do hard manual +labour himself, and there must be some one to plant and garner the +crops and herd the cattle. On the other hand, the natives are not +anxious to serve the Boers, which means little or no pay and plenty of +thick stick, and sometimes worse. The result of this state of affairs +is that the Boer often has to rely on forced labour to a very great +extent. But this is a thing that an English Government will not +tolerate, and the consequence is that under its rule he cannot get the +labour that is necessary to him. + +Then there is the tax question. If he lives under the English flag the +money has to be paid regularly, but under his own Government he pays or +not as he likes. It was this habit of his of refusing payment of taxes +that brought the Republic into difficulties in 1877, and that will ere +long bring it into trouble again. He cannot understand that cash is +necessary to carry on a Government, and looks upon a tax as though it +were so much money stolen from him. These things are the real springs +of the "sturdy independence" and the patriotism of the ordinary +Transvaal farmer. Doubtless there are some who are really patriotic; +for instance, one of their leaders, Paul Kruger. But with the majority, +patriotism is only another word for unbounded license and forced +labour. + +These remarks must not be taken to apply to the Cape Boers, who are a +superior class of men, since they, living under a settled and civilised +Government, have been steadily improving, whilst their cousins, living +every man for his own hand, have been deteriorating. The old +Voortrekkers, the fathers and grandfathers of the Transvaal Boer of +to-day, were, without doubt, a very fine set of men, and occasionally +you may in the Transvaal meet individuals of the same stamp whom it is +a pleasure to know. But these are generally men of a certain age, with +some experience of the world; the younger men are very objectionable in +their manners. + +The real Dutch Patriotic party is not to be found in the Transvaal, but +in the Cape Colony. Their object, which, as affairs now are, is well +within the bounds of possibility, is by fair means or foul to swamp the +English element in South Africa, and to establish a great Dutch +Republic. It was this party, which consists of clever and well educated +men, who raised the outcry against the Transvaal Annexation, because it +meant an enormous extension of English influence, and who had the wit, +by means of their emissaries and newspapers, to work upon the feeling +of the ignorant Transvaal farmers until they persuaded them to rebel; +and finally, to avail themselves of the yearnings of English radicalism +for the disruption of the Empire and the minimisation of British +authority, to get the Annexation cancelled. All through this business +the Boers have more or less danced in obedience to strings pulled at +Cape Town, and it is now said that one of the chief wire-pullers, Mr. +Hofmeyer, is to be asked to become President of the Republic. These men +are the real patriots of South Africa, and very clever ones too--not +the Transvaal Boers, who vapour about their blood and their country and +the accursed Englishman to order, and are in reality influenced by very +small motives, such as the desire to avoid payment of taxes, or to hunt +away a neighbouring Englishman, whose civilisation and refinement are +as offensive as his farm is desirable. Such are the Dutch inhabitants +of the Transvaal. I will now give a short sketch of their institutions +as they were before the Annexation, and to which the community has +reverted since its recision, with, I believe, but few alterations. + +The form of government is republican, and to all intents and purposes +manhood suffrage prevails, supreme power resting in the people. The +executive power of the State centres in a President elected by the +people to hold office for a term of five years, every voter having a +voice in his election. He is assisted in the execution of his duties by +an Executive Council, consisting of the State Secretary and such other +three members as are selected for that purpose by the legislative body, +the Volksraad. The State Secretary holds office for four years, and is +elected by the Volksraad. The members of the Executive have all seats +in the Volksraad, but have no votes. The Volksraad is the legislative +body of the State, and consists of forty-two members. The country is +divided into twelve electoral districts, each of which has the right to +return three members; the Gold Fields have also the right of electing +two members, and the four principal towns one member each. There is no +power in the State competent to either prorogue or dissolve the +Volksraad except that body itself, so that an appeal to the country on +a given subject or policy is impossible without its concurrence. +Members are elected for four years, but half retire by rotation every +two years, the vacancies being filled by re-elections. Members must +have been voters for three years, and be not less than thirty years of +age, must belong to a Protestant Church, be resident in the country, +and owners of immovable property therein. A father and son cannot sit +in the same Raad, neither can seats be occupied by coloured persons, +bastards, or officials. + +For each electoral district there is a magistrate or Landdrost, whose +duties are similar to those of a Civil Commissioner. These districts +are again subdivided into wards presided over by field cornets, who +exercise judicial powers in minor matters, and in times of war have +considerable authority. The Roman Dutch law is the common law of the +country, as it is of the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, +and of the Orange Free State. + +Prior to the Annexation justice was administered in a very primitive +fashion. First, there was the Landdrosts' Court, from which an appeal +lay to a court consisting of the Landdrost and six councillors elected +by the public. This was a court of first instance as well as a court of +appeal. Then there was a Supreme Court, consisting of three Landdrosts +from three different districts, and a jury of twelve selected from the +burghers of the State. There was no appeal from this court, but cases +have sometimes been brought under the consideration of the Volksraad as +the supreme power. It is easy to imagine what the administration of +justice was like when the presidents of all the law courts in the +country were elected by the mob, not on account of their knowledge of +the law, but because they were popular. Suitors before the old +Transvaal courts found the law surprisingly uncertain. A High Court of +Justice was, however, established after the Annexation, and has been +continued by the Volksraad, but an agitation is being got up against +it, and it will possibly be abolished in favour of the old system. + +In such a community as that of the Transvaal Boers the question of +public defence was evidently of the first importance. This is provided +for under what is known as the Commando system. The President, with the +concurrence of the Executive Council, has the right of declaring war, +and of calling up a commando, in which the burghers are placed under +the field cornets and commandants. These last are chosen by the field +cornets for each district, and a Commandant-general is chosen by the +whole laager or force, but the President is the Commander-in-Chief of +the army. All the inhabitants of the State between sixteen and sixty, +with a few exceptions, are liable for service. Young men under +eighteen, and men over fifty, are only called out under circumstances +of emergency. Members of the Volksraad, officials, clergymen, and +school-teachers are exempt from personal service, unless martial law is +proclaimed, but must contribute an amount not exceeding £15 towards the +expense of the war. All legal proceedings in civil cases are suspended +against persons on commando, no summonses can be made out, and as soon +as martial law is proclaimed no legal execution can be prosecuted, the +pounds are closed, and transfer dues payments are suspended until after +thirty days from the recall of the proclamation of martial law. Owners +of land residing beyond the borders of the Republic are also liable, in +addition to the ordinary war tax, to place a fit and proper substitute +at the disposal of the Government, or otherwise to pay a fine of £15. +The first levy of the burghers is, of men from eighteen to thirty-four +years of age; the second, thirty-four to fifty; and the third, from +sixteen to eighteen, and from fifty to sixty years. Every man is bound +to provide himself with clothing, a gun, and ammunition, and there must +be enough waggons and oxen found between them to suffice for their +joint use. Of the booty taken, one quarter goes to Government, and the +rest to the burghers. The most disagreeable part of the commandeering +system is, however, yet to come; personal service is not all that the +resident in the Transvaal Republic has to endure. The right is vested +in field cornets to commandeer articles as well as individuals, and to +call upon inhabitants to furnish requisites for the commando. As may be +imagined, it goes very hard on these occasions with the property of any +individual whom the field cornet may not happen to like. + +Each ward is expected to turn out its contingent ready and equipped for +war, and this can only be done by seizing goods right and left. One +unfortunate will have to find a waggon, another to deliver over his +favourite span of trek oxen, another his riding-horse or some slaughter +cattle, and so on. Even when the officer making the levy is desirous of +doing his duty as fairly as he can, it is obvious that very great +hardships must be inflicted under such a system. Requisitions are made +more with regard to what is wanted than with a view to an equitable +distribution of demands; and like the Jews in the time of the Crusades, +he who has got most must pay most, or take the consequences, which may +be unpleasant. Articles which are not perishable, such as waggons, are +supposed to be returned, but if they come back at all they are +generally worthless. + +In case of war, the native tribes living within the borders of the +State are also expected to furnish contingents, and it is on them that +most of the hard work of the campaign generally falls. They are put in +the front of the battle, and have to do the hand-to-hand fighting, +which, however, if of the Zulu race, they do not object to. + +The revenue of the State is so arranged that the burden of it should +fall as much as possible on the trading community, and as little as +possible on the farmer. It is chiefly derived from licenses on trades, +professions, and callings, 30s. per annum quit-rent on farms, transfer +dues and stamps, auction dues, court fees, and contributions from such +native tribes as can be made to pay them. Since we have given up the +country, the Volksraad has put a very heavy tax on all imported goods, +hoping thereby to beguile the Boers into paying taxes without knowing +it, and at the same time strike a blow at the trading community, which +is English in its proclivities. The result has been to paralyse what +little trade there was left in the country, and to cause great +dissatisfaction amongst the farmers, who cannot understand why, now +that the English are gone, they should have to pay twice as much for +their sugar and coffee as they have been accustomed to do. + +I will conclude this chapter with a few words about the natives who +swarm in and around the Transvaal. They can be roughly divided into two +great races, the Amazulu and their offshoots, and the Macatee or Basuto +tribes. All those of Zulu blood, including the Swazis, Mapock's Kafirs, +the Matabele, the Knob-noses, and others are very warlike in +disposition, and men of fine physique. The Basutos (who must not be +confounded with the Cape Basutos), however, differ from these tribes in +every respect, including their language, which is called Sisutu, the +only mutual feeling between the two races being their common +detestation of the Boers. They do not love war; in fact, they are timid +and cowardly by nature, and only fight when they are obliged to. Unlike +the Zulus, they are much addicted to the arts of peace, show +considerable capacities for civilisation, and are even willing to +become Christians. There would have been a far better field for the +Missionary in the Transvaal than in Zululand and Natal. Indeed, the +most successful mission station I have seen in Africa is near +Middleburg, under the control of Mr. Merensky. In person the Basutos +are thin and weakly when compared to the stalwart Zulu, and it is their +consciousness of inferiority both to the white men and their black +brethren that, together with their natural timidity, makes them submit +as easily as they do to the yoke of the Boer. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. + + +In or about the year 1872, the burghers of the Republic elected Mr. +Burgers their President. This remarkable man was a native of the Cape +Colony, and passed the first sixteen or seventeen years of his life, he +once informed me, on a farm herding sheep. He afterwards became a +clergyman noted for the eloquence of his preaching, but his ideas +proving too broad for his congregation, he resigned his cure, and in an +evil moment for himself took to politics. + +President Burgers was a man of striking presence and striking talents, +especially as regards his oratory, which was really of a very high +class, and would have commanded attention in our own House of Commons. +He possessed, however, a mind of that peculiarly volatile order that is +sometimes met with in conjunction with great talents, and which seems +to be entirely without ballast. His intellect was of a balloon-like +nature, and as incapable of being steered. He was always soaring in the +clouds, and, as is natural to one in that elevated position, taking a +very different and more sanguine view of affairs to that which men of a +more lowly, and perhaps a more practical, turn of mind would do. + +But notwithstanding his fly-away ideas, President Burgers was +undoubtedly a true patriot, labouring night and day for the welfare of +the State of which he had undertaken the guidance; but his patriotism +was too exalted for his surroundings. He wished to elevate to the rank +of a nation a people who had not got the desire to be elevated; with +this view he contracted railway loans, made wars, minted gold, &c., and +then suddenly discovered that the country refused to support him. In +short, he was made of very different clay to that of the people he had +to do with. He dreamt of a great Dutch Republic "with eight millions of +inhabitants," doing a vast trade with the interior through the Delagoa +Bay Railway. They, on the other hand, cared nothing about republics or +railways, but fixed their affections on forced labour and getting rid +of the necessity of paying taxes--and so between them the Republic came +to grief. But it must be borne in mind that President Burgers was +throughout actuated by good motives; he did his best by a stubborn and +a stiff-necked people; and if he failed, as fail he did, it was more +their fault than his. As regards the pension he received from the +English Government, which has so often been brought up against him, it +was after all no more than his due after five years of arduous work. If +the Republic had continued to exist, it is to be presumed that they +would have made some provision for their old President, more especially +as he seems to have exhausted his private means in paying the debts of +the country. Whatever may be said of some of the other officials of the +Republic, its President was, I believe, an honest man. + +In 1875, Mr. Burgers proceeded to Europe, having, he says in a +posthumous document recently published been empowered by the Volksraad +"to carry out my plans for the development of the country, by opening +up a direct communication for it, free from the trammels of British +ports and influence." According to this document, during his absence +two powerful parties, viz., "the faction of unprincipled +fortune-hunters, rascals, and runaways on the one hand, and the faction +of the extreme orthodox party in a certain branch of the Dutch Reform +Church on the other, began to co-operate against the Government of the +Republic and me personally.... Ill as I was, and contrary to the advice +of my medical men, I proceeded to Europe, in the beginning of 1875, to +carry out my project, and no sooner was my back turned on the Transvaal +than the conspiring elements began to act. The new coat of arms and +flag adopted in the Raad by an almost unanimous vote were abolished; +the laws for a free and secular education were tampered with; and my +resistance to a reckless inspection and disposal of Government lands, +still occupied by natives, was openly defied. The Raad, filled up to a +large extent with men of ill repute, who, under the cloak of progress +and favour to the Government view, obtained their seats, was too weak +to cope with the skill of the conspirators, and granted leave to the +acting President to carry out measures diametrically opposed to my +policy. _Native lands_ were inspected and given out to a few +speculators, who held large numbers of claims to lands which were +destined for citizens, and so a war was prepared for me, on my return +from Europe, which I could not avert." This extract is interesting, as +showing the state of feeling existing between the President and his +officers previous to the outbreak of the Secocoeni war. It also shows +how entirely he was out of sympathy with the citizens, seeing that, as +soon as his back was turned, they, with Mr. Joubert and Paul Kruger at +their head, at once undid all the little good he had done. + +When Mr. Burgers got to England, he found that city capitalists would +have nothing whatever to say to his railway scheme. In Holland, +however, he succeeded in getting £90,000 of the £300,000 he wished to +borrow at a high rate of interest, and by passing a bond on five +hundred Government farms. This money was immediately invested in +railway plant, which, when it arrived at Delagoa Bay, had to be +mortgaged to pay the freight on it, and that was the end of the Delagoa +Bay railway scheme, except that the £90,000 is, I believe, still owing +to the confiding shareholders in Holland. + +On his return to the Transvaal the President was well received, and for +a month or so all went smoothly. But the relations of the Republic with +the surrounding native tribes had by this time become so bad that an +explosion was imminent somewhere. In the year 1874 the Volksraad raised +the price of passes under the iniquitous pass law, by which every +native travelling through the territory was made to pay from £1 to £5. +In case of non-payment the native was made subject to a fine of from £1 +to £10, and to a beating of from "ten to twenty-five lashes." He was +also to go into service for three months, and have a certificate +thereof, for which he must pay five shillings; the avowed object of the +law being to obtain a supply of Kafir labour. This was done in spite of +the earnest protest of the President, who gave the Raad distinctly to +understand that by accepting this law they would, in point of fact, +annul treaties concluded with the chiefs on the south-western borders. +It is not clear, however, if this amended pass law ever came into +force. It is to be hoped it did not, for even under the old law natives +were shamefully treated by Boers, who would pretend that they were +authorised by Government to collect the tax; the result being that the +unfortunate Kafir was frequently obliged to pay twice over. Natives had +such a horror of the pass laws of the country, that when travelling to +the Diamond Fields to work they would frequently go round some hundreds +of miles rather than pass through the Transvaal. + +That the Volksraad should have thought it necessary to enact such a law +in order that the farmers should obtain a supply of Kafir labour in a +territory that had nearly a million of native inhabitants, who, unlike +the Zulus, are willing to work if only they meet with decent treatment, +is in itself an instructive commentary on the feelings existing between +Boer master and Kafir servant. + +But besides the general quarrel with the Kafir race in its entirety, +which the Boers always have on hand, they had just then several +individual differences, in each of which there lurked the possibilities +of disturbance. + +To begin with, their relations with Cetywayo were by no means amicable. +During Mr. Burgers' absence the Boer Government, then under the +leadership of P. J. Joubert, sent Cetywayo a very stern message--a +message that gives the reader the idea that Mr. Joubert was ready to +enforce it with ten thousand men. After making various statements and +demands with reference to the Amaswazi tribe, the disputed boundary +line, &c. it ends thus:-- + +"Although the Government of the South African Republic has never +wished, and does not now desire, that serious disaffection and +animosities should exist between you and them, yet it is not the less +of the greatest consequence and importance for you earnestly to weigh +these matters and risks, and to satisfy them; the more so, if you on +your side also wish that peace and friendship shall be maintained +between you and us." + +The Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal comments on this message in +these words: "The tone of this message to Cetywayo is not very +friendly, it has the look of an ultimatum, and if the Government of the +Transvaal were in circumstances different to what it is, the message +would suggest an intention to coerce if the demands it conveys are not +at once complied with; but I am inclined to the opinion that no such +intention exists, and that the transmission of a copy of the message to +the Natal Government is intended as a notification that the Transvaal +Government has proclaimed the territory hitherto in dispute between it +and the Zulus to be Republican territory, and that the Republic intends +to occupy it." + +In the territories marked out by a decision known as the Keate Award, +in which Lieutenant-Governor Keate of Natal, at the request of both +parties, laid down the boundary line between the Boers and certain +native tribes, the Boer Government carried it with a yet higher hand, +insomuch as the natives of those districts, being comparatively +unwarlike, were less likely to resist. + +On the 18th August 1875, Acting President Joubert issued a proclamation +by which a line was laid down far to the southward of that marked out +by Mr. Keate, and consequently included more territory within the +elastic boundaries of the Republic. A Government notice of the same +date invites all claiming lands now declared to belong to the Republic +to send in their claims to be settled by a land commission. + +On the 6th March 1876, another chief in the same neighbourhood +(Montsoia) writes to the Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West in +these terms:-- + + "MY FRIEND,--I wish to acquaint you with the doings of some people + connected with the Boers. A man-servant of mine has been severely + injured in the head by one of the Boers' servants, which has proved + fatal. Another of my people has been cruelly treated by a Boer + tying a rein about his neck, and then mounting his horse and + dragging him about the place. My brother Molema, who is the bearer + of this, will give you full particulars." + +Molema explains the assaults thus: "The assaulted man is not dead; his +skull was fractured. The assault was committed by a Boer named Wessels +Badenhorst, who shamefully ill-treated the man, beat him till he +fainted, and, on his revival, fastened a rim round his neck, and made +him run to the homestead by the side of his (Badenhorst's) horse +cantering. At the homestead he tied him to the waggon-wheel, and +flogged him again till Mrs. Badenhorst stopped her husband." + +Though it will be seen that the Boers were on good terms neither with +the Zulus nor the Keate Award natives, they still had one Kafir ally, +namely, Umbandeni, the Amaswazi king. This alliance was concluded under +circumstances so peculiar that they are worthy of a brief +recapitulation. It appears that in the winter of the year 1875, Mr. +Rudolph, the Landdrost of Utrecht, went to Swaziland, and, imitating +the example of the Natal Government with Cetywayo, crowned Umbandeni +king, on behalf of the Boer Government. He further made a treaty of +alliance with him, and promised him a commando to help him in case of +his being attacked by the Zulus. Now comes the curious part of the +story. On the 18th May 1876, a message came from this same Umbandeni to +Sir H. Bulwer, of which the following is an extract:--"We are sent by +our king to thank the Government of Natal for the information sent to +him last winter by that Government, and conveyed by Mr. Rudolph, of the +intended attack on his people by the Zulus. We are further instructed +by the king to thank the Natal Government for the influence it used to +stop the intended raid, and for instructing a Boer commando to go to +his country to render him assistance in case of need; and further for +appointing Mr. Rudolph at the head of the commando to place him +(Umbandeni) as king over the Amaswazi, and to make a treaty with him +and his people on behalf of the Natal Government.... The Transvaal +Government has asked Umbandeni to acknowledge himself a subject of the +Republic, but he has distinctly refused to do so." In a minute written +on this subject, the Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal says, "No +explanation or assurance from me was sufficient to convince them +(Umbandeni's messengers) that they had on that occasion made themselves +subjects of the South African Republic; they declared it was not their +wish or intention to do so, and that they would refuse to acknowledge a +position into which they had been unwittingly betrayed." I must +conclude this episode by quoting the last paragraph of Sir H. Bulwer's +covering despatch, because it concerns larger issues than the supposed +treaty: "It will not be necessary that I should at present add any +remarks to those contained in the minute of the Secretary for Native +Affairs, but I would observe that the situation arising out of the +relations of the Government of the South African Republic with the +neighbouring native States is so complicated, and presents so many +elements of confusion and of danger to the peace of this portion of +South Africa, that I trust some way may be found to an early settlement +of questions that ought not, in my opinion, to be left alone, as so +many have been left, to take the chance of the future." + +And now I come to the last and most imminent native difficulty that at +the time faced the Republic. On the borders of Lydenburg district there +lived a powerful chief named Secocoeni. Between this chief and the +Transvaal Government difficulties arose in the beginning of 1876 on the +usual subject--land. The Boers declared that they had bought the land +from the Swazis, who had conquered portions of the country, and that +the Swazis offered to make it "clean from brambles," _i.e._, kill +everybody living on it; but that they (the Boers) said that they were +to let them be, that they might be their servants. The Basutos, on the +other hand, said that no such sale ever took place, and, even if it did +take place, it was invalid, because the Swazis were not in occupation +of the land, and therefore could not sell it. It was a Christian Kafir +called Johannes, a brother of Secocoeni, who was the immediate cause +of the war. This Johannes used to live at a place called Botsobelo, the +mission-station of Mr. Merensky, but moved to a stronghold on the +Spekboom river, in the disputed territory. The Boers sent to him to +come back, but he refused, and warned the Boers off his land. +Secocoeni was then appealed to, but declared that the land belonged +to his tribe, and would be occupied by Johannes. He also told the Boers +"that he did not wish to fight, but that he was quite ready to do so if +they preferred it." Thereupon the Transvaal Government declared war, +although it does not appear that the natives committed any outrage or +acts of hostility before the declaration. As regards the Boers' right +to Secocoeni's country, Sir H. Barkly sums up the question thus, in a +despatch addressed to President Burgers, dated 28th Nov. 1876:--"On the +whole, it seems perfectly clear, and I feel bound to repeat it, that +Sikukuni was neither _de jure_ or _de facto_ a subject of the +Republic when your Honour declared war against him in June last." As +soon as war had been declared, the clumsy commando system was set +working, and about 2500 white men collected; the Swazis also were +applied to to send a contingent, which they did, being only too glad of +the opportunity of slaughter. + +At first all went well, and the President, who accompanied the commando +in person, succeeded in reducing a mountain stronghold, which, in his +high-flown way, he called a "glorious victory" over a "Kafir +Gibraltar." + +On the 14th July another engagement took place, when the Boers and +Swazis attacked Johannes' stronghold. The place was taken with +circumstances of great barbarity by the Swazis, for when the signal was +given to advance the Boers did not move. Nearly all the women were +killed, and the brains of the children were dashed out against the +stones; in one instance, before the captive mother's face. Johannes was +badly wounded, and died two days afterwards. When he was dying, he said +to his brother, "I am going to die. I am thankful I do not die by the +hands of these cowardly Boers, but by the hand of a black and +courageous nation like myself...." He then took leave of his people, +told his brother to read the Bible, and expired. The Swazis were so +infuriated at the cowardice displayed by the Boers on this occasion +that they returned home in great dudgeon. + +On the 2d of August Secocoeni's mountain, which is a very strong +fortification, was attacked in two columns, or rather an attempt was +made to attack it, for when it came to the pinch only about forty men, +mostly English and Germans, would advance. Thereupon the whole commando +retreated with great haste, the greater part of it going straight home. +In vain the President entreated them to shoot him rather than desert +him; they had had enough of Secocoeni and his stronghold, and home +they went. The President then retreated with what few men he had left +to Steelport, where he built a fort, and from thence returned to +Pretoria. The news of the collapse of the commando was received +throughout the Transvaal, and indeed the whole of South Africa, with +the greatest dismay. For the first time in the history of that country +the white man had been completely worsted by a native tribe, and that +tribe wretched Basutos, people whom the Zulus call their "dogs." It was +glad tidings to every native from the Zambesi to the Cape, who learnt +thereby that the white man was not so invincible as he used to be. +Meanwhile the inhabitants of Lydenburg were filled with alarm, and +again and again petitioned the Governors of the Cape and Natal for +assistance. Their fears were, however, to a great extent groundless, +for, with the exception of occasional cattle-lifting, Secocoeni did +not follow up his victory. + +On the 4th September the President opened the special sitting of the +Volksraad, and presented to that body a scheme for the establishment of +a border force to take the place of the commando system, announcing +that he had appointed a certain Captain Von Schlickmann to command it. +He also requested the Raad to make some provision for the expenses of +the expedition, which they had omitted to do in their former sitting. + +Captain Von Schlickmann determined to carry on the war upon a different +system. He got together a band of very rough characters on the Diamond +Fields, and occupied the fort built by the President, from whence he +would sally out from time to time and destroy kraals. He seems, if +we may believe the reports in the blue-books and the stories of +eye-witnesses, to have carried on his proceedings in a somewhat savage +way. The following is an extract from a private letter written by one +of his volunteers:-- + +"About daylight we came across four Kafirs. Saw them first, and charged +in front of them to cut off their retreat. Saw they were women, and +called out not to fire. In spite of that, one of the poor things got +her head blown off (a d----d shame).... Afterwards two women and a baby +were brought to the camp prisoners. The same night they were taken out +by our Kafirs and murdered in cool blood by order of ----. Mr. ---- and +myself strongly protested against it, but without avail. I never heard +such a cowardly piece of business in my life. No good will come of it, +you may depend.... ---- says he would cut all the women and children's +throats he catches. Told him distinctly he was a d----d coward." + +Schlickmann was, however, a mild-mannered man when compared to a +certain Abel Erasmus, afterwards denounced at a public dinner by Sir +Garnet Wolseley as a fiend "in human form." This gentleman, in the +month of October, attacked a friendly kraal of Kafirs. The incident is +described thus in a correspondent's letter:-- + +"The people of the kraals, taken quite by surprise, fled when they saw +their foes, and most of them took shelter in the neighbouring bush. Two +or three men were distinctly seen in their flight from the kraal, and +one of them is known to have been wounded. According to my informant +the remainder were women and children, who were pursued into the bush, +and there, all shivering and shrieking, were put to death by the Boers' +Kafirs, some being shot, but the majority stabbed with assegais. After +the massacre he counted thirteen women and three children, but he says +he did not see the body of a single man. Another Kafir said, pointing +to a place in the road where the stones were thickly strewn, 'the +bodies of the women and children lay like these stones.' The Boer +before mentioned, who has been stationed outside, has told one of his +own friends, whom he thought would not mention it, that the shrieks +were fearful to hear." + +Several accounts of, or allusion to, this atrocity can be found in the +blue-books, and I may add that it, in common with others of the same +stamp, was the talk of the country at the time. + +I do not relate these horrors out of any wish to rake up old stories to +the prejudice of the Boers, but because I am describing the state of +the country before the Annexation, in which they form an interesting +and important item. Also, it is as well that people in England should +know into what hands they have delivered over the native tribes who +trusted in their protection. What happened in 1876 is probably +happening again now, and will certainly happen again and again. The +character of the Transvaal Boer and his sentiments towards the native +races have not modified during the last five years, but, on the +contrary, a large amount of energy, which has been accumulating during +the period of British protection, will now be expended on their devoted +heads. + +As regards the truth of these atrocities, the majority of them are +beyond the possibility of doubt; indeed, to the best of my knowledge, +no serious attempt has ever been made to refute such of them as have +come into public notice, except in a general way, for party purposes. +As, however, they may be doubted, I will quote the following extract +from a despatch written by Sir H. Barkly to Lord Carnarvon, dated 18th +December 1876:-- + +"As Von Schlickmann has since fallen fighting bravely, it is not +without reluctance that I join in affixing this dark stain on his +memory, but truth compels me to add the following extract from a letter +which I have since received from one whose name (which I communicate to +your Lordship privately) forbids disbelief: 'There is no longer the +_slightest doubt_ as to the murder of the two women and the child +at Steelport by the direct order of Schlickmann, and in the attack on +the kraal near which these women were captured (or some attack about +that period) he ordered his men to cut the throats of all the wounded! +This is no mere report; it is positively true.'" He concludes by +expressing a hope that the course of events will enable Her Majesty's +Government to take such steps "as will terminate this wanton and +useless bloodshed, and prevent the recurrence of the _scenes of +injustice, cruelty, and rapine which abundant evidence is every day +forthcoming to prove have rarely ceased to disgrace the Republics +beyond the Vaal ever since they first sprang into existence_."[4] + + [4] The italics are my own.--AUTHOR. + +These are strong words, but none too strong for the facts of the case. +Injustice, cruelty, and rapine have always been the watchwords of the +Transvaal Boers. The stories of wholesale slaughter in the earlier days +of the Republic are very numerous. One of the best known of those +shocking occurrences took place in the Zoutpansberg war in 1865. On +this occasion a large number of Kafirs took refuge in caves, where the +Boers smoked them to death. Some years afterwards Dr. Wangeman, whose +account is, I believe, thoroughly reliable, describes the scene of +their operations in these words:-- + +"The roof of the first cave was black with smoke; the remains of the +logs which were burnt lay at the entrance. The floor was strewn with +hundreds of skulls and skeletons. In confused heaps lay karosses, +kerries, assegais, pots, spoons, snuff-boxes, and the bones of men, +giving one the impression that this was the grave of a whole people. +Some estimate the number of those who perished here from twenty to +thirty thousand. This is, I believe, too high. In the one chamber there +were from two hundred to three hundred skeletons; the other chambers I +did not visit." + +In 1868 a public meeting was held at Potchefstroom to consider the war +then going on with the Zoutpansberg natives. According to the report of +the proceedings, the Rev. Mr. Ludorf said that "on a particular +occasion a number of native children, who were too young to be removed, +had been collected in a heap, covered with long grass, and burned +alive. Other atrocities had also been committed, but these were too +horrible to relate." When called upon to produce his authority for this +statement, Mr. Ludorf named his authority "in a solemn declaration to +the State Attorney." At this same meeting Mr. J. G. Steyn, who had been +Landdrost of Potchefstroom, said, "there now was innocent blood on our +hands which had not yet been avenged, and the curse of God rested on +the land in consequence." Mr. Rosalt remarked that "it was a singular +circumstance that in the different colonial Kafir wars, as also in the +Basuto wars, one did not hear of destitute children being found by the +commandoes, and asked how it was that every petty commando that took +the field in this Republic invariably found numbers of destitute +children. He gave it as his opinion that the present system of +apprenticeship was an essential cause of our frequent hostilities with +the natives." Mr. Jan Talyard said, "Children were forcibly taken from +their parents, and were then called destitute and apprenticed." Mr. +Daniel Van Nooren was heard to say, "If they had to clear the country, +and could not have the children they found, he would shoot them." Mr. +Field-Cornet Furstenburg stated "that when he was at Zoutpansberg with +his burghers, the chief Katse-Kats was told to come down from the +mountains; that he sent one of his subordinates as a proof of amity; +that whilst a delay of five days was guaranteed by Commandant Paul +Kruger, who was then in command, orders were given at the same time to +attack the natives at break of day, which was accordingly done, but +which resulted in total failure." Truly, this must have been an +interesting meeting. + +Before leaving these unsavoury subjects, I must touch on the question +of slavery. It has been again and again denied, on behalf of the +Transvaal Boers, that slavery existed in the Republic. Now, this is, +strictly speaking, true; slavery did not exist, but apprenticeship +did--the rose was called by another name, that is all. The poor +destitute children who were picked up by kind-hearted Boers, after the +extermination of their parents, were apprenticed to farmers till they +came of age. It is a remarkable fact that these children never attained +their majority. You might meet oldish men in the Transvaal who were +not, according to their masters' reckoning, twenty-one years of age. +The assertion that slavery did not exist in the Transvaal is only made +to hoodwink the English public. I have known men who have owned slaves, +and who have seen whole waggon-loads of "black ivory," as they were +called, sold for about £15 a-piece. I have at this moment a tenant, +Carolus by name, on some land I own in Natal, now a well-to-do man, who +was for many years--about twenty, if I remember right--a Boer slave. +During those years, he told me, he worked from morning till night, and +the only reward he received was two calves. He finally escaped into +Natal. + +If other evidence is needed it is not difficult to find, so I will +quote a little. On the 22d August 1876 we find Khama, king of the +Bamangwato, one of the most worthy chiefs in South Africa, sending a +message to "Victoria, the great Queen of the English people," in these +words:-- + +"I write to you, Sir Henry, in order that your Queen may preserve for +me my country, it being in her hands. The Boers are coming into it, and +I do not like them. Their actions are cruel among us black people. We +are like money, they sell us and our children. I ask Her Majesty to +pity me, and to hear that which I write quickly. I wish to hear upon +what conditions Her Majesty will receive me, and my country and my +people, under her protection. I am weary with fighting. I do not like +war, and I ask Her Majesty to give me peace. I am very much distressed +that my people are being destroyed by war, and I wish them to obtain +peace. I ask Her Majesty to defend me, as she defends all her people. +There are three things which distress me very much--war, selling +people, and drink. All these things I shall find in the Boers, and it +is these things which destroy people to make an end of them in the +country. _The custom of the Boers has always been to cause people to +be sold, and to-day they are still selling people._ Last year I saw +them pass with two waggons full of people whom they had bought at the +river at Tanane" (Lake Ngate). + +The Special Correspondent of the _Cape Argus_, a highly respectable +journal, writes thus on the 28th November 1876:--"The Boer from whom +this information was gleaned has furnished besides some facts which may +not be uninteresting, as a commentary on the repeated denials by Mr. +Burgers of the existence of slavery. During the last week slaves have +been offered for sale on his farm. The captives have been taken from +Secocoeni's country by Mapoch's people, and are being exchanged at the +rate of a child for a heifer. He also assures us that the whole of the +High-veld is being replenished with Kafir children, whom the Boers have +been lately purchasing from the Swazis at the rate of a horse for a +child. I should like to see this man and his father as witnesses before +an Imperial Commission. He let fall one or two incidents of the past +which were brought to mind by the occurrences of the present. In 1864, +he says, 'The Swazis accompanied the Boers against Males. The Boers did +nothing but stand by and witness the fearful massacre. The men and +women were also murdered. One poor woman sat clutching her baby of +eight days old. The Swazis stabbed her through the body, and when she +found that she could not live, she wrung the baby's neck with her own +hands to save it from future misery. On the return of that commando the +children who became too weary to continue the journey were killed on +the road. The survivors were sold as slaves to the farmers.'" + +The same gentleman writes in the issue of the 12th December as +follows:--"The whole world may know it, for it is true, and +investigation will only bring out the horrible details, that through +the whole course of this Republic's existence it has acted in +contravention of the Sand River Treaty; and slavery has occurred not +only here and there in isolated cases, but as an unbroken practice, and +has been one of the peculiar institutions of the country, mixed up with +all its social and political life. It has been at the root of most of +its wars. It has been carried on regularly even in times of peace. It +has been characterised by all those circumstances which have so often +roused the British nation to an indignant protest, and to repeated +efforts to banish the slave trade from the world. The Boers have not +only fallen on unsuspecting kraals simply for the purpose of obtaining +the women and children and cattle, but they have carried on a traffic +through natives who have kidnapped the children of their weaker +neighbours, and sold them to the white man. Again, the Boers have sold +and exchanged their victims among themselves. Waggon-loads of slaves +have been conveyed from one end of the country to the other for sale, +and that with the cognisance of, and for the direct advantage of, the +highest officials of the land. The writer has himself seen in a town, +situated in the south of the Republic, the children who had been +brought down from a remote northern district. One fine morning, in +walking through the streets, he was struck with the number of little +black strangers standing about certain houses, and wondered where they +could have come from. He learnt a few hours later that they were part +of loads which were disposed of on the outskirts of the town the day +before. The circumstances connected with some of these kidnapping +excursions are appalling, and the barbarities practised by cruel +masters upon some of these defenceless creatures during the course of +their servitude are scarcely less horrible than those reported from +Turkey. It is no disgrace in this country for an official to ride a +fine horse which was got for two Kafir children, to procure whom the +father and mother were shot. No reproach is inherited by the mistress +who, day after day, tied up her female servant in an agonising posture, +and had her beaten until there was no sound part in her body, securing +her in the stocks during the intervals of torture. That man did not +lose caste who tied up another woman and had her thrashed until she +brought forth at the whipping-post. These are merely examples of +thousands of cases which could be proved were an Imperial Commission to +sit, and could the wretched victims of a prolonged oppression recover +sufficiently from the dread of their old tyrants to give a truthful +report." + +To come to some evidence more recently adduced. On the 9th May 1881, an +affidavit was sworn to by the Rev. John Thorne, curate of St. John the +Evangelist, Lydenburg, Transvaal, and presented to the Royal Commission +appointed to settle Transvaal affairs, in which he states:--"That I was +appointed to the charge of a congregation in Potchefstroom, about +thirteen years ago, when the Republic was under the presidency of Mr. +Pretorius.[5] I remember noticing one morning as I walked through the +streets, a number of young natives, whom I knew to be strangers. I +inquired where they came from. I was told that they had just been +brought from Zoutpansberg. This was the locality from which slaves were +chiefly brought at that time, and were traded for under the name of +'Black Ivory.' One of these natives belonged to Mr. Munich, the State +Attorney. It was a matter of common remark at that time that the +President of the Republic was himself one of the greatest dealers in +slaves." In the fourth paragraph of the same affidavit Mr. Thorne says, +"That the Rev. Doctor Nachtigal, of the Berlin Missionary Society, was +the interpreter for Shatane's people in the private office of Mr. Roth, +and, at the close of the interview, told me what had occurred. On my +expressing surprise, he went on to relate that he had information on +native matters which would surprise me more. He then produced the copy +of a register, kept in the Landdrost's office, of men, women, and +children, to the number of four hundred and eighty (480), who had been +disposed of by one Boer to another for a consideration. In one case an +ox was given in exchange, in another goats, in a third a blanket, and +so forth. Many of these natives he (Mr. Nachtigal) knew personally. The +copy was certified as true and correct by an official of the Republic, +and I would mention his name now, only that I am persuaded that it +would cost the man his life if his act became known to the Boers." + + [5] One of the famous Triumvirate. + +On the 16th May 1881, a native, named Frederick Molepo, was examined by +the Royal Commission. The following are extracts from his +examination:-- + +"(_Sir E. Wood._) Are you a Christian?--Yes. + +"(_Sir H. de Villiers._) How long were you a slave?--Half a year. + +"How do you know that you were a slave? Might you not have been an +apprentice?--No, I was not apprenticed. + +"How do you know?--They got me from my parents, and ill-treated me. + +"(_Sir E. Wood._) How many times did you get the stick?--Every day. + +"(_Sir H. de Villiers._) What did the Boers do with you when they +caught you?--They sold me. + +"How much did they sell you for?--One cow and a big pot." + +On the 28th May 1881, amongst the other documents handed in for the +consideration of the Royal Commission, is the statement of a headman, +whose name it has been considered advisable to omit in the blue-book +for fear the Boers should take vengeance on him. He says, "I say, that +if the English government dies I shall die too; I would rather die than +be under the Boer Government. I am the man who helped to make bricks +for the church you see now standing in the square here (Pretoria), as a +slave without payment. As a representative of my people I am still +obedient to the English Government, and willing to obey all commands +from them, even to die for their cause in this country, rather than +submit to the Boers. + +"I was under Shambok, my chief, who fought the Boers formerly, but he +left us, and we were _put up to auction_ and sold among the Boers. I +want to state this myself to the Royal Commission in Newcastle. I was +bought by Fritz Botha and sold by Frederick Botha, who was then veld +cornet (justice of the peace) of the Boers."[6] + + [6] I have taken the liberty to quote all these extracts + exactly as they stand in the original, instead of weaving + their substance into my narrative, in order that I may not be + accused, as so often happens to authors who write upon this + subject, of having presented a garbled version of the truth. + The original of every extract is to be found in blue-books + presented to Parliament. I have thought it best to confine + myself to these, and avoid repeating stories of cruelties and + slavery, however well authenticated, that have come to my + knowledge privately such stories being always more or less + open to suspicion. + +It would be easy to find more reports of the slave-trading practices of +the Boers, but as the above are fair samples it will not be necessary +to do so. My readers will be able from them to form some opinion as to +whether or not slavery or apprenticeship existed in the Transvaal. If +they come to the conclusion that it did, it must be borne in mind that +what existed in the past will certainly exist again in the future. +Natives are not now any fonder of working for Boers than they were a +few years back, and Boers must get labour somehow. If, on the other +hand, it did not exist, then the Boers are a grossly slandered people, +and all writers on the subject, from Livingstone down, have combined to +take away their character. + +Leaving native questions for the present, we must now return to the +general affairs of the country. When President Burgers opened the +special sitting of the Volksraad, on the 4th September, he appealed, it +will be remembered, to that body for pecuniary aid to liquidate the +expenses of the war. This appeal was responded to by the passing of a +war tax, under which every owner of a farm was to pay £10, the owner of +half a farm £5, and so on. The tax was not a very just one, since it +fell with equal weight on the rich man who held twenty farms and the +poor man who held but one. Its justice or injustice was, however, to a +great extent immaterial, since the free and independent burghers, +including some of the members of the Volksraad who had imposed it, +promptly refused to pay it, or indeed, whilst they were about it, any +other tax. As the Treasury was already empty, and creditors were +pressing, this refusal was most ill-timed, and things began to look +very black indeed. Meanwhile, in addition to the ordinary expenditure, +and the interest payable on debts, money had to be found to pay Von +Schlickmann's volunteers. As there was no cash in the country, this was +done by issuing Government promissory notes, known as "goodfors," or +vulgarly as "good for nothings," and by promising them all booty, and +to each man a farm of two thousand acres, lying east and north-east of +the Loolu mountains--in other words, in Secocoeni's territory, which +did not belong to the Government to give away. The officials were the +next to suffer, and for six months before the Annexation these +unfortunate individuals lived as best they could, for they certainly +got no salary, except in the case of a postmaster, who was told to help +himself to his pay in stamps. The Government issued large numbers of +bills, but the banks refused to discount them, and in some cases the +neighbouring colonies had to advance money to the Transvaal post-cart +contractors who were carrying the mails, as a matter of charity. The +Government even mortgaged the great salt-pan near Pretoria for the +paltry sum of £400, whilst the leading officials of the Government were +driven to pledging their own private credit in order to obtain the +smallest article necessary to its continuance. In fact, to such a pass +did things come that when the country was annexed a single threepenny +bit (which had doubtless been overlooked) was found in the Treasury +chest, together with acknowledgments of debts to the extent of nearly +£300,000. + +Nor was the refusal to pay taxes, which they were powerless to enforce, +the only difficulty with which the Government had to contend. Want of +money is as bad and painful a thing to a State as to an individual, but +there are perhaps worse things than want of money, one of which is to +be deserted by your own friends and household. This was the position of +the Government of the Republic; no sooner was it involved in +overwhelming difficulties than its own subjects commenced to bait it, +more especially the English portion of its subjects. They complained to +the English authorities about the commandeering of members of their +family or goods; they petitioned the British Government to interfere, +and generally made themselves as unpleasant as possible to the local +authorities. Such a course of action was perhaps natural, but it can +hardly be said to be either quite logical or just. The Transvaal +Government had never asked them to come and live in the country, and if +they did so, it was presumably at their own risk. On the other hand, it +must be remembered that many of the agitators had accumulated property, +to leave which would mean ruin; and they saw that, unless something was +done, its value would be destroyed. + +Under the pressure of all these troubles the Boers themselves split up +into factions, as they are always ready to do. The Dopper party +declared that they had had enough progress, and proposed the extremely +conservative Paul Kruger as President, Burgers' time having nearly +expired. Paul Kruger accepted the candidature, although he had +previously promised his support to Burgers, and distrust of each other +was added to the other difficulties of the Executive, the Transvaal +becoming a house very much divided against itself. Natives, Doppers, +Progressionists, Officials, English, were all pulling different ways, +and each striving for his own advantage. Anything more hopeless than +the position of the country on the 1st January 1877 it is impossible to +conceive. Enemies surrounded it; on every border there was the prospect +of a serious war. In the exchequer there was nothing but piles of +overdue bills. The President was helpless, and mistrustful of his +officers, and the officers were caballing against the President. All +the ordinary functions of Government had ceased, and trade was +paralysed. Now and then wild proposals were made to relieve the State +of its burdens, some of which partook of the nature of repudiation, but +these were the exception; the majority of the inhabitants, who would +neither fight nor pay taxes, sat still and awaited the catastrophe, +utterly careless of all consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ANNEXATION. + + +The state of affairs described in the previous chapter was one that +filled the Secretary of State for the Colonies with alarm. During his +tenure of office Lord Carnarvon evidently had the permanent welfare of +South Africa much at heart, and he saw with apprehension that the +troubles that were brewing in the Transvaal were of a nature likely to +involve the Cape and Natal in a native war. Though there is a broad +line of demarcation between Dutch and English, it is not so broad but +that a victorious nation like the Zulus might cross it, and beginning +by fighting the Boer, might end by fighting the white man irrespective +of race. When the reader reflects how terrible would be the +consequences of a combination of native tribes against the Whites, and +how easily such a combination might at that time have been brought +about in the first flush of native successes, he will understand the +anxiety with which all thinking men watched the course of events in the +Transvaal in 1876. + +At last they took such a serious turn that the Home Government saw that +some action must be taken if the catastrophe was to be averted, and +determined to despatch Sir Theophilus Shepstone as Special Commissioner +to the Transvaal, with powers, should it be necessary, to annex the +country to Her Majesty's dominions, "in order to secure the peace and +safety of Our said colonies and of Our subjects elsewhere." + +The terms of his Commission were unusually large, leaving a great deal +to his discretionary power. In choosing that officer for the execution +of a most difficult and delicate mission, the Government, doubtless, +made a very wise selection. Sir Theophilus Shepstone is a man of +remarkable tact and ability, combined with great openness and +simplicity of mind, and one whose name will always have a leading place +in South African history. During a long official lifetime he has had to +do with most of the native races in South Africa, and certainly knows +them and their ways better than any living man; whilst he is by them +all regarded with a peculiar and affectionate reverence. He is _par +excellence_ their great white chief and "father," and a word from +him, even now that he has retired from active life, still carries more +weight than the formal remonstrances of any governor in South Africa. + +With the Boers he is almost equally well acquainted, having known many +of them personally for years. He possesses, moreover, the rare power of +winning the regard and affection, as well as the respect, of those +about him in such a marked degree that those who have served him once +would go far to serve him again. Sir T. Shepstone, however, has enemies +like other people, and is commonly reported among them to be a disciple +of Machiavelli, and to have his mind steeped in all the darker wiles of +Kafir policy. The Annexation of the Transvaal is by them attributed to +a successful and vigorous use of those arts that distinguished the +diplomacy of two centuries ago. Falsehood and bribery are supposed to +have been the great levers used to effect the change, together with +threats of extinction at the hands of a savage and unfriendly nation. + +That the Annexation was a triumph of mind over matter is quite true, +but whether or no that triumph was unworthily obtained, I will leave +those who read this short chronicle of the events connected with it to +judge. I saw it somewhat darkly remarked in a newspaper the other day +that the history of the Annexation had evidently yet to be written; and +I fear that the remark represents the feeling of most people about that +event, implying as it did that it was carried out by means certainly +mysteriously and presumably doubtful. I am afraid that those who think +thus will be disappointed in what I have to say about the matter, since +I know that the means employed to bring the Boers-- + + "Fracti bello, fatisque repulsi"-- + +under Her Majesty's authority were throughout as fair and honest as the +Annexation itself was, in my opinion, right and necessary. + +To return to Sir T. Shepstone. He undoubtedly had faults as a ruler, +one of the most prominent of which was that his natural mildness of +character would never allow him to act with severity even when severity +was necessary. The very criminals condemned to death ran a good chance +of reprieve when he had to sign their death-warrants. He has also that +worst of faults (so-called), in one fitted by nature to become +great--want of ambition, a failing that in such a man marks him the +possessor of an even and a philosophic mind. It was no seeking of his +own that raised him out of obscurity, and when his work was done to +comparative obscurity he elected to return, though whether a man of his +ability and experience in South African affairs should, at the present +crisis, be allowed to remain there, is another question. + +On the 20th December 1876, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, +informing him of his approaching visit to the Transvaal, to secure, if +possible, the adjustment of existing troubles, and the adoption of such +measures as might be best calculated to prevent their recurrence in the +future. + +On his road to Pretoria, Sir Theophilus received a hearty welcome from +the Boer as well as the English inhabitants of the country. One of +these addresses to him says: "Be assured, high honourable Sir, that we +burghers, now assembled together, entertain the most friendly feeling +towards your Government, and that we shall agree with anything you may +do in conjunction with our Government for the progress of our State, +the strengthening against our native enemies, and for the general +welfare of all the inhabitants of the whole of South Africa. Welcome in +Heidelberg, and welcome in the Transvaal." + +At Pretoria the reception of the Special Commissioner was positively +enthusiastic; the whole town came out to meet him, and the horses +having been taken out of the carriage, he was dragged in triumph +through the streets. In his reply to the address presented to him, Sir +Theophilus shadowed forth the objects of his mission in these words: +"Recent events in this country have shown to all thinking men the +absolute necessity for closer union and more oneness of purpose among +the Christian Governments of the southern portion of this continent: +the best interests of the native races, no less than the peace and +prosperity of the white, imperatively demand it, and I rely upon you +and upon your Government to co-operate with me in endeavouring to +achieve the great and glorious end of inscribing on a general South +African banner the appropriate motto--"Eendragt maakt magt" (Unity +makes strength)." + +A few days after his arrival a commission was appointed, consisting of +Messrs. Henderson and Osborn, on behalf of the Special Commissioner, +and Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen, on behalf of the Transvaal Government, +to discuss the state of the country. This commission came to nothing, +and was on both sides nothing more than a bit of by-play. + +The arrival of the mission was necessarily regarded with mixed feelings +by the inhabitants of the Transvaal. By one party it was eagerly +greeted, viz., the English section of the population, who devoutly +hoped that it had come to annex the country. With the exception of the +Hollander element, the officials also were glad of its arrival, and +secretly hoped that the country would be taken over, when there would +be more chance of their getting their arrear pay. The better educated +Boers also were for the most part satisfied that there was no hope for +the country unless England helped it in some way, though they did not +like having to accept the help. But the more bigoted and narrow-minded +among them were undoubtedly opposed to English interference, and under +their leader, Paul Kruger, who was at the time running for the +President's chair, did their best to be rid of it. They found ready +allies in the Hollander clientelle, with which Mr. Burgers had +surrounded himself, headed by the famous Dr. Jorissen, who was, like +most of the rulers of this singular State, an ex-clergyman, but now an +Attorney-general, not learned in the law. These men were for the most +part entirely unfit for the positions they held, and feared that in the +event of the country changing hands they might be ejected from them; +and also, they did all Englishmen the favour to regard them with that +peculiarly virulent and general hatred which is a part of the secret +creed of many foreigners, more especially of such as are under our +protection. As may easily be imagined, what between all these different +parties and the presence of the Special Commissioner, there were +certainly plenty of intrigues going on in Pretoria during the first few +months of 1877, and the political excitement was very great. Nobody +knew how far Sir T. Shepstone was prepared to go, and everybody was +afraid of putting out his hand further than he could pull it back, and +trying to make himself comfortable on two stools at once. Members of +the Volksraad and other prominent individuals in the country who had +during the day been denouncing the Commissioner in no measured terms, +and even proposing that he and his staff should be shot as a warning to +the English Government, might be seen arriving at his house under cover +of the shades of evening, to have a little talk with him, and express +the earnest hope that it was his intention to annex the country as soon +as possible. It is necessary to assist at a peaceable annexation to +learn the depth of meanness human nature is capable of. + +In Pretoria, at any rate, the ladies were of great service to the cause +of the mission, since they were nearly all in favour of a change of +government, and, that being the case, they naturally soon brought their +husbands, brothers, and lovers to look at things from the same point of +view. It was a wise man who said that in any matter where it is +necessary to obtain the goodwill of a population you should win over +the women; that done, you need not trouble yourself about the men. + +Though the country was thus overflowing with political intrigues, +nothing of the kind went on in the Commissioner's camp. It was not he +who made the plots to catch the Transvaalers; on the contrary, they +made the plots to catch him. For several months all that he did was to +sit still and let the rival passions work their way, fighting what the +Zulus afterwards called the "fight of sit down." When anybody came to +see him he was very glad to meet them, pointed out the desperate +condition of the country, and asked them if they could suggest a +remedy. And that was about all he did do, beyond informing himself very +carefully as to all that was going on in the country, and the movements +of the natives within and outside its borders. There was no money spent +in bribery, as has been stated, though it is impossible to imagine a +state of affairs in which it would have been more easy to bribe, or in +which it could have been done with greater effect; unless indeed the +promise that some pension should be paid to President Burgers can be +called a bribe, which it was certainly never intended to be, but simply +a guarantee that after having spent all his private means on behalf of +the State he should not be left destitute. The statement that the +Annexation was effected under a threat that if the Government did not +give its consent Sir T. Shepstone would let loose the Zulus on the +country is also a wicked and malicious invention, but with this I shall +deal more at length further on. + +It must not, however, be understood that the Annexation was a foregone +conclusion, or that Sir T. Shepstone came up to the Transvaal with the +fixed intention of annexing the country without reference to its +position, merely with a view of extending British influence, or, as has +been absurdly stated, in order to benefit Natal. He had no fixed +purpose, whether it were necessary or no, of exercising the full powers +given to him by his commission; on the contrary, he was all along most +anxious to find some internal resources within the State by means of +which Annexation could be averted, and of this fact his various letters +and despatches give full proof. Thus, in his letter to President +Burgers, of the 9th April 1877, in which he announces his intention of +annexing the country, he says: "I have more than once assured your +Honour that if I could think of any plan by which the independence of +the State could be maintained by its own internal resources I would +most certainly not conceal that plan from you." It is also incidentally +remarkably confirmed by a passage in Mr. Burgers' posthumous defence, +in which he says: "Hence I met Shepstone alone in my house, and opened +up the subject of his mission. With a candour that astonished me, he +avowed that his purpose was to annex the country, as he had sufficient +grounds for it, unless I could so alter as to satisfy his Government. +My plan of a new constitution, modelled after that of America, of a +standing police force of two hundred mounted men, was then proposed. He +promised to give me time to call the Volksraad together, and to +_abandon his design_ if the Volksraad would adopt these measures, +and the country be willing to submit to them, and to carry them out." +Further on he says: "In justice to Shepstone I must say that I would +not consider an officer of my Government to have acted faithfully if he +had not done what Shepstone did." + +It has also been frequently alleged in England, and always seems to be +taken as the groundwork of argument in the matter of the Annexation, +that the Special Commissioner represented that the majority of the +inhabitants wished for the Annexation, and that it was sanctioned on +that ground. This statement shows the great ignorance that exists in +this country of South African affairs, an ignorance which in this case +has been carefully fostered by Mr. Gladstone's Government for party +purposes, they having found it necessary to assume, in order to make +their position in the matter tenable, that Sir T. Shepstone and other +officers had been guilty of misrepresentation. Unfortunately, the +Government and its supporters have been more intent upon making out +their case than upon ascertaining the truth of their statements. If +they had taken the trouble to refer to Sir T. Shepstone's despatches, +they would have found that the ground on which the Transvaal was +annexed was, not because the majority of the inhabitants wished for it +but because the State was drifting into anarchy, was bankrupt, and was +about to be destroyed by native tribes. They would further have found +that Sir T. Shepstone never represented that the majority of the Boers +were in favour of Annexation. What he did say was that most thinking +men in the country saw no other way out of the difficulty; but what +proportion of the Boers can be called "thinking men?" He also said, in +the fifteenth paragraph of his despatch to Lord Carnarvon of 6th March +1877, that petitions signed by 2500 people, representing every class of +the community, out of a total adult male population of 8000, had been +presented to the Government of the Republic, setting forth its +difficulties and dangers, and praying it "to treat with me for their +amelioration or removal." He also stated, and with perfect truth, that +many more would have signed had it not been for the terrorism that was +exercised, and that all the towns and villages in the country desired +the change, which was a patent fact. + +This is the foundation on which the charge of misrepresentation is +built--a charge which has been manipulated so skilfully, and with such +a charming disregard for the truth, that the British public has been +duped into believing it. When it is examined into, it vanishes into +thin air. + +But a darker charge has been brought against the Special Commissioner--a +charge affecting his honour as a gentleman and his character as a +Christian; and, strange to say, has gained a considerable credence, +especially amongst a certain party in England. I allude to the +statement that he called up the Zulu army with the intention of +sweeping the Transvaal if the Annexation was objected to. I may state, +from my own personal knowledge, that the report is a complete +falsehood, and that no such threat was ever made, either by Sir T. +Shepstone or by anybody connected with him, and I will briefly prove +what I say. + +When the mission first arrived at Pretoria, a message came from +Cetywayo to the effect that he had heard that the Boers had fired at +"Sompseu" (Sir T. Shepstone), and announcing his intention of attacking +the Transvaal if "his father" was touched. About the middle of March +alarming rumours began to spread as to the intended action of Cetywayo +with reference to the Transvaal; but as Sir T. Shepstone did not think +that the king would be likely to make any hostile movement whilst he +was in the country, he took no steps in the matter. Neither did the +Transvaal Government ask his advice and assistance. Indeed, a +remarkable trait in the Boers is their supreme self-conceit, which +makes them believe that they are capable of subduing all the natives in +Africa, and of thrashing the whole British army if necessary. +Unfortunately, the recent course of events has tended to confirm them +in their opinion as regards their white enemies. To return: towards the +second week in April, or the week before the proclamation of Annexation +was issued, things began to look very serious; indeed, rumours that +could hardly be discredited reached the Special Commissioner that the +whole Zulu army was collected in a chain of Impis or battalions, with +the intention of bursting into the Transvaal and sweeping the country. +Knowing how terrible would be the catastrophe if this were to happen, +Sir T. Shepstone was much alarmed about the matter, and at a meeting +with the Executive Council of the Transvaal Government he pointed out +to them the great danger in which the country was placed. This was done +in the presence of several officers of his staff, and it was on this +friendly exposition of the state of affairs that the charge that he had +threatened the country with invasion by the Zulus was based. On the +11th April, or the day before the Annexation, a message was despatched +to Cetywayo, telling him of the reports that had reached Pretoria, and +stating that if they were true he must forthwith give up all such +intentions, as the Transvaal would at once be placed under the +sovereignty of Her Majesty, and that if he had assembled any armies for +purposes of aggression they must be disbanded at once. Sir T. +Shepstone's message reached Zululand not a day too soon. Had the +Annexation of the Transvaal been delayed by a few weeks even--and this +is a point which I earnestly beg Englishmen to remember in connection +with that act--Cetywayo's armies would have entered the Transvaal, +carrying death before them, and leaving a wilderness behind them. + +Cetywayo's answer to the Special Commissioner's message will +sufficiently show, to use Sir Theophilus' own words in his despatch on +the subject, "the pinnacle of peril which the Republic and South Africa +generally had reached at the moment when the Annexation took place." He +says, "I thank my Father Sompseu (Sir T. Shepstone) for his message. I +am glad that he has sent it, because the Dutch have tired me out, and I +intended to fight them once and once only, and to drive them over the +Vaal. Kabana (name of messenger), you see my Impis (armies) are +gathered. It was to fight the Dutch I called them together; now I will +send them back to their homes. Is it well that two men ('amadoda-amabili') +should be made 'iziula' (fools)? In the reign of my father Umpanda the +Boers were constantly moving their boundary further into my country. +Since his death the same thing has been done. I had therefore +determined to end it once for all!" The message then goes on to other +matters, and ends with a request to be allowed to fight the Amaswazi, +because "they fight together and kill one another. This," says Cetywayo +naively, "is wrong, and I want to chastise them for it." + +This quotation will suffice to convince all reasonable men, putting +aside all other matters, from what imminent danger the Transvaal was +delivered by the much-abused Annexation. + +Some months after that event, however, it occurred to the ingenious +mind of some malicious individual in Natal that, properly used, much +political capital might be made out of this Zulu incident, and the +story that Cetywayo's army had been called up by Sir Theophilus himself +to overawe, and, if necessary, subdue the Transvaal, was accordingly +invented and industriously circulated. Although Sir T. Shepstone at +once caused it to be authoritatively contradicted, such an astonishing +slander naturally took firm root, and on the 12th April 1879 we have +Mr. M. W. Pretorius, one of the Boer leaders, publicly stating at a +meeting of the farmers that "previous to the Annexation Sir T. +Shepstone had threatened the Transvaal with an attack from the Zulus as +an argument for advancing the Annexation." Under such an imputation the +Government could no longer keep silence, and accordingly Sir Owen +Lanyon, who was then Administrator of the Transvaal, caused the matter +to be officially investigated, with these results, which are summed up +by him in a letter to Mr. Pretorius, dated 1st May 1879:-- + +1. The records of the Republican Executive Council contained no +allusion to any such statement. + +2. Two members of that Council filed statements in which they +unreservedly denied that Sir T. Shepstone used the words or threats +imputed to him. + +3. Two officers of Sir T. Shepstone's staff, who were always present +with him at interviews with the Executive Council, filed statements to +the same effect. + +"I have no doubt," adds Sir Owen Lanyon, "that the report has been +originated and circulated by some evil-disposed person." + +In addition to this evidence we have a letter written to the Colonial +Office by Sir T. Shepstone, dated London, August 12, 1879, in which he +points out that Mr. Pretorius was not even present at any of the +interviews with the Executive Council on which occasion he accuses him +of having made use of the threats. He further shows that the use of +such a threat on his part would have, been the depth of folly, and +"knowingly to court the instant and ignominious failure of my mission," +because the Boers were so persuaded of their own prowess that they +could not be convinced that they stood in any danger from native +sources, and also because "such play with such keen-edged tools as the +excited passions of savages are, and especially such savages as I knew +the Zulus to be, is not what an experience of forty-two years in +managing them inclined me to." And yet, in the face of all this +accumulated evidence, this report continues to be believed, that is, by +those who wished to believe it. + +Such are the accusations that have been brought against the manner of +the Annexation and the officer who carried it out, and never were +accusations more groundless. Indeed, both for party purposes, and from +personal animus, every means, fair or foul, has been used to discredit +it and all connected with it. To take a single instance, one author +(Miss Colenso, p. 134, "History of the Zulu War") actually goes the +length of putting a portion of a speech made by President Burgers into +the mouth of Sir T. Shepstone, and then abusing him for his incredible +profanity. Surely this exceeds the limits of fair criticism. + +Before I go on to the actual history of the Annexation there is one +point I wish to submit to my reader. In England the change of +Government has always been talked of as though it only affected the +forty thousand white inhabitants of the country, whilst everybody seems +to forget that this same land had about a million human beings living +on it, its original owners, and only, unfortunately for themselves, +possessing a black skin, and therefore entitled to little +consideration,--even at the hands of the most philanthropic Government +in the world. It never seems to have occurred to those who have raised +so much outcry on behalf of the forty thousand Boers, to inquire what +was thought of the matter by the million natives. If they were to be +allowed a voice in their own disposal, the country was certainly +annexed by the wish of a very large majority of the inhabitants. It is +true that Secocoeni, instigated thereto by the Boers, afterwards +continued the war against us, but, with the exception of this one +chief, the advent of our rule was hailed with joy by every native in +the Transvaal, and even he was glad of it at the time. During our +period of rule in the Transvaal the natives have had, as they foresaw, +more peace than at any time since the white man set foot in the land. +They have paid their taxes gladly, and there has been no fighting among +themselves; but since we have given up the country we hear a very +different tale. It is this million of men, women, and children who, +notwithstanding their black skins, live and feel, and have intelligence +as much as ourselves, who are the principal, because the most numerous +sufferers from Mr. Gladstone's conjuring tricks, that can turn a +Sovereign into a Suzerain as airily as the professor of magic brings a +litter of guinea-pigs out of a top hat. It is our falsehood and +treachery to them whom we took over "for ever," as we told them, and +whom we have now handed back to their natural enemies to be paid off +for their loyalty to the Englishman, that is the blackest stain in all +this black business, and that has destroyed our prestige, and caused us +to be looked on amongst them, for they do not hide their opinion, as +"cowards and liars." + +But very little attention, however, seems to have been paid to native +views or claims at any time in the Transvaal; indeed they have all +along been treated as serfs of the soil, to be sold with it, if +necessary, to a new master. It is true that the Government, acting +under pressure from the Aborigines Protection Society, made, on the +occasion of the Surrender, a feeble effort to secure the independence +of some of the native tribes; but when the Boer leaders told them +shortly that they would have nothing of the sort, and that, if they +were not careful, they would reoccupy Laing's Nek, the proposal was at +once dropped, with many assurances that no offence was intended. The +worst of the matter is that this treatment of our native subjects and +allies will assuredly recoil on the heads of future innocent +Governments. + +Shortly after the appointment of the Joint-Commission alluded to at the +beginning of this chapter, President Burgers, who was now in possession +of the Special Commissioner's intentions, should he be unable to carry +out reforms sufficiently drastic to satisfy the English Government, +thought it best to call together the Volksraad. In the meantime, it had +been announced that the "rebel" Secocoeni had sued for peace and +signed a treaty declaring himself a subject of the Republic. I shall +have to enter into the question of this treaty a little further on, so +I will at present only say that it was the first business laid before +the Raad, and, after some discussion, ratified. Next in order to the +Secocoeni peace came the question of Confederation, as laid down in +Lord Carnarvon's Permissive Bill. This proposal was laid before them in +an earnest and eloquent speech by their President, who entreated them +to consider the dangerous position of the Republic, and to face their +difficulties like men. The question was referred to a committee, and an +adverse report being brought up, was rejected without further +consideration. It is just possible that intimidation had something to +do with the summary treatment of so important a matter, seeing that +whilst it was being argued a large mob of Boers, looking very +formidable with their sea-cow hide whips, watched every move of their +representatives through the windows of the Volksraad Hall. It was Mr. +Chamberlain's caucus system in practical and visible operation. + +A few days after the rejection of the Confederation Bill, President +Burgers, who had frequently alluded to the desperate condition of the +Republic, and stated that either some radical reform must be effected +or the country must come under the British flag, laid before the Raad a +brand new constitution of a very remarkable nature, asserting that they +must either accept it or lose their independence. + +The first part of this strange document dealt with the people and their +rights, which remained much as they were before, with the exception +that the secrecy of all letters entrusted to the post was to be +inviolable. The recognition of this right is an amusing incident in the +history of a free Republic. Under following articles the Volksraad was +entrusted with the charge of the native inhabitants of the State, the +provision for the administration of justice, the conduct of education, +the regulation of money-bills, &c. It is in the fourth chapter, +however, that we come to the real gist of the Bill, which was the +endowment of the State President with the authority of a dictator. Mr. +Burgers thought to save the State by making himself an absolute +monarch. He was to be elected for a period of seven instead of five +years, and to be eligible for re-election. In him was vested the power +of making all appointments without reference to the Legislature. All +laws were to be drawn up by him, and he was to have the right of veto +on Volksraad resolutions, which body he could summon and dissolve at +will. Finally, his Executive Council was to consist of heads of +departments appointed by himself, and of one member of the Volksraad. +The Volksraad treated this Bill in much the same way as they had dealt +with the Permissive Confederation Bill, gave it a casual consideration, +and threw it out. + +The President, meanwhile, was doing his best to convince the Raad of +the danger of the country; that the treasury was empty, whilst duns +were pressing, that enemies were threatening on every side, and, +finally, that Her Majesty's Special Commissioner was encamped within a +thousand yards of them, watching their deliberations with some +interest. He showed them that it was impossible at once to scorn reform +and reject friendly offers, that it was doubtful if anything could save +them, but that if they took no steps they were certainly lost as a +nation. The "Fathers of the land," however, declined to dance to the +President's piping. Then he took a bolder line. He told them that a +guilty nation never can evade the judgment that follows its steps. He +asked them "conscientiously to advise the people not obstinately to +refuse a union with a powerful Government. He could not advise them to +refuse such a union.... He did not believe that a new constitution +would save them; for as little as the old constitution had brought them +to ruin, so little would a new constitution bring salvation.... If the +citizens of England had behaved towards the Crown as the burghers of +this State had behaved to their Government, England would never have +stood so long as she had." He pointed out to them their hopeless +financial position. "To-day," he said, "a bill for £1100 was laid +before me for signature; but I would sooner have cut off my right hand +than sign that paper--(cheers)--for I have not the slightest ground +to expect that, when that bill becomes due, there will be a penny to +pay it with." And finally, he exhorted them thus: "Let them make the +best of the situation, and get the best terms they possibly could; +let them agree to join their hands to those of their brethren in the +south, and then from the Cape to the Zambesi there would be one great +people. Yes, there was something grand in that, grander even than +their idea of a Republic, something which ministered to their national +feeling--(cheers)--and would this be so miserable? Yes, this would be +miserable for those who would not be under the law, for the rebel and +the revolutionist, but welfare and prosperity for the men of law and +order." + +These powerful words form a strong indictment against the Republic, and +from them there can be little doubt that President Burgers was +thoroughly convinced of the necessity and wisdom of the Annexation. It +is interesting to compare them, and many other utterances of his made +at this period, with the opinions he expresses in the posthumous +document recently published, in which he speaks somewhat jubilantly of +the lessons taught us on Laing's Nek and Majuba by such "an inherently +weak people as the Boers," and points to them as striking instances of +retribution. In this document he attributes the Annexation to the +desire to advance English supremacy in South Africa, and to lay hold of +the way to Central South Africa. It is, however, noticeable that he +does not in any way indicate how it could have been averted, and the +State continue to exist; and he seems all along to feel that his case +is a weak one, for in explaining, or attempting to explain, why he had +never defended himself from the charges brought against him in +connection with the Annexation, he says: "Had I not endured in silence, +had I not borne patiently all the accusations, but out of selfishness +or fear told the plain truth of the case, the Transvaal would never +have had the consideration it has now received from Great Britain. +However unjust the Annexation was, my self-justification would have +_exposed the Boers to such an extent_, and the state of the country in +such a way, that it would have deprived them both of the sympathy of +the world and the consideration of the English politicians." In other +words, "If I had told the truth about things as I should have been +obliged to do to justify myself, there would have been no more outcry +about the Annexation, because the whole world, even the English +Radicals, would have recognised how necessary it was, and what a +fearful state the country was in." + +But to let that pass, it is evident that President Burgers did not take +the same view of the Annexation in 1877 as he did in 1881, and indeed +his speeches to the Volksraad would read rather oddly printed in +parallel columns with his posthumous statement. The reader would be +forced to one of two conclusions, either on one of the two occasions he +is saying what he does not mean, or he must have changed his mind. As I +believe him to have been an honest man, I incline to the latter +supposition; nor do I consider it so very hard to account for, taking +into consideration his natural Dutch proclivities. In 1877 Burgers is +the despairing head of a State driving rapidly to ruin, if not to +actual extinction, when the strong hand of the English Government is +held out to him. What wonder that he accepts it gladly on behalf of his +country, which is by its help brought into a state of greater +prosperity than it has ever before known? In 1881 the wheel has gone +round, and great events have come about whilst he lies dying. The +enemies of the Boers have been destroyed, the powers of the Zulus and +Secocoeni are no more; the country has prospered under a healthy +rule, and its finances have been restored. More,--glad tidings have +come from Mid-Lothian to the "rebel and the revolutionist," whose hopes +were flagging, and eloquent words have been spoken by the new English +Dictator that have aroused a great rebellion. And, to crown all, +English troops have suffered one massacre and three defeats, and +England sues for peace from the South African peasant, heedless of +honour or her broken word, so that the prayer be granted. With such +events before him, that dying man may well have found cause to change +his opinion. Doubtless the Annexation was wrong, since England disowns +her acts; and may not that dream about the great South African Republic +come true after all? Has not the pre-eminence of the Englishman +received a blow from which it can never recover, and is not his +control over Boers and natives irredeemably weakened? And must +he,--Burgers,--go down to posterity as a Dutchman who tried to forward +the interests of the English party? No, doubtless the Annexation was +wrong; but it has done good, for it has brought about the downfall of +the English: and we will end the argument in the very words of his last +public utterance, with which he ends his statement: "South Africa +gained more from this, and has made a larger step forward in the march +of freedom, than most people can conceive." + +Who shall say that he is wrong? the words of dying men are sometimes +prophetic! South Africa has made a great advance towards the "freedom" +of a Dutch Republic. + +This has been a digression, but I hope not an uninteresting one. To +return--on the 1st March, Sir T. Shepstone met the Executive Council, +and told them that in his opinion there was now but one remedy to be +adopted, and that was that the Transvaal should be united with the +English colonies of South Africa under one head, namely the Queen, +saying at the same time that the only thing now left to the Republic +was to make the best arrangements it could for the future benefit of +its inhabitants, and to submit to that which he saw to be, and every +thinking man saw to be, inevitable. So soon as this information was +officially communicated to the Raad, for a good proportion of its +members were already acquainted with it unofficially, it flew from a +state of listless indifference into vigorous and hasty action. The +President was censured, and a committee was appointed to consider and +report upon the situation, which reported in favour of the adoption of +Burgers' new constitution. Accordingly, the greatest part of this +measure, which had been contemptuously rejected a few days before, was +adopted almost without question, and Mr. Paul Kruger was appointed +Vice-President. On the following day, a very drastic treason law was +passed, borrowed from the statute-book of the Orange Free State, which +made all public expression of opinion, if adverse to the Government, or +in any way supporting the Annexation party, high treason. This done, +the Assembly prorogued itself until--October 1881. + +During and after the sitting of the Raad, rumours arose that the chief +Secocoeni's signature to the treaty of peace, ratified by that body, +had been obtained by misrepresentation. As ratified, this treaty +consisted of three articles, according to which Secocoeni consented, +first, to become a subject of the Republic, and obey the laws of the +country; secondly, to agree to a certain restricted boundary line; and, +thirdly, to pay 2000 head of cattle; which, considering he had captured +quite 5000 head, was not exorbitant. + +Towards the end of February a written message was received from +Secocoeni by Sir T. Shepstone, dated after the signing of the +supposed treaty. The original, which was written in Sisutu, was a great +curiosity. The following is a correct translation:-- + + "_February 16, 1877._ + + "FOR MYN HEER SHEPSTONE,--I beg you, Chief, come help me, the Boers + are killing me, and I don't know the reasons why they should be + angry with me; Chief, I beg you come with Myn Heer Merensky.--I am + SIKUKUNI." + +This message was accompanied by a letter from Mr. Merensky, a +well-known and successful missionary, who had been for many years +resident in Secocoeni's country, in which he stated that he heard on +very good authority that Secocoeni had distinctly refused to agree to +that article of the treaty by which he became a subject of the State. +He adds that he cannot remain "silent while such tricks are played." + +Upon this information, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, +stating that "if the officer in whom you have placed confidence has +withheld any portion of the truth from you, especially so serious a +portion of it, he is guilty of a wrong towards you personally, as well +as towards the Government, because he has caused you to assume an +untenable position," and suggesting that a joint-commission should be +despatched to Secocoeni, to thoroughly sift the question in the +interest of all concerned. This suggestion was after some delay agreed +to, and a commission was appointed, consisting of Mr. Van Gorkom, a +Hollander, and Mr. Holtshausen, a member of the Executive Council, on +behalf of the Transvaal Government, and Mr. Osborn, R.M., and Captain +Clarke, R.A.,[7] on behalf of the Commissioner, whom I accompanied as +Secretary. + + [7] Now Sir Marshall Clarke, Special Commissioner for + Basutoland. + +At Middleburg the native Gideon who acted as interpreter between +Commandant Ferreira, C.M.G. (the officer who negotiated the treaty on +behalf of the Boer Government), and Secocoeni was examined, and also +two natives, Petros and Jeremiah, who were with him, but did not +actually interpret. All these men persisted that Secocoeni had +positively refused to become a subject of the Republic, and only +consented to sign the treaty on the representations of Commandant +Ferreira that it would only be binding as regards to the two articles +about the cattle and the boundary line. + +The Commission then proceeded to Secocoeni's town, accompanied by a +fresh set of interpreters, and had a long interview with Secocoeni. +The chiefs Prime Minister or "mouth," Makurupiji, speaking in his +presence and on his behalf, and making use of the pronoun "I" before +all the assembled headmen of the tribe, gave an account of the +interview between Commandant Ferreira in the presence of that +gentleman, who accompanied the Commission, and Secocoeni, in almost +the same words as had been used by the interpreters at Middleburg. He +distinctly denied having consented to become a subject of the Republic +or to stand under the law, and added that he feared he "had touched the +feather to" (signed) things that he did not know of in the treaty. +Commandant Ferreira then put some questions, but entirely failed to +shake the evidence; on the contrary, he admitted by his questions that +Secocoeni had not consented to become a subject of the Republic. +Secocoeni had evidently signed the piece of paper under the +impression that he was acknowledging his liability to pay 2000 head of +cattle, and fixing a certain portion of his boundary line, and on the +distinct understanding that he was not to become a subject of the +State. + +Now it was the Secocoeni war that had brought the English Mission +into the country, and if it could be shown that the Secocoeni war had +come to a successful termination, it would go far towards helping the +Mission out again. To this end, it was necessary that the chief should +declare himself a subject of the State, and thereby, by implication, +acknowledge himself to have been a rebel, and admit his defeat. All +that was required was a signature, and that once obtained the treaty +was published and submitted to the Raad for confirmation, without a +whisper being heard of the conditions under which this ignorant Basuto +was induced to sign. Had no Commission visited Secocoeni, this treaty +would afterwards have been produced against him in its entirety. +Altogether, the history of the Secocoeni Peace Treaty does not +reassure one as to the genuineness of the treaties which the Boers are +continually producing, purporting to have been signed by native chiefs, +and, as a general rule, presenting the State with great tracts of +country in exchange for a horse or a few oxen. However fond the natives +may be of their Boer neighbours, such liberality can scarcely be +genuine. On the other hand, it is so easy to induce a savage to sign a +paper, or even, if he is reticent, to make a cross for him, and once +made, as we all know, _litera scripta manet_, and becomes title to +the lands. + +During the Secocoeni investigation, affairs in the Transvaal were +steadily drifting towards anarchy. The air was filled with rumours; now +it was reported that an outbreak was imminent amongst the English +population at the Gold Fields, who had never forgotten Von +Schlickmann's kind suggestion that they should be "subdued;" now it was +said that Cetywayo had crossed the border, and might shortly be +expected at Pretoria; now that a large body of Boers were on their road +to shoot the Special Commissioner, his twenty-five policemen, and +Englishmen generally, and so on. + +Meanwhile, Paul Kruger and his party were not letting the grass grow +under their feet, but worked public feeling with great vigour, with the +double object of getting Paul made President and ridding themselves of +the English. Articles in his support were printed in the well-known +Dutch paper _Die Patriot_, published in the Cape Colony, which are +so typical of the Boers and of the only literature that has the +slightest influence over them, that I will quote a few extracts from +one of them. + +After drawing a very vivid picture of the wretched condition of the +country as compared to what it was when the Kafirs had "a proper +respect" for the Boers, before Burgers came into power, the article +proceeds to give the cause of this state of affairs. "God's word," it +says, "gives us the solution. Look at Israel, while the people have a +godly king, everything is prosperous, but under a godless prince the +land retrogrades, and the whole of the people must suffer. Read +Leviticus, chapter xxvi., with attention, &c. In the day of the +Voortrekkers (pioneers), a handful of men chased a thousand Kafirs and +made them run; so also in the Free State war (Deut. xxxii. 30; Jos. +xxiii. 10; Lev. xxvi. 8). But mark, now, when Burgers became President, +he knows no Sabbath, he rides through the land in and out of town on +Sunday, he knows not the church and God's service (Lev. xxvi. 2, 3), to +the scandal of pious people. And he formerly was a priest too. And what +is the consequence? No harvest (Lev. xxvi. 16), an army of 6000 men +runs because one man falls (Lev. xxvi 17, &c.). What is now the +remedy?" The remedy proves to be Paul Kruger, "because there is no +other candidate. Because our Lord clearly points him out to be the man, +for why is there no other candidate? Who arranged it this way?" Then +follows a rather odd argument in favour of Paul's election. "Because he +himself (Paul Kruger) acknowledges in his own reply that he is +_incompetent_, but that all his ability is from our Lord. Because +he is a warrior. Because he is a Boer." Then Paul Kruger, the warrior +and the Boer, is compared to Joan of Arc, "a simple Boer girl who came +from behind the sheep." The burghers of the Transvaal are exhorted to +acknowledge the hand of the Lord, and elect Paul Kruger, or to look for +still heavier punishment. (Lev. xxvi. 18 _et seq._) Next the _Patriot_ +proceeds to give a bit of advice to "our candidate, Paul Kruger." He is +to deliver the land from the Kafirs. "The Lord has given you the heart +of a warrior, arise and drive them," a bit of advice quite suited to +his well-known character. But this chosen vessel was not to get all the +loaves and fishes; on the contrary, as soon as he had fulfilled his +mission of "driving" the Kafirs, he was to hand over his office to a +"good" President. The article ends thus: "If the Lord wills to use you +now to deliver this land from its enemies, and a day of peace and +prosperity arises again, and you see that you are not exactly the +statesman to further govern the Republic, then it will be your greatest +honour to say, 'Citizens, I have delivered you from the enemy, I am no +statesman, but now you have peace and time to choose and elect a _good_ +President.'" + +An article such as the above, is instructive reading, as showing the +low calibre of the minds that are influenced by it. Yet such writings +and sermons have more power among the Boers than any other arguments, +appealing as they do to the fanaticism and vanity of their nature, +which causes them to believe that the Divinity is continually +interfering on their behalf at the cost of other people. It will be +noticed that the references given are all to the Old Testament, and +nearly all refer to acts of blood. + +These doctrines were not, however, at all acceptable to Burgers' party, +or the more enlightened members of the community, and so bitter did the +struggle of rival opinions become that there is very little doubt that +had the country not been annexed, civil war would have been added to +its other calamities. Meanwhile the natives were from day to day +becoming more restless, and messengers were constantly arriving at the +Special Commissioner's camp, begging that their tribe might be put +under the Queen, and stating that they would fight rather than submit +any longer to the Boers. + +At length on the 9th April, Sir T. Shepstone informed the Government of +the Republic that he was about to declare the Transvaal British +territory. He told them that he had considered and reconsidered his +determination, but that he could see no possible means within the State +by which it could free itself from the burdens that were sinking it to +destruction, adding that if he could have found such means he would +certainly not have hidden them from the Government. This intimation was +received in silence, though all the later proceedings with reference to +the Annexation were in reality carried out in concert with the +authorities of the Republic. Thus on the 13th March the Government +submitted a paper of ten questions to Sir T. Shepstone as regards the +future condition of the Transvaal under English rule, whether the debts +of the State would be guaranteed, &c. To these questions replies were +given which were on the whole satisfactory to the Government. As these +replies formed the basis of the proclamation guarantees, it is not +necessary to enter into them. + +It was further arranged by the Republican Government that a formal +protest should be entered against the Annexation, which was accordingly +prepared and privately shown to the Special Commissioner. The +Annexation proclamation was also shown to President Burgers, and a +paragraph eliminated at his suggestion. In fact, the Special +Commissioner and the President, together with most of his Executive, +were quite at one as regards the necessity of the proclamation being +issued, their joint endeavours being directed to the prevention of any +disturbance, and to secure a good reception for the change. + +At length, after three months of inquiry and negotiation, the +proclamation of annexation was on the 12th of April 1877 read by Mr. +Osborn, accompanied by some other gentlemen of Sir T. Shepstone's +staff. It was an anxious moment for all concerned. To use the words of +the Special Commissioner in his despatch home on the subject, "Every +effort had been made during the previous fortnight by, it is said, +educated Hollanders, and who had but lately arrived in the country, to +rouse the fanaticism of the Boers, and to induce them to offer 'bloody' +resistance to what it was known I intended to do. The Boers were +appealed to in the most inflammatory language by printed manifestoes +and memorials; ... it was urged that I had but a small escort, which +could easily be overpowered." In a country so full of desperadoes and +fanatical haters of anything English, it was more than possible that, +though such an act would have been condemned by the general sense of +the country, a number of men could easily be found who would think they +were doing a righteous act in greeting the "annexationists" with an +ovation of bullets. I do not mean that the anxiety was personal, +because I do not think the members of that small party set any higher +value on their lives than other people, but it was absolutely necessary +for the success of the act itself, and for the safety of the country, +that not a single shot should be fired. Had that happened it is +probable that the whole country would have been involved in confusion +and bloodshed, the Zulus would have broken in, and the Kafirs would +have risen; in fact, to use Cetywayo's words, "the land would have +burned with fire." + +It will therefore be easily understood what an anxious hour that was +both for the Special Commissioner sitting up at Government House, and +for his staff down on the Market Square, and how thankful they were +when the proclamation was received with hearty cheers by the crowd. Mr. +Burgers' protest, which was read immediately afterwards, was received +in respectful silence. + +And thus the Transvaal Territory passed for a while into the great +family of the English Colonies. I believe that the greatest political +opponent of the act will bear tribute to the very remarkable ability +with which it was carried out. When the variety and number of the +various interests that had to be conciliated, the obstinate nature of +the individuals who had to be convinced, as well as the innate hatred +of the English name and ways which had to be overcome to carry out this +act successfully, are taken into consideration, together with a +thousand other matters, the neglect of any one of which would have +sufficed to make failure certain, it will be seen what tact and skill +and knowledge of human nature was required to execute so difficult a +task. It must be remembered that no force was used, and that there +never was any threat of force. The few troops that were to enter the +Transvaal were four weeks' march from Pretoria at the time. There was +nothing whatsoever to prevent the Boers putting a summary stop to the +proceedings of the Commissioner if they had thought fit. + +That Sir Theophilus played a bold and hazardous game nobody will deny, +but, like most players who combine boldness with coolness of head and +justice of cause, he won; and, without shedding a single drop of blood, +or even confiscating an acre of land, and at no cost, annexed a great +country, and averted a very serious war. That same country four years +later cost us a million of money, the loss of nearly a thousand men +killed and wounded, and the ruin of many more confiding thousands, to +surrender. It is true, however, that nobody can accuse the retrocession +of having been conducted with judgment or ability--very much the +contrary. + +There can be no more ample justification of the issue of the Annexation +proclamation than the proclamation itself. + +First, it touches on the Sand River Convention of 1852, by which +independence was granted to the State, and shows that the "evident +objects and inciting motives" in granting such guarantee were to +promote peace, free-trade, and friendly intercourse, in the hope and +belief that the Republic "would become a flourishing and +self-sustaining State, a source of strength and security to +neighbouring European communities, and a point from which Christianity +and civilisation might rapidly spread toward Central Africa." It goes +on to show how these hopes have been disappointed, and how that +increasing weakness in the State itself on the one side, and more than +corresponding growth of real strength and confidence among the native +tribes on the other, have produced their natural and inevitable +consequence ... that after more or less of irritating conflict with +aboriginal tribes to the north, there commenced about the year 1867 +gradual abandonment to the natives in that direction of territory +settled by burghers of the Transvaal "in well-built towns and villages +and on granted farms." + +It goes on to show that "this decay of power and ebb of authority in +the north is being followed by similar processes in the south under yet +more dangerous circumstances. People of this State residing in that +direction have been compelled within the last three months, at the +bidding of native chiefs, and at a moment's notice, to leave their +farms and homes, their standing crops ... all to be taken possession of +by natives, but that the Government is more powerless than ever to +vindicate its assumed rights or to resist the declension that is +threatening its existence." It then recites how all the other colonies +and communities of South Africa have lost confidence in the State, how +it is in a condition of hopeless bankruptcy, and its commerce +annihilated, whilst the inhabitants are divided into factions, and the +Government has fallen into "helpless paralysis." How also the prospect +of the election of a new President, instead of being looked forward to +with hope, would in the opinion of all parties be the signal for civil +war, anarchy, and bloodshed. How that this state of things affords the +very strongest temptation to the great neighbouring native powers to +attack the country, a temptation that they were only too ready and +anxious to yield to, and that the State was in far too feeble a +condition to repel such attacks, from which it had hitherto only been +saved by the repeated representations of the Government of Natal. The +next paragraphs I will quote as they stand, for they sum up the reasons +for the Annexation. + +"That the Secocoeni war, which would have produced but little effect +on a healthy constitution, has not only proved suddenly fatal to the +resources and reputation of the Republic, but has shown itself to be a +culminating point in the history of South Africa, in that a Makatee or +Basuto tribe, unwarlike and of no account in Zulu estimation, +successfully withstood the strength of the State, and disclosed for the +first time to the native powers outside the Republic, from the Zambesi +to the Cape, the great change that had taken place in the relative +strength of the white and black races, that this disclosure at once +shook the prestige of the white man in South Africa, and placed every +European community in peril, that this common danger has caused +universal anxiety, has given to all concerned the right to investigate +its cause, and to protect themselves from its consequences, and has +imposed the duty upon those who have the power to shield enfeebled +civilisation from the encroachments of barbarism and inhumanity." It +proceeds to point out that the Transvaal will be the first to suffer +from the results of its own policy, and that it is for every reason +perfectly impossible for Her Majesty's Government to stand by and see a +friendly white State ravaged, knowing that its own possessions will be +the next to suffer. That Her Majesty's Government, being persuaded that +the only means to prevent such a catastrophe would be by the annexation +of the country, and, knowing that this was the wish of a large +proportion of the inhabitants of the Transvaal, the step must be taken. +Next follows the formal annexation. + +Together with the proclamation, an address was issued by Sir T. +Shepstone to the burghers of the State, laying the facts before them in +a friendly manner, more suited to their mode of thought than it was +possible to do in a formal proclamation. This document, the issue of +which was one of those touches that insured the success of the +Annexation, was a powerful summing up in colloquial language of the +arguments used in the proclamation, strengthened by quotations from the +speeches of the President. It ends with these words: "It remains only +for me to beg of you to consider and weigh what I have said calmly and +without undue prejudice. Let not mere feeling or sentiment prevail over +your judgment. Accept what Her Majesty's Government intends shall be, +and what you will soon find from experience, is a blessing not only to +you and your children, but to the whole of South Africa through you, +and believe that I speak these words to you as a friend from my heart." + +Two other proclamations were also issued, one notifying the assumption +of the office of Administrator of the Government by Sir T. Shepstone, +and the other repealing the war-tax, which was doubtless an unequal and +oppressive impost. + +I have in the preceding pages stated all the principal grounds of the +Annexation and briefly sketched the history of that event. In the next +chapter I propose to follow the fortunes of the Transvaal, under +British Rule. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. + + +The news of the Annexation was received all over the country with a +sigh of relief, and in many parts of it with great rejoicings. At the +Gold Fields, for instance, special thanksgiving services were held, and +"God save the Queen" was sung in church. Nowhere was there the +slightest disturbance, but, on the contrary, addresses of +congratulation and thanks literally poured in by every mail, many of +them signed by Boers who have since been conspicuous for their bitter +opposition to English rule. At first, there was some doubt as to what +would be the course taken under the circumstances by the volunteers +enlisted by the late Republic. Major Clarke, R.A., was sent to convey +the news, and to take command of them, unaccompanied save by his Kafir +servant. On arrival at the principal fort, he at once ordered the +Republican flag to be hauled down and the Union Jack run up, and his +orders were promptly obeyed. A few days afterwards some members of the +force thought better of it, and having made up their minds to kill him, +came to the tent where he was sitting to carry out their purpose. On +learning their kind intentions, Major Clarke fixed his eye-glass in his +eye, and after steadily glaring at them through it for some time, said, +"You are all drunk, go back to your tents." The volunteers, quite +overcome by his coolness and the fixity of his gaze, at once slipped +off, and there was no further trouble. About three weeks after the +Annexation, the I-13th Regiment arrived at Pretoria, having been very +well received all along the road by the Boers, who came from miles +round to hear the band play. Its entry into Pretoria was quite a sight; +the whole population turned out to meet it; indeed the feeling of +rejoicing and relief was so profound that when the band began to play +"God save the Queen" some of the women burst into tears. + +Meanwhile the effect of the Annexation on the country was perfectly +magical. Credit and commerce were at once restored; the railway bonds +that were down to nothing in Holland rose with one bound to par, and +the value of landed property nearly doubled. Indeed it would have been +possible for any one, knowing what was going to happen, to have +realised large sums of money by buying land in the beginning of 1877, +and selling it shortly after the Annexation. + +On the 24th May, being Her Majesty's birthday, all the native chiefs +who were anywhere within reach were summoned to attend the first formal +hoisting of the English flag. The day was a general festival, and the +ceremony was attended by a large number of Boers and natives in +addition to all the English. At mid-day, amidst the cheers of the +crowd, the salute of artillery, and the strains of "God save the +Queen," the Union Jack was run up a lofty flagstaff, and the Transvaal +was formally announced to be British soil. The flag was hoisted by +Colonel Brooke, R.E., and the present writer. Speaking for myself, I +may say that it was one of the proudest moments of my life. Could I +have foreseen that I should live to see that same flag, then hoisted +with so much joyous ceremony, within a few years shamefully and +dishonourably hauled down and buried,[8] I think it would have been the +most miserable. + + [8] The English flag was during the signing of the Convention + at Pretoria formally buried by a large crowd of Englishmen + and loyal natives. + +The Annexation was as well received in England as it was in the +Transvaal. Lord Carnarvon wrote to Sir T. Shepstone to convey "the +Queen's entire approval of your conduct since you received Her +Majesty's commission, with a renewal of my own thanks on behalf of the +Government for the admirable prudence and discretion with which you +have discharged a great and unwonted responsibility." It was also +accepted by Parliament with very few dissentient voices, since it was +not till afterwards, when the subject became useful as an +electioneering howl, that the Liberal party, headed by our "powerful +popular minister," discovered the deep iniquity that had been +perpetrated in South Africa. So satisfied were the Transvaal Boers with +the change that Messrs. Kruger, Jorissen, and Bok, who formed the +deputation to proceed to England and present President Burgers' formal +protest against the Annexation, found great difficulty in raising +one-half of the necessary expenses--something under one thousand +pounds--towards the cost of the undertaking. The thirst for +independence cannot have been very great when all the wealthy burghers +in the Transvaal put together would not subscribe a thousand pounds +towards retaining it. Indeed, at this time the members of the +deputation themselves seem to have looked upon their undertaking as +being both doubtful and undesirable, since they informed Sir T. +Shepstone that they were going to Europe to discharge an obligation +which had been imposed upon them, and if the mission failed, they would +have done their duty. Mr. Kruger said that if they did fail, he would +be found to be as faithful a subject under the new form of government +as he had been under the old; and Dr. Jorissen admitted with equal +frankness that "the change was inevitable, and expressed his belief +that the cancellation of it would be calamitous." + +Whilst the Annexation was thus well received in the country immediately +interested, a lively agitation was commenced in the Western Province of +the Cape Colony, a thousand miles away, with a view of inducing the +Home Government to repudiate Sir T. Shepstone's act. The reason of this +movement was that the Cape Dutch party, caring little or nothing for +the real interests of the Transvaal, did care a great deal about their +scheme to turn all the white communities of South Africa into a great +Dutch Republic, to which they thought the Annexation would be a +deathblow. As I have said elsewhere, it must be borne in mind that the +strings of the anti-annexation agitation have all along been pulled in +the Western Province, whilst the Transvaal Boers have played the parts +of puppets. The instruments used by the leaders of the movement in the +Cape were, for the most part, the discontented and unprincipled +Hollander element, a newspaper of an extremely abusive nature called +the _Volkstem_, and another in Natal known as the _Natal Witness_, +lately edited by the notorious Aylward, which has an almost equally +unenviable reputation. + +On the arrival of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger in England, they were +received with great civility by Lord Carnarvon, who was, however, +careful to explain to them that the Annexation was irrevocable. In this +decision they cheerfully acquiesced, assuring his lordship of their +determination to do all they could to induce the Boers to accept the +new state of things, and expressing their desire to be allowed to serve +under the new Government. + +Whilst these gentlemen were thus satisfactorily arranging matters with +Lord Carnarvon, Sir. T. Shepstone was making a tour round the country +which resembled a triumphal progress more than anything else. He was +everywhere greeted with enthusiasm by all classes of the community, +Boers, English, and natives, and numerous addresses were presented to +him couched in the warmest language, not only by Englishmen, but also +by Boers. + +It is very difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm of a great number of +the inhabitants of the Transvaal for English rule, and the quiet +acquiescence of the remainder, at this time, with the decidedly +antagonistic attitude assumed later on. It appears to me, however, that +there are several reasons that go far towards accounting for it. The +Transvaal, when we annexed it, was in the position of a man with a +knife at his throat, who is suddenly rescued by some one stronger than +he, on certain conditions which at the time he gladly accepts, but +afterwards, when the danger is passed, wishes to repudiate. In the same +way the inhabitants of the South African Republic were in the time of +need very thankful for our aid, but after a while, when the +recollection of their difficulties had grown faint, when their debts +had been paid and their enemies defeated, they began to think that they +would like to get rid of us again, and start fresh on their own account +with a clean sheet. What fostered agitation more than anything else, +however, was the perfect impunity with which it was allowed to be +carried on. Had only a little firmness and decision been shown in the +first instance there would have been no further trouble. We might have +been obliged to confiscate half-a-dozen farms, and perhaps imprison as +many free burghers for a few months, and there it would have ended. +Neither Boers or natives understand our namby-pamby way of playing at +government; they put it down to fear. What they want, and what they +expect, is to be governed with a just but a firm hand. Thus when the +Boers found that they could agitate with impunity, they naturally +enough continued to agitate. Anybody who knows them will understand +that it was very pleasant to them to find themselves in possession of +that delightful thing, a grievance, and, instead of stopping quietly at +home on their farms, to feel obliged to proceed, full of importance and +long words, to a distant meeting, there to spout and listen to the +spouting of others. It is so much easier to talk politics than to sow +mealies. Some attribute the discontent among the Boers to the +postponement of the carrying out of the Annexation proclamation +promises with reference to the free institutions to be granted to the +country, but in my opinion it had little or nothing to do with it. The +Boers never understood the question of responsible government, and +never wanted that institution; what they did want was to be free of all +English control, and this they said twenty times in the most outspoken +language. I think there is little doubt the causes I have indicated are +the real sources of the agitation, though there must be added to them +their detestation of our mode of dealing with natives, and of being +forced to pay taxes regularly, and also the ceaseless agitation of the +Cape wire-pullers, through their agents the Hollanders, and their +organs in the press. + +On the return of Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen to the Transvaal, the +latter gentleman resumed his duties as Attorney-General, on which +occasion, if I remember aright, I myself had the honour of +administering to him the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, that he +afterwards kept so well. The former reported the proceedings of the +deputation to a Boer meeting, when he took a very different tone to +that in which he addressed Lord Carnarvon, announcing that if there +existed a majority of the people in favour of independence, he still +was Vice-President of the country. + +Both these gentlemen remained for some time in the pay of the British +Government, Mr. Jorissen as Attorney-General, and Mr. Kruger as member +of the Executive Council. The Government, however, at length found it +desirable to dispense with their services, though on different grounds. +Mr. Jorissen had, like several other members of the Republican +Government, been a clergyman, and was quite unfit to hold the post of +Attorney-General in an important colony like the Transvaal, where legal +questions were constantly arising requiring all the attention of a +trained mind; and after he had on several occasions been publicly +admonished from the bench, the Government retired him on liberal terms. +Needless to say, his opposition to English rule then became very +bitter. Mr. Kruger's appointment expired by law in November 1877, and +the Government did not think it advisable to re-employ him. The terms +of his letter of dismissal can be found on page 135 of Blue-book (c. +144), and involving as they do a serious charge of misrepresentation in +money matters, are not very creditable to him. After this event he also +pursued the cause of independence with increased vigour. + +During the last months of 1877 and the first part of 1878 agitation +against British rule went on unchecked, and at last grew to alarming +proportions, so much so that Sir T. Shepstone, on his return from the +Zulu border in March 1878, where he had been for some months discussing +the vexed and dangerous question of the boundary line with the Zulus, +found it necessary to issue a stringent proclamation warning the +agitators that their proceedings and meetings were illegal, and would +be punished according to law. This document, which was at the time +vulgarly known as the "Hold-your-jaw" proclamation, not being followed +by action, produced but little effect. + +On the 4th April 1878 another Boer meeting was convened, at which it +was decided to send a second deputation to England, to consist this +time of Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, with Mr. Bok as secretary. This +deputation proved as abortive as the first, Sir. M. Hicks Beach +assuring it, in a letter dated 6th August 1878, that it is "impossible, +for many reasons, ... that the Queen's sovereignty should now be +withdrawn." + +Whilst the Government was thus hampered by internal disaffection, it +had also many other difficulties on its hands. First, there was the +Zulu boundary question, which was constantly developing new dangers to +the country. Indeed, it was impossible to say what might happen in that +direction from one week to another. Nor were its relations with +Secocoeni satisfactory. It will be remembered that just before the +Annexation this chief had expressed his earnest wish to become a +British subject, and even paid over part of the fine demanded from him +by the Boer Government to the Civil Commissioner, Major Clarke. In +March 1878, however, his conduct towards the Government underwent a +sudden change, and he practically declared war. It afterwards appeared, +from Secocoeni's own statement, that he was instigated to this step +by a Boer, Abel Erasmus by name--the same man who was concerned in the +atrocities in the first Secocoeni war--who constantly encouraged him +to continue the struggle. I do not propose to minutely follow the +course of this long war, which, commencing in the beginning of 1878, +did not come to an end till after the Zulu war: when Sir Garnet +Wolseley attacked Secocoeni's stronghold with a large force of +troops, volunteers, and Swazi allies, and took it with great slaughter. +The losses on our side were not very heavy, so far as white men were +concerned, but the Swazis are reported to have lost 400 killed and 500 +wounded. + +The struggle was, during the long period preceding the final attack, +carried on with great courage and ability by Major Clarke, R.A., +C.M.G., whose force, at the best of times, only consisted of 200 +volunteers and 100 Zulus. With this small body of men he contrived, +however, to keep Secocoeni in check, and to take some important +strongholds. It was marked also by some striking acts of individual +bravery, of which one, performed by Major Clarke himself, whose +reputation for cool courage and presence of mind in danger is +unsurpassed in South Africa, is worthy of notice; and which, had public +attention been more concentrated on the Secocoeni war, would +doubtless have won him the Victoria Cross. On one occasion, on visiting +one of the outlying forts, he found that a party of hostile natives, +who were coming down to the fort on the previous day with a flag of +truce, had been accidentally fired on, and had at once retreated. As +his system in native warfare was always to try and inspire his enemy +with perfect faith in the honour of Englishmen, and their contempt of +all tricks and treachery even towards a foe, he was very angry at this +occurrence, and at once, unarmed and unattended save by his native +servant, rode up into the mountains to the kraal from which the white +flag party had come on the previous day, and apologised to the chief +for what had happened. When I consider how very anxious Secocoeni's +natives were to kill or capture Clarke, whom they held in great dread, +and how terrible the end of so great a captain would in all probability +have been had he been taken alive by these masters of refined torture, +I confess that I think this act of gentlemanly courage is one of the +most astonishing things I ever heard of. When he rode up those hills he +must have known that he was probably going to meet his death at the +hands of justly incensed savages. When Secocoeni heard of what Major +Clarke had done he was so pleased that he shortly afterwards released a +volunteer whom he had taken prisoner, and who would otherwise, in all +probability, have been tortured to death. I must add that Major Clarke +himself never reported or alluded to this incident, but an account of +it can be found in a despatch written by Sir O. Lanyon to the Secretary +of State, dated 2d February 1880. + +Concurrently with, though entirely distinct from, the political +agitation that was being carried on among the Boers having for object +the restoration of independence, a private agitation was set on foot by +a few disaffected persons against Sir T. Shepstone, with the view of +obtaining his removal from office in favour of a certain Colonel +Weatherley. The details of this impudent plot are so interesting, and +the plot itself so typical of the state of affairs with which Sir T. +Shepstone had to deal, that I will give a short account of it. + +After the Annexation had taken place, there were naturally enough a +good many individuals who found themselves disappointed in the results +so far as they personally were concerned; I mean that they did not get +so much out of it as they expected. Among these was a gentleman called +Colonel Weatherley, who had come to the Transvaal as manager of a +gold-mining company, but getting tired of that had taken a prominent +part in the Annexation, and who, being subsequently disappointed about +an appointment, became a bitter enemy of the Administrator. I may say +at once that Colonel Weatherley seems to me to have been throughout the +dupe of the other conspirators. + +The next personage was a good-looking desperado, who called himself +Captain Gunn of Gunn, and who was locally somewhat irreverently known +as the very Gunn of very Gunn. This gentleman, whose former career had +been of a most remarkable order, was, on the annexation of the country, +found in the public prison charged with having committed various +offences, but on Colonel Weatherley's interesting himself strongly on +his behalf, he was eventually released without trial. On his release, +he requested the Administrator to publish a Government notice declaring +him innocent of the charges brought against him. This Sir T. Shepstone +declined to do, and so, to use his own words, in a despatch to the High +Commissioner on the subject, Captain Gunn of Gunn at once became "what +in this country is called a patriot." + +The third person concerned was a lawyer, who had got into trouble on +the Diamond Fields, and who felt himself injured because the rules of +the High Court did not allow him to practise as an advocate. The +quartette was made up by Mr. Celliers, the editor of the patriotic +organ, the _Volkstem_, who, since he had lost the Government printing +contract, found that no language could be too strong to apply to the +_personnel_ of the Government, more especially its head. Of course, +there was a lady in it; what plot would be complete without? She was +Mrs. Weatherley, now, I believe, Mrs. Gunn of Gunn. These gentlemen +began operations by drawing up a long petition to Sir Bartle Frere as +High Commissioner, setting forth a string of supposed grievances, and +winding up with a request that the Administrator might be "promoted to +some other sphere of political usefulness." This memorial was forwarded +by the "committee," as they called themselves, to various parts of the +country for signature, but without the slightest success, the fact of +the matter being that it was not the Annexor but the Annexation that +the Boers objected to. + +At this stage in the proceedings Colonel Weatherley went to try and +forward the good cause with Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape. His letters +to Mrs. Weatherley from thence, afterwards put into Court in the +celebrated divorce case, contained many interesting accounts of his +attempts in that direction. I do not think, however, that he was +cognisant of what was being concocted by his allies in Pretoria, but +being a very vain, weak man, was easily deceived by them. With all his +faults he was a gentleman. As soon as he was gone a second petition was +drawn up by the "committee," showing "the advisability of immediately +suspending our present Administrator, and temporarily appointing and +recommending for Her Majesty's royal and favourable consideration an +English gentleman of high integrity and honour, in whom the country at +large has respect and confidence." + +The English gentleman of high integrity and honour of course proves to +be Colonel Weatherley, whose appointment is, further on, "respectfully +but earnestly requested," since he had "thoroughly gained the +affections, confidence, and respect of Boers, English, and other +Europeans in this country." But whilst it is comparatively easy to +write petitions, there is sometimes a difficulty in getting people to +sign them, as proved to be the case with reference to the documents +under consideration. When the "committee" and the employés in the +office of the _Volkstem_ had affixed their valuable signatures it +was found to be impossible to induce anybody else to follow their +example. Now, a petition with some half dozen signatures attached would +not, it was obvious, carry much weight with the Imperial Government, +and no more could be obtained. + +But really great minds rise superior to such difficulties, and so did +the "committee," or some of them, or one of them. If they could not get +genuine signatures to their petitions, they could at any rate +manufacture them. This great idea once hit out, so vigorously was it +prosecuted that they, or some of them, or one of them, produced in a +very little while no less than 3883 signatures, of which sixteen were +proved to be genuine, five were doubtful, and all the rest fictitious. +But the gentleman, whoever he was, who was the working partner in the +scheme--and I may state, by way of parenthesis, that when Gunn of Gunn +was subsequently arrested, petitions in process of signature were found +under the mattress of his bed--calculated without his host. He either +did not know, or had forgotten, that on receipt of such documents by a +superior officer, they are at once sent to the officer accused to +report upon. This course was followed in the present case, and the +petitions were discovered to be gross impostures. The ingenuity +exercised by their author or authors was really very remarkable, for it +must be remembered that not one of the signatures was forged; they were +all invented, and had, of course, to be written in a great variety of +hands. The plan generally pursued was to put down the names of people +living in the country, with slight variations. Thus "De _V_illiers" +became "De _W_illiers," and "Van Z_y_l" "Van Z_u_l." I remember that my +own name appeared on one of the petitions with some slight alteration. +Some of the names were evidently meant to be facetious. Thus there was +a "Jan Verneuker," which means "John the Cheat." + +Of the persons directly or indirectly concerned in this rascally plot, +the unfortunate Colonel Weatherley subsequently apologised to Sir T. +Shepstone for his share in the agitation, and shortly afterwards died +fighting bravely on Kambula. Captain Gunn of Gunn and Mrs. Weatherley, +after having given rise to the most remarkable divorce case I ever +heard--it took fourteen days to try--were, on the death of Colonel +Weatherley, united in the bonds of holy matrimony, and are, I believe, +still in Pretoria. The lawyer vanished I know not where, whilst Mr. +Celliers still continues to edit that admirably conducted journal the +_Volkstem_; nor, if I may judge from the report of a speech made +by him recently at a Boer festival, which, by the way, was graced by +the presence of our representative, Mr. Hudson, the British Resident, +has his right hand forgotten its cunning, or rather his tongue lost the +use of those peculiar and _recherché_ epithets that used to adorn +the columns of the _Volkstem_. I see that he, on this occasion, +denounced the English element as being "poisonous and dangerous" to a +State, and stated, amidst loud cheers, that "he despised" it. Mr. +Cellier's lines have fallen in pleasant places; in any other country he +would long ago have fallen a victim to the stern laws of libel. I +recommend him to the notice of enterprising Irish newspapers. Such is +the freshness and vigour of his style that I am confident he would make +the fortune of any Hibernian journal. + +Some little time after the Gunn of Gunn frauds a very sad incident +happened in connection with the government of the Transvaal. Shortly +after the Annexation, the Home Government sent out Mr. Sergeaunt, +C.M.G., one of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, to report on the +financial Condition of the country. He was accompanied, in an +unofficial capacity, amongst other gentlemen, by Captain Patterson and +his son, Mr. J. Sergeaunt; and when he returned to England, these two +gentlemen remained behind to go on a shooting expedition. About this +time Sir Bartle Frere was anxious to send a friendly mission to Lo +Bengula, king of the Matabele, a branch of the Zulu tribe, living up +towards the Zambesi. This chief had been making himself unpleasant by +causing traders to be robbed, and it was thought desirable to establish +friendly relations with him, so it was suggested to Captain Patterson +and Mr. Sergeaunt that they should combine business with pleasure, and +go on a mission to Lo Bengula, an offer which they accepted, and +shortly afterwards started for Matabeleland with an interpreter and a +few servants. They reached their destination in safety; and having +concluded their business with the king, started on a visit to the +Zambesi Falls on foot, leaving the interpreter with the waggon. The +falls were about twelve days' walk from the king's kraal, and they were +accompanied thither by young Mr. Thomas, the son of the local +missionary, two Kafir servants, and twenty native bearers supplied by +Lo Bengula. The next thing that was heard of them was that they had all +died through drinking poisoned water, full details of the manner of +their deaths being sent down by Lo Bengula. + +In the first shock and confusion of such news it was not very closely +examined, at any rate by the friends of the dead men, but, on +reflection, there were several things about it that appeared strange. +For instance, it was well known that Captain Patterson had a habit, for +which, indeed, we had often laughed at him, of, however thirsty he +might be, always having his water boiled when he was travelling, in +order to destroy impurities, and it seemed odd that he should on this +one occasion have neglected the precaution. Also, it was curious that +the majority of Lo Bengula's bearers appeared to have escaped, whereas +all the others were, without exception, killed; nor even in that +district is it usual to find water so bad that it will kill with the +rapidity it had been supposed to do in this case, unless indeed it had +been designedly poisoned. These doubts of the poisoning-by-bad-water-story +resolved themselves into certainty when the waggon returned in charge +of the interpreter, when, by putting two and two together, we were able +to piece out the real history of the diabolical murder of our poor +friends with considerable accuracy, a story which shows what +blood-thirsty wickedness a savage is capable of when he fancies his +interests are threatened. + +It appeared that, when Captain Patterson first interviewed Lo Bengula, +he was not at all well received by him. I must, by way of explanation, +state that there exists a pretender to his throne, Kruman by name, who, +as far as I can make out, is the real heir to the kingdom. This man +had, for some cause or other, fled the country, and for a time acted as +gardener to Sir T. Shepstone in Natal. At the date of Messrs. Patterson +and Sergeaunt's mission to Matabeleland he was living, I believe, in +the Transvaal. Captain Patterson, on finding himself so ill received by +the king, and not being sufficiently acquainted with the character of +savage chiefs, most unfortunately, either by accident or design, +dropped some hint in the course of conversation about this Kruman. From +that moment Lo Bengula's conduct towards the mission entirely changed, +and, dropping his former tone, he became profusely civil; and from that +moment, too, he doubtless determined to kill them, probably fearing +that they might forward some scheme to oust him and place Kruman, on +whose claim a large portion of his people looked favourably, on the +throne. + +When their business was done, and Captain Patterson told the king that +they were anxious, before returning, to visit the Zambesi Falls, he +readily fell in with their wish, but, in the first instance, refused +permission to young Thomas, the son of the missionary, to accompany +them, only allowing him to do so on the urgent representations of +Captain Patterson. The reason of this was, no doubt, that he had kindly +feelings towards the lad, and did not wish to include him in the +slaughter. + +Captain Patterson was a man of extremely methodical habits, and, +amongst other things, was in the habit of making notes of all that he +did. His note-book had been taken off his body, and sent down to +Pretoria with the other things. In it we found entries of his +preparations for the trip, including the number and names of the +bearers provided by Lo Bengula. We also found the chronicle of the +first three days' journey, and that of the morning of the fourth day, +but there the record stopped. The last entry was probably made a few +minutes before he was killed; and it is to be observed that there was +no entry of the party having been for several days without water, as +stated by the messengers, and then finding the poisoned water. + +This evidence by itself would not have amounted to much, but now +comes the curious part of the story, showing the truth of the old +adage, "Murder will out." It appears that when the waggon was coming +down to Pretoria in charge of the interpreter, it was outspanned +one day outside the borders of Lo Bengula's country, when some +Kafirs--Bechuanas, I think--came up, asked for some tobacco, and fell +into conversation with the driver, remarking that he had come up with a +full waggon, and now he went down with an empty one. The driver replied +by lamenting the death by poisoned water of his masters, whereupon one +of the Kafirs told him the following story:--He said that a brother of +his was out hunting, a little while back, in the desert for ostriches, +with a party of other Kafirs, when hearing shots fired some way off, +they made for the spot, thinking that white men were out shooting, and +that they would be able to beg meat. On reaching the spot, which was by +a pool of water, they saw the bodies of three white men lying on the +ground, and also those of a Hottentot and a Kafir, surrounded by an +armed party of Kafirs. They at once asked the Kafirs what they had been +doing killing the white men, and were told to be still, for it was by +"order of the king." They then learned the whole story. It appeared +that the white men had made a mid-day halt by the water, when one of +the bearers, who had gone to the edge of the pool, suddenly shouted to +them to come and look at a great snake in the water. Captain Patterson +ran up, and, as he leaned over the edge, was instantly killed by a blow +with an axe; the others were then shot and assegaied. The Kafir further +described the clothes that his brother had seen on the bodies, and also +some articles that had been given to his party by the murderers, that +left little doubt as to the veracity of his story. And so ended the +mission to Matabeleland. + +No public notice was taken of the matter, for the obvious reason that +it was impossible to get at Lo Bengula to punish him; nor would it have +been easy to come by legal evidence to disprove the ingenious story of +the poisoned water, since anybody trying to reach the spot of the +massacre would probably fall a victim to some similar accident before +he got back again. It is devoutly to be hoped that the punishment he +deserves will sooner or later overtake the author of this devilish and +wholesale murder. + +The beginning of 1879 was signalised by the commencement of operations +in Zululand and by the news of the terrible disaster at Isandhlwana, +which fell on Pretoria like a thunderclap. It was not, however, any +surprise to those who were acquainted with Zulu tactics and with the +plan of attack adopted by the English commanders. In fact, I know that +one solemn warning of what would certainly happen to him if he +persisted in his plan of advance was addressed to Lord Chelmsford, +through the officer in command at Pretoria, by a gentleman whose +position and long experience of the Zulus and their mode of attack +should have carried some weight. If it ever reached him, he took, to +the best of my recollection, no notice of it whatever. + +But though some such disaster was daily expected by a few, the majority +both of soldiers and civilians never dreamed of anything of the sort, +the general idea being that the conquest of Cetywayo was a very easy +undertaking; and the shock produced by the news of Isandhlwana was +proportionately great, especially as it reached Pretoria in a much +exaggerated form. I shall never forget the appearance of the town that +morning; business was entirely suspended, and the streets were filled +with knots of men talking, with scared faces, as well they might: for +there was scarcely anybody but had lost a friend, and many thought that +their sons or brothers were among the dead on that bloody field. Among +others, Sir T. Shepstone lost one son, and thought for some time that +he had lost three. + +Shortly after this event Sir Theophilus went to England to confer with +the Secretary of State on various matters connected with the Transvaal, +carrying with him the affection and respect of all who knew him, not +excepting the majority of the malcontent Boers. He was succeeded by +Colonel, now Sir Owen Lanyon, who was appointed to administer the +Government during the absence of Sir T. Shepstone. + +By the Boers, however, the news of our disaster was received with great +and unconcealed rejoicing, or at least by the irreconcilable portion of +that people. England's necessity was their opportunity, and one of +which they certainly meant to avail themselves. Accordingly, notices +were sent out summoning the burghers of the Transvaal to attend a mass +meeting on the 18th March, at a place about thirty miles from Pretoria. +Emissaries were also sent to native chiefs, to excite them to follow +Cetywayo's example, and massacre all the English within reach, of whom +a man called Solomon Prinsloo was one of the most active The natives, +however, notwithstanding the threats used towards them, one and all +declined the invitation. + +It must not be supposed that all the Boers who attended these meetings +did so of their own free will; on the contrary, a very large number +came under compulsion, since they found that the English authorities +were powerless to give them protection. The recalcitrants were +threatened with all sorts of pains and penalties if they did not +attend, a favourite menace being that they should be made "biltong" of +when the country was given back (_i.e._, be cut into strips and hung +in the sun to dry). Few, luckily for themselves, were brave enough +to tempt fortune by refusing to come, but those who did have had to +leave the country since the war. Whatever were the means employed, the +result was an armed meeting of about 3000 Boers, who evidently meant +mischief. + +Just about this time a corps had been raised in Pretoria, composed, for +the most part, of gentlemen, and known as the Pretoria Horse, for the +purpose of proceeding to the Zulu border, where cavalry, especially +cavalry acquainted with the country, was earnestly needed. In the +emergency of the times officials were allowed to join this corps, a +permission of which I availed myself, and was elected one of the +lieutenants.[9] The corps was not, after all, allowed to go to Zululand +on account of the threatening aspect adopted by the Boers, against whom +it was retained for service. In my capacity as an officer of the corps +I was sent out with a small body of picked men, all good riders and +light weights, to keep up a constant communication between the Boer +camp and the Administrator, and found the work both interesting and +exciting. My headquarters were at an inn about twenty-five miles from +Pretoria, to which our agents in the meeting used to come every evening +and report how matters were proceeding, whereupon, if the road was +clear, I despatched a letter to headquarters; or, if I feared that the +messengers would be caught _en route_ by Boer patrols and searched, I +substituted different coloured ribbons according to what I wished to +convey. There was a relief hidden in the trees or rocks every six +miles, all day and most of the night, whose business it was to take the +despatch or ribbon and gallop on with it to the next station, in which +way we used to get the despatches into town in about an hour and a +quarter. + + [9] It is customary in South African volunteer forces to + allow the members to elect their own officers, provided the + men elected are such as the Government approves. This is + done, so that the corps may not afterwards be able to declare + that they have no confidence in their officers in action, or + to grumble at their treatment by them. + +On one or two occasions the Boers came to the inn and threatened to +shoot us, but as our orders were to do nothing unless our lives were +actually in danger, we took no notice. The officer who came out to +relieve me had not, however, been there more than a day or two before +he and all his troopers were hunted back into Pretoria by a large mob +of armed Boers whom they only escaped by very hard riding. + +Meanwhile the Boers were by degrees drawing nearer and nearer to the +town, till at last they pitched their laagers within six miles, and +practically besieged it. All business was stopped, the houses were +loopholed and fortified, and advantageous positions were occupied by +the military and the various volunteer corps. The building, normally in +the occupation of the Government mules, fell to the lot of the Pretoria +Horse, and, though it was undoubtedly a post of honour, I honestly +declare that I have no wish to sleep for another month in a mule stable +that has not been cleaned out for several years. However, by sinking a +well, and erecting bastions and a staging for sharpshooters, we +converted it into an excellent fortress, though it would not have been +of much use against artillery. Our patrols used to be out all night, +since we chiefly feared a night attack, and generally every preparation +was made to resist the onset that was hourly expected, and I believe +that it was that state of preparedness that alone prevented it. + +Whilst this meeting was going on, and when matters had come to a point +that seemed to render war inevitable, Sir Bartle Frere arrived at +Pretoria and had several interviews with the Boer leaders, at which +they persisted in demanding their independence, and nothing short of +it. After a great deal of talk the meeting finally broke up without any +actual appeal to arms, though it had, during its continuance, assumed +many of the rights of government, such as stopping post-carts and +individuals, and sending armed patrols about the country. The principal +reason of its break-up was that the Zulu war was now drawing to a +close, and the leaders saw that there would soon be plenty of troops +available to suppress any attempt at revolt, but they also saw to what +lengths they could go with impunity. They had for a period of nearly +two months been allowed to throw the whole country into confusion, to +openly violate the laws, and to intimidate and threaten Her Majesty's +loyal subjects with war and death. The lesson was not lost on them; but +they postponed action till a more favourable opportunity offered. + +Sir Bartle Frere before his departure took an opportunity at a public +dinner given him at Potchefstroom of assuring the loyal inhabitants of +the country that the Transvaal would never be given back. + +Meanwhile a new Pharaoh had arisen in Egypt, in the shape of Sir Garnet +Wolseley, and on the 29th June 1879 we find him communicating the fact +to Sir 0. Lanyon in very plain language, telling him that he +disapproved of his course of action with regard to Secocoeni, and +that "in future you will please take orders only from me." + +As soon as Sir Garnet had completed his arrangements for the +pacification of Zululand, he proceeded to Pretoria, and having caused +himself to be sworn in as Governor, set vigorously to work. I must say +that in his dealings with the Transvaal he showed great judgment and a +keen appreciation of what the country needed, namely, strong +government; the fact of the matter being, I suppose, that being very +popular with the Home authorities he felt that he could more or less +command their support in what he did, a satisfaction not given to most +governors, who never know but that they may be thrown overboard in +emergency to lighten the ship. + +One of his first acts was to issue a proclamation, stating that, +"Whereas it appears that, notwithstanding repeated assurances of +contrary effect given by Her Majesty's representatives in this +territory, uncertainty or misapprehension exists amongst some of Her +Majesty's subjects as to the intention of Her Majesty's Government +regarding the maintenance of British rule and sovereignty over the +territory of the Transvaal: and whereas it is expedient that all +grounds for such uncertainty or misapprehension should be removed once +and for all beyond doubt or question: now therefore I do hereby +proclaim and make known, in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty +the Queen, that it is the will and determination of Her Majesty's +Government that this Transvaal territory shall be, _and shall +continue to be for ever_, an integral portion of Her Majesty's +dominions in South Africa." + +Alas! Sir G. Wolseley's estimate of the value of a solemn pledge thus +made in the name of Her Majesty, whose word has hitherto been held to +be sacred, differed greatly to that of Mr. Gladstone and his +Government. + +Sir Garnet Wolseley's operations against Secocoeni proved eminently +successful, and were the best arranged bit of native warfare that I +have yet heard of in South Africa. One blow was struck, and only one, +but that was crushing. Of course the secret of his success lay in the +fact that he had an abundance of force; but it was not ensured by that +alone, good management being very requisite in an affair of the sort, +especially where native allies have to be dealt with. The cost of the +expedition, not counting other Secocoeni war expenditure, amounted to +over £300,000, all of which is now lost to this country. + +Another step in the right direction undertaken by Sir Garnet was the +establishment of an Executive Council and also of a Legislative +Council, for the establishment of which Letters Patent were sent from +Downing Street in November 1880. + +Meanwhile the Boers, paying no attention to the latter proclamation, +for they guessed that it, like other proclamations in the Transvaal, +would be a mere _brutum fulmen_, had assembled for another mass +meeting, at which they went forward a step, and declared a Government +which was to treat with the English authorities. They had now learnt +that they could do what they liked with perfect impunity, provided they +did not take the extreme course of massacring the English. They had yet +to learn that they might even do that. At the termination of this +meeting, a vote of thanks was passed to "Mr. Leonard Courtney of +London, and other members of the British Parliament." It was wise of +the Boer leaders to cultivate Mr. Courtney of London. As a result of +this meeting, Pretorius, one of the principal leaders, and Bok, the +secretary, were arrested on a charge of treason, and underwent a +preliminary examination; but as the Secretary of State, Sir M. Hicks +Beach, looked rather timidly on the proceeding, and the local +authorities were doubtful of securing a verdict, the prosecution was +abandoned, and necessarily did more harm than good, being looked upon +as another proof of the impotence of the Government. + +Shortly afterwards, Sir G. Wolseley changed his tactics, and, instead +of attempting to imprison Pretorius, offered him a seat on the +Executive Council, with a salary attached. This was a much more +sensible way of dealing with him, and he at once rose to the bait, +stating his willingness to join the Government after a while, but that +he could not publicly do so at the moment lest he should lose his +influence with those who were to be brought round through him. It does +not, however, appear that Mr. Pretorius ever did actually join the +Executive, probably because he found public opinion too strong to allow +him to do so. + +In December 1879 a new light broke upon the Boers, for in the previous +month Mr. Gladstone had been delivering his noted attack on the policy +of the Conservative Government. Those Mid-Lothian speeches did harm, it +is said, in many parts of the world; but I venture to think that they +have proved more mischievous in South Africa than anywhere else; at any +rate, they have borne fruit sooner. It is not to be supposed that Mr. +Gladstone really cared anything about the Transvaal or its independence +when he was denouncing the hideous outrage that had been perpetrated by +the Conservative Government in annexing it. On the contrary, as he +acquiesced in the Annexation at the time (when Lord Kimberley stated +that it was evidently unavoidable), and declined to rescind it when he +came into power, it is to be supposed that he really approved of it, or +at the least looked on it as a necessary evil. However this may be, any +stick will do to beat a dog with, and the Transvaal was a convenient +point on which to attack the Government. He probably neither knew nor +cared what effect his reckless words might have on ignorant Boers +thousands of miles away; and yet, humanly speaking, many a man would +have been alive and strong to-day whose bones now whiten the African +Veldt had those words never been spoken. Then, for the first time, the +Boers learnt that, if they played their cards properly and put on +sufficient pressure, they would, in the event of the Liberal party +coming to office, have little difficulty in coercing it as they wished. + +There was a fair chance at the time of the utterance of the Mid-Lothian +speeches that the agitation would, by degrees, die away; Sir G. +Wolseley had succeeded in winning over Pretorius, and the Boers in +general were sick of mass meetings. Indeed, a memorial was addressed to +Sir. G. Wolseley by a number of Boers in the Potchefstroom district, +protesting against the maintenance of the movement against Her +Majesty's rule, which, considering the great amount of intimidation +exercised by the malcontents, may be looked upon as a favourable sign. + +But when it slowly came to be understood among the Boers that a great +English Minister had openly espoused their cause, and that he would +perhaps soon be all-powerful, the moral gain to them was incalculable. +They could now go to the doubting ones and say,--we must be right about +the matter, because, putting our own feelings out of the question, the +great Gladstone says we are. We find the committee of the Boer +malcontents, at their meeting in March 1880, reading a letter to Mr. +Gladstone, "in which he was thanked for the great sympathy shown in +their fate," and a hope expressed that, if he succeeded in getting +power, he would not forget them. In fact, a charming unanimity +prevailed between our great Minister and the Boer rebels, for their +interests were the same, the overthrow of the Conservative Government. +If, however, every leader of the Opposition were to intrigue or +countenance intrigues with those who are seeking to undermine the +authority of Her Majesty, whether they be Boers or Irishmen, in order +to help himself to power, the country might suffer in the long run. + +But whatever feelings may have prompted Her Majesty's Opposition, the +Home Government, and their agent, Sir Garnet Wolseley, blew no +uncertain blast, if we may judge from their words and actions. Thus we +find Sir Garnet speaking as follows at a banquet given in his honour at +Pretoria:-- + +"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in +this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the +old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English +politics than such an idea; I tell you that there is no Government, +Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical, _who would dare +under any circumstances to give back this country_. They would not +dare, because the English people would not allow them. To give back the +country, what would it mean? To give it back to external danger, to the +danger of attack by hostile tribes on its frontier, and who, if the +English Government were removed for one day, would make themselves felt +the next. Not an official of Government paid for months; it would mean +national bankruptcy. No taxes being paid, the same thing recurring +again which had existed before would mean danger without, anarchy and +civil war within, every possible misery; the strangulation of trade, +and the destruction of property." + +It is very amusing to read this passage by the light of after events. +On other occasions Sir Garnet Wolseley will probably not be quite so +confident as to the future when it is to be controlled by a Radical +Government. + +This explicit and straightforward statement of Sir Garnet's produced a +great effect on the loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal, which was +heightened by the publication of the following telegram from the +Secretary of State:--"You may fully confirm explicit statements made +from time to time as to inability of Her Majesty's Government to +entertain _any proposal_ for withdrawal of the Queen's sovereignty." + +On the faith of these declarations many Englishmen migrated to the +Transvaal and settled there, whilst those who were in the country now +invested all their means, being confident that they would not lose +their property through its being returned to the Boers. The excitement +produced by Mr. Gladstone's speeches began to quiet down and be +forgotten for the time, arrear taxes were paid up by the malcontents, +and generally the aspect of affairs was such, in Sir Garnet Wolseley's +opinion, as justified him in writing, in April 1880, to the Secretary +of State expressing his belief that the agitation was dying out.[10] +Indeed, so sanguine was he on that point that he is reported to have +advised the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment stationed in the +territory, a piece of economy that was one of the immediate causes of +the revolt. + + [10] In Blue-Book No. (C. 2866) of September 1881, which is + descriptive of various events connected with the Boer rising, + is published, as an appendix, a despatch from Sir Garnet + Wolseley, dated October 1879. This despatch declares the + writer's opinion that the Boer discontent a on the increase. + Its publication thus--_apropos des bottes_--nearly two + years after it was written, is rather an amusing incident. It + certainly gives one the idea that Sir Garnet Wolseley, + fearing that his reputation for infallibility might be + attacked by scoffers for not having foreseen the Boer + rebellion, and perhaps uneasily conscious of other despatches + very different in tenor and subsequent in date: and, mindful + of the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment by his advice, had + caused it to be tacked on to the Blue-Book as a documentary + "I told you so," and a proof that, whoever else was blinded, + he foresaw. It contains, however, the following remarkably + true passage:--"Even were it not impossible, for many other + reasons, to contemplate a withdrawal of our authority from + the Transvaal, the position of insecurity in which we should + leave this loyal and important section of the community (the + English inhabitants), by exposing them to the certain + retaliation of the Boers, would constitute, in my opinion, an + insuperable obstacle to retrocession. Subjected to the same + danger, moreover, would be those of the Boers, whose superior + intelligence and courageous character has rendered them loyal + to our Government" + + As the Government took the trouble to republish the despatch, + it is a pity that they did not think fit to pay more + attention to its contents. + +The reader will remember the financial condition of the country at the +time of the Annexation, which was one of utter bankruptcy. After three +years of British rule, however, we find, notwithstanding the constant +agitation that had been kept up, that the total revenue receipts for +the first quarter of 1879 and 1880 amounted to £22,773 and £47,982 +respectively. That is to say, that, during the last year of British +rule, the revenue of the country more than doubled itself, and amounted +to about £160,000 a year, taking the quarterly returns at the low +average of £40,000. It must, however, be remembered that this sum would +have been very largely increased in subsequent years, most probably +doubled. At any rate the revenue would have been amply sufficient to +make the province one of the most prosperous in South Africa, and to +have enabled it to shortly repay all debts due to the British +Government, and further to provide for its own defence. Trade also, +which, in April 1877, was completely paralysed, had increased +enormously. So early as the middle of 1879, the Committee of the +Transvaal Chamber of Commerce pointed out, in a resolution adopted by +them, that the trade of the country had in two years risen from almost +nothing to the considerable sum of two millions sterling per annum, and +that it was entirely in the hands of those favourable to British rule. +They also pointed out that more than half the land-tax was paid by +Englishmen, or other Europeans adverse to Boer Government. Land, too, +had risen greatly in value, of which I can give the following instance. +About a year after the Annexation I, together with a friend, bought a +little property on the outskirts of Pretoria, which, with a cottage we +put up on it, cost some £300. Just before the rebellion we fortunately +determined to sell it, and had no difficulty in getting £650 for it. I +do not believe that it would now fetch a fifty-pound note. + +I cannot conclude this chapter better than by drawing attention to a +charming specimen of the correspondence between the Boer leaders and +their friend Mr. Courtney. The letter in question, which is dated 26th +June, purports to be written by Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, but it is +obvious that it owes its origin to some member or members of the Dutch +party at the Cape, from whence, indeed, it is written. This is rendered +evident both by its general style, and also by the use of such terms as +"Satrap," and by references to Napoleon III. and Cayenne, about whom +Messrs. Kruger and Joubert know no more than they do of Peru and the +Incas. + +After alluding to former letters, the writers blow a blast of triumph +over the downfall of the Conservative Government, and then make a +savage attack on the reputation of Sir Bartle Frere. The "stubborn +Satrap" is throughout described as a liar, and every bad motive imputed +to him. Really, the fact that Mr. Courtney should encourage such +epistles as this is enough to give colour to the boast made by some of +the leading Boers, after the war, that they had been encouraged to +rebel by a member of the British Government. + +At the end of this letter, and on the same page of the Blue-Book, is +printed the telegram recalling Sir Bartle Frere, dated 1st August 1880. +It really reads as though the second document was consequent on the +first. One thing is very clear, the feelings of Her Majesty's new +Government towards Sir Bartle Frere differed only in the method of +their expression from those set forth by the Boer leaders in their +letter to Mr. Courtney, whilst their object, namely, to be rid of him, +was undoubtedly identical with that of the Dutch party in South Africa. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BOER REBELLION. + + +When the Liberal ministry became an accomplished fact instead of a +happy possibility, Mr. Gladstone did not find it convenient to adopt +the line of policy with reference to the Transvaal that might have been +expected from his utterances whilst leader of the Opposition. On the +contrary, he declared in Parliament that the Annexation could not be +cancelled, and on the 8th June 1880 we find him, in answer to a Boer +petition, written with the object of inducing him to act up to the +spirit of his words and rescind the Annexation, writing thus:--"Looking +to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South +Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders which +might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal, but +to the whole of South Africa, our judgment is, that the _Queen cannot +be advised to relinquish her sovereignty over the Transvaal_; but, +consistently with the maintenance of that sovereignty, we desire that +the white inhabitants of the Transvaal should, without prejudice to the +rest of the population, enjoy the fullest liberty to manage their local +affairs. We believe that this liberty may be most easily and promptly +conceded to the Transvaal as a member of a South African +confederation." + +Unless words have lost their signification, this passage certainly +means that the Transvaal must remain a British colony, but that England +will be prepared to grant it responsible government, more especially if +it will consent to a confederation scheme. Mr. Gladstone, however, in a +communication dated 1st June 1881, and addressed to the unfortunate +Transvaal loyals, for whom he expresses "respect and sympathy," +interprets his meaning thus: "It is stated, as I observe, that a +promise was given by me that the Transvaal never should be given back. +There is no mention of the terms or date of this promise. If the +reference be to my letter, of 8th June 1880, to Messrs. Kruger and +Joubert, I do not think the language of that letter justifies the +description given. Nor am I sure in what manner or to what degree the +fullest liberty to manage their local affairs, which I then said Her +Majesty's Government desired to confer on the white population of the +Transvaal, differs from the settlement now about being made in its +bearing on the interests of those whom your Committee represents." + +Such twisting of the meaning of words would, in a private person, be +called dishonest. It will also occur to most people that Mr. Gladstone +might have spared the deeply wronged and loyal subjects of Her Majesty +whom he was addressing the taunt he levels at them in the second +paragraph I have quoted. If asked, he would no doubt say that he had +not the slightest intention of laughing at them; but when he +deliberately tells them that it makes no difference to their interests +whether they remain Her Majesty's subjects under a responsible +Government, or become the servants of men who were but lately in arms +against them and Her Majesty's authority, he is either mocking them, or +offering an insult to their understandings. + +By way of comment on his remarks, I may add that he had, in a letter +replying to a petition from these same loyal inhabitants, addressed to +him in May 1880, informed them that he had already told the Boer +representatives that the Annexation could not be rescinded. Although +Mr. Gladstone is undoubtedly the greatest living master of the art of +getting two distinct and opposite sets of meanings out of one set of +words, it would try even his ingenuity to make out, to the satisfaction +of an impartial mind, that he never gave any pledge about the retention +of the Transvaal. + +Indeed, it is from other considerations clear that he had no intention +of giving up the country to the Boers, whose cause he appears to have +taken up solely for electioneering purposes. Had he meant to do so, he +would have carried out his intention on succeeding to office, and, +indeed, as things have turned out, it is deeply to be regretted that he +did not; for, bad as such a step would have been, it would at any rate +have had a better appearance than our ultimate surrender after three +defeats. It would also have then been possible to secure the repayment +of some of the money owing to this country, and to provide for the +proper treatment of the natives, and the compensation of the loyal +inhabitants who could no longer live there: since it must naturally +have been easier to make terms with the Boers before they had defeated +our troops. + +On the other hand, we should have missed the grandest and most +soul-stirring display of radical theories, practically applied, that +has as yet lightened the darkness of this country. But although Mr. +Gladstone gave his official decision against returning the country, +there seems to be little doubt that communications on the subject were +kept up with the Boer leaders through some prominent members of the +Radical party, who, it was said, went so far as to urge the Boers to +take up arms against us. When Mr. White came to this country on behalf +of the loyalists, after the surrender, he stated that this was so at a +public meeting, and said further that he had in his possession proofs +of his statements. He even went so far as to name the gentleman he +accused, and to challenge him to deny it I have not been able to gather +that Mr. White's statements were contradicted. + +However this may be, after a pause, agitation in the Transvaal suddenly +recommenced with redoubled vigour. It began through a man named +Bezeidenhout, who refused to pay his taxes. Thereupon a waggon was +seized in execution under the authority of the court and put up to +auction, but its sale was prevented by a crowd of rebel Boers, who +kicked the auctioneer off the waggon and dragged the vehicle away. This +was on the 11th November 1880. When this intelligence reached Pretoria, +Sir Owen Lanyon sent down a few companies of the 21st Regiment, under +the command of Major Thornhill, to support the Landdrost in arresting +the rioters, and appointed Captain Raaf, C.M.G., to act as special +messenger to the Landdrost's Court at Potchefstroom, with authority to +enrol special constables to assist him to carry out the arrests. On +arrival at Potchefstroom Captain Raaf found that, without an armed +force, it was quite impossible to effect any arrest. On the 26th +November Sir Owen Lanyon, realising the gravity of the situation, +telegraphed to Sir George Colley, asking that the 58th Regiment should +be sent back to the Transvaal. Sir George replied that he could ill +spare it on account of "daily expected outbreak of Pondos and possible +appeal for help from Cape Colony," and that the Government must be +supported by the loyal inhabitants. + +It will be seen that the Boers had, with some astuteness, chosen a very +favourable time to commence operations. The hands of the Cape +Government were full with the Basuto war, so no help could be expected +from it; Sir G. Wolseley had sent away the only cavalry regiment that +remained in the country, and lastly, Sir Owen Lanyon had quite recently +allowed a body of 300 trained volunteers, mostly, if not altogether, +drawn from among the loyalists, to be raised for service in the Basuto +war, a serious drain upon the resources of a country so sparsely +populated as the Transvaal. + +Meanwhile a mass meeting had been convened by the Boers for the 8th +January to consider Mr. Gladstone's letter, but the Bezeidenhout +incident had the effect of putting forward the date of assembly by a +month, and it was announced that it would be held on the 8th December. +Subsequently the date was shifted to the 15th, and then back again to +the 8th. Every effort was made, by threats of future vengeance, to +secure the presence of as many burghers as possible; attempts were also +made to persuade the native chiefs to send representatives, and to +promise to join in an attack on the English. These entirely failed. The +meeting was held at a place called Paarde Kraal, and resulted in the +sudden declaration of the Republic and the appointment of the famous +triumvirate Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius. It then moved into +Heidelberg, a little town about sixty miles from Pretoria, and on the +16th December the Republic was formally proclaimed in a long +proclamation, containing a summary of the events of the few preceding +years, and declaring the arrangements the malcontents were willing to +make with the English authorities. The terms offered in this document +are almost identical with those finally accepted by Her Majesty's +Government, with the exception that in the proclamation of the 16th +December the Boer leaders declare their willingness to enter into +confederation, and to guide their native policy by general rules +adopted in concurrence "with the Colonies and States of South Africa." +This was a more liberal offer than that which we ultimately agreed to, +but then the circumstances had changed. + +This proclamation was forwarded to Sir Owen Lanyon with a covering +letter, in which the following words occur:--"We declare in the most +solemn manner that we have no desire to spill blood, and that from our +side we do not wish war. It lies in your hands to force us to appeal to +arms in self-defence.... We expect your answer within twice twenty-four +hours." + +I beg to direct particular attention to these paragraphs, as they have +a considerable interest in view of what followed. + +The letter and proclamation reached Government House, Pretoria, at +10.30 on the evening of Friday the 17th December. Sir Owen Lanyon's +proclamation, written in reply, was handed to the messenger at noon on +Sunday, 19th December, or within about thirty-six hours of his arrival, +and could hardly have reached the rebel camp, sixty miles off, before +dawn the next day, the 20th December, on which day, at about one +o'clock, a detachment of the 94th was ambushed and destroyed on the +road between Middleburg and Pretoria, about eighty miles off, by a +force despatched from Heidelberg for that purpose some days before. On +the 16th December, or the _same day_ on which the Triumvirate had +despatched the proclamation to Pretoria containing their terms, and +expressing in the most solemn manner that they had no desire to shed +blood, a large Boer force was attacking Potchefstroom. + +So much then for the sincerity of the professions of their desire to +avoid bloodshed. + +The proclamation sent by Sir O. Lanyon in reply recited in its preamble +the various acts of which the rebels had been guilty, including that of +having "wickedly sought to incite the said loyal native inhabitants +throughout the province to take up arms against Her Majesty's +Government," announced that matters had now been put into the hands of +the officer commanding Her Majesty's troops, and promised pardon to all +who would disperse to their homes. + +It was at Potchefstroom, which town had all along been the nursery of +the rebellion, that actual hostilities first broke out. Potchefstroom +as a town is much more Boer in its sympathies than Pretoria, which is, +or rather was, almost purely English. Sir Owen Lanyon had, as stated +before, sent a small body of soldiers thither to support the civil +authorities, and had also appointed Major Clarke, C.M.G., an officer of +noted coolness and ability, to act as Special Commissioner for the +district. + +Major Clarke's first step was to try, in conjunction with Captain Raaf, +to raise a corps of volunteers, in which he totally failed. Those of +the townsfolk who were not Boers at heart had too many business +relations with the surrounding farmers, and perhaps too little faith in +the stability of English rule after Mr. Gladstone's utterances, to +allow them to indulge in patriotism. At the time of the outbreak, +between seventy and eighty thousand sterling was owing to firms in +Potchefstroom by neighbouring Boers, a sum amply sufficient to account +for their lukewarmness in the English cause. Subsequent events have +shown that the Potchefstroom shopkeepers were wise in their generation. + +On the 15th December a large number of Boers came into the town and +took possession of the printing-office in order to print the +proclamation already alluded to. Major Clarke made two attempts to +enter the office and see the leaders, but without success. + +On the 16th a Boer patrol fired on some of the mounted infantry, and +the fire was returned. These were the first shots fired during the war, +and they were fired by Boers. Orders were thereupon signalled to Clarke +by Lieutenant-Colonel Winsloe, 21st Regiment, now commanding at the +fort which he afterwards defended so gallantly, that he was to commence +firing. Clarke was in the Landdrost's office on the Market Square with +a force of about twenty soldiers under Captain Falls and twenty +civilians under Captain Raaf, C.M.G., a position but ill-suited for +defensive purposes, from whence fire was accordingly opened, the Boers +taking up positions in the surrounding houses commanding the office. +Shortly after the commencement of the fighting, Captain Falls was shot +dead whilst talking to Major Clarke, the latter having a narrow escape, +a bullet grazing his head just above the ear. The fighting continued +during the 17th and till the morning of the 18th, when the Boers +succeeded in firing the roof, which was of thatch, by throwing +fire-balls on to it. Major Clarke then addressed the men, telling them +that, though personally he did not care about his own life, he did not +see that they could serve any useful purpose by being burned alive, so +he should surrender, which he did, with a loss of about six killed and +wounded. The camp meanwhile had repulsed with loss the attack made on +it, and was never again directly attacked. + +Whilst these events were in progress at Potchefstroom, a much more +awful tragedy was in preparation on the road between Middleburg and +Pretoria. + +On the 23d November, Colonel Bellairs, at the request of Sir Owen +Lanyon, directed a concentration on Pretoria of most of the few +soldiers that there were in the territory, in view of the disturbed +condition of the country. In accordance with these orders, Colonel +Anstruther marched from Lydenburg, a town about 180 miles from +Pretoria, on the 5th December, with the headquarters and two companies +of the 94th Regiment, being a total of 264 men, three women, and two +children, and the disproportionately large train of thirty-four +ox-waggons, or an ox-waggon capable of carrying five thousand pounds' +weight to every eight persons. And here I may remark that it is this +enormous amount of baggage, without which it appears to be impossible +to move the smallest body of men, that renders infantry regiments +almost useless for service in South Africa except for garrisoning +purposes. Both Zulus and Boers can get over the ground at thrice the +pace possible to the unfortunate soldier, and both races despise them +accordingly. The Zulus call our infantry "pack oxen." In this +particular instance, Colonel Anstruther's defeat, or rather, +annihilation, is to a very great extent referable to his enormous +baggage train; since, in the first place, had he not lost valuable days +in collecting more waggons, he would have been safe in Pretoria before +danger arose. It must also be acknowledged that his arrangements on the +line of march were somewhat reckless, though it can hardly be said that +he was ignorant of his danger. Thus we find that Colonel Bellairs wrote +to Colonel Anstruther, warning him of the probability of an attack, and +impressing on him the necessity of keeping a good look-out, the letter +being received and acknowledged by the latter on the 17th December. + +To this warning was added a still more impressive one that came to my +knowledge privately. A gentleman well known to me received, on the +morning after the troops had passed through the town of Middleburg on +their way to Pretoria, a visit from an old Boer with whom he was on +friendly terms, who had purposely come to tell him that a large patrol +was out to ambush the troops on the Pretoria road. My informant having +convinced himself of the truth of the statement, at once rode after the +soldiers, and catching them up some distance from Middleburg, told +Colonel Anstruther what he had heard, imploring him, he said, with all +the energy he could command, to take better precautions against +surprise. The Colonel, however, laughed at his fears, and told him that +if the Boers came "he would frighten them away with the big drum." + +At one o'clock on Sunday, the 20th December, the column was marching +along about a mile and a half from a place known as Bronker's Splint, +and thirty-eight miles from Pretoria, when suddenly a large number of +mounted Boers were seen in loose formation on the left side of the +road. The band was playing at the time, and the column was extended +over more than half a mile, the rearguard being about a hundred yards +behind the last waggon. The band stopped playing on seeing the Boers, +and the troops halted, when a man was seen advancing with a white flag, +whom Colonel Anstruther went out to meet, accompanied by Conductor +Egerton, a civilian. They met about one hundred and fifty yards from +the column, and the man gave Colonel Anstruther a letter, which +announced the establishment of the South African Republic, stated that +until they heard Lanyon's reply to their proclamation they did not know +if they were at war or not; that, consequently, they could not allow +any movements of troops, which would be taken as a declaration of war. +This letter was signed by Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. Colonel +Anstruther replied that he was ordered to Pretoria, and to Pretoria he +must go. + +Whilst this conference was going on, the Boers, of whom there were +quite five hundred, had gradually closed round the column, and took up +positions behind rocks and trees which afforded them excellent cover, +whilst the troops were on a bare plain, and before Colonel Anstruther +reached his men a murderous fire was poured in upon them from all +sides. The fire was hotly returned by the soldiers. Most of the +officers were struck down by the first volley, having, no doubt, been +picked out by the marksmen. The firing lasted about fifteen minutes, +and at the end of that time seven out of the nine officers were down +killed and wounded; an eighth (Captain Elliot), one of the two who +escaped, untouched, being reserved for an even more awful fate. The +majority of the men were also down, and had the hail of lead continued +much longer it is clear that nobody would have been left. Colonel +Anstruther, who was lying badly wounded in five places, seeing what a +hopeless state affairs were in, ordered the bugler to sound the cease +firing, and surrendered. One of the three officers who were not much +hurt was, most providentially, Dr. Ward, who had but a slight wound in +the thigh; all the others, except Captain Elliot and one lieutenant, +were either killed or died from the effects of their wounds. There were +altogether 56 killed and 101 wounded, including a woman, Mrs. Fox. +Twenty more afterwards died of their wounds. The Boer loss appears to +have been very small. + +After the fight Conductor Egerton, with a sergeant, was allowed to walk +into Pretoria to obtain medical assistance, the Boers refusing to give +him a horse, or even to allow him to use his own. The Boer leader also +left Dr. Ward eighteen men and a few stores for the wounded, with which +he made shift as best he could. Nobody can read this gentleman's report +without being much impressed with the way in which, though wounded +himself, he got through his terrible task of, without assistance, +attending to the wants of 101 sufferers. Beginning the task at 2 +P.M., it took him till six the next morning before he had seen +the last man. It is to be hoped that his services have met with some +recognition. Dr. Ward remained near the scene of the massacre with his +wounded men till the declaration of peace, when he brought them down to +Maritzburg, having experienced great difficulty in obtaining food for +them during so many weeks. + +This is a short account of what I must, with reluctance, call a most +cruel and carefully planned massacre. I may mention that a Zulu driver, +who was with the rearguard, and escaped into Natal, stated that the +Boers shot all the wounded men who formed that body. His statement was +to a certain extent borne out by the evidence of one of the survivors, +who stated that all the bodies found in that part of the field (nearly +three-quarters of a mile away from the head of the column), had a +bullet hole through the head or breast in addition to their other +wounds. + +The Administrator of the Transvaal in council thus comments on the +occurrence in an official minute:--"The surrounding and gradual hemming +in under a flag of truce of a force, and the selection of spots from +which to direct their fire, as in the case of the unprovoked attack by +the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther's force, is a proceeding of which +very few like incidents can be mentioned in the annals of civilised +warfare." + +The Boer leaders, however, were highly elated at their success, and +celebrated it in a proclamation of which the following is an +extract:--"Inexpressible is the gratitude of the burghers for this +blessing conferred on them. Thankful to the brave General F. Joubert +and his men who have upheld the honour of the Republic on the +battlefield. Bowed down in the dust before Almighty God, who had thus +stood by them, and, with a loss of over a hundred of the enemy, only +allowed two of ours to be killed." + +In view of the circumstances of the treacherous hemming in and +destruction of this small body of unprepared men, most people would +think this language rather high-flown, not to say blasphemous. + +On the news of this disaster reaching Pretoria, Sir Owen Lanyon issued +a proclamation placing the country under martial law. As the town was +large, straggling, and incapable of defence, all the inhabitants, +amounting to over four thousand souls, were ordered up to camp, where +the best arrangements possible were made for their convenience. In +these quarters they remained for three months, driven from their +comfortable homes, and cheerfully enduring all the hardships, want, and +discomforts consequent on their position, whilst they waited in +patience for the appearance of that relieving column that never came. +People in England hardly understand what these men and women went +through because they chose to remain loyal. Let them suppose that all +the inhabitants of an ordinary English town, with the exception of the +class known as poor people, which can hardly be said to exist in a +colony, were at an hour's notice ordered--all, the aged and the sick, +delicate women, and tiny children--to leave their homes to the mercy of +the enemy, and crowd up in a little space under shelter of a fort, with +nothing but canvas tents or sheds to cover them from the fierce summer +suns and rains, and the coarsest rations to feed them; whilst the +husbands and brothers were daily engaged with a cunning and dangerous +enemy, and sometimes brought home wounded or dead. They will then have +some idea of what was gone through by the loyal people of Pretoria, in +their weak confidence in the good faith of the English Government. + +The arrangements made for the defence of the town were so ably and +energetically carried out by Sir Owen Lanyon, assisted by the military +officers, that no attack upon it was ever attempted. It seems to me +that the organisation that could provide for the penning up of four +thousand people for months, and carry it out without the occurrence of +a single unpleasantness or expression of discontent, must have had +something remarkable about it. Of course, it would have been impossible +without the most loyal co-operation on the part of those concerned. +Indeed everybody in the town lent a helping hand; judges served out +rations, members of the Executive inspected nuisances, and so forth. +There was only one instance of "striking;" and then, of all people in +the world, it was the five civil doctors who, thinking it a favourable +opportunity to fleece the Government, combined to demand five guineas +a-day each for their services. I am glad to say that they did not +succeed in their attempt at extortion. + +On the 23d December, the Boer leaders issued a second proclamation in +reply to that of Sir O. Lanyon of the 18th, which is characterised by +an utter absence of regard for the truth, being, in fact, nothing but a +tissue of impudent falsehoods. It accuses Sir O. Lanyon of having +bombarded women and children, of arming natives against the Boers, and +of firing on the Boers without declaring war. Not one of these +accusations has any foundation in fact, as the Boers well knew; but +they also knew that Sir Owen, being shut up in Pretoria, was not in a +position to rebut their charges, which they hoped might, to some +extent, be believed, and create sympathy for them in other parts of the +world. This was the reason of the issue of the proclamation, which well +portrays the character of its framers. + +Life at Pretoria was varied by occasional sorties against the Boer +laagers, situated at different points in the neighbourhood, generally +about six or eight miles from the town. These expeditions were carried +out with considerable success, though with some loss, the heaviest +incurred being when the Boers, having treacherously hoisted the white +flag, opened a heavy fire on the Pretoria forces, as soon as they, +beguiled into confidence, emerged from their cover. In the course of +the war, one in every four of the Pretoria mounted volunteers was +killed or wounded. + +But perhaps the most serious of all the difficulties the Government had +to meet was that of keeping the natives in check. As has before been +stated, they were devotedly attached to our rule, and, during the three +years of its continuance, had undergone what was to them a strange +experience, they had neither been murdered, beaten, or enslaved. +Naturally they were in no hurry to return to the old order of things, +in which murder, flogging, and slavery were events of everyday +occurrence. Nor did the behaviour of the Boers on the outbreak of the +war tend to reconcile them to any such idea. Thus we find that the +farmers had pressed a number of natives from Waterberg into one of +their laagers (Zwart Koppies); two of them tried to run away, a Boer +saw them and shot them both. Again, on the 7th January, a native +reported to the authorities at Pretoria that he and some others were +returning from the Diamond Fields driving some sheep. A Boer came and +asked them to sell the sheep. They refused, whereupon he went away, but +returning with some other Dutchmen fired on the Kafirs, killing one. + +On the 2d January information reached Pretoria that on the 26th +December some Boers fired on some natives who were resting outside +Potchefstroom and killed three; the rest fled, whereupon the Boers took +the cattle they had with them. + +On the 11th January some men, who had been sent from Pretoria with +despatches for Standerton, were taken prisoners. Whilst prisoners they +saw ten men returning from the Fields stopped by the Boers and ordered +to come to the laager. They refused and ran away, were fired on, five +being killed and one getting his arm broken. + +These are a few instances of the treatment meted out to the unfortunate +natives, taken at haphazard from the official reports. There are plenty +more of the same nature if anybody cares to read them. + +As soon as the news of the rising reached them, every chief of any +importance sent in to offer aid to Government, and many of them, +especially Montsioa, our old ally in the Keate Award district, took the +loyals of the neighbourhood under their protection. Several took charge +of Government property and cattle during the disturbances, and one had +four or five thousand pounds in gold, the product of a recently +collected tax, given him to take care of by the Commissioner of his +district, who was afraid that the money would be seized by the Boers. +In every instance the property entrusted to their charge was returned +intact. The loyalty of all the native chiefs under very trying +circumstances (for the Boers were constantly attempting to cajole or +frighten them into joining them) is a remarkable proof of the great +affection of the Kafirs, more especially those of the Basuto tribes, +who love peace better than war, for the Queen's rule. The Government of +Pretoria need only have spoken one word to set an enormous number of +armed men in motion against the Boers, with the most serious results to +the latter. Any other Government in the world would, in its extremity, +have spoken that word, but, fortunately for the Boers, it is against +English principles to set black against white under any circumstances. + +Besides the main garrison at Pretoria there were forts defended by +soldiery and loyals at the following places:--Potchefstroom, +Rustenburg, Lydenburg, Marabastad, and Wakkerstroom, none of which were +taken by the Boers.[11] + + [11] Colonel Winsloe, however, being short of provisions, was + beguiled by the fraudulent representations and acts of the + Boer commander into surrendering the fort at Potchefstroom + daring the armistice. + +One of the first acts of the Triumvirate was to despatch a large force +from Heidelberg with orders to advance into Natal Territory, and seize +the pass over the Drakensberg known as Lang's Nek, so as to dispute the +advance of any relieving column. This movement was promptly executed, +and strong Boer troops patrolled Natal country almost up to Newcastle. + +The news of the outbreak, followed as it was by that of the Bronker's +Spruit massacre, and Captain Elliot's murder, created a great +excitement in Natal. All available soldiers were at once despatched up +country, together with a naval brigade, who, on arrival at Newcastle, +brought up the strength of the Imperial troops of all arms to about a +thousand men. On the 10th January Sir George Colley left Maritzburg to +join the force at Newcastle, but at this time nobody dreamt that he +meant to attack the Nek with such an insignificant column. It was known +that the loyals and troops who were shut up in the various towns in the +Transvaal had sufficient provisions to last for some months, and that +there was therefore nothing to necessitate a forlorn hope. Indeed the +possibility of Sir George Colley attempting to enter the Transvaal was +not even speculated upon until just before his advance, it being +generally considered as out of the question. + +The best illustration I can give of the feeling that existed about the +matter is to quote my own case. I had been so unfortunate as to land in +Natal with my wife and servants just as the Transvaal troubles began, +my intention being to proceed to a place I had near Newcastle. For some +weeks I remained in Maritzburg, but finding that the troops were to +concentrate on Newcastle, and being besides heartily wearied of the +great expense and discomfort of hotel life in that town, I determined +to go on up country, looking on it as being as safe as any place in the +colony. Of course the possibility of Sir George attacking the Nek +before the arrival of the reinforcements did not enter into my +calculations, as I thought it a venture that no sensible man would +undertake. On the day of my start, however, there was a rumour about +the town that the General was going to attack the Boer position. Though +I did not believe it, I thought it as well to go and ask the Colonial +Secretary, Colonel Mitchell, privately, if there was any truth in it, +adding that if there was, as I had a pretty intimate knowledge of the +Boers and their shooting powers, and what the inevitable result of such +a move would be, I should certainly prefer, as I had ladies with me, to +remain where I was. Colonel Mitchell told me frankly that he knew no +more about Sir George's plans than I did; but he added I might be sure +that so able and prudent a soldier would not do anything rash. His +remark concurred with my own opinion; so I started, and on arrival at +Newcastle a week later was met by the intelligence that Sir George had +advanced that morning to attack the Nek. To return was almost +impossible, since both horses and travellers were pretty nearly knocked +up. Also, anybody who has travelled with his family in summer-time over +the awful track of alternate slough and boulders between Maritzburg and +Newcastle, known in the colony as a road, will understand that at the +time the adventurous voyagers would far rather risk being shot than +face a return journey. + +The only thing to do under the circumstances was to await the course of +events, which were now about to develop themselves with startling +rapidity. The little town of Newcastle was at this time an odd sight, +and remained so all through the war. The hotels were crowded to +overflowing with refugees, and on every spare patch of land were +erected tents, mud huts, canvas houses, and every kind of covering that +could be utilised under the pressure of necessity, to house the many +homeless families who had succeeded in effecting their escape from the +Transvaal, many of whom were reduced to great straits. + +On the morning of the 28th January, anybody listening attentively in +the neighbourhood of Newcastle could hear the distant boom of heavy +guns. We were not kept long in suspense, for in the afternoon news +arrived that Sir George had attacked the Nek, and failed with heavy +loss. The excitement in the town was intense, for, in addition to other +considerations, the 58th Regiment, which had suffered most, had been +quartered there for some time, and both the officers and men were +personally known to the inhabitants. + +The story of the fight is well known, and needs little repetition, and +a very sad story it is. The Boers, who at that time were some 2000 +strong, were posted and entrenched on steep hills, against which Sir +George Colley hurled a few hundred soldiers. It was a forlorn hope, but +so gallant was the charge, especially that of the mounted squadron led +by Major Bronlow, that at one time it nearly succeeded. But nothing +could stand under the withering fire from the Boer schanses, and as +regards the foot soldiers, they never had a chance. Colonel Deane tried +to take them up the hill with a rush, with the result that by the time +they reached the top, some of the men were actually sick from +exhaustion, and none could hold a rifle steady. There on the bare +hill-top they crouched and lay, whilst the pitiless fire from redoubt +and rock lashed them like hail, till at last human nature could bear it +no longer, and what was left of them retired slowly down the slope. But +for many that gallant charge was their last earthly action. As they +charged they fell, and where they fell they were afterwards buried. The +casualties, killed and wounded, amounted to 195, which, considering the +small number of troops engaged in the actual attack, is enormously +heavy, and shows more plainly than words can tell the desperate nature +of the undertaking. Amongst the killed were Colonel Deane, Major Poole, +Major Hingeston, and Lieutenant Elwes. Major Essex was the only staff +officer engaged who escaped, the same officer who was one of the +fortunate four who lived through Isandhlwana. On this occasion his +usual good fortune attended him, for though his horse was killed and +his helmet knocked off, he was not touched. The Boer loss was very +trivial. + +Sir George Colley, in his admirably lucid despatch about this +occurrence addressed to the Secretary of State for War, does not enter +much into the question as to the motives that prompted him to attack, +simply stating that his object was to relieve the besieged towns. He +does not appear to have taken into consideration, what was obvious to +anybody who knew the country and the Boers, that even if he had +succeeded in forcing the Nek, in itself almost an impossibility, he +could never have operated with any success in the Transvaal with so +small a column, without cavalry, and with an enormous train of waggons. +He would have been harassed day and night by the Boer skirmishers, his +supplies cut off, and his advance made practically impossible. Also the +Nek would have been re-occupied behind him, since he could not have +detached sufficient men to hold it, and in all probability Newcastle, +his base of supplies, would have fallen into the hands of the enemy. + +The moral effect of our defeat on the Boers was very great. Up to this +time there had been many secret doubts amongst a large section of them +as to what the upshot of an encounter with the troops might be; and +with this party, in the same way that defeat, or even the anxiety of +waiting to be attacked, would have turned the scale one way, victory +turned it the other. It gave them unbounded confidence in their own +superiority, and infused a spirit of cohesion and mutual reliance into +their ranks which had before been wanting. Waverers wavered no longer, +but gave a loyal adherence to the good cause, and, what was still more +acceptable, large numbers of volunteers,--whatever President Brand may +say to the contrary,--poured in from the Orange Free State. + +What Sir George Colley's motive was in making so rash a move is, of +course, quite inexplicable to the outside observer. It was said at the +time in Natal that he was a man with a theory: namely, that small +bodies of men properly handled were as useful and as likely to obtain +the object in view as a large force. Whether or no this was so, I am +not prepared to say; but it is undoubtedly the case that very clever +men have sometimes very odd theories, and it may be that he was a +striking instance in point. + +For some days after the battle at Lang's Nek affairs were quiet, and it +was hoped that they would remain so till the arrival of the +reinforcements, which were on their way out. The hope proved a vain one +On the 7th February it was reported that the escort proceeding from +Newcastle to the General's camp with the post, a distance of about +eighteen miles, had been fired on and forced to return. + +On the 8th, about mid-day, we were all startled by the sound of +fighting, proceeding apparently from a hill known as Scheins Hoogte, +about ten miles from Newcastle. It was not known that the General +contemplated any move, and everybody was entirely at a loss to know +what was going on, the general idea being, however, that the camp near +Lang's Nek had been abandoned, and that Sir George was retiring on +Newcastle. + +The firing grew hotter and hotter, till at last it was perfectly +continuous, the cannon evidently being discharged as quickly as they +could be loaded, whilst their dull booming was accompanied by the +unceasing crash and roll of the musketry. Towards three o'clock the +firing slackened, and we thought it was all over, one way or the other, +but about five o'clock it broke out again with increased vigour. At +dusk it finally ceased. About this time some Kafirs came to my house +and told us that an English force was hemmed in on a hill this side of +the Ingogo River, that they were fighting bravely, but that "their arms +were tired," adding that they thought they would be all killed at +night. + +Needless to say we spent that night with heavy hearts, expecting every +minute to hear the firing begin again, and ignorant of what fate had +befallen our poor soldiers on the hill. Morning put an end to our +suspense, and we then learnt that we had suffered what, under the +circumstances, amounted to a crushing defeat It appears that Sir George +had moved out with a force of five companies of the 60th Regiment, two +guns, and a few mounted men, to, in his own words, "patrol the road, +and meet and escort some waggons expected from Newcastle." As soon as +he passed the Ingogo he was surrounded by a body of Boers sent after +him from Lang's Nek, on a small triangular plateau, and sharply +assailed on all sides. With a break of about two hours, from three to +five, the assault was kept up till nightfall, with very bad results so +far as we were concerned, seeing that out of a body of about 500 men, +over 150 were killed and wounded. The reinforcements sent for from the +camp apparently did not come into action. For some unexplained reason +the Boers did not follow up their attack that night, perhaps because +they did not think it possible that our troops could effect their +escape back to the camp, and considered that the next morning would be +soon enough to return and finish the business. The General, however, +determined to get back, and scratch teams of such mules, riding-horses, +and oxen as had lived through the day being harnessed to the guns, the +dispirited and exhausted survivors of the force managed to ford the +Ingogo, now swollen by rain which had fallen in the afternoon, poor +Lieutenant Wilkinson, the adjutant of the 60th, losing his life in the +operation, and to struggle through the dense darkness back to camp. + +On the hill-top they had lately held the dead lay thick. There, too, +exposed to the driving rain and bitter wind, lay the wounded, many of +whom would be dead before the rising of the morrow's sun. It must +indeed have been a sight never to be forgotten by those who saw it. The +night--I remember well--was cold and rainy, the great expanses of hill +and plain being sometimes lit by the broken gleams of an uncertain +moon, and sometimes plunged into intensest darkness by the passing of a +heavy cloud. Now and again flashes of lightning threw every crag and +outline into vivid relief, and the deep muttering of distant thunder +made the wild gloom more solemn. Then a gust of icy wind would come +tearing down the valleys to be followed by a pelting thunder +shower--and thus the night wore away. + +When one reflects what discomfort, and even danger, an ordinary healthy +person would suffer if left after a hard day's work to lie all night in +the rain and wind on the top of a stony mountain, without food, or even +water to assuage his thirst, it becomes to some degree possible to +realise what the sufferings of our wounded after the battle of Ingogo +must have been. Those who survived were next day taken to the hospital +at Newcastle. + +What Sir George Colley's real object was in exposing himself to the +attack has never transpired. It can hardly have been to clear the road, +as he says in his despatch, because the road was not held by the enemy, +but only visited occasionally by their patrols. The result of the +battle was to make the Boers, whose losses were trifling, more +confident than ever, and to greatly depress our soldiers. Sir George +had now lost between three and four hundred men out of his column of +little over a thousand, which was thereby entirely crippled. Of his +staff officers Major Essex now alone survived, his usual good fortune +having carried him safe through the battle of Ingogo. What makes his +repeated escapes the more remarkable is that he was generally to be +found in the heaviest firing. A man so fortunate as Major Essex ought +to be rewarded for his good fortune if for no other reason, though, if +reports are true, there would be no need to fall back on that to find +grounds on which to advance a soldier who has always borne himself so +well. + +Another result of the Ingogo battle was that the Boers, knowing that we +had no force to cut them off, and always secure of a retreat into the +Free State, passed round Newcastle in Free State Territory, and +descended from fifteen hundred to two thousand strong into Natal for +the purpose of destroying the reinforcements which were now on their +way up under General Wood. This was on the 11th of February, and from +that date till the 18th the upper districts of Natal were in the hands +of the enemy, who cut the telegraph wires, looted waggons, stole herds +of cattle and horses, and otherwise amused themselves at the expense of +Her Majesty's subjects in Natal. + +It was a very anxious time for those who knew what Boers are capable +of, and had women and children to protect, and who were never sure if +their houses would be left standing over their heads from one day to +another. + +Every night we were obliged to place out Kafirs as scouts to give us +timely warning of the approach of marauding parties, and to sleep with +loaded rifles close to our hands, and sometimes, when things looked +very black, in our clothes, with horses ready saddled in the stable. +Nor were our fears groundless, for one day a patrol of some five +hundred Boers encamped on the next place, which by the way belonged to +a Dutchman, and stole all the stock on it, the property of an +Englishman. They also intercepted a train of waggons, destroyed the +contents, and burnt them. Numerous were the false alarms it was our +evil fortune to experience. For instance, one night I was sitting in +the drawing-room reading, about eleven o'clock, with a door leading on +to the verandah slightly ajar, for the night was warm, when suddenly I +heard myself called by name in a muffled voice, and asked if the place +was in the possession of the Boers. Looking towards the door I saw a +full-cocked revolver coming round the corner, and on opening it in some +alarm, I could indistinctly discern a line of armed figures in a +crouching attitude stretching along the verandah into the garden +beyond. It turned out to be a patrol of the mounted police, who had +received information that a large number of Boers had seized the place +and had come to ascertain the truth of the report. As we gathered from +them that the Boers were certainly near, we did not pass a very +comfortable night. + +Meanwhile we were daily expecting to hear that the troops had been +attacked along the line of march, and knowing the nature of the country +and the many opportunities it affords for ambuscading and destroying +one of our straggling columns encumbered with innumerable waggons, we +had the worst fears for the result. At length a report reached us to +the effect that the reinforcements were expected on the morrow, and +that they were not going to cross the Ingagaan at the ordinary drift, +which was much commanded by hills, but at a lower drift on our own +place, about three miles from Newcastle, which is only slightly +commanded. We also heard that it was the intention of the Boers to +attack them at this point and to fall back on my house and the hills +behind. Accordingly, we thought it about time to retreat, and securing +a few valuables, such as plate, we made our way into the town, leaving +the house and its contents to take their chance. At Newcastle an attack +was daily expected, if for no other reason, to obtain possession of the +stores collected there. + +The defences of the place were, however, in a wretched condition, no +proper outlook was kept, and there was an utter want of effective +organisation. The military element at the camp had enough to do to look +after itself, and did not concern itself with the safety of the town; +and the mounted police--a colonial force paid by the colony--had been +withdrawn from the little forts round Newcastle, as the General wanted +them for other purposes, and a message sent that the town must defend +its own forts. There were, it is true, a large number of able-bodied +men in the place who were willing to fight, but they had no +organisation. The very laager was not finished until the danger was +past. + +Then there was a large party who were for surrendering the town to the +Boers, because if they fought it might afterwards injure their trade. +With this section of the population the feeling of patriotism was +strong, no doubt, but that of pocket was stronger. I am convinced that +the Boers would have found the capture of Newcastle an easy task, and I +confess that what I then saw did not inspire me with great hopes of the +safety of the colony when it gets responsible government, and has to +depend for protection on burgher forces. Colonial volunteer forces are, +I think, as good troops as any in the world; but an unorganised +colonial mob, pulled this way and that by different sentiments and +interests, is as useless as any other mob, with the difference that it +is more impatient of control. + +For some unknown reason the Boer leaders providentially changed their +minds about attacking the reinforcements, and their men were withdrawn +to the Nek as swiftly and silently as they had been advanced, and on +the 17th February the reinforcements marched into Newcastle, to the +very great relief of the inhabitants, who had been equally anxious for +their own safety and that of the troops. Personally, I was never in my +life more pleased to see Her Majesty's uniform; and we were equally +rejoiced on returning home to find that nothing had been injured. After +this we had quiet for a while. + +On the 21st February, we heard that two fresh regiments had been sent +up to the camp at Lang's Nek, and that General Wood had been ordered +down country by Sir George Colley to bring up more reinforcements. This +item of news caused much surprise, as nobody could understand why, now +that the road was clear, and that there was little chance of its being +again blocked, a General should be sent down to do work which could, to +all appearance, have been equally well done by the officers in command +of the reinforcing regiments, with the assistance of their transport +riders. It was, however, understood that an agreement had been entered +into between the two Generals that no offensive operations should be +undertaken till Wood returned. + +With the exception of occasional scares, there was no further +excitement till Sunday the 27th February, when, whilst sitting on the +verandah after lunch, I thought I heard the sound of distant artillery. +Others present differed with me, thinking the sound was caused by +thunder, but as I adhered to my opinion, we determined to ride into +town and see. On arrival there we found the place full of rumours, from +which we gathered that some fresh disaster had occurred; and that +messages were pouring down the wires from Mount Prospect camp. We then +went on to camp, thinking that we should learn more there, but they +knew nothing about it, several officers asking us what new "shave" we +had got hold of. A considerable number of troops had been marched from +Newcastle that morning to go to Mount Prospect, but when it was +realised that something had occurred, they were stopped, and marched +back again. Bit by bit we managed to gather the truth. At first we +heard that our men had made a most gallant resistance on the hill, +mowing down the advancing enemy by hundreds, till at last, their +ammunition failing, they fought with their bayonets, using stones and +meat tins as missiles. I wish that our subsequent information had been +to the same effect. + +It appears that on the evening of the 26th, Sir George Colley, after +mess, suddenly gave orders for a force of a little over six hundred +men, consisting of detachments from no less than three different +regiments, the 58th, 60th, 92d, and the Naval Brigade, to be got ready +for an expedition, without revealing his plans to anybody until late in +the afternoon; and then without more ado, marched them up to the top of +Majuba--a great square-topped mountain to the right of, and commanding +the Boer position at Lang's Nek. The troops reached the top about three +in the morning, after a somewhat exhausting climb, and were stationed +at different points of the plateau in a scientific way. Whilst the +darkness lasted, they could, by the glittering of the watch-fires, +trace from this point of vantage the position of the Boer laagers that +lay 2000 yards beneath them, whilst the dawn of day revealed every +detail of the defensive works, and showed the country lying at their +feet like a map. + +On arrival at the top, it was represented to the General that a rough +entrenchment should be thrown up, but he would not allow it to be done +on account of the men being wearied with their marching up. This was a +fatal mistake. Behind an entrenchment, however slight, one would think +that 600 English soldiers might have defied the whole Boer army, and +much more the 200 or 300 men by whom they were hunted down at Majuba. +It appears that about 10.15 A.M., Colonel Stewart and Major Fraser +again went to General Colley "to arrange to start the sailors on an +entrenchment." ... "Finding the ground so exposed, the General did not +give orders to entrench." + +As soon as the Boers found out that the hill was in the occupation of +the English, their first idea was to leave the Nek, and they began to +inspan with that object, but discovering that there were no guns +commanding them, they changed their mind, and set to work to storm the +hill instead. As far as I have been able to gather, the number of Boers +who took the mountain was about 300, or possibly 400; I do not think +there were more than that. The Boers themselves declare solemnly that +they were only 100 strong, but this I do not believe. They slowly +advanced up the hill till about 11.30, when the real attack began, the +Dutchmen coming on more rapidly and confidently, and shooting with +ever-increasing accuracy, as they found our fire quite ineffective. + +About a quarter to one, our men retreated to the last ridge, and +General Colley was shot through the head. After this, the retreat +became a rout, and the soldiers rushed pell-mell down the precipitous +sides of the hill, the Boers knocking them over by the score as they +went, till they were out of range. A few were also, I heard, killed by +the shells from the guns that were advanced from the camp to cover the +retreat, but as this does not appear in the reports, perhaps it is not +true. Our loss was about 200 killed and wounded, including Sir George +Colley, Drs. Landon and Cornish, and Commander Romilly, who was shot +with an explosive bullet, and died after some days' suffering. When the +wounded Commander was being carried to a more sheltered spot, it was +with great difficulty that the Boers were prevented from massacring him +as he lay, they being under the impression that he was Sir Garnet +Wolseley. As was the case at Ingogo, the wounded were left on the +battlefield all night in very inclement weather, to which some of them +succumbed. It is worthy of note that after the fight was over they were +treated with considerable kindness by the Boers. + +Not being a soldier, of course, I cannot venture to give any military +reasons as to how it was that what was after all a considerable force +was so easily driven from a position of great natural strength; but I +think I may, without presumption, state my opinion as to the real +cause, which was the villainous shooting of the British soldier. Though +the troops did not, as was said at the time, run short of ammunition, +it is clear that they fired away a great many rounds at men who, in +storming the hill, must necessarily have exposed themselves more or +less, of whom they managed to hit--certainly not more than six or +seven--which was the outside of the Boer casualties. From this it is +clear that they can neither judge distance nor hit a moving object, nor +did they probably know that when shooting down hill it is necessary to +aim low. Such shooting as the English soldier is capable of may be very +well when he has an army to aim at, but it is useless in guerilla +warfare against a foe skilled in the use of the rifle and the art of +taking shelter. + +A couple of months after the storming of Majuba, I, together with a +friend, had a conversation with a Boer, a volunteer from the Free State +in the late war, and one of the detachment that stormed Majuba, who +gave us a circumstantial account of the attack with the greatest +willingness. He said that when it was discovered that the English had +possession of the mountain, they thought that the game was up, but +after a while bolder counsels prevailed, and volunteers were called for +to storm the hill. Only seventy men could be found to perform the duty, +of whom he was one. They started up the mountain in fear and trembling, +but soon found that every shot passed over their heads, and went on +with greater boldness. Only three men, he declared, were hit on the +Boer side; one was killed, one was hit in the arm, and he himself was +the third, getting his face grazed by a bullet, of which he showed us +the scar. He stated that the first to reach the top ridge was a boy of +twelve, and that as soon as the troops saw them they fled, when, he +said, he paid them out for having nearly killed him, knocking them over +one after another "like bucks" as they ran down the hill, adding that +it was "alter lecker" (very nice). He asked us how many men we had lost +during the war, and when we told him about seven hundred killed and +wounded, laughed in our faces, saying he knew that our dead amounted to +several thousands. On our assuring him that this was not the case, he +replied, "Well, don't let's talk of it any more, because we are good +friends now, and if we go on you will lie, and I shall lie, and then we +shall get angry. The war is over now, and I don't want to quarrel with +the English; if one of them takes off his hat to me I always +acknowledge it." He did not mean any harm in talking thus; it is what +Englishmen have to put up with now in South Africa; the Boers have +beaten us, and act accordingly. + +This man also told us that the majority of the rifles they picked up +were sighted for 400 yards, whereas the latter part of the fighting had +been carried on within 200. + +Sir George Colley's death was much lamented in the colony, where he was +deservedly popular; indeed, anybody who had the honour of knowing that +kind-hearted English gentleman, could not do otherwise than deeply +regret his untimely end. What his motive was in occupying Majuba in the +way he did has never, so far as I am aware, transpired. The move, in +itself, would have been an excellent one, had it been made in force, or +accompanied by a direct attack on the Nek, but, as undertaken, seems to +have been objectless. There were, of course, many rumours as to the +motives that prompted his action, of which the most probable seems to +be that, being aware of what the Home Government intended to do with +reference to the Transvaal, he determined to strike a blow to try and +establish British supremacy first, knowing how mischievous any apparent +surrender would be. Whatever his faults may have been as a General, he +was a brave man, and had the honour of his country much at heart. + +It was also said by soldiers who saw him the night the troops marched +up Majuba, that the General was "not himself," and it was hinted that +continual anxiety and the chagrin of failure had told upon his mind. As +against this, however, must be set the fact that his telegrams to the +Secretary of State for War, the last of which he must have despatched +only about half an hour before he was shot, are cool and collected, and +written in the same unconcerned tone--as though he were a critical +spectator of an interesting scene--that characterises all his +communications, more especially his despatches. They at any rate give +no evidence of shaken nerve or unduly excited brain, nor can I see that +any action of his with reference to the occupation of Majuba is out of +keeping with the details of his generalship upon other occasions. He +was always confident to rashness, and possessed by the idea that every +man in the ranks was full of as high a spirit, and as brave as he was +himself. Indeed, most people will think, that so far from its being a +rasher action, the occupation of Majuba, bad generalship as it seems, +was a wiser move than either the attack on the Nek or the Ingogo +fiasco. + +But at the best, all his movements are difficult to be understood by a +civilian, though they may, for ought we know, have been part of an +elaborate plan, perfected in accordance with the rules of military +science, of which, it is said, he was a great student. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. + + +When Parliament met in January 1881, the Government announced, through +the mediumship of the Queen's Speech, that it was their intention to +vindicate Her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal. I have already +briefly described the somewhat unfortunate attempts to gain this end by +force of arms; and I now propose to follow the course of the diplomatic +negotiations entered into by the ministry with the same object. + +As soon as the hostilities in the Transvaal took a positive form, +causing great dismay among the Home authorities, whose paths, as we all +know, are the paths of peace--at any price; and whilst, in the first +confusion of calamity, they knew not where to turn, President Brand +stepped upon the scene in the character of "Our Mutual Friend," and, by +the Government at any rate, was rapturously welcomed. + +This gentleman has for many years been at the head of the Government of +the Orange Free State, whose fortunes he had directed with considerable +ability. He is a man of natural talent and kind-hearted disposition, +and has the advancement of the Boer cause in South Africa much at +heart. The rising in the Transvaal was an event that gave him a great +and threefold opportunity: first, of interfering with the genuinely +benevolent object of checking bloodshed; secondly, of advancing the +Dutch cause throughout South Africa under the cloak of amiable +neutrality, and striking a dangerous blow at British supremacy over the +Dutch and British prestige with the natives; and, thirdly, of putting +the English Government under a lasting obligation to him. Of this +opportunity he has availed himself to the utmost in each particular. + +So soon as things began to look serious, Mr. Brand put himself into +active telegraphic communication with the various British authorities +with the view of preventing bloodshed by inducing the English +Government to accede to the Boer demands. He was also earnest in his +declarations that the Free State was not supporting the Transvaal; +which, considering that it was practically the insurgent base of +supplies, where they had retired their women, children, and cattle, and +that it furnished them with a large number of volunteers, was perhaps +straining the truth. + +About this time also we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing to Mr. Brand +that "if _only_ the Transvaal Boers will desist from armed opposition +to the Queen's authority," he thinks some arrangement might be made. +This is the first indication made public of what was passing in the +minds of Her Majesty's Government, on whom its Radical supporters were +now beginning to put the screw, to induce or threaten them into +submitting to the Boer demands. + +Again, on the 11th January, the President telegraphed to Lord Kimberley +through the Orange Free State Consul in London, suggesting that Sir H. +de Villiers, the Chief Justice at the Cape, should be appointed a +Commissioner to go to the Transvaal to settle matters. Oddly enough, +about the same time the same proposition emanated from the Dutch party +in the Cape Colony, headed by Mr. Hofmeyer, a coincidence that inclines +one to the opinion that these friends of the Boers had some further +reason for thus urging Sir Henry de Villiers' appointment as +Commissioner beyond his apparent fitness for the post, of which his +high reputation as a lawyer and in his private capacity was a +sufficient guarantee. + +The explanation is not hard to find, the fact being that, rightly or +wrongly, Sir Henry de Villiers, who is himself of Dutch descent, is +noted throughout South Africa for his sympathies with the Boer cause, +and both President Brand and the Dutch party in the Cape shrewdly +suspected that, if the settling of differences were left to his +discretion, the Boers and their interests would receive very gentle +handling. The course of action adopted by him, when he became a member +of the Royal Commission, went far to support this view, for it will be +noticed in the Report of the Commissioners that in every single point +he appears to have taken the Boer side of the contention. Indeed so +blind was he to their faults, that he would not even admit that the +horrible Potchefstroom murders and atrocities, which are condemned both +by Sir H. Robinson and Sir Evelyn Wood in language as strong as the +formal terms of a report will allow, were acts contrary to the rules of +civilised warfare. If those acts had been perpetrated by Englishmen on +Boers, or even on natives, I venture to think Sir Henry de Villiers +would have looked at them in a very different light. + +In the same telegram in which President Brand recommends the +appointment of Sir Henry de Villiers, he states that the allegations +made by the Triumvirate in the proclamation in which they accused Sir +Owen Lanyon of committing various atrocities, deserve to be +investigated, as they maintain that the collision was commenced by the +authorities. Nobody knew better than Mr. Brand that any English +official would be quite incapable of the conduct ascribed to Sir Owen +Lanyon, whilst, even if the collision had been commenced by the +authorities, which as it happened it was not, they would under the +circumstances have been amply justified in so commencing it. This +remark by President Brand in his telegram was merely an attempt to +throw an air of probability over a series of slanderous falsehoods. + +Messages of this nature continued to pour along the wires from day to +day, but the tone of those from the Colonial Office grew gradually +humbler. Thus we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing on the 8th February, +that if the Boers would desist from armed opposition all reasonable +guarantees would be given as to their treatment after submission, and +that a scheme would be framed for the "permanent friendly settlement of +difficulties." It will be seen that the Government had already begun to +water the meaning of their declaration that they would vindicate Her +Majesty's authority. No doubt Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Courtney, and their +followers had given another turn to the Radical screw. + +It is, however, clear that at this time no idea of the real aims of the +Government had entered into the mind of Sir George Colley, since on the +7th February he telegraphed home a plan which he proposed to adopt on +entering the Transvaal, which included a suggestion that he should +grant a complete amnesty only to those Boers who would sign a +declaration of loyalty. + +In answer to this he was ordered to do nothing of the sort, but to +promise protection to everybody and refer everything home. + +Then came the battle of Ingogo, which checked for the time the flow of +telegrams, or rather varied their nature, for those despatched during +the next few days deal with the question of reinforcements. On the 13th +February, however, negotiations were reopened by Paul Kruger, one of +the Triumvirate, who offered, if all the troops were ordered to +withdraw from the Transvaal, to give them a free passage through the +Nek, to disperse the Boers, and to consent to the appointment of a +Commission. + +The offer was jumped at by Lord Kimberley, who, without making +reference to the question of withdrawing the soldiers, offered, if only +the Boers would disperse, to appoint a Commission with extensive powers +to develop the "permanent friendly settlement" scheme. The telegram +ends thus: "Add, that if this proposal is accepted, you now are +authorised to agree to suspension of hostilities on our part." This +message was sent to General Wood, because the Boers had stopped the +communications with Colley. On the 19th, Sir George Colley replies in +these words, which show his astonishment at the policy adopted by the +Home Government, and which, in the opinion of most people, redound to +his credit-- + +"Latter part of your telegram to Wood not understood. There can be no +hostilities if no resistance is made, but am I to leave Lang's Nek in +Natal territory in Boer occupation, and our garrisons isolated and +short of provisions, or occupy former and relieve latter?" Lord +Kimberley hastens to reply that the garrisons must be left free to +provision themselves, "but we do not mean that you should march to the +relief of garrisons or occupy Lang's Nek if an arrangement proceeds." + +It will be seen that the definition of what vindication of Her +Majesty's authority consisted grew broader and broader; it now included +the right of the Boers to continue to occupy their positions in the +colony of Natal. + +Meanwhile the daily fire of complimentary messages was being kept up +between President Brand and Lord Kimberley, who alternately gave +"sincere thanks to Lord Kimberley" and "fully appreciated the friendly +spirit" of President Brand, till on the 21st February the latter +telegraphs through Colley: "Hope of amicable settlement by negotiation, +but this will be greatly facilitated if somebody on spot and friendly +disposed to both could by personal communication with both endeavour to +smooth difficulties. Offers his services to Her Majesty's Government, +and Kruger and Pretorius and Joubert are willing." Needless to say his +services were accepted. + +Presently, however, on 27th February, Sir George Colley made his last +move, and took possession of Majuba. His defeat and death had the +effect of causing another temporary check in the peace negotiations, +whilst Sir Frederick Roberts with ample reinforcements was despatched +to Natal. It had the further effect of increasing the haughtiness of +the Boer leaders, and infusing a corresponding spirit of pliability or +generosity into the negotiations of Her Majesty's Government. + +Thus on 2d March, the Boers, through President Brand and Sir Evelyn +Wood, inform the Secretary of State for the Colonies that they are +willing to negotiate, but decline to submit on cease opposition. Sir +Evelyn Wood, who evidently did not at all like the line of policy +adopted by the Government, telegraphed that he thought the best thing +to do would be for him to engage the Boers, and disperse them _vi et +armis_, without any guarantees, "considering the disasters we have +sustained," and that he should, "if absolutely necessary," be empowered +to promise life and property to the leaders, but that they should be +banished from the country. In answer to this telegram, Lord Kimberley +informs him that Her Majesty's Government will amnesty _everybody_ +except those who have committed acts contrary to the rules of civilised +warfare, and that they will agree to anything, and appoint a Commission +to carry out the details, and "be ready for friendly communications +with _any persons_ appointed by the Boers." + +Thus was Her Majesty's authority finally re-established in the +Transvaal. + +It was not a very grand climax, nor the kind of arrangement to which +Englishmen are accustomed, but perhaps, considering the circumstances, +and the well-known predilections of those who made the settlement, it +was as much as could be expected. + +The action of the Government must not be considered as though they were +unfettered in their judgment; it can never be supposed that they acted +as they did because they thought such action right or even wise, for +that would be to set them down as men of a very low order of +intelligence, which they certainly are not. + +It is clear that no set of sensible men, who had after much +consideration given their decision that under all the circumstances the +Transvaal must remain British territory, and who, on a revolt +subsequently breaking out in that territory, had declared that Her +Majesty's rule must be upheld, would have, putting aside all other +circumstances, deliberately stultified themselves by almost +unconditionally, and of their own free will, abandoning the country, +and all Her Majesty's subjects living in it. That would be to pay a +poor tribute to their understanding, since it is clear that if reasons +existed for retaining the Transvaal before the war, as they were +satisfied there did, those reasons would exist with still greater force +after a war had been undertaken and three crushing defeats sustained, +which if left unavenged must, as they knew, have a most disastrous +effect on our prestige throughout the South African continent. + +I prefer to believe that the Government was coerced into acting as it +did by Radical pressure, both from outside and from its immediate +supporters in the House, and that it had to choose between making an +unconditional surrender in the Transvaal and losing the support of a +very powerful party. Under these circumstances it, being Liberal in +politics, naturally followed its instincts, and chose surrender. + +If such a policy was bad in itself, and necessarily mischievous in its +consequences, so much the worse for those who suffered by it; it was +clear that the Government could not be expected to lose votes in order +to forward the true interests of countries so far off as the South +African Colonies, which had had the misfortune to be made a party +question of, and must take the consequences. + +There is no doubt that the interest brought to bear on the Government +was very considerable, for not only had they to deal with their own +supporters, and with the shadowy caucus that was ready to let the lash +of its displeasure descend even on the august person of Mr. Gladstone, +should he show signs of letting slip so rich an opportunity for the +vindication of the holiest principles of advanced Radicalism, but also +with the hydra-headed crowd of visionaries and professional +sentimentalists who swarm in this country, and who are always ready to +take up any cause, from that of Jumbo or of a murderer to that of +oppressed peoples, such as the Bulgarians or the Transvaal Boers. + +These gentlemen, burning with zeal, and filled with that confidence +which proverbially results from the hasty assimilation of imperfect and +erroneous information, found in the Transvaal question a great +opportunity of making a noise; and--as in a disturbed farmyard the bray +of the domestic donkey, ringing loud and clear among the utterances of +more intelligent animals, overwhelms and extinguishes them--so, and +with like effect, amongst the confused sound of various English +opinions about the Boer rising, rose the trumpet-note of the Transvaal +Independence Committee and its supporters. + +As we have seen, they did not sound in vain. + +On the 6th of March an armistice with the Boers had been entered into +by Sir Evelyn Wood, which was several times prolonged up to the 21st +March, when Sir Evelyn Wood concluded a preliminary peace with the Boer +leaders, which, under certain conditions, guaranteed the restoration of +the country within six months, and left all other points to be decided +by a Royal Commission. + +The news of this peace was at first received in the colony in the +silence of astonishment. Personally, I remember, I would not believe +that it was true. It seemed to us, who had been witnesses of what had +passed, and knew what it all meant, something so utterly incredible +that we thought there must be a mistake. + +If there had been any one redeeming circumstance about it, if the +English arms had gained a single decisive victory, it might have been +so, but it was hard for Englishmen, just at first, to understand that +not only had the Transvaal been to all appearance wrested from them by +force of arms, but that they were henceforth to be subject, as they +well knew would be the case, to the coarse insults of victorious Boers, +and the sarcasms of keener-witted Kafirs. + +People in England seem to fancy that when men go to the colonies they +lose all sense of pride in their country, and think of nothing but +their own advantage. I do not think that this is the case, indeed, I +believe that, individual for individual, there exists a greater sense +of loyalty, and a deeper pride in their nationality, and in the proud +name of England, among colonists, than among Englishmen proper. +Certainly the humiliation of the Transvaal surrender was more keenly +felt in South Africa than it was at home; but, perhaps, the +impossibility of imposing upon people in that country with the farrago +of nonsense about blood-guiltiness and national morality, which was +made such adroit use of at home, may have made the difference. + +I know that personally I would not have believed it possible that I +could feel any public event so keenly as I did this; indeed, I quickly +made up my mind that if the peace was confirmed, the neighbourhood of +the Transvaal would be no fit or comfortable residence for an +Englishman, and that I would, at any cost, leave the country,--which I +accordingly did. + +Newcastle was a curious sight the night after the peace was declared. +Every hotel and bar was crowded with refugees, who were trying to +relieve their feelings by cursing the name of Gladstone with a vigour, +originality, and earnestness that I have never heard equalled; and +declaring in ironical terms how proud they were to be citizens of +England--a country that always kept its word. Then they set to work +with many demonstrations of contempt to burn the effigy of the Bight +Honourable Gentleman at the head of Her Majesty's Government, an +example, by the way, that was followed throughout South Africa. + +Even Sir Evelyn Wood, who is very popular in the colony, was hissed as +he walked through the town, and great surprise was expressed that a +soldier who came out expressly to fight the Boers should consent to +become the medium of communication in such a dirty business. And, +indeed, there was some excuse for all this bitterness, for the news +meant ruin to very many. + +But if people in Natal and at the Cape received the news with +astonishment, how shall I describe its effect upon the unfortunate +loyal inhabitants in the Transvaal, on whom it burst like a +thunderbolt? + +They did not say much, however, and indeed there was nothing to be +said. They simply began to pack up such things as they could carry with +them, and to leave the country, which they well knew would henceforth +be utterly untenable for Englishmen or English sympathisers. In a few +weeks they come pouring down through Newcastle by hundreds; it was the +most melancholy exodus that can be imagined. There were people of all +classes, officials, gentlefolk, work-people, and loyal Boers, but they +had a connecting link; they had all been loyal, and they were all +ruined. + +Most of these people had gone to the Transvaal since it became a +British colony, and invested all they had in it, and now their capital +was lost and their labour rendered abortive; indeed, many of them whom +one had known as well to do in the Transvaal, came down to Natal hardly +knowing how they would feed their families next week. + +It must be understood that so soon as the Queen's sovereignty was +withdrawn the value of landed and house property in the Transvaal went +down to nothing, and has remained there ever since. Thus a fair-sized +house in Pretoria brought in a rental varying from ten to twenty pounds +a month during British occupation, but after the declaration of peace, +owners of houses were glad to get people to live in them to keep them +from falling into ruin. Those who owned land or had invested money in +businesses suffered in the same way; their property remains neither +profitable or saleable, and they themselves are precluded by their +nationality from living on it, the art of "Boycotting" not being +peculiar to Ireland. + +Nor were they the only sufferers. The officials, many of whom had taken +to the Government service as a permanent profession, in which they +expected to pass their lives, were suddenly dismissed, mostly with a +small gratuity, which would about suffice to pay their debts, and told +to find their living as best they could. It was indeed a case of _vae +victis_,--woe to the conquered loyalists.[12] + + [12] The following extract is clipped from a recent issue + of the _Transvaal Advertiser_. It describes the present + condition of Pretoria:-- + + "The streets grown over with rank vegetation; the + water-furrows uncleaned and unattended, emitting offensive + and unhealthy stenches; the houses showing evident signs of + dilapidation and decay; the side paths, in many places, + dangerous to pedestrians--in fact, everything the eye can + rest upon indicates the downfall which has overtaken this + once prosperous city. The visitor can, if he be so minded, + betake himself to the outskirts and suburbs, where he will + perceive the same sad evidences of neglect, public grounds + unattended, roads uncared for, mills and other public works + crumbling into ruin. These palpable signs of decay most + strongly impress him. A blight seems to have come over this + lately fair and prosperous town. Rapidly it is becoming a + 'deserted village,' a 'city of the dead.'" + +The Commission appointed by Her Majesty's Government consisted of Sir +Hercules Robinson, Sir Henry de Villiers, and Sir Evelyn Wood, +President Brand being also present in his capacity of friend of both +parties, and to their discretion were left the settlement of all +outstanding questions. Amongst these, were the mode of trial of those +persons who had been guilty of acts contrary to the rules of civilised +warfare, the question of severance of territory from the Transvaal on +the eastern boundary, the settlement of the boundary in the Keate-Award +districts, the compensation for losses sustained during the war, the +functions of the British Resident, and other matters. Their place of +meeting was at Newcastle in Natal, and from thence they proceeded to +Pretoria. + +The first question of importance that came before the Commission was +the mode of trial to be adopted in the cases of those persons accused +of acts contrary to the usages of civilised warfare, such as murder. +The Attorney-General for the Transvaal strongly advised that a special +tribunal should be constituted to try these cases, principally because +"after a civil war in which all the inhabitants of a country, with very +few exceptions, have taken part, a jury of fair and impartial men, +truly unbiassed, will be very difficult to get together." It is +satisfactory to know that the Commissioners gave this somewhat obvious +fact "their grave consideration," which, according to their Report, +resulted in their determining to let the cases go before the ordinary +court, and be tried by a jury, because in referring them to a specially +constituted court which would have done equal justice without fear or +favour, "the British Government would have made for itself, among the +Dutch population of South Africa, a name for vindictive oppression, +which no generosity in other affairs could efface." + +There is more in this determination of the Commissioners, or rather of +the majority of them--for Sir E. Wood, to his credit be it said, +refused to agree in their decision--than meets the eye, the fact of the +matter being that it was privately well known to them, that though the +Boer leaders might be willing to allow a few of the murderers to +undergo the form of a trial, neither they nor the Boers themselves +meant to permit the farce to go any further. Had the men been tried by +a special tribunal they would in all probability have been condemned to +death, and then would have come the awkward question of carrying out +the sentence on individuals whose deeds were looked on, if not with +general approval, at any rate without aversion by the great mass of +their countrymen. In short, it would probably have become necessary +either to reprieve them or to fight the Boers again, since it was very +certain that they would not have allowed them to be hung. Therefore the +majority of the Commissioners, finding themselves face to face with a +dead wall, determined to slip round it instead of boldly climbing it, +by referring the cases to the Transvaal High Court, cheerfully +confident of what the result must be. + +After all, the matter was, much cry about little wool, for of all the +crimes committed by the Boers--a list of some of which will be found in +the Appendix to this book--in only three cases were a proportion of the +perpetrators produced and put through the form of trial. Those three +were--the dastardly murder of Captain Elliot, who was shot by his Boer +escort whilst crossing the Vaal river on parole; the murder of a man +named Malcolm, who was kicked to death in his own house by Boers, who +afterwards put a bullet through his head to make the job "look better;" +and the murder of a doctor named Barber, who was shot by his escort on +the border of the Free State. A few of the men concerned in the first +two of these crimes were tried in Pretoria; and it was currently +reported at that time, that in order to make their acquittal certain +our Attorney-General received instructions not to exercise his right of +challenging jurors on behalf of the Crown. Whether or not this is true +I am not prepared to say, but I believe it is a fact that he did not +exercise that right, though the counsel for the prisoners availed +themselves of it freely, with the result that in Elliot's case, the +jury was composed of eight Boers and one German, nine being the full +South African jury. The necessary result followed; in both cases the +prisoners were acquitted in the teeth of the evidence. Barber's +murderers were tried in the Free State, and were, as might be expected, +acquitted. + +Thus it will be seen that of all the perpetrators of murder and other +crimes during the course of the war not one was brought to justice. + +The offence for which their victims died was, in nearly every case, +that they had served, were serving, or were loyal to Her Majesty the +Queen. In no single case has England exacted retribution for the murder +of her servants and citizens; but nobody can read through the long list +of these dastardly slaughters without feeling that they will not go +unavenged. The innocent blood that has been shed on behalf of this +country, and the tears of children and widows, now appeal to a higher +tribunal than that of Mr. Gladstone's Government, and assuredly they +will not appeal in vain. + +The next point of importance dealt with by the Commission was the +question whether or no any territory should be severed from the +Transvaal, and kept under English rule for the benefit of the native +inhabitants. Lord Kimberley, acting under pressure put upon him by +members of the Aborigines Protection Society, instructed the Commission +to consider the advisability of severing the districts of Lydenburg and +Zoutpansberg, and also a strip of territory bordering on Zululand and +Swaziland, from the Transvaal, so as to place the inhabitants of the +first two districts out of danger of maltreatment by the Boers, and to +interpose a buffer between Zulus, and Swazis, and Boer aggression, and +_vice versâ_. + +The Boer leaders had, it must be remembered, acquiesced in the +principle of such a separation in the preliminary peace signed by Sir +Evelyn Wood and themselves. The majority of the Commission, however +(Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting), finally decided against the retention of +either of these districts, a decision which, I think, was a wise one, +though I arrive at that conclusion on very different grounds to those +adopted by the majority of the Commission. + +Personally, I cannot see that it is the duty of England to play +policeman to the whole world. To have retained these native districts +would have been to make ourselves responsible for their good +government, and to have guaranteed them against Boer encroachment, +which I do not think that we were called upon to do. It is surely not +incumbent upon us, having given up the Transvaal to the Boers, to +undertake the management of the most troublesome part of it, the Zulu +border. Besides, bad as the abandonment of the Transvaal is, I think +that if it was to be done at all, it was best to do it thoroughly, +since to have kept some natives under our protection, and to have +handed over the rest to the tender mercies of the Boers, would only be +to render our injustice more obvious, whilst weakening the power of the +natives themselves to combine in self-defence, since those under our +protection would naturally have little sympathy with their more +unfortunate brethren--their interests and circumstances being +different. + +The Commission do not seem to have considered the question from these +points of view; but putting them on one side, there are many other +considerations connected with it which are ably summed up in their +Report. Amongst these is the danger of disturbances commenced between +Zulus or Swazis and Boers spreading into Natal, and the probability of +the fomenting of disturbances amongst the Zulus by Boers. The great +argument for the retention of some territory, if only as a symbol that +the English had not been driven out of the country, is, however, set +forth in the forty-sixth paragraph of the Report, which runs as +follows:--"The moral considerations that determine the actions of +civilised governments are not easily understood by barbarians, in whose +eyes successful force is alone the sign of superiority, and it appeared +possible that the surrender by the British Crown of one of its +possessions to those who had been in arms against it, might be looked +upon by the natives in no other way than as a token of the defeat and +decay of the British power, and that thus a serious shock might be +given to British authority in South Africa, and the capacity of Great +Britain to govern and direct the vast native population within and +without her South African dominions--a capacity resting largely on the +renown of her name--might be dangerously impaired." + +These words, coming from so unexpected a source, do not, though couched +in such mild language, hide the startling importance of the question +discussed. On the contrary, they accurately and with double weight +convey the sense and gist of the most damning argument against the +policy of the retrocession of the Transvaal in its entirety; and +proceeding from their own carefully chosen Commissioners, can hardly +have been pleasant reading to Lord Kimberley and his colleagues. + +The majority of the Commission then proceeds to set forth the arguments +advanced by the Boers against the retention of any territory, which +appear to have been chiefly of a sentimental character, since we are +informed that "the people, it seemed certain, would not have valued the +restoration of a mutilated country. Sentiment in a great measure had +led them to insurrection, and the force of such it was impossible to +disregard." Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, states that he cannot even +agree with the premises of his colleagues' argument, since he is +convinced that it was not sentiment that had led to the outbreak, but a +"general and rooted aversion to taxation." If he had added, and a +hatred not only of English rule, but of all rule, he would have stated +the complete cause of the Transvaal rebellion. In the next paragraph of +the Report, however, we find the real cause of the pliability of the +Commission in the matter, which is the same that influenced them in +their decision about the mode of trial of the murderers and other +questions--they feared that the people would appeal to arms if they +decided against their wishes. + +Discreditable and disgraceful as it may seem, nobody can read this +Report without plainly seeing that the Commissioners were, in treating +with the Boers on these points, in the position of ambassadors from a +beaten people getting the best terms they could. Of course, they well +knew that this was not the case but whatever the Boer leaders may have +said, the Boers themselves did not know this, or even pretend to look +at the matter in any other light. When we asked for the country back, +said they, we did not get it; after we had three times defeated the +English we did get it; the logical conclusion from the facts being that +we got it because we defeated the English. This was their tone, and it +is not therefore surprising that whenever the Commission threatened to +decide anything against them, they, with a smile, let it know that if +it did, they would be under the painful necessity of re-occupying +Lang's Nek. It was never necessary to repeat the threat, since the +majority of the Commission would thereupon speedily find a way to meet +the views of the Boer representatives. + +Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, thus correctly sums up the +matter:--"To contend that the Royal Commission ought not to decide +contrary to the wishes of the Boers, because such decision might not be +accepted, is to deny to the Commission the very power of decision that +it was agreed should be left in its hands." Exactly so. But it is +evident that the Commission knew its place, and so far from attempting +to exercise any "power of decision," it was quite content with such +concessions as it could obtain by means of bargaining. Thus, as an +additional reason against the retention of any territory, it is urged +that if this territory was retained "the majority of your Commissioners +... would have found themselves in no favourable position for obtaining +the concurrence of the Boer leaders as to other matters." In fact, Her +Majesty's Commission, appointed, or supposed to be appointed, to do Her +Majesty's will and pleasure, shook in its shoes before men who had +lately been rebels in arms against her authority, and humbly submitted +itself to their dicta. + +The majority of the Commission went on to express their opinion, that +by giving way about the retention of territory they would be able to +obtain better terms for the natives generally, and larger powers for +the British Resident. But, as Sir Evelyn Wood points out in his Report, +they did nothing of the sort, the terms of the agreement about the +Resident and other native matters being all consequent on and included +in the first agreement of peace. Besides, they seem to have overlooked +the fact that such concessions as they did obtain are only on paper, +and practically worthless, whilst all _bonâ fide_ advantages remained +with the Boers. + +The decision of the Commissioners in the question of the Keate Award, +which next came under their consideration, appears to have been a +judicious one, being founded on the very careful Report of Colonel +Moysey, R.E., who had been for many months collecting information on +the spot. The Keate Award Territory is a region lying to the south-west +of the Transvaal, and was, like many other districts in that country, +originally in the possession of natives of the Baralong and Batlapin +tribes. Individual Boers having, however, _more suo_ taken possession +of tracts of land in the district, difficulties speedily arose between +their Government and the native chiefs, and in 1871 Mr. Keate, +Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, was by mutual consent called in to +arbitrate on the matter. His decision was entirely in favour of the +natives, and was accordingly promptly and characteristically repudiated +by the Boer Volksraad. From that time till the rebellion the question +remained unsettled, and was indeed a very thorny one to deal with. The +Commission, acting on the principle _in medio tutissimus ibis_, drew a +line through the midst of the disputed territory, or, in other words, +set aside Mr. Keate's award, and interpreted the dispute in favour of +the Boers. + +This decision was accepted by all parties at the time, but it has not +resulted in the maintenance of peace. The principal chief, Montsioa, is +an old ally and staunch friend of the English, a fact which the Boers +are not able to forget or forgive, and they appear to have stirred up +rival chiefs to attack him, and to have allowed volunteers from the +Transvaal to assist them. Montsioa has also enlisted some white +volunteers, and several fights have taken place, in which the loss of +life has been considerable. Whether or no the Transvaal Government is +directly concerned it is impossible to say, but from the fact that +cannon are said to have been used against Montsioa it would appear that +it is, since private individuals do not, as a rule, own Armstrong +guns.[13] + + [13] I beg to refer any reader interested in this matter to + the letter of "Transvaal" to the _Standard_, which I have + republished in the Appendix to this book. + +Amongst the questions remaining for the consideration of the +Commissioners was that of what compensation should be given for losses +during the war. Of course, the great bulk of the losses sustained were +of an indirect nature, resulting from the necessary and enormous +depreciation in the value of land and other property, consequent on the +retrocession. Into this matter the Home Government declined to enter, +thereby saving its pocket at the price of its honour, since it was upon +English guarantees that the country would remain a British possession +that the majority of the unfortunate loyals invested their money in it. +It was, however, agreed by the Commission (Sir H. de Villiers +dissenting) that the Boers should be liable for compensation in cases +where loss had been sustained through commandeering seizure, +confiscation, destruction, or damage of property. The sums awarded +under these heads have already amounted to about £110,000, which sum +has been defrayed by the Imperial Government, the Boer authorities +stating that they were not in a position to pay it. + +In connection with this matter I will pass to the financial clauses of +the Report. When the country was annexed, the public debt amounted to +£301,727. Under British rule this debt was liquidated to the extent of +£150,000, but the total was brought up by a Parliamentary grant, a loan +from the Standard Bank, and sundries to £390,404, which represented the +public debt of the Transvaal on the 31st December 1880. This was +further increased by moneys advanced by the Standard Bank and English +Exchequer during the war, and till the 8th August 1881, during which +time the country yielded no revenue, to £457,393. To this must be added +an estimated sum of £200,000 for compensation charges, pension +allowances, &c., and a further sum of £383,000, the cost of the +successful expedition against Secocoeni, that of the unsuccessful one +being left out of account, bringing up the total public debt to over a +million, of which about £800,000 is owing to this country. + +This sum, with the characteristic liberality that distinguished them in +their dealings with the Boers, but which was not so marked where loyals +were concerned, the Commissioners (Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting) reduced +by a stroke of the pen to £265,000, thus entirely remitting an +approximate sum of £500,000, or £600,000. To the sum of £265,000 still +owing must be added say another £150,000 for sums lately advanced to +pay the compensation claims, bringing up the actual amount now owing to +England to something under half a million, of which I say with +confidence she will never see a single £10,000. As this contingency was +not contemplated, or if contemplated, not alluded to by the Royal +Commission, provision was made for a Sinking Fund, by means of which +the debt, which is a second charge on the revenues of the States, is to +be extinguished in twenty-five years. + +It is a strange instance of the proverbial irony of fate, that whilst +the representatives of the Imperial Government were thus showering +gifts of hundreds of thousands of pounds upon men who had spurned the +benefits of Her Majesty's rule, made war upon her forces, and murdered +her subjects, no such consideration was extended to those who had +remained loyal to her throne. Their claims for compensation were passed +by unheeded; and looking from the windows of the room in which they sat +in Newcastle, the members of the Commission might have seen them +flocking down from a country that could no longer be their home; those +that were rich among them made poor, and those that were poor reduced +to destitution. + +The only other point which it will be necessary for me to touch on in +connection with this Report is the duties of the British Resident and +his relations to the natives. He was to be invested as representative +of the Suzerain with functions for securing the execution of the terms +of peace as regards--(1) the control of the foreign relations of the +State; (2) the control of the frontier affairs of the State; and (3) +the protection of the interests of the natives in the State. + +As regards the first of these points, it was arranged that the +interests of subjects of the Transvaal should be left in the hands of +Her Majesty's representatives abroad. Since Boers are, of all people in +the world, the most stay-at-home, our ambassadors and consuls are not +likely to be troubled much on their account. With reference to the +second point, the Commission made stipulations that would be admirable +if there were any probability of their being acted up to. The Resident +is to report any encroachment on native territory by Boers to the High +Commissioner, and when the Resident and the Boer Government differ, the +decision of the Suzerain is to be final. This is a charming way of +settling difficulties, but the Commission forgets to specify how the +Suzerain's decision is to be enforced. After what has happened, it can +hardly have relied on awe of the name of England to bring about the +desired obedience! + +But besides thus using his beneficent authority to prevent subjects of +the Transvaal from trespassing on their neighbour's land, the Resident +is to exercise a general supervision over the interests of all the +natives in the country. Considering that they number about a million, +and are scattered over a territory larger than France, one would think +that this duty alone would have taken up the time of any ordinary man; +and, indeed, Sir Evelyn Wood was in favour of the appointment of +sub-residents to assist him. The majority of the Commission refused, +however, to listen to any such suggestion--believing, they said, "that +the least possible interference with the independent Government of the +State would be the wisest." Quite so, but I suppose it never occurred +to them to ask the natives what their views of the matter were! The +Resident was also to be a member of a Native Location Commission, which +was at some future time to provide land for the natives to live on. + +In perusing this Report it is easy to follow with more or less accuracy +the individual bent of its framers. Sir Hercules Robinson figures +throughout as a man who has got a disagreeable business to carry out, +in obedience to instructions that admit of no trifling with, and who +has set himself to do the best he can for his country, and those who +suffer through his country's policy, whilst obeying those instructions. +He has evidently choked down his feelings and opinions as an +individual, and turned himself into an official machine, merely +registering in detail the will of Lord Kimberley. With Sir Henry de +Villiers the case is very different. One feels throughout that the task +is to him a congenial one, and that the Boer cause has in him an +excellent friend. Indeed, had he been an advocate of their cause +instead of a member of the Commission, he could not have espoused their +side on every occasion with greater zeal. According to him they were +always in the right, and in them he could find no guile. Mr. Hofmeyer +and President Brand exercised a wise discretion from their own point of +view when they urged his appointment as Special Commissioner. I now +come to Sir Evelyn Wood, who was in the position of an independent +Englishman, neither prejudiced in favour of the Boers, or the reverse, +and on whom, as a military man, Lord Kimberley would find it difficult +to put the official screw. The results of his happy position are +obvious in the paper attached to the end of the Report, and signed by +him, in which he totally and entirely differs from the majority of the +Commission on every point of any importance. Most people will think +that this very outspoken and forcible dissent deducts somewhat from the +value of the Report, and throws a shadow of doubt on the wisdom of its +provisions. + +The formal document of agreement between Her Majesty's Government and +the Boer leaders, commonly known as the Convention, was signed by both +parties at Pretoria on the afternoon of the 3d August 1881, in the same +room in which, nearly four years before, the Annexation Proclamation +was signed by Sir T. Shepstone. + +Whilst this business was being transacted in Government House, a +curious ceremony was going on just outside, and within sight of the +windows. This was the ceremonious burial of the Union Jack, which was +followed to the grave by a crowd of about 2000 loyalists and native +chiefs. On the outside of the coffin was written the word "Resurgam," +and an eloquent oration was delivered over the grave. Such +demonstrations are, no doubt, foolish enough, but they are not entirely +without political significance. + +But a more unpleasant duty awaited the Commissioners than that of +attaching their signatures to a document,--consisting of the necessity +of conveying Her Majesty's decision as to the retrocession to about a +hundred native chiefs, until now Her Majesty's subjects, who had been +gathered together to hear it. It must be borne in mind that the natives +had not been consulted as to the disposal of the country, although they +outnumber the white people in the proportion of twenty to one, and +that, beyond some worthless paper stipulations, nothing had been done +for their interests. + +Personally, I must plead guilty to what I know is by many, especially +by those who are attached to the Boer cause, considered as folly, if +not worse, namely, a sufficient interest in the natives, and sympathy +with their sufferings, to bring me to the conclusion that in acting +thus we have inflicted a cruel injustice upon them. It seems to me, +that as they were the original owners of the soil, they were entitled +to some consideration in the question of its disposal, and consequently +and incidentally, of their own. I am aware that it is generally +considered that the white man has a right to the black man's +possessions and land, and that it is his high and holy mission to +exterminate the wretched native and take his place. But with this +conclusion I venture to differ. So far as my own experience of natives +has gone, I have found that in all the essential qualities of mind and +body they very much resemble white men, with the exception that they +are, as a race, quicker-witted, more honest, and braver than the +ordinary run of white men. Of them might be aptly quoted the speech +Shakespeare puts into Shylock's mouth: "Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a +Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" In the +same way I ask, Has a native no feelings or affections? does he not +suffer when his parents are shot, or his children stolen, or when he is +driven a wanderer from his home? Does he not know fear, feel pain, +affection, hate, and gratitude? Most certainly he does; and this being +so, I cannot believe that the Almighty, who made both white and black, +gave to the one race the right or mission of exterminating or even of +robbing or maltreating the other, and calling the process the advance +of civilisation. It seems to me, that on only one condition, if at all, +have we the right to take the black men's land; and that is, that we +provide them with an equal and a just Government, and allow no +maltreatment of them, either as individuals or tribes, but, on the +contrary, do our best to elevate them, and wean them from savage +customs. Otherwise, the practice is surely undefensible. + +I am aware, however, that with the exception of a small class, these +are sentiments which are not shared by the great majority of the +public, either at home or abroad. Indeed, it can be plainly seen how +little sympathy they command, from the fact that but scanty +remonstrance was raised at the treatment meted out to our native +subjects in the Transvaal, when they were, to the number of nearly a +million, handed over from the peace, justice, and security that on the +whole characterise our rule, to a state of things and possibilities of +wrong and suffering which I will not try to describe. + +To the chiefs thus assembled Sir Hercules Robinson, as President of the +Royal Commission, read a statement, and then retired, refusing to allow +them to speak in answer. The statement informed the natives that "Her +Majesty's Government, with that sense of justice which befits a great +and powerful nation," had returned the country to the Boers, "whose +representatives, Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert, I now," said +Sir Hercules, "have much pleasure in introducing to you." If reports +are true, the native chiefs had, many of them personally, and all of +them by reputation, already the advantage of a very intimate +acquaintance with all three of these gentlemen, so that an introduction +was somewhat superfluous. + +Sir Hercules then went on to explain to them that locations would be +allotted to them at some future time; that a British Resident would be +appointed, whose especial charge they would be, but that they must bear +in mind that he was not ruler of the country, but the Government, +"subject to Her Majesty's suzerain rights." Natives were, no doubt, +expected to know by intuition what suzerain rights are. The statement +then goes on to give them good advice as to the advantages of indulging +in manual labour when asked to do so by the Boers, and generally to +show them how bright and happy is the future that lies before them. +Lest they should be too elated by such good tidings, they are, however, +reminded that it will be necessary to retain the law relating to +passes, which is, in the hands of a people like the Boers, about as +unjust a regulation as a dominant race can invent for the oppression of +a subject people, and had, in the old days of the Republic, been +productive of much hardship. The statement winds up by assuring them +that their "interests will never be forgotten or neglected by Her +Majesty's Government." Having read the document the Commission hastily +withdrew, and after their withdrawal the chiefs were "allowed" to state +their opinions to the Secretary for Native Affairs. + +In availing themselves of this permission, it is noticeable that no +allusion was made to all the advantages they were to reap under the +Convention, nor did they seem to attach much importance to the +appointment of the British Resident. On the contrary, all their +attention was given to the great fact that the country had been ceded +to the Boers, and that they were no longer the Queen's subjects. We are +told, in Mr. Shepstone's Report, that they "got very excited," and +"asked whether it was thought that they had no feelings or hearts, that +they were thus treated as a stick or piece of tobacco, which could be +passed from hand to hand without question." Umgombarie, a Zoutpansberg +chief, said: "I am Umgombarie. I have fought with the Boers, and have +many wounds, and they know that what I say is true.... I will never +consent to place myself under their rule. I belong to the English +Government. I am not a man who eats with both sides of his jaw at once; +I only use one side. I am English, I have said." Silamba said: "I +belong to the English. I will never return under the Boers. You see me, +a man of my rank and position; is it right that such as I should be +seized and laid on the ground and flogged, as has been done to me and +other chiefs?" + +Sinkanhla said: "We hear and yet do not hear, we cannot understand. We +are troubling you, Chief, by talking in this way; we hear the chiefs +say that the Queen took the country because the people of the country +wished it, and again that the majority of the owners of the country did +not wish their rule, and that therefore the country was given back. We +should like to have the man pointed out from among us black people who +objects to the rule of the Queen. We are the real owners of the +country; we were here when the Boers came, and without asking leave, +settled down and treated us in every way badly. The English Government +then came and took the country; we have now had four years of rest and +peaceful and just rule. We have been called here to-day, and are told +that the country, our country, has been given to the Boers by the +Queen. This is a thing which surprises us. Did the country, then, +belong to the Boers? Did it not belong to our fathers and forefathers +before us, long before the Boers came here? We have heard that the +Boers' country is at the Cape. If the Queen wishes to give them their +land, why does she not give them back the Cape?" + +I have quoted this speech at length, because, although made by a +despised native, it sets forth their case more powerfully and in +happier language than I can do. + +Umyethile said: "We have no heart for talking. I have returned to the +country from Sechelis, where I had to fly from Boer oppression. Our +hearts are black and heavy with grief to-day at the news told us, we +are in agony, our intestines are twisting and writhing inside of us, +just as you see a snake do when it is struck on the head.... We do not +know what has become of us, but we feel dead; it may be that the Lord +may change the nature of the Boers, and that we will not be treated +like dogs and beasts of burden as formerly, but we have no hope of such +a change, and we leave you with heavy hearts and great apprehension as +to the future." In his Report, Mr. Shepstone (the Secretary for Native +Affairs) says: "One chief, Jan Sibilo, who has been, he informed me, +personally threatened with death by the Boers after the English leave, +could not restrain his feelings, but cried like a child." + +I have nothing to add to these extracts, which are taken from many such +statements. They are the very words of the persons most concerned, and +will speak for themselves. + +The Convention was signed on the 3d August 1881, and was to be formally +ratified by a Volksraad or Parliament of the Burghers within three +months of that date, in default of which it was to fall to the ground +and become null and void. + +Anybody who has followed the course of affairs with reference to the +retrocession of the Transvaal, or who has even taken the trouble to +read through this brief history, will probably come to the conclusion +that, under all the circumstances, the Boers had got more than they +could reasonably expect. Not so, however, the Boers themselves. On the +28th September the newly-elected Volksraad referred the Convention to a +General Committee to report on, and on the 30th September the Report +was presented. On the 3d October a telegram was despatched through the +British Resident to "His Excellency W. E. Gladstone," in which the +Volksraad states that the Convention is not acceptable-- + +(1.) Because it is in conflict with the Sand River Treaty of 1852. + +(2.) Because it violates the peace agreement entered into with Sir +Evelyn Wood, in confidence of which the Boers laid down their arms. + +The Volksraad consequently declared that modifications were desirable, +and that certain articles _must_ be altered. + +To begin with, they declare that the "conduct of foreign relations does +not appertain to the Suzerain, only supervision," and that the articles +bearing on these points must consequently be modified. They next attack +the native question, stating that "the Suzerain has not the right to +interfere with our Legislature," and state that they cannot agree to +Article 3, which gives the Suzerain a right of veto on Legislation +connected with the natives; to Article 13, by virtue of which natives +are to be allowed to acquire land; and to the last part of Article 26, +by which it is provided that whites of alien race living in the +Transvaal shall not be taxed in excess of the taxes imposed on +Transvaal citizens. + +They further declare that it is _infra dignitatem_ for the President of +the Transvaal to be a member of a Commission. This refers to the Native +Location Commission, on which he is, in the terms of the Convention, to +sit, together with the British Resident, and a third person jointly +appointed. + +They next declare that the amount of the debt for which the Commission +has made them liable should be modified. Considering that England had +already made them a present of from £600,000 to £800,000, this is a +most barefaced demand. Finally, they state that "Articles 15, 16, 26, +and 27 are superfluous, and only calculated to wound our sense of +honour" (_sic_). + +Article 15 enacts that no slavery or apprenticeship shall be tolerated. + +Article 16 provides for religious toleration. + +Article 26 provides for the free movement, trading, and residence of +all persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of +the Transvaal. + +Article 27 gives to all the right of free access to the Courts of +Justice. + +Putting the "sense of honour" of the Transvaal Volksraad out of the +question, past experience has but too plainly proved that these +Articles are by no means superfluous. + +In reply to this message, Sir Hercules Robinson telegraphs to the +British Resident on the 21st October in the following words:-- + +"Having forwarded Volksraad Resolution of 15th to Earl of Kimberley, I +am desired to instruct you in reply to repeat to the Triumvirate that +Her Majesty's Government cannot entertain any proposals for a +modification of the Convention _until after it has been ratified_, +and the necessity for further concession proved by experience." + +I wish to draw particular attention to the last part of this message, +which is extremely typical of the line of policy adopted throughout in +the Transvaal business. The English Government dared not make any +further concession to the Boers, because they felt that they had +already strained the temper of the country almost to breaking in the +matter. On the other hand, they were afraid that if they did not do +something, the Boers would tear up the Convention, and they would find +themselves face to face with the old difficulty. Under these +circumstances, they have fallen back upon their temporising and +un-English policy, which leaves them a back-door to escape through, +whatever turn things take. Should the Boers now suddenly turn round and +declare, which is extremely probable, that they repudiate their debt to +us, or that they are sick of the presence of a British Resident, the +Government will be able to announce that "the necessity for further +concession" has now been "proved by experience," and thus escape the +difficulty. In short, this telegram has deprived the Convention of +whatever finality it may have possessed, and made it, as a document, as +worthless as it is as a practical settlement. That this is the view +taken of it by the Boers themselves, is proved by the text of the +Ratification which followed on the receipt of this telegram. + +The tone of this document throughout is, in my opinion, considering +from whom it came, and against whom it is directed, very insolent. And +it amply confirms what I have previously said, that the Boers looked +upon themselves as a victorious people making terms with those they +have conquered. The Ratification leads off thus: "The Volksraad is not +satisfied with this Convention, and considers that the members of the +Triumvirate performed a fervent act of love for the Fatherland when +they upon their own responsibility signed such an unsatisfactory state +document." This is damning with faint praise indeed. It then goes on to +recite the various points of objection, stating that the answers from +the English Government proved that they were well founded. "The English +Government," it says, "acknowledges indirectly by this answer (the +telegram of 21st October, quoted above) that the difficulties raised by +the Volksraad are neither fictitious nor unfounded, inasmuch _as it +desires from us the concession_ that we, the Volksraad, shall submit +it to a practical test." It will be observed that England is here +represented as begging the favour of a trial of her conditions from the +Volksraad of the Transvaal Boers. The Ratification is in these words: +"Therefore is it that the Raad here unanimously resolves not to go into +further discussion of the Convention, _and maintaining all objections +to the Convention_ as made before the Royal Commission or stated in +the Raad, and for the purpose of showing to everybody that the love +of peace and unity inspires it, _for the time and provisionally_ +submitting the articles of the Convention to a practical test, _hereby +complying with the request of the English Government_ contained in +the telegram of the 13th October 1881, proceeds to ratify the +Convention." + +It would have been interesting to have seen how such a Ratification as +this, which is no Ratification but an insult, would have been accepted +by Lord Beaconsfield. I think that within twenty-four hours of its +arrival in Downing Street, the Boer Volksraad would have received a +startling answer. But Lord Beaconsfield is dead, and by his successor +it was received with all due thankfulness and humility. His words, +however, on this subject still remain to us, and even his great rival +might have done well to listen to them. It was in the course of what +was, I believe, the last speech he made in the House of Lords, that +speaking about the Transvaal rising, he warned the Government that it +was a very dangerous thing to make peace with rebellious subjects in +arms against the authority of the Queen. The warning passed unheeded, +and the peace was made in the way I have described. + +As regards the Convention itself, it will be obvious to the reader that +the Boers have not any intention of acting up to its provisions, mild +as they are, if they can possibly avoid them, whilst, on the other +hand, there is no force at hand to punish their disregard or breach. It +is all very well to create a Resident with extensive powers; but how is +he to enforce his decisions? What is he to do if his awards are laughed +at and made a mockery of, as they are and will be? The position of Mr. +Hudson at Pretoria is even worse than that of Mr. Osborn in Zululand. +For instance, the Convention specifies in the first article that the +Transvaal is to be known as the Transvaal State. The Boer Government +have, however, thought fit to adopt the name of "South African +Republic" in all public documents. Mr. Hudson was accordingly directed +to remonstrate, which he did in a feeble way; his remonstrance was +politely acknowledged, but the country is still officially called the +South African Republic, the Convention and Mr. Hudson's remonstrance +notwithstanding. Mr. Hudson, however, appears to be better suited to +the position than would have been the case had an Englishman, pure and +simple, been appointed, since it is evident that things that would have +struck the latter as insults to the Queen he represented, and his +country generally, are not so understood by him. In fact, he admirably +represents his official superiors in his capacity of swallowing +rebuffs, and when smitten on one cheek delightedly offering the other. + +Thus we find him attending a Boer meeting of thanksgiving for the +success that had waited on their arms and the recognition of their +independence, where most people will consider he was out of place. To +this meeting, thus graced by his presence, an address was presented by +a branch of the Africander Bond, a powerful institution, having for its +object the total uprootal of English rule and English customs in South +Africa, to which he must have listened with pleasure. In it he, in +common with other members of the meeting, is informed that "you took up +the sword and struck the Briton with such force" that "the Britons +through fear revived that sense of justice to which they could not be +brought by petitions," and that the "day will soon come that we shall +enter with you on one arena for the entire independence of South +Africa," _i.e._, independence from English rule. + +On the following day the Government gave a dinner, to which all those +who had done good service during the late hostilities were invited, the +British Resident being apparently the only Englishman asked. Amongst +the other celebrities present I notice the name of Buskes. This man, +who is an educated Hollander, was the moving spirit of the +Potchefstroom atrocities; indeed, so dark is his reputation that the +Royal Commission refused to transact business with him, or to admit him +to their presence. Mr. Hudson was not so particular. And now comes the +most extraordinary part of the episode. At the dinner it was necessary +that the health of Her Majesty as Suzerain should be proposed, and with +studied insolence this was done last of all the leading political +toasts, and immediately after that of the Triumvirate. Notwithstanding +this fact, and that the toast was couched by Mr. Joubert, who stated +that "he would not attempt to explain what a Suzerain was," in what +appear to be semi-ironical terms, we find that Mr. Hudson "begged to +tender his thanks to the Honourable Mr. Joubert for the kind way in +which he proposed the toast." + +It may please Mr. Hudson to see the name of the Queen thus +metaphorically dragged in triumph at the chariot wheels of the +Triumvirate, but it is satisfactory to know that the spectacle is not +appreciated in England: since, on a question in the House of Lords, by +the Earl of Carnarvon, who characterised it as a deliberate insult, +Lord Kimberley replied that the British Resident had been instructed +that in future he was not to attend public demonstrations unless he had +previously informed himself that the name of Her Majesty would be +treated with proper respect. Let us hope that this official reprimand +will have its effect, and that Mr. Hudson will learn therefrom that +there is such a thing as _trop de zéle_--even in a good cause. + +The Convention is now a thing of the past, the appropriate rewards have +been lavishly distributed to its framers, and President Brand has at +last prevailed upon the Volksraad of the Orange Free State to allow him +to become a Knight Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George,--the +same prize looked forward to by our most distinguished public servants +at the close of the devotion of their life to the service of their +country. But its results are yet to come--though it would be difficult +to forecast the details of their development. One thing, however, is +clear: the signing of that document signalised an entirely new +departure in South African affairs, and brought us within a measurable +distance of the abandonment, for the present at any rate, of the +supremacy of English rule in South Africa. + +This is the larger issue of the matter, and it is already bearing +fruit. Emboldened by their success in the Transvaal, the Dutch party at +the Cape are demanding, and the demand is to be granted, that the Dutch +tongue be admitted _pari passu_ with English, as the official +language in the Law Courts and the House of Assembly. When a country +thus consents to use a foreign tongue equally with its own, it is a +sure sign that those who speak it are rising to power. But "the Party" +looks higher than this, and openly aims at throwing off English rule +altogether, and declaring South Africa a great Dutch republic. The +course of events is favourable to their aspiration. Responsible +Government is to be granted to Natal, which country, not being strong +enough to stand alone in the face of the many dangers that surround +her, will be driven into the arms of the Dutch party to save herself +from destruction. It will be useless for her to look for help from +England, and any feelings of repugnance she may feel to Boer rule will +soon be choked by necessity, and a mutual interest. It is, however, +possible that some unforeseen event, such as the advent to power of a +strong Conservative Ministry, may check the tide that now sets so +strongly in favour of Dutch supremacy. + +It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration +of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it +would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little further and +favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, retaining +only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the bounds of +sober possibility that they may one day have to face a fresh Transvaal +rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale, and might find it +difficult to retain even Table Bay. If, on the other hand, they do, I +believe that all the White States in South Africa would confederate of +their own free-will, under the pressure of the necessity for common +action, and the Dutch element being preponderant, at once set to work +to exterminate the natives on general principles, in much the same way, +and from much the same motives that a cook exterminates black beetles, +because she thinks them ugly, and to clear the kitchen. + +I need hardly say that such a policy is not one that commands my +sympathy, but Her Majesty's Government having put their hand to the +plough, it is worth their while to consider it. It would at any rate be +in perfect accordance with their declared sentiments, and command an +enthusiastic support from their followers. + +As regards the smaller and more immediate issue of the retrocession, +namely, its effect on the Transvaal itself, it cannot be other than +evil. The act is, I believe, quite without precedent in our history, +and it is difficult to see, looking at it from those high grounds of +national morality assumed by the Government, what greater arguments can +be advanced in its favour, than could be found to support the +abandonment of,--let us say,--Ireland. Indeed a certain parallel +undoubtedly exists between the circumstances of the two countries. +Ireland was, like the Transvaal, annexed, though a long time ago, and +has continually agitated for its freedom. The Irish hate us, so did the +Boers. In Ireland, Englishmen are being shot, and England is running +the awful risk of blood-guiltiness, as it did in the Transvaal. In +Ireland, smouldering revolution is being fanned into flame by Mr. +Gladstone's speeches and acts, as it was in the Transvaal. In Ireland, +as in the Transvaal, there exists a strong loyal class that receives +insults instead of support from the Government, and whose property, as +was the case there, is taken from them without compensation, to be +flung as a sop to stop the mouths of the Queen's enemies. And so I +might go on, finding many such similarities of circumstances, but my +parallel, like most parallels, must break down at last Thus--it +mattered little to England whether or no she let the Transvaal go, but +to let Ireland go would be more than even Mr. Gladstone dare attempt. + +Somehow, if you follow these things far enough, you always come to +vulgar first principles. The difference between the case of the +Transvaal and that of Ireland is a difference not of justice of cause, +for both causes are equally unjust or just according as they are +viewed, but of mere common expediency. Judging from the elevated +standpoint of the national morality theory, however, which, as we know, +soars above such truisms as the foolish statement that force is a +remedy, or that if you wish to retain your prestige you must not allow +defeats to pass unavenged, I cannot see why, if it was righteous to +abandon the Transvaal, it would not be equally righteous to abandon +Ireland! + +As for the Transvaal, that country is not to be congratulated on its +success, for it has destroyed all its hopes of permanent peace, has +ruined its trade and credit, and has driven away the most useful and +productive class in the community. The Boers, elated by their success +in arms, will be little likely to settle down to peaceable occupations, +and still less likely to pay their taxes, which, indeed, I hear they +are already refusing to do. They have learnt how easily even a powerful +Government can be upset, and the lesson is not likely to be forgotten, +for want of repetition to their own weak one. + +Already the Transvaal Government hardly knows which way to turn for +funds, and as, perhaps fortunately for itself, quite unable to borrow, +through want of credit. + +As regards the native question, I agree with Mr. H. Shepstone, who, in +his Report on this subject, says that he does not believe that the +natives will inaugurate any action against the Boers, so long as the +latter do not try to collect taxes, or otherwise interfere with them. +But if the Boer Government is to continue to exist, it will be bound to +raise taxes from the natives, since it cannot collect much from its +white subjects. The first general attempt of the sort will be the +signal for active resistance on the part of the natives, whom, if they +act without concert, the Boers will be able to crush in detail, though +with considerable loss. If, on the other hand, they should have +happened, during the last few years, to have learnt the advantages of +combination, as is quite possible, perhaps they will crash the Boers. + +The only thing that is at present certain about the matter is that +there will be bloodshed, and that before long. For instance, the +Montsioa difficulty in the Keate Award has in it the possibilities of a +serious war, and there are plenty such difficulties ready to spring +into life within and without the Transvaal. + +In all human probability it will take but a small lapse of time for the +Transvaal to find itself in the identical position from which we +relieved it by the Annexation. + +What course events will then take it is impossible to say. It may be +found desirable to re-annex the country, though, in my opinion, that +would be, after all that has passed, an unfortunate step; its +inhabitants may be cut up piecemeal by a combined movement of native +tribes, as they would have been, had they not been rescued by the +English Government in 1877, or it is possible that the Orange Free +State may consent to take the Transvaal under its wing: who can say? +There is only one thing that our recently abandoned possession can +count on for certain, and that is trouble, both from its white +subjects, and the natives, who hate the Boers with a bitter and a +well-earned hatred. + +The whole question can, so far as its moral aspect is concerned, be +summed up in a few words. + +Whether or no the Annexation was a necessity at the moment of its +execution--which I certainly maintain it was--it received the +unreserved sanction of the Home authorities, and the relations of +Sovereign and subject, with all the many and mutual obligations +involved in that connection, were established between the Queen of +England and every individual of the motley population of the Transvaal. +Nor was this change an empty form, for, to the largest proportion of +that population, this transfer of allegiance brought with it a +priceless and a vital boon. To them it meant freedom and justice--for +where, on any portion of this globe over which the British ensign +floats, does the law even wink at cruelty or wrong? + +A few years passed away, and a small number of the Queen's subjects in +the Transvaal rose in rebellion against her authority, and inflicted +some reverses on her arms. Thereupon, in spite of the reiterated +pledges given to the contrary--partly under stress of defeat, and +partly in obedience to the pressure of "advanced views"--the country +was abandoned, and the vast majority who had remained faithful to the +Crown, was handed to the cruel despotism of the minority who had +rebelled against it. + +Such an act of treachery to those to whom we were bound with double +chains--by the strong ties of a common citizenship, and by those claims +to England's protection from violence and wrong which have hitherto +been wont to command it, even where there was no duty to fulfil, and no +authority to vindicate--stands, I believe, without parallel on our +records, and marks a new departure in our history. + +I cannot end these pages without expressing my admiration of the +extremely able way in which the Boers managed their revolt, when once +they felt that, having undertaken the thing, it was a question of life +and death with them. It shows that they have good stuff in them +somewhere, which, under the firm but just rule of Her Majesty, might +have been much developed, and it makes it the more sad that they should +have been led to throw off that rule, and have been allowed to do so by +an English Government. + +In conclusion, there is one point that I must touch on, and that is the +effect of the retrocession on the native mind, which I can only +describe as most disastrous. The danger alluded to in the Report of the +Royal Commission has been most amply realised, and the prevailing +belief in the steadfastness of our policy, and the inviolability of our +plighted word, which has hitherto been the great secret of our hold on +the Kafirs, has been rudely shaken. The motives that influenced, or are +said to have influenced, the Government in their act, are naturally +quite unintelligible to savages, however clever, who do believe that +force is a remedy, and who have seen the inhabitants of a country ruled +by England defeat English soldiers and take possession of it, whilst +those who remained loyal to England were driven out of it. It will not +be wonderful if some of them, say the natives of Natal, deduce +therefrom conclusions unfavourable to loyalty, and evince a desire to +try the same experiment. + +It is, however, unprofitable to speculate on the future, which must be +left to unfold itself. + +The curtain is, so far as this country is concerned, down for the +moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there is but +too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion, +which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the +future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The following pages, extracted from an introduction to a new edition to +"Cetywayo and His White Neighbours," written in 1888, are reprinted +here, because they contain matter of interest concerning the more +recent history of the Transvaal Boers. + + + _Extract from Introduction to New Edition of 1888._ + +The recent history of the Transvaal, now once more a republic, will +fortunately admit of brief treatment. It is, so far as England is +concerned, very much a history of concession. For an account of the +first Convention I must refer my readers to the remarks which I have +made in the chapter of this book headed "The Retrocession of the +Transvaal." It will there be seen that the Transvaal Volksraad only +ratified the first convention, which was wrung from us (Sir Evelyn +Wood, to his honour be it said, dissenting) after our defeats at Lang's +Nek, Ingogo, and Majuba, as a favour to the British Government, which +in its turn virtually promised to reconsider the convention, if only +the Volksraad would be so good as to ratify it. This convention was +ratified in October 1881. In June 1883 the Transvaal Government[14] +telegraphs briefly to Lord Derby through the High Commissioner that the +Volksraad has "resolved that time has come to reconsider convention." +Lord Derby quickly telegraphs back that "Her Majesty's Government +consent to inquire into the working of convention." Human nature is +frail, and it is impossible to help wishing that Lord Palmerston or +Disraeli had been appointed by the Fates to answer that telegram. But +we have fallen upon different days, and new men have arisen who appear +to be suited to them; and so the convention was reconsidered, and on +the 27th of February 1884 a new one was signed, which is known as the +convention of London. It begins by defining boundaries to which the +"Government of the South African Republic will strictly adhere, ... and +will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any +encroachments upon the said boundaries." The existence of the New +Republic in Zululand is a striking and practical comment on this +article. Article ii. also provides for the security of the amended +southwest boundary. The proclamation of 16th September 1884 (afterwards +disallowed by the English Government), by which the South African +Republic practically annexed the territories of Montsioa and Moshette, +already for the most part in the possession of its freebooters, very +clearly illustrates its anxiety to be bound by this provision. Art xii. +provides for the independence of the Swazis; and by way of illustrating +the fidelity with which it has been observed, we shall presently have +occasion to remark upon the determined attempts that have continually +been made by Boer freebooters to obtain possession of Swaziland--and so +on. + + [14] [C. 3659], 1883. + +In order to make these severe restrictions palatable to the burghers of +a free and haughty Republic, Lord Derby recommends Her Majesty's +Government to remit a trifling sum of £127,000 of their debt due to the +Imperial Treasury, which was accordingly done. On the whole, the +Transvaal had no reason to be dissatisfied with this new treaty, though +really the whole affair is scarcely worth discussing. Convention No. 2 +is almost as much a farce and a dead letter as was Convention No. 1. It +is, however, impossible to avoid being impressed with the really +remarkable tone, not merely of equality, but of superiority, adopted by +the South African Republic and its officials towards this country. To +take an instance. The Republic had found it convenient to wage a war of +extermination upon some Kafir chiefs. Two of these, Mampoer and Njabel, +fell into its hands. Her Majesty's Government was, rightly or wrongly, +so impressed with the injustice of the sentence of death passed upon +these unfortunates, that, acting through Mr. Hudson, the British +Resident at Pretoria, it strained every nerve to save them. This was +the upshot of it. In a tone of studied sarcasm, His Honour the State +President "observes with great satisfaction the great interest in these +cases which has been manifested by your Honour and Her Majesty's +Government." He then goes on to say that, notwithstanding this +interest, Mampoer will be duly and effectually hung, giving the exact +time and place of the event, and Njabel imprisoned for life, with hard +labour. Finally, he once more conveys "the hearty thanks of the +Government and the members of the Executive Council for the interest +manifested in these cases,"[15] and remains, &c. + + [15] [C. 3841], 1884, p 148. + +The independence of Swaziland was guaranteed by the convention of 1884. +Yet the Blue-books are full of accounts of various attempts made by +Boers to obtain a footing in Swaziland. Thus in November 1885 +Umbandine, the king of Swaziland, sends messengers to the Governor of +Natal through Sir T. Shepstone, in which he states that in the winter +Piet Joubert, accompanied by two other Boers and an interpreter, came +to his kraal and asked him to sign a paper "to say that he and all the +Swazis agreed to go over and recognise the authority of the Boer +Government, and have nothing more to do with the English."[16] Umbandine +refused, saying that he looked to and recognised the English +Government. Thereon the Boers, growing angry, answered, "Those fathers +of yours, the English, act very slowly; and if you look to them for +help, and refuse to sign this paper, we shall have scattered you and +your people, and taken possession of the land before they arrive. Why +do you refuse to sign the paper? You know we defeated the English at +Majuba." Umbandine's message then goes on to say that he recognises the +English Government only, and does not wish to have dealings with the +Boers. Also, in the following month, we find him making a direct +application to the Colonial Office through Mr. David Forbes,[17] praying +that his country may be taken under the protection of Her Majesty's +Government. + + [16] [C. 4645], 1886, p. 64. + + [17] Ibid. p. 70. + +More than one such attempt to secure informal rights of occupation in +Swaziland appears to have been made by the Transvaal Boers. Mr. T. +Shepstone, C.M.G., is at present acting as Resident to Umbandine, +though he has not, it would seem, any regular commission from the Home +Government authorising him to do so, probably because it does not +consider that its rights in Swaziland are such as to justify such an +assumption of formal authority over the Swazis. However this may be, +Umbandine could not have found a better man to protect his interests. +Of course, when acts like that of Piet Joubert are reported to the +Government of the South African Republic and made the subject of a +remonstrance by this country, all knowledge of them is repudiated, as +it was repudiated in the case of the invasion of Zululand. + +It is part of the policy of the Transvaal only to become an accessory +after the fact. Its subjects go forth and stir up trouble among the +natives, and then probably the Boer Government intervenes "in the +interests of humanity," and takes, or tries to take, the country. This +process is always going on, and, unless the British Government puts a +stop to it, always will go on. We shall probably soon hear that it is +developing itself in the direction of Matabeleland. A country the size +of France, which could without difficulty accommodate a population of +from eight to ten millions of industrious folk, is not large enough for +the wants of a Boer people, numbering something under fifty thousand +souls. Every young Boer must have his six or more thousand acres of +land on which to lord it. It is his birthright, and if it is not +forthcoming he goes and takes it by force from the nearest native +tribe. Hence these continual complaints. Of course, there are two ways +of looking at the matter. There is a party that does not hesitate to +say that the true policy of this country is to let the Boers work their +will upon the natives, and then, as they in turn fly from civilisation +towards the far interior, to follow on their path and occupy the lands +that they have swept. This plan is supported by arguments about the +superiority of the white races and their obvious destiny of rule. It +is, I confess, one that I look upon as little short of wicked. I could +never discern a superiority so great in ourselves as to authorise us, +by right divine as it were, to destroy the coloured man and take his +lands. It is difficult to see why a Zulu, for instance, has not as much +right to live in his own way as a Boer or an Englishman. Of course, +there is another extreme. Nothing is more ridiculous than the length to +which the black brother theory is sometimes driven by enthusiasts. A +savage is one thing, and a civilised man is another; and though +civilised men may and do become savages, I personally doubt if the +converse is even possible. But whether the civilised man, with his gin, +his greed, and his dynamite, is really so very superior to the savage +is another question, and one which would bear argument, although this +is not the place to argue it. My point is, that his superiority is not +at any rate so absolutely overwhelming as to justify him in the +wholesale destruction of the savage and the occupation of his lands, or +even in allowing others to do the work for him if he can prevent it. +The principle might conceivably be pushed to inconvenient and indecent +lengths. Savagery is only a question of degree. When all true savages +have been wiped out, the most civilised and self-righteous among the +nations may begin to give the term to those whom they consider to be on +a lower scale than themselves, and apply the argument also. Thus there +are "cultured" people in another land who do not hesitate to say that +the humble writers of these islands are rank and rude barbarians not to +be endured. Supposing that, being the stronger, they also _applied +the argument_, it would be inconvenient for some of us, and perhaps +the world would not gain so very much after all. But this is a +digression, only excusable, if excusable at all, in one who has endured +a three weeks' course of unmitigated Blue-book. To return. + +The process of absorption attempted in Swaziland, and brought to a +successful issue in Zululand, also went forward merrily in +Bechuanaland, till recently, under the rule of Mankorane, chief of the +Batlapins, and Montsioa, chief of the Baralongs. These two chiefs have +always been devoted friends and adherents of the English Government, +and consequently are not regarded with favour by the Boers. Shortly +after the retrocession of the Transvaal, a rival to Mankorane rose up +in the person of a certain Massou, and a rival to Montsioa named +Moshette. Both Massou and Moshette were supported by Boer fillibusters, +and what happened to Usibepu in Zululand happened to these unfortunate +chiefs in Bechuanaland. They were defeated after a gallant struggle, +and two Republics called Stellaland and Goschen were carved out of +their territories and occupied by the fillibusters. Fortunately for +them, however, they had a friend in the person of the Rev. John +Mackenzie, to whose valuable work, "Austral Africa," I beg to refer the +reader for a fuller account of these events. Mr. Mackenzie, who had for +many years lived as a missionary among the Bechuanas, had also mastered +the fact that it is very difficult to do anything for South Africa in +this country unless you can make it a question of votes, or, in other +words, unless you can bring pressure to bear upon the Government. +Accordingly he commenced an agitation on behalf of Mankorane and +Montsioa, in which he was supported by various religious bodies, and +also by the late Mr. Forster and the Aborigines Protection Society. As +a result of this agitation he was appointed Deputy to the High +Commissioner for Bechuanaland, whither he proceeded early in 1884 to +establish a British protectorate. He was gladly welcomed by the +unfortunate chiefs, who were now almost at their last gasp, and who +both of them ceded their rights of government to the Queen. Hostilities +did not, however, cease, for on the 31st July 1884 the fillibusters +again attacked Montsioa, routed him, and cruelly murdered Mr. Bethell, +his English adviser. Meanwhile Mr. Mackenzie's success was viewed with +very mixed feelings at the Cape. To the English party it was most +acceptable, but the Dutch,[18] and more numerous party, looked on it +with alarm and disgust. They did not at all wish to see the Imperial +power established in Bechuanaland; so pressure was put upon Sir +Hercules Robinson, and through him on Mr. Mackenzie, to such an extent +indeed as to necessitate the resignation of the latter. Thereon the +High Commissioner despatched a Cape politician, Mr. Cecil Rhodes, and +his own private secretary, Captain Bower, R.N., to Bechuanaland. These +gentlemen at once set to work to undo most of what Mr. Mackenzie had +done, and, generally speaking, did not advance either British or native +interests in Bechuanaland. At this point, taking advantage of the +general confusion, the Government of the South African Republic issued +a proclamation placing both Montsioa and Moshette under its protection, +as usual "in the interests of humanity." + + [18] By the Dutch party I mean the anti-Imperial and + retrogressive party. It must be remembered that many of the + now educated and progressive Boers do not belong to this. + +But the agitation in England had, fortunately for what remained of the +Bechuana people, not been allowed to drop. Her Majesty's Government +disallowed the Boer proclamation, under Article iv. of the convention +of London, and despatched an armed force to Bechuanaland, commanded by +Sir Charles Warren. This good act, I believe I am right in saying, we +owe entirely to the firmness of Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain, +who insisted upon its being done. Meanwhile Messrs. Upington and +Sprigg, members of the Cape Government, hastened to Bechuanaland to +effect a settlement before the arrival of Sir Charles Warren's force. +This settlement, though it might have been agreeable to the +fillibusters and the anti-Imperialists generally, was disallowed by Her +Majesty's Government as unsatisfactory, and Sir Charles Warren was +ordered to occupy Bechuanaland. This he accordingly did, taking Mr. +Mackenzie with him, very much against the will of the anti-English +party, and, be it added, of Sir Hercules Robinson. Indeed, if we may +accept Mr. Mackenzie's version of these occurrences, which seems to be +a fair one, and adequately supported by documentary evidence, the +conduct of Sir Hercules Robinson towards Mr. Mackenzie would really +admit of explanation. As soon as the freebooters saw that the Imperial +Government was really in earnest, of course there was no more trouble. +They went away, and Sir Charles Warren took possession of Bechuanaland +without striking a single blow. He remained in the country for nearly a +year arranging for its permanent pacification and government, and as a +result of his occupation, on the 30th September 1885, all the territory +south of the Molopo River was declared to be British territory, and +made into a quasi crown colony, the entire extent of land, including +the districts ruled over by Khama, Sechele, and Gasitsive, being about +160,000 square miles in area. I believe that the new colony of British +Bechuanaland is proving a very considerable success. Every provision +has been made for native wants, and its settlement goes on apace. There +is no reason why, with its remarkable natural advantages, it should not +one day become a great country, with a prosperous white, and a loyal +and contented native population. When this comes about it is to be +hoped that it will remember that it owes its existence to the energy +and firmness of Mr. Mackenzie, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, and +Sir Charles Warren. + +It is probably by now dawning upon the mind of the British public that +when we gave up the Transvaal we not only did a cowardly thing and +sowed a plentiful crop of future troubles, we also abandoned one of the +richest, if not the richest, country in the world. The great +gold-fields which exist all over the surface of the land are being +opened up and pouring out their treasures so fast that it is said that +the Transvaal Government, hitherto remarkable for its impecuniosity, +does not know what to do with its superfluous cash. To what extent this +will continue it is impossible to say, but I for one shall not be +surprised if the output should prove to be absolutely unprecedented. +And with gold in vast quantities, with iron in mountains, and coal-beds +to be measured by the scores of square miles, with lead and copper and +cobalt, a fertile soil, water, and one of the most lovely climates in +the world, what more is required to make a country rich and great? Only +one thing, an Anglo-Saxon Government, and that we have taken away from +the Transvaal. Whether the English flag has vanished for ever from its +borders is, however, still an open question. The discovery of gold in +such quantities is destined to exercise a very remarkable influence +upon the future of the Transvaal. Where gold is to be found, there the +hardy, enterprising, English-speaking diggers flock together, and +before them and their energy the Boer retreats, as the native retreats +and vanishes before the rifle of the Boer. Already there are many +thousands of diggers in the Transvaal; if the discoveries of gold go +on and prove as remunerative as they promise to be, in a few more years +their number will be vastly increased. Supposing that another five +years sees sixty or seventy thousand English diggers at work in the +Transvaal, is it to be believed that these men will in that event allow +themselves to be ruled by eight or nine thousand hostile-hearted Boers? +Is it to be believed, too, that the Boers will stop to try and rule +them? From such knowledge as I have of their character I should say +certainly not. They will _trek_, anywhere out of the way of the +Englishman and his English ways, and those who do not _trek_ will +be absorbed.[19] Should this happen, it is, of course, possible, and +even probable, that for some time the diggers, fearing the vacillations +of Imperial policy, would prefer to remain independent with a +Republican form of Government. But the Englishman is a law-abiding and +patriotic creature, and as society settled itself in the new community, +it would almost certainly desire to be united to the Empire and +acknowledge the sovereignty of the Queen. So far as a judgment can be +formed, if only the gold holds out the Transvaal will as certainly fall +into the lap of the Empire as a green apple will one day drop from the +tree--that is, if it is not gathered. + + [19] The occupation of Rhodesia has now made it impossible + for the Boers to trek out of reach of the English and their + flag.--H. R. H. + +Now it is quite possible that the Germans, or some other power, may try +to gather the Transvaal apple. The Boers are not blind to the march of +events, and they dislike us and our rule. Perhaps they might think it +worth their while to seek German protection, and unless we are prepared +to say "no" very firmly indeed--and who knows, in the present condition +of Home politics, what we are prepared to do from one day to +another?--Germany would in such a case almost certainly think it worth +her while to give it. Very likely the protection, when granted, would +in some ways resemble that which the Boer himself, his breast aglow +with love of peace and the "interests of humanity," is so anxious to +extend to the misguided native possessor of desirable and well-watered +lands. Very likely, in the end, the Boer would be sorry that he did not +accept the ills he knew of. But that is neither here nor there. So far +as we are concerned, the mischief would be done. In short, should the +position arise, everything will depend upon our capacity of saying +"no," and the tone in which we say it. It will not do to rely upon our +London convention, by which the Transvaal is forbidden to conclude +treaties with outside powers without the consent of this Government. +The convention has been broken before now, and will be broken again, if +the Boers find it convenient to break it, and know that they can do so +with impunity. Meanwhile we must rest on our oars and watch events. One +thing, however, might and should be done. Some person having weight and +real authority--if he were quite new to South Africa so much the +better--should be appointed as our Consul to watch over the welfare of +Englishmen and our Imperial interests at Pretoria, and properly paid +for doing so. It is difficult to find a suitable man unless he is +adequately salaried and supported. + +But quite recently this country has awakened to the knowledge that +Delagoa Bay is important to its South African interests, though how +important it perhaps does not altogether realise. For years and years +the colony of Natal has been employed in the intermittent construction +of a railway with a very narrow gauge, which is now open as far as +Ladysmith, or to within a hundred miles of the Transvaal border. Natal +is very poor, and in common with the rest of South Africa, and indeed +of the world, has lately been passing through a period of great +commercial depression. The Home Government has refused to help it to +construct its railways (if it had done so, how many hundreds of +thousand pounds would have been saved to the British taxpayer during +the Zulu and Boer wars!), and has equally refused to allow it to borrow +sufficient money to get them constructed, with the result that a large +amount of the interior trade has already been deflected into other +channels. And now a fresh and very real danger, not only to Natal, but +to all Imperial interests in South Africa, has sprung into sudden +prominence, that is, in this country, for in Africa it has been +foreseen for many years. Above Zululand is situated Amatongaland, which +reaches to the southern shore of one of the finest harbours in the +world, Delagoa Bay. This great bight, in which half a dozen navies +could ride at anchor, the only really good haven on the coasts of South +Africa, is fifty-five miles in width and twenty in depth, that is, from +east to west It is separated from the Transvaal, of which it is the +natural port, by about ninety miles of wild and sparsely inhabited +country. + +The ownership of this splendid port was for many years in dispute +between this country and the Portuguese, with whose dominions of +Mozambique it is connected by a strip of coast, and who have a small +fort upon it. This dispute was finally referred by Lord Granville in +1872 to the decision of Marshal MacMahon, and on this occasion, as on +every other in which this country has been weak enough to go to +arbitration, that decision was given against us. Into the merits of the +case it is not necessary to enter, further than to say, as has already +been recently pointed out by a very able and well-informed correspondent +of the _Morning Post_, that it is by no means clear by what right the +matter was referred to arbitration at all. The Amatongas are in +possession of the southern shore of the bay, including, I believe, the +Inyack Peninsula and Inyack Island, and they are an independent people. +The Swazis also abut on it, and they are independent. What warrant had +we to refer their rights to the arbitration of Marshal MacMahon? The +evidence of the exercise of any Portuguese sovereignty over these +countries is so shadowy that it may be said never to have existed; +certainly it does not exist now. This is a point, but it is nothing +more. We must take things as we find them, and we find that the +Portuguese have been formally declared and admitted by us to be the +owners of Delagoa Bay. + +Now, so long as we held the Transvaal it did not so much matter who had +the sovereignty of the Bay, since a railway constructed from there +could only run to British territory. But we gave up the Transvaal, +which is now virtually a hostile state, and the contingency which has +been so long foreseen in South Africa, and so blindly overlooked at +home, has come to pass--the railway is in course of rapid completion. +What does this mean to us? At the best, it means that we lose the +greater part of the trade of South-eastern Africa; at the worst, that +we lose it all. In other words, it means, putting aside the question of +our Imperial needs and status in Africa, a great many millions a year +in hard cash out of the national pocket. Let us suppose that the worst +happens, and that the Germans get a footing either in the Transvaal or +Delagoa Bay. Obviously they will stop our trade in favour of their own. +Or let us suppose that the Transvaal takes advantage of one of our +spasms of Imperial paralysis, such as afflicted us during the +_régime_ of Lord Derby, and defies the provision in the convention +which forbids them to put a heavier tax upon our goods than upon those +of any other nation. In either event our case would be a bad one, for +our road from the eastern coast to the vast interior is blocked. But it +is of little use crying over spilt milk, or anticipating evils which it +is our duty to try to avert, and which in all probability still could +be averted by a sound and consistent policy. + +To begin with, both Swaziland and Amatongaland can be annexed to the +Empire. It is true that the independence of the first of these +countries is guaranteed by Article xii. of the convention of London of +1884. Here is the exact wording:--"The independence of the Swazis +within the boundary-line of Swaziland, as indicated in the first +article of this convention, will be fully recognised." But England has +for years exercised a kind of protective right over Swaziland--a right, +as I have already shown, fully acknowledged and frequently appealed to +by the Swazis themselves. And for the rest, what is the obvious meaning +of this provision? It means that the independence of Swaziland is +guaranteed against Boer encroachments; its object was to protect the +Swazis from extermination at the hands of the Boers. Further, the Boers +have again and again broken this article of the convention in their +repeated attempts to get a foothold in Swaziland. It has now become +necessary to our interests that the Swazis should come under our rule, +as indeed they are most anxious to do, and a way should be found by +which this end can be accomplished. + +Then as to Amatongaland, or Maputaland, as it is sometimes called, only +a month or two ago an embassy from the Queen of that country waited on +the Colonial Office, praying for British protection. It is not known +what answer they received; let us trust that it was a favourable +one.[20] The protection that should be accorded to the Amatongas, both +in their interests and our own, is annexation to the British Empire +upon such terms as might be satisfactory to them. The management of +their country might be left to them, subject to the advice of a +Resident, and the enforcement of the ordinary laws respecting life and +property common to civilised states. Drink and white men might be +strictly excluded from it, unless the Amatongas should wish to welcome +the latter. But the country, with its valuable but undefined rights +over Delagoa Bay, should belong to England, for whoever owns Swaziland +and Amatongaland will in course of time be almost certain to own the +Bay also. It must further be remembered that circumstances have already +given us certain rights over the Amatongas. They regarded Cetywayo as +their suzerain, and it was, I believe, at his instance that Zambila was +appointed regent during the minority of her son. As we have annexed +what remains of Zululand, Cetywayo's suzerainty has consequently passed +to us. + + [20] I understand that the treaty which we have concluded + with Amatongaland (where, by the way, it is said a new + harbour has been discovered) binds the authorities of that + country not to cede territory to any other Power. But there + is nothing in such a treaty to prevent, say Portugal or the + Boers, from taking possession of the land by force of arms. + Were the country annexed to the Crown, or a British + Protectorate established, they would not dare to do this. + + _Note._--This has since been done.--H. R. H. + +Meanwhile, can nothing be done by direct treaty with the Portuguese? A +little while ago the Bay could no doubt have been acquired for a very +moderate consideration, but those golden opportunities have been +allowed to slip from hands busy weaving the web of party politics. Now +it is a different affair. Delagoa Bay is of no direct value to Portugal +except for the honour and glory of the thing. Portugal has never done +anything with it, any more than she has with her other African +possessions, and never will do anything with it. But it has become very +valuable, indeed, so far as its South African interests are concerned, +almost vital, to this country, and of that fact Portugal is perfectly +well aware. Consequently, if we want the Bay we must pay for it, if not +in cash, at the offer of which the Portuguese national pride might be +revolted, then in some other equivalent. Surely a power like England +could find a way of obliging one like Portugal in return for this small +concession. Or an exchange of territory might be effected. Perhaps +Portugal might be inclined to accept of some of our possessions on the +West Coast or an island or two in the West Indies. It is hard to +suppose that there is no way out of the trouble; but if indeed there is +none, why, then, one must be found, or we must be content to lose a +great part of our African trade. + +The reader who has followed me through this brief and imperfect summary +of recent events in South Africa will see how varied are its interests, +how enormous its areas, and how vast its wealth. In that great country +England is still the paramount power. Her prestige has, indeed, been +greatly shaken, and she is sadly fallen from her estate of eight or +nine years gone. But she is still paramount; and if she has to face the +animosity of a section of the Boers, she can, notwithstanding her many +crimes against them, set against it the love and respect of every +native in the land, with the exception, perhaps, of a few self-seekers +and intriguers. The history of the next twenty years, and perhaps of +the next ten, will decide whether this country is to remain paramount +or whether South Africa is to become a great Dutch, English-hating +Republic. There are some who call themselves Englishmen, and who +possessed by that strange itch which prompts them to desire any evil +that can humble their country in the face of her enemies, or can bring +about the advantage of the rebel to the injury of the loyal subject, to +whom this last event would be most welcome, and who have not hesitated +to say that it would be welcome. To such there is nothing to be said. +Let them follow their false lights and earn the wonder of true-hearted +men and the maledictions of posterity. + +But, addressing those of other and older doctrines, I would ask what +such an event would mean? It would mean nothing less than a great +national calamity; it would mean the utter ruin of the native tribes; +and, to come to a reason which has a wider popularity, for as I think +Mr. S. Little says in his work on South Africa, "the argument to the +pocket is the best argument to the man," it would mean the loss of a +vast trade, which, if properly protected, will be growing while we are +sleeping. And this calamity can yet be averted; the mistakes and +cowardice of the past can still be remedied, at any rate to a great +extent; the door is yet open. We have many difficulties to face, among +the chief of which are the Transvaal, the question of Delagoa Bay, and +last, but not least, the question of the Dutch party at the Cape, which +may be numerically the strongest party. When, in our mania for +representative institutions, we thrust responsible government upon the +Cape, we placed ourselves practically at the mercy of any chance +anti-English majority. It is possible that in the future we may find +some such majority urging upon an English Ministry the desirability of +the separation of the Cape Colony from the Empire, and may find also +that the prayer meets with favourable attention from those to whom +there is but one thing sacred, the rights of a majority, and especially +of an agitating majority. + +But let not the country be deceived by any such representations. The +natives too have a right to a voice in the disposal of their fortunes +and their lands. They are the majority in the proportion of three to +one, and let any doubter go and ask of them, anywhere from the Zambesi +to Cape Agulhas, whether they would rather be ruled by the Queen or by +a Boer Republic, and hear the answer. When it was a question of +surrendering the Transvaal we heard a great deal of the rights of some +thirty thousand Boers, and very little, or rather nothing, of the +rights of the million natives who lived in the country with them, and +to whom that country originally belonged. And yet, if the reader will +turn to that part of this book which deals with the question, he will +find that they had an opinion, and a strong one. No settlement of South +African questions that does not receive adequate consideration from a +native point of view can be a just settlement, or one which the Home +Government should sanction. Moreover, the Cape is not by any means +entirely anti-English at heart, as was shown clearly enough by the +number and enthusiasm of the loyalist meetings when its Ministry was +attempting to undo Mr. Mackenzie's work in Bechuanaland in the +interests of the Patriot-party. + +Still, it is possible that movements may arise under the fostering care +of the Africander Bond and its sympathisers, having for object the +separation of the colony from the Empire, or other ends fatal to +Imperial interests; and in this case the Home Government should be +prepared to disallow and put a final stop to them. We cannot afford to +lose our alternative route to India and to throw these great +territories into the hands of enemies, from which they would very +probably pass into those of commercial rivals. In such an event all +that would be required is a show of firmness. If once it was known that +an English Ministry really meant what it said, and that its promises +made in the Queen's name were not liable to be given the lie by a +succeeding set of politicians elected on another platform, there would +be an end to disloyalty and agitation in South Africa. As it is, +loyalists, remembering the experiences of the last few years, are +faint-hearted, never knowing if they will meet with support at home, +while agitators and enemies wax exceeding bold. + +Our system of party government, whatever may be its merits, if any, as +applied to Home politics, is a great enemy to the welfare and progress +of our Colonies, the affairs of which are, especially of late years, +frequently used as stalking-horses to cover an attack upon the other +side. Could not the two great parties agree to rule Colonial affairs, +and especially South African affairs, out of the party game? Could not +the policy of the Colonial Office be guided by a Commission composed of +members of different political opinions, and responsible not to party, +but to Parliament and the country, instead of by a succession of +Ministers as variable and as transitory as shadows? Lord Rosebery and +Mr. Chamberlain, for instance, are Radicals; but, putting aside party +tactics and exigencies, are their views upon Colonial matters so widely +different from those of, let us say, Sir Michael Hicks Beach and Lord +Carnarvon that it would be impossible for these four gentlemen to act +together on such a Commission? Surely they are not; and perhaps a day +may come when the common-sense of the country will lead it to adopt +some such system which would give to the Colonies a fixed and +intelligent control aiming at the furtherance of the joint interests of +the Empire and its dependencies. If it ever does, that day will be a +happy one for all concerned. + +Meanwhile, there is, so far as South Africa is concerned, a step that +might be taken to the great benefit of that country, and also of our +Imperial aims, and that is the appointment of a High Commissioner who +would have charge of all Imperial as distinguished from the various +Colonial interests. This appointment has already been advocated with +ability by Mr. Mackenzie in the last chapter of his book, "Austral +Africa," and it is undoubtedly one that should receive the +consideration of the Government. Such an officer would not supersede +the Governors of the various colonies or the administrators of the +native territories, although, so far as Imperial interests were +concerned, they would be primarily responsible to him. At present there +is no central authority except the Colonial Office, and Downing Street +is a long way off and somewhat overworked. Each Governor must +necessarily look at South African affairs from his own standpoint and +through local glasses. What is wanted is a man of the first ability, +whose name would command respect abroad and support at home; and +several such men could be found, who would study South African politics +as a whole as an engineer studies a map, and who would set himself to +conciliate and reconcile all interests for the common welfare and the +welfare of the mother-country. Such a man, or rather a succession of +such men, might, if properly supported, succeed in bringing about a +very different state of affairs from that which has been briefly +reviewed and considered in these pages. They might, little by little, +build up a South African Confederation, strong in itself and loyal to +England, that shall in time become a great empire. For my part, +notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers which we have brought upon +ourselves, and upon the various South African territories and their +inhabitants, I believe that such an empire is destined to arise, and +that it will not take the form of a Dutch Republic. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +I. + +THE POTCHEFSTROOM ATROCITIES, &c. + + +There were more murders and acts of cruelty committed during the war at +Potchefstroom, where the behaviour of the Boers was throughout both +deceitful and savage, than at any other place. + +When the fighting commenced a number of ladies and children, the wives +and children of English residents, took refuge in the fort. Shortly +after it had been invested they applied to be allowed to return to +their homes in the town till the war was over. The request was refused +by the Boer commander, who said that as they had gone there, they might +stop and "perish" there. One poor lady, the wife of a gentleman well +known in the Transvaal, was badly wounded by having the point of a +stake, which had been cut in two by a bullet, driven into her side. She +was at the time in a state of pregnancy, and died some days afterwards +in great agony. Her little sister was shot through the throat, and +several other women and children suffered from bullet wounds, and fever +arising from their being obliged to live for months exposed to rain and +heat, with insufficient food. + +The moving spirit of all the Potchefstroom atrocities was a cruel +wretch of the name of Buskes, a well-educated man, who, as an advocate +of the High Court, had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. + +One deponent swears that he saw this Buskes wearing Captain Fall's +diamond ring, which he had taken from Sergeant Ritchie, to whom it was +handed to be sent to England, and also that he had possessed himself of +the carriages and other goods belonging to prisoners taken by the +Boers.[21] Another deponent (whose name is omitted in the Blue Book for +precautionary reasons) swears, "That on the next night the patrol again +came to my house accompanied by one Buskes, who was secretary of the +Boer Committee, and again asked where my wife and daughter were. I +replied, in bed; and Buskes then said, 'I must see for myself.' I +refused to allow him, and he forced me, with a loaded gun held to my +breast, to open the curtains of the bed, when he pulled the bedclothes +half off my wife, and altogether off my daughter. I then told him if I +had a gun I would shoot him. He placed a loaded gun at my breast, when +my wife sprang out of bed and got between us." + + [21] Buskes was afterwards forced to deliver up the ring. + +I remember hearing at the time that this Buskes (who is a good +musician) took one of his victims, who was on the way to execution, +into the chapel and played the "Dead March in Saul," or some such +piece, over him on the organ. + +After the capture of the Court House a good many Englishmen fell into +the hands of the Boers. Most of these were sentenced to hard labour and +deprivation of "civil rights." The sentence was enforced by making them +work in the trenches under a heavy fire from the fort. One poor fellow, +F. W. Finlay by name, got his head blown off by a shell from his own +friends in the fort, and several loyal Kafirs suffered the same fate. +After these events the remaining prisoners refused to return to the +trenches till they had been "tamed" by being thrashed with the butt end +of guns, and by threats of receiving twenty-five lashes each. + +But their fate, bad as it was, was not so awful as that suffered by Dr. +Woite and J. Van der Linden. + +Dr. Woite had attended the Boer meeting which was held before the +outbreak, and written a letter from thence to Major Clarke, in which he +had described the talk of the Boers as silly bluster. He was not a paid +spy. This letter was, unfortunately for him, found in Major Clarke's +pocket-book, and because of it he was put through a form of trial, +taken out and shot dead, all on the same day. He left a wife and large +family, who afterwards found their way to Natal in a destitute +condition. + +The case of Van der Linden is somewhat similar. He was one of Raaf's +Volunteers, and as such had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. +In the execution of his duty he made a report to his commanding officer +about the Boer meeting, and which afterwards fell into the hands of the +Boers. On this he was put through the form of trial, and, though in the +service of the Queen, was found guilty of treason and condemned to +death. One of his judges, a little less stony-hearted than the rest, +pointed out that "when the prisoner committed the crime martial law had +not yet been proclaimed, nor the State," but it availed him nothing. He +was taken out and shot. + +A Kafir named Carolus was also put through the form of trial and shot, +for no crime at all that I can discover. + +Ten unarmed Kafir drivers, who had been sent away from the fort, were +shot down in cold blood by a party of Boers. Several witnesses depose +to having seen their remains lying together close by Potchefstroom. + +Various other Kafirs were shot. None of the perpetrators of these +crimes were brought to justice. The Royal Commission comments on these +acts as follows:-- + +"In regard to the deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, and Carolus, the +Boer leaders do not deny the fact that those men had been executed, but +sought to justify it. The majority of your Commissioners felt bound to +record their opinion that the taking of the lives of these men was an +act contrary to the rules of civilised warfare. Sir H. de Villiers was +of opinion that the executions in these cases, having been ordered by +properly constituted court martial of the Boers' forces after due +trial, did not fall under the cognisance of your Commissioners. + +"Upon the case of William Finlay the majority of your Commissioners +felt bound to record the opinion that the sacrifice of Finlay's life, +through forced labour under fire in the trenches, was an act contrary +to the rules of civilised warfare. _Sir H. de Villiers did not feel +justified by the facts of the case in joining in this expression of +opinion_ (sic). As to the case of the Kafir Andries, your Commissioners +decided that, although the shooting of this man appeared to them, from +the information laid before them, to be not in accordance with the +rules of civilised warfare, under all the circumstances of the case, it +was not desirable to insist upon a prosecution." + +"The majority of your Commissioners, although feeling it a duty to +record emphatically their disapproval of the acts that resulted in the +deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, Finlay, and Carolus, yet found it +impossible to bring to justice the persons guilty of these acts." + +It will be observed that Sir H. de Villiers does not express any +disapproval, emphatic or otherwise, of these wicked murders. + +But Potchefstroom did not enjoy a monopoly of murder. + +In December 1880, Captain Elliot, who was a survivor from the Bronker +Spruit massacre, and Captain Lambart, who had been taken prisoner by +the Boers whilst bringing remounts from the Free State, were released +from Heidelberg on parole on condition that they left the country. An +escort of two men brought them to a drift of the Vaal river, where they +refused to cross, because they could not get their cart through, the +river being in flood. The escort then returned to Heidelberg and +reported that the officers would not cross. A civil note was then sent +back to Captain Elliot and Lambart, signed by P. J. Joubert, telling +them "to pass the Vaal river immediately by the road that will be shown +to you." What secret orders, if any, were sent with this letter has +never transpired; but I decline to believe that, either in this or in +Barber's case, the Boer escort took upon themselves the responsibility +of murdering their prisoners, without authority of some kind for the +deed. + +The men despatched from Heidelberg with the letter found Lambart and +Elliot wandering about and trying to find the way to Standerton, They +presented the letter, and took them towards a drift in the Vaal. +Shortly before they got there the prisoners noticed that their escort +had been reinforced. It would be interesting to know, if these extra +men were not sent to assist in the murder, how and why they turned up +as they did and joined themselves to the escort. The prisoners were +taken to an old and disused drift of the Vaal river and told to cross. +It was now dark, and the river was much swollen with rain; in fact, +impassable for the cart and horses. Captains Elliot and Lambart begged +to be allowed to outspan till the next morning, but were told that they +must cross, which they accordingly attempted to do. A few yards from +the bank the cart stuck on a rock, and whilst in this position the Boer +escort poured a volley into it. Poor Elliot was instantly killed, one +bullet fracturing his skull, another passing through the back, a third +shattering the right thigh, and a fourth breaking the left wrist. The +cart was also riddled, but strange to say, Captain Lambart was +untouched, and succeeded in swimming to the further bank, the Boers +firing at him whenever the flashes of lightning revealed his +whereabouts. After sticking some time in the mud of the bank he managed +to effect his escape, and next day reached the house of an Englishman +called Groom, living in the Free State, and from thence made his way to +Natal. + +Two of the murderers were put through a form of trial, after the +conclusion of peace, and acquitted. + +The case of the murder of Dr. Barber is of a somewhat similar character +to that of Elliot, except that there is in this case a curious piece of +indirect evidence that seems to connect the murder directly with Piet +Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. + +In the month of February 1881, two Englishmen came to the Boer laager +at Lang's Nek to offer their services as doctors. Their names were Dr. +Barber, who was well known to the Boers, and his assistant, Mr. Walter +Dyas, and they came, not from Natal, but the Orange Free State. On +arrival at the Boer camp they were at first well received, but after a +little while seized, searched, and tied up all night to a disselboom +(pole of a waggon). Next morning they were told to mount their horses, +and started from the camp escorted by two men who were to take them +over the Free State line. + +When they reached the Free State line the Boers told them to get off +their horses, which they were ordered to bring back to the camp. They +did so, bade good-day to their escort, and started to walk on towards +their destination. When they had gone about forty yards Dyas heard the +report of a rifle, and Barber called out, "My God, I am shot!" and fell +dead. + +Dyas went down on his hands and knees and saw one of the escort +deliberately aim at him. He then jumped up, and ran dodging from right +to left, trying to avoid the bullet. Presently the man fired, and he +felt himself struck through the thigh. He fell with his face to the +men, and saw his would-be assassin put a fresh cartridge into his rifle +and aim at him. Turning his face to the ground he awaited his death, +but the bullet whizzed past his head. He then saw the men take the +horses and go away, thinking they had finished him. After waiting a +while he managed to get up and struggled to a house not far off; where +he was kindly treated and remained till he recovered. + +Some time after this occurrence a Hottentot, named Allan Smith, made a +statement at Newcastle, from, which it appears that he had been taken +prisoner by the Boers and made to work for them. One night he saw +Barber and Dyas tied to the disselboom, and overheard the following, +which I will give in his own words:-- + +"I went to a fire where some Boers were sitting; among them was a +low-sized man, moderately stout, with a dark brown full beard, +apparently about thirty-five years of age I do not know his name. +_He was telling his comrades that he had brought an order from Piet +Joubert_ to Viljoen, to take the two prisoners to the Free State +line _and shoot them there_. He said, in the course of conversation, +'Piet Joubert het gevraacht waarom was de mensche neet dood geschiet +toen hulle bijde eerste laager gekom het' ('Piet Joubert asked why were +the men not shot when they came to the first laager.') They then saw me +at the fire, and one of them said, 'You must not talk before that +fellow; he understands what you say, and will tell everybody. + +"Next morning Viljoen told me to go away, and gave me a pass into the +Free State. He said (in Dutch), 'You must not drive for any Englishman +again. If we catch you doing so we will shoot you, and if you do not go +away quick, and we catch you hanging about when we bring the two men to +the line, we will shoot you too.'" + +Dyas, who escaped, made an affidavit with reference to this statement +in which he says, "I have read the foregoing affidavit of Allan Smith, +and I say that the person described in the third paragraph thereof as +bringing orders from Piet Joubert to Viljoen, corresponds with one of +the Boers who took Dr. Barber and myself to the Free State, and to the +best of my belief he is the man who shot Dr. Barber." + +The actual murderers were put on their trial in the Free State, and, of +course, acquitted. In his examination at the trial, Allan Smith says, +"It was a young man who said that Joubert had given orders that Barber +had to be shot.... It was not at night, but in the morning early, when +the young man spoke about Piet Joubert's order." + +Most people will gather, from what I have quoted, that there exists a +certain connection between the dastardly murder of Dr. Barber (and the +attempted murder of Mr. Dyas) and Piet Joubert, one of that "able" +Triumvirate of which Mr. Gladstone speaks so highly. + +I shall only allude to one more murder, though more are reported to +have occurred, amongst them that of Mr. Malcolm, who was kicked to +death by Boers,--and that is Mr. Green's. + +Mr. Green was an English gold-digger, and was travelling along the main +road to his home at Spitzcop. The road passed close by the military +camp at Lydenburg, into which he was called. On coming out he went to a +Boer patrol with a flag of truce, and whilst talking to them was shot +dead. The Rev. J. Thorne, the English clergyman at Lydenburg, describes +this murder in an affidavit in the following words:-- + +"That I was the clergyman who got together a party of Englishmen and +brought down the body of Mr. Green who was murdered by the Boers and +buried it. I have ascertained the circumstances of the murder, which +were as follows:--Mr. Green was on his way to the gold-fields. As he +was passing the fort, he was called in by the officers, and sent out +again with a message to the Boer commandant. Immediately on leaving the +camp, he went to the Boer guard opposite with a flag of truce in his +hand; while parleying with the Boers, who proposed to make a prisoner +of him, he was shot through the head." + +No prosecution was instituted in this case. Mr. Green left a wife and +children in a destitute condition. + + + + +II. + +PLEDGES GIVEN BY MR GLADSTONE'S GOVERNMENT AS TO THE RETENTION OF +THE TRANSVAAL AS A BRITISH COLONY. + + +The following extracts from the speeches, despatches, and telegrams of +members of the present Government, with reference to the proposed +retrocession of the Transvaal, are not without interest:-- + +During the month of May 1880, Lord Kimberley despatched a telegram to +Sir Bartle Frere, in which the following words occur: "_Under no +circumstances can the Queen's authority in the Transvaal be +relinquished._" + +In a despatch dated 20th May, and addressed to Sir Bartle Frere, Lord +Kimberley says, "That the sovereignty of the Queen in the Transvaal +could not be relinquished." + +In a speech in the House of Lords on the 24th May 1880, Lord Kimberley +said:-- + +"There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding; it was +impossible to say what calamities such a step as receding might not +cause. We had, at the cost of much blood and treasure, restored peace, +and the effect of our now reversing our policy would be to leave the +province in a state of anarchy, and possibly to cause an internecine +war. For such a risk, he could not make himself responsible. The number +of the natives in the Transvaal was estimated at about 800,000, and +that of the whites less than 50,000. Difficulties with the Zulus and +frontier tribes would again arise, and, looking as they must to South +Africa as a whole, the Government, after a careful consideration of the +question, came to the conclusion _that we could not relinquish the +Transvaal_. Nothing could be more unfortunate than uncertainty in +respect to such a matter." + +On the 8th June 1880, Mr. Gladstone, in reply to a Boer memorial, wrote +as follows:-- + +"It is undoubtedly a matter for much regret that it should, since the +Annexation, have appeared that so large a number of the population of +Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed to the annexation of that +territory, but it is impossible now, to consider that question as if it +were presented for the first time. We have to do with a state of things +which has existed for a considerable period, during which _obligations +have been contracted, especially, though not exclusively, towards the +native population, which cannot be set aside_. Looking to all the +circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South Africa, and +to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders, which might lead +to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal but to the whole +of South Africa, _our judgment it that the Queen cannot be advised to +relinquish the Transvaal_." + +Her Majesty's Speech, delivered in Parliament on the 6th January 1881, +contains the following words: "A rising in the Transvaal has recently +imposed upon me the duty of _vindicating my authority_." + +These extracts are rather curious reading in face of the policy adopted +by the Government, after our troops had been defeated. + + + + +III. + +A BOER ON BOER DESIGNS. + + +I reprint here a letter published in _The Times_ of 14th October +1899, together with a prefatory note added by the editor of that +journal. This epistle seems to me worthy of the study of thinking men. +Much of it, most of it indeed, is mere brutal vapouring, false in its +facts, false in its deductions; remarkable only for the livid hues of +hate with which it is coloured. Yet in this vile concoction, the work +evidently of a half-educated member of the Cape Dutch party, or perhaps +of an Afrikander Irishman of the stamp of the late notorious Fenian +Aylward, appear statements built upon a basis of truth which we should +do well to lay to heart. I allude principally to the question of our +food supply and to the possible behaviour of the electorate in the +event of a great war under pressure of want and high prices. (See +paragraph 3 of the letter of "P. S.") In a very different work, "A +Farmer's Year," pages 179 and 380, I have attempted to treat of this +great matter which elsewhere has been dealt with also by others more +able and perhaps better qualified. Until it is reasonably certain that +under any circumstances which we can conceive the price of food stuffs +will not be raised to a prohibitive point, it can never be said that +the future of Great Britain is assured beyond all probable doubt. When +will this problem receive the attention it deserves at the hands of our +Governments and of those over whom they rule? + + +We have received the following letter, appropriately headed "Boer +Ignorance." The writer bears a well-known Dutch name, and gives as his +late address the name of a well-known town in a Dutch district of Cape +Colony:-- + + _To the Editor of the "Times."_ + + SIR,--In your paper you have often commented on what you are + pleased to call the ignorance of my countrymen, the Boers. We are + not so ignorant as the British statesmen and newspaper writers, nor + are we such fools as you British are. We know our policy, and we do + not change it. We have no opposition party to fear nor to truckle + to. Your boasted Conservative majority has been the obedient tool + of the Radical minority, and the Radical minority has been the + blind tool of our farseeing and intelligent, President. We have + desired delay, and we have had it, and we are now practically + masters of Africa from the Zambezi to the Cape. All the Afrikanders + in Cape Colony have been working for years for this end, for they + and we know the facts. + + 1. The actual value of gold in the Transvaal is at least 200,000 + millions of pounds, and this fact is as well known to the Emperors + of Germany and Russia as it is to us. You estimate the value of the + gold at only 700 millions of pounds, or, at least, that is what you + pretend to estimate it at. But Germany, Russia, and France do not + desire you to get possession of this vast mass of gold, and so, + after encouraging you to believe that they will not interfere in + South Africa they will certainly do so, and very easily find a + _casus belli_, and they will assist us directly and indirectly + to drive you out of Africa. + + 2. We know that you dare not take any precautions in advance to + prevent the onslaught of the Great Powers, as the Opposition, the + great peace party, will raise the question of expense, and this + will win over your lazy, dirty, drunken working classes, who will + never again permit themselves to be taxed to support your Empire, + or even to preserve your existence as a nation. + + 3. We know from all the military authorities of the European and + American continents that you exist as an independent Power merely + on sufferance, and that at any moment the great Emperor William can + arrange with France or Russia to wipe you off the face of the + earth. They can at any time starve you into surrender. You must + yield in all things to the United States also, or your supply of + corn will be so reduced by the Americans that your working classes + would be compelled to pay high prices for their food, and rather + than do that they would have civil war, and invite any foreign + Power to assist them by invasion, for there is no patriotism in the + working classes of England, Wales, or Ireland. + + 4. We know that your country has been more prosperous than any + other country during the last fifty years (you have had no civil + war like the Americans and French to tone up your nerves and + strengthen your manliness), and consequently your able-bodied men + will not enlist in your so-called voluntary army. Therefore you + have to hire the dregs of your population to do your fighting, and + they are deficient in physique, in moral and mental ability, and in + all the qualities that make good fighting men. + + 5. Your military officers we know to be merely pedantic scholars or + frivolous society men, without any capacity for practical warfare + with white men. The Afridis were more than a match for you, and + your victory over the Sudanese was achieved because those poor + people had not a rifle amongst them. + + 6. We know that your men, being the dregs of your people, are + naturally feeble, and that they are also saturated with the most + horrible sexual diseases, as all your Government returns plainly + show, and that they cannot endure the hardships of war. + + 7. We know that the entire British race is rapidly decaying, your + birth-rate is rapidly falling, your children are born weak, + diseased, and deformed, and that the major part of your population + consists of females, cripples, epileptics, consumptives, cancerous + people, invalids, and lunatics of all kinds whom you carefully + nourish and preserve. + + 8. We know that nine-tenths of your statesmen and higher officials, + military and naval, are suffering from kidney diseases, which + weaken their courage and will-power and makes them shirk all + responsibility as far as possible. + + 9. We know that your Navy is big, but we know that it is not + powerful, and that it is honeycombed with disloyalty--as witness + the theft of the signal-books, the assaults on officers, the + desertions, and the wilful injury of the boilers and machinery, + which all the vigilance of the officers is powerless to prevent. + + 10. We know that the Conservative Government is a mere sham, and + that it largely reduced the strength of the British artillery in + 1888-89. And we know that it does nor dare now to call out the + Militia for training, nor to mobilise the Fleet, nor to give + sufficient grants to the Line and Volunteers for ammunition to + enable them to become good marksmen and efficient soldiers. We + know that British soldiers and sailors are immensely inferior as + marksmen, not only to Germans, French, and Americans, but also to + Japanese, Afridis, Chilians, Peruvians, Belgians, and Russians. + + 11. We know that no British Government dares to propose any form of + compulsory military or naval training, for the British people would + rather be invaded, conquered, and governed by Germans, Russians, or + Frenchmen than be compelled to serve their own Government. + + 12. We Boers know that we will not be governed by a set of British + curs, but that we will drive you out of Africa altogether, and the + other manly nations which have compulsory military service--the + armed manhood of Europe--will very quickly divide all your other + possessions between them. + + Talk no more of the ignorance of the Boers or Cape Dutch; a few + days more will prove your ignorance of the British position, and in + a short space of time you and your Queen will be imploring the good + offices of the great German Emperor to deliver you from your + disasters, for your humiliations are not yet complete. + + For thirty years the Cape Dutch have been waiting their chance, and + now their day has come; they will throw off their mask and your + yoke at the same instant, and 300,000 Dutch heroes will trample you + under foot. + + We can afford to tell you the truth now, and in this letter you + have got it.--Yours, &c., + + P. S. + + _October 12._ + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + Edinburgh & London + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Boer War, by H. Rider Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST BOER WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 44649-8.txt or 44649-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/6/4/44649/ + +Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/44649-8.zip b/old/44649-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..da44770 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44649-8.zip diff --git a/old/44649-h.zip b/old/44649-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c632a76 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44649-h.zip diff --git a/old/44649-h/44649-h.htm b/old/44649-h/44649-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..38c15ad --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44649-h/44649-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9323 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> +<title>The Last Boer War, by H. Rider Haggard—A Project Gutenberg +eBook</title> +<style type="text/css"> + + body {margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%;} + + p {text-indent: 0em; + text-align: justify; + margin-top: .80em; + margin-bottom: .80em; + line-height: 1.25em;} + + .hang {text-align: justify; + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em;} + + .blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 7%; + margin-right: 7%; + font-size: 98%; + margin-top: 1.5em; + margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + + .sig {margin-left: 63%; + text-align: left;} + + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .space {line-height: .25em;} + + sup, sub {font-size: 75%; + line-height: 50%;} + + .ctr {text-align: center;} + .ctrbold {text-align: center; + font-weight: bold;} + .ctrsmall {text-align: center; + font-size: 90%;} + .ctrsmaller {text-align: center; + font-size: 80%;} + .ctrsmallest {text-align: center; + font-size: 70%;} + .ctrlarge {text-align: center; + font-size: 120%;} + .ctrtoppad {text-align: center; + padding-top: 2em;} + + .small {font-size: 90%;} + .smaller {font-size: 80%;} + .smallest {font-size: 70%;} + + .fn {font-size: .7em; + text-decoration: none;} + + dl.footnotes {margin: 1em 2em;} + + dt.notelabel {text-align: right; + width: 3em; + font-size: 96%;} + + dd.notetext {text-align: justify; + margin: 0em 3em 1em 3em; + font-size: 94%;} + + #coverpage {border: .1em solid black;} + + @media print, handheld + {.figcenter {text-align: center; + margin: 2em auto auto auto;} + body {margin-left: 2%; + margin-right: 2%;} + .poetry {display: block; + margin-left: 1.5em;} + table {font-size: x-small;}} + + img {max-width: 100%; + height:auto;} + + .figcenter {clear: both; + margin: 2em auto; + text-align: center; + max-width: 100%;} + + .titlepage {font-weight: bold;} + .booktitle {font-weight: bold; + text-align: center; + font-size: 118%; + padding-top: 2em; + page-break-before: always;} + + h1 {text-align: center; + font-size: 140%; + font-weight: bold; + line-height: 2em; + padding-top: 1em; + page-break-before: always;} + + h2 {text-align: center; + font-size: 110%; + font-weight: bold; + padding-top: 3em; + padding-bottom: 1em; + page-break-before: always;} + + h3 {text-align: center; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + padding-top: 2em; + padding-bottom: .5em;} + + hr {width: 65%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; + clear: both;} + + hr.med {width: 50%; + height: .1em; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 25%; + margin-right: 25%; + clear: both;} + + hr.short {width: 35%; + height: .1em; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 32.5%; + margin-right: 32.5%; + clear: both;} + + .poetry-container {text-align: center;} + + .poetry {display: inline-block; + text-align: left; + line-height: 1.25em;} + + .poetry .headstanza {margin: .5em 0em 1.25em 0em;} + .poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} + .poetry .stanzaitalic {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; font-style:italic;} + .poetry div {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + .poetry .i0h {margin-left: 0.5em;} + .poetry .i1 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poetry .i1h {margin-left: 1.5em;} + .poetry .i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poetry .i3h {margin-left: 3.5em;} + .poetry .i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + + table {margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em;} + + td.chpt {vertical-align: top; + text-align: center; + padding-top: 1.5em; + padding-bottom: .5em;} + + td.txt {vertical-align: top; + text-align: justify; + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em;} + + td.pg {vertical-align: bottom; + text-align: right; + padding-left: .5em;} + + td.section {text-align: right; + vertical-align: top; + padding-right: .5em;} + + .tn {font-size: small; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding: .2em 1em .2em 1em; + background-color: #E6E6E6; + border-style: solid; + border-width: .1em;} + + div.box { margin-right:auto; + margin-left: auto; + max-width: 25em; + border-style: solid; + border-width: .1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + + ul {list-style: none;} + li {text-align: left; + padding-bottom: .2em; + font-variant: small-caps;} + + a:link {color: #00F; + text-decoration:none;} + a:visited {color:#F00; + text-decoration:none;} + +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Boer War, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Last Boer War + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: January 12, 2014 [EBook #44649] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST BOER WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p class="ctrlarge"> +THE LAST BOER WAR +</p> + + +<p> +"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in +this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the +old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English +politics than such an idea. I tell you there is no Government—Whig or +Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical—who would dare, under any +circumstances, to give back this country (the Transvaal). They would +not dare, because the English people would not allow them."—(<i>Extract +from Speech of Sir Garnet Wolseley, delivered at a Public Banquet in +Pretoria, on the 17th December 1879.</i>) +</p> + +<p class="space"> + +</p> + +<p> +"There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding (from the +Transvaal); it was impossible to say what calamities such a step as +receding might not cause…. For such a risk he could not make himself +responsible…. Difficulties with the Zulu and the frontier tribes +would again arise, and looking as they must to South Africa as a whole, +the Government, after a careful consideration of the question, came to +the conclusion that we could not relinquish the Transvaal."—(<i>Extract +from Speech of Lord Kimberley in the House of Lords, 24th May 1880. +H.P.D., vol. cclii., p. 208.</i>) +</p> + +<p class="space"> + +</p> + +<p> +"Our judgment is that the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish the +Transvaal."—(<i>Extract from Reply of Mr. Gladstone to Boer Memorial, +8th June 1880.</i>) +</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter"><img width="378" height="585" id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover"></div> + + +<h1> +THE LAST BOER WAR +</h1> +<br> +<div class="titlepage"> +<p class="ctrsmaller"> +BY +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +H. RIDER HAGGARD +</p> + +<br> +<p class="ctrsmall"> +<i>THIRTY-FIFTH THOUSAND</i> +</p> + +<br> +<p class="ctrsmaller"> +LONDON<br> +KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO. L<sup>TD.</sup><br> +PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD +</p> + +<p class="ctrsmaller"> +1900 +</p> +</div> + +<br> +<div class="box"> +<p class="ctr"> +WORKS BY H. RIDER HAGGARD. +</p> + +<ul> +<li>Cetywayo and His White Neighbours.</li> +<li>Dawn.</li> +<li>King Solomon's Mines.</li> +<li>The Witch's Head.</li> +<li>She.</li> +<li>Allan Quatermain.</li> +<li>Jess.</li> +<li>Colonel Quaritch, V.C.</li> +<li>Maiwa's Revenge.</li> +<li>Mr. Meeson's Will.</li> +<li>Allan's Wife.</li> +<li>Cleopatra.</li> +<li>Beatrice.</li> +<li>Eric Brighteyes.</li> +<li>Nada the Lily.</li> +<li>Montezuma's Daughter.</li> +<li>The People of the Mist.</li> +<li>Joan Haste.</li> +<li>Heart of the World.</li> +<li>Doctor Therne.</li> +<li>Swallow.</li> +<li>A Farmer's Year.</li> +<li> </li> +<li><i>In Collaboration with Andrew Lang.</i></li> +<li>The World's Desire.</li> +</ul> +</div> + +<p class="ctrsmaller"> +<i>The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.</i> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +<a name="note"> </a> +AUTHOR'S NOTE. +</h2> + + +<p> +It has been suggested that at this juncture some students of South +African history might be glad to read an account of the Boer Rebellion +of 1881, its causes and results. Accordingly, in the following pages +are reprinted portions of a book which I wrote so long ago as 1882. It +may be objected that such matter must be stale, but I venture to urge, +on the contrary, that to this very fact it owes whatever value it may +possess. This history was written at the time by one who took an active +part in the sad and stirring events which it records, immediately after +the issue of those events had driven him home to England. Of the +original handful of individuals who were concerned in the annexation of +the Transvaal by Sir Theophilus Shepstone in 1877, of whom I was one, +not many now survive. When they have gone, any further accurate report +made from an intimate personal knowledge of the incidents attendant on +that act will be an impossibility; indeed it is already impossible, +since after the lapse of twenty years men can scarcely trust to their +memories for the details of intricate political occurrences, even +should they be prompted to attempt their record. It is for this reason, +when the melancholy results which its pages foretell have overtaken us, +that I venture to lay them again before the public, so that any who are +interested in the matter may read and find in the tale of 1881 the true +causes of the war of 1899. +</p> + +<p> +I have written "which its pages foretell." Here are one or two passages +taken from them almost at hazard that may be thought to justify the +words: +</p> + +<p> +"It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration +of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it +would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little farther, +and favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, +retaining only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the +bounds of possibility that they may one day have <i>to face a fresh +Transvaal rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale</i>, and might +find it difficult to retain even Table Bay." +</p> + +<p> +And again: "The curtain, so far as this country is concerned, is down +for the moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there +is but too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion +which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the +future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos." +</p> + +<p> +One more quotation. In speaking of the various problems of South +Africa, I find that I said that "unless they are treated with more +honest intelligence, and on a more settled plan than it has hitherto +been thought necessary to apply to them, the British taxpayer will find +that he has by no means heard the last of that country and its wars." +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps in a year from the present date the British taxpayer will be in +a position to admit the value of this prophecy. +</p> + +<p> +Nearly two decades have gone by since these words were written. Put +very briefly, what has happened in that time? In 1884, at the request +of the Transvaal Government, the Ministry, of which the late Lord Derby +was a member, consented to modify the Convention of 1881, and to +substitute in its place what is known as the London Convention. This +new agreement amended the terms of the former document in certain +particulars. Notably all mention of the suzerainty of the Queen was +omitted, from which circumstance the Boers and their impassioned +advocates have argued that it was abrogated. There is nothing to show +that this contention is correct. Mere silence does not destroy so +important a stipulation, and it appears to be doubtful whether even a +Lord Derby would have been prepared to nullify the imperial rights of +his sovereign and his country in this negative and novel fashion. It is +more probable to suppose that had such action been decided on, effect +would have been given to it in direct and unmistakable language. But +even if it could be proved that this view of the case is wrong, the +general issue would scarcely be affected. +</p> + +<p> +That issue, as I understand it, is as follows: The Convention of 1881 +guaranteed to all inhabitants of the Transvaal equal rights—"Complete +self-government subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and +successors, will be accorded to the <i>inhabitants of the Transvaal +territory</i>"—Mr. Kruger explaining verbally at a meeting of the +conference, that the only difference would be that in the case of young +persons who became resident in the Transvaal, there might be some +slight delay in granting full burgher privileges, limited, it would +appear, to one year's residence.<a href="#note1" name="noteref1"><small>[1]</small></a> After that time, then, according to +the terms of this solemn agreement, which in these particulars were not +modified or even touched, by the supplementary and amending paper of +1884, any one who wished to claim the advantages of Transvaal +citizenship might do so. +</p> + +<p> +Some years later an event occurred fated profoundly to influence the +destinies of South Africa, namely, the discovery of the Witwatersrand +gold deposits, perhaps the richest and the most permanent in the whole +world. Instantly adventurers, most of them of Anglo-Saxon origin, +flocked in thousands to the place where countless wealth lay buried in +the earth, and on the plains over which I have seen the wild game +wandering, sprang up the city of Johannesburg with its motley and +cosmopolitan population, its speculators, company promoters, traders, +miners, and labouring men. +</p> + +<p> +To the Transvaal, at any rate in the beginning, the arrival of these +wealth-engendering hordes was what the fall of copious rain is to the +sun-parched veld. By this time the country was once more almost +bankrupt, but now, as though by the waving of a magician's wand, money +began to flow into its coffers. One of the characteristics of the Boer +is his hatred of taxation; one of his notions of terrestrial bliss is +to live in a land where the necessary expenses of administration are +paid by somebody else, an advantage, I understand, that among all the +civilised nations of the earth is enjoyed alone by the inhabitants of +the Principality of Monaco. It is not usual, either in the instance of +communities or individuals, that such ideals should be absolutely +attained. Yet to the fortunate possessors of the South African Republic +this happened. For quite a long period they lived at ease in their +dorps and on their farms, while the dwellers at Johannesburg, delving +like gnomes in the reefs of the Rand, provided them with magnificent +and never-failing supplies of cash. Then questions began to arise, as +they will do in this imperfect sphere. The Uitlanders, as the strangers +were called, remembering the terms of the Conventions, drawn under a +very different condition of affairs but still binding, hinted at a wish +for burgher rights. +</p> + +<p> +The Boers, who if they liked their money objected to the money-makers, +instantly took alarm. If the vote were given to the Uitlanders it was +obvious that very soon they would outnumber the original electors. Then +in a natural, but to them terrifying, sequence would come a +redistribution of the burdens of taxation, the abolition of monopolies, +the punishment of corruption, the just treatment of the native races, +the absolute purity of the courts, and all the other things and +institutions, in their eyes abominable, which mark the advent of +Anglo-Saxon rule. Behind these also loomed another danger, that of the +ultimate reappearance of the English flag. So legislation was resorted +to, and bit by bit the Uitlanders were stripped of the rights inherent +to their position as "inhabitants of the Transvaal territory," till at +last none were left to them at all. Indeed Press laws were passed and +other enactments controlling the privilege of free speech and public +meetings. Of course had the British Government put down its foot firmly +and at once at the first symptom of a desire on the part of the Boers +to whittle away such advantages as the Conventions secured to our +fellow-subjects, the present sad situation need never have arisen. But +British Governments are seldom fond of doing things at the right time, +more especially if the issue is not sufficiently distinct to be +appreciated by the masses of the electorate. Therefore matters were +allowed to drift, and they drifted into that outrageous fiasco, the +Jameson Raid of 1895. +</p> + +<p> +Into the history of that event I do not propose to enter; it is +sufficiently well known. Suffice it to say in this brief summary, that +it was the result of a compact under which Dr. Jameson was to come to +Johannesburg with a large armed force of Rhodesian police, with the +view of assisting the Uitlanders to obtain by arms what was denied to +their petitions. +</p> + +<p> +The agreement is undoubted and admitted, but all the rest is chaos. +Failure in a hundred shapes dogged the steps of these ineffective +conspirators. Dr. Jameson, with 500 men instead of 1200, took the bit +between his teeth and started at the wrong time. The Uitlanders did not +sally forth to meet him, the wires were not cut, the railway line was +not destroyed, the Boers were warned, and assembled in great numbers. +Dr. Jameson, who apparently lost his way on the veld, was entrapped +into a bad position, where, after a space of somewhat feeble combat, he +and his whole force surrendered, their lives being guaranteed to them. +The despatch-box of the raiders, with the ciphers and sundry +incriminating documents, was allowed to fall into the hands of the +enemy, and, on their own ammunition-waggons, the personnel of the Raid +performed the journey to that city of Pretoria, which when reinforced +by the Uitlanders they were to have entered in triumph. Thence they +were in due course despatched to London for trial. The members of the +Reform Committee were also seized and tried at Pretoria, several of +them being condemned to death, a sentence which was not executed; the +whole story, coming to its end to an accompaniment of the clash not of +swords, but of gold; the fines inflicted upon the conspirators by the +Transvaal Government amounting to a total of many tens of thousands of +pounds. +</p> + +<p> +Such, except for mutual recriminations which still continue, was the +end of Johannesburg's armed attempt to throw off the yoke of the Boer, +and of the efforts of the ruling powers of Rhodesia to assist them in +the task. Of course the upshot was that the poor Uitlanders fell into a +still deeper pit of oppression and despair. Lord Rosmead, then Sir +Hercules Robinson, never a proconsul remarkable for an iron will, it is +true visited the Transvaal in a great flurry, and assured, or caused +Sir Sidney Shippard and the British agent, a gentleman of the somewhat +alien-sounding name of Sir Jacobus de Wet, in substance to assure the +Uitlanders that if only they would disarm probably their wrongs must +shortly be righted by a beneficent Boer president, assisted to the task +by a Raad full of forgiveness and charity. Moreover, Sir Jacobus de Wet +told them explicitly that the lives of Jameson and his men depended +upon their laying down such weapons as they possessed, although of +course those lives were already guaranteed by the terms of the +surrender. +</p> + +<p> +But this raid had wider issues of an imperial nature. Thus it provoked +the famous telegram from the Emperor William II., which at one time +threatened to bring about a war between Great Britain and Germany. +Also, so far as these South African troubles were concerned, it put our +country hopelessly in the wrong in the eyes of the civilised world, +whom it proved difficult to persuade, although in fact this was the +case, that such strange and tortuous developments of political and +martial activity were purely local in their origin. Again it armed the +Boer with a sword of wondrous power. If Providence had sent all the +German legions to his aid it could scarcely have served him better. Now +indeed he was able to point to his land violated by the foot of the +invader, and to talk of raids as though such a wicked word had never +defiled the innocence of his ears; as though in truth he had never +heard of the plains of Stellaland, and of a certain expedition sent by +the British Government under the command of Sir Charles Warren to +preserve those territories to the peaceful enjoyment of their owners; +nor of that stretch of country which once belonged to the Zulus, but is +now called the New Republic; nor of the trek into Rhodesia that was +"damped"; nor of the extension of authority over Swaziland in defiance +of the provisions of the Convention, and of other kindred matters. +</p> + +<p> +Also it enabled him to claim "moral and intellectual damages" to a +considerable amount, although, so far as the public is aware, these +have never been satisfied, and indeed caused Pharaoh to harden his +heart, and while demanding from the new Israelites of Johannesburg an +even heavier tale of bricks in the shape of direct and indirect +taxation, to deprive them one by one of their last straws of freedom. +</p> + +<p> +Thus things fell back into their former courses, the old abuses +flourished like bay trees, the lucky holders of dynamite and other +monopolies grew fabulously rich, and—so powerful is the love of +gold—<i lang="la">auri sacra fames</i>—so much more do men value it than +freedom and pure government—the population of Johannesburg still +increased. +</p> + +<p> +More than two years have gone by since Sir Alfred Milner was sent as +High Commissioner to South Africa, during all which time, backed by her +Majesty's present Government, he has been doing his best to secure +redress for the Uitlanders, and to arrange various differences that +have arisen between the Empire and the Transvaal Republic. At length +these efforts resulted in the meeting between himself and President +Kruger, known as the Bloemfontein Conference, which took place about +four months ago. At that Conference Sir Alfred Milner advanced the +request, modest enough seeing that they are entitled to nothing less +than equal rights with the other "inhabitants of the Transvaal," that +those Uitlanders who wished to adopt the country as their home should +be entitled to the franchise after five years' residence. This was +refused by President Kruger as endangering the independence of the +State, and the Conference broke up. It was from this time forward that +war came to be looked upon as probable. In reply to various despatches +and representations of the Imperial Government, the President and +Volksraad made certain offers of a franchise which, if they were ever +seriously meant, were hampered with provisos, such as rendered them +impossible for this country to accept. Thus the five years' offer of +August 19 was coupled with the conditions that in the future there +should be no interference in the internal affairs of the Republic, that +her Majesty's Government would not further insist on the assertion of +the suzerainty, and that the principle of arbitration in the event of +future differences arising should be admitted. +</p> + +<p> +Had the Government agreed to these terms it would have meant, of +course, that the last shadow of the Queen's authority would have +vanished from the Transvaal, and as they had bound themselves not to +interfere in future, that they might be forced to look on while the +franchise which was granted one year was repealed or rendered nugatory +the next. Also, it must be remembered that this question of the +franchise does not cover all the grounds of difference between the two +parties; indeed, it seems that a great deal too much importance has +been given to the matter. Even if a certain number of Uitlanders +elected to become citizens of a Boer state, it is difficult to see, +however advantageous that circumstance might prove to themselves, in +what way it would directly assist the Imperial power on such a +question, let us say, as the treatment of our Indian subjects settled +in the Transvaal. To begin with, the new-born burghers might be +indifferent to the needs and wishes of the country they had renounced. +They might even consider that their oath of allegiance bound them to +oppose those wishes. At the least, even if they had the power to help +us, which could not be the case for many years, surely it would be +neither wise nor dignified for the power to which they once belonged to +trust solely to their good offices. +</p> + +<p> +In the newspapers and elsewhere Johannesburg and its Uitlanders are +spoken of continually as though they made up the sum of the situation. +It is the common cry of Liberal Forwards and of those gentlemen who +might perhaps be called Radical Backwards, that this war is to be waged +for the Uitlander and the millionaire. Of course this is not in the +least true. The Uitlander, with his woes, is only the blister that has +brought the sore of Transvaal misrule and Dutch ambitions in South +Africa to so proud a head, that at last the South African Republic has +come to describe itself as "a Sovereign independent State." That he and +his "Magnates," as Rand millionaires are called, will profit enormously +from a successful war waged by the Imperial Power is admitted; but +because the effect of such a struggle will be ultimately to put a +number of annual millions into certain pockets, it does not follow that +the war is fought for that purpose. Indeed the veriest "jingo" could +scarcely show himself self-sacrificing and altruistic. This is no local +but an Imperial question to be decided in the interests of the Empire. +</p> + +<p> +To return to the course of the negotiations. Offers, withdrawals, +stipulations, palliative clauses, proposals for further conferences +followed each other in bewildering variety, till at length, worn out, +Mr. Chamberlain, on September 22, intimated to the Government of the +South African Republic, through Sir Alfred Milner, that it was "useless +to further pursue a discussion on the lines hitherto followed, and her +Majesty's Government are now compelled to consider the situation +afresh, and to formulate their own proposals for a final settlement of +the issues which have been created in South Africa by the policy +constantly followed for many years by the Government of the South +African Republic. They will communicate to you the result of their +deliberations in a later despatch." +</p> + +<p> +It is rumoured that this later despatch has been delivered at Pretoria, +but has as yet received no reply. Three days later, however, namely, on +September 25, that industrious body, the Liberal Forwards, was honoured +with a telegram from the State Secretary of the Transvaal, which runs +as follows:— +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"Liberal Forwards, London. Many thanks for your telegram. We stick +to the Convention, and rely upon England doing the same, as +Convention does not allow interference in internal affairs." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +When, however, it is remembered that the Convention did allow equal +rights to all the "inhabitants of the Transvaal," it will be admitted +that this cable is about the strangest of the remarkable series of +State documents which of late have emanated from Pretoria. Very aptly +it crystallises the spirit of Boer diplomacy—a bold disregard of +inconvenient facts. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile in South Africa various events of importance have happened. +The Orange Free State has openly thrown in its lot with the Transvaal. +The Uitlanders have fled by thousands from Johannesburg. The Boers have +massed their commandos at various points on the Natal and other British +borders, presumably for offensive purposes, since at present they can +expect no invasion of their territory. The first of these occurrences +reveals the hidden purpose of the Dutch party in South Africa, as at +night a sudden flash of lightning reveals the face of the veld. We have +never threatened the Orange Free State; it has no grievance, no cause +of quarrel, yet suddenly it appears in arms against us. Why? Because +its citizens believe that the time has come to translate into action +the old dream of the Boers, which so long as five-and-twenty years ago +was familiar to the late President Burgers when he spoke of the coming +Dutch Republic, with its eight millions of inhabitants ruling supreme +in the vast territories between the Zambezi and the Cape. Now the great +conspiracy that it has proved so hard to persuade the British public, +or a blind section of it, to credit stands unveiled, and it has for +object nothing less than the expulsion of the English power from +Southern Africa—a vain thing fondly imagined, but still a thing with +which we must reckon, and it is to be feared by the last stern +expedient of arms, since here soft words and diplomacy are of no avail. +</p> + +<p> +Difficult as it is to make the fact understood among a proportion of +the home electorate and publicists, it cannot be stated too often or +too clearly that this war, which is to come, is a war that was forced +upon us by the Boers in their blind ignorance and conceit. The mass of +them believe, because they defeated our troops in various small affairs +in 1881, that they are a match for the British Empire. Their leaders +are better instructed. They trust not so much, perhaps, to the rifles +of their compatriots as to the prowess of certain party captains in +England, and to the enthusiasm of their advocates among the English +Press and public. They remember that the activity of these forces +eighteen years ago was followed by a miserable surrender on the part of +the English Government, and not understanding how greatly opinion has +changed in this country, they hope that history may repeat itself, and +that England, wearying of an unpopular struggle, will soon cede to them +all they ask. They are mistaken, but such is their faith. They hope +also, perchance with better reason, that other complications may force +us to stay our hand. If no more telegrams can be extracted from the +German Emperor, still there is a German regiment fighting on their side +who will take with them the sympathies of the Fatherland, and they know +that the hearts of the great Powers of Europe will go out towards any +people who try to strike a blow at the root of the ever-growing tree of +the might of the British Empire. Buoyed up by bubbles such as these +they have determined to tempt the stern arbitrament of battle.<a href="#note2" name="noteref2"><small>[2]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +Can it still be avoided? It would seem that except by our surrender, +which is out of the question, for that means the loss not only of South +Africa, but of our prestige throughout the world, this is not in any +way possible. Already acts of war have taken place, such as the seizure +of the gold from the mines, and the commandeering of goods belonging to +British subjects, and perhaps days before these lines can appear in +print the guns will have begun their reasoning.<a href="#note3" name="noteref3"><small>[3]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +After the rebellion of 1881 a Boer jury, to whom the case was committed +by the tender mercies of Mr. Gladstone's Government, with the murdered +man's bullet-riddled skull lying before them upon the table of the +Court, acquitted the brutal slaughterers of Captain Elliot, not because +they had not done the deed with every circumstance of horrible +treachery and premeditation, but because to find them guilty was +against their brethren's wish. In much the same way, with all the facts +staring them in the face, there are men in England, some of them of +high position and character, who urge the righteousness of the Boer +cause, and with tongue and pen paint our national iniquity in hues +black as ink and red as blood. They write of the "Objects of the War," +which they do not hesitate to describe as self-seeking and infamous, so +far of course as the English people are concerned, for according to the +same authorities, the Boer objects are uniformly pure and noble. Would +it not be better if they looked back a little and tried to discover the +causes of the war? I think that if they could have witnessed a certain +scene upon the market-square at Newcastle, at which it was my +misfortune to be present, on that night of the year 1881 when the news +of the base betrayal of the loyalists by England became known, they +would win a better understanding of the question. In the spectacle of +that maddened crowd of three or four thousand ruined and deserted men, +English, Boer, and Kaffir, raving, weeping, and blaspheming in the +despair of their shame and bitterness, they might have found +enlightenment. Even now a study of the following forgotten letter +written by Mr. White, the chairman of the Committee of Loyal +Inhabitants, to Mr. Gladstone, might give to some a food for thought:— +</p> + +<p> +"If, sir, you had seen, as I have seen, promising young citizens of +Pretoria dying of wounds received for their country, and if you had had +the painful duty, as I have had, of bringing to their friends at home +the last mementoes of the departed; if you had seen the privations and +discomforts which delicate women and children bore without murmuring +for upwards of three months; if you had seen strong men crying like +children at the cruel and undeserved desertion of England; if you had +seen the long strings of half-desperate loyalists, shaking the dust off +their feet as they left the country, as I saw on my way to Newcastle; +and if you yourself had invested your all on the strength of the word +of England, and now saw yourself in a fair way of being beggared by the +acts of the country in whom you trusted, you would, sir, I think, be +'pronounced,' and England would ring with eloquent entreaties and +threats which would compel a hearing…. We claim, sir, at least as +much justice as the Boers. We are faithful subjects of England, and +have suffered and are suffering for our fidelity. Surely we, the +friends of our country, who stood by her in the time of trial, have as +much right to consideration as rebels who fought against her. We rely +on her word. We rely on the frequently repeated pledges and promises of +her ministers in which we have trusted. We rely on her sense of moral +right not to do us the grievous wrong which this miserable peace +contemplates. We rely on her fidelity to obligations, and on her +ancient reputation for honour and honesty. We rely on the material +consequences which will follow on a breach of faith to us. England +cannot afford to desert us after having solemnly pledged herself to +us." +</p> + +<p> +"England cannot afford to desert us!" but England, or her rulers, could +and did afford itself this luxury. In vain did such men as the late +Lord Beaconsfield, the late Lord Cairns, and Lord Salisbury protest and +point out dangers. In vain did agonised loyalists flourish their own +words and promises in the face of her Majesty's Government; the spirit +of party, or the promptings of a newly acquired conscience proved too +strong. Her Majesty's loyal subjects were sneered at, insulted, and +abandoned, and the Boer, who had butchered them, was bid to go on and +prosper. +</p> + +<p> +Now, nearly twenty years afterwards, England is called upon to pay the +bill of what is in effect, whatever may have been its motives, one of +the most infamous acts that stains the pages of her history. From the +moment that the Convention of 1881 was signed it became as certain as +anything human can be, that one of two things would happen—either that +the Imperial Power must in practice be driven out of South Africa, or +that a time would come when it must be forced to assert its dominion +even at the price of war. +</p> + +<p> +Now that miserable hour is with us, and we are called upon to suppress +by arms a small, but sullen and obstinate people, whom we have taught +to believe themselves our equals, if not our superiors. Unless they +will yield at the last moment, which seems impossible seeing that the +war is of their own choosing, the new settlement of South Africa must +be celebrated by a mighty sacrifice of their blood and our blood. Not +to dwell upon other griefs and dangers, when, I ask, will the smoke and +the smell of it depart from the eyes and nostrils of the dwellers in +that unhappy land? As they troop back merrily to their mines and +workshops the money-spinners of Johannesburg may forget a past of +which, in many instances at least, their chief impression will be that +it was unpleasant and unprofitable. But after the Rand is worked out, +when the stamps cease to fall heavily by day and night, when the great +heaps of tailings no longer increase from month to month, when the +broker's voice is quiet in the Exchange, and the promoter inhabits some +new city, still the Boer women in the farmhouses will tell their +children how the "damned English soldiers" shot their grandfathers and +took the land. In South Africa new Irelands will arise, and from the +dragon's teeth that we are forced to sow the harvest of hate will +spring, and spring again. Thus must we eat of the bitter bread which we +have baked, and thus the ill fowl that we reared have come home to +roost, bringing their broods with them. +</p> + +<p> +Again and again we have blundered in our treatment of the Dutch. For +instance, with kinder and fairer management they would never have +trekked from the Cape sixty years ago. Also, had the promises which +were made to them at the annexation in 1877 been kept, and had not Sir +Theophilus Shepstone, who grew up amongst them and to whom they were +attached, been removed in favour of a military martinet, there would +have been no rebellion, let the Cape wire-pullers working under a cloak +of loyalty to the Crown strive as they might. But the rebellion came +and the defeats, and after these that surrender whereof this country is +called upon to pluck the fruit to-day, which, by the Boers, is +attributed to those defeats with the fear of their prowess and to +nothing else. +</p> + +<p> +And now, in due season, the war comes; an inevitable war which cannot +be escaped, and must be fought out to the end. There is only room for +one paramount power in Southern Africa! +</p> + +<p> +How all these things happened is told briefly, but I trust clearly, in +the following pages. My excuse for reprinting them must be the desire +which, it is said, exists among some readers to become better +acquainted with the facts that engendered the present fateful crisis. +</p> + +<p class="sig"> +H. RIDER HAGGARD. +</p> + +<p> +<i>9th October </i>1899. +</p> + + + + +<h2> +CONTENTS. +</h2> + +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2"> </td> +<td class="pg"><small>PAGES</small></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2"><span class="sc">Author's Note</span></td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#note">v</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER I. +<br> +<span class="sc">Its Inhabitants, Laws, and Customs.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Invasion by Mosilikatze — Arrival of the emigrant Boers — Establishment +of the South African Republic — The Sand River Convention — Growth of +the territory of the republic — The native tribes surrounding it —  +Capabilities of the country — Its climate — Its inhabitants — The Boers + — Their peculiarities and mode of life — Their abhorrence of settled +government and payment of taxes — The Dutch patriotic party — Form of +government previous to the annexation — Courts of law — The commando +system — Revenue arrangements — Native races in the Transvaal</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#I">1-22</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER II. +<br> +<span class="sc">Events Preceding the Annexation.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Mr. Burgers elected president — His character and aspirations — His +pension from the English Government — His visit to England — The +railway loan — Relations of the republic with native tribes — The +pass laws — Its quarrel with Cetywayo — Confiscation of native +territory in the Keate Award — Treaty with the Swazi king — The +Secocœni war — Capture of Johannes' stronghold by the Swazi +allies — Attack on Secocœni's mountain — Defeat and dispersion of +the Boers — Elation of the natives — Von Schlickmann's volunteers —  +Cruelties perpetrated — Abel Erasmus — Treatment of natives by Boers + — Public meeting at Potchefstroom in 1868 — The slavery question —  +Some evidence on the subject — Pecuniary position of the Transvaal +prior to the annexation — Internal troubles — Divisions amongst the +Boers — Hopeless condition of the country</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#II">23-49</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER III. +<br> +<span class="sc">The Annexation.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Anxiety of Lord Carnarvon — Despatch of Sir T. Shepstone as Special +Commissioner to the Transvaal — Sir T. Shepstone, his great +experience and ability — His progress to Pretoria, and reception +there — Feelings excited by the arrival of the mission — The +annexation <i>not</i> a foregone conclusion — Charge brought +against Sir T. Shepstone of having called up the Zulu army to +sweep the Transvaal — Its complete falsehood — Cetywayo's message +to Sir T. Shepstone — Evidence on the matter summed up — General +desire of the natives for English rule — Habitual disregard of +their interests — Assembly of the Volksraad — Rejection of Lord +Carnarvon's Confederation Bill and of President Burgers' new +constitution — President Burgers' speeches to the Raad — His +posthumous statement — Communication to the Raad of Sir T. +Shepstone's intention to annex the country — Despatch of Commission +to inquire into the alleged peace with Secocœni — Its fraudulent +character discovered — Progress of affairs in the Transvaal — Paul +Kruger and his party — Restlessness of natives — Arrangements for +the annexation — The annexation proclamation</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#III">50-86</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER IV. +<br> +<span class="sc">The Transvaal under British Rule.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Reception of the annexation — Major Clarke and the Volunteers — Effect +of the annexation on credit and commerce — Hoisting of the Union +Jack — Ratification of the annexation by Parliament — Messrs. Kruger +and Jorissen's mission to England — Agitation against the annexation +in the Cape Colony — Sir T. Shepstone's tour — Causes of the growth +of discontent among the Boers — Return of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger + — The Government dispenses with their services — Despatch of a second +deputation to England — Outbreak of war with Secocœni — Major Clarke, +R.A. — The Gunn of Gunn plot — Mission of Captain Paterson and Mr. +Sergeaunt to Matabeleland — Its melancholy termination — The Isandhlwana +disaster — Departure of Sir T. Shepstone for England — Another Boer +meeting — The Pretoria Horse — Advance of the Boers on Pretoria —  +Arrival of Sir B. Frere at Pretoria and dispersion of the Boers —  +Arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley — His proclamation — The Secocœni +expedition — Proceedings of the Boers — Mr. Pretorius — Mr. Gladstone's +Mid-Lothian speeches, their effect — Sir G. Wolseley's speech at +Pretoria, its good results — Influx of Englishmen and cessation of +agitation — Financial position of the country after three years of +British rule — Letter of the Boer leaders to Mr. Courtney</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#IV">87-119</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER V. +<br> +<span class="sc">The Boer Rebellion.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Accession of Mr. Gladstone to power — His letters to the Boer +leader and the loyals — His refusal to rescind the annexation — The +Boers encouraged by prominent members of the Radical party — The +Bezeidenhout incident — Despatch of troops to Potchefstroom — Mass +meeting of the 8th December 1880 — Appointment of the Triumvirate +and declaration of the republic — Despatch of Boer proclamation to +Sir O. Lanyon — His reply — Outbreak of hostilities at Potchefstroom + — Defence of the court-house by Major Clarke — The massacre of the +detachment of the 94th under Colonel Anstruther — Dr. Ward — The Boer +rejoicings — The Transvaal placed under martial law — Abandonment of +their homes by the people of Pretoria — Sir Owen Lanyon's admirable +defence organisation — Second proclamation issued by the Boers — Its +complete falsehood — Life at Pretoria during the siege — Murders of +natives by the Boers — Loyal conduct of the native chiefs — Difficulty +of preventing them from attacking the Boers — Occupation of Lang's +Nek by the Boers — Sir George Colley's departure to Newcastle — The +condition of that town — The attack on Lang's Nek — Its desperate +nature — Effect of victory on the Boers — The battle at the Ingogo —  +Our defeat — Sufferings of the wounded — Major Essex — Advance of the +Boers into Natal — Constant alarms — Expected attack on Newcastle —  +Its unorganised and indefensible condition — Arrival of the +reinforcements and retreat of the Boers to the Nek — Despatch +of General Wood to bring up more reinforcements — Majuba Hill — Our +disaster, and death of Sir George Colley — Cause of our defeat — A +Boer version of the disaster — Sir George Colley's tactics</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#V">120-155</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER VI. +<br> +<span class="sc">The Retrocession of the Transvaal.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">The Queen's Speech — President Brand and Lord Kimberley — Sir Henry +de Villiers — Sir George Colley's plan — Paul Kruger's offer — Sir +George Colley's remonstrance — Complimentary telegrams — Effect of +Majuba on the Boers and English Government — Collapse of the +Government — Reasons of the surrender — Professional sentimentalists + — The Transvaal Independence Committee — Conclusion of the armistice + — The preliminary peace — Reception of the news in Natal — Newcastle +after the declaration of peace — Exodus of the loyal inhabitants of +the Transvaal — The value of property in Pretoria — The Transvaal +officials dismissed — The Royal Commission — Mode of trial of persons +accused of atrocities — Decision of the Commission and its results + — The severance of territory question — Arguments <i>pro</i> and +<i>con</i> — Opinion of Sir E. Wood — Humility of the Commissioners +and its cause — Their decision on the Keate Award question — The +Montsioa difficulty — The compensation and financial clauses of the +report of the Commission — The duties of the British Resident — Sir +E. Wood's dissent from the report of the Commission — Signing of +the Convention — Burial of the Union Jack — The native side of the +question — Interview between the Commissioners and the native +chiefs — Their opinion of the surrender — Objections of the Boer +Volksraad to the Convention — Mr. Gladstone temporises — The +ratification — Its insolent tone — Mr. Hudson, the British Resident + — The Boer festival — The results of the Convention — The larger +issue of the matter — Its effect on the Transvaal — Its moral +aspects — Its effect on the native mind</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#VI">156-202</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER VII.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt" colspan="2">Extract from Introduction to new edition of 1888</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#VII">203</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">APPENDIX.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="section">I.</td> +<td class="txt">The Potchefstroom Atrocities, &c.</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#appI">231</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="section">II.</td> +<td class="txt">Pledges given by Mr. Gladstone's Government as to the +Retention of the Transvaal</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#appII">239</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="section">III.</td> +<td class="txt">A Boer on Boer Designs</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#appIII">241</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="med"> + +<p class="booktitle"> +<i>THE TRANSVAAL.</i> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +<a name="I"> </a> +CHAPTER I. +<br><br> +<span class="small"> +ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +The Transvaal is a country without a history. Its very existence was +hardly known of until about fifty years ago. Of its past we know +nothing. The generations who peopled its great plains have passed +utterly out of the memory and even the tradition of man, leaving no +monument to mark that they have existed, not even a tomb. +</p> + +<p> +During the reign of Chaka, 1813-1828, whose history has been sketched +in a previous chapter, one of his most famous generals, Mosilikatze, +surnamed the Lion, seceded from him with a large number of his +soldiers, and striking up in a north-westerly direction, settled in or +about what is now the Morico district of the Transvaal. The country +through which Mosilikatze passed was at that time thickly populated +with natives of the Basuto or Macatee race, whom the Zulus look upon +with great contempt. Mosilikatze expressed the feelings of his tribe in +a practical manner, by massacring every living soul of them that came +within his reach. That the numbers slaughtered were very great, the +numerous ruins of Basuto kraals all over the country testify. +</p> + +<p> +It was Chaka's intention to follow up Mosilikatze and destroy him, but +he was himself assassinated before he could do so. Dingaan, his +successor, however, carried out his brother's design, and despatched a +large force to punish him. This army, after marching over 300 miles, +burst upon Mosilikatze, drove him back with slaughter, and returned +home triumphant. The invasion is important, because the Zulus claim the +greater part of the Transvaal territory by virtue of it. +</p> + +<p> +About the time that Mosilikatze was conquered, 1835-1840, the +discontented Boers were leaving the Cape Colony exasperated at the +emancipation of the slaves by the Imperial authorities. First they made +their way to Natal, but being followed thither by the English flag they +travelled further inland over the Vaal River and founded the town of +Mooi River Dorp or Potchefstroom. Here they were joined by other +malcontents from the Orange Sovereignty, which, though afterwards +abandoned, was at that time a British possession. Acting upon +</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"> +<div>"The good old rule, the simple plan,</div> +<div>Of let him take who has the power,</div> +<div>And let him keep who can,"</div></div></div></div> + +<p> +the Boers now proceeded to possess themselves of as much territory as +they wanted. Nor was this a difficult task. The country was, as I have +said, peopled by Macatees, who are a poor-spirited race as compared to +the Zulus, and had had what little courage they possessed crushed out +of them by the rough handling they had received at the hands of +Mosilikatze and Dingaan. The Boers, they argued, could not treat them +worse than the Zulus had done. Occasionally a chief, bolder than the +rest, would hold out, and then such an example was made of him and his +people that few cared to follow in his footsteps. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the Boers were fairly settled in their new home, they began +to think about setting up a Government. First they tried a system of +Commandants, with a Commandant-general, but this does not seem to have +answered. Next, those of their number who lived in Lydenburg district +(where the gold-fields now are) set up a Republic, with a President and +Volksraad, or popular assembly. This example was followed by the other +white inhabitants of the country, who formed another Republic and +elected another President, with Pretoria for their capital. The two +republics were subsequently incorporated. +</p> + +<p> +In 1852 the Imperial authorities, having regard to the expense of +maintaining an effective government over an unwilling people in an +undeveloped and half-conquered country, concluded a convention with the +emigrant Boers "beyond the Vaal River." The following were the +principal stipulations of this convention, drawn up between Major Hogg +and Mr. Owen, Her Majesty's Assistant-Commissioners for the settling +and adjusting of the affairs of the eastern and north-eastern +boundaries of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope on the one part, and +a deputation representative of the emigrant farmers north of the Vaal +River on the other. It was guaranteed "in the fullest manner on the +part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal +River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves +according to their own laws, without any interference on the part of +the British Government, and that no encroachment shall be made by the +said Government on the territory beyond to the north of the Vaal River, +with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the British +Government is to promote peace, free trade, and friendly intercourse +with the emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit +that country, it being understood that this system of non-interference +is binding on both parties." +</p> + +<p> +Next were disclaimed, on behalf of the British Government, "all +alliances whatever and with whomsoever of the coloured nations to the +north of the Vaal River." +</p> + +<p> +It was also agreed "that no slavery is or shall be permitted or +practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the emigrant +farmers." +</p> + +<p> +It was further agreed "that no objection shall be made by any British +authority against the emigrant Boers purchasing their supplies of +ammunition in any of the British colonies and possessions of South +Africa; it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition with +the native tribes is prohibited both by the British Government and the +emigrant farmers on both sides of the Vaal River." +</p> + +<p> +These were the terms of this famous convention, which is as slipshod in +its diction as it is vague in its meaning. What, for instance, is meant +by the territory to the north of the Vaal River? According to the +letter of the agreement, Messrs. Hogg and Owen ceded all the territory +between the Vaal and Egypt. This historical document was the Charta of +the new-born South African Republic. Under its provisions, the Boers, +now safe from interference on the part of the British, established +their own Government and promulgated their "Grond Wet," or +Constitution. +</p> + +<p> +The history of the Republic between 1852 and 1876 is not very +interesting, and is besides too wearisome to enter into here. It +consists of an oft-told tale of civil broils, attacks on native tribes, +and encroachment on native territories. Until shortly before the +Annexation, every burgher was, on coming of age, entitled to receive +from the Government 6000 acres of land. As these rights were in the +early days of the Republic frequently sold to speculators for such +trifles as a bottle of brandy or half a dozen of beer, and as the +seller still required his 6000 acres: for a Boer considers it beneath +his dignity to settle on less, it is obvious that it required a very +large country to satisfy all demands. To meet these demands, the +territories of the Republic had to be stretched like an elastic band, +and they were stretched accordingly,—at the expense of the natives. +The stretching process was an ingenious one, and is very well described +in a minute written by Mr. Osborn, the late magistrate at Newcastle, +dated 22d September 1876, in these words:— +</p> + +<p> +"The Boers, as they have done in other cases and are still doing, +encroached by degrees on native territory, commencing by obtaining +permission to graze stock upon portions of it at certain seasons of the +year, followed by individual graziers obtaining from native headmen a +sort of right or license to squat upon certain defined portions, +ostensibly in order to keep other Boer squatters away from the same +land. These licenses, temporarily intended as friendly or neighbourly +acts by unauthorised headmen, after a few seasons of occupation by the +Boer, are construed by him as title, and his permanent occupation +ensues. Damage for trespass is levied by him from the very man from +whom he obtained the right to squat, to which the natives submit out of +fear of the matter reaching the ears of the paramount chief, who would +in all probability severely punish them for opening the door to +encroachment by the Boer. After a while, however, the matter comes to a +crisis in consequence of the incessant disputes between the Boers and +the natives; one or other of the disputants lays the case before the +paramount chief, who, when hearing both parties, is literally +frightened with violence and threats by the Boer into granting him the +land. Upon this the usual plan followed by the Boer is at once to +collect a few neighbouring Boers, including a field cornet, or even an +acting provisional field cornet, appointed by the field cornet or +provisional cornet, the latter to represent the Government, although +without instructions authorising him to act in the matter. A few cattle +are collected among themselves, which the party takes to the chief, and +his signature is obtained to a written document alienating to the +Republican Boers a large slice of all his territory. The contents of +this document are, as far as I can make out, never clearly or +intelligibly explained to the chief, who signs and accepts of the +cattle under the impression that it is all in settlement of hire for +the grazing licenses granted by his headmen. This, I have no hesitation +in saying, is the usual method by which the Boers obtain what they call +cessions to them of territories by native chiefs. In Secocœni's case +they allege that his father Sequati cedes to them the whole of his +territory (hundreds of square miles) for a hundred head of cattle." +</p> + +<p> +So rapidly did this process go on that the little Republic to the +"North of the Vaal River" had at the time of the Annexation grown into +a country of the size of France. Its boundaries had only been clearly +defined where they abutted on neighbouring White Communities, or on the +territories of great native powers, on which the Government had not +dared to infringe to any marked degree, such as those of Lo Bengula's +people in the north. But wheresoever on the State's borders there had +been no white Power to limit its advances, or where the native tribes +had found themselves too isolated or too weak to resist aggressions, +there the Republic had by degrees encroached, and extended the shadow, +if not the substance, of its authority. +</p> + +<p> +The Transvaal has a boundary line of over 1600 miles in circumference, +and of this a large portion is disputed by different native tribes. +Speaking generally, the territory lies between the 22° and 28° of South +Latitude and the 25° and 32° of East Longitude, or between the Orange +Free State, Natal and Griqualand West on the south, and the Limpopo +River on the north; and between the Lebombo mountains on the east, and +the Kalihari desert on the west. On the north of its territory live +three great tribes—the Makalaka, the Matabele, (descendants of the +Zulus who deserted Chaka under Mosilikatze), and the Matyana. These +tribes are all warlike. On the west, following the line down to the +Diamond Field territory, are the Sicheli, the Bangoaketsi, the +Baralong, and the Koranna tribes. Passing round by Griqualand West, the +Free State, and Natal, we reach Zululand on the south-east corner; then +come the Lebombo mountains on the east, separating the Transvaal from +Amatonga land, and from the so-called Portuguese possessions, which are +entirely in the hands of native tribes, most of them subject to the +great Zulu chief, Umzeila, who has his stronghold in the north-east. +</p> + +<p> +It will be observed that the country is almost surrounded by native +tribes. Besides these there are about one million native inhabitants +living within its borders. In one district alone, Zoutpansberg, it is +computed that there are 364,250 natives, as compared to about 750 +whites. +</p> + +<p> +If a beautiful and fertile country were alone necessary to make a state +and its inhabitants happy and prosperous, happiness and prosperity +would rain upon the Transvaal and the Dutch Boers. The capabilities of +this favoured land are vast and various. Within its borders are to be +found highlands and lowlands, vast stretches of rolling veldt like +gigantic sheep downs, hundreds of miles of swelling bushland, huge +tracts of mountainous country, and even little glades spotted with +timber that remind one of an English park. There is every possible +variety of soil and scenery. Some districts will grow all tropical +produce, whilst others are well suited for breeding sheep, cattle, and +horses. Most of the districts will produce wheat and all other cereals +in greater perfection and abundance than any of the other South African +colonies. Two crops of cereals may be obtained from the soil every +year, and both the vine and tobacco are cultivated with great success. +Coffee, sugar-cane, and cotton have been grown with profit in the +northern parts of the State. Also the undeveloped mineral wealth of the +country is very great. Its known minerals are gold, copper, lead, +cobalt, iron, coal, tin, and plumbago: copper and iron having long been +worked by the natives. Altogether there is little doubt that the +Transvaal is the richest of all the South African states, and had it +remained under English rule it would, with the aid of English +enterprise and capital, have become a very wealthy and prosperous +country. However there is little chance of that now. Perhaps the +greatest charm of the Transvaal lies in its climate, which is among the +best in the world, and in all the southern districts very healthy. +During the winter months—that is, from April to October—little or no +rain falls, and the climate is cold and bracing. In summer it is rather +warm, but not overpoweringly hot, the thermometer at Pretoria averaging +from 65° to 73° and in the winter from 59° to 65°. The population of +the Transvaal is estimated at about 40,000 whites, mostly of Dutch +origin, consisting of about thirty vast families; and one million +natives. There are several towns, the largest of which are Pretoria and +Potchefstroom. +</p> + +<p> +Such is the country that we annexed in 1877, and were drummed out of in +1881. Now let us turn to its inhabitants. It has been the fashion to +talk of the Transvaal as though nobody but Boers lived in it. In +reality the inhabitants were divided into three classes: 1. Natives; 2. +Boers; 3. English. I say were divided, because the English class can +now hardly be said to exist, the country having been made too hot to +hold it since the war. The natives stand in the proportion of nearly +twenty to one to the whites. The Boers were in their turn much more +numerous than the English, but the latter owned nearly all the trading +establishments in the country, and also a very large amount of +property. +</p> + +<p> +The Transvaal Boers have been very much praised up by members of the +Government in England, and others who are anxious to advance their +interests, as against English interests. Mr. Gladstone, indeed, can +hardly find words strong enough to express his admiration of their +leaders, those "able men," since they inflicted a national humiliation +on us; and doubtless they are a people with many good points. That they +are not devoid of sagacity can be seen by the way they have dealt with +the English Government. +</p> + +<p> +The Boers are certainly a peculiar people, though they can hardly be +said to be "zealous of good works." They are very religious, but their +religion takes its colour from the darkest portions of the Old +Testament; lessons of mercy and gentleness are not at all to their +liking, and they seldom care to read the Gospels. What they delight in +are the stories of wholesale butchery by the Israelites of old; and in +their own position they find a reproduction of that of the first +settlers in the Holy Land. Like them they think they are entrusted by +the Almighty with the task of exterminating the heathen native tribes +around them, and are always ready with a scriptural precedent for +slaughter and robbery. The name of the Divinity is continually on their +lips, sometimes in connection with very doubtful statements. They are +divided into three sects, none of which care much for the other two. +These are the Doppers, who number about half the population, the +Orthodox Reform, and the Liberal Reform, which is the least numerous. +Of these three sects the Doppers are by far the most uncompromising and +difficult to deal with. They much resemble the Puritans of Charles the +First's time, of the extreme Hew-Agag-in-pieces stamp. +</p> + +<p> +It is difficult to agree with those who call the Boers cowards, an +accusation which the whole of their history belies. A Boer does not +like fighting if he can avoid it, because he sets a high value on his +own life; but if he is cornered, he will fight as well as anybody else. +The Boers fought well enough in the late war, though that, it is true, +is no great criterion of courage, since they were throughout flushed +with victory, and, owing to the poor shooting of the British troops, in +but little personal danger. One very unpleasant characteristic they +have, and that is an absence of regard for the truth, especially where +land is concerned. Indeed the national characteristic is crystallised +into a proverb, "I am no slave to my word." It has several times +happened to me to see one set of highly respectable witnesses in a land +case go into the box and swear distinctly that they saw a beacon placed +on a certain spot, whilst an equal number on the other side will swear +that they saw it placed a mile away. Filled as they are with a land +hunger, to which that of the Irish peasant is a weak and colourless +sentiment, there is little that they will not do to gratify their +taste. It is the subject of constant litigation amongst them, and it is +by no means uncommon for a Boer to spend several thousand pounds in +lawsuits over a piece of land not worth as many hundreds. +</p> + +<p> +Personally Boers are fine men, but as a rule ugly. Their women-folk are +good-looking in early life, but get very stout as they grow older. +They, in common with most of their sex, understand how to use their +tongues; indeed, it is said that it was the women who caused the rising +against the English Government. None of the refinements of civilisation +enter into the life of an ordinary Transvaal Boer. He lives in a way +that would shock an English labourer at twenty-five shillings the week, +although he is very probably worth fifteen or twenty thousand pounds. +His home is but too frequently squalid and filthy to an extraordinary +degree. He himself has no education, and does not care that his +children should receive any. He lives by himself in the middle of a +great plot of land, his nearest neighbour being perhaps ten or twelve +miles away, caring but little for the news of the outside world and +nothing for its opinions, doing very little work, but growing daily +richer through the increase of his flocks and herds. His expenses are +almost nothing, and as he gets older wealth increases upon him. The +events in his life consist of an occasional trip on "commando" against +some native tribe, attending a few political meetings, and the journeys +he makes with his family to the nearest town, some four times a year, +in order to be present at "Nachtmaal" or communion. Foreigners, +especially Englishmen, he detests, but he is kindly and hospitable to +his own people. Living isolated as he does, the lord of a little +kingdom, he naturally comes to have a great idea of himself, and a +corresponding contempt for all the rest of mankind. Laws and taxes are +things distasteful to him, and he looks upon it as an impertinence that +any court should venture to call him to account for his doings. He is +rich and prosperous, and the cares of poverty, and all the other +troubles that fall to the lot of civilised men, do not affect him. He +has no romance in him, nor any of the higher feelings and aspirations +that are found in almost every other race; in short, unlike the Zulu he +despises, there is little of the gentleman in his composition, though +he is at times capable of acts of kindness and even generosity. His +happiness is to live alone in the great wilderness, with his children, +his men-servants, and his maid-servants, his flocks and his herds, the +monarch of all he surveys. If civilisation presses him too closely, his +remedy is a simple one. He sells his farm, packs up his goods and cash +in his waggon, and starts for regions more congenially wild. Such are +some of the leading characteristics of that remarkable product of South +Africa, the Transvaal Boer, who resembles no other white man in the +world. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps, however, the most striking of all his oddities is his +abhorrence of all government, more especially if that government be +carried out according to English principles. The Boers have always been +more or less in rebellion; they rebelled against the rule of the +Company when the Cape belonged to Holland, they rebelled against the +English Government in the Cape, they were always in a state of +semi-rebellion against their own Government in the Transvaal, and now +they have for the second time, with the most complete success, rebelled +against the English Government. The fact of the matter is that the bulk +of their number hate all Governments, because Governments enforce law +and order, and they hate the English Government worst of all because it +enforces law and order most of all. It is not liberty they long for, +but license. The "sturdy independence" of the Boer resolves itself into +a determination not to have his affairs interfered with by any superior +power whatsoever, and not to pay taxes if he can possibly avoid it. But +he has also a specific cause of complaint against the English +Government, which would alone cause him to do his utmost to get rid of +it, and that is its mode of dealing with natives, which is radically +opposite to his own. This is the secret of Boer patriotism. To +understand it, it must be remembered that the Englishman and the Boer +look at natives from a very different point of view. The Englishman, +though he may not be very fond of him, at any rate regards the Kafir as +a fellow human being with feelings like his own. The average Boer does +not. He looks upon the "black creature" as having been delivered into +his hand by the "Lord" for his own purposes, that is, to shoot and +enslave. He must not be blamed too harshly for this, for, besides being +naturally of a somewhat hard disposition, hatred of the native is +hereditary, and is partly induced by the history of many a bloody +struggle. Also the native hates the Boer fully as much as the Boer +hates the native, though with better reason. Now native labour is a +necessity to the Boer, because he will not as a rule do hard manual +labour himself, and there must be some one to plant and garner the +crops and herd the cattle. On the other hand, the natives are not +anxious to serve the Boers, which means little or no pay and plenty of +thick stick, and sometimes worse. The result of this state of affairs +is that the Boer often has to rely on forced labour to a very great +extent. But this is a thing that an English Government will not +tolerate, and the consequence is that under its rule he cannot get the +labour that is necessary to him. +</p> + +<p> +Then there is the tax question. If he lives under the English flag the +money has to be paid regularly, but under his own Government he pays or +not as he likes. It was this habit of his of refusing payment of taxes +that brought the Republic into difficulties in 1877, and that will ere +long bring it into trouble again. He cannot understand that cash is +necessary to carry on a Government, and looks upon a tax as though it +were so much money stolen from him. These things are the real springs +of the "sturdy independence" and the patriotism of the ordinary +Transvaal farmer. Doubtless there are some who are really patriotic; +for instance, one of their leaders, Paul Kruger. But with the majority, +patriotism is only another word for unbounded license and forced +labour. +</p> + +<p> +These remarks must not be taken to apply to the Cape Boers, who are a +superior class of men, since they, living under a settled and civilised +Government, have been steadily improving, whilst their cousins, living +every man for his own hand, have been deteriorating. The old +Voortrekkers, the fathers and grandfathers of the Transvaal Boer of +to-day, were, without doubt, a very fine set of men, and occasionally +you may in the Transvaal meet individuals of the same stamp whom it is +a pleasure to know. But these are generally men of a certain age, with +some experience of the world; the younger men are very objectionable in +their manners. +</p> + +<p> +The real Dutch Patriotic party is not to be found in the Transvaal, but +in the Cape Colony. Their object, which, as affairs now are, is well +within the bounds of possibility, is by fair means or foul to swamp the +English element in South Africa, and to establish a great Dutch +Republic. It was this party, which consists of clever and well educated +men, who raised the outcry against the Transvaal Annexation, because it +meant an enormous extension of English influence, and who had the wit, +by means of their emissaries and newspapers, to work upon the feeling +of the ignorant Transvaal farmers until they persuaded them to rebel; +and finally, to avail themselves of the yearnings of English radicalism +for the disruption of the Empire and the minimisation of British +authority, to get the Annexation cancelled. All through this business +the Boers have more or less danced in obedience to strings pulled at +Cape Town, and it is now said that one of the chief wire-pullers, Mr. +Hofmeyer, is to be asked to become President of the Republic. These men +are the real patriots of South Africa, and very clever ones too—not +the Transvaal Boers, who vapour about their blood and their country and +the accursed Englishman to order, and are in reality influenced by very +small motives, such as the desire to avoid payment of taxes, or to hunt +away a neighbouring Englishman, whose civilisation and refinement are +as offensive as his farm is desirable. Such are the Dutch inhabitants +of the Transvaal. I will now give a short sketch of their institutions +as they were before the Annexation, and to which the community has +reverted since its recision, with, I believe, but few alterations. +</p> + +<p> +The form of government is republican, and to all intents and purposes +manhood suffrage prevails, supreme power resting in the people. The +executive power of the State centres in a President elected by the +people to hold office for a term of five years, every voter having a +voice in his election. He is assisted in the execution of his duties by +an Executive Council, consisting of the State Secretary and such other +three members as are selected for that purpose by the legislative body, +the Volksraad. The State Secretary holds office for four years, and is +elected by the Volksraad. The members of the Executive have all seats +in the Volksraad, but have no votes. The Volksraad is the legislative +body of the State, and consists of forty-two members. The country is +divided into twelve electoral districts, each of which has the right to +return three members; the Gold Fields have also the right of electing +two members, and the four principal towns one member each. There is no +power in the State competent to either prorogue or dissolve the +Volksraad except that body itself, so that an appeal to the country on +a given subject or policy is impossible without its concurrence. +Members are elected for four years, but half retire by rotation every +two years, the vacancies being filled by re-elections. Members must +have been voters for three years, and be not less than thirty years of +age, must belong to a Protestant Church, be resident in the country, +and owners of immovable property therein. A father and son cannot sit +in the same Raad, neither can seats be occupied by coloured persons, +bastards, or officials. +</p> + +<p> +For each electoral district there is a magistrate or Landdrost, whose +duties are similar to those of a Civil Commissioner. These districts +are again subdivided into wards presided over by field cornets, who +exercise judicial powers in minor matters, and in times of war have +considerable authority. The Roman Dutch law is the common law of the +country, as it is of the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, +and of the Orange Free State. +</p> + +<p> +Prior to the Annexation justice was administered in a very primitive +fashion. First, there was the Landdrosts' Court, from which an appeal +lay to a court consisting of the Landdrost and six councillors elected +by the public. This was a court of first instance as well as a court of +appeal. Then there was a Supreme Court, consisting of three Landdrosts +from three different districts, and a jury of twelve selected from the +burghers of the State. There was no appeal from this court, but cases +have sometimes been brought under the consideration of the Volksraad as +the supreme power. It is easy to imagine what the administration of +justice was like when the presidents of all the law courts in the +country were elected by the mob, not on account of their knowledge of +the law, but because they were popular. Suitors before the old +Transvaal courts found the law surprisingly uncertain. A High Court of +Justice was, however, established after the Annexation, and has been +continued by the Volksraad, but an agitation is being got up against +it, and it will possibly be abolished in favour of the old system. +</p> + +<p> +In such a community as that of the Transvaal Boers the question of +public defence was evidently of the first importance. This is provided +for under what is known as the Commando system. The President, with the +concurrence of the Executive Council, has the right of declaring war, +and of calling up a commando, in which the burghers are placed under +the field cornets and commandants. These last are chosen by the field +cornets for each district, and a Commandant-general is chosen by the +whole laager or force, but the President is the Commander-in-Chief of +the army. All the inhabitants of the State between sixteen and sixty, +with a few exceptions, are liable for service. Young men under +eighteen, and men over fifty, are only called out under circumstances +of emergency. Members of the Volksraad, officials, clergymen, and +school-teachers are exempt from personal service, unless martial law is +proclaimed, but must contribute an amount not exceeding £15 towards the +expense of the war. All legal proceedings in civil cases are suspended +against persons on commando, no summonses can be made out, and as soon +as martial law is proclaimed no legal execution can be prosecuted, the +pounds are closed, and transfer dues payments are suspended until after +thirty days from the recall of the proclamation of martial law. Owners +of land residing beyond the borders of the Republic are also liable, in +addition to the ordinary war tax, to place a fit and proper substitute +at the disposal of the Government, or otherwise to pay a fine of £15. +The first levy of the burghers is, of men from eighteen to thirty-four +years of age; the second, thirty-four to fifty; and the third, from +sixteen to eighteen, and from fifty to sixty years. Every man is bound +to provide himself with clothing, a gun, and ammunition, and there must +be enough waggons and oxen found between them to suffice for their +joint use. Of the booty taken, one quarter goes to Government, and the +rest to the burghers. The most disagreeable part of the commandeering +system is, however, yet to come; personal service is not all that the +resident in the Transvaal Republic has to endure. The right is vested +in field cornets to commandeer articles as well as individuals, and to +call upon inhabitants to furnish requisites for the commando. As may be +imagined, it goes very hard on these occasions with the property of any +individual whom the field cornet may not happen to like. +</p> + +<p> +Each ward is expected to turn out its contingent ready and equipped for +war, and this can only be done by seizing goods right and left. One +unfortunate will have to find a waggon, another to deliver over his +favourite span of trek oxen, another his riding-horse or some slaughter +cattle, and so on. Even when the officer making the levy is desirous of +doing his duty as fairly as he can, it is obvious that very great +hardships must be inflicted under such a system. Requisitions are made +more with regard to what is wanted than with a view to an equitable +distribution of demands; and like the Jews in the time of the Crusades, +he who has got most must pay most, or take the consequences, which may +be unpleasant. Articles which are not perishable, such as waggons, are +supposed to be returned, but if they come back at all they are +generally worthless. +</p> + +<p> +In case of war, the native tribes living within the borders of the +State are also expected to furnish contingents, and it is on them that +most of the hard work of the campaign generally falls. They are put in +the front of the battle, and have to do the hand-to-hand fighting, +which, however, if of the Zulu race, they do not object to. +</p> + +<p> +The revenue of the State is so arranged that the burden of it should +fall as much as possible on the trading community, and as little as +possible on the farmer. It is chiefly derived from licenses on trades, +professions, and callings, 30s. per annum quit-rent on farms, transfer +dues and stamps, auction dues, court fees, and contributions from such +native tribes as can be made to pay them. Since we have given up the +country, the Volksraad has put a very heavy tax on all imported goods, +hoping thereby to beguile the Boers into paying taxes without knowing +it, and at the same time strike a blow at the trading community, which +is English in its proclivities. The result has been to paralyse what +little trade there was left in the country, and to cause great +dissatisfaction amongst the farmers, who cannot understand why, now +that the English are gone, they should have to pay twice as much for +their sugar and coffee as they have been accustomed to do. +</p> + +<p> +I will conclude this chapter with a few words about the natives who +swarm in and around the Transvaal. They can be roughly divided into two +great races, the Amazulu and their offshoots, and the Macatee or Basuto +tribes. All those of Zulu blood, including the Swazis, Mapock's Kafirs, +the Matabele, the Knob-noses, and others are very warlike in +disposition, and men of fine physique. The Basutos (who must not be +confounded with the Cape Basutos), however, differ from these tribes in +every respect, including their language, which is called Sisutu, the +only mutual feeling between the two races being their common +detestation of the Boers. They do not love war; in fact, they are timid +and cowardly by nature, and only fight when they are obliged to. Unlike +the Zulus, they are much addicted to the arts of peace, show +considerable capacities for civilisation, and are even willing to +become Christians. There would have been a far better field for the +Missionary in the Transvaal than in Zululand and Natal. Indeed, the +most successful mission station I have seen in Africa is near +Middleburg, under the control of Mr. Merensky. In person the Basutos +are thin and weakly when compared to the stalwart Zulu, and it is their +consciousness of inferiority both to the white men and their black +brethren that, together with their natural timidity, makes them submit +as easily as they do to the yoke of the Boer. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="II"> </a> +CHAPTER II. +<br><br> +<span class="small"> +EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +In or about the year 1872, the burghers of the Republic elected Mr. +Burgers their President. This remarkable man was a native of the Cape +Colony, and passed the first sixteen or seventeen years of his life, he +once informed me, on a farm herding sheep. He afterwards became a +clergyman noted for the eloquence of his preaching, but his ideas +proving too broad for his congregation, he resigned his cure, and in an +evil moment for himself took to politics. +</p> + +<p> +President Burgers was a man of striking presence and striking talents, +especially as regards his oratory, which was really of a very high +class, and would have commanded attention in our own House of Commons. +He possessed, however, a mind of that peculiarly volatile order that is +sometimes met with in conjunction with great talents, and which seems +to be entirely without ballast. His intellect was of a balloon-like +nature, and as incapable of being steered. He was always soaring in the +clouds, and, as is natural to one in that elevated position, taking a +very different and more sanguine view of affairs to that which men of a +more lowly, and perhaps a more practical, turn of mind would do. +</p> + +<p> +But notwithstanding his fly-away ideas, President Burgers was +undoubtedly a true patriot, labouring night and day for the welfare of +the State of which he had undertaken the guidance; but his patriotism +was too exalted for his surroundings. He wished to elevate to the rank +of a nation a people who had not got the desire to be elevated; with +this view he contracted railway loans, made wars, minted gold, &c., and +then suddenly discovered that the country refused to support him. In +short, he was made of very different clay to that of the people he had +to do with. He dreamt of a great Dutch Republic "with eight millions of +inhabitants," doing a vast trade with the interior through the Delagoa +Bay Railway. They, on the other hand, cared nothing about republics or +railways, but fixed their affections on forced labour and getting rid +of the necessity of paying taxes—and so between them the Republic came +to grief. But it must be borne in mind that President Burgers was +throughout actuated by good motives; he did his best by a stubborn and +a stiff-necked people; and if he failed, as fail he did, it was more +their fault than his. As regards the pension he received from the +English Government, which has so often been brought up against him, it +was after all no more than his due after five years of arduous work. If +the Republic had continued to exist, it is to be presumed that they +would have made some provision for their old President, more especially +as he seems to have exhausted his private means in paying the debts of +the country. Whatever may be said of some of the other officials of the +Republic, its President was, I believe, an honest man. +</p> + +<p> +In 1875, Mr. Burgers proceeded to Europe, having, he says in a +posthumous document recently published been empowered by the Volksraad +"to carry out my plans for the development of the country, by opening +up a direct communication for it, free from the trammels of British +ports and influence." According to this document, during his absence +two powerful parties, viz., "the faction of unprincipled +fortune-hunters, rascals, and runaways on the one hand, and the faction +of the extreme orthodox party in a certain branch of the Dutch Reform +Church on the other, began to co-operate against the Government of the +Republic and me personally…. Ill as I was, and contrary to the advice +of my medical men, I proceeded to Europe, in the beginning of 1875, to +carry out my project, and no sooner was my back turned on the Transvaal +than the conspiring elements began to act. The new coat of arms and +flag adopted in the Raad by an almost unanimous vote were abolished; +the laws for a free and secular education were tampered with; and my +resistance to a reckless inspection and disposal of Government lands, +still occupied by natives, was openly defied. The Raad, filled up to a +large extent with men of ill repute, who, under the cloak of progress +and favour to the Government view, obtained their seats, was too weak +to cope with the skill of the conspirators, and granted leave to the +acting President to carry out measures diametrically opposed to my +policy. <i>Native lands</i> were inspected and given out to a few +speculators, who held large numbers of claims to lands which were +destined for citizens, and so a war was prepared for me, on my return +from Europe, which I could not avert." This extract is interesting, as +showing the state of feeling existing between the President and his +officers previous to the outbreak of the Secocœni war. It also shows +how entirely he was out of sympathy with the citizens, seeing that, as +soon as his back was turned, they, with Mr. Joubert and Paul Kruger at +their head, at once undid all the little good he had done. +</p> + +<p> +When Mr. Burgers got to England, he found that city capitalists would +have nothing whatever to say to his railway scheme. In Holland, +however, he succeeded in getting £90,000 of the £300,000 he wished to +borrow at a high rate of interest, and by passing a bond on five +hundred Government farms. This money was immediately invested in +railway plant, which, when it arrived at Delagoa Bay, had to be +mortgaged to pay the freight on it, and that was the end of the Delagoa +Bay railway scheme, except that the £90,000 is, I believe, still owing +to the confiding shareholders in Holland. +</p> + +<p> +On his return to the Transvaal the President was well received, and for +a month or so all went smoothly. But the relations of the Republic with +the surrounding native tribes had by this time become so bad that an +explosion was imminent somewhere. In the year 1874 the Volksraad raised +the price of passes under the iniquitous pass law, by which every +native travelling through the territory was made to pay from £1 to £5. +In case of non-payment the native was made subject to a fine of from £1 +to £10, and to a beating of from "ten to twenty-five lashes." He was +also to go into service for three months, and have a certificate +thereof, for which he must pay five shillings; the avowed object of the +law being to obtain a supply of Kafir labour. This was done in spite of +the earnest protest of the President, who gave the Raad distinctly to +understand that by accepting this law they would, in point of fact, +annul treaties concluded with the chiefs on the south-western borders. +It is not clear, however, if this amended pass law ever came into +force. It is to be hoped it did not, for even under the old law natives +were shamefully treated by Boers, who would pretend that they were +authorised by Government to collect the tax; the result being that the +unfortunate Kafir was frequently obliged to pay twice over. Natives had +such a horror of the pass laws of the country, that when travelling to +the Diamond Fields to work they would frequently go round some hundreds +of miles rather than pass through the Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +That the Volksraad should have thought it necessary to enact such a law +in order that the farmers should obtain a supply of Kafir labour in a +territory that had nearly a million of native inhabitants, who, unlike +the Zulus, are willing to work if only they meet with decent treatment, +is in itself an instructive commentary on the feelings existing between +Boer master and Kafir servant. +</p> + +<p> +But besides the general quarrel with the Kafir race in its entirety, +which the Boers always have on hand, they had just then several +individual differences, in each of which there lurked the possibilities +of disturbance. +</p> + +<p> +To begin with, their relations with Cetywayo were by no means amicable. +During Mr. Burgers' absence the Boer Government, then under the +leadership of P. J. Joubert, sent Cetywayo a very stern message—a +message that gives the reader the idea that Mr. Joubert was ready to +enforce it with ten thousand men. After making various statements and +demands with reference to the Amaswazi tribe, the disputed boundary +line, &c. it ends thus:— +</p> + +<p> +"Although the Government of the South African Republic has never +wished, and does not now desire, that serious disaffection and +animosities should exist between you and them, yet it is not the less +of the greatest consequence and importance for you earnestly to weigh +these matters and risks, and to satisfy them; the more so, if you on +your side also wish that peace and friendship shall be maintained +between you and us." +</p> + +<p> +The Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal comments on this message in +these words: "The tone of this message to Cetywayo is not very +friendly, it has the look of an ultimatum, and if the Government of the +Transvaal were in circumstances different to what it is, the message +would suggest an intention to coerce if the demands it conveys are not +at once complied with; but I am inclined to the opinion that no such +intention exists, and that the transmission of a copy of the message to +the Natal Government is intended as a notification that the Transvaal +Government has proclaimed the territory hitherto in dispute between it +and the Zulus to be Republican territory, and that the Republic intends +to occupy it." +</p> + +<p> +In the territories marked out by a decision known as the Keate Award, +in which Lieutenant-Governor Keate of Natal, at the request of both +parties, laid down the boundary line between the Boers and certain +native tribes, the Boer Government carried it with a yet higher hand, +insomuch as the natives of those districts, being comparatively +unwarlike, were less likely to resist. +</p> + +<p> +On the 18th August 1875, Acting President Joubert issued a proclamation +by which a line was laid down far to the southward of that marked out +by Mr. Keate, and consequently included more territory within the +elastic boundaries of the Republic. A Government notice of the same +date invites all claiming lands now declared to belong to the Republic +to send in their claims to be settled by a land commission. +</p> + +<p> +On the 6th March 1876, another chief in the same neighbourhood +(Montsoia) writes to the Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West in +these terms:— +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"<span class="sc">My Friend</span>,—I wish to acquaint you with +the doings of some people connected with the Boers. A man-servant of +mine has been severely injured in the head by one of the Boers' +servants, which has proved fatal. Another of my people has been cruelly +treated by a Boer tying a rein about his neck, and then mounting his +horse and dragging him about the place. My brother Molema, who is the +bearer of this, will give you full particulars." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Molema explains the assaults thus: "The assaulted man is not dead; his +skull was fractured. The assault was committed by a Boer named Wessels +Badenhorst, who shamefully ill-treated the man, beat him till he +fainted, and, on his revival, fastened a rim round his neck, and made +him run to the homestead by the side of his (Badenhorst's) horse +cantering. At the homestead he tied him to the waggon-wheel, and +flogged him again till Mrs. Badenhorst stopped her husband." +</p> + +<p> +Though it will be seen that the Boers were on good terms neither with +the Zulus nor the Keate Award natives, they still had one Kafir ally, +namely, Umbandeni, the Amaswazi king. This alliance was concluded under +circumstances so peculiar that they are worthy of a brief +recapitulation. It appears that in the winter of the year 1875, Mr. +Rudolph, the Landdrost of Utrecht, went to Swaziland, and, imitating +the example of the Natal Government with Cetywayo, crowned Umbandeni +king, on behalf of the Boer Government. He further made a treaty of +alliance with him, and promised him a commando to help him in case of +his being attacked by the Zulus. Now comes the curious part of the +story. On the 18th May 1876, a message came from this same Umbandeni to +Sir H. Bulwer, of which the following is an extract:—"We are sent by +our king to thank the Government of Natal for the information sent to +him last winter by that Government, and conveyed by Mr. Rudolph, of the +intended attack on his people by the Zulus. We are further instructed +by the king to thank the Natal Government for the influence it used to +stop the intended raid, and for instructing a Boer commando to go to +his country to render him assistance in case of need; and further for +appointing Mr. Rudolph at the head of the commando to place him +(Umbandeni) as king over the Amaswazi, and to make a treaty with him +and his people on behalf of the Natal Government…. The Transvaal +Government has asked Umbandeni to acknowledge himself a subject of the +Republic, but he has distinctly refused to do so." In a minute written +on this subject, the Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal says, "No +explanation or assurance from me was sufficient to convince them +(Umbandeni's messengers) that they had on that occasion made themselves +subjects of the South African Republic; they declared it was not their +wish or intention to do so, and that they would refuse to acknowledge a +position into which they had been unwittingly betrayed." I must +conclude this episode by quoting the last paragraph of Sir H. Bulwer's +covering despatch, because it concerns larger issues than the supposed +treaty: "It will not be necessary that I should at present add any +remarks to those contained in the minute of the Secretary for Native +Affairs, but I would observe that the situation arising out of the +relations of the Government of the South African Republic with the +neighbouring native States is so complicated, and presents so many +elements of confusion and of danger to the peace of this portion of +South Africa, that I trust some way may be found to an early settlement +of questions that ought not, in my opinion, to be left alone, as so +many have been left, to take the chance of the future." +</p> + +<p> +And now I come to the last and most imminent native difficulty that at +the time faced the Republic. On the borders of Lydenburg district there +lived a powerful chief named Secocœni. Between this chief and the +Transvaal Government difficulties arose in the beginning of 1876 on the +usual subject—land. The Boers declared that they had bought the land +from the Swazis, who had conquered portions of the country, and that +the Swazis offered to make it "clean from brambles," <i>i.e.</i>, kill +everybody living on it; but that they (the Boers) said that they were +to let them be, that they might be their servants. The Basutos, on the +other hand, said that no such sale ever took place, and, even if it did +take place, it was invalid, because the Swazis were not in occupation +of the land, and therefore could not sell it. It was a Christian Kafir +called Johannes, a brother of Secocœni, who was the immediate cause +of the war. This Johannes used to live at a place called Botsobelo, the +mission-station of Mr. Merensky, but moved to a stronghold on the +Spekboom river, in the disputed territory. The Boers sent to him to +come back, but he refused, and warned the Boers off his land. +Secocœni was then appealed to, but declared that the land belonged +to his tribe, and would be occupied by Johannes. He also told the Boers +"that he did not wish to fight, but that he was quite ready to do so if +they preferred it." Thereupon the Transvaal Government declared war, +although it does not appear that the natives committed any outrage or +acts of hostility before the declaration. As regards the Boers' right +to Secocœni's country, Sir H. Barkly sums up the question thus, in a +despatch addressed to President Burgers, dated 28th Nov. 1876:—"On the +whole, it seems perfectly clear, and I feel bound to repeat it, that +Sikukuni was neither <i lang="la">de jure</i> or <i lang="la">de facto</i> a subject of the +Republic when your Honour declared war against him in June last." As +soon as war had been declared, the clumsy commando system was set +working, and about 2500 white men collected; the Swazis also were +applied to to send a contingent, which they did, being only too glad of +the opportunity of slaughter. +</p> + +<p> +At first all went well, and the President, who accompanied the commando +in person, succeeded in reducing a mountain stronghold, which, in his +high-flown way, he called a "glorious victory" over a "Kafir +Gibraltar." +</p> + +<p> +On the 14th July another engagement took place, when the Boers and +Swazis attacked Johannes' stronghold. The place was taken with +circumstances of great barbarity by the Swazis, for when the signal was +given to advance the Boers did not move. Nearly all the women were +killed, and the brains of the children were dashed out against the +stones; in one instance, before the captive mother's face. Johannes was +badly wounded, and died two days afterwards. When he was dying, he said +to his brother, "I am going to die. I am thankful I do not die by the +hands of these cowardly Boers, but by the hand of a black and +courageous nation like myself…." He then took leave of his people, +told his brother to read the Bible, and expired. The Swazis were so +infuriated at the cowardice displayed by the Boers on this occasion +that they returned home in great dudgeon. +</p> + +<p> +On the 2d of August Secocœni's mountain, which is a very strong +fortification, was attacked in two columns, or rather an attempt was +made to attack it, for when it came to the pinch only about forty men, +mostly English and Germans, would advance. Thereupon the whole commando +retreated with great haste, the greater part of it going straight home. +In vain the President entreated them to shoot him rather than desert +him; they had had enough of Secocœni and his stronghold, and home +they went. The President then retreated with what few men he had left +to Steelport, where he built a fort, and from thence returned to +Pretoria. The news of the collapse of the commando was received +throughout the Transvaal, and indeed the whole of South Africa, with +the greatest dismay. For the first time in the history of that country +the white man had been completely worsted by a native tribe, and that +tribe wretched Basutos, people whom the Zulus call their "dogs." It was +glad tidings to every native from the Zambesi to the Cape, who learnt +thereby that the white man was not so invincible as he used to be. +Meanwhile the inhabitants of Lydenburg were filled with alarm, and +again and again petitioned the Governors of the Cape and Natal for +assistance. Their fears were, however, to a great extent groundless, +for, with the exception of occasional cattle-lifting, Secocœni did +not follow up his victory. +</p> + +<p> +On the 4th September the President opened the special sitting of the +Volksraad, and presented to that body a scheme for the establishment of +a border force to take the place of the commando system, announcing +that he had appointed a certain Captain Von Schlickmann to command it. +He also requested the Raad to make some provision for the expenses of +the expedition, which they had omitted to do in their former sitting. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Von Schlickmann determined to carry on the war upon a different +system. He got together a band of very rough characters on the Diamond +Fields, and occupied the fort built by the President, from whence he +would sally out from time to time and destroy kraals. He seems, if we +may believe the reports in the blue-books and the stories of +eye-witnesses, to have carried on his proceedings in a somewhat savage +way. The following is an extract from a private letter written by one +of his volunteers:— +</p> + +<p> +"About daylight we came across four Kafirs. Saw them first, and charged +in front of them to cut off their retreat. Saw they were women, and +called out not to fire. In spite of that, one of the poor things got +her head blown off (a d——d shame)…. Afterwards two women and a baby +were brought to the camp prisoners. The same night they were taken out +by our Kafirs and murdered in cool blood by order of ——. Mr. —— and +myself strongly protested against it, but without avail. I never heard +such a cowardly piece of business in my life. No good will come of it, +you may depend…. —— says he would cut all the women and children's +throats he catches. Told him distinctly he was a d——d coward." +</p> + +<p> +Schlickmann was, however, a mild-mannered man when compared to a +certain Abel Erasmus, afterwards denounced at a public dinner by Sir +Garnet Wolseley as a fiend "in human form." This gentleman, in the +month of October, attacked a friendly kraal of Kafirs. The incident is +described thus in a correspondent's letter:— +</p> + +<p> +"The people of the kraals, taken quite by surprise, fled when they saw +their foes, and most of them took shelter in the neighbouring bush. Two +or three men were distinctly seen in their flight from the kraal, and +one of them is known to have been wounded. According to my informant +the remainder were women and children, who were pursued into the bush, +and there, all shivering and shrieking, were put to death by the Boers' +Kafirs, some being shot, but the majority stabbed with assegais. After +the massacre he counted thirteen women and three children, but he says +he did not see the body of a single man. Another Kafir said, pointing +to a place in the road where the stones were thickly strewn, 'the +bodies of the women and children lay like these stones.' The Boer +before mentioned, who has been stationed outside, has told one of his +own friends, whom he thought would not mention it, that the shrieks +were fearful to hear." +</p> + +<p> +Several accounts of, or allusion to, this atrocity can be found in the +blue-books, and I may add that it, in common with others of the same +stamp, was the talk of the country at the time. +</p> + +<p> +I do not relate these horrors out of any wish to rake up old stories to +the prejudice of the Boers, but because I am describing the state of +the country before the Annexation, in which they form an interesting +and important item. Also, it is as well that people in England should +know into what hands they have delivered over the native tribes who +trusted in their protection. What happened in 1876 is probably +happening again now, and will certainly happen again and again. The +character of the Transvaal Boer and his sentiments towards the native +races have not modified during the last five years, but, on the +contrary, a large amount of energy, which has been accumulating during +the period of British protection, will now be expended on their devoted +heads. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the truth of these atrocities, the majority of them are +beyond the possibility of doubt; indeed, to the best of my knowledge, +no serious attempt has ever been made to refute such of them as have +come into public notice, except in a general way, for party purposes. +As, however, they may be doubted, I will quote the following extract +from a despatch written by Sir H. Barkly to Lord Carnarvon, dated 18th +December 1876:— +</p> + +<p> +"As Von Schlickmann has since fallen fighting bravely, it is not +without reluctance that I join in affixing this dark stain on his +memory, but truth compels me to add the following extract from a letter +which I have since received from one whose name (which I communicate to +your Lordship privately) forbids disbelief: 'There is no longer the +<i>slightest doubt</i> as to the murder of the two women and the child +at Steelport by the direct order of Schlickmann, and in the attack on +the kraal near which these women were captured (or some attack about +that period) he ordered his men to cut the throats of all the wounded! +This is no mere report; it is positively true.'" He concludes by +expressing a hope that the course of events will enable Her Majesty's +Government to take such steps "as will terminate this wanton and +useless bloodshed, and prevent the recurrence of the <i>scenes of +injustice, cruelty, and rapine which abundant evidence is every day +forthcoming to prove have rarely ceased to disgrace the Republics +beyond the Vaal ever since they first sprang into existence</i>."<a href="#note4" name="noteref4"><small>[4]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +These are strong words, but none too strong for the facts of the case. +Injustice, cruelty, and rapine have always been the watchwords of the +Transvaal Boers. The stories of wholesale slaughter in the earlier days +of the Republic are very numerous. One of the best known of those +shocking occurrences took place in the Zoutpansberg war in 1865. On +this occasion a large number of Kafirs took refuge in caves, where the +Boers smoked them to death. Some years afterwards Dr. Wangeman, whose +account is, I believe, thoroughly reliable, describes the scene of +their operations in these words:— +</p> + +<p> +"The roof of the first cave was black with smoke; the remains of the +logs which were burnt lay at the entrance. The floor was strewn with +hundreds of skulls and skeletons. In confused heaps lay karosses, +kerries, assegais, pots, spoons, snuff-boxes, and the bones of men, +giving one the impression that this was the grave of a whole people. +Some estimate the number of those who perished here from twenty to +thirty thousand. This is, I believe, too high. In the one chamber there +were from two hundred to three hundred skeletons; the other chambers I +did not visit." +</p> + +<p> +In 1868 a public meeting was held at Potchefstroom to consider the war +then going on with the Zoutpansberg natives. According to the report of +the proceedings, the Rev. Mr. Ludorf said that "on a particular +occasion a number of native children, who were too young to be removed, +had been collected in a heap, covered with long grass, and burned +alive. Other atrocities had also been committed, but these were too +horrible to relate." When called upon to produce his authority for this +statement, Mr. Ludorf named his authority "in a solemn declaration to +the State Attorney." At this same meeting Mr. J. G. Steyn, who had been +Landdrost of Potchefstroom, said, "there now was innocent blood on our +hands which had not yet been avenged, and the curse of God rested on +the land in consequence." Mr. Rosalt remarked that "it was a singular +circumstance that in the different colonial Kafir wars, as also in the +Basuto wars, one did not hear of destitute children being found by the +commandoes, and asked how it was that every petty commando that took +the field in this Republic invariably found numbers of destitute +children. He gave it as his opinion that the present system of +apprenticeship was an essential cause of our frequent hostilities with +the natives." Mr. Jan Talyard said, "Children were forcibly taken from +their parents, and were then called destitute and apprenticed." Mr. +Daniel Van Nooren was heard to say, "If they had to clear the country, +and could not have the children they found, he would shoot them." Mr. +Field-Cornet Furstenburg stated "that when he was at Zoutpansberg with +his burghers, the chief Katse-Kats was told to come down from the +mountains; that he sent one of his subordinates as a proof of amity; +that whilst a delay of five days was guaranteed by Commandant Paul +Kruger, who was then in command, orders were given at the same time to +attack the natives at break of day, which was accordingly done, but +which resulted in total failure." Truly, this must have been an +interesting meeting. +</p> + +<p> +Before leaving these unsavoury subjects, I must touch on the question +of slavery. It has been again and again denied, on behalf of the +Transvaal Boers, that slavery existed in the Republic. Now, this is, +strictly speaking, true; slavery did not exist, but apprenticeship +did—the rose was called by another name, that is all. The poor +destitute children who were picked up by kind-hearted Boers, after the +extermination of their parents, were apprenticed to farmers till they +came of age. It is a remarkable fact that these children never attained +their majority. You might meet oldish men in the Transvaal who were +not, according to their masters' reckoning, twenty-one years of age. +The assertion that slavery did not exist in the Transvaal is only made +to hoodwink the English public. I have known men who have owned slaves, +and who have seen whole waggon-loads of "black ivory," as they were +called, sold for about £15 a-piece. I have at this moment a tenant, +Carolus by name, on some land I own in Natal, now a well-to-do man, who +was for many years—about twenty, if I remember right—a Boer slave. +During those years, he told me, he worked from morning till night, and +the only reward he received was two calves. He finally escaped into +Natal. +</p> + +<p> +If other evidence is needed it is not difficult to find, so I will +quote a little. On the 22d August 1876 we find Khama, king of the +Bamangwato, one of the most worthy chiefs in South Africa, sending a +message to "Victoria, the great Queen of the English people," in these +words:— +</p> + +<p> +"I write to you, Sir Henry, in order that your Queen may preserve for +me my country, it being in her hands. The Boers are coming into it, and +I do not like them. Their actions are cruel among us black people. We +are like money, they sell us and our children. I ask Her Majesty to +pity me, and to hear that which I write quickly. I wish to hear upon +what conditions Her Majesty will receive me, and my country and my +people, under her protection. I am weary with fighting. I do not like +war, and I ask Her Majesty to give me peace. I am very much distressed +that my people are being destroyed by war, and I wish them to obtain +peace. I ask Her Majesty to defend me, as she defends all her people. +There are three things which distress me very much—war, selling +people, and drink. All these things I shall find in the Boers, and it +is these things which destroy people to make an end of them in the +country. <i>The custom of the Boers has always been to cause people to +be sold, and to-day they are still selling people.</i> Last year I saw +them pass with two waggons full of people whom they had bought at the +river at Tanane" (Lake Ngate). +</p> + +<p> +The Special Correspondent of the <i>Cape Argus</i>, a highly +respectable journal, writes thus on the 28th November 1876:—"The Boer +from whom this information was gleaned has furnished besides some facts +which may not be uninteresting, as a commentary on the repeated denials +by Mr. Burgers of the existence of slavery. During the last week slaves +have been offered for sale on his farm. The captives have been taken +from Secocœni's country by Mapoch's people, and are being exchanged +at the rate of a child for a heifer. He also assures us that the whole +of the High-veld is being replenished with Kafir children, whom the +Boers have been lately purchasing from the Swazis at the rate of a +horse for a child. I should like to see this man and his father as +witnesses before an Imperial Commission. He let fall one or two +incidents of the past which were brought to mind by the occurrences of +the present. In 1864, he says, 'The Swazis accompanied the Boers +against Males. The Boers did nothing but stand by and witness the +fearful massacre. The men and women were also murdered. One poor woman +sat clutching her baby of eight days old. The Swazis stabbed her +through the body, and when she found that she could not live, she wrung +the baby's neck with her own hands to save it from future misery. On +the return of that commando the children who became too weary to +continue the journey were killed on the road. The survivors were sold +as slaves to the farmers.'" +</p> + +<p> +The same gentleman writes in the issue of the 12th December as +follows:—"The whole world may know it, for it is true, and +investigation will only bring out the horrible details, that through +the whole course of this Republic's existence it has acted in +contravention of the Sand River Treaty; and slavery has occurred not +only here and there in isolated cases, but as an unbroken practice, and +has been one of the peculiar institutions of the country, mixed up with +all its social and political life. It has been at the root of most of +its wars. It has been carried on regularly even in times of peace. It +has been characterised by all those circumstances which have so often +roused the British nation to an indignant protest, and to repeated +efforts to banish the slave trade from the world. The Boers have not +only fallen on unsuspecting kraals simply for the purpose of obtaining +the women and children and cattle, but they have carried on a traffic +through natives who have kidnapped the children of their weaker +neighbours, and sold them to the white man. Again, the Boers have sold +and exchanged their victims among themselves. Waggon-loads of slaves +have been conveyed from one end of the country to the other for sale, +and that with the cognisance of, and for the direct advantage of, the +highest officials of the land. The writer has himself seen in a town, +situated in the south of the Republic, the children who had been +brought down from a remote northern district. One fine morning, in +walking through the streets, he was struck with the number of little +black strangers standing about certain houses, and wondered where they +could have come from. He learnt a few hours later that they were part +of loads which were disposed of on the outskirts of the town the day +before. The circumstances connected with some of these kidnapping +excursions are appalling, and the barbarities practised by cruel +masters upon some of these defenceless creatures during the course of +their servitude are scarcely less horrible than those reported from +Turkey. It is no disgrace in this country for an official to ride a +fine horse which was got for two Kafir children, to procure whom the +father and mother were shot. No reproach is inherited by the mistress +who, day after day, tied up her female servant in an agonising posture, +and had her beaten until there was no sound part in her body, securing +her in the stocks during the intervals of torture. That man did not +lose caste who tied up another woman and had her thrashed until she +brought forth at the whipping-post. These are merely examples of +thousands of cases which could be proved were an Imperial Commission to +sit, and could the wretched victims of a prolonged oppression recover +sufficiently from the dread of their old tyrants to give a truthful +report." +</p> + +<p> +To come to some evidence more recently adduced. On the 9th May 1881, an +affidavit was sworn to by the Rev. John Thorne, curate of St. John the +Evangelist, Lydenburg, Transvaal, and presented to the Royal Commission +appointed to settle Transvaal affairs, in which he states:—"That I was +appointed to the charge of a congregation in Potchefstroom, about +thirteen years ago, when the Republic was under the presidency of Mr. +Pretorius.<a href="#note5" name="noteref5"><small>[5]</small></a> I remember noticing one morning as I walked through the +streets, a number of young natives, whom I knew to be strangers. I +inquired where they came from. I was told that they had just been +brought from Zoutpansberg. This was the locality from which slaves were +chiefly brought at that time, and were traded for under the name of +'Black Ivory.' One of these natives belonged to Mr. Munich, the State +Attorney. It was a matter of common remark at that time that the +President of the Republic was himself one of the greatest dealers in +slaves." In the fourth paragraph of the same affidavit Mr. Thorne says, +"That the Rev. Doctor Nachtigal, of the Berlin Missionary Society, was +the interpreter for Shatane's people in the private office of Mr. Roth, +and, at the close of the interview, told me what had occurred. On my +expressing surprise, he went on to relate that he had information on +native matters which would surprise me more. He then produced the copy +of a register, kept in the Landdrost's office, of men, women, and +children, to the number of four hundred and eighty (480), who had been +disposed of by one Boer to another for a consideration. In one case an +ox was given in exchange, in another goats, in a third a blanket, and +so forth. Many of these natives he (Mr. Nachtigal) knew personally. The +copy was certified as true and correct by an official of the Republic, +and I would mention his name now, only that I am persuaded that it +would cost the man his life if his act became known to the Boers." +</p> + +<p> +On the 16th May 1881, a native, named Frederick Molepo, was examined by +the Royal Commission. The following are extracts from his +examination:— +</p> + +<p> +"(<i>Sir E. Wood.</i>) Are you a Christian?—Yes. +</p> + +<p> +"(<i>Sir H. de Villiers.</i>) How long were you a slave?—Half a year. +</p> + +<p> +"How do you know that you were a slave? Might you not have been an +apprentice?—No, I was not apprenticed. +</p> + +<p> +"How do you know?—They got me from my parents, and ill-treated me. +</p> + +<p> +"(<i>Sir E. Wood.</i>) How many times did you get the stick?—Every +day. +</p> + +<p> +"(<i>Sir H. de Villiers.</i>) What did the Boers do with you when they +caught you?—They sold me. +</p> + +<p> +"How much did they sell you for?—One cow and a big pot." +</p> + +<p> +On the 28th May 1881, amongst the other documents handed in for the +consideration of the Royal Commission, is the statement of a headman, +whose name it has been considered advisable to omit in the blue-book +for fear the Boers should take vengeance on him. He says, "I say, that +if the English government dies I shall die too; I would rather die than +be under the Boer Government. I am the man who helped to make bricks +for the church you see now standing in the square here (Pretoria), as a +slave without payment. As a representative of my people I am still +obedient to the English Government, and willing to obey all commands +from them, even to die for their cause in this country, rather than +submit to the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +"I was under Shambok, my chief, who fought the Boers formerly, but he +left us, and we were <i>put up to auction</i> and sold among the Boers. +I want to state this myself to the Royal Commission in Newcastle. I was +bought by Fritz Botha and sold by Frederick Botha, who was then veld +cornet (justice of the peace) of the Boers."<a href="#note6" name="noteref6"><small>[6]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +It would be easy to find more reports of the slave-trading practices of +the Boers, but as the above are fair samples it will not be necessary +to do so. My readers will be able from them to form some opinion as to +whether or not slavery or apprenticeship existed in the Transvaal. If +they come to the conclusion that it did, it must be borne in mind that +what existed in the past will certainly exist again in the future. +Natives are not now any fonder of working for Boers than they were a +few years back, and Boers must get labour somehow. If, on the other +hand, it did not exist, then the Boers are a grossly slandered people, +and all writers on the subject, from Livingstone down, have combined to +take away their character. +</p> + +<p> +Leaving native questions for the present, we must now return to the +general affairs of the country. When President Burgers opened the +special sitting of the Volksraad, on the 4th September, he appealed, it +will be remembered, to that body for pecuniary aid to liquidate the +expenses of the war. This appeal was responded to by the passing of a +war tax, under which every owner of a farm was to pay £10, the owner of +half a farm £5, and so on. The tax was not a very just one, since it +fell with equal weight on the rich man who held twenty farms and the +poor man who held but one. Its justice or injustice was, however, to a +great extent immaterial, since the free and independent burghers, +including some of the members of the Volksraad who had imposed it, +promptly refused to pay it, or indeed, whilst they were about it, any +other tax. As the Treasury was already empty, and creditors were +pressing, this refusal was most ill-timed, and things began to look +very black indeed. Meanwhile, in addition to the ordinary expenditure, +and the interest payable on debts, money had to be found to pay Von +Schlickmann's volunteers. As there was no cash in the country, this was +done by issuing Government promissory notes, known as "goodfors," or +vulgarly as "good for nothings," and by promising them all booty, and +to each man a farm of two thousand acres, lying east and north-east of +the Loolu mountains—in other words, in Secocœni's territory, which +did not belong to the Government to give away. The officials were the +next to suffer, and for six months before the Annexation these +unfortunate individuals lived as best they could, for they certainly +got no salary, except in the case of a postmaster, who was told to help +himself to his pay in stamps. The Government issued large numbers of +bills, but the banks refused to discount them, and in some cases the +neighbouring colonies had to advance money to the Transvaal post-cart +contractors who were carrying the mails, as a matter of charity. The +Government even mortgaged the great salt-pan near Pretoria for the +paltry sum of £400, whilst the leading officials of the Government were +driven to pledging their own private credit in order to obtain the +smallest article necessary to its continuance. In fact, to such a pass +did things come that when the country was annexed a single threepenny +bit (which had doubtless been overlooked) was found in the Treasury +chest, together with acknowledgments of debts to the extent of nearly +£300,000. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was the refusal to pay taxes, which they were powerless to enforce, +the only difficulty with which the Government had to contend. Want of +money is as bad and painful a thing to a State as to an individual, but +there are perhaps worse things than want of money, one of which is to +be deserted by your own friends and household. This was the position of +the Government of the Republic; no sooner was it involved in +overwhelming difficulties than its own subjects commenced to bait it, +more especially the English portion of its subjects. They complained to +the English authorities about the commandeering of members of their +family or goods; they petitioned the British Government to interfere, +and generally made themselves as unpleasant as possible to the local +authorities. Such a course of action was perhaps natural, but it can +hardly be said to be either quite logical or just. The Transvaal +Government had never asked them to come and live in the country, and if +they did so, it was presumably at their own risk. On the other hand, it +must be remembered that many of the agitators had accumulated property, +to leave which would mean ruin; and they saw that, unless something was +done, its value would be destroyed. +</p> + +<p> +Under the pressure of all these troubles the Boers themselves split up +into factions, as they are always ready to do. The Dopper party +declared that they had had enough progress, and proposed the extremely +conservative Paul Kruger as President, Burgers' time having nearly +expired. Paul Kruger accepted the candidature, although he had +previously promised his support to Burgers, and distrust of each other +was added to the other difficulties of the Executive, the Transvaal +becoming a house very much divided against itself. Natives, Doppers, +Progressionists, Officials, English, were all pulling different ways, +and each striving for his own advantage. Anything more hopeless than +the position of the country on the 1st January 1877 it is impossible to +conceive. Enemies surrounded it; on every border there was the prospect +of a serious war. In the exchequer there was nothing but piles of +overdue bills. The President was helpless, and mistrustful of his +officers, and the officers were caballing against the President. All +the ordinary functions of Government had ceased, and trade was +paralysed. Now and then wild proposals were made to relieve the State +of its burdens, some of which partook of the nature of repudiation, but +these were the exception; the majority of the inhabitants, who would +neither fight nor pay taxes, sat still and awaited the catastrophe, +utterly careless of all consequences. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="III"> </a> +CHAPTER III. +<br><br> +<span class="small">THE ANNEXATION. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +The state of affairs described in the previous chapter was one that +filled the Secretary of State for the Colonies with alarm. During his +tenure of office Lord Carnarvon evidently had the permanent welfare of +South Africa much at heart, and he saw with apprehension that the +troubles that were brewing in the Transvaal were of a nature likely to +involve the Cape and Natal in a native war. Though there is a broad +line of demarcation between Dutch and English, it is not so broad but +that a victorious nation like the Zulus might cross it, and beginning +by fighting the Boer, might end by fighting the white man irrespective +of race. When the reader reflects how terrible would be the +consequences of a combination of native tribes against the Whites, and +how easily such a combination might at that time have been brought +about in the first flush of native successes, he will understand the +anxiety with which all thinking men watched the course of events in the +Transvaal in 1876. +</p> + +<p> +At last they took such a serious turn that the Home Government saw that +some action must be taken if the catastrophe was to be averted, and +determined to despatch Sir Theophilus Shepstone as Special Commissioner +to the Transvaal, with powers, should it be necessary, to annex the +country to Her Majesty's dominions, "in order to secure the peace and +safety of Our said colonies and of Our subjects elsewhere." +</p> + +<p> +The terms of his Commission were unusually large, leaving a great deal +to his discretionary power. In choosing that officer for the execution +of a most difficult and delicate mission, the Government, doubtless, +made a very wise selection. Sir Theophilus Shepstone is a man of +remarkable tact and ability, combined with great openness and +simplicity of mind, and one whose name will always have a leading place +in South African history. During a long official lifetime he has had to +do with most of the native races in South Africa, and certainly knows +them and their ways better than any living man; whilst he is by them +all regarded with a peculiar and affectionate reverence. He is <i>par +excellence</i> their great white chief and "father," and a word from +him, even now that he has retired from active life, still carries more +weight than the formal remonstrances of any governor in South Africa. +</p> + +<p> +With the Boers he is almost equally well acquainted, having known many +of them personally for years. He possesses, moreover, the rare power of +winning the regard and affection, as well as the respect, of those +about him in such a marked degree that those who have served him once +would go far to serve him again. Sir T. Shepstone, however, has enemies +like other people, and is commonly reported among them to be a disciple +of Machiavelli, and to have his mind steeped in all the darker wiles of +Kafir policy. The Annexation of the Transvaal is by them attributed to +a successful and vigorous use of those arts that distinguished the +diplomacy of two centuries ago. Falsehood and bribery are supposed to +have been the great levers used to effect the change, together with +threats of extinction at the hands of a savage and unfriendly nation. +</p> + +<p> +That the Annexation was a triumph of mind over matter is quite true, +but whether or no that triumph was unworthily obtained, I will leave +those who read this short chronicle of the events connected with it to +judge. I saw it somewhat darkly remarked in a newspaper the other day +that the history of the Annexation had evidently yet to be written; and +I fear that the remark represents the feeling of most people about that +event, implying as it did that it was carried out by means certainly +mysteriously and presumably doubtful. I am afraid that those who think +thus will be disappointed in what I have to say about the matter, since +I know that the means employed to bring the Boers— +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +"Fracti bello, fatisque repulsi"— +</p> + +<p> +under Her Majesty's authority were throughout as fair and honest as the +Annexation itself was, in my opinion, right and necessary. +</p> + +<p> +To return to Sir T. Shepstone. He undoubtedly had faults as a ruler, +one of the most prominent of which was that his natural mildness of +character would never allow him to act with severity even when severity +was necessary. The very criminals condemned to death ran a good chance +of reprieve when he had to sign their death-warrants. He has also that +worst of faults (so-called), in one fitted by nature to become +great—want of ambition, a failing that in such a man marks him the +possessor of an even and a philosophic mind. It was no seeking of his +own that raised him out of obscurity, and when his work was done to +comparative obscurity he elected to return, though whether a man of his +ability and experience in South African affairs should, at the present +crisis, be allowed to remain there, is another question. +</p> + +<p> +On the 20th December 1876, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, +informing him of his approaching visit to the Transvaal, to secure, if +possible, the adjustment of existing troubles, and the adoption of such +measures as might be best calculated to prevent their recurrence in the +future. +</p> + +<p> +On his road to Pretoria, Sir Theophilus received a hearty welcome from +the Boer as well as the English inhabitants of the country. One of +these addresses to him says: "Be assured, high honourable Sir, that we +burghers, now assembled together, entertain the most friendly feeling +towards your Government, and that we shall agree with anything you may +do in conjunction with our Government for the progress of our State, +the strengthening against our native enemies, and for the general +welfare of all the inhabitants of the whole of South Africa. Welcome in +Heidelberg, and welcome in the Transvaal." +</p> + +<p> +At Pretoria the reception of the Special Commissioner was positively +enthusiastic; the whole town came out to meet him, and the horses +having been taken out of the carriage, he was dragged in triumph +through the streets. In his reply to the address presented to him, Sir +Theophilus shadowed forth the objects of his mission in these words: +"Recent events in this country have shown to all thinking men the +absolute necessity for closer union and more oneness of purpose among +the Christian Governments of the southern portion of this continent: +the best interests of the native races, no less than the peace and +prosperity of the white, imperatively demand it, and I rely upon you +and upon your Government to co-operate with me in endeavouring to +achieve the great and glorious end of inscribing on a general South +African banner the appropriate motto—"Eendragt maakt magt" (Unity +makes strength)." +</p> + +<p> +A few days after his arrival a commission was appointed, consisting of +Messrs. Henderson and Osborn, on behalf of the Special Commissioner, +and Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen, on behalf of the Transvaal Government, +to discuss the state of the country. This commission came to nothing, +and was on both sides nothing more than a bit of by-play. +</p> + +<p> +The arrival of the mission was necessarily regarded with mixed feelings +by the inhabitants of the Transvaal. By one party it was eagerly +greeted, viz., the English section of the population, who devoutly +hoped that it had come to annex the country. With the exception of the +Hollander element, the officials also were glad of its arrival, and +secretly hoped that the country would be taken over, when there would +be more chance of their getting their arrear pay. The better educated +Boers also were for the most part satisfied that there was no hope for +the country unless England helped it in some way, though they did not +like having to accept the help. But the more bigoted and narrow-minded +among them were undoubtedly opposed to English interference, and under +their leader, Paul Kruger, who was at the time running for the +President's chair, did their best to be rid of it. They found ready +allies in the Hollander clientelle, with which Mr. Burgers had +surrounded himself, headed by the famous Dr. Jorissen, who was, like +most of the rulers of this singular State, an ex-clergyman, but now an +Attorney-general, not learned in the law. These men were for the most +part entirely unfit for the positions they held, and feared that in the +event of the country changing hands they might be ejected from them; +and also, they did all Englishmen the favour to regard them with that +peculiarly virulent and general hatred which is a part of the secret +creed of many foreigners, more especially of such as are under our +protection. As may easily be imagined, what between all these different +parties and the presence of the Special Commissioner, there were +certainly plenty of intrigues going on in Pretoria during the first few +months of 1877, and the political excitement was very great. Nobody +knew how far Sir T. Shepstone was prepared to go, and everybody was +afraid of putting out his hand further than he could pull it back, and +trying to make himself comfortable on two stools at once. Members of +the Volksraad and other prominent individuals in the country who had +during the day been denouncing the Commissioner in no measured terms, +and even proposing that he and his staff should be shot as a warning to +the English Government, might be seen arriving at his house under cover +of the shades of evening, to have a little talk with him, and express +the earnest hope that it was his intention to annex the country as soon +as possible. It is necessary to assist at a peaceable annexation to +learn the depth of meanness human nature is capable of. +</p> + +<p> +In Pretoria, at any rate, the ladies were of great service to the cause +of the mission, since they were nearly all in favour of a change of +government, and, that being the case, they naturally soon brought their +husbands, brothers, and lovers to look at things from the same point of +view. It was a wise man who said that in any matter where it is +necessary to obtain the goodwill of a population you should win over +the women; that done, you need not trouble yourself about the men. +</p> + +<p> +Though the country was thus overflowing with political intrigues, +nothing of the kind went on in the Commissioner's camp. It was not he +who made the plots to catch the Transvaalers; on the contrary, they +made the plots to catch him. For several months all that he did was to +sit still and let the rival passions work their way, fighting what the +Zulus afterwards called the "fight of sit down." When anybody came to +see him he was very glad to meet them, pointed out the desperate +condition of the country, and asked them if they could suggest a +remedy. And that was about all he did do, beyond informing himself very +carefully as to all that was going on in the country, and the movements +of the natives within and outside its borders. There was no money spent +in bribery, as has been stated, though it is impossible to imagine a +state of affairs in which it would have been more easy to bribe, or in +which it could have been done with greater effect; unless indeed the +promise that some pension should be paid to President Burgers can be +called a bribe, which it was certainly never intended to be, but simply +a guarantee that after having spent all his private means on behalf of +the State he should not be left destitute. The statement that the +Annexation was effected under a threat that if the Government did not +give its consent Sir T. Shepstone would let loose the Zulus on the +country is also a wicked and malicious invention, but with this I shall +deal more at length further on. +</p> + +<p> +It must not, however, be understood that the Annexation was a foregone +conclusion, or that Sir T. Shepstone came up to the Transvaal with the +fixed intention of annexing the country without reference to its +position, merely with a view of extending British influence, or, as has +been absurdly stated, in order to benefit Natal. He had no fixed +purpose, whether it were necessary or no, of exercising the full powers +given to him by his commission; on the contrary, he was all along most +anxious to find some internal resources within the State by means of +which Annexation could be averted, and of this fact his various letters +and despatches give full proof. Thus, in his letter to President +Burgers, of the 9th April 1877, in which he announces his intention of +annexing the country, he says: "I have more than once assured your +Honour that if I could think of any plan by which the independence of +the State could be maintained by its own internal resources I would +most certainly not conceal that plan from you." It is also incidentally +remarkably confirmed by a passage in Mr. Burgers' posthumous defence, +in which he says: "Hence I met Shepstone alone in my house, and opened +up the subject of his mission. With a candour that astonished me, he +avowed that his purpose was to annex the country, as he had sufficient +grounds for it, unless I could so alter as to satisfy his Government. +My plan of a new constitution, modelled after that of America, of a +standing police force of two hundred mounted men, was then proposed. He +promised to give me time to call the Volksraad together, and to +<i>abandon his design</i> if the Volksraad would adopt these measures, +and the country be willing to submit to them, and to carry them out." +Further on he says: "In justice to Shepstone I must say that I would +not consider an officer of my Government to have acted faithfully if he +had not done what Shepstone did." +</p> + +<p> +It has also been frequently alleged in England, and always seems to be +taken as the groundwork of argument in the matter of the Annexation, +that the Special Commissioner represented that the majority of the +inhabitants wished for the Annexation, and that it was sanctioned on +that ground. This statement shows the great ignorance that exists in +this country of South African affairs, an ignorance which in this case +has been carefully fostered by Mr. Gladstone's Government for party +purposes, they having found it necessary to assume, in order to make +their position in the matter tenable, that Sir T. Shepstone and other +officers had been guilty of misrepresentation. Unfortunately, the +Government and its supporters have been more intent upon making out +their case than upon ascertaining the truth of their statements. If +they had taken the trouble to refer to Sir T. Shepstone's despatches, +they would have found that the ground on which the Transvaal was +annexed was, not because the majority of the inhabitants wished for it +but because the State was drifting into anarchy, was bankrupt, and was +about to be destroyed by native tribes. They would further have found +that Sir T. Shepstone never represented that the majority of the Boers +were in favour of Annexation. What he did say was that most thinking +men in the country saw no other way out of the difficulty; but what +proportion of the Boers can be called "thinking men?" He also said, in +the fifteenth paragraph of his despatch to Lord Carnarvon of 6th March +1877, that petitions signed by 2500 people, representing every class of +the community, out of a total adult male population of 8000, had been +presented to the Government of the Republic, setting forth its +difficulties and dangers, and praying it "to treat with me for their +amelioration or removal." He also stated, and with perfect truth, that +many more would have signed had it not been for the terrorism that was +exercised, and that all the towns and villages in the country desired +the change, which was a patent fact. +</p> + +<p> +This is the foundation on which the charge of misrepresentation is +built—a charge which has been manipulated so skilfully, and with such +a charming disregard for the truth, that the British public has been +duped into believing it. When it is examined into, it vanishes into +thin air. +</p> + +<p> +But a darker charge has been brought against the Special Commissioner—a +charge affecting his honour as a gentleman and his character as a +Christian; and, strange to say, has gained a considerable credence, +especially amongst a certain party in England. I allude to the +statement that he called up the Zulu army with the intention of +sweeping the Transvaal if the Annexation was objected to. I may state, +from my own personal knowledge, that the report is a complete +falsehood, and that no such threat was ever made, either by Sir T. +Shepstone or by anybody connected with him, and I will briefly prove +what I say. +</p> + +<p> +When the mission first arrived at Pretoria, a message came from +Cetywayo to the effect that he had heard that the Boers had fired at +"Sompseu" (Sir T. Shepstone), and announcing his intention of attacking +the Transvaal if "his father" was touched. About the middle of March +alarming rumours began to spread as to the intended action of Cetywayo +with reference to the Transvaal; but as Sir T. Shepstone did not think +that the king would be likely to make any hostile movement whilst he +was in the country, he took no steps in the matter. Neither did the +Transvaal Government ask his advice and assistance. Indeed, a +remarkable trait in the Boers is their supreme self-conceit, which +makes them believe that they are capable of subduing all the natives in +Africa, and of thrashing the whole British army if necessary. +Unfortunately, the recent course of events has tended to confirm them +in their opinion as regards their white enemies. To return: towards the +second week in April, or the week before the proclamation of Annexation +was issued, things began to look very serious; indeed, rumours that +could hardly be discredited reached the Special Commissioner that the +whole Zulu army was collected in a chain of Impis or battalions, with +the intention of bursting into the Transvaal and sweeping the country. +Knowing how terrible would be the catastrophe if this were to happen, +Sir T. Shepstone was much alarmed about the matter, and at a meeting +with the Executive Council of the Transvaal Government he pointed out +to them the great danger in which the country was placed. This was done +in the presence of several officers of his staff, and it was on this +friendly exposition of the state of affairs that the charge that he had +threatened the country with invasion by the Zulus was based. On the +11th April, or the day before the Annexation, a message was despatched +to Cetywayo, telling him of the reports that had reached Pretoria, and +stating that if they were true he must forthwith give up all such +intentions, as the Transvaal would at once be placed under the +sovereignty of Her Majesty, and that if he had assembled any armies for +purposes of aggression they must be disbanded at once. Sir T. +Shepstone's message reached Zululand not a day too soon. Had the +Annexation of the Transvaal been delayed by a few weeks even—and this +is a point which I earnestly beg Englishmen to remember in connection +with that act—Cetywayo's armies would have entered the Transvaal, +carrying death before them, and leaving a wilderness behind them. +</p> + +<p> +Cetywayo's answer to the Special Commissioner's message will +sufficiently show, to use Sir Theophilus' own words in his despatch on +the subject, "the pinnacle of peril which the Republic and South Africa +generally had reached at the moment when the Annexation took place." He +says, "I thank my Father Sompseu (Sir T. Shepstone) for his message. I +am glad that he has sent it, because the Dutch have tired me out, and I +intended to fight them once and once only, and to drive them over the +Vaal. Kabana (name of messenger), you see my Impis (armies) are +gathered. It was to fight the Dutch I called them together; now I will +send them back to their homes. Is it well that two men ('amadoda-amabili') +should be made 'iziula' (fools)? In the reign of my father Umpanda the +Boers were constantly moving their boundary further into my country. +Since his death the same thing has been done. I had therefore +determined to end it once for all!" The message then goes on to other +matters, and ends with a request to be allowed to fight the Amaswazi, +because "they fight together and kill one another. This," says Cetywayo +naively, "is wrong, and I want to chastise them for it." +</p> + +<p> +This quotation will suffice to convince all reasonable men, putting +aside all other matters, from what imminent danger the Transvaal was +delivered by the much-abused Annexation. +</p> + +<p> +Some months after that event, however, it occurred to the ingenious +mind of some malicious individual in Natal that, properly used, much +political capital might be made out of this Zulu incident, and the +story that Cetywayo's army had been called up by Sir Theophilus himself +to overawe, and, if necessary, subdue the Transvaal, was accordingly +invented and industriously circulated. Although Sir T. Shepstone at +once caused it to be authoritatively contradicted, such an astonishing +slander naturally took firm root, and on the 12th April 1879 we have +Mr. M. W. Pretorius, one of the Boer leaders, publicly stating at a +meeting of the farmers that "previous to the Annexation Sir T. +Shepstone had threatened the Transvaal with an attack from the Zulus as +an argument for advancing the Annexation." Under such an imputation the +Government could no longer keep silence, and accordingly Sir Owen +Lanyon, who was then Administrator of the Transvaal, caused the matter +to be officially investigated, with these results, which are summed up +by him in a letter to Mr. Pretorius, dated 1st May 1879:— +</p> + +<p> +1. The records of the Republican Executive Council contained no +allusion to any such statement. +</p> + +<p> +2. Two members of that Council filed statements in which they +unreservedly denied that Sir T. Shepstone used the words or threats +imputed to him. +</p> + +<p> +3. Two officers of Sir T. Shepstone's staff, who were always present +with him at interviews with the Executive Council, filed statements to +the same effect. +</p> + +<p> +"I have no doubt," adds Sir Owen Lanyon, "that the report has been +originated and circulated by some evil-disposed person." +</p> + +<p> +In addition to this evidence we have a letter written to the Colonial +Office by Sir T. Shepstone, dated London, August 12, 1879, in which he +points out that Mr. Pretorius was not even present at any of the +interviews with the Executive Council on which occasion he accuses him +of having made use of the threats. He further shows that the use of +such a threat on his part would have, been the depth of folly, and +"knowingly to court the instant and ignominious failure of my mission," +because the Boers were so persuaded of their own prowess that they +could not be convinced that they stood in any danger from native +sources, and also because "such play with such keen-edged tools as the +excited passions of savages are, and especially such savages as I knew +the Zulus to be, is not what an experience of forty-two years in +managing them inclined me to." And yet, in the face of all this +accumulated evidence, this report continues to be believed, that is, by +those who wished to believe it. +</p> + +<p> +Such are the accusations that have been brought against the manner of +the Annexation and the officer who carried it out, and never were +accusations more groundless. Indeed, both for party purposes, and from +personal animus, every means, fair or foul, has been used to discredit +it and all connected with it. To take a single instance, one author +(Miss Colenso, p. 134, "History of the Zulu War") actually goes the +length of putting a portion of a speech made by President Burgers into +the mouth of Sir T. Shepstone, and then abusing him for his incredible +profanity. Surely this exceeds the limits of fair criticism. +</p> + +<p> +Before I go on to the actual history of the Annexation there is one +point I wish to submit to my reader. In England the change of +Government has always been talked of as though it only affected the +forty thousand white inhabitants of the country, whilst everybody seems +to forget that this same land had about a million human beings living +on it, its original owners, and only, unfortunately for themselves, +possessing a black skin, and therefore entitled to little +consideration,—even at the hands of the most philanthropic Government +in the world. It never seems to have occurred to those who have raised +so much outcry on behalf of the forty thousand Boers, to inquire what +was thought of the matter by the million natives. If they were to be +allowed a voice in their own disposal, the country was certainly +annexed by the wish of a very large majority of the inhabitants. It is +true that Secocœni, instigated thereto by the Boers, afterwards +continued the war against us, but, with the exception of this one +chief, the advent of our rule was hailed with joy by every native in +the Transvaal, and even he was glad of it at the time. During our +period of rule in the Transvaal the natives have had, as they foresaw, +more peace than at any time since the white man set foot in the land. +They have paid their taxes gladly, and there has been no fighting among +themselves; but since we have given up the country we hear a very +different tale. It is this million of men, women, and children who, +notwithstanding their black skins, live and feel, and have intelligence +as much as ourselves, who are the principal, because the most numerous +sufferers from Mr. Gladstone's conjuring tricks, that can turn a +Sovereign into a Suzerain as airily as the professor of magic brings a +litter of guinea-pigs out of a top hat. It is our falsehood and +treachery to them whom we took over "for ever," as we told them, and +whom we have now handed back to their natural enemies to be paid off +for their loyalty to the Englishman, that is the blackest stain in all +this black business, and that has destroyed our prestige, and caused us +to be looked on amongst them, for they do not hide their opinion, as +"cowards and liars." +</p> + +<p> +But very little attention, however, seems to have been paid to native +views or claims at any time in the Transvaal; indeed they have all +along been treated as serfs of the soil, to be sold with it, if +necessary, to a new master. It is true that the Government, acting +under pressure from the Aborigines Protection Society, made, on the +occasion of the Surrender, a feeble effort to secure the independence +of some of the native tribes; but when the Boer leaders told them +shortly that they would have nothing of the sort, and that, if they +were not careful, they would reoccupy Laing's Nek, the proposal was at +once dropped, with many assurances that no offence was intended. The +worst of the matter is that this treatment of our native subjects and +allies will assuredly recoil on the heads of future innocent +Governments. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after the appointment of the Joint-Commission alluded to at the +beginning of this chapter, President Burgers, who was now in possession +of the Special Commissioner's intentions, should he be unable to carry +out reforms sufficiently drastic to satisfy the English Government, +thought it best to call together the Volksraad. In the meantime, it had +been announced that the "rebel" Secocœni had sued for peace and +signed a treaty declaring himself a subject of the Republic. I shall +have to enter into the question of this treaty a little further on, so +I will at present only say that it was the first business laid before +the Raad, and, after some discussion, ratified. Next in order to the +Secocœni peace came the question of Confederation, as laid down in +Lord Carnarvon's Permissive Bill. This proposal was laid before them in +an earnest and eloquent speech by their President, who entreated them +to consider the dangerous position of the Republic, and to face their +difficulties like men. The question was referred to a committee, and an +adverse report being brought up, was rejected without further +consideration. It is just possible that intimidation had something to +do with the summary treatment of so important a matter, seeing that +whilst it was being argued a large mob of Boers, looking very +formidable with their sea-cow hide whips, watched every move of their +representatives through the windows of the Volksraad Hall. It was Mr. +Chamberlain's caucus system in practical and visible operation. +</p> + +<p> +A few days after the rejection of the Confederation Bill, President +Burgers, who had frequently alluded to the desperate condition of the +Republic, and stated that either some radical reform must be effected +or the country must come under the British flag, laid before the Raad a +brand new constitution of a very remarkable nature, asserting that they +must either accept it or lose their independence. +</p> + +<p> +The first part of this strange document dealt with the people and their +rights, which remained much as they were before, with the exception +that the secrecy of all letters entrusted to the post was to be +inviolable. The recognition of this right is an amusing incident in the +history of a free Republic. Under following articles the Volksraad was +entrusted with the charge of the native inhabitants of the State, the +provision for the administration of justice, the conduct of education, +the regulation of money-bills, &c. It is in the fourth chapter, +however, that we come to the real gist of the Bill, which was the +endowment of the State President with the authority of a dictator. Mr. +Burgers thought to save the State by making himself an absolute +monarch. He was to be elected for a period of seven instead of five +years, and to be eligible for re-election. In him was vested the power +of making all appointments without reference to the Legislature. All +laws were to be drawn up by him, and he was to have the right of veto +on Volksraad resolutions, which body he could summon and dissolve at +will. Finally, his Executive Council was to consist of heads of +departments appointed by himself, and of one member of the Volksraad. +The Volksraad treated this Bill in much the same way as they had dealt +with the Permissive Confederation Bill, gave it a casual consideration, +and threw it out. +</p> + +<p> +The President, meanwhile, was doing his best to convince the Raad of +the danger of the country; that the treasury was empty, whilst duns +were pressing, that enemies were threatening on every side, and, +finally, that Her Majesty's Special Commissioner was encamped within a +thousand yards of them, watching their deliberations with some +interest. He showed them that it was impossible at once to scorn reform +and reject friendly offers, that it was doubtful if anything could save +them, but that if they took no steps they were certainly lost as a +nation. The "Fathers of the land," however, declined to dance to the +President's piping. Then he took a bolder line. He told them that a +guilty nation never can evade the judgment that follows its steps. He +asked them "conscientiously to advise the people not obstinately to +refuse a union with a powerful Government. He could not advise them to +refuse such a union…. He did not believe that a new constitution +would save them; for as little as the old constitution had brought them +to ruin, so little would a new constitution bring salvation…. If the +citizens of England had behaved towards the Crown as the burghers of +this State had behaved to their Government, England would never have +stood so long as she had." He pointed out to them their hopeless +financial position. "To-day," he said, "a bill for £1100 was laid +before me for signature; but I would sooner have cut off my right hand +than sign that paper—(cheers)—for I have not the slightest ground +to expect that, when that bill becomes due, there will be a penny to +pay it with." And finally, he exhorted them thus: "Let them make the +best of the situation, and get the best terms they possibly could; +let them agree to join their hands to those of their brethren in the +south, and then from the Cape to the Zambesi there would be one great +people. Yes, there was something grand in that, grander even than +their idea of a Republic, something which ministered to their national +feeling—(cheers)—and would this be so miserable? Yes, this would be +miserable for those who would not be under the law, for the rebel and +the revolutionist, but welfare and prosperity for the men of law and +order." +</p> + +<p> +These powerful words form a strong indictment against the Republic, and +from them there can be little doubt that President Burgers was +thoroughly convinced of the necessity and wisdom of the Annexation. It +is interesting to compare them, and many other utterances of his made +at this period, with the opinions he expresses in the posthumous +document recently published, in which he speaks somewhat jubilantly of +the lessons taught us on Laing's Nek and Majuba by such "an inherently +weak people as the Boers," and points to them as striking instances of +retribution. In this document he attributes the Annexation to the +desire to advance English supremacy in South Africa, and to lay hold of +the way to Central South Africa. It is, however, noticeable that he +does not in any way indicate how it could have been averted, and the +State continue to exist; and he seems all along to feel that his case +is a weak one, for in explaining, or attempting to explain, why he had +never defended himself from the charges brought against him in +connection with the Annexation, he says: "Had I not endured in silence, +had I not borne patiently all the accusations, but out of selfishness +or fear told the plain truth of the case, the Transvaal would never +have had the consideration it has now received from Great Britain. +However unjust the Annexation was, my self-justification would have +<i>exposed the Boers to such an extent</i>, and the state of the +country in such a way, that it would have deprived them both of the +sympathy of the world and the consideration of the English +politicians." In other words, "If I had told the truth about things as +I should have been obliged to do to justify myself, there would have +been no more outcry about the Annexation, because the whole world, even +the English Radicals, would have recognised how necessary it was, and +what a fearful state the country was in." +</p> + +<p> +But to let that pass, it is evident that President Burgers did not take +the same view of the Annexation in 1877 as he did in 1881, and indeed +his speeches to the Volksraad would read rather oddly printed in +parallel columns with his posthumous statement. The reader would be +forced to one of two conclusions, either on one of the two occasions he +is saying what he does not mean, or he must have changed his mind. As I +believe him to have been an honest man, I incline to the latter +supposition; nor do I consider it so very hard to account for, taking +into consideration his natural Dutch proclivities. In 1877 Burgers is +the despairing head of a State driving rapidly to ruin, if not to +actual extinction, when the strong hand of the English Government is +held out to him. What wonder that he accepts it gladly on behalf of his +country, which is by its help brought into a state of greater +prosperity than it has ever before known? In 1881 the wheel has gone +round, and great events have come about whilst he lies dying. The +enemies of the Boers have been destroyed, the powers of the Zulus and +Secocœni are no more; the country has prospered under a healthy +rule, and its finances have been restored. More,—glad tidings have +come from Mid-Lothian to the "rebel and the revolutionist," whose hopes +were flagging, and eloquent words have been spoken by the new English +Dictator that have aroused a great rebellion. And, to crown all, +English troops have suffered one massacre and three defeats, and +England sues for peace from the South African peasant, heedless of +honour or her broken word, so that the prayer be granted. With such +events before him, that dying man may well have found cause to change +his opinion. Doubtless the Annexation was wrong, since England disowns +her acts; and may not that dream about the great South African Republic +come true after all? Has not the pre-eminence of the Englishman +received a blow from which it can never recover, and is not his +control over Boers and natives irredeemably weakened? And must +he,—Burgers,—go down to posterity as a Dutchman who tried to forward +the interests of the English party? No, doubtless the Annexation was +wrong; but it has done good, for it has brought about the downfall of +the English: and we will end the argument in the very words of his last +public utterance, with which he ends his statement: "South Africa +gained more from this, and has made a larger step forward in the march +of freedom, than most people can conceive." +</p> + +<p> +Who shall say that he is wrong? the words of dying men are sometimes +prophetic! South Africa has made a great advance towards the "freedom" +of a Dutch Republic. +</p> + +<p> +This has been a digression, but I hope not an uninteresting one. To +return—on the 1st March, Sir T. Shepstone met the Executive Council, +and told them that in his opinion there was now but one remedy to be +adopted, and that was that the Transvaal should be united with the +English colonies of South Africa under one head, namely the Queen, +saying at the same time that the only thing now left to the Republic +was to make the best arrangements it could for the future benefit of +its inhabitants, and to submit to that which he saw to be, and every +thinking man saw to be, inevitable. So soon as this information was +officially communicated to the Raad, for a good proportion of its +members were already acquainted with it unofficially, it flew from a +state of listless indifference into vigorous and hasty action. The +President was censured, and a committee was appointed to consider and +report upon the situation, which reported in favour of the adoption of +Burgers' new constitution. Accordingly, the greatest part of this +measure, which had been contemptuously rejected a few days before, was +adopted almost without question, and Mr. Paul Kruger was appointed +Vice-President. On the following day, a very drastic treason law was +passed, borrowed from the statute-book of the Orange Free State, which +made all public expression of opinion, if adverse to the Government, or +in any way supporting the Annexation party, high treason. This done, +the Assembly prorogued itself until—October 1881. +</p> + +<p> +During and after the sitting of the Raad, rumours arose that the chief +Secocœni's signature to the treaty of peace, ratified by that body, +had been obtained by misrepresentation. As ratified, this treaty +consisted of three articles, according to which Secocœni consented, +first, to become a subject of the Republic, and obey the laws of the +country; secondly, to agree to a certain restricted boundary line; and, +thirdly, to pay 2000 head of cattle; which, considering he had captured +quite 5000 head, was not exorbitant. +</p> + +<p> +Towards the end of February a written message was received from +Secocœni by Sir T. Shepstone, dated after the signing of the +supposed treaty. The original, which was written in Sisutu, was a great +curiosity. The following is a correct translation:— +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p class="right"> +"<i>February 16, 1877.</i> +</p> + +<p> +"<span class="sc">For Myn Heer Shepstone</span>,—I beg you, Chief, +come help me, the Boers are killing me, and I don't know the reasons why +they should be angry with me; Chief, I beg you come with Myn Heer +Merensky.—I am <span class="sc">Sikukuni</span>." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +This message was accompanied by a letter from Mr. Merensky, a +well-known and successful missionary, who had been for many years +resident in Secocœni's country, in which he stated that he heard on +very good authority that Secocœni had distinctly refused to agree to +that article of the treaty by which he became a subject of the State. +He adds that he cannot remain "silent while such tricks are played." +</p> + +<p> +Upon this information, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, +stating that "if the officer in whom you have placed confidence has +withheld any portion of the truth from you, especially so serious a +portion of it, he is guilty of a wrong towards you personally, as well +as towards the Government, because he has caused you to assume an +untenable position," and suggesting that a joint-commission should be +despatched to Secocœni, to thoroughly sift the question in the +interest of all concerned. This suggestion was after some delay agreed +to, and a commission was appointed, consisting of Mr. Van Gorkom, a +Hollander, and Mr. Holtshausen, a member of the Executive Council, on +behalf of the Transvaal Government, and Mr. Osborn, R.M., and Captain +Clarke, R.A.,<a href="#note7" name="noteref7"><small>[7]</small></a> on behalf of the Commissioner, whom I accompanied as +Secretary. +</p> + +<p> +At Middleburg the native Gideon who acted as interpreter between +Commandant Ferreira, C.M.G. (the officer who negotiated the treaty on +behalf of the Boer Government), and Secocœni was examined, and also +two natives, Petros and Jeremiah, who were with him, but did not +actually interpret. All these men persisted that Secocœni had +positively refused to become a subject of the Republic, and only +consented to sign the treaty on the representations of Commandant +Ferreira that it would only be binding as regards to the two articles +about the cattle and the boundary line. +</p> + +<p> +The Commission then proceeded to Secocœni's town, accompanied by a +fresh set of interpreters, and had a long interview with Secocœni. +The chiefs Prime Minister or "mouth," Makurupiji, speaking in his +presence and on his behalf, and making use of the pronoun "I" before +all the assembled headmen of the tribe, gave an account of the +interview between Commandant Ferreira in the presence of that +gentleman, who accompanied the Commission, and Secocœni, in almost +the same words as had been used by the interpreters at Middleburg. He +distinctly denied having consented to become a subject of the Republic +or to stand under the law, and added that he feared he "had touched the +feather to" (signed) things that he did not know of in the treaty. +Commandant Ferreira then put some questions, but entirely failed to +shake the evidence; on the contrary, he admitted by his questions that +Secocœni had not consented to become a subject of the Republic. +Secocœni had evidently signed the piece of paper under the +impression that he was acknowledging his liability to pay 2000 head of +cattle, and fixing a certain portion of his boundary line, and on the +distinct understanding that he was not to become a subject of the +State. +</p> + +<p> +Now it was the Secocœni war that had brought the English Mission +into the country, and if it could be shown that the Secocœni war had +come to a successful termination, it would go far towards helping the +Mission out again. To this end, it was necessary that the chief should +declare himself a subject of the State, and thereby, by implication, +acknowledge himself to have been a rebel, and admit his defeat. All +that was required was a signature, and that once obtained the treaty +was published and submitted to the Raad for confirmation, without a +whisper being heard of the conditions under which this ignorant Basuto +was induced to sign. Had no Commission visited Secocœni, this treaty +would afterwards have been produced against him in its entirety. +Altogether, the history of the Secocœni Peace Treaty does not +reassure one as to the genuineness of the treaties which the Boers are +continually producing, purporting to have been signed by native chiefs, +and, as a general rule, presenting the State with great tracts of +country in exchange for a horse or a few oxen. However fond the natives +may be of their Boer neighbours, such liberality can scarcely be +genuine. On the other hand, it is so easy to induce a savage to sign a +paper, or even, if he is reticent, to make a cross for him, and once +made, as we all know, <i lang="la">litera scripta manet</i>, and becomes title to +the lands. +</p> + +<p> +During the Secocœni investigation, affairs in the Transvaal were +steadily drifting towards anarchy. The air was filled with rumours; now +it was reported that an outbreak was imminent amongst the English +population at the Gold Fields, who had never forgotten Von +Schlickmann's kind suggestion that they should be "subdued;" now it was +said that Cetywayo had crossed the border, and might shortly be +expected at Pretoria; now that a large body of Boers were on their road +to shoot the Special Commissioner, his twenty-five policemen, and +Englishmen generally, and so on. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, Paul Kruger and his party were not letting the grass grow +under their feet, but worked public feeling with great vigour, with the +double object of getting Paul made President and ridding themselves of +the English. Articles in his support were printed in the well-known +Dutch paper <cite>Die Patriot</cite>, published in the Cape Colony, which are +so typical of the Boers and of the only literature that has the +slightest influence over them, that I will quote a few extracts from +one of them. +</p> + +<p> +After drawing a very vivid picture of the wretched condition of the +country as compared to what it was when the Kafirs had "a proper +respect" for the Boers, before Burgers came into power, the article +proceeds to give the cause of this state of affairs. "God's word," it +says, "gives us the solution. Look at Israel, while the people have a +godly king, everything is prosperous, but under a godless prince the +land retrogrades, and the whole of the people must suffer. Read +Leviticus, chapter xxvi., with attention, &c. In the day of the +Voortrekkers (pioneers), a handful of men chased a thousand Kafirs and +made them run; so also in the Free State war (Deut. xxxii. 30; Jos. +xxiii. 10; Lev. xxvi. 8). But mark, now, when Burgers became President, +he knows no Sabbath, he rides through the land in and out of town on +Sunday, he knows not the church and God's service (Lev. xxvi. 2, 3), to +the scandal of pious people. And he formerly was a priest too. And what +is the consequence? No harvest (Lev. xxvi. 16), an army of 6000 men +runs because one man falls (Lev. xxvi 17, &c.). What is now the +remedy?" The remedy proves to be Paul Kruger, "because there is no +other candidate. Because our Lord clearly points him out to be the man, +for why is there no other candidate? Who arranged it this way?" Then +follows a rather odd argument in favour of Paul's election. "Because he +himself (Paul Kruger) acknowledges in his own reply that he is +<i>incompetent</i>, but that all his ability is from our Lord. Because +he is a warrior. Because he is a Boer." Then Paul Kruger, the warrior +and the Boer, is compared to Joan of Arc, "a simple Boer girl who came +from behind the sheep." The burghers of the Transvaal are exhorted to +acknowledge the hand of the Lord, and elect Paul Kruger, or to look for +still heavier punishment. (Lev. xxvi. 18 <i>et seq.</i>) Next the +<cite>Patriot</cite> proceeds to give a bit of advice to "our candidate, Paul +Kruger." He is to deliver the land from the Kafirs. "The Lord has given +you the heart of a warrior, arise and drive them," a bit of advice +quite suited to his well-known character. But this chosen vessel was +not to get all the loaves and fishes; on the contrary, as soon as he +had fulfilled his mission of "driving" the Kafirs, he was to hand over +his office to a "good" President. The article ends thus: "If the Lord +wills to use you now to deliver this land from its enemies, and a day +of peace and prosperity arises again, and you see that you are not +exactly the statesman to further govern the Republic, then it will be +your greatest honour to say, 'Citizens, I have delivered you from the +enemy, I am no statesman, but now you have peace and time to choose and +elect a <i>good</i> President.'" +</p> + +<p> +An article such as the above, is instructive reading, as showing the +low calibre of the minds that are influenced by it. Yet such writings +and sermons have more power among the Boers than any other arguments, +appealing as they do to the fanaticism and vanity of their nature, +which causes them to believe that the Divinity is continually +interfering on their behalf at the cost of other people. It will be +noticed that the references given are all to the Old Testament, and +nearly all refer to acts of blood. +</p> + +<p> +These doctrines were not, however, at all acceptable to Burgers' party, +or the more enlightened members of the community, and so bitter did the +struggle of rival opinions become that there is very little doubt that +had the country not been annexed, civil war would have been added to +its other calamities. Meanwhile the natives were from day to day +becoming more restless, and messengers were constantly arriving at the +Special Commissioner's camp, begging that their tribe might be put +under the Queen, and stating that they would fight rather than submit +any longer to the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +At length on the 9th April, Sir T. Shepstone informed the Government of +the Republic that he was about to declare the Transvaal British +territory. He told them that he had considered and reconsidered his +determination, but that he could see no possible means within the State +by which it could free itself from the burdens that were sinking it to +destruction, adding that if he could have found such means he would +certainly not have hidden them from the Government. This intimation was +received in silence, though all the later proceedings with reference to +the Annexation were in reality carried out in concert with the +authorities of the Republic. Thus on the 13th March the Government +submitted a paper of ten questions to Sir T. Shepstone as regards the +future condition of the Transvaal under English rule, whether the debts +of the State would be guaranteed, &c. To these questions replies were +given which were on the whole satisfactory to the Government. As these +replies formed the basis of the proclamation guarantees, it is not +necessary to enter into them. +</p> + +<p> +It was further arranged by the Republican Government that a formal +protest should be entered against the Annexation, which was accordingly +prepared and privately shown to the Special Commissioner. The +Annexation proclamation was also shown to President Burgers, and a +paragraph eliminated at his suggestion. In fact, the Special +Commissioner and the President, together with most of his Executive, +were quite at one as regards the necessity of the proclamation being +issued, their joint endeavours being directed to the prevention of any +disturbance, and to secure a good reception for the change. +</p> + +<p> +At length, after three months of inquiry and negotiation, the +proclamation of annexation was on the 12th of April 1877 read by Mr. +Osborn, accompanied by some other gentlemen of Sir T. Shepstone's +staff. It was an anxious moment for all concerned. To use the words of +the Special Commissioner in his despatch home on the subject, "Every +effort had been made during the previous fortnight by, it is said, +educated Hollanders, and who had but lately arrived in the country, to +rouse the fanaticism of the Boers, and to induce them to offer 'bloody' +resistance to what it was known I intended to do. The Boers were +appealed to in the most inflammatory language by printed manifestoes +and memorials; … it was urged that I had but a small escort, which +could easily be overpowered." In a country so full of desperadoes and +fanatical haters of anything English, it was more than possible that, +though such an act would have been condemned by the general sense of +the country, a number of men could easily be found who would think they +were doing a righteous act in greeting the "annexationists" with an +ovation of bullets. I do not mean that the anxiety was personal, +because I do not think the members of that small party set any higher +value on their lives than other people, but it was absolutely necessary +for the success of the act itself, and for the safety of the country, +that not a single shot should be fired. Had that happened it is +probable that the whole country would have been involved in confusion +and bloodshed, the Zulus would have broken in, and the Kafirs would +have risen; in fact, to use Cetywayo's words, "the land would have +burned with fire." +</p> + +<p> +It will therefore be easily understood what an anxious hour that was +both for the Special Commissioner sitting up at Government House, and +for his staff down on the Market Square, and how thankful they were +when the proclamation was received with hearty cheers by the crowd. Mr. +Burgers' protest, which was read immediately afterwards, was received +in respectful silence. +</p> + +<p> +And thus the Transvaal Territory passed for a while into the great +family of the English Colonies. I believe that the greatest political +opponent of the act will bear tribute to the very remarkable ability +with which it was carried out. When the variety and number of the +various interests that had to be conciliated, the obstinate nature of +the individuals who had to be convinced, as well as the innate hatred +of the English name and ways which had to be overcome to carry out this +act successfully, are taken into consideration, together with a +thousand other matters, the neglect of any one of which would have +sufficed to make failure certain, it will be seen what tact and skill +and knowledge of human nature was required to execute so difficult a +task. It must be remembered that no force was used, and that there +never was any threat of force. The few troops that were to enter the +Transvaal were four weeks' march from Pretoria at the time. There was +nothing whatsoever to prevent the Boers putting a summary stop to the +proceedings of the Commissioner if they had thought fit. +</p> + +<p> +That Sir Theophilus played a bold and hazardous game nobody will deny, +but, like most players who combine boldness with coolness of head and +justice of cause, he won; and, without shedding a single drop of blood, +or even confiscating an acre of land, and at no cost, annexed a great +country, and averted a very serious war. That same country four years +later cost us a million of money, the loss of nearly a thousand men +killed and wounded, and the ruin of many more confiding thousands, to +surrender. It is true, however, that nobody can accuse the retrocession +of having been conducted with judgment or ability—very much the +contrary. +</p> + +<p> +There can be no more ample justification of the issue of the Annexation +proclamation than the proclamation itself. +</p> + +<p> +First, it touches on the Sand River Convention of 1852, by which +independence was granted to the State, and shows that the "evident +objects and inciting motives" in granting such guarantee were to +promote peace, free-trade, and friendly intercourse, in the hope and +belief that the Republic "would become a flourishing and +self-sustaining State, a source of strength and security to +neighbouring European communities, and a point from which Christianity +and civilisation might rapidly spread toward Central Africa." It goes +on to show how these hopes have been disappointed, and how that +increasing weakness in the State itself on the one side, and more than +corresponding growth of real strength and confidence among the native +tribes on the other, have produced their natural and inevitable +consequence … that after more or less of irritating conflict with +aboriginal tribes to the north, there commenced about the year 1867 +gradual abandonment to the natives in that direction of territory +settled by burghers of the Transvaal "in well-built towns and villages +and on granted farms." +</p> + +<p> +It goes on to show that "this decay of power and ebb of authority in +the north is being followed by similar processes in the south under yet +more dangerous circumstances. People of this State residing in that +direction have been compelled within the last three months, at the +bidding of native chiefs, and at a moment's notice, to leave their +farms and homes, their standing crops … all to be taken possession of +by natives, but that the Government is more powerless than ever to +vindicate its assumed rights or to resist the declension that is +threatening its existence." It then recites how all the other colonies +and communities of South Africa have lost confidence in the State, how +it is in a condition of hopeless bankruptcy, and its commerce +annihilated, whilst the inhabitants are divided into factions, and the +Government has fallen into "helpless paralysis." How also the prospect +of the election of a new President, instead of being looked forward to +with hope, would in the opinion of all parties be the signal for civil +war, anarchy, and bloodshed. How that this state of things affords the +very strongest temptation to the great neighbouring native powers to +attack the country, a temptation that they were only too ready and +anxious to yield to, and that the State was in far too feeble a +condition to repel such attacks, from which it had hitherto only been +saved by the repeated representations of the Government of Natal. The +next paragraphs I will quote as they stand, for they sum up the reasons +for the Annexation. +</p> + +<p> +"That the Secocœni war, which would have produced but little effect +on a healthy constitution, has not only proved suddenly fatal to the +resources and reputation of the Republic, but has shown itself to be a +culminating point in the history of South Africa, in that a Makatee or +Basuto tribe, unwarlike and of no account in Zulu estimation, +successfully withstood the strength of the State, and disclosed for the +first time to the native powers outside the Republic, from the Zambesi +to the Cape, the great change that had taken place in the relative +strength of the white and black races, that this disclosure at once +shook the prestige of the white man in South Africa, and placed every +European community in peril, that this common danger has caused +universal anxiety, has given to all concerned the right to investigate +its cause, and to protect themselves from its consequences, and has +imposed the duty upon those who have the power to shield enfeebled +civilisation from the encroachments of barbarism and inhumanity." It +proceeds to point out that the Transvaal will be the first to suffer +from the results of its own policy, and that it is for every reason +perfectly impossible for Her Majesty's Government to stand by and see a +friendly white State ravaged, knowing that its own possessions will be +the next to suffer. That Her Majesty's Government, being persuaded that +the only means to prevent such a catastrophe would be by the annexation +of the country, and, knowing that this was the wish of a large +proportion of the inhabitants of the Transvaal, the step must be taken. +Next follows the formal annexation. +</p> + +<p> +Together with the proclamation, an address was issued by Sir T. +Shepstone to the burghers of the State, laying the facts before them in +a friendly manner, more suited to their mode of thought than it was +possible to do in a formal proclamation. This document, the issue of +which was one of those touches that insured the success of the +Annexation, was a powerful summing up in colloquial language of the +arguments used in the proclamation, strengthened by quotations from the +speeches of the President. It ends with these words: "It remains only +for me to beg of you to consider and weigh what I have said calmly and +without undue prejudice. Let not mere feeling or sentiment prevail over +your judgment. Accept what Her Majesty's Government intends shall be, +and what you will soon find from experience, is a blessing not only to +you and your children, but to the whole of South Africa through you, +and believe that I speak these words to you as a friend from my heart." +</p> + +<p> +Two other proclamations were also issued, one notifying the assumption +of the office of Administrator of the Government by Sir T. Shepstone, +and the other repealing the war-tax, which was doubtless an unequal and +oppressive impost. +</p> + +<p> +I have in the preceding pages stated all the principal grounds of the +Annexation and briefly sketched the history of that event. In the next +chapter I propose to follow the fortunes of the Transvaal, under +British Rule. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="IV"> </a> +CHAPTER IV. +<br><br> +<span class="small">THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +The news of the Annexation was received all over the country with a +sigh of relief, and in many parts of it with great rejoicings. At the +Gold Fields, for instance, special thanksgiving services were held, and +"God save the Queen" was sung in church. Nowhere was there the +slightest disturbance, but, on the contrary, addresses of +congratulation and thanks literally poured in by every mail, many of +them signed by Boers who have since been conspicuous for their bitter +opposition to English rule. At first, there was some doubt as to what +would be the course taken under the circumstances by the volunteers +enlisted by the late Republic. Major Clarke, R.A., was sent to convey +the news, and to take command of them, unaccompanied save by his Kafir +servant. On arrival at the principal fort, he at once ordered the +Republican flag to be hauled down and the Union Jack run up, and his +orders were promptly obeyed. A few days afterwards some members of the +force thought better of it, and having made up their minds to kill him, +came to the tent where he was sitting to carry out their purpose. On +learning their kind intentions, Major Clarke fixed his eye-glass in his +eye, and after steadily glaring at them through it for some time, said, +"You are all drunk, go back to your tents." The volunteers, quite +overcome by his coolness and the fixity of his gaze, at once slipped +off, and there was no further trouble. About three weeks after the +Annexation, the I-13th Regiment arrived at Pretoria, having been very +well received all along the road by the Boers, who came from miles +round to hear the band play. Its entry into Pretoria was quite a sight; +the whole population turned out to meet it; indeed the feeling of +rejoicing and relief was so profound that when the band began to play +"God save the Queen" some of the women burst into tears. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the effect of the Annexation on the country was perfectly +magical. Credit and commerce were at once restored; the railway bonds +that were down to nothing in Holland rose with one bound to par, and +the value of landed property nearly doubled. Indeed it would have been +possible for any one, knowing what was going to happen, to have +realised large sums of money by buying land in the beginning of 1877, +and selling it shortly after the Annexation. +</p> + +<p> +On the 24th May, being Her Majesty's birthday, all the native chiefs +who were anywhere within reach were summoned to attend the first formal +hoisting of the English flag. The day was a general festival, and the +ceremony was attended by a large number of Boers and natives in +addition to all the English. At mid-day, amidst the cheers of the +crowd, the salute of artillery, and the strains of "God save the +Queen," the Union Jack was run up a lofty flagstaff, and the Transvaal +was formally announced to be British soil. The flag was hoisted by +Colonel Brooke, R.E., and the present writer. Speaking for myself, I +may say that it was one of the proudest moments of my life. Could I +have foreseen that I should live to see that same flag, then hoisted +with so much joyous ceremony, within a few years shamefully and +dishonourably hauled down and buried,<a href="#note8" name="noteref8"><small>[8]</small></a> I think it would have been the +most miserable. +</p> + +<p> +The Annexation was as well received in England as it was in the +Transvaal. Lord Carnarvon wrote to Sir T. Shepstone to convey "the +Queen's entire approval of your conduct since you received Her +Majesty's commission, with a renewal of my own thanks on behalf of the +Government for the admirable prudence and discretion with which you +have discharged a great and unwonted responsibility." It was also +accepted by Parliament with very few dissentient voices, since it was +not till afterwards, when the subject became useful as an +electioneering howl, that the Liberal party, headed by our "powerful +popular minister," discovered the deep iniquity that had been +perpetrated in South Africa. So satisfied were the Transvaal Boers with +the change that Messrs. Kruger, Jorissen, and Bok, who formed the +deputation to proceed to England and present President Burgers' formal +protest against the Annexation, found great difficulty in raising +one-half of the necessary expenses—something under one thousand +pounds—towards the cost of the undertaking. The thirst for +independence cannot have been very great when all the wealthy burghers +in the Transvaal put together would not subscribe a thousand pounds +towards retaining it. Indeed, at this time the members of the +deputation themselves seem to have looked upon their undertaking as +being both doubtful and undesirable, since they informed Sir T. +Shepstone that they were going to Europe to discharge an obligation +which had been imposed upon them, and if the mission failed, they would +have done their duty. Mr. Kruger said that if they did fail, he would +be found to be as faithful a subject under the new form of government +as he had been under the old; and Dr. Jorissen admitted with equal +frankness that "the change was inevitable, and expressed his belief +that the cancellation of it would be calamitous." +</p> + +<p> +Whilst the Annexation was thus well received in the country immediately +interested, a lively agitation was commenced in the Western Province of +the Cape Colony, a thousand miles away, with a view of inducing the +Home Government to repudiate Sir T. Shepstone's act. The reason of this +movement was that the Cape Dutch party, caring little or nothing for +the real interests of the Transvaal, did care a great deal about their +scheme to turn all the white communities of South Africa into a great +Dutch Republic, to which they thought the Annexation would be a +deathblow. As I have said elsewhere, it must be borne in mind that the +strings of the anti-annexation agitation have all along been pulled in +the Western Province, whilst the Transvaal Boers have played the parts +of puppets. The instruments used by the leaders of the movement in the +Cape were, for the most part, the discontented and unprincipled +Hollander element, a newspaper of an extremely abusive nature called +the <cite>Volkstem</cite>, and another in Natal known as the <cite>Natal +Witness</cite>, lately edited by the notorious Aylward, which has an +almost equally unenviable reputation. +</p> + +<p> +On the arrival of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger in England, they were +received with great civility by Lord Carnarvon, who was, however, +careful to explain to them that the Annexation was irrevocable. In this +decision they cheerfully acquiesced, assuring his lordship of their +determination to do all they could to induce the Boers to accept the +new state of things, and expressing their desire to be allowed to serve +under the new Government. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst these gentlemen were thus satisfactorily arranging matters with +Lord Carnarvon, Sir. T. Shepstone was making a tour round the country +which resembled a triumphal progress more than anything else. He was +everywhere greeted with enthusiasm by all classes of the community, +Boers, English, and natives, and numerous addresses were presented to +him couched in the warmest language, not only by Englishmen, but also +by Boers. +</p> + +<p> +It is very difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm of a great number of +the inhabitants of the Transvaal for English rule, and the quiet +acquiescence of the remainder, at this time, with the decidedly +antagonistic attitude assumed later on. It appears to me, however, that +there are several reasons that go far towards accounting for it. The +Transvaal, when we annexed it, was in the position of a man with a +knife at his throat, who is suddenly rescued by some one stronger than +he, on certain conditions which at the time he gladly accepts, but +afterwards, when the danger is passed, wishes to repudiate. In the same +way the inhabitants of the South African Republic were in the time of +need very thankful for our aid, but after a while, when the +recollection of their difficulties had grown faint, when their debts +had been paid and their enemies defeated, they began to think that they +would like to get rid of us again, and start fresh on their own account +with a clean sheet. What fostered agitation more than anything else, +however, was the perfect impunity with which it was allowed to be +carried on. Had only a little firmness and decision been shown in the +first instance there would have been no further trouble. We might have +been obliged to confiscate half-a-dozen farms, and perhaps imprison as +many free burghers for a few months, and there it would have ended. +Neither Boers or natives understand our namby-pamby way of playing at +government; they put it down to fear. What they want, and what they +expect, is to be governed with a just but a firm hand. Thus when the +Boers found that they could agitate with impunity, they naturally +enough continued to agitate. Anybody who knows them will understand +that it was very pleasant to them to find themselves in possession of +that delightful thing, a grievance, and, instead of stopping quietly at +home on their farms, to feel obliged to proceed, full of importance and +long words, to a distant meeting, there to spout and listen to the +spouting of others. It is so much easier to talk politics than to sow +mealies. Some attribute the discontent among the Boers to the +postponement of the carrying out of the Annexation proclamation +promises with reference to the free institutions to be granted to the +country, but in my opinion it had little or nothing to do with it. The +Boers never understood the question of responsible government, and +never wanted that institution; what they did want was to be free of all +English control, and this they said twenty times in the most outspoken +language. I think there is little doubt the causes I have indicated are +the real sources of the agitation, though there must be added to them +their detestation of our mode of dealing with natives, and of being +forced to pay taxes regularly, and also the ceaseless agitation of the +Cape wire-pullers, through their agents the Hollanders, and their +organs in the press. +</p> + +<p> +On the return of Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen to the Transvaal, the +latter gentleman resumed his duties as Attorney-General, on which +occasion, if I remember aright, I myself had the honour of +administering to him the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, that he +afterwards kept so well. The former reported the proceedings of the +deputation to a Boer meeting, when he took a very different tone to +that in which he addressed Lord Carnarvon, announcing that if there +existed a majority of the people in favour of independence, he still +was Vice-President of the country. +</p> + +<p> +Both these gentlemen remained for some time in the pay of the British +Government, Mr. Jorissen as Attorney-General, and Mr. Kruger as member +of the Executive Council. The Government, however, at length found it +desirable to dispense with their services, though on different grounds. +Mr. Jorissen had, like several other members of the Republican +Government, been a clergyman, and was quite unfit to hold the post of +Attorney-General in an important colony like the Transvaal, where legal +questions were constantly arising requiring all the attention of a +trained mind; and after he had on several occasions been publicly +admonished from the bench, the Government retired him on liberal terms. +Needless to say, his opposition to English rule then became very +bitter. Mr. Kruger's appointment expired by law in November 1877, and +the Government did not think it advisable to re-employ him. The terms +of his letter of dismissal can be found on page 135 of Blue-book (c. +144), and involving as they do a serious charge of misrepresentation in +money matters, are not very creditable to him. After this event he also +pursued the cause of independence with increased vigour. +</p> + +<p> +During the last months of 1877 and the first part of 1878 agitation +against British rule went on unchecked, and at last grew to alarming +proportions, so much so that Sir T. Shepstone, on his return from the +Zulu border in March 1878, where he had been for some months discussing +the vexed and dangerous question of the boundary line with the Zulus, +found it necessary to issue a stringent proclamation warning the +agitators that their proceedings and meetings were illegal, and would +be punished according to law. This document, which was at the time +vulgarly known as the "Hold-your-jaw" proclamation, not being followed +by action, produced but little effect. +</p> + +<p> +On the 4th April 1878 another Boer meeting was convened, at which it +was decided to send a second deputation to England, to consist this +time of Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, with Mr. Bok as secretary. This +deputation proved as abortive as the first, Sir. M. Hicks Beach +assuring it, in a letter dated 6th August 1878, that it is "impossible, +for many reasons, … that the Queen's sovereignty should now be +withdrawn." +</p> + +<p> +Whilst the Government was thus hampered by internal disaffection, it +had also many other difficulties on its hands. First, there was the +Zulu boundary question, which was constantly developing new dangers to +the country. Indeed, it was impossible to say what might happen in that +direction from one week to another. Nor were its relations with +Secocœni satisfactory. It will be remembered that just before the +Annexation this chief had expressed his earnest wish to become a +British subject, and even paid over part of the fine demanded from him +by the Boer Government to the Civil Commissioner, Major Clarke. In +March 1878, however, his conduct towards the Government underwent a +sudden change, and he practically declared war. It afterwards appeared, +from Secocœni's own statement, that he was instigated to this step +by a Boer, Abel Erasmus by name—the same man who was concerned in the +atrocities in the first Secocœni war—who constantly encouraged him +to continue the struggle. I do not propose to minutely follow the +course of this long war, which, commencing in the beginning of 1878, +did not come to an end till after the Zulu war: when Sir Garnet +Wolseley attacked Secocœni's stronghold with a large force of +troops, volunteers, and Swazi allies, and took it with great slaughter. +The losses on our side were not very heavy, so far as white men were +concerned, but the Swazis are reported to have lost 400 killed and 500 +wounded. +</p> + +<p> +The struggle was, during the long period preceding the final attack, +carried on with great courage and ability by Major Clarke, R.A., +C.M.G., whose force, at the best of times, only consisted of 200 +volunteers and 100 Zulus. With this small body of men he contrived, +however, to keep Secocœni in check, and to take some important +strongholds. It was marked also by some striking acts of individual +bravery, of which one, performed by Major Clarke himself, whose +reputation for cool courage and presence of mind in danger is +unsurpassed in South Africa, is worthy of notice; and which, had public +attention been more concentrated on the Secocœni war, would +doubtless have won him the Victoria Cross. On one occasion, on visiting +one of the outlying forts, he found that a party of hostile natives, +who were coming down to the fort on the previous day with a flag of +truce, had been accidentally fired on, and had at once retreated. As +his system in native warfare was always to try and inspire his enemy +with perfect faith in the honour of Englishmen, and their contempt of +all tricks and treachery even towards a foe, he was very angry at this +occurrence, and at once, unarmed and unattended save by his native +servant, rode up into the mountains to the kraal from which the white +flag party had come on the previous day, and apologised to the chief +for what had happened. When I consider how very anxious Secocœni's +natives were to kill or capture Clarke, whom they held in great dread, +and how terrible the end of so great a captain would in all probability +have been had he been taken alive by these masters of refined torture, +I confess that I think this act of gentlemanly courage is one of the +most astonishing things I ever heard of. When he rode up those hills he +must have known that he was probably going to meet his death at the +hands of justly incensed savages. When Secocœni heard of what Major +Clarke had done he was so pleased that he shortly afterwards released a +volunteer whom he had taken prisoner, and who would otherwise, in all +probability, have been tortured to death. I must add that Major Clarke +himself never reported or alluded to this incident, but an account of +it can be found in a despatch written by Sir O. Lanyon to the Secretary +of State, dated 2d February 1880. +</p> + +<p> +Concurrently with, though entirely distinct from, the political +agitation that was being carried on among the Boers having for object +the restoration of independence, a private agitation was set on foot by +a few disaffected persons against Sir T. Shepstone, with the view of +obtaining his removal from office in favour of a certain Colonel +Weatherley. The details of this impudent plot are so interesting, and +the plot itself so typical of the state of affairs with which Sir T. +Shepstone had to deal, that I will give a short account of it. +</p> + +<p> +After the Annexation had taken place, there were naturally enough a +good many individuals who found themselves disappointed in the results +so far as they personally were concerned; I mean that they did not get +so much out of it as they expected. Among these was a gentleman called +Colonel Weatherley, who had come to the Transvaal as manager of a +gold-mining company, but getting tired of that had taken a prominent +part in the Annexation, and who, being subsequently disappointed about +an appointment, became a bitter enemy of the Administrator. I may say +at once that Colonel Weatherley seems to me to have been throughout the +dupe of the other conspirators. +</p> + +<p> +The next personage was a good-looking desperado, who called himself +Captain Gunn of Gunn, and who was locally somewhat irreverently known +as the very Gunn of very Gunn. This gentleman, whose former career had +been of a most remarkable order, was, on the annexation of the country, +found in the public prison charged with having committed various +offences, but on Colonel Weatherley's interesting himself strongly on +his behalf, he was eventually released without trial. On his release, +he requested the Administrator to publish a Government notice declaring +him innocent of the charges brought against him. This Sir T. Shepstone +declined to do, and so, to use his own words, in a despatch to the High +Commissioner on the subject, Captain Gunn of Gunn at once became "what +in this country is called a patriot." +</p> + +<p> +The third person concerned was a lawyer, who had got into trouble on +the Diamond Fields, and who felt himself injured because the rules of +the High Court did not allow him to practise as an advocate. The +quartette was made up by Mr. Celliers, the editor of the patriotic +organ, the <cite>Volkstem</cite>, who, since he had lost the Government +printing contract, found that no language could be too strong to apply +to the <i>personnel</i> of the Government, more especially its head. Of +course, there was a lady in it; what plot would be complete without? +She was Mrs. Weatherley, now, I believe, Mrs. Gunn of Gunn. These +gentlemen began operations by drawing up a long petition to Sir Bartle +Frere as High Commissioner, setting forth a string of supposed +grievances, and winding up with a request that the Administrator might +be "promoted to some other sphere of political usefulness." This +memorial was forwarded by the "committee," as they called themselves, +to various parts of the country for signature, but without the +slightest success, the fact of the matter being that it was not the +Annexor but the Annexation that the Boers objected to. +</p> + +<p> +At this stage in the proceedings Colonel Weatherley went to try and +forward the good cause with Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape. His letters +to Mrs. Weatherley from thence, afterwards put into Court in the +celebrated divorce case, contained many interesting accounts of his +attempts in that direction. I do not think, however, that he was +cognisant of what was being concocted by his allies in Pretoria, but +being a very vain, weak man, was easily deceived by them. With all his +faults he was a gentleman. As soon as he was gone a second petition was +drawn up by the "committee," showing "the advisability of immediately +suspending our present Administrator, and temporarily appointing and +recommending for Her Majesty's royal and favourable consideration an +English gentleman of high integrity and honour, in whom the country at +large has respect and confidence." +</p> + +<p> +The English gentleman of high integrity and honour of course proves to +be Colonel Weatherley, whose appointment is, further on, "respectfully +but earnestly requested," since he had "thoroughly gained the +affections, confidence, and respect of Boers, English, and other +Europeans in this country." But whilst it is comparatively easy to +write petitions, there is sometimes a difficulty in getting people to +sign them, as proved to be the case with reference to the documents +under consideration. When the "committee" and the employés in the +office of the <cite>Volkstem</cite> had affixed their valuable signatures it +was found to be impossible to induce anybody else to follow their +example. Now, a petition with some half dozen signatures attached would +not, it was obvious, carry much weight with the Imperial Government, +and no more could be obtained. +</p> + +<p> +But really great minds rise superior to such difficulties, and so did +the "committee," or some of them, or one of them. If they could not get +genuine signatures to their petitions, they could at any rate +manufacture them. This great idea once hit out, so vigorously was it +prosecuted that they, or some of them, or one of them, produced in a +very little while no less than 3883 signatures, of which sixteen were +proved to be genuine, five were doubtful, and all the rest fictitious. +But the gentleman, whoever he was, who was the working partner in the +scheme—and I may state, by way of parenthesis, that when Gunn of Gunn +was subsequently arrested, petitions in process of signature were found +under the mattress of his bed—calculated without his host. He either +did not know, or had forgotten, that on receipt of such documents by a +superior officer, they are at once sent to the officer accused to +report upon. This course was followed in the present case, and the +petitions were discovered to be gross impostures. The ingenuity +exercised by their author or authors was really very remarkable, for it +must be remembered that not one of the signatures was forged; they were +all invented, and had, of course, to be written in a great variety of +hands. The plan generally pursued was to put down the names of people +living in the country, with slight variations. Thus "De +<i>V</i>illiers" became "De <i>W</i>illiers," and "Van Z<i>y</i>l" "Van +Z<i>u</i>l." I remember that my own name appeared on one of the +petitions with some slight alteration. Some of the names were evidently +meant to be facetious. Thus there was a "Jan Verneuker," which means +"John the Cheat." +</p> + +<p> +Of the persons directly or indirectly concerned in this rascally plot, +the unfortunate Colonel Weatherley subsequently apologised to Sir T. +Shepstone for his share in the agitation, and shortly afterwards died +fighting bravely on Kambula. Captain Gunn of Gunn and Mrs. Weatherley, +after having given rise to the most remarkable divorce case I ever +heard—it took fourteen days to try—were, on the death of Colonel +Weatherley, united in the bonds of holy matrimony, and are, I believe, +still in Pretoria. The lawyer vanished I know not where, whilst Mr. +Celliers still continues to edit that admirably conducted journal the +<cite>Volkstem</cite>; nor, if I may judge from the report of a speech made +by him recently at a Boer festival, which, by the way, was graced by +the presence of our representative, Mr. Hudson, the British Resident, +has his right hand forgotten its cunning, or rather his tongue lost the +use of those peculiar and <i lang="fr">recherché</i> epithets that used to adorn +the columns of the <cite>Volkstem</cite>. I see that he, on this occasion, +denounced the English element as being "poisonous and dangerous" to a +State, and stated, amidst loud cheers, that "he despised" it. Mr. +Cellier's lines have fallen in pleasant places; in any other country he +would long ago have fallen a victim to the stern laws of libel. I +recommend him to the notice of enterprising Irish newspapers. Such is +the freshness and vigour of his style that I am confident he would make +the fortune of any Hibernian journal. +</p> + +<p> +Some little time after the Gunn of Gunn frauds a very sad incident +happened in connection with the government of the Transvaal. Shortly +after the Annexation, the Home Government sent out Mr. Sergeaunt, +C.M.G., one of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, to report on the +financial Condition of the country. He was accompanied, in an +unofficial capacity, amongst other gentlemen, by Captain Patterson and +his son, Mr. J. Sergeaunt; and when he returned to England, these two +gentlemen remained behind to go on a shooting expedition. About this +time Sir Bartle Frere was anxious to send a friendly mission to Lo +Bengula, king of the Matabele, a branch of the Zulu tribe, living up +towards the Zambesi. This chief had been making himself unpleasant by +causing traders to be robbed, and it was thought desirable to establish +friendly relations with him, so it was suggested to Captain Patterson +and Mr. Sergeaunt that they should combine business with pleasure, and +go on a mission to Lo Bengula, an offer which they accepted, and +shortly afterwards started for Matabeleland with an interpreter and a +few servants. They reached their destination in safety; and having +concluded their business with the king, started on a visit to the +Zambesi Falls on foot, leaving the interpreter with the waggon. The +falls were about twelve days' walk from the king's kraal, and they were +accompanied thither by young Mr. Thomas, the son of the local +missionary, two Kafir servants, and twenty native bearers supplied by +Lo Bengula. The next thing that was heard of them was that they had all +died through drinking poisoned water, full details of the manner of +their deaths being sent down by Lo Bengula. +</p> + +<p> +In the first shock and confusion of such news it was not very closely +examined, at any rate by the friends of the dead men, but, on +reflection, there were several things about it that appeared strange. +For instance, it was well known that Captain Patterson had a habit, for +which, indeed, we had often laughed at him, of, however thirsty he +might be, always having his water boiled when he was travelling, in +order to destroy impurities, and it seemed odd that he should on this +one occasion have neglected the precaution. Also, it was curious that +the majority of Lo Bengula's bearers appeared to have escaped, whereas +all the others were, without exception, killed; nor even in that +district is it usual to find water so bad that it will kill with the +rapidity it had been supposed to do in this case, unless indeed it had +been designedly poisoned. These doubts of the poisoning-by-bad-water-story +resolved themselves into certainty when the waggon returned in charge +of the interpreter, when, by putting two and two together, we were able +to piece out the real history of the diabolical murder of our poor +friends with considerable accuracy, a story which shows what +blood-thirsty wickedness a savage is capable of when he fancies his +interests are threatened. +</p> + +<p> +It appeared that, when Captain Patterson first interviewed Lo Bengula, +he was not at all well received by him. I must, by way of explanation, +state that there exists a pretender to his throne, Kruman by name, who, +as far as I can make out, is the real heir to the kingdom. This man +had, for some cause or other, fled the country, and for a time acted as +gardener to Sir T. Shepstone in Natal. At the date of Messrs. Patterson +and Sergeaunt's mission to Matabeleland he was living, I believe, in +the Transvaal. Captain Patterson, on finding himself so ill received by +the king, and not being sufficiently acquainted with the character of +savage chiefs, most unfortunately, either by accident or design, +dropped some hint in the course of conversation about this Kruman. From +that moment Lo Bengula's conduct towards the mission entirely changed, +and, dropping his former tone, he became profusely civil; and from that +moment, too, he doubtless determined to kill them, probably fearing +that they might forward some scheme to oust him and place Kruman, on +whose claim a large portion of his people looked favourably, on the +throne. +</p> + +<p> +When their business was done, and Captain Patterson told the king that +they were anxious, before returning, to visit the Zambesi Falls, he +readily fell in with their wish, but, in the first instance, refused +permission to young Thomas, the son of the missionary, to accompany +them, only allowing him to do so on the urgent representations of +Captain Patterson. The reason of this was, no doubt, that he had kindly +feelings towards the lad, and did not wish to include him in the +slaughter. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Patterson was a man of extremely methodical habits, and, +amongst other things, was in the habit of making notes of all that he +did. His note-book had been taken off his body, and sent down to +Pretoria with the other things. In it we found entries of his +preparations for the trip, including the number and names of the +bearers provided by Lo Bengula. We also found the chronicle of the +first three days' journey, and that of the morning of the fourth day, +but there the record stopped. The last entry was probably made a few +minutes before he was killed; and it is to be observed that there was +no entry of the party having been for several days without water, as +stated by the messengers, and then finding the poisoned water. +</p> + +<p> +This evidence by itself would not have amounted to much, but now +comes the curious part of the story, showing the truth of the old +adage, "Murder will out." It appears that when the waggon was coming +down to Pretoria in charge of the interpreter, it was outspanned +one day outside the borders of Lo Bengula's country, when some +Kafirs—Bechuanas, I think—came up, asked for some tobacco, and fell +into conversation with the driver, remarking that he had come up with a +full waggon, and now he went down with an empty one. The driver replied +by lamenting the death by poisoned water of his masters, whereupon one +of the Kafirs told him the following story:—He said that a brother of +his was out hunting, a little while back, in the desert for ostriches, +with a party of other Kafirs, when hearing shots fired some way off, +they made for the spot, thinking that white men were out shooting, and +that they would be able to beg meat. On reaching the spot, which was by +a pool of water, they saw the bodies of three white men lying on the +ground, and also those of a Hottentot and a Kafir, surrounded by an +armed party of Kafirs. They at once asked the Kafirs what they had been +doing killing the white men, and were told to be still, for it was by +"order of the king." They then learned the whole story. It appeared +that the white men had made a mid-day halt by the water, when one of +the bearers, who had gone to the edge of the pool, suddenly shouted to +them to come and look at a great snake in the water. Captain Patterson +ran up, and, as he leaned over the edge, was instantly killed by a blow +with an axe; the others were then shot and assegaied. The Kafir further +described the clothes that his brother had seen on the bodies, and also +some articles that had been given to his party by the murderers, that +left little doubt as to the veracity of his story. And so ended the +mission to Matabeleland. +</p> + +<p> +No public notice was taken of the matter, for the obvious reason that +it was impossible to get at Lo Bengula to punish him; nor would it have +been easy to come by legal evidence to disprove the ingenious story of +the poisoned water, since anybody trying to reach the spot of the +massacre would probably fall a victim to some similar accident before +he got back again. It is devoutly to be hoped that the punishment he +deserves will sooner or later overtake the author of this devilish and +wholesale murder. +</p> + +<p> +The beginning of 1879 was signalised by the commencement of operations +in Zululand and by the news of the terrible disaster at Isandhlwana, +which fell on Pretoria like a thunderclap. It was not, however, any +surprise to those who were acquainted with Zulu tactics and with the +plan of attack adopted by the English commanders. In fact, I know that +one solemn warning of what would certainly happen to him if he +persisted in his plan of advance was addressed to Lord Chelmsford, +through the officer in command at Pretoria, by a gentleman whose +position and long experience of the Zulus and their mode of attack +should have carried some weight. If it ever reached him, he took, to +the best of my recollection, no notice of it whatever. +</p> + +<p> +But though some such disaster was daily expected by a few, the majority +both of soldiers and civilians never dreamed of anything of the sort, +the general idea being that the conquest of Cetywayo was a very easy +undertaking; and the shock produced by the news of Isandhlwana was +proportionately great, especially as it reached Pretoria in a much +exaggerated form. I shall never forget the appearance of the town that +morning; business was entirely suspended, and the streets were filled +with knots of men talking, with scared faces, as well they might: for +there was scarcely anybody but had lost a friend, and many thought that +their sons or brothers were among the dead on that bloody field. Among +others, Sir T. Shepstone lost one son, and thought for some time that +he had lost three. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after this event Sir Theophilus went to England to confer with +the Secretary of State on various matters connected with the Transvaal, +carrying with him the affection and respect of all who knew him, not +excepting the majority of the malcontent Boers. He was succeeded by +Colonel, now Sir Owen Lanyon, who was appointed to administer the +Government during the absence of Sir T. Shepstone. +</p> + +<p> +By the Boers, however, the news of our disaster was received with great +and unconcealed rejoicing, or at least by the irreconcilable portion of +that people. England's necessity was their opportunity, and one of +which they certainly meant to avail themselves. Accordingly, notices +were sent out summoning the burghers of the Transvaal to attend a mass +meeting on the 18th March, at a place about thirty miles from Pretoria. +Emissaries were also sent to native chiefs, to excite them to follow +Cetywayo's example, and massacre all the English within reach, of whom +a man called Solomon Prinsloo was one of the most active The natives, +however, notwithstanding the threats used towards them, one and all +declined the invitation. +</p> + +<p> +It must not be supposed that all the Boers who attended these meetings +did so of their own free will; on the contrary, a very large number +came under compulsion, since they found that the English authorities +were powerless to give them protection. The recalcitrants were +threatened with all sorts of pains and penalties if they did not +attend, a favourite menace being that they should be made "biltong" of +when the country was given back (<i>i.e.</i>, be cut into strips and +hung in the sun to dry). Few, luckily for themselves, were brave enough +to tempt fortune by refusing to come, but those who did have had to +leave the country since the war. Whatever were the means employed, the +result was an armed meeting of about 3000 Boers, who evidently meant +mischief. +</p> + +<p> +Just about this time a corps had been raised in Pretoria, composed, for +the most part, of gentlemen, and known as the Pretoria Horse, for the +purpose of proceeding to the Zulu border, where cavalry, especially +cavalry acquainted with the country, was earnestly needed. In the +emergency of the times officials were allowed to join this corps, a +permission of which I availed myself, and was elected one of the +lieutenants.<a href="#note9" name="noteref9"><small>[9]</small></a> The corps was not, after all, allowed to go to Zululand +on account of the threatening aspect adopted by the Boers, against whom +it was retained for service. In my capacity as an officer of the corps +I was sent out with a small body of picked men, all good riders and +light weights, to keep up a constant communication between the Boer +camp and the Administrator, and found the work both interesting and +exciting. My headquarters were at an inn about twenty-five miles from +Pretoria, to which our agents in the meeting used to come every evening +and report how matters were proceeding, whereupon, if the road was +clear, I despatched a letter to headquarters; or, if I feared that the +messengers would be caught <i>en route</i> by Boer patrols and +searched, I substituted different coloured ribbons according to what I +wished to convey. There was a relief hidden in the trees or rocks every +six miles, all day and most of the night, whose business it was to take +the despatch or ribbon and gallop on with it to the next station, in +which way we used to get the despatches into town in about an hour and +a quarter. +</p> + +<p> +On one or two occasions the Boers came to the inn and threatened to +shoot us, but as our orders were to do nothing unless our lives were +actually in danger, we took no notice. The officer who came out to +relieve me had not, however, been there more than a day or two before +he and all his troopers were hunted back into Pretoria by a large mob +of armed Boers whom they only escaped by very hard riding. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the Boers were by degrees drawing nearer and nearer to the +town, till at last they pitched their laagers within six miles, and +practically besieged it. All business was stopped, the houses were +loopholed and fortified, and advantageous positions were occupied by +the military and the various volunteer corps. The building, normally in +the occupation of the Government mules, fell to the lot of the Pretoria +Horse, and, though it was undoubtedly a post of honour, I honestly +declare that I have no wish to sleep for another month in a mule stable +that has not been cleaned out for several years. However, by sinking a +well, and erecting bastions and a staging for sharpshooters, we +converted it into an excellent fortress, though it would not have been +of much use against artillery. Our patrols used to be out all night, +since we chiefly feared a night attack, and generally every preparation +was made to resist the onset that was hourly expected, and I believe +that it was that state of preparedness that alone prevented it. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst this meeting was going on, and when matters had come to a point +that seemed to render war inevitable, Sir Bartle Frere arrived at +Pretoria and had several interviews with the Boer leaders, at which +they persisted in demanding their independence, and nothing short of +it. After a great deal of talk the meeting finally broke up without any +actual appeal to arms, though it had, during its continuance, assumed +many of the rights of government, such as stopping post-carts and +individuals, and sending armed patrols about the country. The principal +reason of its break-up was that the Zulu war was now drawing to a +close, and the leaders saw that there would soon be plenty of troops +available to suppress any attempt at revolt, but they also saw to what +lengths they could go with impunity. They had for a period of nearly +two months been allowed to throw the whole country into confusion, to +openly violate the laws, and to intimidate and threaten Her Majesty's +loyal subjects with war and death. The lesson was not lost on them; but +they postponed action till a more favourable opportunity offered. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Bartle Frere before his departure took an opportunity at a public +dinner given him at Potchefstroom of assuring the loyal inhabitants of +the country that the Transvaal would never be given back. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile a new Pharaoh had arisen in Egypt, in the shape of Sir Garnet +Wolseley, and on the 29th June 1879 we find him communicating the fact +to Sir 0. Lanyon in very plain language, telling him that he +disapproved of his course of action with regard to Secocœni, and +that "in future you will please take orders only from me." +</p> + +<p> +As soon as Sir Garnet had completed his arrangements for the +pacification of Zululand, he proceeded to Pretoria, and having caused +himself to be sworn in as Governor, set vigorously to work. I must say +that in his dealings with the Transvaal he showed great judgment and a +keen appreciation of what the country needed, namely, strong +government; the fact of the matter being, I suppose, that being very +popular with the Home authorities he felt that he could more or less +command their support in what he did, a satisfaction not given to most +governors, who never know but that they may be thrown overboard in +emergency to lighten the ship. +</p> + +<p> +One of his first acts was to issue a proclamation, stating that, +"Whereas it appears that, notwithstanding repeated assurances of +contrary effect given by Her Majesty's representatives in this +territory, uncertainty or misapprehension exists amongst some of Her +Majesty's subjects as to the intention of Her Majesty's Government +regarding the maintenance of British rule and sovereignty over the +territory of the Transvaal: and whereas it is expedient that all +grounds for such uncertainty or misapprehension should be removed once +and for all beyond doubt or question: now therefore I do hereby +proclaim and make known, in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty the +Queen, that it is the will and determination of Her Majesty's +Government that this Transvaal territory shall be, <i>and shall +continue to be for ever</i>, an integral portion of Her Majesty's +dominions in South Africa." +</p> + +<p> +Alas! Sir G. Wolseley's estimate of the value of a solemn pledge thus +made in the name of Her Majesty, whose word has hitherto been held to +be sacred, differed greatly to that of Mr. Gladstone and his +Government. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Garnet Wolseley's operations against Secocœni proved eminently +successful, and were the best arranged bit of native warfare that I +have yet heard of in South Africa. One blow was struck, and only one, +but that was crushing. Of course the secret of his success lay in the +fact that he had an abundance of force; but it was not ensured by that +alone, good management being very requisite in an affair of the sort, +especially where native allies have to be dealt with. The cost of the +expedition, not counting other Secocœni war expenditure, amounted to +over £300,000, all of which is now lost to this country. +</p> + +<p> +Another step in the right direction undertaken by Sir Garnet was the +establishment of an Executive Council and also of a Legislative +Council, for the establishment of which Letters Patent were sent from +Downing Street in November 1880. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the Boers, paying no attention to the latter proclamation, +for they guessed that it, like other proclamations in the Transvaal, +would be a mere <i lang="la">brutum fulmen</i>, had assembled for another mass +meeting, at which they went forward a step, and declared a Government +which was to treat with the English authorities. They had now learnt +that they could do what they liked with perfect impunity, provided they +did not take the extreme course of massacring the English. They had yet +to learn that they might even do that. At the termination of this +meeting, a vote of thanks was passed to "Mr. Leonard Courtney of +London, and other members of the British Parliament." It was wise of +the Boer leaders to cultivate Mr. Courtney of London. As a result of +this meeting, Pretorius, one of the principal leaders, and Bok, the +secretary, were arrested on a charge of treason, and underwent a +preliminary examination; but as the Secretary of State, Sir M. Hicks +Beach, looked rather timidly on the proceeding, and the local +authorities were doubtful of securing a verdict, the prosecution was +abandoned, and necessarily did more harm than good, being looked upon +as another proof of the impotence of the Government. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly afterwards, Sir G. Wolseley changed his tactics, and, instead +of attempting to imprison Pretorius, offered him a seat on the +Executive Council, with a salary attached. This was a much more +sensible way of dealing with him, and he at once rose to the bait, +stating his willingness to join the Government after a while, but that +he could not publicly do so at the moment lest he should lose his +influence with those who were to be brought round through him. It does +not, however, appear that Mr. Pretorius ever did actually join the +Executive, probably because he found public opinion too strong to allow +him to do so. +</p> + +<p> +In December 1879 a new light broke upon the Boers, for in the previous +month Mr. Gladstone had been delivering his noted attack on the policy +of the Conservative Government. Those Mid-Lothian speeches did harm, it +is said, in many parts of the world; but I venture to think that they +have proved more mischievous in South Africa than anywhere else; at any +rate, they have borne fruit sooner. It is not to be supposed that Mr. +Gladstone really cared anything about the Transvaal or its independence +when he was denouncing the hideous outrage that had been perpetrated by +the Conservative Government in annexing it. On the contrary, as he +acquiesced in the Annexation at the time (when Lord Kimberley stated +that it was evidently unavoidable), and declined to rescind it when he +came into power, it is to be supposed that he really approved of it, or +at the least looked on it as a necessary evil. However this may be, any +stick will do to beat a dog with, and the Transvaal was a convenient +point on which to attack the Government. He probably neither knew nor +cared what effect his reckless words might have on ignorant Boers +thousands of miles away; and yet, humanly speaking, many a man would +have been alive and strong to-day whose bones now whiten the African +Veldt had those words never been spoken. Then, for the first time, the +Boers learnt that, if they played their cards properly and put on +sufficient pressure, they would, in the event of the Liberal party +coming to office, have little difficulty in coercing it as they wished. +</p> + +<p> +There was a fair chance at the time of the utterance of the Mid-Lothian +speeches that the agitation would, by degrees, die away; Sir G. +Wolseley had succeeded in winning over Pretorius, and the Boers in +general were sick of mass meetings. Indeed, a memorial was addressed to +Sir. G. Wolseley by a number of Boers in the Potchefstroom district, +protesting against the maintenance of the movement against Her +Majesty's rule, which, considering the great amount of intimidation +exercised by the malcontents, may be looked upon as a favourable sign. +</p> + +<p> +But when it slowly came to be understood among the Boers that a great +English Minister had openly espoused their cause, and that he would +perhaps soon be all-powerful, the moral gain to them was incalculable. +They could now go to the doubting ones and say,—we must be right about +the matter, because, putting our own feelings out of the question, the +great Gladstone says we are. We find the committee of the Boer +malcontents, at their meeting in March 1880, reading a letter to Mr. +Gladstone, "in which he was thanked for the great sympathy shown in +their fate," and a hope expressed that, if he succeeded in getting +power, he would not forget them. In fact, a charming unanimity +prevailed between our great Minister and the Boer rebels, for their +interests were the same, the overthrow of the Conservative Government. +If, however, every leader of the Opposition were to intrigue or +countenance intrigues with those who are seeking to undermine the +authority of Her Majesty, whether they be Boers or Irishmen, in order +to help himself to power, the country might suffer in the long run. +</p> + +<p> +But whatever feelings may have prompted Her Majesty's Opposition, the +Home Government, and their agent, Sir Garnet Wolseley, blew no +uncertain blast, if we may judge from their words and actions. Thus we +find Sir Garnet speaking as follows at a banquet given in his honour at +Pretoria:— +</p> + +<p> +"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in +this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the +old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English +politics than such an idea; I tell you that there is no Government, +Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical, <i>who would dare +under any circumstances to give back this country</i>. They would not +dare, because the English people would not allow them. To give back the +country, what would it mean? To give it back to external danger, to the +danger of attack by hostile tribes on its frontier, and who, if the +English Government were removed for one day, would make themselves felt +the next. Not an official of Government paid for months; it would mean +national bankruptcy. No taxes being paid, the same thing recurring +again which had existed before would mean danger without, anarchy and +civil war within, every possible misery; the strangulation of trade, +and the destruction of property." +</p> + +<p> +It is very amusing to read this passage by the light of after events. +On other occasions Sir Garnet Wolseley will probably not be quite so +confident as to the future when it is to be controlled by a Radical +Government. +</p> + +<p> +This explicit and straightforward statement of Sir Garnet's produced a +great effect on the loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal, which was +heightened by the publication of the following telegram from the +Secretary of State:—"You may fully confirm explicit statements made +from time to time as to inability of Her Majesty's Government to +entertain <i>any proposal</i> for withdrawal of the Queen's sovereignty." +</p> + +<p> +On the faith of these declarations many Englishmen migrated to the +Transvaal and settled there, whilst those who were in the country now +invested all their means, being confident that they would not lose +their property through its being returned to the Boers. The excitement +produced by Mr. Gladstone's speeches began to quiet down and be +forgotten for the time, arrear taxes were paid up by the malcontents, +and generally the aspect of affairs was such, in Sir Garnet Wolseley's +opinion, as justified him in writing, in April 1880, to the Secretary +of State expressing his belief that the agitation was dying out.<a href="#note10" name="noteref10"><small>[10]</small></a> +Indeed, so sanguine was he on that point that he is reported to have +advised the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment stationed in the +territory, a piece of economy that was one of the immediate causes of +the revolt. +</p> + +<p> +The reader will remember the financial condition of the country at the +time of the Annexation, which was one of utter bankruptcy. After three +years of British rule, however, we find, notwithstanding the constant +agitation that had been kept up, that the total revenue receipts for +the first quarter of 1879 and 1880 amounted to £22,773 and £47,982 +respectively. That is to say, that, during the last year of British +rule, the revenue of the country more than doubled itself, and amounted +to about £160,000 a year, taking the quarterly returns at the low +average of £40,000. It must, however, be remembered that this sum would +have been very largely increased in subsequent years, most probably +doubled. At any rate the revenue would have been amply sufficient to +make the province one of the most prosperous in South Africa, and to +have enabled it to shortly repay all debts due to the British +Government, and further to provide for its own defence. Trade also, +which, in April 1877, was completely paralysed, had increased +enormously. So early as the middle of 1879, the Committee of the +Transvaal Chamber of Commerce pointed out, in a resolution adopted by +them, that the trade of the country had in two years risen from almost +nothing to the considerable sum of two millions sterling per annum, and +that it was entirely in the hands of those favourable to British rule. +They also pointed out that more than half the land-tax was paid by +Englishmen, or other Europeans adverse to Boer Government. Land, too, +had risen greatly in value, of which I can give the following instance. +About a year after the Annexation I, together with a friend, bought a +little property on the outskirts of Pretoria, which, with a cottage we +put up on it, cost some £300. Just before the rebellion we fortunately +determined to sell it, and had no difficulty in getting £650 for it. I +do not believe that it would now fetch a fifty-pound note. +</p> + +<p> +I cannot conclude this chapter better than by drawing attention to a +charming specimen of the correspondence between the Boer leaders and +their friend Mr. Courtney. The letter in question, which is dated 26th +June, purports to be written by Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, but it is +obvious that it owes its origin to some member or members of the Dutch +party at the Cape, from whence, indeed, it is written. This is rendered +evident both by its general style, and also by the use of such terms as +"Satrap," and by references to Napoleon III. and Cayenne, about whom +Messrs. Kruger and Joubert know no more than they do of Peru and the +Incas. +</p> + +<p> +After alluding to former letters, the writers blow a blast of triumph +over the downfall of the Conservative Government, and then make a +savage attack on the reputation of Sir Bartle Frere. The "stubborn +Satrap" is throughout described as a liar, and every bad motive imputed +to him. Really, the fact that Mr. Courtney should encourage such +epistles as this is enough to give colour to the boast made by some of +the leading Boers, after the war, that they had been encouraged to +rebel by a member of the British Government. +</p> + +<p> +At the end of this letter, and on the same page of the Blue-Book, is +printed the telegram recalling Sir Bartle Frere, dated 1st August 1880. +It really reads as though the second document was consequent on the +first. One thing is very clear, the feelings of Her Majesty's new +Government towards Sir Bartle Frere differed only in the method of +their expression from those set forth by the Boer leaders in their +letter to Mr. Courtney, whilst their object, namely, to be rid of him, +was undoubtedly identical with that of the Dutch party in South Africa. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="V"> </a> +CHAPTER V. +<br><br> +<span class="small">THE BOER REBELLION. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +When the Liberal ministry became an accomplished fact instead of a +happy possibility, Mr. Gladstone did not find it convenient to adopt +the line of policy with reference to the Transvaal that might have been +expected from his utterances whilst leader of the Opposition. On the +contrary, he declared in Parliament that the Annexation could not be +cancelled, and on the 8th June 1880 we find him, in answer to a Boer +petition, written with the object of inducing him to act up to the +spirit of his words and rescind the Annexation, writing thus:—"Looking +to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South +Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders which +might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal, but +to the whole of South Africa, our judgment is, that the <i>Queen cannot +be advised to relinquish her sovereignty over the Transvaal</i>; but, +consistently with the maintenance of that sovereignty, we desire that +the white inhabitants of the Transvaal should, without prejudice to the +rest of the population, enjoy the fullest liberty to manage their local +affairs. We believe that this liberty may be most easily and promptly +conceded to the Transvaal as a member of a South African +confederation." +</p> + +<p> +Unless words have lost their signification, this passage certainly +means that the Transvaal must remain a British colony, but that England +will be prepared to grant it responsible government, more especially if +it will consent to a confederation scheme. Mr. Gladstone, however, in a +communication dated 1st June 1881, and addressed to the unfortunate +Transvaal loyals, for whom he expresses "respect and sympathy," +interprets his meaning thus: "It is stated, as I observe, that a +promise was given by me that the Transvaal never should be given back. +There is no mention of the terms or date of this promise. If the +reference be to my letter, of 8th June 1880, to Messrs. Kruger and +Joubert, I do not think the language of that letter justifies the +description given. Nor am I sure in what manner or to what degree the +fullest liberty to manage their local affairs, which I then said Her +Majesty's Government desired to confer on the white population of the +Transvaal, differs from the settlement now about being made in its +bearing on the interests of those whom your Committee represents." +</p> + +<p> +Such twisting of the meaning of words would, in a private person, be +called dishonest. It will also occur to most people that Mr. Gladstone +might have spared the deeply wronged and loyal subjects of Her Majesty +whom he was addressing the taunt he levels at them in the second +paragraph I have quoted. If asked, he would no doubt say that he had +not the slightest intention of laughing at them; but when he +deliberately tells them that it makes no difference to their interests +whether they remain Her Majesty's subjects under a responsible +Government, or become the servants of men who were but lately in arms +against them and Her Majesty's authority, he is either mocking them, or +offering an insult to their understandings. +</p> + +<p> +By way of comment on his remarks, I may add that he had, in a letter +replying to a petition from these same loyal inhabitants, addressed to +him in May 1880, informed them that he had already told the Boer +representatives that the Annexation could not be rescinded. Although +Mr. Gladstone is undoubtedly the greatest living master of the art of +getting two distinct and opposite sets of meanings out of one set of +words, it would try even his ingenuity to make out, to the satisfaction +of an impartial mind, that he never gave any pledge about the retention +of the Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, it is from other considerations clear that he had no intention +of giving up the country to the Boers, whose cause he appears to have +taken up solely for electioneering purposes. Had he meant to do so, he +would have carried out his intention on succeeding to office, and, +indeed, as things have turned out, it is deeply to be regretted that he +did not; for, bad as such a step would have been, it would at any rate +have had a better appearance than our ultimate surrender after three +defeats. It would also have then been possible to secure the repayment +of some of the money owing to this country, and to provide for the +proper treatment of the natives, and the compensation of the loyal +inhabitants who could no longer live there: since it must naturally +have been easier to make terms with the Boers before they had defeated +our troops. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, we should have missed the grandest and most +soul-stirring display of radical theories, practically applied, that +has as yet lightened the darkness of this country. But although Mr. +Gladstone gave his official decision against returning the country, +there seems to be little doubt that communications on the subject were +kept up with the Boer leaders through some prominent members of the +Radical party, who, it was said, went so far as to urge the Boers to +take up arms against us. When Mr. White came to this country on behalf +of the loyalists, after the surrender, he stated that this was so at a +public meeting, and said further that he had in his possession proofs +of his statements. He even went so far as to name the gentleman he +accused, and to challenge him to deny it I have not been able to gather +that Mr. White's statements were contradicted. +</p> + +<p> +However this may be, after a pause, agitation in the Transvaal suddenly +recommenced with redoubled vigour. It began through a man named +Bezeidenhout, who refused to pay his taxes. Thereupon a waggon was +seized in execution under the authority of the court and put up to +auction, but its sale was prevented by a crowd of rebel Boers, who +kicked the auctioneer off the waggon and dragged the vehicle away. This +was on the 11th November 1880. When this intelligence reached Pretoria, +Sir Owen Lanyon sent down a few companies of the 21st Regiment, under +the command of Major Thornhill, to support the Landdrost in arresting +the rioters, and appointed Captain Raaf, C.M.G., to act as special +messenger to the Landdrost's Court at Potchefstroom, with authority to +enrol special constables to assist him to carry out the arrests. On +arrival at Potchefstroom Captain Raaf found that, without an armed +force, it was quite impossible to effect any arrest. On the 26th +November Sir Owen Lanyon, realising the gravity of the situation, +telegraphed to Sir George Colley, asking that the 58th Regiment should +be sent back to the Transvaal. Sir George replied that he could ill +spare it on account of "daily expected outbreak of Pondos and possible +appeal for help from Cape Colony," and that the Government must be +supported by the loyal inhabitants. +</p> + +<p> +It will be seen that the Boers had, with some astuteness, chosen a very +favourable time to commence operations. The hands of the Cape +Government were full with the Basuto war, so no help could be expected +from it; Sir G. Wolseley had sent away the only cavalry regiment that +remained in the country, and lastly, Sir Owen Lanyon had quite recently +allowed a body of 300 trained volunteers, mostly, if not altogether, +drawn from among the loyalists, to be raised for service in the Basuto +war, a serious drain upon the resources of a country so sparsely +populated as the Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile a mass meeting had been convened by the Boers for the 8th +January to consider Mr. Gladstone's letter, but the Bezeidenhout +incident had the effect of putting forward the date of assembly by a +month, and it was announced that it would be held on the 8th December. +Subsequently the date was shifted to the 15th, and then back again to +the 8th. Every effort was made, by threats of future vengeance, to +secure the presence of as many burghers as possible; attempts were also +made to persuade the native chiefs to send representatives, and to +promise to join in an attack on the English. These entirely failed. The +meeting was held at a place called Paarde Kraal, and resulted in the +sudden declaration of the Republic and the appointment of the famous +triumvirate Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius. It then moved into +Heidelberg, a little town about sixty miles from Pretoria, and on the +16th December the Republic was formally proclaimed in a long +proclamation, containing a summary of the events of the few preceding +years, and declaring the arrangements the malcontents were willing to +make with the English authorities. The terms offered in this document +are almost identical with those finally accepted by Her Majesty's +Government, with the exception that in the proclamation of the 16th +December the Boer leaders declare their willingness to enter into +confederation, and to guide their native policy by general rules +adopted in concurrence "with the Colonies and States of South Africa." +This was a more liberal offer than that which we ultimately agreed to, +but then the circumstances had changed. +</p> + +<p> +This proclamation was forwarded to Sir Owen Lanyon with a covering +letter, in which the following words occur:—"We declare in the most +solemn manner that we have no desire to spill blood, and that from our +side we do not wish war. It lies in your hands to force us to appeal to +arms in self-defence…. We expect your answer within twice twenty-four +hours." +</p> + +<p> +I beg to direct particular attention to these paragraphs, as they have +a considerable interest in view of what followed. +</p> + +<p> +The letter and proclamation reached Government House, Pretoria, at +10.30 on the evening of Friday the 17th December. Sir Owen Lanyon's +proclamation, written in reply, was handed to the messenger at noon on +Sunday, 19th December, or within about thirty-six hours of his arrival, +and could hardly have reached the rebel camp, sixty miles off, before +dawn the next day, the 20th December, on which day, at about one +o'clock, a detachment of the 94th was ambushed and destroyed on the +road between Middleburg and Pretoria, about eighty miles off, by a +force despatched from Heidelberg for that purpose some days before. On +the 16th December, or the <i>same day</i> on which the Triumvirate had +despatched the proclamation to Pretoria containing their terms, and +expressing in the most solemn manner that they had no desire to shed +blood, a large Boer force was attacking Potchefstroom. +</p> + +<p> +So much then for the sincerity of the professions of their desire to +avoid bloodshed. +</p> + +<p> +The proclamation sent by Sir O. Lanyon in reply recited in its preamble +the various acts of which the rebels had been guilty, including that of +having "wickedly sought to incite the said loyal native inhabitants +throughout the province to take up arms against Her Majesty's +Government," announced that matters had now been put into the hands of +the officer commanding Her Majesty's troops, and promised pardon to all +who would disperse to their homes. +</p> + +<p> +It was at Potchefstroom, which town had all along been the nursery of +the rebellion, that actual hostilities first broke out. Potchefstroom +as a town is much more Boer in its sympathies than Pretoria, which is, +or rather was, almost purely English. Sir Owen Lanyon had, as stated +before, sent a small body of soldiers thither to support the civil +authorities, and had also appointed Major Clarke, C.M.G., an officer of +noted coolness and ability, to act as Special Commissioner for the +district. +</p> + +<p> +Major Clarke's first step was to try, in conjunction with Captain Raaf, +to raise a corps of volunteers, in which he totally failed. Those of +the townsfolk who were not Boers at heart had too many business +relations with the surrounding farmers, and perhaps too little faith in +the stability of English rule after Mr. Gladstone's utterances, to +allow them to indulge in patriotism. At the time of the outbreak, +between seventy and eighty thousand sterling was owing to firms in +Potchefstroom by neighbouring Boers, a sum amply sufficient to account +for their lukewarmness in the English cause. Subsequent events have +shown that the Potchefstroom shopkeepers were wise in their generation. +</p> + +<p> +On the 15th December a large number of Boers came into the town and +took possession of the printing-office in order to print the +proclamation already alluded to. Major Clarke made two attempts to +enter the office and see the leaders, but without success. +</p> + +<p> +On the 16th a Boer patrol fired on some of the mounted infantry, and +the fire was returned. These were the first shots fired during the war, +and they were fired by Boers. Orders were thereupon signalled to Clarke +by Lieutenant-Colonel Winsloe, 21st Regiment, now commanding at the +fort which he afterwards defended so gallantly, that he was to commence +firing. Clarke was in the Landdrost's office on the Market Square with +a force of about twenty soldiers under Captain Falls and twenty +civilians under Captain Raaf, C.M.G., a position but ill-suited for +defensive purposes, from whence fire was accordingly opened, the Boers +taking up positions in the surrounding houses commanding the office. +Shortly after the commencement of the fighting, Captain Falls was shot +dead whilst talking to Major Clarke, the latter having a narrow escape, +a bullet grazing his head just above the ear. The fighting continued +during the 17th and till the morning of the 18th, when the Boers +succeeded in firing the roof, which was of thatch, by throwing +fire-balls on to it. Major Clarke then addressed the men, telling them +that, though personally he did not care about his own life, he did not +see that they could serve any useful purpose by being burned alive, so +he should surrender, which he did, with a loss of about six killed and +wounded. The camp meanwhile had repulsed with loss the attack made on +it, and was never again directly attacked. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst these events were in progress at Potchefstroom, a much more +awful tragedy was in preparation on the road between Middleburg and +Pretoria. +</p> + +<p> +On the 23d November, Colonel Bellairs, at the request of Sir Owen +Lanyon, directed a concentration on Pretoria of most of the few +soldiers that there were in the territory, in view of the disturbed +condition of the country. In accordance with these orders, Colonel +Anstruther marched from Lydenburg, a town about 180 miles from +Pretoria, on the 5th December, with the headquarters and two companies +of the 94th Regiment, being a total of 264 men, three women, and two +children, and the disproportionately large train of thirty-four +ox-waggons, or an ox-waggon capable of carrying five thousand pounds' +weight to every eight persons. And here I may remark that it is this +enormous amount of baggage, without which it appears to be impossible +to move the smallest body of men, that renders infantry regiments +almost useless for service in South Africa except for garrisoning +purposes. Both Zulus and Boers can get over the ground at thrice the +pace possible to the unfortunate soldier, and both races despise them +accordingly. The Zulus call our infantry "pack oxen." In this +particular instance, Colonel Anstruther's defeat, or rather, +annihilation, is to a very great extent referable to his enormous +baggage train; since, in the first place, had he not lost valuable days +in collecting more waggons, he would have been safe in Pretoria before +danger arose. It must also be acknowledged that his arrangements on the +line of march were somewhat reckless, though it can hardly be said that +he was ignorant of his danger. Thus we find that Colonel Bellairs wrote +to Colonel Anstruther, warning him of the probability of an attack, and +impressing on him the necessity of keeping a good look-out, the letter +being received and acknowledged by the latter on the 17th December. +</p> + +<p> +To this warning was added a still more impressive one that came to my +knowledge privately. A gentleman well known to me received, on the +morning after the troops had passed through the town of Middleburg on +their way to Pretoria, a visit from an old Boer with whom he was on +friendly terms, who had purposely come to tell him that a large patrol +was out to ambush the troops on the Pretoria road. My informant having +convinced himself of the truth of the statement, at once rode after the +soldiers, and catching them up some distance from Middleburg, told +Colonel Anstruther what he had heard, imploring him, he said, with all +the energy he could command, to take better precautions against +surprise. The Colonel, however, laughed at his fears, and told him that +if the Boers came "he would frighten them away with the big drum." +</p> + +<p> +At one o'clock on Sunday, the 20th December, the column was marching +along about a mile and a half from a place known as Bronker's Splint, +and thirty-eight miles from Pretoria, when suddenly a large number of +mounted Boers were seen in loose formation on the left side of the +road. The band was playing at the time, and the column was extended +over more than half a mile, the rearguard being about a hundred yards +behind the last waggon. The band stopped playing on seeing the Boers, +and the troops halted, when a man was seen advancing with a white flag, +whom Colonel Anstruther went out to meet, accompanied by Conductor +Egerton, a civilian. They met about one hundred and fifty yards from +the column, and the man gave Colonel Anstruther a letter, which +announced the establishment of the South African Republic, stated that +until they heard Lanyon's reply to their proclamation they did not know +if they were at war or not; that, consequently, they could not allow +any movements of troops, which would be taken as a declaration of war. +This letter was signed by Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. Colonel +Anstruther replied that he was ordered to Pretoria, and to Pretoria he +must go. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst this conference was going on, the Boers, of whom there were +quite five hundred, had gradually closed round the column, and took up +positions behind rocks and trees which afforded them excellent cover, +whilst the troops were on a bare plain, and before Colonel Anstruther +reached his men a murderous fire was poured in upon them from all +sides. The fire was hotly returned by the soldiers. Most of the +officers were struck down by the first volley, having, no doubt, been +picked out by the marksmen. The firing lasted about fifteen minutes, +and at the end of that time seven out of the nine officers were down +killed and wounded; an eighth (Captain Elliot), one of the two who +escaped, untouched, being reserved for an even more awful fate. The +majority of the men were also down, and had the hail of lead continued +much longer it is clear that nobody would have been left. Colonel +Anstruther, who was lying badly wounded in five places, seeing what a +hopeless state affairs were in, ordered the bugler to sound the cease +firing, and surrendered. One of the three officers who were not much +hurt was, most providentially, Dr. Ward, who had but a slight wound in +the thigh; all the others, except Captain Elliot and one lieutenant, +were either killed or died from the effects of their wounds. There were +altogether 56 killed and 101 wounded, including a woman, Mrs. Fox. +Twenty more afterwards died of their wounds. The Boer loss appears to +have been very small. +</p> + +<p> +After the fight Conductor Egerton, with a sergeant, was allowed to walk +into Pretoria to obtain medical assistance, the Boers refusing to give +him a horse, or even to allow him to use his own. The Boer leader also +left Dr. Ward eighteen men and a few stores for the wounded, with which +he made shift as best he could. Nobody can read this gentleman's report +without being much impressed with the way in which, though wounded +himself, he got through his terrible task of, without assistance, +attending to the wants of 101 sufferers. Beginning the task at 2 +<span class="sc">p.m.</span>, it took him till six the next morning before he had seen +the last man. It is to be hoped that his services have met with some +recognition. Dr. Ward remained near the scene of the massacre with his +wounded men till the declaration of peace, when he brought them down to +Maritzburg, having experienced great difficulty in obtaining food for +them during so many weeks. +</p> + +<p> +This is a short account of what I must, with reluctance, call a most +cruel and carefully planned massacre. I may mention that a Zulu driver, +who was with the rearguard, and escaped into Natal, stated that the +Boers shot all the wounded men who formed that body. His statement was +to a certain extent borne out by the evidence of one of the survivors, +who stated that all the bodies found in that part of the field (nearly +three-quarters of a mile away from the head of the column), had a +bullet hole through the head or breast in addition to their other +wounds. +</p> + +<p> +The Administrator of the Transvaal in council thus comments on the +occurrence in an official minute:—"The surrounding and gradual hemming +in under a flag of truce of a force, and the selection of spots from +which to direct their fire, as in the case of the unprovoked attack by +the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther's force, is a proceeding of which +very few like incidents can be mentioned in the annals of civilised +warfare." +</p> + +<p> +The Boer leaders, however, were highly elated at their success, and +celebrated it in a proclamation of which the following is an +extract:—"Inexpressible is the gratitude of the burghers for this +blessing conferred on them. Thankful to the brave General F. Joubert +and his men who have upheld the honour of the Republic on the +battlefield. Bowed down in the dust before Almighty God, who had thus +stood by them, and, with a loss of over a hundred of the enemy, only +allowed two of ours to be killed." +</p> + +<p> +In view of the circumstances of the treacherous hemming in and +destruction of this small body of unprepared men, most people would +think this language rather high-flown, not to say blasphemous. +</p> + +<p> +On the news of this disaster reaching Pretoria, Sir Owen Lanyon issued +a proclamation placing the country under martial law. As the town was +large, straggling, and incapable of defence, all the inhabitants, +amounting to over four thousand souls, were ordered up to camp, where +the best arrangements possible were made for their convenience. In +these quarters they remained for three months, driven from their +comfortable homes, and cheerfully enduring all the hardships, want, and +discomforts consequent on their position, whilst they waited in +patience for the appearance of that relieving column that never came. +People in England hardly understand what these men and women went +through because they chose to remain loyal. Let them suppose that all +the inhabitants of an ordinary English town, with the exception of the +class known as poor people, which can hardly be said to exist in a +colony, were at an hour's notice ordered—all, the aged and the sick, +delicate women, and tiny children—to leave their homes to the mercy of +the enemy, and crowd up in a little space under shelter of a fort, with +nothing but canvas tents or sheds to cover them from the fierce summer +suns and rains, and the coarsest rations to feed them; whilst the +husbands and brothers were daily engaged with a cunning and dangerous +enemy, and sometimes brought home wounded or dead. They will then have +some idea of what was gone through by the loyal people of Pretoria, in +their weak confidence in the good faith of the English Government. +</p> + +<p> +The arrangements made for the defence of the town were so ably and +energetically carried out by Sir Owen Lanyon, assisted by the military +officers, that no attack upon it was ever attempted. It seems to me +that the organisation that could provide for the penning up of four +thousand people for months, and carry it out without the occurrence of +a single unpleasantness or expression of discontent, must have had +something remarkable about it. Of course, it would have been impossible +without the most loyal co-operation on the part of those concerned. +Indeed everybody in the town lent a helping hand; judges served out +rations, members of the Executive inspected nuisances, and so forth. +There was only one instance of "striking;" and then, of all people in +the world, it was the five civil doctors who, thinking it a favourable +opportunity to fleece the Government, combined to demand five guineas +a-day each for their services. I am glad to say that they did not +succeed in their attempt at extortion. +</p> + +<p> +On the 23d December, the Boer leaders issued a second proclamation in +reply to that of Sir O. Lanyon of the 18th, which is characterised by +an utter absence of regard for the truth, being, in fact, nothing but a +tissue of impudent falsehoods. It accuses Sir O. Lanyon of having +bombarded women and children, of arming natives against the Boers, and +of firing on the Boers without declaring war. Not one of these +accusations has any foundation in fact, as the Boers well knew; but +they also knew that Sir Owen, being shut up in Pretoria, was not in a +position to rebut their charges, which they hoped might, to some +extent, be believed, and create sympathy for them in other parts of the +world. This was the reason of the issue of the proclamation, which well +portrays the character of its framers. +</p> + +<p> +Life at Pretoria was varied by occasional sorties against the Boer +laagers, situated at different points in the neighbourhood, generally +about six or eight miles from the town. These expeditions were carried +out with considerable success, though with some loss, the heaviest +incurred being when the Boers, having treacherously hoisted the white +flag, opened a heavy fire on the Pretoria forces, as soon as they, +beguiled into confidence, emerged from their cover. In the course of +the war, one in every four of the Pretoria mounted volunteers was +killed or wounded. +</p> + +<p> +But perhaps the most serious of all the difficulties the Government had +to meet was that of keeping the natives in check. As has before been +stated, they were devotedly attached to our rule, and, during the three +years of its continuance, had undergone what was to them a strange +experience, they had neither been murdered, beaten, or enslaved. +Naturally they were in no hurry to return to the old order of things, +in which murder, flogging, and slavery were events of everyday +occurrence. Nor did the behaviour of the Boers on the outbreak of the +war tend to reconcile them to any such idea. Thus we find that the +farmers had pressed a number of natives from Waterberg into one of +their laagers (Zwart Koppies); two of them tried to run away, a Boer +saw them and shot them both. Again, on the 7th January, a native +reported to the authorities at Pretoria that he and some others were +returning from the Diamond Fields driving some sheep. A Boer came and +asked them to sell the sheep. They refused, whereupon he went away, but +returning with some other Dutchmen fired on the Kafirs, killing one. +</p> + +<p> +On the 2d January information reached Pretoria that on the 26th +December some Boers fired on some natives who were resting outside +Potchefstroom and killed three; the rest fled, whereupon the Boers took +the cattle they had with them. +</p> + +<p> +On the 11th January some men, who had been sent from Pretoria with +despatches for Standerton, were taken prisoners. Whilst prisoners they +saw ten men returning from the Fields stopped by the Boers and ordered +to come to the laager. They refused and ran away, were fired on, five +being killed and one getting his arm broken. +</p> + +<p> +These are a few instances of the treatment meted out to the unfortunate +natives, taken at haphazard from the official reports. There are plenty +more of the same nature if anybody cares to read them. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the news of the rising reached them, every chief of any +importance sent in to offer aid to Government, and many of them, +especially Montsioa, our old ally in the Keate Award district, took the +loyals of the neighbourhood under their protection. Several took charge +of Government property and cattle during the disturbances, and one had +four or five thousand pounds in gold, the product of a recently +collected tax, given him to take care of by the Commissioner of his +district, who was afraid that the money would be seized by the Boers. +In every instance the property entrusted to their charge was returned +intact. The loyalty of all the native chiefs under very trying +circumstances (for the Boers were constantly attempting to cajole or +frighten them into joining them) is a remarkable proof of the great +affection of the Kafirs, more especially those of the Basuto tribes, +who love peace better than war, for the Queen's rule. The Government of +Pretoria need only have spoken one word to set an enormous number of +armed men in motion against the Boers, with the most serious results to +the latter. Any other Government in the world would, in its extremity, +have spoken that word, but, fortunately for the Boers, it is against +English principles to set black against white under any circumstances. +</p> + +<p> +Besides the main garrison at Pretoria there were forts defended by +soldiery and loyals at the following places:—Potchefstroom, +Rustenburg, Lydenburg, Marabastad, and Wakkerstroom, none of which were +taken by the Boers.<a href="#note11" name="noteref11"><small>[11]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +One of the first acts of the Triumvirate was to despatch a large force +from Heidelberg with orders to advance into Natal Territory, and seize +the pass over the Drakensberg known as Lang's Nek, so as to dispute the +advance of any relieving column. This movement was promptly executed, +and strong Boer troops patrolled Natal country almost up to Newcastle. +</p> + +<p> +The news of the outbreak, followed as it was by that of the Bronker's +Spruit massacre, and Captain Elliot's murder, created a great +excitement in Natal. All available soldiers were at once despatched up +country, together with a naval brigade, who, on arrival at Newcastle, +brought up the strength of the Imperial troops of all arms to about a +thousand men. On the 10th January Sir George Colley left Maritzburg to +join the force at Newcastle, but at this time nobody dreamt that he +meant to attack the Nek with such an insignificant column. It was known +that the loyals and troops who were shut up in the various towns in the +Transvaal had sufficient provisions to last for some months, and that +there was therefore nothing to necessitate a forlorn hope. Indeed the +possibility of Sir George Colley attempting to enter the Transvaal was +not even speculated upon until just before his advance, it being +generally considered as out of the question. +</p> + +<p> +The best illustration I can give of the feeling that existed about the +matter is to quote my own case. I had been so unfortunate as to land in +Natal with my wife and servants just as the Transvaal troubles began, +my intention being to proceed to a place I had near Newcastle. For some +weeks I remained in Maritzburg, but finding that the troops were to +concentrate on Newcastle, and being besides heartily wearied of the +great expense and discomfort of hotel life in that town, I determined +to go on up country, looking on it as being as safe as any place in the +colony. Of course the possibility of Sir George attacking the Nek +before the arrival of the reinforcements did not enter into my +calculations, as I thought it a venture that no sensible man would +undertake. On the day of my start, however, there was a rumour about +the town that the General was going to attack the Boer position. Though +I did not believe it, I thought it as well to go and ask the Colonial +Secretary, Colonel Mitchell, privately, if there was any truth in it, +adding that if there was, as I had a pretty intimate knowledge of the +Boers and their shooting powers, and what the inevitable result of such +a move would be, I should certainly prefer, as I had ladies with me, to +remain where I was. Colonel Mitchell told me frankly that he knew no +more about Sir George's plans than I did; but he added I might be sure +that so able and prudent a soldier would not do anything rash. His +remark concurred with my own opinion; so I started, and on arrival at +Newcastle a week later was met by the intelligence that Sir George had +advanced that morning to attack the Nek. To return was almost +impossible, since both horses and travellers were pretty nearly knocked +up. Also, anybody who has travelled with his family in summer-time over +the awful track of alternate slough and boulders between Maritzburg and +Newcastle, known in the colony as a road, will understand that at the +time the adventurous voyagers would far rather risk being shot than +face a return journey. +</p> + +<p> +The only thing to do under the circumstances was to await the course of +events, which were now about to develop themselves with startling +rapidity. The little town of Newcastle was at this time an odd sight, +and remained so all through the war. The hotels were crowded to +overflowing with refugees, and on every spare patch of land were +erected tents, mud huts, canvas houses, and every kind of covering that +could be utilised under the pressure of necessity, to house the many +homeless families who had succeeded in effecting their escape from the +Transvaal, many of whom were reduced to great straits. +</p> + +<p> +On the morning of the 28th January, anybody listening attentively in +the neighbourhood of Newcastle could hear the distant boom of heavy +guns. We were not kept long in suspense, for in the afternoon news +arrived that Sir George had attacked the Nek, and failed with heavy +loss. The excitement in the town was intense, for, in addition to other +considerations, the 58th Regiment, which had suffered most, had been +quartered there for some time, and both the officers and men were +personally known to the inhabitants. +</p> + +<p> +The story of the fight is well known, and needs little repetition, and +a very sad story it is. The Boers, who at that time were some 2000 +strong, were posted and entrenched on steep hills, against which Sir +George Colley hurled a few hundred soldiers. It was a forlorn hope, but +so gallant was the charge, especially that of the mounted squadron led +by Major Bronlow, that at one time it nearly succeeded. But nothing +could stand under the withering fire from the Boer schanses, and as +regards the foot soldiers, they never had a chance. Colonel Deane tried +to take them up the hill with a rush, with the result that by the time +they reached the top, some of the men were actually sick from +exhaustion, and none could hold a rifle steady. There on the bare +hill-top they crouched and lay, whilst the pitiless fire from redoubt +and rock lashed them like hail, till at last human nature could bear it +no longer, and what was left of them retired slowly down the slope. But +for many that gallant charge was their last earthly action. As they +charged they fell, and where they fell they were afterwards buried. The +casualties, killed and wounded, amounted to 195, which, considering the +small number of troops engaged in the actual attack, is enormously +heavy, and shows more plainly than words can tell the desperate nature +of the undertaking. Amongst the killed were Colonel Deane, Major Poole, +Major Hingeston, and Lieutenant Elwes. Major Essex was the only staff +officer engaged who escaped, the same officer who was one of the +fortunate four who lived through Isandhlwana. On this occasion his +usual good fortune attended him, for though his horse was killed and +his helmet knocked off, he was not touched. The Boer loss was very +trivial. +</p> + +<p> +Sir George Colley, in his admirably lucid despatch about this +occurrence addressed to the Secretary of State for War, does not enter +much into the question as to the motives that prompted him to attack, +simply stating that his object was to relieve the besieged towns. He +does not appear to have taken into consideration, what was obvious to +anybody who knew the country and the Boers, that even if he had +succeeded in forcing the Nek, in itself almost an impossibility, he +could never have operated with any success in the Transvaal with so +small a column, without cavalry, and with an enormous train of waggons. +He would have been harassed day and night by the Boer skirmishers, his +supplies cut off, and his advance made practically impossible. Also the +Nek would have been re-occupied behind him, since he could not have +detached sufficient men to hold it, and in all probability Newcastle, +his base of supplies, would have fallen into the hands of the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +The moral effect of our defeat on the Boers was very great. Up to this +time there had been many secret doubts amongst a large section of them +as to what the upshot of an encounter with the troops might be; and +with this party, in the same way that defeat, or even the anxiety of +waiting to be attacked, would have turned the scale one way, victory +turned it the other. It gave them unbounded confidence in their own +superiority, and infused a spirit of cohesion and mutual reliance into +their ranks which had before been wanting. Waverers wavered no longer, +but gave a loyal adherence to the good cause, and, what was still more +acceptable, large numbers of volunteers,—whatever President Brand may +say to the contrary,—poured in from the Orange Free State. +</p> + +<p> +What Sir George Colley's motive was in making so rash a move is, of +course, quite inexplicable to the outside observer. It was said at the +time in Natal that he was a man with a theory: namely, that small +bodies of men properly handled were as useful and as likely to obtain +the object in view as a large force. Whether or no this was so, I am +not prepared to say; but it is undoubtedly the case that very clever +men have sometimes very odd theories, and it may be that he was a +striking instance in point. +</p> + +<p> +For some days after the battle at Lang's Nek affairs were quiet, and it +was hoped that they would remain so till the arrival of the +reinforcements, which were on their way out. The hope proved a vain one +On the 7th February it was reported that the escort proceeding from +Newcastle to the General's camp with the post, a distance of about +eighteen miles, had been fired on and forced to return. +</p> + +<p> +On the 8th, about mid-day, we were all startled by the sound of +fighting, proceeding apparently from a hill known as Scheins Hoogte, +about ten miles from Newcastle. It was not known that the General +contemplated any move, and everybody was entirely at a loss to know +what was going on, the general idea being, however, that the camp near +Lang's Nek had been abandoned, and that Sir George was retiring on +Newcastle. +</p> + +<p> +The firing grew hotter and hotter, till at last it was perfectly +continuous, the cannon evidently being discharged as quickly as they +could be loaded, whilst their dull booming was accompanied by the +unceasing crash and roll of the musketry. Towards three o'clock the +firing slackened, and we thought it was all over, one way or the other, +but about five o'clock it broke out again with increased vigour. At +dusk it finally ceased. About this time some Kafirs came to my house +and told us that an English force was hemmed in on a hill this side of +the Ingogo River, that they were fighting bravely, but that "their arms +were tired," adding that they thought they would be all killed at +night. +</p> + +<p> +Needless to say we spent that night with heavy hearts, expecting every +minute to hear the firing begin again, and ignorant of what fate had +befallen our poor soldiers on the hill. Morning put an end to our +suspense, and we then learnt that we had suffered what, under the +circumstances, amounted to a crushing defeat It appears that Sir George +had moved out with a force of five companies of the 60th Regiment, two +guns, and a few mounted men, to, in his own words, "patrol the road, +and meet and escort some waggons expected from Newcastle." As soon as +he passed the Ingogo he was surrounded by a body of Boers sent after +him from Lang's Nek, on a small triangular plateau, and sharply +assailed on all sides. With a break of about two hours, from three to +five, the assault was kept up till nightfall, with very bad results so +far as we were concerned, seeing that out of a body of about 500 men, +over 150 were killed and wounded. The reinforcements sent for from the +camp apparently did not come into action. For some unexplained reason +the Boers did not follow up their attack that night, perhaps because +they did not think it possible that our troops could effect their +escape back to the camp, and considered that the next morning would be +soon enough to return and finish the business. The General, however, +determined to get back, and scratch teams of such mules, riding-horses, +and oxen as had lived through the day being harnessed to the guns, the +dispirited and exhausted survivors of the force managed to ford the +Ingogo, now swollen by rain which had fallen in the afternoon, poor +Lieutenant Wilkinson, the adjutant of the 60th, losing his life in the +operation, and to struggle through the dense darkness back to camp. +</p> + +<p> +On the hill-top they had lately held the dead lay thick. There, too, +exposed to the driving rain and bitter wind, lay the wounded, many of +whom would be dead before the rising of the morrow's sun. It must +indeed have been a sight never to be forgotten by those who saw it. The +night—I remember well—was cold and rainy, the great expanses of hill +and plain being sometimes lit by the broken gleams of an uncertain +moon, and sometimes plunged into intensest darkness by the passing of a +heavy cloud. Now and again flashes of lightning threw every crag and +outline into vivid relief, and the deep muttering of distant thunder +made the wild gloom more solemn. Then a gust of icy wind would come +tearing down the valleys to be followed by a pelting thunder +shower—and thus the night wore away. +</p> + +<p> +When one reflects what discomfort, and even danger, an ordinary healthy +person would suffer if left after a hard day's work to lie all night in +the rain and wind on the top of a stony mountain, without food, or even +water to assuage his thirst, it becomes to some degree possible to +realise what the sufferings of our wounded after the battle of Ingogo +must have been. Those who survived were next day taken to the hospital +at Newcastle. +</p> + +<p> +What Sir George Colley's real object was in exposing himself to the +attack has never transpired. It can hardly have been to clear the road, +as he says in his despatch, because the road was not held by the enemy, +but only visited occasionally by their patrols. The result of the +battle was to make the Boers, whose losses were trifling, more +confident than ever, and to greatly depress our soldiers. Sir George +had now lost between three and four hundred men out of his column of +little over a thousand, which was thereby entirely crippled. Of his +staff officers Major Essex now alone survived, his usual good fortune +having carried him safe through the battle of Ingogo. What makes his +repeated escapes the more remarkable is that he was generally to be +found in the heaviest firing. A man so fortunate as Major Essex ought +to be rewarded for his good fortune if for no other reason, though, if +reports are true, there would be no need to fall back on that to find +grounds on which to advance a soldier who has always borne himself so +well. +</p> + +<p> +Another result of the Ingogo battle was that the Boers, knowing that we +had no force to cut them off, and always secure of a retreat into the +Free State, passed round Newcastle in Free State Territory, and +descended from fifteen hundred to two thousand strong into Natal for +the purpose of destroying the reinforcements which were now on their +way up under General Wood. This was on the 11th of February, and from +that date till the 18th the upper districts of Natal were in the hands +of the enemy, who cut the telegraph wires, looted waggons, stole herds +of cattle and horses, and otherwise amused themselves at the expense of +Her Majesty's subjects in Natal. +</p> + +<p> +It was a very anxious time for those who knew what Boers are capable +of, and had women and children to protect, and who were never sure if +their houses would be left standing over their heads from one day to +another. +</p> + +<p> +Every night we were obliged to place out Kafirs as scouts to give us +timely warning of the approach of marauding parties, and to sleep with +loaded rifles close to our hands, and sometimes, when things looked +very black, in our clothes, with horses ready saddled in the stable. +Nor were our fears groundless, for one day a patrol of some five +hundred Boers encamped on the next place, which by the way belonged to +a Dutchman, and stole all the stock on it, the property of an +Englishman. They also intercepted a train of waggons, destroyed the +contents, and burnt them. Numerous were the false alarms it was our +evil fortune to experience. For instance, one night I was sitting in +the drawing-room reading, about eleven o'clock, with a door leading on +to the verandah slightly ajar, for the night was warm, when suddenly I +heard myself called by name in a muffled voice, and asked if the place +was in the possession of the Boers. Looking towards the door I saw a +full-cocked revolver coming round the corner, and on opening it in some +alarm, I could indistinctly discern a line of armed figures in a +crouching attitude stretching along the verandah into the garden +beyond. It turned out to be a patrol of the mounted police, who had +received information that a large number of Boers had seized the place +and had come to ascertain the truth of the report. As we gathered from +them that the Boers were certainly near, we did not pass a very +comfortable night. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile we were daily expecting to hear that the troops had been +attacked along the line of march, and knowing the nature of the country +and the many opportunities it affords for ambuscading and destroying +one of our straggling columns encumbered with innumerable waggons, we +had the worst fears for the result. At length a report reached us to +the effect that the reinforcements were expected on the morrow, and +that they were not going to cross the Ingagaan at the ordinary drift, +which was much commanded by hills, but at a lower drift on our own +place, about three miles from Newcastle, which is only slightly +commanded. We also heard that it was the intention of the Boers to +attack them at this point and to fall back on my house and the hills +behind. Accordingly, we thought it about time to retreat, and securing +a few valuables, such as plate, we made our way into the town, leaving +the house and its contents to take their chance. At Newcastle an attack +was daily expected, if for no other reason, to obtain possession of the +stores collected there. +</p> + +<p> +The defences of the place were, however, in a wretched condition, no +proper outlook was kept, and there was an utter want of effective +organisation. The military element at the camp had enough to do to look +after itself, and did not concern itself with the safety of the town; +and the mounted police—a colonial force paid by the colony—had been +withdrawn from the little forts round Newcastle, as the General wanted +them for other purposes, and a message sent that the town must defend +its own forts. There were, it is true, a large number of able-bodied +men in the place who were willing to fight, but they had no +organisation. The very laager was not finished until the danger was +past. +</p> + +<p> +Then there was a large party who were for surrendering the town to the +Boers, because if they fought it might afterwards injure their trade. +With this section of the population the feeling of patriotism was +strong, no doubt, but that of pocket was stronger. I am convinced that +the Boers would have found the capture of Newcastle an easy task, and I +confess that what I then saw did not inspire me with great hopes of the +safety of the colony when it gets responsible government, and has to +depend for protection on burgher forces. Colonial volunteer forces are, +I think, as good troops as any in the world; but an unorganised +colonial mob, pulled this way and that by different sentiments and +interests, is as useless as any other mob, with the difference that it +is more impatient of control. +</p> + +<p> +For some unknown reason the Boer leaders providentially changed their +minds about attacking the reinforcements, and their men were withdrawn +to the Nek as swiftly and silently as they had been advanced, and on +the 17th February the reinforcements marched into Newcastle, to the +very great relief of the inhabitants, who had been equally anxious for +their own safety and that of the troops. Personally, I was never in my +life more pleased to see Her Majesty's uniform; and we were equally +rejoiced on returning home to find that nothing had been injured. After +this we had quiet for a while. +</p> + +<p> +On the 21st February, we heard that two fresh regiments had been sent +up to the camp at Lang's Nek, and that General Wood had been ordered +down country by Sir George Colley to bring up more reinforcements. This +item of news caused much surprise, as nobody could understand why, now +that the road was clear, and that there was little chance of its being +again blocked, a General should be sent down to do work which could, to +all appearance, have been equally well done by the officers in command +of the reinforcing regiments, with the assistance of their transport +riders. It was, however, understood that an agreement had been entered +into between the two Generals that no offensive operations should be +undertaken till Wood returned. +</p> + +<p> +With the exception of occasional scares, there was no further +excitement till Sunday the 27th February, when, whilst sitting on the +verandah after lunch, I thought I heard the sound of distant artillery. +Others present differed with me, thinking the sound was caused by +thunder, but as I adhered to my opinion, we determined to ride into +town and see. On arrival there we found the place full of rumours, from +which we gathered that some fresh disaster had occurred; and that +messages were pouring down the wires from Mount Prospect camp. We then +went on to camp, thinking that we should learn more there, but they +knew nothing about it, several officers asking us what new "shave" we +had got hold of. A considerable number of troops had been marched from +Newcastle that morning to go to Mount Prospect, but when it was +realised that something had occurred, they were stopped, and marched +back again. Bit by bit we managed to gather the truth. At first we +heard that our men had made a most gallant resistance on the hill, +mowing down the advancing enemy by hundreds, till at last, their +ammunition failing, they fought with their bayonets, using stones and +meat tins as missiles. I wish that our subsequent information had been +to the same effect. +</p> + +<p> +It appears that on the evening of the 26th, Sir George Colley, after +mess, suddenly gave orders for a force of a little over six hundred +men, consisting of detachments from no less than three different +regiments, the 58th, 60th, 92d, and the Naval Brigade, to be got ready +for an expedition, without revealing his plans to anybody until late in +the afternoon; and then without more ado, marched them up to the top of +Majuba—a great square-topped mountain to the right of, and commanding +the Boer position at Lang's Nek. The troops reached the top about three +in the morning, after a somewhat exhausting climb, and were stationed +at different points of the plateau in a scientific way. Whilst the +darkness lasted, they could, by the glittering of the watch-fires, +trace from this point of vantage the position of the Boer laagers that +lay 2000 yards beneath them, whilst the dawn of day revealed every +detail of the defensive works, and showed the country lying at their +feet like a map. +</p> + +<p> +On arrival at the top, it was represented to the General that a rough +entrenchment should be thrown up, but he would not allow it to be done +on account of the men being wearied with their marching up. This was a +fatal mistake. Behind an entrenchment, however slight, one would think +that 600 English soldiers might have defied the whole Boer army, and +much more the 200 or 300 men by whom they were hunted down at Majuba. +It appears that about 10.15 <span class="sc">a.m.</span>, Colonel Stewart and Major +Fraser again went to General Colley "to arrange to start the sailors on +an entrenchment." … "Finding the ground so exposed, the General did +not give orders to entrench." +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the Boers found out that the hill was in the occupation of +the English, their first idea was to leave the Nek, and they began to +inspan with that object, but discovering that there were no guns +commanding them, they changed their mind, and set to work to storm the +hill instead. As far as I have been able to gather, the number of Boers +who took the mountain was about 300, or possibly 400; I do not think +there were more than that. The Boers themselves declare solemnly that +they were only 100 strong, but this I do not believe. They slowly +advanced up the hill till about 11.30, when the real attack began, the +Dutchmen coming on more rapidly and confidently, and shooting with +ever-increasing accuracy, as they found our fire quite ineffective. +</p> + +<p> +About a quarter to one, our men retreated to the last ridge, and +General Colley was shot through the head. After this, the retreat +became a rout, and the soldiers rushed pell-mell down the precipitous +sides of the hill, the Boers knocking them over by the score as they +went, till they were out of range. A few were also, I heard, killed by +the shells from the guns that were advanced from the camp to cover the +retreat, but as this does not appear in the reports, perhaps it is not +true. Our loss was about 200 killed and wounded, including Sir George +Colley, Drs. Landon and Cornish, and Commander Romilly, who was shot +with an explosive bullet, and died after some days' suffering. When the +wounded Commander was being carried to a more sheltered spot, it was +with great difficulty that the Boers were prevented from massacring him +as he lay, they being under the impression that he was Sir Garnet +Wolseley. As was the case at Ingogo, the wounded were left on the +battlefield all night in very inclement weather, to which some of them +succumbed. It is worthy of note that after the fight was over they were +treated with considerable kindness by the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +Not being a soldier, of course, I cannot venture to give any military +reasons as to how it was that what was after all a considerable force +was so easily driven from a position of great natural strength; but I +think I may, without presumption, state my opinion as to the real +cause, which was the villainous shooting of the British soldier. Though +the troops did not, as was said at the time, run short of ammunition, +it is clear that they fired away a great many rounds at men who, in +storming the hill, must necessarily have exposed themselves more or +less, of whom they managed to hit—certainly not more than six or +seven—which was the outside of the Boer casualties. From this it is +clear that they can neither judge distance nor hit a moving object, nor +did they probably know that when shooting down hill it is necessary to +aim low. Such shooting as the English soldier is capable of may be very +well when he has an army to aim at, but it is useless in guerilla +warfare against a foe skilled in the use of the rifle and the art of +taking shelter. +</p> + +<p> +A couple of months after the storming of Majuba, I, together with a +friend, had a conversation with a Boer, a volunteer from the Free State +in the late war, and one of the detachment that stormed Majuba, who +gave us a circumstantial account of the attack with the greatest +willingness. He said that when it was discovered that the English had +possession of the mountain, they thought that the game was up, but +after a while bolder counsels prevailed, and volunteers were called for +to storm the hill. Only seventy men could be found to perform the duty, +of whom he was one. They started up the mountain in fear and trembling, +but soon found that every shot passed over their heads, and went on +with greater boldness. Only three men, he declared, were hit on the +Boer side; one was killed, one was hit in the arm, and he himself was +the third, getting his face grazed by a bullet, of which he showed us +the scar. He stated that the first to reach the top ridge was a boy of +twelve, and that as soon as the troops saw them they fled, when, he +said, he paid them out for having nearly killed him, knocking them over +one after another "like bucks" as they ran down the hill, adding that +it was "alter lecker" (very nice). He asked us how many men we had lost +during the war, and when we told him about seven hundred killed and +wounded, laughed in our faces, saying he knew that our dead amounted to +several thousands. On our assuring him that this was not the case, he +replied, "Well, don't let's talk of it any more, because we are good +friends now, and if we go on you will lie, and I shall lie, and then we +shall get angry. The war is over now, and I don't want to quarrel with +the English; if one of them takes off his hat to me I always +acknowledge it." He did not mean any harm in talking thus; it is what +Englishmen have to put up with now in South Africa; the Boers have +beaten us, and act accordingly. +</p> + +<p> +This man also told us that the majority of the rifles they picked up +were sighted for 400 yards, whereas the latter part of the fighting had +been carried on within 200. +</p> + +<p> +Sir George Colley's death was much lamented in the colony, where he was +deservedly popular; indeed, anybody who had the honour of knowing that +kind-hearted English gentleman, could not do otherwise than deeply +regret his untimely end. What his motive was in occupying Majuba in the +way he did has never, so far as I am aware, transpired. The move, in +itself, would have been an excellent one, had it been made in force, or +accompanied by a direct attack on the Nek, but, as undertaken, seems to +have been objectless. There were, of course, many rumours as to the +motives that prompted his action, of which the most probable seems to +be that, being aware of what the Home Government intended to do with +reference to the Transvaal, he determined to strike a blow to try and +establish British supremacy first, knowing how mischievous any apparent +surrender would be. Whatever his faults may have been as a General, he +was a brave man, and had the honour of his country much at heart. +</p> + +<p> +It was also said by soldiers who saw him the night the troops marched +up Majuba, that the General was "not himself," and it was hinted that +continual anxiety and the chagrin of failure had told upon his mind. As +against this, however, must be set the fact that his telegrams to the +Secretary of State for War, the last of which he must have despatched +only about half an hour before he was shot, are cool and collected, and +written in the same unconcerned tone—as though he were a critical +spectator of an interesting scene—that characterises all his +communications, more especially his despatches. They at any rate give +no evidence of shaken nerve or unduly excited brain, nor can I see that +any action of his with reference to the occupation of Majuba is out of +keeping with the details of his generalship upon other occasions. He +was always confident to rashness, and possessed by the idea that every +man in the ranks was full of as high a spirit, and as brave as he was +himself. Indeed, most people will think, that so far from its being a +rasher action, the occupation of Majuba, bad generalship as it seems, +was a wiser move than either the attack on the Nek or the Ingogo +fiasco. +</p> + +<p> +But at the best, all his movements are difficult to be understood by a +civilian, though they may, for ought we know, have been part of an +elaborate plan, perfected in accordance with the rules of military +science, of which, it is said, he was a great student. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="VI"> </a> +CHAPTER VI. +<br><br> +<span class="small">THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. +</span> +</h2> + + +<p> +When Parliament met in January 1881, the Government announced, through +the mediumship of the Queen's Speech, that it was their intention to +vindicate Her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal. I have already +briefly described the somewhat unfortunate attempts to gain this end by +force of arms; and I now propose to follow the course of the diplomatic +negotiations entered into by the ministry with the same object. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the hostilities in the Transvaal took a positive form, +causing great dismay among the Home authorities, whose paths, as we all +know, are the paths of peace—at any price; and whilst, in the first +confusion of calamity, they knew not where to turn, President Brand +stepped upon the scene in the character of "Our Mutual Friend," and, by +the Government at any rate, was rapturously welcomed. +</p> + +<p> +This gentleman has for many years been at the head of the Government of +the Orange Free State, whose fortunes he had directed with considerable +ability. He is a man of natural talent and kind-hearted disposition, +and has the advancement of the Boer cause in South Africa much at +heart. The rising in the Transvaal was an event that gave him a great +and threefold opportunity: first, of interfering with the genuinely +benevolent object of checking bloodshed; secondly, of advancing the +Dutch cause throughout South Africa under the cloak of amiable +neutrality, and striking a dangerous blow at British supremacy over the +Dutch and British prestige with the natives; and, thirdly, of putting +the English Government under a lasting obligation to him. Of this +opportunity he has availed himself to the utmost in each particular. +</p> + +<p> +So soon as things began to look serious, Mr. Brand put himself into +active telegraphic communication with the various British authorities +with the view of preventing bloodshed by inducing the English +Government to accede to the Boer demands. He was also earnest in his +declarations that the Free State was not supporting the Transvaal; +which, considering that it was practically the insurgent base of +supplies, where they had retired their women, children, and cattle, and +that it furnished them with a large number of volunteers, was perhaps +straining the truth. +</p> + +<p> +About this time also we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing to Mr. Brand +that "if <i>only</i> the Transvaal Boers will desist from armed +opposition to the Queen's authority," he thinks some arrangement might +be made. This is the first indication made public of what was passing +in the minds of Her Majesty's Government, on whom its Radical +supporters were now beginning to put the screw, to induce or threaten +them into submitting to the Boer demands. +</p> + +<p> +Again, on the 11th January, the President telegraphed to Lord Kimberley +through the Orange Free State Consul in London, suggesting that Sir H. +de Villiers, the Chief Justice at the Cape, should be appointed a +Commissioner to go to the Transvaal to settle matters. Oddly enough, +about the same time the same proposition emanated from the Dutch party +in the Cape Colony, headed by Mr. Hofmeyer, a coincidence that inclines +one to the opinion that these friends of the Boers had some further +reason for thus urging Sir Henry de Villiers' appointment as +Commissioner beyond his apparent fitness for the post, of which his +high reputation as a lawyer and in his private capacity was a +sufficient guarantee. +</p> + +<p> +The explanation is not hard to find, the fact being that, rightly or +wrongly, Sir Henry de Villiers, who is himself of Dutch descent, is +noted throughout South Africa for his sympathies with the Boer cause, +and both President Brand and the Dutch party in the Cape shrewdly +suspected that, if the settling of differences were left to his +discretion, the Boers and their interests would receive very gentle +handling. The course of action adopted by him, when he became a member +of the Royal Commission, went far to support this view, for it will be +noticed in the Report of the Commissioners that in every single point +he appears to have taken the Boer side of the contention. Indeed so +blind was he to their faults, that he would not even admit that the +horrible Potchefstroom murders and atrocities, which are condemned both +by Sir H. Robinson and Sir Evelyn Wood in language as strong as the +formal terms of a report will allow, were acts contrary to the rules of +civilised warfare. If those acts had been perpetrated by Englishmen on +Boers, or even on natives, I venture to think Sir Henry de Villiers +would have looked at them in a very different light. +</p> + +<p> +In the same telegram in which President Brand recommends the +appointment of Sir Henry de Villiers, he states that the allegations +made by the Triumvirate in the proclamation in which they accused Sir +Owen Lanyon of committing various atrocities, deserve to be +investigated, as they maintain that the collision was commenced by the +authorities. Nobody knew better than Mr. Brand that any English +official would be quite incapable of the conduct ascribed to Sir Owen +Lanyon, whilst, even if the collision had been commenced by the +authorities, which as it happened it was not, they would under the +circumstances have been amply justified in so commencing it. This +remark by President Brand in his telegram was merely an attempt to +throw an air of probability over a series of slanderous falsehoods. +</p> + +<p> +Messages of this nature continued to pour along the wires from day to +day, but the tone of those from the Colonial Office grew gradually +humbler. Thus we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing on the 8th February, +that if the Boers would desist from armed opposition all reasonable +guarantees would be given as to their treatment after submission, and +that a scheme would be framed for the "permanent friendly settlement of +difficulties." It will be seen that the Government had already begun to +water the meaning of their declaration that they would vindicate Her +Majesty's authority. No doubt Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Courtney, and their +followers had given another turn to the Radical screw. +</p> + +<p> +It is, however, clear that at this time no idea of the real aims of the +Government had entered into the mind of Sir George Colley, since on the +7th February he telegraphed home a plan which he proposed to adopt on +entering the Transvaal, which included a suggestion that he should +grant a complete amnesty only to those Boers who would sign a +declaration of loyalty. +</p> + +<p> +In answer to this he was ordered to do nothing of the sort, but to +promise protection to everybody and refer everything home. +</p> + +<p> +Then came the battle of Ingogo, which checked for the time the flow of +telegrams, or rather varied their nature, for those despatched during +the next few days deal with the question of reinforcements. On the 13th +February, however, negotiations were reopened by Paul Kruger, one of +the Triumvirate, who offered, if all the troops were ordered to +withdraw from the Transvaal, to give them a free passage through the +Nek, to disperse the Boers, and to consent to the appointment of a +Commission. +</p> + +<p> +The offer was jumped at by Lord Kimberley, who, without making +reference to the question of withdrawing the soldiers, offered, if only +the Boers would disperse, to appoint a Commission with extensive powers +to develop the "permanent friendly settlement" scheme. The telegram +ends thus: "Add, that if this proposal is accepted, you now are +authorised to agree to suspension of hostilities on our part." This +message was sent to General Wood, because the Boers had stopped the +communications with Colley. On the 19th, Sir George Colley replies in +these words, which show his astonishment at the policy adopted by the +Home Government, and which, in the opinion of most people, redound to +his credit— +</p> + +<p> +"Latter part of your telegram to Wood not understood. There can be no +hostilities if no resistance is made, but am I to leave Lang's Nek in +Natal territory in Boer occupation, and our garrisons isolated and +short of provisions, or occupy former and relieve latter?" Lord +Kimberley hastens to reply that the garrisons must be left free to +provision themselves, "but we do not mean that you should march to the +relief of garrisons or occupy Lang's Nek if an arrangement proceeds." +</p> + +<p> +It will be seen that the definition of what vindication of Her +Majesty's authority consisted grew broader and broader; it now included +the right of the Boers to continue to occupy their positions in the +colony of Natal. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the daily fire of complimentary messages was being kept up +between President Brand and Lord Kimberley, who alternately gave +"sincere thanks to Lord Kimberley" and "fully appreciated the friendly +spirit" of President Brand, till on the 21st February the latter +telegraphs through Colley: "Hope of amicable settlement by negotiation, +but this will be greatly facilitated if somebody on spot and friendly +disposed to both could by personal communication with both endeavour to +smooth difficulties. Offers his services to Her Majesty's Government, +and Kruger and Pretorius and Joubert are willing." Needless to say his +services were accepted. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, however, on 27th February, Sir George Colley made his last +move, and took possession of Majuba. His defeat and death had the +effect of causing another temporary check in the peace negotiations, +whilst Sir Frederick Roberts with ample reinforcements was despatched +to Natal. It had the further effect of increasing the haughtiness of +the Boer leaders, and infusing a corresponding spirit of pliability or +generosity into the negotiations of Her Majesty's Government. +</p> + +<p> +Thus on 2d March, the Boers, through President Brand and Sir Evelyn +Wood, inform the Secretary of State for the Colonies that they are +willing to negotiate, but decline to submit on cease opposition. Sir +Evelyn Wood, who evidently did not at all like the line of policy +adopted by the Government, telegraphed that he thought the best thing +to do would be for him to engage the Boers, and disperse them <i lang="la">vi et +armis</i>, without any guarantees, "considering the disasters we have +sustained," and that he should, "if absolutely necessary," be empowered +to promise life and property to the leaders, but that they should be +banished from the country. In answer to this telegram, Lord Kimberley +informs him that Her Majesty's Government will amnesty <i>everybody</i> +except those who have committed acts contrary to the rules of civilised +warfare, and that they will agree to anything, and appoint a Commission +to carry out the details, and "be ready for friendly communications +with <i>any persons</i> appointed by the Boers." +</p> + +<p> +Thus was Her Majesty's authority finally re-established in the +Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +It was not a very grand climax, nor the kind of arrangement to which +Englishmen are accustomed, but perhaps, considering the circumstances, +and the well-known predilections of those who made the settlement, it +was as much as could be expected. +</p> + +<p> +The action of the Government must not be considered as though they were +unfettered in their judgment; it can never be supposed that they acted +as they did because they thought such action right or even wise, for +that would be to set them down as men of a very low order of +intelligence, which they certainly are not. +</p> + +<p> +It is clear that no set of sensible men, who had after much +consideration given their decision that under all the circumstances the +Transvaal must remain British territory, and who, on a revolt +subsequently breaking out in that territory, had declared that Her +Majesty's rule must be upheld, would have, putting aside all other +circumstances, deliberately stultified themselves by almost +unconditionally, and of their own free will, abandoning the country, +and all Her Majesty's subjects living in it. That would be to pay a +poor tribute to their understanding, since it is clear that if reasons +existed for retaining the Transvaal before the war, as they were +satisfied there did, those reasons would exist with still greater force +after a war had been undertaken and three crushing defeats sustained, +which if left unavenged must, as they knew, have a most disastrous +effect on our prestige throughout the South African continent. +</p> + +<p> +I prefer to believe that the Government was coerced into acting as it +did by Radical pressure, both from outside and from its immediate +supporters in the House, and that it had to choose between making an +unconditional surrender in the Transvaal and losing the support of a +very powerful party. Under these circumstances it, being Liberal in +politics, naturally followed its instincts, and chose surrender. +</p> + +<p> +If such a policy was bad in itself, and necessarily mischievous in its +consequences, so much the worse for those who suffered by it; it was +clear that the Government could not be expected to lose votes in order +to forward the true interests of countries so far off as the South +African Colonies, which had had the misfortune to be made a party +question of, and must take the consequences. +</p> + +<p> +There is no doubt that the interest brought to bear on the Government +was very considerable, for not only had they to deal with their own +supporters, and with the shadowy caucus that was ready to let the lash +of its displeasure descend even on the august person of Mr. Gladstone, +should he show signs of letting slip so rich an opportunity for the +vindication of the holiest principles of advanced Radicalism, but also +with the hydra-headed crowd of visionaries and professional +sentimentalists who swarm in this country, and who are always ready to +take up any cause, from that of Jumbo or of a murderer to that of +oppressed peoples, such as the Bulgarians or the Transvaal Boers. +</p> + +<p> +These gentlemen, burning with zeal, and filled with that confidence +which proverbially results from the hasty assimilation of imperfect and +erroneous information, found in the Transvaal question a great +opportunity of making a noise; and—as in a disturbed farmyard the bray +of the domestic donkey, ringing loud and clear among the utterances of +more intelligent animals, overwhelms and extinguishes them—so, and +with like effect, amongst the confused sound of various English +opinions about the Boer rising, rose the trumpet-note of the Transvaal +Independence Committee and its supporters. +</p> + +<p> +As we have seen, they did not sound in vain. +</p> + +<p> +On the 6th of March an armistice with the Boers had been entered into +by Sir Evelyn Wood, which was several times prolonged up to the 21st +March, when Sir Evelyn Wood concluded a preliminary peace with the Boer +leaders, which, under certain conditions, guaranteed the restoration of +the country within six months, and left all other points to be decided +by a Royal Commission. +</p> + +<p> +The news of this peace was at first received in the colony in the +silence of astonishment. Personally, I remember, I would not believe +that it was true. It seemed to us, who had been witnesses of what had +passed, and knew what it all meant, something so utterly incredible +that we thought there must be a mistake. +</p> + +<p> +If there had been any one redeeming circumstance about it, if the +English arms had gained a single decisive victory, it might have been +so, but it was hard for Englishmen, just at first, to understand that +not only had the Transvaal been to all appearance wrested from them by +force of arms, but that they were henceforth to be subject, as they +well knew would be the case, to the coarse insults of victorious Boers, +and the sarcasms of keener-witted Kafirs. +</p> + +<p> +People in England seem to fancy that when men go to the colonies they +lose all sense of pride in their country, and think of nothing but +their own advantage. I do not think that this is the case, indeed, I +believe that, individual for individual, there exists a greater sense +of loyalty, and a deeper pride in their nationality, and in the proud +name of England, among colonists, than among Englishmen proper. +Certainly the humiliation of the Transvaal surrender was more keenly +felt in South Africa than it was at home; but, perhaps, the +impossibility of imposing upon people in that country with the farrago +of nonsense about blood-guiltiness and national morality, which was +made such adroit use of at home, may have made the difference. +</p> + +<p> +I know that personally I would not have believed it possible that I +could feel any public event so keenly as I did this; indeed, I quickly +made up my mind that if the peace was confirmed, the neighbourhood of +the Transvaal would be no fit or comfortable residence for an +Englishman, and that I would, at any cost, leave the country,—which I +accordingly did. +</p> + +<p> +Newcastle was a curious sight the night after the peace was declared. +Every hotel and bar was crowded with refugees, who were trying to +relieve their feelings by cursing the name of Gladstone with a vigour, +originality, and earnestness that I have never heard equalled; and +declaring in ironical terms how proud they were to be citizens of +England—a country that always kept its word. Then they set to work +with many demonstrations of contempt to burn the effigy of the Bight +Honourable Gentleman at the head of Her Majesty's Government, an +example, by the way, that was followed throughout South Africa. +</p> + +<p> +Even Sir Evelyn Wood, who is very popular in the colony, was hissed as +he walked through the town, and great surprise was expressed that a +soldier who came out expressly to fight the Boers should consent to +become the medium of communication in such a dirty business. And, +indeed, there was some excuse for all this bitterness, for the news +meant ruin to very many. +</p> + +<p> +But if people in Natal and at the Cape received the news with +astonishment, how shall I describe its effect upon the unfortunate +loyal inhabitants in the Transvaal, on whom it burst like a +thunderbolt? +</p> + +<p> +They did not say much, however, and indeed there was nothing to be +said. They simply began to pack up such things as they could carry with +them, and to leave the country, which they well knew would henceforth +be utterly untenable for Englishmen or English sympathisers. In a few +weeks they come pouring down through Newcastle by hundreds; it was the +most melancholy exodus that can be imagined. There were people of all +classes, officials, gentlefolk, work-people, and loyal Boers, but they +had a connecting link; they had all been loyal, and they were all +ruined. +</p> + +<p> +Most of these people had gone to the Transvaal since it became a +British colony, and invested all they had in it, and now their capital +was lost and their labour rendered abortive; indeed, many of them whom +one had known as well to do in the Transvaal, came down to Natal hardly +knowing how they would feed their families next week. +</p> + +<p> +It must be understood that so soon as the Queen's sovereignty was +withdrawn the value of landed and house property in the Transvaal went +down to nothing, and has remained there ever since. Thus a fair-sized +house in Pretoria brought in a rental varying from ten to twenty pounds +a month during British occupation, but after the declaration of peace, +owners of houses were glad to get people to live in them to keep them +from falling into ruin. Those who owned land or had invested money in +businesses suffered in the same way; their property remains neither +profitable or saleable, and they themselves are precluded by their +nationality from living on it, the art of "Boycotting" not being +peculiar to Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +Nor were they the only sufferers. The officials, many of whom had taken +to the Government service as a permanent profession, in which they +expected to pass their lives, were suddenly dismissed, mostly with a +small gratuity, which would about suffice to pay their debts, and told +to find their living as best they could. It was indeed a case of <i lang="la">vae +victis</i>,—woe to the conquered loyalists.<a href="#note12" name="noteref12"><small>[12]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +The Commission appointed by Her Majesty's Government consisted of Sir +Hercules Robinson, Sir Henry de Villiers, and Sir Evelyn Wood, +President Brand being also present in his capacity of friend of both +parties, and to their discretion were left the settlement of all +outstanding questions. Amongst these, were the mode of trial of those +persons who had been guilty of acts contrary to the rules of civilised +warfare, the question of severance of territory from the Transvaal on +the eastern boundary, the settlement of the boundary in the Keate-Award +districts, the compensation for losses sustained during the war, the +functions of the British Resident, and other matters. Their place of +meeting was at Newcastle in Natal, and from thence they proceeded to +Pretoria. +</p> + +<p> +The first question of importance that came before the Commission was +the mode of trial to be adopted in the cases of those persons accused +of acts contrary to the usages of civilised warfare, such as murder. +The Attorney-General for the Transvaal strongly advised that a special +tribunal should be constituted to try these cases, principally because +"after a civil war in which all the inhabitants of a country, with very +few exceptions, have taken part, a jury of fair and impartial men, +truly unbiassed, will be very difficult to get together." It is +satisfactory to know that the Commissioners gave this somewhat obvious +fact "their grave consideration," which, according to their Report, +resulted in their determining to let the cases go before the ordinary +court, and be tried by a jury, because in referring them to a specially +constituted court which would have done equal justice without fear or +favour, "the British Government would have made for itself, among the +Dutch population of South Africa, a name for vindictive oppression, +which no generosity in other affairs could efface." +</p> + +<p> +There is more in this determination of the Commissioners, or rather of +the majority of them—for Sir E. Wood, to his credit be it said, +refused to agree in their decision—than meets the eye, the fact of the +matter being that it was privately well known to them, that though the +Boer leaders might be willing to allow a few of the murderers to +undergo the form of a trial, neither they nor the Boers themselves +meant to permit the farce to go any further. Had the men been tried by +a special tribunal they would in all probability have been condemned to +death, and then would have come the awkward question of carrying out +the sentence on individuals whose deeds were looked on, if not with +general approval, at any rate without aversion by the great mass of +their countrymen. In short, it would probably have become necessary +either to reprieve them or to fight the Boers again, since it was very +certain that they would not have allowed them to be hung. Therefore the +majority of the Commissioners, finding themselves face to face with a +dead wall, determined to slip round it instead of boldly climbing it, +by referring the cases to the Transvaal High Court, cheerfully +confident of what the result must be. +</p> + +<p> +After all, the matter was, much cry about little wool, for of all the +crimes committed by the Boers—a list of some of which will be found in +the Appendix to this book—in only three cases were a proportion of the +perpetrators produced and put through the form of trial. Those three +were—the dastardly murder of Captain Elliot, who was shot by his Boer +escort whilst crossing the Vaal river on parole; the murder of a man +named Malcolm, who was kicked to death in his own house by Boers, who +afterwards put a bullet through his head to make the job "look better;" +and the murder of a doctor named Barber, who was shot by his escort on +the border of the Free State. A few of the men concerned in the first +two of these crimes were tried in Pretoria; and it was currently +reported at that time, that in order to make their acquittal certain +our Attorney-General received instructions not to exercise his right of +challenging jurors on behalf of the Crown. Whether or not this is true +I am not prepared to say, but I believe it is a fact that he did not +exercise that right, though the counsel for the prisoners availed +themselves of it freely, with the result that in Elliot's case, the +jury was composed of eight Boers and one German, nine being the full +South African jury. The necessary result followed; in both cases the +prisoners were acquitted in the teeth of the evidence. Barber's +murderers were tried in the Free State, and were, as might be expected, +acquitted. +</p> + +<p> +Thus it will be seen that of all the perpetrators of murder and other +crimes during the course of the war not one was brought to justice. +</p> + +<p> +The offence for which their victims died was, in nearly every case, +that they had served, were serving, or were loyal to Her Majesty the +Queen. In no single case has England exacted retribution for the murder +of her servants and citizens; but nobody can read through the long list +of these dastardly slaughters without feeling that they will not go +unavenged. The innocent blood that has been shed on behalf of this +country, and the tears of children and widows, now appeal to a higher +tribunal than that of Mr. Gladstone's Government, and assuredly they +will not appeal in vain. +</p> + +<p> +The next point of importance dealt with by the Commission was the +question whether or no any territory should be severed from the +Transvaal, and kept under English rule for the benefit of the native +inhabitants. Lord Kimberley, acting under pressure put upon him by +members of the Aborigines Protection Society, instructed the Commission +to consider the advisability of severing the districts of Lydenburg and +Zoutpansberg, and also a strip of territory bordering on Zululand and +Swaziland, from the Transvaal, so as to place the inhabitants of the +first two districts out of danger of maltreatment by the Boers, and to +interpose a buffer between Zulus, and Swazis, and Boer aggression, and +<i>vice versâ</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The Boer leaders had, it must be remembered, acquiesced in the +principle of such a separation in the preliminary peace signed by Sir +Evelyn Wood and themselves. The majority of the Commission, however +(Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting), finally decided against the retention of +either of these districts, a decision which, I think, was a wise one, +though I arrive at that conclusion on very different grounds to those +adopted by the majority of the Commission. +</p> + +<p> +Personally, I cannot see that it is the duty of England to play +policeman to the whole world. To have retained these native districts +would have been to make ourselves responsible for their good +government, and to have guaranteed them against Boer encroachment, +which I do not think that we were called upon to do. It is surely not +incumbent upon us, having given up the Transvaal to the Boers, to +undertake the management of the most troublesome part of it, the Zulu +border. Besides, bad as the abandonment of the Transvaal is, I think +that if it was to be done at all, it was best to do it thoroughly, +since to have kept some natives under our protection, and to have +handed over the rest to the tender mercies of the Boers, would only be +to render our injustice more obvious, whilst weakening the power of the +natives themselves to combine in self-defence, since those under our +protection would naturally have little sympathy with their more +unfortunate brethren—their interests and circumstances being +different. +</p> + +<p> +The Commission do not seem to have considered the question from these +points of view; but putting them on one side, there are many other +considerations connected with it which are ably summed up in their +Report. Amongst these is the danger of disturbances commenced between +Zulus or Swazis and Boers spreading into Natal, and the probability of +the fomenting of disturbances amongst the Zulus by Boers. The great +argument for the retention of some territory, if only as a symbol that +the English had not been driven out of the country, is, however, set +forth in the forty-sixth paragraph of the Report, which runs as +follows:—"The moral considerations that determine the actions of +civilised governments are not easily understood by barbarians, in whose +eyes successful force is alone the sign of superiority, and it appeared +possible that the surrender by the British Crown of one of its +possessions to those who had been in arms against it, might be looked +upon by the natives in no other way than as a token of the defeat and +decay of the British power, and that thus a serious shock might be +given to British authority in South Africa, and the capacity of Great +Britain to govern and direct the vast native population within and +without her South African dominions—a capacity resting largely on the +renown of her name—might be dangerously impaired." +</p> + +<p> +These words, coming from so unexpected a source, do not, though couched +in such mild language, hide the startling importance of the question +discussed. On the contrary, they accurately and with double weight +convey the sense and gist of the most damning argument against the +policy of the retrocession of the Transvaal in its entirety; and +proceeding from their own carefully chosen Commissioners, can hardly +have been pleasant reading to Lord Kimberley and his colleagues. +</p> + +<p> +The majority of the Commission then proceeds to set forth the arguments +advanced by the Boers against the retention of any territory, which +appear to have been chiefly of a sentimental character, since we are +informed that "the people, it seemed certain, would not have valued the +restoration of a mutilated country. Sentiment in a great measure had +led them to insurrection, and the force of such it was impossible to +disregard." Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, states that he cannot even +agree with the premises of his colleagues' argument, since he is +convinced that it was not sentiment that had led to the outbreak, but a +"general and rooted aversion to taxation." If he had added, and a +hatred not only of English rule, but of all rule, he would have stated +the complete cause of the Transvaal rebellion. In the next paragraph of +the Report, however, we find the real cause of the pliability of the +Commission in the matter, which is the same that influenced them in +their decision about the mode of trial of the murderers and other +questions—they feared that the people would appeal to arms if they +decided against their wishes. +</p> + +<p> +Discreditable and disgraceful as it may seem, nobody can read this +Report without plainly seeing that the Commissioners were, in treating +with the Boers on these points, in the position of ambassadors from a +beaten people getting the best terms they could. Of course, they well +knew that this was not the case but whatever the Boer leaders may have +said, the Boers themselves did not know this, or even pretend to look +at the matter in any other light. When we asked for the country back, +said they, we did not get it; after we had three times defeated the +English we did get it; the logical conclusion from the facts being that +we got it because we defeated the English. This was their tone, and it +is not therefore surprising that whenever the Commission threatened to +decide anything against them, they, with a smile, let it know that if +it did, they would be under the painful necessity of re-occupying +Lang's Nek. It was never necessary to repeat the threat, since the +majority of the Commission would thereupon speedily find a way to meet +the views of the Boer representatives. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, thus correctly sums up the +matter:—"To contend that the Royal Commission ought not to decide +contrary to the wishes of the Boers, because such decision might not be +accepted, is to deny to the Commission the very power of decision that +it was agreed should be left in its hands." Exactly so. But it is +evident that the Commission knew its place, and so far from attempting +to exercise any "power of decision," it was quite content with such +concessions as it could obtain by means of bargaining. Thus, as an +additional reason against the retention of any territory, it is urged +that if this territory was retained "the majority of your Commissioners +… would have found themselves in no favourable position for obtaining +the concurrence of the Boer leaders as to other matters." In fact, Her +Majesty's Commission, appointed, or supposed to be appointed, to do Her +Majesty's will and pleasure, shook in its shoes before men who had +lately been rebels in arms against her authority, and humbly submitted +itself to their dicta. +</p> + +<p> +The majority of the Commission went on to express their opinion, that +by giving way about the retention of territory they would be able to +obtain better terms for the natives generally, and larger powers for +the British Resident. But, as Sir Evelyn Wood points out in his Report, +they did nothing of the sort, the terms of the agreement about the +Resident and other native matters being all consequent on and included +in the first agreement of peace. Besides, they seem to have overlooked +the fact that such concessions as they did obtain are only on paper, +and practically worthless, whilst all <i>bonâ fide</i> advantages +remained with the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +The decision of the Commissioners in the question of the Keate Award, +which next came under their consideration, appears to have been a +judicious one, being founded on the very careful Report of Colonel +Moysey, R.E., who had been for many months collecting information on +the spot. The Keate Award Territory is a region lying to the south-west +of the Transvaal, and was, like many other districts in that country, +originally in the possession of natives of the Baralong and Batlapin +tribes. Individual Boers having, however, <i lang="la">more suo</i> taken +possession of tracts of land in the district, difficulties speedily +arose between their Government and the native chiefs, and in 1871 Mr. +Keate, Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, was by mutual consent called in to +arbitrate on the matter. His decision was entirely in favour of the +natives, and was accordingly promptly and characteristically repudiated +by the Boer Volksraad. From that time till the rebellion the question +remained unsettled, and was indeed a very thorny one to deal with. The +Commission, acting on the principle <i lang="la">in medio tutissimus ibis</i>, +drew a line through the midst of the disputed territory, or, in other +words, set aside Mr. Keate's award, and interpreted the dispute in +favour of the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +This decision was accepted by all parties at the time, but it has not +resulted in the maintenance of peace. The principal chief, Montsioa, is +an old ally and staunch friend of the English, a fact which the Boers +are not able to forget or forgive, and they appear to have stirred up +rival chiefs to attack him, and to have allowed volunteers from the +Transvaal to assist them. Montsioa has also enlisted some white +volunteers, and several fights have taken place, in which the loss of +life has been considerable. Whether or no the Transvaal Government is +directly concerned it is impossible to say, but from the fact that +cannon are said to have been used against Montsioa it would appear that +it is, since private individuals do not, as a rule, own Armstrong +guns.<a href="#note13" name="noteref13"><small>[13]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +Amongst the questions remaining for the consideration of the +Commissioners was that of what compensation should be given for losses +during the war. Of course, the great bulk of the losses sustained were +of an indirect nature, resulting from the necessary and enormous +depreciation in the value of land and other property, consequent on the +retrocession. Into this matter the Home Government declined to enter, +thereby saving its pocket at the price of its honour, since it was upon +English guarantees that the country would remain a British possession +that the majority of the unfortunate loyals invested their money in it. +It was, however, agreed by the Commission (Sir H. de Villiers +dissenting) that the Boers should be liable for compensation in cases +where loss had been sustained through commandeering seizure, +confiscation, destruction, or damage of property. The sums awarded +under these heads have already amounted to about £110,000, which sum +has been defrayed by the Imperial Government, the Boer authorities +stating that they were not in a position to pay it. +</p> + +<p> +In connection with this matter I will pass to the financial clauses of +the Report. When the country was annexed, the public debt amounted to +£301,727. Under British rule this debt was liquidated to the extent of +£150,000, but the total was brought up by a Parliamentary grant, a loan +from the Standard Bank, and sundries to £390,404, which represented the +public debt of the Transvaal on the 31st December 1880. This was +further increased by moneys advanced by the Standard Bank and English +Exchequer during the war, and till the 8th August 1881, during which +time the country yielded no revenue, to £457,393. To this must be added +an estimated sum of £200,000 for compensation charges, pension +allowances, &c., and a further sum of £383,000, the cost of the +successful expedition against Secocœni, that of the unsuccessful one +being left out of account, bringing up the total public debt to over a +million, of which about £800,000 is owing to this country. +</p> + +<p> +This sum, with the characteristic liberality that distinguished them in +their dealings with the Boers, but which was not so marked where loyals +were concerned, the Commissioners (Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting) reduced +by a stroke of the pen to £265,000, thus entirely remitting an +approximate sum of £500,000, or £600,000. To the sum of £265,000 still +owing must be added say another £150,000 for sums lately advanced to +pay the compensation claims, bringing up the actual amount now owing to +England to something under half a million, of which I say with +confidence she will never see a single £10,000. As this contingency was +not contemplated, or if contemplated, not alluded to by the Royal +Commission, provision was made for a Sinking Fund, by means of which +the debt, which is a second charge on the revenues of the States, is to +be extinguished in twenty-five years. +</p> + +<p> +It is a strange instance of the proverbial irony of fate, that whilst +the representatives of the Imperial Government were thus showering +gifts of hundreds of thousands of pounds upon men who had spurned the +benefits of Her Majesty's rule, made war upon her forces, and murdered +her subjects, no such consideration was extended to those who had +remained loyal to her throne. Their claims for compensation were passed +by unheeded; and looking from the windows of the room in which they sat +in Newcastle, the members of the Commission might have seen them +flocking down from a country that could no longer be their home; those +that were rich among them made poor, and those that were poor reduced +to destitution. +</p> + +<p> +The only other point which it will be necessary for me to touch on in +connection with this Report is the duties of the British Resident and +his relations to the natives. He was to be invested as representative +of the Suzerain with functions for securing the execution of the terms +of peace as regards—(1) the control of the foreign relations of the +State; (2) the control of the frontier affairs of the State; and (3) +the protection of the interests of the natives in the State. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the first of these points, it was arranged that the +interests of subjects of the Transvaal should be left in the hands of +Her Majesty's representatives abroad. Since Boers are, of all people in +the world, the most stay-at-home, our ambassadors and consuls are not +likely to be troubled much on their account. With reference to the +second point, the Commission made stipulations that would be admirable +if there were any probability of their being acted up to. The Resident +is to report any encroachment on native territory by Boers to the High +Commissioner, and when the Resident and the Boer Government differ, the +decision of the Suzerain is to be final. This is a charming way of +settling difficulties, but the Commission forgets to specify how the +Suzerain's decision is to be enforced. After what has happened, it can +hardly have relied on awe of the name of England to bring about the +desired obedience! +</p> + +<p> +But besides thus using his beneficent authority to prevent subjects of +the Transvaal from trespassing on their neighbour's land, the Resident +is to exercise a general supervision over the interests of all the +natives in the country. Considering that they number about a million, +and are scattered over a territory larger than France, one would think +that this duty alone would have taken up the time of any ordinary man; +and, indeed, Sir Evelyn Wood was in favour of the appointment of +sub-residents to assist him. The majority of the Commission refused, +however, to listen to any such suggestion—believing, they said, "that +the least possible interference with the independent Government of the +State would be the wisest." Quite so, but I suppose it never occurred +to them to ask the natives what their views of the matter were! The +Resident was also to be a member of a Native Location Commission, which +was at some future time to provide land for the natives to live on. +</p> + +<p> +In perusing this Report it is easy to follow with more or less accuracy +the individual bent of its framers. Sir Hercules Robinson figures +throughout as a man who has got a disagreeable business to carry out, +in obedience to instructions that admit of no trifling with, and who +has set himself to do the best he can for his country, and those who +suffer through his country's policy, whilst obeying those instructions. +He has evidently choked down his feelings and opinions as an +individual, and turned himself into an official machine, merely +registering in detail the will of Lord Kimberley. With Sir Henry de +Villiers the case is very different. One feels throughout that the task +is to him a congenial one, and that the Boer cause has in him an +excellent friend. Indeed, had he been an advocate of their cause +instead of a member of the Commission, he could not have espoused their +side on every occasion with greater zeal. According to him they were +always in the right, and in them he could find no guile. Mr. Hofmeyer +and President Brand exercised a wise discretion from their own point of +view when they urged his appointment as Special Commissioner. I now +come to Sir Evelyn Wood, who was in the position of an independent +Englishman, neither prejudiced in favour of the Boers, or the reverse, +and on whom, as a military man, Lord Kimberley would find it difficult +to put the official screw. The results of his happy position are +obvious in the paper attached to the end of the Report, and signed by +him, in which he totally and entirely differs from the majority of the +Commission on every point of any importance. Most people will think +that this very outspoken and forcible dissent deducts somewhat from the +value of the Report, and throws a shadow of doubt on the wisdom of its +provisions. +</p> + +<p> +The formal document of agreement between Her Majesty's Government and +the Boer leaders, commonly known as the Convention, was signed by both +parties at Pretoria on the afternoon of the 3d August 1881, in the same +room in which, nearly four years before, the Annexation Proclamation +was signed by Sir T. Shepstone. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst this business was being transacted in Government House, a +curious ceremony was going on just outside, and within sight of the +windows. This was the ceremonious burial of the Union Jack, which was +followed to the grave by a crowd of about 2000 loyalists and native +chiefs. On the outside of the coffin was written the word "Resurgam," +and an eloquent oration was delivered over the grave. Such +demonstrations are, no doubt, foolish enough, but they are not entirely +without political significance. +</p> + +<p> +But a more unpleasant duty awaited the Commissioners than that of +attaching their signatures to a document,—consisting of the necessity +of conveying Her Majesty's decision as to the retrocession to about a +hundred native chiefs, until now Her Majesty's subjects, who had been +gathered together to hear it. It must be borne in mind that the natives +had not been consulted as to the disposal of the country, although they +outnumber the white people in the proportion of twenty to one, and +that, beyond some worthless paper stipulations, nothing had been done +for their interests. +</p> + +<p> +Personally, I must plead guilty to what I know is by many, especially +by those who are attached to the Boer cause, considered as folly, if +not worse, namely, a sufficient interest in the natives, and sympathy +with their sufferings, to bring me to the conclusion that in acting +thus we have inflicted a cruel injustice upon them. It seems to me, +that as they were the original owners of the soil, they were entitled +to some consideration in the question of its disposal, and consequently +and incidentally, of their own. I am aware that it is generally +considered that the white man has a right to the black man's +possessions and land, and that it is his high and holy mission to +exterminate the wretched native and take his place. But with this +conclusion I venture to differ. So far as my own experience of natives +has gone, I have found that in all the essential qualities of mind and +body they very much resemble white men, with the exception that they +are, as a race, quicker-witted, more honest, and braver than the +ordinary run of white men. Of them might be aptly quoted the speech +Shakespeare puts into Shylock's mouth: "Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a +Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" In the +same way I ask, Has a native no feelings or affections? does he not +suffer when his parents are shot, or his children stolen, or when he is +driven a wanderer from his home? Does he not know fear, feel pain, +affection, hate, and gratitude? Most certainly he does; and this being +so, I cannot believe that the Almighty, who made both white and black, +gave to the one race the right or mission of exterminating or even of +robbing or maltreating the other, and calling the process the advance +of civilisation. It seems to me, that on only one condition, if at all, +have we the right to take the black men's land; and that is, that we +provide them with an equal and a just Government, and allow no +maltreatment of them, either as individuals or tribes, but, on the +contrary, do our best to elevate them, and wean them from savage +customs. Otherwise, the practice is surely undefensible. +</p> + +<p> +I am aware, however, that with the exception of a small class, these +are sentiments which are not shared by the great majority of the +public, either at home or abroad. Indeed, it can be plainly seen how +little sympathy they command, from the fact that but scanty +remonstrance was raised at the treatment meted out to our native +subjects in the Transvaal, when they were, to the number of nearly a +million, handed over from the peace, justice, and security that on the +whole characterise our rule, to a state of things and possibilities of +wrong and suffering which I will not try to describe. +</p> + +<p> +To the chiefs thus assembled Sir Hercules Robinson, as President of the +Royal Commission, read a statement, and then retired, refusing to allow +them to speak in answer. The statement informed the natives that "Her +Majesty's Government, with that sense of justice which befits a great +and powerful nation," had returned the country to the Boers, "whose +representatives, Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert, I now," said +Sir Hercules, "have much pleasure in introducing to you." If reports +are true, the native chiefs had, many of them personally, and all of +them by reputation, already the advantage of a very intimate +acquaintance with all three of these gentlemen, so that an introduction +was somewhat superfluous. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Hercules then went on to explain to them that locations would be +allotted to them at some future time; that a British Resident would be +appointed, whose especial charge they would be, but that they must bear +in mind that he was not ruler of the country, but the Government, +"subject to Her Majesty's suzerain rights." Natives were, no doubt, +expected to know by intuition what suzerain rights are. The statement +then goes on to give them good advice as to the advantages of indulging +in manual labour when asked to do so by the Boers, and generally to +show them how bright and happy is the future that lies before them. +Lest they should be too elated by such good tidings, they are, however, +reminded that it will be necessary to retain the law relating to +passes, which is, in the hands of a people like the Boers, about as +unjust a regulation as a dominant race can invent for the oppression of +a subject people, and had, in the old days of the Republic, been +productive of much hardship. The statement winds up by assuring them +that their "interests will never be forgotten or neglected by Her +Majesty's Government." Having read the document the Commission hastily +withdrew, and after their withdrawal the chiefs were "allowed" to state +their opinions to the Secretary for Native Affairs. +</p> + +<p> +In availing themselves of this permission, it is noticeable that no +allusion was made to all the advantages they were to reap under the +Convention, nor did they seem to attach much importance to the +appointment of the British Resident. On the contrary, all their +attention was given to the great fact that the country had been ceded +to the Boers, and that they were no longer the Queen's subjects. We are +told, in Mr. Shepstone's Report, that they "got very excited," and +"asked whether it was thought that they had no feelings or hearts, that +they were thus treated as a stick or piece of tobacco, which could be +passed from hand to hand without question." Umgombarie, a Zoutpansberg +chief, said: "I am Umgombarie. I have fought with the Boers, and have +many wounds, and they know that what I say is true…. I will never +consent to place myself under their rule. I belong to the English +Government. I am not a man who eats with both sides of his jaw at once; +I only use one side. I am English, I have said." Silamba said: "I +belong to the English. I will never return under the Boers. You see me, +a man of my rank and position; is it right that such as I should be +seized and laid on the ground and flogged, as has been done to me and +other chiefs?" +</p> + +<p> +Sinkanhla said: "We hear and yet do not hear, we cannot understand. We +are troubling you, Chief, by talking in this way; we hear the chiefs +say that the Queen took the country because the people of the country +wished it, and again that the majority of the owners of the country did +not wish their rule, and that therefore the country was given back. We +should like to have the man pointed out from among us black people who +objects to the rule of the Queen. We are the real owners of the +country; we were here when the Boers came, and without asking leave, +settled down and treated us in every way badly. The English Government +then came and took the country; we have now had four years of rest and +peaceful and just rule. We have been called here to-day, and are told +that the country, our country, has been given to the Boers by the +Queen. This is a thing which surprises us. Did the country, then, +belong to the Boers? Did it not belong to our fathers and forefathers +before us, long before the Boers came here? We have heard that the +Boers' country is at the Cape. If the Queen wishes to give them their +land, why does she not give them back the Cape?" +</p> + +<p> +I have quoted this speech at length, because, although made by a +despised native, it sets forth their case more powerfully and in +happier language than I can do. +</p> + +<p> +Umyethile said: "We have no heart for talking. I have returned to the +country from Sechelis, where I had to fly from Boer oppression. Our +hearts are black and heavy with grief to-day at the news told us, we +are in agony, our intestines are twisting and writhing inside of us, +just as you see a snake do when it is struck on the head…. We do not +know what has become of us, but we feel dead; it may be that the Lord +may change the nature of the Boers, and that we will not be treated +like dogs and beasts of burden as formerly, but we have no hope of such +a change, and we leave you with heavy hearts and great apprehension as +to the future." In his Report, Mr. Shepstone (the Secretary for Native +Affairs) says: "One chief, Jan Sibilo, who has been, he informed me, +personally threatened with death by the Boers after the English leave, +could not restrain his feelings, but cried like a child." +</p> + +<p> +I have nothing to add to these extracts, which are taken from many such +statements. They are the very words of the persons most concerned, and +will speak for themselves. +</p> + +<p> +The Convention was signed on the 3d August 1881, and was to be formally +ratified by a Volksraad or Parliament of the Burghers within three +months of that date, in default of which it was to fall to the ground +and become null and void. +</p> + +<p> +Anybody who has followed the course of affairs with reference to the +retrocession of the Transvaal, or who has even taken the trouble to +read through this brief history, will probably come to the conclusion +that, under all the circumstances, the Boers had got more than they +could reasonably expect. Not so, however, the Boers themselves. On the +28th September the newly-elected Volksraad referred the Convention to a +General Committee to report on, and on the 30th September the Report +was presented. On the 3d October a telegram was despatched through the +British Resident to "His Excellency W. E. Gladstone," in which the +Volksraad states that the Convention is not acceptable— +</p> + +<p> +(1.) Because it is in conflict with the Sand River Treaty of 1852. +</p> + +<p> +(2.) Because it violates the peace agreement entered into with Sir +Evelyn Wood, in confidence of which the Boers laid down their arms. +</p> + +<p> +The Volksraad consequently declared that modifications were desirable, +and that certain articles <i>must</i> be altered. +</p> + +<p> +To begin with, they declare that the "conduct of foreign relations does +not appertain to the Suzerain, only supervision," and that the articles +bearing on these points must consequently be modified. They next attack +the native question, stating that "the Suzerain has not the right to +interfere with our Legislature," and state that they cannot agree to +Article 3, which gives the Suzerain a right of veto on Legislation +connected with the natives; to Article 13, by virtue of which natives +are to be allowed to acquire land; and to the last part of Article 26, +by which it is provided that whites of alien race living in the +Transvaal shall not be taxed in excess of the taxes imposed on +Transvaal citizens. +</p> + +<p> +They further declare that it is ><i lang="la">infra dignitatem</i> for the +President of the Transvaal to be a member of a Commission. This refers +to the Native Location Commission, on which he is, in the terms of the +Convention, to sit, together with the British Resident, and a third +person jointly appointed. +</p> + +<p> +They next declare that the amount of the debt for which the Commission +has made them liable should be modified. Considering that England had +already made them a present of from £600,000 to £800,000, this is a +most barefaced demand. Finally, they state that "Articles 15, 16, 26, +and 27 are superfluous, and only calculated to wound our sense of +honour" (<i>sic</i>). +</p> + +<p> +Article 15 enacts that no slavery or apprenticeship shall be tolerated. +</p> + +<p> +Article 16 provides for religious toleration. +</p> + +<p> +Article 26 provides for the free movement, trading, and residence of +all persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of +the Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +Article 27 gives to all the right of free access to the Courts of +Justice. +</p> + +<p> +Putting the "sense of honour" of the Transvaal Volksraad out of the +question, past experience has but too plainly proved that these +Articles are by no means superfluous. +</p> + +<p> +In reply to this message, Sir Hercules Robinson telegraphs to the +British Resident on the 21st October in the following words:— +</p> + +<p> +"Having forwarded Volksraad Resolution of 15th to Earl of Kimberley, I +am desired to instruct you in reply to repeat to the Triumvirate that +Her Majesty's Government cannot entertain any proposals for a +modification of the Convention <i>until after it has been ratified</i>, +and the necessity for further concession proved by experience." +</p> + +<p> +I wish to draw particular attention to the last part of this message, +which is extremely typical of the line of policy adopted throughout in +the Transvaal business. The English Government dared not make any +further concession to the Boers, because they felt that they had +already strained the temper of the country almost to breaking in the +matter. On the other hand, they were afraid that if they did not do +something, the Boers would tear up the Convention, and they would find +themselves face to face with the old difficulty. Under these +circumstances, they have fallen back upon their temporising and +un-English policy, which leaves them a back-door to escape through, +whatever turn things take. Should the Boers now suddenly turn round and +declare, which is extremely probable, that they repudiate their debt to +us, or that they are sick of the presence of a British Resident, the +Government will be able to announce that "the necessity for further +concession" has now been "proved by experience," and thus escape the +difficulty. In short, this telegram has deprived the Convention of +whatever finality it may have possessed, and made it, as a document, as +worthless as it is as a practical settlement. That this is the view +taken of it by the Boers themselves, is proved by the text of the +Ratification which followed on the receipt of this telegram. +</p> + +<p> +The tone of this document throughout is, in my opinion, considering +from whom it came, and against whom it is directed, very insolent. And +it amply confirms what I have previously said, that the Boers looked +upon themselves as a victorious people making terms with those they +have conquered. The Ratification leads off thus: "The Volksraad is not +satisfied with this Convention, and considers that the members of the +Triumvirate performed a fervent act of love for the Fatherland when +they upon their own responsibility signed such an unsatisfactory state +document." This is damning with faint praise indeed. It then goes on to +recite the various points of objection, stating that the answers from +the English Government proved that they were well founded. "The English +Government," it says, "acknowledges indirectly by this answer (the +telegram of 21st October, quoted above) that the difficulties raised by +the Volksraad are neither fictitious nor unfounded, inasmuch <i>as it +desires from us the concession</i> that we, the Volksraad, shall submit +it to a practical test." It will be observed that England is here +represented as begging the favour of a trial of her conditions from the +Volksraad of the Transvaal Boers. The Ratification is in these words: +"Therefore is it that the Raad here unanimously resolves not to go into +further discussion of the Convention, <i>and maintaining all objections +to the Convention</i> as made before the Royal Commission or stated in +the Raad, and for the purpose of showing to everybody that the love of +peace and unity inspires it, <i>for the time and provisionally</i> +submitting the articles of the Convention to a practical test, +<i>hereby complying with the request of the English Government</i> +contained in the telegram of the 13th October 1881, proceeds to ratify +the Convention." +</p> + +<p> +It would have been interesting to have seen how such a Ratification as +this, which is no Ratification but an insult, would have been accepted +by Lord Beaconsfield. I think that within twenty-four hours of its +arrival in Downing Street, the Boer Volksraad would have received a +startling answer. But Lord Beaconsfield is dead, and by his successor +it was received with all due thankfulness and humility. His words, +however, on this subject still remain to us, and even his great rival +might have done well to listen to them. It was in the course of what +was, I believe, the last speech he made in the House of Lords, that +speaking about the Transvaal rising, he warned the Government that it +was a very dangerous thing to make peace with rebellious subjects in +arms against the authority of the Queen. The warning passed unheeded, +and the peace was made in the way I have described. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the Convention itself, it will be obvious to the reader that +the Boers have not any intention of acting up to its provisions, mild +as they are, if they can possibly avoid them, whilst, on the other +hand, there is no force at hand to punish their disregard or breach. It +is all very well to create a Resident with extensive powers; but how is +he to enforce his decisions? What is he to do if his awards are laughed +at and made a mockery of, as they are and will be? The position of Mr. +Hudson at Pretoria is even worse than that of Mr. Osborn in Zululand. +For instance, the Convention specifies in the first article that the +Transvaal is to be known as the Transvaal State. The Boer Government +have, however, thought fit to adopt the name of "South African +Republic" in all public documents. Mr. Hudson was accordingly directed +to remonstrate, which he did in a feeble way; his remonstrance was +politely acknowledged, but the country is still officially called the +South African Republic, the Convention and Mr. Hudson's remonstrance +notwithstanding. Mr. Hudson, however, appears to be better suited to +the position than would have been the case had an Englishman, pure and +simple, been appointed, since it is evident that things that would have +struck the latter as insults to the Queen he represented, and his +country generally, are not so understood by him. In fact, he admirably +represents his official superiors in his capacity of swallowing +rebuffs, and when smitten on one cheek delightedly offering the other. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we find him attending a Boer meeting of thanksgiving for the +success that had waited on their arms and the recognition of their +independence, where most people will consider he was out of place. To +this meeting, thus graced by his presence, an address was presented by +a branch of the Africander Bond, a powerful institution, having for its +object the total uprootal of English rule and English customs in South +Africa, to which he must have listened with pleasure. In it he, in +common with other members of the meeting, is informed that "you took up +the sword and struck the Briton with such force" that "the Britons +through fear revived that sense of justice to which they could not be +brought by petitions," and that the "day will soon come that we shall +enter with you on one arena for the entire independence of South +Africa," <i>i.e.</i>, independence from English rule. +</p> + +<p> +On the following day the Government gave a dinner, to which all those +who had done good service during the late hostilities were invited, the +British Resident being apparently the only Englishman asked. Amongst +the other celebrities present I notice the name of Buskes. This man, +who is an educated Hollander, was the moving spirit of the +Potchefstroom atrocities; indeed, so dark is his reputation that the +Royal Commission refused to transact business with him, or to admit him +to their presence. Mr. Hudson was not so particular. And now comes the +most extraordinary part of the episode. At the dinner it was necessary +that the health of Her Majesty as Suzerain should be proposed, and with +studied insolence this was done last of all the leading political +toasts, and immediately after that of the Triumvirate. Notwithstanding +this fact, and that the toast was couched by Mr. Joubert, who stated +that "he would not attempt to explain what a Suzerain was," in what +appear to be semi-ironical terms, we find that Mr. Hudson "begged to +tender his thanks to the Honourable Mr. Joubert for the kind way in +which he proposed the toast." +</p> + +<p> +It may please Mr. Hudson to see the name of the Queen thus +metaphorically dragged in triumph at the chariot wheels of the +Triumvirate, but it is satisfactory to know that the spectacle is not +appreciated in England: since, on a question in the House of Lords, by +the Earl of Carnarvon, who characterised it as a deliberate insult, +Lord Kimberley replied that the British Resident had been instructed +that in future he was not to attend public demonstrations unless he had +previously informed himself that the name of Her Majesty would be +treated with proper respect. Let us hope that this official reprimand +will have its effect, and that Mr. Hudson will learn therefrom that +there is such a thing as <i lang="fr">trop de zéle</i>—even in a good cause. +</p> + +<p> +The Convention is now a thing of the past, the appropriate rewards have +been lavishly distributed to its framers, and President Brand has at +last prevailed upon the Volksraad of the Orange Free State to allow him +to become a Knight Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George,—the +same prize looked forward to by our most distinguished public servants +at the close of the devotion of their life to the service of their +country. But its results are yet to come—though it would be difficult +to forecast the details of their development. One thing, however, is +clear: the signing of that document signalised an entirely new +departure in South African affairs, and brought us within a measurable +distance of the abandonment, for the present at any rate, of the +supremacy of English rule in South Africa. +</p> + +<p> +This is the larger issue of the matter, and it is already bearing +fruit. Emboldened by their success in the Transvaal, the Dutch party at +the Cape are demanding, and the demand is to be granted, that the Dutch +tongue be admitted <i lang="la">pari passu</i> with English, as the official +language in the Law Courts and the House of Assembly. When a country +thus consents to use a foreign tongue equally with its own, it is a +sure sign that those who speak it are rising to power. But "the Party" +looks higher than this, and openly aims at throwing off English rule +altogether, and declaring South Africa a great Dutch republic. The +course of events is favourable to their aspiration. Responsible +Government is to be granted to Natal, which country, not being strong +enough to stand alone in the face of the many dangers that surround +her, will be driven into the arms of the Dutch party to save herself +from destruction. It will be useless for her to look for help from +England, and any feelings of repugnance she may feel to Boer rule will +soon be choked by necessity, and a mutual interest. It is, however, +possible that some unforeseen event, such as the advent to power of a +strong Conservative Ministry, may check the tide that now sets so +strongly in favour of Dutch supremacy. +</p> + +<p> +It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration +of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it +would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little further and +favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, retaining +only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the bounds of +sober possibility that they may one day have to face a fresh Transvaal +rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale, and might find it +difficult to retain even Table Bay. If, on the other hand, they do, I +believe that all the White States in South Africa would confederate of +their own free-will, under the pressure of the necessity for common +action, and the Dutch element being preponderant, at once set to work +to exterminate the natives on general principles, in much the same way, +and from much the same motives that a cook exterminates black beetles, +because she thinks them ugly, and to clear the kitchen. +</p> + +<p> +I need hardly say that such a policy is not one that commands my +sympathy, but Her Majesty's Government having put their hand to the +plough, it is worth their while to consider it. It would at any rate be +in perfect accordance with their declared sentiments, and command an +enthusiastic support from their followers. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the smaller and more immediate issue of the retrocession, +namely, its effect on the Transvaal itself, it cannot be other than +evil. The act is, I believe, quite without precedent in our history, +and it is difficult to see, looking at it from those high grounds of +national morality assumed by the Government, what greater arguments can +be advanced in its favour, than could be found to support the +abandonment of,—let us say,—Ireland. Indeed a certain parallel +undoubtedly exists between the circumstances of the two countries. +Ireland was, like the Transvaal, annexed, though a long time ago, and +has continually agitated for its freedom. The Irish hate us, so did the +Boers. In Ireland, Englishmen are being shot, and England is running +the awful risk of blood-guiltiness, as it did in the Transvaal. In +Ireland, smouldering revolution is being fanned into flame by Mr. +Gladstone's speeches and acts, as it was in the Transvaal. In Ireland, +as in the Transvaal, there exists a strong loyal class that receives +insults instead of support from the Government, and whose property, as +was the case there, is taken from them without compensation, to be +flung as a sop to stop the mouths of the Queen's enemies. And so I +might go on, finding many such similarities of circumstances, but my +parallel, like most parallels, must break down at last Thus—it +mattered little to England whether or no she let the Transvaal go, but +to let Ireland go would be more than even Mr. Gladstone dare attempt. +</p> + +<p> +Somehow, if you follow these things far enough, you always come to +vulgar first principles. The difference between the case of the +Transvaal and that of Ireland is a difference not of justice of cause, +for both causes are equally unjust or just according as they are +viewed, but of mere common expediency. Judging from the elevated +standpoint of the national morality theory, however, which, as we know, +soars above such truisms as the foolish statement that force is a +remedy, or that if you wish to retain your prestige you must not allow +defeats to pass unavenged, I cannot see why, if it was righteous to +abandon the Transvaal, it would not be equally righteous to abandon +Ireland! +</p> + +<p> +As for the Transvaal, that country is not to be congratulated on its +success, for it has destroyed all its hopes of permanent peace, has +ruined its trade and credit, and has driven away the most useful and +productive class in the community. The Boers, elated by their success +in arms, will be little likely to settle down to peaceable occupations, +and still less likely to pay their taxes, which, indeed, I hear they +are already refusing to do. They have learnt how easily even a powerful +Government can be upset, and the lesson is not likely to be forgotten, +for want of repetition to their own weak one. +</p> + +<p> +Already the Transvaal Government hardly knows which way to turn for +funds, and as, perhaps fortunately for itself, quite unable to borrow, +through want of credit. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the native question, I agree with Mr. H. Shepstone, who, in +his Report on this subject, says that he does not believe that the +natives will inaugurate any action against the Boers, so long as the +latter do not try to collect taxes, or otherwise interfere with them. +But if the Boer Government is to continue to exist, it will be bound to +raise taxes from the natives, since it cannot collect much from its +white subjects. The first general attempt of the sort will be the +signal for active resistance on the part of the natives, whom, if they +act without concert, the Boers will be able to crush in detail, though +with considerable loss. If, on the other hand, they should have +happened, during the last few years, to have learnt the advantages of +combination, as is quite possible, perhaps they will crash the Boers. +</p> + +<p> +The only thing that is at present certain about the matter is that +there will be bloodshed, and that before long. For instance, the +Montsioa difficulty in the Keate Award has in it the possibilities of a +serious war, and there are plenty such difficulties ready to spring +into life within and without the Transvaal. +</p> + +<p> +In all human probability it will take but a small lapse of time for the +Transvaal to find itself in the identical position from which we +relieved it by the Annexation. +</p> + +<p> +What course events will then take it is impossible to say. It may be +found desirable to re-annex the country, though, in my opinion, that +would be, after all that has passed, an unfortunate step; its +inhabitants may be cut up piecemeal by a combined movement of native +tribes, as they would have been, had they not been rescued by the +English Government in 1877, or it is possible that the Orange Free +State may consent to take the Transvaal under its wing: who can say? +There is only one thing that our recently abandoned possession can +count on for certain, and that is trouble, both from its white +subjects, and the natives, who hate the Boers with a bitter and a +well-earned hatred. +</p> + +<p> +The whole question can, so far as its moral aspect is concerned, be +summed up in a few words. +</p> + +<p> +Whether or no the Annexation was a necessity at the moment of its +execution—which I certainly maintain it was—it received the +unreserved sanction of the Home authorities, and the relations of +Sovereign and subject, with all the many and mutual obligations +involved in that connection, were established between the Queen of +England and every individual of the motley population of the Transvaal. +Nor was this change an empty form, for, to the largest proportion of +that population, this transfer of allegiance brought with it a +priceless and a vital boon. To them it meant freedom and justice—for +where, on any portion of this globe over which the British ensign +floats, does the law even wink at cruelty or wrong? +</p> + +<p> +A few years passed away, and a small number of the Queen's subjects in +the Transvaal rose in rebellion against her authority, and inflicted +some reverses on her arms. Thereupon, in spite of the reiterated +pledges given to the contrary—partly under stress of defeat, and +partly in obedience to the pressure of "advanced views"—the country +was abandoned, and the vast majority who had remained faithful to the +Crown, was handed to the cruel despotism of the minority who had +rebelled against it. +</p> + +<p> +Such an act of treachery to those to whom we were bound with double +chains—by the strong ties of a common citizenship, and by those claims +to England's protection from violence and wrong which have hitherto +been wont to command it, even where there was no duty to fulfil, and no +authority to vindicate—stands, I believe, without parallel on our +records, and marks a new departure in our history. +</p> + +<p> +I cannot end these pages without expressing my admiration of the +extremely able way in which the Boers managed their revolt, when once +they felt that, having undertaken the thing, it was a question of life +and death with them. It shows that they have good stuff in them +somewhere, which, under the firm but just rule of Her Majesty, might +have been much developed, and it makes it the more sad that they should +have been led to throw off that rule, and have been allowed to do so by +an English Government. +</p> + +<p> +In conclusion, there is one point that I must touch on, and that is the +effect of the retrocession on the native mind, which I can only +describe as most disastrous. The danger alluded to in the Report of the +Royal Commission has been most amply realised, and the prevailing +belief in the steadfastness of our policy, and the inviolability of our +plighted word, which has hitherto been the great secret of our hold on +the Kafirs, has been rudely shaken. The motives that influenced, or are +said to have influenced, the Government in their act, are naturally +quite unintelligible to savages, however clever, who do believe that +force is a remedy, and who have seen the inhabitants of a country ruled +by England defeat English soldiers and take possession of it, whilst +those who remained loyal to England were driven out of it. It will not +be wonderful if some of them, say the natives of Natal, deduce +therefrom conclusions unfavourable to loyalty, and evince a desire to +try the same experiment. +</p> + +<p> +It is, however, unprofitable to speculate on the future, which must be +left to unfold itself. +</p> + +<p> +The curtain is, so far as this country is concerned, down for the +moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there is but +too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion, +which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the +future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos. +</p> + + + +<h2> +<a name="VII"> </a> +CHAPTER VII. +</h2> + + +<p> +The following pages, extracted from an introduction to a new edition to +"Cetywayo and His White Neighbours," written in 1888, are reprinted +here, because they contain matter of interest concerning the more +recent history of the Transvaal Boers. +</p> + +<br> +<p class="ctr"> +<i>Extract from Introduction to New Edition of 1888.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The recent history of the Transvaal, now once more a republic, will +fortunately admit of brief treatment. It is, so far as England is +concerned, very much a history of concession. For an account of the +first Convention I must refer my readers to the remarks which I have +made in the chapter of this book headed "The Retrocession of the +Transvaal." It will there be seen that the Transvaal Volksraad only +ratified the first convention, which was wrung from us (Sir Evelyn +Wood, to his honour be it said, dissenting) after our defeats at Lang's +Nek, Ingogo, and Majuba, as a favour to the British Government, which +in its turn virtually promised to reconsider the convention, if only +the Volksraad would be so good as to ratify it. This convention was +ratified in October 1881. In June 1883 the Transvaal Government<a href="#note14" name="noteref14"><small>[14]</small></a> +telegraphs briefly to Lord Derby through the High Commissioner that the +Volksraad has "resolved that time has come to reconsider convention." +Lord Derby quickly telegraphs back that "Her Majesty's Government +consent to inquire into the working of convention." Human nature is +frail, and it is impossible to help wishing that Lord Palmerston or +Disraeli had been appointed by the Fates to answer that telegram. But +we have fallen upon different days, and new men have arisen who appear +to be suited to them; and so the convention was reconsidered, and on +the 27th of February 1884 a new one was signed, which is known as the +convention of London. It begins by defining boundaries to which the +"Government of the South African Republic will strictly adhere, … and +will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any +encroachments upon the said boundaries." The existence of the New +Republic in Zululand is a striking and practical comment on this +article. Article ii. also provides for the security of the amended +southwest boundary. The proclamation of 16th September 1884 (afterwards +disallowed by the English Government), by which the South African +Republic practically annexed the territories of Montsioa and Moshette, +already for the most part in the possession of its freebooters, very +clearly illustrates its anxiety to be bound by this provision. Art xii. +provides for the independence of the Swazis; and by way of illustrating +the fidelity with which it has been observed, we shall presently have +occasion to remark upon the determined attempts that have continually +been made by Boer freebooters to obtain possession of Swaziland—and so +on. +</p> + +<p> +In order to make these severe restrictions palatable to the burghers of +a free and haughty Republic, Lord Derby recommends Her Majesty's +Government to remit a trifling sum of £127,000 of their debt due to the +Imperial Treasury, which was accordingly done. On the whole, the +Transvaal had no reason to be dissatisfied with this new treaty, though +really the whole affair is scarcely worth discussing. Convention No. 2 +is almost as much a farce and a dead letter as was Convention No. 1. It +is, however, impossible to avoid being impressed with the really +remarkable tone, not merely of equality, but of superiority, adopted by +the South African Republic and its officials towards this country. To +take an instance. The Republic had found it convenient to wage a war of +extermination upon some Kafir chiefs. Two of these, Mampoer and Njabel, +fell into its hands. Her Majesty's Government was, rightly or wrongly, +so impressed with the injustice of the sentence of death passed upon +these unfortunates, that, acting through Mr. Hudson, the British +Resident at Pretoria, it strained every nerve to save them. This was +the upshot of it. In a tone of studied sarcasm, His Honour the State +President "observes with great satisfaction the great interest in these +cases which has been manifested by your Honour and Her Majesty's +Government." He then goes on to say that, notwithstanding this +interest, Mampoer will be duly and effectually hung, giving the exact +time and place of the event, and Njabel imprisoned for life, with hard +labour. Finally, he once more conveys "the hearty thanks of the +Government and the members of the Executive Council for the interest +manifested in these cases,"<a href="#note15" name="noteref15"><small>[15]</small></a> and remains, &c. +</p> + +<p> +The independence of Swaziland was guaranteed by the convention of 1884. +Yet the Blue-books are full of accounts of various attempts made by +Boers to obtain a footing in Swaziland. Thus in November 1885 +Umbandine, the king of Swaziland, sends messengers to the Governor of +Natal through Sir T. Shepstone, in which he states that in the winter +Piet Joubert, accompanied by two other Boers and an interpreter, came +to his kraal and asked him to sign a paper "to say that he and all the +Swazis agreed to go over and recognise the authority of the Boer +Government, and have nothing more to do with the English."<a href="#note16" name="noteref16"><small>[16]</small></a> Umbandine +refused, saying that he looked to and recognised the English +Government. Thereon the Boers, growing angry, answered, "Those fathers +of yours, the English, act very slowly; and if you look to them for +help, and refuse to sign this paper, we shall have scattered you and +your people, and taken possession of the land before they arrive. Why +do you refuse to sign the paper? You know we defeated the English at +Majuba." Umbandine's message then goes on to say that he recognises the +English Government only, and does not wish to have dealings with the +Boers. Also, in the following month, we find him making a direct +application to the Colonial Office through Mr. David Forbes,<a href="#note17" name="noteref17"><small>[17]</small></a> praying +that his country may be taken under the protection of Her Majesty's +Government. +</p> + +<p> +More than one such attempt to secure informal rights of occupation in +Swaziland appears to have been made by the Transvaal Boers. Mr. T. +Shepstone, C.M.G., is at present acting as Resident to Umbandine, +though he has not, it would seem, any regular commission from the Home +Government authorising him to do so, probably because it does not +consider that its rights in Swaziland are such as to justify such an +assumption of formal authority over the Swazis. However this may be, +Umbandine could not have found a better man to protect his interests. +Of course, when acts like that of Piet Joubert are reported to the +Government of the South African Republic and made the subject of a +remonstrance by this country, all knowledge of them is repudiated, as +it was repudiated in the case of the invasion of Zululand. +</p> + +<p> +It is part of the policy of the Transvaal only to become an accessory +after the fact. Its subjects go forth and stir up trouble among the +natives, and then probably the Boer Government intervenes "in the +interests of humanity," and takes, or tries to take, the country. This +process is always going on, and, unless the British Government puts a +stop to it, always will go on. We shall probably soon hear that it is +developing itself in the direction of Matabeleland. A country the size +of France, which could without difficulty accommodate a population of +from eight to ten millions of industrious folk, is not large enough for +the wants of a Boer people, numbering something under fifty thousand +souls. Every young Boer must have his six or more thousand acres of +land on which to lord it. It is his birthright, and if it is not +forthcoming he goes and takes it by force from the nearest native +tribe. Hence these continual complaints. Of course, there are two ways +of looking at the matter. There is a party that does not hesitate to +say that the true policy of this country is to let the Boers work their +will upon the natives, and then, as they in turn fly from civilisation +towards the far interior, to follow on their path and occupy the lands +that they have swept. This plan is supported by arguments about the +superiority of the white races and their obvious destiny of rule. It +is, I confess, one that I look upon as little short of wicked. I could +never discern a superiority so great in ourselves as to authorise us, +by right divine as it were, to destroy the coloured man and take his +lands. It is difficult to see why a Zulu, for instance, has not as much +right to live in his own way as a Boer or an Englishman. Of course, +there is another extreme. Nothing is more ridiculous than the length to +which the black brother theory is sometimes driven by enthusiasts. A +savage is one thing, and a civilised man is another; and though +civilised men may and do become savages, I personally doubt if the +converse is even possible. But whether the civilised man, with his gin, +his greed, and his dynamite, is really so very superior to the savage +is another question, and one which would bear argument, although this +is not the place to argue it. My point is, that his superiority is not +at any rate so absolutely overwhelming as to justify him in the +wholesale destruction of the savage and the occupation of his lands, or +even in allowing others to do the work for him if he can prevent it. +The principle might conceivably be pushed to inconvenient and indecent +lengths. Savagery is only a question of degree. When all true savages +have been wiped out, the most civilised and self-righteous among the +nations may begin to give the term to those whom they consider to be on +a lower scale than themselves, and apply the argument also. Thus there +are "cultured" people in another land who do not hesitate to say that +the humble writers of these islands are rank and rude barbarians not to +be endured. Supposing that, being the stronger, they also <i>applied +the argument</i>, it would be inconvenient for some of us, and perhaps +the world would not gain so very much after all. But this is a +digression, only excusable, if excusable at all, in one who has endured +a three weeks' course of unmitigated Blue-book. To return. +</p> + +<p> +The process of absorption attempted in Swaziland, and brought to a +successful issue in Zululand, also went forward merrily in +Bechuanaland, till recently, under the rule of Mankorane, chief of the +Batlapins, and Montsioa, chief of the Baralongs. These two chiefs have +always been devoted friends and adherents of the English Government, +and consequently are not regarded with favour by the Boers. Shortly +after the retrocession of the Transvaal, a rival to Mankorane rose up +in the person of a certain Massou, and a rival to Montsioa named +Moshette. Both Massou and Moshette were supported by Boer fillibusters, +and what happened to Usibepu in Zululand happened to these unfortunate +chiefs in Bechuanaland. They were defeated after a gallant struggle, +and two Republics called Stellaland and Goschen were carved out of +their territories and occupied by the fillibusters. Fortunately for +them, however, they had a friend in the person of the Rev. John +Mackenzie, to whose valuable work, "Austral Africa," I beg to refer the +reader for a fuller account of these events. Mr. Mackenzie, who had for +many years lived as a missionary among the Bechuanas, had also mastered +the fact that it is very difficult to do anything for South Africa in +this country unless you can make it a question of votes, or, in other +words, unless you can bring pressure to bear upon the Government. +Accordingly he commenced an agitation on behalf of Mankorane and +Montsioa, in which he was supported by various religious bodies, and +also by the late Mr. Forster and the Aborigines Protection Society. As +a result of this agitation he was appointed Deputy to the High +Commissioner for Bechuanaland, whither he proceeded early in 1884 to +establish a British protectorate. He was gladly welcomed by the +unfortunate chiefs, who were now almost at their last gasp, and who +both of them ceded their rights of government to the Queen. Hostilities +did not, however, cease, for on the 31st July 1884 the fillibusters +again attacked Montsioa, routed him, and cruelly murdered Mr. Bethell, +his English adviser. Meanwhile Mr. Mackenzie's success was viewed with +very mixed feelings at the Cape. To the English party it was most +acceptable, but the Dutch,<a href="#note18" name="noteref18"><small>[18]</small></a> and more numerous party, looked on it +with alarm and disgust. They did not at all wish to see the Imperial +power established in Bechuanaland; so pressure was put upon Sir +Hercules Robinson, and through him on Mr. Mackenzie, to such an extent +indeed as to necessitate the resignation of the latter. Thereon the +High Commissioner despatched a Cape politician, Mr. Cecil Rhodes, and +his own private secretary, Captain Bower, R.N., to Bechuanaland. These +gentlemen at once set to work to undo most of what Mr. Mackenzie had +done, and, generally speaking, did not advance either British or native +interests in Bechuanaland. At this point, taking advantage of the +general confusion, the Government of the South African Republic issued +a proclamation placing both Montsioa and Moshette under its protection, +as usual "in the interests of humanity." +</p> + +<p> +But the agitation in England had, fortunately for what remained of the +Bechuana people, not been allowed to drop. Her Majesty's Government +disallowed the Boer proclamation, under Article iv. of the convention +of London, and despatched an armed force to Bechuanaland, commanded by +Sir Charles Warren. This good act, I believe I am right in saying, we +owe entirely to the firmness of Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain, +who insisted upon its being done. Meanwhile Messrs. Upington and +Sprigg, members of the Cape Government, hastened to Bechuanaland to +effect a settlement before the arrival of Sir Charles Warren's force. +This settlement, though it might have been agreeable to the +fillibusters and the anti-Imperialists generally, was disallowed by Her +Majesty's Government as unsatisfactory, and Sir Charles Warren was +ordered to occupy Bechuanaland. This he accordingly did, taking Mr. +Mackenzie with him, very much against the will of the anti-English +party, and, be it added, of Sir Hercules Robinson. Indeed, if we may +accept Mr. Mackenzie's version of these occurrences, which seems to be +a fair one, and adequately supported by documentary evidence, the +conduct of Sir Hercules Robinson towards Mr. Mackenzie would really +admit of explanation. As soon as the freebooters saw that the Imperial +Government was really in earnest, of course there was no more trouble. +They went away, and Sir Charles Warren took possession of Bechuanaland +without striking a single blow. He remained in the country for nearly a +year arranging for its permanent pacification and government, and as a +result of his occupation, on the 30th September 1885, all the territory +south of the Molopo River was declared to be British territory, and +made into a quasi crown colony, the entire extent of land, including +the districts ruled over by Khama, Sechele, and Gasitsive, being about +160,000 square miles in area. I believe that the new colony of British +Bechuanaland is proving a very considerable success. Every provision +has been made for native wants, and its settlement goes on apace. There +is no reason why, with its remarkable natural advantages, it should not +one day become a great country, with a prosperous white, and a loyal +and contented native population. When this comes about it is to be +hoped that it will remember that it owes its existence to the energy +and firmness of Mr. Mackenzie, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, and +Sir Charles Warren. +</p> + +<p> +It is probably by now dawning upon the mind of the British public that +when we gave up the Transvaal we not only did a cowardly thing and +sowed a plentiful crop of future troubles, we also abandoned one of the +richest, if not the richest, country in the world. The great +gold-fields which exist all over the surface of the land are being +opened up and pouring out their treasures so fast that it is said that +the Transvaal Government, hitherto remarkable for its impecuniosity, +does not know what to do with its superfluous cash. To what extent this +will continue it is impossible to say, but I for one shall not be +surprised if the output should prove to be absolutely unprecedented. +And with gold in vast quantities, with iron in mountains, and coal-beds +to be measured by the scores of square miles, with lead and copper and +cobalt, a fertile soil, water, and one of the most lovely climates in +the world, what more is required to make a country rich and great? Only +one thing, an Anglo-Saxon Government, and that we have taken away from +the Transvaal. Whether the English flag has vanished for ever from its +borders is, however, still an open question. The discovery of gold in +such quantities is destined to exercise a very remarkable influence +upon the future of the Transvaal. Where gold is to be found, there the +hardy, enterprising, English-speaking diggers flock together, and +before them and their energy the Boer retreats, as the native retreats +and vanishes before the rifle of the Boer. Already there are many +thousands of diggers in the Transvaal; if the discoveries of gold go +on and prove as remunerative as they promise to be, in a few more years +their number will be vastly increased. Supposing that another five +years sees sixty or seventy thousand English diggers at work in the +Transvaal, is it to be believed that these men will in that event allow +themselves to be ruled by eight or nine thousand hostile-hearted Boers? +Is it to be believed, too, that the Boers will stop to try and rule +them? From such knowledge as I have of their character I should say +certainly not. They will <i>trek</i>, anywhere out of the way of the +Englishman and his English ways, and those who do not <i>trek</i> will +be absorbed.<a href="#note19" name="noteref19"><small>[19]</small></a> Should this happen, it is, of course, possible, and +even probable, that for some time the diggers, fearing the vacillations +of Imperial policy, would prefer to remain independent with a +Republican form of Government. But the Englishman is a law-abiding and +patriotic creature, and as society settled itself in the new community, +it would almost certainly desire to be united to the Empire and +acknowledge the sovereignty of the Queen. So far as a judgment can be +formed, if only the gold holds out the Transvaal will as certainly fall +into the lap of the Empire as a green apple will one day drop from the +tree—that is, if it is not gathered. +</p> + +<p> +Now it is quite possible that the Germans, or some other power, may try +to gather the Transvaal apple. The Boers are not blind to the march of +events, and they dislike us and our rule. Perhaps they might think it +worth their while to seek German protection, and unless we are prepared +to say "no" very firmly indeed—and who knows, in the present condition +of Home politics, what we are prepared to do from one day to +another?—Germany would in such a case almost certainly think it worth +her while to give it. Very likely the protection, when granted, would +in some ways resemble that which the Boer himself, his breast aglow +with love of peace and the "interests of humanity," is so anxious to +extend to the misguided native possessor of desirable and well-watered +lands. Very likely, in the end, the Boer would be sorry that he did not +accept the ills he knew of. But that is neither here nor there. So far +as we are concerned, the mischief would be done. In short, should the +position arise, everything will depend upon our capacity of saying +"no," and the tone in which we say it. It will not do to rely upon our +London convention, by which the Transvaal is forbidden to conclude +treaties with outside powers without the consent of this Government. +The convention has been broken before now, and will be broken again, if +the Boers find it convenient to break it, and know that they can do so +with impunity. Meanwhile we must rest on our oars and watch events. One +thing, however, might and should be done. Some person having weight and +real authority—if he were quite new to South Africa so much the +better—should be appointed as our Consul to watch over the welfare of +Englishmen and our Imperial interests at Pretoria, and properly paid +for doing so. It is difficult to find a suitable man unless he is +adequately salaried and supported. +</p> + +<p> +But quite recently this country has awakened to the knowledge that +Delagoa Bay is important to its South African interests, though how +important it perhaps does not altogether realise. For years and years +the colony of Natal has been employed in the intermittent construction +of a railway with a very narrow gauge, which is now open as far as +Ladysmith, or to within a hundred miles of the Transvaal border. Natal +is very poor, and in common with the rest of South Africa, and indeed +of the world, has lately been passing through a period of great +commercial depression. The Home Government has refused to help it to +construct its railways (if it had done so, how many hundreds of +thousand pounds would have been saved to the British taxpayer during +the Zulu and Boer wars!), and has equally refused to allow it to borrow +sufficient money to get them constructed, with the result that a large +amount of the interior trade has already been deflected into other +channels. And now a fresh and very real danger, not only to Natal, but +to all Imperial interests in South Africa, has sprung into sudden +prominence, that is, in this country, for in Africa it has been +foreseen for many years. Above Zululand is situated Amatongaland, which +reaches to the southern shore of one of the finest harbours in the +world, Delagoa Bay. This great bight, in which half a dozen navies +could ride at anchor, the only really good haven on the coasts of South +Africa, is fifty-five miles in width and twenty in depth, that is, from +east to west It is separated from the Transvaal, of which it is the +natural port, by about ninety miles of wild and sparsely inhabited +country. +</p> + +<p> +The ownership of this splendid port was for many years in dispute +between this country and the Portuguese, with whose dominions of +Mozambique it is connected by a strip of coast, and who have a small +fort upon it. This dispute was finally referred by Lord Granville in +1872 to the decision of Marshal MacMahon, and on this occasion, as on +every other in which this country has been weak enough to go to +arbitration, that decision was given against us. Into the merits of the +case it is not necessary to enter, further than to say, as has already +been recently pointed out by a very able and well-informed correspondent +of the <cite>Morning Post</cite>, that it is by no means clear by what +right the matter was referred to arbitration at all. The Amatongas are +in possession of the southern shore of the bay, including, I believe, +the Inyack Peninsula and Inyack Island, and they are an independent +people. The Swazis also abut on it, and they are independent. What +warrant had we to refer their rights to the arbitration of Marshal +MacMahon? The evidence of the exercise of any Portuguese sovereignty +over these countries is so shadowy that it may be said never to have +existed; certainly it does not exist now. This is a point, but it is +nothing more. We must take things as we find them, and we find that the +Portuguese have been formally declared and admitted by us to be the +owners of Delagoa Bay. +</p> + +<p> +Now, so long as we held the Transvaal it did not so much matter who had +the sovereignty of the Bay, since a railway constructed from there +could only run to British territory. But we gave up the Transvaal, +which is now virtually a hostile state, and the contingency which has +been so long foreseen in South Africa, and so blindly overlooked at +home, has come to pass—the railway is in course of rapid completion. +What does this mean to us? At the best, it means that we lose the +greater part of the trade of South-eastern Africa; at the worst, that +we lose it all. In other words, it means, putting aside the question of +our Imperial needs and status in Africa, a great many millions a year +in hard cash out of the national pocket. Let us suppose that the worst +happens, and that the Germans get a footing either in the Transvaal or +Delagoa Bay. Obviously they will stop our trade in favour of their own. +Or let us suppose that the Transvaal takes advantage of one of our +spasms of Imperial paralysis, such as afflicted us during the +<i lang="fr">régime</i> of Lord Derby, and defies the provision in the convention +which forbids them to put a heavier tax upon our goods than upon those +of any other nation. In either event our case would be a bad one, for +our road from the eastern coast to the vast interior is blocked. But it +is of little use crying over spilt milk, or anticipating evils which it +is our duty to try to avert, and which in all probability still could +be averted by a sound and consistent policy. +</p> + +<p> +To begin with, both Swaziland and Amatongaland can be annexed to the +Empire. It is true that the independence of the first of these +countries is guaranteed by Article xii. of the convention of London of +1884. Here is the exact wording:—"The independence of the Swazis +within the boundary-line of Swaziland, as indicated in the first +article of this convention, will be fully recognised." But England has +for years exercised a kind of protective right over Swaziland—a right, +as I have already shown, fully acknowledged and frequently appealed to +by the Swazis themselves. And for the rest, what is the obvious meaning +of this provision? It means that the independence of Swaziland is +guaranteed against Boer encroachments; its object was to protect the +Swazis from extermination at the hands of the Boers. Further, the Boers +have again and again broken this article of the convention in their +repeated attempts to get a foothold in Swaziland. It has now become +necessary to our interests that the Swazis should come under our rule, +as indeed they are most anxious to do, and a way should be found by +which this end can be accomplished. +</p> + +<p> +Then as to Amatongaland, or Maputaland, as it is sometimes called, only +a month or two ago an embassy from the Queen of that country waited on +the Colonial Office, praying for British protection. It is not known +what answer they received; let us trust that it was a favourable +one.<a href="#note20" name="noteref20"><small>[20]</small></a> The protection that should be accorded to the Amatongas, both +in their interests and our own, is annexation to the British Empire +upon such terms as might be satisfactory to them. The management of +their country might be left to them, subject to the advice of a +Resident, and the enforcement of the ordinary laws respecting life and +property common to civilised states. Drink and white men might be +strictly excluded from it, unless the Amatongas should wish to welcome +the latter. But the country, with its valuable but undefined rights +over Delagoa Bay, should belong to England, for whoever owns Swaziland +and Amatongaland will in course of time be almost certain to own the +Bay also. It must further be remembered that circumstances have already +given us certain rights over the Amatongas. They regarded Cetywayo as +their suzerain, and it was, I believe, at his instance that Zambila was +appointed regent during the minority of her son. As we have annexed +what remains of Zululand, Cetywayo's suzerainty has consequently passed +to us. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, can nothing be done by direct treaty with the Portuguese? A +little while ago the Bay could no doubt have been acquired for a very +moderate consideration, but those golden opportunities have been +allowed to slip from hands busy weaving the web of party politics. Now +it is a different affair. Delagoa Bay is of no direct value to Portugal +except for the honour and glory of the thing. Portugal has never done +anything with it, any more than she has with her other African +possessions, and never will do anything with it. But it has become very +valuable, indeed, so far as its South African interests are concerned, +almost vital, to this country, and of that fact Portugal is perfectly +well aware. Consequently, if we want the Bay we must pay for it, if not +in cash, at the offer of which the Portuguese national pride might be +revolted, then in some other equivalent. Surely a power like England +could find a way of obliging one like Portugal in return for this small +concession. Or an exchange of territory might be effected. Perhaps +Portugal might be inclined to accept of some of our possessions on the +West Coast or an island or two in the West Indies. It is hard to +suppose that there is no way out of the trouble; but if indeed there is +none, why, then, one must be found, or we must be content to lose a +great part of our African trade. +</p> + +<p> +The reader who has followed me through this brief and imperfect summary +of recent events in South Africa will see how varied are its interests, +how enormous its areas, and how vast its wealth. In that great country +England is still the paramount power. Her prestige has, indeed, been +greatly shaken, and she is sadly fallen from her estate of eight or +nine years gone. But she is still paramount; and if she has to face the +animosity of a section of the Boers, she can, notwithstanding her many +crimes against them, set against it the love and respect of every +native in the land, with the exception, perhaps, of a few self-seekers +and intriguers. The history of the next twenty years, and perhaps of +the next ten, will decide whether this country is to remain paramount +or whether South Africa is to become a great Dutch, English-hating +Republic. There are some who call themselves Englishmen, and who +possessed by that strange itch which prompts them to desire any evil +that can humble their country in the face of her enemies, or can bring +about the advantage of the rebel to the injury of the loyal subject, to +whom this last event would be most welcome, and who have not hesitated +to say that it would be welcome. To such there is nothing to be said. +Let them follow their false lights and earn the wonder of true-hearted +men and the maledictions of posterity. +</p> + +<p> +But, addressing those of other and older doctrines, I would ask what +such an event would mean? It would mean nothing less than a great +national calamity; it would mean the utter ruin of the native tribes; +and, to come to a reason which has a wider popularity, for as I think +Mr. S. Little says in his work on South Africa, "the argument to the +pocket is the best argument to the man," it would mean the loss of a +vast trade, which, if properly protected, will be growing while we are +sleeping. And this calamity can yet be averted; the mistakes and +cowardice of the past can still be remedied, at any rate to a great +extent; the door is yet open. We have many difficulties to face, among +the chief of which are the Transvaal, the question of Delagoa Bay, and +last, but not least, the question of the Dutch party at the Cape, which +may be numerically the strongest party. When, in our mania for +representative institutions, we thrust responsible government upon the +Cape, we placed ourselves practically at the mercy of any chance +anti-English majority. It is possible that in the future we may find +some such majority urging upon an English Ministry the desirability of +the separation of the Cape Colony from the Empire, and may find also +that the prayer meets with favourable attention from those to whom +there is but one thing sacred, the rights of a majority, and especially +of an agitating majority. +</p> + +<p> +But let not the country be deceived by any such representations. The +natives too have a right to a voice in the disposal of their fortunes +and their lands. They are the majority in the proportion of three to +one, and let any doubter go and ask of them, anywhere from the Zambesi +to Cape Agulhas, whether they would rather be ruled by the Queen or by +a Boer Republic, and hear the answer. When it was a question of +surrendering the Transvaal we heard a great deal of the rights of some +thirty thousand Boers, and very little, or rather nothing, of the +rights of the million natives who lived in the country with them, and +to whom that country originally belonged. And yet, if the reader will +turn to that part of this book which deals with the question, he will +find that they had an opinion, and a strong one. No settlement of South +African questions that does not receive adequate consideration from a +native point of view can be a just settlement, or one which the Home +Government should sanction. Moreover, the Cape is not by any means +entirely anti-English at heart, as was shown clearly enough by the +number and enthusiasm of the loyalist meetings when its Ministry was +attempting to undo Mr. Mackenzie's work in Bechuanaland in the +interests of the Patriot-party. +</p> + +<p> +Still, it is possible that movements may arise under the fostering care +of the Africander Bond and its sympathisers, having for object the +separation of the colony from the Empire, or other ends fatal to +Imperial interests; and in this case the Home Government should be +prepared to disallow and put a final stop to them. We cannot afford to +lose our alternative route to India and to throw these great +territories into the hands of enemies, from which they would very +probably pass into those of commercial rivals. In such an event all +that would be required is a show of firmness. If once it was known that +an English Ministry really meant what it said, and that its promises +made in the Queen's name were not liable to be given the lie by a +succeeding set of politicians elected on another platform, there would +be an end to disloyalty and agitation in South Africa. As it is, +loyalists, remembering the experiences of the last few years, are +faint-hearted, never knowing if they will meet with support at home, +while agitators and enemies wax exceeding bold. +</p> + +<p> +Our system of party government, whatever may be its merits, if any, as +applied to Home politics, is a great enemy to the welfare and progress +of our Colonies, the affairs of which are, especially of late years, +frequently used as stalking-horses to cover an attack upon the other +side. Could not the two great parties agree to rule Colonial affairs, +and especially South African affairs, out of the party game? Could not +the policy of the Colonial Office be guided by a Commission composed of +members of different political opinions, and responsible not to party, +but to Parliament and the country, instead of by a succession of +Ministers as variable and as transitory as shadows? Lord Rosebery and +Mr. Chamberlain, for instance, are Radicals; but, putting aside party +tactics and exigencies, are their views upon Colonial matters so widely +different from those of, let us say, Sir Michael Hicks Beach and Lord +Carnarvon that it would be impossible for these four gentlemen to act +together on such a Commission? Surely they are not; and perhaps a day +may come when the common-sense of the country will lead it to adopt +some such system which would give to the Colonies a fixed and +intelligent control aiming at the furtherance of the joint interests of +the Empire and its dependencies. If it ever does, that day will be a +happy one for all concerned. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, there is, so far as South Africa is concerned, a step that +might be taken to the great benefit of that country, and also of our +Imperial aims, and that is the appointment of a High Commissioner who +would have charge of all Imperial as distinguished from the various +Colonial interests. This appointment has already been advocated with +ability by Mr. Mackenzie in the last chapter of his book, "Austral +Africa," and it is undoubtedly one that should receive the +consideration of the Government. Such an officer would not supersede +the Governors of the various colonies or the administrators of the +native territories, although, so far as Imperial interests were +concerned, they would be primarily responsible to him. At present there +is no central authority except the Colonial Office, and Downing Street +is a long way off and somewhat overworked. Each Governor must +necessarily look at South African affairs from his own standpoint and +through local glasses. What is wanted is a man of the first ability, +whose name would command respect abroad and support at home; and +several such men could be found, who would study South African politics +as a whole as an engineer studies a map, and who would set himself to +conciliate and reconcile all interests for the common welfare and the +welfare of the mother-country. Such a man, or rather a succession of +such men, might, if properly supported, succeed in bringing about a +very different state of affairs from that which has been briefly +reviewed and considered in these pages. They might, little by little, +build up a South African Confederation, strong in itself and loyal to +England, that shall in time become a great empire. For my part, +notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers which we have brought upon +ourselves, and upon the various South African territories and their +inhabitants, I believe that such an empire is destined to arise, and +that it will not take the form of a Dutch Republic. +</p> + + + +<h2> +APPENDIX. +</h2> + + + +<h3> +<a name="appI"> </a> +I. +<br><br> +THE POTCHEFSTROOM ATROCITIES, &c. +</h3> + + +<p> +There were more murders and acts of cruelty committed during the war at +Potchefstroom, where the behaviour of the Boers was throughout both +deceitful and savage, than at any other place. +</p> + +<p> +When the fighting commenced a number of ladies and children, the wives +and children of English residents, took refuge in the fort. Shortly +after it had been invested they applied to be allowed to return to +their homes in the town till the war was over. The request was refused +by the Boer commander, who said that as they had gone there, they might +stop and "perish" there. One poor lady, the wife of a gentleman well +known in the Transvaal, was badly wounded by having the point of a +stake, which had been cut in two by a bullet, driven into her side. She +was at the time in a state of pregnancy, and died some days afterwards +in great agony. Her little sister was shot through the throat, and +several other women and children suffered from bullet wounds, and fever +arising from their being obliged to live for months exposed to rain and +heat, with insufficient food. +</p> + +<p> +The moving spirit of all the Potchefstroom atrocities was a cruel +wretch of the name of Buskes, a well-educated man, who, as an advocate +of the High Court, had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. +</p> + +<p> +One deponent swears that he saw this Buskes wearing Captain Fall's +diamond ring, which he had taken from Sergeant Ritchie, to whom it was +handed to be sent to England, and also that he had possessed himself of +the carriages and other goods belonging to prisoners taken by the +Boers.<a href="#note21" name="noteref21"><small>[21]</small></a> Another deponent (whose name is omitted in the Blue Book for +precautionary reasons) swears, "That on the next night the patrol again +came to my house accompanied by one Buskes, who was secretary of the +Boer Committee, and again asked where my wife and daughter were. I +replied, in bed; and Buskes then said, 'I must see for myself.' I +refused to allow him, and he forced me, with a loaded gun held to my +breast, to open the curtains of the bed, when he pulled the bedclothes +half off my wife, and altogether off my daughter. I then told him if I +had a gun I would shoot him. He placed a loaded gun at my breast, when +my wife sprang out of bed and got between us." +</p> + +<p> +I remember hearing at the time that this Buskes (who is a good +musician) took one of his victims, who was on the way to execution, +into the chapel and played the "Dead March in Saul," or some such +piece, over him on the organ. +</p> + +<p> +After the capture of the Court House a good many Englishmen fell into +the hands of the Boers. Most of these were sentenced to hard labour and +deprivation of "civil rights." The sentence was enforced by making them +work in the trenches under a heavy fire from the fort. One poor fellow, +F. W. Finlay by name, got his head blown off by a shell from his own +friends in the fort, and several loyal Kafirs suffered the same fate. +After these events the remaining prisoners refused to return to the +trenches till they had been "tamed" by being thrashed with the butt end +of guns, and by threats of receiving twenty-five lashes each. +</p> + +<p> +But their fate, bad as it was, was not so awful as that suffered by Dr. +Woite and J. Van der Linden. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Woite had attended the Boer meeting which was held before the +outbreak, and written a letter from thence to Major Clarke, in which he +had described the talk of the Boers as silly bluster. He was not a paid +spy. This letter was, unfortunately for him, found in Major Clarke's +pocket-book, and because of it he was put through a form of trial, +taken out and shot dead, all on the same day. He left a wife and large +family, who afterwards found their way to Natal in a destitute +condition. +</p> + +<p> +The case of Van der Linden is somewhat similar. He was one of Raaf's +Volunteers, and as such had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. +In the execution of his duty he made a report to his commanding officer +about the Boer meeting, and which afterwards fell into the hands of the +Boers. On this he was put through the form of trial, and, though in the +service of the Queen, was found guilty of treason and condemned to +death. One of his judges, a little less stony-hearted than the rest, +pointed out that "when the prisoner committed the crime martial law had +not yet been proclaimed, nor the State," but it availed him nothing. He +was taken out and shot. +</p> + +<p> +A Kafir named Carolus was also put through the form of trial and shot, +for no crime at all that I can discover. +</p> + +<p> +Ten unarmed Kafir drivers, who had been sent away from the fort, were +shot down in cold blood by a party of Boers. Several witnesses depose +to having seen their remains lying together close by Potchefstroom. +</p> + +<p> +Various other Kafirs were shot. None of the perpetrators of these +crimes were brought to justice. The Royal Commission comments on these +acts as follows:— +</p> + +<p> +"In regard to the deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, and Carolus, the +Boer leaders do not deny the fact that those men had been executed, but +sought to justify it. The majority of your Commissioners felt bound to +record their opinion that the taking of the lives of these men was an +act contrary to the rules of civilised warfare. Sir H. de Villiers was +of opinion that the executions in these cases, having been ordered by +properly constituted court martial of the Boers' forces after due +trial, did not fall under the cognisance of your Commissioners. +</p> + +<p> +"Upon the case of William Finlay the majority of your Commissioners +felt bound to record the opinion that the sacrifice of Finlay's life, +through forced labour under fire in the trenches, was an act contrary +to the rules of civilised warfare. <i>Sir H. de Villiers did not feel +justified by the facts of the case in joining in this expression of +opinion</i> (sic). As to the case of the Kafir Andries, your +Commissioners decided that, although the shooting of this man appeared +to them, from the information laid before them, to be not in accordance +with the rules of civilised warfare, under all the circumstances of the +case, it was not desirable to insist upon a prosecution." +</p> + +<p> +"The majority of your Commissioners, although feeling it a duty to +record emphatically their disapproval of the acts that resulted in the +deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, Finlay, and Carolus, yet found it +impossible to bring to justice the persons guilty of these acts." +</p> + +<p> +It will be observed that Sir H. de Villiers does not express any +disapproval, emphatic or otherwise, of these wicked murders. +</p> + +<p> +But Potchefstroom did not enjoy a monopoly of murder. +</p> + +<p> +In December 1880, Captain Elliot, who was a survivor from the Bronker +Spruit massacre, and Captain Lambart, who had been taken prisoner by +the Boers whilst bringing remounts from the Free State, were released +from Heidelberg on parole on condition that they left the country. An +escort of two men brought them to a drift of the Vaal river, where they +refused to cross, because they could not get their cart through, the +river being in flood. The escort then returned to Heidelberg and +reported that the officers would not cross. A civil note was then sent +back to Captain Elliot and Lambart, signed by P. J. Joubert, telling +them "to pass the Vaal river immediately by the road that will be shown +to you." What secret orders, if any, were sent with this letter has +never transpired; but I decline to believe that, either in this or in +Barber's case, the Boer escort took upon themselves the responsibility +of murdering their prisoners, without authority of some kind for the +deed. +</p> + +<p> +The men despatched from Heidelberg with the letter found Lambart and +Elliot wandering about and trying to find the way to Standerton, They +presented the letter, and took them towards a drift in the Vaal. +Shortly before they got there the prisoners noticed that their escort +had been reinforced. It would be interesting to know, if these extra +men were not sent to assist in the murder, how and why they turned up +as they did and joined themselves to the escort. The prisoners were +taken to an old and disused drift of the Vaal river and told to cross. +It was now dark, and the river was much swollen with rain; in fact, +impassable for the cart and horses. Captains Elliot and Lambart begged +to be allowed to outspan till the next morning, but were told that they +must cross, which they accordingly attempted to do. A few yards from +the bank the cart stuck on a rock, and whilst in this position the Boer +escort poured a volley into it. Poor Elliot was instantly killed, one +bullet fracturing his skull, another passing through the back, a third +shattering the right thigh, and a fourth breaking the left wrist. The +cart was also riddled, but strange to say, Captain Lambart was +untouched, and succeeded in swimming to the further bank, the Boers +firing at him whenever the flashes of lightning revealed his +whereabouts. After sticking some time in the mud of the bank he managed +to effect his escape, and next day reached the house of an Englishman +called Groom, living in the Free State, and from thence made his way to +Natal. +</p> + +<p> +Two of the murderers were put through a form of trial, after the +conclusion of peace, and acquitted. +</p> + +<p> +The case of the murder of Dr. Barber is of a somewhat similar character +to that of Elliot, except that there is in this case a curious piece of +indirect evidence that seems to connect the murder directly with Piet +Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. +</p> + +<p> +In the month of February 1881, two Englishmen came to the Boer laager +at Lang's Nek to offer their services as doctors. Their names were Dr. +Barber, who was well known to the Boers, and his assistant, Mr. Walter +Dyas, and they came, not from Natal, but the Orange Free State. On +arrival at the Boer camp they were at first well received, but after a +little while seized, searched, and tied up all night to a disselboom +(pole of a waggon). Next morning they were told to mount their horses, +and started from the camp escorted by two men who were to take them +over the Free State line. +</p> + +<p> +When they reached the Free State line the Boers told them to get off +their horses, which they were ordered to bring back to the camp. They +did so, bade good-day to their escort, and started to walk on towards +their destination. When they had gone about forty yards Dyas heard the +report of a rifle, and Barber called out, "My God, I am shot!" and fell +dead. +</p> + +<p> +Dyas went down on his hands and knees and saw one of the escort +deliberately aim at him. He then jumped up, and ran dodging from right +to left, trying to avoid the bullet. Presently the man fired, and he +felt himself struck through the thigh. He fell with his face to the +men, and saw his would-be assassin put a fresh cartridge into his rifle +and aim at him. Turning his face to the ground he awaited his death, +but the bullet whizzed past his head. He then saw the men take the +horses and go away, thinking they had finished him. After waiting a +while he managed to get up and struggled to a house not far off; where +he was kindly treated and remained till he recovered. +</p> + +<p> +Some time after this occurrence a Hottentot, named Allan Smith, made a +statement at Newcastle, from, which it appears that he had been taken +prisoner by the Boers and made to work for them. One night he saw +Barber and Dyas tied to the disselboom, and overheard the following, +which I will give in his own words:— +</p> + +<p> +"I went to a fire where some Boers were sitting; among them was a +low-sized man, moderately stout, with a dark brown full beard, +apparently about thirty-five years of age I do not know his name. +<i>He was telling his comrades that he had brought an order from Piet +Joubert</i> to Viljoen, to take the two prisoners to the Free State +line <i>and shoot them there</i>. He said, in the course of +conversation, 'Piet Joubert het gevraacht waarom was de mensche neet +dood geschiet toen hulle bijde eerste laager gekom het' ('Piet Joubert +asked why were the men not shot when they came to the first laager.') +They then saw me at the fire, and one of them said, 'You must not talk +before that fellow; he understands what you say, and will tell +everybody. +</p> + +<p> +"Next morning Viljoen told me to go away, and gave me a pass into the +Free State. He said (in Dutch), 'You must not drive for any Englishman +again. If we catch you doing so we will shoot you, and if you do not go +away quick, and we catch you hanging about when we bring the two men to +the line, we will shoot you too.'" +</p> + +<p> +Dyas, who escaped, made an affidavit with reference to this statement +in which he says, "I have read the foregoing affidavit of Allan Smith, +and I say that the person described in the third paragraph thereof as +bringing orders from Piet Joubert to Viljoen, corresponds with one of +the Boers who took Dr. Barber and myself to the Free State, and to the +best of my belief he is the man who shot Dr. Barber." +</p> + +<p> +The actual murderers were put on their trial in the Free State, and, of +course, acquitted. In his examination at the trial, Allan Smith says, +"It was a young man who said that Joubert had given orders that Barber +had to be shot…. It was not at night, but in the morning early, when +the young man spoke about Piet Joubert's order." +</p> + +<p> +Most people will gather, from what I have quoted, that there exists a +certain connection between the dastardly murder of Dr. Barber (and the +attempted murder of Mr. Dyas) and Piet Joubert, one of that "able" +Triumvirate of which Mr. Gladstone speaks so highly. +</p> + +<p> +I shall only allude to one more murder, though more are reported to +have occurred, amongst them that of Mr. Malcolm, who was kicked to +death by Boers,—and that is Mr. Green's. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Green was an English gold-digger, and was travelling along the main +road to his home at Spitzcop. The road passed close by the military +camp at Lydenburg, into which he was called. On coming out he went to a +Boer patrol with a flag of truce, and whilst talking to them was shot +dead. The Rev. J. Thorne, the English clergyman at Lydenburg, describes +this murder in an affidavit in the following words:— +</p> + +<p> +"That I was the clergyman who got together a party of Englishmen and +brought down the body of Mr. Green who was murdered by the Boers and +buried it. I have ascertained the circumstances of the murder, which +were as follows:—Mr. Green was on his way to the gold-fields. As he +was passing the fort, he was called in by the officers, and sent out +again with a message to the Boer commandant. Immediately on leaving the +camp, he went to the Boer guard opposite with a flag of truce in his +hand; while parleying with the Boers, who proposed to make a prisoner +of him, he was shot through the head." +</p> + +<p> +No prosecution was instituted in this case. Mr. Green left a wife and +children in a destitute condition. +</p> + + + + +<h3> +<a name="appII"> </a> +II. +<br><br> +PLEDGES GIVEN BY MR GLADSTONE'S GOVERNMENT AS TO THE RETENTION OF +THE TRANSVAAL AS A BRITISH COLONY. +</h3> + + +<p> +The following extracts from the speeches, despatches, and telegrams of +members of the present Government, with reference to the proposed +retrocession of the Transvaal, are not without interest:— +</p> + +<p> +During the month of May 1880, Lord Kimberley despatched a telegram to +Sir Bartle Frere, in which the following words occur: "<i>Under no +circumstances can the Queen's authority in the Transvaal be +relinquished.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +In a despatch dated 20th May, and addressed to Sir Bartle Frere, Lord +Kimberley says, "That the sovereignty of the Queen in the Transvaal +could not be relinquished." +</p> + +<p> +In a speech in the House of Lords on the 24th May 1880, Lord Kimberley +said:— +</p> + +<p> +"There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding; it was +impossible to say what calamities such a step as receding might not +cause. We had, at the cost of much blood and treasure, restored peace, +and the effect of our now reversing our policy would be to leave the +province in a state of anarchy, and possibly to cause an internecine +war. For such a risk, he could not make himself responsible. The number +of the natives in the Transvaal was estimated at about 800,000, and +that of the whites less than 50,000. Difficulties with the Zulus and +frontier tribes would again arise, and, looking as they must to South +Africa as a whole, the Government, after a careful consideration of the +question, came to the conclusion <i>that we could not relinquish the +Transvaal</i>. Nothing could be more unfortunate than uncertainty in +respect to such a matter." +</p> + +<p> +On the 8th June 1880, Mr. Gladstone, in reply to a Boer memorial, wrote +as follows:— +</p> + +<p> +"It is undoubtedly a matter for much regret that it should, since the +Annexation, have appeared that so large a number of the population of +Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed to the annexation of that +territory, but it is impossible now, to consider that question as if it +were presented for the first time. We have to do with a state of things +which has existed for a considerable period, during which +<i>obligations have been contracted, especially, though not +exclusively, towards the native population, which cannot be set +aside</i>. Looking to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and +the rest of South Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal +of disorders, which might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to +the Transvaal but to the whole of South Africa, <i>our judgment it that +the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish the Transvaal</i>." +</p> + +<p> +Her Majesty's Speech, delivered in Parliament on the 6th January 1881, +contains the following words: "A rising in the Transvaal has recently +imposed upon me the duty of <i>vindicating my authority</i>." +</p> + +<p> +These extracts are rather curious reading in face of the policy adopted +by the Government, after our troops had been defeated. +</p> + + + + +<h3> +<a name="appIII"> </a> +III. +<br><br> +A BOER ON BOER DESIGNS. +</h3> + + +<p> +I reprint here a letter published in <cite>The Times</cite> of 14th October +1899, together with a prefatory note added by the editor of that +journal. This epistle seems to me worthy of the study of thinking men. +Much of it, most of it indeed, is mere brutal vapouring, false in its +facts, false in its deductions; remarkable only for the livid hues of +hate with which it is coloured. Yet in this vile concoction, the work +evidently of a half-educated member of the Cape Dutch party, or perhaps +of an Afrikander Irishman of the stamp of the late notorious Fenian +Aylward, appear statements built upon a basis of truth which we should +do well to lay to heart. I allude principally to the question of our +food supply and to the possible behaviour of the electorate in the +event of a great war under pressure of want and high prices. (See +paragraph 3 of the letter of "P. S.") In a very different work, "A +Farmer's Year," pages 179 and 380, I have attempted to treat of this +great matter which elsewhere has been dealt with also by others more +able and perhaps better qualified. Until it is reasonably certain that +under any circumstances which we can conceive the price of food stuffs +will not be raised to a prohibitive point, it can never be said that +the future of Great Britain is assured beyond all probable doubt. When +will this problem receive the attention it deserves at the hands of our +Governments and of those over whom they rule? +</p> + +<p class="space"> + +</p> + +<p> +We have received the following letter, appropriately headed "Boer +Ignorance." The writer bears a well-known Dutch name, and gives as his +late address the name of a well-known town in a Dutch district of Cape +Colony:— +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p class="ctr"> +<i>To the Editor of the "Times."</i> +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sc">Sir</span>,—In your paper you have often +commented on what you are pleased to call the ignorance of my +countrymen, the Boers. We are not so ignorant as the British statesmen +and newspaper writers, nor are we such fools as you British are. We know +our policy, and we do not change it. We have no opposition party to fear +nor to truckle to. Your boasted Conservative majority has been the +obedient tool of the Radical minority, and the Radical minority has been +the blind tool of our farseeing and intelligent, President. We have +desired delay, and we have had it, and we are now practically masters of +Africa from the Zambezi to the Cape. All the Afrikanders in Cape Colony +have been working for years for this end, for they and we know the facts. +</p> + +<p> + 1. The actual value of gold in the Transvaal is at least +200,000 millions of pounds, and this fact is as well known to the +Emperors of Germany and Russia as it is to us. You estimate the value of +the gold at only 700 millions of pounds, or, at least, that is what you +pretend to estimate it at. But Germany, Russia, and France do not desire +you to get possession of this vast mass of gold, and so, after +encouraging you to believe that they will not interfere in South Africa +they will certainly do so, and very easily find a <i lang="la">casus +belli</i>, and they will assist us directly and indirectly to drive you +out of Africa. +</p> + +<p> + 2. We know that you dare not take any precautions in advance +to prevent the onslaught of the Great Powers, as the Opposition, the +great peace party, will raise the question of expense, and this will win +over your lazy, dirty, drunken working classes, who will never again +permit themselves to be taxed to support your Empire, or even to +preserve your existence as a nation. +</p> + +<p> + 3. We know from all the military authorities of the European +and American continents that you exist as an independent Power merely on +sufferance, and that at any moment the great Emperor William can arrange +with France or Russia to wipe you off the face of the earth. They can at +any time starve you into surrender. You must yield in all things to the +United States also, or your supply of corn will be so reduced by the +Americans that your working classes would be compelled to pay high +prices for their food, and rather than do that they would have civil +war, and invite any foreign Power to assist them by invasion, for there +is no patriotism in the working classes of England, Wales, or Ireland. +</p> + +<p> + 4. We know that your country has been more prosperous than +any other country during the last fifty years (you have had no civil war +like the Americans and French to tone up your nerves and strengthen your +manliness), and consequently your able-bodied men will not enlist in +your so-called voluntary army. Therefore you have to hire the dregs of +your population to do your fighting, and they are deficient in physique, +in moral and mental ability, and in all the qualities that make good +fighting men. +</p> + +<p> + 5. Your military officers we know to be merely pedantic +scholars or frivolous society men, without any capacity for practical +warfare with white men. The Afridis were more than a match for you, and +your victory over the Sudanese was achieved because those poor people +had not a rifle amongst them. +</p> + +<p> + 6. We know that your men, being the dregs of your people, +are naturally feeble, and that they are also saturated with the most +horrible sexual diseases, as all your Government returns plainly show, +and that they cannot endure the hardships of war. +</p> + +<p> + 7. We know that the entire British race is rapidly decaying, +your birth-rate is rapidly falling, your children are born weak, +diseased, and deformed, and that the major part of your population +consists of females, cripples, epileptics, consumptives, cancerous +people, invalids, and lunatics of all kinds whom you carefully nourish +and preserve. +</p> + +<p> + 8. We know that nine-tenths of your statesmen and higher +officials, military and naval, are suffering from kidney diseases, which +weaken their courage and will-power and makes them shirk all +responsibility as far as possible. +</p> + +<p> + 9. We know that your Navy is big, but we know that it is not +powerful, and that it is honeycombed with disloyalty—as witness +the theft of the signal-books, the assaults on officers, the desertions, +and the wilful injury of the boilers and machinery, which all the +vigilance of the officers is powerless to prevent. +</p> + +<p> +10. We know that the Conservative Government is a mere sham, and that it +largely reduced the strength of the British artillery in 1888-89. And we +know that it does nor dare now to call out the Militia for training, nor +to mobilise the Fleet, nor to give sufficient grants to the Line and +Volunteers for ammunition to enable them to become good marksmen and +efficient soldiers. We know that British soldiers and sailors are +immensely inferior as marksmen, not only to Germans, French, and +Americans, but also to Japanese, Afridis, Chilians, Peruvians, Belgians, +and Russians. +</p> + +<p> +11. We know that no British Government dares to propose any form of +compulsory military or naval training, for the British people would +rather be invaded, conquered, and governed by Germans, Russians, or +Frenchmen than be compelled to serve their own Government. +</p> + +<p> +12. We Boers know that we will not be governed by a set of British curs, +but that we will drive you out of Africa altogether, and the other manly +nations which have compulsory military service—the armed manhood +of Europe—will very quickly divide all your other possessions +between them. +</p> + +<p> +Talk no more of the ignorance of the Boers or Cape Dutch; a few days +more will prove your ignorance of the British position, and in a short +space of time you and your Queen will be imploring the good offices of +the great German Emperor to deliver you from your disasters, for your +humiliations are not yet complete. +</p> + +<p> +For thirty years the Cape Dutch have been waiting their chance, and now +their day has come; they will throw off their mask and your yoke at the +same instant, and 300,000 Dutch heroes will trample you under foot. +</p> + +<p> +We can afford to tell you the truth now, and in this letter you +have got it.—Yours, &c., +</p> + +<p class="sig"> +P. S. +</p> + +<p> +<i>October 12.</i> +</p> +</div> + +<br> +<p class="ctrsmaller"> +Printed by <span class="sc">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span> +<br>Edinburgh & London +</p> + +<hr class="short"> +<h2> +Footnotes +</h2> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note1"> </a><a +href="#noteref1"><small>[1] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> In 1881, when the Convention was being discussed, +President Kruger was asked by our representative what treatment would +be given to British subjects in the Transvaal. He said, "All strangers +have now, and will always have, equal rights and privileges to the +Burghers of the Transvaal."—<i>Quotation from Speech of</i> <span class="sc">Mr. J. Chamberlain</span>, <i>June 26, 1899</i>. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note2"> </a><a +href="#noteref2"><small>[2] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> See the very remarkable letter of the Boer "P.S." to the +<cite>Times</cite> of October 14th, printed as Appendix III. to this +book, p. 241. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note3"> </a><a +href="#noteref3"><small>[3] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> Since the above was written, in the swift march of events, +the Transvaal has despatched its "ultimatum," perhaps the most +egregious document ever addressed to a great Power by a petty State. In +effect it is a declaration of war, and hostilities have now commenced +with the destruction by the Boers of an armoured train at Kraaipan, and +the capture or slaying of its escort. +</dd> + +<dd class="notetext"> +<span class="sig">H. R. H.</span> +</dd> + +<dd class="notetext"> +<i>14th October</i> 1899. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note4"> </a><a +href="#noteref4"><small>[4] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> The italics are my own.—<span class="sc">Author.</span> +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note5"> </a><a +href="#noteref5"><small>[5] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> One of the famous Triumvirate. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note6"> </a><a +href="#noteref6"><small>[6] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> I have taken the liberty to quote all these extracts +exactly as they stand in the original, instead of weaving their +substance into my narrative, in order that I may not be accused, as so +often happens to authors who write upon this subject, of having +presented a garbled version of the truth. The original of every extract +is to be found in blue-books presented to Parliament. I have thought it +best to confine myself to these, and avoid repeating stories of +cruelties and slavery, however well authenticated, that have come to my +knowledge privately such stories being always more or less open to +suspicion. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note7"> </a><a +href="#noteref7"><small>[7] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> Now Sir Marshall Clarke, Special Commissioner for +Basutoland. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note8"> </a><a +href="#noteref8"><small>[8] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> The English flag was during the signing of the Convention +at Pretoria formally buried by a large crowd of Englishmen and loyal +natives. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note9"> </a><a +href="#noteref9"><small>[9] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> It is customary in South African volunteer forces to allow +the members to elect their own officers, provided the men elected are +such as the Government approves. This is done, so that the corps may +not afterwards be able to declare that they have no confidence in their +officers in action, or to grumble at their treatment by them. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note10"> </a><a +href="#noteref10"><small>[10] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> In Blue-Book No. (C. 2866) of September 1881, which is descriptive +of various events connected with the Boer rising, is published, as an +appendix, a despatch from Sir Garnet Wolseley, dated October 1879. This +despatch declares the writer's opinion that the Boer discontent a on +the increase. Its publication thus—<i>apropos des bottes</i>—nearly +two years after it was written, is rather an amusing incident. It +certainly gives one the idea that Sir Garnet Wolseley, fearing that his +reputation for infallibility might be attacked by scoffers for not +having foreseen the Boer rebellion, and perhaps uneasily conscious of +other despatches very different in tenor and subsequent in date: and, +mindful of the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment by his advice, had +caused it to be tacked on to the Blue-Book as a documentary "I told you +so," and a proof that, whoever else was blinded, he foresaw. It +contains, however, the following remarkably true passage:—"Even were +it not impossible, for many other reasons, to contemplate a withdrawal +of our authority from the Transvaal, the position of insecurity in +which we should leave this loyal and important section of the community +(the English inhabitants), by exposing them to the certain retaliation +of the Boers, would constitute, in my opinion, an insuperable obstacle +to retrocession. Subjected to the same danger, moreover, would be those +of the Boers, whose superior intelligence and courageous character has +rendered them loyal to our Government" +</dd> + +<dd class="notetext"> +As the Government took the trouble to republish the despatch, it is a +pity that they did not think fit to pay more attention to its contents. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note11"> </a><a +href="#noteref11"><small>[11] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> Colonel Winsloe, however, being short of provisions, was +beguiled by the fraudulent representations and acts of the Boer +commander into surrendering the fort at Potchefstroom daring the +armistice. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note12"> </a><a +href="#noteref12"><small>[12] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> The following extract is clipped from a recent issue of the +<cite>Transvaal Advertiser</cite>. It describes the present condition +of Pretoria:— +</dd> + +<dd class="notetext"> +"The streets grown over with rank vegetation; the water-furrows +uncleaned and unattended, emitting offensive and unhealthy stenches; +the houses showing evident signs of dilapidation and decay; the side +paths, in many places, dangerous to pedestrians—in fact, everything +the eye can rest upon indicates the downfall which has overtaken this +once prosperous city. The visitor can, if he be so minded, betake +himself to the outskirts and suburbs, where he will perceive the same +sad evidences of neglect, public grounds unattended, roads uncared for, +mills and other public works crumbling into ruin. These palpable signs +of decay most strongly impress him. A blight seems to have come over +this lately fair and prosperous town. Rapidly it is becoming a +'deserted village,' a 'city of the dead.'" +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note13"> </a><a +href="#noteref13"><small>[13] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> I beg to refer any reader interested in this matter to the letter +of "Transvaal" to the <cite>Standard</cite>, which I have republished +in the Appendix to this book. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note14"> </a><a +href="#noteref14"><small>[14] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> [C. 3659], 1883. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note15"> </a><a +href="#noteref15"><small>[15] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> [C. 3841], 1884, p 148. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note16"> </a><a +href="#noteref16"><small>[16] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> [C. 4645], 1886, p. 64. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note17"> </a><a +href="#noteref17"><small>[17] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> Ibid. p. 70. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note18"> </a><a +href="#noteref18"><small>[18] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> By the Dutch party I mean the anti-Imperial and retrogressive +party. It must be remembered that many of the now educated and +progressive Boers do not belong to this. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note19"> </a><a +href="#noteref19"><small>[19] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> The occupation of Rhodesia has now made it impossible for +the Boers to trek out of reach of the English and their flag.—H. R. +H. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note20"> </a><a +href="#noteref20"><small>[20] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> I understand that the treaty which we have concluded with +Amatongaland (where, by the way, it is said a new harbour has been +discovered) binds the authorities of that country not to cede territory +to any other Power. But there is nothing in such a treaty to prevent, +say Portugal or the Boers, from taking possession of the land by force +of arms. Were the country annexed to the Crown, or a British +Protectorate established, they would not dare to do this. +</dd> + +<dd class="notetext"> +<i>Note.</i>—This has since been done.—H. R. H. +</dd></dl> + +<dl> +<dt class="notelabel"><a name="note21"> </a><a +href="#noteref21"><small>[21] +</small></a></dt> +<dd class="notetext"> Buskes was afterwards forced to deliver up the ring. +</dd></dl> + +<br> +<div class="tn"> +<p class="ctr"> +Transcriber's Note: +</p> + +<p> +Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. +</p> + +<p> +Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as +printed. +</p> + +<p> +The cover of this ebook was created by the transcriber and is hereby +placed in the public domain. +</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Boer War, by H. Rider Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST BOER WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 44649-h.htm or 44649-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/6/4/44649/ + +Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/old/44649-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/44649-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c17e31 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44649-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/old/44649.txt b/old/44649.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d64d390 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44649.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7774 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Boer War, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Last Boer War + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: January 12, 2014 [EBook #44649] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST BOER WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected +without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have +been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with +underscores: _italics_. The cover of this ebook was created by the +transcriber and is hereby placed in the public domain. + + + + +THE LAST BOER WAR + + +"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in +this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the +old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English +politics than such an idea. I tell you there is no Government--Whig or +Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical--who would dare, under any +circumstances, to give back this country (the Transvaal). They would +not dare, because the English people would not allow them."--(_Extract +from Speech of Sir Garnet Wolseley, delivered at a Public Banquet in +Pretoria, on the 17th December 1879._) + + +"There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding (from the +Transvaal); it was impossible to say what calamities such a step as +receding might not cause.... For such a risk he could not make himself +responsible.... Difficulties with the Zulu and the frontier tribes +would again arise, and looking as they must to South Africa as a whole, +the Government, after a careful consideration of the question, came to +the conclusion that we could not relinquish the Transvaal."--(_Extract +from Speech of Lord Kimberley in the House of Lords, 24th May 1880. +H.P.D., vol. cclii., p. 208._) + + +"Our judgment is that the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish the +Transvaal."--(_Extract from Reply of Mr. Gladstone to Boer Memorial, +8th June 1880._) + + + + +THE LAST BOER WAR + + +BY + +H. RIDER HAGGARD + + +_THIRTY-FIFTH THOUSAND_ + + +LONDON +KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUeBNER & CO. LTD. +PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD + +1900 + + + + +WORKS BY H. RIDER HAGGARD. + + + CETYWAYO AND HIS WHITE NEIGHBOURS. + DAWN. + KING SOLOMON'S MINES. + THE WITCH'S HEAD. + SHE. + ALLAN QUATERMAIN. + JESS. + COLONEL QUARITCH, V.C. + MAIWA'S REVENGE. + MR. MEESON'S WILL. + ALLAN'S WIFE. + CLEOPATRA. + BEATRICE. + ERIC BRIGHTEYES. + NADA THE LILY. + MONTEZUMA'S DAUGHTER. + THE PEOPLE OF THE MIST. + JOAN HASTE. + HEART OF THE WORLD. + DOCTOR THERNE. + SWALLOW. + A FARMER'S YEAR. + + _IN COLLABORATION WITH ANDREW LANG._ + + THE WORLD'S DESIRE. + + + _The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._ + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE. + + +It has been suggested that at this juncture some students of South +African history might be glad to read an account of the Boer Rebellion +of 1881, its causes and results. Accordingly, in the following pages +are reprinted portions of a book which I wrote so long ago as 1882. It +may be objected that such matter must be stale, but I venture to urge, +on the contrary, that to this very fact it owes whatever value it may +possess. This history was written at the time by one who took an active +part in the sad and stirring events which it records, immediately after +the issue of those events had driven him home to England. Of the +original handful of individuals who were concerned in the annexation of +the Transvaal by Sir Theophilus Shepstone in 1877, of whom I was one, +not many now survive. When they have gone, any further accurate report +made from an intimate personal knowledge of the incidents attendant on +that act will be an impossibility; indeed it is already impossible, +since after the lapse of twenty years men can scarcely trust to their +memories for the details of intricate political occurrences, even +should they be prompted to attempt their record. It is for this reason, +when the melancholy results which its pages foretell have overtaken us, +that I venture to lay them again before the public, so that any who are +interested in the matter may read and find in the tale of 1881 the true +causes of the war of 1899. + +I have written "which its pages foretell." Here are one or two passages +taken from them almost at hazard that may be thought to justify the +words: + +"It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration +of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it +would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little farther, +and favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, +retaining only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the +bounds of possibility that they may one day have _to face a fresh +Transvaal rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale_, and might +find it difficult to retain even Table Bay." + +And again: "The curtain, so far as this country is concerned, is down +for the moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there +is but too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion +which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the +future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos." + +One more quotation. In speaking of the various problems of South +Africa, I find that I said that "unless they are treated with more +honest intelligence, and on a more settled plan than it has hitherto +been thought necessary to apply to them, the British taxpayer will find +that he has by no means heard the last of that country and its wars." + +Perhaps in a year from the present date the British taxpayer will be in +a position to admit the value of this prophecy. + +Nearly two decades have gone by since these words were written. Put +very briefly, what has happened in that time? In 1884, at the request +of the Transvaal Government, the Ministry, of which the late Lord Derby +was a member, consented to modify the Convention of 1881, and to +substitute in its place what is known as the London Convention. This +new agreement amended the terms of the former document in certain +particulars. Notably all mention of the suzerainty of the Queen was +omitted, from which circumstance the Boers and their impassioned +advocates have argued that it was abrogated. There is nothing to show +that this contention is correct. Mere silence does not destroy so +important a stipulation, and it appears to be doubtful whether even a +Lord Derby would have been prepared to nullify the imperial rights of +his sovereign and his country in this negative and novel fashion. It is +more probable to suppose that had such action been decided on, effect +would have been given to it in direct and unmistakable language. But +even if it could be proved that this view of the case is wrong, the +general issue would scarcely be affected. + +That issue, as I understand it, is as follows: The Convention of 1881 +guaranteed to all inhabitants of the Transvaal equal rights--"Complete +self-government subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and +successors, will be accorded to the _inhabitants of the Transvaal +territory_"--Mr. Kruger explaining verbally at a meeting of the +conference, that the only difference would be that in the case of young +persons who became resident in the Transvaal, there might be some +slight delay in granting full burgher privileges, limited, it would +appear, to one year's residence.[1] After that time, then, according to +the terms of this solemn agreement, which in these particulars were not +modified or even touched, by the supplementary and amending paper of +1884, any one who wished to claim the advantages of Transvaal +citizenship might do so. + + [1] In 1881, when the Convention was being discussed, + President Kruger was asked by our representative what + treatment would be given to British subjects in the + Transvaal. He said, "All strangers have now, and will always + have, equal rights and privileges to the Burghers of the + Transvaal."--_Quotation from Speech of_ MR. J. CHAMBERLAIN, + _June 26, 1899_. + +Some years later an event occurred fated profoundly to influence the +destinies of South Africa, namely, the discovery of the Witwatersrand +gold deposits, perhaps the richest and the most permanent in the whole +world. Instantly adventurers, most of them of Anglo-Saxon origin, +flocked in thousands to the place where countless wealth lay buried in +the earth, and on the plains over which I have seen the wild game +wandering, sprang up the city of Johannesburg with its motley and +cosmopolitan population, its speculators, company promoters, traders, +miners, and labouring men. + +To the Transvaal, at any rate in the beginning, the arrival of these +wealth-engendering hordes was what the fall of copious rain is to the +sun-parched veld. By this time the country was once more almost +bankrupt, but now, as though by the waving of a magician's wand, money +began to flow into its coffers. One of the characteristics of the Boer +is his hatred of taxation; one of his notions of terrestrial bliss is +to live in a land where the necessary expenses of administration are +paid by somebody else, an advantage, I understand, that among all the +civilised nations of the earth is enjoyed alone by the inhabitants of +the Principality of Monaco. It is not usual, either in the instance of +communities or individuals, that such ideals should be absolutely +attained. Yet to the fortunate possessors of the South African Republic +this happened. For quite a long period they lived at ease in their +dorps and on their farms, while the dwellers at Johannesburg, delving +like gnomes in the reefs of the Rand, provided them with magnificent +and never-failing supplies of cash. Then questions began to arise, as +they will do in this imperfect sphere. The Uitlanders, as the strangers +were called, remembering the terms of the Conventions, drawn under a +very different condition of affairs but still binding, hinted at a wish +for burgher rights. + +The Boers, who if they liked their money objected to the money-makers, +instantly took alarm. If the vote were given to the Uitlanders it was +obvious that very soon they would outnumber the original electors. Then +in a natural, but to them terrifying, sequence would come a +redistribution of the burdens of taxation, the abolition of monopolies, +the punishment of corruption, the just treatment of the native races, +the absolute purity of the courts, and all the other things and +institutions, in their eyes abominable, which mark the advent of +Anglo-Saxon rule. Behind these also loomed another danger, that of the +ultimate reappearance of the English flag. So legislation was resorted +to, and bit by bit the Uitlanders were stripped of the rights inherent +to their position as "inhabitants of the Transvaal territory," till at +last none were left to them at all. Indeed Press laws were passed and +other enactments controlling the privilege of free speech and public +meetings. Of course had the British Government put down its foot firmly +and at once at the first symptom of a desire on the part of the Boers +to whittle away such advantages as the Conventions secured to our +fellow-subjects, the present sad situation need never have arisen. But +British Governments are seldom fond of doing things at the right time, +more especially if the issue is not sufficiently distinct to be +appreciated by the masses of the electorate. Therefore matters were +allowed to drift, and they drifted into that outrageous fiasco, the +Jameson Raid of 1895. + +Into the history of that event I do not propose to enter; it is +sufficiently well known. Suffice it to say in this brief summary, that +it was the result of a compact under which Dr. Jameson was to come to +Johannesburg with a large armed force of Rhodesian police, with the +view of assisting the Uitlanders to obtain by arms what was denied to +their petitions. + +The agreement is undoubted and admitted, but all the rest is chaos. +Failure in a hundred shapes dogged the steps of these ineffective +conspirators. Dr. Jameson, with 500 men instead of 1200, took the bit +between his teeth and started at the wrong time. The Uitlanders did not +sally forth to meet him, the wires were not cut, the railway line was +not destroyed, the Boers were warned, and assembled in great numbers. +Dr. Jameson, who apparently lost his way on the veld, was entrapped +into a bad position, where, after a space of somewhat feeble combat, he +and his whole force surrendered, their lives being guaranteed to them. +The despatch-box of the raiders, with the ciphers and sundry +incriminating documents, was allowed to fall into the hands of the +enemy, and, on their own ammunition-waggons, the personnel of the Raid +performed the journey to that city of Pretoria, which when reinforced +by the Uitlanders they were to have entered in triumph. Thence they +were in due course despatched to London for trial. The members of the +Reform Committee were also seized and tried at Pretoria, several of +them being condemned to death, a sentence which was not executed; the +whole story, coming to its end to an accompaniment of the clash not of +swords, but of gold; the fines inflicted upon the conspirators by the +Transvaal Government amounting to a total of many tens of thousands of +pounds. + +Such, except for mutual recriminations which still continue, was the +end of Johannesburg's armed attempt to throw off the yoke of the Boer, +and of the efforts of the ruling powers of Rhodesia to assist them in +the task. Of course the upshot was that the poor Uitlanders fell into a +still deeper pit of oppression and despair. Lord Rosmead, then Sir +Hercules Robinson, never a proconsul remarkable for an iron will, it is +true visited the Transvaal in a great flurry, and assured, or caused +Sir Sidney Shippard and the British agent, a gentleman of the somewhat +alien-sounding name of Sir Jacobus de Wet, in substance to assure the +Uitlanders that if only they would disarm probably their wrongs must +shortly be righted by a beneficent Boer president, assisted to the task +by a Raad full of forgiveness and charity. Moreover, Sir Jacobus de Wet +told them explicitly that the lives of Jameson and his men depended +upon their laying down such weapons as they possessed, although of +course those lives were already guaranteed by the terms of the +surrender. + +But this raid had wider issues of an imperial nature. Thus it provoked +the famous telegram from the Emperor William II., which at one time +threatened to bring about a war between Great Britain and Germany. +Also, so far as these South African troubles were concerned, it put our +country hopelessly in the wrong in the eyes of the civilised world, +whom it proved difficult to persuade, although in fact this was the +case, that such strange and tortuous developments of political and +martial activity were purely local in their origin. Again it armed the +Boer with a sword of wondrous power. If Providence had sent all the +German legions to his aid it could scarcely have served him better. Now +indeed he was able to point to his land violated by the foot of the +invader, and to talk of raids as though such a wicked word had never +defiled the innocence of his ears; as though in truth he had never +heard of the plains of Stellaland, and of a certain expedition sent by +the British Government under the command of Sir Charles Warren to +preserve those territories to the peaceful enjoyment of their owners; +nor of that stretch of country which once belonged to the Zulus, but is +now called the New Republic; nor of the trek into Rhodesia that was +"damped"; nor of the extension of authority over Swaziland in defiance +of the provisions of the Convention, and of other kindred matters. + +Also it enabled him to claim "moral and intellectual damages" to a +considerable amount, although, so far as the public is aware, these +have never been satisfied, and indeed caused Pharaoh to harden his +heart, and while demanding from the new Israelites of Johannesburg an +even heavier tale of bricks in the shape of direct and indirect +taxation, to deprive them one by one of their last straws of freedom. + +Thus things fell back into their former courses, the old abuses +flourished like bay trees, the lucky holders of dynamite and other +monopolies grew fabulously rich, and--so powerful is the love of +gold--_auri sacra fames_--so much more do men value it than +freedom and pure government--the population of Johannesburg still +increased. + +More than two years have gone by since Sir Alfred Milner was sent as +High Commissioner to South Africa, during all which time, backed by her +Majesty's present Government, he has been doing his best to secure +redress for the Uitlanders, and to arrange various differences that +have arisen between the Empire and the Transvaal Republic. At length +these efforts resulted in the meeting between himself and President +Kruger, known as the Bloemfontein Conference, which took place about +four months ago. At that Conference Sir Alfred Milner advanced the +request, modest enough seeing that they are entitled to nothing less +than equal rights with the other "inhabitants of the Transvaal," that +those Uitlanders who wished to adopt the country as their home should +be entitled to the franchise after five years' residence. This was +refused by President Kruger as endangering the independence of the +State, and the Conference broke up. It was from this time forward that +war came to be looked upon as probable. In reply to various despatches +and representations of the Imperial Government, the President and +Volksraad made certain offers of a franchise which, if they were ever +seriously meant, were hampered with provisos, such as rendered them +impossible for this country to accept. Thus the five years' offer of +August 19 was coupled with the conditions that in the future there +should be no interference in the internal affairs of the Republic, that +her Majesty's Government would not further insist on the assertion of +the suzerainty, and that the principle of arbitration in the event of +future differences arising should be admitted. + +Had the Government agreed to these terms it would have meant, of +course, that the last shadow of the Queen's authority would have +vanished from the Transvaal, and as they had bound themselves not to +interfere in future, that they might be forced to look on while the +franchise which was granted one year was repealed or rendered nugatory +the next. Also, it must be remembered that this question of the +franchise does not cover all the grounds of difference between the two +parties; indeed, it seems that a great deal too much importance has +been given to the matter. Even if a certain number of Uitlanders +elected to become citizens of a Boer state, it is difficult to see, +however advantageous that circumstance might prove to themselves, in +what way it would directly assist the Imperial power on such a +question, let us say, as the treatment of our Indian subjects settled +in the Transvaal. To begin with, the new-born burghers might be +indifferent to the needs and wishes of the country they had renounced. +They might even consider that their oath of allegiance bound them to +oppose those wishes. At the least, even if they had the power to help +us, which could not be the case for many years, surely it would be +neither wise nor dignified for the power to which they once belonged to +trust solely to their good offices. + +In the newspapers and elsewhere Johannesburg and its Uitlanders are +spoken of continually as though they made up the sum of the situation. +It is the common cry of Liberal Forwards and of those gentlemen who +might perhaps be called Radical Backwards, that this war is to be waged +for the Uitlander and the millionaire. Of course this is not in the +least true. The Uitlander, with his woes, is only the blister that has +brought the sore of Transvaal misrule and Dutch ambitions in South +Africa to so proud a head, that at last the South African Republic has +come to describe itself as "a Sovereign independent State." That he and +his "Magnates," as Rand millionaires are called, will profit enormously +from a successful war waged by the Imperial Power is admitted; but +because the effect of such a struggle will be ultimately to put a +number of annual millions into certain pockets, it does not follow that +the war is fought for that purpose. Indeed the veriest "jingo" could +scarcely show himself self-sacrificing and altruistic. This is no local +but an Imperial question to be decided in the interests of the Empire. + +To return to the course of the negotiations. Offers, withdrawals, +stipulations, palliative clauses, proposals for further conferences +followed each other in bewildering variety, till at length, worn out, +Mr. Chamberlain, on September 22, intimated to the Government of the +South African Republic, through Sir Alfred Milner, that it was "useless +to further pursue a discussion on the lines hitherto followed, and her +Majesty's Government are now compelled to consider the situation +afresh, and to formulate their own proposals for a final settlement of +the issues which have been created in South Africa by the policy +constantly followed for many years by the Government of the South +African Republic. They will communicate to you the result of their +deliberations in a later despatch." + +It is rumoured that this later despatch has been delivered at Pretoria, +but has as yet received no reply. Three days later, however, namely, on +September 25, that industrious body, the Liberal Forwards, was honoured +with a telegram from the State Secretary of the Transvaal, which runs +as follows:-- + + "Liberal Forwards, London. Many thanks for your telegram. We stick + to the Convention, and rely upon England doing the same, as + Convention does not allow interference in internal affairs." + +When, however, it is remembered that the Convention did allow equal +rights to all the "inhabitants of the Transvaal," it will be admitted +that this cable is about the strangest of the remarkable series of +State documents which of late have emanated from Pretoria. Very aptly +it crystallises the spirit of Boer diplomacy--a bold disregard of +inconvenient facts. + +Meanwhile in South Africa various events of importance have happened. +The Orange Free State has openly thrown in its lot with the Transvaal. +The Uitlanders have fled by thousands from Johannesburg. The Boers have +massed their commandos at various points on the Natal and other British +borders, presumably for offensive purposes, since at present they can +expect no invasion of their territory. The first of these occurrences +reveals the hidden purpose of the Dutch party in South Africa, as at +night a sudden flash of lightning reveals the face of the veld. We have +never threatened the Orange Free State; it has no grievance, no cause +of quarrel, yet suddenly it appears in arms against us. Why? Because +its citizens believe that the time has come to translate into action +the old dream of the Boers, which so long as five-and-twenty years ago +was familiar to the late President Burgers when he spoke of the coming +Dutch Republic, with its eight millions of inhabitants ruling supreme +in the vast territories between the Zambezi and the Cape. Now the great +conspiracy that it has proved so hard to persuade the British public, +or a blind section of it, to credit stands unveiled, and it has for +object nothing less than the expulsion of the English power from +Southern Africa--a vain thing fondly imagined, but still a thing with +which we must reckon, and it is to be feared by the last stern +expedient of arms, since here soft words and diplomacy are of no avail. + +Difficult as it is to make the fact understood among a proportion of +the home electorate and publicists, it cannot be stated too often or +too clearly that this war, which is to come, is a war that was forced +upon us by the Boers in their blind ignorance and conceit. The mass of +them believe, because they defeated our troops in various small affairs +in 1881, that they are a match for the British Empire. Their leaders +are better instructed. They trust not so much, perhaps, to the rifles +of their compatriots as to the prowess of certain party captains in +England, and to the enthusiasm of their advocates among the English +Press and public. They remember that the activity of these forces +eighteen years ago was followed by a miserable surrender on the part of +the English Government, and not understanding how greatly opinion has +changed in this country, they hope that history may repeat itself, and +that England, wearying of an unpopular struggle, will soon cede to them +all they ask. They are mistaken, but such is their faith. They hope +also, perchance with better reason, that other complications may force +us to stay our hand. If no more telegrams can be extracted from the +German Emperor, still there is a German regiment fighting on their side +who will take with them the sympathies of the Fatherland, and they know +that the hearts of the great Powers of Europe will go out towards any +people who try to strike a blow at the root of the ever-growing tree of +the might of the British Empire. Buoyed up by bubbles such as these +they have determined to tempt the stern arbitrament of battle.[2] + + [2] See the very remarkable letter of the Boer "P.S." to the + _Times_ of October 14th, printed as Appendix III. to this + book, p. 241. + +Can it still be avoided? It would seem that except by our surrender, +which is out of the question, for that means the loss not only of South +Africa, but of our prestige throughout the world, this is not in any +way possible. Already acts of war have taken place, such as the seizure +of the gold from the mines, and the commandeering of goods belonging to +British subjects, and perhaps days before these lines can appear in +print the guns will have begun their reasoning.[3] + + [3] Since the above was written, in the swift march of + events, the Transvaal has despatched its "ultimatum," perhaps + the most egregious document ever addressed to a great Power + by a petty State. In effect it is a declaration of war, and + hostilities have now commenced with the destruction by the + Boers of an armoured train at Kraaipan, and the capture or + slaying of its escort. + + H. R. H. + + _9th October _ 1899. + +After the rebellion of 1881 a Boer jury, to whom the case was committed +by the tender mercies of Mr. Gladstone's Government, with the murdered +man's bullet-riddled skull lying before them upon the table of the +Court, acquitted the brutal slaughterers of Captain Elliot, not because +they had not done the deed with every circumstance of horrible +treachery and premeditation, but because to find them guilty was +against their brethren's wish. In much the same way, with all the facts +staring them in the face, there are men in England, some of them of +high position and character, who urge the righteousness of the Boer +cause, and with tongue and pen paint our national iniquity in hues +black as ink and red as blood. They write of the "Objects of the War," +which they do not hesitate to describe as self-seeking and infamous, so +far of course as the English people are concerned, for according to the +same authorities, the Boer objects are uniformly pure and noble. Would +it not be better if they looked back a little and tried to discover the +causes of the war? I think that if they could have witnessed a certain +scene upon the market-square at Newcastle, at which it was my +misfortune to be present, on that night of the year 1881 when the news +of the base betrayal of the loyalists by England became known, they +would win a better understanding of the question. In the spectacle of +that maddened crowd of three or four thousand ruined and deserted men, +English, Boer, and Kaffir, raving, weeping, and blaspheming in the +despair of their shame and bitterness, they might have found +enlightenment. Even now a study of the following forgotten letter +written by Mr. White, the chairman of the Committee of Loyal +Inhabitants, to Mr. Gladstone, might give to some a food for thought:-- + +"If, sir, you had seen, as I have seen, promising young citizens of +Pretoria dying of wounds received for their country, and if you had had +the painful duty, as I have had, of bringing to their friends at home +the last mementoes of the departed; if you had seen the privations and +discomforts which delicate women and children bore without murmuring +for upwards of three months; if you had seen strong men crying like +children at the cruel and undeserved desertion of England; if you had +seen the long strings of half-desperate loyalists, shaking the dust off +their feet as they left the country, as I saw on my way to Newcastle; +and if you yourself had invested your all on the strength of the word +of England, and now saw yourself in a fair way of being beggared by the +acts of the country in whom you trusted, you would, sir, I think, be +'pronounced,' and England would ring with eloquent entreaties and +threats which would compel a hearing.... We claim, sir, at least as +much justice as the Boers. We are faithful subjects of England, and +have suffered and are suffering for our fidelity. Surely we, the +friends of our country, who stood by her in the time of trial, have as +much right to consideration as rebels who fought against her. We rely +on her word. We rely on the frequently repeated pledges and promises of +her ministers in which we have trusted. We rely on her sense of moral +right not to do us the grievous wrong which this miserable peace +contemplates. We rely on her fidelity to obligations, and on her +ancient reputation for honour and honesty. We rely on the material +consequences which will follow on a breach of faith to us. England +cannot afford to desert us after having solemnly pledged herself to +us." + +"England cannot afford to desert us!" but England, or her rulers, could +and did afford itself this luxury. In vain did such men as the late +Lord Beaconsfield, the late Lord Cairns, and Lord Salisbury protest and +point out dangers. In vain did agonised loyalists flourish their own +words and promises in the face of her Majesty's Government; the spirit +of party, or the promptings of a newly acquired conscience proved too +strong. Her Majesty's loyal subjects were sneered at, insulted, and +abandoned, and the Boer, who had butchered them, was bid to go on and +prosper. + +Now, nearly twenty years afterwards, England is called upon to pay the +bill of what is in effect, whatever may have been its motives, one of +the most infamous acts that stains the pages of her history. From the +moment that the Convention of 1881 was signed it became as certain as +anything human can be, that one of two things would happen--either that +the Imperial Power must in practice be driven out of South Africa, or +that a time would come when it must be forced to assert its dominion +even at the price of war. + +Now that miserable hour is with us, and we are called upon to suppress +by arms a small, but sullen and obstinate people, whom we have taught +to believe themselves our equals, if not our superiors. Unless they +will yield at the last moment, which seems impossible seeing that the +war is of their own choosing, the new settlement of South Africa must +be celebrated by a mighty sacrifice of their blood and our blood. Not +to dwell upon other griefs and dangers, when, I ask, will the smoke and +the smell of it depart from the eyes and nostrils of the dwellers in +that unhappy land? As they troop back merrily to their mines and +workshops the money-spinners of Johannesburg may forget a past of +which, in many instances at least, their chief impression will be that +it was unpleasant and unprofitable. But after the Rand is worked out, +when the stamps cease to fall heavily by day and night, when the great +heaps of tailings no longer increase from month to month, when the +broker's voice is quiet in the Exchange, and the promoter inhabits some +new city, still the Boer women in the farmhouses will tell their +children how the "damned English soldiers" shot their grandfathers and +took the land. In South Africa new Irelands will arise, and from the +dragon's teeth that we are forced to sow the harvest of hate will +spring, and spring again. Thus must we eat of the bitter bread which we +have baked, and thus the ill fowl that we reared have come home to +roost, bringing their broods with them. + +Again and again we have blundered in our treatment of the Dutch. For +instance, with kinder and fairer management they would never have +trekked from the Cape sixty years ago. Also, had the promises which +were made to them at the annexation in 1877 been kept, and had not Sir +Theophilus Shepstone, who grew up amongst them and to whom they were +attached, been removed in favour of a military martinet, there would +have been no rebellion, let the Cape wire-pullers working under a cloak +of loyalty to the Crown strive as they might. But the rebellion came +and the defeats, and after these that surrender whereof this country is +called upon to pluck the fruit to-day, which, by the Boers, is +attributed to those defeats with the fear of their prowess and to +nothing else. + +And now, in due season, the war comes; an inevitable war which cannot +be escaped, and must be fought out to the end. There is only room for +one paramount power in Southern Africa! + +How all these things happened is told briefly, but I trust clearly, in +the following pages. My excuse for reprinting them must be the desire +which, it is said, exists among some readers to become better +acquainted with the facts that engendered the present fateful crisis. + + H. RIDER HAGGARD. + +_9th October _1899. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGES + +AUTHOR'S NOTE v + + +CHAPTER I. + +ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. + +Invasion by Mosilikatze--Arrival of the emigrant Boers--Establishment +of the South African Republic--The Sand River Convention--Growth of +the territory of the republic--The native tribes surrounding it-- +Capabilities of the country--Its climate--Its inhabitants--The Boers +--Their peculiarities and mode of life--Their abhorrence of settled +government and payment of taxes--The Dutch patriotic party--Form of +government previous to the annexation--Courts of law--The commando +system--Revenue arrangements--Native races in the Transvaal 1-22 + + +CHAPTER II. + +EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. + +Mr. Burgers elected president--His character and aspirations--His +pension from the English Government--His visit to England--The +railway loan--Relations of the republic with native tribes--The +pass laws--Its quarrel with Cetywayo--Confiscation of native +territory in the Keate Award--Treaty with the Swazi king--The +Secocoeni war--Capture of Johannes' stronghold by the Swazi +allies--Attack on Secocoeni's mountain--Defeat and dispersion of +the Boers--Elation of the natives--Von Schlickmann's volunteers-- +Cruelties perpetrated--Abel Erasmus--Treatment of natives by Boers +--Public meeting at Potchefstroom in 1868--The slavery question-- +Some evidence on the subject--Pecuniary position of the Transvaal +prior to the annexation--Internal troubles--Divisions amongst the +Boers--Hopeless condition of the country 23-49 + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ANNEXATION. + +Anxiety of Lord Carnarvon--Despatch of Sir T. Shepstone as Special +Commissioner to the Transvaal--Sir T. Shepstone, his great +experience and ability--His progress to Pretoria, and reception +there--Feelings excited by the arrival of the mission--The +annexation _not_ a foregone conclusion--Charge brought against +Sir T. Shepstone of having called up the Zulu army to sweep the +Transvaal--Its complete falsehood--Cetywayo's message to Sir T. +Shepstone--Evidence on the matter summed up--General desire of +the natives for English rule--Habitual disregard of their +interests--Assembly of the Volksraad--Rejection of Lord +Carnarvon's Confederation Bill and of President Burgers' new +constitution--President Burgers' speeches to the Raad--His +posthumous statement--Communication to the Raad of Sir T. +Shepstone's intention to annex the country--Despatch of Commission +to inquire into the alleged peace with Secocoeni--Its fraudulent +character discovered--Progress of affairs in the Transvaal--Paul +Kruger and his party--Restlessness of natives--Arrangements for +the annexation--The annexation proclamation 50-86 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. + +Reception of the annexation--Major Clarke and the Volunteers--Effect +of the annexation on credit and commerce--Hoisting of the Union +Jack--Ratification of the annexation by Parliament--Messrs. Kruger +and Jorissen's mission to England--Agitation against the annexation +in the Cape Colony--Sir T. Shepstone's tour--Causes of the growth +of discontent among the Boers--Return of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger +--The Government dispenses with their services--Despatch of a second +deputation to England--Outbreak of war with Secocoeni--Major Clarke, +R.A.--The Gunn of Gunn plot--Mission of Captain Paterson and Mr. +Sergeaunt to Matabeleland--Its melancholy termination--The Isandhlwana +disaster--Departure of Sir T. Shepstone for England--Another Boer +meeting--The Pretoria Horse--Advance of the Boers on Pretoria-- +Arrival of Sir B. Frere at Pretoria and dispersion of the Boers-- +Arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley--His proclamation--The Secocoeni +expedition--Proceedings of the Boers--Mr. Pretorius--Mr. Gladstone's +Mid-Lothian speeches, their effect--Sir G. Wolseley's speech at +Pretoria, its good results--Influx of Englishmen and cessation of +agitation--Financial position of the country after three years of +British rule--Letter of the Boer leaders to Mr. Courtney 87-119 + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BOER REBELLION. + +Accession of Mr. Gladstone to power--His letters to the Boer +leader and the loyals--His refusal to rescind the annexation--The +Boers encouraged by prominent members of the Radical party--The +Bezeidenhout incident--Despatch of troops to Potchefstroom--Mass +meeting of the 8th December 1880--Appointment of the Triumvirate +and declaration of the republic--Despatch of Boer proclamation to +Sir O. Lanyon--His reply--Outbreak of hostilities at Potchefstroom +--Defence of the court-house by Major Clarke--The massacre of the +detachment of the 94th under Colonel Anstruther--Dr. Ward--The Boer +rejoicings--The Transvaal placed under martial law--Abandonment of +their homes by the people of Pretoria--Sir Owen Lanyon's admirable +defence organisation--Second proclamation issued by the Boers--Its +complete falsehood--Life at Pretoria during the siege--Murders of +natives by the Boers--Loyal conduct of the native chiefs--Difficulty +of preventing them from attacking the Boers--Occupation of Lang's +Nek by the Boers--Sir George Colley's departure to Newcastle--The +condition of that town--The attack on Lang's Nek--Its desperate +nature--Effect of victory on the Boers--The battle at the Ingogo-- +Our defeat--Sufferings of the wounded--Major Essex--Advance of the +Boers into Natal--Constant alarms--Expected attack on Newcastle-- +Its unorganised and indefensible condition--Arrival of the +reinforcements and retreat of the Boers to the Nek--Despatch +of General Wood to bring up more reinforcements--Majuba Hill--Our +disaster, and death of Sir George Colley--Cause of our defeat--A +Boer version of the disaster--Sir George Colley's tactics 120-155 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. + +The Queen's Speech--President Brand and Lord Kimberley--Sir Henry +de Villiers--Sir George Colley's plan--Paul Kruger's offer--Sir +George Colley's remonstrance--Complimentary telegrams--Effect of +Majuba on the Boers and English Government--Collapse of the +Government--Reasons of the surrender--Professional sentimentalists +--The Transvaal Independence Committee--Conclusion of the armistice +--The preliminary peace--Reception of the news in Natal--Newcastle +after the declaration of peace--Exodus of the loyal inhabitants of +the Transvaal--The value of property in Pretoria--The Transvaal +officials dismissed--The Royal Commission--Mode of trial of persons +accused of atrocities--Decision of the Commission and its results +--The severance of territory question--Arguments _pro_ and _con_-- +Opinion of Sir E. Wood--Humility of the Commissioners and its cause +--Their decision on the Keate Award question--The Montsioa difficulty +--The compensation and financial clauses of the report of the +Commission--The duties of the British Resident--Sir E. Wood's +dissent from the report of the Commission--Signing of the +Convention--Burial of the Union Jack--The native side of the +question--Interview between the Commissioners and the native +chiefs--Their opinion of the surrender--Objections of the Boer +Volksraad to the Convention--Mr. Gladstone temporises--The +ratification--Its insolent tone--Mr. Hudson, the British Resident +--The Boer festival--The results of the Convention--The larger +issue of the matter--Its effect on the Transvaal--Its moral +aspects--Its effect on the native mind 156-202 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Extract from Introduction to new edition of 1888 203 + + +APPENDIX. + + I. The Potchefstroom Atrocities, &c. 231 + + II. Pledges given by Mr. Gladstone's Government as to the +Retention of the Transvaal 239 + +III. A Boer on Boer Designs 241 + + + + +_THE TRANSVAAL._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. + + +The Transvaal is a country without a history. Its very existence was +hardly known of until about fifty years ago. Of its past we know +nothing. The generations who peopled its great plains have passed +utterly out of the memory and even the tradition of man, leaving no +monument to mark that they have existed, not even a tomb. + +During the reign of Chaka, 1813-1828, whose history has been sketched +in a previous chapter, one of his most famous generals, Mosilikatze, +surnamed the Lion, seceded from him with a large number of his +soldiers, and striking up in a north-westerly direction, settled in or +about what is now the Morico district of the Transvaal. The country +through which Mosilikatze passed was at that time thickly populated +with natives of the Basuto or Macatee race, whom the Zulus look upon +with great contempt. Mosilikatze expressed the feelings of his tribe in +a practical manner, by massacring every living soul of them that came +within his reach. That the numbers slaughtered were very great, the +numerous ruins of Basuto kraals all over the country testify. + +It was Chaka's intention to follow up Mosilikatze and destroy him, but +he was himself assassinated before he could do so. Dingaan, his +successor, however, carried out his brother's design, and despatched a +large force to punish him. This army, after marching over 300 miles, +burst upon Mosilikatze, drove him back with slaughter, and returned +home triumphant. The invasion is important, because the Zulus claim the +greater part of the Transvaal territory by virtue of it. + +About the time that Mosilikatze was conquered, 1835-1840, the +discontented Boers were leaving the Cape Colony exasperated at the +emancipation of the slaves by the Imperial authorities. First they made +their way to Natal, but being followed thither by the English flag they +travelled further inland over the Vaal River and founded the town of +Mooi River Dorp or Potchefstroom. Here they were joined by other +malcontents from the Orange Sovereignty, which, though afterwards +abandoned, was at that time a British possession. Acting upon + + "The good old rule, the simple plan, + Of let him take who has the power, + And let him keep who can," + +the Boers now proceeded to possess themselves of as much territory as +they wanted. Nor was this a difficult task. The country was, as I have +said, peopled by Macatees, who are a poor-spirited race as compared to +the Zulus, and had had what little courage they possessed crushed out +of them by the rough handling they had received at the hands of +Mosilikatze and Dingaan. The Boers, they argued, could not treat them +worse than the Zulus had done. Occasionally a chief, bolder than the +rest, would hold out, and then such an example was made of him and his +people that few cared to follow in his footsteps. + +As soon as the Boers were fairly settled in their new home, they began +to think about setting up a Government. First they tried a system of +Commandants, with a Commandant-general, but this does not seem to have +answered. Next, those of their number who lived in Lydenburg district +(where the gold-fields now are) set up a Republic, with a President and +Volksraad, or popular assembly. This example was followed by the other +white inhabitants of the country, who formed another Republic and +elected another President, with Pretoria for their capital. The two +republics were subsequently incorporated. + +In 1852 the Imperial authorities, having regard to the expense of +maintaining an effective government over an unwilling people in an +undeveloped and half-conquered country, concluded a convention with the +emigrant Boers "beyond the Vaal River." The following were the +principal stipulations of this convention, drawn up between Major Hogg +and Mr. Owen, Her Majesty's Assistant-Commissioners for the settling +and adjusting of the affairs of the eastern and north-eastern +boundaries of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope on the one part, and +a deputation representative of the emigrant farmers north of the Vaal +River on the other. It was guaranteed "in the fullest manner on the +part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal +River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves +according to their own laws, without any interference on the part of +the British Government, and that no encroachment shall be made by the +said Government on the territory beyond to the north of the Vaal River, +with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the British +Government is to promote peace, free trade, and friendly intercourse +with the emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit +that country, it being understood that this system of non-interference +is binding on both parties." + +Next were disclaimed, on behalf of the British Government, "all +alliances whatever and with whomsoever of the coloured nations to the +north of the Vaal River." + +It was also agreed "that no slavery is or shall be permitted or +practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the emigrant +farmers." + +It was further agreed "that no objection shall be made by any British +authority against the emigrant Boers purchasing their supplies of +ammunition in any of the British colonies and possessions of South +Africa; it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition with +the native tribes is prohibited both by the British Government and the +emigrant farmers on both sides of the Vaal River." + +These were the terms of this famous convention, which is as slipshod in +its diction as it is vague in its meaning. What, for instance, is meant +by the territory to the north of the Vaal River? According to the +letter of the agreement, Messrs. Hogg and Owen ceded all the territory +between the Vaal and Egypt. This historical document was the Charta of +the new-born South African Republic. Under its provisions, the Boers, +now safe from interference on the part of the British, established +their own Government and promulgated their "Grond Wet," or +Constitution. + +The history of the Republic between 1852 and 1876 is not very +interesting, and is besides too wearisome to enter into here. It +consists of an oft-told tale of civil broils, attacks on native tribes, +and encroachment on native territories. Until shortly before the +Annexation, every burgher was, on coming of age, entitled to receive +from the Government 6000 acres of land. As these rights were in the +early days of the Republic frequently sold to speculators for such +trifles as a bottle of brandy or half a dozen of beer, and as the +seller still required his 6000 acres: for a Boer considers it beneath +his dignity to settle on less, it is obvious that it required a very +large country to satisfy all demands. To meet these demands, the +territories of the Republic had to be stretched like an elastic band, +and they were stretched accordingly,--at the expense of the natives. +The stretching process was an ingenious one, and is very well described +in a minute written by Mr. Osborn, the late magistrate at Newcastle, +dated 22d September 1876, in these words:-- + +"The Boers, as they have done in other cases and are still doing, +encroached by degrees on native territory, commencing by obtaining +permission to graze stock upon portions of it at certain seasons of the +year, followed by individual graziers obtaining from native headmen a +sort of right or license to squat upon certain defined portions, +ostensibly in order to keep other Boer squatters away from the same +land. These licenses, temporarily intended as friendly or neighbourly +acts by unauthorised headmen, after a few seasons of occupation by the +Boer, are construed by him as title, and his permanent occupation +ensues. Damage for trespass is levied by him from the very man from +whom he obtained the right to squat, to which the natives submit out of +fear of the matter reaching the ears of the paramount chief, who would +in all probability severely punish them for opening the door to +encroachment by the Boer. After a while, however, the matter comes to a +crisis in consequence of the incessant disputes between the Boers and +the natives; one or other of the disputants lays the case before the +paramount chief, who, when hearing both parties, is literally +frightened with violence and threats by the Boer into granting him the +land. Upon this the usual plan followed by the Boer is at once to +collect a few neighbouring Boers, including a field cornet, or even an +acting provisional field cornet, appointed by the field cornet or +provisional cornet, the latter to represent the Government, although +without instructions authorising him to act in the matter. A few cattle +are collected among themselves, which the party takes to the chief, and +his signature is obtained to a written document alienating to the +Republican Boers a large slice of all his territory. The contents of +this document are, as far as I can make out, never clearly or +intelligibly explained to the chief, who signs and accepts of the +cattle under the impression that it is all in settlement of hire for +the grazing licenses granted by his headmen. This, I have no hesitation +in saying, is the usual method by which the Boers obtain what they call +cessions to them of territories by native chiefs. In Secocoeni's case +they allege that his father Sequati cedes to them the whole of his +territory (hundreds of square miles) for a hundred head of cattle." + +So rapidly did this process go on that the little Republic to the +"North of the Vaal River" had at the time of the Annexation grown into +a country of the size of France. Its boundaries had only been clearly +defined where they abutted on neighbouring White Communities, or on the +territories of great native powers, on which the Government had not +dared to infringe to any marked degree, such as those of Lo Bengula's +people in the north. But wheresoever on the State's borders there had +been no white Power to limit its advances, or where the native tribes +had found themselves too isolated or too weak to resist aggressions, +there the Republic had by degrees encroached, and extended the shadow, +if not the substance, of its authority. + +The Transvaal has a boundary line of over 1600 miles in circumference, +and of this a large portion is disputed by different native tribes. +Speaking generally, the territory lies between the 22 deg. and 28 deg. of South +Latitude and the 25 deg. and 32 deg. of East Longitude, or between the Orange +Free State, Natal and Griqualand West on the south, and the Limpopo +River on the north; and between the Lebombo mountains on the east, and +the Kalihari desert on the west. On the north of its territory live +three great tribes--the Makalaka, the Matabele, (descendants of the +Zulus who deserted Chaka under Mosilikatze), and the Matyana. These +tribes are all warlike. On the west, following the line down to the +Diamond Field territory, are the Sicheli, the Bangoaketsi, the +Baralong, and the Koranna tribes. Passing round by Griqualand West, the +Free State, and Natal, we reach Zululand on the south-east corner; then +come the Lebombo mountains on the east, separating the Transvaal from +Amatonga land, and from the so-called Portuguese possessions, which are +entirely in the hands of native tribes, most of them subject to the +great Zulu chief, Umzeila, who has his stronghold in the north-east. + +It will be observed that the country is almost surrounded by native +tribes. Besides these there are about one million native inhabitants +living within its borders. In one district alone, Zoutpansberg, it is +computed that there are 364,250 natives, as compared to about 750 +whites. + +If a beautiful and fertile country were alone necessary to make a state +and its inhabitants happy and prosperous, happiness and prosperity +would rain upon the Transvaal and the Dutch Boers. The capabilities of +this favoured land are vast and various. Within its borders are to be +found highlands and lowlands, vast stretches of rolling veldt like +gigantic sheep downs, hundreds of miles of swelling bushland, huge +tracts of mountainous country, and even little glades spotted with +timber that remind one of an English park. There is every possible +variety of soil and scenery. Some districts will grow all tropical +produce, whilst others are well suited for breeding sheep, cattle, and +horses. Most of the districts will produce wheat and all other cereals +in greater perfection and abundance than any of the other South African +colonies. Two crops of cereals may be obtained from the soil every +year, and both the vine and tobacco are cultivated with great success. +Coffee, sugar-cane, and cotton have been grown with profit in the +northern parts of the State. Also the undeveloped mineral wealth of the +country is very great. Its known minerals are gold, copper, lead, +cobalt, iron, coal, tin, and plumbago: copper and iron having long been +worked by the natives. Altogether there is little doubt that the +Transvaal is the richest of all the South African states, and had it +remained under English rule it would, with the aid of English +enterprise and capital, have become a very wealthy and prosperous +country. However there is little chance of that now. Perhaps the +greatest charm of the Transvaal lies in its climate, which is among the +best in the world, and in all the southern districts very healthy. +During the winter months--that is, from April to October--little or no +rain falls, and the climate is cold and bracing. In summer it is rather +warm, but not overpoweringly hot, the thermometer at Pretoria averaging +from 65 deg. to 73 deg. and in the winter from 59 deg. to 65 deg. The population of +the Transvaal is estimated at about 40,000 whites, mostly of Dutch +origin, consisting of about thirty vast families; and one million +natives. There are several towns, the largest of which are Pretoria and +Potchefstroom. + +Such is the country that we annexed in 1877, and were drummed out of in +1881. Now let us turn to its inhabitants. It has been the fashion to +talk of the Transvaal as though nobody but Boers lived in it. In +reality the inhabitants were divided into three classes: 1. Natives; 2. +Boers; 3. English. I say were divided, because the English class can +now hardly be said to exist, the country having been made too hot to +hold it since the war. The natives stand in the proportion of nearly +twenty to one to the whites. The Boers were in their turn much more +numerous than the English, but the latter owned nearly all the trading +establishments in the country, and also a very large amount of +property. + +The Transvaal Boers have been very much praised up by members of the +Government in England, and others who are anxious to advance their +interests, as against English interests. Mr. Gladstone, indeed, can +hardly find words strong enough to express his admiration of their +leaders, those "able men," since they inflicted a national humiliation +on us; and doubtless they are a people with many good points. That they +are not devoid of sagacity can be seen by the way they have dealt with +the English Government. + +The Boers are certainly a peculiar people, though they can hardly be +said to be "zealous of good works." They are very religious, but their +religion takes its colour from the darkest portions of the Old +Testament; lessons of mercy and gentleness are not at all to their +liking, and they seldom care to read the Gospels. What they delight in +are the stories of wholesale butchery by the Israelites of old; and in +their own position they find a reproduction of that of the first +settlers in the Holy Land. Like them they think they are entrusted by +the Almighty with the task of exterminating the heathen native tribes +around them, and are always ready with a scriptural precedent for +slaughter and robbery. The name of the Divinity is continually on their +lips, sometimes in connection with very doubtful statements. They are +divided into three sects, none of which care much for the other two. +These are the Doppers, who number about half the population, the +Orthodox Reform, and the Liberal Reform, which is the least numerous. +Of these three sects the Doppers are by far the most uncompromising and +difficult to deal with. They much resemble the Puritans of Charles the +First's time, of the extreme Hew-Agag-in-pieces stamp. + +It is difficult to agree with those who call the Boers cowards, an +accusation which the whole of their history belies. A Boer does not +like fighting if he can avoid it, because he sets a high value on his +own life; but if he is cornered, he will fight as well as anybody else. +The Boers fought well enough in the late war, though that, it is true, +is no great criterion of courage, since they were throughout flushed +with victory, and, owing to the poor shooting of the British troops, in +but little personal danger. One very unpleasant characteristic they +have, and that is an absence of regard for the truth, especially where +land is concerned. Indeed the national characteristic is crystallised +into a proverb, "I am no slave to my word." It has several times +happened to me to see one set of highly respectable witnesses in a land +case go into the box and swear distinctly that they saw a beacon placed +on a certain spot, whilst an equal number on the other side will swear +that they saw it placed a mile away. Filled as they are with a land +hunger, to which that of the Irish peasant is a weak and colourless +sentiment, there is little that they will not do to gratify their +taste. It is the subject of constant litigation amongst them, and it is +by no means uncommon for a Boer to spend several thousand pounds in +lawsuits over a piece of land not worth as many hundreds. + +Personally Boers are fine men, but as a rule ugly. Their women-folk are +good-looking in early life, but get very stout as they grow older. +They, in common with most of their sex, understand how to use their +tongues; indeed, it is said that it was the women who caused the rising +against the English Government. None of the refinements of civilisation +enter into the life of an ordinary Transvaal Boer. He lives in a way +that would shock an English labourer at twenty-five shillings the week, +although he is very probably worth fifteen or twenty thousand pounds. +His home is but too frequently squalid and filthy to an extraordinary +degree. He himself has no education, and does not care that his +children should receive any. He lives by himself in the middle of a +great plot of land, his nearest neighbour being perhaps ten or twelve +miles away, caring but little for the news of the outside world and +nothing for its opinions, doing very little work, but growing daily +richer through the increase of his flocks and herds. His expenses are +almost nothing, and as he gets older wealth increases upon him. The +events in his life consist of an occasional trip on "commando" against +some native tribe, attending a few political meetings, and the journeys +he makes with his family to the nearest town, some four times a year, +in order to be present at "Nachtmaal" or communion. Foreigners, +especially Englishmen, he detests, but he is kindly and hospitable to +his own people. Living isolated as he does, the lord of a little +kingdom, he naturally comes to have a great idea of himself, and a +corresponding contempt for all the rest of mankind. Laws and taxes are +things distasteful to him, and he looks upon it as an impertinence that +any court should venture to call him to account for his doings. He is +rich and prosperous, and the cares of poverty, and all the other +troubles that fall to the lot of civilised men, do not affect him. He +has no romance in him, nor any of the higher feelings and aspirations +that are found in almost every other race; in short, unlike the Zulu he +despises, there is little of the gentleman in his composition, though +he is at times capable of acts of kindness and even generosity. His +happiness is to live alone in the great wilderness, with his children, +his men-servants, and his maid-servants, his flocks and his herds, the +monarch of all he surveys. If civilisation presses him too closely, his +remedy is a simple one. He sells his farm, packs up his goods and cash +in his waggon, and starts for regions more congenially wild. Such are +some of the leading characteristics of that remarkable product of South +Africa, the Transvaal Boer, who resembles no other white man in the +world. + +Perhaps, however, the most striking of all his oddities is his +abhorrence of all government, more especially if that government be +carried out according to English principles. The Boers have always been +more or less in rebellion; they rebelled against the rule of the +Company when the Cape belonged to Holland, they rebelled against the +English Government in the Cape, they were always in a state of +semi-rebellion against their own Government in the Transvaal, and now +they have for the second time, with the most complete success, rebelled +against the English Government. The fact of the matter is that the bulk +of their number hate all Governments, because Governments enforce law +and order, and they hate the English Government worst of all because it +enforces law and order most of all. It is not liberty they long for, +but license. The "sturdy independence" of the Boer resolves itself into +a determination not to have his affairs interfered with by any superior +power whatsoever, and not to pay taxes if he can possibly avoid it. But +he has also a specific cause of complaint against the English +Government, which would alone cause him to do his utmost to get rid of +it, and that is its mode of dealing with natives, which is radically +opposite to his own. This is the secret of Boer patriotism. To +understand it, it must be remembered that the Englishman and the Boer +look at natives from a very different point of view. The Englishman, +though he may not be very fond of him, at any rate regards the Kafir as +a fellow human being with feelings like his own. The average Boer does +not. He looks upon the "black creature" as having been delivered into +his hand by the "Lord" for his own purposes, that is, to shoot and +enslave. He must not be blamed too harshly for this, for, besides being +naturally of a somewhat hard disposition, hatred of the native is +hereditary, and is partly induced by the history of many a bloody +struggle. Also the native hates the Boer fully as much as the Boer +hates the native, though with better reason. Now native labour is a +necessity to the Boer, because he will not as a rule do hard manual +labour himself, and there must be some one to plant and garner the +crops and herd the cattle. On the other hand, the natives are not +anxious to serve the Boers, which means little or no pay and plenty of +thick stick, and sometimes worse. The result of this state of affairs +is that the Boer often has to rely on forced labour to a very great +extent. But this is a thing that an English Government will not +tolerate, and the consequence is that under its rule he cannot get the +labour that is necessary to him. + +Then there is the tax question. If he lives under the English flag the +money has to be paid regularly, but under his own Government he pays or +not as he likes. It was this habit of his of refusing payment of taxes +that brought the Republic into difficulties in 1877, and that will ere +long bring it into trouble again. He cannot understand that cash is +necessary to carry on a Government, and looks upon a tax as though it +were so much money stolen from him. These things are the real springs +of the "sturdy independence" and the patriotism of the ordinary +Transvaal farmer. Doubtless there are some who are really patriotic; +for instance, one of their leaders, Paul Kruger. But with the majority, +patriotism is only another word for unbounded license and forced +labour. + +These remarks must not be taken to apply to the Cape Boers, who are a +superior class of men, since they, living under a settled and civilised +Government, have been steadily improving, whilst their cousins, living +every man for his own hand, have been deteriorating. The old +Voortrekkers, the fathers and grandfathers of the Transvaal Boer of +to-day, were, without doubt, a very fine set of men, and occasionally +you may in the Transvaal meet individuals of the same stamp whom it is +a pleasure to know. But these are generally men of a certain age, with +some experience of the world; the younger men are very objectionable in +their manners. + +The real Dutch Patriotic party is not to be found in the Transvaal, but +in the Cape Colony. Their object, which, as affairs now are, is well +within the bounds of possibility, is by fair means or foul to swamp the +English element in South Africa, and to establish a great Dutch +Republic. It was this party, which consists of clever and well educated +men, who raised the outcry against the Transvaal Annexation, because it +meant an enormous extension of English influence, and who had the wit, +by means of their emissaries and newspapers, to work upon the feeling +of the ignorant Transvaal farmers until they persuaded them to rebel; +and finally, to avail themselves of the yearnings of English radicalism +for the disruption of the Empire and the minimisation of British +authority, to get the Annexation cancelled. All through this business +the Boers have more or less danced in obedience to strings pulled at +Cape Town, and it is now said that one of the chief wire-pullers, Mr. +Hofmeyer, is to be asked to become President of the Republic. These men +are the real patriots of South Africa, and very clever ones too--not +the Transvaal Boers, who vapour about their blood and their country and +the accursed Englishman to order, and are in reality influenced by very +small motives, such as the desire to avoid payment of taxes, or to hunt +away a neighbouring Englishman, whose civilisation and refinement are +as offensive as his farm is desirable. Such are the Dutch inhabitants +of the Transvaal. I will now give a short sketch of their institutions +as they were before the Annexation, and to which the community has +reverted since its recision, with, I believe, but few alterations. + +The form of government is republican, and to all intents and purposes +manhood suffrage prevails, supreme power resting in the people. The +executive power of the State centres in a President elected by the +people to hold office for a term of five years, every voter having a +voice in his election. He is assisted in the execution of his duties by +an Executive Council, consisting of the State Secretary and such other +three members as are selected for that purpose by the legislative body, +the Volksraad. The State Secretary holds office for four years, and is +elected by the Volksraad. The members of the Executive have all seats +in the Volksraad, but have no votes. The Volksraad is the legislative +body of the State, and consists of forty-two members. The country is +divided into twelve electoral districts, each of which has the right to +return three members; the Gold Fields have also the right of electing +two members, and the four principal towns one member each. There is no +power in the State competent to either prorogue or dissolve the +Volksraad except that body itself, so that an appeal to the country on +a given subject or policy is impossible without its concurrence. +Members are elected for four years, but half retire by rotation every +two years, the vacancies being filled by re-elections. Members must +have been voters for three years, and be not less than thirty years of +age, must belong to a Protestant Church, be resident in the country, +and owners of immovable property therein. A father and son cannot sit +in the same Raad, neither can seats be occupied by coloured persons, +bastards, or officials. + +For each electoral district there is a magistrate or Landdrost, whose +duties are similar to those of a Civil Commissioner. These districts +are again subdivided into wards presided over by field cornets, who +exercise judicial powers in minor matters, and in times of war have +considerable authority. The Roman Dutch law is the common law of the +country, as it is of the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, +and of the Orange Free State. + +Prior to the Annexation justice was administered in a very primitive +fashion. First, there was the Landdrosts' Court, from which an appeal +lay to a court consisting of the Landdrost and six councillors elected +by the public. This was a court of first instance as well as a court of +appeal. Then there was a Supreme Court, consisting of three Landdrosts +from three different districts, and a jury of twelve selected from the +burghers of the State. There was no appeal from this court, but cases +have sometimes been brought under the consideration of the Volksraad as +the supreme power. It is easy to imagine what the administration of +justice was like when the presidents of all the law courts in the +country were elected by the mob, not on account of their knowledge of +the law, but because they were popular. Suitors before the old +Transvaal courts found the law surprisingly uncertain. A High Court of +Justice was, however, established after the Annexation, and has been +continued by the Volksraad, but an agitation is being got up against +it, and it will possibly be abolished in favour of the old system. + +In such a community as that of the Transvaal Boers the question of +public defence was evidently of the first importance. This is provided +for under what is known as the Commando system. The President, with the +concurrence of the Executive Council, has the right of declaring war, +and of calling up a commando, in which the burghers are placed under +the field cornets and commandants. These last are chosen by the field +cornets for each district, and a Commandant-general is chosen by the +whole laager or force, but the President is the Commander-in-Chief of +the army. All the inhabitants of the State between sixteen and sixty, +with a few exceptions, are liable for service. Young men under +eighteen, and men over fifty, are only called out under circumstances +of emergency. Members of the Volksraad, officials, clergymen, and +school-teachers are exempt from personal service, unless martial law is +proclaimed, but must contribute an amount not exceeding L15 towards the +expense of the war. All legal proceedings in civil cases are suspended +against persons on commando, no summonses can be made out, and as soon +as martial law is proclaimed no legal execution can be prosecuted, the +pounds are closed, and transfer dues payments are suspended until after +thirty days from the recall of the proclamation of martial law. Owners +of land residing beyond the borders of the Republic are also liable, in +addition to the ordinary war tax, to place a fit and proper substitute +at the disposal of the Government, or otherwise to pay a fine of L15. +The first levy of the burghers is, of men from eighteen to thirty-four +years of age; the second, thirty-four to fifty; and the third, from +sixteen to eighteen, and from fifty to sixty years. Every man is bound +to provide himself with clothing, a gun, and ammunition, and there must +be enough waggons and oxen found between them to suffice for their +joint use. Of the booty taken, one quarter goes to Government, and the +rest to the burghers. The most disagreeable part of the commandeering +system is, however, yet to come; personal service is not all that the +resident in the Transvaal Republic has to endure. The right is vested +in field cornets to commandeer articles as well as individuals, and to +call upon inhabitants to furnish requisites for the commando. As may be +imagined, it goes very hard on these occasions with the property of any +individual whom the field cornet may not happen to like. + +Each ward is expected to turn out its contingent ready and equipped for +war, and this can only be done by seizing goods right and left. One +unfortunate will have to find a waggon, another to deliver over his +favourite span of trek oxen, another his riding-horse or some slaughter +cattle, and so on. Even when the officer making the levy is desirous of +doing his duty as fairly as he can, it is obvious that very great +hardships must be inflicted under such a system. Requisitions are made +more with regard to what is wanted than with a view to an equitable +distribution of demands; and like the Jews in the time of the Crusades, +he who has got most must pay most, or take the consequences, which may +be unpleasant. Articles which are not perishable, such as waggons, are +supposed to be returned, but if they come back at all they are +generally worthless. + +In case of war, the native tribes living within the borders of the +State are also expected to furnish contingents, and it is on them that +most of the hard work of the campaign generally falls. They are put in +the front of the battle, and have to do the hand-to-hand fighting, +which, however, if of the Zulu race, they do not object to. + +The revenue of the State is so arranged that the burden of it should +fall as much as possible on the trading community, and as little as +possible on the farmer. It is chiefly derived from licenses on trades, +professions, and callings, 30s. per annum quit-rent on farms, transfer +dues and stamps, auction dues, court fees, and contributions from such +native tribes as can be made to pay them. Since we have given up the +country, the Volksraad has put a very heavy tax on all imported goods, +hoping thereby to beguile the Boers into paying taxes without knowing +it, and at the same time strike a blow at the trading community, which +is English in its proclivities. The result has been to paralyse what +little trade there was left in the country, and to cause great +dissatisfaction amongst the farmers, who cannot understand why, now +that the English are gone, they should have to pay twice as much for +their sugar and coffee as they have been accustomed to do. + +I will conclude this chapter with a few words about the natives who +swarm in and around the Transvaal. They can be roughly divided into two +great races, the Amazulu and their offshoots, and the Macatee or Basuto +tribes. All those of Zulu blood, including the Swazis, Mapock's Kafirs, +the Matabele, the Knob-noses, and others are very warlike in +disposition, and men of fine physique. The Basutos (who must not be +confounded with the Cape Basutos), however, differ from these tribes in +every respect, including their language, which is called Sisutu, the +only mutual feeling between the two races being their common +detestation of the Boers. They do not love war; in fact, they are timid +and cowardly by nature, and only fight when they are obliged to. Unlike +the Zulus, they are much addicted to the arts of peace, show +considerable capacities for civilisation, and are even willing to +become Christians. There would have been a far better field for the +Missionary in the Transvaal than in Zululand and Natal. Indeed, the +most successful mission station I have seen in Africa is near +Middleburg, under the control of Mr. Merensky. In person the Basutos +are thin and weakly when compared to the stalwart Zulu, and it is their +consciousness of inferiority both to the white men and their black +brethren that, together with their natural timidity, makes them submit +as easily as they do to the yoke of the Boer. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. + + +In or about the year 1872, the burghers of the Republic elected Mr. +Burgers their President. This remarkable man was a native of the Cape +Colony, and passed the first sixteen or seventeen years of his life, he +once informed me, on a farm herding sheep. He afterwards became a +clergyman noted for the eloquence of his preaching, but his ideas +proving too broad for his congregation, he resigned his cure, and in an +evil moment for himself took to politics. + +President Burgers was a man of striking presence and striking talents, +especially as regards his oratory, which was really of a very high +class, and would have commanded attention in our own House of Commons. +He possessed, however, a mind of that peculiarly volatile order that is +sometimes met with in conjunction with great talents, and which seems +to be entirely without ballast. His intellect was of a balloon-like +nature, and as incapable of being steered. He was always soaring in the +clouds, and, as is natural to one in that elevated position, taking a +very different and more sanguine view of affairs to that which men of a +more lowly, and perhaps a more practical, turn of mind would do. + +But notwithstanding his fly-away ideas, President Burgers was +undoubtedly a true patriot, labouring night and day for the welfare of +the State of which he had undertaken the guidance; but his patriotism +was too exalted for his surroundings. He wished to elevate to the rank +of a nation a people who had not got the desire to be elevated; with +this view he contracted railway loans, made wars, minted gold, &c., and +then suddenly discovered that the country refused to support him. In +short, he was made of very different clay to that of the people he had +to do with. He dreamt of a great Dutch Republic "with eight millions of +inhabitants," doing a vast trade with the interior through the Delagoa +Bay Railway. They, on the other hand, cared nothing about republics or +railways, but fixed their affections on forced labour and getting rid +of the necessity of paying taxes--and so between them the Republic came +to grief. But it must be borne in mind that President Burgers was +throughout actuated by good motives; he did his best by a stubborn and +a stiff-necked people; and if he failed, as fail he did, it was more +their fault than his. As regards the pension he received from the +English Government, which has so often been brought up against him, it +was after all no more than his due after five years of arduous work. If +the Republic had continued to exist, it is to be presumed that they +would have made some provision for their old President, more especially +as he seems to have exhausted his private means in paying the debts of +the country. Whatever may be said of some of the other officials of the +Republic, its President was, I believe, an honest man. + +In 1875, Mr. Burgers proceeded to Europe, having, he says in a +posthumous document recently published been empowered by the Volksraad +"to carry out my plans for the development of the country, by opening +up a direct communication for it, free from the trammels of British +ports and influence." According to this document, during his absence +two powerful parties, viz., "the faction of unprincipled +fortune-hunters, rascals, and runaways on the one hand, and the faction +of the extreme orthodox party in a certain branch of the Dutch Reform +Church on the other, began to co-operate against the Government of the +Republic and me personally.... Ill as I was, and contrary to the advice +of my medical men, I proceeded to Europe, in the beginning of 1875, to +carry out my project, and no sooner was my back turned on the Transvaal +than the conspiring elements began to act. The new coat of arms and +flag adopted in the Raad by an almost unanimous vote were abolished; +the laws for a free and secular education were tampered with; and my +resistance to a reckless inspection and disposal of Government lands, +still occupied by natives, was openly defied. The Raad, filled up to a +large extent with men of ill repute, who, under the cloak of progress +and favour to the Government view, obtained their seats, was too weak +to cope with the skill of the conspirators, and granted leave to the +acting President to carry out measures diametrically opposed to my +policy. _Native lands_ were inspected and given out to a few +speculators, who held large numbers of claims to lands which were +destined for citizens, and so a war was prepared for me, on my return +from Europe, which I could not avert." This extract is interesting, as +showing the state of feeling existing between the President and his +officers previous to the outbreak of the Secocoeni war. It also shows +how entirely he was out of sympathy with the citizens, seeing that, as +soon as his back was turned, they, with Mr. Joubert and Paul Kruger at +their head, at once undid all the little good he had done. + +When Mr. Burgers got to England, he found that city capitalists would +have nothing whatever to say to his railway scheme. In Holland, +however, he succeeded in getting L90,000 of the L300,000 he wished to +borrow at a high rate of interest, and by passing a bond on five +hundred Government farms. This money was immediately invested in +railway plant, which, when it arrived at Delagoa Bay, had to be +mortgaged to pay the freight on it, and that was the end of the Delagoa +Bay railway scheme, except that the L90,000 is, I believe, still owing +to the confiding shareholders in Holland. + +On his return to the Transvaal the President was well received, and for +a month or so all went smoothly. But the relations of the Republic with +the surrounding native tribes had by this time become so bad that an +explosion was imminent somewhere. In the year 1874 the Volksraad raised +the price of passes under the iniquitous pass law, by which every +native travelling through the territory was made to pay from L1 to L5. +In case of non-payment the native was made subject to a fine of from L1 +to L10, and to a beating of from "ten to twenty-five lashes." He was +also to go into service for three months, and have a certificate +thereof, for which he must pay five shillings; the avowed object of the +law being to obtain a supply of Kafir labour. This was done in spite of +the earnest protest of the President, who gave the Raad distinctly to +understand that by accepting this law they would, in point of fact, +annul treaties concluded with the chiefs on the south-western borders. +It is not clear, however, if this amended pass law ever came into +force. It is to be hoped it did not, for even under the old law natives +were shamefully treated by Boers, who would pretend that they were +authorised by Government to collect the tax; the result being that the +unfortunate Kafir was frequently obliged to pay twice over. Natives had +such a horror of the pass laws of the country, that when travelling to +the Diamond Fields to work they would frequently go round some hundreds +of miles rather than pass through the Transvaal. + +That the Volksraad should have thought it necessary to enact such a law +in order that the farmers should obtain a supply of Kafir labour in a +territory that had nearly a million of native inhabitants, who, unlike +the Zulus, are willing to work if only they meet with decent treatment, +is in itself an instructive commentary on the feelings existing between +Boer master and Kafir servant. + +But besides the general quarrel with the Kafir race in its entirety, +which the Boers always have on hand, they had just then several +individual differences, in each of which there lurked the possibilities +of disturbance. + +To begin with, their relations with Cetywayo were by no means amicable. +During Mr. Burgers' absence the Boer Government, then under the +leadership of P. J. Joubert, sent Cetywayo a very stern message--a +message that gives the reader the idea that Mr. Joubert was ready to +enforce it with ten thousand men. After making various statements and +demands with reference to the Amaswazi tribe, the disputed boundary +line, &c. it ends thus:-- + +"Although the Government of the South African Republic has never +wished, and does not now desire, that serious disaffection and +animosities should exist between you and them, yet it is not the less +of the greatest consequence and importance for you earnestly to weigh +these matters and risks, and to satisfy them; the more so, if you on +your side also wish that peace and friendship shall be maintained +between you and us." + +The Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal comments on this message in +these words: "The tone of this message to Cetywayo is not very +friendly, it has the look of an ultimatum, and if the Government of the +Transvaal were in circumstances different to what it is, the message +would suggest an intention to coerce if the demands it conveys are not +at once complied with; but I am inclined to the opinion that no such +intention exists, and that the transmission of a copy of the message to +the Natal Government is intended as a notification that the Transvaal +Government has proclaimed the territory hitherto in dispute between it +and the Zulus to be Republican territory, and that the Republic intends +to occupy it." + +In the territories marked out by a decision known as the Keate Award, +in which Lieutenant-Governor Keate of Natal, at the request of both +parties, laid down the boundary line between the Boers and certain +native tribes, the Boer Government carried it with a yet higher hand, +insomuch as the natives of those districts, being comparatively +unwarlike, were less likely to resist. + +On the 18th August 1875, Acting President Joubert issued a proclamation +by which a line was laid down far to the southward of that marked out +by Mr. Keate, and consequently included more territory within the +elastic boundaries of the Republic. A Government notice of the same +date invites all claiming lands now declared to belong to the Republic +to send in their claims to be settled by a land commission. + +On the 6th March 1876, another chief in the same neighbourhood +(Montsoia) writes to the Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West in +these terms:-- + + "MY FRIEND,--I wish to acquaint you with the doings of some people + connected with the Boers. A man-servant of mine has been severely + injured in the head by one of the Boers' servants, which has proved + fatal. Another of my people has been cruelly treated by a Boer + tying a rein about his neck, and then mounting his horse and + dragging him about the place. My brother Molema, who is the bearer + of this, will give you full particulars." + +Molema explains the assaults thus: "The assaulted man is not dead; his +skull was fractured. The assault was committed by a Boer named Wessels +Badenhorst, who shamefully ill-treated the man, beat him till he +fainted, and, on his revival, fastened a rim round his neck, and made +him run to the homestead by the side of his (Badenhorst's) horse +cantering. At the homestead he tied him to the waggon-wheel, and +flogged him again till Mrs. Badenhorst stopped her husband." + +Though it will be seen that the Boers were on good terms neither with +the Zulus nor the Keate Award natives, they still had one Kafir ally, +namely, Umbandeni, the Amaswazi king. This alliance was concluded under +circumstances so peculiar that they are worthy of a brief +recapitulation. It appears that in the winter of the year 1875, Mr. +Rudolph, the Landdrost of Utrecht, went to Swaziland, and, imitating +the example of the Natal Government with Cetywayo, crowned Umbandeni +king, on behalf of the Boer Government. He further made a treaty of +alliance with him, and promised him a commando to help him in case of +his being attacked by the Zulus. Now comes the curious part of the +story. On the 18th May 1876, a message came from this same Umbandeni to +Sir H. Bulwer, of which the following is an extract:--"We are sent by +our king to thank the Government of Natal for the information sent to +him last winter by that Government, and conveyed by Mr. Rudolph, of the +intended attack on his people by the Zulus. We are further instructed +by the king to thank the Natal Government for the influence it used to +stop the intended raid, and for instructing a Boer commando to go to +his country to render him assistance in case of need; and further for +appointing Mr. Rudolph at the head of the commando to place him +(Umbandeni) as king over the Amaswazi, and to make a treaty with him +and his people on behalf of the Natal Government.... The Transvaal +Government has asked Umbandeni to acknowledge himself a subject of the +Republic, but he has distinctly refused to do so." In a minute written +on this subject, the Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal says, "No +explanation or assurance from me was sufficient to convince them +(Umbandeni's messengers) that they had on that occasion made themselves +subjects of the South African Republic; they declared it was not their +wish or intention to do so, and that they would refuse to acknowledge a +position into which they had been unwittingly betrayed." I must +conclude this episode by quoting the last paragraph of Sir H. Bulwer's +covering despatch, because it concerns larger issues than the supposed +treaty: "It will not be necessary that I should at present add any +remarks to those contained in the minute of the Secretary for Native +Affairs, but I would observe that the situation arising out of the +relations of the Government of the South African Republic with the +neighbouring native States is so complicated, and presents so many +elements of confusion and of danger to the peace of this portion of +South Africa, that I trust some way may be found to an early settlement +of questions that ought not, in my opinion, to be left alone, as so +many have been left, to take the chance of the future." + +And now I come to the last and most imminent native difficulty that at +the time faced the Republic. On the borders of Lydenburg district there +lived a powerful chief named Secocoeni. Between this chief and the +Transvaal Government difficulties arose in the beginning of 1876 on the +usual subject--land. The Boers declared that they had bought the land +from the Swazis, who had conquered portions of the country, and that +the Swazis offered to make it "clean from brambles," _i.e._, kill +everybody living on it; but that they (the Boers) said that they were +to let them be, that they might be their servants. The Basutos, on the +other hand, said that no such sale ever took place, and, even if it did +take place, it was invalid, because the Swazis were not in occupation +of the land, and therefore could not sell it. It was a Christian Kafir +called Johannes, a brother of Secocoeni, who was the immediate cause +of the war. This Johannes used to live at a place called Botsobelo, the +mission-station of Mr. Merensky, but moved to a stronghold on the +Spekboom river, in the disputed territory. The Boers sent to him to +come back, but he refused, and warned the Boers off his land. +Secocoeni was then appealed to, but declared that the land belonged +to his tribe, and would be occupied by Johannes. He also told the Boers +"that he did not wish to fight, but that he was quite ready to do so if +they preferred it." Thereupon the Transvaal Government declared war, +although it does not appear that the natives committed any outrage or +acts of hostility before the declaration. As regards the Boers' right +to Secocoeni's country, Sir H. Barkly sums up the question thus, in a +despatch addressed to President Burgers, dated 28th Nov. 1876:--"On the +whole, it seems perfectly clear, and I feel bound to repeat it, that +Sikukuni was neither _de jure_ or _de facto_ a subject of the +Republic when your Honour declared war against him in June last." As +soon as war had been declared, the clumsy commando system was set +working, and about 2500 white men collected; the Swazis also were +applied to to send a contingent, which they did, being only too glad of +the opportunity of slaughter. + +At first all went well, and the President, who accompanied the commando +in person, succeeded in reducing a mountain stronghold, which, in his +high-flown way, he called a "glorious victory" over a "Kafir +Gibraltar." + +On the 14th July another engagement took place, when the Boers and +Swazis attacked Johannes' stronghold. The place was taken with +circumstances of great barbarity by the Swazis, for when the signal was +given to advance the Boers did not move. Nearly all the women were +killed, and the brains of the children were dashed out against the +stones; in one instance, before the captive mother's face. Johannes was +badly wounded, and died two days afterwards. When he was dying, he said +to his brother, "I am going to die. I am thankful I do not die by the +hands of these cowardly Boers, but by the hand of a black and +courageous nation like myself...." He then took leave of his people, +told his brother to read the Bible, and expired. The Swazis were so +infuriated at the cowardice displayed by the Boers on this occasion +that they returned home in great dudgeon. + +On the 2d of August Secocoeni's mountain, which is a very strong +fortification, was attacked in two columns, or rather an attempt was +made to attack it, for when it came to the pinch only about forty men, +mostly English and Germans, would advance. Thereupon the whole commando +retreated with great haste, the greater part of it going straight home. +In vain the President entreated them to shoot him rather than desert +him; they had had enough of Secocoeni and his stronghold, and home +they went. The President then retreated with what few men he had left +to Steelport, where he built a fort, and from thence returned to +Pretoria. The news of the collapse of the commando was received +throughout the Transvaal, and indeed the whole of South Africa, with +the greatest dismay. For the first time in the history of that country +the white man had been completely worsted by a native tribe, and that +tribe wretched Basutos, people whom the Zulus call their "dogs." It was +glad tidings to every native from the Zambesi to the Cape, who learnt +thereby that the white man was not so invincible as he used to be. +Meanwhile the inhabitants of Lydenburg were filled with alarm, and +again and again petitioned the Governors of the Cape and Natal for +assistance. Their fears were, however, to a great extent groundless, +for, with the exception of occasional cattle-lifting, Secocoeni did +not follow up his victory. + +On the 4th September the President opened the special sitting of the +Volksraad, and presented to that body a scheme for the establishment of +a border force to take the place of the commando system, announcing +that he had appointed a certain Captain Von Schlickmann to command it. +He also requested the Raad to make some provision for the expenses of +the expedition, which they had omitted to do in their former sitting. + +Captain Von Schlickmann determined to carry on the war upon a different +system. He got together a band of very rough characters on the Diamond +Fields, and occupied the fort built by the President, from whence he +would sally out from time to time and destroy kraals. He seems, if +we may believe the reports in the blue-books and the stories of +eye-witnesses, to have carried on his proceedings in a somewhat savage +way. The following is an extract from a private letter written by one +of his volunteers:-- + +"About daylight we came across four Kafirs. Saw them first, and charged +in front of them to cut off their retreat. Saw they were women, and +called out not to fire. In spite of that, one of the poor things got +her head blown off (a d----d shame).... Afterwards two women and a baby +were brought to the camp prisoners. The same night they were taken out +by our Kafirs and murdered in cool blood by order of ----. Mr. ---- and +myself strongly protested against it, but without avail. I never heard +such a cowardly piece of business in my life. No good will come of it, +you may depend.... ---- says he would cut all the women and children's +throats he catches. Told him distinctly he was a d----d coward." + +Schlickmann was, however, a mild-mannered man when compared to a +certain Abel Erasmus, afterwards denounced at a public dinner by Sir +Garnet Wolseley as a fiend "in human form." This gentleman, in the +month of October, attacked a friendly kraal of Kafirs. The incident is +described thus in a correspondent's letter:-- + +"The people of the kraals, taken quite by surprise, fled when they saw +their foes, and most of them took shelter in the neighbouring bush. Two +or three men were distinctly seen in their flight from the kraal, and +one of them is known to have been wounded. According to my informant +the remainder were women and children, who were pursued into the bush, +and there, all shivering and shrieking, were put to death by the Boers' +Kafirs, some being shot, but the majority stabbed with assegais. After +the massacre he counted thirteen women and three children, but he says +he did not see the body of a single man. Another Kafir said, pointing +to a place in the road where the stones were thickly strewn, 'the +bodies of the women and children lay like these stones.' The Boer +before mentioned, who has been stationed outside, has told one of his +own friends, whom he thought would not mention it, that the shrieks +were fearful to hear." + +Several accounts of, or allusion to, this atrocity can be found in the +blue-books, and I may add that it, in common with others of the same +stamp, was the talk of the country at the time. + +I do not relate these horrors out of any wish to rake up old stories to +the prejudice of the Boers, but because I am describing the state of +the country before the Annexation, in which they form an interesting +and important item. Also, it is as well that people in England should +know into what hands they have delivered over the native tribes who +trusted in their protection. What happened in 1876 is probably +happening again now, and will certainly happen again and again. The +character of the Transvaal Boer and his sentiments towards the native +races have not modified during the last five years, but, on the +contrary, a large amount of energy, which has been accumulating during +the period of British protection, will now be expended on their devoted +heads. + +As regards the truth of these atrocities, the majority of them are +beyond the possibility of doubt; indeed, to the best of my knowledge, +no serious attempt has ever been made to refute such of them as have +come into public notice, except in a general way, for party purposes. +As, however, they may be doubted, I will quote the following extract +from a despatch written by Sir H. Barkly to Lord Carnarvon, dated 18th +December 1876:-- + +"As Von Schlickmann has since fallen fighting bravely, it is not +without reluctance that I join in affixing this dark stain on his +memory, but truth compels me to add the following extract from a letter +which I have since received from one whose name (which I communicate to +your Lordship privately) forbids disbelief: 'There is no longer the +_slightest doubt_ as to the murder of the two women and the child +at Steelport by the direct order of Schlickmann, and in the attack on +the kraal near which these women were captured (or some attack about +that period) he ordered his men to cut the throats of all the wounded! +This is no mere report; it is positively true.'" He concludes by +expressing a hope that the course of events will enable Her Majesty's +Government to take such steps "as will terminate this wanton and +useless bloodshed, and prevent the recurrence of the _scenes of +injustice, cruelty, and rapine which abundant evidence is every day +forthcoming to prove have rarely ceased to disgrace the Republics +beyond the Vaal ever since they first sprang into existence_."[4] + + [4] The italics are my own.--AUTHOR. + +These are strong words, but none too strong for the facts of the case. +Injustice, cruelty, and rapine have always been the watchwords of the +Transvaal Boers. The stories of wholesale slaughter in the earlier days +of the Republic are very numerous. One of the best known of those +shocking occurrences took place in the Zoutpansberg war in 1865. On +this occasion a large number of Kafirs took refuge in caves, where the +Boers smoked them to death. Some years afterwards Dr. Wangeman, whose +account is, I believe, thoroughly reliable, describes the scene of +their operations in these words:-- + +"The roof of the first cave was black with smoke; the remains of the +logs which were burnt lay at the entrance. The floor was strewn with +hundreds of skulls and skeletons. In confused heaps lay karosses, +kerries, assegais, pots, spoons, snuff-boxes, and the bones of men, +giving one the impression that this was the grave of a whole people. +Some estimate the number of those who perished here from twenty to +thirty thousand. This is, I believe, too high. In the one chamber there +were from two hundred to three hundred skeletons; the other chambers I +did not visit." + +In 1868 a public meeting was held at Potchefstroom to consider the war +then going on with the Zoutpansberg natives. According to the report of +the proceedings, the Rev. Mr. Ludorf said that "on a particular +occasion a number of native children, who were too young to be removed, +had been collected in a heap, covered with long grass, and burned +alive. Other atrocities had also been committed, but these were too +horrible to relate." When called upon to produce his authority for this +statement, Mr. Ludorf named his authority "in a solemn declaration to +the State Attorney." At this same meeting Mr. J. G. Steyn, who had been +Landdrost of Potchefstroom, said, "there now was innocent blood on our +hands which had not yet been avenged, and the curse of God rested on +the land in consequence." Mr. Rosalt remarked that "it was a singular +circumstance that in the different colonial Kafir wars, as also in the +Basuto wars, one did not hear of destitute children being found by the +commandoes, and asked how it was that every petty commando that took +the field in this Republic invariably found numbers of destitute +children. He gave it as his opinion that the present system of +apprenticeship was an essential cause of our frequent hostilities with +the natives." Mr. Jan Talyard said, "Children were forcibly taken from +their parents, and were then called destitute and apprenticed." Mr. +Daniel Van Nooren was heard to say, "If they had to clear the country, +and could not have the children they found, he would shoot them." Mr. +Field-Cornet Furstenburg stated "that when he was at Zoutpansberg with +his burghers, the chief Katse-Kats was told to come down from the +mountains; that he sent one of his subordinates as a proof of amity; +that whilst a delay of five days was guaranteed by Commandant Paul +Kruger, who was then in command, orders were given at the same time to +attack the natives at break of day, which was accordingly done, but +which resulted in total failure." Truly, this must have been an +interesting meeting. + +Before leaving these unsavoury subjects, I must touch on the question +of slavery. It has been again and again denied, on behalf of the +Transvaal Boers, that slavery existed in the Republic. Now, this is, +strictly speaking, true; slavery did not exist, but apprenticeship +did--the rose was called by another name, that is all. The poor +destitute children who were picked up by kind-hearted Boers, after the +extermination of their parents, were apprenticed to farmers till they +came of age. It is a remarkable fact that these children never attained +their majority. You might meet oldish men in the Transvaal who were +not, according to their masters' reckoning, twenty-one years of age. +The assertion that slavery did not exist in the Transvaal is only made +to hoodwink the English public. I have known men who have owned slaves, +and who have seen whole waggon-loads of "black ivory," as they were +called, sold for about L15 a-piece. I have at this moment a tenant, +Carolus by name, on some land I own in Natal, now a well-to-do man, who +was for many years--about twenty, if I remember right--a Boer slave. +During those years, he told me, he worked from morning till night, and +the only reward he received was two calves. He finally escaped into +Natal. + +If other evidence is needed it is not difficult to find, so I will +quote a little. On the 22d August 1876 we find Khama, king of the +Bamangwato, one of the most worthy chiefs in South Africa, sending a +message to "Victoria, the great Queen of the English people," in these +words:-- + +"I write to you, Sir Henry, in order that your Queen may preserve for +me my country, it being in her hands. The Boers are coming into it, and +I do not like them. Their actions are cruel among us black people. We +are like money, they sell us and our children. I ask Her Majesty to +pity me, and to hear that which I write quickly. I wish to hear upon +what conditions Her Majesty will receive me, and my country and my +people, under her protection. I am weary with fighting. I do not like +war, and I ask Her Majesty to give me peace. I am very much distressed +that my people are being destroyed by war, and I wish them to obtain +peace. I ask Her Majesty to defend me, as she defends all her people. +There are three things which distress me very much--war, selling +people, and drink. All these things I shall find in the Boers, and it +is these things which destroy people to make an end of them in the +country. _The custom of the Boers has always been to cause people to +be sold, and to-day they are still selling people._ Last year I saw +them pass with two waggons full of people whom they had bought at the +river at Tanane" (Lake Ngate). + +The Special Correspondent of the _Cape Argus_, a highly respectable +journal, writes thus on the 28th November 1876:--"The Boer from whom +this information was gleaned has furnished besides some facts which may +not be uninteresting, as a commentary on the repeated denials by Mr. +Burgers of the existence of slavery. During the last week slaves have +been offered for sale on his farm. The captives have been taken from +Secocoeni's country by Mapoch's people, and are being exchanged at the +rate of a child for a heifer. He also assures us that the whole of the +High-veld is being replenished with Kafir children, whom the Boers have +been lately purchasing from the Swazis at the rate of a horse for a +child. I should like to see this man and his father as witnesses before +an Imperial Commission. He let fall one or two incidents of the past +which were brought to mind by the occurrences of the present. In 1864, +he says, 'The Swazis accompanied the Boers against Males. The Boers did +nothing but stand by and witness the fearful massacre. The men and +women were also murdered. One poor woman sat clutching her baby of +eight days old. The Swazis stabbed her through the body, and when she +found that she could not live, she wrung the baby's neck with her own +hands to save it from future misery. On the return of that commando the +children who became too weary to continue the journey were killed on +the road. The survivors were sold as slaves to the farmers.'" + +The same gentleman writes in the issue of the 12th December as +follows:--"The whole world may know it, for it is true, and +investigation will only bring out the horrible details, that through +the whole course of this Republic's existence it has acted in +contravention of the Sand River Treaty; and slavery has occurred not +only here and there in isolated cases, but as an unbroken practice, and +has been one of the peculiar institutions of the country, mixed up with +all its social and political life. It has been at the root of most of +its wars. It has been carried on regularly even in times of peace. It +has been characterised by all those circumstances which have so often +roused the British nation to an indignant protest, and to repeated +efforts to banish the slave trade from the world. The Boers have not +only fallen on unsuspecting kraals simply for the purpose of obtaining +the women and children and cattle, but they have carried on a traffic +through natives who have kidnapped the children of their weaker +neighbours, and sold them to the white man. Again, the Boers have sold +and exchanged their victims among themselves. Waggon-loads of slaves +have been conveyed from one end of the country to the other for sale, +and that with the cognisance of, and for the direct advantage of, the +highest officials of the land. The writer has himself seen in a town, +situated in the south of the Republic, the children who had been +brought down from a remote northern district. One fine morning, in +walking through the streets, he was struck with the number of little +black strangers standing about certain houses, and wondered where they +could have come from. He learnt a few hours later that they were part +of loads which were disposed of on the outskirts of the town the day +before. The circumstances connected with some of these kidnapping +excursions are appalling, and the barbarities practised by cruel +masters upon some of these defenceless creatures during the course of +their servitude are scarcely less horrible than those reported from +Turkey. It is no disgrace in this country for an official to ride a +fine horse which was got for two Kafir children, to procure whom the +father and mother were shot. No reproach is inherited by the mistress +who, day after day, tied up her female servant in an agonising posture, +and had her beaten until there was no sound part in her body, securing +her in the stocks during the intervals of torture. That man did not +lose caste who tied up another woman and had her thrashed until she +brought forth at the whipping-post. These are merely examples of +thousands of cases which could be proved were an Imperial Commission to +sit, and could the wretched victims of a prolonged oppression recover +sufficiently from the dread of their old tyrants to give a truthful +report." + +To come to some evidence more recently adduced. On the 9th May 1881, an +affidavit was sworn to by the Rev. John Thorne, curate of St. John the +Evangelist, Lydenburg, Transvaal, and presented to the Royal Commission +appointed to settle Transvaal affairs, in which he states:--"That I was +appointed to the charge of a congregation in Potchefstroom, about +thirteen years ago, when the Republic was under the presidency of Mr. +Pretorius.[5] I remember noticing one morning as I walked through the +streets, a number of young natives, whom I knew to be strangers. I +inquired where they came from. I was told that they had just been +brought from Zoutpansberg. This was the locality from which slaves were +chiefly brought at that time, and were traded for under the name of +'Black Ivory.' One of these natives belonged to Mr. Munich, the State +Attorney. It was a matter of common remark at that time that the +President of the Republic was himself one of the greatest dealers in +slaves." In the fourth paragraph of the same affidavit Mr. Thorne says, +"That the Rev. Doctor Nachtigal, of the Berlin Missionary Society, was +the interpreter for Shatane's people in the private office of Mr. Roth, +and, at the close of the interview, told me what had occurred. On my +expressing surprise, he went on to relate that he had information on +native matters which would surprise me more. He then produced the copy +of a register, kept in the Landdrost's office, of men, women, and +children, to the number of four hundred and eighty (480), who had been +disposed of by one Boer to another for a consideration. In one case an +ox was given in exchange, in another goats, in a third a blanket, and +so forth. Many of these natives he (Mr. Nachtigal) knew personally. The +copy was certified as true and correct by an official of the Republic, +and I would mention his name now, only that I am persuaded that it +would cost the man his life if his act became known to the Boers." + + [5] One of the famous Triumvirate. + +On the 16th May 1881, a native, named Frederick Molepo, was examined by +the Royal Commission. The following are extracts from his +examination:-- + +"(_Sir E. Wood._) Are you a Christian?--Yes. + +"(_Sir H. de Villiers._) How long were you a slave?--Half a year. + +"How do you know that you were a slave? Might you not have been an +apprentice?--No, I was not apprenticed. + +"How do you know?--They got me from my parents, and ill-treated me. + +"(_Sir E. Wood._) How many times did you get the stick?--Every day. + +"(_Sir H. de Villiers._) What did the Boers do with you when they +caught you?--They sold me. + +"How much did they sell you for?--One cow and a big pot." + +On the 28th May 1881, amongst the other documents handed in for the +consideration of the Royal Commission, is the statement of a headman, +whose name it has been considered advisable to omit in the blue-book +for fear the Boers should take vengeance on him. He says, "I say, that +if the English government dies I shall die too; I would rather die than +be under the Boer Government. I am the man who helped to make bricks +for the church you see now standing in the square here (Pretoria), as a +slave without payment. As a representative of my people I am still +obedient to the English Government, and willing to obey all commands +from them, even to die for their cause in this country, rather than +submit to the Boers. + +"I was under Shambok, my chief, who fought the Boers formerly, but he +left us, and we were _put up to auction_ and sold among the Boers. I +want to state this myself to the Royal Commission in Newcastle. I was +bought by Fritz Botha and sold by Frederick Botha, who was then veld +cornet (justice of the peace) of the Boers."[6] + + [6] I have taken the liberty to quote all these extracts + exactly as they stand in the original, instead of weaving + their substance into my narrative, in order that I may not be + accused, as so often happens to authors who write upon this + subject, of having presented a garbled version of the truth. + The original of every extract is to be found in blue-books + presented to Parliament. I have thought it best to confine + myself to these, and avoid repeating stories of cruelties and + slavery, however well authenticated, that have come to my + knowledge privately such stories being always more or less + open to suspicion. + +It would be easy to find more reports of the slave-trading practices of +the Boers, but as the above are fair samples it will not be necessary +to do so. My readers will be able from them to form some opinion as to +whether or not slavery or apprenticeship existed in the Transvaal. If +they come to the conclusion that it did, it must be borne in mind that +what existed in the past will certainly exist again in the future. +Natives are not now any fonder of working for Boers than they were a +few years back, and Boers must get labour somehow. If, on the other +hand, it did not exist, then the Boers are a grossly slandered people, +and all writers on the subject, from Livingstone down, have combined to +take away their character. + +Leaving native questions for the present, we must now return to the +general affairs of the country. When President Burgers opened the +special sitting of the Volksraad, on the 4th September, he appealed, it +will be remembered, to that body for pecuniary aid to liquidate the +expenses of the war. This appeal was responded to by the passing of a +war tax, under which every owner of a farm was to pay L10, the owner of +half a farm L5, and so on. The tax was not a very just one, since it +fell with equal weight on the rich man who held twenty farms and the +poor man who held but one. Its justice or injustice was, however, to a +great extent immaterial, since the free and independent burghers, +including some of the members of the Volksraad who had imposed it, +promptly refused to pay it, or indeed, whilst they were about it, any +other tax. As the Treasury was already empty, and creditors were +pressing, this refusal was most ill-timed, and things began to look +very black indeed. Meanwhile, in addition to the ordinary expenditure, +and the interest payable on debts, money had to be found to pay Von +Schlickmann's volunteers. As there was no cash in the country, this was +done by issuing Government promissory notes, known as "goodfors," or +vulgarly as "good for nothings," and by promising them all booty, and +to each man a farm of two thousand acres, lying east and north-east of +the Loolu mountains--in other words, in Secocoeni's territory, which +did not belong to the Government to give away. The officials were the +next to suffer, and for six months before the Annexation these +unfortunate individuals lived as best they could, for they certainly +got no salary, except in the case of a postmaster, who was told to help +himself to his pay in stamps. The Government issued large numbers of +bills, but the banks refused to discount them, and in some cases the +neighbouring colonies had to advance money to the Transvaal post-cart +contractors who were carrying the mails, as a matter of charity. The +Government even mortgaged the great salt-pan near Pretoria for the +paltry sum of L400, whilst the leading officials of the Government were +driven to pledging their own private credit in order to obtain the +smallest article necessary to its continuance. In fact, to such a pass +did things come that when the country was annexed a single threepenny +bit (which had doubtless been overlooked) was found in the Treasury +chest, together with acknowledgments of debts to the extent of nearly +L300,000. + +Nor was the refusal to pay taxes, which they were powerless to enforce, +the only difficulty with which the Government had to contend. Want of +money is as bad and painful a thing to a State as to an individual, but +there are perhaps worse things than want of money, one of which is to +be deserted by your own friends and household. This was the position of +the Government of the Republic; no sooner was it involved in +overwhelming difficulties than its own subjects commenced to bait it, +more especially the English portion of its subjects. They complained to +the English authorities about the commandeering of members of their +family or goods; they petitioned the British Government to interfere, +and generally made themselves as unpleasant as possible to the local +authorities. Such a course of action was perhaps natural, but it can +hardly be said to be either quite logical or just. The Transvaal +Government had never asked them to come and live in the country, and if +they did so, it was presumably at their own risk. On the other hand, it +must be remembered that many of the agitators had accumulated property, +to leave which would mean ruin; and they saw that, unless something was +done, its value would be destroyed. + +Under the pressure of all these troubles the Boers themselves split up +into factions, as they are always ready to do. The Dopper party +declared that they had had enough progress, and proposed the extremely +conservative Paul Kruger as President, Burgers' time having nearly +expired. Paul Kruger accepted the candidature, although he had +previously promised his support to Burgers, and distrust of each other +was added to the other difficulties of the Executive, the Transvaal +becoming a house very much divided against itself. Natives, Doppers, +Progressionists, Officials, English, were all pulling different ways, +and each striving for his own advantage. Anything more hopeless than +the position of the country on the 1st January 1877 it is impossible to +conceive. Enemies surrounded it; on every border there was the prospect +of a serious war. In the exchequer there was nothing but piles of +overdue bills. The President was helpless, and mistrustful of his +officers, and the officers were caballing against the President. All +the ordinary functions of Government had ceased, and trade was +paralysed. Now and then wild proposals were made to relieve the State +of its burdens, some of which partook of the nature of repudiation, but +these were the exception; the majority of the inhabitants, who would +neither fight nor pay taxes, sat still and awaited the catastrophe, +utterly careless of all consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ANNEXATION. + + +The state of affairs described in the previous chapter was one that +filled the Secretary of State for the Colonies with alarm. During his +tenure of office Lord Carnarvon evidently had the permanent welfare of +South Africa much at heart, and he saw with apprehension that the +troubles that were brewing in the Transvaal were of a nature likely to +involve the Cape and Natal in a native war. Though there is a broad +line of demarcation between Dutch and English, it is not so broad but +that a victorious nation like the Zulus might cross it, and beginning +by fighting the Boer, might end by fighting the white man irrespective +of race. When the reader reflects how terrible would be the +consequences of a combination of native tribes against the Whites, and +how easily such a combination might at that time have been brought +about in the first flush of native successes, he will understand the +anxiety with which all thinking men watched the course of events in the +Transvaal in 1876. + +At last they took such a serious turn that the Home Government saw that +some action must be taken if the catastrophe was to be averted, and +determined to despatch Sir Theophilus Shepstone as Special Commissioner +to the Transvaal, with powers, should it be necessary, to annex the +country to Her Majesty's dominions, "in order to secure the peace and +safety of Our said colonies and of Our subjects elsewhere." + +The terms of his Commission were unusually large, leaving a great deal +to his discretionary power. In choosing that officer for the execution +of a most difficult and delicate mission, the Government, doubtless, +made a very wise selection. Sir Theophilus Shepstone is a man of +remarkable tact and ability, combined with great openness and +simplicity of mind, and one whose name will always have a leading place +in South African history. During a long official lifetime he has had to +do with most of the native races in South Africa, and certainly knows +them and their ways better than any living man; whilst he is by them +all regarded with a peculiar and affectionate reverence. He is _par +excellence_ their great white chief and "father," and a word from +him, even now that he has retired from active life, still carries more +weight than the formal remonstrances of any governor in South Africa. + +With the Boers he is almost equally well acquainted, having known many +of them personally for years. He possesses, moreover, the rare power of +winning the regard and affection, as well as the respect, of those +about him in such a marked degree that those who have served him once +would go far to serve him again. Sir T. Shepstone, however, has enemies +like other people, and is commonly reported among them to be a disciple +of Machiavelli, and to have his mind steeped in all the darker wiles of +Kafir policy. The Annexation of the Transvaal is by them attributed to +a successful and vigorous use of those arts that distinguished the +diplomacy of two centuries ago. Falsehood and bribery are supposed to +have been the great levers used to effect the change, together with +threats of extinction at the hands of a savage and unfriendly nation. + +That the Annexation was a triumph of mind over matter is quite true, +but whether or no that triumph was unworthily obtained, I will leave +those who read this short chronicle of the events connected with it to +judge. I saw it somewhat darkly remarked in a newspaper the other day +that the history of the Annexation had evidently yet to be written; and +I fear that the remark represents the feeling of most people about that +event, implying as it did that it was carried out by means certainly +mysteriously and presumably doubtful. I am afraid that those who think +thus will be disappointed in what I have to say about the matter, since +I know that the means employed to bring the Boers-- + + "Fracti bello, fatisque repulsi"-- + +under Her Majesty's authority were throughout as fair and honest as the +Annexation itself was, in my opinion, right and necessary. + +To return to Sir T. Shepstone. He undoubtedly had faults as a ruler, +one of the most prominent of which was that his natural mildness of +character would never allow him to act with severity even when severity +was necessary. The very criminals condemned to death ran a good chance +of reprieve when he had to sign their death-warrants. He has also that +worst of faults (so-called), in one fitted by nature to become +great--want of ambition, a failing that in such a man marks him the +possessor of an even and a philosophic mind. It was no seeking of his +own that raised him out of obscurity, and when his work was done to +comparative obscurity he elected to return, though whether a man of his +ability and experience in South African affairs should, at the present +crisis, be allowed to remain there, is another question. + +On the 20th December 1876, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, +informing him of his approaching visit to the Transvaal, to secure, if +possible, the adjustment of existing troubles, and the adoption of such +measures as might be best calculated to prevent their recurrence in the +future. + +On his road to Pretoria, Sir Theophilus received a hearty welcome from +the Boer as well as the English inhabitants of the country. One of +these addresses to him says: "Be assured, high honourable Sir, that we +burghers, now assembled together, entertain the most friendly feeling +towards your Government, and that we shall agree with anything you may +do in conjunction with our Government for the progress of our State, +the strengthening against our native enemies, and for the general +welfare of all the inhabitants of the whole of South Africa. Welcome in +Heidelberg, and welcome in the Transvaal." + +At Pretoria the reception of the Special Commissioner was positively +enthusiastic; the whole town came out to meet him, and the horses +having been taken out of the carriage, he was dragged in triumph +through the streets. In his reply to the address presented to him, Sir +Theophilus shadowed forth the objects of his mission in these words: +"Recent events in this country have shown to all thinking men the +absolute necessity for closer union and more oneness of purpose among +the Christian Governments of the southern portion of this continent: +the best interests of the native races, no less than the peace and +prosperity of the white, imperatively demand it, and I rely upon you +and upon your Government to co-operate with me in endeavouring to +achieve the great and glorious end of inscribing on a general South +African banner the appropriate motto--"Eendragt maakt magt" (Unity +makes strength)." + +A few days after his arrival a commission was appointed, consisting of +Messrs. Henderson and Osborn, on behalf of the Special Commissioner, +and Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen, on behalf of the Transvaal Government, +to discuss the state of the country. This commission came to nothing, +and was on both sides nothing more than a bit of by-play. + +The arrival of the mission was necessarily regarded with mixed feelings +by the inhabitants of the Transvaal. By one party it was eagerly +greeted, viz., the English section of the population, who devoutly +hoped that it had come to annex the country. With the exception of the +Hollander element, the officials also were glad of its arrival, and +secretly hoped that the country would be taken over, when there would +be more chance of their getting their arrear pay. The better educated +Boers also were for the most part satisfied that there was no hope for +the country unless England helped it in some way, though they did not +like having to accept the help. But the more bigoted and narrow-minded +among them were undoubtedly opposed to English interference, and under +their leader, Paul Kruger, who was at the time running for the +President's chair, did their best to be rid of it. They found ready +allies in the Hollander clientelle, with which Mr. Burgers had +surrounded himself, headed by the famous Dr. Jorissen, who was, like +most of the rulers of this singular State, an ex-clergyman, but now an +Attorney-general, not learned in the law. These men were for the most +part entirely unfit for the positions they held, and feared that in the +event of the country changing hands they might be ejected from them; +and also, they did all Englishmen the favour to regard them with that +peculiarly virulent and general hatred which is a part of the secret +creed of many foreigners, more especially of such as are under our +protection. As may easily be imagined, what between all these different +parties and the presence of the Special Commissioner, there were +certainly plenty of intrigues going on in Pretoria during the first few +months of 1877, and the political excitement was very great. Nobody +knew how far Sir T. Shepstone was prepared to go, and everybody was +afraid of putting out his hand further than he could pull it back, and +trying to make himself comfortable on two stools at once. Members of +the Volksraad and other prominent individuals in the country who had +during the day been denouncing the Commissioner in no measured terms, +and even proposing that he and his staff should be shot as a warning to +the English Government, might be seen arriving at his house under cover +of the shades of evening, to have a little talk with him, and express +the earnest hope that it was his intention to annex the country as soon +as possible. It is necessary to assist at a peaceable annexation to +learn the depth of meanness human nature is capable of. + +In Pretoria, at any rate, the ladies were of great service to the cause +of the mission, since they were nearly all in favour of a change of +government, and, that being the case, they naturally soon brought their +husbands, brothers, and lovers to look at things from the same point of +view. It was a wise man who said that in any matter where it is +necessary to obtain the goodwill of a population you should win over +the women; that done, you need not trouble yourself about the men. + +Though the country was thus overflowing with political intrigues, +nothing of the kind went on in the Commissioner's camp. It was not he +who made the plots to catch the Transvaalers; on the contrary, they +made the plots to catch him. For several months all that he did was to +sit still and let the rival passions work their way, fighting what the +Zulus afterwards called the "fight of sit down." When anybody came to +see him he was very glad to meet them, pointed out the desperate +condition of the country, and asked them if they could suggest a +remedy. And that was about all he did do, beyond informing himself very +carefully as to all that was going on in the country, and the movements +of the natives within and outside its borders. There was no money spent +in bribery, as has been stated, though it is impossible to imagine a +state of affairs in which it would have been more easy to bribe, or in +which it could have been done with greater effect; unless indeed the +promise that some pension should be paid to President Burgers can be +called a bribe, which it was certainly never intended to be, but simply +a guarantee that after having spent all his private means on behalf of +the State he should not be left destitute. The statement that the +Annexation was effected under a threat that if the Government did not +give its consent Sir T. Shepstone would let loose the Zulus on the +country is also a wicked and malicious invention, but with this I shall +deal more at length further on. + +It must not, however, be understood that the Annexation was a foregone +conclusion, or that Sir T. Shepstone came up to the Transvaal with the +fixed intention of annexing the country without reference to its +position, merely with a view of extending British influence, or, as has +been absurdly stated, in order to benefit Natal. He had no fixed +purpose, whether it were necessary or no, of exercising the full powers +given to him by his commission; on the contrary, he was all along most +anxious to find some internal resources within the State by means of +which Annexation could be averted, and of this fact his various letters +and despatches give full proof. Thus, in his letter to President +Burgers, of the 9th April 1877, in which he announces his intention of +annexing the country, he says: "I have more than once assured your +Honour that if I could think of any plan by which the independence of +the State could be maintained by its own internal resources I would +most certainly not conceal that plan from you." It is also incidentally +remarkably confirmed by a passage in Mr. Burgers' posthumous defence, +in which he says: "Hence I met Shepstone alone in my house, and opened +up the subject of his mission. With a candour that astonished me, he +avowed that his purpose was to annex the country, as he had sufficient +grounds for it, unless I could so alter as to satisfy his Government. +My plan of a new constitution, modelled after that of America, of a +standing police force of two hundred mounted men, was then proposed. He +promised to give me time to call the Volksraad together, and to +_abandon his design_ if the Volksraad would adopt these measures, +and the country be willing to submit to them, and to carry them out." +Further on he says: "In justice to Shepstone I must say that I would +not consider an officer of my Government to have acted faithfully if he +had not done what Shepstone did." + +It has also been frequently alleged in England, and always seems to be +taken as the groundwork of argument in the matter of the Annexation, +that the Special Commissioner represented that the majority of the +inhabitants wished for the Annexation, and that it was sanctioned on +that ground. This statement shows the great ignorance that exists in +this country of South African affairs, an ignorance which in this case +has been carefully fostered by Mr. Gladstone's Government for party +purposes, they having found it necessary to assume, in order to make +their position in the matter tenable, that Sir T. Shepstone and other +officers had been guilty of misrepresentation. Unfortunately, the +Government and its supporters have been more intent upon making out +their case than upon ascertaining the truth of their statements. If +they had taken the trouble to refer to Sir T. Shepstone's despatches, +they would have found that the ground on which the Transvaal was +annexed was, not because the majority of the inhabitants wished for it +but because the State was drifting into anarchy, was bankrupt, and was +about to be destroyed by native tribes. They would further have found +that Sir T. Shepstone never represented that the majority of the Boers +were in favour of Annexation. What he did say was that most thinking +men in the country saw no other way out of the difficulty; but what +proportion of the Boers can be called "thinking men?" He also said, in +the fifteenth paragraph of his despatch to Lord Carnarvon of 6th March +1877, that petitions signed by 2500 people, representing every class of +the community, out of a total adult male population of 8000, had been +presented to the Government of the Republic, setting forth its +difficulties and dangers, and praying it "to treat with me for their +amelioration or removal." He also stated, and with perfect truth, that +many more would have signed had it not been for the terrorism that was +exercised, and that all the towns and villages in the country desired +the change, which was a patent fact. + +This is the foundation on which the charge of misrepresentation is +built--a charge which has been manipulated so skilfully, and with such +a charming disregard for the truth, that the British public has been +duped into believing it. When it is examined into, it vanishes into +thin air. + +But a darker charge has been brought against the Special Commissioner--a +charge affecting his honour as a gentleman and his character as a +Christian; and, strange to say, has gained a considerable credence, +especially amongst a certain party in England. I allude to the +statement that he called up the Zulu army with the intention of +sweeping the Transvaal if the Annexation was objected to. I may state, +from my own personal knowledge, that the report is a complete +falsehood, and that no such threat was ever made, either by Sir T. +Shepstone or by anybody connected with him, and I will briefly prove +what I say. + +When the mission first arrived at Pretoria, a message came from +Cetywayo to the effect that he had heard that the Boers had fired at +"Sompseu" (Sir T. Shepstone), and announcing his intention of attacking +the Transvaal if "his father" was touched. About the middle of March +alarming rumours began to spread as to the intended action of Cetywayo +with reference to the Transvaal; but as Sir T. Shepstone did not think +that the king would be likely to make any hostile movement whilst he +was in the country, he took no steps in the matter. Neither did the +Transvaal Government ask his advice and assistance. Indeed, a +remarkable trait in the Boers is their supreme self-conceit, which +makes them believe that they are capable of subduing all the natives in +Africa, and of thrashing the whole British army if necessary. +Unfortunately, the recent course of events has tended to confirm them +in their opinion as regards their white enemies. To return: towards the +second week in April, or the week before the proclamation of Annexation +was issued, things began to look very serious; indeed, rumours that +could hardly be discredited reached the Special Commissioner that the +whole Zulu army was collected in a chain of Impis or battalions, with +the intention of bursting into the Transvaal and sweeping the country. +Knowing how terrible would be the catastrophe if this were to happen, +Sir T. Shepstone was much alarmed about the matter, and at a meeting +with the Executive Council of the Transvaal Government he pointed out +to them the great danger in which the country was placed. This was done +in the presence of several officers of his staff, and it was on this +friendly exposition of the state of affairs that the charge that he had +threatened the country with invasion by the Zulus was based. On the +11th April, or the day before the Annexation, a message was despatched +to Cetywayo, telling him of the reports that had reached Pretoria, and +stating that if they were true he must forthwith give up all such +intentions, as the Transvaal would at once be placed under the +sovereignty of Her Majesty, and that if he had assembled any armies for +purposes of aggression they must be disbanded at once. Sir T. +Shepstone's message reached Zululand not a day too soon. Had the +Annexation of the Transvaal been delayed by a few weeks even--and this +is a point which I earnestly beg Englishmen to remember in connection +with that act--Cetywayo's armies would have entered the Transvaal, +carrying death before them, and leaving a wilderness behind them. + +Cetywayo's answer to the Special Commissioner's message will +sufficiently show, to use Sir Theophilus' own words in his despatch on +the subject, "the pinnacle of peril which the Republic and South Africa +generally had reached at the moment when the Annexation took place." He +says, "I thank my Father Sompseu (Sir T. Shepstone) for his message. I +am glad that he has sent it, because the Dutch have tired me out, and I +intended to fight them once and once only, and to drive them over the +Vaal. Kabana (name of messenger), you see my Impis (armies) are +gathered. It was to fight the Dutch I called them together; now I will +send them back to their homes. Is it well that two men ('amadoda-amabili') +should be made 'iziula' (fools)? In the reign of my father Umpanda the +Boers were constantly moving their boundary further into my country. +Since his death the same thing has been done. I had therefore +determined to end it once for all!" The message then goes on to other +matters, and ends with a request to be allowed to fight the Amaswazi, +because "they fight together and kill one another. This," says Cetywayo +naively, "is wrong, and I want to chastise them for it." + +This quotation will suffice to convince all reasonable men, putting +aside all other matters, from what imminent danger the Transvaal was +delivered by the much-abused Annexation. + +Some months after that event, however, it occurred to the ingenious +mind of some malicious individual in Natal that, properly used, much +political capital might be made out of this Zulu incident, and the +story that Cetywayo's army had been called up by Sir Theophilus himself +to overawe, and, if necessary, subdue the Transvaal, was accordingly +invented and industriously circulated. Although Sir T. Shepstone at +once caused it to be authoritatively contradicted, such an astonishing +slander naturally took firm root, and on the 12th April 1879 we have +Mr. M. W. Pretorius, one of the Boer leaders, publicly stating at a +meeting of the farmers that "previous to the Annexation Sir T. +Shepstone had threatened the Transvaal with an attack from the Zulus as +an argument for advancing the Annexation." Under such an imputation the +Government could no longer keep silence, and accordingly Sir Owen +Lanyon, who was then Administrator of the Transvaal, caused the matter +to be officially investigated, with these results, which are summed up +by him in a letter to Mr. Pretorius, dated 1st May 1879:-- + +1. The records of the Republican Executive Council contained no +allusion to any such statement. + +2. Two members of that Council filed statements in which they +unreservedly denied that Sir T. Shepstone used the words or threats +imputed to him. + +3. Two officers of Sir T. Shepstone's staff, who were always present +with him at interviews with the Executive Council, filed statements to +the same effect. + +"I have no doubt," adds Sir Owen Lanyon, "that the report has been +originated and circulated by some evil-disposed person." + +In addition to this evidence we have a letter written to the Colonial +Office by Sir T. Shepstone, dated London, August 12, 1879, in which he +points out that Mr. Pretorius was not even present at any of the +interviews with the Executive Council on which occasion he accuses him +of having made use of the threats. He further shows that the use of +such a threat on his part would have, been the depth of folly, and +"knowingly to court the instant and ignominious failure of my mission," +because the Boers were so persuaded of their own prowess that they +could not be convinced that they stood in any danger from native +sources, and also because "such play with such keen-edged tools as the +excited passions of savages are, and especially such savages as I knew +the Zulus to be, is not what an experience of forty-two years in +managing them inclined me to." And yet, in the face of all this +accumulated evidence, this report continues to be believed, that is, by +those who wished to believe it. + +Such are the accusations that have been brought against the manner of +the Annexation and the officer who carried it out, and never were +accusations more groundless. Indeed, both for party purposes, and from +personal animus, every means, fair or foul, has been used to discredit +it and all connected with it. To take a single instance, one author +(Miss Colenso, p. 134, "History of the Zulu War") actually goes the +length of putting a portion of a speech made by President Burgers into +the mouth of Sir T. Shepstone, and then abusing him for his incredible +profanity. Surely this exceeds the limits of fair criticism. + +Before I go on to the actual history of the Annexation there is one +point I wish to submit to my reader. In England the change of +Government has always been talked of as though it only affected the +forty thousand white inhabitants of the country, whilst everybody seems +to forget that this same land had about a million human beings living +on it, its original owners, and only, unfortunately for themselves, +possessing a black skin, and therefore entitled to little +consideration,--even at the hands of the most philanthropic Government +in the world. It never seems to have occurred to those who have raised +so much outcry on behalf of the forty thousand Boers, to inquire what +was thought of the matter by the million natives. If they were to be +allowed a voice in their own disposal, the country was certainly +annexed by the wish of a very large majority of the inhabitants. It is +true that Secocoeni, instigated thereto by the Boers, afterwards +continued the war against us, but, with the exception of this one +chief, the advent of our rule was hailed with joy by every native in +the Transvaal, and even he was glad of it at the time. During our +period of rule in the Transvaal the natives have had, as they foresaw, +more peace than at any time since the white man set foot in the land. +They have paid their taxes gladly, and there has been no fighting among +themselves; but since we have given up the country we hear a very +different tale. It is this million of men, women, and children who, +notwithstanding their black skins, live and feel, and have intelligence +as much as ourselves, who are the principal, because the most numerous +sufferers from Mr. Gladstone's conjuring tricks, that can turn a +Sovereign into a Suzerain as airily as the professor of magic brings a +litter of guinea-pigs out of a top hat. It is our falsehood and +treachery to them whom we took over "for ever," as we told them, and +whom we have now handed back to their natural enemies to be paid off +for their loyalty to the Englishman, that is the blackest stain in all +this black business, and that has destroyed our prestige, and caused us +to be looked on amongst them, for they do not hide their opinion, as +"cowards and liars." + +But very little attention, however, seems to have been paid to native +views or claims at any time in the Transvaal; indeed they have all +along been treated as serfs of the soil, to be sold with it, if +necessary, to a new master. It is true that the Government, acting +under pressure from the Aborigines Protection Society, made, on the +occasion of the Surrender, a feeble effort to secure the independence +of some of the native tribes; but when the Boer leaders told them +shortly that they would have nothing of the sort, and that, if they +were not careful, they would reoccupy Laing's Nek, the proposal was at +once dropped, with many assurances that no offence was intended. The +worst of the matter is that this treatment of our native subjects and +allies will assuredly recoil on the heads of future innocent +Governments. + +Shortly after the appointment of the Joint-Commission alluded to at the +beginning of this chapter, President Burgers, who was now in possession +of the Special Commissioner's intentions, should he be unable to carry +out reforms sufficiently drastic to satisfy the English Government, +thought it best to call together the Volksraad. In the meantime, it had +been announced that the "rebel" Secocoeni had sued for peace and +signed a treaty declaring himself a subject of the Republic. I shall +have to enter into the question of this treaty a little further on, so +I will at present only say that it was the first business laid before +the Raad, and, after some discussion, ratified. Next in order to the +Secocoeni peace came the question of Confederation, as laid down in +Lord Carnarvon's Permissive Bill. This proposal was laid before them in +an earnest and eloquent speech by their President, who entreated them +to consider the dangerous position of the Republic, and to face their +difficulties like men. The question was referred to a committee, and an +adverse report being brought up, was rejected without further +consideration. It is just possible that intimidation had something to +do with the summary treatment of so important a matter, seeing that +whilst it was being argued a large mob of Boers, looking very +formidable with their sea-cow hide whips, watched every move of their +representatives through the windows of the Volksraad Hall. It was Mr. +Chamberlain's caucus system in practical and visible operation. + +A few days after the rejection of the Confederation Bill, President +Burgers, who had frequently alluded to the desperate condition of the +Republic, and stated that either some radical reform must be effected +or the country must come under the British flag, laid before the Raad a +brand new constitution of a very remarkable nature, asserting that they +must either accept it or lose their independence. + +The first part of this strange document dealt with the people and their +rights, which remained much as they were before, with the exception +that the secrecy of all letters entrusted to the post was to be +inviolable. The recognition of this right is an amusing incident in the +history of a free Republic. Under following articles the Volksraad was +entrusted with the charge of the native inhabitants of the State, the +provision for the administration of justice, the conduct of education, +the regulation of money-bills, &c. It is in the fourth chapter, +however, that we come to the real gist of the Bill, which was the +endowment of the State President with the authority of a dictator. Mr. +Burgers thought to save the State by making himself an absolute +monarch. He was to be elected for a period of seven instead of five +years, and to be eligible for re-election. In him was vested the power +of making all appointments without reference to the Legislature. All +laws were to be drawn up by him, and he was to have the right of veto +on Volksraad resolutions, which body he could summon and dissolve at +will. Finally, his Executive Council was to consist of heads of +departments appointed by himself, and of one member of the Volksraad. +The Volksraad treated this Bill in much the same way as they had dealt +with the Permissive Confederation Bill, gave it a casual consideration, +and threw it out. + +The President, meanwhile, was doing his best to convince the Raad of +the danger of the country; that the treasury was empty, whilst duns +were pressing, that enemies were threatening on every side, and, +finally, that Her Majesty's Special Commissioner was encamped within a +thousand yards of them, watching their deliberations with some +interest. He showed them that it was impossible at once to scorn reform +and reject friendly offers, that it was doubtful if anything could save +them, but that if they took no steps they were certainly lost as a +nation. The "Fathers of the land," however, declined to dance to the +President's piping. Then he took a bolder line. He told them that a +guilty nation never can evade the judgment that follows its steps. He +asked them "conscientiously to advise the people not obstinately to +refuse a union with a powerful Government. He could not advise them to +refuse such a union.... He did not believe that a new constitution +would save them; for as little as the old constitution had brought them +to ruin, so little would a new constitution bring salvation.... If the +citizens of England had behaved towards the Crown as the burghers of +this State had behaved to their Government, England would never have +stood so long as she had." He pointed out to them their hopeless +financial position. "To-day," he said, "a bill for L1100 was laid +before me for signature; but I would sooner have cut off my right hand +than sign that paper--(cheers)--for I have not the slightest ground +to expect that, when that bill becomes due, there will be a penny to +pay it with." And finally, he exhorted them thus: "Let them make the +best of the situation, and get the best terms they possibly could; +let them agree to join their hands to those of their brethren in the +south, and then from the Cape to the Zambesi there would be one great +people. Yes, there was something grand in that, grander even than +their idea of a Republic, something which ministered to their national +feeling--(cheers)--and would this be so miserable? Yes, this would be +miserable for those who would not be under the law, for the rebel and +the revolutionist, but welfare and prosperity for the men of law and +order." + +These powerful words form a strong indictment against the Republic, and +from them there can be little doubt that President Burgers was +thoroughly convinced of the necessity and wisdom of the Annexation. It +is interesting to compare them, and many other utterances of his made +at this period, with the opinions he expresses in the posthumous +document recently published, in which he speaks somewhat jubilantly of +the lessons taught us on Laing's Nek and Majuba by such "an inherently +weak people as the Boers," and points to them as striking instances of +retribution. In this document he attributes the Annexation to the +desire to advance English supremacy in South Africa, and to lay hold of +the way to Central South Africa. It is, however, noticeable that he +does not in any way indicate how it could have been averted, and the +State continue to exist; and he seems all along to feel that his case +is a weak one, for in explaining, or attempting to explain, why he had +never defended himself from the charges brought against him in +connection with the Annexation, he says: "Had I not endured in silence, +had I not borne patiently all the accusations, but out of selfishness +or fear told the plain truth of the case, the Transvaal would never +have had the consideration it has now received from Great Britain. +However unjust the Annexation was, my self-justification would have +_exposed the Boers to such an extent_, and the state of the country in +such a way, that it would have deprived them both of the sympathy of +the world and the consideration of the English politicians." In other +words, "If I had told the truth about things as I should have been +obliged to do to justify myself, there would have been no more outcry +about the Annexation, because the whole world, even the English +Radicals, would have recognised how necessary it was, and what a +fearful state the country was in." + +But to let that pass, it is evident that President Burgers did not take +the same view of the Annexation in 1877 as he did in 1881, and indeed +his speeches to the Volksraad would read rather oddly printed in +parallel columns with his posthumous statement. The reader would be +forced to one of two conclusions, either on one of the two occasions he +is saying what he does not mean, or he must have changed his mind. As I +believe him to have been an honest man, I incline to the latter +supposition; nor do I consider it so very hard to account for, taking +into consideration his natural Dutch proclivities. In 1877 Burgers is +the despairing head of a State driving rapidly to ruin, if not to +actual extinction, when the strong hand of the English Government is +held out to him. What wonder that he accepts it gladly on behalf of his +country, which is by its help brought into a state of greater +prosperity than it has ever before known? In 1881 the wheel has gone +round, and great events have come about whilst he lies dying. The +enemies of the Boers have been destroyed, the powers of the Zulus and +Secocoeni are no more; the country has prospered under a healthy +rule, and its finances have been restored. More,--glad tidings have +come from Mid-Lothian to the "rebel and the revolutionist," whose hopes +were flagging, and eloquent words have been spoken by the new English +Dictator that have aroused a great rebellion. And, to crown all, +English troops have suffered one massacre and three defeats, and +England sues for peace from the South African peasant, heedless of +honour or her broken word, so that the prayer be granted. With such +events before him, that dying man may well have found cause to change +his opinion. Doubtless the Annexation was wrong, since England disowns +her acts; and may not that dream about the great South African Republic +come true after all? Has not the pre-eminence of the Englishman +received a blow from which it can never recover, and is not his +control over Boers and natives irredeemably weakened? And must +he,--Burgers,--go down to posterity as a Dutchman who tried to forward +the interests of the English party? No, doubtless the Annexation was +wrong; but it has done good, for it has brought about the downfall of +the English: and we will end the argument in the very words of his last +public utterance, with which he ends his statement: "South Africa +gained more from this, and has made a larger step forward in the march +of freedom, than most people can conceive." + +Who shall say that he is wrong? the words of dying men are sometimes +prophetic! South Africa has made a great advance towards the "freedom" +of a Dutch Republic. + +This has been a digression, but I hope not an uninteresting one. To +return--on the 1st March, Sir T. Shepstone met the Executive Council, +and told them that in his opinion there was now but one remedy to be +adopted, and that was that the Transvaal should be united with the +English colonies of South Africa under one head, namely the Queen, +saying at the same time that the only thing now left to the Republic +was to make the best arrangements it could for the future benefit of +its inhabitants, and to submit to that which he saw to be, and every +thinking man saw to be, inevitable. So soon as this information was +officially communicated to the Raad, for a good proportion of its +members were already acquainted with it unofficially, it flew from a +state of listless indifference into vigorous and hasty action. The +President was censured, and a committee was appointed to consider and +report upon the situation, which reported in favour of the adoption of +Burgers' new constitution. Accordingly, the greatest part of this +measure, which had been contemptuously rejected a few days before, was +adopted almost without question, and Mr. Paul Kruger was appointed +Vice-President. On the following day, a very drastic treason law was +passed, borrowed from the statute-book of the Orange Free State, which +made all public expression of opinion, if adverse to the Government, or +in any way supporting the Annexation party, high treason. This done, +the Assembly prorogued itself until--October 1881. + +During and after the sitting of the Raad, rumours arose that the chief +Secocoeni's signature to the treaty of peace, ratified by that body, +had been obtained by misrepresentation. As ratified, this treaty +consisted of three articles, according to which Secocoeni consented, +first, to become a subject of the Republic, and obey the laws of the +country; secondly, to agree to a certain restricted boundary line; and, +thirdly, to pay 2000 head of cattle; which, considering he had captured +quite 5000 head, was not exorbitant. + +Towards the end of February a written message was received from +Secocoeni by Sir T. Shepstone, dated after the signing of the +supposed treaty. The original, which was written in Sisutu, was a great +curiosity. The following is a correct translation:-- + + "_February 16, 1877._ + + "FOR MYN HEER SHEPSTONE,--I beg you, Chief, come help me, the Boers + are killing me, and I don't know the reasons why they should be + angry with me; Chief, I beg you come with Myn Heer Merensky.--I am + SIKUKUNI." + +This message was accompanied by a letter from Mr. Merensky, a +well-known and successful missionary, who had been for many years +resident in Secocoeni's country, in which he stated that he heard on +very good authority that Secocoeni had distinctly refused to agree to +that article of the treaty by which he became a subject of the State. +He adds that he cannot remain "silent while such tricks are played." + +Upon this information, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, +stating that "if the officer in whom you have placed confidence has +withheld any portion of the truth from you, especially so serious a +portion of it, he is guilty of a wrong towards you personally, as well +as towards the Government, because he has caused you to assume an +untenable position," and suggesting that a joint-commission should be +despatched to Secocoeni, to thoroughly sift the question in the +interest of all concerned. This suggestion was after some delay agreed +to, and a commission was appointed, consisting of Mr. Van Gorkom, a +Hollander, and Mr. Holtshausen, a member of the Executive Council, on +behalf of the Transvaal Government, and Mr. Osborn, R.M., and Captain +Clarke, R.A.,[7] on behalf of the Commissioner, whom I accompanied as +Secretary. + + [7] Now Sir Marshall Clarke, Special Commissioner for + Basutoland. + +At Middleburg the native Gideon who acted as interpreter between +Commandant Ferreira, C.M.G. (the officer who negotiated the treaty on +behalf of the Boer Government), and Secocoeni was examined, and also +two natives, Petros and Jeremiah, who were with him, but did not +actually interpret. All these men persisted that Secocoeni had +positively refused to become a subject of the Republic, and only +consented to sign the treaty on the representations of Commandant +Ferreira that it would only be binding as regards to the two articles +about the cattle and the boundary line. + +The Commission then proceeded to Secocoeni's town, accompanied by a +fresh set of interpreters, and had a long interview with Secocoeni. +The chiefs Prime Minister or "mouth," Makurupiji, speaking in his +presence and on his behalf, and making use of the pronoun "I" before +all the assembled headmen of the tribe, gave an account of the +interview between Commandant Ferreira in the presence of that +gentleman, who accompanied the Commission, and Secocoeni, in almost +the same words as had been used by the interpreters at Middleburg. He +distinctly denied having consented to become a subject of the Republic +or to stand under the law, and added that he feared he "had touched the +feather to" (signed) things that he did not know of in the treaty. +Commandant Ferreira then put some questions, but entirely failed to +shake the evidence; on the contrary, he admitted by his questions that +Secocoeni had not consented to become a subject of the Republic. +Secocoeni had evidently signed the piece of paper under the +impression that he was acknowledging his liability to pay 2000 head of +cattle, and fixing a certain portion of his boundary line, and on the +distinct understanding that he was not to become a subject of the +State. + +Now it was the Secocoeni war that had brought the English Mission +into the country, and if it could be shown that the Secocoeni war had +come to a successful termination, it would go far towards helping the +Mission out again. To this end, it was necessary that the chief should +declare himself a subject of the State, and thereby, by implication, +acknowledge himself to have been a rebel, and admit his defeat. All +that was required was a signature, and that once obtained the treaty +was published and submitted to the Raad for confirmation, without a +whisper being heard of the conditions under which this ignorant Basuto +was induced to sign. Had no Commission visited Secocoeni, this treaty +would afterwards have been produced against him in its entirety. +Altogether, the history of the Secocoeni Peace Treaty does not +reassure one as to the genuineness of the treaties which the Boers are +continually producing, purporting to have been signed by native chiefs, +and, as a general rule, presenting the State with great tracts of +country in exchange for a horse or a few oxen. However fond the natives +may be of their Boer neighbours, such liberality can scarcely be +genuine. On the other hand, it is so easy to induce a savage to sign a +paper, or even, if he is reticent, to make a cross for him, and once +made, as we all know, _litera scripta manet_, and becomes title to +the lands. + +During the Secocoeni investigation, affairs in the Transvaal were +steadily drifting towards anarchy. The air was filled with rumours; now +it was reported that an outbreak was imminent amongst the English +population at the Gold Fields, who had never forgotten Von +Schlickmann's kind suggestion that they should be "subdued;" now it was +said that Cetywayo had crossed the border, and might shortly be +expected at Pretoria; now that a large body of Boers were on their road +to shoot the Special Commissioner, his twenty-five policemen, and +Englishmen generally, and so on. + +Meanwhile, Paul Kruger and his party were not letting the grass grow +under their feet, but worked public feeling with great vigour, with the +double object of getting Paul made President and ridding themselves of +the English. Articles in his support were printed in the well-known +Dutch paper _Die Patriot_, published in the Cape Colony, which are +so typical of the Boers and of the only literature that has the +slightest influence over them, that I will quote a few extracts from +one of them. + +After drawing a very vivid picture of the wretched condition of the +country as compared to what it was when the Kafirs had "a proper +respect" for the Boers, before Burgers came into power, the article +proceeds to give the cause of this state of affairs. "God's word," it +says, "gives us the solution. Look at Israel, while the people have a +godly king, everything is prosperous, but under a godless prince the +land retrogrades, and the whole of the people must suffer. Read +Leviticus, chapter xxvi., with attention, &c. In the day of the +Voortrekkers (pioneers), a handful of men chased a thousand Kafirs and +made them run; so also in the Free State war (Deut. xxxii. 30; Jos. +xxiii. 10; Lev. xxvi. 8). But mark, now, when Burgers became President, +he knows no Sabbath, he rides through the land in and out of town on +Sunday, he knows not the church and God's service (Lev. xxvi. 2, 3), to +the scandal of pious people. And he formerly was a priest too. And what +is the consequence? No harvest (Lev. xxvi. 16), an army of 6000 men +runs because one man falls (Lev. xxvi 17, &c.). What is now the +remedy?" The remedy proves to be Paul Kruger, "because there is no +other candidate. Because our Lord clearly points him out to be the man, +for why is there no other candidate? Who arranged it this way?" Then +follows a rather odd argument in favour of Paul's election. "Because he +himself (Paul Kruger) acknowledges in his own reply that he is +_incompetent_, but that all his ability is from our Lord. Because +he is a warrior. Because he is a Boer." Then Paul Kruger, the warrior +and the Boer, is compared to Joan of Arc, "a simple Boer girl who came +from behind the sheep." The burghers of the Transvaal are exhorted to +acknowledge the hand of the Lord, and elect Paul Kruger, or to look for +still heavier punishment. (Lev. xxvi. 18 _et seq._) Next the _Patriot_ +proceeds to give a bit of advice to "our candidate, Paul Kruger." He is +to deliver the land from the Kafirs. "The Lord has given you the heart +of a warrior, arise and drive them," a bit of advice quite suited to +his well-known character. But this chosen vessel was not to get all the +loaves and fishes; on the contrary, as soon as he had fulfilled his +mission of "driving" the Kafirs, he was to hand over his office to a +"good" President. The article ends thus: "If the Lord wills to use you +now to deliver this land from its enemies, and a day of peace and +prosperity arises again, and you see that you are not exactly the +statesman to further govern the Republic, then it will be your greatest +honour to say, 'Citizens, I have delivered you from the enemy, I am no +statesman, but now you have peace and time to choose and elect a _good_ +President.'" + +An article such as the above, is instructive reading, as showing the +low calibre of the minds that are influenced by it. Yet such writings +and sermons have more power among the Boers than any other arguments, +appealing as they do to the fanaticism and vanity of their nature, +which causes them to believe that the Divinity is continually +interfering on their behalf at the cost of other people. It will be +noticed that the references given are all to the Old Testament, and +nearly all refer to acts of blood. + +These doctrines were not, however, at all acceptable to Burgers' party, +or the more enlightened members of the community, and so bitter did the +struggle of rival opinions become that there is very little doubt that +had the country not been annexed, civil war would have been added to +its other calamities. Meanwhile the natives were from day to day +becoming more restless, and messengers were constantly arriving at the +Special Commissioner's camp, begging that their tribe might be put +under the Queen, and stating that they would fight rather than submit +any longer to the Boers. + +At length on the 9th April, Sir T. Shepstone informed the Government of +the Republic that he was about to declare the Transvaal British +territory. He told them that he had considered and reconsidered his +determination, but that he could see no possible means within the State +by which it could free itself from the burdens that were sinking it to +destruction, adding that if he could have found such means he would +certainly not have hidden them from the Government. This intimation was +received in silence, though all the later proceedings with reference to +the Annexation were in reality carried out in concert with the +authorities of the Republic. Thus on the 13th March the Government +submitted a paper of ten questions to Sir T. Shepstone as regards the +future condition of the Transvaal under English rule, whether the debts +of the State would be guaranteed, &c. To these questions replies were +given which were on the whole satisfactory to the Government. As these +replies formed the basis of the proclamation guarantees, it is not +necessary to enter into them. + +It was further arranged by the Republican Government that a formal +protest should be entered against the Annexation, which was accordingly +prepared and privately shown to the Special Commissioner. The +Annexation proclamation was also shown to President Burgers, and a +paragraph eliminated at his suggestion. In fact, the Special +Commissioner and the President, together with most of his Executive, +were quite at one as regards the necessity of the proclamation being +issued, their joint endeavours being directed to the prevention of any +disturbance, and to secure a good reception for the change. + +At length, after three months of inquiry and negotiation, the +proclamation of annexation was on the 12th of April 1877 read by Mr. +Osborn, accompanied by some other gentlemen of Sir T. Shepstone's +staff. It was an anxious moment for all concerned. To use the words of +the Special Commissioner in his despatch home on the subject, "Every +effort had been made during the previous fortnight by, it is said, +educated Hollanders, and who had but lately arrived in the country, to +rouse the fanaticism of the Boers, and to induce them to offer 'bloody' +resistance to what it was known I intended to do. The Boers were +appealed to in the most inflammatory language by printed manifestoes +and memorials; ... it was urged that I had but a small escort, which +could easily be overpowered." In a country so full of desperadoes and +fanatical haters of anything English, it was more than possible that, +though such an act would have been condemned by the general sense of +the country, a number of men could easily be found who would think they +were doing a righteous act in greeting the "annexationists" with an +ovation of bullets. I do not mean that the anxiety was personal, +because I do not think the members of that small party set any higher +value on their lives than other people, but it was absolutely necessary +for the success of the act itself, and for the safety of the country, +that not a single shot should be fired. Had that happened it is +probable that the whole country would have been involved in confusion +and bloodshed, the Zulus would have broken in, and the Kafirs would +have risen; in fact, to use Cetywayo's words, "the land would have +burned with fire." + +It will therefore be easily understood what an anxious hour that was +both for the Special Commissioner sitting up at Government House, and +for his staff down on the Market Square, and how thankful they were +when the proclamation was received with hearty cheers by the crowd. Mr. +Burgers' protest, which was read immediately afterwards, was received +in respectful silence. + +And thus the Transvaal Territory passed for a while into the great +family of the English Colonies. I believe that the greatest political +opponent of the act will bear tribute to the very remarkable ability +with which it was carried out. When the variety and number of the +various interests that had to be conciliated, the obstinate nature of +the individuals who had to be convinced, as well as the innate hatred +of the English name and ways which had to be overcome to carry out this +act successfully, are taken into consideration, together with a +thousand other matters, the neglect of any one of which would have +sufficed to make failure certain, it will be seen what tact and skill +and knowledge of human nature was required to execute so difficult a +task. It must be remembered that no force was used, and that there +never was any threat of force. The few troops that were to enter the +Transvaal were four weeks' march from Pretoria at the time. There was +nothing whatsoever to prevent the Boers putting a summary stop to the +proceedings of the Commissioner if they had thought fit. + +That Sir Theophilus played a bold and hazardous game nobody will deny, +but, like most players who combine boldness with coolness of head and +justice of cause, he won; and, without shedding a single drop of blood, +or even confiscating an acre of land, and at no cost, annexed a great +country, and averted a very serious war. That same country four years +later cost us a million of money, the loss of nearly a thousand men +killed and wounded, and the ruin of many more confiding thousands, to +surrender. It is true, however, that nobody can accuse the retrocession +of having been conducted with judgment or ability--very much the +contrary. + +There can be no more ample justification of the issue of the Annexation +proclamation than the proclamation itself. + +First, it touches on the Sand River Convention of 1852, by which +independence was granted to the State, and shows that the "evident +objects and inciting motives" in granting such guarantee were to +promote peace, free-trade, and friendly intercourse, in the hope and +belief that the Republic "would become a flourishing and +self-sustaining State, a source of strength and security to +neighbouring European communities, and a point from which Christianity +and civilisation might rapidly spread toward Central Africa." It goes +on to show how these hopes have been disappointed, and how that +increasing weakness in the State itself on the one side, and more than +corresponding growth of real strength and confidence among the native +tribes on the other, have produced their natural and inevitable +consequence ... that after more or less of irritating conflict with +aboriginal tribes to the north, there commenced about the year 1867 +gradual abandonment to the natives in that direction of territory +settled by burghers of the Transvaal "in well-built towns and villages +and on granted farms." + +It goes on to show that "this decay of power and ebb of authority in +the north is being followed by similar processes in the south under yet +more dangerous circumstances. People of this State residing in that +direction have been compelled within the last three months, at the +bidding of native chiefs, and at a moment's notice, to leave their +farms and homes, their standing crops ... all to be taken possession of +by natives, but that the Government is more powerless than ever to +vindicate its assumed rights or to resist the declension that is +threatening its existence." It then recites how all the other colonies +and communities of South Africa have lost confidence in the State, how +it is in a condition of hopeless bankruptcy, and its commerce +annihilated, whilst the inhabitants are divided into factions, and the +Government has fallen into "helpless paralysis." How also the prospect +of the election of a new President, instead of being looked forward to +with hope, would in the opinion of all parties be the signal for civil +war, anarchy, and bloodshed. How that this state of things affords the +very strongest temptation to the great neighbouring native powers to +attack the country, a temptation that they were only too ready and +anxious to yield to, and that the State was in far too feeble a +condition to repel such attacks, from which it had hitherto only been +saved by the repeated representations of the Government of Natal. The +next paragraphs I will quote as they stand, for they sum up the reasons +for the Annexation. + +"That the Secocoeni war, which would have produced but little effect +on a healthy constitution, has not only proved suddenly fatal to the +resources and reputation of the Republic, but has shown itself to be a +culminating point in the history of South Africa, in that a Makatee or +Basuto tribe, unwarlike and of no account in Zulu estimation, +successfully withstood the strength of the State, and disclosed for the +first time to the native powers outside the Republic, from the Zambesi +to the Cape, the great change that had taken place in the relative +strength of the white and black races, that this disclosure at once +shook the prestige of the white man in South Africa, and placed every +European community in peril, that this common danger has caused +universal anxiety, has given to all concerned the right to investigate +its cause, and to protect themselves from its consequences, and has +imposed the duty upon those who have the power to shield enfeebled +civilisation from the encroachments of barbarism and inhumanity." It +proceeds to point out that the Transvaal will be the first to suffer +from the results of its own policy, and that it is for every reason +perfectly impossible for Her Majesty's Government to stand by and see a +friendly white State ravaged, knowing that its own possessions will be +the next to suffer. That Her Majesty's Government, being persuaded that +the only means to prevent such a catastrophe would be by the annexation +of the country, and, knowing that this was the wish of a large +proportion of the inhabitants of the Transvaal, the step must be taken. +Next follows the formal annexation. + +Together with the proclamation, an address was issued by Sir T. +Shepstone to the burghers of the State, laying the facts before them in +a friendly manner, more suited to their mode of thought than it was +possible to do in a formal proclamation. This document, the issue of +which was one of those touches that insured the success of the +Annexation, was a powerful summing up in colloquial language of the +arguments used in the proclamation, strengthened by quotations from the +speeches of the President. It ends with these words: "It remains only +for me to beg of you to consider and weigh what I have said calmly and +without undue prejudice. Let not mere feeling or sentiment prevail over +your judgment. Accept what Her Majesty's Government intends shall be, +and what you will soon find from experience, is a blessing not only to +you and your children, but to the whole of South Africa through you, +and believe that I speak these words to you as a friend from my heart." + +Two other proclamations were also issued, one notifying the assumption +of the office of Administrator of the Government by Sir T. Shepstone, +and the other repealing the war-tax, which was doubtless an unequal and +oppressive impost. + +I have in the preceding pages stated all the principal grounds of the +Annexation and briefly sketched the history of that event. In the next +chapter I propose to follow the fortunes of the Transvaal, under +British Rule. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. + + +The news of the Annexation was received all over the country with a +sigh of relief, and in many parts of it with great rejoicings. At the +Gold Fields, for instance, special thanksgiving services were held, and +"God save the Queen" was sung in church. Nowhere was there the +slightest disturbance, but, on the contrary, addresses of +congratulation and thanks literally poured in by every mail, many of +them signed by Boers who have since been conspicuous for their bitter +opposition to English rule. At first, there was some doubt as to what +would be the course taken under the circumstances by the volunteers +enlisted by the late Republic. Major Clarke, R.A., was sent to convey +the news, and to take command of them, unaccompanied save by his Kafir +servant. On arrival at the principal fort, he at once ordered the +Republican flag to be hauled down and the Union Jack run up, and his +orders were promptly obeyed. A few days afterwards some members of the +force thought better of it, and having made up their minds to kill him, +came to the tent where he was sitting to carry out their purpose. On +learning their kind intentions, Major Clarke fixed his eye-glass in his +eye, and after steadily glaring at them through it for some time, said, +"You are all drunk, go back to your tents." The volunteers, quite +overcome by his coolness and the fixity of his gaze, at once slipped +off, and there was no further trouble. About three weeks after the +Annexation, the I-13th Regiment arrived at Pretoria, having been very +well received all along the road by the Boers, who came from miles +round to hear the band play. Its entry into Pretoria was quite a sight; +the whole population turned out to meet it; indeed the feeling of +rejoicing and relief was so profound that when the band began to play +"God save the Queen" some of the women burst into tears. + +Meanwhile the effect of the Annexation on the country was perfectly +magical. Credit and commerce were at once restored; the railway bonds +that were down to nothing in Holland rose with one bound to par, and +the value of landed property nearly doubled. Indeed it would have been +possible for any one, knowing what was going to happen, to have +realised large sums of money by buying land in the beginning of 1877, +and selling it shortly after the Annexation. + +On the 24th May, being Her Majesty's birthday, all the native chiefs +who were anywhere within reach were summoned to attend the first formal +hoisting of the English flag. The day was a general festival, and the +ceremony was attended by a large number of Boers and natives in +addition to all the English. At mid-day, amidst the cheers of the +crowd, the salute of artillery, and the strains of "God save the +Queen," the Union Jack was run up a lofty flagstaff, and the Transvaal +was formally announced to be British soil. The flag was hoisted by +Colonel Brooke, R.E., and the present writer. Speaking for myself, I +may say that it was one of the proudest moments of my life. Could I +have foreseen that I should live to see that same flag, then hoisted +with so much joyous ceremony, within a few years shamefully and +dishonourably hauled down and buried,[8] I think it would have been the +most miserable. + + [8] The English flag was during the signing of the Convention + at Pretoria formally buried by a large crowd of Englishmen + and loyal natives. + +The Annexation was as well received in England as it was in the +Transvaal. Lord Carnarvon wrote to Sir T. Shepstone to convey "the +Queen's entire approval of your conduct since you received Her +Majesty's commission, with a renewal of my own thanks on behalf of the +Government for the admirable prudence and discretion with which you +have discharged a great and unwonted responsibility." It was also +accepted by Parliament with very few dissentient voices, since it was +not till afterwards, when the subject became useful as an +electioneering howl, that the Liberal party, headed by our "powerful +popular minister," discovered the deep iniquity that had been +perpetrated in South Africa. So satisfied were the Transvaal Boers with +the change that Messrs. Kruger, Jorissen, and Bok, who formed the +deputation to proceed to England and present President Burgers' formal +protest against the Annexation, found great difficulty in raising +one-half of the necessary expenses--something under one thousand +pounds--towards the cost of the undertaking. The thirst for +independence cannot have been very great when all the wealthy burghers +in the Transvaal put together would not subscribe a thousand pounds +towards retaining it. Indeed, at this time the members of the +deputation themselves seem to have looked upon their undertaking as +being both doubtful and undesirable, since they informed Sir T. +Shepstone that they were going to Europe to discharge an obligation +which had been imposed upon them, and if the mission failed, they would +have done their duty. Mr. Kruger said that if they did fail, he would +be found to be as faithful a subject under the new form of government +as he had been under the old; and Dr. Jorissen admitted with equal +frankness that "the change was inevitable, and expressed his belief +that the cancellation of it would be calamitous." + +Whilst the Annexation was thus well received in the country immediately +interested, a lively agitation was commenced in the Western Province of +the Cape Colony, a thousand miles away, with a view of inducing the +Home Government to repudiate Sir T. Shepstone's act. The reason of this +movement was that the Cape Dutch party, caring little or nothing for +the real interests of the Transvaal, did care a great deal about their +scheme to turn all the white communities of South Africa into a great +Dutch Republic, to which they thought the Annexation would be a +deathblow. As I have said elsewhere, it must be borne in mind that the +strings of the anti-annexation agitation have all along been pulled in +the Western Province, whilst the Transvaal Boers have played the parts +of puppets. The instruments used by the leaders of the movement in the +Cape were, for the most part, the discontented and unprincipled +Hollander element, a newspaper of an extremely abusive nature called +the _Volkstem_, and another in Natal known as the _Natal Witness_, +lately edited by the notorious Aylward, which has an almost equally +unenviable reputation. + +On the arrival of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger in England, they were +received with great civility by Lord Carnarvon, who was, however, +careful to explain to them that the Annexation was irrevocable. In this +decision they cheerfully acquiesced, assuring his lordship of their +determination to do all they could to induce the Boers to accept the +new state of things, and expressing their desire to be allowed to serve +under the new Government. + +Whilst these gentlemen were thus satisfactorily arranging matters with +Lord Carnarvon, Sir. T. Shepstone was making a tour round the country +which resembled a triumphal progress more than anything else. He was +everywhere greeted with enthusiasm by all classes of the community, +Boers, English, and natives, and numerous addresses were presented to +him couched in the warmest language, not only by Englishmen, but also +by Boers. + +It is very difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm of a great number of +the inhabitants of the Transvaal for English rule, and the quiet +acquiescence of the remainder, at this time, with the decidedly +antagonistic attitude assumed later on. It appears to me, however, that +there are several reasons that go far towards accounting for it. The +Transvaal, when we annexed it, was in the position of a man with a +knife at his throat, who is suddenly rescued by some one stronger than +he, on certain conditions which at the time he gladly accepts, but +afterwards, when the danger is passed, wishes to repudiate. In the same +way the inhabitants of the South African Republic were in the time of +need very thankful for our aid, but after a while, when the +recollection of their difficulties had grown faint, when their debts +had been paid and their enemies defeated, they began to think that they +would like to get rid of us again, and start fresh on their own account +with a clean sheet. What fostered agitation more than anything else, +however, was the perfect impunity with which it was allowed to be +carried on. Had only a little firmness and decision been shown in the +first instance there would have been no further trouble. We might have +been obliged to confiscate half-a-dozen farms, and perhaps imprison as +many free burghers for a few months, and there it would have ended. +Neither Boers or natives understand our namby-pamby way of playing at +government; they put it down to fear. What they want, and what they +expect, is to be governed with a just but a firm hand. Thus when the +Boers found that they could agitate with impunity, they naturally +enough continued to agitate. Anybody who knows them will understand +that it was very pleasant to them to find themselves in possession of +that delightful thing, a grievance, and, instead of stopping quietly at +home on their farms, to feel obliged to proceed, full of importance and +long words, to a distant meeting, there to spout and listen to the +spouting of others. It is so much easier to talk politics than to sow +mealies. Some attribute the discontent among the Boers to the +postponement of the carrying out of the Annexation proclamation +promises with reference to the free institutions to be granted to the +country, but in my opinion it had little or nothing to do with it. The +Boers never understood the question of responsible government, and +never wanted that institution; what they did want was to be free of all +English control, and this they said twenty times in the most outspoken +language. I think there is little doubt the causes I have indicated are +the real sources of the agitation, though there must be added to them +their detestation of our mode of dealing with natives, and of being +forced to pay taxes regularly, and also the ceaseless agitation of the +Cape wire-pullers, through their agents the Hollanders, and their +organs in the press. + +On the return of Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen to the Transvaal, the +latter gentleman resumed his duties as Attorney-General, on which +occasion, if I remember aright, I myself had the honour of +administering to him the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, that he +afterwards kept so well. The former reported the proceedings of the +deputation to a Boer meeting, when he took a very different tone to +that in which he addressed Lord Carnarvon, announcing that if there +existed a majority of the people in favour of independence, he still +was Vice-President of the country. + +Both these gentlemen remained for some time in the pay of the British +Government, Mr. Jorissen as Attorney-General, and Mr. Kruger as member +of the Executive Council. The Government, however, at length found it +desirable to dispense with their services, though on different grounds. +Mr. Jorissen had, like several other members of the Republican +Government, been a clergyman, and was quite unfit to hold the post of +Attorney-General in an important colony like the Transvaal, where legal +questions were constantly arising requiring all the attention of a +trained mind; and after he had on several occasions been publicly +admonished from the bench, the Government retired him on liberal terms. +Needless to say, his opposition to English rule then became very +bitter. Mr. Kruger's appointment expired by law in November 1877, and +the Government did not think it advisable to re-employ him. The terms +of his letter of dismissal can be found on page 135 of Blue-book (c. +144), and involving as they do a serious charge of misrepresentation in +money matters, are not very creditable to him. After this event he also +pursued the cause of independence with increased vigour. + +During the last months of 1877 and the first part of 1878 agitation +against British rule went on unchecked, and at last grew to alarming +proportions, so much so that Sir T. Shepstone, on his return from the +Zulu border in March 1878, where he had been for some months discussing +the vexed and dangerous question of the boundary line with the Zulus, +found it necessary to issue a stringent proclamation warning the +agitators that their proceedings and meetings were illegal, and would +be punished according to law. This document, which was at the time +vulgarly known as the "Hold-your-jaw" proclamation, not being followed +by action, produced but little effect. + +On the 4th April 1878 another Boer meeting was convened, at which it +was decided to send a second deputation to England, to consist this +time of Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, with Mr. Bok as secretary. This +deputation proved as abortive as the first, Sir. M. Hicks Beach +assuring it, in a letter dated 6th August 1878, that it is "impossible, +for many reasons, ... that the Queen's sovereignty should now be +withdrawn." + +Whilst the Government was thus hampered by internal disaffection, it +had also many other difficulties on its hands. First, there was the +Zulu boundary question, which was constantly developing new dangers to +the country. Indeed, it was impossible to say what might happen in that +direction from one week to another. Nor were its relations with +Secocoeni satisfactory. It will be remembered that just before the +Annexation this chief had expressed his earnest wish to become a +British subject, and even paid over part of the fine demanded from him +by the Boer Government to the Civil Commissioner, Major Clarke. In +March 1878, however, his conduct towards the Government underwent a +sudden change, and he practically declared war. It afterwards appeared, +from Secocoeni's own statement, that he was instigated to this step +by a Boer, Abel Erasmus by name--the same man who was concerned in the +atrocities in the first Secocoeni war--who constantly encouraged him +to continue the struggle. I do not propose to minutely follow the +course of this long war, which, commencing in the beginning of 1878, +did not come to an end till after the Zulu war: when Sir Garnet +Wolseley attacked Secocoeni's stronghold with a large force of +troops, volunteers, and Swazi allies, and took it with great slaughter. +The losses on our side were not very heavy, so far as white men were +concerned, but the Swazis are reported to have lost 400 killed and 500 +wounded. + +The struggle was, during the long period preceding the final attack, +carried on with great courage and ability by Major Clarke, R.A., +C.M.G., whose force, at the best of times, only consisted of 200 +volunteers and 100 Zulus. With this small body of men he contrived, +however, to keep Secocoeni in check, and to take some important +strongholds. It was marked also by some striking acts of individual +bravery, of which one, performed by Major Clarke himself, whose +reputation for cool courage and presence of mind in danger is +unsurpassed in South Africa, is worthy of notice; and which, had public +attention been more concentrated on the Secocoeni war, would +doubtless have won him the Victoria Cross. On one occasion, on visiting +one of the outlying forts, he found that a party of hostile natives, +who were coming down to the fort on the previous day with a flag of +truce, had been accidentally fired on, and had at once retreated. As +his system in native warfare was always to try and inspire his enemy +with perfect faith in the honour of Englishmen, and their contempt of +all tricks and treachery even towards a foe, he was very angry at this +occurrence, and at once, unarmed and unattended save by his native +servant, rode up into the mountains to the kraal from which the white +flag party had come on the previous day, and apologised to the chief +for what had happened. When I consider how very anxious Secocoeni's +natives were to kill or capture Clarke, whom they held in great dread, +and how terrible the end of so great a captain would in all probability +have been had he been taken alive by these masters of refined torture, +I confess that I think this act of gentlemanly courage is one of the +most astonishing things I ever heard of. When he rode up those hills he +must have known that he was probably going to meet his death at the +hands of justly incensed savages. When Secocoeni heard of what Major +Clarke had done he was so pleased that he shortly afterwards released a +volunteer whom he had taken prisoner, and who would otherwise, in all +probability, have been tortured to death. I must add that Major Clarke +himself never reported or alluded to this incident, but an account of +it can be found in a despatch written by Sir O. Lanyon to the Secretary +of State, dated 2d February 1880. + +Concurrently with, though entirely distinct from, the political +agitation that was being carried on among the Boers having for object +the restoration of independence, a private agitation was set on foot by +a few disaffected persons against Sir T. Shepstone, with the view of +obtaining his removal from office in favour of a certain Colonel +Weatherley. The details of this impudent plot are so interesting, and +the plot itself so typical of the state of affairs with which Sir T. +Shepstone had to deal, that I will give a short account of it. + +After the Annexation had taken place, there were naturally enough a +good many individuals who found themselves disappointed in the results +so far as they personally were concerned; I mean that they did not get +so much out of it as they expected. Among these was a gentleman called +Colonel Weatherley, who had come to the Transvaal as manager of a +gold-mining company, but getting tired of that had taken a prominent +part in the Annexation, and who, being subsequently disappointed about +an appointment, became a bitter enemy of the Administrator. I may say +at once that Colonel Weatherley seems to me to have been throughout the +dupe of the other conspirators. + +The next personage was a good-looking desperado, who called himself +Captain Gunn of Gunn, and who was locally somewhat irreverently known +as the very Gunn of very Gunn. This gentleman, whose former career had +been of a most remarkable order, was, on the annexation of the country, +found in the public prison charged with having committed various +offences, but on Colonel Weatherley's interesting himself strongly on +his behalf, he was eventually released without trial. On his release, +he requested the Administrator to publish a Government notice declaring +him innocent of the charges brought against him. This Sir T. Shepstone +declined to do, and so, to use his own words, in a despatch to the High +Commissioner on the subject, Captain Gunn of Gunn at once became "what +in this country is called a patriot." + +The third person concerned was a lawyer, who had got into trouble on +the Diamond Fields, and who felt himself injured because the rules of +the High Court did not allow him to practise as an advocate. The +quartette was made up by Mr. Celliers, the editor of the patriotic +organ, the _Volkstem_, who, since he had lost the Government printing +contract, found that no language could be too strong to apply to the +_personnel_ of the Government, more especially its head. Of course, +there was a lady in it; what plot would be complete without? She was +Mrs. Weatherley, now, I believe, Mrs. Gunn of Gunn. These gentlemen +began operations by drawing up a long petition to Sir Bartle Frere as +High Commissioner, setting forth a string of supposed grievances, and +winding up with a request that the Administrator might be "promoted to +some other sphere of political usefulness." This memorial was forwarded +by the "committee," as they called themselves, to various parts of the +country for signature, but without the slightest success, the fact of +the matter being that it was not the Annexor but the Annexation that +the Boers objected to. + +At this stage in the proceedings Colonel Weatherley went to try and +forward the good cause with Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape. His letters +to Mrs. Weatherley from thence, afterwards put into Court in the +celebrated divorce case, contained many interesting accounts of his +attempts in that direction. I do not think, however, that he was +cognisant of what was being concocted by his allies in Pretoria, but +being a very vain, weak man, was easily deceived by them. With all his +faults he was a gentleman. As soon as he was gone a second petition was +drawn up by the "committee," showing "the advisability of immediately +suspending our present Administrator, and temporarily appointing and +recommending for Her Majesty's royal and favourable consideration an +English gentleman of high integrity and honour, in whom the country at +large has respect and confidence." + +The English gentleman of high integrity and honour of course proves to +be Colonel Weatherley, whose appointment is, further on, "respectfully +but earnestly requested," since he had "thoroughly gained the +affections, confidence, and respect of Boers, English, and other +Europeans in this country." But whilst it is comparatively easy to +write petitions, there is sometimes a difficulty in getting people to +sign them, as proved to be the case with reference to the documents +under consideration. When the "committee" and the employes in the +office of the _Volkstem_ had affixed their valuable signatures it +was found to be impossible to induce anybody else to follow their +example. Now, a petition with some half dozen signatures attached would +not, it was obvious, carry much weight with the Imperial Government, +and no more could be obtained. + +But really great minds rise superior to such difficulties, and so did +the "committee," or some of them, or one of them. If they could not get +genuine signatures to their petitions, they could at any rate +manufacture them. This great idea once hit out, so vigorously was it +prosecuted that they, or some of them, or one of them, produced in a +very little while no less than 3883 signatures, of which sixteen were +proved to be genuine, five were doubtful, and all the rest fictitious. +But the gentleman, whoever he was, who was the working partner in the +scheme--and I may state, by way of parenthesis, that when Gunn of Gunn +was subsequently arrested, petitions in process of signature were found +under the mattress of his bed--calculated without his host. He either +did not know, or had forgotten, that on receipt of such documents by a +superior officer, they are at once sent to the officer accused to +report upon. This course was followed in the present case, and the +petitions were discovered to be gross impostures. The ingenuity +exercised by their author or authors was really very remarkable, for it +must be remembered that not one of the signatures was forged; they were +all invented, and had, of course, to be written in a great variety of +hands. The plan generally pursued was to put down the names of people +living in the country, with slight variations. Thus "De _V_illiers" +became "De _W_illiers," and "Van Z_y_l" "Van Z_u_l." I remember that my +own name appeared on one of the petitions with some slight alteration. +Some of the names were evidently meant to be facetious. Thus there was +a "Jan Verneuker," which means "John the Cheat." + +Of the persons directly or indirectly concerned in this rascally plot, +the unfortunate Colonel Weatherley subsequently apologised to Sir T. +Shepstone for his share in the agitation, and shortly afterwards died +fighting bravely on Kambula. Captain Gunn of Gunn and Mrs. Weatherley, +after having given rise to the most remarkable divorce case I ever +heard--it took fourteen days to try--were, on the death of Colonel +Weatherley, united in the bonds of holy matrimony, and are, I believe, +still in Pretoria. The lawyer vanished I know not where, whilst Mr. +Celliers still continues to edit that admirably conducted journal the +_Volkstem_; nor, if I may judge from the report of a speech made +by him recently at a Boer festival, which, by the way, was graced by +the presence of our representative, Mr. Hudson, the British Resident, +has his right hand forgotten its cunning, or rather his tongue lost the +use of those peculiar and _recherche_ epithets that used to adorn +the columns of the _Volkstem_. I see that he, on this occasion, +denounced the English element as being "poisonous and dangerous" to a +State, and stated, amidst loud cheers, that "he despised" it. Mr. +Cellier's lines have fallen in pleasant places; in any other country he +would long ago have fallen a victim to the stern laws of libel. I +recommend him to the notice of enterprising Irish newspapers. Such is +the freshness and vigour of his style that I am confident he would make +the fortune of any Hibernian journal. + +Some little time after the Gunn of Gunn frauds a very sad incident +happened in connection with the government of the Transvaal. Shortly +after the Annexation, the Home Government sent out Mr. Sergeaunt, +C.M.G., one of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, to report on the +financial Condition of the country. He was accompanied, in an +unofficial capacity, amongst other gentlemen, by Captain Patterson and +his son, Mr. J. Sergeaunt; and when he returned to England, these two +gentlemen remained behind to go on a shooting expedition. About this +time Sir Bartle Frere was anxious to send a friendly mission to Lo +Bengula, king of the Matabele, a branch of the Zulu tribe, living up +towards the Zambesi. This chief had been making himself unpleasant by +causing traders to be robbed, and it was thought desirable to establish +friendly relations with him, so it was suggested to Captain Patterson +and Mr. Sergeaunt that they should combine business with pleasure, and +go on a mission to Lo Bengula, an offer which they accepted, and +shortly afterwards started for Matabeleland with an interpreter and a +few servants. They reached their destination in safety; and having +concluded their business with the king, started on a visit to the +Zambesi Falls on foot, leaving the interpreter with the waggon. The +falls were about twelve days' walk from the king's kraal, and they were +accompanied thither by young Mr. Thomas, the son of the local +missionary, two Kafir servants, and twenty native bearers supplied by +Lo Bengula. The next thing that was heard of them was that they had all +died through drinking poisoned water, full details of the manner of +their deaths being sent down by Lo Bengula. + +In the first shock and confusion of such news it was not very closely +examined, at any rate by the friends of the dead men, but, on +reflection, there were several things about it that appeared strange. +For instance, it was well known that Captain Patterson had a habit, for +which, indeed, we had often laughed at him, of, however thirsty he +might be, always having his water boiled when he was travelling, in +order to destroy impurities, and it seemed odd that he should on this +one occasion have neglected the precaution. Also, it was curious that +the majority of Lo Bengula's bearers appeared to have escaped, whereas +all the others were, without exception, killed; nor even in that +district is it usual to find water so bad that it will kill with the +rapidity it had been supposed to do in this case, unless indeed it had +been designedly poisoned. These doubts of the poisoning-by-bad-water-story +resolved themselves into certainty when the waggon returned in charge +of the interpreter, when, by putting two and two together, we were able +to piece out the real history of the diabolical murder of our poor +friends with considerable accuracy, a story which shows what +blood-thirsty wickedness a savage is capable of when he fancies his +interests are threatened. + +It appeared that, when Captain Patterson first interviewed Lo Bengula, +he was not at all well received by him. I must, by way of explanation, +state that there exists a pretender to his throne, Kruman by name, who, +as far as I can make out, is the real heir to the kingdom. This man +had, for some cause or other, fled the country, and for a time acted as +gardener to Sir T. Shepstone in Natal. At the date of Messrs. Patterson +and Sergeaunt's mission to Matabeleland he was living, I believe, in +the Transvaal. Captain Patterson, on finding himself so ill received by +the king, and not being sufficiently acquainted with the character of +savage chiefs, most unfortunately, either by accident or design, +dropped some hint in the course of conversation about this Kruman. From +that moment Lo Bengula's conduct towards the mission entirely changed, +and, dropping his former tone, he became profusely civil; and from that +moment, too, he doubtless determined to kill them, probably fearing +that they might forward some scheme to oust him and place Kruman, on +whose claim a large portion of his people looked favourably, on the +throne. + +When their business was done, and Captain Patterson told the king that +they were anxious, before returning, to visit the Zambesi Falls, he +readily fell in with their wish, but, in the first instance, refused +permission to young Thomas, the son of the missionary, to accompany +them, only allowing him to do so on the urgent representations of +Captain Patterson. The reason of this was, no doubt, that he had kindly +feelings towards the lad, and did not wish to include him in the +slaughter. + +Captain Patterson was a man of extremely methodical habits, and, +amongst other things, was in the habit of making notes of all that he +did. His note-book had been taken off his body, and sent down to +Pretoria with the other things. In it we found entries of his +preparations for the trip, including the number and names of the +bearers provided by Lo Bengula. We also found the chronicle of the +first three days' journey, and that of the morning of the fourth day, +but there the record stopped. The last entry was probably made a few +minutes before he was killed; and it is to be observed that there was +no entry of the party having been for several days without water, as +stated by the messengers, and then finding the poisoned water. + +This evidence by itself would not have amounted to much, but now +comes the curious part of the story, showing the truth of the old +adage, "Murder will out." It appears that when the waggon was coming +down to Pretoria in charge of the interpreter, it was outspanned +one day outside the borders of Lo Bengula's country, when some +Kafirs--Bechuanas, I think--came up, asked for some tobacco, and fell +into conversation with the driver, remarking that he had come up with a +full waggon, and now he went down with an empty one. The driver replied +by lamenting the death by poisoned water of his masters, whereupon one +of the Kafirs told him the following story:--He said that a brother of +his was out hunting, a little while back, in the desert for ostriches, +with a party of other Kafirs, when hearing shots fired some way off, +they made for the spot, thinking that white men were out shooting, and +that they would be able to beg meat. On reaching the spot, which was by +a pool of water, they saw the bodies of three white men lying on the +ground, and also those of a Hottentot and a Kafir, surrounded by an +armed party of Kafirs. They at once asked the Kafirs what they had been +doing killing the white men, and were told to be still, for it was by +"order of the king." They then learned the whole story. It appeared +that the white men had made a mid-day halt by the water, when one of +the bearers, who had gone to the edge of the pool, suddenly shouted to +them to come and look at a great snake in the water. Captain Patterson +ran up, and, as he leaned over the edge, was instantly killed by a blow +with an axe; the others were then shot and assegaied. The Kafir further +described the clothes that his brother had seen on the bodies, and also +some articles that had been given to his party by the murderers, that +left little doubt as to the veracity of his story. And so ended the +mission to Matabeleland. + +No public notice was taken of the matter, for the obvious reason that +it was impossible to get at Lo Bengula to punish him; nor would it have +been easy to come by legal evidence to disprove the ingenious story of +the poisoned water, since anybody trying to reach the spot of the +massacre would probably fall a victim to some similar accident before +he got back again. It is devoutly to be hoped that the punishment he +deserves will sooner or later overtake the author of this devilish and +wholesale murder. + +The beginning of 1879 was signalised by the commencement of operations +in Zululand and by the news of the terrible disaster at Isandhlwana, +which fell on Pretoria like a thunderclap. It was not, however, any +surprise to those who were acquainted with Zulu tactics and with the +plan of attack adopted by the English commanders. In fact, I know that +one solemn warning of what would certainly happen to him if he +persisted in his plan of advance was addressed to Lord Chelmsford, +through the officer in command at Pretoria, by a gentleman whose +position and long experience of the Zulus and their mode of attack +should have carried some weight. If it ever reached him, he took, to +the best of my recollection, no notice of it whatever. + +But though some such disaster was daily expected by a few, the majority +both of soldiers and civilians never dreamed of anything of the sort, +the general idea being that the conquest of Cetywayo was a very easy +undertaking; and the shock produced by the news of Isandhlwana was +proportionately great, especially as it reached Pretoria in a much +exaggerated form. I shall never forget the appearance of the town that +morning; business was entirely suspended, and the streets were filled +with knots of men talking, with scared faces, as well they might: for +there was scarcely anybody but had lost a friend, and many thought that +their sons or brothers were among the dead on that bloody field. Among +others, Sir T. Shepstone lost one son, and thought for some time that +he had lost three. + +Shortly after this event Sir Theophilus went to England to confer with +the Secretary of State on various matters connected with the Transvaal, +carrying with him the affection and respect of all who knew him, not +excepting the majority of the malcontent Boers. He was succeeded by +Colonel, now Sir Owen Lanyon, who was appointed to administer the +Government during the absence of Sir T. Shepstone. + +By the Boers, however, the news of our disaster was received with great +and unconcealed rejoicing, or at least by the irreconcilable portion of +that people. England's necessity was their opportunity, and one of +which they certainly meant to avail themselves. Accordingly, notices +were sent out summoning the burghers of the Transvaal to attend a mass +meeting on the 18th March, at a place about thirty miles from Pretoria. +Emissaries were also sent to native chiefs, to excite them to follow +Cetywayo's example, and massacre all the English within reach, of whom +a man called Solomon Prinsloo was one of the most active The natives, +however, notwithstanding the threats used towards them, one and all +declined the invitation. + +It must not be supposed that all the Boers who attended these meetings +did so of their own free will; on the contrary, a very large number +came under compulsion, since they found that the English authorities +were powerless to give them protection. The recalcitrants were +threatened with all sorts of pains and penalties if they did not +attend, a favourite menace being that they should be made "biltong" of +when the country was given back (_i.e._, be cut into strips and hung +in the sun to dry). Few, luckily for themselves, were brave enough +to tempt fortune by refusing to come, but those who did have had to +leave the country since the war. Whatever were the means employed, the +result was an armed meeting of about 3000 Boers, who evidently meant +mischief. + +Just about this time a corps had been raised in Pretoria, composed, for +the most part, of gentlemen, and known as the Pretoria Horse, for the +purpose of proceeding to the Zulu border, where cavalry, especially +cavalry acquainted with the country, was earnestly needed. In the +emergency of the times officials were allowed to join this corps, a +permission of which I availed myself, and was elected one of the +lieutenants.[9] The corps was not, after all, allowed to go to Zululand +on account of the threatening aspect adopted by the Boers, against whom +it was retained for service. In my capacity as an officer of the corps +I was sent out with a small body of picked men, all good riders and +light weights, to keep up a constant communication between the Boer +camp and the Administrator, and found the work both interesting and +exciting. My headquarters were at an inn about twenty-five miles from +Pretoria, to which our agents in the meeting used to come every evening +and report how matters were proceeding, whereupon, if the road was +clear, I despatched a letter to headquarters; or, if I feared that the +messengers would be caught _en route_ by Boer patrols and searched, I +substituted different coloured ribbons according to what I wished to +convey. There was a relief hidden in the trees or rocks every six +miles, all day and most of the night, whose business it was to take the +despatch or ribbon and gallop on with it to the next station, in which +way we used to get the despatches into town in about an hour and a +quarter. + + [9] It is customary in South African volunteer forces to + allow the members to elect their own officers, provided the + men elected are such as the Government approves. This is + done, so that the corps may not afterwards be able to declare + that they have no confidence in their officers in action, or + to grumble at their treatment by them. + +On one or two occasions the Boers came to the inn and threatened to +shoot us, but as our orders were to do nothing unless our lives were +actually in danger, we took no notice. The officer who came out to +relieve me had not, however, been there more than a day or two before +he and all his troopers were hunted back into Pretoria by a large mob +of armed Boers whom they only escaped by very hard riding. + +Meanwhile the Boers were by degrees drawing nearer and nearer to the +town, till at last they pitched their laagers within six miles, and +practically besieged it. All business was stopped, the houses were +loopholed and fortified, and advantageous positions were occupied by +the military and the various volunteer corps. The building, normally in +the occupation of the Government mules, fell to the lot of the Pretoria +Horse, and, though it was undoubtedly a post of honour, I honestly +declare that I have no wish to sleep for another month in a mule stable +that has not been cleaned out for several years. However, by sinking a +well, and erecting bastions and a staging for sharpshooters, we +converted it into an excellent fortress, though it would not have been +of much use against artillery. Our patrols used to be out all night, +since we chiefly feared a night attack, and generally every preparation +was made to resist the onset that was hourly expected, and I believe +that it was that state of preparedness that alone prevented it. + +Whilst this meeting was going on, and when matters had come to a point +that seemed to render war inevitable, Sir Bartle Frere arrived at +Pretoria and had several interviews with the Boer leaders, at which +they persisted in demanding their independence, and nothing short of +it. After a great deal of talk the meeting finally broke up without any +actual appeal to arms, though it had, during its continuance, assumed +many of the rights of government, such as stopping post-carts and +individuals, and sending armed patrols about the country. The principal +reason of its break-up was that the Zulu war was now drawing to a +close, and the leaders saw that there would soon be plenty of troops +available to suppress any attempt at revolt, but they also saw to what +lengths they could go with impunity. They had for a period of nearly +two months been allowed to throw the whole country into confusion, to +openly violate the laws, and to intimidate and threaten Her Majesty's +loyal subjects with war and death. The lesson was not lost on them; but +they postponed action till a more favourable opportunity offered. + +Sir Bartle Frere before his departure took an opportunity at a public +dinner given him at Potchefstroom of assuring the loyal inhabitants of +the country that the Transvaal would never be given back. + +Meanwhile a new Pharaoh had arisen in Egypt, in the shape of Sir Garnet +Wolseley, and on the 29th June 1879 we find him communicating the fact +to Sir 0. Lanyon in very plain language, telling him that he +disapproved of his course of action with regard to Secocoeni, and +that "in future you will please take orders only from me." + +As soon as Sir Garnet had completed his arrangements for the +pacification of Zululand, he proceeded to Pretoria, and having caused +himself to be sworn in as Governor, set vigorously to work. I must say +that in his dealings with the Transvaal he showed great judgment and a +keen appreciation of what the country needed, namely, strong +government; the fact of the matter being, I suppose, that being very +popular with the Home authorities he felt that he could more or less +command their support in what he did, a satisfaction not given to most +governors, who never know but that they may be thrown overboard in +emergency to lighten the ship. + +One of his first acts was to issue a proclamation, stating that, +"Whereas it appears that, notwithstanding repeated assurances of +contrary effect given by Her Majesty's representatives in this +territory, uncertainty or misapprehension exists amongst some of Her +Majesty's subjects as to the intention of Her Majesty's Government +regarding the maintenance of British rule and sovereignty over the +territory of the Transvaal: and whereas it is expedient that all +grounds for such uncertainty or misapprehension should be removed once +and for all beyond doubt or question: now therefore I do hereby +proclaim and make known, in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty +the Queen, that it is the will and determination of Her Majesty's +Government that this Transvaal territory shall be, _and shall +continue to be for ever_, an integral portion of Her Majesty's +dominions in South Africa." + +Alas! Sir G. Wolseley's estimate of the value of a solemn pledge thus +made in the name of Her Majesty, whose word has hitherto been held to +be sacred, differed greatly to that of Mr. Gladstone and his +Government. + +Sir Garnet Wolseley's operations against Secocoeni proved eminently +successful, and were the best arranged bit of native warfare that I +have yet heard of in South Africa. One blow was struck, and only one, +but that was crushing. Of course the secret of his success lay in the +fact that he had an abundance of force; but it was not ensured by that +alone, good management being very requisite in an affair of the sort, +especially where native allies have to be dealt with. The cost of the +expedition, not counting other Secocoeni war expenditure, amounted to +over L300,000, all of which is now lost to this country. + +Another step in the right direction undertaken by Sir Garnet was the +establishment of an Executive Council and also of a Legislative +Council, for the establishment of which Letters Patent were sent from +Downing Street in November 1880. + +Meanwhile the Boers, paying no attention to the latter proclamation, +for they guessed that it, like other proclamations in the Transvaal, +would be a mere _brutum fulmen_, had assembled for another mass +meeting, at which they went forward a step, and declared a Government +which was to treat with the English authorities. They had now learnt +that they could do what they liked with perfect impunity, provided they +did not take the extreme course of massacring the English. They had yet +to learn that they might even do that. At the termination of this +meeting, a vote of thanks was passed to "Mr. Leonard Courtney of +London, and other members of the British Parliament." It was wise of +the Boer leaders to cultivate Mr. Courtney of London. As a result of +this meeting, Pretorius, one of the principal leaders, and Bok, the +secretary, were arrested on a charge of treason, and underwent a +preliminary examination; but as the Secretary of State, Sir M. Hicks +Beach, looked rather timidly on the proceeding, and the local +authorities were doubtful of securing a verdict, the prosecution was +abandoned, and necessarily did more harm than good, being looked upon +as another proof of the impotence of the Government. + +Shortly afterwards, Sir G. Wolseley changed his tactics, and, instead +of attempting to imprison Pretorius, offered him a seat on the +Executive Council, with a salary attached. This was a much more +sensible way of dealing with him, and he at once rose to the bait, +stating his willingness to join the Government after a while, but that +he could not publicly do so at the moment lest he should lose his +influence with those who were to be brought round through him. It does +not, however, appear that Mr. Pretorius ever did actually join the +Executive, probably because he found public opinion too strong to allow +him to do so. + +In December 1879 a new light broke upon the Boers, for in the previous +month Mr. Gladstone had been delivering his noted attack on the policy +of the Conservative Government. Those Mid-Lothian speeches did harm, it +is said, in many parts of the world; but I venture to think that they +have proved more mischievous in South Africa than anywhere else; at any +rate, they have borne fruit sooner. It is not to be supposed that Mr. +Gladstone really cared anything about the Transvaal or its independence +when he was denouncing the hideous outrage that had been perpetrated by +the Conservative Government in annexing it. On the contrary, as he +acquiesced in the Annexation at the time (when Lord Kimberley stated +that it was evidently unavoidable), and declined to rescind it when he +came into power, it is to be supposed that he really approved of it, or +at the least looked on it as a necessary evil. However this may be, any +stick will do to beat a dog with, and the Transvaal was a convenient +point on which to attack the Government. He probably neither knew nor +cared what effect his reckless words might have on ignorant Boers +thousands of miles away; and yet, humanly speaking, many a man would +have been alive and strong to-day whose bones now whiten the African +Veldt had those words never been spoken. Then, for the first time, the +Boers learnt that, if they played their cards properly and put on +sufficient pressure, they would, in the event of the Liberal party +coming to office, have little difficulty in coercing it as they wished. + +There was a fair chance at the time of the utterance of the Mid-Lothian +speeches that the agitation would, by degrees, die away; Sir G. +Wolseley had succeeded in winning over Pretorius, and the Boers in +general were sick of mass meetings. Indeed, a memorial was addressed to +Sir. G. Wolseley by a number of Boers in the Potchefstroom district, +protesting against the maintenance of the movement against Her +Majesty's rule, which, considering the great amount of intimidation +exercised by the malcontents, may be looked upon as a favourable sign. + +But when it slowly came to be understood among the Boers that a great +English Minister had openly espoused their cause, and that he would +perhaps soon be all-powerful, the moral gain to them was incalculable. +They could now go to the doubting ones and say,--we must be right about +the matter, because, putting our own feelings out of the question, the +great Gladstone says we are. We find the committee of the Boer +malcontents, at their meeting in March 1880, reading a letter to Mr. +Gladstone, "in which he was thanked for the great sympathy shown in +their fate," and a hope expressed that, if he succeeded in getting +power, he would not forget them. In fact, a charming unanimity +prevailed between our great Minister and the Boer rebels, for their +interests were the same, the overthrow of the Conservative Government. +If, however, every leader of the Opposition were to intrigue or +countenance intrigues with those who are seeking to undermine the +authority of Her Majesty, whether they be Boers or Irishmen, in order +to help himself to power, the country might suffer in the long run. + +But whatever feelings may have prompted Her Majesty's Opposition, the +Home Government, and their agent, Sir Garnet Wolseley, blew no +uncertain blast, if we may judge from their words and actions. Thus we +find Sir Garnet speaking as follows at a banquet given in his honour at +Pretoria:-- + +"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in +this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the +old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English +politics than such an idea; I tell you that there is no Government, +Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical, _who would dare +under any circumstances to give back this country_. They would not +dare, because the English people would not allow them. To give back the +country, what would it mean? To give it back to external danger, to the +danger of attack by hostile tribes on its frontier, and who, if the +English Government were removed for one day, would make themselves felt +the next. Not an official of Government paid for months; it would mean +national bankruptcy. No taxes being paid, the same thing recurring +again which had existed before would mean danger without, anarchy and +civil war within, every possible misery; the strangulation of trade, +and the destruction of property." + +It is very amusing to read this passage by the light of after events. +On other occasions Sir Garnet Wolseley will probably not be quite so +confident as to the future when it is to be controlled by a Radical +Government. + +This explicit and straightforward statement of Sir Garnet's produced a +great effect on the loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal, which was +heightened by the publication of the following telegram from the +Secretary of State:--"You may fully confirm explicit statements made +from time to time as to inability of Her Majesty's Government to +entertain _any proposal_ for withdrawal of the Queen's sovereignty." + +On the faith of these declarations many Englishmen migrated to the +Transvaal and settled there, whilst those who were in the country now +invested all their means, being confident that they would not lose +their property through its being returned to the Boers. The excitement +produced by Mr. Gladstone's speeches began to quiet down and be +forgotten for the time, arrear taxes were paid up by the malcontents, +and generally the aspect of affairs was such, in Sir Garnet Wolseley's +opinion, as justified him in writing, in April 1880, to the Secretary +of State expressing his belief that the agitation was dying out.[10] +Indeed, so sanguine was he on that point that he is reported to have +advised the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment stationed in the +territory, a piece of economy that was one of the immediate causes of +the revolt. + + [10] In Blue-Book No. (C. 2866) of September 1881, which is + descriptive of various events connected with the Boer rising, + is published, as an appendix, a despatch from Sir Garnet + Wolseley, dated October 1879. This despatch declares the + writer's opinion that the Boer discontent a on the increase. + Its publication thus--_apropos des bottes_--nearly two + years after it was written, is rather an amusing incident. It + certainly gives one the idea that Sir Garnet Wolseley, + fearing that his reputation for infallibility might be + attacked by scoffers for not having foreseen the Boer + rebellion, and perhaps uneasily conscious of other despatches + very different in tenor and subsequent in date: and, mindful + of the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment by his advice, had + caused it to be tacked on to the Blue-Book as a documentary + "I told you so," and a proof that, whoever else was blinded, + he foresaw. It contains, however, the following remarkably + true passage:--"Even were it not impossible, for many other + reasons, to contemplate a withdrawal of our authority from + the Transvaal, the position of insecurity in which we should + leave this loyal and important section of the community (the + English inhabitants), by exposing them to the certain + retaliation of the Boers, would constitute, in my opinion, an + insuperable obstacle to retrocession. Subjected to the same + danger, moreover, would be those of the Boers, whose superior + intelligence and courageous character has rendered them loyal + to our Government" + + As the Government took the trouble to republish the despatch, + it is a pity that they did not think fit to pay more + attention to its contents. + +The reader will remember the financial condition of the country at the +time of the Annexation, which was one of utter bankruptcy. After three +years of British rule, however, we find, notwithstanding the constant +agitation that had been kept up, that the total revenue receipts for +the first quarter of 1879 and 1880 amounted to L22,773 and L47,982 +respectively. That is to say, that, during the last year of British +rule, the revenue of the country more than doubled itself, and amounted +to about L160,000 a year, taking the quarterly returns at the low +average of L40,000. It must, however, be remembered that this sum would +have been very largely increased in subsequent years, most probably +doubled. At any rate the revenue would have been amply sufficient to +make the province one of the most prosperous in South Africa, and to +have enabled it to shortly repay all debts due to the British +Government, and further to provide for its own defence. Trade also, +which, in April 1877, was completely paralysed, had increased +enormously. So early as the middle of 1879, the Committee of the +Transvaal Chamber of Commerce pointed out, in a resolution adopted by +them, that the trade of the country had in two years risen from almost +nothing to the considerable sum of two millions sterling per annum, and +that it was entirely in the hands of those favourable to British rule. +They also pointed out that more than half the land-tax was paid by +Englishmen, or other Europeans adverse to Boer Government. Land, too, +had risen greatly in value, of which I can give the following instance. +About a year after the Annexation I, together with a friend, bought a +little property on the outskirts of Pretoria, which, with a cottage we +put up on it, cost some L300. Just before the rebellion we fortunately +determined to sell it, and had no difficulty in getting L650 for it. I +do not believe that it would now fetch a fifty-pound note. + +I cannot conclude this chapter better than by drawing attention to a +charming specimen of the correspondence between the Boer leaders and +their friend Mr. Courtney. The letter in question, which is dated 26th +June, purports to be written by Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, but it is +obvious that it owes its origin to some member or members of the Dutch +party at the Cape, from whence, indeed, it is written. This is rendered +evident both by its general style, and also by the use of such terms as +"Satrap," and by references to Napoleon III. and Cayenne, about whom +Messrs. Kruger and Joubert know no more than they do of Peru and the +Incas. + +After alluding to former letters, the writers blow a blast of triumph +over the downfall of the Conservative Government, and then make a +savage attack on the reputation of Sir Bartle Frere. The "stubborn +Satrap" is throughout described as a liar, and every bad motive imputed +to him. Really, the fact that Mr. Courtney should encourage such +epistles as this is enough to give colour to the boast made by some of +the leading Boers, after the war, that they had been encouraged to +rebel by a member of the British Government. + +At the end of this letter, and on the same page of the Blue-Book, is +printed the telegram recalling Sir Bartle Frere, dated 1st August 1880. +It really reads as though the second document was consequent on the +first. One thing is very clear, the feelings of Her Majesty's new +Government towards Sir Bartle Frere differed only in the method of +their expression from those set forth by the Boer leaders in their +letter to Mr. Courtney, whilst their object, namely, to be rid of him, +was undoubtedly identical with that of the Dutch party in South Africa. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BOER REBELLION. + + +When the Liberal ministry became an accomplished fact instead of a +happy possibility, Mr. Gladstone did not find it convenient to adopt +the line of policy with reference to the Transvaal that might have been +expected from his utterances whilst leader of the Opposition. On the +contrary, he declared in Parliament that the Annexation could not be +cancelled, and on the 8th June 1880 we find him, in answer to a Boer +petition, written with the object of inducing him to act up to the +spirit of his words and rescind the Annexation, writing thus:--"Looking +to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South +Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders which +might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal, but +to the whole of South Africa, our judgment is, that the _Queen cannot +be advised to relinquish her sovereignty over the Transvaal_; but, +consistently with the maintenance of that sovereignty, we desire that +the white inhabitants of the Transvaal should, without prejudice to the +rest of the population, enjoy the fullest liberty to manage their local +affairs. We believe that this liberty may be most easily and promptly +conceded to the Transvaal as a member of a South African +confederation." + +Unless words have lost their signification, this passage certainly +means that the Transvaal must remain a British colony, but that England +will be prepared to grant it responsible government, more especially if +it will consent to a confederation scheme. Mr. Gladstone, however, in a +communication dated 1st June 1881, and addressed to the unfortunate +Transvaal loyals, for whom he expresses "respect and sympathy," +interprets his meaning thus: "It is stated, as I observe, that a +promise was given by me that the Transvaal never should be given back. +There is no mention of the terms or date of this promise. If the +reference be to my letter, of 8th June 1880, to Messrs. Kruger and +Joubert, I do not think the language of that letter justifies the +description given. Nor am I sure in what manner or to what degree the +fullest liberty to manage their local affairs, which I then said Her +Majesty's Government desired to confer on the white population of the +Transvaal, differs from the settlement now about being made in its +bearing on the interests of those whom your Committee represents." + +Such twisting of the meaning of words would, in a private person, be +called dishonest. It will also occur to most people that Mr. Gladstone +might have spared the deeply wronged and loyal subjects of Her Majesty +whom he was addressing the taunt he levels at them in the second +paragraph I have quoted. If asked, he would no doubt say that he had +not the slightest intention of laughing at them; but when he +deliberately tells them that it makes no difference to their interests +whether they remain Her Majesty's subjects under a responsible +Government, or become the servants of men who were but lately in arms +against them and Her Majesty's authority, he is either mocking them, or +offering an insult to their understandings. + +By way of comment on his remarks, I may add that he had, in a letter +replying to a petition from these same loyal inhabitants, addressed to +him in May 1880, informed them that he had already told the Boer +representatives that the Annexation could not be rescinded. Although +Mr. Gladstone is undoubtedly the greatest living master of the art of +getting two distinct and opposite sets of meanings out of one set of +words, it would try even his ingenuity to make out, to the satisfaction +of an impartial mind, that he never gave any pledge about the retention +of the Transvaal. + +Indeed, it is from other considerations clear that he had no intention +of giving up the country to the Boers, whose cause he appears to have +taken up solely for electioneering purposes. Had he meant to do so, he +would have carried out his intention on succeeding to office, and, +indeed, as things have turned out, it is deeply to be regretted that he +did not; for, bad as such a step would have been, it would at any rate +have had a better appearance than our ultimate surrender after three +defeats. It would also have then been possible to secure the repayment +of some of the money owing to this country, and to provide for the +proper treatment of the natives, and the compensation of the loyal +inhabitants who could no longer live there: since it must naturally +have been easier to make terms with the Boers before they had defeated +our troops. + +On the other hand, we should have missed the grandest and most +soul-stirring display of radical theories, practically applied, that +has as yet lightened the darkness of this country. But although Mr. +Gladstone gave his official decision against returning the country, +there seems to be little doubt that communications on the subject were +kept up with the Boer leaders through some prominent members of the +Radical party, who, it was said, went so far as to urge the Boers to +take up arms against us. When Mr. White came to this country on behalf +of the loyalists, after the surrender, he stated that this was so at a +public meeting, and said further that he had in his possession proofs +of his statements. He even went so far as to name the gentleman he +accused, and to challenge him to deny it I have not been able to gather +that Mr. White's statements were contradicted. + +However this may be, after a pause, agitation in the Transvaal suddenly +recommenced with redoubled vigour. It began through a man named +Bezeidenhout, who refused to pay his taxes. Thereupon a waggon was +seized in execution under the authority of the court and put up to +auction, but its sale was prevented by a crowd of rebel Boers, who +kicked the auctioneer off the waggon and dragged the vehicle away. This +was on the 11th November 1880. When this intelligence reached Pretoria, +Sir Owen Lanyon sent down a few companies of the 21st Regiment, under +the command of Major Thornhill, to support the Landdrost in arresting +the rioters, and appointed Captain Raaf, C.M.G., to act as special +messenger to the Landdrost's Court at Potchefstroom, with authority to +enrol special constables to assist him to carry out the arrests. On +arrival at Potchefstroom Captain Raaf found that, without an armed +force, it was quite impossible to effect any arrest. On the 26th +November Sir Owen Lanyon, realising the gravity of the situation, +telegraphed to Sir George Colley, asking that the 58th Regiment should +be sent back to the Transvaal. Sir George replied that he could ill +spare it on account of "daily expected outbreak of Pondos and possible +appeal for help from Cape Colony," and that the Government must be +supported by the loyal inhabitants. + +It will be seen that the Boers had, with some astuteness, chosen a very +favourable time to commence operations. The hands of the Cape +Government were full with the Basuto war, so no help could be expected +from it; Sir G. Wolseley had sent away the only cavalry regiment that +remained in the country, and lastly, Sir Owen Lanyon had quite recently +allowed a body of 300 trained volunteers, mostly, if not altogether, +drawn from among the loyalists, to be raised for service in the Basuto +war, a serious drain upon the resources of a country so sparsely +populated as the Transvaal. + +Meanwhile a mass meeting had been convened by the Boers for the 8th +January to consider Mr. Gladstone's letter, but the Bezeidenhout +incident had the effect of putting forward the date of assembly by a +month, and it was announced that it would be held on the 8th December. +Subsequently the date was shifted to the 15th, and then back again to +the 8th. Every effort was made, by threats of future vengeance, to +secure the presence of as many burghers as possible; attempts were also +made to persuade the native chiefs to send representatives, and to +promise to join in an attack on the English. These entirely failed. The +meeting was held at a place called Paarde Kraal, and resulted in the +sudden declaration of the Republic and the appointment of the famous +triumvirate Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius. It then moved into +Heidelberg, a little town about sixty miles from Pretoria, and on the +16th December the Republic was formally proclaimed in a long +proclamation, containing a summary of the events of the few preceding +years, and declaring the arrangements the malcontents were willing to +make with the English authorities. The terms offered in this document +are almost identical with those finally accepted by Her Majesty's +Government, with the exception that in the proclamation of the 16th +December the Boer leaders declare their willingness to enter into +confederation, and to guide their native policy by general rules +adopted in concurrence "with the Colonies and States of South Africa." +This was a more liberal offer than that which we ultimately agreed to, +but then the circumstances had changed. + +This proclamation was forwarded to Sir Owen Lanyon with a covering +letter, in which the following words occur:--"We declare in the most +solemn manner that we have no desire to spill blood, and that from our +side we do not wish war. It lies in your hands to force us to appeal to +arms in self-defence.... We expect your answer within twice twenty-four +hours." + +I beg to direct particular attention to these paragraphs, as they have +a considerable interest in view of what followed. + +The letter and proclamation reached Government House, Pretoria, at +10.30 on the evening of Friday the 17th December. Sir Owen Lanyon's +proclamation, written in reply, was handed to the messenger at noon on +Sunday, 19th December, or within about thirty-six hours of his arrival, +and could hardly have reached the rebel camp, sixty miles off, before +dawn the next day, the 20th December, on which day, at about one +o'clock, a detachment of the 94th was ambushed and destroyed on the +road between Middleburg and Pretoria, about eighty miles off, by a +force despatched from Heidelberg for that purpose some days before. On +the 16th December, or the _same day_ on which the Triumvirate had +despatched the proclamation to Pretoria containing their terms, and +expressing in the most solemn manner that they had no desire to shed +blood, a large Boer force was attacking Potchefstroom. + +So much then for the sincerity of the professions of their desire to +avoid bloodshed. + +The proclamation sent by Sir O. Lanyon in reply recited in its preamble +the various acts of which the rebels had been guilty, including that of +having "wickedly sought to incite the said loyal native inhabitants +throughout the province to take up arms against Her Majesty's +Government," announced that matters had now been put into the hands of +the officer commanding Her Majesty's troops, and promised pardon to all +who would disperse to their homes. + +It was at Potchefstroom, which town had all along been the nursery of +the rebellion, that actual hostilities first broke out. Potchefstroom +as a town is much more Boer in its sympathies than Pretoria, which is, +or rather was, almost purely English. Sir Owen Lanyon had, as stated +before, sent a small body of soldiers thither to support the civil +authorities, and had also appointed Major Clarke, C.M.G., an officer of +noted coolness and ability, to act as Special Commissioner for the +district. + +Major Clarke's first step was to try, in conjunction with Captain Raaf, +to raise a corps of volunteers, in which he totally failed. Those of +the townsfolk who were not Boers at heart had too many business +relations with the surrounding farmers, and perhaps too little faith in +the stability of English rule after Mr. Gladstone's utterances, to +allow them to indulge in patriotism. At the time of the outbreak, +between seventy and eighty thousand sterling was owing to firms in +Potchefstroom by neighbouring Boers, a sum amply sufficient to account +for their lukewarmness in the English cause. Subsequent events have +shown that the Potchefstroom shopkeepers were wise in their generation. + +On the 15th December a large number of Boers came into the town and +took possession of the printing-office in order to print the +proclamation already alluded to. Major Clarke made two attempts to +enter the office and see the leaders, but without success. + +On the 16th a Boer patrol fired on some of the mounted infantry, and +the fire was returned. These were the first shots fired during the war, +and they were fired by Boers. Orders were thereupon signalled to Clarke +by Lieutenant-Colonel Winsloe, 21st Regiment, now commanding at the +fort which he afterwards defended so gallantly, that he was to commence +firing. Clarke was in the Landdrost's office on the Market Square with +a force of about twenty soldiers under Captain Falls and twenty +civilians under Captain Raaf, C.M.G., a position but ill-suited for +defensive purposes, from whence fire was accordingly opened, the Boers +taking up positions in the surrounding houses commanding the office. +Shortly after the commencement of the fighting, Captain Falls was shot +dead whilst talking to Major Clarke, the latter having a narrow escape, +a bullet grazing his head just above the ear. The fighting continued +during the 17th and till the morning of the 18th, when the Boers +succeeded in firing the roof, which was of thatch, by throwing +fire-balls on to it. Major Clarke then addressed the men, telling them +that, though personally he did not care about his own life, he did not +see that they could serve any useful purpose by being burned alive, so +he should surrender, which he did, with a loss of about six killed and +wounded. The camp meanwhile had repulsed with loss the attack made on +it, and was never again directly attacked. + +Whilst these events were in progress at Potchefstroom, a much more +awful tragedy was in preparation on the road between Middleburg and +Pretoria. + +On the 23d November, Colonel Bellairs, at the request of Sir Owen +Lanyon, directed a concentration on Pretoria of most of the few +soldiers that there were in the territory, in view of the disturbed +condition of the country. In accordance with these orders, Colonel +Anstruther marched from Lydenburg, a town about 180 miles from +Pretoria, on the 5th December, with the headquarters and two companies +of the 94th Regiment, being a total of 264 men, three women, and two +children, and the disproportionately large train of thirty-four +ox-waggons, or an ox-waggon capable of carrying five thousand pounds' +weight to every eight persons. And here I may remark that it is this +enormous amount of baggage, without which it appears to be impossible +to move the smallest body of men, that renders infantry regiments +almost useless for service in South Africa except for garrisoning +purposes. Both Zulus and Boers can get over the ground at thrice the +pace possible to the unfortunate soldier, and both races despise them +accordingly. The Zulus call our infantry "pack oxen." In this +particular instance, Colonel Anstruther's defeat, or rather, +annihilation, is to a very great extent referable to his enormous +baggage train; since, in the first place, had he not lost valuable days +in collecting more waggons, he would have been safe in Pretoria before +danger arose. It must also be acknowledged that his arrangements on the +line of march were somewhat reckless, though it can hardly be said that +he was ignorant of his danger. Thus we find that Colonel Bellairs wrote +to Colonel Anstruther, warning him of the probability of an attack, and +impressing on him the necessity of keeping a good look-out, the letter +being received and acknowledged by the latter on the 17th December. + +To this warning was added a still more impressive one that came to my +knowledge privately. A gentleman well known to me received, on the +morning after the troops had passed through the town of Middleburg on +their way to Pretoria, a visit from an old Boer with whom he was on +friendly terms, who had purposely come to tell him that a large patrol +was out to ambush the troops on the Pretoria road. My informant having +convinced himself of the truth of the statement, at once rode after the +soldiers, and catching them up some distance from Middleburg, told +Colonel Anstruther what he had heard, imploring him, he said, with all +the energy he could command, to take better precautions against +surprise. The Colonel, however, laughed at his fears, and told him that +if the Boers came "he would frighten them away with the big drum." + +At one o'clock on Sunday, the 20th December, the column was marching +along about a mile and a half from a place known as Bronker's Splint, +and thirty-eight miles from Pretoria, when suddenly a large number of +mounted Boers were seen in loose formation on the left side of the +road. The band was playing at the time, and the column was extended +over more than half a mile, the rearguard being about a hundred yards +behind the last waggon. The band stopped playing on seeing the Boers, +and the troops halted, when a man was seen advancing with a white flag, +whom Colonel Anstruther went out to meet, accompanied by Conductor +Egerton, a civilian. They met about one hundred and fifty yards from +the column, and the man gave Colonel Anstruther a letter, which +announced the establishment of the South African Republic, stated that +until they heard Lanyon's reply to their proclamation they did not know +if they were at war or not; that, consequently, they could not allow +any movements of troops, which would be taken as a declaration of war. +This letter was signed by Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. Colonel +Anstruther replied that he was ordered to Pretoria, and to Pretoria he +must go. + +Whilst this conference was going on, the Boers, of whom there were +quite five hundred, had gradually closed round the column, and took up +positions behind rocks and trees which afforded them excellent cover, +whilst the troops were on a bare plain, and before Colonel Anstruther +reached his men a murderous fire was poured in upon them from all +sides. The fire was hotly returned by the soldiers. Most of the +officers were struck down by the first volley, having, no doubt, been +picked out by the marksmen. The firing lasted about fifteen minutes, +and at the end of that time seven out of the nine officers were down +killed and wounded; an eighth (Captain Elliot), one of the two who +escaped, untouched, being reserved for an even more awful fate. The +majority of the men were also down, and had the hail of lead continued +much longer it is clear that nobody would have been left. Colonel +Anstruther, who was lying badly wounded in five places, seeing what a +hopeless state affairs were in, ordered the bugler to sound the cease +firing, and surrendered. One of the three officers who were not much +hurt was, most providentially, Dr. Ward, who had but a slight wound in +the thigh; all the others, except Captain Elliot and one lieutenant, +were either killed or died from the effects of their wounds. There were +altogether 56 killed and 101 wounded, including a woman, Mrs. Fox. +Twenty more afterwards died of their wounds. The Boer loss appears to +have been very small. + +After the fight Conductor Egerton, with a sergeant, was allowed to walk +into Pretoria to obtain medical assistance, the Boers refusing to give +him a horse, or even to allow him to use his own. The Boer leader also +left Dr. Ward eighteen men and a few stores for the wounded, with which +he made shift as best he could. Nobody can read this gentleman's report +without being much impressed with the way in which, though wounded +himself, he got through his terrible task of, without assistance, +attending to the wants of 101 sufferers. Beginning the task at 2 +P.M., it took him till six the next morning before he had seen +the last man. It is to be hoped that his services have met with some +recognition. Dr. Ward remained near the scene of the massacre with his +wounded men till the declaration of peace, when he brought them down to +Maritzburg, having experienced great difficulty in obtaining food for +them during so many weeks. + +This is a short account of what I must, with reluctance, call a most +cruel and carefully planned massacre. I may mention that a Zulu driver, +who was with the rearguard, and escaped into Natal, stated that the +Boers shot all the wounded men who formed that body. His statement was +to a certain extent borne out by the evidence of one of the survivors, +who stated that all the bodies found in that part of the field (nearly +three-quarters of a mile away from the head of the column), had a +bullet hole through the head or breast in addition to their other +wounds. + +The Administrator of the Transvaal in council thus comments on the +occurrence in an official minute:--"The surrounding and gradual hemming +in under a flag of truce of a force, and the selection of spots from +which to direct their fire, as in the case of the unprovoked attack by +the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther's force, is a proceeding of which +very few like incidents can be mentioned in the annals of civilised +warfare." + +The Boer leaders, however, were highly elated at their success, and +celebrated it in a proclamation of which the following is an +extract:--"Inexpressible is the gratitude of the burghers for this +blessing conferred on them. Thankful to the brave General F. Joubert +and his men who have upheld the honour of the Republic on the +battlefield. Bowed down in the dust before Almighty God, who had thus +stood by them, and, with a loss of over a hundred of the enemy, only +allowed two of ours to be killed." + +In view of the circumstances of the treacherous hemming in and +destruction of this small body of unprepared men, most people would +think this language rather high-flown, not to say blasphemous. + +On the news of this disaster reaching Pretoria, Sir Owen Lanyon issued +a proclamation placing the country under martial law. As the town was +large, straggling, and incapable of defence, all the inhabitants, +amounting to over four thousand souls, were ordered up to camp, where +the best arrangements possible were made for their convenience. In +these quarters they remained for three months, driven from their +comfortable homes, and cheerfully enduring all the hardships, want, and +discomforts consequent on their position, whilst they waited in +patience for the appearance of that relieving column that never came. +People in England hardly understand what these men and women went +through because they chose to remain loyal. Let them suppose that all +the inhabitants of an ordinary English town, with the exception of the +class known as poor people, which can hardly be said to exist in a +colony, were at an hour's notice ordered--all, the aged and the sick, +delicate women, and tiny children--to leave their homes to the mercy of +the enemy, and crowd up in a little space under shelter of a fort, with +nothing but canvas tents or sheds to cover them from the fierce summer +suns and rains, and the coarsest rations to feed them; whilst the +husbands and brothers were daily engaged with a cunning and dangerous +enemy, and sometimes brought home wounded or dead. They will then have +some idea of what was gone through by the loyal people of Pretoria, in +their weak confidence in the good faith of the English Government. + +The arrangements made for the defence of the town were so ably and +energetically carried out by Sir Owen Lanyon, assisted by the military +officers, that no attack upon it was ever attempted. It seems to me +that the organisation that could provide for the penning up of four +thousand people for months, and carry it out without the occurrence of +a single unpleasantness or expression of discontent, must have had +something remarkable about it. Of course, it would have been impossible +without the most loyal co-operation on the part of those concerned. +Indeed everybody in the town lent a helping hand; judges served out +rations, members of the Executive inspected nuisances, and so forth. +There was only one instance of "striking;" and then, of all people in +the world, it was the five civil doctors who, thinking it a favourable +opportunity to fleece the Government, combined to demand five guineas +a-day each for their services. I am glad to say that they did not +succeed in their attempt at extortion. + +On the 23d December, the Boer leaders issued a second proclamation in +reply to that of Sir O. Lanyon of the 18th, which is characterised by +an utter absence of regard for the truth, being, in fact, nothing but a +tissue of impudent falsehoods. It accuses Sir O. Lanyon of having +bombarded women and children, of arming natives against the Boers, and +of firing on the Boers without declaring war. Not one of these +accusations has any foundation in fact, as the Boers well knew; but +they also knew that Sir Owen, being shut up in Pretoria, was not in a +position to rebut their charges, which they hoped might, to some +extent, be believed, and create sympathy for them in other parts of the +world. This was the reason of the issue of the proclamation, which well +portrays the character of its framers. + +Life at Pretoria was varied by occasional sorties against the Boer +laagers, situated at different points in the neighbourhood, generally +about six or eight miles from the town. These expeditions were carried +out with considerable success, though with some loss, the heaviest +incurred being when the Boers, having treacherously hoisted the white +flag, opened a heavy fire on the Pretoria forces, as soon as they, +beguiled into confidence, emerged from their cover. In the course of +the war, one in every four of the Pretoria mounted volunteers was +killed or wounded. + +But perhaps the most serious of all the difficulties the Government had +to meet was that of keeping the natives in check. As has before been +stated, they were devotedly attached to our rule, and, during the three +years of its continuance, had undergone what was to them a strange +experience, they had neither been murdered, beaten, or enslaved. +Naturally they were in no hurry to return to the old order of things, +in which murder, flogging, and slavery were events of everyday +occurrence. Nor did the behaviour of the Boers on the outbreak of the +war tend to reconcile them to any such idea. Thus we find that the +farmers had pressed a number of natives from Waterberg into one of +their laagers (Zwart Koppies); two of them tried to run away, a Boer +saw them and shot them both. Again, on the 7th January, a native +reported to the authorities at Pretoria that he and some others were +returning from the Diamond Fields driving some sheep. A Boer came and +asked them to sell the sheep. They refused, whereupon he went away, but +returning with some other Dutchmen fired on the Kafirs, killing one. + +On the 2d January information reached Pretoria that on the 26th +December some Boers fired on some natives who were resting outside +Potchefstroom and killed three; the rest fled, whereupon the Boers took +the cattle they had with them. + +On the 11th January some men, who had been sent from Pretoria with +despatches for Standerton, were taken prisoners. Whilst prisoners they +saw ten men returning from the Fields stopped by the Boers and ordered +to come to the laager. They refused and ran away, were fired on, five +being killed and one getting his arm broken. + +These are a few instances of the treatment meted out to the unfortunate +natives, taken at haphazard from the official reports. There are plenty +more of the same nature if anybody cares to read them. + +As soon as the news of the rising reached them, every chief of any +importance sent in to offer aid to Government, and many of them, +especially Montsioa, our old ally in the Keate Award district, took the +loyals of the neighbourhood under their protection. Several took charge +of Government property and cattle during the disturbances, and one had +four or five thousand pounds in gold, the product of a recently +collected tax, given him to take care of by the Commissioner of his +district, who was afraid that the money would be seized by the Boers. +In every instance the property entrusted to their charge was returned +intact. The loyalty of all the native chiefs under very trying +circumstances (for the Boers were constantly attempting to cajole or +frighten them into joining them) is a remarkable proof of the great +affection of the Kafirs, more especially those of the Basuto tribes, +who love peace better than war, for the Queen's rule. The Government of +Pretoria need only have spoken one word to set an enormous number of +armed men in motion against the Boers, with the most serious results to +the latter. Any other Government in the world would, in its extremity, +have spoken that word, but, fortunately for the Boers, it is against +English principles to set black against white under any circumstances. + +Besides the main garrison at Pretoria there were forts defended by +soldiery and loyals at the following places:--Potchefstroom, +Rustenburg, Lydenburg, Marabastad, and Wakkerstroom, none of which were +taken by the Boers.[11] + + [11] Colonel Winsloe, however, being short of provisions, was + beguiled by the fraudulent representations and acts of the + Boer commander into surrendering the fort at Potchefstroom + daring the armistice. + +One of the first acts of the Triumvirate was to despatch a large force +from Heidelberg with orders to advance into Natal Territory, and seize +the pass over the Drakensberg known as Lang's Nek, so as to dispute the +advance of any relieving column. This movement was promptly executed, +and strong Boer troops patrolled Natal country almost up to Newcastle. + +The news of the outbreak, followed as it was by that of the Bronker's +Spruit massacre, and Captain Elliot's murder, created a great +excitement in Natal. All available soldiers were at once despatched up +country, together with a naval brigade, who, on arrival at Newcastle, +brought up the strength of the Imperial troops of all arms to about a +thousand men. On the 10th January Sir George Colley left Maritzburg to +join the force at Newcastle, but at this time nobody dreamt that he +meant to attack the Nek with such an insignificant column. It was known +that the loyals and troops who were shut up in the various towns in the +Transvaal had sufficient provisions to last for some months, and that +there was therefore nothing to necessitate a forlorn hope. Indeed the +possibility of Sir George Colley attempting to enter the Transvaal was +not even speculated upon until just before his advance, it being +generally considered as out of the question. + +The best illustration I can give of the feeling that existed about the +matter is to quote my own case. I had been so unfortunate as to land in +Natal with my wife and servants just as the Transvaal troubles began, +my intention being to proceed to a place I had near Newcastle. For some +weeks I remained in Maritzburg, but finding that the troops were to +concentrate on Newcastle, and being besides heartily wearied of the +great expense and discomfort of hotel life in that town, I determined +to go on up country, looking on it as being as safe as any place in the +colony. Of course the possibility of Sir George attacking the Nek +before the arrival of the reinforcements did not enter into my +calculations, as I thought it a venture that no sensible man would +undertake. On the day of my start, however, there was a rumour about +the town that the General was going to attack the Boer position. Though +I did not believe it, I thought it as well to go and ask the Colonial +Secretary, Colonel Mitchell, privately, if there was any truth in it, +adding that if there was, as I had a pretty intimate knowledge of the +Boers and their shooting powers, and what the inevitable result of such +a move would be, I should certainly prefer, as I had ladies with me, to +remain where I was. Colonel Mitchell told me frankly that he knew no +more about Sir George's plans than I did; but he added I might be sure +that so able and prudent a soldier would not do anything rash. His +remark concurred with my own opinion; so I started, and on arrival at +Newcastle a week later was met by the intelligence that Sir George had +advanced that morning to attack the Nek. To return was almost +impossible, since both horses and travellers were pretty nearly knocked +up. Also, anybody who has travelled with his family in summer-time over +the awful track of alternate slough and boulders between Maritzburg and +Newcastle, known in the colony as a road, will understand that at the +time the adventurous voyagers would far rather risk being shot than +face a return journey. + +The only thing to do under the circumstances was to await the course of +events, which were now about to develop themselves with startling +rapidity. The little town of Newcastle was at this time an odd sight, +and remained so all through the war. The hotels were crowded to +overflowing with refugees, and on every spare patch of land were +erected tents, mud huts, canvas houses, and every kind of covering that +could be utilised under the pressure of necessity, to house the many +homeless families who had succeeded in effecting their escape from the +Transvaal, many of whom were reduced to great straits. + +On the morning of the 28th January, anybody listening attentively in +the neighbourhood of Newcastle could hear the distant boom of heavy +guns. We were not kept long in suspense, for in the afternoon news +arrived that Sir George had attacked the Nek, and failed with heavy +loss. The excitement in the town was intense, for, in addition to other +considerations, the 58th Regiment, which had suffered most, had been +quartered there for some time, and both the officers and men were +personally known to the inhabitants. + +The story of the fight is well known, and needs little repetition, and +a very sad story it is. The Boers, who at that time were some 2000 +strong, were posted and entrenched on steep hills, against which Sir +George Colley hurled a few hundred soldiers. It was a forlorn hope, but +so gallant was the charge, especially that of the mounted squadron led +by Major Bronlow, that at one time it nearly succeeded. But nothing +could stand under the withering fire from the Boer schanses, and as +regards the foot soldiers, they never had a chance. Colonel Deane tried +to take them up the hill with a rush, with the result that by the time +they reached the top, some of the men were actually sick from +exhaustion, and none could hold a rifle steady. There on the bare +hill-top they crouched and lay, whilst the pitiless fire from redoubt +and rock lashed them like hail, till at last human nature could bear it +no longer, and what was left of them retired slowly down the slope. But +for many that gallant charge was their last earthly action. As they +charged they fell, and where they fell they were afterwards buried. The +casualties, killed and wounded, amounted to 195, which, considering the +small number of troops engaged in the actual attack, is enormously +heavy, and shows more plainly than words can tell the desperate nature +of the undertaking. Amongst the killed were Colonel Deane, Major Poole, +Major Hingeston, and Lieutenant Elwes. Major Essex was the only staff +officer engaged who escaped, the same officer who was one of the +fortunate four who lived through Isandhlwana. On this occasion his +usual good fortune attended him, for though his horse was killed and +his helmet knocked off, he was not touched. The Boer loss was very +trivial. + +Sir George Colley, in his admirably lucid despatch about this +occurrence addressed to the Secretary of State for War, does not enter +much into the question as to the motives that prompted him to attack, +simply stating that his object was to relieve the besieged towns. He +does not appear to have taken into consideration, what was obvious to +anybody who knew the country and the Boers, that even if he had +succeeded in forcing the Nek, in itself almost an impossibility, he +could never have operated with any success in the Transvaal with so +small a column, without cavalry, and with an enormous train of waggons. +He would have been harassed day and night by the Boer skirmishers, his +supplies cut off, and his advance made practically impossible. Also the +Nek would have been re-occupied behind him, since he could not have +detached sufficient men to hold it, and in all probability Newcastle, +his base of supplies, would have fallen into the hands of the enemy. + +The moral effect of our defeat on the Boers was very great. Up to this +time there had been many secret doubts amongst a large section of them +as to what the upshot of an encounter with the troops might be; and +with this party, in the same way that defeat, or even the anxiety of +waiting to be attacked, would have turned the scale one way, victory +turned it the other. It gave them unbounded confidence in their own +superiority, and infused a spirit of cohesion and mutual reliance into +their ranks which had before been wanting. Waverers wavered no longer, +but gave a loyal adherence to the good cause, and, what was still more +acceptable, large numbers of volunteers,--whatever President Brand may +say to the contrary,--poured in from the Orange Free State. + +What Sir George Colley's motive was in making so rash a move is, of +course, quite inexplicable to the outside observer. It was said at the +time in Natal that he was a man with a theory: namely, that small +bodies of men properly handled were as useful and as likely to obtain +the object in view as a large force. Whether or no this was so, I am +not prepared to say; but it is undoubtedly the case that very clever +men have sometimes very odd theories, and it may be that he was a +striking instance in point. + +For some days after the battle at Lang's Nek affairs were quiet, and it +was hoped that they would remain so till the arrival of the +reinforcements, which were on their way out. The hope proved a vain one +On the 7th February it was reported that the escort proceeding from +Newcastle to the General's camp with the post, a distance of about +eighteen miles, had been fired on and forced to return. + +On the 8th, about mid-day, we were all startled by the sound of +fighting, proceeding apparently from a hill known as Scheins Hoogte, +about ten miles from Newcastle. It was not known that the General +contemplated any move, and everybody was entirely at a loss to know +what was going on, the general idea being, however, that the camp near +Lang's Nek had been abandoned, and that Sir George was retiring on +Newcastle. + +The firing grew hotter and hotter, till at last it was perfectly +continuous, the cannon evidently being discharged as quickly as they +could be loaded, whilst their dull booming was accompanied by the +unceasing crash and roll of the musketry. Towards three o'clock the +firing slackened, and we thought it was all over, one way or the other, +but about five o'clock it broke out again with increased vigour. At +dusk it finally ceased. About this time some Kafirs came to my house +and told us that an English force was hemmed in on a hill this side of +the Ingogo River, that they were fighting bravely, but that "their arms +were tired," adding that they thought they would be all killed at +night. + +Needless to say we spent that night with heavy hearts, expecting every +minute to hear the firing begin again, and ignorant of what fate had +befallen our poor soldiers on the hill. Morning put an end to our +suspense, and we then learnt that we had suffered what, under the +circumstances, amounted to a crushing defeat It appears that Sir George +had moved out with a force of five companies of the 60th Regiment, two +guns, and a few mounted men, to, in his own words, "patrol the road, +and meet and escort some waggons expected from Newcastle." As soon as +he passed the Ingogo he was surrounded by a body of Boers sent after +him from Lang's Nek, on a small triangular plateau, and sharply +assailed on all sides. With a break of about two hours, from three to +five, the assault was kept up till nightfall, with very bad results so +far as we were concerned, seeing that out of a body of about 500 men, +over 150 were killed and wounded. The reinforcements sent for from the +camp apparently did not come into action. For some unexplained reason +the Boers did not follow up their attack that night, perhaps because +they did not think it possible that our troops could effect their +escape back to the camp, and considered that the next morning would be +soon enough to return and finish the business. The General, however, +determined to get back, and scratch teams of such mules, riding-horses, +and oxen as had lived through the day being harnessed to the guns, the +dispirited and exhausted survivors of the force managed to ford the +Ingogo, now swollen by rain which had fallen in the afternoon, poor +Lieutenant Wilkinson, the adjutant of the 60th, losing his life in the +operation, and to struggle through the dense darkness back to camp. + +On the hill-top they had lately held the dead lay thick. There, too, +exposed to the driving rain and bitter wind, lay the wounded, many of +whom would be dead before the rising of the morrow's sun. It must +indeed have been a sight never to be forgotten by those who saw it. The +night--I remember well--was cold and rainy, the great expanses of hill +and plain being sometimes lit by the broken gleams of an uncertain +moon, and sometimes plunged into intensest darkness by the passing of a +heavy cloud. Now and again flashes of lightning threw every crag and +outline into vivid relief, and the deep muttering of distant thunder +made the wild gloom more solemn. Then a gust of icy wind would come +tearing down the valleys to be followed by a pelting thunder +shower--and thus the night wore away. + +When one reflects what discomfort, and even danger, an ordinary healthy +person would suffer if left after a hard day's work to lie all night in +the rain and wind on the top of a stony mountain, without food, or even +water to assuage his thirst, it becomes to some degree possible to +realise what the sufferings of our wounded after the battle of Ingogo +must have been. Those who survived were next day taken to the hospital +at Newcastle. + +What Sir George Colley's real object was in exposing himself to the +attack has never transpired. It can hardly have been to clear the road, +as he says in his despatch, because the road was not held by the enemy, +but only visited occasionally by their patrols. The result of the +battle was to make the Boers, whose losses were trifling, more +confident than ever, and to greatly depress our soldiers. Sir George +had now lost between three and four hundred men out of his column of +little over a thousand, which was thereby entirely crippled. Of his +staff officers Major Essex now alone survived, his usual good fortune +having carried him safe through the battle of Ingogo. What makes his +repeated escapes the more remarkable is that he was generally to be +found in the heaviest firing. A man so fortunate as Major Essex ought +to be rewarded for his good fortune if for no other reason, though, if +reports are true, there would be no need to fall back on that to find +grounds on which to advance a soldier who has always borne himself so +well. + +Another result of the Ingogo battle was that the Boers, knowing that we +had no force to cut them off, and always secure of a retreat into the +Free State, passed round Newcastle in Free State Territory, and +descended from fifteen hundred to two thousand strong into Natal for +the purpose of destroying the reinforcements which were now on their +way up under General Wood. This was on the 11th of February, and from +that date till the 18th the upper districts of Natal were in the hands +of the enemy, who cut the telegraph wires, looted waggons, stole herds +of cattle and horses, and otherwise amused themselves at the expense of +Her Majesty's subjects in Natal. + +It was a very anxious time for those who knew what Boers are capable +of, and had women and children to protect, and who were never sure if +their houses would be left standing over their heads from one day to +another. + +Every night we were obliged to place out Kafirs as scouts to give us +timely warning of the approach of marauding parties, and to sleep with +loaded rifles close to our hands, and sometimes, when things looked +very black, in our clothes, with horses ready saddled in the stable. +Nor were our fears groundless, for one day a patrol of some five +hundred Boers encamped on the next place, which by the way belonged to +a Dutchman, and stole all the stock on it, the property of an +Englishman. They also intercepted a train of waggons, destroyed the +contents, and burnt them. Numerous were the false alarms it was our +evil fortune to experience. For instance, one night I was sitting in +the drawing-room reading, about eleven o'clock, with a door leading on +to the verandah slightly ajar, for the night was warm, when suddenly I +heard myself called by name in a muffled voice, and asked if the place +was in the possession of the Boers. Looking towards the door I saw a +full-cocked revolver coming round the corner, and on opening it in some +alarm, I could indistinctly discern a line of armed figures in a +crouching attitude stretching along the verandah into the garden +beyond. It turned out to be a patrol of the mounted police, who had +received information that a large number of Boers had seized the place +and had come to ascertain the truth of the report. As we gathered from +them that the Boers were certainly near, we did not pass a very +comfortable night. + +Meanwhile we were daily expecting to hear that the troops had been +attacked along the line of march, and knowing the nature of the country +and the many opportunities it affords for ambuscading and destroying +one of our straggling columns encumbered with innumerable waggons, we +had the worst fears for the result. At length a report reached us to +the effect that the reinforcements were expected on the morrow, and +that they were not going to cross the Ingagaan at the ordinary drift, +which was much commanded by hills, but at a lower drift on our own +place, about three miles from Newcastle, which is only slightly +commanded. We also heard that it was the intention of the Boers to +attack them at this point and to fall back on my house and the hills +behind. Accordingly, we thought it about time to retreat, and securing +a few valuables, such as plate, we made our way into the town, leaving +the house and its contents to take their chance. At Newcastle an attack +was daily expected, if for no other reason, to obtain possession of the +stores collected there. + +The defences of the place were, however, in a wretched condition, no +proper outlook was kept, and there was an utter want of effective +organisation. The military element at the camp had enough to do to look +after itself, and did not concern itself with the safety of the town; +and the mounted police--a colonial force paid by the colony--had been +withdrawn from the little forts round Newcastle, as the General wanted +them for other purposes, and a message sent that the town must defend +its own forts. There were, it is true, a large number of able-bodied +men in the place who were willing to fight, but they had no +organisation. The very laager was not finished until the danger was +past. + +Then there was a large party who were for surrendering the town to the +Boers, because if they fought it might afterwards injure their trade. +With this section of the population the feeling of patriotism was +strong, no doubt, but that of pocket was stronger. I am convinced that +the Boers would have found the capture of Newcastle an easy task, and I +confess that what I then saw did not inspire me with great hopes of the +safety of the colony when it gets responsible government, and has to +depend for protection on burgher forces. Colonial volunteer forces are, +I think, as good troops as any in the world; but an unorganised +colonial mob, pulled this way and that by different sentiments and +interests, is as useless as any other mob, with the difference that it +is more impatient of control. + +For some unknown reason the Boer leaders providentially changed their +minds about attacking the reinforcements, and their men were withdrawn +to the Nek as swiftly and silently as they had been advanced, and on +the 17th February the reinforcements marched into Newcastle, to the +very great relief of the inhabitants, who had been equally anxious for +their own safety and that of the troops. Personally, I was never in my +life more pleased to see Her Majesty's uniform; and we were equally +rejoiced on returning home to find that nothing had been injured. After +this we had quiet for a while. + +On the 21st February, we heard that two fresh regiments had been sent +up to the camp at Lang's Nek, and that General Wood had been ordered +down country by Sir George Colley to bring up more reinforcements. This +item of news caused much surprise, as nobody could understand why, now +that the road was clear, and that there was little chance of its being +again blocked, a General should be sent down to do work which could, to +all appearance, have been equally well done by the officers in command +of the reinforcing regiments, with the assistance of their transport +riders. It was, however, understood that an agreement had been entered +into between the two Generals that no offensive operations should be +undertaken till Wood returned. + +With the exception of occasional scares, there was no further +excitement till Sunday the 27th February, when, whilst sitting on the +verandah after lunch, I thought I heard the sound of distant artillery. +Others present differed with me, thinking the sound was caused by +thunder, but as I adhered to my opinion, we determined to ride into +town and see. On arrival there we found the place full of rumours, from +which we gathered that some fresh disaster had occurred; and that +messages were pouring down the wires from Mount Prospect camp. We then +went on to camp, thinking that we should learn more there, but they +knew nothing about it, several officers asking us what new "shave" we +had got hold of. A considerable number of troops had been marched from +Newcastle that morning to go to Mount Prospect, but when it was +realised that something had occurred, they were stopped, and marched +back again. Bit by bit we managed to gather the truth. At first we +heard that our men had made a most gallant resistance on the hill, +mowing down the advancing enemy by hundreds, till at last, their +ammunition failing, they fought with their bayonets, using stones and +meat tins as missiles. I wish that our subsequent information had been +to the same effect. + +It appears that on the evening of the 26th, Sir George Colley, after +mess, suddenly gave orders for a force of a little over six hundred +men, consisting of detachments from no less than three different +regiments, the 58th, 60th, 92d, and the Naval Brigade, to be got ready +for an expedition, without revealing his plans to anybody until late in +the afternoon; and then without more ado, marched them up to the top of +Majuba--a great square-topped mountain to the right of, and commanding +the Boer position at Lang's Nek. The troops reached the top about three +in the morning, after a somewhat exhausting climb, and were stationed +at different points of the plateau in a scientific way. Whilst the +darkness lasted, they could, by the glittering of the watch-fires, +trace from this point of vantage the position of the Boer laagers that +lay 2000 yards beneath them, whilst the dawn of day revealed every +detail of the defensive works, and showed the country lying at their +feet like a map. + +On arrival at the top, it was represented to the General that a rough +entrenchment should be thrown up, but he would not allow it to be done +on account of the men being wearied with their marching up. This was a +fatal mistake. Behind an entrenchment, however slight, one would think +that 600 English soldiers might have defied the whole Boer army, and +much more the 200 or 300 men by whom they were hunted down at Majuba. +It appears that about 10.15 A.M., Colonel Stewart and Major Fraser +again went to General Colley "to arrange to start the sailors on an +entrenchment." ... "Finding the ground so exposed, the General did not +give orders to entrench." + +As soon as the Boers found out that the hill was in the occupation of +the English, their first idea was to leave the Nek, and they began to +inspan with that object, but discovering that there were no guns +commanding them, they changed their mind, and set to work to storm the +hill instead. As far as I have been able to gather, the number of Boers +who took the mountain was about 300, or possibly 400; I do not think +there were more than that. The Boers themselves declare solemnly that +they were only 100 strong, but this I do not believe. They slowly +advanced up the hill till about 11.30, when the real attack began, the +Dutchmen coming on more rapidly and confidently, and shooting with +ever-increasing accuracy, as they found our fire quite ineffective. + +About a quarter to one, our men retreated to the last ridge, and +General Colley was shot through the head. After this, the retreat +became a rout, and the soldiers rushed pell-mell down the precipitous +sides of the hill, the Boers knocking them over by the score as they +went, till they were out of range. A few were also, I heard, killed by +the shells from the guns that were advanced from the camp to cover the +retreat, but as this does not appear in the reports, perhaps it is not +true. Our loss was about 200 killed and wounded, including Sir George +Colley, Drs. Landon and Cornish, and Commander Romilly, who was shot +with an explosive bullet, and died after some days' suffering. When the +wounded Commander was being carried to a more sheltered spot, it was +with great difficulty that the Boers were prevented from massacring him +as he lay, they being under the impression that he was Sir Garnet +Wolseley. As was the case at Ingogo, the wounded were left on the +battlefield all night in very inclement weather, to which some of them +succumbed. It is worthy of note that after the fight was over they were +treated with considerable kindness by the Boers. + +Not being a soldier, of course, I cannot venture to give any military +reasons as to how it was that what was after all a considerable force +was so easily driven from a position of great natural strength; but I +think I may, without presumption, state my opinion as to the real +cause, which was the villainous shooting of the British soldier. Though +the troops did not, as was said at the time, run short of ammunition, +it is clear that they fired away a great many rounds at men who, in +storming the hill, must necessarily have exposed themselves more or +less, of whom they managed to hit--certainly not more than six or +seven--which was the outside of the Boer casualties. From this it is +clear that they can neither judge distance nor hit a moving object, nor +did they probably know that when shooting down hill it is necessary to +aim low. Such shooting as the English soldier is capable of may be very +well when he has an army to aim at, but it is useless in guerilla +warfare against a foe skilled in the use of the rifle and the art of +taking shelter. + +A couple of months after the storming of Majuba, I, together with a +friend, had a conversation with a Boer, a volunteer from the Free State +in the late war, and one of the detachment that stormed Majuba, who +gave us a circumstantial account of the attack with the greatest +willingness. He said that when it was discovered that the English had +possession of the mountain, they thought that the game was up, but +after a while bolder counsels prevailed, and volunteers were called for +to storm the hill. Only seventy men could be found to perform the duty, +of whom he was one. They started up the mountain in fear and trembling, +but soon found that every shot passed over their heads, and went on +with greater boldness. Only three men, he declared, were hit on the +Boer side; one was killed, one was hit in the arm, and he himself was +the third, getting his face grazed by a bullet, of which he showed us +the scar. He stated that the first to reach the top ridge was a boy of +twelve, and that as soon as the troops saw them they fled, when, he +said, he paid them out for having nearly killed him, knocking them over +one after another "like bucks" as they ran down the hill, adding that +it was "alter lecker" (very nice). He asked us how many men we had lost +during the war, and when we told him about seven hundred killed and +wounded, laughed in our faces, saying he knew that our dead amounted to +several thousands. On our assuring him that this was not the case, he +replied, "Well, don't let's talk of it any more, because we are good +friends now, and if we go on you will lie, and I shall lie, and then we +shall get angry. The war is over now, and I don't want to quarrel with +the English; if one of them takes off his hat to me I always +acknowledge it." He did not mean any harm in talking thus; it is what +Englishmen have to put up with now in South Africa; the Boers have +beaten us, and act accordingly. + +This man also told us that the majority of the rifles they picked up +were sighted for 400 yards, whereas the latter part of the fighting had +been carried on within 200. + +Sir George Colley's death was much lamented in the colony, where he was +deservedly popular; indeed, anybody who had the honour of knowing that +kind-hearted English gentleman, could not do otherwise than deeply +regret his untimely end. What his motive was in occupying Majuba in the +way he did has never, so far as I am aware, transpired. The move, in +itself, would have been an excellent one, had it been made in force, or +accompanied by a direct attack on the Nek, but, as undertaken, seems to +have been objectless. There were, of course, many rumours as to the +motives that prompted his action, of which the most probable seems to +be that, being aware of what the Home Government intended to do with +reference to the Transvaal, he determined to strike a blow to try and +establish British supremacy first, knowing how mischievous any apparent +surrender would be. Whatever his faults may have been as a General, he +was a brave man, and had the honour of his country much at heart. + +It was also said by soldiers who saw him the night the troops marched +up Majuba, that the General was "not himself," and it was hinted that +continual anxiety and the chagrin of failure had told upon his mind. As +against this, however, must be set the fact that his telegrams to the +Secretary of State for War, the last of which he must have despatched +only about half an hour before he was shot, are cool and collected, and +written in the same unconcerned tone--as though he were a critical +spectator of an interesting scene--that characterises all his +communications, more especially his despatches. They at any rate give +no evidence of shaken nerve or unduly excited brain, nor can I see that +any action of his with reference to the occupation of Majuba is out of +keeping with the details of his generalship upon other occasions. He +was always confident to rashness, and possessed by the idea that every +man in the ranks was full of as high a spirit, and as brave as he was +himself. Indeed, most people will think, that so far from its being a +rasher action, the occupation of Majuba, bad generalship as it seems, +was a wiser move than either the attack on the Nek or the Ingogo +fiasco. + +But at the best, all his movements are difficult to be understood by a +civilian, though they may, for ought we know, have been part of an +elaborate plan, perfected in accordance with the rules of military +science, of which, it is said, he was a great student. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. + + +When Parliament met in January 1881, the Government announced, through +the mediumship of the Queen's Speech, that it was their intention to +vindicate Her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal. I have already +briefly described the somewhat unfortunate attempts to gain this end by +force of arms; and I now propose to follow the course of the diplomatic +negotiations entered into by the ministry with the same object. + +As soon as the hostilities in the Transvaal took a positive form, +causing great dismay among the Home authorities, whose paths, as we all +know, are the paths of peace--at any price; and whilst, in the first +confusion of calamity, they knew not where to turn, President Brand +stepped upon the scene in the character of "Our Mutual Friend," and, by +the Government at any rate, was rapturously welcomed. + +This gentleman has for many years been at the head of the Government of +the Orange Free State, whose fortunes he had directed with considerable +ability. He is a man of natural talent and kind-hearted disposition, +and has the advancement of the Boer cause in South Africa much at +heart. The rising in the Transvaal was an event that gave him a great +and threefold opportunity: first, of interfering with the genuinely +benevolent object of checking bloodshed; secondly, of advancing the +Dutch cause throughout South Africa under the cloak of amiable +neutrality, and striking a dangerous blow at British supremacy over the +Dutch and British prestige with the natives; and, thirdly, of putting +the English Government under a lasting obligation to him. Of this +opportunity he has availed himself to the utmost in each particular. + +So soon as things began to look serious, Mr. Brand put himself into +active telegraphic communication with the various British authorities +with the view of preventing bloodshed by inducing the English +Government to accede to the Boer demands. He was also earnest in his +declarations that the Free State was not supporting the Transvaal; +which, considering that it was practically the insurgent base of +supplies, where they had retired their women, children, and cattle, and +that it furnished them with a large number of volunteers, was perhaps +straining the truth. + +About this time also we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing to Mr. Brand +that "if _only_ the Transvaal Boers will desist from armed opposition +to the Queen's authority," he thinks some arrangement might be made. +This is the first indication made public of what was passing in the +minds of Her Majesty's Government, on whom its Radical supporters were +now beginning to put the screw, to induce or threaten them into +submitting to the Boer demands. + +Again, on the 11th January, the President telegraphed to Lord Kimberley +through the Orange Free State Consul in London, suggesting that Sir H. +de Villiers, the Chief Justice at the Cape, should be appointed a +Commissioner to go to the Transvaal to settle matters. Oddly enough, +about the same time the same proposition emanated from the Dutch party +in the Cape Colony, headed by Mr. Hofmeyer, a coincidence that inclines +one to the opinion that these friends of the Boers had some further +reason for thus urging Sir Henry de Villiers' appointment as +Commissioner beyond his apparent fitness for the post, of which his +high reputation as a lawyer and in his private capacity was a +sufficient guarantee. + +The explanation is not hard to find, the fact being that, rightly or +wrongly, Sir Henry de Villiers, who is himself of Dutch descent, is +noted throughout South Africa for his sympathies with the Boer cause, +and both President Brand and the Dutch party in the Cape shrewdly +suspected that, if the settling of differences were left to his +discretion, the Boers and their interests would receive very gentle +handling. The course of action adopted by him, when he became a member +of the Royal Commission, went far to support this view, for it will be +noticed in the Report of the Commissioners that in every single point +he appears to have taken the Boer side of the contention. Indeed so +blind was he to their faults, that he would not even admit that the +horrible Potchefstroom murders and atrocities, which are condemned both +by Sir H. Robinson and Sir Evelyn Wood in language as strong as the +formal terms of a report will allow, were acts contrary to the rules of +civilised warfare. If those acts had been perpetrated by Englishmen on +Boers, or even on natives, I venture to think Sir Henry de Villiers +would have looked at them in a very different light. + +In the same telegram in which President Brand recommends the +appointment of Sir Henry de Villiers, he states that the allegations +made by the Triumvirate in the proclamation in which they accused Sir +Owen Lanyon of committing various atrocities, deserve to be +investigated, as they maintain that the collision was commenced by the +authorities. Nobody knew better than Mr. Brand that any English +official would be quite incapable of the conduct ascribed to Sir Owen +Lanyon, whilst, even if the collision had been commenced by the +authorities, which as it happened it was not, they would under the +circumstances have been amply justified in so commencing it. This +remark by President Brand in his telegram was merely an attempt to +throw an air of probability over a series of slanderous falsehoods. + +Messages of this nature continued to pour along the wires from day to +day, but the tone of those from the Colonial Office grew gradually +humbler. Thus we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing on the 8th February, +that if the Boers would desist from armed opposition all reasonable +guarantees would be given as to their treatment after submission, and +that a scheme would be framed for the "permanent friendly settlement of +difficulties." It will be seen that the Government had already begun to +water the meaning of their declaration that they would vindicate Her +Majesty's authority. No doubt Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Courtney, and their +followers had given another turn to the Radical screw. + +It is, however, clear that at this time no idea of the real aims of the +Government had entered into the mind of Sir George Colley, since on the +7th February he telegraphed home a plan which he proposed to adopt on +entering the Transvaal, which included a suggestion that he should +grant a complete amnesty only to those Boers who would sign a +declaration of loyalty. + +In answer to this he was ordered to do nothing of the sort, but to +promise protection to everybody and refer everything home. + +Then came the battle of Ingogo, which checked for the time the flow of +telegrams, or rather varied their nature, for those despatched during +the next few days deal with the question of reinforcements. On the 13th +February, however, negotiations were reopened by Paul Kruger, one of +the Triumvirate, who offered, if all the troops were ordered to +withdraw from the Transvaal, to give them a free passage through the +Nek, to disperse the Boers, and to consent to the appointment of a +Commission. + +The offer was jumped at by Lord Kimberley, who, without making +reference to the question of withdrawing the soldiers, offered, if only +the Boers would disperse, to appoint a Commission with extensive powers +to develop the "permanent friendly settlement" scheme. The telegram +ends thus: "Add, that if this proposal is accepted, you now are +authorised to agree to suspension of hostilities on our part." This +message was sent to General Wood, because the Boers had stopped the +communications with Colley. On the 19th, Sir George Colley replies in +these words, which show his astonishment at the policy adopted by the +Home Government, and which, in the opinion of most people, redound to +his credit-- + +"Latter part of your telegram to Wood not understood. There can be no +hostilities if no resistance is made, but am I to leave Lang's Nek in +Natal territory in Boer occupation, and our garrisons isolated and +short of provisions, or occupy former and relieve latter?" Lord +Kimberley hastens to reply that the garrisons must be left free to +provision themselves, "but we do not mean that you should march to the +relief of garrisons or occupy Lang's Nek if an arrangement proceeds." + +It will be seen that the definition of what vindication of Her +Majesty's authority consisted grew broader and broader; it now included +the right of the Boers to continue to occupy their positions in the +colony of Natal. + +Meanwhile the daily fire of complimentary messages was being kept up +between President Brand and Lord Kimberley, who alternately gave +"sincere thanks to Lord Kimberley" and "fully appreciated the friendly +spirit" of President Brand, till on the 21st February the latter +telegraphs through Colley: "Hope of amicable settlement by negotiation, +but this will be greatly facilitated if somebody on spot and friendly +disposed to both could by personal communication with both endeavour to +smooth difficulties. Offers his services to Her Majesty's Government, +and Kruger and Pretorius and Joubert are willing." Needless to say his +services were accepted. + +Presently, however, on 27th February, Sir George Colley made his last +move, and took possession of Majuba. His defeat and death had the +effect of causing another temporary check in the peace negotiations, +whilst Sir Frederick Roberts with ample reinforcements was despatched +to Natal. It had the further effect of increasing the haughtiness of +the Boer leaders, and infusing a corresponding spirit of pliability or +generosity into the negotiations of Her Majesty's Government. + +Thus on 2d March, the Boers, through President Brand and Sir Evelyn +Wood, inform the Secretary of State for the Colonies that they are +willing to negotiate, but decline to submit on cease opposition. Sir +Evelyn Wood, who evidently did not at all like the line of policy +adopted by the Government, telegraphed that he thought the best thing +to do would be for him to engage the Boers, and disperse them _vi et +armis_, without any guarantees, "considering the disasters we have +sustained," and that he should, "if absolutely necessary," be empowered +to promise life and property to the leaders, but that they should be +banished from the country. In answer to this telegram, Lord Kimberley +informs him that Her Majesty's Government will amnesty _everybody_ +except those who have committed acts contrary to the rules of civilised +warfare, and that they will agree to anything, and appoint a Commission +to carry out the details, and "be ready for friendly communications +with _any persons_ appointed by the Boers." + +Thus was Her Majesty's authority finally re-established in the +Transvaal. + +It was not a very grand climax, nor the kind of arrangement to which +Englishmen are accustomed, but perhaps, considering the circumstances, +and the well-known predilections of those who made the settlement, it +was as much as could be expected. + +The action of the Government must not be considered as though they were +unfettered in their judgment; it can never be supposed that they acted +as they did because they thought such action right or even wise, for +that would be to set them down as men of a very low order of +intelligence, which they certainly are not. + +It is clear that no set of sensible men, who had after much +consideration given their decision that under all the circumstances the +Transvaal must remain British territory, and who, on a revolt +subsequently breaking out in that territory, had declared that Her +Majesty's rule must be upheld, would have, putting aside all other +circumstances, deliberately stultified themselves by almost +unconditionally, and of their own free will, abandoning the country, +and all Her Majesty's subjects living in it. That would be to pay a +poor tribute to their understanding, since it is clear that if reasons +existed for retaining the Transvaal before the war, as they were +satisfied there did, those reasons would exist with still greater force +after a war had been undertaken and three crushing defeats sustained, +which if left unavenged must, as they knew, have a most disastrous +effect on our prestige throughout the South African continent. + +I prefer to believe that the Government was coerced into acting as it +did by Radical pressure, both from outside and from its immediate +supporters in the House, and that it had to choose between making an +unconditional surrender in the Transvaal and losing the support of a +very powerful party. Under these circumstances it, being Liberal in +politics, naturally followed its instincts, and chose surrender. + +If such a policy was bad in itself, and necessarily mischievous in its +consequences, so much the worse for those who suffered by it; it was +clear that the Government could not be expected to lose votes in order +to forward the true interests of countries so far off as the South +African Colonies, which had had the misfortune to be made a party +question of, and must take the consequences. + +There is no doubt that the interest brought to bear on the Government +was very considerable, for not only had they to deal with their own +supporters, and with the shadowy caucus that was ready to let the lash +of its displeasure descend even on the august person of Mr. Gladstone, +should he show signs of letting slip so rich an opportunity for the +vindication of the holiest principles of advanced Radicalism, but also +with the hydra-headed crowd of visionaries and professional +sentimentalists who swarm in this country, and who are always ready to +take up any cause, from that of Jumbo or of a murderer to that of +oppressed peoples, such as the Bulgarians or the Transvaal Boers. + +These gentlemen, burning with zeal, and filled with that confidence +which proverbially results from the hasty assimilation of imperfect and +erroneous information, found in the Transvaal question a great +opportunity of making a noise; and--as in a disturbed farmyard the bray +of the domestic donkey, ringing loud and clear among the utterances of +more intelligent animals, overwhelms and extinguishes them--so, and +with like effect, amongst the confused sound of various English +opinions about the Boer rising, rose the trumpet-note of the Transvaal +Independence Committee and its supporters. + +As we have seen, they did not sound in vain. + +On the 6th of March an armistice with the Boers had been entered into +by Sir Evelyn Wood, which was several times prolonged up to the 21st +March, when Sir Evelyn Wood concluded a preliminary peace with the Boer +leaders, which, under certain conditions, guaranteed the restoration of +the country within six months, and left all other points to be decided +by a Royal Commission. + +The news of this peace was at first received in the colony in the +silence of astonishment. Personally, I remember, I would not believe +that it was true. It seemed to us, who had been witnesses of what had +passed, and knew what it all meant, something so utterly incredible +that we thought there must be a mistake. + +If there had been any one redeeming circumstance about it, if the +English arms had gained a single decisive victory, it might have been +so, but it was hard for Englishmen, just at first, to understand that +not only had the Transvaal been to all appearance wrested from them by +force of arms, but that they were henceforth to be subject, as they +well knew would be the case, to the coarse insults of victorious Boers, +and the sarcasms of keener-witted Kafirs. + +People in England seem to fancy that when men go to the colonies they +lose all sense of pride in their country, and think of nothing but +their own advantage. I do not think that this is the case, indeed, I +believe that, individual for individual, there exists a greater sense +of loyalty, and a deeper pride in their nationality, and in the proud +name of England, among colonists, than among Englishmen proper. +Certainly the humiliation of the Transvaal surrender was more keenly +felt in South Africa than it was at home; but, perhaps, the +impossibility of imposing upon people in that country with the farrago +of nonsense about blood-guiltiness and national morality, which was +made such adroit use of at home, may have made the difference. + +I know that personally I would not have believed it possible that I +could feel any public event so keenly as I did this; indeed, I quickly +made up my mind that if the peace was confirmed, the neighbourhood of +the Transvaal would be no fit or comfortable residence for an +Englishman, and that I would, at any cost, leave the country,--which I +accordingly did. + +Newcastle was a curious sight the night after the peace was declared. +Every hotel and bar was crowded with refugees, who were trying to +relieve their feelings by cursing the name of Gladstone with a vigour, +originality, and earnestness that I have never heard equalled; and +declaring in ironical terms how proud they were to be citizens of +England--a country that always kept its word. Then they set to work +with many demonstrations of contempt to burn the effigy of the Bight +Honourable Gentleman at the head of Her Majesty's Government, an +example, by the way, that was followed throughout South Africa. + +Even Sir Evelyn Wood, who is very popular in the colony, was hissed as +he walked through the town, and great surprise was expressed that a +soldier who came out expressly to fight the Boers should consent to +become the medium of communication in such a dirty business. And, +indeed, there was some excuse for all this bitterness, for the news +meant ruin to very many. + +But if people in Natal and at the Cape received the news with +astonishment, how shall I describe its effect upon the unfortunate +loyal inhabitants in the Transvaal, on whom it burst like a +thunderbolt? + +They did not say much, however, and indeed there was nothing to be +said. They simply began to pack up such things as they could carry with +them, and to leave the country, which they well knew would henceforth +be utterly untenable for Englishmen or English sympathisers. In a few +weeks they come pouring down through Newcastle by hundreds; it was the +most melancholy exodus that can be imagined. There were people of all +classes, officials, gentlefolk, work-people, and loyal Boers, but they +had a connecting link; they had all been loyal, and they were all +ruined. + +Most of these people had gone to the Transvaal since it became a +British colony, and invested all they had in it, and now their capital +was lost and their labour rendered abortive; indeed, many of them whom +one had known as well to do in the Transvaal, came down to Natal hardly +knowing how they would feed their families next week. + +It must be understood that so soon as the Queen's sovereignty was +withdrawn the value of landed and house property in the Transvaal went +down to nothing, and has remained there ever since. Thus a fair-sized +house in Pretoria brought in a rental varying from ten to twenty pounds +a month during British occupation, but after the declaration of peace, +owners of houses were glad to get people to live in them to keep them +from falling into ruin. Those who owned land or had invested money in +businesses suffered in the same way; their property remains neither +profitable or saleable, and they themselves are precluded by their +nationality from living on it, the art of "Boycotting" not being +peculiar to Ireland. + +Nor were they the only sufferers. The officials, many of whom had taken +to the Government service as a permanent profession, in which they +expected to pass their lives, were suddenly dismissed, mostly with a +small gratuity, which would about suffice to pay their debts, and told +to find their living as best they could. It was indeed a case of _vae +victis_,--woe to the conquered loyalists.[12] + + [12] The following extract is clipped from a recent issue + of the _Transvaal Advertiser_. It describes the present + condition of Pretoria:-- + + "The streets grown over with rank vegetation; the + water-furrows uncleaned and unattended, emitting offensive + and unhealthy stenches; the houses showing evident signs of + dilapidation and decay; the side paths, in many places, + dangerous to pedestrians--in fact, everything the eye can + rest upon indicates the downfall which has overtaken this + once prosperous city. The visitor can, if he be so minded, + betake himself to the outskirts and suburbs, where he will + perceive the same sad evidences of neglect, public grounds + unattended, roads uncared for, mills and other public works + crumbling into ruin. These palpable signs of decay most + strongly impress him. A blight seems to have come over this + lately fair and prosperous town. Rapidly it is becoming a + 'deserted village,' a 'city of the dead.'" + +The Commission appointed by Her Majesty's Government consisted of Sir +Hercules Robinson, Sir Henry de Villiers, and Sir Evelyn Wood, +President Brand being also present in his capacity of friend of both +parties, and to their discretion were left the settlement of all +outstanding questions. Amongst these, were the mode of trial of those +persons who had been guilty of acts contrary to the rules of civilised +warfare, the question of severance of territory from the Transvaal on +the eastern boundary, the settlement of the boundary in the Keate-Award +districts, the compensation for losses sustained during the war, the +functions of the British Resident, and other matters. Their place of +meeting was at Newcastle in Natal, and from thence they proceeded to +Pretoria. + +The first question of importance that came before the Commission was +the mode of trial to be adopted in the cases of those persons accused +of acts contrary to the usages of civilised warfare, such as murder. +The Attorney-General for the Transvaal strongly advised that a special +tribunal should be constituted to try these cases, principally because +"after a civil war in which all the inhabitants of a country, with very +few exceptions, have taken part, a jury of fair and impartial men, +truly unbiassed, will be very difficult to get together." It is +satisfactory to know that the Commissioners gave this somewhat obvious +fact "their grave consideration," which, according to their Report, +resulted in their determining to let the cases go before the ordinary +court, and be tried by a jury, because in referring them to a specially +constituted court which would have done equal justice without fear or +favour, "the British Government would have made for itself, among the +Dutch population of South Africa, a name for vindictive oppression, +which no generosity in other affairs could efface." + +There is more in this determination of the Commissioners, or rather of +the majority of them--for Sir E. Wood, to his credit be it said, +refused to agree in their decision--than meets the eye, the fact of the +matter being that it was privately well known to them, that though the +Boer leaders might be willing to allow a few of the murderers to +undergo the form of a trial, neither they nor the Boers themselves +meant to permit the farce to go any further. Had the men been tried by +a special tribunal they would in all probability have been condemned to +death, and then would have come the awkward question of carrying out +the sentence on individuals whose deeds were looked on, if not with +general approval, at any rate without aversion by the great mass of +their countrymen. In short, it would probably have become necessary +either to reprieve them or to fight the Boers again, since it was very +certain that they would not have allowed them to be hung. Therefore the +majority of the Commissioners, finding themselves face to face with a +dead wall, determined to slip round it instead of boldly climbing it, +by referring the cases to the Transvaal High Court, cheerfully +confident of what the result must be. + +After all, the matter was, much cry about little wool, for of all the +crimes committed by the Boers--a list of some of which will be found in +the Appendix to this book--in only three cases were a proportion of the +perpetrators produced and put through the form of trial. Those three +were--the dastardly murder of Captain Elliot, who was shot by his Boer +escort whilst crossing the Vaal river on parole; the murder of a man +named Malcolm, who was kicked to death in his own house by Boers, who +afterwards put a bullet through his head to make the job "look better;" +and the murder of a doctor named Barber, who was shot by his escort on +the border of the Free State. A few of the men concerned in the first +two of these crimes were tried in Pretoria; and it was currently +reported at that time, that in order to make their acquittal certain +our Attorney-General received instructions not to exercise his right of +challenging jurors on behalf of the Crown. Whether or not this is true +I am not prepared to say, but I believe it is a fact that he did not +exercise that right, though the counsel for the prisoners availed +themselves of it freely, with the result that in Elliot's case, the +jury was composed of eight Boers and one German, nine being the full +South African jury. The necessary result followed; in both cases the +prisoners were acquitted in the teeth of the evidence. Barber's +murderers were tried in the Free State, and were, as might be expected, +acquitted. + +Thus it will be seen that of all the perpetrators of murder and other +crimes during the course of the war not one was brought to justice. + +The offence for which their victims died was, in nearly every case, +that they had served, were serving, or were loyal to Her Majesty the +Queen. In no single case has England exacted retribution for the murder +of her servants and citizens; but nobody can read through the long list +of these dastardly slaughters without feeling that they will not go +unavenged. The innocent blood that has been shed on behalf of this +country, and the tears of children and widows, now appeal to a higher +tribunal than that of Mr. Gladstone's Government, and assuredly they +will not appeal in vain. + +The next point of importance dealt with by the Commission was the +question whether or no any territory should be severed from the +Transvaal, and kept under English rule for the benefit of the native +inhabitants. Lord Kimberley, acting under pressure put upon him by +members of the Aborigines Protection Society, instructed the Commission +to consider the advisability of severing the districts of Lydenburg and +Zoutpansberg, and also a strip of territory bordering on Zululand and +Swaziland, from the Transvaal, so as to place the inhabitants of the +first two districts out of danger of maltreatment by the Boers, and to +interpose a buffer between Zulus, and Swazis, and Boer aggression, and +_vice versa_. + +The Boer leaders had, it must be remembered, acquiesced in the +principle of such a separation in the preliminary peace signed by Sir +Evelyn Wood and themselves. The majority of the Commission, however +(Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting), finally decided against the retention of +either of these districts, a decision which, I think, was a wise one, +though I arrive at that conclusion on very different grounds to those +adopted by the majority of the Commission. + +Personally, I cannot see that it is the duty of England to play +policeman to the whole world. To have retained these native districts +would have been to make ourselves responsible for their good +government, and to have guaranteed them against Boer encroachment, +which I do not think that we were called upon to do. It is surely not +incumbent upon us, having given up the Transvaal to the Boers, to +undertake the management of the most troublesome part of it, the Zulu +border. Besides, bad as the abandonment of the Transvaal is, I think +that if it was to be done at all, it was best to do it thoroughly, +since to have kept some natives under our protection, and to have +handed over the rest to the tender mercies of the Boers, would only be +to render our injustice more obvious, whilst weakening the power of the +natives themselves to combine in self-defence, since those under our +protection would naturally have little sympathy with their more +unfortunate brethren--their interests and circumstances being +different. + +The Commission do not seem to have considered the question from these +points of view; but putting them on one side, there are many other +considerations connected with it which are ably summed up in their +Report. Amongst these is the danger of disturbances commenced between +Zulus or Swazis and Boers spreading into Natal, and the probability of +the fomenting of disturbances amongst the Zulus by Boers. The great +argument for the retention of some territory, if only as a symbol that +the English had not been driven out of the country, is, however, set +forth in the forty-sixth paragraph of the Report, which runs as +follows:--"The moral considerations that determine the actions of +civilised governments are not easily understood by barbarians, in whose +eyes successful force is alone the sign of superiority, and it appeared +possible that the surrender by the British Crown of one of its +possessions to those who had been in arms against it, might be looked +upon by the natives in no other way than as a token of the defeat and +decay of the British power, and that thus a serious shock might be +given to British authority in South Africa, and the capacity of Great +Britain to govern and direct the vast native population within and +without her South African dominions--a capacity resting largely on the +renown of her name--might be dangerously impaired." + +These words, coming from so unexpected a source, do not, though couched +in such mild language, hide the startling importance of the question +discussed. On the contrary, they accurately and with double weight +convey the sense and gist of the most damning argument against the +policy of the retrocession of the Transvaal in its entirety; and +proceeding from their own carefully chosen Commissioners, can hardly +have been pleasant reading to Lord Kimberley and his colleagues. + +The majority of the Commission then proceeds to set forth the arguments +advanced by the Boers against the retention of any territory, which +appear to have been chiefly of a sentimental character, since we are +informed that "the people, it seemed certain, would not have valued the +restoration of a mutilated country. Sentiment in a great measure had +led them to insurrection, and the force of such it was impossible to +disregard." Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, states that he cannot even +agree with the premises of his colleagues' argument, since he is +convinced that it was not sentiment that had led to the outbreak, but a +"general and rooted aversion to taxation." If he had added, and a +hatred not only of English rule, but of all rule, he would have stated +the complete cause of the Transvaal rebellion. In the next paragraph of +the Report, however, we find the real cause of the pliability of the +Commission in the matter, which is the same that influenced them in +their decision about the mode of trial of the murderers and other +questions--they feared that the people would appeal to arms if they +decided against their wishes. + +Discreditable and disgraceful as it may seem, nobody can read this +Report without plainly seeing that the Commissioners were, in treating +with the Boers on these points, in the position of ambassadors from a +beaten people getting the best terms they could. Of course, they well +knew that this was not the case but whatever the Boer leaders may have +said, the Boers themselves did not know this, or even pretend to look +at the matter in any other light. When we asked for the country back, +said they, we did not get it; after we had three times defeated the +English we did get it; the logical conclusion from the facts being that +we got it because we defeated the English. This was their tone, and it +is not therefore surprising that whenever the Commission threatened to +decide anything against them, they, with a smile, let it know that if +it did, they would be under the painful necessity of re-occupying +Lang's Nek. It was never necessary to repeat the threat, since the +majority of the Commission would thereupon speedily find a way to meet +the views of the Boer representatives. + +Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, thus correctly sums up the +matter:--"To contend that the Royal Commission ought not to decide +contrary to the wishes of the Boers, because such decision might not be +accepted, is to deny to the Commission the very power of decision that +it was agreed should be left in its hands." Exactly so. But it is +evident that the Commission knew its place, and so far from attempting +to exercise any "power of decision," it was quite content with such +concessions as it could obtain by means of bargaining. Thus, as an +additional reason against the retention of any territory, it is urged +that if this territory was retained "the majority of your Commissioners +... would have found themselves in no favourable position for obtaining +the concurrence of the Boer leaders as to other matters." In fact, Her +Majesty's Commission, appointed, or supposed to be appointed, to do Her +Majesty's will and pleasure, shook in its shoes before men who had +lately been rebels in arms against her authority, and humbly submitted +itself to their dicta. + +The majority of the Commission went on to express their opinion, that +by giving way about the retention of territory they would be able to +obtain better terms for the natives generally, and larger powers for +the British Resident. But, as Sir Evelyn Wood points out in his Report, +they did nothing of the sort, the terms of the agreement about the +Resident and other native matters being all consequent on and included +in the first agreement of peace. Besides, they seem to have overlooked +the fact that such concessions as they did obtain are only on paper, +and practically worthless, whilst all _bona fide_ advantages remained +with the Boers. + +The decision of the Commissioners in the question of the Keate Award, +which next came under their consideration, appears to have been a +judicious one, being founded on the very careful Report of Colonel +Moysey, R.E., who had been for many months collecting information on +the spot. The Keate Award Territory is a region lying to the south-west +of the Transvaal, and was, like many other districts in that country, +originally in the possession of natives of the Baralong and Batlapin +tribes. Individual Boers having, however, _more suo_ taken possession +of tracts of land in the district, difficulties speedily arose between +their Government and the native chiefs, and in 1871 Mr. Keate, +Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, was by mutual consent called in to +arbitrate on the matter. His decision was entirely in favour of the +natives, and was accordingly promptly and characteristically repudiated +by the Boer Volksraad. From that time till the rebellion the question +remained unsettled, and was indeed a very thorny one to deal with. The +Commission, acting on the principle _in medio tutissimus ibis_, drew a +line through the midst of the disputed territory, or, in other words, +set aside Mr. Keate's award, and interpreted the dispute in favour of +the Boers. + +This decision was accepted by all parties at the time, but it has not +resulted in the maintenance of peace. The principal chief, Montsioa, is +an old ally and staunch friend of the English, a fact which the Boers +are not able to forget or forgive, and they appear to have stirred up +rival chiefs to attack him, and to have allowed volunteers from the +Transvaal to assist them. Montsioa has also enlisted some white +volunteers, and several fights have taken place, in which the loss of +life has been considerable. Whether or no the Transvaal Government is +directly concerned it is impossible to say, but from the fact that +cannon are said to have been used against Montsioa it would appear that +it is, since private individuals do not, as a rule, own Armstrong +guns.[13] + + [13] I beg to refer any reader interested in this matter to + the letter of "Transvaal" to the _Standard_, which I have + republished in the Appendix to this book. + +Amongst the questions remaining for the consideration of the +Commissioners was that of what compensation should be given for losses +during the war. Of course, the great bulk of the losses sustained were +of an indirect nature, resulting from the necessary and enormous +depreciation in the value of land and other property, consequent on the +retrocession. Into this matter the Home Government declined to enter, +thereby saving its pocket at the price of its honour, since it was upon +English guarantees that the country would remain a British possession +that the majority of the unfortunate loyals invested their money in it. +It was, however, agreed by the Commission (Sir H. de Villiers +dissenting) that the Boers should be liable for compensation in cases +where loss had been sustained through commandeering seizure, +confiscation, destruction, or damage of property. The sums awarded +under these heads have already amounted to about L110,000, which sum +has been defrayed by the Imperial Government, the Boer authorities +stating that they were not in a position to pay it. + +In connection with this matter I will pass to the financial clauses of +the Report. When the country was annexed, the public debt amounted to +L301,727. Under British rule this debt was liquidated to the extent of +L150,000, but the total was brought up by a Parliamentary grant, a loan +from the Standard Bank, and sundries to L390,404, which represented the +public debt of the Transvaal on the 31st December 1880. This was +further increased by moneys advanced by the Standard Bank and English +Exchequer during the war, and till the 8th August 1881, during which +time the country yielded no revenue, to L457,393. To this must be added +an estimated sum of L200,000 for compensation charges, pension +allowances, &c., and a further sum of L383,000, the cost of the +successful expedition against Secocoeni, that of the unsuccessful one +being left out of account, bringing up the total public debt to over a +million, of which about L800,000 is owing to this country. + +This sum, with the characteristic liberality that distinguished them in +their dealings with the Boers, but which was not so marked where loyals +were concerned, the Commissioners (Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting) reduced +by a stroke of the pen to L265,000, thus entirely remitting an +approximate sum of L500,000, or L600,000. To the sum of L265,000 still +owing must be added say another L150,000 for sums lately advanced to +pay the compensation claims, bringing up the actual amount now owing to +England to something under half a million, of which I say with +confidence she will never see a single L10,000. As this contingency was +not contemplated, or if contemplated, not alluded to by the Royal +Commission, provision was made for a Sinking Fund, by means of which +the debt, which is a second charge on the revenues of the States, is to +be extinguished in twenty-five years. + +It is a strange instance of the proverbial irony of fate, that whilst +the representatives of the Imperial Government were thus showering +gifts of hundreds of thousands of pounds upon men who had spurned the +benefits of Her Majesty's rule, made war upon her forces, and murdered +her subjects, no such consideration was extended to those who had +remained loyal to her throne. Their claims for compensation were passed +by unheeded; and looking from the windows of the room in which they sat +in Newcastle, the members of the Commission might have seen them +flocking down from a country that could no longer be their home; those +that were rich among them made poor, and those that were poor reduced +to destitution. + +The only other point which it will be necessary for me to touch on in +connection with this Report is the duties of the British Resident and +his relations to the natives. He was to be invested as representative +of the Suzerain with functions for securing the execution of the terms +of peace as regards--(1) the control of the foreign relations of the +State; (2) the control of the frontier affairs of the State; and (3) +the protection of the interests of the natives in the State. + +As regards the first of these points, it was arranged that the +interests of subjects of the Transvaal should be left in the hands of +Her Majesty's representatives abroad. Since Boers are, of all people in +the world, the most stay-at-home, our ambassadors and consuls are not +likely to be troubled much on their account. With reference to the +second point, the Commission made stipulations that would be admirable +if there were any probability of their being acted up to. The Resident +is to report any encroachment on native territory by Boers to the High +Commissioner, and when the Resident and the Boer Government differ, the +decision of the Suzerain is to be final. This is a charming way of +settling difficulties, but the Commission forgets to specify how the +Suzerain's decision is to be enforced. After what has happened, it can +hardly have relied on awe of the name of England to bring about the +desired obedience! + +But besides thus using his beneficent authority to prevent subjects of +the Transvaal from trespassing on their neighbour's land, the Resident +is to exercise a general supervision over the interests of all the +natives in the country. Considering that they number about a million, +and are scattered over a territory larger than France, one would think +that this duty alone would have taken up the time of any ordinary man; +and, indeed, Sir Evelyn Wood was in favour of the appointment of +sub-residents to assist him. The majority of the Commission refused, +however, to listen to any such suggestion--believing, they said, "that +the least possible interference with the independent Government of the +State would be the wisest." Quite so, but I suppose it never occurred +to them to ask the natives what their views of the matter were! The +Resident was also to be a member of a Native Location Commission, which +was at some future time to provide land for the natives to live on. + +In perusing this Report it is easy to follow with more or less accuracy +the individual bent of its framers. Sir Hercules Robinson figures +throughout as a man who has got a disagreeable business to carry out, +in obedience to instructions that admit of no trifling with, and who +has set himself to do the best he can for his country, and those who +suffer through his country's policy, whilst obeying those instructions. +He has evidently choked down his feelings and opinions as an +individual, and turned himself into an official machine, merely +registering in detail the will of Lord Kimberley. With Sir Henry de +Villiers the case is very different. One feels throughout that the task +is to him a congenial one, and that the Boer cause has in him an +excellent friend. Indeed, had he been an advocate of their cause +instead of a member of the Commission, he could not have espoused their +side on every occasion with greater zeal. According to him they were +always in the right, and in them he could find no guile. Mr. Hofmeyer +and President Brand exercised a wise discretion from their own point of +view when they urged his appointment as Special Commissioner. I now +come to Sir Evelyn Wood, who was in the position of an independent +Englishman, neither prejudiced in favour of the Boers, or the reverse, +and on whom, as a military man, Lord Kimberley would find it difficult +to put the official screw. The results of his happy position are +obvious in the paper attached to the end of the Report, and signed by +him, in which he totally and entirely differs from the majority of the +Commission on every point of any importance. Most people will think +that this very outspoken and forcible dissent deducts somewhat from the +value of the Report, and throws a shadow of doubt on the wisdom of its +provisions. + +The formal document of agreement between Her Majesty's Government and +the Boer leaders, commonly known as the Convention, was signed by both +parties at Pretoria on the afternoon of the 3d August 1881, in the same +room in which, nearly four years before, the Annexation Proclamation +was signed by Sir T. Shepstone. + +Whilst this business was being transacted in Government House, a +curious ceremony was going on just outside, and within sight of the +windows. This was the ceremonious burial of the Union Jack, which was +followed to the grave by a crowd of about 2000 loyalists and native +chiefs. On the outside of the coffin was written the word "Resurgam," +and an eloquent oration was delivered over the grave. Such +demonstrations are, no doubt, foolish enough, but they are not entirely +without political significance. + +But a more unpleasant duty awaited the Commissioners than that of +attaching their signatures to a document,--consisting of the necessity +of conveying Her Majesty's decision as to the retrocession to about a +hundred native chiefs, until now Her Majesty's subjects, who had been +gathered together to hear it. It must be borne in mind that the natives +had not been consulted as to the disposal of the country, although they +outnumber the white people in the proportion of twenty to one, and +that, beyond some worthless paper stipulations, nothing had been done +for their interests. + +Personally, I must plead guilty to what I know is by many, especially +by those who are attached to the Boer cause, considered as folly, if +not worse, namely, a sufficient interest in the natives, and sympathy +with their sufferings, to bring me to the conclusion that in acting +thus we have inflicted a cruel injustice upon them. It seems to me, +that as they were the original owners of the soil, they were entitled +to some consideration in the question of its disposal, and consequently +and incidentally, of their own. I am aware that it is generally +considered that the white man has a right to the black man's +possessions and land, and that it is his high and holy mission to +exterminate the wretched native and take his place. But with this +conclusion I venture to differ. So far as my own experience of natives +has gone, I have found that in all the essential qualities of mind and +body they very much resemble white men, with the exception that they +are, as a race, quicker-witted, more honest, and braver than the +ordinary run of white men. Of them might be aptly quoted the speech +Shakespeare puts into Shylock's mouth: "Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a +Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" In the +same way I ask, Has a native no feelings or affections? does he not +suffer when his parents are shot, or his children stolen, or when he is +driven a wanderer from his home? Does he not know fear, feel pain, +affection, hate, and gratitude? Most certainly he does; and this being +so, I cannot believe that the Almighty, who made both white and black, +gave to the one race the right or mission of exterminating or even of +robbing or maltreating the other, and calling the process the advance +of civilisation. It seems to me, that on only one condition, if at all, +have we the right to take the black men's land; and that is, that we +provide them with an equal and a just Government, and allow no +maltreatment of them, either as individuals or tribes, but, on the +contrary, do our best to elevate them, and wean them from savage +customs. Otherwise, the practice is surely undefensible. + +I am aware, however, that with the exception of a small class, these +are sentiments which are not shared by the great majority of the +public, either at home or abroad. Indeed, it can be plainly seen how +little sympathy they command, from the fact that but scanty +remonstrance was raised at the treatment meted out to our native +subjects in the Transvaal, when they were, to the number of nearly a +million, handed over from the peace, justice, and security that on the +whole characterise our rule, to a state of things and possibilities of +wrong and suffering which I will not try to describe. + +To the chiefs thus assembled Sir Hercules Robinson, as President of the +Royal Commission, read a statement, and then retired, refusing to allow +them to speak in answer. The statement informed the natives that "Her +Majesty's Government, with that sense of justice which befits a great +and powerful nation," had returned the country to the Boers, "whose +representatives, Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert, I now," said +Sir Hercules, "have much pleasure in introducing to you." If reports +are true, the native chiefs had, many of them personally, and all of +them by reputation, already the advantage of a very intimate +acquaintance with all three of these gentlemen, so that an introduction +was somewhat superfluous. + +Sir Hercules then went on to explain to them that locations would be +allotted to them at some future time; that a British Resident would be +appointed, whose especial charge they would be, but that they must bear +in mind that he was not ruler of the country, but the Government, +"subject to Her Majesty's suzerain rights." Natives were, no doubt, +expected to know by intuition what suzerain rights are. The statement +then goes on to give them good advice as to the advantages of indulging +in manual labour when asked to do so by the Boers, and generally to +show them how bright and happy is the future that lies before them. +Lest they should be too elated by such good tidings, they are, however, +reminded that it will be necessary to retain the law relating to +passes, which is, in the hands of a people like the Boers, about as +unjust a regulation as a dominant race can invent for the oppression of +a subject people, and had, in the old days of the Republic, been +productive of much hardship. The statement winds up by assuring them +that their "interests will never be forgotten or neglected by Her +Majesty's Government." Having read the document the Commission hastily +withdrew, and after their withdrawal the chiefs were "allowed" to state +their opinions to the Secretary for Native Affairs. + +In availing themselves of this permission, it is noticeable that no +allusion was made to all the advantages they were to reap under the +Convention, nor did they seem to attach much importance to the +appointment of the British Resident. On the contrary, all their +attention was given to the great fact that the country had been ceded +to the Boers, and that they were no longer the Queen's subjects. We are +told, in Mr. Shepstone's Report, that they "got very excited," and +"asked whether it was thought that they had no feelings or hearts, that +they were thus treated as a stick or piece of tobacco, which could be +passed from hand to hand without question." Umgombarie, a Zoutpansberg +chief, said: "I am Umgombarie. I have fought with the Boers, and have +many wounds, and they know that what I say is true.... I will never +consent to place myself under their rule. I belong to the English +Government. I am not a man who eats with both sides of his jaw at once; +I only use one side. I am English, I have said." Silamba said: "I +belong to the English. I will never return under the Boers. You see me, +a man of my rank and position; is it right that such as I should be +seized and laid on the ground and flogged, as has been done to me and +other chiefs?" + +Sinkanhla said: "We hear and yet do not hear, we cannot understand. We +are troubling you, Chief, by talking in this way; we hear the chiefs +say that the Queen took the country because the people of the country +wished it, and again that the majority of the owners of the country did +not wish their rule, and that therefore the country was given back. We +should like to have the man pointed out from among us black people who +objects to the rule of the Queen. We are the real owners of the +country; we were here when the Boers came, and without asking leave, +settled down and treated us in every way badly. The English Government +then came and took the country; we have now had four years of rest and +peaceful and just rule. We have been called here to-day, and are told +that the country, our country, has been given to the Boers by the +Queen. This is a thing which surprises us. Did the country, then, +belong to the Boers? Did it not belong to our fathers and forefathers +before us, long before the Boers came here? We have heard that the +Boers' country is at the Cape. If the Queen wishes to give them their +land, why does she not give them back the Cape?" + +I have quoted this speech at length, because, although made by a +despised native, it sets forth their case more powerfully and in +happier language than I can do. + +Umyethile said: "We have no heart for talking. I have returned to the +country from Sechelis, where I had to fly from Boer oppression. Our +hearts are black and heavy with grief to-day at the news told us, we +are in agony, our intestines are twisting and writhing inside of us, +just as you see a snake do when it is struck on the head.... We do not +know what has become of us, but we feel dead; it may be that the Lord +may change the nature of the Boers, and that we will not be treated +like dogs and beasts of burden as formerly, but we have no hope of such +a change, and we leave you with heavy hearts and great apprehension as +to the future." In his Report, Mr. Shepstone (the Secretary for Native +Affairs) says: "One chief, Jan Sibilo, who has been, he informed me, +personally threatened with death by the Boers after the English leave, +could not restrain his feelings, but cried like a child." + +I have nothing to add to these extracts, which are taken from many such +statements. They are the very words of the persons most concerned, and +will speak for themselves. + +The Convention was signed on the 3d August 1881, and was to be formally +ratified by a Volksraad or Parliament of the Burghers within three +months of that date, in default of which it was to fall to the ground +and become null and void. + +Anybody who has followed the course of affairs with reference to the +retrocession of the Transvaal, or who has even taken the trouble to +read through this brief history, will probably come to the conclusion +that, under all the circumstances, the Boers had got more than they +could reasonably expect. Not so, however, the Boers themselves. On the +28th September the newly-elected Volksraad referred the Convention to a +General Committee to report on, and on the 30th September the Report +was presented. On the 3d October a telegram was despatched through the +British Resident to "His Excellency W. E. Gladstone," in which the +Volksraad states that the Convention is not acceptable-- + +(1.) Because it is in conflict with the Sand River Treaty of 1852. + +(2.) Because it violates the peace agreement entered into with Sir +Evelyn Wood, in confidence of which the Boers laid down their arms. + +The Volksraad consequently declared that modifications were desirable, +and that certain articles _must_ be altered. + +To begin with, they declare that the "conduct of foreign relations does +not appertain to the Suzerain, only supervision," and that the articles +bearing on these points must consequently be modified. They next attack +the native question, stating that "the Suzerain has not the right to +interfere with our Legislature," and state that they cannot agree to +Article 3, which gives the Suzerain a right of veto on Legislation +connected with the natives; to Article 13, by virtue of which natives +are to be allowed to acquire land; and to the last part of Article 26, +by which it is provided that whites of alien race living in the +Transvaal shall not be taxed in excess of the taxes imposed on +Transvaal citizens. + +They further declare that it is _infra dignitatem_ for the President of +the Transvaal to be a member of a Commission. This refers to the Native +Location Commission, on which he is, in the terms of the Convention, to +sit, together with the British Resident, and a third person jointly +appointed. + +They next declare that the amount of the debt for which the Commission +has made them liable should be modified. Considering that England had +already made them a present of from L600,000 to L800,000, this is a +most barefaced demand. Finally, they state that "Articles 15, 16, 26, +and 27 are superfluous, and only calculated to wound our sense of +honour" (_sic_). + +Article 15 enacts that no slavery or apprenticeship shall be tolerated. + +Article 16 provides for religious toleration. + +Article 26 provides for the free movement, trading, and residence of +all persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of +the Transvaal. + +Article 27 gives to all the right of free access to the Courts of +Justice. + +Putting the "sense of honour" of the Transvaal Volksraad out of the +question, past experience has but too plainly proved that these +Articles are by no means superfluous. + +In reply to this message, Sir Hercules Robinson telegraphs to the +British Resident on the 21st October in the following words:-- + +"Having forwarded Volksraad Resolution of 15th to Earl of Kimberley, I +am desired to instruct you in reply to repeat to the Triumvirate that +Her Majesty's Government cannot entertain any proposals for a +modification of the Convention _until after it has been ratified_, +and the necessity for further concession proved by experience." + +I wish to draw particular attention to the last part of this message, +which is extremely typical of the line of policy adopted throughout in +the Transvaal business. The English Government dared not make any +further concession to the Boers, because they felt that they had +already strained the temper of the country almost to breaking in the +matter. On the other hand, they were afraid that if they did not do +something, the Boers would tear up the Convention, and they would find +themselves face to face with the old difficulty. Under these +circumstances, they have fallen back upon their temporising and +un-English policy, which leaves them a back-door to escape through, +whatever turn things take. Should the Boers now suddenly turn round and +declare, which is extremely probable, that they repudiate their debt to +us, or that they are sick of the presence of a British Resident, the +Government will be able to announce that "the necessity for further +concession" has now been "proved by experience," and thus escape the +difficulty. In short, this telegram has deprived the Convention of +whatever finality it may have possessed, and made it, as a document, as +worthless as it is as a practical settlement. That this is the view +taken of it by the Boers themselves, is proved by the text of the +Ratification which followed on the receipt of this telegram. + +The tone of this document throughout is, in my opinion, considering +from whom it came, and against whom it is directed, very insolent. And +it amply confirms what I have previously said, that the Boers looked +upon themselves as a victorious people making terms with those they +have conquered. The Ratification leads off thus: "The Volksraad is not +satisfied with this Convention, and considers that the members of the +Triumvirate performed a fervent act of love for the Fatherland when +they upon their own responsibility signed such an unsatisfactory state +document." This is damning with faint praise indeed. It then goes on to +recite the various points of objection, stating that the answers from +the English Government proved that they were well founded. "The English +Government," it says, "acknowledges indirectly by this answer (the +telegram of 21st October, quoted above) that the difficulties raised by +the Volksraad are neither fictitious nor unfounded, inasmuch _as it +desires from us the concession_ that we, the Volksraad, shall submit +it to a practical test." It will be observed that England is here +represented as begging the favour of a trial of her conditions from the +Volksraad of the Transvaal Boers. The Ratification is in these words: +"Therefore is it that the Raad here unanimously resolves not to go into +further discussion of the Convention, _and maintaining all objections +to the Convention_ as made before the Royal Commission or stated in +the Raad, and for the purpose of showing to everybody that the love +of peace and unity inspires it, _for the time and provisionally_ +submitting the articles of the Convention to a practical test, _hereby +complying with the request of the English Government_ contained in +the telegram of the 13th October 1881, proceeds to ratify the +Convention." + +It would have been interesting to have seen how such a Ratification as +this, which is no Ratification but an insult, would have been accepted +by Lord Beaconsfield. I think that within twenty-four hours of its +arrival in Downing Street, the Boer Volksraad would have received a +startling answer. But Lord Beaconsfield is dead, and by his successor +it was received with all due thankfulness and humility. His words, +however, on this subject still remain to us, and even his great rival +might have done well to listen to them. It was in the course of what +was, I believe, the last speech he made in the House of Lords, that +speaking about the Transvaal rising, he warned the Government that it +was a very dangerous thing to make peace with rebellious subjects in +arms against the authority of the Queen. The warning passed unheeded, +and the peace was made in the way I have described. + +As regards the Convention itself, it will be obvious to the reader that +the Boers have not any intention of acting up to its provisions, mild +as they are, if they can possibly avoid them, whilst, on the other +hand, there is no force at hand to punish their disregard or breach. It +is all very well to create a Resident with extensive powers; but how is +he to enforce his decisions? What is he to do if his awards are laughed +at and made a mockery of, as they are and will be? The position of Mr. +Hudson at Pretoria is even worse than that of Mr. Osborn in Zululand. +For instance, the Convention specifies in the first article that the +Transvaal is to be known as the Transvaal State. The Boer Government +have, however, thought fit to adopt the name of "South African +Republic" in all public documents. Mr. Hudson was accordingly directed +to remonstrate, which he did in a feeble way; his remonstrance was +politely acknowledged, but the country is still officially called the +South African Republic, the Convention and Mr. Hudson's remonstrance +notwithstanding. Mr. Hudson, however, appears to be better suited to +the position than would have been the case had an Englishman, pure and +simple, been appointed, since it is evident that things that would have +struck the latter as insults to the Queen he represented, and his +country generally, are not so understood by him. In fact, he admirably +represents his official superiors in his capacity of swallowing +rebuffs, and when smitten on one cheek delightedly offering the other. + +Thus we find him attending a Boer meeting of thanksgiving for the +success that had waited on their arms and the recognition of their +independence, where most people will consider he was out of place. To +this meeting, thus graced by his presence, an address was presented by +a branch of the Africander Bond, a powerful institution, having for its +object the total uprootal of English rule and English customs in South +Africa, to which he must have listened with pleasure. In it he, in +common with other members of the meeting, is informed that "you took up +the sword and struck the Briton with such force" that "the Britons +through fear revived that sense of justice to which they could not be +brought by petitions," and that the "day will soon come that we shall +enter with you on one arena for the entire independence of South +Africa," _i.e._, independence from English rule. + +On the following day the Government gave a dinner, to which all those +who had done good service during the late hostilities were invited, the +British Resident being apparently the only Englishman asked. Amongst +the other celebrities present I notice the name of Buskes. This man, +who is an educated Hollander, was the moving spirit of the +Potchefstroom atrocities; indeed, so dark is his reputation that the +Royal Commission refused to transact business with him, or to admit him +to their presence. Mr. Hudson was not so particular. And now comes the +most extraordinary part of the episode. At the dinner it was necessary +that the health of Her Majesty as Suzerain should be proposed, and with +studied insolence this was done last of all the leading political +toasts, and immediately after that of the Triumvirate. Notwithstanding +this fact, and that the toast was couched by Mr. Joubert, who stated +that "he would not attempt to explain what a Suzerain was," in what +appear to be semi-ironical terms, we find that Mr. Hudson "begged to +tender his thanks to the Honourable Mr. Joubert for the kind way in +which he proposed the toast." + +It may please Mr. Hudson to see the name of the Queen thus +metaphorically dragged in triumph at the chariot wheels of the +Triumvirate, but it is satisfactory to know that the spectacle is not +appreciated in England: since, on a question in the House of Lords, by +the Earl of Carnarvon, who characterised it as a deliberate insult, +Lord Kimberley replied that the British Resident had been instructed +that in future he was not to attend public demonstrations unless he had +previously informed himself that the name of Her Majesty would be +treated with proper respect. Let us hope that this official reprimand +will have its effect, and that Mr. Hudson will learn therefrom that +there is such a thing as _trop de zele_--even in a good cause. + +The Convention is now a thing of the past, the appropriate rewards have +been lavishly distributed to its framers, and President Brand has at +last prevailed upon the Volksraad of the Orange Free State to allow him +to become a Knight Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George,--the +same prize looked forward to by our most distinguished public servants +at the close of the devotion of their life to the service of their +country. But its results are yet to come--though it would be difficult +to forecast the details of their development. One thing, however, is +clear: the signing of that document signalised an entirely new +departure in South African affairs, and brought us within a measurable +distance of the abandonment, for the present at any rate, of the +supremacy of English rule in South Africa. + +This is the larger issue of the matter, and it is already bearing +fruit. Emboldened by their success in the Transvaal, the Dutch party at +the Cape are demanding, and the demand is to be granted, that the Dutch +tongue be admitted _pari passu_ with English, as the official +language in the Law Courts and the House of Assembly. When a country +thus consents to use a foreign tongue equally with its own, it is a +sure sign that those who speak it are rising to power. But "the Party" +looks higher than this, and openly aims at throwing off English rule +altogether, and declaring South Africa a great Dutch republic. The +course of events is favourable to their aspiration. Responsible +Government is to be granted to Natal, which country, not being strong +enough to stand alone in the face of the many dangers that surround +her, will be driven into the arms of the Dutch party to save herself +from destruction. It will be useless for her to look for help from +England, and any feelings of repugnance she may feel to Boer rule will +soon be choked by necessity, and a mutual interest. It is, however, +possible that some unforeseen event, such as the advent to power of a +strong Conservative Ministry, may check the tide that now sets so +strongly in favour of Dutch supremacy. + +It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration +of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it +would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little further and +favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, retaining +only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the bounds of +sober possibility that they may one day have to face a fresh Transvaal +rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale, and might find it +difficult to retain even Table Bay. If, on the other hand, they do, I +believe that all the White States in South Africa would confederate of +their own free-will, under the pressure of the necessity for common +action, and the Dutch element being preponderant, at once set to work +to exterminate the natives on general principles, in much the same way, +and from much the same motives that a cook exterminates black beetles, +because she thinks them ugly, and to clear the kitchen. + +I need hardly say that such a policy is not one that commands my +sympathy, but Her Majesty's Government having put their hand to the +plough, it is worth their while to consider it. It would at any rate be +in perfect accordance with their declared sentiments, and command an +enthusiastic support from their followers. + +As regards the smaller and more immediate issue of the retrocession, +namely, its effect on the Transvaal itself, it cannot be other than +evil. The act is, I believe, quite without precedent in our history, +and it is difficult to see, looking at it from those high grounds of +national morality assumed by the Government, what greater arguments can +be advanced in its favour, than could be found to support the +abandonment of,--let us say,--Ireland. Indeed a certain parallel +undoubtedly exists between the circumstances of the two countries. +Ireland was, like the Transvaal, annexed, though a long time ago, and +has continually agitated for its freedom. The Irish hate us, so did the +Boers. In Ireland, Englishmen are being shot, and England is running +the awful risk of blood-guiltiness, as it did in the Transvaal. In +Ireland, smouldering revolution is being fanned into flame by Mr. +Gladstone's speeches and acts, as it was in the Transvaal. In Ireland, +as in the Transvaal, there exists a strong loyal class that receives +insults instead of support from the Government, and whose property, as +was the case there, is taken from them without compensation, to be +flung as a sop to stop the mouths of the Queen's enemies. And so I +might go on, finding many such similarities of circumstances, but my +parallel, like most parallels, must break down at last Thus--it +mattered little to England whether or no she let the Transvaal go, but +to let Ireland go would be more than even Mr. Gladstone dare attempt. + +Somehow, if you follow these things far enough, you always come to +vulgar first principles. The difference between the case of the +Transvaal and that of Ireland is a difference not of justice of cause, +for both causes are equally unjust or just according as they are +viewed, but of mere common expediency. Judging from the elevated +standpoint of the national morality theory, however, which, as we know, +soars above such truisms as the foolish statement that force is a +remedy, or that if you wish to retain your prestige you must not allow +defeats to pass unavenged, I cannot see why, if it was righteous to +abandon the Transvaal, it would not be equally righteous to abandon +Ireland! + +As for the Transvaal, that country is not to be congratulated on its +success, for it has destroyed all its hopes of permanent peace, has +ruined its trade and credit, and has driven away the most useful and +productive class in the community. The Boers, elated by their success +in arms, will be little likely to settle down to peaceable occupations, +and still less likely to pay their taxes, which, indeed, I hear they +are already refusing to do. They have learnt how easily even a powerful +Government can be upset, and the lesson is not likely to be forgotten, +for want of repetition to their own weak one. + +Already the Transvaal Government hardly knows which way to turn for +funds, and as, perhaps fortunately for itself, quite unable to borrow, +through want of credit. + +As regards the native question, I agree with Mr. H. Shepstone, who, in +his Report on this subject, says that he does not believe that the +natives will inaugurate any action against the Boers, so long as the +latter do not try to collect taxes, or otherwise interfere with them. +But if the Boer Government is to continue to exist, it will be bound to +raise taxes from the natives, since it cannot collect much from its +white subjects. The first general attempt of the sort will be the +signal for active resistance on the part of the natives, whom, if they +act without concert, the Boers will be able to crush in detail, though +with considerable loss. If, on the other hand, they should have +happened, during the last few years, to have learnt the advantages of +combination, as is quite possible, perhaps they will crash the Boers. + +The only thing that is at present certain about the matter is that +there will be bloodshed, and that before long. For instance, the +Montsioa difficulty in the Keate Award has in it the possibilities of a +serious war, and there are plenty such difficulties ready to spring +into life within and without the Transvaal. + +In all human probability it will take but a small lapse of time for the +Transvaal to find itself in the identical position from which we +relieved it by the Annexation. + +What course events will then take it is impossible to say. It may be +found desirable to re-annex the country, though, in my opinion, that +would be, after all that has passed, an unfortunate step; its +inhabitants may be cut up piecemeal by a combined movement of native +tribes, as they would have been, had they not been rescued by the +English Government in 1877, or it is possible that the Orange Free +State may consent to take the Transvaal under its wing: who can say? +There is only one thing that our recently abandoned possession can +count on for certain, and that is trouble, both from its white +subjects, and the natives, who hate the Boers with a bitter and a +well-earned hatred. + +The whole question can, so far as its moral aspect is concerned, be +summed up in a few words. + +Whether or no the Annexation was a necessity at the moment of its +execution--which I certainly maintain it was--it received the +unreserved sanction of the Home authorities, and the relations of +Sovereign and subject, with all the many and mutual obligations +involved in that connection, were established between the Queen of +England and every individual of the motley population of the Transvaal. +Nor was this change an empty form, for, to the largest proportion of +that population, this transfer of allegiance brought with it a +priceless and a vital boon. To them it meant freedom and justice--for +where, on any portion of this globe over which the British ensign +floats, does the law even wink at cruelty or wrong? + +A few years passed away, and a small number of the Queen's subjects in +the Transvaal rose in rebellion against her authority, and inflicted +some reverses on her arms. Thereupon, in spite of the reiterated +pledges given to the contrary--partly under stress of defeat, and +partly in obedience to the pressure of "advanced views"--the country +was abandoned, and the vast majority who had remained faithful to the +Crown, was handed to the cruel despotism of the minority who had +rebelled against it. + +Such an act of treachery to those to whom we were bound with double +chains--by the strong ties of a common citizenship, and by those claims +to England's protection from violence and wrong which have hitherto +been wont to command it, even where there was no duty to fulfil, and no +authority to vindicate--stands, I believe, without parallel on our +records, and marks a new departure in our history. + +I cannot end these pages without expressing my admiration of the +extremely able way in which the Boers managed their revolt, when once +they felt that, having undertaken the thing, it was a question of life +and death with them. It shows that they have good stuff in them +somewhere, which, under the firm but just rule of Her Majesty, might +have been much developed, and it makes it the more sad that they should +have been led to throw off that rule, and have been allowed to do so by +an English Government. + +In conclusion, there is one point that I must touch on, and that is the +effect of the retrocession on the native mind, which I can only +describe as most disastrous. The danger alluded to in the Report of the +Royal Commission has been most amply realised, and the prevailing +belief in the steadfastness of our policy, and the inviolability of our +plighted word, which has hitherto been the great secret of our hold on +the Kafirs, has been rudely shaken. The motives that influenced, or are +said to have influenced, the Government in their act, are naturally +quite unintelligible to savages, however clever, who do believe that +force is a remedy, and who have seen the inhabitants of a country ruled +by England defeat English soldiers and take possession of it, whilst +those who remained loyal to England were driven out of it. It will not +be wonderful if some of them, say the natives of Natal, deduce +therefrom conclusions unfavourable to loyalty, and evince a desire to +try the same experiment. + +It is, however, unprofitable to speculate on the future, which must be +left to unfold itself. + +The curtain is, so far as this country is concerned, down for the +moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there is but +too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion, +which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the +future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The following pages, extracted from an introduction to a new edition to +"Cetywayo and His White Neighbours," written in 1888, are reprinted +here, because they contain matter of interest concerning the more +recent history of the Transvaal Boers. + + + _Extract from Introduction to New Edition of 1888._ + +The recent history of the Transvaal, now once more a republic, will +fortunately admit of brief treatment. It is, so far as England is +concerned, very much a history of concession. For an account of the +first Convention I must refer my readers to the remarks which I have +made in the chapter of this book headed "The Retrocession of the +Transvaal." It will there be seen that the Transvaal Volksraad only +ratified the first convention, which was wrung from us (Sir Evelyn +Wood, to his honour be it said, dissenting) after our defeats at Lang's +Nek, Ingogo, and Majuba, as a favour to the British Government, which +in its turn virtually promised to reconsider the convention, if only +the Volksraad would be so good as to ratify it. This convention was +ratified in October 1881. In June 1883 the Transvaal Government[14] +telegraphs briefly to Lord Derby through the High Commissioner that the +Volksraad has "resolved that time has come to reconsider convention." +Lord Derby quickly telegraphs back that "Her Majesty's Government +consent to inquire into the working of convention." Human nature is +frail, and it is impossible to help wishing that Lord Palmerston or +Disraeli had been appointed by the Fates to answer that telegram. But +we have fallen upon different days, and new men have arisen who appear +to be suited to them; and so the convention was reconsidered, and on +the 27th of February 1884 a new one was signed, which is known as the +convention of London. It begins by defining boundaries to which the +"Government of the South African Republic will strictly adhere, ... and +will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any +encroachments upon the said boundaries." The existence of the New +Republic in Zululand is a striking and practical comment on this +article. Article ii. also provides for the security of the amended +southwest boundary. The proclamation of 16th September 1884 (afterwards +disallowed by the English Government), by which the South African +Republic practically annexed the territories of Montsioa and Moshette, +already for the most part in the possession of its freebooters, very +clearly illustrates its anxiety to be bound by this provision. Art xii. +provides for the independence of the Swazis; and by way of illustrating +the fidelity with which it has been observed, we shall presently have +occasion to remark upon the determined attempts that have continually +been made by Boer freebooters to obtain possession of Swaziland--and so +on. + + [14] [C. 3659], 1883. + +In order to make these severe restrictions palatable to the burghers of +a free and haughty Republic, Lord Derby recommends Her Majesty's +Government to remit a trifling sum of L127,000 of their debt due to the +Imperial Treasury, which was accordingly done. On the whole, the +Transvaal had no reason to be dissatisfied with this new treaty, though +really the whole affair is scarcely worth discussing. Convention No. 2 +is almost as much a farce and a dead letter as was Convention No. 1. It +is, however, impossible to avoid being impressed with the really +remarkable tone, not merely of equality, but of superiority, adopted by +the South African Republic and its officials towards this country. To +take an instance. The Republic had found it convenient to wage a war of +extermination upon some Kafir chiefs. Two of these, Mampoer and Njabel, +fell into its hands. Her Majesty's Government was, rightly or wrongly, +so impressed with the injustice of the sentence of death passed upon +these unfortunates, that, acting through Mr. Hudson, the British +Resident at Pretoria, it strained every nerve to save them. This was +the upshot of it. In a tone of studied sarcasm, His Honour the State +President "observes with great satisfaction the great interest in these +cases which has been manifested by your Honour and Her Majesty's +Government." He then goes on to say that, notwithstanding this +interest, Mampoer will be duly and effectually hung, giving the exact +time and place of the event, and Njabel imprisoned for life, with hard +labour. Finally, he once more conveys "the hearty thanks of the +Government and the members of the Executive Council for the interest +manifested in these cases,"[15] and remains, &c. + + [15] [C. 3841], 1884, p 148. + +The independence of Swaziland was guaranteed by the convention of 1884. +Yet the Blue-books are full of accounts of various attempts made by +Boers to obtain a footing in Swaziland. Thus in November 1885 +Umbandine, the king of Swaziland, sends messengers to the Governor of +Natal through Sir T. Shepstone, in which he states that in the winter +Piet Joubert, accompanied by two other Boers and an interpreter, came +to his kraal and asked him to sign a paper "to say that he and all the +Swazis agreed to go over and recognise the authority of the Boer +Government, and have nothing more to do with the English."[16] Umbandine +refused, saying that he looked to and recognised the English +Government. Thereon the Boers, growing angry, answered, "Those fathers +of yours, the English, act very slowly; and if you look to them for +help, and refuse to sign this paper, we shall have scattered you and +your people, and taken possession of the land before they arrive. Why +do you refuse to sign the paper? You know we defeated the English at +Majuba." Umbandine's message then goes on to say that he recognises the +English Government only, and does not wish to have dealings with the +Boers. Also, in the following month, we find him making a direct +application to the Colonial Office through Mr. David Forbes,[17] praying +that his country may be taken under the protection of Her Majesty's +Government. + + [16] [C. 4645], 1886, p. 64. + + [17] Ibid. p. 70. + +More than one such attempt to secure informal rights of occupation in +Swaziland appears to have been made by the Transvaal Boers. Mr. T. +Shepstone, C.M.G., is at present acting as Resident to Umbandine, +though he has not, it would seem, any regular commission from the Home +Government authorising him to do so, probably because it does not +consider that its rights in Swaziland are such as to justify such an +assumption of formal authority over the Swazis. However this may be, +Umbandine could not have found a better man to protect his interests. +Of course, when acts like that of Piet Joubert are reported to the +Government of the South African Republic and made the subject of a +remonstrance by this country, all knowledge of them is repudiated, as +it was repudiated in the case of the invasion of Zululand. + +It is part of the policy of the Transvaal only to become an accessory +after the fact. Its subjects go forth and stir up trouble among the +natives, and then probably the Boer Government intervenes "in the +interests of humanity," and takes, or tries to take, the country. This +process is always going on, and, unless the British Government puts a +stop to it, always will go on. We shall probably soon hear that it is +developing itself in the direction of Matabeleland. A country the size +of France, which could without difficulty accommodate a population of +from eight to ten millions of industrious folk, is not large enough for +the wants of a Boer people, numbering something under fifty thousand +souls. Every young Boer must have his six or more thousand acres of +land on which to lord it. It is his birthright, and if it is not +forthcoming he goes and takes it by force from the nearest native +tribe. Hence these continual complaints. Of course, there are two ways +of looking at the matter. There is a party that does not hesitate to +say that the true policy of this country is to let the Boers work their +will upon the natives, and then, as they in turn fly from civilisation +towards the far interior, to follow on their path and occupy the lands +that they have swept. This plan is supported by arguments about the +superiority of the white races and their obvious destiny of rule. It +is, I confess, one that I look upon as little short of wicked. I could +never discern a superiority so great in ourselves as to authorise us, +by right divine as it were, to destroy the coloured man and take his +lands. It is difficult to see why a Zulu, for instance, has not as much +right to live in his own way as a Boer or an Englishman. Of course, +there is another extreme. Nothing is more ridiculous than the length to +which the black brother theory is sometimes driven by enthusiasts. A +savage is one thing, and a civilised man is another; and though +civilised men may and do become savages, I personally doubt if the +converse is even possible. But whether the civilised man, with his gin, +his greed, and his dynamite, is really so very superior to the savage +is another question, and one which would bear argument, although this +is not the place to argue it. My point is, that his superiority is not +at any rate so absolutely overwhelming as to justify him in the +wholesale destruction of the savage and the occupation of his lands, or +even in allowing others to do the work for him if he can prevent it. +The principle might conceivably be pushed to inconvenient and indecent +lengths. Savagery is only a question of degree. When all true savages +have been wiped out, the most civilised and self-righteous among the +nations may begin to give the term to those whom they consider to be on +a lower scale than themselves, and apply the argument also. Thus there +are "cultured" people in another land who do not hesitate to say that +the humble writers of these islands are rank and rude barbarians not to +be endured. Supposing that, being the stronger, they also _applied +the argument_, it would be inconvenient for some of us, and perhaps +the world would not gain so very much after all. But this is a +digression, only excusable, if excusable at all, in one who has endured +a three weeks' course of unmitigated Blue-book. To return. + +The process of absorption attempted in Swaziland, and brought to a +successful issue in Zululand, also went forward merrily in +Bechuanaland, till recently, under the rule of Mankorane, chief of the +Batlapins, and Montsioa, chief of the Baralongs. These two chiefs have +always been devoted friends and adherents of the English Government, +and consequently are not regarded with favour by the Boers. Shortly +after the retrocession of the Transvaal, a rival to Mankorane rose up +in the person of a certain Massou, and a rival to Montsioa named +Moshette. Both Massou and Moshette were supported by Boer fillibusters, +and what happened to Usibepu in Zululand happened to these unfortunate +chiefs in Bechuanaland. They were defeated after a gallant struggle, +and two Republics called Stellaland and Goschen were carved out of +their territories and occupied by the fillibusters. Fortunately for +them, however, they had a friend in the person of the Rev. John +Mackenzie, to whose valuable work, "Austral Africa," I beg to refer the +reader for a fuller account of these events. Mr. Mackenzie, who had for +many years lived as a missionary among the Bechuanas, had also mastered +the fact that it is very difficult to do anything for South Africa in +this country unless you can make it a question of votes, or, in other +words, unless you can bring pressure to bear upon the Government. +Accordingly he commenced an agitation on behalf of Mankorane and +Montsioa, in which he was supported by various religious bodies, and +also by the late Mr. Forster and the Aborigines Protection Society. As +a result of this agitation he was appointed Deputy to the High +Commissioner for Bechuanaland, whither he proceeded early in 1884 to +establish a British protectorate. He was gladly welcomed by the +unfortunate chiefs, who were now almost at their last gasp, and who +both of them ceded their rights of government to the Queen. Hostilities +did not, however, cease, for on the 31st July 1884 the fillibusters +again attacked Montsioa, routed him, and cruelly murdered Mr. Bethell, +his English adviser. Meanwhile Mr. Mackenzie's success was viewed with +very mixed feelings at the Cape. To the English party it was most +acceptable, but the Dutch,[18] and more numerous party, looked on it +with alarm and disgust. They did not at all wish to see the Imperial +power established in Bechuanaland; so pressure was put upon Sir +Hercules Robinson, and through him on Mr. Mackenzie, to such an extent +indeed as to necessitate the resignation of the latter. Thereon the +High Commissioner despatched a Cape politician, Mr. Cecil Rhodes, and +his own private secretary, Captain Bower, R.N., to Bechuanaland. These +gentlemen at once set to work to undo most of what Mr. Mackenzie had +done, and, generally speaking, did not advance either British or native +interests in Bechuanaland. At this point, taking advantage of the +general confusion, the Government of the South African Republic issued +a proclamation placing both Montsioa and Moshette under its protection, +as usual "in the interests of humanity." + + [18] By the Dutch party I mean the anti-Imperial and + retrogressive party. It must be remembered that many of the + now educated and progressive Boers do not belong to this. + +But the agitation in England had, fortunately for what remained of the +Bechuana people, not been allowed to drop. Her Majesty's Government +disallowed the Boer proclamation, under Article iv. of the convention +of London, and despatched an armed force to Bechuanaland, commanded by +Sir Charles Warren. This good act, I believe I am right in saying, we +owe entirely to the firmness of Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain, +who insisted upon its being done. Meanwhile Messrs. Upington and +Sprigg, members of the Cape Government, hastened to Bechuanaland to +effect a settlement before the arrival of Sir Charles Warren's force. +This settlement, though it might have been agreeable to the +fillibusters and the anti-Imperialists generally, was disallowed by Her +Majesty's Government as unsatisfactory, and Sir Charles Warren was +ordered to occupy Bechuanaland. This he accordingly did, taking Mr. +Mackenzie with him, very much against the will of the anti-English +party, and, be it added, of Sir Hercules Robinson. Indeed, if we may +accept Mr. Mackenzie's version of these occurrences, which seems to be +a fair one, and adequately supported by documentary evidence, the +conduct of Sir Hercules Robinson towards Mr. Mackenzie would really +admit of explanation. As soon as the freebooters saw that the Imperial +Government was really in earnest, of course there was no more trouble. +They went away, and Sir Charles Warren took possession of Bechuanaland +without striking a single blow. He remained in the country for nearly a +year arranging for its permanent pacification and government, and as a +result of his occupation, on the 30th September 1885, all the territory +south of the Molopo River was declared to be British territory, and +made into a quasi crown colony, the entire extent of land, including +the districts ruled over by Khama, Sechele, and Gasitsive, being about +160,000 square miles in area. I believe that the new colony of British +Bechuanaland is proving a very considerable success. Every provision +has been made for native wants, and its settlement goes on apace. There +is no reason why, with its remarkable natural advantages, it should not +one day become a great country, with a prosperous white, and a loyal +and contented native population. When this comes about it is to be +hoped that it will remember that it owes its existence to the energy +and firmness of Mr. Mackenzie, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, and +Sir Charles Warren. + +It is probably by now dawning upon the mind of the British public that +when we gave up the Transvaal we not only did a cowardly thing and +sowed a plentiful crop of future troubles, we also abandoned one of the +richest, if not the richest, country in the world. The great +gold-fields which exist all over the surface of the land are being +opened up and pouring out their treasures so fast that it is said that +the Transvaal Government, hitherto remarkable for its impecuniosity, +does not know what to do with its superfluous cash. To what extent this +will continue it is impossible to say, but I for one shall not be +surprised if the output should prove to be absolutely unprecedented. +And with gold in vast quantities, with iron in mountains, and coal-beds +to be measured by the scores of square miles, with lead and copper and +cobalt, a fertile soil, water, and one of the most lovely climates in +the world, what more is required to make a country rich and great? Only +one thing, an Anglo-Saxon Government, and that we have taken away from +the Transvaal. Whether the English flag has vanished for ever from its +borders is, however, still an open question. The discovery of gold in +such quantities is destined to exercise a very remarkable influence +upon the future of the Transvaal. Where gold is to be found, there the +hardy, enterprising, English-speaking diggers flock together, and +before them and their energy the Boer retreats, as the native retreats +and vanishes before the rifle of the Boer. Already there are many +thousands of diggers in the Transvaal; if the discoveries of gold go +on and prove as remunerative as they promise to be, in a few more years +their number will be vastly increased. Supposing that another five +years sees sixty or seventy thousand English diggers at work in the +Transvaal, is it to be believed that these men will in that event allow +themselves to be ruled by eight or nine thousand hostile-hearted Boers? +Is it to be believed, too, that the Boers will stop to try and rule +them? From such knowledge as I have of their character I should say +certainly not. They will _trek_, anywhere out of the way of the +Englishman and his English ways, and those who do not _trek_ will +be absorbed.[19] Should this happen, it is, of course, possible, and +even probable, that for some time the diggers, fearing the vacillations +of Imperial policy, would prefer to remain independent with a +Republican form of Government. But the Englishman is a law-abiding and +patriotic creature, and as society settled itself in the new community, +it would almost certainly desire to be united to the Empire and +acknowledge the sovereignty of the Queen. So far as a judgment can be +formed, if only the gold holds out the Transvaal will as certainly fall +into the lap of the Empire as a green apple will one day drop from the +tree--that is, if it is not gathered. + + [19] The occupation of Rhodesia has now made it impossible + for the Boers to trek out of reach of the English and their + flag.--H. R. H. + +Now it is quite possible that the Germans, or some other power, may try +to gather the Transvaal apple. The Boers are not blind to the march of +events, and they dislike us and our rule. Perhaps they might think it +worth their while to seek German protection, and unless we are prepared +to say "no" very firmly indeed--and who knows, in the present condition +of Home politics, what we are prepared to do from one day to +another?--Germany would in such a case almost certainly think it worth +her while to give it. Very likely the protection, when granted, would +in some ways resemble that which the Boer himself, his breast aglow +with love of peace and the "interests of humanity," is so anxious to +extend to the misguided native possessor of desirable and well-watered +lands. Very likely, in the end, the Boer would be sorry that he did not +accept the ills he knew of. But that is neither here nor there. So far +as we are concerned, the mischief would be done. In short, should the +position arise, everything will depend upon our capacity of saying +"no," and the tone in which we say it. It will not do to rely upon our +London convention, by which the Transvaal is forbidden to conclude +treaties with outside powers without the consent of this Government. +The convention has been broken before now, and will be broken again, if +the Boers find it convenient to break it, and know that they can do so +with impunity. Meanwhile we must rest on our oars and watch events. One +thing, however, might and should be done. Some person having weight and +real authority--if he were quite new to South Africa so much the +better--should be appointed as our Consul to watch over the welfare of +Englishmen and our Imperial interests at Pretoria, and properly paid +for doing so. It is difficult to find a suitable man unless he is +adequately salaried and supported. + +But quite recently this country has awakened to the knowledge that +Delagoa Bay is important to its South African interests, though how +important it perhaps does not altogether realise. For years and years +the colony of Natal has been employed in the intermittent construction +of a railway with a very narrow gauge, which is now open as far as +Ladysmith, or to within a hundred miles of the Transvaal border. Natal +is very poor, and in common with the rest of South Africa, and indeed +of the world, has lately been passing through a period of great +commercial depression. The Home Government has refused to help it to +construct its railways (if it had done so, how many hundreds of +thousand pounds would have been saved to the British taxpayer during +the Zulu and Boer wars!), and has equally refused to allow it to borrow +sufficient money to get them constructed, with the result that a large +amount of the interior trade has already been deflected into other +channels. And now a fresh and very real danger, not only to Natal, but +to all Imperial interests in South Africa, has sprung into sudden +prominence, that is, in this country, for in Africa it has been +foreseen for many years. Above Zululand is situated Amatongaland, which +reaches to the southern shore of one of the finest harbours in the +world, Delagoa Bay. This great bight, in which half a dozen navies +could ride at anchor, the only really good haven on the coasts of South +Africa, is fifty-five miles in width and twenty in depth, that is, from +east to west It is separated from the Transvaal, of which it is the +natural port, by about ninety miles of wild and sparsely inhabited +country. + +The ownership of this splendid port was for many years in dispute +between this country and the Portuguese, with whose dominions of +Mozambique it is connected by a strip of coast, and who have a small +fort upon it. This dispute was finally referred by Lord Granville in +1872 to the decision of Marshal MacMahon, and on this occasion, as on +every other in which this country has been weak enough to go to +arbitration, that decision was given against us. Into the merits of the +case it is not necessary to enter, further than to say, as has already +been recently pointed out by a very able and well-informed correspondent +of the _Morning Post_, that it is by no means clear by what right the +matter was referred to arbitration at all. The Amatongas are in +possession of the southern shore of the bay, including, I believe, the +Inyack Peninsula and Inyack Island, and they are an independent people. +The Swazis also abut on it, and they are independent. What warrant had +we to refer their rights to the arbitration of Marshal MacMahon? The +evidence of the exercise of any Portuguese sovereignty over these +countries is so shadowy that it may be said never to have existed; +certainly it does not exist now. This is a point, but it is nothing +more. We must take things as we find them, and we find that the +Portuguese have been formally declared and admitted by us to be the +owners of Delagoa Bay. + +Now, so long as we held the Transvaal it did not so much matter who had +the sovereignty of the Bay, since a railway constructed from there +could only run to British territory. But we gave up the Transvaal, +which is now virtually a hostile state, and the contingency which has +been so long foreseen in South Africa, and so blindly overlooked at +home, has come to pass--the railway is in course of rapid completion. +What does this mean to us? At the best, it means that we lose the +greater part of the trade of South-eastern Africa; at the worst, that +we lose it all. In other words, it means, putting aside the question of +our Imperial needs and status in Africa, a great many millions a year +in hard cash out of the national pocket. Let us suppose that the worst +happens, and that the Germans get a footing either in the Transvaal or +Delagoa Bay. Obviously they will stop our trade in favour of their own. +Or let us suppose that the Transvaal takes advantage of one of our +spasms of Imperial paralysis, such as afflicted us during the +_regime_ of Lord Derby, and defies the provision in the convention +which forbids them to put a heavier tax upon our goods than upon those +of any other nation. In either event our case would be a bad one, for +our road from the eastern coast to the vast interior is blocked. But it +is of little use crying over spilt milk, or anticipating evils which it +is our duty to try to avert, and which in all probability still could +be averted by a sound and consistent policy. + +To begin with, both Swaziland and Amatongaland can be annexed to the +Empire. It is true that the independence of the first of these +countries is guaranteed by Article xii. of the convention of London of +1884. Here is the exact wording:--"The independence of the Swazis +within the boundary-line of Swaziland, as indicated in the first +article of this convention, will be fully recognised." But England has +for years exercised a kind of protective right over Swaziland--a right, +as I have already shown, fully acknowledged and frequently appealed to +by the Swazis themselves. And for the rest, what is the obvious meaning +of this provision? It means that the independence of Swaziland is +guaranteed against Boer encroachments; its object was to protect the +Swazis from extermination at the hands of the Boers. Further, the Boers +have again and again broken this article of the convention in their +repeated attempts to get a foothold in Swaziland. It has now become +necessary to our interests that the Swazis should come under our rule, +as indeed they are most anxious to do, and a way should be found by +which this end can be accomplished. + +Then as to Amatongaland, or Maputaland, as it is sometimes called, only +a month or two ago an embassy from the Queen of that country waited on +the Colonial Office, praying for British protection. It is not known +what answer they received; let us trust that it was a favourable +one.[20] The protection that should be accorded to the Amatongas, both +in their interests and our own, is annexation to the British Empire +upon such terms as might be satisfactory to them. The management of +their country might be left to them, subject to the advice of a +Resident, and the enforcement of the ordinary laws respecting life and +property common to civilised states. Drink and white men might be +strictly excluded from it, unless the Amatongas should wish to welcome +the latter. But the country, with its valuable but undefined rights +over Delagoa Bay, should belong to England, for whoever owns Swaziland +and Amatongaland will in course of time be almost certain to own the +Bay also. It must further be remembered that circumstances have already +given us certain rights over the Amatongas. They regarded Cetywayo as +their suzerain, and it was, I believe, at his instance that Zambila was +appointed regent during the minority of her son. As we have annexed +what remains of Zululand, Cetywayo's suzerainty has consequently passed +to us. + + [20] I understand that the treaty which we have concluded + with Amatongaland (where, by the way, it is said a new + harbour has been discovered) binds the authorities of that + country not to cede territory to any other Power. But there + is nothing in such a treaty to prevent, say Portugal or the + Boers, from taking possession of the land by force of arms. + Were the country annexed to the Crown, or a British + Protectorate established, they would not dare to do this. + + _Note._--This has since been done.--H. R. H. + +Meanwhile, can nothing be done by direct treaty with the Portuguese? A +little while ago the Bay could no doubt have been acquired for a very +moderate consideration, but those golden opportunities have been +allowed to slip from hands busy weaving the web of party politics. Now +it is a different affair. Delagoa Bay is of no direct value to Portugal +except for the honour and glory of the thing. Portugal has never done +anything with it, any more than she has with her other African +possessions, and never will do anything with it. But it has become very +valuable, indeed, so far as its South African interests are concerned, +almost vital, to this country, and of that fact Portugal is perfectly +well aware. Consequently, if we want the Bay we must pay for it, if not +in cash, at the offer of which the Portuguese national pride might be +revolted, then in some other equivalent. Surely a power like England +could find a way of obliging one like Portugal in return for this small +concession. Or an exchange of territory might be effected. Perhaps +Portugal might be inclined to accept of some of our possessions on the +West Coast or an island or two in the West Indies. It is hard to +suppose that there is no way out of the trouble; but if indeed there is +none, why, then, one must be found, or we must be content to lose a +great part of our African trade. + +The reader who has followed me through this brief and imperfect summary +of recent events in South Africa will see how varied are its interests, +how enormous its areas, and how vast its wealth. In that great country +England is still the paramount power. Her prestige has, indeed, been +greatly shaken, and she is sadly fallen from her estate of eight or +nine years gone. But she is still paramount; and if she has to face the +animosity of a section of the Boers, she can, notwithstanding her many +crimes against them, set against it the love and respect of every +native in the land, with the exception, perhaps, of a few self-seekers +and intriguers. The history of the next twenty years, and perhaps of +the next ten, will decide whether this country is to remain paramount +or whether South Africa is to become a great Dutch, English-hating +Republic. There are some who call themselves Englishmen, and who +possessed by that strange itch which prompts them to desire any evil +that can humble their country in the face of her enemies, or can bring +about the advantage of the rebel to the injury of the loyal subject, to +whom this last event would be most welcome, and who have not hesitated +to say that it would be welcome. To such there is nothing to be said. +Let them follow their false lights and earn the wonder of true-hearted +men and the maledictions of posterity. + +But, addressing those of other and older doctrines, I would ask what +such an event would mean? It would mean nothing less than a great +national calamity; it would mean the utter ruin of the native tribes; +and, to come to a reason which has a wider popularity, for as I think +Mr. S. Little says in his work on South Africa, "the argument to the +pocket is the best argument to the man," it would mean the loss of a +vast trade, which, if properly protected, will be growing while we are +sleeping. And this calamity can yet be averted; the mistakes and +cowardice of the past can still be remedied, at any rate to a great +extent; the door is yet open. We have many difficulties to face, among +the chief of which are the Transvaal, the question of Delagoa Bay, and +last, but not least, the question of the Dutch party at the Cape, which +may be numerically the strongest party. When, in our mania for +representative institutions, we thrust responsible government upon the +Cape, we placed ourselves practically at the mercy of any chance +anti-English majority. It is possible that in the future we may find +some such majority urging upon an English Ministry the desirability of +the separation of the Cape Colony from the Empire, and may find also +that the prayer meets with favourable attention from those to whom +there is but one thing sacred, the rights of a majority, and especially +of an agitating majority. + +But let not the country be deceived by any such representations. The +natives too have a right to a voice in the disposal of their fortunes +and their lands. They are the majority in the proportion of three to +one, and let any doubter go and ask of them, anywhere from the Zambesi +to Cape Agulhas, whether they would rather be ruled by the Queen or by +a Boer Republic, and hear the answer. When it was a question of +surrendering the Transvaal we heard a great deal of the rights of some +thirty thousand Boers, and very little, or rather nothing, of the +rights of the million natives who lived in the country with them, and +to whom that country originally belonged. And yet, if the reader will +turn to that part of this book which deals with the question, he will +find that they had an opinion, and a strong one. No settlement of South +African questions that does not receive adequate consideration from a +native point of view can be a just settlement, or one which the Home +Government should sanction. Moreover, the Cape is not by any means +entirely anti-English at heart, as was shown clearly enough by the +number and enthusiasm of the loyalist meetings when its Ministry was +attempting to undo Mr. Mackenzie's work in Bechuanaland in the +interests of the Patriot-party. + +Still, it is possible that movements may arise under the fostering care +of the Africander Bond and its sympathisers, having for object the +separation of the colony from the Empire, or other ends fatal to +Imperial interests; and in this case the Home Government should be +prepared to disallow and put a final stop to them. We cannot afford to +lose our alternative route to India and to throw these great +territories into the hands of enemies, from which they would very +probably pass into those of commercial rivals. In such an event all +that would be required is a show of firmness. If once it was known that +an English Ministry really meant what it said, and that its promises +made in the Queen's name were not liable to be given the lie by a +succeeding set of politicians elected on another platform, there would +be an end to disloyalty and agitation in South Africa. As it is, +loyalists, remembering the experiences of the last few years, are +faint-hearted, never knowing if they will meet with support at home, +while agitators and enemies wax exceeding bold. + +Our system of party government, whatever may be its merits, if any, as +applied to Home politics, is a great enemy to the welfare and progress +of our Colonies, the affairs of which are, especially of late years, +frequently used as stalking-horses to cover an attack upon the other +side. Could not the two great parties agree to rule Colonial affairs, +and especially South African affairs, out of the party game? Could not +the policy of the Colonial Office be guided by a Commission composed of +members of different political opinions, and responsible not to party, +but to Parliament and the country, instead of by a succession of +Ministers as variable and as transitory as shadows? Lord Rosebery and +Mr. Chamberlain, for instance, are Radicals; but, putting aside party +tactics and exigencies, are their views upon Colonial matters so widely +different from those of, let us say, Sir Michael Hicks Beach and Lord +Carnarvon that it would be impossible for these four gentlemen to act +together on such a Commission? Surely they are not; and perhaps a day +may come when the common-sense of the country will lead it to adopt +some such system which would give to the Colonies a fixed and +intelligent control aiming at the furtherance of the joint interests of +the Empire and its dependencies. If it ever does, that day will be a +happy one for all concerned. + +Meanwhile, there is, so far as South Africa is concerned, a step that +might be taken to the great benefit of that country, and also of our +Imperial aims, and that is the appointment of a High Commissioner who +would have charge of all Imperial as distinguished from the various +Colonial interests. This appointment has already been advocated with +ability by Mr. Mackenzie in the last chapter of his book, "Austral +Africa," and it is undoubtedly one that should receive the +consideration of the Government. Such an officer would not supersede +the Governors of the various colonies or the administrators of the +native territories, although, so far as Imperial interests were +concerned, they would be primarily responsible to him. At present there +is no central authority except the Colonial Office, and Downing Street +is a long way off and somewhat overworked. Each Governor must +necessarily look at South African affairs from his own standpoint and +through local glasses. What is wanted is a man of the first ability, +whose name would command respect abroad and support at home; and +several such men could be found, who would study South African politics +as a whole as an engineer studies a map, and who would set himself to +conciliate and reconcile all interests for the common welfare and the +welfare of the mother-country. Such a man, or rather a succession of +such men, might, if properly supported, succeed in bringing about a +very different state of affairs from that which has been briefly +reviewed and considered in these pages. They might, little by little, +build up a South African Confederation, strong in itself and loyal to +England, that shall in time become a great empire. For my part, +notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers which we have brought upon +ourselves, and upon the various South African territories and their +inhabitants, I believe that such an empire is destined to arise, and +that it will not take the form of a Dutch Republic. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +I. + +THE POTCHEFSTROOM ATROCITIES, &c. + + +There were more murders and acts of cruelty committed during the war at +Potchefstroom, where the behaviour of the Boers was throughout both +deceitful and savage, than at any other place. + +When the fighting commenced a number of ladies and children, the wives +and children of English residents, took refuge in the fort. Shortly +after it had been invested they applied to be allowed to return to +their homes in the town till the war was over. The request was refused +by the Boer commander, who said that as they had gone there, they might +stop and "perish" there. One poor lady, the wife of a gentleman well +known in the Transvaal, was badly wounded by having the point of a +stake, which had been cut in two by a bullet, driven into her side. She +was at the time in a state of pregnancy, and died some days afterwards +in great agony. Her little sister was shot through the throat, and +several other women and children suffered from bullet wounds, and fever +arising from their being obliged to live for months exposed to rain and +heat, with insufficient food. + +The moving spirit of all the Potchefstroom atrocities was a cruel +wretch of the name of Buskes, a well-educated man, who, as an advocate +of the High Court, had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. + +One deponent swears that he saw this Buskes wearing Captain Fall's +diamond ring, which he had taken from Sergeant Ritchie, to whom it was +handed to be sent to England, and also that he had possessed himself of +the carriages and other goods belonging to prisoners taken by the +Boers.[21] Another deponent (whose name is omitted in the Blue Book for +precautionary reasons) swears, "That on the next night the patrol again +came to my house accompanied by one Buskes, who was secretary of the +Boer Committee, and again asked where my wife and daughter were. I +replied, in bed; and Buskes then said, 'I must see for myself.' I +refused to allow him, and he forced me, with a loaded gun held to my +breast, to open the curtains of the bed, when he pulled the bedclothes +half off my wife, and altogether off my daughter. I then told him if I +had a gun I would shoot him. He placed a loaded gun at my breast, when +my wife sprang out of bed and got between us." + + [21] Buskes was afterwards forced to deliver up the ring. + +I remember hearing at the time that this Buskes (who is a good +musician) took one of his victims, who was on the way to execution, +into the chapel and played the "Dead March in Saul," or some such +piece, over him on the organ. + +After the capture of the Court House a good many Englishmen fell into +the hands of the Boers. Most of these were sentenced to hard labour and +deprivation of "civil rights." The sentence was enforced by making them +work in the trenches under a heavy fire from the fort. One poor fellow, +F. W. Finlay by name, got his head blown off by a shell from his own +friends in the fort, and several loyal Kafirs suffered the same fate. +After these events the remaining prisoners refused to return to the +trenches till they had been "tamed" by being thrashed with the butt end +of guns, and by threats of receiving twenty-five lashes each. + +But their fate, bad as it was, was not so awful as that suffered by Dr. +Woite and J. Van der Linden. + +Dr. Woite had attended the Boer meeting which was held before the +outbreak, and written a letter from thence to Major Clarke, in which he +had described the talk of the Boers as silly bluster. He was not a paid +spy. This letter was, unfortunately for him, found in Major Clarke's +pocket-book, and because of it he was put through a form of trial, +taken out and shot dead, all on the same day. He left a wife and large +family, who afterwards found their way to Natal in a destitute +condition. + +The case of Van der Linden is somewhat similar. He was one of Raaf's +Volunteers, and as such had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. +In the execution of his duty he made a report to his commanding officer +about the Boer meeting, and which afterwards fell into the hands of the +Boers. On this he was put through the form of trial, and, though in the +service of the Queen, was found guilty of treason and condemned to +death. One of his judges, a little less stony-hearted than the rest, +pointed out that "when the prisoner committed the crime martial law had +not yet been proclaimed, nor the State," but it availed him nothing. He +was taken out and shot. + +A Kafir named Carolus was also put through the form of trial and shot, +for no crime at all that I can discover. + +Ten unarmed Kafir drivers, who had been sent away from the fort, were +shot down in cold blood by a party of Boers. Several witnesses depose +to having seen their remains lying together close by Potchefstroom. + +Various other Kafirs were shot. None of the perpetrators of these +crimes were brought to justice. The Royal Commission comments on these +acts as follows:-- + +"In regard to the deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, and Carolus, the +Boer leaders do not deny the fact that those men had been executed, but +sought to justify it. The majority of your Commissioners felt bound to +record their opinion that the taking of the lives of these men was an +act contrary to the rules of civilised warfare. Sir H. de Villiers was +of opinion that the executions in these cases, having been ordered by +properly constituted court martial of the Boers' forces after due +trial, did not fall under the cognisance of your Commissioners. + +"Upon the case of William Finlay the majority of your Commissioners +felt bound to record the opinion that the sacrifice of Finlay's life, +through forced labour under fire in the trenches, was an act contrary +to the rules of civilised warfare. _Sir H. de Villiers did not feel +justified by the facts of the case in joining in this expression of +opinion_ (sic). As to the case of the Kafir Andries, your Commissioners +decided that, although the shooting of this man appeared to them, from +the information laid before them, to be not in accordance with the +rules of civilised warfare, under all the circumstances of the case, it +was not desirable to insist upon a prosecution." + +"The majority of your Commissioners, although feeling it a duty to +record emphatically their disapproval of the acts that resulted in the +deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, Finlay, and Carolus, yet found it +impossible to bring to justice the persons guilty of these acts." + +It will be observed that Sir H. de Villiers does not express any +disapproval, emphatic or otherwise, of these wicked murders. + +But Potchefstroom did not enjoy a monopoly of murder. + +In December 1880, Captain Elliot, who was a survivor from the Bronker +Spruit massacre, and Captain Lambart, who had been taken prisoner by +the Boers whilst bringing remounts from the Free State, were released +from Heidelberg on parole on condition that they left the country. An +escort of two men brought them to a drift of the Vaal river, where they +refused to cross, because they could not get their cart through, the +river being in flood. The escort then returned to Heidelberg and +reported that the officers would not cross. A civil note was then sent +back to Captain Elliot and Lambart, signed by P. J. Joubert, telling +them "to pass the Vaal river immediately by the road that will be shown +to you." What secret orders, if any, were sent with this letter has +never transpired; but I decline to believe that, either in this or in +Barber's case, the Boer escort took upon themselves the responsibility +of murdering their prisoners, without authority of some kind for the +deed. + +The men despatched from Heidelberg with the letter found Lambart and +Elliot wandering about and trying to find the way to Standerton, They +presented the letter, and took them towards a drift in the Vaal. +Shortly before they got there the prisoners noticed that their escort +had been reinforced. It would be interesting to know, if these extra +men were not sent to assist in the murder, how and why they turned up +as they did and joined themselves to the escort. The prisoners were +taken to an old and disused drift of the Vaal river and told to cross. +It was now dark, and the river was much swollen with rain; in fact, +impassable for the cart and horses. Captains Elliot and Lambart begged +to be allowed to outspan till the next morning, but were told that they +must cross, which they accordingly attempted to do. A few yards from +the bank the cart stuck on a rock, and whilst in this position the Boer +escort poured a volley into it. Poor Elliot was instantly killed, one +bullet fracturing his skull, another passing through the back, a third +shattering the right thigh, and a fourth breaking the left wrist. The +cart was also riddled, but strange to say, Captain Lambart was +untouched, and succeeded in swimming to the further bank, the Boers +firing at him whenever the flashes of lightning revealed his +whereabouts. After sticking some time in the mud of the bank he managed +to effect his escape, and next day reached the house of an Englishman +called Groom, living in the Free State, and from thence made his way to +Natal. + +Two of the murderers were put through a form of trial, after the +conclusion of peace, and acquitted. + +The case of the murder of Dr. Barber is of a somewhat similar character +to that of Elliot, except that there is in this case a curious piece of +indirect evidence that seems to connect the murder directly with Piet +Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. + +In the month of February 1881, two Englishmen came to the Boer laager +at Lang's Nek to offer their services as doctors. Their names were Dr. +Barber, who was well known to the Boers, and his assistant, Mr. Walter +Dyas, and they came, not from Natal, but the Orange Free State. On +arrival at the Boer camp they were at first well received, but after a +little while seized, searched, and tied up all night to a disselboom +(pole of a waggon). Next morning they were told to mount their horses, +and started from the camp escorted by two men who were to take them +over the Free State line. + +When they reached the Free State line the Boers told them to get off +their horses, which they were ordered to bring back to the camp. They +did so, bade good-day to their escort, and started to walk on towards +their destination. When they had gone about forty yards Dyas heard the +report of a rifle, and Barber called out, "My God, I am shot!" and fell +dead. + +Dyas went down on his hands and knees and saw one of the escort +deliberately aim at him. He then jumped up, and ran dodging from right +to left, trying to avoid the bullet. Presently the man fired, and he +felt himself struck through the thigh. He fell with his face to the +men, and saw his would-be assassin put a fresh cartridge into his rifle +and aim at him. Turning his face to the ground he awaited his death, +but the bullet whizzed past his head. He then saw the men take the +horses and go away, thinking they had finished him. After waiting a +while he managed to get up and struggled to a house not far off; where +he was kindly treated and remained till he recovered. + +Some time after this occurrence a Hottentot, named Allan Smith, made a +statement at Newcastle, from, which it appears that he had been taken +prisoner by the Boers and made to work for them. One night he saw +Barber and Dyas tied to the disselboom, and overheard the following, +which I will give in his own words:-- + +"I went to a fire where some Boers were sitting; among them was a +low-sized man, moderately stout, with a dark brown full beard, +apparently about thirty-five years of age I do not know his name. +_He was telling his comrades that he had brought an order from Piet +Joubert_ to Viljoen, to take the two prisoners to the Free State +line _and shoot them there_. He said, in the course of conversation, +'Piet Joubert het gevraacht waarom was de mensche neet dood geschiet +toen hulle bijde eerste laager gekom het' ('Piet Joubert asked why were +the men not shot when they came to the first laager.') They then saw me +at the fire, and one of them said, 'You must not talk before that +fellow; he understands what you say, and will tell everybody. + +"Next morning Viljoen told me to go away, and gave me a pass into the +Free State. He said (in Dutch), 'You must not drive for any Englishman +again. If we catch you doing so we will shoot you, and if you do not go +away quick, and we catch you hanging about when we bring the two men to +the line, we will shoot you too.'" + +Dyas, who escaped, made an affidavit with reference to this statement +in which he says, "I have read the foregoing affidavit of Allan Smith, +and I say that the person described in the third paragraph thereof as +bringing orders from Piet Joubert to Viljoen, corresponds with one of +the Boers who took Dr. Barber and myself to the Free State, and to the +best of my belief he is the man who shot Dr. Barber." + +The actual murderers were put on their trial in the Free State, and, of +course, acquitted. In his examination at the trial, Allan Smith says, +"It was a young man who said that Joubert had given orders that Barber +had to be shot.... It was not at night, but in the morning early, when +the young man spoke about Piet Joubert's order." + +Most people will gather, from what I have quoted, that there exists a +certain connection between the dastardly murder of Dr. Barber (and the +attempted murder of Mr. Dyas) and Piet Joubert, one of that "able" +Triumvirate of which Mr. Gladstone speaks so highly. + +I shall only allude to one more murder, though more are reported to +have occurred, amongst them that of Mr. Malcolm, who was kicked to +death by Boers,--and that is Mr. Green's. + +Mr. Green was an English gold-digger, and was travelling along the main +road to his home at Spitzcop. The road passed close by the military +camp at Lydenburg, into which he was called. On coming out he went to a +Boer patrol with a flag of truce, and whilst talking to them was shot +dead. The Rev. J. Thorne, the English clergyman at Lydenburg, describes +this murder in an affidavit in the following words:-- + +"That I was the clergyman who got together a party of Englishmen and +brought down the body of Mr. Green who was murdered by the Boers and +buried it. I have ascertained the circumstances of the murder, which +were as follows:--Mr. Green was on his way to the gold-fields. As he +was passing the fort, he was called in by the officers, and sent out +again with a message to the Boer commandant. Immediately on leaving the +camp, he went to the Boer guard opposite with a flag of truce in his +hand; while parleying with the Boers, who proposed to make a prisoner +of him, he was shot through the head." + +No prosecution was instituted in this case. Mr. Green left a wife and +children in a destitute condition. + + + + +II. + +PLEDGES GIVEN BY MR GLADSTONE'S GOVERNMENT AS TO THE RETENTION OF +THE TRANSVAAL AS A BRITISH COLONY. + + +The following extracts from the speeches, despatches, and telegrams of +members of the present Government, with reference to the proposed +retrocession of the Transvaal, are not without interest:-- + +During the month of May 1880, Lord Kimberley despatched a telegram to +Sir Bartle Frere, in which the following words occur: "_Under no +circumstances can the Queen's authority in the Transvaal be +relinquished._" + +In a despatch dated 20th May, and addressed to Sir Bartle Frere, Lord +Kimberley says, "That the sovereignty of the Queen in the Transvaal +could not be relinquished." + +In a speech in the House of Lords on the 24th May 1880, Lord Kimberley +said:-- + +"There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding; it was +impossible to say what calamities such a step as receding might not +cause. We had, at the cost of much blood and treasure, restored peace, +and the effect of our now reversing our policy would be to leave the +province in a state of anarchy, and possibly to cause an internecine +war. For such a risk, he could not make himself responsible. The number +of the natives in the Transvaal was estimated at about 800,000, and +that of the whites less than 50,000. Difficulties with the Zulus and +frontier tribes would again arise, and, looking as they must to South +Africa as a whole, the Government, after a careful consideration of the +question, came to the conclusion _that we could not relinquish the +Transvaal_. Nothing could be more unfortunate than uncertainty in +respect to such a matter." + +On the 8th June 1880, Mr. Gladstone, in reply to a Boer memorial, wrote +as follows:-- + +"It is undoubtedly a matter for much regret that it should, since the +Annexation, have appeared that so large a number of the population of +Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed to the annexation of that +territory, but it is impossible now, to consider that question as if it +were presented for the first time. We have to do with a state of things +which has existed for a considerable period, during which _obligations +have been contracted, especially, though not exclusively, towards the +native population, which cannot be set aside_. Looking to all the +circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South Africa, and +to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders, which might lead +to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal but to the whole +of South Africa, _our judgment it that the Queen cannot be advised to +relinquish the Transvaal_." + +Her Majesty's Speech, delivered in Parliament on the 6th January 1881, +contains the following words: "A rising in the Transvaal has recently +imposed upon me the duty of _vindicating my authority_." + +These extracts are rather curious reading in face of the policy adopted +by the Government, after our troops had been defeated. + + + + +III. + +A BOER ON BOER DESIGNS. + + +I reprint here a letter published in _The Times_ of 14th October +1899, together with a prefatory note added by the editor of that +journal. This epistle seems to me worthy of the study of thinking men. +Much of it, most of it indeed, is mere brutal vapouring, false in its +facts, false in its deductions; remarkable only for the livid hues of +hate with which it is coloured. Yet in this vile concoction, the work +evidently of a half-educated member of the Cape Dutch party, or perhaps +of an Afrikander Irishman of the stamp of the late notorious Fenian +Aylward, appear statements built upon a basis of truth which we should +do well to lay to heart. I allude principally to the question of our +food supply and to the possible behaviour of the electorate in the +event of a great war under pressure of want and high prices. (See +paragraph 3 of the letter of "P. S.") In a very different work, "A +Farmer's Year," pages 179 and 380, I have attempted to treat of this +great matter which elsewhere has been dealt with also by others more +able and perhaps better qualified. Until it is reasonably certain that +under any circumstances which we can conceive the price of food stuffs +will not be raised to a prohibitive point, it can never be said that +the future of Great Britain is assured beyond all probable doubt. When +will this problem receive the attention it deserves at the hands of our +Governments and of those over whom they rule? + + +We have received the following letter, appropriately headed "Boer +Ignorance." The writer bears a well-known Dutch name, and gives as his +late address the name of a well-known town in a Dutch district of Cape +Colony:-- + + _To the Editor of the "Times."_ + + SIR,--In your paper you have often commented on what you are + pleased to call the ignorance of my countrymen, the Boers. We are + not so ignorant as the British statesmen and newspaper writers, nor + are we such fools as you British are. We know our policy, and we do + not change it. We have no opposition party to fear nor to truckle + to. Your boasted Conservative majority has been the obedient tool + of the Radical minority, and the Radical minority has been the + blind tool of our farseeing and intelligent, President. We have + desired delay, and we have had it, and we are now practically + masters of Africa from the Zambezi to the Cape. All the Afrikanders + in Cape Colony have been working for years for this end, for they + and we know the facts. + + 1. The actual value of gold in the Transvaal is at least 200,000 + millions of pounds, and this fact is as well known to the Emperors + of Germany and Russia as it is to us. You estimate the value of the + gold at only 700 millions of pounds, or, at least, that is what you + pretend to estimate it at. But Germany, Russia, and France do not + desire you to get possession of this vast mass of gold, and so, + after encouraging you to believe that they will not interfere in + South Africa they will certainly do so, and very easily find a + _casus belli_, and they will assist us directly and indirectly + to drive you out of Africa. + + 2. We know that you dare not take any precautions in advance to + prevent the onslaught of the Great Powers, as the Opposition, the + great peace party, will raise the question of expense, and this + will win over your lazy, dirty, drunken working classes, who will + never again permit themselves to be taxed to support your Empire, + or even to preserve your existence as a nation. + + 3. We know from all the military authorities of the European and + American continents that you exist as an independent Power merely + on sufferance, and that at any moment the great Emperor William can + arrange with France or Russia to wipe you off the face of the + earth. They can at any time starve you into surrender. You must + yield in all things to the United States also, or your supply of + corn will be so reduced by the Americans that your working classes + would be compelled to pay high prices for their food, and rather + than do that they would have civil war, and invite any foreign + Power to assist them by invasion, for there is no patriotism in the + working classes of England, Wales, or Ireland. + + 4. We know that your country has been more prosperous than any + other country during the last fifty years (you have had no civil + war like the Americans and French to tone up your nerves and + strengthen your manliness), and consequently your able-bodied men + will not enlist in your so-called voluntary army. Therefore you + have to hire the dregs of your population to do your fighting, and + they are deficient in physique, in moral and mental ability, and in + all the qualities that make good fighting men. + + 5. Your military officers we know to be merely pedantic scholars or + frivolous society men, without any capacity for practical warfare + with white men. The Afridis were more than a match for you, and + your victory over the Sudanese was achieved because those poor + people had not a rifle amongst them. + + 6. We know that your men, being the dregs of your people, are + naturally feeble, and that they are also saturated with the most + horrible sexual diseases, as all your Government returns plainly + show, and that they cannot endure the hardships of war. + + 7. We know that the entire British race is rapidly decaying, your + birth-rate is rapidly falling, your children are born weak, + diseased, and deformed, and that the major part of your population + consists of females, cripples, epileptics, consumptives, cancerous + people, invalids, and lunatics of all kinds whom you carefully + nourish and preserve. + + 8. We know that nine-tenths of your statesmen and higher officials, + military and naval, are suffering from kidney diseases, which + weaken their courage and will-power and makes them shirk all + responsibility as far as possible. + + 9. We know that your Navy is big, but we know that it is not + powerful, and that it is honeycombed with disloyalty--as witness + the theft of the signal-books, the assaults on officers, the + desertions, and the wilful injury of the boilers and machinery, + which all the vigilance of the officers is powerless to prevent. + + 10. We know that the Conservative Government is a mere sham, and + that it largely reduced the strength of the British artillery in + 1888-89. And we know that it does nor dare now to call out the + Militia for training, nor to mobilise the Fleet, nor to give + sufficient grants to the Line and Volunteers for ammunition to + enable them to become good marksmen and efficient soldiers. We + know that British soldiers and sailors are immensely inferior as + marksmen, not only to Germans, French, and Americans, but also to + Japanese, Afridis, Chilians, Peruvians, Belgians, and Russians. + + 11. We know that no British Government dares to propose any form of + compulsory military or naval training, for the British people would + rather be invaded, conquered, and governed by Germans, Russians, or + Frenchmen than be compelled to serve their own Government. + + 12. We Boers know that we will not be governed by a set of British + curs, but that we will drive you out of Africa altogether, and the + other manly nations which have compulsory military service--the + armed manhood of Europe--will very quickly divide all your other + possessions between them. + + Talk no more of the ignorance of the Boers or Cape Dutch; a few + days more will prove your ignorance of the British position, and in + a short space of time you and your Queen will be imploring the good + offices of the great German Emperor to deliver you from your + disasters, for your humiliations are not yet complete. + + For thirty years the Cape Dutch have been waiting their chance, and + now their day has come; they will throw off their mask and your + yoke at the same instant, and 300,000 Dutch heroes will trample you + under foot. + + We can afford to tell you the truth now, and in this letter you + have got it.--Yours, &c., + + P. S. + + _October 12._ + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + Edinburgh & London + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Boer War, by H. Rider Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST BOER WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 44649.txt or 44649.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/6/4/44649/ + +Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/44649.zip b/old/44649.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d70edc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44649.zip |
